There are amazing opportunities to create healthier, better connected, more vibrant communities in the face of peak oil and climate change. ‘Transition Towns’ are paving the way by creating ‘Energy Descent Action Plans’ that provide a framework for our community to come together on these pressing issues. The transition model is based on the assumptions that:

1. Life with dramatically lower energy consumption is inevitable, and that it's better to plan for it than to be taken by surprise.

2. Our settlements and communities presently lack the resilience to enable them to weather the severe energy shocks that will accompany peak oil and climate change.

3. We have to act collectively, and we have to act now.

4. By unleashing the collective genius of those around us to creatively and proactively design our own energy descent, we can build ways of living that are more connected, more enriching and that recognise the biological limits of our planet.

Many cities and towns have embraced the opportunity to become ‘transition towns’ – see http://www.seac.net.au and http://www.transitiontowns.org.  Wollongong is set to join them, with Keely Boom putting out word of an initial meeting in August, to discuss how to get things moving and the formation of a steering committee. For more information, contact Keely on keelyboom@gmail.com.