Why we need Transition Together
It is clear from scientific evidence of global warming, and of reaching “peak oil”, that in order for our children and future generations to have a habitable planet, Blewbury like all communities must act to change its way of life in just a few years. Sustainable Blewbury is driven by the need to lower our dependence on fossil fuels, and to find ways in which we as a village can adapt to a more sustainable style of living, while retaining our quality of life and respecting the environment in which we live.
Climate change
Global warming is not just a scientific theory, it is already happening. The changes in climate will be far more than just rising termperatures. The huge challenge is to change how we live in order to keep the effects from being extremely serious. Change is needed at all levels: global, national and local.
Peak Oil (Depletion of Natural Resources)
The Earth only has finite amounts of natural resources, and many of the ones we use – including fossil fuels – are running out. Perhaps the most critical has been characterised as ‘peak oil’. ‘Peak oil’ is the point where increasing oil production becomes impossible, because new production is offset by depletion. For years, experts have warned that we are either close to peak oil or have already passed it. However, the situation has recently become more complicated. What has certainly peaked, or is about to peak, is oil that is easy and cheap to extract, in a way that is relatively safe for the environment, and whose extraction does not itself use a great deal of energy.
But with high oil and gas prices, new and unconventional sources of oil and gas are being exploited. These include oil from deep-ocean wells, including the Arctic, tar sands, and both oil and gas obtained by hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) from shale. The oil and gas obtained is expensive and energy-intensive to extract as well as environmentally damaging. Claims that huge amounts of fuel are available from these new sources may also be greatly exaggerated.
Water
A common element in some of the most serious effects of climate change is water. There are already many parts of the world where depletion of water supplies is a severe problem. The effects of climate change – including altered weather patterns, melting glaciers and rising sea levels – will produce both flooding and droughts affecting a large fraction of the world’s population and could cause huge and widespread social problems.
Why Transition?
Transition
noun
“the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another”
Many towns and villages both locally and internationally have already started acting on a range of community initiatives aimed at simpler living. Transition Towns aiming to live with lower carbon have been set up, including Totnes and Lewes. “A future without oil could be better than the present if we use our imagination and think creatively”.
Our Transition Project is based on the award winning Transition Streets Initiative, run by Transition Town Totnes. This initiative was the winner of the £20,000 Ashden Award for Behaviour Change in 2011.
Our nearest official Transition Towns are Henley-on-Thames and Transition Eynsham Area, and Wantage is on its way to becoming a Transition Town.
