Local, self-sufficient, optimistic: are Transition Towns the way forward?
"Late last year, Rob Hopkins went to a conference. Most of the delegates were chief executive officers at local authorities, but it was not a public event. Speaking in confidence, three-quarters of these officials admitted that despite what they say publicly they could not foresee a return to growth in the near future.
"One said: 'If we ever get out of this recession, nothing will be as it was in the past,'" Hopkins recalls. "Another said: 'Every generation has had things better than its parents. Not any more.' But the one that stunned me said: 'No civilisation has lasted for ever. There is a very real chance of collapse.'"
Shocking stuff shocking enough to leave many people feeling hopeless. And Hopkins has heard MPs and others in positions of power confess to similar fears in private. But the co-founder of the Transition Town movement is determined to offer courage and inspiration, and to do that he has published a short book, The Power of Just Doing Stuff, showing what people are already doing to develop a more resilient economy."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jun/15/transition-towns-way-forward