Neighbors from the Plateau Mont Royal (Montreal) got together last week to learn more about the Transition Movement – an international network of citizen and representatives of grassroots organizations – promoting practical ways to create local resilience for the coming “post oil” era.

“Transition Communities” are groups of people who have made a conscious decision to become less dependent upon oil, and to support collaborative, local proposals for healthy food supply, collective transportation, energy conservation, education, housing, waste reduction, and enhanced arts and community engagement. Transition movement participants are inspiring each other with simple actions, while creating a path towards a more locally-based, resilient and fair society.

Rob Hopkins, Transition Network co-founder and author of the Transition Handbook, explains the roots of the movement and basic concepts in this brief video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYQyCMb9WgY&feature=player_embedded

Together, these small steps contribute towards something much bigger, and help demonstrate an alternative path forward for governments, business and our remaining, more reluctant neighbors.

But the first step, and possibly the hardest step, is to achieve “inner transition.” In a world where we are constantly bombarded with word and image pushing us to embrace the status quo – it takes a leap of faith and courage to step outside of the mold in order to create a new model for ourselves and our communities. It can feel quite daunting to face the current environmental, social and spiritual challenges. Transition groups offer examples of successful projects from many places around the world, and facilitate connections with communities of like-minded people.

I intend to describe specific examples of transition work in a series of posts to follow.