ArticlePDF Available

The transition handbook: from oil dependency to local resilience, by Rob Hopkins

Authors:
Blake Poland at University of Toronto
Blake Poland
Download full-text PDF
Read full-text
Download citation

Abstract

In this paper, we reflect on and explore what remains to be done to make the concept of supportive environments— one of the Ottawa Charter's five core action areas—a reality in the context of growing uncertainty about the future and accelerated pace of change. We pay particular attention to the physical environment, while underscoring the inextricable links between physical and social environments , and particularly the need to link social and environmental justice. The paper begins with a brief orientation to three emerging threats to health equity, namely ecological degradation, climate change, and peak oil, and their connection to economic instability, food security, energy security and other key determinants of health. We then present three contrasting perspectives on the nature of social change and how change is catalyzed, arguing for an examination of the conditions under which cultural change on the scale required to realize the vision of 'supportive environments for all' might be catalyzed, and the contribution that health promotion as a field could play in this process. Drawing on sociological theory, and specifically practice theory and the work of Pierre Bourdieu, we advocate rethinking education for social change by attending more adequately to the social conditions of transformative learning and cultural change. We conclude with an explication of three key implications for health promotion practice: a more explicit alignment with those seeking to curtail environmental destruction and promote environmental justice, strengthening engagement with local or settings-focused 'communities of prac-tice' (such as the Transition Town movement), and finding new ways to creatively 'engage emergence', a significant departure from the current dominant focus on 'risk management'.
Content uploaded by Blake Poland
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Blake Poland on May 20, 2015
Content may be subject to copyright.
Critical Public Health
Vol. 20, No. 3, September 2010, 385–387
BOOK REVIEW
The transition handbook: from oil dependency to local resilience, by Rob Hopkins,
White River Junction, VT, Chelsea Green, 2008, 240 pp., ISBN 978-1-900322-18-8
An aggressive decarbonization of the global economy to avoid runaway climate
change coupled with the predicted peaking of world oil production sometime
between 2005 and 2020 (we are told that the majority of the world’s largest oil fields
are already in decline) mean that weaning ourselves off our global addiction to cheap
oil is both desirable and inevitable. While this will be challenging, and indeed the
chances of global economic/social/environmental collapse are not negligible, the
transition to a low-carbon or post-carbon society is something to be celebrated as an
opportunity to refashion a society based on relocalized production, community,
equity, and well-being. Change is to be embraced, rather than resisted. Communities
can band together to build the networks, practices, and structures required to carry
us through this unprecedented transition and set the foundations for what we already
know the post-carbon (post-globalization) world will look like. These are the
foundational premises of this manual for the global Transition Town movement by
movement founder Rob Hopkins, a movement that, 5 years after its inception in
Totnes (UK), reportedly continues to double every 6 months.
Its intended audience includes all those with an interest in climate change, peak
oil, and the future of human civilization, and most pointedly, those seeking a positive
vision and practical focus that rises above the doom and gloom endemic to much
contemporary writing on climate change and peak oil. This book can be located
within (and seen as a contribution to) an emerging literature on building community
resilience for the transition to a post-carbon society that now include several related
books (Doucet 2007, Lerch 2007, Murphy 2008, Brugmann 2009, Chamberlin 2009,
Newman et al. 2009) and toolkits/manuals (e.g., Colussi 2000, US Prevention
Institute 2004, Resilience Alliance 2007).
Numerous tools are included to encourage and enable movement activists to
ensure that agenda-setting is grounded in local participation and felt priorities. The
author makes a compelling and concise argument for the need for addressing climate
change and peak oil together (rather than separately), and summarizes both issues in
a way that makes it accessible to non-scientific audiences. This book is cleverly
written with text boxes on useful ‘tools for Transition’, examples, pictures, diagrams,
and extended quotes in the margins. This book’s hard-headed realism about the
challenges facing humanity coupled with a positive vision of a post-carbon society,
and the focus on community resilience, are a welcome relief from the doom-
and-gloom that prevail in much of the climate change and peak oil literatures. This is
reflected in the unprecedented numbers of people joining the Transition movement
who do not self-identify as ‘environmentalists’ and do not have a history of prior
activism or community involvement (Seyfang 2009). This book is also a welcome
reprieve from feel-good efforts to ‘green’ individual consumption (instead,
ISSN 0958–1596 print/ISSN 1469–3682 online
! 2010 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/09581596.2010.507961
http://www.informaworld.com
Downloaded By: [University of Toronto] At: 21:20 2 September 2010
consumption itself is thrown into question), and the focus on community is a
welcome change from the individualistic focus of much of the environmental
behaviour change literature (which is important, but not to the exclusion of collective
action, State accountability, and systems-level reform). A focus on the ‘heart and
soul’ of transition (the psychology of change, but also the emotional and existential
dimensions of these issues) give this book a well-roundedness that is absent from
most of the scholarly and popular literature on the topic.
While this is a book with many strengths, it also has a number of limitations. I see
four points that in my observation (as a researcher in this area and co-founder of a
local Transition Town initiative in Canada) are perhaps also symptomatic of the
movement as a whole. First, although the equity implications of climate change and
peak oil are discussed, and readers are urged to tap into the full diversity of their
communities, there is a missed opportunity to draw on the richness and depth of
experience on equity and access issues from diverse cognate fields in the movement’s
analysis and practice. Although ‘inclusion’ is one of the six principles of the
Transition model, little is said about marginalization, and equity is not even included
in this book’s Index.
A second limitation is that this book does not reference or engage directly with
several decades of rich experience with community organizing and community
development on environmental and other issues about, for example, how to mobilize
communities, foster collaboration, fight entrenched power, and sustain commitment.
Third, although Transition initiatives in the rest of the world now outnumber
those in the UK, this book focuses exclusively on the UK, since that is where the
movement started and where the longest-standing examples (and thus body of
experience) are to be found. Hopefully, a second edition will include chapters on
Transition experiences beyond the UK, as well as the challenges and insights
associated with bringing this initiative to the global South (e.g. there are now
initiatives in India, China, and many parts of Brazil). This is not a trivial issue, as
some concepts do not necessarily translate well across vast cultural and geographic
differences, the problems of over-consumption and consumerism in the global North
are not the same as those of the global South. Indeed, I have heard suspicions
expressed that the movement is an invention of the global North designed to prevent
the further development of countries in the South. On a related note, this book does
not acknowledge or draw upon what Boaventura de Sousa Santos has called
‘epistemologies of the global south’ (Santos 2007, Santos and Meneses 2009) that will
arguably be critical to make a successful Transition to a post-carbon society.
Fourth, although Hopkins warns movement organizers to be wary of being
co-opted by Town Hall and municipal politics, what is lacking from a critical social
science perspective is a deeper social analysis of the power relations that have created
and continue to support unsustainable levels of environmental and social injustice
and exploitation, and which are leading to a ruinous collision with the natural and
social limits of the earth and its inhabitants. Even a book that claims to be concerned
with solutions rather than analysis ought to consider how its own proposals risk
being undermined, undone or co-opted by more powerful interests, institutions, and
structures of entrenched privilege.
There are indications that some of these challenges are already recognized and
being addressed by Hopkins and the transition movement. While important, they do
not detract substantially from the fact that this is an enormously influential
book that has inspired tens of thousands around the world with its unique blend of
386 Book review
Downloaded By: [University of Toronto] At: 21:20 2 September 2010
clear-eyed realism, pragmatic focus, and optimism for the future. The transition
handbook is recommended for all who have an interest in climate change and peak
oil, social change, and the capacity of humanity to mount an adequate response.
It could even change your life. It profoundly impacted mine.
Blake Poland
Dalla Lana School of Public Health
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON, Canada
blake.poland@utoronto.ca
References
Brugmann, J., 2009. Welcome to the urban revolution: how cities are changing the world.
Toronto: Viking Canada.
Chamberlin, S., 2009. The transition timeline: for a local, resilient future. White River Jt, VT:
Chelsea Green.
Colussi, M., 2000. The community resilience manual. Port Alberni, BC: Centre for Community
Enterprise.
Doucet, C., 2007. Urban meltdown: cities, climate change and politics as usual. Gabriola Island,
BC: New Society Publishers.
Lerch, D., 2007. Post carbon cities. Santa Rosa, CA: Post Carbon Institute.
Murphy, P., 2008. Plan C: community survival strategies for peak oil and climate change.
Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.
Newman, P., Beatley, T.I., and Boyer, H., 2009. Resilient cities: responding to peak oil and
climate change. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Resilience Alliance 2007. Assessing resilience in social-ecological systems: a workbook for
practitioners (1). Available from: www.resalliance.org/3871.php [Accessed 26 July 2010].
Santos, B., 2007. Beyond abyssal thinking: From global lines to ecologies of knowledges.
Eurozine. Available from: www.eurozine.com [Accessed 15 December 2009].
Santos, B. and Meneses, M.P., 2009. Epistemologias do Sul. Coimbra, BR: Edic¸ oes Almedina.
Seyfang, G., 2009. Transition Norwich: report of the 2009 membership survey. Available
from: http://www.uea.ac.uk/!e175/Seyfang/Home/Entries/2009/11/12_A_Fine_City_in_
Transition_files/Transition%20Norwich%202009%20Survey%20Report.pdf [Accessed
26 July 2010].
US Prevention Institut 2004. Toolkit for Health & Resilience in Vulnerable Environments
(THRIVE): A community approach to address health disparities. Final project report
(executive summary). Available from: www.preventioninstitute.org/pdf/
THRIVE_execusumm_web_020105.pdf [Accessed 26 July 2010].
Book review 387
Downloaded By: [University of Toronto] At: 21:20 2 September 2010
... A complex adaptive thinking approach can identify the complexity, multiple perspectives, interconnections, and degrees of action (Poland 2010). Physical flows of materials and energy in a defined system make it a complex (adaptive) system (Korhonen 2020). ...
Circular Economy Induced Resilience in Socio-Ecological Systems: an Ecolonomic Perspective
Article
Full-text available
  • Apr 2023
Due to the linear nature of our economies, mass production and consumption inherently lead to large quantities of waste generation, which has a negative effect on ecological resilience. It is important to study the economy as a subsystem of ecology. Alternative economic models need to be developed so that there is a balance between economic and socio-ecological interests. Circular economy (CE) enables reimagining and redesigning the ecosystems in order to create a space that is both ecologically safe and socially equitable in the context of ecolonomics. CE with intentionally designed, restorative and regenerative economic model minimizes the impacts on the environment while inducing socio-ecological resilience. Reducing dependency on virgin/fossil-based resources, optimizing the material usage by recirculation, and minimization of waste are key elements that drive the circularity of a system. CE concept is considered a silver bullet in the contexts of resource depletion, climate change, waste minimization and valorization, decarbonization, resilience, and many more global concerns in the emerging Industry 4.0 scenario. Applying resilience thinking to the efforts being made in the transition to a CE could ensure tangible benefits to society and the environment. This communication will explore the function of resilience intertwined with circular strategies in a socio-ecological context.
View
... The myriad interacting factors and cumulative impacts of changes to landscapes, communities, and the cultures and psyches of communities embedded within these contexts of socioecological change should be measured, recorded, and shared in ways that refl ect their complexity and help build an integrated understanding of health in the local context (Poland 2010 ;Sheppard et al. 2011 ). Individuals and communities who live close to intensive resource extraction sites have important insights to offer to such studies. ...
Exploring Cumulative Effects and Impacts Through Examples
Chapter
Full-text available
  • Apr 2016
While previous chapters in this book explored the many challenges posed by cumulative impacts relative to the environment, communities, and human health and well-being, our goal is to develop a common framework for examining cumulative effects and impacts that is inclusive of those perspectives. Therefore, specific on-the-ground examples can be helpful to better understand the complexities, tensions, and interactions among cumulative impacts and foster more integrative approaches to addressing these. To that end, this Chapter includes eight vignettes that help to illustrate recurrent messages about the failure of current thinking and approaches, and why we must develop a more inclusive perspective and ultimately integrative process for addressing cumulative impacts. Topics covered include determining the necessary spatial and temporal scale for examining cumulative impacts, identifying important ecological and human values before development takes place, and making the integration among potential ecological, economic, community, recreational, and health considerations and consequences more explicit. Together, the vignettes highlight why current assessment approaches are ineffective and they build the argument for a needed dramatic shift in how we consider cumulative impacts.
View
... Thousand flowers (TT): this envisions a sharper focus on more local, bottom-up diverse solutions: ''let a thousand flowers bloom'' (Foxon et al., 2010). This decentralised power network is driven by innovative local authorities and citizens groups, such as the Transition Towns movement (Hopkins, 2008). Energy service companies (ESCOs) – both new entrants and diversified existing energy companies–become key actors who are assumed to develop local micro-grids (Foxon et al., 2010). ...
View
... Various citizen-led movements have arisen that are pushing for local action on climate change and related moves towards sustainability and resilience (e.g. Hopkins [31]). Together, these factors represent a massive demand and opportunity for engagement in raising awareness of climate change, building capacity for developing response strategies, and taking actions. ...
Future Visioning of Local Climate Change: A Framework for Community Engagement and Planning with Scenarios and Visualisation
Article
  • May 2011
  • FUTURES
There is an urgent need for meaningful information and effective public processes at the local level to build awareness, capacity, and agency on climate change, and support planning and decision-making. This paper describes a conceptual framework to meet these requirements by generating alternative, coherent, holistic climate change scenarios and visualizations at the local scale, in collaboration with local stakeholders and scientists. The framework provides a template for a process to integrate emission scenarios with both mitigation and adaptation strategies, and to link local manifestations of impacts and responses with global climate change scenarios. The article outlines the empirical application of this framework in the Local Climate Change Visioning Project in British Columbia, Canada. The project collaboratively localized, spatialized, and visualized possible climate change effects and community responses in the community's ‘backyards’. The article concludes with lessons learned and suggested principles for future visioning efforts to engage communities in possible policy and behavioural choices.
View
... For instance, certain communities foster local-level development through creating " local money " to encourage localization of the economy (North, 2010). Others, even entire towns and cities, are incorporating transition initiatives that address climate change and peak oil challenges to foster ecological resilience and develop a sustainable future (Hopkins, 2008). Although these efforts yet occur on a small scale, they represent ways in which knowledgeable consumers are countering the traditional consumption-oriented paradigm by integrating the sustainability ethos into their communities. ...
Alternative Marketplaces in the 21st Century: Building Community through Sharing Events
Article
  • Jul 2012
  • J Consum Behav
We examine alternative consumption including collaborative consumption, sharing, and unconsumption (i.e., postconsumption activities such as upcycling, reuse, recycling, etc.) at non-monetary-based private and public sharing events including Really Really Free Markets (RRFMs). These alternative marketplaces (RRFMs) were initially organized by the Anarchist Movement as a form of resistance to the capitalist economic model. However, many consumer groups now utilize this model to stage public sharing events as a means of raising awareness about various issues including sustainability and overconsumption. Participants bring, share, and take goods without any expectation of monetary or other exchange. There is limited research on collaborative consumption and sharing in non-monetary marketplaces. We address this gap by exploring alternative marketplaces, organized by consumers for consumers, utilizing qualitative research methods. Our findings indicate that a sense of community is both a driver of participation and an outcome of these events. Organizers and participants utilize these venues to share knowledge and possessions for various ideological and practical reasons. Our findings also indicate that these events challenge the entrenched notions of exchange and reciprocity. Our research contributes to the literature by highlighting the importance of community, collaboration, and changing consumer mindsets to the success of such sharing efforts. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
View
View
Climate Change, Faith and Rural Communities.
Book
Full-text available
  • Oct 2011
Climate change is a major issue for this century with significant impact on the future of the countryside. The first part of this paper considers the expected impacts of climate change on rural communities in the UK and the contribution that these communities make to climate change. Climate change is complex and interacts with many other factors. One aspect is exposed through a consideration of the impact of Peak Oil. Having presented the interaction between physical, biological and human issues, the paper has at its heart a reflection on the cosmic nature of Christ (Colossians 1.15-20). The theological reflection explores the themes of interconnectedness and eschatological hope. An ethical analysis builds on the theology to develop a Christocentric model for holistic mission. The authors propose their model as a faith-based framework for responding to climate change within a UK rural context. The final part of the paper shows how engaged faith can have a major role in helping rural communities both mitigate and adapt to climate change. Practical examples lead on to discussion of the value of a faith based approach. The authors conclude that faith in the countryside for this century needs to be sustainable in its praxis and holistic in its mission. They recommend re-localisation of rural communities and call for the church to support community regeneration.
View
On the Increase of Social Capital in Degrowth Economy
Article
Full-text available
  • Feb 2013
The present work provides a theoretical analysis oriented to link the social capital to the concept of degrowth. Defined by Schneider et al., 2010 as “an equitable downscaling of production and consumption that increases human well-being and enhances ecological conditions at the local and global level in the short and in the long term”, the concept of degrowth leads to a radical criticism of the neoclassical approach of economic growth and propose an alternative socio-economic paradigm based on the concept of “reciprocity work”. Constituted by a mix of social work, unpaid activities, self-production and co- operation among individuals, “reciprocity work” is assumed to be able to increase the social capital by promoting conviviality, mutual sustain and social relationships. In recent years, academic, political and social debates have been oriented to investigate the concepts of degrowth and the related impacts on social capital and well-being. The objective this paper is twofold. On one side, it provides a theoretical analysis in an attempt of explaining the concept of degrowth, that of reciprocity work and the implications for the social capital formation. On the other side, it reviews the main studies that investigate the social capital generation in a context of degrowth.
View
It's not (just) “the environment, stupid!” Values, motivations, and routes to engagement of people adopting lower-carbon lifestyles
Article
Full-text available
  • Feb 2013
  • GLOBAL ENVIRON CHANG
This exploratory mixed-methods study uses in-depth interviews to investigate the values, motivations, and routes to engagement of UK citizens who have adopted lower-carbon lifestyles. Social justice, community, frugality, and personal integrity were common themes that emerged from the transcripts. Concern about 'the environment' per se is not the primary motivation for most interviewees' action. Typically, they are more concerned about the plight of poorer people who will suffer from climate change. Although biospheric values are important to the participants, they tended to score altruistic values significantly higher on a survey instrument. Thus, it may not be necessary to promote biospheric values to encourage lower-carbon lifestyles. Participants' narratives of how they became engaged with climate action reveal links to human rights issues and groups as much as environmental organisations and positive experiences in nature. Some interviewees offered very broad (positive) visions of what 'a low-carbon lifestyle' means to them. This, and the fact that 'climate change' is not necessarily seen as interesting even by these highly engaged people, reveals a need for climate change mitigation campaigns to promote a holistic view of a lower-carbon future, rather than simply offering a 'to do' list to 'combat climate change'. who supervised this study and commented on the first draft of this paper. Thanks also to two anonymous reviewers for their helpful advice. This research was supported by a studentship from the Scottish Alliance for Geosciences, Environment and Society (SAGES).
View
A green and healthy future: The settings approach to building health, equity and sustainability
Article
  • Sep 2010
  • Crit Publ Health
As we move further into the twenty-first century, there is growing realization that the relationship between humans and the wider environment is crucially important, and a recognition that unfettered globalization linked to an increasingly dominant consumer culture has wrought devastating impacts. Within this context, and catalyzed particularly by concerns about climate change, there has also been increased appreciation that public health and the health of the planet are closely interrelated. This article focuses on the opportunities and potential value of encouraging joined-up thinking and integrated action in the settings where people live their lives. Having set the broad context regarding health, equity and sustainability, we scope current activity in relation to ‘greening’ settings before honing in on two concerns: that few such initiatives reflect the holistic and ecological perspective that underpins a settings approach to health promotion, and that work on sustainability and work on health have largely been developed in parallel rather than in an integrated manner. Having discussed these concerns, we propose six principles for progressive practice as a means of grounding a healthy and sustainable settings approach, before concluding by looking to the future and highlighting the likely need and benefits of daring to make more radical changes to our individual, community and working lives.
View
View
View
Political ecologies of health
Article
Full-text available
  • Feb 2010
Emerging research within health geography and related fields is attending to the social dimensions of human health. Notwithstanding these contributions, health geography has provided less rigorous attention to the role of political economy in producing disease and shaping health decision-making. Additionally, the reciprocal relationships between health and environment have been underexplored. This paper asserts that political ecology would contribute by examining the political economy of disease, interrogating health discourses, and understanding the interactions between social and environmental systems. The benefits of a political ecology of health are demonstrated through an examination of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa.
View
Expanding Conceptions of Experiential Learning: A Review of the Five Contemporary Perspectives on Cognition
Article
Full-text available
  • Aug 2000
  • ADULT EDUC QUART
This article offers a comparison of five distinct currents of thought apparent in recent scholarly writing addressing experiential learning, defined here as a process of human cognition. These five perspectives were selected for their heuristic value in expanding conventional notions of experiential learning, ranging from conceptions of reflective constructions of meaning to psychoanalytic, situated, emancipatory, and ecological theories of learning. A rationale for this typology is outlined, and the problems of classification and comparison of multiple perspectives are discussed. The five perspectives are each described briefly, outlining their view of knowledge, learning, and teaching; their understanding of relations between knower, culture, and knowledge; and critiques and questions raised by other perspectives. Caveats about the limitations and presumptions of such a typology are declared along with invitations for response and critique.
View
Free-choice environmental learning: Framing the discussion
Article
Full-text available
  • Jul 2005
Education is a lifelong endeavor; the public learns in many places and contexts, for a diversity of reasons, throughout their lives. During the past couple of decades, there has been a growing awareness that free‐choice learning experiences – learning experiences where the learner exercises a large degree of choice and control over the what, when and why of learning – play a major role in lifelong learning. Worldwide, most environmental learning is not acquired in school, but outside of school through free‐choice learning experiences. Included in this article are brief overviews of environmental learning, the nature of learning, the educational infrastructure, and free‐choice learning as a term. This article provides a framework for thinking about free‐choice environmental learning and sets the stage for thinking about the other articles in this special issue.
View
Post carbon cities
Article
  • Dec 2008
The year 2008 saw oil prices soar to an all-time high of $147 per barrel, thus proving the world energy predicament. As such, interest in climate change mitigation plans have increased in levels not seen since the oil crises of the 1970s. As such, in the dawn of global oil depletion, some cities and oil companies have started to do something about it. For instance, energy giant Chevron and BP are starting to recognize the era of non-easy oil and tapping into other energy sources. The challenges are not easy though. For instance, although cars can be run on electricity, it is still impossible to replace hundreds of millions of gasoline-powered cars with electric vehicles in 10 or 20 years time. Planners are especially challenged by price and demand volatility.
View
View
The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review
Book
  • Jan 2006
Abstract The first half of the Review focuses on the impacts and risks arising from uncontrolled climate change, and on the costs and opportunities associated with action to tackle it. A sound understanding of the economics of risk is critical here. The Review ...
View
View
Can health promotion and primary health care achieve Health for All without a return to their more radical agenda?
Article
  • Jan 1995
Primary health care (PHC) and health promotion (HP), codified in the Alma Ata Declaration of 1978 and the Ottawa Charter of 1986, and aiming to achieve Health for All by the year 2000 (HFA 2000), are strikingly similar in their conception and evolution. Originally conceived as global strategies to reduce inequities in health between and within nations and emphasising intersectoral and community action, both have tended to be reduced to a more limited and technical approach to selected diseases within nations. In the implementation of these strategies, four trends threatening the achievement of HFA 2000 are analysed. Managerialism, manifesting in a goals and targets approach to health promotion has come to dominate and constrict its implementation in Australia and other industrialised countries, detracting from social and environmental imperatives and community action in addressing these. The increasing dominance of market economics and the promotion of economic growth at all costs is reinforcing inequities in health experience globally and within countries. Individualism, the philosophical accompaniment of market economics, has reinforced a behavioural and lifestyle focus and undermined a collective approach to HP and PHC. Environmental degradation, a growing global threat to public health and ultimately amenable only to global economic restructuring has been perilously ignored in the managerialist implementation of HFA. The elements of an agenda for action are identified with some suggested broader goals. A return to the original more radical philosophy underpinning the strategies of PHC and HP, it is argued, is fundamental to the achievement of HFA, even if this is no longer possible by the year 2000.
View