It was with great anticipation and excitement that the Transition US Team gathered on February 12th for an intensive retreat at the Angela Center in Santa Rosa, California. Both new and old Board members met together for the first time, for 3 days of in-depth discussion, creative thinking, heartfelt sharing and celebration. Our intention was to generate ideas, and share thoughts and feelings on the future of the Transition movement in the States, and to determine the role played by Transition US.

I’m finally back from an exhausting and exciting whirlwind trip to London where I attended the 2009 Transition Network conference. The venue was the Battersea Arts Center, an impressive stone building with a long history of social change.

Last night I went to a special screening of The Age of Stupid at the San Francisco Film Festival. I had read the UK reviews, and been impressed by the media coverage.

"Fantastic. Knocks spots off An Inconvenient Truth." The Ecologist magazine. "The first succesful dramatisation of climate change to hit the big screen." The Guardian. "Bold, supremely provocative, and hugely important". The Telegraph.

I first came across Transition Towns in Rob Hopkins’ living room in 2005. It was one of those life-altering aha! moments. A turning point. Where time stood still, and everything clicked into place. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that Rob was onto something BIG. Transition Towns were a really GOOD idea. I wanted more than anything to be a part of making it happen. I could see that Transition Towns would work at any scale. In any place. I could visualize it. It made sense. It was the only thing that made sense. I’d been waiting for this my whole life.