This past weekend I sat together with folks from all over the State of California in the Training for Transition: Building Resilient Communities for a Post-Carbon World and discussed the three basic beliefs of the Transition Movement:

Peak Oil.
Climate Change.
Economic Instability.

We were led by two facilitators from the movement and the workshop was organized by our very own Transition Sonoma Valley who put in an enormous amount of time and effort to make the weekend an enriching experience. For me it’s been way too long since I sat as part of a group. Sharing openly and without judgement, expressing my fears and hope for the future of our planet. We meditated, role played and did visioning practices.

To participate in a visioning practice is quite the experience and it’s a practice that individuals can do all the time. What do you want to see in the future, what do you see when you think about the future. Are there voices you hear from the past?

The issue of having enough fossil fuels is a reality for me. The time it took to create these fuels and the rate we are using them is completely unsustainable. Can the planet sustain uncontrolled population growth? The economic engines we have ignited in China, India and the developing world are gobbling up resources at an alarming rate. Through our mighty media, our lifestyle here in the United States is emulated, replicated and it seems to me to be leading to major economic instability.

However here in Sonoma Valley and in cities and countries throughout the world people are gathering. They are planning for the post carbon world. They are reinventing themselves. They are rethinking how they live their lives. They are dedicated to rebuilding the world in a sustainable way. Our advantage in Sonoma Valley is that we are geographically small. We have farmable land and the folks who have the skills to create it. There is a long standing tradition and honoring of agriculture. We have water and people thinking about conserving water and protecting our supply.

Photo: Sonoma Valley, flickr/jimg944 (cc)

A new concept I learned this past weekend was the complete necessity of structuring an ethical descent into a more workable system. It has to happen if we care about each other, our planet. I love this idea. We just can’t continue down this path we are on.

I am just at the beginning of delving into this but it resonates with my being. I can’t hide from it any longer and the longer I do I, too, become the problem. I am certain there will be more on this in the future. There are upcoming events that folks can check out put on by Transition Sonoma Valley. On Feb. 9 at the Sonoma Valley Grange, across Highway 12 from Mary’s Pizza, local agricultural expert Bob Cannard Jr. will speak and they will show ‘Dirt, The Movie.’ Bring a potluck dish to share. Every third Thursday in Room 110 at the Sonoma Community Center is movie night. On Feb. 17 they will show ‘The Age of Stupid.’ In the City of Sebastopol there is another wonderful group and you should check out what they’re up to as well. I’ll end with a quote from the Poet Gary Snyder that for a series of complicated reasons I have taken unknowingly upon myself, ‘The most radical thing you can do is stay home.’

Transitions Sonoma Valley
- Melinda Kelly
- melbelkel@aol.com

Transition Sebastopol
- Scott McKeown
- scott@transitionsebastopol.org

Ken Brown
- ken@bearflagsocialclub.com