What if…
… Our communities enjoyed healthy, local food, and agriculture regenerated the soil and the water?
… All of our main power sources were renewable?
… Our forests were vigorous, strong, and no longer threatened?
… We and our neighbors worked together and localized, civil government supported that?
What if…
… We got together and unleashed our imaginations to rebuild our communities to be truly thriving, resilient, and just?
From June 11 to 14th 2020, we’ll do just that. The second Transition US National Gathering will be held at Castleton University in Vermont. Together we’ll explore these “What ifs” and many more.
Be a part of imagining how we can get from where we are, to that place we dream is possible. Share your skills and knowledge, learn from others, and leave inspired and empowered. Community and inspiration will help us lead the way to a vision of a better future, and together we’ll build the roadmap to get there.
The conference will kick-off with a welcome by Vermont Lt. Governor David Zuckerman, sharing some of Vermont's highlights.In addition to keynotes and workshops, the conference will feature creative activities, deep discussions, networking, action planning, and focused reflection. Our intention for this Gathering is that we deepen engagement and inspire more community actions. To help ensure a wide ranging attendance, we will offer a variety of scholarships, travel stipends, and work trade options. We hope you will join us!
Keynote Speaker: Bill McKibben
Bill McKibben is an author and environmentalist who in 2014 was awarded the Right Livelihood Prize, sometimes called the ‘alternative Nobel.’ His 1989 book The End of Nature is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change, and has appeared in 24 languages; he’s gone on to write a dozen more books. He is a founder of 350.org, the first planet-wide, grassroots climate change movement, which has organized twenty thousand rallies around the world in every country save North Korea, spearheaded the resistance to the Keystone Pipeline, and launched the fast-growing fossil fuel divestment movement.
The Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he was the 2013 winner of the Gandhi Prize and the Thomas Merton Prize, and holds honorary degrees from 18 colleges and universities. Foreign Policy named him to their inaugural list of the world’s 100 most important global thinkers, and the Boston Globe said he was “probably America’s most important environmentalist.”
A former staff writer for the New Yorker, he writes frequently for a wide variety of publications around the world, including the New York Review of Books,National Geographic, and Rolling Stone. He lives in the mountains above Lake Champlain with his wife, the writer Sue Halpern, where he spends as much time as possible outdoors . In 2014, biologists honored him by naming a new species of woodland gnat— Megophthalmidia mckibbeni--in his honor.
About Vermont and the Venue
Indigenous welcome to Abenaki land! Vermont is leading the nation with ambitious goals that build strong local food systems and innovative energy initiatives. The Farm to Plate Strategic Plan, strongly supported by the Vermont Congressional Delegation, builds local food self-reliance, and highlights the value of healthy local foods and farms. On Saturday we will have a panel focused on Vermont's "Food to Plate" initiative and examples of regenerative farming in Vermont. The Vermont Comprehensive Energy Plan aims to obtain 90% of energy from renewable sources by 2050, showing the commitment of Vermont's leaders and residents to reimagine a cleaner post-carbon world.
Castleton University, the oldest institution of higher learning in Vermont, emphasizes the importance of community engagement and service within the surrounding community. The university is taking action to build sustainability and is committed to reducing its carbon footprint through the Green Campus Initiative plan.
Please join us in lush and verdant Vermont, at this University nestled a few miles from the picture postcard town of Castleton. Beauty, learning, inspiration, tools – and you! Ingredients that will help rebuild our world.
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