TO THE EDITOR:
Want your community to be safe and resilient through the coming effects of unstable economy, climate change and the end of cheap oil? A great start was made on this issue at The Great Unleashing, held May 15 at Carrboro’s Century Center, sponsored by Transition Carrboro Chapel Hill.
Over 150 people attended and created the agenda for the day themselves, identifying issues to work with.
From these, 28 discussion groups met throughout the day and brainstormed! By day’s end, a powerful ‘unleashing’ of ideas had occurred, and 21 Action Groups were formed. Many positive visions of our future were communicated!
These Action Groups have begun to meet regularly. And those who join will begin the work of transition in our region to a more stable local economy with more vibrant local resources. All are welcome, and of course people’s participation is crucial to defining our common future.
The action groups will seek to work with already-existing community groups, to build coalitions and work together to achieve common goals. Each action group can research what it is that existing groups are already doing that is effective in the area and seek to build alliances so that more gets done.
Carrboro and Chapel Hill have become the next in a network of hundreds of towns around the globe who have joined a particular model of community-level change called Transition Towns.
This model is intended to transition our community to one that is lower in energy consumption, less dependent on fossil fuels, and more economically and socially resilient. We focus on the level of change on which we have the power to make an impact: local, community-scale action.
This transition refers not just to the towns of Carrboro and Chapel Hill, but entirely to our whole county.
