Northeast Transition Town HUB

​Laura here:

On Dec 14, Kaat Vander Straeten of Wayland MA and the US Transition Town (TT) team, brought eight of us New England TT organizers together to form a northeast regional hub. The idea is to provide mutual support, share ideas and provide forward momentum within the TT movement. Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont were represented at the meeting.

During introductions, we got a sense of TT work within New England over the last decade or so. Whether working independently or with other resiliency/sustainability groups, TTs have been part of an array of activities, including repair cafes, reskilling workshops, community garden/gleaning projects, and discussion circles/zoom talks.

​A couple groups recently conducted living history interviews with community elders, exploring the question, “ What does a low energy world look like?” (It’s helpful to be reminded that one of the initial goals of TTs was to provide Energy Descent Action Plans (EDAP) for communities).

There was discussion of TT’s future direction in these challenging times. Some people expressed urgency in moving forward, getting more people involved. Others wanted to promote diversity within steering groups and communities they serve. One group is working toward bridging divides between developers and their effected communities.

Looking toward the future,  additional ideas people offered were:

*Creating more transition initiatives
*Being bolder, challenging peoples mindsets
*Bringing TT training to organizers and communities
*Using the Quaker model as a direction for the movement; i.e. having grassroots efforts steer the national movement.

I hope to continue reporting on these meetings, on the second Monday of each month; the next meeting is January 11.

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