Living Locally
by Kathryn Blume

Transition Town Charlotte

Transition Town Charlotte met for the second time on Monday, March 16, at the Charlotte Town Hall where approximately 20 people gathered to discuss the first chapter of The Transition Handbook by Rob Hopkin. Transition Towns are a worldwide network of grassroots organizations working to reduce energy use and increase local resilience in the face of both peak oil and climate change.
The evening’s facilitators, Kathryn Blume and Cara Taussig, led the group in an exploration of the fundamental ideas regarding climate change and peak oil. A less widely familiar concept than climate change, peak oil is the moment in time when the maximum rate of global oil extraction has been reached, after which worldwide oil outputs permanently decrease, and what oil remains gets more expensive to extract. Current scientific consensus estimates that the world has reached peak oil – or will reach it by as soon as 2020.
Group members also explored their current beliefs about these issues. Attitudes ranged from a sense that the world has already reached its carrying capacity and that no actions will be taken by our government until it’s too late to a sense that gas prices at the pump don’t reflect the reality of the true cost of oil to a sense that we need to have more faith in the ability of individuals to solve our energy problems. Some attendees also expressed enthusiasm and excitement for the positive, more sustainable lifestyle changes which can be implemented in response to the climate crisis.
Cara then spent some time focusing on the fundamental ideas of peak oil, including the principle that it takes energy to make energy, and that as oil resources decline and get harder to extract, the amount of energy used in production begins to meet or exceed the amount of energy produced.
Kathryn then offered up some lesser-known details about climate change, including the fact that when the atmospheric gasses that trap solar energy and contribute to global warming (known as “greenhouse gasses”) are measured in parts per million (one part gas per million parts of air), that is equivalent to one drop of water in 13 gallons or one second of time in 11.5 days.
She also noted that the scientific term for animal flatulence—a primary source of the greenhouse gas methane – is “enteric fermentation,” and that volcanoes, thought by some to be significant emitters of greenhouse gasses, contribute only 1% of the amount human beings put into the atmosphere.
The gathering concluded by exploring the question of whether the world’s remaining oil should be considered a common resource and used specifically in preparing humanity for a post-oil future.
For more information on Transition Towns, you can visit transitiontowns.org. There is also a local online networking group transitionvermont.ning.com where Transitioners can communicate with each other to share ideas, information, and events. If you’d like to join the study group, contact Ruah Swennerfelt at 425-3377 to purchase the Transition Town Handbook ($13).