City-Level Decoupling-Case Studies

Transition Town Totnes (TTT) is the oldest transition initiative. It has 10 active groups and 32 transition projects underway. 207 Some examples are:

• Totnes Renewable Energy Society (TRESOC) which has formed a community-owned company with four energy projects in development: a 4.5 MW wind farm; an aerobic digestion scheme; a biomass boiler; and four potential solar farms ranging from 30-50 kW peak capacity. • Transition Homes Group which has set up a trust that aims to provide low-cost housing and neighbourhood infrastructures (for water, sanitation and food production) based on ecological principles of metabolic flows. Local, non toxic materials will be used for construction. Residents will participate in the physical building process, learning useful skills for future developments. • The Transition Streets project which has so far seen the formation of 59 neighbourhood groups of 6-8 households each (50% low-income). These groups are working collectively to implement energy changes (behavioural and technical) to reduce household carbon emissions and energy bills by 2.1 t per year and £600 per year respectively (US$910). The population of Totnes is relatively small at around 8,000 residents. Nevertheless, a recent survey found that 57% of local people feel that TTT’s work is either 'highly relevant' or 'relevant' to their lives. Gradually, economic enterprises have begun to spin out of the initiative such as the Totnes Sustainable Construction Company Ltd, TRESOC, the Totnes Pound, and the Totnes Food Hub. 208 Transition initiatives have been successful where actors have had the skills, motivations and private resources to contribute to or even lead collective local responses to climate change and peak oil. Through a 12-step, tool-oreinted process of awareness building and community, more and more actors are drawn into the local initiative who then form groups in areas of personal interest such as food, energy, transport, and enterprise. The process is designed to attract people in local communities by advocating not only the economic and moral imperative of getting involved but, perhaps more importantly, the opportunities to be a part of an enriching experience that builds local community and strengthens social and economic resilience. 209 More and more pre-existing projects around the world are adopting the transition banner which is rapidly gaining an international reputation for embodying certain universal principles for positive civil action. 210 At this stage TN, which is active mostly in the global north, recognises that the types of people who are getting involved are generally those who have the resources, time and capacity to participate (normally on a volunteer basis). Hence the networks that are being created may be at risk of inadvertently under-representing poorer sectors of local communities who are the ones in most urgent need of practical solutions to rising living costs. However, gradually projects are emerging in poorer areas such as in disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Glasgow UK, in economically depressed cities in Eastern Europe and even in the Favelas of São Paulo, Brazil. 211

68