Founding Members of Bay Bucks Community Currency

Join us: The third Tuesday of each month at Horizon Books in downtown Traverse City

Welcome to “We Are Traverse City: a Transition Initiative”
(We have applied to become Michigan's fourth internationally recognized "Transition Community".)

We are at a historic inflection point—the ending of decades of expansion and the beginning of an inevitable period of contraction that will continue until humanity is once again living within the limits of Earth’s regenerative systems.

About Us

Transition US is a nonprofit organization that provides inspiration, support, training, and networking for Transition Initiatives across the United States. We are working in close partnership with the Transition Network, a UK based organization that supports the international Transition Movement as a whole.

The Transition Movement is a vibrant, grassroots movement that seeks to build community resilience in the face of such challenges as peak oil, climate change and the economic crisis. It represents one of the most promising ways of engaging people in strengthening their communities against the effects of these challenges, resulting in a life that is more abundant, fulfilling, equitable and socially connected.

We believe that we can make the transition to a more sustainable world. We hope that you will join us.

About NW Michigan

Traverse City is a community of firsts. Perhaps it is because we live near the shores of the Great Lakes and are surrounded by so much natural splendor that we have more people than you would typically find advocating for and working to preserve our natural legacy. Perhaps it is because we are geographically separated from any major metro areas that we find ourselves endeavoring to live locally and eat locally. Traverse City is one of only two cities in Michigan to have been awarded as a “Bicycle Friendly Community” by the League of American Bicyclists. No matter what the reason, people in the Grand Traverse area care passionately for our environment, and have a tendency to value community and regional resources. Over the next few years, the community of Traverse City and the surrounding region will be discovering the challenges and rewards of becoming an even more resilient community, as we face new challenges and discover regional solutions.

So, what is the Transition Initiative all about?

The Transition Primer (pdf) is available online. It will help you understand what the Transition movement is all about.

You may also purchase a copy online by clicking here, or visit Horizon Books in Traverse City where you may purchase a copy at a discounted price.

1. Visioning: "The Transition approach has, as a fundamental principle, the belief that we can only move towards something if we can imagine what it will be like when we get there. The vision we have in our mind when we set out on this work will go a long way towards determining where we will end up."

2. Inclusion: "The scale of the challenge of peak oil and climate change cannot be addressed if we choose to stay within our comfort zones, if 'green' people only talk to other 'green' people, business people only talk to other business people, and so on. the Transition approach seeks to facilitate a degree of dialogue and inclusion that has rarely been achieved before, and has begun to develop some innovative ways of bringing this about. This is seen as one of the key principles simply because without it we have no chance of success."

3. Awareness-raising: "The end of the Oil age is a confusing time. We are constantly exposed to bewildering mixed messages. The media presents us with headlines such as 'Steep decline in oil production brings risk of war and unrest, says new study', and 'Carbon output rising faster than forecast, says study', yet at the same time advertising puts across the conflicting message that business as usual is the only way forward, that globalization is the only model that can feed the world, and that just buying this next thing will make us happy. Indeed, the contrast can sometimes be striking, with an article about melting of Arctic ice-sheets next to an advert for a new car or cheap flights."
   
   "Sometime new Transition Initiatives feel that they don't need to do much awareness-raising because everyone must be aware of these issues by now, but it is essential to start with the assumption that people don't know anything about these issues. We need to assume no prior knowledge, and set out the case as clearly, accessibly and entertainingly as possible, giving people the key arguments in order to let them formulate their own responses."

4. Resilience: "The rebuilding of resilience is, alongside the need to move rapidly to a zero carbon society, central to the Transition concept. Indeed, to do one without the other will fail to address either challenge."

5. Psychological insights: "Insights from psychology are also key to the Transition model. It is understood that among the key barriers to engagement are the sense of powerlessness, isolation and overwhelm that environmental issues can often generate. These do not leave people in a place from which they can generate action, either as an individual or as a community. The Transition model uses these insights firstly through the creation of a positive vision, secondly by creating safe spaces where people can talk, digest and feel how these issues affect them, and thirdly by affirming the steps and actions that people have taken, and by designing into the process as many opportunities to celebrate successes as possible This coming together - the sense of not being the only person out there who is aware of peak oil and climate change and who finds it scary - is very powerful. It enables people to feel part of a collective response, that they are part of something larger than themselves."

6. Credible and appropriate solutions: "It is important that Transition Initiatives, having laid out the peak oil and climate change arguments, enable people to explore solutions of a credible scale. One of the reasons behind what we might call the 'light-bulb syndrome' is that people are often only able to conceive two scales of response; individuals doing things in their own homes, or the government acting on a national scale. The Transition model explores the ground between these two: what could be achieved at a community level."

7. Our 7 Principals: Our primary focus is not campaigning against things, but rather on creating positive, empowering possibilities and opportunities. The generation of new stories and myths are central to this visioning work.

In the News

Neighborhood Net
Save money and resources by sharing stuff with your friends and neighbors. Help your neighbors save money and resources by inviting your friends and sharing your stuff!

Planning for Peak Oil
Randy Udall says the rapid expansion of oil dependence cannot go on for another 50 years in the United States. He shares stories of ingenuity in the face of oil depletion. Also, Bryn Davidson talks about planning resilient cities.