Transitiona Transition Town

Primer
a guide to becoming
US Version

Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)

A majority of the content of this primer is sourced from the Transition Network
and is used here in gratitude and with permission in case anyone asks.

US Version (2.0)
Last Updated: 09/28/2011
Cover image: Permaculture bike tour, Transition San Francisco

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Transition Primer

Contents
Something remarkable is happening ...

The Transition Movement

How is Transition Different From Other Sustainability Groups?

Why Transition?

The Guiding Principles of Transition

The 12 Ingredients

10

Barriers to Transition - The 7 Buts

14

Becoming a Transition Initiative

16

Training For Transition

18

About Transition US

20

Cheerful Disclaimer!

22

Appendix A: Community Resilience Indicators

24

Appendix B: A Closer Look At Peak Oil

26

Appendix C: Introduction to Exponential Growth

28

www.transitionus.org

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Transition Primer

Something remarkable is happening ...

All cross the country and around the world citizens in every locale are banding together to reinvent their
communities. They are boldly looking at climate change, resource depletion and the economic crises and
purposefully unleashing the collective genius of their communities to address these issues.
They are not waiting for government and they are not acting alone. Instead they are building connections
in their community; they are reaching out to others and spurring each other into actions that are bold, poignant and exhilarating. Together they are creating a momentum, a groundswell, an empowered and active
community movement. These groups are building their future by vision, by design and by intention.
Official Transition Initiatives (TIs) range in size from the in the TI in the Los Angeles basin with a population
of 13 million to the TI in Micanopy, Florida that boasts a population of 653.
Along the way we have seen ordinary people become extraordinary, stepping out, working with others
to create positive change. In Houston a Transition instigator led his community into action through Permablitzes (creating gardens where there were lawns) one neighborhood at a time. In Transition Ann Arbor
local leaders convened their fourth "Re-skilling" festival where those who had skills to share taught those
who wanted to learn. In Transition Pittsburgh youth leaders instituted the ever widening Gift Circle (A Gift
Circle is a way of building personal connections and fostering the flow of goods and services within a community). And in Transition Sebastopol an avid gardener galvanized others to start the first community seed
saving garden on the grounds of the Episcopal Church.
Examples of the impacts resulting from TIs springing up across the country include the brilliant seed library
started by Transition Richmond, CA that was subsequently adopted by the San Francisco Public Library.
The process: would-be gardeners check out seeds (with planting tips) in the spring, returning seeds after
harvest for next year's bounty. The Transition Folkschool developed in Sandpoint, Idaho was adapted by
Transition Whatcom in Washington State. Based on the Re-skilling theme the Folkschool will reach more
people, offer more classes and create more opportunities for community members to build relationships.
We invite broad participation in all we do, in fact we know that the times require this. We are at a point in
history where the future is calling out for all of us to step up, to be extraordinary. At this time too, we are
given the very real task of having to work together. We hope you will join us as we join you.

Carolyne Stayton
Executive Director
Transition US

www.transitionus.org

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The Transition Movement is comprised of vibrant, grassroots

community initiatives that seek to build community resilience
in the face of such challenges as increasing energy costs, sever
environmental degradation and economic instability. Transition
Initiatives differentiate themselves from sustainability and
environmental groups by seeking to mitigate these converging
global crises by engaging their communities in home-grown,
citizen-led education, action, and multi-stakeholder planning to
increase local self reliance and resilience.

The Transition Movement

Transition initiatives succeed by regeneratively
using their local assets, innovating, networking,
collaborating, replicating proven strategies, and
respecting the deep patterns of nature and diverse
cultures in their place. Transition Initiatives work
with deliberation and good cheer to create a fulfilling and inspiring local way of life that can withstand the shocks of rapidly shifting global systems.

To begin with, it is important to note that although

the term Transition Town has stuck, what we
are talking about are Transition Cities, Transition
Islands, Transition Valleys, Transition AnywhereYou-Find-People.

It all starts off when a small collection of motivated

individuals within a community come together
with a shared concern: How can our community
respond to the challenges and opportunities of our
time? This small team of people begin by forming
an initiating group and then adopt the Transition
Model with the intention of engaging a significant
proportion of the people in their community to
kick off a Transition Initiative.
They start working together to address this BIG
question:
For all those aspects of life that our community needs
in order to sustain itself and thrive, how do we significantly increase resilience, drastically reduce carbon
emissions and greatly strengthen our local economy?

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During the process the community recognizes

these two crucial points:
That we used immense amounts of creativity,
ingenuity and adaptability on the way up the
energy upslope, and theres no reason for us
not to do the same on the downslope.
If we collectively plan and act early enough, we
can create a way of living thats significantly
more connected, more vibrant and more fulfilling than the one we find ourselves in today.

Now is the time for us to take stock and to start

re-creating our future in ways that are not based
on cheap, plentiful and polluting oil but on localized food, renewable energy sources, resilient local
economies and an enlivened sense of community
well-being.
Local Transition Initiatives provide a process for
relocalizing the essential elements that a community needs to sustain itself and thrive. Hundreds
of communities in the US are joining thousands
around the world that are setting off on their relocalization journeys using the Transition model.

Transition Initiatives make no claim to have all the

answers, but by building on the wisdom of the
past and unlocking the creative genius, skills and
determination in our communities, the solutions
can emerge.

Source: www.transitionnetwork.org

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Transition initiatives share many of the same goals as other

groups, and works collaboratively with a variety of organizations
in their local areas. Transition differs in that it focuses specifically
on preparing communities for the changes associated with
unprecedented resource depletion and transitioning away from
fossil-fuel dependency.

How is Transition Different From

Other Sustainability Groups?
The Transiton model involves engaging directly
with the public to raise awareness about the issues and encourage citizens to create a vision of a
better future. Transition initiatives act as a catalyst - inspiring others to create their own answers
and vision - without necessarily trying to provide
all the answers. The aim is to bring information
and resources together in one place about groups
and organizations already working toward making communities more sustainable and resilient,
leverage resources where possible, and coordinate
if needed. It is not the intention of Initiatives to
launch any projects that duplicate work already being done by others. Rather they help connect the
public with existing resources, and also help find
gaps where critical needs are not being met - and
then help fill those gaps.
Another important aspect of Transition that differentiates it from other efforts is in its ultimate goal
of creating an Energy Decent Action Plan (EDAP).
An EDAP sets out a vision of a powered-down,
resilient, relocalized future, and then backcasts, in
a series of practical steps, creating a map to get
there from here. Every communitys EDAP will be
different, both in content and style.

Lastly, the inner-transition (aka Heart & Soul) component is a key part of the Transition model. sometimes referred to as the psychology of change,
although it is more than just that. An important
aspect of the process is to provide for psychological and emotional support for community members as they come to terms with changes that can
often be overwhelming. Supporting each other
through these changes is a vital part of community
resilience. Including an inner-transition aspect is
key to making the Transition model stand out.

When our supermarkets have only

enough food for two days time,
sustainability seems to focus on the
efficiency of the freezers.

- Rob Hopkins, 2009 TED Talk

* Thanks to Transition Oklahoma and Transition Sebstopol for the above text.

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Transition Primer

Traditional Environmentalism

Transition Approach

Individual behavior ........................................................... Group Behavior

Single issue .......................................................................... Holistic
Tools: lobbying, campaigning, protesting ................ Tools: Public participation, psychology, culture
Sustainable development .............................................. Resilience/relocalization
Fear, guilt, and shock as motivation ........................... Hope, optimism and proactivity as motivation
The man in the street is the problem ......................... The man in the street is the solution
Blanket campaigning ....................................................... Targeted interventions
Prescriptive - advocates answers and responses ...... Acts as a catalyst - no fixed answers
Carbon foot printing ......................................................... Carbon foot printing PLUS resilience
Belief that economic growth is possible ................... Designing for local economic resilience

Sustainability is inherently static. It presumes theres a point at which

we can maintain ourselves and the world, and once we find the right
combination of behavior and technology that allows us some measure
of stability, we have to stay there. A sustainable world can avoid
imminent disaster, but it will remain on the precipice until the next
shock.
Resilience, conversely, accepts that change is inevitable and in many
cases out of our hands, focusing instead on the need to be able to
withstand the unexpected. Greed, accident, or malice may have harmful
results, but, barring something truly apocalyptic, a resilient system can
absorb such results without its overall health being threatened.
-- Jamais Cascio

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We are living in an age of unprecedented change, with a

number of crises converging. Sever weather disruptions, global
economic instability, declining biodiversity, resource wars, have
all stemmed from the availability of cheap, non-renewable
fossil fuels. Global oil, gas and coal production is predicted
to irreversibly decline in the next 10 to 20 years, and severe
climate changes are already taking effect around the world.
The coming shocks are likely to be catastrophic if we do not
prepare.

Why Transition?
As Richard Heinberg states: Our central survival
task for the decades ahead, as individuals and as
a species, must be to make a transition away from
the use of fossil fuels and to do this as peacefully,
equitably, and intelligently as possible.
The Transition movement represents one of the
most promising ways of engaging people and
communities to take the far-reaching actions that
are required to mitigate these foreseen shocks.
Furthermore, these relocalization efforts are designed to result in a life that is more fulfilling, more
socially connected and more equitable than the
one we have today.
The Transition model is based on a loose set of
real world principles and practices that have been
built up over time through experimentation and
observation of communities as they drive forward
to reduce carbon emissions and build community
resilience.

Underpinning the model is a recognition of the

following:
The challenges of our time require urgent
action
Adaptation to a world with less access to
cheap fossil fuels is inevitable
It is better to plan and be prepared, than be
taken by surprise
Industrial society has lost the resilience to be
able to cope with shocks to its systems
We have to act together and we have to act
now
We must negotiate our way through these
challenges using all our skill, ingenuity and
intelligence
Using our creativity and cooperation to
unleash the collective genius within our local
communities will lead to a more abundant,
connected and healthier future for all.
The Transition Movement believes that is up to us
in our local communities to step into a leadership
position on this situation. Together we can make a
difference.

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Id put my money on the sun

and solar energy. What a source
of power! I hope we dont have
to wait until oil and coal run out
before we tackle that.
Thomas Edison, 1931

The danger posed by war to all of

humanity - and to our planet - is at
least matched by the climate crisis
and global warming. I believe that
the world has reached a critical
stage in its efforts to exercise
responsible environmental
stewardship.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

It is well enough that people of

the nation do not understand our
banking and monetary system, for
if they did, I believe there would
be a revolution before tomorrow
morning.
Henry Ford

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Principles matter because the people we deal with on a day

to day basis can hold us accountable to them. They matter
because theyre how we look at problems, devise responses
and interact with people. They matter because the field that
were operating in can knock us sideways, and its really useful
to have something solid to grab hold of.
These are the principles that Transition US aspires to as an
organization, and we hope to model them in such as way that
other transitioners adopt them as well.

The Guiding Principles of Transition

1. Positive Visioning
We can only create what we can first vision
If we cant imagine a positive future we wont
be able to create it.
A positive message helps people engage with
the challenges of these times.
Change is happening our choice is between a
future we want and one which happens to us.
Transition Initiatives are based on a dedication
to the creation of tangible, clearly expressed
and practical visions of the community in
question beyond its present-day dependence
on fossil fuels.
Our primary focus is not campaigning against
things, but rather on positive, empowering
possibilities and opportunities.
The generation of new stories and a new
narrative are central to this visioning work.
2. Help People Access Good Information and
Trust Them to Make Good Decisions
Transition Initiatives dedicate themselves,
through all aspects of their work, to raising
awareness of peak oil and climate change and
related issues such as critiquing economic
growth. In doing so they recognise the
responsibility to present this information in

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ways which are playful, articulate, accessible

and engaging, and which enable people to
feel enthused and empowered rather than
powerless.
Transition Initiatives focus on telling people
the closest version of the truth that we know in
times when the information available is deeply
contradictory.
The messages are non-directive, respecting
each persons ability to make a response that is
appropriate to their situation.
3. Inclusion and Openness
Successful Transition Initiatives need an
unprecedented coming together of the broad
diversity of society. They dedicate themselves
to ensuring that their decision making
processes and their working groups embody
principles of openness and inclusion.
This principle also refers to the principle
of each initiative reaching the community
in its entirety, and endeavouring, from an
early stage, to engage their local business
community, the diversity of community groups
and local authorities.

Transition Primer

 It makes explicit the principle that there is, in

the challenge of energy descent, no room for
them and us thinking.
We need good listeners, gardeners, people
who like to make and fix everything, good
parties, discussions, energy engineers,
inspiring art and music, builders, planners,
project managers.
Bring your passion and make that your
contribution if there isnt a project working in
the area you are passionate about, create one!!
4. Enable Sharing and Networking
Transition Initiatives dedicate themselves to
sharing their successes, failures, insights and
connections at the various scales across the
Transition network, so as to more widely build
up a collective body of experience.
5. Build Resilience
This stresses the fundamental importance of
building resilience, that is, the capacity of our
businesses, communities and settlements to
deal as well as possible with shock.
Transition initiatives commit to building
resilience across a wide range of areas (food,
economics, energy etc) and to setting them
within an overall context of the need to do
all we can to ensure general environmental
resilience.
Most communities in the past had a
generation or two ago the basic skills needed
for life such as growing and preserving food,
making clothes, and building with local
materials.
6. Inner and Outer Transition
The challenges we face are not just caused by
a mistake in our technologies but as a direct
result of our world view and belief system.
The impact of the information about the state
of our planet can generate fear and grief which may underlie the state of denial that
many people are caught in.

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Psychological models can help us understand

what is really happening and avoid
unconscious processes sabotaging change,
e.g. addictions models, models for behavioral
change.
This principle also honors the fact that
Transition thrives because it enables and
supports people to do what they are
passionate about, what they feel called to do.
7. Transition makes sense - the solution is the
same size as the problem
Many films or books who suggest that
changing light bulbs, recycling and driving
smaller cars may be enough. This causes a state
called Cognitive Dissonance a trance where
you have been given an answer, but know that
it is not going to solve the problem youve just
been given.
We look at the whole system not just one issue
because we are facing a systems failure not a
single problem failure.
We work with complexity, mimicking nature in
solutions based problem solving.
8. Subsidiarity: self-organization and decision
making at the appropriate level
This final principle enshrines the idea that
the intention of the Transition model is not
to centralise or control decision making, but
rather to work with everyone so that it is
practiced at the most appropriate, practical
and empowering level, and in such a way that
it models the ability of natural systems to self
organise.
We create ways of
working that are easy
to copy and spread
quickly.

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These 12 Ingredients (aka Steps) have grown out of the

observation of what seemed to work in the early Transition
Initiatives. They dont take you from A to Z but rather from A
to C, which is as far as weve got with the model today. These
Steps dont necessarily follow each other logically in the order
they are set out here; every Transition Initiative weaves through
them differently.

The 12 Ingredients
1. Set up a steering group and design its demise
from the outset. This stage puts a core team
in place to drive the project forward during the
initial phases. We recommend that you form your
Steering Group with the aim of getting through
Steps 2 5, and agree that once a minimum of 4
sub-groups (see Step 5) are formed, the Steering
Group disbands and reforms with a person from
each of those groups. This requires a degree of
humility, but is very important to put the success
of the project above the individuals involved.
Ultimately your Steering Group should be made up
of 1 representative from each working sub-group.
2. Raise Awareness. This stage will identify your
key allies, build crucial networks and prepare
the community in general for the launch of
your Transition initiative. For an effective Energy
Descent Action plan to evolve, its participants have
to understand the potential effects of both peak
oil and climate change the former demanding a
drive to increase community resilience, the latter a
reduction in carbon footprint.

also be very inspiring. Articles in local papers,

interviews on local radio, presentations to existing
groups, including schools, are also part of the
toolkit to get people aware of the issues, and ready
to start thinking of solutions.
3. Lay the foundations. This stage is about
networking with existing groups and individuals,
making clear to them that the Transition Initiative
is designed to incorporate their previous efforts
and future inputs by looking at the future in a new
way. Acknowledge and honor the work they do,
and stress that they have a vital role to play. Give
them a concise and accessible overview of Peak Oil,
what it means, how it relates to Climate Change,
how it might affect the community in question,
and the key challenges it presents. Set out your
thinking about how a Transition Initiative might be
able to act as a catalyst for getting the community
to explore solutions and to begin thinking about
grassroots mitigation strategies.

Screenings of key movies (Inconvenient Truth,

End of Suburbia, Crude Awakening, Power of
Community) along with panels of experts to
answer questions at the end of each, are very
effective. Talks by experts in their field of climate
change, peak oil and community solutions can

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4. Organize a Great Unleashing. This stage

creates a memorable milestone to mark the
projects coming of age, moves it right into the
community at large, builds a momentum to propel
your initiative forward for the next period of its
work and celebrates your communitys desire to
take action. In terms of timing, we suggest this
take place about 6 months to a year after your first
awareness-raising event.
The Official Unleashing of Transition Town Totnes
was held in September 2006, preceded by about
10 months of talks, film screenings and events.
Your unleashing will need to bring people up to
speed on the challenges ahead but in a spirit of
we can do something about this rather than a
doom and gloom scenario. One item of content
that weve seen work very well is a presentation on
the practical and psychological barriers to personal
change after all, this is all about what we do as
individuals. It neednt be just talks, it could include
music, food, dance - whatever you feel reflects your
communitys intention to embark on this collective
adventure.
5. Form working groups. Part of the process
of developing an Energy Descent Action Plan
is tapping into the collective genius of the
community. Crucial for this is to set up a number of
smaller groups to focus on specific aspects of the
process. Each of these groups will develop their
own ways of working and their own activities, but
will all fall under the umbrella of the project as a
whole.
Ideally, working groups are needed for all aspects
of life that your community needs to sustain
itself and thrive. Examples of these are: food,
waste, energy, education, youth, local economics,
transport, water, local government.
Each of your working groups looks at their area
and tries to determine the best ways of building
community resilience and reducing their carbon
footprint. Their solutions will form the backbone of
the Energy Descent Action Plan.
6. Use Open Space. Weve found Open Space
Technology to be a highly effective approach
to running meetings for Transition Initiatives.
In theory it ought not to work. A large group of
people comes together to explore a particular
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topic or issue, with no agenda, no timetable,

no obvious coordinator and no minute takers.
However, by the end of each meeting, everyone
has said what they needed to, extensive notes
have been taken, lots of networking has had taken
place, and a huge number of ideas have been
identified, and visions set out.
The essential reading on Open Space is Harrison
Owens Open Space Technology: A Users Guide,
and you will also find Peggy Holman and Tom
Devanes The Change Handbook: Group Methods
for Shaping the Future an invaluable reference on
the wider range of such tools.
7. Develop visible practical manifestations
of the project. It is essential that you avoid any
sense that your project is just a talking shop where
people sit around and draw up wish lists. Your
project needs, from an early stage, to begin to
create practical, high visibility manifestations in
your community. These will significantly enhance
peoples perceptions of the project and also their
willingness to participate. Theres a difficult balance
to achieve here during these early stages. You
need to demonstrate visible progress, without
embarking on projects that will ultimately have no
place on the Energy Descent Action Plan.
8. Facilitate the Great Reskilling. If we are to
respond to Peak Oil and Climate Change by
moving to a lower energy future and relocalizing
our communities, then well need many of the skills
that our grandparents took for granted. One of the
most useful things a Transition Initiative can do is
to reverse the great deskilling of the last 40 years
by offering training in a range of skills.
Research among the older members of our
communities is instructive after all, they lived
before the throwaway society took hold and they
understand what a lower energy society might
look like.
Some examples of courses: recycling grey water,
cooking, bicycle maintenance, natural building,
herbal medicines, basic home energy efficiency,
practical food growing, harvesting rainwater,
composting waste (the list is endless).

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The 12 Ingredients (contd)

Your Great Reskilling program will give people a
powerful realization of their own ability to solve
problems, to achieve practical results and to work
cooperatively alongside other people. Theyll also
appreciate that learning can be fun!
9. Build a Bridge to Local Government. Whatever
the degree of groundswell your Transition Initiative
manages to generate, however many practical
projects youve initiated, and however wonderful
your Energy Descent Plan is, you will not progress
far unless you have cultivated a positive and
productive relationship with your local government
authority. Whether it is planning issues, funding or
networking, you need them on board. Contrary to
your expectations, you may well find that you are
pushing against an open door.
10. Honor the elders. For those of us born in the
1960s when the cheap oil party was in full swing,
it is very hard to picture a life with less oil. Every
year of my life (except for the oil crises of the 70s)
has been underpinned by more energy than the
previous years. In order to rebuild a picture of a
lower energy society, we have to engage with those
who directly remember the transition to the age of
Cheap Oil, especially the period between 1930 and
1960.

If you keep your focus on the key design criteria

building community resilience and reducing the
carbon footprint youll watch as the collective
genius of the community enables a feasible,
practicable and highly inventive solution to
emerge.
12. Create an Energy Descent Plan. At the
moment there is only one completed Energy
Descent Action Plan, the one done for Kinsale in
Ireland. Although this was a student-led project,
it did a very good job of producing a template
that other communities could follow in designing
pathways away from oil dependency. Some people
find the term Energy Descent too negative,
and have chosen to call their EDAP an Energy
Transition Pathway, Community Resilence or
Community Vision Plan.
Whatever it is called, the EDAP sets out a vision
of a powered-down, resilient, relocalized future,
and then backcasts, in a series of practical steps,
creating a map to get there from here. Every
communitys EDAP will be different, both in
content and style. However, they will explore a
wide range of areas as well as energy: energy
descent is an issue which affects every aspect of
our lives.

While you clearly want to avoid any sense that what

you are advocating is going back or returning to
some dim distant past, there is much to be learnt
from how things were done in the past, what
the invisible connections between the different
elements of society were, and how daily life was
supported when less oil was available. Finding these
things out can be deeply illuminating, and can lead
to our feeling much more connected to place when
we are developing our Transition Initiatives.
11. Let it go where it wants to go. Although you
may start out developing your Transition Initiative
with a clear idea of where it will go, it will inevitably
go elsewhere. If you try and hold onto a rigid vision,
it will begin to sap your energy and appear to stall.
Your role is not to come up with all the answers,
but to act as a catalyst for the community to design
their own transition.

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Transition Primer

Creating An EDAP
Step 1. Establish a baseline. This involves
collecting some basic data on the current practices
of your community, whether in terms of energy
consumption, food miles or amount of food
consumed. You could spend years collecting
this information, but you arent trying to build a
detailed picture, just getting a few key indicators
around how your place functions in terms of
arable land, transport, health provision etc. Your
working groups may have identified some of this
information.
Step 2: Get hold of any community strategy
plans that are produced by your local
government. Their plans are likely to have time
scales and elements that you need to take into
account, and they will also be a useful source of
information and data. You will need to decide how
to integrate your EDAP with their existing plans.
Step 3: The overall vision. What would your
community look like in 15 or 20 years if we were
emitting drastically less CO2, using drastically less
non-renewable energy, and it was well on the way
to rebuilding resilience in all critical aspects of life?
This process will use information gathered in your
Open Space Days, from Transition Tales and a range
of other visioning days, to create an overall sense
of what the town could be like. Allow yourselves to
dream.
Step 4: Detailed visioning. For each of the
working groups on food, health, energy etc.
(although this is trickier for Heart and Soul groups
for example), what would their area look like in
detail within the context of the vision set out
above.
Step 5: Backcast in detail. The working groups
then list out a timeline of the milestones,
prerequisites, activities and processes that need
to be in place if the vision is to be achieved. This
is also the point to define the resilience indicators
that will tell you if your community is moving in
the right direction.

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Step 6: Transition Tales. Alongside the process

above, the Transition Tales group produces
articles, stories, pictures and representations of
the visioned community, giving a tangible sense
through a variety of creative media, of what this
powered down world might look like. These will be
woven into the EDAP.
Step 7: Pull together the backcasts into an
overall plan. Next the different groups time lines
are combined together to ensure their coherence.
This might be done on a big wall with post-it
notes to ensure that, for example, the Food Group
havent planned to turn into a market garden the
same car park that the Health & Medicine Group
want to turn into a health center.
Step 8: Create a first draft. Merge the overall plan
and the Transition Tales into one cohesive whole,
with each area of the plan beginning with a short
summary of the state of play in 2009, followed by
a year-by-year program for action as identified in
the backcasting process. Once complete, pass the
document out for review and consultation.
Step 9: Finalize the EDAP. Integrate the feedback
into the EDAP. Realistically, this document wont
ever be final - it will be continually updated
and augmented as conditions change and ideas
emerge.
Step 10: Celebrate! Always a good thing to do.
The 12 Steps set out a plan of action and you
may be forgiven for assuming that Step 12 is the
end of the process. On the contrary, it is with the
completion of Step 12 that your initiative really
begins! The EDAP sets out the work you will be
doing in the future and in theory once you reach
that stage, your initiatives job becomes the
implementation of the EDAP.

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When faced with the prospect of difficult change and

challenging actions, humans often construct their own
emotional and psychological barriers that stop them from
taking those actions. In the Transition Movement we call these
The 7 Buts. Below we give some guidance on how to tackle
what weve seen to be the most typical barriers to change.

Barriers to Transition - The 7 Buts

But weve got no funding
Funding is a poor substitute for enthusiasm and
community involvement, both of which will take
you through the first phases of Transition. Funding
not always a good thing; funders may demand a
measure of control, and may steer the initiative in
directions that run counter to community interests.
As eco-village designer Max Lindeggar says: If a
project doesnt make a profit it will make a loss.
You can make sure your process generates an adequate amount of income through the events that
you hold. As an example, Transition Town Totnes
began in September 2005 with no money at all,
and it has been self-funding ever since. The talks,
film screenings and other events that are run bring
in funds sufficient to subsidize free events such as
Open Space Days. You may reach a point where
you have specific projects that will require funding, but until that point youll manage. Retain the
power over whether this happens dont let lack
of funding stop you.
But they wont let us
A fear exists among some environmentalists that
any initiative that actually succeeds in effecting
change will get shut down, suppressed, or attacked by faceless bureaucrats or corporations.
Transition Initiatives operate below the radar,
neither seeking victims nor making enemies. As

Page 14

awareness of the various challenges build, many

people in positions of power will be enthused and
inspired by what you are doing, and will support,
rather than hinder, your efforts.
But a sustainability group already exist here
and I dont want to step on their toes
Transition Initiatives work to form common
goals and a shared sense of purpose with existing groups. Working within a network of existing
groups towards an Energy Descent Action Plan will
enhance and focus their work along with yours,
rather than replicate or supersede it. Expect other
groups to become some of your strongest allies,
crucial to the success of your Transition.
But no one in this town cares about the environment
You could easily be forgiven for thinking this,
given the existence of what you might perceive as
an apathetic consumer culture surrounding you.
Dig a bit deeper though, and youll find that the
most surprising people are keen advocates of key
elements of a Transition Initiative, for example local food, local crafts, local history and culture. The
key is to go to them, rather than expecting them to
come to you. Seek out common ground, and youll
find your community to be a far more interesting
place than you thought it was.

Transition Primer

But its too late to do anything useful

It may be too late, but the likelihood is that it isnt.
That means your (and others) endeavors are absolutely crucial. Dont let hopelessness sabotage your
efforts - as Vandana Shiva says, the uncertainty of
our times is no reason to be certain about hopelessness.
But I dont have the right qualifications
If you dont do it, who else will? It matters not that
you dont have certain qualifications, or years of
experience in gardening or planning. Whats important is that you care about where you live, that
you see the need to act, and that you are open to
new ways of engaging people. If there was to be
a job description for someone to start this process
rolling it might list the qualities of that person as
being: positive, good with people, having a basic
knowledge of the place and of the key people in
the town.
Remember that you are going to design your own
demise into the process (see Step 1 below). Your
role at this stage is like a gardener preparing the
soil for the ensuing garden, which you may or may
not be around to see.

www.transitionus.org

But I dont have the energy for doing this...

As the quote often ascribed to Goethe says,
Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it! The
experience of beginning a Transition Initiative
certainly shows this to be the case. While the idea
of preparing your town (or city, region, county,
or state) for life beyond oil may seem staggering
in its implications, something about the energy
unleashed by the Transition Initiative process is
unstoppable. You may feel overwhelmed by the
prospect of all the work and complexity, but you
will find that people will come forward to help.
Many Transition Initiatives have commented
on the serendipity of the process, how the right
people appear at the right time. Something about
seizing that boldness, about making the leap
from why is no-one doing anything to lets do
something that generates the energy to keep it all
moving. Developing environmental initiatives can
seem like pushing a broken down car up a hill - a
hard and unrewarding slog. Transition is like coming down the other side the car starts moving
faster than you can keep up with it, accelerating all
the time. Once you give it the push from the top of
the hill it will develop its own momentum. Thats
not to say it isnt hard work sometimes, but it is
almost always a pleasure.

Page 15

So you have learned a little (or a lot) about the challenges and
opportunities of our times, and you want to start a Transition
Initiative in your community. Congratulations, you are embarking
on a truly critical and exciting path. Below you will learn about
how simple it is to apply for your official status. Many initiatives
have told us that they cherish their formal status, and are very
proud of having reached that point. By registering with Transition
US you are also playing a critical role in allowing us to paint an
accurate picture of the movement.

Becoming a Transition Initiative

Transition initiatives on all scales (other than
national ones) typically go through a succession of
stages, as follows.
The Initial Stage: typically, a group of people start
to meet each other, start to discuss the Transition
concept, and begin the process of enthusing each
other to initiate the process.
The Mulling Stage: contact is made with
Transition US and the individuals or groups read
the Transition Handbook and let us know of their
mulling status.
The Official Stage: the mulling stage can last
for a few weeks or for many months, depending
on the group. In order to proceed to formal (aka
official) status you and your team simply need to:

Check out the Transition Initiative Checklist

and review it with your initiating team.

Complete the application which lists the

guidelines and asks for information about the
initiative, as well as checking that the initiative
is in the best possible position to proceed
successfully.

Submit your application by emailing the

completed form to info@transitionus.org

Page 16

Criteria
Weve established a draft set of criteria that
tells us how ready a community is to embark on
this journey to a lower-energy future. If youre
thinking of adopting the Transition model for your
community, take a look at this list and make an
honest appraisal of where you are on these points.
If there are any gaps, it should give you something
to focus on while you build the initial energy and
contacts around your Initiative.
These criteria are developing all the time, and
certainly arent written in stone. They are designed
to be as helpful to you as possible.
An understanding of peak oil, climate change
and the economic crisis as drivers (to be
written into your groups constitution or
governing documents)
A group of 4-5 people willing to step into
leadership roles (not just the boundless
enthusiasm of a single person)
At least two people from the core team willing
to attend an initial 2 day training course.
A potentially strong connection to local
government
An initial understanding of the 12 Steps of
Transition

Transition Primer

 A commitment to ask for help when needed

A commitment to regularly update your
Transition Initiative web presence
A commitment to write up something on
the Transition US blog once every couple of
months
A commitment, once youre into the
Transition, for your group to give at least two
presentations to other communities (in the
vicinity) that are considering embarking on
this journey a sort of heres what we did or
heres how it for us talk
A commitment to network with other
communities in Transition
Minimal conflicts of interests in the core team
A commitment to work with Transition US re
grant applications for funding from national
grant giving bodies. Your own local trusts are
yours to deal with as appropriate.

community. It may be that eventually the

numbers of Transitioning communities in
your area warrant some central group to help
provide local support, but this will emerge
over time, rather than be imposed. This point is
in response to the several instances of people
rushing off to transition their entire county/
region rather than their local community.
Finally, we recommend that at least one
person on the core team should have attended
a Permaculture design course. It really does
seem to make a difference
Once you let us know at Transition US that youre
on board with these and ready to set off on your
Transition journey, you open the door to all sorts
of wonderful support, guidance, materials, web
space, training, networking opportunities and
coordinated funding initiatives.

A commitment to strive for inclusivity across

your entire initiative.
A recognition that although your entire county
or district may need to go through transition,
the first place for you to start is in your local

Organizing Your Transition Initiative

Grass-roots, community organizing is really at the heart of getting a
Transition group up-and-running in your community. Be sure to visit the
Transition US Knowledge Hub for tools and inspiration in the following
topic areas:

Getting Started
Diversity
Fundraising
Governance
Group Dynamics

www.transitionus.org

Leadership
Promotion
Structure
Technology
Tools

Page 17

This two-day course is an in-depth experiential introduction

to Transition for those considering bringing Transition to their
community. It is recommended for local communities wishing
to become an internationally-recognized Transition Initiative.

Training For Transition

At the Training for Transition (T4T) course, you will:
Explore how the Transition process increases
community resilience
Receive tools for community outreach,
education and engagement
Learn how to summarize the challenges we
face in ways that move people to positive
action
Understand and know how to work
with obstacles that have prevented our
communities from recognizing and positively
responding to the challenge of energy
transition
Experience ways that local social and economic
community can be created and strengthened
Learn ways of creating a positive, shared vision
for your communitys future
Receive support for becoming a Transition
catalyst in your community
Connect with others who are helping your
region transition to greater stability and
security
Become a part of a rapidly growing positive,
inspirational, global movement!

Page 18

Curriculum:
The course describes how to catalyze, build and
facilitate a successful Transition Initiative. It is
packed with imaginative and inspiring ways to
engage your community, and delves into both the
theory and practice of Transition that has worked
so well in hundreds of communities in the U.S. and
around the world.
The Trainers:
T4T is provided by professional trainers who:
Have successfully completed an officially
recognized training course offered by Transition
US and conducted by Transition UK trainers.
Are actively involved in a local Transition Initiative
Are committed to their own personal change and
growth
Have demonstrated an ability to deliver the
course materials using an interactive model.

Transition Primer

Monterey County, CA 2009

Oklahoma City, OK 2010

Stelle, IL 2009

Twin Cities, MN 2011

Ann Arbor, MI 2009

Hosting A Transition Training

Transition US has developed the following set of guidelines to help individuals and communities
host the 2-day Training for Transition (T4T) course in their locale. These guidelines can be found
online at: www.transitionus.org/training/be-a-host.
T4T Trainers are committed to providing the course in an efficient, cost effective manner with a low
carbon footprint, and an affordable tuition for participants.
If you decide to host an event please note that all official T4T courses are now offered through
Transition US. To host a training please contact: training@transitionus.org

www.transitionus.org

Page 19

Transition US is a nonprofit organization that provides

inspiration, encouragement, support, networking, and training
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.

About Transition US
We believe that we can make the transition to a
more sustainable world. We hope that you will join
us.
Our vision:
Our vision is that every community in the United
States has engaged its collective creativity to
unleash an extraordinary and historic transition
to a future beyond fossil fuels; a future that is
more vibrant, abundant and resilient; one that is
ultimately preferable to the present.
Our Mission:
Transition US inspires, encourages, supports,
networks and trains individuals and their
communities as they consider, adopt, adapt, and
implement the Transition approach to community
empowerment and action.

3. To support the continued development and

delivery of high quality education, training and
consulting in support of the advancement of
the Transition Movement in the United States.
4. To mirror the diversity of the United States
in Transition Initiatives by supporting
Initiatives efforts to include all major cultural
and demographic segments of their local
communities.
5. To achieve financial sustainability for Transition
US and Transition Initiatives in the United
States and build capacity for TUS board and
staff.

Strategic Action Goals:

1. To raise awareness of the need to work
together to build resilience in the face of fossil
fuel depletion, climate change and economic
crises.
2. To support the emergence and growth of
Transition Initiatives and leaders in all regions
of the United States.

Page 20

Transition Primer

Bringing A New World To LIfe

History:
The Transition Network was established in the UK
in late 2006, to support the rapid international
growth of the movement. In 2007, increasing high
levels of interest in the States led to the launch of
Transition US. We were established as a national
support network, in partnership with the Transition
Network so that we could take on the role of
providing co-ordination,
support and training to
Transition Initiatives as they
emerged across the States.
The process of officiating
Transition Initiatives in the
States was also handed over
to Transition US.

In December 2008, Transition US invited the UK

founders of Transition Training, Naresh Giangrande
and Sophy Banks, over to the United States to
give a series of training courses and talks. All
courses were sold out events. One of these was
the inaugural 4-day Train the Trainers course,
in which we selected and trained a team of 21
people who are now facilitating 2-day Training for
Transition courses around the country.

To learn more about Transition US and the movement in general please visit our
website. There is a wealth of resources on the topics covered in this primer and more.
www.transitionus.org

www.transitionus.org

Page 21

Just in case you were under the impression that Transition

is a process defined by people who have all the answers,
you need to be aware of a key fact.
We truly dont know if this will work. Transition is a social
experiment on a massive scale.

Cheerful Disclaimer!
What we are convinced of is this:
If we wait for the governments, itll be too little, too late
If we act as individuals, itll be too little
But, if we act as communities, it might just be enough, just in time.
Everything contained in this primer is the result of real work undertaken in the real world with community
engagement at its heart. This document, just like the Transition model, is brought to you by people who are
actively engaged in Transition in a community. People who are learning by doing - and learning all the time.
People who understand that we cant sit back and wait for someone else to do the work.
People like you.

Page 22

Transition Primer

Never doubt that a small group of

thoughtful, committed citizens can
change the world. Indeed, it is the only
thing that ever has.

Margaret Mead

www.transitionus.org

Page 23

Resilience is the ability of a system or community to withstand

impacts from outside. An indicator is a good way of measuring
that. Conventionally, the principal way of measuring a reducing
carbon footprint is CO2 emissions. However, we firmly believe
that cutting carbon while failing to build resilience is an
insufficient response when youre trying to address multiple
shocks such as peak oil, climate change and the economic crisis
together.

Appendix A:

Community Resilience Indicators

So how might you be able to tell that the resilience
of your community is increasing? Resilience indicators might look at the following:
percentage of food grown locally
amount of local currency in circulation as a
percentage of total money in circulation
number of businesses locally owned

percentage of medicine prescribed locally that

have been produced within a given radius.
amount of 16 year olds able to grow 10 different
varieties of vegetables to a given degree of
competency
percentage of local building materials used in
new housing developments

average commuting distances for workers in the

town
average commuting distance for people living in
the town but working outside it
percentage of energy produced locally
quantity of renewable building materials
proportion of essential goods being
manufactured within the community of within a
given distance
proportion of compostable waste that is
actually composted percentage of local trade
carried out in local currency
ratio of car parking space to productive land use

Resilience is the capacity of a

system to absorb disturbance
and reorganize while
undergoing change, so as to
still retain essentially the same
function, structure, identity,
and feedbacks.
- Rob Hopkins

amount of traffic on local roads

Page 24

Transition Primer

How Resilient Are You?

ARE YOU SELF- AND COMMUNITY-SUFFICIENT?

DO YOU HAVE A SUPPORT NETWORK?

1. I put my savings and investments in community

and regional banks and local institutions.

13. I have friends and acquaintances in my local

community (and I know their faces, not just their
Facebook pages).

2. I buy or barter the goods and services I need

from local merchants, organizations, or
individuals.
3. I make my income from my local economy.
4. I know how to fix, grow, build, or create things
(such as repair a roof, grow kale, give a guitar
lesson) that others would want in good times
and hard times.

14. I am comfortable asking my neighbors if I can

borrow stuff (e.g., tools, ingredients).
15. I could easily call on nearby friends and
neighbors for help in an emergency.
16. I offer support to people in my community
when they need help.

5. I have an alternative source of livelihood that

could sustain me (and my family) if my current
source were no longer viable.

17. Im active in community groups (like

neighborhood associations, potlucks,
churches, soup kitchens, gardening clubs, arts
organizations, or local political groups).

6. I consume locally grown food that I could afford

even if prices went up substantially (e.g., from a
food co-op, backyard garden).

DO YOU HAVE SOURCES OF PERSONAL

RESILIENCE?

7. I know how to preserve food and keep a wellstocked pantry.

18. I sing, dance, paint, or otherwise participate in

arts or creative work on a regular basis.

8. I have access to sources of water, even when

the weather is unpredictable or the tap water
doesnt work (such as a rainwater tank or a
reliable well).

19. I regularly engage in activities that help me stay

calm and balanced (such as meditation, exercise,
prayer, or spending time in nature).

9. I have ways to get around, even if the gas at the

pump is unavailable or pricey (such as feet, bike,
electric car).
10. I have alternative heat and energy sources (such
as solar panels or a wood stove) if the power
goes out or utilities get expensive.
11. I actively promote the development of
renewable energy in my local community.
12. I have a hopeful vision of what my community
and life can look like in a future without fossil
fuels.

www.transitionus.org

20. I take care of my health, such as through regular

exercise, a healthy diet, and an appropriate
amount of sleep.

This article was written by YES! Magazine staff

for the Fall 2010 issue, A Resilient Community.
It is being republished here with permission.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/a-resilientcommunity/how-resilient-are-you

Page 25

Peak Oil is about the end of cheap and plentiful oil. It

recognizes that the ever increasing volumes of oil being
pumped into our economies will peak and then inexorably
decline. Its about understanding how our industrial way of life
is absolutely dependent on an ever-increasing supply of cheap
oil and making the adjustments that will be necessary as oil
becomes ever more difficult and expensive to obtain.

Appendix B:

A Closer Look At Peak Oil

Peak Oil is not about running out of oil; its about
running out of cheap oil. There will always be
oil left in the ground because its either too hard
to reach, or it takes too much energy to extract.
Regardless of how much money can be made selling oil, once it takes more than an oil barrels worth
of energy to extract a barrel of oil, the exploration,
the drilling and the pumping will grind to a halt.
From the start of the 1900s, plentiful oil allowed
an industrialized society to massively accelerate its
development. Ever since it was first discovered,
there has been more and more oil available (apart
from two oil shocks in the 1970s when Middle East
crises caused worldwide recessions), and each year,
industrial society has increased its complexity, its
mechanization, its globalized connectedness and
its energy consumption levels.
The problems start when around half of the recoverable oil has been extracted. At this point, the oil
gets more expensive (in cash and energy terms) to
extract, is slower flowing and of a lower quality. For
the first time in history, we are not able to increase
the amount of oil thats coming out of the ground,
being refined and reaching the market. The result
is that oil supply plateaus and then declines, with
massive ramifications for industrialized societies.
As we go into energy decline, we will have decreasing amounts of oil to fuel our industrialized way of
life.

Page 26

The situation can be summarized as follows:

Of all the fossil fuels, oil is uniquely energy
dense and easy to transport.
Ever-increasing amounts of oil have fuelled the
growth of industrial economies.
The key elements of industrial societies
- transportation, manufacturing, food
production, medical equipment and drugs,
home heating, construction - are all reliant on
oil.
The consistent pattern to the rate of extraction
of oil, whether from individual fields, oil
regions, countries or the entire planet
demonstrates that the first half of the oil is easy
to extract and high quality. But once about
half the recoverable oil has been pumped out,
further extraction gets more expensive, slower,
more energy intensive and the oil is of a lower
quality.
The pattern means that the flow of oil to the
market, which has been steadily increasing
over the past 150 years, will peak. After
that, every successive year will see an everdiminishing flow of oil, as well as an increasing
risk of interruptions to supply.

Transition Primer

 A growing body of independent oil experts

and oil geologists have calculated that the
peak will occur between 2006 and 2012 (a
few years of hindsight is required in order to
confirm the peaking point). Many say that it is
happening now.
Technological advances in oil extraction and
prospecting will have only a minor effect on
depletion rates. As an example, when the US
hit its oil production peak in 1972, the rate of
depletion over the next decades was high,
despite a significant wave of technological
innovations.
To understand the degree to which Peak Oil will affect the industrial world, here is the opening paragraph of an executive summary of a report prepared for the US government in 2005 by an agency
of experts in risk management and oil analysis:
The peaking of world oil production presents the
U.S. and the world with an unprecedented risk
management problem. As peaking is approached,
liquid fuel prices and price volatility will increase
dramatically, and, without timely mitigation, the
economic, social, and political costs will be unprecedented. Viable mitigation options exist on both
the supply and demand sides, but to have substantial impact, they must be initiated more than a
decade in advance of peaking.
Peaking of World Oil Production: Impacts, Mitigation
& Risk Management. Robert L. Hirsch, SAIC

www.transitionus.org

According to Jeremy Gilbert, former Chief Petroleum Engineer at BP, in May 2007: I expect to see a
peak sometime before 2015 and decline rates at
4-8% per year.
The opening paragraph of the Peak Oil Report produced by Portland, Oregon (population 550,000)
explains their concerns:
In the past few years, powerful evidence has
emerged that casts doubt on that assumption [that
oil and natural gas will remain plentiful and affordable] and suggests that global production of both
oil and natural gas is likely to reach its historic peak
soon. This phenomenon is referred to as Peak Oil.
Given both the continuous rise in global demand
for these products and the fundamental role they
play in all levels of social, economic and geopolitical activities, the consequences of such an event
are enormous.
Portland has incorporated the Oil Depletion Protocol in its targets, aiming to reduce its oil and gas
consumption by 2.6% per year, reaching a 25%
reduction by 2020.
Apart from a few notable exceptions, national and
local leaders are not stepping up to address Peak
Oil problems in any meaningful way. If the political
leaders arent going to fix the problem, who is? Its
going to be up to us in our local communities to
step up into leadership positions.

Page 27

An understanding of exponential curves.is critical to

fully grasping the perdictiment we are facing. The
following is exerpted from Chris Martensens Crash
Course.

Appendix C:

Intro to Exponential Growth

In the Crash Course, we will learn a few foundational Key Concepts. None are more important
than exponential growth. Understanding this will
greatly enhance our chances to form a better
future.
Heres a classic chart displaying exponential
growth a chart pattern that is often called a
hockey stick. We are charting an amount of
something over time. The only requirement for a
graph to end up looking like this is that the thing
being measured grows by some percentage
over each increment of time.
The slower the percentage rate of growth, the
greater the length of time wed need to chart in
order to visually see this hockey stick shape.
Another thing I want you to take away from this
chart is that once an exponential function turns
the corner, even though the percentage rate
of growth might remain constant and possibly
quite low, the amounts do not. They pile up
faster and faster.
In this particular case, you are looking at a chart
of something that historically grew at less than
1% per year. It is world population, and because it is only growing at roughly 1% per year,
we need to look at several thousands of years
to detect this hockey stick shape. The green
is history and the red is the most recent UN

Page 28

projection of population growth for just the next

42 years.
Certainly by now, math-minded folks might be
starting to get a little uncomfortable here, because they might feel that I am not presenting
this information in a classical or even accurate
way.
Where mathematicians have been trained to
define exponential growth in terms of the rate of
change, we are going to focus on the amount
of change. Both are valid; its just one way is
easier to express as a formula and the other is
easier for most people to intuitively grasp.
Unlike the rate of change, the amount of
change is not constant; it grows larger and
larger with every passing unit of time, and thats
why it is more important for us to appreciate
than the rate. This is such an important concept
that I will dedicate the next chapter to illustrating it.
Also, mathematicians would say that there is no
turn the corner stage of an exponential chart,
because this is just an artifact of where we draw
the left hand scale. That is, an exponential chart
always looks like a hockey stick at every moment in time, as long as we adjust the left axis
properly.

Transition Primer

But if you know the limits, or boundaries, of

what you are measuring, then you can fix the
left axis, and the turn the corner stage is absolutely real and vitally important.
This is a crucial distinction, and our future depends on more of us appreciating this.
For example, the total carrying capacity of the
earth for humans is thought to be somewhere in
this zone, give or take a few billion. Because of
this, the turn the corner stage is very real, of
immense importance to us, and not an artifact
of graphical trickery.
The critical take-away for exponential functions,
the one thing I want you to recall, relates to the
concept of speeding up.
You can think of the key feature of exponential
growth either as the AMOUNT that is added
growing larger over each additional unit of time,
oryou can think of it as the TIME shrinking
between each additional unit of amount added.
Either way, the theme is speeding up.
To illustrate this using population: If we started
with 1 million people and set the growth rate to
a measly 1% per year, wed find that it would
take 694 years before we achieved a billion
people. But wed be at 2 billion people after only
100 more years, while the third billion would
require just 41 more years. Then 29 years,
then 22, and then finally only 18 years to add
another, to bring us to 6 billion people. That is,
each additional billion people took a shorter and
shorter amount of time to achieve. Here we can
see the theme of speeding up.
This next chart is of oil consumption, perhaps
the most important resource of them all, which
has been growing at the much faster rate of
nearly 3% per year. So we can detect the hockey-stick shape over the course of just one hundred and fifty years. And here, too, we can fix
the left axis, because we know with reasonable
accuracy how much oil the world can maximally
produce. So, again, having turned the corner
is extremely relevant and important to us.
And heres the US money supply, which has
been compounding at incredible rates, ranging
between 5% and 18% per year. So this chart
www.transitionus.org

only needs to be a few decades long to see the

hockey stick effect.
And heres world-wide water use, species
extinction, fisheries exploited, and forest cover
lost. Each one of these is a finite resource, as
are many other critical resources, and quite a
few are approaching their limits.
And here is the world you live in. If it seems like
the pace of change is speeding up, well, thats
because it is. You happen to live at a time when
humans will finally have to confront the fact that
our exponential money system and resource
use will encounter hard, physical limits.
And behind all of this, driving every bit of every
graph is the number of people on the surface of
the planet.
Taken one at a time, any one of these charts
could command the full attention of every
earnest person on the face of the planet, but
we need to understand that they are, in fact, all
related and connected. They are all compound
graphs, and they are being driven by compounding forces.
To try and solve one, youd need to understand
how it relates to the other ones that you see, as
well as others not displayed here, because they
all intersect and overlap.
The fact that you live
here, in the presence
of multiple exponential
graphs relating to everything from money to
population to species
extinction, has powerful
implications for your life
and the lives of those
who will follow you.
It deserves your very
highest attention.

Learn more at:

http://www.chrismartenson.com/crashcourse

Page 29

245 Kentucky Street, Suite C

Petaluma, CA 94952
+1.707.763.1100
www.transitionus.org