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There's a certain despair about food and energy issues these days. Politicians and GMO advocates lament the impossibility of “feeding the world” without large-scale, scientifically designed systems. We hear about the pitfalls of alternative energy, from the inefficiencies of biofuels to the inadequacies of wind and solar.
But what if the true solution to a sustainable planet starts on the local level – one piece at a time, town by town, and small-scale. Too idealistic? Rob Hopkins doesn't think so. The permaculture expert has started the “Transition Town Totnes” movement, starting with 26 communities in the UK. His goal is to build resilience in each town, teaching people how to be fairly self-sufficient in all aspects of their lives including feeding themselves.
Part of that plan includes planting carbon-consuming fruit trees all over town that also provide community food. Not only is he teaching communities how to fend for themselves, but he's introduced the Totnes pound, a local currency that has been in circulation for a year. That seems extreme, but so does the prospect of post-peak oil life.
Hopkins is inspired by victory gardens of WWII which provided loads of food for the US during war, and he sees his local solutions as innovative and inspiring alternatives to gloom-and-doom projections of the future. So far, 400 other communities worldwide have signed on for town transitioning.
Source: Transition Brighton & Hove, Yes! Magazine
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