Stroud is a town of about 10,000 people laying on the edge of the Cotswold Hills. It grew in the 19th century because the steep stream valleys provided water-power for wool mills. Now the town functions primarily as a centre for light engineering and small-scale manufacturing, and a provider of services for the surrounding villages. Stroud has five Green councillors and is also home to the headquarters of the renewable energy provider Ecotricity.
Molly, what
exactly is a transition town?
It is a place where the community decides to act in response to climate change, despairing of politicians and other ‘community leaders’. Transition Towns are hoping to set an example to other communities in terms of reducing CO2 emissions and building resilient communities that will deal better with the challenges that climate change and peak oil will inevitably bring.
How exactly did the process of Stroud becoming a transition town start?
It is a natural place for becoming a transition town, given the high level of awareness and wide spread of greenie activities already happening. Much of what we are doing here is about linking up existing projects like community-supported agriculture and local producers to give them a theoretical framework and sense of purpose - and hopefully better support too.
How exactly does the process of becoming a transition town start?
Dave Judd, who had just completed a degree at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth just had to do something! Isn’t that how most of these things happen? Like Aubrey Meyer and his creation of the ‘Contraction and Convergence’ approach for tackling global carbon emissions. You look at your kids, think of the future that is facing them, and get off your arse. Other people followed him and we were away.
Who organised the process, how did people find out about it, and how did people respond?
I did a lot of initial work on the wiki (http://transitiontowns.org/Stroud/Stroud), which spread the message. The rest was word of mouth, but Stroud has a good local network so that was easier. The harder thing is keeping people active and spreading the message beyond those who are already partly converted.
What happened after the initial awareness raising?
Stroud people seem to be very practical so we are not so interested in meetings and talking - more interested in doing. So the food group is organising practical training in preserving food, the textile group is looking into growing hemp for clothes and organising the sale and display of refurbished clothes, the lifestyles and livelihoods group is investigating restarting the LETS and working with Country Markets to increase local production and distribution, and so on.
What is happening now? Does the town have an energy descent plan?
The energy group is talking about this, but again I think we are more interested in practical projects than setting targets.
It is a place where the community decides to act in response to climate change, despairing of politicians and other ‘community leaders’. Transition Towns are hoping to set an example to other communities in terms of reducing CO2 emissions and building resilient communities that will deal better with the challenges that climate change and peak oil will inevitably bring.
How exactly did the process of Stroud becoming a transition town start?
It is a natural place for becoming a transition town, given the high level of awareness and wide spread of greenie activities already happening. Much of what we are doing here is about linking up existing projects like community-supported agriculture and local producers to give them a theoretical framework and sense of purpose - and hopefully better support too.
How exactly does the process of becoming a transition town start?
Dave Judd, who had just completed a degree at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth just had to do something! Isn’t that how most of these things happen? Like Aubrey Meyer and his creation of the ‘Contraction and Convergence’ approach for tackling global carbon emissions. You look at your kids, think of the future that is facing them, and get off your arse. Other people followed him and we were away.
Who organised the process, how did people find out about it, and how did people respond?
I did a lot of initial work on the wiki (http://transitiontowns.org/Stroud/Stroud), which spread the message. The rest was word of mouth, but Stroud has a good local network so that was easier. The harder thing is keeping people active and spreading the message beyond those who are already partly converted.
What happened after the initial awareness raising?
Stroud people seem to be very practical so we are not so interested in meetings and talking - more interested in doing. So the food group is organising practical training in preserving food, the textile group is looking into growing hemp for clothes and organising the sale and display of refurbished clothes, the lifestyles and livelihoods group is investigating restarting the LETS and working with Country Markets to increase local production and distribution, and so on.
What is happening now? Does the town have an energy descent plan?
The energy group is talking about this, but again I think we are more interested in practical projects than setting targets.
Has Stroud
created its own currency like that other transition town,
Totnes?
We are still thinking this through. The LETS scheme was hugely successful here, so there is a lot of credibility for restarting that. In terms of paper currency we are thinking about barter markets using an alternative currency, rather than a currency that just substitutes at the margin for pounds sterling. Increasing local production is the priority and I’m not sure how a new currency really does that.
How has the local government responded to the initiative?
They are actually very positive. We have five Green councillors on the district council, which helps, and the Transition Stroud group has a Business and Government group which pressures outside the council for what the Green councillors are trying to achieve inside: a useful creative tension.
Has the transition town process made a measurable change in the town’s energy consumption?
We don’t know about this yet. It is the change in mindset that is the most important and you can see that happening all the time. More people are hitching and sharing lifts, others are installing grey-water recycling - and the floods really helped raise awareness there because Stroud lost its water supply for two weeks during the summer. Have you ever faced flushing your toilet with bottled water?
Has the transition town process made any other changes to the town? Has it made the town more resilient?
I think the floods showed us what resilience really means and how a strong community is the most important thing you need in the face of climate change.
How do you see the process unfolding in the near / more distant future?
More on the economics side - but then I would say that wouldn’t I? We are also talking about setting up a diversity or pluriversity, increasing our own and each other’s knowledge and information. And we also need to develop and expand and share the practical skills that exist in the community, whether that is growing vegetables, mending clothes or repairing tools. Our immediate priority is to find a base and then use it to reach out into the wider community. It is better to reduce everybody’s energy consumption by 10% than reducing our own by 80%.
We are still thinking this through. The LETS scheme was hugely successful here, so there is a lot of credibility for restarting that. In terms of paper currency we are thinking about barter markets using an alternative currency, rather than a currency that just substitutes at the margin for pounds sterling. Increasing local production is the priority and I’m not sure how a new currency really does that.
How has the local government responded to the initiative?
They are actually very positive. We have five Green councillors on the district council, which helps, and the Transition Stroud group has a Business and Government group which pressures outside the council for what the Green councillors are trying to achieve inside: a useful creative tension.
Has the transition town process made a measurable change in the town’s energy consumption?
We don’t know about this yet. It is the change in mindset that is the most important and you can see that happening all the time. More people are hitching and sharing lifts, others are installing grey-water recycling - and the floods really helped raise awareness there because Stroud lost its water supply for two weeks during the summer. Have you ever faced flushing your toilet with bottled water?
Has the transition town process made any other changes to the town? Has it made the town more resilient?
I think the floods showed us what resilience really means and how a strong community is the most important thing you need in the face of climate change.
How do you see the process unfolding in the near / more distant future?
More on the economics side - but then I would say that wouldn’t I? We are also talking about setting up a diversity or pluriversity, increasing our own and each other’s knowledge and information. And we also need to develop and expand and share the practical skills that exist in the community, whether that is growing vegetables, mending clothes or repairing tools. Our immediate priority is to find a base and then use it to reach out into the wider community. It is better to reduce everybody’s energy consumption by 10% than reducing our own by 80%.
*Molly will be speaking about alternative currencies to a transition town meeting in Brixton later in November.
You can listen to this interview online at www.greenworld.org.uk and find out more about transition towns at http://transitiontowns.org
