Transition Coburg: A Year in Review
A little over a year ago I mentioned on this website that I had co-founded Transition Coburg (for an introduction to the Transition Town movement, see here). Below I have provided a snapshot of some of the things we have done since our birth. Most of these activities might seem small in isolation, but if we keep building on these types of things, and more people continue to get involved, then overtime it is possible that we might build a flourishing, inclusive, post-carbon economy from the grassroots up. Best of all, we can have a good time doing it. It will not always be easy, but nothing worth doing ever is.
There have been trials and tribulations. It’s never easy to get people actively involved in the ambitious project building a new type of society / economy, so sometimes numbers have been low. Nevertheless, the main lesson I have learned is that some significant changes can flow from a small group of committed people dreaming large dreams. Remember – in the early 1950s the Civil Rights Movement would have seemed a hopeless cause. Ten years later some unimaginable changes had taken place.
Review of Transition Coburg
We had our first formal meeting (which wasn’t particularly formal) a little over a year ago, and were delighted when Rob Hopkins sent us a personal message of support. We did lots of brainstorming in the first meeting and it’s fantastic to have seen so many of those ideas come to fruition.
Here are the highlights:
Best of all, we’ve been the driving force behind establishing a Coburg Farmers Market, which got underway in April this year. Now our suburb has access to local fruit and veges.
We’ve located and promoted a suppler of local, organic food, called “Local Organics.”
We got together for a Coburgablitz – here’s hoping there’s many more backyard (and front yard) revolutions.
Some of our members are actively involved in our local Community Solar Project.
We organised a “Preserving Day”
There’s been a submission made to the City of Moreland advocating more gardening in nature strips, and there’s even been some Guerrilla Gardening.
We’ve begun asset mapping Coburg.
We’ve shared inspiring stories and we showed “The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil” at Coburg library, and later showed the film “Transition 2.0”.
We participated in the Greening Moreland Forum.
We promoted and some of us attended David Holmgren’s talk “Retrofitting the Suburbs” (a similar talk is available online here and his essay on the subject is freely available here).
We shared information on how to live more simply and use less energy and resources: The Simpler Way: A Practical Action Plan.
We held a visioning Day and Potluck Lunch.
We connected with Peppertree Place community garden, and had a Transition Coburg stall at Peppertree Place Annual Garden Fiesta, where Sallyrose gave a great talk about the Community Solar Project.
We offered a free tree Pruning and Compost Workshop.
We offered one answer to the question: “What is a Transition Town?”
We helped out with a Community Garden and Food Forest Working Bee
We organised for Adam Grubb, founder of the Energy Bulletin, to give a permaculture talk at Peppertree Place.
We helped promote and attended Mellow Music in the Park.
We’ve handed flyers out at several markets or festivals in Coburg, and mail dropped a couple of thousands flyers too.
We’ve also created a Facebook page and twitter account so that we can keep in touch online when we can’t make it to events.
Finally, we’ve collaborated with the Robinson’s Reserve Neighbourhood House in starting a “Makers and Menders” sewing class.
All these events have been motivated by the desire to decarbonise and relocalise the economy. In another post I’ll write more about the problems and potential of the Transition Movement.
