Why do we need Transition Towns? Here are a few reasons.  

Consumption

The number one issue we are facing here in Australia is consumption - or more to the point over-consumption. We are just consuming too much; too much fuel, too much energy, too much food, too much land, too much water. We burn too much fossil fuel and now we've affected the global weather patterns, we rely too much on oil and now that is running out and we're going to be stuck. We must urgently change the way we live. Reducing consumption doesn't mean living in a cave in the dark, freezing in winter and being hungry. Many people do live within the natural limits of their environment. We don't. We have a choice - either we make dramatic urgent adjustments to the way we live or the planet will make a catastrophic adjustment - and that won't be good.  

Peak Oil

The term 'Peak Oil' was first used by geologist M K Hubbert in the 1950's. Just as each individual oil field is discovered, the oil extracted, maximum rate of extraction is reached, supply from that field declines and ultimately the field is abandoned, so too does this occur with entire continents and now globally. Peak Oil is the peak point of oil extraction and refining, or in other words, the half way point of the world's oil supply. Hubbert correctly predicted that the US would reach peak oil in the early 1970's.

Peak Oil is when oil production is at its highest. There will always be oil in the ground, it will just become increasingly difficult and economically unviable to extract it. The energy needed to get it out of the ground will outweight the profit to be made. Pressure in oil well makes extraction easier - thereby making it more cost effectively, the process uses less energy. But when that pressure slows it become unviable to keep that well going. 

After 150 years of the industrialised era, the end of cheap oil is looming. We're on the downhill run and oil will become harder to find, and more difficult and more expensive to extract from deep within the Earth and below the ocean's floor and this poorer quality oil will require more energy (oil) to process and refine. The sooner and more thoroughly we prepare for peak oil the better our future will be.

While experts debate exactly when peak oil will or has happened, there is little denial that peak oil is a reality and will have catastrophic consequences on our way of life if we do not prepare appropriately. Our society is dependant on this cheap oil, our infrastructure, our food supply, our economy, our employment... in fact our very existence is dependant on the assumption of an endless supply of oil - but we must come to terms very quickly with the fact that this will soon change. How we descend down the slippery side of oil decline is up to us. Will it lead to social breakdown or social breakthrough? To learn more about peak oil, view this flash presentation from the UK...
Peak Oil Flash presentation  

Dr Colin J Campbell's definition of peak oil;
"The term Peak Oil refers to the maximum rate of the production of oil in any area under consideration, recognising that it is a finite natural resource, subject to depletion."

Climate change is accelerated changes to global climate patterns as a direct result of human action releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels and land use issues. The Earth's atmosphere is being thickened by the burning of fossil fuels and carbon emissions. The thickened atmosphere does not allow heat to escape, thereby increasing the temperature of the planet and leading to positive feedback cycles of glacial melting, rising sea levels, ocean warming, changes in weather patterns, and unpredictable and devastating weather events such as drought, out of season cyclones, and causing further increases in temperature. The global climate system has already begun changing and experts say we have only a few years to keep the degree of temperature increase to a minimum and avoid catastrophic global devastation, but we must act now!

Transition Towns, Permaculture, Peak Oil & Climate Change

More than just food production, Permaculture was created by Australians David Holmgren and Bill Mollison as a direct response to the 1970's US oil shocks. Recognising that society's over-dependance on oil was unsustainable, the concept of Permaculture offers us a very clear, proven vision of preparedness, adaptation and social reorganisation in the face of the convergent global crises of peak oil and climate change.

Permaculture is the study of integrated systems that ensures better design and better living. It's about creating intricately connected, productive, co-operative communities. Permaculture is conscious, sustainable design - whether designing a food garden in your own backyard or an entire regional community.

While well known and widely practiced as a food production system, few people are aware that Permaculture's principles can be applied to all areas of society as a reorganisational plan for energy descent including; the built environment, education, health, land stewardship, community governance, finances, economics, employment, culture and community.

Transition Towns come directly from permaculture principles and ethics.

Energy Descent Action Planning - the EDAP

An EDAP is a local plan for dealing with Peak Oil. It goes well beyond issues of energy supply, to look at across-the-board creative adaptations in the realms of health, education, economy and much more. An EDAP is a way to think ahead, to plan in an integrated, multidisciplinary way, to provide direction to local government, decision makers, groups and individuals with an interest in making the place they live into a vibrant and viable community in a post-carbon era after Peak Oil. Many thanks to Adam from the Eat the Suburbs website in Victoria for this definition. The world's first EDAP was in Kinsale Ireland. The Sunshine Coast Energy Descent Action Plan will be generated by students of the Time for an Oil Change course and through extensive consultation with the community and council.