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Transition Network’s ‘Who We Are and What We Do’ Document Available
Transition Culture

It has been along time in gestation, and we posted the text version of this a while ago, but we are delighted to present, in pdf. format, Version 1.0 of the Transition Network’s ‘Who We Are and What We Do’ document, lovingly designed by the good folks at MooreBlackett. It was produced through several rounds of public meetings, the online forum, and with the input of many of you. We are rather pleased with it as a document that captures what Transition Network is all about. You can download a high resolution version here, or a low resolution version here. There will be some printed copies soon, contact Transition Network for details. We hope you find it useful and please do distribute it widely.

(5 February 2009)

Adapting In Place: Whether, Why and Wherefore Ought Thou
Sharon Astyk, The Oil Drum: Campfire
Note: This is the first in what will hopefully be a series of essays about the issues involved in adapting to the Long Emergency without picking up and moving to the New Urbanist dream city or a Farm in the Country.

Adapting In Place: Whether, Why and Wherefore Ought Thou

The first question to ask is whether we should take in-place Adaptation seriously at all. Shouldn’t we, ideally, try and choose the best possible place to deal with the coming crisis? Some analysts suggest we will have to have vast population migrations out of suburbia, say, to more densely packed and walkable cities, while others propose re-ruralization. My suspicion is that both of these will probably occur to some degree – but that the progression will be intermittent, not very well organized. And plenty of people will stay in place, either in their homes and apartments, or will settle in property known to them, owned or rented by family or close friends.

Why will they stay? Well, for millions of people who own a home, but aren’t in immediate danger of foreclosure, the option of selling, even if they are not “underwater” is problematic – with home sales at historic lows, most of us will be staying put, if we don’t lose or abandon our properties. They can’t afford to change jobs, because they will lose seniority and potentially get the axe. They can’t afford the additional costs of moving, buying a new property or paying first, last and security.

And if they do move? Some of us will migrate, but a lot of us have compelling reasons to live where we do – community, culture, and family. What most of us will probably do in dire circumstances is simply consolidate resources with people we can trust – we’ll take in boarders or move in with family or friends. In tough times, we are likely to need family and community more – thus staying close to elderly parents or grandparents who can help with childcare while parents look for work becomes more urgent.
(5 February 2009)

Buried treasure: Vermonters rediscover root cellars
Gordon Dritschilo, Barre Montpelier (Vermont) Times Argus
... While Chesnut-Tangerman lives at the end of a sparsely populated road in Middletown Springs and Tashie lives near downtown Rutland, both are among the many Vermonters who are finding ways to put root cellars in their homes and eat produce from their gardens through the winter.

Maintaining the right mix of temperature and humidity allows a gardener to preserve several types of vegetables until the next planting season. The technique is anything but new, though Tashie says she came to it only about three years ago.

"When we moved here, we made a really evolving effort to grow as much of our own food as possible," she says. "Given that we live in a fairly small urban plot, the root cellaring evolved out of necessity."

Others apparently share her interest.

Richard Czaplinski, who has used a root cellar for decades at his home in East Montpelier in the hamlet of Adamant, says he is putting together a publication on root cellaring and other food storage techniques for the members of a local sustainability network.
(8 February 2009)
EB contributor Carl Etnier writes:
On the front page of the Sunday Magazine section, with large lovely pictures of cellared carrots and beets.