We’re making the transition (From Gazette & Herald)

We’re making the transition

3:04pm Thursday 23rd April 2009

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ENVIRONMENTALISTS have been predicting it for decades, and it could soon be a very real truth, that in the next 20 years or so, oil and natural gas may run out and communities will need to become more self-sustainable.

It is with this in mind that a movement has developed during the last decade to make towns think in this way.

The Transition Towns, as they are known, started life in Totnes, Devon, when a group of individuals got together to look at how communities could focus on looking at the way they would have to live without such commodities, focusing on areas such as climate change, the local economy, transport, health, food and waste and recycling, even the arts, producing all of these things as close to home as possible.

These are similar sentiments to those that a group of residents in Kirkbymoorside took to their hearts, independently, back in 2004, when Kirkbymoorside Environmental Group was set up. This was around the same time that the Transition Towns movement started to take off, and which has now spread globally, as far away as Japan and Australia.

The Kirkbymoorside group heard about this movement and assessed the criteria involved in becoming a Transition Town, and has since worked towards making this Ryedale town look at plausible ways of becoming self-sustainable.

After a lot of hard work, during which time they have not only secured the necessary objectives, but run community awareness events, such as a Town Feast last October, for which people contributed dishes made with local produce, and a tea and scones afternoon in the school, when older residents came to talk to the children about how food was different when they were younger, they gained their official Transition Town status at the end of January.

Naresh Giangrande, co-founder of Transition Town in Totnes, said: “I am really encouraged that Transition has taken off in Kirkbymoorside, and really encouraged that Transition is happening in all the places in the world that it is happening.

“It gives me hope that we can make the scale of change that is necessary to envision, plan, and create an environmentally sustainable culture. “Kirkbymoorside is one small place and one small part of a much wider picture that has become the Transition movement.

“It is a movement of people who care about our future and our children’s future, and want a world for them to live in that is both abundant and where they can make a good life.

“Every time I meet people who are hard at work on this journey to a sustainable future I am filled with gratitude and awe at how many people care and are willing to dedicate themselves to making a future for our children and our children’s children.”

To celebrate this new Transition Town status, Kirkbymoorside Environmental Group is hosting a Springboarding Day at the Memorial Hall on Saturday from 10am.

“It will be a diverse programme of events,” said Stephanie Sanderson, spokesperson for the Kirkbymoorside Transition Town group.

“We’d like to get plenty of people to come along.”

The day will involve giving information and displays outlining what it means to be a Transition Town.

This includes information on local food produce, energy and Bioflow, permaculture, cake and plant stalls, education, composting, transport, recycling, bat preservation and Morsbags.

At various points throughout the day, there will be further activities, such as story-making for children, a children’s singing performance, photographs of old Kirkbymoorside, community-supported agriculture discussions and talks in the ‘dugout’ on such issues and environmental and social issues and an introduction to biodigesters, plus group planting sessions in the Millennium Garden and music from local indie band, The Koren Affair.

There’s also an African drumming workshop in the afternoon at the Natural Health Centre in Tinlet Garth, and the day’s finale comes courtesy of Kirkbymoorside town traders who are putting on a musical evening featuring Jamside Up, David Swann and the Raindance Drummers.

“We want to get more people involved,” said Stephanie.

“We’d like to see more things happening locally, such as cycle paths, sustaining the market and energy efficiency.”

For further details on Kirkbymoorside Transition Town visit www.kms-environmentgroup.org.uk

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