Transition is an invitation to really explore the kind of world you do want to live in.  This is often referred to as Visioning and it is a fundamental part of Transition.  Is it possible move forwards or provide alternatives if we have no idea what we are aiming for?   

The Transition idea recognises that by collectively and appropriately addressing challenges such as climate change and peak oil, we can create ways of living that are more connected and more enriching than the present.  In the early days of Transition Town Totnes, a lot of time was spent exploring what a 'post Transition' world might look like - well before most of the projects we now see got underway.

This positive vision of the future runs through all our projects but there are two that really focus on this theme.   

Transition Tales - Taking Transition into schools and beyond; unearthing the cultural myths of our times and co-creating new stories for a better future.

Recognising the lack of positive and helpful stories in our modern culture, Transition Tales sets out to explore and develop new ones that are better up to the task of helping us move forwards to a sustainable way of living.  Originally working in schools and now applied more universally, this has proved to be an inspring and engaging way to introduce the Transition idea.   1000 KEVICCs (Totnes' comprehensive school) students have now been involved and practitioners have been trained across the Transition Network.

Energy Descent Pathways – Its 2030 and we have made a successful Transition.  What does Totnes and District look like?  How do things work?  We took a snapshot of the future from the answers the community came up with. 

And if that’s what we want, how are we going to get there?  We then constructed a timeline from 2030 back to the present day, identifying what we need to have in place and when.  This was a big piece of work that brought together all groups working across Transition Town Totnes and it provides some useful pointers to the years ahead.  Its all documented in 'Transition in Action: an Energy Descent Action Plan’ - the first detailed community plan of its kind.  

Want more?  A need for new stories and some future scenarios.  Why Transition? workshop