Local, self-sufficient, optimistic: are Transition Towns the way forward?

Locally grown food, community-owned power stations, local currencies ... can small-scale actions make a difference? Yes, according to the Transition network - in fact, it's our only hopeLate last year, Rob Hopkins went to a conference. Most of the delegates were chief executive officers at local authorities, but it was not a public event. Speaking in confidence, three-quarters of these officials admitted that - despite what they say publicly - they could not foresee a return to growth in the near future."One said: 'If we ever get out of this recession, nothing will be as it was in the past,'" Hopkins recalls. "Another said: 'Every generation has had things better than its parents. Not any more.' But the one that stunned me said: 'No civilisation has lasted for ever. There is a very real chance of collapse.'" Continue reading...