A group of
citizens are taking this a step further by working to make Somerville a
Transition Town, a concept that originated in Ireland and is taking
hold around the world.

The main aim of a Transition Town,
organizers say, is to raise awareness of sustainable living and build
local resilience. Communities are encouraged to seek out methods for
reducing energy usage as well as increasing self-reliance, such as
community gardens used to grow food.

"Transition is about
building community to build resiliency and to have more support
systems," said Vanessa Rule, a Somerville resident who helped found
Transition Town Somerville. "Instead of working against something, it's
about creating a better future."

The group of about a dozen
residents has met several times since its inception last spring to
discuss initiatives, create steering groups and work on getting the
word out.

The project began after Rule, also a chairperson of
Somerville Climate Action, attended a workshop on Transition Towns last
November and decided to start the movement here. The group is working
on making Somerville a certified "Transition Town."

Co-organizer
Emily Hardt, who also attended the Transition seminar last fall, said
she was immediately interested in organizing a Somerville group.

"It
has a more positive vision and is very much about envisioning the
future we want and to work collectively to make this a reality," she
said.

Group member Patricia Wild said getting the message out about the dwindling energy without sounding "doomsday" is the challenge.

"It
is a tricky message, but also there's an amazing component of 'let's do
this together,' " Wild said. "A lot of people do think about riding
bikes, taking public transportation, growing their own food and buying
local because there is a kind of hippiness and green flavor to it. But
I don't think that as a community Somerville gets that we have to do
all those kinds of things and more because in 15 years there may not be
any more oil."

Aside from awareness events, Rule said the ultimate goal is to create what she called an "energy descent plan."

"We live in a carbon-contained world," Rule said, "so how do we
continue to grow the community while decreasing our reliance on fossil
fuels, and then develop a plan for that across the community."

"It's
not as if you walk out of the house and smell CO2 and see the threat,"
she added. "When people are dealing with the day-to-day that is
tangible, it's hard for them to see. So for us, the challenge will be
to how to communicate all this, and in ways that go beyond the bar
graph and intellectual argument, to make it more engaging."

Visit http://group.google.com/group/transitionsomerville for updates and meeting information.