Bringing the transition to Glasgow

The Transition Town movement has been growing for a number of years now, but surprisingly in the west of Glasgow, there doesn't seem to have been as much activity in de-carbonising our society as there has been in the east and south of the city.

So I was pleased to be invited to a meeting to discuss how westenders could work together and develop plans to shift our communities away from oil based economics and look towards making small changes in our lives that are much more sustainable, and in the long term, will deliver real benefits.

One of the biggest themes to come out of the discussion was that of community apathy. Many people feel there is no point in trying to start up transition movements, that people aren't interested in doing anything within their communities, because they feel that there's no point, that communities don't have the power to create the community they want to live in.

This might be the case in some areas, but you just have to see the growth of community involvement groups to see that when people start meeting, discussing and working together, a dedicated group can deliver real benefits to their communities.

And there is a growing trend, from community owned renewable energy systems, to Glasgow's Friends of Parks groups, and active residents associations. But often for these group's to achieve their goals they need funding, and too often their valuable time is spent applying to all sorts of organisations to get grants for individual projects within the community. A more sustainable approach would be to create a community investment bank that could guarantee funding for local community groups; It would give communities much more confidence in what they can achieve by working together, and would help reduce the apathy that is present in communities all over the country.

As for the west end transition movement, we'll have to wait and see. But as more and more communities are made aware of Peak Oil and our dwindling resources, the more communities will become interested. We just have to make sure local authorities and governments are willing to give them the support they need to build strong, resilient communities throughout Scotland.