by Katie Liljedahl

As I took my seat with journal in hand at the Transition Town Santa Barbara meeting and watched flocks of people pour in through the door of the Faulkner gallery, I thought about the quote “If you build it, they will come.”  Except in this case the “it” has not been built yet.  In the case of Transition Towns, it is more like “If you create a platform, they will dance.”  If an avenue is created for people to respond to crisis collaboratively and creatively, they will come out of the woodwork, as was evident on this particular Tuesday evening.

People marked the Transition Town Santa Barbara meeting on their calendars, found babysitters, asked for work off, and took the time to come out for all sorts of different reasons. They may have been motivated by concerns over our addiction to cheap fossil fuels, our heating planet, a crumbling economy, and our saturation in consumerism.  Or their motivation could have been more personal.  Maybe they are dissatisfied with their disconnect with nature, yearning for community connection, or looking for an outlet for creativity.  Or their motivation could have been more specific in that they want to learn how to grow organic vegetables, compost their trash, or use a gray water system.

No matter what one’s motivation to attend, all are invited to participate and take ownership of Transition Town.  That is the beauty of Transition.  You don’t have to have the same views, reasons for participating, or visions as anyone else. You don’t have to necessarily know why you are there in the first place.  The only prerequisite for joining is breathing.  If you are human, it pertains to you. 

For anyone who thought they were coming to get spoon fed information or that Transition Town would be a meeting in which activists spit out tirades about Monsanto, Exxon Mobil, and the Neocons would have been surprised to find that the meeting was gentle and light hearted.
 
We were asked to line up in a circle alphabetically and share with our neighbors the answers to questions like “Where is your favorite place to go in Santa Barbara?”  We were also instructed to use our bodies in making a map of Santa Barbara according to where we lived.   These activities initiated conversations and had people connecting on different levels. The seeds of community were being planted.

When we took our seats, Eric, one of the seed committee members, gave a brief presentation on climate change and peak oil. Although factual and not emotional, the statistics Eric shared were daunting enough to evoke some of those doomsday feelings that I struggle with as I read more and more about our planetary crisis and our upcoming weaning off our most coveted and craved drug- oil.

Eric spoke about the global average surface temperature rising, Antarctica melting, and our 1,000 % increase on oil dependent fertilizer.  Eric shared that 86% of our water in California goes to agriculture.  I have been thinking more and more about water lately. Where does it come from? Where does it go?  Why do we pour it on our lawns to make them grow and then mow our lawns to make them short? It is an understatement to say we take this precious liquid for granted.  I haven’t traveled far, but I know somewhere deep inside of me- maybe somewhere where my consciousness connects with humanity’s- that people in this world cherish each droplet in a way that I could never imagine.
 
The most poignant part of Eric’s presentation was not his facts and figures, but his slide show of our most treasured places in Santa Barbara.  I moved to Santa Barbara from Connecticut, and I know that no matter how tough times get,  I will be able to comfort myself by heading out to Douglas Reserve and joyously shouting to myself, “I LIVE here!”  The fact that I don’t go on vacations does not bother me because I get the jaw dropping Santa Barbara beauty every day of my life. I could fall to my knees in prostration with the gratitude I feel for ending up in this place.

Eric then showed a map of the coastline of Santa Barbara. The next slide showed what would become of the Santa Barbara coastline if the ice caps continue to melt.  Santa Barbara was under water.  That is when something inside of me said, “No! Not my home!” 
We in Santa Barbara love our land.  Our land is a place we connect with, honor, explore, gain wisdom, teach our children, learn to be still, embrace the now, reconnect with our child like selves, vision, dream, let go, laugh, pray, cry, meditate, practice yoga, find hidden hot springs, jump in frigid lagoons, let our dogs free, build sandcastles, draw elaborate chalk designs, dance and stomp filled with solstice energy, skateboard, crack confetti filled eggs on our friends heads, and leave behind as we take flight on a surfboard and paddle out to the open sea.

Mark, another member of the seed committee spoke next.  Mark’s main message was “Transition is fun!”  Transition Town is not a bitch fest where we all sit around and talk about sticking it to the man.  Transition is about taking ownership of our community, our land, our food, and our future.  This means that we are all active in building Transition.  Because we do not yet know how each member will be activated and contribute, we do not yet know what Transition will look like.  We build the ship while we sail it.  This means that while it is important to stay knowledgeable about our circumstances, it is essential to also see the opportunity that exists within crisis.

Cat spoke about what Transition is NOT?  Everyone may be accepted, invited, and honored but not all mechanisms for change are part of the Transition Town model.  Transition Town is not an advocacy group, a non profit, a theory, an umbrella organization, or a parent organization to other groups.  Transition Town does not have a political agenda.  So what is it?

Transition Town started in Totnes England and has grown worldwide.  There are over 900 cities part of the movement and 150 official initiatives.  Transition Town is more an attitude than an organization.  The attitude is both a somber honoring of the emotions associated with accepting our current reality, as well as a celebratory out pouring of joy at the opportunity to create a new way of being, relating, and experiencing.  The mission of a Transition Town is to create an avenue in which “the collective genius of our community is unleashed and we transition to a thriving and resilient local community that is not dependent on oil or any other finite resource.”
 
Transition Town acknowledges the whole person and, therefore, it addresses and includes everything from meditation to socially responsible banking. I have noticed, however, that there is one topic that people are most ready to talk about, explore, and celebrate.  That topic is ... FOOD. 

Food was a lively and hot topic for the attendees of this meeting.   People talked about seed exchanges, the food security conference, the new documentary The Garden, and one woman joyfully burst out, “We could have fruit trees lining our streets!”  Community and food is an excellent recipe for ideas, creation, and excitement.  This is why the next Transition Town Santa Barbara meeting will be a potluck picnic. 

The first seeds have been planted when it comes to Transition Town Santa Barbara.  Now we not only work to bring about growth, we celebrate each stage of creation.  We do it for our children, we do it for ourselves, we do it for our community, and we do it for our aching to be more human, more alive, more in tune with the precious and beloved land we call Santa Barbara. 

Check out more about Transition Town Santa Barbara by going to http://transitioncalifornia.ning.com/group/transitionsantabarbara

We highly recommend you check out Rob Hopkins’ The Transition Handbook, a tool for initiating the Transition process. For a Transition PORTAL please visit:
http://www.hopedance.org/cms/content/view/535/1

For all things local in Santa Barbara, please visit www.sblocal.org .

Katie Liljedahl is grateful for her fiance, her dogs, Santa Barbara weather, pioneers in reconnection with the planet such as Joanna Macy, and her sangha community at the Mahakankala Buddhist Center.  She documents the many moods, emotions, and experiences that accompany this transition and is grateful to share them with the community.  You can send comments to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .