Matt Stewart
Wairarapa proponents of the Transition Town philosophy gathered at REAP House in Masterton yesterday to hear James Samuel, national facilitator of Transition Towns New Zealand/Aotearoa.
The Waiheke Island-based facilitator is regarded as the face of the movement in New Zealand and addressed the gathered on ways of responding to the
twin challenges of peak oil and climate change.
"It's about towns moving from oil dependency to local resilience based on the fact that we are at, or very near, peaking global oil production," Mr Samuel said.
"We have become incredibly dependent on oil as a cheap, abundant energy and dependent on the global economy we bring chopped spinach from Holland to our supermarkets.
"This has all happened in the space of 150 years but we live in a finite world and oil is a finite resource.
"People are relocalising, we're relearning to meet our needs locally and that's going to involve addressing the issues of transport, energy, food, education, housing, health as well as relearning a whole lot of lost skills like growing veges or how do you kill a chook or a pig after you've learnt to keep it alive in the first place," Mr Samuel said.
He also praised the "complimentary currency" that is the Wairarapa Green Dollar Exchange as an example of a locally-based initiative.
When asked if it was too late to save the planet given the West's resource-hungry, pollution-heavy consumer society and the burgeoning threat posed by a rapidly-modernising China, Mr Samuels was sanguine.
"If it was too late I'd have to ask you for a razor blade.
"I don't know, it could be too late but that's not a reason to give up the battle.
"I'd rather be out there lopping off heads than cowering behind a rock."
Mr Samuels was unwilling to pigeonhole himself with any eco-warrior stereotypes describing himself simply as "an ordinary guy who saw there was a need to facilitate the telling of stories between Transition Towns".
He said New Zealand currently has around 40 towns, suburbs, islands and communities using Transition Town localisation initiatives.
Carterton resident Helen Dew organised the event and is part of a steering group to get Carterton, Masterton and Greytown onboard with the sustainable scheme.
