Book Review
The Transition Handbook by Rob Hopkins
Many residents of Kinsale and former students of the Further Education College will fondly remember Rob Hopkins who started the Permaculture course at the College and set in motion the chain of events that led to the Transition process both in Kinsale and globally since it has now spread across the planet like a (good) virus.
His book, The Transition Handbook: From oil dependency to local resilience is an invaluable resource for anyone with an interest in Transition Initiatives, whether already involved or with a view to setting up one in their own community. It is neatly divided in three sections: ‘The Head’, ‘The Heart’ and ‘The Hands’.
‘The Head’ looks at the starting point of the process - peak oil and climate change - and it gives a clear outline of each topic without too much fuss and explains why we need to start to prepare our communities for a low carbon, low energy world by relocalising essential services and goods.
‘The Heart’ section examines the power of visioning, something which Kinsale has already done in preparation for its Energy Descent Action Plan, which gets a good mention along with a few photos of TTK projects. This section also explores the psychology of change, how we have become addicted to oil and how we might break that addiction.
Finally, ‘The Hands’ explores the ways to actually set up a Transition Town using the ‘12 Steps of Transition’ which incidentally Kinsale appears to have done backwards! (Read the book to find out.)
The book is written in Rob’s own clear, informal style with great humour, wisdom and inspiration. It offers positive solutions to the greatest challenge of our time. Copies sold like hot cakes at the Spring Fair, but ask your local bookshop to stock it because this is one book that can really be labelled ‘must read’.