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Written by Francis Scudellari
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Friday, 16 October 2009 21:02 |
By Christine Wellman
You just met Dr. Who and he has given you an opportunity to join him in the TARDIS for a journey to the year 2025. What will Rogers Park be like?
Where will the food we eat come from? Will we still be buying it from chain grocery stores? What will be the state of public transportation? Will cars be as numerous? Will they be mostly gasoline powered or hybrids? Will more people be riding bikes?
Will there by more retail stores in Rogers Park? What will they be selling? What sort of services will be available? Will there be community gardens? What sources of energy will people use to power and heat their homes and businesses? What jobs will people have? Will they commute to those jobs or work in Rogers Park?
These are the questions being asked by Transition Rogers Park, a community group focused on building a sustainable future for Rogers Park. Transition Rogers Park is part of the Transition Town Initiative, a grassroots effort to address the opportunities and challenges posed by peak oil, climate change and the economy.
The Transition Town Initiative originated in Kinsale, Ireland and the work of Rob Hopkins, a permaculture designer. Hopkins worked with students from the Kinsale Further Education College in developing an “Energy Descent Plan” for a sustainable future in Kinsale. The plan was adopted by the town councilors. Hopkins moved to Totnes, England and further refined the concept of a Transition Town during 2005.
The Initiative has gone global, with Transition Towns found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Italy, Chile and the United States with more on the way. The US is the home of 42 Transition Initiatives in 17 states. Each Initiative develops a vision of a sustainable future for their community and then develops and executes an energy descent plan to reach that future.
Transition Rogers Park was formed by Pamela Richart and Cynthia Kasper in early 2009. The group was built through outreach sessions in the spring and participated in a visioning workshop on June 20, 2009. The workshop resulted in the creation of small teams focused on Food, Local Commerce, Transportation, Reskilling, and the Heart and Soul of changing our thinking about consumption.
Each team developed a vision of what they believe the future looks like. For example, the Transportation team sees a future with substantially more reliance on public transportation and bicycles. Local Commerce sees a future of local businesses supplying most if not all of Rogers Park’s needs. More work needs to be done before a plan can be developed and executed, but the first steps are being taken.
Transition Rogers Park is at the start of the journey to a sustainable future for our community. Further outreach to the community, coupled with additional development of the existing vision, will be necessary before the energy descent plan can be written and then executed.
The Rogers Park community is known for its diversity, which is an important component in developing a plan that has the necessary depth and breadth. Developing a plan that leads to a sustainable future requires the input of many more segments of the community. Transition Rogers Park will be working on obtaining that input to ensure the plan is workable and can reach the goals set out in it.
Join us at the next Transition Rogers Park meeting on November 5 from 6:30-8:30 PM at the Rogers Park Library at 6907 N. Clark St. For additional information visit Transition Rogers Park at http://www.transitionrogerspark.org or contact Pam Richart at (773) 556-3418. |
