Research Paper Focuses on Impact of Transition Putney (VT) on the Putney Community

[paul levasseur]

Margaret Tarmy, Core Member of Transition Putney, recently completed her
Master's Thesis Capstone paper, "With Hope in our Hearts and Our
Neighbors by our Sides: How the Transition Movement is Helping the
People of Putney, Vermont Face the Approach of Peak Oil, Climate Change
and Economic Instability as an Opportunity for a Better Future." 

The thesis is attached, and is a fascinating and inspiring account of how
community members have responded to the Transition Putney movement.  The
paper provides suggestions for launching a Transition Town movement, or
an community action initiative.

[Katrien Vander Straeten]

Thanks, Paul!
I read this paper and was impressed with one of the conclusions, that community building, the sense of belonging to a community and being accepted as who you are, is as, if not more important, than peak oil, etc.
It also speaks to our discussions here about inclusion: we are not looking for conformity, even in opinions about what is central to Transition (energy descent, for instance). A community in which everyone is welcome is the foundation for our work.
Food for thought!
Katrien

[Jen Hartley]

It's always wonderful to see people doing research on Transition. I look forward to reading this; thanks for posting! Based on Katrien's comment about the focus on the importance of community building, I am doubly looking forward to it. I am absolutely convinced that when people feel like they truly belong in a group and share a good level of mutual trust, then amazing things can happen. It takes time to build that trust but it is the most precious intangible asset we can have.

[Alex]

This is a really great read. I'm going to pull out the conclusions so that more people get to them:

• The specifics of any group activity are less important than the strength of the group connection.
• Group connection is developed through intentional opportunities for people to share thoughts and feelings with others; to be seen and acknowledged by others. This connection is enhanced by taking action together.
• In a group that professes to be open to all comers, a strong focus and effort need to be made to actually be open; people are very sensitive to exclusivity and will shy away from it.
• A steady, consistent, leadership is important to make people confident in the process that the group will follow.
• Action is critical. People need to feel that they are able to take action and make an actual difference.
• People need to feel acknowledged and appreciated - they want to be able to take on leadership roles if they wish, but do not want to be forced into such a role, or forced into a consistent commitment. In other words, people want to be self-determining.

I sort of think it's "common sense" stuff, but the reality is that in a group setting, it can be hard to remember this common sense. So I'm going to give it a good look over or two.

[Conrad Willeman]

I read the paper last night and had exactly the same reaction as Alex. These conclusions provide important learning for all of us working at Transition (or any other group effort). Now I am thinking about how we can make them even more available to everyone on the site.

[Katrien Vander Straeten]

It's true that, as we feel like we're more and more in a hurry - that's me, anyway - we might loose sight of that "common group sense" because we're so focused on what needs to be done. But community building is the key stone of designing our demise.

[Katrien Vander Straeten]

Conrad, Maybe a box with "materials of note" instead of the blog box?

Conrad Willeman said:

I read the paper last night and had exactly the same reaction as Alex. These conclusions provide important learning for all of us working at Transition (or any other group effort). Now I am thinking about how we can make them even more available to everyone on the site.

[Margaret Tarmy]

It's fantastic reading your responses to my research. I'd like to join the conversation to say that I agree with Alex that my conclusions seem like the stuff of common sense, but that it is a common sense that is mostly missing from our daily lives. Very few groups or organizations give people the opportunity to connect with each other in these simple ways, and we are all so hungry for that connection.

Something that I think has been critical to Putney people's embrace of Transition: The core organizing group has focused on building community as being the most important aspect of what we're doing. We've agreed that being open, and welcoming, and supportive to any and all is our top priority, and that we have to embody those ideas, not just talk about them. I think the sense of friendliness and acceptance this has created is somehow contagious. It's changing the way people in Putney relate to one another. It has made coming together to face the challenges of the future a really positive thing because being a part of a fun, active, vibrant group where you feel confident of your place and confident that you will be welcomed is something we all want. It seems that starting with the focus on community, and building from there, has allowed many more community members to engage with and trust in the group than if the focus were on something different.

[Alex]

Initially, I feel worried that focusing first on community will put less emphasis on "addressing the issues".

On thinking further, it seems okay: the purpose for "addressing the issues" includes care for the people in that community, right? So I'm worried about their needs for food and water and stability... I'm also worried about their needs for friendship and support and community.

Margaret - thanks for writing (the thesis, and your comment :).

[Katrien Vander Straeten]

Margaret, I have to say that this discussion has changed my thinking about Transition entirely. I used to be so focused on the end goal: the food shed, the pantry, the gardens (you can see where my biases lie), the local currency, the neighborhood powerdowns... Now I feel I need to slow down a bit, or rather quite a lot, and build community first. I do have a craving for community first of all, a place (cf. several other discussions), but I had always assumed that "the place" would happen through the projects, as a natural outcome of the projects, the collaborations. It's a wonderfully challenging cart-and-horse problem and it makes me both more apprehensive and more excited about my own project here in Wayland.

Alex: what you said ;)

I just added a post on Danielle Cohen's paper, Reaching out for resilience (UK) in this discussion, which addresses the difficulties of inclusion.

It's lovely to be discussing this with all of you.



Margaret Tarmy said:

It's fantastic reading your responses to my research. I'd like to join the conversation to say that I agree with Alex that my conclusions seem like the stuff of common sense, but that it is a common sense that is mostly missing from our daily lives. Very few groups or organizations give people the opportunity to connect with each other in these simple ways, and we are all so hungry for that connection.

Something that I think has been critical to Putney people's embrace of Transition: The core organizing group has focused on building community as being the most important aspect of what we're doing. We've agreed that being open, and welcoming, and supportive to any and all is our top priority, and that we have to embody those ideas, not just talk about them. I think the sense of friendliness and acceptance this has created is somehow contagious. It's changing the way people in Putney relate to one another. It has made coming together to face the challenges of the future a really positive thing because being a part of a fun, active, vibrant group where you feel confident of your place and confident that you will be welcomed is something we all want. It seems that starting with the focus on community, and building from there, has allowed many more community members to engage with and trust in the group than if the focus were on something different.

[David Eggleton]

Margaret Tarmy said:

...starting with the focus on community, and building from there, has allowed many more community members to engage with and trust in the group than if the focus were on something different.

This is pretty much the point I was making here, in our discussion of Inclusion.

[David Eggleton]

Alex said:

Initially, I feel worried that focusing first on community will put less emphasis on "addressing the issues".

It will and it will alter, reduce and, in numerous cases, eliminate them. Much technology we take for granted is a substitute for basic human connections. The more who are involved with people and the more involved with people they are, the less stuff and energy to power that stuff is needed.

Just as it is wise to implement energy efficiency measures before sizing and installing a heating unit or photovoltaic array, it is wise to connect people to themselves and each other before treating the stuff they have been loving in fossil-fueled isolation. Doing so blows away worrisome visions both of we and they and doing without.

[Margaret Tarmy]

I have just read, with a lot of interest, your important discussion of inclusion. We in Putney are grappling with our own challenges on the inclusion front. We have a varied and consistent roster of ways for people to get involved, from monthly speakers, to monthly movies, to monthly open forums, to monthly pub nights, to reskilling workshops every few weeks, to actively partnering with and supporting other local groups' initiatives. We have a working group focusing on healthcare for our community, and one focused on community arts and how to incorporate the arts into Transition Putney. We have a just-forming group that plans to get together once a month to sing and tell stories together. Yet we are very aware that there are substantial segments of the Putney community that do not take part in any Transition activities. Part of this is a divide along class and socio-economic lines, and it is this divide that most concerns us. Some ideas we have or are already implementing to try to bridge this divide:

1. Using multiple venues around town for our events to make it more likely that at least some events will take place in locations where everyone feels comfortable and welcomed

2. Inviting people whose families have been in town for generations to share their histories and experiences in some sort of story-telling project.

3. Inviting people who have a lot of knowledge about old-time things such as hunting, or dowsing, or making preserves, to deliver reskilling workshops so everyone can learn from them.

Inviting people to be involved and to share their knowledge and expertise has proven, in other areas, to be very important. One big piece of wisdom we've picked up along the way is that people really like to be asked. Once they've been asked, many people seem to approach involvement with the group with a lot of pleasure and a lot of energy. Whether this will help us succeed in being a truly all-inclusive group that everyone in the community feels welcomed into remains to be seen - we have a lot of work ahead of us in this arena.

I look forward to hearing about ways in which your Transition groups become more inclusive, and I'll share our successes when (and if ) we have them.