Mid-Atlantic Transition Hub is expanding the Transition Neighborhoods Field Guide into a Complete How-To Book
With the completion of the resilience festival in the Rockaways in June 2015, MATH is redirecting its efforts. Based on many requests, MATH is expanding the TN Field Guide into a book that can guide the grassroots-led community planning process central to Transition, while also summarizing options for community action. Chapters from over 20 experts will convey Transition's big picture analysis and offer specific action steps. Visit MATH or contact them at Transition.midatlantic.hub@gmail.com. Contact Transition NYC.
MATH Builds Mid-Atlantic Extreme Weather Resilience
Far Rockaway: A Beacon for Mid-Atlantic Coastal Communities
Statement by the Mid-Atlantic Transition Hub (MATH)
Climate change has drastically accelerated the frequency with which the Mid-Atlantic region will experience what had been classified as “once in 100 years” storms. Encompassing the megacities of New York, Newark, NJ, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore, and Washington DC, the Mid-Atlantic region is the most powerful, influential, and resourceful urban corridor in the world. Imagine Atlantic coastal cities, while vulnerable to ocean storm activity, fortified by increasingly localized economies; connected via commerce to cities within 100 miles in order to meet most of residents’ needs. Relocalization is the definition of resilience, the ability to bounce back quickly, in an era of recurring climate disruptions.
Residents of Atlantic coastline and flood plain communities have an ally in the Transition Towns environmental movement. The Mid-Atlantic Transition Hub (MATH), a network of Transition towns and cities in the six-state Mid-Atlantic region, supports groups of local residents who strategically build foundations of long term community resilience. Transition is 100%, an “ordinary-people-led movement.”
Extreme weather is rapidly becoming the new norm. Residents of Mid-Atlantic cities and towns can determine not to be at the mercy of flooding and the debilitating power outages suffered during hurricanes Sandy and Irene. The Transition movement is a neighbor-led community organizing response to climate change, resource depletion and financial instability with over 1,100 local initiatives in 44 countries and over 150 in the US. The Transition Neighborhoods process, adapted to the specific needs of Mid-Atlantic communities, invites neighbors to strengthen their sense of place, build relationships as they map their neighborhood's current state of resiliency, looking at food, energy, water, waste, consumption and transportation. The goal is to proactively move communities away from reliance on fossil fuels, toward a much more resilient, improved quality of life.
The Transition Towns movement, originated in permaculture systems-design, cultivates a shared mindset shift to the new climate change, energy, and economic, “normals.” Like natural living systems, “transitioning” happens at interconnected and communicating hyper-local, local, water/foodshed, state, regional, national and international scales. The Mid-Atlantic Transition Hub (MATH) facilitates the flow of support and communication among all of these levels. The Transition Neighborhoods process, designed by activists in megacities, directly reflects the resilience-building needs of the densely populated, highly diverse chain of metropolitan areas in the Mid-Atlantic Region.
Far Rockaway NY: A Beacon for Mid-Atlantic Citizen-led Community Resilience
Residents of the Mid-Atlantic region are encouraged to pick up the resilience baton and run with it. MATH spotlights Far Rockaway NY as an example of friends and neighbors’ determination to shape their own capacity to bounce back from extreme weather interruptions. Experience such as that of Sandy-devastated Far Rockaway must reverberate throughout the Mid-Atlantic region if we intend to skillfully ride the wave of climate change.
Traumatized by the storm, Rockaway was subsequently exploited and abused by a sea of bureaucratic red tape in Sandy’s aftermath. Residents of storm-ravaged, marginalized Rockaway are using the Transition Neighborhoods process to stand tall and grapple effectively with recovery and oncoming climate change. So too can residents of other climate change-vulnerable Mid-Atlantic communities. MATH stands ready to assist.
The Transitioning of a town, village, hamlet or a city, (neighborhood by neighborhood), starts with a series of small group meetings. Interested residents then request a Transition LAUNCH training and get into action. Following numerous Rockaway needs assessment “listening meetings,” and a Transition LAUNCH training in April of 2015, Transition activists and Rockaway residents recognized the need to prioritize local food production. This spring, led by permaculture designers and local master-gardeners, the two groups built community gardens using an innovative combination of donated, recycled and repurposed materials and tools. Hoop houses and aquaponics are next up on the docket.
Together, Rockaway residents, Transition NYC and the Mid-Atlantic Transition network produced a June 27th “Convergence” event to promote local climate change resilience, health, community-building, neighborhood food security and production, renewable energy, and creative waterfront restoration.
The Transition Neighborhoods process, encompassing projects like the gardens collaboration and all of the resilience-building possibilities that were showcased at the Convergence, can easily be replicated elsewhere throughout the Mid-Atlantic coastal region, and beyond. Transition Rockaway is now part of, contributes its experience to, and is supported by the Transition community-of practice comprised of colleagues throughout the region.
The Mid-Atlantic Transition Hub (MATH) is dedicated to creating a non-hierarchical, ever-evolving regional human ecosystem. Residents of the magnificent Mid-Atlantic region are encouraged to take part. The goal is to maintain a balance between deeply understanding the gravity of the environmental, energy and economic crises we face, and experiencing the joy of working in supportive community in order to ACT: harmoniously, consistently, strategically and effectively.
If we wait for the government, it'll be too little too late.
If we act as individuals, it'll be too little.
But if we act as communities, it might just be just enough, just in time.
View the MATH "Rockaway Work In Progress" Retrospective presentation here.
Midatlantictransition.org > Transition.midatlantic.hub@gmail.com > (646)-241-8386
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Rockaway 4th Annual Community Health Fair
andTransition Convergence
Sat. June 27, 10 AM - 6 PM
Battalion Pentecostal Assembly Church, 454 Beach 67th St, Arverne, NY 11692
Take the A train to the Beach 67th St. stop and walk three blocks north.
Sponsors: Mid-Atlantic Transition Hub (MATH) and NYC Transition Hub
No charge to attend. Celebrate the recovery of the Rockaways! Enjoy a day of exhibits, music, fun and learning activities for the entire family. As climate change accelerates, extreme weather events will become more frequent. We don't have to wait for government to prepare! Come out and meet initiatives that neighbors can use to make the Rockaways – and any neighborhood – more sustainable and resilient.
• urban and backyard farming / permaculture: Hellsgate Farm and Smiling Hogshead Ranch, Astoria and Long Island City, Queens; Cycle Alimenterre, Montreal, Canada
• energy conservation: NY State Energy Research and Development Authority, National Grid
• soil remediation and composting : Queens Compost Project
• community garden support: NYCHA Garden Program
• NYC Community Emergency Response Teams
• ham radio: Amateur Radio Emergency Service
• solar power: Solar 1, Power Rockaway Resilience, NY Center for Sustainable Energy
• creative waterfront restoration with native plant seedballs: NYC Seedballs
• green job training programs / community services / developing new supermarket and Rockaway credit union: Ocean Bay Community Development Corporation
• culinary skills & healthy eating for youth in the Rockaways: Culinary Kids
• entrepreneurship: NYCHA Resident Economic Empowerment and Sustainability Program
• biking: MATH bicycle advocates and Transportation Alternatives
• water catchment: rain barrel advocates and Keepers of the Waters
• chicken keeping: City Chicken Meetup
• aquaponics: Brooklyn College Aquatic Research and Environmental Assessment Center
• food preservation: MATH Transition re-skilling advocates
• learn how to make your own natural cosmetics
• how to flood-proof your building: The Elevated Studio
• local activists: Rockaway Wildfire
• free health tests: blood pressure, glucose, spinal and HIV
• local health services
Learn about the Transition environmental movement, a neighbor-led organizing response to climate change, resource depletion and financial instability, with +1,100 local initiatives in 44 countries and over 150 in the US. Contact 917-319-2924 or transition.nyc.hub@gmail.com.
"If we wait for the government, it'll be too little too late. If we act as individuals, it'll be too little. But if we act as communities, it might be just enough, just in time."
Featuring: Re-Claimed: Stories from the Storm – an art show of stories, objects and images of what was lost in the storm and gained after as told by the people of the Rockaways.
Please share this event on Facebook
The Transition movement is a community organizing response to climate change, resource depletion and financial instability, with over 1,100 Transition groups in 44 countries and over 150 initiatives in the US. It brings neighbors together to assess the resilience of their communities and catalyze effective grassroots projects, using the Transition Neighborhood Field Guide process, targeted to the specific needs of NYC and other big urban communities. Visit www.transitionnyc.org and our Facebook page for updates. Please contact us if you would like to volunteer.
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The Transition Movement
Celebrates Far Rockaway Culture
Friday, June 26, 7 - 10 PM
Seagirt Adult Social Center
2028 Seagirt Boulevard, Far Rockaway
A Reggae, Calypso, Soca dance party-potluck with special presentations by Rockaway neighbors from around the world celebrates the deep Rockaway cultural roots that anchor resilient recovery. Enjoy great food, music, short Transition and Permaculture talks that kick off the Rockaway Health Festival and Transition-Permaculture Convergence to follow on Saturday June 27th. Hear about Rockaway's recovery, and how Transition and permaculture can support the Rockaways and other urban communities. No charge to attend.
Transition - Permaculture Open Space Forum
Sunday, June 28, 9 AM - 1 PM
Friends Meeting House, 15 Rutherford Place between 2nd and 3rd Ave., NY NY
Transition activists, permaculturists, and urban agriculture advocates gather to plan impactful collaboration between our networks and movements. Open Space Forum facilitated by Pamela Boyce Simms, convener and lead trainer of the Mid-Atlantic Transition Hub. Potluck brunch, no charge to attend.
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Building a Community Garden, Sat., May 23
On Sat. May 23, NYC Transition activists and permaculturists built a community garden with raised beds, alongside Rockaway community members building back from Sandy devastation. Walls of the beds are made of wooden boards donated by Build it Green, and burlap bags from coffee roaster White Coffee filled with wood chips from NYC Parks Dept., and filled with plants donated by Home Depot. This method can be used to create gardens on other urban sites anywhere with soil in need of remediation. More pictures at our Facebook page.
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Rockaway Transition Workshop, April 18
MATH presented a workshop about Transition to Rockaways residents, joined by permaculture designer Wolf Bravo from the mid-Hudson. Wolf donated a large number of repaired garden tools to the church, and gave a presentation about creative ways to use found objects to build container gardens. Besides wooden boxes, you can use cans and bottles, and wooden pallets and tires.
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Transition Neighborhoods Strategy Session
Friday, February 20, 7 PM
Where: The 15th St. Friends Meeting House
15 Rutherford Place between 2nd and 3rd Avenues near Union Square
Make your neighborhood more sustainable and resilient with Transition Neighborhoods (TN).
Be part of the New York resilience resistance. Find out about the TN resilience-building process that is gaining momentum throughout the city. Mark your calendars and learn about how you can be part of a weekend festival on June 26-28, in the Rockaways, that will celebrate theTransitioning of New York city toward resilience, and highlight the revitalization of community health and food security in the Rockaways. Expect inspiring Transition movement presentations, hands-on urban gardening demonstration projects, environmental art exhibits, and tours of resident-driven permaculture installations.
The Transition movement is a community organizing response to climate change, resource depletion and financial instability, with over 1,100 Transition groups in 44 countries and over 150 initiatives in the US.
It starts with neighbors reaching out to neighbors to convene a series of small group meetings. By going through chapters of a Transition Neighborhoods Field Guide, participants strengthen their sense of place, build relationships, promote local food, and map their neighborhood's current state of resiliency, looking at aspects of its operation such as food, energy, water, waste, consumption and transportation. It's a practical and enlightening neighborhood resilience-building discovery process that deepens and celebrates neighborhood culture.
The Transition model has been successful in hundreds of communities worldwide. The TN Field Guide adapts that process to the specific needs of NYC and other big urban communities. The goal is to proactively redesign cities to be much less reliant on fossil fuels and much more resilient, with an improved quality of life. Groups are now forming in over 15 NYC neighborhoods, including the Upper West Side, the Lower East Side, Bed-Stuy, Flatbush, and Flushing.
NYC already leads the nation in greening efforts, so why Transition? It's because government and individual efforts are necessary but insufficient responses to climate change. Transition's neighborhood-scale, multi-issue approach is unique. By bringing neighbors together, connecting them to already-existing resources and catalyzing them to set up visible local projects, it complements existing efforts - such as yours.
To find out more about making your neighborhood a Transition Neighborhood, come to our next meeting at the Friends Meeting House on 15 Rutherford Place between 2nd and 3rd Avenues near Union Square on Friday, February 20, 7 PM. Pamela Boyce Simms, convener and lead trainer of the seven-state Mid-Atlantic Transition Hub, will talk about how to measure and improve food security in your neighborhood, and the Transition training in March. There will be breakout sessions for newbies - 'Transition 101' - and coaching sessions for already organized neighborhood groups.
Visit transitionmidatlantic.org and transitionnyc.org. Contact us at 917-319-2924 or transition.nyc.hub@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Want a short description of Transition you can hand out? Ask for our one page flyer.
Urban Permaculture Demonstration Projects in the Rockaways
Our community partners are identifying yards and lots on which permaculture design projects can be installed this spring. We're inviting permaculture designers to send their design proposals for each space, which will be reviewed by senior designers. Winners will be connected with property owners to organize volunteer workshops during which the projects will be installed. Click here for details and site pictures.
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At our Jan. 21 meeting, attendees sat with others from their neighborhood, and enjoyed a great selection of international foods, as well as a spirited discussion about forming dynamic, healthy neighborhood groups. The first three chapters of the beta version of the Transition Neighborhoods Field Guide were distributed. (Contact the NYC Hub for an electronic copy.) The next step? Inviting people in your neighborhood to a series of very local discussions about sustainability and resilience, using the TN process, which has been successful in hundreds of communities around the world. The Field Guide is being customized for NYC and large urban communities everywhere. The full version will be officially released at the Rockaways Transition and Community Health Festival this June.
Let's Get the Party Started!
NYC Transition Neighborhoods
Resilience Info-share
January 21, 2015, 6:30 - 9:30 PM
Celebrate Your Borough & Neighborhood Culture
International Cuisine Tasting (Bring a dish from your neighborhood)
(BYOE - Bring Your Own Everything meal [utensils, plate, napkin and cup])
What: NYC Transition Neighborhoods Info-share Party
Be part of the NYC neighborhood-specific resilience building conversation:
Fun, food from around the world and purposeful conversation.
Learn about Neighborhood Resilience Asset Mapping & Gap Analysis.
Where: 15th Street Quaker Meetinghouse
15 Rutherford Place (between 2nd and 3rd Aves), NY NY, 10003
Who: Dan Miner, Janet Soderberg and NYC Transition Hub Members
Pamela Boyce Simms, Certified Transition Trainer, Transition US,
and Convener, Mid-Atlantic Transition Hub (MATH)
RSVP: Let us know you're coming and the dish you'll bring: transition.nyc.hub@gmail.com
New Yorkers from 20 neighborhoods have already expressed interest in starting a local project, so you're likely to meet a neighbor at this event. Bring a dish to share that celebrates NYC's international cuisine, and your own reusable utensils, plate, napkin and cup. Also bring images of your neighborhood to post.
Learn more at www.transitionnyc.org.
Contact NYC Transition Hub at transition.nyc.hub@gmail.com.
Transition is a community organizing response to climate change, resource depletion and financial instability. There are 1,100+ Transition groups in 44 countries and over 150 initiatives in the US. It starts with a series of small group meetings in which neighbors go through chapters of a Field Guide. They strengthen their sense of place, build relationships, promote local food, and map their neighborhood's current state of resiliency.
NYC Transition Neighborhoods Initiatives brings friends and neighbors together to discover and map "resilience assets" that are hidden in plain sight, right in our neighborhoods! A thought provoking Transition Neighborhood Field Guide leads participants on a practical and enlightening neighborhood resilience-building adventure that deepens and celebrates neighborhood culture. Let's get the party started!
Coming in March:
NYC Transition Neighborhoods Spring Equinox Training, March 20-22
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Packed House at the Transition
Neighborhoods Workshop
We made many new acquaintances at Friends Meeting House on Nov. 17. Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx were well represented, as was Nassau County, Westchester, Jersey City and Philadelphia.
As Pamela Boyce Simms explained, development of the Transition Neighborhoods NYC guidebook is well underway. Its Prequel - available atwww.transitionnyc.org - describes how to create a list of neighbors to invite to a series of meetings. In each one, neighbors will use chapters of the guidebook to map their community, looking at aspects of its operation such as food, energy, water, and transportation. The goal is to proactively redesign urban communities so they're much less reliant on fossil fuels and much more resilient, with an improved quality of life.
Neighbors will analyze how sustainable and resilient their neighborhood is and where the gaps are, envision it as optimally resilient, and brainstorm what actions they can take to make that vision a reality. Each chapter will have resources available in that community.
Attendees split up into groups by borough, and then by neighborhood, identifying resources for organizing - such as block associations, sports groups, coop boards, community boards, CSAs, school groups and mother's groups, as well as popular stores or restaurants.
Follow up meetings are already planned for some especially enthusiastic neighborhoods. Look for an invitation to a Facebook page. We'll report back with new developments and best practices to keep you inspired and energized.
Coming up in January will be a party at Friends Meeting House for a new year of Transitioning! "Let's Get the Party Started," the first chapter of the NYC guidebook, will help you catalyze a transition initiative in your own neighborhood. We'll start the year with our own party, which will include an international buffet of foods from your communities. The date will be coming soon.
Please stay in touch. If you have any questions on how to move forward in your community, contact the NYC Transition Hub at transition.nyc.hub@gmail.com
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Transition Neighborhoods Workshop
Monday, Nov. 17, 2014, 7 - 9 PM
Neighborhood organizing for resilient green cities
Friends Meeting House, 15 Rutherford Place
15th Street between 2nd & 3rd Avenues, NY, NY 10003
No charge to attend, donate what you wish.
Two days after the Climate March in September, the beta launch of Transition Neighborhoods took place in NYC. Riding the crest of a wave of climate change activism, many New Yorkers came to explore how to keep the momentum going. 19 attendees, almost half of the 45 people in the room, expressed an interest in initiating a Transition project in their neighborhood. Transition is a global community organizing response to climate change, resource depletion and financial instability.
There are 1,100 plus Transition groups in 44 countries with 16 national hubs that have emerged to serve these groups. In the U.S. 151 Transition initiatives have formed with 100 more in formation. It's time for New York City to tap into the power, creativity, and collective genius of this global grassroots network.
It starts with a series of small group meetings in which friends and neighbors go through chapters of a guidebook. They strengthen their sense of place and neighborhood culture while building relationships, promoting local food, and mapping their neighborhood's current state of resiliency. The Transition Neighborhoods Prequel shows how to coalesce a group of friends and neighbors, and get a resilience initiative up and running in your community. In this highly interactive workshop, we'll walk through the Prequel using small group scenarios and role playing, and explore the first chapters of the guidebook. We'll work through NYC-specific challenges, with lots of time for questions and answers. Facilitated by Pamela Boyce Simms, Lead Trainer, Transition US and the Mid-Atlantic Transition Hub.
www.transitionnyc.org Contact NYC Transition Hub at transition.nyc.hub@gmail.com
FREE TRANSITION TELESEMINAR: Join the conversation on November 6th at 2:00 when the Mid-Atlantic Transition Hub (MATH) and panelists respond to the Simplicity Institute's excellent critique of the Transition movement. This is a great, interactive way to learn about many aspects of the Transition movement.
REGISTER: http://bit.ly/1rHDDJJ
More information: http://bit.ly/1wT9UBZ
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Transition Neighborhoods
Launched in NYC
The People's Climate March on September 21, 2014 brought over 300,000 people out in NYC, with thousands of supporting events around the world. Mayor de Blasio and the NYC Council announced a new platform of city actions to reduce fossil fuel use. We honor both events as being necessary parts of the great turning now underway, but see the urgent need for a third approach, something quite new.
Now that the March is over, what are the steps that you can take personally to move NYC away from fossil fuels?
On September 23, Pamela Boyce Simms, the lead trainer of the Mid-Atlantic Transition Hub, and convener of Transition activists in a seven-state region, spoke to a crowd at the Friends Meeting House on 15th Street near Union Square.
Transition, she explained, is a community level response to climate change, resource depletion and financial instability. It's a way of creating people-to-people connections among neighbors that starts with a series of structured discussions. After its creation in Kinsale, Ireland in 2006, the award-winning method has been successfully refined in hundreds of initiatives in the United Kingdom, and used in thousands of other community projects worldwide.
Pamela walked attendees through the steps leading up to Transition Neighborhood program. Start by building a list of community contacts, and inviting them to a chat at a local coffee shop. See who's game for the series of twelve meetings, using a guidebook that explores aspects of our urban lifestyles - food, water, waste, energy, transportation, communications, money. Group members review good practices in each area, dissolving the silos that can easily separate different focuses, and support each other in implementing action steps. When the sessions are complete, members have developed and deepened the personal connections that are the foundation of personal resilience. If they wish they can take on new projects, and proceed deeper into the Transition process. Contact us to find others who want to bring Transition to your neighborhood!
www.transitionnyc.org
