This is a CTP of initiative: Transition Norwich (UK)
This CTP relates to the initial formation of Transition Norwich as an entity. It involved bringing together of a group of people who were interested in launching a Transition initiative in Norwich.
The interviewee recalled that she first came across the issue of Peak Oil at the Climate Camp that was held at the Drax power station in 2006. It was here that she saw some of the key Peak Oil films such as the 'Power of Community' and the 'End of Suburbia'.
Following this, she started running climate change and peak oil awareness raising events in Norwich where she screened various films. This happened for a period of 18 months at the Inner Space venue in Norwich. These film screenings suggested that there was an interest in these kinds of issues within the city. For example, when they showed 'An Inconvenient Truth' in 2007, 70 people turned up.
In 2007, there was a workshop with Chris Johnstone (a psychologist whose ideas on resilience and addiction have been influential within Transition) in which he mentioned the Transitions towns model.
In July 2007, the interviewee attended the Big Green Gathering (a green / alternative festival) and saw a presentation by Rob Hopkins, the founder of the Transition movement. In his talk, he spoke about the films that they were using as part of the awareness raising campaign, and she realized that they had already been doing the ‘awareness raising’ activities of the Transition model, but that they hadn’t had the discussions afterwards or arranged for activities to take place in between the meetings. She discussed setting up a local Transition initiative with Rob, and asked him to come over and speak to the local community, but he suggested to find some supportive people and to just get on with it.
She met another local acquaintance who was also interested in the idea of setting up Transition Norwich over coffee. They knew each other through the ‘alternative’ camp scene in Norfolk (not quite so prominent now), five rhythm dance workshops, and through the Green Party. In the process of making the initiative a reality, they discovered that other groupings and individuals were also interested in Transition initiatives: a) some members of the Green Party, and b) another group linked with the local Muslim community. Hence, they got in touch with these groups to ask if they would be interested in coming along to a meeting to discuss the establishment of a Norwich-wide transition initiative.
Specifically, they had a meeting of all the people who they knew were intrerested in the Transition idea which was also held at Inner Space. They had a discussion, and by the end of the meeting wanted to know if people would form a ‘core group’ of volunteers and a group of people stepped forward.
In the aftermath of this start-up meeting, they began a whole new events program where they showed some of the key films again but this time with discussion afterwards. They also tried to make these more community-focused. Hence, they held one screening at the Norwich Arts Centre where they showed some films and had a Cuban band playing music. This stage was about trying to build the numbers of people who were engaged in the process. For they tried to recruit other people to the core group who they thought could bring specific skills and expertise to Transition Norwich.
Around this time, they decided to fix a date for the “unleashing” of Transition Norwich and work towards that so that they had a specific goal for getting as many people as involved as possible (see CTP 109).
Thus, all their energy went into organizing and preparing the Great Unleashing event which Rob Hopkins and Ian Gibson were due to attend.
There was already an e-group for people who were interested in Transition but it was mainly for people who worked at the University of East Anglia.
The Transition Handbook was not out at that point (as it was not published until 2008). They got the Transition Primer and used that to guide the early stages of the process.
The interviewee had previously been involved in climate change demonstrations such as Climate Camp. She saw films such as the 'End of Suburbia' and the 'Power of Community' at the Climate Camp. She was very moved by both of them and felt that she had to do something.
She knew about Peak Oil before Transition.
All of Transition Norwich’s activity followed from this CTP.
At the initial meeting (attended by around 20 people) the discussion around the possibility of setting-up Transition Norwich was slightly tense. As the Green Party also wanted to start Alocal Transition initiative, there were some issues around the ownership of the process and how linked it should be to formal political activities. Some of the key people did not want it to be formally linked to the Green party,
There were also some issues around personalities and potential personality clashes although these were not an issue once the first core group was established.
This CTP was not anticipated as it was something that emerged and was to some extent planned.
The emergence of Transition in Norwich felt like a significant event at the time. The interviewee was very excited about the potential impact it might have. She thus approached this development with positivity – framing it as an inspiring moment. She was part of the St Benedicts traders association [in Norwich] at that point and they said: “Oh the Green Party, they are the ones who don’t want you to have any fun”. Hence, the prospect of a Transition initiative was, for her, something particularly exciting and positive – countering this negative perception of green activism:
“Suddenly, having been involved in climate change, where you’ve got to stop doing this and stop doing that, and that’s bad, suddenly there was something really positive and we can start trying to make the world better without saying “you mustn’t do this, you mustn’t do that.”
In the early stages they had big ambitions:
Forming the initial core group was an important step in trying to achieve these ambitions. For in establishing Transition Norwich, the interviewee realized that there were a lot of green things going on in Norwich so it would appear to be a great place to start a Transition initiative.
However, they soon realized that they were doing their own thing and weren’t interested in collaborating or networking. Furthermore, they learned that it was hard work to set-up and get a grassroots project running.
Moreover, they gained tacit knowledge on organizing events. They learned that when you have an event you have to do something to engage with the participants. For example, having a talk afterwards. So they learned how to engage with people
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