Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
of future energy demand from an expanding world population and the limitations
of most renewable energy sources discussed in Chap. 5. So if Collapse is to be
prevented, then Transition Town advocates maintain the only realistic alternative
is the Energy Descent approach. Not all will agree with such conclusions, as the
recent boom in gas and oil supplies from the fracking of American shale beds is
rapidly increasing production to reach a new peak of production within a decade.
Similar prospects exist in other countries, unless prevented by environmental activ-
ists. So there is increasing belief that there is no immediate danger of decreasing
oil supplies and higher prices. Although this may reduce the threat in the next two
decades environmentalists believe all this does is to postpone the peak oil date, so
many believe it is prudent to take the idea of the Energy Descent Scenario seriously
and that the new supplies of oil and gas give us a breathing space to create more
sustainable practices.
The concept of energy descent is the opposite of the rapid ascent of energy sup-
ply since the Industrial Revolution, based on the growth of fossil fuel supplies and
use. Hence many cities are engaged in polices to reduce their energy use. For ex-
ample, Portland (Oregon), a city with a long list of environmental concerns, adopted
a policy of reducing total oil use in the city of close to 500,000 by 2.6 % per year so
that energy use would be reduced by a quarter by 2020. But Transition Town advo-
cates have argued that instead of top-down policies, urban residents should combine
to create an Energy Descent Action Plan (EDAP), which is now an essential goal
in every member town in the network, although not a mandatory principle, such as
those laid down in the Slow City approach. It assumes there is a real need to alter the
supply and use of energy in a town and its region through gradual change from the
citizens and businesses, since national government-led schemes will be too slow to
take effect and will not cause enough change in the corporate culture that has altered
the self-reliance of local towns. Unlike the many community or regional develop-
ment plans produced by governments or their agencies, the EDAP does not assume
a growth in demand and supply of energy resources. Instead it takes the view that
there is a need for local communities to take the initiative in
reducing
energy use
in all aspects of life, since it is believed that the problem of some future peak oil
situation cannot be solved by a supply-led solution given the finite nature of fossil
energy resources and their negative externalities, especially climate change. The
approach is not simply to devise some empirical plan, but to use many methods,
including storytelling and visioning exercises, to show the effects of some future
of drastically reduced or costly energy. Such varied approaches will help raise con-
sciousness of the need for change among the community residents. So the EDAP
is not regarded as a plan for living a more sustainable life, but a plan to provide the
transition
to this low carbon future.
Totnes, as a pioneer in the Transition Town movement, was the first in England
to develop an EDAP (TEDPA). Much of the report is devoted to showing the history
of the town and its former energy sources and uses, in order to show how people
coped in the past, as well as demonstrating the need to explain the emerging ideas of
the EDAP to residents through public meetings and school presentations. These ses-
sions are designed to elicit comments and feedback, not simply to improve the ideas,
