By Fiona Green
On 17 March 2010 Transition Fitzrovia was begun. Our meeting was held in the beautiful Gallery of Cllr. Rebecca Hossack, where we showed the film “A Farm for the Future” which was about how a young Devon woman transformed her farm into low energy. Twenty people attended, and we were privileged to have Marietta and Todd from Transition Bloomsbury and Alexis Rowell from Transition Belsize to share our experience and show their ongoing and valued support.
Our second meeting was hosted by the architectural practise Feilden Clegg Bradley and again twenty came. At this meeting, organized and facilitated by Fitzrovian residents Christiana Dankwa, Nazreen A. Subhan, Rita Goolamhossan and myself, the group began the process of identifying who we are as a group, and what the specific needs of this area of Camden might be. A process which will be ongoing as we expand, adapt to new members, and develop.
The concept of Transition Towns was started in 2005 by Rob Hopkins in Totnes, Devon, which I attended. It was an exhilarating experience, as 300 local people, many of whom hardly knew each other,and inspired by Rob’s exuberant personality and academic research, gathered to hear Rob speak, and to explore and share their own visions of the future as a resilient town in the countryside. Rural Totnes was ready for the revolutionary ideas proposed, because it has been a centre for experimental learning since the 1930s.
Fitzrovia inner city faces different sets of issues altogether, and has a very complex history. Transition is how local communities plan and work towards the main issues facing the world : Lack of cheap oil, upon which, all we know and take for granted depends, amid global climatic change and within a world economic recession. In common parlance, it is how we manage to live well in the future, in the face of these challenges, by growing and selling our own food, sharing our skills and knowledge for the benefit of all.
There are now seven Transition towns in Camden: Belsize, Bloomsbury, Fitzrovia, Hampstead, Kentish Town, King’s Cross and Primrose Hill. Our third meeting is on 15 June 6pm to -8pm at the Bolivar Hall, Grafton Way. Our fourth will be 6pm, 14 July at Club 52,Gower Street. Please come and help create the vision….We need you all!
contact : Fiona Green on 0207 580 9223 or fionaskene@hotmail.com