CASE STUDY
Transition Together, Transition Town Totnes,
Devon, UK Transition Town Totnes has won a 2011 Ashden Awards for its achievement in enabling behaviour change to save energy in Totnes, through the Transition Together programme.
Background Since the oil shocks of the 1970s, and more recently the growing awareness of the risks of climate change, there has been significant progress in using technology for improving energy efficiency and generating energy from renewable sources. But despite this progress the UK’s energy use and CO2 emissions have not fallen significantly, and have actually increased once the energy ‘embodied’ in imported goods is taken into account. Policymakers and campaigners have come to the realisation that behaviour change is needed to achieve the reduction in energy use that is required over the next few decades.
Behaviour change can include many things, from turning off lights and walking to the shops to installing insulation and avoiding long-distance travel, but actually making it happen is challenging – as long as people don’t see the need to change behaviour, they are unlikely to do it. At Transition Town Totnes (TTT), the Transition Together (T-Tog) project was set up to tackle this, by engaging households and motivating them to take action.
The organisation The idea of a ‘Transition Town’ was originally developed by Rob Hopkins in Kinsale, Ireland. A Transition Town is a community-led initiative to prepare for a future with less oil, a changing climate and increasing economic uncertainty. Hopkins moved from Kinsale to Totnes and, with Naresh Giangrande, developed the concept further in 2005, launching TTT in 2006. TTT shares an office with the Transition Network, which supports the growing number of Transition Towns across the world.
TTT has four FTE paid posts at present, over 100 active volunteers and last year had an income of £723,000 (including a one-off grant of £625,000 from DECC). To achieve the goal of preparing the town for the future impacts of climate change and reducing supplies of oil, a wide range of projects are in progress, covering everything from local energy generation and building sustainable housing to local food production and transport.
The programme How does it work? T-Tog brings together small groups of neighbours, typically six to eight households, to meet and discuss sustainability issues and decide what steps they can take to make their lifestyles more sustainable. Each group meets seven times, with a few weeks between meetings, and tend to take turns hosting meetings in the members’ homes. TTT has marketed the course to residents in the town and surrounding area, but groups are often formed when one interested person gets in touch and sets about recruiting their neighbours. An added incentive to sign up during 2010 was that participants could qualify for entry into the Transition Streets project, through which they could get a grant towards solar PV installation if their house was suitable (funded by the DECC Low Carbon Communities Challenge). However, what motivated most people to sign up was to get to know their neighbours and to reduce their carbon footprint.
Once a group has formed, T-Tog sends a facilitator to their first meeting to explain the process, give members a copy of the workbook and help them agree any rules the group will keep to. During the first meeting the group also completes a survey to review what actions they are already taking to make their lives more sustainable. In subsequent meetings, the group studies the chapters of the workbook, including: – Spend less on energy (monitoring energy use and ways to reduce it) – Spend less on water (monitoring water use and ways to reduce it) – Spend less, eat well (buying local, seasonal foods, growing your own, etc.)
– Wasting away (reducing waste, recycling and composting) – Getting around (efficient transport, car clubs, cycling and walking)
– Wrapping up (final evaluation of actions being taken, and follow-up information)
Each chapter in the workbook starts with background information on the environmental and financial cost of the subject, and then looks at the different ways these impacts can be reduced. The majority of actions are no cost, low-cost or grant-supported to help ensure that money is not a barrier.
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