Of all the people here, there are only 2 with a life-long connection to this area, the rest of us have landed here anytime from 40 years ago to recently. However, the majority of the population around us go back generations or millenia, in the case of first nations, and beyond that for other beings. Community like climate is always there and always changing. What i believe we want to transition to is a state of being integrated with our local environment, a community at peace with itself and its surroundings. Over a century ago, people here had little impact on the environment – with 2 caveats. They were largely self-sufficient and created minimal pollution. The first caveat is that what little money they had came from one of 2 resource extraction industries – logging or mining. The second caveat is why they came here, many fled privation of one kind or another, having lost a battle in the class struggle. The Irish leaving their home because of the so-called famine is one example.They came here and built a human community with blood, sweat and tears that we will never experience. And they did it by co-operating – after each family cleared their plot they created infrastructure and services and buildings that still exist. Transition Town is a new club on the block but but there have always been institutions and gatherings outside of government and corporations in which people dedicated themselves to helping others. The backgrounds of some of those organizations may have had sinister connotations but locally people got involved motivated by mutual aid. I heard the word “agency” at some point and that’s what we need to instill in people, that we can overcome our alienation from the forces that sustain us by getting involved. Grow the land, grow ourselves.