Pioneers aim for cleaner, greener lives in suburbia

SYDNEY residents concerned about peak oil and government inaction on climate change are taking matters into their own hands, forming groups to turn their suburbs into low-carbon ”transition towns”.

The movement, which began in the town of Totnes, in Devon, is called Transition Towns and aims to reduce reliance on global sources of energy and food.

The Sydney umbrella organisation is now adapting the strategy – which evolved in British rural areas – to the needs of a large Australian city.

”The basic philosophy is working at the local level to build resilience,” the co-founder of Transition Sydney, Peter Driscoll, said. ”It’s getting off the global grid as much as possible.”

”Relocalising”, or sourcing needs from within, can mean growing and sharing produce, car pooling schemes, forming insulation clubs, reuse and repair workshops, creating local currencies and barter systems.

Sydney Morning Herald