Transition The Grove

...transitioning to thriving resilience in a low-carbon low-oil-dependent future

in Ferny Grove, Upper Kedron, Ferny Hills, Arana Hills, Keperra & Woolshed Grove
and the mountain catchments of Kedron Brook

The Vision

What?
Transition The Grove  is a not-for-profit local community initiative in Ferny Grove and Upper Kedron in SE Queensland.
This web-site brings together useful information about The Grove to help people here learn to know the local area deeply and be part of transitioning to greater local resilience. 

Instead of looking elsewhere for social interests, local activities enable us to live meaningful lives in our own community, and to make friends close to home.

What's On - What's On in The Grove has information about local events happening immediately around us.

There are over 8500 of us. Let's make it happen here!
The Transition movement seeks to inspire, enthuse and focus on possibilities for designing abundant pathways to a resilient future. It puts resilience-building back at the heart of any plans we make about the future, and seeks new stories to give us strength to reposition ourselves in relation to the world around us, and to give us the strength to emerge at the other end into a new world.
Why?
The end of the age of cheap oil (1859 to the present) is close.  Oil dependence is the Achilles heel of economic globalisation, and there is no adequate substitute for oil on the scale we currently use it.
Being utterly dependent on it, this means we face enormous change. Rapidly dwindling supplies of oil & key resources such as phosphates, and global climate change, are radically changing our options for obtaining essentials like food, water, energy, livelihoods, transport, healthcare, education, and security.

"Forces are converging very fast that make whether we choose to retain and enhance resilience, rather than just let it crumble, much more than a philosophical discussion.  The move towards localised energy-efficient and productive living arrangements is not a choice; it is the inevitable direction for humanity. Small is inevitable."
Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition movement
Who?
The changes that are ahead will affect everyone in the world and they will all have to look more locally for solutions.

Instead of relying on people overseas or elsewhere in Australia to produce our food, in future the most important people will be those living immediately around us close by.

We are the community of the people who live or own homes in The Grove - the suburbs of Upper Kedron and Ferny Grove in Brisbane, South-East Queensland- and proprietors of businesses registered in The Grove.
When?
Now.  Oil and food prices are rising rapidly around the world, and  rapid population growth and consumer demand in countries like China are already starting to move us into extreme competition for supply of increasingly scarce core resources.  Australia's  relatively easy ride in the recent global economic crisis means that people overseas are already more aware than us of the urgency to start using our remaining oil and resources to build resilience for the future. We are in a critical race against time to prepare.
Where?
'The Grove' consists of:
  • the suburbs of Ferny Grove (including Woolshed Grove) and Upper Kedron
  •  a natural bio-region bounded on three sides by forested mountains and watersheds
  •  two river catchments (Cedar Creek and Kedron Brook)
  •  bounded by Mt Nebo Rd and Brisbane Forest Park in the south and west, Samford State Forest in the north
  • shops and schools within easy walking range (shops at McGinn Rd, Samford Rd, Ferny Way and Patricks Rd, & the 4 local schools - Ferny Grove State High School, St Andrews Catholic School, Ferny Grove State School, & Patricks Rd State School).
The Grove covers much (but not all) of postcode 4055 , and belongs in two city councils (BCC & Moreton), and several electorates.

How?
We ask ourselves: How can we start living within realistic energy constraints?
We start from where we are in our homes, our families, our schools, our businesses, our community groups, our local shops. We start talking to each other about how to make the transition. We look upon every part of our community as having value in the transition. We work and learn together. We are all important. We all have a part to play. We do what we can. We bring our energy, our skills, our passion, our ideas. We roll up our sleeves and do the work needed to make the transition.

We are inspired in spite of the terrible gravity of our situation. We feel hopeful and excited and empowered. We are filled with creative ideas and we face the challenges boldly and enthusiastically. We are doing this together and we see results. There are more things we can do to add to the resilience of The Grove than there are hours in the day.
We put our energies where our interests and skills can be most valuable.  We work together to develop an Energy Descent Action Plan, and to create pathways to resilience in our local community. We choose a 'domain of action' that we are drawn to. There is also time for sharing and fun and trading produce and inspiring speakers. We can apply for grants and undertake projects to make our local community resilience a deeper reality.
The focus is very local, within the boundaries of The Grove. We nurture our local resources, people and energy, and use them to build resilience here. We are learning how to bring our energy home to The Grove rather than having it dissipate elsewhere.

Other Transition Inititiatives are doing the same thing within their own very local areas, and we cooperate together and encourage each other. 

Domains of Action
An Energy Descent Action Plan looks right across the community at the systems that support and enable us to live. Almost everything we do is dependent on fossil fuel energy, and can be examined for ways to do it more efficiently or with less energy dependence and a smaller carbon footprint. The domains of action identified so far include:
  • Food supply (community gardens, having veges, fruit trees & chooks in your garden, local agriculture, preserving & storing)
  • Energy supply
  • Transport
  • Health
  • Education
  • Water supply
  • Waste management
  • Security
  • Governance (federal, state, local)
  • Local economy (businesses, finance, all the local shops, restaurants & traders & opening hours)
  • Environment (our birds & animals, trees & plants, hills & streams)
  • Local production (manufacturing, mining, forestry)
  • Local facilities (where to find it locally, and when it operates)
  • Recreation & Interests (sport and recreation, clubs, interests, celebrations & festivals, music & culture, churches & worship, volunteering & sponsorship, local history, local stories, restaurants & bars & social venues, museums, zoos & galleries, parks & playgrounds, local environmental interests, activities for people with special needs, markets, libraries, pets, on-going community education & courses)


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