Friday, September 5, 2008

Rise up fo the future

Organization touts collaborative transition for valley


By DANA DUGAN
Express Staff Writer

Dale Bates, Peggy Bates and Eiron Schofeld are the founders of Community Rising, which is presenting another documentary on Peak Oil on Tuesday. Photo by

Ghosts towns come into being when the very thing they were founded to support goes dry. Silver mines are tapped out, or the land goes dry and can no longer sustain produce. Resort towns are a bit different in that there is usually some natural aspect not likely to disappear. But people can, and businesses surely do.

Time was that the Wood River Valley was fairly self-sustaining. There were numerous farms, local handmade items and mom-and-pop stores. That's no longer true. Most of the produce and items for sale here are trucked in from other locations. What would happen if the cost of transporting these items grew to the point that it was no longer viable or cost effective? What happens when workers can no longer afford to commute to Ketchum and Sun Valley for their jobs?

Architects Eiron Schofeld and Dale Bates of Living Architecture, and Bates' wife, Peggy Bates, a Feng Shui practitioner, traveled to Scotland in April to attend a conference called "Positive Energy, Creative Community Response to Peak Oil and Climate Change."

After hearing a talk by Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition Town movement and author of "The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience," they were inspired. Upon returning, they founded Community Rising with the addition of fellow Ketchum resident John Furey, to promote awareness about the future in Blaine County and a sense of collaboration in bringing about positive action. They also applied and won Transition Town status. Along with Telluride, Colo., and Sandpoint, Idaho, Ketchum is one of three in the U.S. There are 78 more Transition Towns in the world.

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A Transition Town is a community that has committed to working together to look at challenges and opportunities for the future.

The process involves a comprehensive and creative process:

· Awareness-raising around peak oil, climate change and the need to undertake a community lead process to rebuild resilience and reduce carbon.

· Connecting with existing groups in the community.

· Building bridges to local government.

· Connecting with other transition initiatives.

· Forming groups to look at key areas of life such as food, energy, transportation, health, spirit, economics and livelihood.

· Kicking off projects aimed at building people's understanding of resilience and carbon issues and community engagement.

·  Eventually launching a community-defined, community-implemented "Energy Descent Action Plan" over a 15-20 year time scale.

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Ketchum has gone through many transitions in its history, from trapping to mining and farming, and from sheep ranching to skiing and tourism. As the town continues its changes a transition from a high-energy consumption town to a more resilient, low-energy-use community may be the best chance to avoid becoming a ghost town.

"This is grassroots, raising awareness in the community, getting the conversation going," Schofeld said. "The town needs to look at what would be the impacts of energy costs down the road. We need to make the community as resilient as it can be. The Wood River Valley is so reliant on the outside for products and business. We need to use resources that are here. We have amazing community, and the intention is that more focused goals will make the valley a better place to be."

As oil reaches ever-higher prices and the costs associated with our present lifestyle become unrealistic, the need to lower energy consumption will be inevitable.

"It's better to plan for it than to be taken by surprise," Schofeld said. "Then we're already ready and not scrambling."

Sponsors for Community Rising are the Idaho Mountain Express, Living Architecture, Ben Reel Productions and MindTime Inc.

Film screening & discussion

What: "The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil"

When: 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept 9

Where: Community Library, Ketchum

Details: communiytrising.com




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