The Transition movement takes a look at the sweeping problems we face, and then consciously designs a plan to grow local resilience -- our ability to flex and adapt.  

The following resources will assist you in understanding the problems, as well as taking positive action which prepares your family, friends, and community.

peak oil ... climate change

biocapacity  ... economic contraction

the Transition concept ... What We Can Do ... español

• Peak Oil Visually Explained (VIDEO 3 minute, English)
• Peak Oil Primer, Energy Bulletin
• Peak Oil for Dummies, Lionel Badal (ASPO peer reviewed)
• Future Scenarios, by David Holmgren (shorter online version) or Future Scenarios: How Communities Can Adapt to Peak Oil and Climate Change, by David Holmgren (expanded book version) (TLA)
• PowerDown, by Richard Heinberg
• "Can renewable energy make a dent in fossil fuels?" CNET review of book by Ripudaman Malhotra about the Cubic Mile of Oil
• U.S. Department of Energy's 2009 diagram of World Liquid Fuels Supply
• Quotes:
  • "One thing is clear: the era of easy oil is over" -- David J. O'Reilly, Chairman & CEO, Chevron Oil, July 2005 (source, additional source)
  • "Shell estimates that after 2015 supplies of easy-to-access oil and gas will no longer keep up with demand." -- Jeroen van der Veer, the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell (source)
  • “One day we will run out of oil. We have to leave oil before oil leaves us, we have to prepare ourselves for that day. The earlier we start, the better, because all of our economic and social system is based on oil, so to change from that will take a lot of time and a lot of money and we should take this issue very seriously.”  -- Dr Fatih Birol, the chief economist at the respected International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris, which is charged with the task of assessing future energy supplies by OECD countries. (source)

• Global Warming animation (VIDEO 90 second, multilingual), 350.org
• An animated journey through the Earth's climate history (BBC)
• Climate Choices global warming and climate change specific to California, from the Union of Concerned Scientists.  Includes agricultural and health-related issues.
• Sea Level rise projections for Los Angeles

• Overshoot - Why It Matters and What You Can Do (VIDEO 3 minute, English)
• Global Footprint Network
• Peak Everything, by Richard Heinberg

• "Making Sense of the Financial Crisis in the Era of Peak Oil" an audio recording of the talk by Stoneleigh given at the 2010 Transition Conference in the UK.  Slides similar to those mentioned in the audio are referenced from here.
• "Barking Up the Wrong Tree" by Jerry Mander found on page 9 of this pdf
  • "The scale of denial is breathtaking." --Jerry Mander
• "What if the Economy Doesn't Recover?" by Richard Heinberg.  An excellent article explaining why we are looking at Life Beyond Growth
  • "Understandably, everyone wants it to get “back to normal.” But here’s a disturbing thought: What if that is not possible? What if the goalposts have been moved, the rules rewritten, the game changed?"
• "Depression 2.0" term used by the World Economic Forum at Davos, Jan 2009

ECONOMIC SOLUTIONS:

• "Prosperity without Growth?  The Transition to a Sustainable Economy" by Tim Jackson, Sustainable Development Commission (UK) Executive Summary & Report (pdf) and book
  • "The clearest message from the financial crisis of 2008 is that our current model of economic success is fundamentally flawed.  For the advanced economies of the Western world, prosperity without growth is no longer a utopian dream, it is a financial and ecological necessity."
• The Bridge at the End of the World, by James Gustave Speth, Dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Sutides at Yale University and environmental advisor to two U.S. presidents
  • develop alternatives to existing policies, [and] keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable.
• "Shifting Direction: From Global Dependence to Local Interdependence," by Helena Norberg-Hodge, found in The Case Against the Global Economy, Jerry Mander, ed.  Also available as a single article through ISEC.
  • "It is precisely because there are so many people that we must abandon the globalized economic model, which can only feed, house, and clothe a small minority.  It is becoming essential to support knowledge systems and economic models that are based on an intimate understanding of diverse regions and their unique climates, soils, and resources."
• Genuine Progress Indicator
• The Sharing Solution, by Janelle Orsi and Emily Doskow
• Small is Beautiful, by E.M. Schumacher (we recommend the 25th anniversary edition)
• Los Angeles area local resources includes time banks, etc.

• The Transition Primer (free online), by the Transition Network explains the underlying concepts of the Transition approach, including the action steps that Transition initiatives are implementing
• Transition Culture, the insightful and entertaining blog of Transition concept founder Rob Hopkins
• The Transition Handbook, by Rob Hopkins, the handbook to growing Transition action in your local community.  A free online version without images
• Transition United States offers trainings and resources.
• the international Transition Network

The Transition movement is founded on Permaculture principles.

• Permaculture Principles, by David Holmgren

Transition in Los Angeles:

• join the TLA mailing list , participate in discussion of Transition concepts, read the latest TLA news on our TLA blog, download a pamphlet, or find Transition activities in your local area
• our Transition Cities webpage
• What is a Pod?

Energy Descent Action Plans : 
The Energy Descent Action Plan (EDAP) is what uniquely distinguishes the Transition process from all other "greening" efforts.  Early efforts of Transition initatives (awareness-raising, reskilling events, networking) are designed to get a community ready to envision a powered-down, lower carbon future.  Next, the Transition initiative forms the working groups which will create the EDAP.  These teams analyse what resources we currently have to work with, create a vision of where we want to be and use backcasting techniques to determine the pathway toward that brilliant future.  After the EDAP is published, efforts are directed toward getting the EDAP ideas incorporated into other area planning tools (city planning, etc.).  Eventually, the Transition initative will focus on implementation of the EDAP:  gearing up skills, installing physical projects, building relationships, and accumulating the tools necessary to make the EDAP vision come alive.

• Introductory slideshow and narrative about EDAPs from EcoLab
• The EDAP Process from the Transition Primer (If you're reading Version 26 of the Primer, it's on pages 28-30 of the pdf)
• Sample EDAPs
  • from around the world;
  • from Ventura, CA (praised by Hopkins)
  • San Francisco, CA
• EDAP-oriented exercises to do with a group: 
  • "2030 School Reunion"
  • Description of event which launched the TTT EDAP process
  • "EDAP in 2 hours"
  • "Create an EDAP" resources from Transition Network

many articles and local resources are accessible via these webpages:

• The Environmental Change-Makers
• LegacyLA, the blog of local author Joanne Poyourow
• Legacy: A Story of Hope - want to see it all unfold in story form?  Legacy is the tale of transforming Los Angeles, a novel that covers 2002 to 2040 ... experience the possibliites

• ¿Qué puedes hacer tú? Cambio climático y el precio del petróleo – Soluciones