Thanks to everyone who shared their visions at our January Transition Town meeting! We collected 10 huge pages full of ideas on Energy, Economy, Transportation, Housing, Food, Water, Reduce/Reuse/Recycle, Family, Health, and Community. Our small group conversations led to some immediate project initiatives and lots more possibilities for the future.

What’s the next step? Look for it in your inbox next week.

The next step is to build a detailed strategic plan for 2013-2014 and identify folks who are ready to step up and help turn these ideas into reality. On or around Feb. 13, we’ll send an online survey to the local Transition community: which parts of this vision should become our top priorities, and what are YOU willing & able to work on this year? …or, what are you already working on that we can support and amplify? We’ll follow up on the survey results at our next monthly Transition Town meeting on February 25.

Don’t wait for the survey, or the February  meeting, if you want to get involved right away! Leave a comment below, or you can reach me at annmarie.hohenberger (at) gmail (dot) com or (434) 981-2004. I would love to hear about your project idea or put you in touch with a group that needs you.

Folks around town are already working on our vision. Thanks y’all!

Another piece of this vision process is to connect our efforts with work that’s already being done locally. The Transition Cville “Initiating Group” (our steering committee – currently me, Joanie, Dave, Stevo, Lorrie, Glenn, and Dana) will examine our community inventory of allies and brainstorm ways to support instead of duplicating.

Two of our most important potential allies – sometimes overlooked – are City and County government. They’re working hard to create a new Comprehensive Plan, and many items match beautifully with what Transitioners want to see in our community. Public involvement in the Comprehensive Plan process has been low (although Joanie and Dave have faithfully attended many meetings). In the coming months, let’s resolve as a Transition community to support and encourage our elected officials and public staff who are working toward sustainability.

Inspiration from the VISION meeting

At the end of our January 28 meeting, each person shared one thing they would take away from the Vision activity:

• Explore reuseable technology that can facilitate tool libraries, time shares
• Look at making a Cville mutual fund to aggregate financial resources for micro enterprises.
• How can Transition Cville host an internship for youth?
• Meet with local food hub to see how can work with them.
• Contact Meredith Richards to “fan the flame” for warehousing capacity.
• Look at steps for creating an energy cooperative.
• Cheerleader for Better Business Challenge; encourage businesses to compost and have reuseable to go containers.
• Tool Library, starting with Transition group.
• be “Mr. Recycle”
• Look at first steps for starting a local energy grid or wind farm.
• Think about community being self contained and self sufficient.
• Already working on generating cooperative businesses; going to Cleveland, Ohio to visit Evergreen’s energy cooperative, with a focus on low income.
• Focus on Dominion Power and generate grassroots movement working with other groups to work together.
• Not be miserable about the now! Also, buy more in bulk.
• Women’s clothes swap. Writing letters for energy reform.
• Raise awareness about Dominion Power and lack of renewables.
• Convince a financial group to create a mutual fund for local investment. Involve young people in Transition – put together a curriculum package to offer to HS students.
• Don’t need a refrigerator.
• Take back your power (in all ways).
• Integrate alternative healing modalities to bring together health, community and family – create a wellness bus or traveling herb kitchen.

And here’s a video from Transitioner Bob Fenwick that captures the spirit of the meeting and shows what we did.