Transition Beaufort met for its first official gathering on Tuesday 14^th February at the Beaufort Community Resource Centre at 7pm.

The focus of this first get together was to explain the Transition concept and highlight the challenges in creating a grass roots group for positive change, relocalization and low energy living. It was also highlighted that these issues and their solutions are specifically aimed and directed at the town of Beaufort and the region of the Pyrenees Shire.

Using finite resources and burning fossil fuels will end at some point, with 7 billion people on the planet all aiming for the same level of affluence, our finite resources will at first become increasingly expensive, then difficult to access. This difficulty in access can already be seen amongst the vulnerable members of our society, and this is directly evident in Beaufort itself, you don’t need to look very hard.

Transition Beaufort looks to develop and support small activities, events and initiatives which will move our population in a positive, community minded, low energy direction.

We can act now to create change in the direction of our own choosing, or at some point in the future, government and higher authorities will make the decisions for us and they may not be in our best interests as individuals, families and community members.

Join us every Tuesday night in the Beaufort Community Resource Centre at 7pm for a social evening including film presentations of low energy living solutions. Also join us on Saturday the 25^th Feb, for a presentation of the film Power of Community- which looks at the ‘special period’ suffered by Cuba at the end of the cold war, in which a country wide initiative of relocalization and local food growing began in earnest, with the introduction of Permaculture design and techniques.

 At the end of the meeting we used the Transition Town-Sticky Note Tool- where all attendees post sticky notes on a board under the four headings of: One thing I can do, One thing Beafort can do, One thing the government can do, and One other thought. This activity was suprisingly empowering, just writing down these notes and reading them all out aloud energized everyone.

One thing I can do

Support the transition movement with public events etc

Tell people-my neighbours and show them my veggie patch. I’m already growing my own (food). I don’t need to go to the supermarket. I have already cut down my car travel.

Grow food for my family and sell or donate the excess. Food=eggs, fruit, vegetables, herbs.

Have my shop as a Transition Beaufort gathering place

Raise awareness

Promote action in our community

Promote recycled paper-save trees for our native birds

One thing Beaufort can do

Have community conversations

Work towards a fresh food market of local food.

Get involved- come to the party

Support each other

Relocalize food

Show people the way-set an example

 One thing the government can do

Listen better

Listen-get involved-become more open to alternatives

Educate everyone

Local government can provide unused land for food growing

Listen to the people-its not just about money

Stand up to major polluters & Public transport infrastructure

One other thought

If everyone contributed as best they could, a lot of progress would be made

In stead of getting in front of the galloping herd and holding your hand up to say stop, better to come in from behind and work our way to the middle and gently steering then around.

Maybe we need to go back in time, before we have no choice.

Live a happy, healthy, inexpensive life

We could invite older people to tell us how they used to live

What’s in Beaufort’s water?