Thoughts on

THE TRANSITION

To a Sustainable Society

14.3.07

Only when we are clear about the nature of our global predicament and the radical system changes that are needed, and about the form a sustainable society must take, are we in a position to think about the best way to work for the transition.

The predicament: Consumer-capitalist society is grossly unsustainable and unjust. We are far beyond levels of production and consumption that can be kept up or spread to all. Technical advance cannot solve the problems; there must be dramatic reductions in levels of economic output, and therefore radical and extreme system change. (For the detail see Part 1 of http://www.socialwork.arts.unsw.edu.au/tsw/02-The-Simpler-Way.html)

The Solution: This must involve simpler lifestyles, high levels of local economic self-sufficiency, highly cooperative and participatory arrangements, an almost totally new economic system, and fundamental value change. (For the detail see http://www.socialwork.arts.unsw.edu.au/tsw/12b-The-Alt-Sust-Soc-Lng.)

Following are some important implications of the foregoing analyses for the transition process.

- The transition cannot be imposed by a state or an authoritarian or revolutionary group. The new local societies can only be made to work by the willing effort of local people who understand why The Simpler Way is necessary and who want to live that way and who find it rewarding. Only they know the local conditions and social situation and only they can develop the networks, trust, cooperative climate etc. The producing and maintaining and administering will have to be carried out by them and things can’t work unless people are eager to cooperate, discuss, turn up to working bees, and be conscientious, and unless they have the required vision. A central government cannot force or give this; it must be developed, learned by us as we grope our way towards more self-sufficient local economies.

In any case there will not be enough resources for centralised authorities to do these things. The transition therefore has to focus on helping ordinary people to understand the need for The Simpler Way and to move towards willing acceptance of the new ways, and towards enthusiastic participation in the long process of learning how best to organise in their area.

Thus our strategy differs from the classic Left/Marxist one which focuses on building a political movement that will take over the state and then reorganise things from the centre, perhaps with a heavy hand (although Marx thought that in time the need for a central authoritarian state would fade away.)

- There is therefore no value in working to take state power, either within the parliamentary system, or by revolution. Even if the Prime Minister and cabinet suddenly came to hold all the right ideas and values, they could not make the required changes – in fact they would be instantly tossed out of office if they tried. The changes can only come from the bottom, via slow change in ideas, understandings, and values, and these cannot occur except through a lengthy process of learning the new ideas, ways and values in the places where people live. Thus striving to get Green candidates elected is not the best use of scarce energy; far better to work at the task of raising public awareness of the situation and required changes.

- We do not have to get rid of consumer-capitalist society before we can begin to build the new way. Fighting directly against the system is not going to contribute much to fundamental change at this point in time. (It is at times necessary to fight against immediate threats, but this will not contribute much to eventual system change.) The consumer-capitalist system has never been stronger than it is today. The way we think we can beat it in the long run is to ignore it to death, i.e., to start building its replacement and persuading people to come across.

- The main target, the main problem group, the basic block to progress, is not the corporations or the capitalist class. They have their power because people in general grant it to them. The problem group, the key to transition, is people in general. If they came to see The Simpler Way as preferable, consumer-capitalist society would immediately collapse. The battle is therefore one of ideology, i.e., it is about getting people to see that radical change is necessary, and that there is an alternative way

- There is no possibility of significant change for a long time to come. We are nowhere near the necessary level of public awareness of the need. However problems are becoming more acute and this will help us as time goes by -- people will be more likely to think there must be a better way. If a petroleum shortage occurs it will concentrate minds wonderfully. But when it comes the window of opportunity could be brief and risky. If things deteriorate too far there could easily be too much chaos for sense to prevail and for us to organise cooperative local systems.

- Therefore the top priorities for anyone concerned about the fate of the planet must be

- a) to help as many people as possible to understand that capitalist-consumer society has to be largely abandoned,and that there is a far better way, and

- b) to contribute to the building of elements of The Simpler Way, here and now. In the last 20 years a "Global Alternative Society Movement" has developed, in which many people all around the world have begun to build, live in and experiment with new settlements which enable simpler ways. The fate of the planet depends mainly on whether this Movement is able to develop sufficient impressive examples of The Simpler Way in coming years, so that people will be able to see around them the more satisfying ways they could move to.

It is therefore most important that when things begin to shake loose we are ready; i.e., that by then we have built enough impressive examples of The Simpler Way, so that people can see there is a better alternative, and so they can quickly move into it.

- Beware the mistakes that could waste your valuable time and energy! We must think very carefully about what we can do that will make the biggest contribution. There are many “light green” actions that make no contribution whatsoever to the transition. For instance working to save the whale, increase recycling, stop wood chipping…are good causes.;.. but they do nothing to move us towards a sustainable society, because that requires transition from consumer-capitalist society, and more recycling etc. does not contribute to that.

Change will be rapid when it comes. The problems in consumer-capitalist society are intensifying. If we do achieve transition it will be via rapidly increasing discontent.

Breakdown of consumer-capitalist society will force people to turn towards small, local economies, to cooperate and to shift from high consumption. Local farms, jobs etc will emerge as petroleum dwindles and transport and travel become too costly

- It could be a very peaceful revolution…if we can get enough people to see the sense of moving to The Simpler Way. The rich and the corporations will have no power if enough of us decide to ignore them and to build our own local systems.

Our chances of a successful transition would seem to be very poor. Very few people have any idea that it is required, hardly anyone wants to even think about the need for transition to The Simpler Way, it contradicts the most cherished values in modern Western Culture…and time is running out.

Yet, for those who understand all this, working together to build elements of the Simpler Way probably provides the best possibility of maintaining morale and enthusiasm. This strategy enables us here and now to practise and experience, and get some satisfaction and peace of mind from, elements of the post-revolutionary society.

An Outline of a Practical Strategy.

Following are the steps we can start take immediately, within our suburbs and especially in dying country towns to start building the new local economies, here and now.

Form a Community Development Collective.

A group must come together and form itself into a Community Development Collective (hereafter referred to as CDC.) Ideally the CDC will eventually develop into a mechanism for the participatory self-government of the town or suburb, but at first it might involve only a handful of individuals seeking to do some humble things.

Set up a community garden and workshop. The CDC's initial goal is to identify and organise some of the locality’s unused productive resources of skill, energy, experience and good will so that people can start to produce for themselves some of the basic goods and services they need. The most promising first step is to establish a community garden and workshop, especially to involve low income receivers in the production of food and other items for their own use.

The CDC should then look for areas in which additional cooperative production to meet local needs could be organised. A promising early possibility would be bread baking. Once or twice a week a cooperative working bee might produce most of the bread etc the group needs, again selling some to outsiders for cash. Another early possibility would be the repair of furniture, bicycles and appliances. The workshop could become a shop where surpluses are for sale. Scavenging from the locality, especially on council waste collection days, will provide furniture, appliances, bicycle parts and toys to be repaired and materials for use in the workshop. Other possible areas of activity would be cooperative house repair and maintenance, nursery production, herbs, poultry, honey, preserving and bottling fruits and vegetables, toy making, making slippers, sandals, hats, bags and baskets, car repair and the “gleaning” of local surplus fruit from private back yards.

Later the CDC would explore somewhat more complicated fields in which it could organise productive activity, such as planting fast growing trees for fuel wood, aquaculture, house building and repairing, insulating houses, recycling and planting "edible landscapes" on public land.

These activities would also provide important intangible benefits, such as the experience of community and worthwhile activity. The involvement of local people who are not on low incomes would be important, especially gardeners, handymen and retired people. Ideally the garden and workshop would become a lively community centre with information, recycling, and meeting and leisure functions. Specific times in the week should be set when all would try to gather at the site for the working bees, followed by a meal, discussions, entertainment and social activities.

Some of the most viable CDC activities could become small firms run by a family or cooperative. Cooperatives can tally contributions and pay for these from later produce or income. (This is in effect to create our own money, enabling economic activity among the poorest people.)

What we have done at this point is establish a radically new economy, one geared to need not profit, cooperative, independent of market forces, and under participatory social control.

Connecting with the normal/old economy -- stimulating the town’s internal economy. The next step must be to enable people in this new sector to trade with the normal/old firms that exist within the locality. The CDC must find out what things the new sector as a whole can start providing to some of the old sector firms. For instance in the case of restaurants the answer is likely to be vegetables from the CDC’s cooperative garden.

We would not set up firms that compete with the existing firms in the town. There is no net benefit in us setting up a bakery that wins all the scarce bread sales opportunities and therefore just puts people in the existing bakery out of work. Our focus must be on creating sales and jobs in a new economy involving those people previously excluded from economic activity. However this will not be possible unless the CDC finds items it can sell to the old firms.

It is in the interests of the old firms to join in enthusiastically, because this will enable them to increase their sales and their real incomes. They will be able to start selling to that large group of people previously not involved in much economic activity.

Organise town working bees. The development of the garden and workshop would have taken place through cooperative working bees. Before long the CDC should organise voluntary neighbourhood or town working bees, perhaps occasional at first but eventually occurring at set times aimed at developing the locality in desirable ways, e.g., planting fruit and nut trees in local parks, or building simple premises for new little firms. These can have powerful awareness raising effects within the town.

A market day would be organised mainly to sell CDC produce and products, and so that many people who do not operate firms or work full time for wages can gain income by selling items they produce in small volume through home gardens, craft activity or family produce.

Start developing commons throughout the neighbourhood, such as sheds, tools, clay pits, patches for herbs, bamboo, fruit trees and timber.

Later start working on replacing imports to the town or suburb. The proportion of the town or suburb's consumption that is met by imported goods is typically very high. When goods are produced somewhere else and imported this means that the jobs that were involved in their production are not located in the town, and it means that money is flowing out of the town. The CDC should explore what items the town is most likely to be able to start producing to replace imports. Food is an obvious item. Other possibilities are fire wood, and house insulation as a replacement for imported energy, and timber from woodlots and earth for building. Think out what services we can provide for each other, including child-minding, house cleaning, helping, gardening for older people, bike and car repair, education, entertainment.

Work on reducing the need for money in the first place. The CDC must constantly focus attention on the importance of living simply, making things yourself, home gardening, repairing, sharing and re-using. The fewer goods people consume the less that the town will have to import or provide. The more simple their demands are the more likely that these can be met from local resources. The more we do without or make for ourselves the less money we need to earn in order to buy things. Every dollar we can cut from our expenditure the less the town needs to export.

The CDC could develop craft groups to increase home production. It might organise classes, skill sharing and display days for gardening, pottery, basket making, woodwork, sewing, preserving, sandal making, weaving, leatherwork, blacksmithing, etc. It could list skilled people willing to give advice or run classes. It could also list sources of materials, especially those free from the commons such as bamboo clumps and clay pits. The CDC could develop recipes for nutritious but cheap meals mainly using plants that grow well locally.

Leisure, entertainment, celebrations, festivals and culture. One of the committees within the CDC should focus on the possibilities for providing local entertainment, especially including regular concerts, dances, visiting artists, drama groups, craft and produce shows, art galleries, picnic days, celebrations, rituals and festivals.

Form a town bank (or credit union) and business incubator, creating the power to set up the kinds of firms the town needs.

Develop collective spirit. .Emphasise cooperation, sharing, helping, solidarity, feeling of mutual support and security. Synergism multiplies good effects and brings out the best in all. (Competitive individualism brings out the worst.)

The research and educational functions of the CDC. The CDC must constantly study the local situation, working out what needs exist, what resources we have, and how to organise better ways. The most important functions for the CDC are to do with the education of people within the wider locality. After all the main point of the exercise is to bring people to understand the need for and the rewards offered by the new ways. All our activities such as working bees provide opportunities for increasing awareness within the surrounding region.

Transition Conclusions

If we do make it to a sustainable and just world order then the transition will have been begun by tiny groups of people who at some point in time have taken on this task of working out how they could start to move their towns and suburbs towards being highly self-sufficient and cooperative local economies.

The approach outlined is positive and immediate. It is not about destroying before we can start to build. It enables living in and enjoying the new ways, to some extent, here and now, long before the old system has been transcended. There is nothing to stop us starting this work immediately. Above all, given our global situation, what other action strategy makes as much sense? Is any other more likely to get us to The Simpler Way?