Hello and Welcome.

Transition Town Maroondah's (TTM) vision is:

Maroondah: a Transition Town achieving zero net emissions by 2020; a sustainable and resilient community maximising participation and re-localisation.

TTM is a community coming together to create a sustainable way to live and work - building a resilient community in the face of Peak Oil, (when oil will no longer be readily and cheaply available), as well as climate, energy and economic change.

TTM inspires and leads by sharing the vision and facilitating initiatives that build resilient, connected and sustainable communities in Maroondah.

There are many ways to be involved in TTM:

• be active in your own house and garden
• be active in your own neighbourhood
• join a Special Interest Group
• join the Strategic Planning Group (email ttmaroondah@gmail.com to express your interest

You are welcome to join the TTM general group (click on 'Sign Up'.) This is a way to keep in the loop with what Transition Town Maroondah is up to. You can also create discussions about Transition Town Maroondah in areas that interest you.

Click on Events to find out when the next activities are occurring.

Feel free to customize your own 'My Page' and communicate directly with members on this site.

To listen to a 16 minute talk on Transition Towns by Rob Hopkins check out the following site:
http://www.ted.com/talks/rob_hopkins_transition_to_a_world_without_oil.html

To purchase a copy of The Transition Town Handbook visit the website: http://www.finch.com.au/books/transition-handbook/

Some of us Transition Town Maroondah people are into growing garlic with a view to providing enough garlic for our own households,  perhaps some to swap at a food swap, as well as holding a Garlic Harvest Party in late November to 'show off' our garlic growing expertise and promote locally grown food. Who needs imported garlic?! Let's have our own chemical free, zero food miles garlic.

This is really part of Maroondah people becoming primary producers in our own backyards. If we can do this with garlic, we can do it with many other crops and increase our food security.

Sandra Hardiman has started a fascinating blog about her garlic growing venture. To find Sandra's page, go to Members at the top of this page and click on Sandra's name. This will take you straight to her garlic blog. Sandra has a very large crop planted - read her blog to find out what her multiple purposes are!

Some of our local garlic growers:

Mary

Justin

Amy

Sandra

Jan

Michael

Jane

Neil

Naomi

Yvonne

Pam

Radhika

Mandy and Lee

Janine

and please remind Jan if I have left you off this list by emailing TTM

Transition Town Maroondah had another successful stall at the 2011 Maroondah Festival. The stall was in a prime possition on a rise for everyone to see as they arrived at the Festival.  We had a steady stream of visitors for most of the day and some great conversations with fellow Maroondah residents about various aspects of transitioning Maroondah to becoming a resilient and sustainable community.   The stall held displays of achievements throughout 2011 as well as images of a sustainable Maroondah in 2020 (click on links.below to reed some futures stories)

Sustainable journey.doc
Story from 2020.doc
A SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT STORY FOR 2020.doc

Check out the photos sectcion of the website to get a sense of how the stall was so beautifully set up (thanks to Ruth, Jan, Michael and Radhika)

Here's something we can all do to play a role in creating a resilient and sustainable community - it is foundational block 101 for a Transition Town - and it is getting to know your neighbours.

There are lots of benefits

• The neighbourhood can feel safer when you know more people
• You may discover new friends
• You may hear interesting stories about the street you live in
• Opportunities for sharing skills and knowledge may open up
• And as you get to know your neighbours over time, you may discover that some are interested in sharing resources and holding working bees for each other etc etc.
• And it can be fun!!

Here's how to do it very simply:  

• Pick a Saturday or Sunday afternoon that works for you and a friend (its worth asking a friend / neighbour, and / or someone from TTM to support you in hosting your Street Gathering - it makes it much more fun)
• Choose a public place ideally in your street or close by.  Could even be in yours or a neighbours front yard.
• Decide the boundaries of your invitation. If you are in a small street it is easy.  If you are in a long street, you may wish to choose how many houses either side of your own you will give invites to.  As a rough guide, if you deliver about 100 invites this may lead to about 20 people coming.  If this number feels too many, just reduce the number of invites you hand out initially.
• Fill in the relevant details on the attached invite template
  Street%20Gathering%20invite.doc
• Print off enough copies to deliver to the houses you have decided to invite
• Pick a lovely sunny day about 3 to 4 weeks before the event, and place the invites in the letterboxes of your chosen houses
• On the day of the event, set up a table with what you need to serve tea and coffee, plus room for people's contribution to afternoon tea, and put out a few chairs.
• And then sit down, make yourself and your friend a cuppa, and relax and wait for people to come.
• When people arrive welcome them with a smile. If you are looking for conversation starters a great place to start is to explore what you both know about the street you live in.
• Remember that the people who come, are coming because they want to get to know you and other neighbours. That's what you have in common at least, and you will probably be surprised at how much more you have in common.
  
  

THE STORY SO FAR

Transition Town Maroondah is part of a worldwide movement where communities recognise that we live in unprecedented times, where the health of our planet, our ecosystems, and humans (including future generations) are at great risk due to climate change, dwindling biodiversity, and peak oil. TT see this as both a huge threat, but also a great opportunity to create a new way of thinking about how we coexist with each other, and the rest of the biosphere, to reduce our impact on the earth’s finite resources, and what’s needed to create a sustainable and sustaining future.
TT is a way of living, and being with each other ,and infrastructures which take a lead in creating sustaining futures by preparing for impact of peak oil* and the further impacts of climate change.
In November 2009 a small group of concerned people with support by City of Maroondah hosted a public meeting in Maroondah to raise awareness of the issues of Climate change, peak oil and introduce the concept of Transition Towns.
The purpose of the meeting was to explore the interest and willingness of the Maroondah people to work together on sustainability projects which would strengthen the community and build its capacity to transition to a low carbon future. 90 people attended, there was a strong level of interest in working together to apply the TT principles and further on apply to become an official TT.
A Core group formed, to lead the initiative overall, and to work with sub groups to develop and implement projects. Special Interest Groups established focussing on the areas of Transport, Food, water & reskilling, Communication, Community engagement and Community education. A website was developed, and is being upgraded. A small group of willing people have contributed large amounts of time and effort, and as a result TTM has been building its strength, and membership, and initial impacts.

HAPPENINGS:

* Small group of people gathered to initiate Transition Town Maroondah in March 2009
* Transition Town stall at Maroondah Festival 2009
* Information Night held at Karalyka in November 2009 (72 people attended)
* Meeting at All Smiles of key interested people – 22 people attended
* Initiating Group changed its name to Core Group Nov 2009
* Vision Workshop December 2009
* Working Groups formed focusing on Transport; Food and Reskilling; Community Engagement and Participation
* Launch of website December 2009
* Film Nights January and February 2010
* Teamed with 8 other Transition Initiative to create A Transition Town Stall at the Sustainable Living Festival February 2010
* Weekend Workshop – March 2010
* Monthly gatherings commenced March 2010 (4th Sunday of each month) and continued to the present.
* Worked with Tintern and Croydon West Primary School to create Ride2School events
* Worked with Eastwood Primary School to build community garden
* Working in partnership with LETS, OBOE, SGA POD

* Hosted film nights and presentations at monthly gatherings throughout 2011.

* Partnered with Maroondah Council to publicly host the film 'Economics of Happiness' to which 270 people came.