Transition Chicago (TC)

Local Transition Groups:

• Transition Rogers Park – Confronting climate change and peak oil by bringing the head, heart and hands of our Rogers Park community to make the transition to life beyond oil.

Chicagoland Groups/ Re-skilling:

• Active Transportation Alliance – (Formerly Chicago Bike Federation) The mission of Active Transportation Alliance is to make bicycling, walking and public transit so safe, convenient and fun that we will achieve a significant shift from environmentally harmful, sedentary travel to clean, active travel.
• Blacks in Green - Everywhere we look, blacks-in-green are in action on environmental issues, including a new generation of good food advocates.
• Center for Neighborhood Technology -A leader in promoting more livable and sustainable urban communities.
• Chicago Food Policy – Facilitates the development of responsible policies that improve access for Chicago residents to culturally appropriate, nutritionally sound, and affordable food that is grown through environmentally sustainable practices.
• Chicago Honey Co-op - Our purpose is simple, to provide job training opportunities for the under-employed while operating a small business model that is dedicated to sustainable agricultural practices and aims for the highest product quality standards.
• Chicago Permaculture Meet-up - Meet other local people who support Permaculture design for sustainable human existence.
• Chicago Peak Oil – The world consumes 3,612,000,000 gallons of oil a day, everyday. Like all resources, it is not an endless supply. We will see that decline of supply, unfortunately, in our lifetimes. Preparation for this is already late.
• Chicago Primitive Skills Meet-up - Every month we provide a free Skills afternoon, focusing on basic methods for tracking, foraging, fire by friction, tool making…the list goes on.
• Chicago Sustainable Business Alliance - The CSBA supports members in integrating sustainable business principles to generate a more profitable, environmentally respectful, and socially responsible Chicago economy.
• Eco Justice Collabrative -  Our mission is to raise public awareness of the consequences of lifestyle choices on people and our planet and to encourage changes.
• Growing Power – Officially opened in February of 2002 to manage resource development and the technical assistance needed to assist emerging Community Food Centers and urban and small farm projects in the metropolitan Chicago area.
• Illinois Renewable Energy Association – Supports sustainable energy development in Illinois.
• The Land Connection - The Land Connection works to establish successful farmers  on healthy farmland, ensuring an abundance of delicious, local, and organic foods.
• Midwest Permaculture Transition Webinars - Sharing information through the internet via webinars covering What is the Transition Initiative? What is it a response to? How does it work? What will it do? and How may one get involved?
• Resource Center Chicago – A non-profit environmental education organization, has led the way in demonstrating innovative techniques for recycling and reusing materials.
• Urban Habitat Chicago - Demonstrating the viability of sustainable concepts and practices in urban environments through research, education, and hands-on projects.

Is your local Chicagoland group or re-skilling organization not here? Add it to the comments below and we will get it into the list above.

Local Chicagoland Farms/ Community Support Agriculture (CSA):

• Angelic Organics - Since 1993, Peterson, director of an organic farm in Caledonia, Ill, has been one of the leaders in the growing movement of community supported agriculture -farms that sell shares of their crops to city dwellers.
• City Farm – A sustainable vegetable farm bordering two very diverse Chicago neighborhoods: Cabrini-Green and the Gold Coast. The farm boasts thirty varieties of tomatoes as well as beets, carrots, potatoes, gourmet lettuces, herbs and melons.
• Green Youth Farm – Employs high school students on its organic farms and sells produce at several markets, including at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Farmer’s Markets:

• Green City Market -Supports Farmers Who Take Care of the Land, Features the Highest Quality, Locally Farmed, Sustainably or Organically Produced Foods, Requires Strict Farmer / Producer Criteria, Works to increase the year-round availability of locally grown food with winter markets in November and December, Operates as an independent, charitable organization with a 501 (c) 3 status.

Transition Towns Information:

• Transition Towns Main - A Transition Initiative is a community working together to look Peak Oil and Climate Change squarely in the eye.
• Transition US - Tackling Climate Change and Peak Oil. Bringing the Head, Heart and Hands of Communities together to make the transition to life beyond oil.
• Transition Ning – Social network for US based transition initatives.
• Transition Culture - How might our response to peak oil and climate change look more like a party than a protest march? This site explores the emerging transition model in its many manifestations.

Interesting Web Content:

• The Crash Course - seeks to provide you with a baseline understanding of the economy, energy and the environment so that you can better appreciate the risks that we all face.
• The Oil Drum - The Oil Drum’s mission is to facilitate civil, evidence-based discussions about energy and its impact on our future.
• Energy Bulletin - A clearinghouse of information concerning the peak in global energy such as oil and gas.
• Community Solutions - Our strategy of culture change, conservation and curtailment.
• ASPO (The Association for the Study of Peak Oil) - A network of scientists and others, having an interest in determining the date and impact of the peak and decline of the world’s production of oil and gas, due to resource constraints.
• Life After the Oil Crash - These are rational, professional, conservative individuals who are absolutely terrified by a phenomenon known as global “Peak Oil.”
• From the Wilderness – More extreme site on the implications of Peak Oil.
• Joanna Macy - This web site opens doors to the new bodies of thought, time-tested spiritual practices, and pioneering group methods, that I find to be powerful inspirations to understanding and action.
• Lawns to Gardens

Books:

• The Transition Handbook – Rob Hopkins book about a suggested framework for starting a Transition Town.
• Gaia’s Garden – Book on permaculture and the household.  Lots of insight and skill building for a low energy future.
• The Urban Homesteader - Your Guide to Self-sufficient Living in the Heart of the City
• Peak Oil Survival Guide and Cookbook -General “how to” and planning suggestions for life after oil.
• The Long Emergency -tells us just what to expect after the honeymoon of affordable energy is over, preparing us for economic, political, and social changes of an unimaginable scale.
• Simple Prosperty – Living better with less. Letting the Jone’s win the rat race.

Movies:

• End of Suburbia - A movie that discusses the dwindling supply of cheap energy in the form of fossil fuels and its effect on society.
• The Power of Community -How Cuba survied peak oil. An independent film on how Cuba survied peak oil after the 1989 colapse of the Soviet Union and lost it’s primary supplier of oil.
• Crude Awakening -tells the story of how our civilization’s addiction to oil puts it on a collision course with geology.
• Escape from Suburbia -examines how declining world oil production has already begun to affect modern life in North America told through personal stories and interviews.
• Blind Spot -establishes the inextricable link between the energy we use, the way we run our economy and the effect it has had on our environment.
• What a Way to Go:  Life at the End of the Empire -A middle class white guy comes to grips with Peak Oil, Climate Change, Mass Extinction, Population Overshoot and the demise of the American Lifestyle.
• Inconvenient Truth -offers a passionate and inspirational look at one man’s fervent crusade to halt global warming’s deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it.
• The Future of Food -provides an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade.

Independent Movie Sources:

• Earth Cinima Circle - DVD club dedicated to increasing social & environmental awareness through entertaining films.
• Iron Weed Film Club -  A source of edgy, enlightening, entertaining independent documentaries and short films addressing provocative subjects and progressive, forward-thinking themes.

Magazines:

• Conscious Choice – Regional magazine focused on healthy living and socially responsible ideas.
• Permaculture Activist - Our purpose is to provide information to liberate people everywhere to provide for their own & their communities’ needs for food, energy, shelter, & a decent life without exploitation or pollution & from the smallest practical area of land.
• Permaculture Magazine – UK magazine that brings an international perspecitve to permaculture.
• Mother Earth News -DIY magazine for sustainable, low cost housing and organic food production.

Blogs:

• Rob Hopkins Blog -
• Greener Good Blog - Focused on reducing consumption and daily actions that will move us towards a more sustainable, self-reliant and resilient future.
• Richard Heinberg Blog
• James Howard Kunstler blog
• Dmitry Orlov Blog

Is your local Chicagoland group or re-skilling organization not here? Add it to the comments below and we will get it into the list above.

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