Alicetown centres on the tipping oil scales
Transition Towns Lower Hutt has recently taken on premises in Alicetown to run as a public drop-in centre for information and education on peak oil, climate change and the transition process. Local Transition Town organiser Natalie Hormann says Wellington?s new centres are proving successful but are having teething problems with providing expertise to new groups. ?We have found there is not enough information for people wanting to start up a new group. ?It would be good to send them someone with experience to get them up and running. ?We are learning lessons about the things that work and didn?t work ? it?s still early days,? she says. The Alicetown centre is located at 51A Victoria St and Petone Transition Town organiser Natalie Hormann says the shop has already proven its value. The group worked on putting together detailed displays for the Transition Towns Expo at the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul. Following the success of this event, Transition Towns Lower Hutt will resume its regular schedule of meetings and movie screenings at the centre. Centre coordinator Juanita McKenzie says, ?We will have an official opening event sometime soon, we?ve just simply been too busy?. The centre holds a small library, information displays and a work area, and can be booked for community groups and events. Mrs Hormann is currently in the grips of George Monbiot?s book Heat: how to stop the planet from burning. She says the current chapter talks about, ?good technologies that are decades away from being developed to a level where they can be broadly used?. The Alicetown centre will host a ?Skilling Up for Powerdown? course starting October 7. ?The course encourages us to look at what a powerdown will mean for individuals and communities. ?We are dependent on oil not just for travel, but also to distribute and produce our food, for energy in homes, and in the manufacture of everything from plastics to fertilizers. ?As oil becomes more expensive and then scarce, we need to start planning for the impact this will have on our lives,? says Mrs Hormann. The nine week evening class is now a well established feature of the transition process in the UK, and Lower Hutt is the first place to offer this course in New Zealand. For details contact 5769596 or email Natalie Hormann at
