PORT ANGELES — Organizers hope to make Port Angeles the next city to become part of the “transition town” movement.
Transition towns are communities that aim to make themselves models for finding new ways to overcome global issues, such as climate change, oil dependency and economic shifts and crises, at the local level.
Port Angeles City Councilwoman Sissi Bruch and Sequim resident Dave Taylor want Port Angeles to join this effort and are hosting a kickoff meeting at 6:30 p.m. March 15 at the Port Angeles Senior Center, 328 E. Seventh St.
Port Townsend resident Shelly Randall, who runs www.sustainabletogether.com, will be the guest speaker.
Bruch said becoming a transition town could involve promoting high-tech or renewable industry and even encouraging people to buy locally made food or grow their own.
‘Lifestyles have to change’
“It’s about realizing our lifestyles have to change because our energy use and lack of resources,” she said.
Looking ahead to the future, she said: “When gas gets to $5 a gallon, it’s changing our lifestyle one way or another.”
Randall, a steering committee member of Local 20/20 in Port Townsend, said being a transition town is all about “resiliency.”
“The age of cheap energy is over,” she said.
“Transition says let’s not wait until things get really bad until we try to organize a response,” Randall added.
Local 20/20 became a recognized transition town initiative Jan. 1, she said.
There are 114 transition towns, including Port Townsend, in the United States, according to the website www.transitionus.org.
Local 20/20 started in Port Townsend in 2006 and has several “action groups” that focus on issues associated with waste, climate action, transpiration and others.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.