Ted Trainer’s Review of The Regeneration Handbook
Don’s note: Ted Trainer is an interesting guy. I first became aware of him after being recommended to read his 2007 book, Renewable Energy Cannot Sustain a Consumer Society. I later read with great interest his lively public debates with Transition Movement founder Rob Hopkins. Earlier this year, Ted contacted me after reading an excerpt from The Regeneration Handbook, offering to write this review. He also sent me this delightfully lo-fi video of his Australian Permaculture homestead and educational center, which he calls “Pigface Point.” Many thanks, Ted, for all you do!
If we get through the coming time of great troubles to a sustainable and just society it will be via a Transition Towns movement of some kind. Don Hall’s book is his latest contribution in his long history of working for the movement. It will help many to join us in what I regard as the most important thing happening in the world. An exaggerated claim? Let me explain why I think it is justified.
That marvellous (but too long) book, The Dawn of Everything by Graeber and Wengrow, puzzles over how is it that for more than 10,000 years Western “civilisation” has become stuck on a lamentable path. We have opted for social systems that involve domination, rule by kings, tyrants and governments over passive and obedient masses who are usually exploited, impoverished and made to fight wars. But there have been civilisations that have not been like that. Some have avoided hierarchy, inequality, ruling classes and top-down control and the idolisation of wealth. Some that were hierarchical somehow threw off that form and chose participatory democracy. So humans can do it. There’s nothing in our genes that determines that we can’t build and run good societies.
But what now constitutes a good society? The advent of the alarming global sustainability problem has given us an historically new answer. Once the answer was basically in terms of liberation from oppression and poverty and achievement of “high living standards”, but now first on the list of attributes must be dramatically reducing our present society’s impacts on resources and environments. For many decades, my “Simpler Way” project has been among those arguing that this cannot be done sufficiently unless we manage to shift to social forms and systems in which we can live well on a small fraction of the resource consumption typical of rich countries today. That inescapably means most people living in small, highly self-sufficient and self-governing cooperative local communities in control of their own zero-growth economies. These communities would be where I hope and believe the Transition Towns movement will take us.
The main reason why they are the answer is that it is only in such communities can the resource consumption rates be got right down. A study of egg supply I was involved in found that the huge dollar and energy costs of eggs supplied via the typical supermarket path were 100 to 200 times those of eggs coming from backyards or local cooperatives. The industrial-supermarket egg arrives via global networks involving shipping, trucks, agribusiness, marketing, waste removal, fertilizers, offices, machinery and expensive technocrats, whereas the backyard egg might involve none of these costs. The same can apply to many of the items and processes enabled by town-level production systems.
That’s why the Transition Towns movement is so extremely important. In my firm view, the fate of the planet depends primarily on whether we can build it to be the major driver of social change. As Don points out in his historical account of the movement, it is rapidly increasing all around the world. Contributing to its growth is therefore most important and this is what Don’s book is doing.
Don begins by outlining the evolutionary perspective he takes to the human situation and predicament. He rightly argues that we need to make an “evolutionary leap” to new thinking, values and ways. His Chapters 4 and 5 explain the origins and goals of the movement.
Chapter 6 delves into the alarming global predicament and the “unravelling” that is underway. Don is well aware of the possibility of collapse. He is also rightly dismissive of faith that technical fixes will solve our problems and allow us to continue to enjoy affluent ways. He joins many in realising that an era of “energy descent” has begun. Unlike many who are looking for solutions, Don recognises that there must be a “dramatic reduction” in rich world levels of consumption.
Chapter 7 stresses the significance of “vision”. The Transition movement is intrinsically optimistic. It is about people coming together to do things, especially to reinforce community and move towns towards sustainability. Although pushed by concern about our situation, it involves positive motivation, solidarity, hope and pride in achievements. The central concept is of course “relocalisation”. As I noted above, this is essential for ecological sustainability but it is also crucial for the restoration of community solidarity and a “needs-driven” economy of inclusion, gift, care, and responsible happy citizens.
Late in Chapter 7 Don sketches the kind of community he’d like to live in by 2050. There is not enough envisioning of this kind; the eco-village movement should be showing us how idyllic life in some of their communities can be.
In Chapter 8, Don discusses “inner transition”, the changes in mentality, feelings, vales and commitment that we need to consider and which might make us more effective transitioners.
Chapter 9 explores the collective arena, the importance of coming together to discuss, plan, decide and work for a more resilient town. Don’s distaste for hierarchies aligns with a fundamental element in many alternative movements: the essential need for participatory democratic cooperative engagement with equals. He discusses processes and problems that group work can involve.
Especially noteworthy in Chapter 10 is Don’s reference to “integration”. We need initiatives to be coordinated, enabling the cooperative discussion of town needs, priorities and action. The goal I think should be the eventual formation of our own Community Development Cooperative, which has taken control of those functions that the towns commercial sector or council has neglected. A most impressive example of this is the Catalan Integral Cooperative in Spain.
In Chapter 11, Don offers ideas on practical activities that can be undertaken in our locality, including time banks, repair cafes, permablitzes, local food hubs, investment co-ops, land trusts and community energy systems.
Chapter 12 explores wider connections within the growing global quest for alternatives. Campaigns such as for climate justice and fair trade can be mutually supportive and reinforcing, hopefully contributing to a more unified force for change.
In the concluding chapter, Don makes the important point that the task is primarily about spreading the “regenerative vision”. We cannot get through to a sustainable and just society unless and until large numbers of people see that radical change in lifestyles and systems is needed, and that there are attractive and workable alternative ways. As Don says, it’s not just about avoiding the big problems like climate change, it’s about building a society that enables all to have a far higher quality of life.
So Don’s book is a valuable contribution to what I see as potentially the most important thing that ever happened in Western society!