“A conventional good read is usually a bad read, a relaxing bath in what we know already. A true good read is surely an act of innovative creation in which we, the readers, become conspirators.”
– Augustine Birrell
For information on ordering a copy click here.
The Transition Timeline, for a local resilient future
192 pages, 234 x 234mm, published by Green Books
Back cover blurb
An exploration of the history of the next twenty years, The Transition Timeline lightens the fear of our uncertain future, providing a map of what we are facing and the different pathways available to us. It describes four possible scenarios for the UK and world over the next twenty years, ranging from Denial, in which we reap the consequences of failing to acknowledge and respond to our environmental challenges, to the Transition Vision, in which we shift our cultural assumptions to fit our circumstances and move into a more fulfilling, lower-energy world.
The practical, realistic details of this Transition Vision are examined in depth, covering key areas such as food, energy, demographics, transport and healthcare, and they provide a sense of context for communities working towards a thriving future. The book also provides a detailed and accessible update on climate change and peak oil and the interactions between them, including their impacts in the UK, present and future.
Use it. Choose your path, and then make that future real with your actions, individually and with your community. As Rob Hopkins outlines in the chapter he has contributed, there is a rapidly spreading movement addressing these challenges, and it needs you.
For my more detailed thoughts on the book, take a look at this post, or click the play button below for a radio interview recorded just ahead of the book's release.
Reviews
Online reviews:
Richard Barnett, New Forest Transition Hub
John Barry, FEASTA and Queen's University Belfast (pdf)
Paul Allen, Resurgence magazine
Patrick Whitefield, Permaculture magazine
Jamais Cascio, Open The Future
Gareth Edward Jones, Green Guys Global
Graham Burnett, Southend In Transition
~ Me interviewed about the book by Blanche Cameron, Clean Slate magazine
~ Me interviewed about the book by Rob Hopkins, Transition Culture
Text reviews:
“Peak oil and climate change are two of the greatest challenges we face today; the Transition Town movement is firmly rooted in the idea that people taking action now in their communities can not only tackle these environmental threats but also, in the process of doing so, lead more fulfilling lives. It is about hope in an otherwise bleak seeming future. Above all, it's about the power of an alternative vision for how society could be and not waiting for government or politicians to get it right.
The Transition Timeline is designed to bring that vision to life – with stories of what communities have already achieved, with updates on the latest scientific data, and with ‘maps’ that highlight key landmarks on the journey towards a zero carbon future. It's a hugely valuable manual for anyone committed to turning dreams into reality. Don't just read this book – use it to change your world.”
~ Caroline Lucas MP, leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, and co-author of Green Alternatives to Globalisation: A Manifesto.
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“Shaun Chamberlin ties down the uncertainties about climate, energy, food, water and population, the big scene-setters of our future, with no-nonsense authority. What we get with The Transition Timeline is a map of the landscape we have to find a way through. Map-making is a risky business: sooner or later someone is going to use your map and come across a treacherous swamp that isn’t marked. So you need to be alert to revisions and reports from travellers. But what matters is that someone has got the key characteristics of the landscape drawn out. This is what we have to make sense of – not in the distant future, but right now.
Don't set out without The Transition Timeline. Take a biro. Scribble updates, comments, expressions of shock and horror, notes to cheer yourself up. By the time your copy has been rained on, stained with blackberry juice, consulted, annotated, used to press and preserve a leaf of our autumnal world, you will have a good idea of where you are, and inspiration about where you are going. It is almost as good as getting there.”
~ Dr. David Fleming, director of The Lean Economy Connection, and author of Energy and the Common Purpose
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“Transition has emerged as perhaps the only real model we have for addressing our current crisis – a new, if vital, format for reconsidering our future. The Transition Timeline strengthens a fragile form, something that might, without a trace of irony, be called one of the last, best hopes for all of us.”
~ Sharon Astyk, author of Depletion and Abundance: Life on the New Home Front and A Nation of Farmers: Defeating the Food Crisis on American Soil
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“There is obviously no single, magic bullet solution to climate change. But if I was forced to choose one – our best hope of averting the crisis – it would definitely be Transition Towns.”
~ Franny Armstrong, Director of The Age of Stupid film
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“Will the future be as rosy as The Transition Timeline suggests it might be? Will the people of Britain and the rest of the world begin immediately to make better decisions, taking the welfare of future generations into account? The answer to both questions is probably no.
Will serious repercussions of decisions already taken (regarding fossil fuel consumption and the structuring of our economy to depend on perpetual growth for its viability) come to bite us hard before we even have a chance to implement some of the excellent recommendations contained in this book? The answer to that one is certainly yes - we are already seeing dire consequences of past economic and energy decisions.
Nevertheless, without a vision of what can be, there is no alternative to a future completely constrained by the past. The ideal future set forth herein is not a useless pipe-dream. There is not a single outcome described in this book that could not realistically be achieved IF we all do things beginning now that are entirely within our ability to do.
So here it is: the map and timeline of how to save our world and ourselves. Whether we WILL take up these suggestions as scheduled is a question for the cynics and dreamers to debate. For us realists, the only relevant questions are, Where do we start?, and, Will you join us? ”
~ Richard Heinberg, Senior fellow of the Post Carbon Institute, and author of eight books, including The Party’s Over and Peak Everything
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“The next 100 months will be a very special time for humanity. On numerous fronts, the consequences of the past 150 years of industrialisation are all simultaneously coming home to roost. Even senior experts, scientists, NGOs and political leaders fail to appreciate that the most recent evidence reveals a situation more urgent than had been expected, even by those who have been following it closely for decades. The Transition Timeline provides an invaluable set of innovative approaches, new narratives and creative thinking tools that will prove vital in enabling us to shape a new kind of society and a new kind of economy; stable in the long term, locally resilient, but still active in a global context, rich in quality jobs, a strong sense of purpose and reliant on indigenous, in-exhaustible energy. It should be read by everyone, immediately!”
~ Paul Allen, director of the Centre for Alternative Technology, and project director of Zero Carbon Britain
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"Peak oil and climate change are evidently intimately related issues deserving the most serious consideration. The Transition Timeline is brilliantly written and well illustrated, explaining these critical issues in lucid and readily comprehensible terms. In short, it is essential reading for everyone from the man-in-the-street to the Cabinet Minister."
~ Colin Campbell, founder of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO)
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“The Transition Timeline builds on the success of the Transition movement in galvanising community capacity and resilience to respond to climate change and peak oil. Using the ‘backcasting’ technique documented in Rob Hopkins’ very successful Transition Handbook, Shaun Chamberlin paints the picture of how we got to a better world by 2027.
Chapters dealing with the basics from food and water through to health and medicine map how Britain made this transition using positive, bottom up community and cultural adaptation combined with innovative public policies and available and appropriate technologies.
While definitely focused on empowering the community rather than the policy makers, this book is much more than a folksy agenda for comfort in the crisis. It is a serious plan to reconstruct society in the light of ecological and energetic realities, informed by the best evidence about the vortex of forces influencing the global crisis.
Chamberlin runs along a knife edge between the harsh realities facing the whole of humanity on the one hand, and hope and pragmatic vision on the other, outlining a pragmatic plan for a society-wide adaptation to the energy descent future. Let’s see if we can run along that knife edge; we have nothing to lose.”
~ David Holmgren, co-originator of the Permaculture concept, and author of Future Scenarios: mapping the cultural implications of peak oil and climate change
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“Highly readable and well researched - this book is a hugely valuable contribution to Transition thinking. With grace and wit Shaun Chamberlin ably scopes out the combined dangers of peak oil and climate change and shows us what we can do to avoid their worst impacts. Read it and implement its wisdom if you want to help create a liveable future.”
~ Dr. Stephan Harding, co-ordinator of the MSc in Holistic Science at Schumacher College, and author of Animate Earth: Science, Intuition and Gaia
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“Humanity is facing a once in a species crisis. We are approaching 7 billion people and appropriating an increasing percentage of the planet’s net primary productivity, posing myriad and complex problems to our future and that of the planet’s ecosystems. Of all the biophysical limits to continuing our current trajectory, energy surplus per capita looms large. And, as cheap, high quality per capita energy availability declines, our current cultural paradigm of competing for conspicuous consumption must end.
In this refreshingly real and hopeful book, Shaun Chamberlin lays out the many aspects of the limits to our growth, and highlights the fact that cultural change is likely our only successful path forward. Throughout, we are offered vision and hope that mobilising locally and nationally towards civic change does not represent a sacrifice of our health or happiness – indeed, Chamberlin points out that it would be a sacrifice to continue on our Business as Usual path.
We undoubtedly face serious biological and biophysical constraints that our forebears did not. The Transition Timeline gives us a guide on how to best use science and culture in adapting to our new situation.”
~ Nate Hagens, Editor of The Oil Drum, and former vice president of the Salomon Brothers and Lehman Brothers investment firms
Order The Transition Timeline directly from Dark Optimism
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As a small thank you to you for doing the same, I will sign copies bought through this site before sending them out (if you prefer your book unsigned, just leave the above field blank when making your order).
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For bulk orders (unsigned) contact Green Books (UK), or Chelsea Green Publishing (US).