The Context

There is a story emerging in our world that is not being told by our media. It is the story of the awesome Transition that humanity is now entering into, a Transition that is being precipitated both by necessity and by possibility.

This Transition represents the end of an era of economic and population growth stimulated by an abundant supply of cheap fossil fuels. Because of our overuse of fossil fuels, this Transition also represents the end of relative planetary environmental equilibrium, ushering in an era of profound unforeseen consequences.

Together we face a convergence of disastrous interrelated global crises–energy, climate, food, economy, health, waste, environment–that are forcing us to rapidly change how and even where we live on this planet. At the same time, emerging through the ensuing chaos are stunning evolutionary impulses that we can recognize, however dimly, as pointing to our potential and destiny as a species.

This Transition is an evolutionary threshold for humanity. In order to survive in freedom, we must successfully negotiate our way from species adolescence to adulthood. We must grow up, together, or we will dwindle towards our eventual extinction.

The Publication

Transition is a time of chaos and confusion, of sweeping changes that are both unexpected and unwanted. However, as Vandana Shiva says, “The uncertainty of our times is no reason to be certain about hopelessness.” Transition Times aims to be a beacon of hope in one of the most challenging periods of human history.

Transition Times is an evolving global/local news source reporting and interpreting the events and trends of our era, covering: a) the story of the evolutionary transition humanity is making from adolescence to adulthood; b) the story of humanity’s response to the extraordinary global challenges and opportunities that we face; c) the story of the emergence of a new culture of Transition on this planet.

Our emphasis is essentially two-fold. The first is to provide information and perspective on the primary challenges of our era, and the second is to spotlight inspiring and visionary signs of humanity rising to the occasion–whether as individuals, neighborhoods, communities, organizations, or nations.

Currently there is no widely-available publication that gives ample coverage to issues of relocalization, food quality/security, healthy and sustainable business practices, and social responsibility and social justice, or efforts to deal locally with peak oil and climate change, reduce consumption, develop energy and economic alternatives, and build community. These are among the issues that Transition Times will address.

Wherever necessary, Transition Times will seek to support the development of original content, utilizing both known and little-known authors. Wherever possible, we will aggregate the best of existing content (including news, commentary, weblogs, multimedia, etc.) and bring it into Transition Times pages.

Contact

Transition Times is headquartered at 2415 19th Street, Boulder, CO 80303, 303-494-1521. Contact Michael Brownlee, publisher, michael@transitioncolorado.org