Job vacancy

Few have any clue what it takes to lead a community group such as the cultural-social-economic one that is Transition. That doesn't mean there are not loads of people qualified. There is a distinction. The problem is that there is a natural knee-jerk reaction literally kicking-in. The problem is thus: the group may well end up recruiting from the converted - then that person ends up preaching to the converted. Thus you have a perfectly self-contained ghetto that remains obscure, irrelevant and out-of-touch.

What you really need is the patience of a saint. The reason is that you will come into contact with many good people who will tell you what your group has to do. You get great advice like "We need to focus more on encouraging better behaviour by promoting tangible benefits to the people at the grass roots level". My reply is - yeah, great, but HOW? Then you'll get this reply "How about a community fair on the Rye, a farmers market, a clothing swap shop, bread-making courses, make-and-mend classes, seed swaps and an inner-city farm..." My reply is - yeah, great, how soon can you start organising all of this........?

And nothing happens. These are good ideas and motivations from good people. Don't get me wrong. But we need more than just talk and aspirations. We need action. Do YOU think you can get people to make things happen? Ever built your own home? Do you manage a local football team? Are you active on the PTA? Do you ever give up your time to make something happen for other people? Then you are qualified.

Other qualifications required: good public relations skills. You will need to get on well when talking to the Press or on TV & Radio. You should also have a good command on modern electronic media and social networking. Can you write a newsletter and manage an E:Mail list? Can you build websites, manage twitter, facebook or write regular blogs? Then you are qualified. More importantly: do you care about YOUR community and how resilient it is?

But you will need personality. Lots of personality. You will need to be gregarious and outgoing. (Everything I am not.) I was recently told that I had to promote my work with my local PTAs, at my club or gym, at my church, as a sports fan, and so on. Yeah, great - but I don't do any of those things. And, to be honest, just being an ordinary guy means I am not interested in wasting my time boring people with this. I don't have the personality. But YOU might. Think about it.

The worst possible outcome is the self-ghetto-isation scenario I sketched out above. When Transition started in this town it did so with a small group several of which had no prior interest nor involvement in any community groups let alone one related to green issues. However most of the people we recruited early on were from local green organisations. They were the faithful. The already-converted. This wasn't a problem if they had the personality and energy to actually go forth into their communities and roll out the loft insulation. But that isn't what happened. What happened is what happens whenever the greens get together - they formed a committee and had meetings. People's Front of Judea anyone?

So the very last person we need for this job is an environmentalist. I never was. Environmentalism focuses on individual behaviour whereas Transition is about the behaviour of large groups. We are not campaigning on a single issue because our approach is holistic. You may want to lobby, campaign or protest but in Transition you will find only education and public participation. Greens talk about 'sustainable development' but Transition talks about 'resilience' and 'localisation'. We are not confrontational and adversarial but we do challenge others. The eco-friendly may preach in terms of fear, guilt and shock whereas Transition talks only of hope and optimism. Transition sees the man in the street as solution not problem. We engage at multiple levels of society. We don't prescribe answers but act as a catalyst so that solutions may be found. This isn't 'green growth', this is 'economic renaissance'. If you want to save the whale, the otter, the owls or the bees then you are in the wrong place.

However, if you care about one species and one habitat then think: is that species human beings? Is their habitat High Wycombe? If the answer is "yes" to both then you are the man or woman for this job. Familiarity with Climate Change impacts and the economic threat of Peak Oil a distinct advantage.

We look forward to hearing from you.

And before you ask - no, you don't get paid.

To submit comments to this Blog please pay us a visit over at www.transition-wycombe.org.uk/blog or join the debate at http://groups.google.com/group/tthw. You can follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/@ttwycombe

Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here