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• 1 2025-04-17T21:25:57+00:00 Importance of Community 13 plain 2025-05-20T06:09:17+00:00 Much of the value of Transition Town’s work stems from the friendships and connections volunteers have with each other. Our sense of well-being depends crucially on our connections with each other, with a shared sense of belonging, and a feeling that we are there for each other. Working together on a shared project builds hope and resilience, no matter what age or background or skills you have: the more varied the mix, the richer it is!

   

  Cécile Lucas : Et moi, ce que je voulais, je pensais aussi dans la même ligne que toi, de cette question de communauté, mais pas au sens communauté fermée, au sens communauté d'appartenir en fait, et d'appartenir en étant différent, parce qu'à la fois c'est vrai qu'on partage certaines valeurs, mais en même temps, il y a des différences qui sont des points importants quand même.

  Marianne Agraz : Oui, oui, 

  Cécile : En tant que groupe, et ça c'est aussi un parti pris qu'on a eu dès le départ, d'accueillir les gens tels qu'ils sont, de ne pas vouloir qu'ils soient 

  Marianne : Oui, formatés, 

  Cécile : Formatés, d'accueillir tout le monde en fait, là où on en est dans notre parcours. Et ça, cette posture-là, je trouve qu'elle est peut-être plus marquée que dans d'autres groupes, enfin, je ne sais pas comment c'est dans d'autres groupes, et quand je dis groupe, c'est groupes les différents groupes en transition, et je pense que c'est super important aussi qu'il y a beaucoup de gens qui sont venus par conviction, mais finalement qui restent, et qui sont nourris par le groupe, et par le plaisir de faire des choses ensemble, et cette solidarité aussi, c'est vrai, quand on vit seul et qu'on tombe malade, qu'il y a quelqu'un qui puisse aller faire des courses, des choses comme ça, tout ça, 

  Marianne : Oui, ça a du sens, oui

  Cécile : Et finalement c'est fort, et ça fait un attachement fort à ce collectif. 

  Andrew Milne : La tribu.

  Cécile : La tribu ! Et finalement je pense que c'était un peu volontaire, je pense que c'est un peu notre état d'esprit, et c'était volontaire par plaisir, parce que ça nous correspond, mais aussi parce qu'il faut revenir à cette solidarité-là pour pouvoir faire face à ce qu'on a, à ce dont on a à faire face.

  
  Translation: 

  Cécile: And I was thinking along the same lines as you, of this question of community, but not in the sense of a closed community, in the sense of a community of belonging in fact, and of belonging while being different, because at the same time it's true that we share certain values, but at the same time there are differences which are important points all the same. 

  Marianne: Yes, yes, 

  Cécile: As a group, and that's also a conscious decision we've had from the start, to welcome people as they are, not to want them to be… 

  Marianne: Yes, formatted, 

  Cécile: Formatted, to welcome everyone, in fact, wherever they are on their journey. And, I find that this attitude is perhaps more marked than in other groups, well, I don't know how it is in other groups, and when I say group, I mean the different groups in environment transition, and I think it's also really important that there are a lot of people who came here out of conviction, but who end up staying, and who are nourished by the group, and by the pleasure of doing things together, and this solidarity too, it's true, when you live alone and you fall ill, that there's someone who can go shopping, and things like that… 

  Marianne: Yes, it makes sense.

  Cécile: And in the end it's strong, and it creates a strong attachment to this collective. 

  Andrew: The tribe.

  Cécile: The tribe! And in the end I think it was a bit voluntary, I think it's a bit our state of mind, and it was voluntary for pleasure, because it suits us, but also because we need to get back to that solidarity to be able to deal with what we have, what we have to deal with.

   

  Kathleen P.: I like how closely involved they are with everything that the council does and how many people go to the council meetings and get directly involved. It's a really nice community of people actually, Transition Town. I think that's part of what encourages me to go along and volunteer, like building relationships with people of all ages who are volunteering and yeah, it's always good fun. Like we always have a laugh in some way or other. Yeah…I like how inclusive it is actually for everyone to be involved because even people with little experience can come along and help, or even get involved in some of the planning things, or go along to the council meetings, go along to different talks and things. And the people who run it are very welcoming. It's not like they're above you or anything. Everyone’s welcome to participate at any stage. I really like that because you can get quite involved if you want to very quickly. And with little experience, you can just learn from other people. I think that's really good

   

  Patricia DeMarco: What I find is, under all of this misery, you could go to the poorest places around here and the people are amazing. They have survived everything. Don't talk to me about resilience. That's a catchphrase for who knows what. Just people's ability to pull each other together and make do with what they have, it's wonderful. The creativity and the care and the commitment to each other is really what gets people through all of this. And that is sterling, that is absolutely indestructible. When you go and talk to people and 80% of the people say, the economy as it is, is not working for us. And we did the Re-Imagine blueprint around the concept of shared prosperity. If you're giving away federal dollars, there have to be strings attached. So that the money goes to the people who need it, in the communities who have been ignored. That to me, has been a very powerful- very, very powerful tool, to say to people, your work is important, what you did is valuable, what you sacrificed is worthy and meritorious of praise. And the country owes you! The companies walk away and leave you in the mist, they walk away and take the profits- they didn't put it back into your town. They didn't put it back into my town. They get rich and walk away. That's not right. And a lot of people that were saying the government did us in- no. When you unravel it and figure out who it is that did them in, then they say, “it's our turn.”