TRANSITION WEST MARIN | Co-founder

"I thought that The Transition Workshop was truly extraordinary.... There are certain events that take place from time to time at Commonweal that have a feeling of transcendent potential to them. Events where something is born that has the potential to have enormous power. I had that sense about this workshop."

Michael Lerner, President and Founder, Commonweal

The Transition Movement is a worldwide initiative of communities who are re-inventing themselves in the face of climate crisis, economic hardship and shrinking energy supplies, as small-scale local responses to global challenges. Projects areas include food, transport, energy, education, housing, waste, arts and more. The initiative in West Marin was founded by Mainstreet Moms, West Marin Commons and The Regenerative Design Institute. I helped to organize and publicized a number of initiatives, including co-presenting a Transition Workshop at Commonweal, Northern California.

Transition projects, such as THE BALL O' HOPE, were a celebration of change and an inspiration for individual commitment to change. During the inauguration of President Obama in 2009, hundreds of personal pledges to change were gathered from across the USA via the web and in person, written on seeded paper and hung on the Ball O Hope. The pledges were then planted in a school garden, with an apple tree, on 100th day of the Presidency.