Environment

Guest post by Barbara Janeway on the results of the Transition Carrboro Chapel Hill brainstorming May 15 at Century Center:

Want our community to be safe and resilient through the coming effects of unstable economy, climate change, and the end of cheap oil? A great start was made on this issue at The Great Unleashing, held May 15 at Carrboro's Century Center, sponsored by Transition Carrboro Chapel Hill.

Over 150 people attended and created the agenda for the day themselves, identifying issues to work with. From these, 28 discussion groups met throughout the day, and brainstormed! By day's end, a powerful 'unleashing' of ideas had occurred, and 21 Action Groups were formed. Many positive visions of our future were communicated!

These Action Groups have begun to meet regularly. And those who join will begin the work of transition in our region, to a more stable local economy with more vibrant local resources. Anyone is welcome to join an action group. The groups will do work on issues such as: more affordable housing, communal gardening, energy independence, children's sustainable education, skill-sharing, health, and many more.

Triangle Transit, along with its local partners Chapel Hill Transit and the Durham Area Transit Authority, is currently in the process of considering service changes along the 15-501 corridor.  These changes present the opportunity for some much-needed improvements in the service between these areas, and as a Chapel Hill resident, I'm looking forward to greater connectivity to Durham.  But I think it is equally important to remember our friends in Carrboro who could greatly benefit from direct service to Durham (and of course, Durhamites deserve the opportunity to visit Carrboro in turn!).  I'm proud to be a supporter of a local effort called Connect Carrboro. They recently formed a Facebook Page to help supporters who want to learn more.