Transition group plans community dinner

Eat and meet for the environment

By TOM KANE

HONESDALE, PA — A newly formed group in Honesdale is holding a “Creating Community” potluck dinner on Saturday, September 11 at the Parish House of Grace Episcopal Church at 9th and Church Street in Honesdale from 6 to 8 p.m.

“Everyone’s invited,” said Barbara Lewis, who is helping to spearhead this new local initiative.

The group, which calls itself Transition Honesdale, is inviting individuals and groups who wish to be a part of efforts to raise awareness of sustainable living and the need to build local ecological resilience. It encourages the community to seek out methods of reducing energy usage and dependence on fossil fuels and avoid purchasing products that are shipped over thousands of miles. In many communities, for example, the Transition Towns movement has led to the establishment of community gardens to produce local food and to the development of canning skills.

“There are numerous groups and people in this community who are doing wonderful things for the environment and the community right now,” Lewis said. “We want them to all meet each other for support and needed strength. A potluck dinner seemed to be a good way to do it.”

Transition Honesdale, which was started last January, is following the lead of the international Transition Towns, begun in England and Ireland. Over 300 Transition Town organizations through the world—about 50 of them in the United States—have been created over the last few years.

The Honesdale group has been showing timely and sometimes disturbing films that explain things like the energy crisis that some analysts say will come with peak oil, a time when oil supplies will seriously decline, perhaps quickly, driving prices beyond the reach of many.

Another film shown is called “The End of Suburbia” that demonstrates how sprawl into the suburbs has been a trend that will exhaust our supply of oil and tie our futures to the automobile and truck, which cannot be sustained.

“What brings Transition Honesdale together is our passion to create a lower-energy, more sustainable future, and a mutually supportive local community,” Lewis said.

The group holds monthly meetings at the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce building on Commerce Street in Honesdale and other meetings to show films about sustainability and local resilience.

For more information about “Celebrate Community” or about Transition Honesdale, contact Lewis at 570/253-8475. Visit www.transitionnetwork.org for information about the Transition Town movement.