Peterborough Council Votes to Recognize Transition Town Status
City council votes to recognize Transition Town
Posted By BRENDAN WEDLEY/Examiner Municipal Writer
City council voted last night to recognize Transition Town Peterborough, a grassroots organization that focuses on peak oil issues and climate change.
Council decided last week to wait for a staff report on any potential implications of recognizing the group. It flip-flopped on that decision last night, deciding to recognize the group without waiting for a staff report.
Coun. Len Vass told council last week that not recognizing Transition Town Peterborough would embarrass the city on the national stage.
“You’re not the boogieman are you?” Vass asked Transition Town Peterborough chairman Fred Irwin last night. “You don’t have a truck load of Kool-Aid out back?”
The organization looks at the transition to a green economy, to localization from globalization, climate change, peak oil and the “possibility of financial collapse,” Irwin said.
“We can do more together than we can do separately,” he said. “There are no implications, or no cost implications, for recognizing Transition Town Peterborough.”
Peterborough is the only city in Canada recognized by the international Transition Town movement, Irwin said.
There are 259 recognized Transition Town cities around the world, he said.
Council voted 5-4 to recognize the local organization.
Coun. Ann Farquharson said she wanted more information before she would consider recognizing the group.
“You can say it’s just an endorsement, but an endorsement is an endorsement of a product or an endorsement of a group. We shouldn’t be throwing that around lightly,” she said.
Posted By BRENDAN WEDLEY/Examiner Municipal Writer
City council voted last night to recognize Transition Town Peterborough, a grassroots organization that focuses on peak oil issues and climate change.
Council decided last week to wait for a staff report on any potential implications of recognizing the group. It flip-flopped on that decision last night, deciding to recognize the group without waiting for a staff report.
Coun. Len Vass told council last week that not recognizing Transition Town Peterborough would embarrass the city on the national stage.
“You’re not the boogieman are you?” Vass asked Transition Town Peterborough chairman Fred Irwin last night. “You don’t have a truck load of Kool-Aid out back?”
The organization looks at the transition to a green economy, to localization from globalization, climate change, peak oil and the “possibility of financial collapse,” Irwin said.
“We can do more together than we can do separately,” he said. “There are no implications, or no cost implications, for recognizing Transition Town Peterborough.”
Peterborough is the only city in Canada recognized by the international Transition Town movement, Irwin said.
There are 259 recognized Transition Town cities around the world, he said.
Council voted 5-4 to recognize the local organization.
Coun. Ann Farquharson said she wanted more information before she would consider recognizing the group.
“You can say it’s just an endorsement, but an endorsement is an endorsement of a product or an endorsement of a group. We shouldn’t be throwing that around lightly,” she said.