We live in a world that is rapidly changing, right before our very eyes. Been noticing? I admit I have trouble keeping up while also doing what I can to assist in navigating the inevitable transitions ahead. Economic instability, water shortage and weather instability are just some of the challenges impacting the future of our community. At the same time, all sorts of positive changes are evident, as well.

How can we enhance our quality of life and ensure our well-being in fast-changing times? Many of our forebears and ancestors who lived in simpler times had greater community resilience and stronger local economies. Some new technologies promise to transform our ways of living to secure greater resource stability. But technology cannot provide an overall easy fix. We know this.

So how do we chart a path forward? A path we want to travel?

Transition Towns are one answer. This refers to a global movement tackling these challenges through engaging creative local action. Thousands of towns, cities and rural areas in 43 countries around the world are actively transitioning their communities using this positive, solution-focused approach. Jefferson County joined this movement in 2006 when Local 20/20 was founded, and went on to become an official Transition Town in 2012.

Rather than wait for problems to hit, or for someone else to “rescue” them, Transition Communities are engaging proactively. The movement has spread and provided a way for individuals, groups, nonprofits, businesses, governments and many others to come together to increase local food, local energy, local economic well-being, cross-cultural understanding, neighborly support and collective mutual security.

In the face of multiple, complex challenges and change, Transition is a positive, thoughtful, engaging and effective set of “ingredients” and tools that help people work together to improve their quality of life while reducing vulnerability in a rapidly changing world. Diverse people of all ages have found common purpose in promoting community resilience.

Every community is unique and creates its own transition. The Transition Network enables thousands of people to share projects, ideas, experiences, strategies and solutions. Trainers offer learning, best practices and wisdom from thousands of community experiences. It’s collective genius at work.

And Jefferson County is about to tap such collective genius next week.

TRAINER COMING

Port Townsend will be hosting Tina Clarke, one of four international Transition Town trainers, from June 14 to June 21. With a plethora of tools in her kit, Tina will facilitate several events where attendees will experience something akin to participatory democracy, the kind that is becoming increasingly difficult to find.

There are eight processes and ideas that are fundamental to Transition Town initiatives: positive visioning; helping people access good information and then trusting them to make good decisions; inclusion and openness; enabling sharing and networking; building resilience; both inner and outer transitions; transition makes good sense; and subsidiarity, self-organization and decision making at the appropriate level. See more at transitionnetwork.org.

The question I pose is this: How much do we want to be involved in determining the changes in our community direction? Transition is inevitable. But what do we want? Will we participate and engage with our thoughts, our feelings, our hopes, our desires for the world or for the community we want to live in? Citizenship is about taking responsibility, playing our part, and bringing our gifts and talents to bear on the changes ahead. What are yours?

Both the city and the county are under state mandate to complete a review soon of the comprehensive plan. These public transition town meetings will present excellent opportunities to express your own thoughts about the directions in which you'd like to see our community go.

There are lots of opportunities to learn more about how you can be involved in this effort. Check out

L2020.org and see what aligns with your interest and your schedule.

Join the conversation.

(Judith Alexander is a longtime Port Townsend resident, a private practice therapist and enthusiastic volunteer for a sustainable world.)