Tentative Steps Towards Transition

Shelburne Falls is a tiny town in the hills of western Massachussetts. I don't live there but I was determined to attend a forum they were hosting that was addressing the impending home heating crisis. So I made a trek (138 mi. EW) to Shelburne Falls, and yes, it cost a bit of cash and a bit of gas. It was worth the $$$ and the time.

As we know “Winter is icumen in, Lhude sing Goddamm.” Though many of us seem to have forgotten that shivering time is just over the horizon I wanted to see what might come out of this very local effort to deal with a very global, or at least regional, problem. Surprisingly, more than a hundred folks were gathered in the main meeting room of the Shelburne Senior Center. Most of them were over 50 and some topped out in the late 80’s, and quite a few were still in their 40's and even a couple in their 30's. It was a diverse group of citizens, activists and advocates who had come together to discuss the impending fuel crisis that will inevitably accompany the winter months. While there may or may not be shortages of heating oil this year, the cost of fuel of all types (except wood, at least in the Pioneer Valley) has gone up sharply. Many senior citizens, as well as others with limited $$$ resources, low-income families and individuals, will be unable to afford to keep their houses at a reasonable temperature. Particularly hard hit will be those who heat with oil. Moreover, any financial assistance from the usual agencies and local charity sources will not only be down from year’s past, since there is just less money in the pool, the money that is there won’t go nearly as far. Consequently, not only will fewer families get assistance, but the assistance they do get will be very limited.

Here are my initial and somewhat limited observations. The forum was neatly, competently, and compassionately facilitated by the director of the Shelburne Senior Center. Throughout the entire time he was aware of the scope of the collective issue of energy descent and its impact on the entire system. Though he often made references to the fact that everyone was facing a difficult and thoroughly formidable constellation of events, he continued to make every effort to keep the conversation focused on the immediate future and what things could be done to make residences more buttoned up against the cold.

To that end, there was talk about the possibility of some folks heating with wood and wood pellets since there is certainly no shortage of that fuel in western Mass. The problems with it, however, range from the limited availability of proper stoves and the inhibiting effects of new state legislation that mandates certification for all woodstove installers. Since none of the proper mechanisms are in place yet, one expert asserted that there would be virtually no new wood stove installations until sometime in February at the earliest. Someone else pointed out that one of the local agencies had several new wood stoves for sale at reduced cost, so I suspect there will be at least a few installations despite the new regulations. There followed the inevitable caveats about the risks of fire from wood stoves, etc. A list of reliable or know contractors was circulated.

Another idea that was floated about and demands serious consideration is the creation of centralized neighborhood heating facilities. Under this model a small, highly efficient heating center would be built to serve several, six to a dozen houses within a specified radius. Each household would pay a rate equal to their portion of what they actually used. The concept really doesn't differ much from what happens in a large building that is heated by a central source. Heating centers is not only more efficient and less polluting than having individual, in-home furnaces, it would certainly be less expensive.

Overall this was an impressive and worthwhile gathering. Though there were many other points made, ideas floated and suggestions proffered at the gathering, these are the ones that stuck out for me: [1] do whatever you can to make your house more weather and energy tight; [2] local agencies or groups need to prepare a list of shelters, their locations and contact people for transportation in case of emergencies; [3] folks need to go out of their way to be aware and alert about their neighbor’s living situations, particularly in the case of the elderly and single parent families; and [4] we may need to consider the possibility of collective living arrangements at least on a temporary basis in some situations. One person at the meeting told how she and her husband have opened their home to additional residents since their children have moved on in their lives.

The strongest idea/feeling that emerged from the forum, in my opinion, was a consensus that we need to become more neighborly. Having grown up in a small town I am very aware that this benign-sounding behavior, or way of acting, can be a double-edged sword. In the wrong hands and wielded without consideration, it can be more devastating than helpful. Being neighborly requires being not only vigilant, or even snoopy sometimes, it also requires tolerance, discretion and respect.

Though race, ethnicity, sexual and religious affiliation still play a powerful role in shaping how we congregate, where and how we live, is generally driven by other forces. I am thinking more of the suburban explosion rather than what may have been happening in cities. One of the ways in which life has changed in the past four or five decades, is that we have become more insular and more ghetto-ized, mostly by economic or social status. For most of us, the $$$$$ value of our property and those that surround it have been more important in the way we make our decisions and the way we live, than the human or community values around us. And though it is clichéd to point it out yet again, there is no doubt that automobiles and computer-oriented, even computer-dominated, lifestyles have done much to erode interaction with the “folks that live next door.” I am NOT trying to make the case that there is no sense of neighborly camaraderie, but it has greatly diminished in recent years, particularly in the suburbs. I believe that the re-incorporation of genuine neighborliness into our lives is one of the most compelling challenges of the coming decades

Looking out for the well-being of others outside of your family or your own church group or whatever “us” group you belong to, is going to be an increasingly vital quality and measure of a decent, livable and sustainable society. It seemed to me that the folks in Shelburne Falls were beginning to take the first tentative, but determined steps toward what Rob Hopkins, a leading cultural thinker in Britain, calls the “Transition Culture”. (see http://transitionculture.org) I also admire their courage. There's going to be hard slogging ahead for all us. The Pioneer Valley once again may live up to its name. I wish them and all of us well.