Rob Hopkins is a true pioneer of the movement to intelligently prepare and adapt society for entering a post-Peak-Oil future. His brainchild, Transition Towns, has been one of the most successful initiatives to date in inspiring hundreds of cities, towns, and communities around the globe towards using local cooperation and interdependence to shrink their ecological footprints.
Many readers on our site lament the inertia or hostility we all frequently encounter when trying to 'wake up' family, friends, and neighbors to the warning bells we see on the economic, energy, and environmental fronts. Chris and I often get asked for advice on how to make the red pill 'tasty' for the uninitiated. So we look at the success Rob's model is having at spurring individuals and communities to action, and ask him: What's your secret?
In short, it's about making Transition feel "more like a party than a protest march." Make it personal to the participants. Focus on celebrating the local benefits and empowerment it produces. As Rob says, the core Transition principles are "not about taking people back to something worse than today; they are a step forward. They are about building resilience, bringing people together, giving them the sense that anything is possible in such a way that everybody benefits."