Wednesday January 15 in Barrie: What’s up with Vaxjo?

From Transition Barrie

On the surface, Vaxjo Sweden and Barrie Ontario are actually somewhat similar. Vaxjo, situated inland in southern Sweden at the 57th parallel, is actually slightly further north than Fort McMurray, Alberta. Barrie would seem rather tropical being located at a latitude of 44 degree. But the weather is remarkably similar between Vaxjo and Barrie, with close to identical average monthly temperatures and precipitation. Vaxjo has about 60,000 residents living on approx 31km²  for a density of 2,011/km2. Barrie has a 136,00 residents living on 77km² for a slightly less density of 1750 residents per km²

Vaxjo, like Barrie is the centre of commerce in the county. It is home to a university and has a healthy mix of amenities for culture, tourism and entertainment.

So what does all this have to do with Transition Towns?

Well, in 1996, (a decade before the birth of Transition Towns) the city of Vaxjo decided that they would free their city of fossil fuel dependance by 2030. 17 years later, and half way to their target date, they are already on track with their goals. In 2012, carbon emissions per resident had been reduced by 41% below 1993 levels and renewable energy accounted for 58% of consumption.

Building resilience into a city is a long term commitment.

Vaxjo bills itself as the ‘greenest city in Europe’, but it is hardly the only example of a community making substantial gains.

 Want to learn more about resilient cities?

Would you like to be to be part of the solution?

 Join us on Wednesday January 15^th

 Special Guest

Blake Poland  :   TRANSITIONING TO A RESILIENT COMMUNITY

Huronia Room 2nd floor  Barrie City Hall

Our first Meet up of 2014 will feature Blake Poland, Associate Professor and co-leader, Healthier Cities & Communities, U of T. Blake will discuss a variety of concepts in building resilience from your own backyard to Main Street.

From building resilience into his own home in Oakville, to founding ‘Go Local Oakville‘ & ‘Transition Oakville‘, to his current research project on the Emergence of The Transition Town Movement in Canada, Blake is dedicated to building healthy communities.

In December Blake visited the birthplace of Transition Towns, Totnes England, where he met with the movement’s founder, Rob Hopkins and studied why the Transition Movement has gone viral around the planet.