Reflecting on Texpo - By Ashlea Jonesmith

The Transition Denman Island Steering Committee (TDISC) would like to send out a giant “THANK YOU” to the 30 amazing groups that turned out to participate at Texpo, as well as members of the public who dropped in for a visit. We were so pleased to have your support.
On Sunday, October 17th these 30 organizations, societies and clubs came out to begin what will be an exciting and challenging journey toward a fully self-sustainable, locally resilient community. The gathering was an opportunity for these groups to showcase what they are doing in the community and we were pleased to see so many well-thought-out presentations that exceeded our expectations. It was also an opportunity for active members of the community to network with one another, get a good understanding of all the initiatives currently under way, see where group interests connect and overlap and come up with new ideas to fill some of the gaps. For new members of the community like me, it was an enjoyable first-time look at many of the projects happening here on Denman.
The TDISC is now in the process of assembling a comprehensive directory of D.I. Groups to publish on our website so that anyone interested in getting involved with or finding out more about these groups can do so through our site.
This winter Transition Denman Island will be hosting “The Great Launch” at which the whole community will be invited to help come up with a grand plan for Denman Island. It will be a completely different format from Texpo. No more sitting still for long periods of time and talking business – we promise! The Great Launch will be more of a party than a meeting. We will all have the opportunity to envision a perfect and resilient community and share our ideas. We will also celebrate our official declaration that Denman Island is a Transition Town, joining the ranks of leading communities around the world.
As part of this celebration we hope to form action groups that will focus on specific goals such as sustainable transportation, local green energy, agriculture, health and well-being, the arts, entertainment and so on. We are hoping that these groups will benefit from the information shared and collected at Texpo, and that members of the action groups will be able to navigate and work together with organizations that are already active in the community.
The Transition Denman Island website is currently up and running at www.transitiondenmanisland.org and we would like to encourage you to surf over for a visit to find out what we’re all about.
Reflecting on Texpo, we can see that the transition thought process has truly begun in this community and we are excited about the future. Denman Island has solidarity! We can do this!