Two Streams

There are two streams of human development at work in the world. The first is the stream of consumption that sees the desirable ends of civilization to be the massive production of material items and the use of large volumes of energy.  The second stream is the stream of conservation, which understands that the purpose of civilization is to protect and preserve all planetary life so as to extend human development into the future. While these two streams are by no means pure, they do represent alternative paradigms for human culture.

Until fairly recently in the history of civilization the dominant paradigm has been focused on power, control and exploitation of people, places and the planet. While there have been and continue to be indigenous peoples who have managed to live relatively conservative lifestyles, since the industrial revolution the paradigm of power has reigned supreme. Yes, even in the midst of centralized political and economic systems there have been those such as Christ who have pointed to the way of peace and cooperation, but ultimately humanity has come to choose strategic occupation of land and peoples over stewardship and symbiosis. 

For 20 years, a greater than 99 percent consensus of climate scientists have been telling us that rising sea levels, rising average temperatures and melting glaciers are directly the result of human industrialization of the planet. While our political systems have been slow to respond to this news, people around the planet have begun to take action by pointing to the need for civilization to change streams, to move from consumption to conservation. 

Transition towns are emerging across the globe to address the need for us to “portage” from one stream to the other.  When one portages, one finds the place between streams that is relatively short and not too difficult, in order to carry the boats as little as possible. It is also important to make sure that the boat isn’t loaded down with unnecessary baggage.

Locally, TransPortage was formed by Portage County citizens in order to help us make the transition to a present energy, post petroleum, climate protecting society.  We understand that while there are a few powerful national and global leaders that have enormous power, we on the local level ultimately have control over our future. Indeed, the key to our economic, social and ecological future is to find a way to empower our fellow citizens to become real citizens instead of simply consumers of information, experiences, energy and stuff.    

TransPortage is working on empowering citizens by providing them not only ideas and information, but skills and actions that we can take as individuals and communities. We hope that you will find the attached brochure informative and will join us in our great portage, as we build the right-sized vessel of civilization for the new stream that we are headed for.