Before we put projects or solutions on the website we want to make sure that they work! Be one of our testers and determine whether these solutions are a good idea. We need 5 people to try out each solution before it gets approved to be put up on the site. Test these out and get back to us with your findings!

Use Castile Soap in the following ways:

1. Shampoo: Use castile soap as a stand-in for a harsh detergent-based shampoo. Give your head a break! Just mix castile soap with water at a ratio of 1:3.

2. Laundry Detergent: You can make your own laundry detergent with simple, common ingredients. Save tons money and do the environment a friendly favor. It’s a win-win!

3. Tub Scrub: Make a tile or toilet “soft scrub” out of baking soda and castile soap. Simply fill a spray bottle with a dilution of 1:3 castile to water. Sprinkling the area you wish to clean with a liberal dusting of baking soda, then spray the castile solution over the top. Scour with a sponge or scrub brush and watch the stains disappear. This also works great on crusty stovetops!

4. Mopping Solution: Use 2 or 3 tablespoons of castile soap in a full bucket of water, and mop mop mop your floors to a sparkly new luster.

5. Dish Soap: Make a dishwashing soap (for hand washing) or a liquid hand soap (for washing hands) by simply mixing a 1:1 ratio of castile to water.

6. Dishwasher Detergent: Make a fancier DIY liquid dishwasher detergent that’s inexpensive and eco-friendly.

7. Soap Dispenser Refill: You can refill your foaming hand soap dispenser with 1 part castile soap to 4 parts water.

8. Body Wash: You can use castile soap as a gentle yet efficient bath soap/body wash. They actually sell castile bar soap, but if you want to use the liquid just dilute it in a 2:1 ratio of castile to water.

9. Dog Shampoo: What’s good enough for you is even better for your pet! Use the same ratio listed above for an awesome DIY doggie shampoo.

10. Toothpaste: You can actually use castile soap in place of your toothpaste, and pure soap is much better for your teeth than the nasty chemicals they put in most commercial pastes. Just add a few drops directly to your wet brush. It works wonders, although the flavor can take some getting used to!

11. Veggie Wash: Make a simple veggie wash for cleansing all your produce. Add 1 tablespoon castile soap to 2 cups of water, and keep the mixture in a squirt bottle near the kitchen sink.

12. Carpet Cleaner: Finally, you can make an effective carpet cleaner by mixing 1/4 cup castile into 1 cup water. Place the solution in the blender and let it fly until it forms a stiff foam. Apply as you would any other carpet cleaning product.

Send us your results in our Report Portal.

A Food Preservation Expert's job duties cover all aspects of preserving food. This is a Volunteer/Consultant position. This person will be expected to meet all requirements of being a Transition Team member if their desire is to become a full time Transition Team member The Food Preservation Expert will assess the needs of our Contributors, and help create new content. Their duties include, but aren't limited to, the following:

Writing and editing content (in Step-by-Step Format)

Describing Food Preservation Techniques

Determining technical requirements

Updating The Transition Team on new (or not yet featured) techniques

Creating back up files

Providing high quality photos and or video to demonstrate techniques

The team is interested in all sorts of preservation methods like:

• Drying
• Cooling
• Freezing
• Heating
• Salt
• Sugar
• Smoking
• Pickling
• Canning & Bottling
• Jellying
• Jugging
• Burial
• Curing
• Fermentation
• Vacuum Packing

Please do not apply if you only have book or internet knowledge and have no prior experience in actually preserving food. To get more information and apply please contact The Transition Team Seed: Nicole Bienfang

A Food Production Expert's job duties cover all aspects of growing, cultivating, and harvesting food. This is a Volunteer/Consultant position. This person will be expected to meet all requirements of being a Transition Team member if their desire is to become a full time Transition Team member Food Production Expert will assess the needs of our Contributors, and help create new content. Their duties include, but aren't limited to, the following:

Writing and editing content (in Step-by-Step Format)

Designing food production systems

Determining technical requirements

Updating The Transition Team on new techniques

Creating back up files

Providing high quality photos and or video to demonstrate projects

The team is interested in all sorts of growing methods like permaculture, aquaponics, hydropoinics etc. Please do not apply if you only have book or internet knowledge and have no prior experience in actually growing food. You will be expected to have a portfolio of your work and references. To get more information and apply please contact The Transition Team Seed: Nicole Bienfang

A Wilderness Survival Expert's job duties cover all aspects of Wilderness Survival knowledge. This is a Volunteer/Consultant position. This person will be expected to meet all requirements of being a Transition Team member if their desire is to become a full time Transition Team member The Wilderness Survival Expert will assess the needs of our Contributors, and help create new content. Their duties include, but aren't limited to, the following:

Writing and editing content (in Step-by-Step Format)

Explaining Wilderness Survival techniques

Determining technical requirements

Updating The Transition Team on new techniques

Creating back up files

Providing high quality photos and or video to demonstrate skills

Please do not apply if you only have book or internet knowledge and have no prior experience with wilderness survival. To get more information and apply please contact The Transition Team Seed: Nicole Bienfang

A Urban Homesteading Expert's job duties cover all aspects of creating an urban homestead. This is a Volunteer/Consultant position. This person will be expected to meet all requirements of being a Transition Team member if their desire is to become a full time Transition Team member. The Urban Homesteading Expert will assess the needs of our Contributors, and help create new content. Their duties include, but aren't limited to, the following:

Writing and editing content (in Step-by-Step Format)

Designing urban homesteading techniques

Determining technical requirements

Updating The Transition Team on new techniques

Creating back up files

Providing high quality photos and or video to demonstrate projects

Please do not apply if you only have book or internet knowledge and have no prior experience in actually creating an urban homestead. You will be expected to have a portfolio of your work and references. To get more information and apply please contact The Transition Team Seed: Nicole Bienfang

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It's not."

~ Dr. Seuss

"We must become the change we want to see in the world."

~Gandhi

The Problem:

You already know what the world's problems are. You face them everyday. 

Some of the ones that have the biggest impact are:

• Degradation of the biosphere
• Malaise of the economic system
• Decline in human health
• Growth of global poverty and inequality

What we have come to discover is that none of these issues are insular, they are in fact all interconnected. So, in order to fix these problems we must treat them holistically. We must outgrow the low image of the human being and the ruling idea of a meaningless, material world that is the dominant paradigm of industrial, collapsing societies.  All of us can adapt the key points of the emerging “new story” (it has actually been around from time immemorial) for our own use, and share them wherever we can to explain where we are heading.

The Solution:

We believe in living life well and making better choices.

That means avoiding choices that lead to negative impacts that are harmful to ourselves and our environment. Instead, we seek out sustainable methods for living and integrate them in our model for social change. Society is transforming and maturing, moving towards an era of more collaboration, connection, and contribution. Together our aim is to perpetuate and expand a society based on these values.

This website is about starting on a local scale, but acting with the intention of global change

to bridge the gap between our present times and a Global Egalitarian System. (Some examples of similar concepts or ideas are Economic Singularity, Resource Based Economy (RBE), Gifting Economy, and Ubuntu). An egalitarian society operates by meeting human needs as the first social priority, and transcends assorted social and civil as well as economic problems by lucidly grasping the difference between NEEDS and Wants. This is a scientific approach, rooted in the modern Pyramid of Needs, which builds on the work of Abraham Maslow, and Behavioral Psychology. The end result being worldwide shared assets and an intelligent infrastructure that serves and supports humanity who in turn become the caretakers of the Earth.

The aim of The Transition as a movement is to galvanize people into taking action, whether on a large or a small scale, with the goal of creating communities that model a local economy rooted in place, in well-being, in entrepreneurship, and in creativity.

 Take Action:

Together we are creating a worldwide movement launching as a planetary network of conscious intentional communities and co-op businesses.

We can end scarcity, injustice & inequality by  buying existing affordable properties or unifying pre-existing assets and businesses as well as create various new cottage industries. Contributors will work without a traditional wage or salary in these businesses (restaurants, markets etc.) and in return will receive a place to live where all utilities, food & transportation are paid for by the profits of the businesses and cottage industries. This is similar to Ubuntu's One Small Town proposal found in the video below, but it is much more developed and researched in the ways that are most effective in creating a fruitful outcome.

We plan to implement this philosophy of abundance, sharing, and cooperation

in which all goods and services are available to all community members without the use of money, "credits," barter or any other system of debt or servitude, into a reality for all to experience by having our Contributors following Our Plan.

To find out more please check out the following pages:

Our Mission

Our Charter

Our Vision

Our Values

Our Declaration of Interdependence

Our Plan

The Law

Our Trust

Sources: Metta Center: What is a Road-map

Contributors: Metta Center

Recommended Reading: Metta Center: What is a Road-map

"Human beings do not realise the extent to which their own sense of defeat prevents them from doing things they could do perfectly well. The peak experience induces the recognition that your own powers are far greater than you imagined them."

~ Colin Wilson

Cooperation and learning are an integral part of what it means to be human. The community environment The Transition provides has been designed to nurture and support the experience and evolution of this understanding. With The Transition people pursue life and learning at their own pace and according to their own interests, passions, and preferences. It is here we provide helpful insights in looking at experimental social change models. alternatives to competition, freeing up energy for social change involvements, working to eliminate our own internalized "in-humanism" (racism, sexism, class-ism, etc.) and look toward the building of new organizational forms for the developing non-violent movement for fundamental social change world-wide. Be forewarned that you will be exposed to ideas that will change the way you think about how you make decisions. Once you've been exposed to the ideas contained in this section of the site, you will not be able to return to your previous understanding of decision-making. 

The Basics

FAQs

Non-Violence

Movie Vault

TV Cache

Recommended Reading

Case Studies

Decision-Making Processes

Education/Human Development 

Missions

Sources: Pixabay

Contributors: JuralMin

Recommended Reading: 

After reading this, please endorse below as The Transition sees YOU as one of our many beneficiaries.

Intent: We unite and empower people to take positive action towards enhancing and protecting all life and our environment for future generations.

Purpose:  Our purpose is to construct real solutions by providing the support, space, and resources for the common heritage of the Earth's resources and  to do so via our collective knowledge.  We are committed to building community projects that promote organic farming, alternative transportation, clean drinking water, renewable energy, green building, and using music and the arts to convey the message.

With a special focus on street-involved youth and families living in poverty, we encourage community involvement through collaborative volunteerism, education, programs and media events. We help others enhance their food and housing security, learn life skills, and build confidence to make the transition to a more sustainable lifestyle - leading to a Global Egalitarian System for the good of all.

We strive to create an inclusive community where all members have the skills, confidence, and support to live a healthy  life.  It is our pledge to each other and to the world we are creating, to help each other live life to the fullest.  

Our method of collaboration within our Transition Inter-Community Network is based on scientific benchmarks to meet everyone's’ needs - instead of what’s most profitable - therefore exchange between members requires no monetary attachment.

Res:

• Information
• Benchmarks
• Designs
• Procedures
• Documentaries & Films
• Funding for expansion
• Intentional Communities
• Co-ops
• Community of like-minded members
• How-tos and demonstrations
• Events and media programs
• Contributor Business Promotion
• Branding

Process:

• BUD Weekly meetings.

• Formal Consensus as described in On Conflict & Consensus, & Consensus for Cities.
• Self assignment of tasks during scheduled meetings.
• Scientific Method (Plan, Do, Study, Act)
• If a problem is brought to light, a possible solution is then brought to the table, or an adjustment to a pre-existing process or structure is suggested.
• We use the wisdom of the crowd via polls, 1 on 1 anecdotal interviews pooled together and reviewed for trends, as well as various types of crowdsourcing.

Trustees:

• Nicole Bienfang

Responsibilities of Trustees:

• Be a beacon of example
• To serve the Contributors
• Adhere to Team Commitments
• Maintain website
• Be a source of support for fellow members
• Provide outreach to other intentional communities, co-ops, organizations, and other similar movements.
• Align values and behaviors with The Transition Benchmarks
• Do continual personal education
• Develop systems and procedures
• Maintain Communal mindset towards Egalitarian lifestyle
• Understand that all work created for and done on behalf of The Transition remain with The Transition, even if one leaves the BUD and is no longer able to fulfill the role or obligations of a Trustee.

Grantors:  Mike Upstone & Nicole Bienfang

Beneficiaries: I hereby agree to the following statement:

I will participate in the positive, inclusive decision-making structure of The Transition and abide by the decisions made in my Contributorship to The Transition. I bring my integrity and commitment to the ideals of trust, respect, self-empowerment, cooperation, equal access to power, and non-violence. I am committed to the vision of diverse membership of The Transition and the site is considered a “Safe Zone".   I hereby agree to  treat everyone equal of value with differing gifts and Contribute for the good of all. I will attempt to minimize barriers to Contributors of any groups wishing to participate.

(Please endorse below if you agree to abide by this Trust and all statements made herein. Use of this site is considered an implied agreement to this Trust even if your name is absent from the “signatures” below.)

Start Your Own Book Club
Posted by The Transition Team ·

Brainstorming
Posted by The Transition Team ·

What The World Needs Now - Jackie DeShannon
Posted by The Transition Team ·

Who do you know that supports our mission? Recommend our site & help us reach our goals even faster!

Begin to Speak Up, Spread The Word & Connect With People
Now that you have been educating yourself about what is going on in the world via our Movie Vault and other information on the site, start speaking up to others about it. While it may seem taboo to bring up certain subjects, you will be surprised to see how many people are feeling a lot of this stuff behind the scenes in their own private lives. Share information you like from the site, as this is how we will get more people educating themselves and thinking about things. You can share our website, and documentaries to get the ball rolling or maybe even host an event or movie screening! Get creative with it. Use photos on Facebook, put posters in your community or go big and pull off a community event like free hugs in a public area. These actions turn heads and get people asking what it’s all about. A great way to spread the word. Connect with others in your community. By starting a Meetup group or connecting with others in your area on a regular basis, people can begin to unite their ideas and see how they can assist each other to begin moving forward. You will be very surprised to find out how we are all a key piece of the puzzle in any given group. Together we can achieve big things. If you are having difficulty thinking of people to talk to about The Transition use our Memory Jogger page to think of names of people you may know.

The issue we face now in our early stages is that we must create a large following of Contributors for ICs and community experts to take us seriously and want to dedicate the time it takes to pass on their sage advice and experience. So, we need all of you to help get as many people as possible involved! We do have some ICs currently working with us, but again until we gain ourselves more clout we are not their top priority at the moment.

Bonus Tip: You can help us raise funding for our various programs and activities without spending anything extra. Visit Amazon by clicking the button below and a portion of your purchases will go to The Transition!

 Examples of Spreading the Word

Our events calendar provides a broader outlook, helps all of us taking part in the transition to see our own personal efforts and those of The Transition Inter-Community Network as a whole. This way each one of us can see the larger picture and other efforts being made, not to mention taking part of in some of these amazing events and get-togethers.

Please be sure to inform your Point Person when you add an event. Due to an increase in internet spambot activity we no longer allow our site to automatically update submitted events. In order to verify and guarantee your event is posted and live for everyone to see contact your Point Person to make sure it gets approved.

Please Take Note: 

• DO NOT RSVP for ANY BUD meeting unless you have been formally invited to attend. BUD meetings are listed so others are aware of their existence so as not over book the dates and times they are scheduled with other events.
• We value civil society. Community members who organize events should assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavor to communicate civic responsibilities to participants. They must also assume responsibility for conducting events in accordance with local, state, and federal laws.