Robb Worthington and wife, Jacqui Riordan spoke to the club about Foothills Transition, a program to help individuals and communities reduce their carbon footprint through the use of renewable and efficient sources of energy and self reliance to meet one’s needs.
Robb, co-founder of The Sustainable Living Project in Hickory, NC, holds a Masters degree from the University of East London Graduate School of the Environment in Advanced Environmental Studies and Energy. In 2009, Robb took his Transition training in Totnes, England, and proceeded to co-found Transition Bermuda.
A Garden Designer at The Sustainable Living Project, Jacqui Riordan earned a degree in Literature, Geography and Creative Writing at Brooks University, Oxford, and a Post Graduate Teaching Certificate in English and Drama from Westminster College, Oxford. Her Transition training took place in Sautee, GA, in 2011.
Having lived off-grid in various permutations and locations, Robb and his wife, Jacqui, are in the process of creating an off-grid, resilient lifestyle in the heart of the suburbs. They intend to use their home as an educational venue to assist others achieve simplicity and frugality through common sense and convenient, comfortable change.
From Self-Reliance to Community Resilience . . .
Using photos of The Sustainable Living Project and other media, Robb and Jacqui explained how they personally achieved self-reliance through the process of having lived off-grid in Bermuda, avoided debt, and increased their understanding about the environmental challenges facing our culture.
They are renovating their home to passive solar specifications and have implemented other designs to save energy and money, as well as building perma-culture based gardens to grow their own food. These lifestyle choices decrease their carbon footprint and avoid exposure to chemicals.
This project is part and parcel of, and dependent upon, a larger effort to build community resilience. Robb and Jacqui launched Foothills Transition last year. It works through the passion of the community to take local actions and make a difference. Individuals and neighborhoods can make things happen; there is huge power in starting things, in making practical projects a reality, to help others get a tangible sense of what a more sustainable world would feel like.
