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Chris Buse Dalla Lana School of Public Health
University of TorontoCPHA May 27, 2014 Toronto ON
The emergence of the transition movement in Canada: Implications for public health
Outline
• Emerging threats to health equity and public health practice in the 21st CE
• Transition Towns: A social movement preparing people to meet the challenge?
• Transition Emerging Study– Overview– Preliminary findings– Next Steps
Emerging Threats (to health equity)
Climate change
Ecosystem degradation
Widening socio-economic inequities
Resource depletion & energy insecurity
Implications for Public Health Practice
“Public health's role is to protect and promote health, prevent disease and reduce inequalities in health: Encouraging and supporting the transition to a sustainable, just and healthy
future is entirely consistent with this role.”
CPHA (2013) Global Change and Public Health: Addressing the Ecological Determinants of Health (Draft Report – August 9). Ottawa.
Integrated Healthy Settings Approach
Parkes et al. 2012
The Transition Town Movement: A Technology for Building Resilience
• Transition initiatives “are an emerging response: in essence, a powerful carbon reduction ‘technology’ and a new way of looking at responding to climate change and peak oil” (Hopkins 2008, p.1).
Goals of Transition Initiatives
Building Community Resilience
Transition to a low-carbon society
Reskilling
Emphasize connectedness
Re-localizing
production of basic needs
Resilience, Equity and the Development of Ecological Social Practices: Examining The Transition Town Movement in Canada
FUNDER: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), 2012-2015
RESEARCH TEAM: Blake Poland (PI)(UofT), Paul Antze (YorkU), Randy Haluza-Delay (KingsUCollege), Cheryl Teelucksingh (Ryerson), Chris Ling (RRU), Lenore Newman (UFV), André-Anne Parent (ULaval), Chris Buse (UofT), Rebecca Hasdell (UofT), Rivka Kushner (UofT)
MOVEMENT ADVISORY GROUP CHAIR: Michelle Colussi (CCCR)
www.transitionemergingstudy.ca
Research Goal: "To understand the Transition Town movement in Canada as an attempt to meet a series of looming environmental and economic challenges by forming more resilient, equitable and locally engaged ‘communities of practice’ that foster a new ‘culture of sustainability’ among participants."
Methods Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Document Analysis Web scan (N=88) Internal Documents Update Webscan
e-Surveys Transition Initiative Founders (N=47)
TT Participants (N=289)
In-depth interviews
Local TT Founders/Leaders
(N=20)
Community key informants, municipal
councillors (N=10)
Key informants on equity in transition
in UK, US, Brazil (N=6)
Dialogic Workshops
Regional workshops
National KT summit
Components of TES Methodology
Distribution of Canadian Transition Initiatives by Province/ Region, up to and including 2012 (N=60)
Descriptive Statistics for Canadian TIs (N=47)Selected Variables Categories CanadaTIs Identified Through Webscan 88
TIs Participating in Survey 47
Initiatives Registered on TT Network 37 (79%)Average Age of TIs in years 2.9Number of Organizers 5 or less 15 (33%)
6 or more 31 (67%)Frequency of Meetings 1-2 per year 4 (9%)
1 per 2-4 months 7 (15%)
1 per month 25 (53%)
> 1 per month 6 (13%)
Frequency of Events No events 2 (4%)1-2 per year 5 (11%)
1 per 2-4 months 10 (21%)
1 per month 18 (38%)
> 1 per month 9 (19%)
Perceived Local Political Climate Conservative 27 (58%)Progressive 18 (38%)
Perceived Impact of TI on Community3 Moderate 15 (32%)
Weak 25 (53%)None 4 (8%)
Event Focus (N=4695)Economics and Livelihood;
5%
Environmental Degradation & Remediation;
14%
Energy; 4%
Food; 32%
Health and Well-Being; 6%
Transport; 3%
Relationship Building; 16%
Building and Housing; 3%
Planning and Envisioning;
11%
Heart and Soul/Inner Transi-tion; 6%
Interest in health and well-being from a national survey of Transition participants (N=289)
Situating Health in Transition: Findings from a National Survey of Movement Participants (N=289)
• Relationship between: – Interest in health and food (Spearman’s = 0.281,
p<0.01– Interest in health and enviro degradation (Spearman’s
= 0.233 , p<0.01)– Health also associated with alternative transportation,
energy issues, inner transition, housing, planning• Longer lived in community, greater interest in
health (Spearman’s = 0.104, p<0.05)– Relationship not explained by age
Still a work in progress…• Lessons for public health include:
– Reframing of environmental threats as opportunities for community building and social connectedness
– Emphasize transformative learning, connectedness, resilience– Emphasis on entire communities as settings for health
promotion
• How do sustainable practices scale up and out?– It is a global movement, but to what extent does change in
one neighbourhood influence change in a city?
• How can strong interests related to health be leveraged for social change?
Thanks!
To what extent have initiatives discussed diversity?
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Yes, A lot
Yes, Some
No, but we should
No, there are other priorities
Economics and livelihood
2%
Education22%
Energy4%
Food20%
Inner Transition1%Health and Well-
being2%
Heart and Soul5%
The Arts15%
Transport2%
Social11%
Com-mittee meet-ings10%
Climate Change7%
Building and Hous-ing1%
Activism1%
Distribution of Event Focus in Ontario (N=318), 2008-2012
workshops; book clubs; speakers; groups discussions; re-skilling;
conferences
garden share; seed and plant swaps; tree planting; community gardens; agriculture; food security; local food conference;
permaculture; farming
Events using arts to explore peak oil,
climate change, and transition; screens;
movie nights; films and discussion
Education 21%
Food 20 %
The Arts 15%