About Us

We are a group of local citizens in Monmouth County, NJ who have started a transition initiative in our community because we are concerned about the realities of climate change, peak oil and economic instability. What is Peak Oil? Peak oil is about the end of cheap and plentiful oil which has fueled the growth of our industrial economy. Oil is a finite resource. Its production is starting to decline while demand keeps on rising, pushing prices up.

What about Climate Change? Climate change is altering weather patterns, will cause rising sea levels and increase frequency as well as intensity of extreme weather such as flash floods. Climate change will affect not just our environment and weather, but our economies as well.

How is the current global economic instability part of this? Our food, transportation, and heating are heavily dependent on oil and gas – for fertilizers, irrigation, storage, and distribution. When the price of oil goes up, so does the price of food. Both will keep on rising, unless we reduce our oil dependence. When these three realities are overlapped and looked at together, it becomes clear that resilience is, alongside the drastic reduction in carbon emissions, a dynamic and useful way of looking at the way forward from here.

Transition Monmouth will help in four main ways:

Educate Our Citizens We will show films, hold discussions and workshops and distribute educational materials about how we can enhance our food & water systems, economic security, energy and transportation.

Promote Local Business We will promote developing our local economy by supporting local businesses in such areas as local food, transportation, energy conservation and clean energy, and in order to build a profitable local market for businesses beyond fossil fuels.

Advocate for Policy Changes We will approach local governments with policy proposals in areas such as economic incentives and, zoning and development ordinances to create the optimal environment for transition.

Help Build Community Infrastructure We will work with other citizen groups on projects such as farmers’ markets and craft markets, historic preservation and land conservation to make our community more resilient, to ensure prosperity and good local jobs.