Having recently celebrated its 21st birthday, Transition Town Kinsale continues to promote sustainability and eco issues.

What started off as the germ of an idea now has a plethora of worthwhile projects on the go at a West Cork campus that has inspired a global movement.

SINCE its inception in 2005, Transition Town Kinsale (TTK) has always had lofty but achievable ambitions.

The organisation was definitely ahead of the curve when it sought to move the town away from a dependency on fossil fuel to a low carbon future.

What started off as a small idea by Rob Hopkins within the campus grounds of Kinsale Further Education College, where he taught the popular Permaculture course, has grown into a worldwide movement with transition towns dotted around the globe. 

It was Rob and his then students who came up with the ground-breaking ‘Kinsale Energy Descent Plan’ which set out how the picture-postcard coastal town, with a population of 7,000 people, could make the move away from a high energy consumption town to a low energy one. 

While Rob moved to England in later years and founded the Transition Network, his vision for a practical sustainable movement still thrives in Kinsale.

Celebrating 21 years of Kinsale Transition Town with a special event in the Kinsale Campus were
Picture. John Allen

TTK’s current chairman Donal Chambers, who now teaches the Permaculture course at the college, said the idea for TTK was the first of its kind and has inspired similar models across other continents.

‘I guess the concept was unusual 21 years ago where the group attempted to localise things and the town’s council back then embraced the idea and wanted to make it a reality,’ he reflected. 

‘It then went all over the world and I think there were over 1,300 chapters or clubs at its height. Rob then moved to England to set up the Transition Network and has written books [about it],’ said Donal.

He added that Rob was the founding director of the Hollies Centres for Sustainability in Enniskeane.’

‘I took over the Permaculture course in 2015 and then got involved with TTK and became chairperson around 2019,’ he explained. ‘We have a couple of hundred people on the mailing list but with about ten core members.’

One of his current projects is to get 20 to 30 houses in Kinsale to buy solar panels in bulk which would make it cheaper in the long run for them.

Through grants they have already installed 16 solar panels at the college as well as in The Well Community Centre, and they are planning to install them at Kinsale Community School.

‘This should be done by the Government already and even if it’s not connected to the grid you can connect it with batteries storage and the community should be able to charge their cars for free during the summer,’ said Donal.

Other schemes the group spearhead include the biodiveristy project which involves tree and meadow planting, zero waste promotions and skill sharing which takes place once a month.

However, the government’s perceived lack of ambition is something Donal feels is stalling progress on sustainability.

‘If the Government just had a bit of get up and go we could be doing projects much faster,’ he noted. ‘They should be handing out solar panels instead of doing surveys and exploratory works. It’s not difficult and it’s so important to get off gas and oil.’

The idea of community solar panels installed in every town and village across the country is one that Donal wholly embraces and encourages.

‘It would allow people to fill their cars for free and it’s education-related too as people could see how they work and they can then go off and buy their own. I would also like to see community insulation initiatives happening too.’

Donal believes that a lack of imagination is part of the problem in seeing how the future can be changed. He also feels that there should be paid sustainability officers in every town so they are there to give people advice on solar power or even growing your own food.

‘There is a hunger here among people in Kinsale to make the town better for everyone and this really came to the fore last year when the protests over a planned mussel farm in Kinsale Harbour were first mooted,’ he said. 

‘TTK made a submission on this and we feel there has to be a better place to have a mussel farm.’

Looking towards to the future, Donal said they would love to get a paid administrator for TTK to help with so many projects they want to get off the ground and those they are already operating.

‘We started our own charity, Regenerate, in recent years and it involves rewilding but also education and food production. We would love to get a big community orchard started in Kinsale which could link in with TTK.’

To mark their important milestone of 21 years, TTK held a mini-festival at the Kinsale Campus titled ‘A Thriving Future’ which was attended by over 150 people.

‘We had a fantastic day and the weather was great,’ said Donal. ‘We had food stalls and a lot of my former students had business stalls at it. 

‘I gave a talk on energy while Mary Reynolds spoke about rewilding, while Thomas O’Connor, a regenerative farmer and community activist also spoke. Lisa Fingleton spoke about art and activism through art as well.’

There were plenty of workshops covering a wide number of topics including fermentation, renewable energy, zero waste cosmetics and cob building.

Celebrating 21 years of Kinsale Transition Town with a special event in the Kinsale Campus were James Bermingham, Kerry; Melanie Richter, Kinsale and Julianna Bermingham, Kerry.
Picture. John Allen

Donal is encouraging people interested in a sustainable future to contact the group through their website or social media channels.

See www.transitiontownkinsale.org for more details.