Transcript Presentation - Canadian Public Health Association

The emergence of the transition movement in
Canada: Implications for public health
Chris Buse
Dalla Lana School of Public Health
University of Toronto
CPHA May 27, 2014 Toronto ON
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.”
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CPHA (2013) Global Change and Public Health: Addressing the
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Ecological Determinants of Health (Draft Report – August
9). Ottawa.
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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
Transition to
a lowcarbon
society
Relocalizing
production
of basic
needs
Building
Community
Resilience
Emphasize
connectedness
Reskilling
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 HaluzaDelay (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."
Components of TES Methodology
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)
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)
Regional
workshops
National KT
summit

In-depth
interviews

Dialogic
Workshops

Distribution of Canadian Transition Initiatives by
Province/ Region, up to and including 2012 (N=60)
Descriptive Statistics for Canadian TIs (N=47)
Selected Variables
TIs Identified Through Webscan
TIs Participating in Survey
Initiatives Registered on TT Network
Average Age of TIs in years
Number of Organizers
Frequency of Meetings
Categories
5 or less
6 or more
1-2 per year
1 per 2-4 months
1 per month
Frequency of Events
> 1 per month
No events
1-2 per year
1 per 2-4 months
1 per month
> 1 per month
Perceived Local Political Climate
Conservative
Progressive
Perceived Impact of TI on Community3
Moderate
Weak
Canada
88
47
37 (79%)
2.9
15 (33%)
31 (67%)
4 (9%)
7 (15%)
25 (53%)
6 (13%)
2 (4%)
5 (11%)
10 (21%)
18 (38%)
9 (19%)
27 (58%)
18 (38%)
15 (32%)
25 (53%)
Event Focus (N=4695)
Planning and
Envisioning
11%
Building and
Housing
3%
Heart and Economics and
Soul/Inner Livelihood
Environmental
Transition
5%
Degradation &
6%
Remediation
14%
Energy
4%
Relationship
Building
16%
Transport
Health and Well3%
Being
6%
Food
32%
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!
[email protected]
To what extent have initiatives
discussed diversity?
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Yes, A lot
Yes, Some
No, but we
should
No, there are
other priorities
Distribution of Event Focus in Ontario (N=318),
2008-2012
Building
Economics
Activism
and
and
1%
Housing
livelihood
1%
1%
Climate
Committee
Change
meetings
7%
Education
10%
21%
Education
21%
Food
20 %
Social
11%
Energy
4%
Transport
2%
The Arts
15%
Food
20%
Inner
Heart and Health and Transition
Well-being
Soul
1%
2%
5%
The
Arts
15%
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