A more sustainable future for Marbella – thinking globally, acting locally

Coming to Marbella on Saturday, 27 October, the ‘In Transition 2012’ conference takes place at the Palacio de Congresos from 11am to 10pm, and will feature talks about the Transition Town concept by various high-profile speakers. The non-profit event (tickets cost €10 each) will also include the dynamic Transition in Action market – open to all and free to attend – with stalls selling local organic produce, plants, arts and crafts and a range of stands featuring seed banks, green technology, NGOs, plus a showcase highlighting the astounding richness and diversity of Andalucía.

An international campaign to create more sustainable communities which reduce their carbon footprint, are less reliant on fossil fuels and equip people with the skills to respond to the changing circumstances which diminishing fossil fuels will cause, the Transition Town movement encourages people to think globally and act locally!

Organised by Marbella Town Hall and Arboretum Marbella, ‘In Transition 2012’ aims to inspire local politicians and residents alike to create more sustainable communities, and will bring together experts from Transition projects locally, nationally and internationally, to share their successes and difficulties as well as offering practical solutions in order to make a lasting difference to the local environment.

“More and more people in Spain are concerned about the future and climate change,” says Alejandro César Orioli, the director of Arboretum Marbella, “and the conference will help to bring people together to create communities better able to deal with the challenges ahead.”

The event will feature talks from a number of speakers from Transition communities around the world, including permaculturalist Rob Hopkins, co-founder of the Transition Network and author of The Transition Handbook From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience. There will also be informal group sessions, encouraging discussion and debate on dealing with the current economic crisis through the Transition model.

Rob Hopkins’ video conference will be in English while all the other presentations will be in Spanish.

Entrance to the conference – including all the day’s seminars – costs €10. Tickets are on sale now at FNAC La Cañada, Marbella.