Transition Town Tallassee

transi2We added this page not because an organization called “Transition Town Tallassee” exists (it doesn’t) but because it should. With proper preparation, the town of Tallassee, Alabama, situated as it is on the border between Elmore County and Tallapoosa County, is ideally suited to survive and thrive in a post-petroleum world.

The arrival of peak oil will bring an end to our 20th century automobile culture and its reliance on buying food that has been trucked in daily from 2000 miles away. Our world is about to become much more local, so we’re going to be far more dependent than in the past on our neighbors, on our local farmers and merchants, and on our own practical skills. The key to surviving these challenging days to come will be to build a resilient local community. That’s where Transition Town Tallassee comes in.

Tallassee, AL is well-served by a somewhat navigable river and by railroad. It is surrounded by relatively fertile rural land where food production can occur, including significant areas of river bottomland that are extraordinarily fertile (or at least could become fertile again once their owners stop poisoning them). Tallassee is richly populated with local knowledge – folks who understand how to store sweet potatoes without refrigeration and how to deal with squash bugs. It has a core business district around Hotel Talisi that, though neglected, is still largely intact. And unlike what it may seem now, the city of Tallassee is small enough for enlightened post-petroleum political change to be possible.

We are subsistence farmers who live six miles SW of Tallassee and are working to build community. Are you interested in bringing the Transition Town model to Tallassee? Are you looking for allies? Contact us and let’s work together. There’s lots to be done.