Now is the Time!: Building Community Resilience in Response to COVID-19 and the Climate Crisis

NOW IS THE TIME! is the story of Transition Town Peterborough a not-for-profit organization located in Peterborough Ontario Canada evolving in real time during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Climate Crisis as told by its founding director. It is the story of the building blocks of achieving more resilient communities during the multiple crises of energy economics environment and equity including social racial economic and the distribution of energy.As founder of the Kawartha Loon local currency issued by Transition Town Peterborough the author writes vividly from experience on how the global economy continues to hollow out local communities such as Peterborough and how they can fight back and become much more resilient by building their own economiclocalization infrastructure supporting all life essentials including food water energy culture and wellness.The securing of life essentials is paramount to any community resilience strategy a budgetary understanding that funding for the security of life essentials can only be compared to funding for our essential workers including police fire ambulance bus drivers health care and teachers to name some of the most prominent.Further the author takes aim at global corporations national governments and the United Nations for collectively greenwashing the environmental movements direction to get off all fossil fuels and reduce GHG emissions by promoting sustainable development giving cover to the continued pursuit of economic growth-the very cause of increasing GHG emissions. This continuing charade perpetuated on the real economy where 99 percent of the global population actually lives has accelerated the movement towards localization and the economics of happiness. Transition Town Peterborough is Canadas first transition town applying the International Transition Towns model founded in Totnes England by Rob Hopkins.