Fred Irwin

Now is the Time! Fred Irwin

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 movement's 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 Canada's first transition town, applying the International Transition Towns model founded in Totnes, England, by Rob Hopkins.