Trish Clifford, Richmond Rivets Assemble Vibrant Transition

Not long ago, Trish Clifford was inspired by Pachamama’s “Awaken the Dreamer” call to action, and wanted to prepare her community for fuel shock (formerly called Peak Oil) and climate shock. Looking for a group to work with, she became attracted to the Transition Town movement.

Transition puts in place local food production, energy and goods, cutting down on fueled transport. When communities see the writing on the wall, they get busy.

In this 32-minute interview with co-host Daniel Kerbein, Trish describes the transition group she helped found in Richmond, just north of San Francisco.

In the spirit of local icon Rosie the Riveter, they took the name The Richmond Rivets. They rolled up their sleeves and launched a seed lending library (at the public library), a fruit tree giveaway, and other ongoing programs.

Richmond’s supportive city government has turned over an open greenway as a pubic farm, worked by Urban Tilth, an urban farming and youth education group. The Greenway now provides access to healthy food, and city folk are getting new skills as farmers.

Richmond is also holding compost giveaways, and harvest swap meets for local gardeners.

Members of the Richmond City Council visited Mondragon, a world-wide hub of successful cooperatives, and now work with the Richmond Rivets and other groups to incubate worker-owned businesses.

To prepare their community for future sudden events, the Rivets have launched “Two Steps a Month”, an emergency supply program which shows how to put away essential emergency supplies a little at a time, making preparedness possible on a low budget.

A positive by-product of the Transition effort, Trish points out, is that communities work together. Groups in Richmond have launched water conservation projects, and a time bank where everyone trades hours of service with others. More projects are envisioned