A member of the Ottawa transition group is running a project that seeks to facilitate conversation among Canada's Transition groups. In the first stage of this project, a spokesperson from each Transition group is asked to post "topics, concerns, passions, ideas, obstacles and opportunities" to a shared document. This will coalesce into a set of discussion topics which, after discussion, will evolve into a set of goals. Or something. I'm not quite sure about how it will all work and what the outcomes will be, but I think it's a neat project and I'm interested to see how it goes.

I'd appreciate it if you sent me your GETI "topics, concerns, passions, ideas, obstacles and opportunities." (In that order.) (Kidding.) Generally, I think what we are trying to do here is examine how our Transition Initiative works, question whether it is achieving its goals, identify problems, and come up with ideas for improvement. Pretty open-ended, but some ideas I have (or that I stole from Gerry) include:

- How do we get young people engaged in GETI? What do young people need to organize and implement projects that fit with the GETI mandate?

- How do we get senior people engaged in GETI? I think one of Maple Ridge's assets is a large community of retired people concentrated in a small geographical area with existing organizational capacity (through the Legion and the Senior's Centre). I think seniors are an untapped and under-appreciated resource for both GETI and the community at large.

- Do we need to think / discuss / educate more regarding the core ideas of the Transition Initiative? Do people get what it is all about? (Do *I* get what it is all about?)

- Are we missing a "social" aspect that would make the group larger and more cohesive? We don't party very much. I like parties. Parties are a *big* part of community.

- What should the relationship between Transition Initiatives and local government / politics be?

So, you see what I mean - this is an opportunity to navel-gaze about GETI. I'd love to hear other people's ideas about what we should discuss. I'll provide updates on the conversations as we go along.