Transition Documents- A Short Review

Here's a short, partial braindump of a few influential Eco-Transition documents--
all of which lay out either
a vision of how to create a sustainable society, or
detail what it would entail
(describing the endpoint of the journey is not the same as a roadmap.
All but California Tomorrow are free & online in full.

Four Changes
by Gary Snyder, San Francisco, CA, August 17, 1969
Published in Mother Earth News in January 1970
& republished countless times in the underground press in the days of loose copyright.
Short Manifesto that which ends in a call for transformation, with guesses as to what might be strategy points. It is remembered by Worldchanging author Alex Steffen in his essay Four Freedoms, Four Changes and the Earth Charter.

Soft Energy Paths: The Road Not Taken
by Amory and Hunter Lovins
First published as "Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken?" in Foreign Affairs, in October 1976.
Lays out two scenarios-- the Hard Path, in which we stress uranium-based nuclear power and fossil fuels until both are depleted; vs. the Soft Path, which ends up with none of those energy sources and stresses renewables, efficiency and smart design.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amory_Lovins

California Tomorrow Plan
Driven by California visionary Alfred Heller, this 120 page booklet was conceived in 1969 and published in 1971. It starts with the present (Plan Zero- California in 1970) and lays out two futures: One, business as usual; and Two, a holistic eco-plan. It is hard not to think that this format heavily influenced Amory Lovins as he wrote his two scenarios in the early 70's.
http://www.jstor.org/pss/3823569 Unfortunately behind an academic firewall, this seven page backgrounder shares the history of the Plan.
http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt92903742

Blueprint for Survival
1972, UK
Printed as a special issue of Ecologist magazine, this went on to be a best-selling book (375,000 copies).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueprint_for_Survival
http://www.theecologist.info/page34.html Full text

Transforming Our Industrial Society:Steps towards overcoming Unemployment, Poverty & Environmental Destruction
West German Green Party
September 1986
Passed at national convention, but never found much resonance among party or public. Was a rare public statement of eco-transformation in the eighties.
http://www.archive.org/details/UmbauDerIndustriegesellschaft untranslated German

Our Common Future: Report of the World Commission on Environment & Development
1987
Also known as the Brundtland Commission report, and sometimes as the UN Commission on Environment and Development, this report was commissioned by the UN in 1983, as fears of nuclear omnicide were at an all-time high. In light of those fears, it was little noticed when released [although Thomas Berry took note of it in his 1988 The Dream of the Earth] in March 1987, but became more noticed after the Dec. 1987 INF Nuclear Treaty and James Hansen's June 1988 Congressional Climate testimony. It helped inspire and lead into the June 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED, aka "Earth Summit") in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The report is heavy on generalities and light on specifics, but nonetheless turned out to be the right report at the right time. Its definition of sustainable development--
"development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
-- has now become a much cited viral meme.
http://www.un-documents.net/ocf-a2.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Common_Future

Great Transition: The Promise and Lure of the Times Ahead
by Paul Raskin, et al
2002
Written by the a group associated with the Global Scenario Group, a think-tank that is a project of the Tellus Institute and the Stockholm Environment Institute, this document sketches out three basic scenarios: Conventional, Barbarism & Great [eg. Green] Transition
http://www.gtinitiative.org/resources/gtessay.html Free 111 page PDF


Totnes (Ireland) Energy Descent Action Plan
2005
Written by students in Rob Hopkins' year-long permaculture design class as a class exercise, this vision of how one town might transform itself has helped to spark a worldwide movement (crucially assisted by Hopkins charismatic, upbeat community organizing & presentation skills via blog, Youtube and the Transition Handbook).
http://transitionculture.org/essential-info/pdf-downloads/kinsale-energy-descent-action-plan-2005

I welcome suggestions for other documents to include.
[Addition] The Art of Rapid Transition
2010
A series of five extraordinary events hosted by nef (new economics foundation) at the UK Hay Literary Festival in 2009. Dealing with peak oil, climate and economic collapse & looking back at Britain in World War II.

http://www.neweconomics.org/sites/neweconomics.org/files/The_Art_of_Rapid_Transition.pdf