| What we are doing on sustainable development |
|
|
|
Page 2 of 2 Transform Purton Parish The concept of Transition Towns has been gathering pace if the number of places signing up to this process is anything to go by. Basically, the premise of a Transition Town is to prepare for a post, oil-dependency world. It is based on the generally-held assumption that oil (and gas) will ultimately “run out” or, more likely, become too expensive a commodity on which to base our usual lifestyles. The point at which this becomes reality is called “Peak Oil”; some say that it is not too far away, others say that we have already actually passed that point. The general notion of Transition Towns is that they recognise this general premise and begin to prepare for it now, rather than wait. A book has been produced called, not surprisingly, Transition Towns. It is full of new buzz words and expressions; eco-psychology, resilience, economic renaissance and so on. It is about living within certain limits. How this is done has to be explored and developed in practice within each settlement. An individual community is supposed to come up with its own path and its own answers. As it does this, it has to accommodate the concept of “energy descent” ~ a process whereby a community gradually weans itself off conventional oil (or gas) based energy sources. That of course is not just about replacing one’s own energy source (say by wind power, even if it was possible everywhere). The trick in dealing with “Peak Oil” is to figure out how to de-couple communities from the modern infrastructure that is part of the dependency challenge; cheap food, low-cost flights, commuting to work and so on. Interestingly, most of the stuff being done to date under the Transition banner is conventional environmentalism ~ recycling, composting, walking or bicycling, changing to low energy bulbs, more insulation, local shopping, watching the carbon footprints and so on. The current headlines on climate change are actually one side of a coin on the other side of which are dwindling resources generally. The hard part: how to de-couple communities from the modern infrastructure that is part of the dependency, part of the problem of climate change that has not yet been tackled substantively by any individual or group in a meaningful and scalable way. One or two communities have begun to operate on a different lifestyle level but they number just a few tens of people and are not a practical consideration for most communities because they depart, radically, from what might be called a conventional lifestyle. The big debate as to how to reduce community reliance on the resources that are running out has yet to be started in earnest. Ps and Qs would like to begin the debate ~ not just about the natural environment: it is about the economic basis of life and the way that communities work. Our Proposal We recognise that most green groups focus on awareness-raising about the necessary actions that individuals/groups are able to do (e.g. recycling, switching off lights, encouraging local food production and consumption, producing the village shopping bag etc). The thinking is that, once engaged, members of the public and, hopefully, communities will then be receptive to the next steps, which are likely to be a little more difficult to achieve. But what are these next steps? Is there anything we can do as a community to initiate progress or must we wait for government to intervene? We are inviting and bringing together some key opinion formers in Purton together with some technical experts from outside to look at some of the challenges of the basic premises for the future in terms of energy supply, food production, water supply, waste disposal, community growth and development. We propose to test the waters on whether or not it is feasible to apply a directing mind to a “Future Purton” and to establish the level of response required and relevant community practicalities. Perhaps we will throw up our hands after the first hour having identified the constraints that stop any community taking its destiny into its own hands or, perhaps, we will, indeed, identify what needs to be done and identify some steps that can be taken or, perhaps we even create a vision of what a future Purton would/could/should look like or, perhaps... If you ... If you live in the Parish of Purton, have influence, and by past words or deeds have indicated some sort of commitment to the Parish and if any of the above resonates with you in any way please email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
||||
