On Sunday Feburary 11 we showed our first film in the pre-Unleashing programme: End of Suburbia. 81 people came. Before we showed Moving Sounds's short film about what people in Lewes think, and about our dependence on oil. After, we had a quick 2minute x 2minute talk and listen session with our neighbours followed by a facilitated discussion. On the way out, people were asked to write, on postit notes, 'One step I can take', 'One step Lewes can take' and 'One step government can take' These were collated, emailed to all the participants and posted here. This flow of promises, it was brilliant.
1. STEPS THAT I CAN TAKE
Buy local food
Ban plastic bags from my shop
More U.K. hols
Buy smaller car. Walk more. Use bus pass more. Talk to people about the problem of global warming. Go back to basics
Measure carbon use. Buy locally grown produce. Make home more sustainable
Get back to using buses more than car
Insulation. Local shopping
Collect information on my own energy footprint, then make 'least cost' plan
Use more wood for home heating. Change car to run on veg oil. Drive less
Buy a hybrid car. Audit energy use.
Maintain greenhouse. Grow veg in garden. Measure carbon footprint
Keep communicating and working with others
Learn more about veg gardening and grow more this year. Talk about it! (global warming, peak oil, future options). Create community
Better energy efficiency in my house
More recycling. Shop locally
Recycle. Plant a tree. Use up less electricity & energy
I must look deeply into my heart. Where do I want to live and have? What is work? What is home? What matters?
Decrease air travel
Spread the word! Make changes in lifestyle to go carbon neutral by reducing ecological footprint
Not use the car. Try daily
Form car-sharing co-op & get rid of one-family car
Stop flying. Buy local & organic. Walk more
Drive less, live locally - support Ashurst Organics
Fly less
Don't use post-its because they are the most unsustainable form of paper around!
I'll buy one of the books by James Howard - or Richard Heinburg and after reading I'll donate it to Lewes Library
Local school and company training + education in regard to relationship with the Earth. How we can help create a beneficial flow of energy through ancient technologies in modern times. Phil Howard @ trackways staff 01435 810231
Protect nature.; Take more steps to keep on insisting on better education and living/working 'insitutional/structural' example as a teacher in a example school
Sell car. Write in support of wind turbine in Ringmer (Glyndebourne)
Less car journeys. Check on how much energy I actually use = carbon footprint
Tell my mum and sister to come and live with me. Use my car less. Convert my diesel van to bio fuel.
Less car, MORE BIKE. Show Al Gore DVD (+ Keith Ellis's Trans Town Lewes short film promo) wherever I can. Support Trans Town Lewes wholeheartedly. READ, READ, READ & keep monitoring the subject in media & books.
Find a job nearer home
Install passive solar panels for water or/and a shower not bath. Cycle instead of driving. Install wind turbine. Wear warm clothing instead of using heating
Make compost
Use my car less, use less electricity, watch food miles
Teach our children to walk well
Talk + communicate more with people who are climate/fuel unaware
Trade locally produced goods (+ buy)
Call companies that I don't want their flyers etc.
Time to talk to neighbours about this – people who are not in my usual circle of friends + acquaintances. Try and spread the word
I will recycle card and plastic when working at All Saints
Start to learn and practise skills – growing food, making things etc.
STOP FLYING! Have film nights + show info
Communicate the issues to other people
Drive less. Eat local food. Heat less. Insulation
Change place of work from Crawley to Lewes. Reduce power consumption. Change supplier of electricity. Buy locally produced food. Move to using one small car. Chris Rowland
Stop buying Chinese goods!
Keep communicating about this. Get my street on board
Keep encouraging friends. esp writing to legislators, CBI etc. Keep fighting road expansion and for rail reinstatement.
Educating my children about energy use and food production
Eat seasonal food. Wear a jersey if it's cold. Walk!
Attend these meetings. Start a veg. patch in the garden. Support the local corner store in Malling
Encourage others to see the benefits of a lower carbon lifestyle
Bring own bags for shopping instead of plastic bags of supermarkets. Every year, British people use so many plastic bags to carpet the whole earth twice
Reject the proposed Phoenix development in its current form. Replace it with a vision/plan for making Lewes a centre for alternative and sustainable small-scale industries connected via the reinstated Uckfield line
2. STEPS THAT LEWES CAN TAKE
LDC, ESCC, Town: Campaign to have shop doors closed in winter. Turn thermostats down in council offices. Shirt sleeves are irresponsible in winter. It would also save on heating costs. More + compulsory recycling. Point out that council tax could be reduced if consumption was less.
Offer better recycling facilities (esp. businesses)
Have a proper plan for Lewes at planning dept. level
Public education & addressing more than the converted
Lower our collective carbon emissions
Ban cars from central Lewes. Invest in public transport. Make the Phoenix development eco-friendly and invest in local business. Stop Tesco expansion.
Localised energy. Car sharing. Better rural transport. Alternatives to Tesco – better local shops/delivery systems
Promote walking (public walks, short cuts etc.)
Electric buses
Build complete cycle-way between Lewes + Ringmer – and other villages
Energy vulnerability audit for town and district council
Send copy of film to MPs, supermarket chiefs etc. Better bike facilities
Where practical, shops should highlight 'local goods'
Revision this community e.g Transition Towns. Model change, lead by example, celebrate and publish everything we learn
Town planning
Local public education. Nothing will happen without increased awareness
Get proper public engagement in sustainability plan
Improve recycling services
Lobby councils to promote carbon proofed future development (one planet living). Adopt policies that minimise greenhose gas emissions. Plant trees. Use organic waste & sewage to generate bio-gas via anaerobic digestion. Encourage walking/cycling. Encourage local agriculture for food security
Charge residents more for parking high fuel use cars
Support local farmers + food production
Support local organic growers. Support local makers
Put stickers on 4x4s in car parks pointing out that smaller cars are more environmentally friendly. Give us a good bus station, local shops, post offices etc. No more super stores please. Support agriculture
Walk more, forget the car!!!
Improve public transport + support local business
Hoorah that it's already beginning to happen in Lewes. Give it my wholehearted support. Keep showing films which will pull in the punters. Request some some posters to put in my house window.
Integrate each person from all walks of life with empowerment not put anyone down or become judgmental
New developments to be carbon neutral in building materials and energy use. Community energy business development. Heat as well as power
Recycle more plastics. Support more community activity. Help us develop sustainable communities
Ensure Tesco does not expand. Try to make them charge for car parking
Support and advise those trying build sustainable communities who can be an example – within/on outskirts of Lewes
Reach out to state schools, council estates, to working class. Whether through films, infiltrating the classroom more to raise awareness in the children and teenagers
Separately collect and process household and commercial biowaste (dedicated biowaste anaerobic digestion)
Local foods
Promote allotments
Support local economic activity
Improve bus links. Road improvement for cycle safety -> prioritise bikes and public transport. CLOSE TESCO
Make Lewes House site into park or at least part of it. Tidal poser. Stop extension to Tesco. Use Lewes Cinema, don't travel to Brighton
Start an aviation pollution awareness campaign
Lobby councillors to come on March 4th
Support small local business. Individuals could buy shopping bags & stop using plastic carrier bags
Take back Parking Scheme from NCP into Council hands. Provide free local frequent buses around town and out to villages
All Saints should have recycling facilites for card and plastic. Ban cars from central Lewes or at least 4x4. Bring recycling facilities to all of Lewes
Think about population increase – we need to take responsibility for breeding!
Farmers Market every week
Sundays without motor cars??
3. STEPS THAT GOVERNMENT CAN TAKE
Invest in public transport
Realistically address this and the global warming issue by introducing guidance and legislation which will force planners to act appropriately NOW
Keep in with Norman Baker our local and highly approachable MP.
Put more money into the railways and less into roads
Government must ban the production & therefore sale of 'ordinary' lightbulbs to start to get the message across & subsidise the low energy ones – just a start
Progressive green taxation and lift poorer people out of income tax to help them
Tradeable energy quotas. Vision.
Introduce energy rationing – tradeable carbon quotas
Incentivise renewables locally – not centralise nuclear power
Stop promoting constant growth. Start explaining consequences of not changing habits. Stand up to the fuel & road lobby.
Support local + national production of everything possible
Make consultation real.
Increase tax on flights. Proactively lead us to support a greener future – all things local – tourism, food, work. Provide clearer advice on how to get/use greener energy
Less airports. Better railway systems. No nuclear. Woodchip boilers & grants for renewable energy
Plan to localise. Tax pollution. Reduce transport mileage. Give tax/VAT relief to help people & business to green. Build proper cycling infrastructure. Policy to ditch oil/gas by 2020
Tax aeroplane fuel (currently untaxed)
Govt. must ban the sale of goods that waste energy e.g. old-fashioned lights, items without an off-switch etc.
Support community businesses
Reopen Uckfield railway line. Make all new buildings install solar panels. Cheaper train & bus travel. Tax on plastic milk containers to make doorstep milk the same price
Get real about what really counts
Law for less packaging. Big tax on fuel-hungry cars
Reinstate the Uckfield railway line
Subsidise energy-efficient measures (insulation etc.)
Make trains affordable – so it is a cheap option for families to take the train rather than the car/plane
Green methods of taxation. EDUCATION – TELL THE TRUTH
Big tax incentives to live sustainably
Ban import of processed turkey/chicken from abroad! Hungary + Indonesia etc.
Rationing of flying. Nuclear power
Invest in cheap efficient transport!
Cheaper & more reliable transport
We need democracy in the UK: genuine cabinet government, authentic devolution, electoral reform which makes the diversity of lowest experience a resource
Build localised social systems (food, transport, energy)
Nationalise transport. Ban all cars over a certain fuel consumption. Water meters.
Own up & start addressing the problem! Public education will be the biggest help. Give real/bigger grants for installing solar panels etc.
Hang George Bush & his total spectrum objective!
Encourage car manufacturers to make smaller cars. Build more compact houses with thicker walls and smaller rooms/cool in summer & warm in winter. Use advertising space on TV to educate people. Talk to scientists more and listen to them. Support agriculture
Think green. Get rid of cars!
Develop new information policy – educating people
Reduce subsidies. Promote local resources for transport & energy
Raise energy consumption awareness. Use national TV to advise – 'News Flash' – guidelines. Government communication with commercial production companies to assess importation
Tax fuel & invest money in non fossil fuel incentives for local people on a small scale. Return power to local government. Change planning policy for new build. Invest in regeneration of new buildings
Increase spending on R+D for renewable energy (not nuclear)
Support the railway system rather than run it into the ground
Ensure true cost including environmental impact included in UK economic system. Grants for sustainable development
Stop participation in oil war in Iraq. Turn around and look internally to support the village. Support peoples' hearts and minds
Public transport
Get involved: contact one of the Group contacts on the Groups page
