Notes of sub-group discussions following the showing of `The End of Suburbia’ film, 15 November 2007

These notes capture the main points that arose in thematic sub-group discussions following SO’s showing of `The End of Suburbia’ on 15 Nov. This is a rather disturbing film that predicts the future implosion of society as we know it (or at least American suburban society) once the oil has run out. But rather than dwelling on these grim predictions, we moved swiftly from the film to thematic sub-groups in which we started developing ideas and even some concrete plans for reducing our reliance on fossil fuels in Ottery right now in specific areas. After such a negative film, it felt good to put some positive energy into how we could change our community for the better.

1. Food group The group discussed various ideas for boosting local sustainable food production, as follows: - local food bartering amongst those producing their own food. - garden sharing networking (sharing knowledge and also gardens – eg. older people and others unable to maintain their gardens offering others the opportunity to grow vegetables in their gardens. Given the shortage of allotments in Ottery, it is felt there would be considerable support for such a scheme). - School gardening – encouraging schoolchildren to grow vegetables. This already goes on to varying degrees but should be expanded so that the younger generation develops knowledge and appreciation of how vegetables etc are grown. - A local shop open 5 days a week that would act as a `producers’ market’ for local food producers, with a shop `manager’. It was felt that the current monthly farmers market is not that helpful to local smallholders as it’s only once a month and therefore does not provide an outlet for the vegetables ready for sale throughout the rest of the month. Meanwhile, attending all the other farmers’ markets in the area is expensive (involving stall hire and petrol etc to get to each market) and takes away valuable time from actually producing the vegetables. But a permanent shop catering for a number of local producers would avoid these problems.

2. Energy Group The Group discussed setting up a local energy company and a central energy hub for the community. Expertise for doing this could be sought from: - Good Energy Partnership - Exeter and Plymouth universities - DARE

The group also discussed conducting a survey of: - energy demand - possible resources, such as the tumbling weir (research already undertaken on this) and other micro-hydro generation resources, installation of solar panels on south-facing roofs etc, wind turbines on East Hill, anaerobic digestion using methane - possibilities for making Ottery more energy-efficient

One idea discussed was to visit existing renewable energy initiatives in the local area, eg: - Branscombe ground source heat pump - Otter Rotters - Totnes Energy Group - DARE

Action. Agreed that members of the group would contact Exeter University to seek advice and expertise in the near future.

3. Art and culture group Ottery already has a strong community identity and sense of place through Tar Barrels etc. Could the art and culture group help to build on this through street art, street theatre, sculptures etc?

Key point: the process of being involved in a local artistic/cultural initiative is more important than the final product. The simple act of doing stuff together creates links between people in the community - and intimacy!

The group discussed how to re-localise art and culture and promote our own entertainment here in Ottery, thereby reducing the need to drive to Exeter for `culture’ with all the carbon emissions created etc. Why not create an alternative film club in Ottery, for example?

It was also suggested that SO should link up with drama teachers and pupils at the King’s School.

There was also some discussion of the proposed tea-towel idea put forward by Stephanie Pearce who has written some amusing and thought-provoking text for a possible tea-towel on climate change. It was noted that in future energy-lean years, we are unlikely to have dishwashers so teatowels will be an absolute must in every household! Plus teatowels tend to hang around kitchens where most of us spend a lot of time, thereby ensuring they get read…..

4. Plastic bag-free group Initial thoughts centred on how to make Ottery plastic-bag free. To save ‘reinventing the wheel’ it was thought that investigating how Modbury went about this, was worth pursuing.

Action plan: 1. Visit Modbury to find out more about they tackled the problem – Was there any resistance from traders or shoppers? Where do the bio bags come from? How much do they cost etc.

2. Contact Ottery traders and the press to highlight problem of plastic bags and opportunity of going plastic-bag-free. Gather opinions.

3. Organise a film-night showing the DVD that persuaded Modbury to ban plastic bags, maybe at an Ottery Chamber of Commerce.

4. Further action depends upon what has been gathered from above.

Other thoughts included – Making our own bags from materials in Ottery – reuse clothes, curtains etc. or look at other materials such as wicker. A competition to design a bag cover for Ottery – get children involved. Encourage local shops to deliver (using boxes perhaps) to reduce the use of bags in the first place – although if by car may not be so carbon-friendly..

5. Transport/cycleways group We talked about the proposed Sidmouth-Feniton cycleway along the disused railway line and the fact that there is much less support for this initiative in Sidmouth compared to Ottery and Feniton. A recent letter to a local newspaper from a Sidmouth resident, for example, had taken a very negative position re the cycleway, claiming that it would be too hilly at the Sidmouth end and a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Tony and Jackie Green (both keen cyclists based in Sidmouth) said they would be willing to try and rally support for the Sidmouth-Feniton cycleway in Sidmouth. For starters, they agreed to write a letter in response to the negative letter mentioned above (Helen Collinson has since sent them a copy of this letter).

We then went on to discuss how to drum up support for the proposed cycleway from the centre of Ottery to the King’s School which is part of the Sustrans Connect2 bid in the Peoples Lottery in Dec. This would enable school children plus residents of Thorne Farm estate plus users of the sports centre and hospital to walk or cycle along a safe and direct path to and from the centre of town instead of walking or driving along a busy road. The aim is to get as many people in East Devon as possible to vote for the Connect2 bid by phone or on line before 9 December. It was suggested that Helen should write a Sustainable Ottery leaflet re this cycleway and the Connect2 bid to hand out at Ottery’s late night Christmas shopping event (now done!).

It was pointed out that if the cycleway/footpath to the King’s School goes ahead, then there will be a stronger justification for going ahead with the Feniton-Sidmouth cycleway.

Pictures and pledges from the family green day on Saturday 28 July, 2007

Children (aged about 5 - 15)pledged to:

Run * Stop waking up in the night and playing on my gameboy * Go on a plane less * I will turn off the TV when I'm not watching it * Put less water in the kettle * Recycle cardboard * Stop watching telly so much * Walk more * Walk to school for a week * Compost * Stop going in the car * Reuse, recycle and not put so much in the bin * Turn the tap off * If you have a sibling, share a bath, or even better, share a shower! * Stop having baths so much and have showers * Stop going on the computer.

Adult visitors pledged to:

Use more local products/produce * Use my washing machine on low heat * Reduce my carbon footprint in the next year by saving electricity and gas - reducing the temperature of the heating etc * Put a timer on the central heating system * Turn the thermostat down by 1 degree * Use materials we already have for doing arts and crafts * Walk everywhere in Ottery and cycle elsewhere whenever I can * Find out about solar panels for the house.

Notes from the discussion on Friday 8 June, 2007

How are peak oil and climate change likely to affect Ottery? And what can we do about it?

Young people

  • Education – schools – allotments – teach children how to grow veg
  • We need to inform and involve youngsters
  • We’ve got to demonstrate a view of life to younger people that is different from the one they see on TV

Community

  • Speak to others in the community who we don’t know yet
  • Close Mill St to traffic and make the town pedestrian friendly
  • We will have to get back to grass roots with family: reconnecting with where food comes from; relearning skills we have lost; and rediscovering common sense
  • Cut the speed limit to 10mph in town and clamp down on selfish illegal parking.
  • Make Ottery more family friendly – introduce home zones; pedestrian friendly; planting trees, slowing traffic, reclaiming space
  • Local entertainment / community theatre – developing sense of cohesion
  • Allotments help bring communities together
  • Better disabled access
  • Community based teleconferencing facilities based at libraries
  • Turning off street lights at night

Self reliance

  • Grow our own veg set up an Ottery food co-op
  • More frequent farmers markets
  • Need to become self sufficient
  • Water – in ottery there’s either too much or not enough, we will need it for growing food locally
  • As a taxi driver I will need to convert to a hackney carriage, which means I’ll need a horse and a stable and an allotment.
  • Growing food; using skills we can learn from the older generation;
  • Storing winter rainfall

Transport

  • Lobby for better bus services and shelters
  • Set up car share scheme
  • More reliable trains
  • Encourage walking and cycling to schools
  • Lobby for cycleway especially from Kings School to town
  • Also cycle way on old Feniton to Sidmouth branch line

Alternative power

  • Solar panels on houses
  • Using power from the river

Different ways of doing things

  • Develop positive behaviours: for example community based teleconferencing instead of travelling to meetings
  • Tele-medicine
  • Have a TV off night and do something different

General

  • Positive things can come out of disasters – in the eye of the storm people come together
  • People will have to move out of cities
  • With increased heat, there will be increased migration
  • Turn off the floodlighting so we can see the stars
  • Rank the ideas to choose what to do first
  • Have a vision

Hopes and Fears

Asked to write down their hopes, fears and what they are interested in participants at Sustainable Ottery’s second meeting on 8 June 2007 put the following:

Hopes

  • A cool future for our kids.
  • That we will all change our mindset, and that we can change from grass roots level up.
  • That we address our problems with compassion and practical actions. People power can create a better sustainable world.
  • People will stop using cars, vans etc. otherwise climate will get bad
  • For increased doorstep recycling – this would encourage more people to recycle items e.g. plastic/cardboard.
  • Grow bigger and bigger as a group and support each other.
  • That practical solutions can be found. Ideas put into practise. That this group has credibility.
  • The earth does not belong to us, we hold it in trust for our children
  • Less talk, more action from councils.
  • Take only what you need to survive .
  • To build an unstoppable movement towards a greener, healthier community.
  • Community initiatives to inform + work together to help people make the right decisions re. green energy + systems at home. Much improved options for public transport, to enable people to realistically be able to change/reduce car usage.
  • That something like this gathering exists in Sidmouth or will exist soon.
  • That people will revive the Dunkirk spirit and pull together against chaotic climate change and CO2 production.

Fears

  • That the politics of greed, war and consumerism combine with mass apathy and we fail to change, so we self-destruct.
  • Apathy.
  • That my kid’s life is going to be hell.
  • It will just fizzle out.
  • Just a talking shop and no action. Too airy/fairy.
  • It’s getting hotter and more people might die because of the climate
  • Apathy will rule. Helpless, Hopeless, Worthless.
  • Huge struggle against corporations etc.
  • Why are the curtains drawn and the lights on full blast?

I am interested in:

  • Roof water collection. Recycling grey water. Solar.
  • All the solar stuff
  • Reducing fuel consumption.
  • Turning off Colin Tooze arc lights.
  • Solar power – photovoltaics, re-skilling, water storage systems, organic gardening + home food production, car sharing, re-opening Feniton - Sidmouth cycle route, recycling for all household waste.
  • Education, Local food, Free parking in town.
  • Creating an Arts Group within Sustainable Ottery, to encourage use of art to educate, inform and build community.
  • Reducing plastic waste/bags – initiatives to encourage fabric bags –could use old fabrics/curtains/clothes to make give-away bags to shoppers.
  • EDDC to collect plastic + cardboard from the door! Please involve youth groups actively.
  • A reduction in unnecessary outside street lighting. Local farming/food/shops.
  • Making my life as sustainable as possible!
  • No TV – divert people’s time into constructive action + reduce the apathy that TV generates.
  • Finding out how to recycle more ‘recyclable’ materials in East Devon e.g. plastics.
  • Opening up Feniton – Sidmouth cycle route.
  • Would you like a demonstration of Hay Box Cookery?
  • Reclaim the factory for the community.
  • Supporting a Modbury style project
  • Woodlands burial site and community woodlands in general.
  • Renewable energy.
  • Freecycle type scheme for things like good quality carpet which often gets thrown away. Perhaps a local notice board.
  • Media promotion.
  • Demonstration day – for different types of insulation e.g. wool, solar water heating etc. Perhaps suppliers could bring samples.
  • Strengthening local healthcare. Food generation. Economy.
  • Helping people convert concern into consumer action. Reducing our dependence on carbon and boycotting the goods of he big polluters.
  • Making links with this group and others, especially older people. Message board on website to link up people with ideas. Vegetable swapping and other swap schemes. Local carbon off-setting schemes. Sources of biodiesel. Windpower.
  • Transport.
  • Being part of an ‘energy’ working group. ‘Education’ of all people. Community- owned resources.
  • Insulation etc. bulk orders could cut down costs.

What people said

Discussion following the screening of An Inconvenient Truth on Friday 11 May 2007

What people said

  • It [An Inconvenient Truth] should be shown in schools
  • It’s good to follow up with positive things people can do. The green movement needs to be more positive – we’ve neglected to tell people that the green way of living is so much fun
  • The film showed us what’s going wrong, not what we should do. We need to decrease our use of fossil fuels by and unimaginable amount. We read about what individuals can do – my personal feeling is that these are pin pricks – government needs to do things. We need political action.
  • Government needs to incentivise everyone. Al Gore is good at communications. However, the environment movement is not taking people on at their own game. It needs to be better at selling. It’s a bit of a cop out if we say leave it to government. If we all take action governments would notice – we’ve got to exercise our power as consumers.
  • There are hard choices to be made. We should campaign for a string of wind turbines from Beacon Hill back to town.
  • Small changes individual changes can decrease the impact of climate change. It is a job for government and every individual. Real power lies with us and decisions we make. We all make lots of decisions every day.
  • We should plan forests
  • We vote in our politicians and we can write to them and make an impact. What we say determines what happens.
  • In Swindon we have a card that asks people to make pledges as to what they are going to do. We also have a forest festival and a community forest
  • I am concerned about bio fuels and tree planting – with huge growth in the population we need agricultural space, we can’t afford to lose too much food growing land
  • Why doesn’t East Devon pick up plastic in the doorstep collection?
  • Why don’t we encourage local shops not to use plastic bags, so there’s none to throw away?