Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Victoria's Green Matters 27th July 2011

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury:
The Transition movement has an inspiring motto – ‘from oil dependence to local resilience’. It focuses on the positive, encouraging communities to come together and work towards a life that is not so dependent on fossil fuels. There are twin dangers in the reliance on a carbon-based lifestyle – peak oil and climate change.

The world will never run out of oil but it has run out of oil that it is cheap and easy to extract hence the ever-increasing price today. Climate change is already happening; this can be seen around the world where populations are reporting more extremes of climate in many regions. The continuing use of our dwindling supplies of oil, coal and gas to produce energy to feed our consumerism has led to the increase in the world’s temperature and to climate change.

Growing food together, either on an allotment or in gardens, is an opportunity to educate people about where food comes from for those whose only knowledge is the supermarket. Rethinking transport and moving away from the car towards walking, cycling and using buses and trains cuts carbon emissions and reduces air pollution. Working towards locally produced energy through community owned generation, whether wind, solar or anaerobic digestion will cut emissions and secure supplies.

Many communities around the world have become Transition Towns, several of them here in Kent. Faversham, Whitstable, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells, Medway, Canterbury and Hythe have already opted to try to change their way of life; to become more resilient to face the challenges of the future.

We would very much like to add Deal’s name to this list; to make our town a healthier, richer, more inclusive and resilient community and we believe that by working together with local government, existing community groups and committed individuals we can achieve this.

No comments:

Post a Comment