Group launches bid to make town green
Tuesday 20th October 2009, 8:50AM BST.
Shropshire campaigners are launching a scheme to get Shrewsbury residents involved in plans to reduce the town’s carbon footprint.
The Government wants communities to reduce carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 and campaigns have been launched across the community to see how towns will achieve the target.
Now, Shrewsbury is launching a transition town group, which is designed to cut carbon emissions dramatically.
There are currently 227 official transition town groups worldwide, as well as many others working on similar ideas.
The Shrewsbury group launches on October 27 in the council chamber at Shirehall at 7pm.
Val Oldaker, of Shrewsbury Friends of the Earth, said: “The government wants to reduce our carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, we need to work out how we’re going to achieve that.”
Mrs Oldaker is involved in launching the Shrewsbury transition town project, and although it is separate from Friends of the Earth it shares a lot of the same principles.
The ultimate aim of the transition town group is to produce an Energy Descent Plan, which will details ways of reducing energy consumption.
Anyone interested in a more sustainable world is invited to attend the meeting and see the film In Transition showing examples of groups from around the world, including a transition pub in New Zealand. There will then be an opportunity to discuss future activities.
Mrs Oldaker said: “Most people now acknowledge mankind’s role in hastening climate change, and it is generally accepted that supplies of readily extracted fuel are starting to diminish.
“Added to this, world unrest makes it sensible to cut back our imports of fuel as much as we can. The adaptations needed to bring this about are wide-ranging, and the transition town movement is starting to address these.”
Groups which want to take part in the evening are asked to contact Mrs Oldaker on (01743) 260971.
By Hannah Costigan
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A good starting point to make Shrewsbury green would be to eliminate all vehicles from the River Severn “loop” and enforcing the park and ride scheme. I’d also recommend that Shrewsbury Town change their club colours to all green as a gesture to the aims of the town.
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Does number 1 live on this planet?
”Carbon Foootprint” is about reducing our dependency on fosel fuel and raising taxes.
Two of those cooling towers at Ironbridge put more carbon into the air in 10 months than all the cars in Britain do in 12 months.
I don’t see any government closing them down or hiking up their tax.
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Thanks, number 2. I have the solution. Bulldoze the centre of Shrewsbury and build a nuclear power station there. No need for journeys to Shrewsbury and no need for fossil fuels at Ironbridge. Carbon footprint problem solved.
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Ironbridge power station is due to close by 2015 i believe.
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How does No 1 propose that deliveries are made to the shops, or the emergency vehicles get through the town.
Trouble with the prk and ride, the Council keeps putting the cost up, so if there is a group of you it is cheaper and drive in and park.
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i thought the cooling towers just released steam into the air but correct me if i’m wrong..
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No 6. The water has to be turned to steam, it would be nice if it was just steam.
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I’ve seen the “transition towns” website, and I can say that if I ever want advice on wearing sandals then that will be my first port of call.
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[shouts]HUW! YOUR THREAD HAS ARRIVED![/shouts]
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For more info: http://transitiontownshrewsbury.org.uk/
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I am sorry but I am immediately suspicious of any organisation whose uniform is sandals and action slacks (with the bottoms zipped off)
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Oh come on people what little effect reducing Shrewsbury’s carbob footprint would be swallowed up by the developing countries ie India, China etc 2 million fold.
Saving the planet is all well and good but it WILL NEVER happen so please do not try to forcefeed this carbon footprint rubbish down people’s throat.
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For a reasoned, and sensible discussion on this, can I suggest (As I have done on these columns before) that eveyone reads
“without hot air”
you can download this for free at:
withouthotair.com
I think when people have read this book – (and it IS very well worth reading – trust me) – we might see som intelligent responses to this sort of discussion.
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winja #9
Well I agree – Come on Huw – your time has come at last !!
over to you !
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Nice to see that a “Sustainable” community approach has chosen not to support the “local community for”:
1 the registration of the domain
“transitiontownshrewsbury.org.uk”
Viz:
From the public “whois”:
(go to nominet.org.uk and enter the “domain name” in the “whois” box if you want to find out more!)
Registrar:
(for transitiontownshrewsbury.org.uk)
Fasthosts Internet Ltd [Tag = LIVEDOMAINS]
URL: http://www.fasthosts.co.uk
Relevant dates:
Registered on: 26-Jun-2009
Renewal date: 26-Jun-2011
2. The website: http://www.transitiontownshrewsbury.org advertises
“free css” templates, and “build a website for free” using “yola”.
So the way to build a sustainable community is to outsource to large hosting companies in Gloucester, and “apparently” build things (websites) for free is it?
Wouldn’t have been more credible if this domain and website were procured using “local”
resources?
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Forget what the people wearing, how bad is the typography on that site! There are so many different type faces and I actually gave up trying to count the different font sizes. Talk about making something difficult to read!
That said, I do think it is a shame that people have opinions like #12.
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Askeric, careful what you and Winja shout for. before you know it, Huw will be here, cross-referencing your every word and logging all your utterances into his database.
Anyway, when he does arrive properly, please would you ask him for me what he has done to improve his house to use less energy that was NOT done with a hand-out from taxpayers. He forgot to answer last time.
I don’t mean things like turning the heating down or “dropping a tonne of carbon” by not flying somewhere, (as you all know, I “dropped a tonne of carbon” last week by chopping down a fine old tree for fire-wood), but more concrete things like the windmills and solar panels that he keeps telling us we should all contribute to so that he has lower fuel bills while those lower-paid workers on a 96% marginal tax rate fund his alternative lifestyle.
Anyway, I’m off again. I rather fancy a nice flight to somewhere warm, escape all this cold, wet weather that we’ve been having lately. Ryanair are offering a “Penny Cheapy” to Southern Spain. What a disappointingly cold year it’s been, don’t you think?
See all you climate-change deniers at the next Huwdozed thread.
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#15 julian
Why is that a shame?
UK is responsible for 2% of global emissions.
Each of us is responsible for 2% divided by 61 million (%) of global emissions.
To make a hit on emissions we would need to address something like 10% of global emissions, and again that’s assuming there’s an impact to reduce, which there isn’t. So this ‘everybody can make a difference’ is misleading at best.
Never mind, let’s go for the 2% max – so to make any difference we would need everybody to leave the 21st century. This would entail regression to a localised medieval lifestyle with no industry and no mechanised transport, no electricity to speak of, the economy would collapse and millions would die in the first phase of chaos alone.
Are you advocating this as beneficial?
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Some people clearly feel that it’s preferable to deal with big issues like climate change or peak oil by being practical and hopeful, getting together with other people and organising.
Other people would prefer that these people stayed silent, passive, isolated, discouraged and fatalistic.
Initiatives like Transition Towns can help the first group to gain information and encouragement from others, develop and articulate their thoughts, and act constructively and optimistically to achieve common ends in their communities.
Sounds like something worth supporting, doesn’t it?
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GOOD LUCK TO THE? WE NEED IT
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Rodney (#17), I answered your question, albeit with misgivings about giving personal information out on the net to anonymous people whose claims (about living in a caravan, for example) I do not believe because they cannot be verified in the real world.
http://www.shropshirestar.com/2009/10/09/60pc-fuel-bill-rise-on-cards/ #48 + #50
You seemed very opposed to the idea of a government-funded home insulation programme to a) cut energy use, b) soften the blow of coming energy price rises and c) create jobs.
However, a programme like this would, I’m sure, be seen as practical, forward-looking and rational by people attending the Transition Towns meeting on Tuesday 27th October.
By the way, Rodney, you talked about other people funding my ‘alternative lifestyle’…
Do you believe that you or taxpayers will be paying the true cost of your Penny Cheapy flight to Southern Spain?
Taxpayers are supporting the aviation industry to the tune of an estimated £13 billion a year in subsidies and hidden costs.
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Askeric dotcom (#13) you mentioned the book: ‘Sustainable Energy: without the hot air’ by David MacKay.
Do you accept what the author says in his preface?
‘I didn’t write this book to make money. I wrote it because sustainable energy is important.’
Do you think sustainable energy is important, too, askeric?
If so, what forms of energy do you think the Shrewsbury Transition Towns initiative should be pushing for?
As someone who has read the book, askeric, what do you think of the Greenpeace computer animation of what a sustainable town could look like?
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/files/efficiencity/index.html
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winja, I’m eager to hear what happens in your subsequent phases of chaos after we cut our energy emissions. New Zealand contribute about 0.1%, which by your post above, they aren’t in the 21st century and millions of them should be dying due to their lack of carbon emissions.
Are you seriously arguing that point?
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winja, you said going green would mean ‘no industry and no mechanised transport, no electricity to speak of, the economy would collapse and millions would die in the first phase of chaos alone.’
First of all, in light of the fact that the unregulated world economy collapsed last year pushing another 100 million people into starvation (see BBC News ‘World hunger ‘hits one billion”, 19 June 2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8109698.stm ), would you not agree that the status quo is failing to provide at present and that it is encouraging that some people are looking for other people-centred models of development?
Perhaps you could also comment on the mechanised transport and green industry and technology in the Greenpeace animation too.
Wouldn’t locally generated electricity, coupled with a government-driven energy conservation drive be more efficient than a distant, central grid?
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This can only be good news. People are getting together to, i hope acknowledge that we are living in the end days of industrial capitalist civilization. That by talking to each other and taking on all views, Just maybe we could try to find new ways and old of doing things, learn from indigenous people who know how to live in a sustainable way…At least until someone violent institution comes along and destroys their ecosystem.. all in the name of a ” good economy “.
In regards to Other countires, There are people around the world who are trying to engage in these issues.It is not there fault that they have been forced into the same unsustanable economic model to servive our consumption needs.
I also realise that i am part of the problem, But making individual green consumer choices will not change things. we need to do this collectively as a strategy that noes not become some fashionable, overpriced pursuit. I feel we can’t sit back and hope that government or the market will save us.
Just some thoughts. We gotta do it ourselves and that will not be easy.
So at the risk of sounding idealistic ( whats wrong with that?) i hope something positive will come of this initiative.
For a mind-set changing read i recomend Derrick Jensen Endgame: The Problem of Civilization v. 1.
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Well, Julian, a more obtuse comparison I could not think of. Based on population, NZ contributes 0.0000025% of global emissions per head compared to 0.0000039% per head for this country. Minimal and inconsequential. Try again.
Huw, sorry but what, exactly, does “would you not agree that the status quo is failing to provide at present and that it is encouraging that some people are looking for other people-centred models of development?” that mean? Your layman-centric, non-political, Anglo-Saxon-perspicuous reply would be appreciated.
Locally generated energy sounds wonderful, by the way. I personally would rather that than pay unsubstantiated amounts of cash to an anonymous supplier. But how, exactly, am I to fulfill that? And how is such a solution going to cope with the predicted 10 million increase in population in this country over the coming decades – a large proportion of which will be through immigration. Something your party has advocated, whilst at the same time classing air travellers as “killers”.
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It would appear my last post did not make it past the moderators for what ever reason? But i think transition towns is a positive step and look forward to this meeting.
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winja, I apologise for my overloaded syntax.
I will try again.
You said that the economy would collapse and millions would die if we went green.
So I pointed out that the world economy has already collapsed, and that the financial crisis, the economic collapse, the taxpayer-funded bailout, the bonuses, the factory closures, the job losses, the house repossessions, and the starving billion didn’t come about because a few ordinary people came together in Shire Hall in Shrewsbury to discuss how to turn their town green.
In my view unregulated turbo-capitalism has not come out of the crisis well, and it is unsurprising that people are looking for less destructive alternatives with other people in their local communities.
You also argued (#18) that going green would mean ‘no industry and no mechanised transport, no electricity to speak of’.
So I asked you to comment on the mechanised transport and industry in the Greenpeace animation, Efficiencity: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/files/efficiencity/index.html
It would be great to share some ideas and dispel some myths, winja.
Could you point readers, for example, to the source of what you said about of Green Party Migration policy? Here is the real policy document: http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/mfss/mfssmg.html
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winja, ok you want to run your death and chaos theory on a population basis, try Philippines. They seem happy enough. Way more people than us and only contributing 0.2% of global emissions. All I am trying to get you to admit, is that your prediction of millions of deaths is a fantasy in your head to make you feel better about doing nothing to reduce your carbon footprint.
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Huw. Although I’m usually averse to commenting on a cartoon, I do note that in said cartoon there is nothing whatsoever mentioned concerning alternative transport solutions.
It does mention other energy solutions, however. Solutions that are already being implemented wholesale throughout the country. I’m employed in the water industry, and I can tell you now that water utility companies nationwide are spending hundreds of millions of pounds on ‘Advanced Digestion” and “CHP” upgrades to existing waste water treatment plants.
By the way, Huw & Julian, I have replied to your original comments (yesterday 23rd October at around this time). It would appear that the Star moderators have not bothered to post it, and if that IS the case I can’t be bothered to type it all out again, and you lot at the Star IT Police owe me 3/4 of an hour of my time. The bill is in the post.
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So askeric dotcom cannot say whether he thinks sustainable energy is important and winja’s reply has been ‘censored’. I see. Very likely.
If energy solutions illustrated in Greenpeace’s animation are being ‘implemented wholesale throughout the country’, then could you indicate where they are being implemented in Shropshire, winja, and whether you think there are enough of these projects to deal with the full magnitude of peak oil?
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The founder of the Transition Towns movement, Rob Hopkins, writing in the November/December 2009 issue of Resurgence magazine, says that 2 elements are vital to the success of a venture like Transition Towns.
1) A positive, optimistic vision of a green future
2) The willingness to see climate change and peak oil as opportunities to build economic resilience
Interestingly, he acknowledges your dystopic vision of a green future, winja.
‘If you were to step outside your front door today and and ask the first ten people you met what your town or city might look like in ten years’ time if it began today to cut its emissions by 9% a year starting today, I imagine most people would say something between the Flintstones and Mad Max!’
But then he outlines the importance of positive thinking;
‘What is hard, but important, is to be able to articulate a vision of a post-carbon world so enticing that people leap out of bed every morning and put their shoulders to the wheel of making it happen.’
Hopkins then goes on to talk about
- community-owned energy companies that install renewable energy systems in such a way as to generate revenue to resource the wider re-localisation process;
-the building of highly efficient homes that use mainly local materials (clay, straw, hemp), thereby stimulating a range of potential local businesses and industries;
-the installation of a range of urban food production models;
-and the re-linking of farmers with their local markets.
I am hopeful that tomorrow evening at 7pm in the Shire Hall we will hear similarly positive ideas for the way ahead, and that I might be able to contribute to my community in my own small way.
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There were over 100 people at yesterday evening’s event, all with different areas of expertise and knowledge and all united by the inspirational, positive message at the heart of the Transition Towns idea.
After watching a film about Transition Towns projects in other parts of the UK and Australia and New Zealand, we all separated into different groups looking at different areas like
a) food
b) education
c) the local economy
d) energy
e) housing
f) transport
There were lots of ideas on how to make our community more resilient and ready to face the challenges ahead of rising costs of fossil fuels, which our economy is currently so vulnerable to.
Garden-sharing was a popular idea. Linking people who know little about growing food with those who do was another.
One person is pushing the idea of creating a community-owned turbine on the weir to create renewable energy for Shrewsbury. He said that the feed-in tarriffs which come into force next April will help this project pay for itself more rapidly than at present. He has already done a lot of the costings and is hoping that the council might get involved.
Car-sharing was a popular idea (and many were unaware of the scheme which exists at present).
Someone wanted a fleet of community-owned electric cars.
Someone proposed the idea of a mass bike ride to raise awareness of sustainable transport and the cycling network, and the need to join it all up effectively.
Someone proposed the revival of the Shrewsbury pound, the Shrew, to tap leaks in the local economy, and to encourage people to spend their money in local shops. Most of the money we spend there stays swishing around the local economy, while most money spent in chains disappears out of it.
It was an inspiring evening and I am very grateful to the organisers for all the time and effort that they put in.
Now we must organise and try to make some of these ideas a reality.
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all good, welcome and needed ideas,
enought planning though – lets make them happen!
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