Community Action
Coming soon to a community near you
Low Carbon Communities, Transition Towns, Community Environment Groups – call them what
you will, it seems that working together is the new black. Around the country,
people are rebuilding connections with each other and exciting things are
starting to happen.
Here in Shropshire, our communities team at Marches Energy Agency
has seen a huge increase in the number of communities getting in touch. The
groups are all keen to work together to reduce carbon emissions and/or prepare
for the rising costs of fuel caused by diminishing oil supplies.
Meanwhile across the country, the idea of community led action is taking hold as community
groups bubble up in market towns, villages, as urban districts and even whole
cities. As the Transition Network puts it:
“if we collectively plan and act early enough there's every likelihood that we can
create a way of living that's significantly more connected, more vibrant and
more in touch with our environment than the oil-addicted treadmill that we find
ourselves on today.”
Transition initiatives typically focus on building up community resiliance, for example strengthening local food supplies, reducing reliance on fossil fuels and bolstering localised economic networks to reduce the need
for travelling. Community led actions include setting up urban food production
schemes, launching their own currency to encourage people to shop locally,
fitting community buildings out with renewable power supplies and perhaps more significantly - empowering people to make a real difference to the world around them.
Indeed, as the fractures within our globalised market ricochet across the world, it will be interesting to see how
these initiatives evolve and what part they have to play in our future. With
their emphasis on rekindling the supportive network of a vibrant, productive community, there is certainly
some refreshing food for thought and a lot of tantalising ideas for action.
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