Following our showing of a Power of Community, we had discussion and questions. HOPES: · The sea is local resource – support the use of fishing boats on the beach.
· Generate power locally.
· A wonderful sustainable community.
· Small light industry. Jobs for young people – not shops!
· Better recycling facilities.
· Sustainable energy sources.
· Community gardens.
· More cycle paths – not just pleasure routes!
· That when I grow up, this town will still be here.
· Better public transport, especially evenings and weekends – pos shared taxi arrangements – cooperation!
· A more holistic view of life – starting with the basics of energy cutting to full sustainability of local communities.
· More allotments.
· To see sustainable housing to keep our young people in the town & sufficient local work to keep them gainfully occupied.
· As a community we communicate honestly with each other and all work together for the common good.
· That Seaton will do as well as the Cuban people and care for each other, and everyone contribute as able to.
· Community groups and support.
· More bikes and cycle ways.
· To know that my children will have a safe future.
· That local shops will stay and thrive.
· That people of Seaton will pull together – not just a few.
· That local activities already underway are used as a resource.
· England will be a community for life.
· To be able to have economic independence.
· To be able to live green & provide for myself.
· To contribute to the local and global changes over green issues.
· Permaculture courses for all.
· Social action to get people organised.
· Lo tech solutions to high tech problems – eg organic farming not fertilizers.
· Local organic food.
· A move away from money based culture.
· Free exchange of ideas, services.
· That the people on the town and district councils & MPs etc stop fighting each other and get on with showing a good example & look after our country.
· The politicians cut the bickering and work for the people not for their selves and their won power!
· We will hold onto the vision and remember that lasting change comes from the ground up. Not top down!
| Below and within three main categories are comments as left by the attendees. FEARS: · Apathy and hoping somebody else will sort out the problem.
· England won’t change.
· Old ‘stuck in the mud’s’ will resist change!
· Apathy and disinterest of MPs Councils & people in all these things.
· Apathy – Procrastination. No one will act until it is too late – people tend to leave everything to the last minute.
· That we are always preaching to the converted.
· That Seaton will drown.
· That we have to use cars because buses inadequate.
· That Seaton will be developed in a non-sustainable manner by greedy developers.
· Rising sea levels.
· Tesco interests.
· Supermarket domination will probably close small shops which source more locally.
· I fear Tesco!
· That the ‘profit for few’ way of life has strong propaganda and will try to fill us with fear and doubt.
· That the poorest, frailest and oldest could find themselves marginalized and feel dis-empowered.
· There are strong lobby groups like the truck drivers association who want lower fuel tax so they can continue to use large amounts of diesel.
· That I do not become too dependent on current energies that I will find difficult to survive through a UK or global ‘special period’.
· Small neatly kept ornamental and concrete gardens.
| If you want to share comments with us please email on the contact page. IDEAS: · Insistence upon any new homes/buildings – that energy needs are sustainable.
· Tidal power up the Axe River.
· Seaton sewage farm could be used to produce Bio Gas for a local power station for Electricity.
· Solar panels.
· Local currency – ‘The Seaton pound’.
· More bike friendly town. Council not to renew ‘No cycling’ signs. (Experiment in Europe showed that it works better to rely on people’s common sense & consideration for others rather than making rules & putting up signs – which generates stress when perceived to be transgressed).
· Create a group within a network of one or two roads called ‘Neighbourhood switch’. All Seaton roads could be involved & join to take plastic to the dump. Share produce etc and get to know each other.
· Use a bowl in the bathroom basin, to use less water for morning wash; by throwing it down the loo instead of flushing. Also bath water to flush the loo.
· Better recycling facilities – plastic, foil, and card needed.
· Plastic bag free town. Shared recycling facilities – on a neighbourhood basis. Things that EDDC does not do – building on neighbourhood watch.
· Sustainable carrier bags like Modbury.
· Get the School involved in a local day or weekend.
· Involve children – They are the future, we are too old.
· More local food production encouraged by lower rates. The school to be a leader in example as already famous.
· A drive to get doorstep milk delivery – glass would save on plastics.
· Community chickens.
· Stop talking. Start doing. Share it.
· Too many ideas for a post-it. I will email!
· Communal garden project.
· Community allotments where groups of people share work and produce.
· Create a large number of allotments ASAP within walking distance of the town, and enable people to get going and learn to enjoy growing food together.
· Community food-growing and a few hens for eggs. Involve the children!
· Our population has a limited attention span. If it ain’t fun they won’t care. Make it fun. Just because it is important it doesn’t have to be boring.
· Communicate with the Horticulture Association that runs the Autumn show to encourage people to grow their own. Suggest prizes such as for ‘Kitchen garden’ not just allotment.
· A container gardening talk and demo in the town hall.
· Grow a coppice with hazel ash oak and fruit trees. It can start being cropped in 5 years and will last for 1000 years giving fuel food and timber all through that time.
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