April 2009 Archives
‘The Heat is On!’ by Chris Wooldridge of
Grab the Chance to Grow Local
In my last column I said I would explore some local issues.
At a recent Transition wood-burning workshop, we saw an impressive demonstration of wood splitting. Here’s the method: Get an old rubber tyre. Fill the inner space with un-split logs standing on their ends. Take a splitting maul – a tool rather like a felling axe but built to split rather than chop wood – and aim it into the stack. Result: fuel that doesn’t fly. Low tech, energy efficient and using recycled material, the essence of Transition.
Last Friday, the Transition Food Group held a ‘Question Time’ style discussion on the future of food and farming. Local farmers and an academic were on the panel. My impression is that most farmers have yet to grasp the implications of peak oil and climate change. Food and farming are utterly reliant on oil for machines, fertilizers, pesticides and distribution, using 10 calories of energy to produce 1 calorie of food. We must find solutions to these unsustainable methods as well as tackle the 30% of our food that goes to waste, the national obesity problem and our generally poor diet rich in fats, sugars and additives. From the audience I detected a more positive note though. A town in the Forest has an allotment waiting list of 50, Community Supported Agriculture is beginning to make headway locally and Newent’s Country Market reports a large increase in sales. These alone won’t feed the world but are the beginning of an explosion in initiatives at local, regional and national levels. Some farmers may well get left behind if they don’t grasp new opportunities.
Finally, on April 29, a great chance to see and hear Rob Hopkins and Shaun Chamberlin, co-founders of the Transition Movement. Transition Newent is hosting the event at
The debate on the Future of Local Food and Farming last night went very well. It was a lively debate with about 150 people in the audience. Many thanks to everybody who helped with the organisation and on the night. Catherine and I are putting together a set of web pages to record all the questions that were submitted and to provide a venue for online discussion of the issues. More information (including audio/video) will be added as it is available.
