Chris's Forester Column: April 2010

For almost a hundred years, Ford, Chrysler and General Motors prospered, serviced by the factories, suburbs and interconnecting freeways built on surrounding farmland. Today the city is dying, factories are derelict and the freeways are virtually silent, bizarre memorials to a bygone age of gas-guzzling Hummers and 4x4s. Wealth has flown taking its capital with it leaving broken communities with inadequate public services. Nature is busy reshaping the landscape: trees sprout from the tops of high-rise buildings; vegetation inundates roads and pavements. Yet within these ruins many extraordinarily hopeful people are staying on to work the gardens and open spaces and are very slowly returning Detroit to the farmland it once was. If that isn't a positive vision, I'd like to know what is.

Winter is behind us, but we will only reckon its full costs when energy bills come through our letterboxes. Last October, world crude oil prices were around $70/barrel; they are now hovering around $80, a 14% rise in five months. The message is clear: insulate, insulate, insulate to reduce fuel costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Lofts and cavity walls are relatively straightforward and grants are available.  Older houses with single glazing and solid external walls need specialist, and often expensive attention, not at present covered by grants - although I think it should be.  Contact Severn Wye Energy Agency (01452 835060) for general advice.

To comment on this article visit www.transitionnewent.org.uk