Chris's Forester column: September 2009 Archives

‘The Heat is On!’ by Chris Wooldridge of Transition Town Newent

Signing Pledge at Onion Fair

The onion tribe are the perfect Transition vegetables: easy to grow in our temperate climate, they store well and are versatile, tasty, and health-giving. Each September, Newent’s Onion Fair celebrates this fine plant, and by association, its magnificent cousins the leek, shallot and garlic.

Transition Newent took a stall at this year’s Fair and gave visitors the opportunity to pledge reductions in their carbon footprints by backing the global campaign 10:10.  Launched in London this month by film-maker Franny Armstrong, 10:10 is about individuals and organisations pledging a 10% reduction in their carbon footprint in 2010 and marks the beginning of a longer energy descent to meet an 80% reduction by 2050 if we are to avoid catastrophic global warming. See details and sign-up on www.1010uk.org .

We received 60 individual pledges at the Onion Fair ranging from a young student who pledged to walk to school instead of driving her car to an ambitious plan for a business centre with 25 offices heated by biomass.  FoDDC pledged a 25% carbon reduction over five years. Our 60 pledges represent about 100 tons less carbon by next December, a small contribution but 10:10 has so far received pledges from over 17,000 individuals and 600 businesses including Spurs football team, Royal Mail and several NHS trusts. The entire cabinet and Tory front bench have also signed-up.

Nearly all the people I spoke to on Saturday were well on the way with basic energy saving in the house, they recycled and were keen to buy locally-produced food. But as I looked around me on that hot September afternoon in Newent's Church Street, at the single-glazed windows, the un-insulated walls and lofts and the absence of solar panels I recognised the huge steps that will have to be made and the financial assistance required if we are to meet our carbon reduction targets. The energy-descent conversation has just begun.

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