stroud communiversity 2009 (paul lund)

8/14/2019 Stroud Communiversity 2009 (Paul Lund)

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Article: Report from Stroud Communiversity 2009; Going Green in Glastonbury...Going Green in Glastonbury all part of the newGreen economy

Paul Lund, founder and director of the Sustainable Environment Company CIC, wentto the Stroud Communiversity 2009 and found some new support for Glastonburysown green town mission

The Bigger Picture

a) Finding solutions for sustainable growth, building new greener local

economies and communities, is a sign of how todays society haschanged from the past. This first decade of the 21st Century marksthe start of a revolution for a green sustainable future. Act on C02,global warming, climate change, sustainability, local food, fair trade,are a few of the words or phrases every citizen is now familiar with.

b) The previous 100 years saw the rise of oil and now we are seeing itsdownfall. The imperative is to cut the level of carbon dioxideemissions and reduce our dependency on all fossil fuels. This meansthat energy will need to come from new technologies and cleanrenewable sources. Arguments still rage about carbon capture,

sequestration, and using fossil fuels until they are exhausted.c) The future for a new world and all its communities also dependsupon increasedenergy supplies, to cope with growing demands allover the world. Scientifically, ethically, morally, and economicallythis should be done without emitting carbon dioxide or polluting anddamaging the environment any further. UK Governments target(Climate Change Act 2008) is to cut 80% of our C02 (GHG emissions against1990 levels)by 2050. Amid all of this, more solar energy reaches theEarth in any given hour than is used by the whole human populationin any given year.

d) Globally, climate change is forecast to increase desertification,

change rainfall patterns, and create conditions which result in massmigration of populations from newly arid or low lying drownedcountries. Population growth would be curtailed by adversity, andthe global economy would collapse.

e) Our future economic success in the UK, especially in food andenergy supply, is increasingly seen in the way local and small scalecan do better than global and large. The Sustainable CommunitiesAct, 2007, gives legislative backing to a cooperative method ofdecision making at local level, empowering citizens and councils towork with each other to solve common problems or developsustainable energy and food production. Communities know whatneeds fixing, where problems exist and how to overcome localdifficulties, so now they have the mechanism, through this Act, toprotect, enhance and develop adaptive, sustainable communities.All this adds up to a different way of doing things and new ways ofcooperating between government, communities and business.

Background to Strouds Sustainable DevelopmentStroud in Gloucestershire is a rural town, and like Glastonbury has achieved acclaim forits alternative way of doing things. It has a wide range of inspiring and innovativeschemes, and among those most prominent is an award winning eco cohousingcommunity at Springhill (not a commune but independent owner-occupiers living on a

unique estate), the first UK development of its kind. It was given The Deputy Prime

1 | P a g e . P e r m i s s i o n f o r p u b l i c a t i o n o r e x t r a c t g i v e n w h e n f u l l

r e f e r e n c e t o a u t h o r a n d S E c o C I C i n c l u d e d . C a l l 0 1 4 5 8 8 3 3 4 0 6


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Article: Report from Stroud Communiversity 2009; Going Green in Glastonbury...Ministers Award for making an Outstanding contribution to SustainableCommunities.

Other big schemes include: community supported agriculture (supplying food tofamilies all over the town) and Land for People (affordable housing) projects; a verypopular, FARMA certified, weekly farmers market, winning UK Farmers Market of the

Year 2008, run by the towns own self promotion company Made in Stroud Ltd; plusthe very latest addition Strouds new green-energy powered social enterprise centre -

'The Exchange.'All these projects, and a diverse range of other initiatives, illustrates how Stroud issucceeding at being a self-reliant community and one which is actively beingsupported in its mission by social enterprise companies, skilled social entrepreneurs(they call them community enablers), and the backing and support of Green Stroudtown councillors. www.cohousing.org.uk/springhill-cohousing

Working at Community LevelInspiring self reliant communities was the theme for the Stroud Communiversity2009, held from 14th to 17th May, including the official opening of Strouds new centrefor social enterprise, called The Exchange. Communiversity was the idea of Stroud

Common Wealth Company Ltd, and organised in association with Transition Stroud.

The organisers invitation, to share in Strouds second annual Communiversity,following last years inaugural event, was very warmly welcomed. Together with thoseof us active with greener lifestyles here in Glastonbury, I believe we all have a hugeamount to share and learn about the ways our communities are doing and achievingsimilar things.

Acquiring the necessary skills, knowledge and resources to develop adaptivecommunities is challenging, to say the least, especially as we go through financiallydifficult years ahead. But, what can really be achieved? What is practical andnecessary? How can third-sector voluntary organizations collaborate with statutory and

commercial sectors? Answering these questions and many more is best exemplifiedthrough the work of Stroud Communiversity who are a growing body of experts andprofessionals whose research and teaching is pioneering a new school for localenterprise and sustainability. www.stroudcommonwealth.org.uk)

As a gathering for learning and sharing, it attracted sustainable community activistsand researchers from as far away as Norway, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and throughoutthe South West who came together to find out how communities all over areresponding to these challenging times. Communiversity delegates, or rather itsscholars on this occasion since most were combining their community work withresearch, study or teaching were uniquely qualified to introduce their own examplesthrough exchange of ideas and learning.

In part the ethos of Communiversity concentrates careful thought about how theenvironment sustains communities, people, and vice versa. Themes of reconnectingpeople with nature, with the land, with producing local food plus whether money reallyremains the only focus for local trading were all discussed. We saw a range of examplesin practice, and were inspired by the expertise and facilitation of Max Comfort, MollyScott Cato, Martin Large and the rest of the Stroud Communiversity team.

The first activity introduced was 'Walking the Land,' with us being guided through edgeof town allotments and onto the Slad Valley Wildlife Way. This initiative, which attemptsto reconnect hearts and minds with the land, began three years ago with the support of

the Forestry Commission and Natural England. The aim is also to show how Stroudrelates to its historic landscape and how in the past the towns survival and success


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Article: Report from Stroud Communiversity 2009; Going Green in Glastonbury...depended upon its farming and forestry. The accent was on how to immerse oneself inthe living landscape, to see, hear and smell the places we often take for granted oroverlook. Revealing these connections was Richard Keating of Walking the Land, andKel Portman of Stroud Valley Artspace. They encourage artistic freedom to sketch, writedescriptively and photograph during their walks, focusing on observation, listening andhearing. This is a tool that leaders can use to help show people their place in thelandscape, and in so doing encourage more care and love for our heritage andcountryside. We experienced this further when tracing the steps of the late Laurie Lee,

author of "Cider with Rosie," led by Martin Large, publisher and community enabler.www.walkingtheland.org.ukwww.sitefestival.org.ukSo much of what we are doing begins with reconnecting people who have lost theirsense of place with nature. This is increasingly needed because modern society livespredominantly in a man-made world out of touch with how the ecosystem andenvironment ultimately sustains all life on the planet. Natures fragility against mansrelentless influence needs to be fully appreciated and this is a key part tounderstanding sustainable communities.

At first it looks haphazard, ram-shackled, un-kempt, but look again and you seecarefully laid out rows sprouting cool green shoots, foliage of all descriptions andeco-shades. Vigor and growth is regimented into plots and strips; random small

sheds housing the home guard. I saw lettuce in the box, ready to eat, and happysmiling people next to broad beans, their blue-green leaves among fluty paleflowers, the prospect of pods to come.I saw early runners, not people but stalks twisting and climbing their bamboo caneslike snakes. It would take a small land army to do this work, but here families collectand share. They prove the spirit of self reliance is not lost; they work hard and growfast. Their children know where peas come from and they know the smart taste ofexuberant rhubarb, fresh from its crowded composted mound.

My personal inspiration, whilst touring the Stroud Allotment space!

Growers and Farmers Contract with Consumers

Stroud Communiversity's next theme was - producing wholesome local food whichsupported the economy and gave people new skills - reconnecting growers withconsumers. Community supported agriculture (CSA) was described by Nick Weir, a CSAconsultant. He is in great demand all over, helping establish new CSAs which arespreading successfully across the country. www.localfood.org.uk

CSA is driven by need and people wanting choice in how to buy local fresh vegetablesor meat, rather than buy from the supermarkets - who are seen to be failing smallscale growers, farmers and local economies. Members of the CSA schemes areconsumers, like you or me, who contract with the enterprise to take regular supplies orbuy a share in the harvest. They can also take part by helping directly and can berewarded for their time in the form of produce.Stroud's MP, David Drew, a member of the DEFRA select committees inquiry into thefuture of food production in this country, told the Communiversity that thesupermarkets were worried about their future as these emerging new models of how toproduce and supply fresh food locally, together with web networks setting upexchanges and supplies across the wider market place, were rapidly taking off.

As in Somerset, Gloucestershire's county farms are at risk of being sold and lost, whichhas prompted calls for a policy to encourage county farms and all appropriate vacantland to be taken over by CSA schemes. www.soilassociation.org/csa

Mr. Drew also talked about the extremely urgent situation with climate change whichwas already altering the way food is being grown, and will increasingly influence us


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Article: Report from Stroud Communiversity 2009; Going Green in Glastonbury...here in North West Europe. More southern European countries will find it difficult tomanage their needs, he said, and we will become a more important supplier, growingfood for our partner nations. Government is seriously concerned about food shortages,or food security, and believes our own set-aside farmland and gardens will all beneeded in support of a new national food growing strategy.

New outlets or food hubs for distribution and sale of local produce are being tried.This means more farmers or producers markets, farm shops, plus extending the use

of post offices, village halls, churches, and schools to facilitate produce sales. These willall play their part in helping more self-reliance and put the consumer back in-touch withthe growers. Communal cooking events were also described as popular and providedskill share and confidence building to try out local and new ingredients. A sense ofcommunity was coming back to parts of Stroud where it had been lost and people wererecognizing the fun social side to preparing food and holding a community meal, sayonce a month. www.stroudco.org.ukAllotment cultivation and home grown vegetables are coming back into fashionnationally, showing a revival after more than 40 years of decline. This is sparked in nosmall way by the interest in celebrity chefs and healthy living through eating better, but

is now also driven by the need for families to save money by subsidizing their grocerybills. Long waiting lists for civic growing spaces in Stroud means more land is urgentlyneeded to let people grow more of their own food and exchange with others todiversify their choice in meals. The same is true for Glastonbury and towns everywhere,as demand rises but there is little allotment space available, many of these openspaces having been sold for housing throughout their decline.

Growers are also pickling and preserving to extend availability beyond the fruitfulseasons. These supplies are popular for barter with small scale growers who havedifferent fresh produce for exchange. It all proves we can manage without flying in out-of-season fruit and veg from around the world. Allowing out of season "fresh" fruit to beflown in by supermarkets is costing consumers and the planet dearly,

but quintessentially its taking away the delight of our English grown produce at itsmost abundant and most flavour-full time.

The Stroud community food projects have made the town a focus for these new kinds offood delivery mechanisms, and the town is keen to show rural communities all over thecountry how to take up similar ideas, discussing the economic and practical benefits forpeople and the environment www.stroudcommunityagriculture.org

This image of home growing and bottling might seem to some retrograde, or a stepback to past times or more frugal living, but the stark reality is that we may not have achoice as climate change is hastening its effects on world agriculture and this will soonimpact on all of us. Add that to a population growth that cannot be sustained, extremeweather, mass migrations, plus the need to rapidly find new ways of producing cleanenergy and by-products that we previously sourced from oil and petrochemicals and anunfolding scenario is apparent.

Communities Sharing Best PracticeParticipant Nick Wilding, from the Carnegie UK Trust, facilitates a network the RuralCommunity of Practice which is bringing together the leaders and practitionersinvolved in building the new resilient rural communities of the future. He was able tolink in fellow Communiversity participants to the Trusts partnership of Rural Pioneers headed by four prominent organisations, including the Eden Trust and Centre forAlternative Technology, who are leading the way on sustainability.

www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk/news


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Article: Report from Stroud Communiversity 2009; Going Green in Glastonbury...Irelands Tipperary Institute is one of the other four Carnegie UK Trust Pioneercollaborators, who are active in the social, environmental and economic aspects ofdevelopment as a key to sustainability. Communiversity Participant, CatherineCorcoran, from the Institute, had new perspectives to share from Ireland, and was veryinterested in how Glastonbury is developing its projects, as the Green Capital ofSomerset.

Glastonbury will benefit through strong links and direct support from the Rural Pioneers,

especially in taking forward our own vision of a centre for environmental sustainabilityand technologies. In so doing Glastonbury leaders are invited to join the Carnegie FierySpirits, becoming part of the national movement of progressive rural communities withstrong visions to survive and thrive the pressures of new economic and climateconditions.

It was fascinating to hear how the Eden Project is developing and their regionalcoordinator, Amelie Trolle, gave me an insight into how the tourist attraction does farmore work behind the scenes in attracting and supporting local enterprise. The EdenSurf Board is just one example of how eco-sustainability ideals are working to benefitthe economy and making the Eden brand go further.

Dr Julie Newton and Dr Alex Franklin, Communiversity participants from the BRASSResearch Centre (Business, Relationships, Accountability, Sustainability & Society) atCardiff University have spent the last year exploring the role of skills and knowledge inbuilding and maintaining sustainable communities. A key finding from this research,which took place in Stroud, was the importance of processes of learning. BRASS is nowlooking at ways to expand on the research both in Stroud, and in the European context.

Their report and findings can be found by going to their web site.www.brass.cf.ac.uk/uploads/WP51Sustainable_Communities.pdf

We here in Glastonbury have also been taking the lead by encouraging sustainabilityamong other communities in Somerset. Volunteers, Transition groups and social

enterprise companies are influencing the shape of things to come. More can and mustbe done.

Glastonbury may have little opportunity to develop its own award winning new ecohousing scheme, within the confines of the Local Development Framework, but newgreen housing refurbishment programmes could raise the towns eco credentials ifdone imaginatively and with cross-sector partnerships, and government funding appliedacross private, tenanted and social housing properties. More initiatives for local foodproduction, growing spaces and new food distribution methods could be started. In boththese areas, Transition groups are active here, but need to coordinate effort on a largerscale or become part of a partnership that can move forward with plans and councilsupport.

A wide range of other sustainable community measures are possible, but popularcommunity and political support is necessary to carry them forward. New jobs andpublic-to-third-sector contracts will take Glastonburys green town mission furtherforward to the next level; however greater consensus and understanding of the benefitsto tourism, the community and environment needs to be appreciated.

To help advance some of these opportunities, a conference is being planned, for laterthis year in Glastonbury. It will focus on new social enterprise and ethical businessopportunities, with the aim of supporting people, the environment and local economiesin Somerset. Some of Somersets new enterprise solutions could come in the form of

more locally produced food, food processing, marketing, sales and carbon-neutraldistribution. Examples from Stroud will be seen if Glastonbury delegates take up an


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Article: Report from Stroud Communiversity 2009; Going Green in Glastonbury...offer of a tour of their projects. It is also hoped the conference will establish a threegreen town partnership, between Glastonbury, Stroud and Totnes in Devon joiningforces to share experience and ideas.

New greener jobs can be created in many sectors, especially as demand rises and newsubsidies support this growth. Glastonbury has the added benefit and encouragementof many environmentally skilled and motivated people living and working here, whowant to be involved. The town also has a long standing association with local green

festivals and their practice in eco-sustainability, which makes this area ideally suited tolaunching new businesses linked to these existing influences.

In ConclusionThere was a great sense of cooperation and energy from everyone at this yearsCommuniversity, and a feeling we were all connecting and sharing, not only for thosefew days but for the long-term.

What Communiversity does very well is to show how people are inspired into action andhow building sustainable communities depend increasingly upon a complex range ofinterconnected issues.

We saw and discussed:a) How connecting producers with consumers, providers with customers, peoplewith nature, reveals surprising outcomes with social and economic benefits

b) Why local production and supply of food is moving up the political agenda onfood security grounds

c) Where farmers and families are joining forces directly to share the harvest,produce and profit, supporting each other and keeping the local economy alive

d) Why distributing produce through food hubs in post offices and schools makeseconomic sense

e) Why eco-standard cohousing development, with solar photovoltaic roof tiles,efficient surface water drainage and a residents calendar of social events is sogood for the environment and people

f) How measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change impacts bringscommunities together and inspires invention

g) How arts and culture, tourism and recreation, social enterprise and ethicaltrading is supporting self reliant communities, producing worthwhile, satisfyingemployment, comfortable incomes and common wealth with happiness

In viewing and examining a range of factors which affect the cohesion of ourcommunities we were shown what practical, creative and innovative solutions are bothneeded and will support the growth and development of resilient local economies.

We know that communities and society will have to change and develop new methods,designs, systems or return to old practices, just in order to make the technical andcultural break-through necessary in the next three decades for humans to survive thiscentury.

It was certainly extremely useful to be part of Stroud Communiversity 2009 and form anetwork to continue the process. Just making new contacts and exchanging views alonewas valuable, but sharing in the collective experience from a range of practitioners andacademics was well worth the time spent at this Communiversity.

Paul Lund.

Acknowledgements

My thanks go to Dr Alex Franklin, Dr Julie Newton, Nick Weir and Nick Wilding, for verifying mydescription or contributing to the text concerning their part in Stroud Communiversity 2009.




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Article: Report from Stroud Communiversity 2009; Going Green in Glastonbury...Also, my thanks go to Max Comfort for the opportunity to take part in this Communiversity, andfor making suggestions with reference to produce preservation and transportation.

References:

1) Carnegie UK Trust, Nick Wilding Facilitator, Rural Community of Practice.www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk/news

2) Community Farm Land Action Research Project,[email protected]) Community Supported Agriculture, www.soilassociation.org/csa Nick Weir

[email protected] - f3 Making Local and Sustainable Food Happen atwww.localfood.org.uk F3 is a Community Interest Company which has been advisinggovernment agencies, local organizations and producers on real solutions to local andsustainable food and farming since 1999.

4) Gloucestershire Land for People, pioneering community land trust,[email protected]

5) Social Enterprise Centre, Stroud (Gloucestershire), www.secglos.org.uk6) Stroud Community Agriculture,www.stroudcommunityagriculture.org7) Stroud Communiversity at Stroud Common Wealth Company Ltd and The Exchange, Stroud.

www.stroudcommonwealth.org.uk

8) Stroud Farmers Market, run by Made in Stroud Ltd, www.fresh-n-local.co.uk9) Stroud Food Hub, www.stroudco.org.uk

10)Stroud Springhill Co-housing scheme, www.cohousing.org.uk/springhill-cohousing

11)Stroud Valleys Artspace, Kel Portman, www.sitefestival.org.uk www.sva.org.uk12)Sustainable Communities research at Cardiff University, Centre for Business, Relationships,

Accountability, Sustainability,& Society (BRASS)www.brass.cf.ac.uk/uploads/WP51Sustainable_Communities.pdf

13)The Sustainable Environment Company CIC, SEco, (Somerset) is a Community InterestCompany, established in Glastonbury in 2006. contact Paul Lund [email protected]

14)Walking the Land, Richard Keating, www.walkingtheland.org.uk


http://www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk/newsmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.soilassociation.org/csamailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.localfood.org.uk/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.secglos.org.uk/http://www.stroudcommunityagriculture.org/http://www.stroudcommunityagriculture.org/http://www.stroudcommonwealth.org.uk/http://www.fresh-n-local.co.uk/http://www.stroudco.org.uk/http://www.cohousing.org.uk/springhill-cohousinghttp://www.sitefestival.org.uk/http://www.sitefestival.org.uk/http://www.sva.org.uk/http://www.brass.cf.ac.uk/uploads/WP51Sustainable_Communities.pdfmailto:[email protected]://www.walkingtheland.org.uk/http://www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk/newsmailto:[email protected]://www.soilassociation.org/csamailto:[email protected]://www.localfood.org.uk/mailto:[email protected]://www.secglos.org.uk/http://www.stroudcommunityagriculture.org/http://www.stroudcommonwealth.org.uk/http://www.fresh-n-local.co.uk/http://www.stroudco.org.uk/http://www.cohousing.org.uk/springhill-cohousinghttp://www.sitefestival.org.uk/http://www.sva.org.uk/http://www.brass.cf.ac.uk/uploads/WP51Sustainable_Communities.pdfmailto:[email protected]://www.walkingtheland.org.uk/

stroud communiversity 2009 (paul lund)

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