Climate of change set to sweep town

Sharon Thompson • Published 14 Jan 2010 14:44 0 Comments

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ADAPTING for life in the future is top of the agenda for a global group coming to the Burgh.

Already there is a collection of people forming in the town who are committed to raising the profile of the body called Transition Towns.

Members of the group explained to the Advertiser: "The movement is about local people and it aims to create a vibrant forward‑thinking community that saves money while reducing its carbon footprint."

The plan is for Helensburgh to join the rapidly growing network of streets, towns, cities and islands all over the UK that have already started on projects aimed at making their communities more 'resilient', becoming less reliant on food and energy brought in from outside their immediate surroundings.

Idea include creating new allotments and local orchards and developing renewable energy projects.

The group explained: "We could also share and build on expertise already held within the community - for example, growing vegetables, keeping chickens and bees, cooking and preserving, building with sustainable materials.

"Local businesses are also critical to Transition Helensburgh as we shop more locally."

The group has been initiated by a small group of local people - Amanda Cruise, Katherine Price, Ludwig Appeltans, David Bailey, John Campbell and Rachel Bailey - who are all inspired by what the Transition Towns movement hopes to achieve.

The group explained the precarious nature of the oil supply affecting everyday life.

"In order to put food on the supermarket shelves, oil is used to fuel agricultural machinery, to manufacture fertilisers, and to process, refrigerate and transport produce."

Steering group member Rachel said: "The idea is just to get as many people on board as possible and let the idea grow. It started off after I met someone by coincidence who had similar ideas to me and we just took it from there."

She spoke of her reason for getting involved with the movement and her wish to bring it to Helensburgh.

"I feel that in the way that we are going at the moment, with climate change, the price and the situation of oil - it is not going to be available soon and we need to make the town sustainable."

She added: "The first step is raising awareness, which can take between six and 12 months depending on the level of response and we have other ideas planned such as film nights showing the effects of climate change and similar issues but we are hoping to build up a big programme of events to help the group take off."

A film night has been organised for next month which the group are encouraging locals to join them at.

In Transition will be screened on Thursday February 18 at 7.30 pm in the Jubilee Room at Victoria Halls.

The group finished: "This will give you the opportunity to find out more about the project, meet other interested people, and find out how you can participate."

l For more information or to register, email info@transitionhelensburgh.org.uk or call 0843 2896056.

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Jan 24, 15:04
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