susanmurray
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Ecvellent piece showing what can be achieved if y - 2006/03/08 19:05
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article349458.ece
Chew Magna: Is this greenest village in Britain?
In a quiet corner of Somerset, a revolution is under way. Locals have made a pact to slash their carbon emissions - and reduce their waste to zero. Rich Cookson reports
Published: 06 March 2006
In gently rolling countryside, not far from a tranquil lake, Chew Magna is the quintessential Somerset village. It has a well-kept cricket pitch, tidy gardens, three churches, two pubs and a row of quaint shops. A picturesque stream meanders by ancient houses - some of them mentioned in The Domesday Book - and a down-at-heel watermill. You could be forgiven for believing that Chew Magna was just another quiet corner of conservative rural England. But a flier stuck to a telegraph pole tells a different story. "Find out everything you've always wanted to know about domestic solar water-heating," it says, advertising a village talk. "Invest in energy-saving home improvements, save more money and significantly reduce your carbon dioxide emissions". The meeting is the latest in a string of discussions, proposals and projects that are rapidly turning Chew Magna into one of the greenest places in the UK.
A growing number of the village's 1,100 residents have committed themselves to minimising the impact they have on the environment. While most of us throw away about half a tonne of rubbish a year, many here have pledged to produce as little waste as possible.
Chew Magna's campaign, called Go Zero, is one of many zero-waste projects starting up across the world, from California to Canberra. A resident of Kamikatsu, the first town in Japan to commit to zero waste, recently e-mailed a message of support to the Somerset village. "We feel much sympathy with Chew Magna and we hope we can strive for zero waste together," it said.
Bath and North East Somerset Council committed itself to a zero-waste policy in late 2001 - the first local authority in the UK to do so. It now collects 13 different items of waste for recycling, including engine oil, mobile phones, ink cartridges and spectacles, and boasts some of the highest recycling rates in the country. But few communities have gone as far as Chew Magna. The changes started a year ago, when the village was updating its parish plan. Councillors circulated a questionnaire that asked for residents' views on everything from schoolings to healthcare. "One of the things that came out was a clear concern about the environment, such as reducing fly-tipping and reducing the amount of traffic congestion," says Go Zero's events co-ordinator Denise Perrin. "The consensus was that people wanted to make decisions that would leave a legacy."
The property developer and Chew Magna resident John Pontin set up a series of meetings in the village. "One discussed moving towards a zero-waste community," explains Perrin. "It quickly became obvious that this was the legacy that could come out of the village plan."
That was just the beginning. "We quickly realised that we couldn't just look at one aspect in isolation - waste is not just about what you throw away, but what you buy and how you transport it," she says. "It's about why we buy things and who produces it. We need to look at all of these things together."
More meetings followed, attended by up to 40 people. The result is an array of green ideas and initiatives, some immediate and practical, others more complicated and far-reaching.
An important focus for the first few months was encouraging people to buy more local food. The village is surrounded by rich agricultural land, which produces everything from fruit and vegetables to venison, ice cream and medicinal herbs. Trout from Chew Valley Lake are said to be second-to-none. Go Zero produced a 16-page local food guide, listing goods produced within 10 miles of the village, and invited local producers to an open day in October. "By the end of the day, the local veg-box scheme had signed up more than 40 new members. They've now had to buy more land to increase their output," says Perrin.
About 180 people are actively involved in the project, and many more are interested in what's happening. Four action groups are now discussing how people can recycle more, change the way they travel and reduce the amount of energy they use at home. But it's not all talk - local energy companies have donated 500 low-energy lightbulbs that villagers can pick up for free. About 80 per cent of the village now recycles -almost four times the national average. New ideas are being proposed all the time.
One of the more ambitious schemes involves people from Chew Magna and the surrounding villages using spare capacity for free on a regular coach service between Bristol and its airport. If the plan goes ahead, a biofuel-powered minibus will collect travellers from villages in the Chew Valley and deliver them to the airport.
Go Zero is also working on plans to convert the village's disused flour mill into a meeting place for the community, a headquarters for the campaign and space for local sustainable businesses. Plans are still in their infancy, but building work is scheduled to start in spring 2007. "The building is home to about 20 lesser-horseshoe bats," says the Go Zero chairman Ian Roderick, as he shows me around. "We aim to renovate it in a way that will encourage the population to double."
One of the strengths of the project is that it presents information so accessibly. A newsletter, called Zero, contains a wealth of energy-saving tips and hints. For the village to meet the targets set at Kyoto, the newsletter explains, "we would need 250 [residents] to halve their carbon emissions by 2012".
"We have set up a carbon-offset fund," says Roderick. "That not only compensates for the carbon we produce, but they money raised from it will enable us to plant trees that can provide fruit and timber which will help economic development." So now when you book your holiday, the local travel agent will offer to calculate the distance you fly, and work out how much you'd need to put into the fund.
Six homes in the village have been intensively studied by consultants from an organisation called carbonsense, to identify how they can reduce their carbon emissions. And several people have had their cars converted to run on bio-fuel.
Chew Magna is also hoping to become a Fairtrade village, and already supports two charities working in Africa. It is also developing links with communities in south India. It is in talks about using money from the carbon-offset fund to plant trees in Tamil Nadu.
The RSA has been so impressed by Go Zero that the project won a £2,000 award at the end of 2005 - and, surprisingly, it has all cost very little, so could be replicated elsewhere quite easily. "If you forget the Mill, the funding we've needed has been relatively small: hiring halls, printing costs and that kind of thing," says Roderick. "The push now is on renewable energy and what we can practically do. We're not expecting people to rush out and install solar panels. We just want to put it in their minds so when they come to replace their boiler, they can put alternative sources in too."
What's happening at Chew Magna offers a blueprint for other communities wishing to become more sustainable. But, in many ways, the village is returning to how it was 50 or so years ago. "Some of the older people are amazed that people buy apples wrapped in plastic bags, or don't re-use glass jars," says Denise. "They've been living quite sustainably all their lives. Thankfully, we don't have to go too many generations back to relearn how to do it."
See www.carbonsense.org and www.gozero.org.uk
How we can all do our bit
* Turning down your heating thermostat by 10C can save £30 a year
* Driving at 50mph instead of 70mph can reduce fuel consumption by 30 per cent
* Installing loft insulation can cut up to 20 per cent off energy bills
* Energy-saving lightbulbs cost more to buy but save up to 10 times the price over their lifetime
* Insulating your hot-water tank and lagging your pipes can save £15-20 a year on your bills
* Switch to green energy. Go to www.uswitch.com for details
* Switch off all electrical appliances when not using them. Don't leave them on sleep or standby
* Recycle more: contact your local authority to find what they collect
* If you're thinking of buying an appliance or disposing of something, look at www.freecycle.org
* The Energy Saving Trust can save up to £250 a year on your energy bills, as well as around two tonnes of C02 a year. Visit www.est.org.uk
(Source: Friends of the Earth)
For more ideas sign up to Friends of the Earth's tip of the day e-mail service at www.foe.org.uk/living/tips
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