Comments from Cuba Film Showing
Using our “waste” more efficiently • Reclaiming our farm lands – food for the Cornish! • Stop the chemicals used in farming! • Local gardens, community windmills • Lots of dance • Things grow from the Bottom Up • Small communities – neighbours • Think globally, Act locally • Give them oil • Use more bikes less cars • Smaller homes • Give them more seeds and food • Enhanced recycling facilities in Penwith, especially doorstep collection e.g. organic waste bins for composting. Then provision of composted waste at a subsidised price below that of chemical fertiliser, returned to farmers locally • Possibly approach local garden centres as distribution points to Joe Public • Neighbour relationships • Community Power • Local markets • Lower the speed limit • More allotments • Eat foods in season • Get to know your neighbours and do errands etc. • Financial help for energy saving devices • The climate in Cuba is obviously very different to West Penwith – would we be able to grow such a diverse range of food and if not, what can we grow? • Local organic agriculture • Walking / cycling • Work locally and in the community • Alternative energy sources • More love! • Cut speed limits of cars • Cut number of cars • Cut food miles • Bikes, bikes, bikes wherever possible – and hitching… • Inculcate spirit of Dunkirk • Brits like a crisis – water saving when shortages • Also practice changes mindset, so for instance the act of gardening and eating one’s • own produce can lead to sense of connection with nature and less desire for consumption / entertainment • Mindset change / practice neutral not sequential • Check out free energy sources • Educate people to co-operate with each other to work to the common good • More efficient and frequent public transport • Reclaim all the derelict homes, reclaim the “second homes” especially near farms • Wind and wave energy use – small Cornish Energy Company, local grid • Use less as individuals • Women hold the key! • Neighbourhood networks • The solution has to come from within ourselves and the local communities • Education is the key • More allotments • When do we start? Now – Yesterday • Sustainability should be taught in schools • How many people turned up tonight in a car with +2.0 litres for an engine? • Communism rules? • Organic farming methods • Become individually energy self-sufficient or independent if you can • Grow and eat your own food • Eat less meat to free land for essential cereals • Turn Tesco’s car park into allotments • Relax planning laws to allow rural smallholdings • Allotments – in another area we contacted houses with unused gardens. For the use of their land we shared the produce. • Ride a bicycle • Grow food on your land or get an allotment • Produce locally • Work on you politicians • Use Cornwall’s indigenous renewable energy • Keep spreading the message • Keep diversity in local agriculture (too much monoculture at present) • Survival is possible! • People can live without cars or fertilisers • Bicycles cause no pollution • Growing vegetable is satisfying • Neighbourliness is good! • One can adjust to less sophistication and learn to be content with less • Simplicity rules OK! • If we downsize before a big fuel crisis we will cope better. • Less consumables, electric gadgets etc. • Better cycling facilities • Burn crop waste to generate electricity locally • Use less energy • As a local GP my biggest challenge is the rise in chronic disabling conditions in younger people. These are undoubtedly caused by our use of oil. Losing 20lbs, cycling more and eating local food would enhance the health of Penwith! Maybe Peak Oil has some positive aspects? • Divide the huge farms in Penwith into much smaller farms • Encourage the youth to go into organic farming – make it cool • It was very inspiring how Cuban local communities pulled together and developed urban agriculture gardens – this is very achievable here in the UK • Local wind power, solar panels, grow more, more community get-togethers • Cooking every day, local produce – human relations improved • Work close to where we live • More friendship – more love • Wouldn’t it be interesting if everyone that works in government had to fill their empty vehicle seats with people that “needed a ride” Cornwall County Council employees, Penwith District Council, DEFRA, CORMAC, Police etc. • Where’s my 40 acres and a mule? • Use idle land to grow food using permaculture principles • How much of West Penwith is currently organic? (including vegetable patch) • Can we link the existing organic farms and make sure they are all involved in Transition Penwith? • Can we reclaim land from larger scale agriculture? Need to transition to organic, small-scale, diverse agricultural systems • Penwith needs a ‘survival strategy’ in place • Urban permaculture! Community-led initiatives – gardens, housing, transport, energy – over business esp. large business • Will any government support any initiative that allows people to produce their own energy needs? Perhaps no, because that decreases tax income • In the 1970s the average house temperature in the UK was 13ºC and now its 19ºC • How to keep warm and halve the costs of your heating bills? Wear more clothes! Get those long johns on!