The North Howe Transition Toun hosted a series of public film screening and discussion evenings in Letham, Giffordtown and Collessie over the past month. The theme of the meetings was Peak Oil: what it is, what it means, and how we as a local community would like to respond to this issue.

The questions posed were:

• What can you individually do to make a difference?

• What can we as a local community do to make a difference?

• What can the local or national government do to make a difference?

There was a wide range of responses to these questions, with a particular emphasis on food, energy and transport.

Food

There was a lot of interest expressed in growing more food, or learning how to grow food, with ideas of sharing produce and establishing community gardens and orchards, as well as requesting increased provision of council allotments and buying more locally produced food. The Monimail Tower Project fed in that they have an open volunteering day on Mondays for anyone who would like to learn more about organic gardening (phone 01337 810420 for details). The idea of community supported agriculture was also touch upon.

Energy

There was discussion about renewable energy systems such as solar water heating and wind and solar micro-generation of electricity as well as home insulation and reducing domestic fuel/electricity usage. There was also a suggestion about stricter requirements for new-build housing, and support for accessing grants for installing renewables.

There were suggestions about larger-scale projects to produce electricity for our whole local community, and another theme was establishing community woodlands and harvesting wood for fuel.

Transport

Ideas around transport included walking and cycle routes; improved public transport and increased parking charges, as well as personal action such as walking, biking, car-sharing and using public transport more.

Getting involved

• The newly established Monimail Woodland Group is aiming to set up a community woodland locally and is looking for new members.

• There will be a Transition presence at the Big Tent festival at Falkland in July which will be an opportunity to learn more - or to get involved in setting this up .

• At our recent meetings there was interest in the idea of additional themed public meetings, perhaps with invited speakers or a panel for discussions. We will notify people of future events and anyone interested in helping to organised events is welcome to get in touch.

• We are looking at applying for funding for a community gardening support project to help people in getting going with growing food. Anyone interested in being involved, either to learn or to offer skills or help set this up, please get in touch. There may be sessional posts available.

• There will be a public talk and discussion in Cupar on Wednesday 2nd July at 7-30 pm in the Cupar Farm Shop opposite the foot of Lady Wynd. This is specifically aimed at people who are interested in learning more about the Transition Towns model and will cover how to go about setting up a Transition Initiative in your own area, if there isn't one local to you already.

• Our very own travelling Transition Tavern will be launched this autumn, offering a local meeting point, travelling around the village halls - an idea that seemed to go down very well when mentioned in our public meetings!

Read the complete list of ideas generated during the consultation sessions. (Opens in new window)

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