Greening Campaign
Last year, Ampfield Parish Council attended a meeting that introduced the Greening Campaign to local councils across Hampshire.
The sentiment behind the Greening Campaign, which is in part sponsored by Hampshire County Council, is to engage people and communities with the concept of global warming and a climate emergency. Whilst most people accepts that global warming is a real and serious problem for everyone, the enormity of the subject can deter people from acting individually. Consequently, few, if any, effective remedial actions are undertaken. This suggests the end-result will be both undesirable and inevitable.
With this in mind, a lady called Terena Plowright from Petersfield, convinced that any existing ‘green’ propaganda was merely preaching to the converted, decided to try to involve the ordinary people from her community in Petersfield in an initiative to try show how, by working together, they can have an impact and begin to combat climate change at home. Her plan was that, as this happens, communities of like-minded people from across the country will form and gradually band together.
The Greening Campaign has four basic phases, all designed to help bring communities together – engagement, creating the environment for a sustainable community, developing this community, and preparing for the future. The campaign has a specialist pack that sets out how to start a group in your area plus practical everyday events and issues where people can identify small individual actions that, when taken together, can make an identifiable impact, for instance saving CO2..
Ampfield Parish Council has purchased this specialist pack, a copy of which is attached. The Phase One pack sets everything out quite clearly and provides a route map indicating how this might be achieved. The pack also makes it quite clear that, no matter how important or how worthy the cause, this is not going to be a quick fix.
Following its initial meetings with the Greening Campaign, Ampfield Parish Council believes that the Greening Campaign will prove to be a worthwhile initiative. However, the council also believes that to be successful, it is something that must actively involve members from the whole community and, importantly, it should be led by members taken from the community rather than by the parish council. The parish council will give support with initial meetings and help disseminate information, but there is a requirement for local volunteers to provide leaders and to encourage a wider community participation.
For further information, please see the link http://www.greening-campaign.org .
If you feel you would like to be a part of the Ampfield Greening Campaign, please contact Kate Orange at clerk@ampfield.org.uk .