Some towns have all the luck

Continuing my last post's theme...the story about the small English town of less than 5,000 attempting to ban plastic carrier bags is a happy one. I should be pleased. Five women – dubbed the ‘bag ladies’ – have been negotiating with supermarkets and traders to ban bags in the West Yorkshire town of Hebden Bridge. Co-op is handing out cloth alternatives.
So why is it making me grumpy? Something about the enterprise niggles. Until this morning, I couldn’t work out what. Then I realized… I’m jealous. I wish that I lived in Hebden Bridge. It looks delightful. I wish Hackney was a bit more like Hebden Bridge with its Fairtrade status and social conscience - did you know that HB has the highest proportion of lesbians in Britain, according to one survey? No offence to Hackney and don't think I’m after the lesbians but I do wish that when I walked around my local shops, they would give me free cotton bags and spark up chat about the welfare of my wormery.
To add insult to injury, I accidently stumbled upon an HB resident the other day. Celia Lyttelton has not only written a fantastic book about perfume and our sense of smell The Scent Trail but she also lives in the saintly plastic bag free town. Lucky thing. She says you rarely see plastic bags about town any more. “You’d get a dirty look if you went out with one,” she tells me. I suppose smugness might be one disadvantage to living in a town with an eco halo.

Click below for more green towns:

Garstang, in Lancashire, was the original Fairtrade town, given the title in 2001. Local Oxfam supporter and veterinary surgeon Bruce Crowther came up with the idea of uniting an entire community behind the Fairtrade agenda.

Canterbury is another Fairtrade town and its biggest tourist attraction, the cathedral, is a Fairtrade church. Here, after the service, it’s ethical cappuccino and fairly traded flapjacks all round.

Saxmundham, in Suffolk, is the town that famously said no to Tesco. While the rest of the country spends £1 in every £3 of its food budget at Tesco stores, the residents of this town stand by their local shops.

Totnes, in Devon, is the first transition town. To prepare for life after cheap oil, expected to begin sometime in the next 30 years, residents have decided not to wait for the Government but aim to plan their energy policy alone. www.transitiontowns.org

Three Rivers, in Hertfordshire, is listed as having the most improved recycling rate in the country. Residents recycle 43 per cent of their waste. Overall, however, the county with the best recycling rate is Devon.

Comments

[Pascal Gillon, BASc]

If you guys want some Easy eco-living tips are delivered in a short, sassy email each weekday go there:

http://www.idealbite.com/

[georgie]

I agree. Why do we subject ourselves to city life where there's no sense of community. How refreshing it would be to stop and chat to locals on our way to work or have the local Martha Stewart knock at the door with a basket of freshly baked bread... and to really care about one's surroundings. When you walk down the street in London and see filthy behaviour and rubbish strewn accross the streets it doesnt make you feel quite so proud - or so inclined to recyle. Not that I don't but you do wonder if it does anything.

[Jane]

Dear Eco Worrier
I live in Hebden Bridge and I can assure you that we are not a smug bunch at all. You should come and visit us.
Best wishes, Jane

[whizz]

I think Modbury in Devon also has a similar 'no carrier bag' code and is a Fairtrade town. Lets hope that more follow suit. We're not there is Pershore yet although one local greengrocer gratefully accepts old carrier bags, turns them inside out and re-issues them to his customers..it's a start.

[Mekhong Kurt]

Good on all these people in the towns that have achieved FairTrade status!

For those of you who live in large urban centers, it's possible to recapture a small-town atmosphere, at least to a degree. I live snack dab in the middle of Bangkok, which is a major city, with somewhere between 10 and 16 million people, depending on whose numbers you trust. A bunch of folks, anyway.

I live very near two main roads, both boasting Texco-Lotus, Carre Foure (sp?) gleaming shopping centers, etc. But my apartment complex is tucked in a side street that's not much wider than a decent alley, and I could be on a different planet. There is very much a sense of community here, magnified by the presence of numerous street vendors and the tendency of Thais to gather outside with their neighbors to chat. I speak virtually no Thai, but any time I'm strolling out to the main raod, people I've come to recognize invariably at least smile and nod. (Of course, I'm easy to spot, as I'm one of maybe 5-6 Westerners in this small enclave.)

Heck, I don't know how FairTrade operates, but even if a neighborhood can't get that status, you could always try to launch such an effort on the neighborhood level.

It might even generate a little money. there are people here whose sole source of income is scavenging; residents depend on them. The collectors come around with hand-pushed or bicycle-powered largish carts and collect anything recyclable. Then they take it to a recycling place. they get money, and residents are spared having to do anything themselves beyond keeping their old newspapers or what have you to give the Scavengers Brigade!