Gardiner encourages local towns and villages to become oil-free transition towns
Ulster Unionist Environment Spokesman, Sam Gardiner MLA, today called on Northern Ireland villages to follow the example of Lampeter in Wales and become “transition towns” – part of a network of places preparing for life after oil.
“World oil reserves are dwindling. Even the most optimistic observers says thet in 20 years time world oil production will have peaked and will decline sharply after that. The debate is not if oil reserves will run out, but when. Transition Towns, which are preparing for an oil free world, include not only Lampeter but also Kinsale in the Irish Republic, and Totnes, Cornwall. There are about 20 in all,”
explained Mr Gardiner.
“It is a slutary thought but 130kg packaging is made from oil-derived plastics is consumed by every British household each year. Two-thirds of it is used in food production. 57miles is the average distance a tonne of freight now travels by road. In 1953 it was only 21 miles. It is reckoned, using current production methods, that 3.5 litres of oil is needed to produce half a kilogram of steak.”
“There are may different sorts of action a local community can take. The range from installing a community wind turbine to encouraging low-energy buildings using sheep’s wool for insulation. Maybe residents in some of our local villages could think about such a move.” ”
“Another aspect of these transition towns is their switch to sustainable locally produced food which avoids the need to ship food all around the country in gas-guzzling trucks. In Lampeter, for example, this was organized by local farmers who had already explored the possibilities of organic growing.”
“We need to develop a new sense of social and ecological responsibility in how we consume energy and becoming a transition town would be a good place to start.”