Zero Carbon Cumbria: climate ambition into local action
Zero Carbon Cumbria is a nice inspirational idea, great to emulate in your own county (or use if you live in Cumbria!) Instead of ‘net stupid zero’ philosophy, listen to the climate science and get on board. It can be fun if you approach things with the right mindset!
The events mostly focus on:
- Green building and warmer homes – many homes in Cumbria are old (esp. rural cottages) so there is a huge amount of work to be done here
- Reliable affordable public transport – most people use cars, due to lack of good community buses and few rail networks
- Healthy soils and protecting peatlands – there are more sheep than people in Cumbria, so promoting organic and free-range farming is vital
- Zero waste and the circular economy – this is especially important in a top tourist destination (the Lake District)
Just find your local group and get involved. Some innovative projects include:
- Cockerman CAN (a local low carbon group) and a city group in Carlisle
- Rebuild (using reclaimed materials to build new things)
- Litter picking in St Bees (the coastal village that marks the start of Wainwright’s Coast-to-Coast route to Robin Hood’s Bay on the East Yorkshire coast
- The launch of a sustainable gin in Ulverston
- Community energy (like placing solar panels on school roofs to generate free or discounted clean energy for local people)
- A Grasmere hotel drastically reducing its carbon footprint
- A mobile coffee van offers reusable packaging and runs on electric power
