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Find out what young transitioners are doing to ensure the future
Colfox kids go Organic
Members of Colfox school Eco-Club had a taste of where our
bread comes from when they visited Tamarisk Farm in West
Bexington.
This 600 acre
organic farm overlooking Chesil beach grows a mixture of arable crops,
Dorset Down sheep and Ruby Red cattle. The
children, accompanied by Belinda Bawden and members of Transition Town Bridport,
were shown round the farm by Adam Simon.
First was feeding time for the ewes, which provoked some hilarity and
quickly broke the ice.
The theme of the day was “The story of Bread”. Adam showed how organic wheat is grown, without the use of chemicals from a bottle or from a bag. At Tamarisk this involves growing red clover for two years, then one year of wheat and one year of oats or rye. Archie Armstrong, from year 7, asked how many loaves the field they were in produced , and a little mental arithmetic came up with about 16,000 loaves for an eight acre field, once every four years. While yields would be much higher in a conventional wheat farm, the use of fertilisers and pesticides were neither sustainable nor good for the environment.
Right on cue, a hare appeared from the fallow conservation slip between fields, which started a fruitful discussion on conservation of wildlife diversity.
A visit to a grain
store allowed the children to climb on a combine harvester and pick up some
grain
which they then watched being
winnowed and then milled back at the farm. Adam gave a demonstration of how to
make pizza dough, and then donated a bag of flour for the children to back and
try it at home. Several of the children, who eat white bread at home, thought
the sample of sourdough which they tried tasted delicious.
Once out of the biting wind the children were able to reflect on where our loaf of bread comes from, and how it can be produced ethically and with a care for the environment.
Sam Wilberforce - Jan 2011
Photos: Sam Wilberforce
Display at Colfox SchoolThe display used at the Charter Fair (see article below) is now set up at Colfox School, thus reinforcing Article 6 of The Rights of the Child, their Rights Respecting award and their contacts with TTB.
The display also addresses the consumer habits of young people, in this case two examples of t-shirts - and explains which one is the wiser (ethically) to own.
TTB and Colfox Eco Club at Bridport's Charter Fair
Photo: Elizabeth FriendTransition Town Bridport and Colfox Eco-club cooperated in providing a display and stall at Bridport’s Charter Fair on 3rd July. The Young Transitioners group took on Article 6 for the Rights Respecting theme of this year’s event. This states that ‘All children have the right to life. Governments should ensure that children survive and develop healthily.’
Their stall looked at the consumer habits of young people and in particular two cotton t-shirts both bought in Bridport recently. The first one was found in a charity shop and the second one from a high street retail shop. In the fact file attached to each garment, information was given on the life cycle of each garment, considering the environmental and ethical impact of each product. The charity shop example was a much wiser t-shirt to own.
The ethical message put across was that the real cost of cheap t-shirts should consider who picks the cotton and who makes the t-shirt. In the retail shop purchase, forced child labour was being used in both picking the cotton and making the top in countries such as Uzbekistan and Bangladesh.
We had a moderate number who visited the stall but very few young people took any real interest. This confirms our view that being eco-friendly may be fashionable but in reality they continue to buy cheap things and expect to throw them away after a very short life. We need to work hard in finding ways to change young people’s consumer habits.
Gill Fifield sporting her prize
Our Young
Transitioners ran a competition at their stall. You had to guess how
many Uzbek school children were forced to pick the cotton harvest in
2009.
The aim of this competition was to highlight the fact that
young consumers have no idea of the real cost of
cheap t-shirts; why are they so cheap, and who picks the cotton? The answer is children do the work, as forced labour.The answer to this question is that 1,000,000 Uzbek children picked the cotton last year, according to the BBC Uzbek news service. They were taken out of school and forced to do tedious and dangerous work which exposes them to high pesticide residues. They face verbal and physical abuse, working 10 hours a day. Six of the world’s top seven cotton producers use children in the fields.
The winner was Gill Fifield who guessed exactly the right number. We are really pleased that Gill won it because she and her family have put an enormous amount of work into getting the West Bay play area project going. Gill is a retired psychologist and her daughter Lydia works with children in Bridport’s library. Her prize was a John Rocha t-shirt which used organic cotton, made in Turkey and printed in England with Soil Association approved inks.
The message is pick your cotton carefully and make sure your clothes have a longer life. If you would like to be part of Young Transitioners projects, contact us and we will put you in touch.
TTB working with Colfox School
Colfox's Eco Club set up a grand scheme for their school's Green Week in April. They have been working with Transition Town Bridport to help reduce the waste in clothing and household textiles. They asked all the pupils to bring in no longer used garments from home. They were hugely successful and there is a mountain of clothing, shoes, handbags and household cloth waiting to be collected by Sherborne's company Tex Recycle Ltd.
The Young Transitioners from the Eco-Club told their fellow students that over 4% of landfill contents is textile material. By sending off their unwanted clothes to Tex Recycle they not only ensure that garments are reused and recycled but also gain cash for the school. Everyone did so well and maybe they will win a further prize for the biggest collection in West Dorset?
Minister to borrow Luke's eco ideas
From Bridport News 19th February 2010
A Bridport
schoolboy has presented Cabinet ministers and MPs a manifesto for a
greener Britain on behalf of four million young people.
Luke Wayland, 15, travelled to Westminster with the Generation Green think tank team – and won a promise from energy secretary Ed Miliband to take up at least one of their ideas.
The think tank, set up by British Gas as part of its natiownide schools programme, aims to give its 22 young members from across the UK a voice on issues such as tackling climate change and a chance to put their bright ideas to the people in power.
The youngsters set out their six-point plan at meetings with Mr Miliband and with other leading MPs from the main political parties including Greg Barker, Shadow Minister for Climate Change.
Afterwards Luke, a pupil at Sir John Colfox School, said: “The highlight was meeting Ed Miliband and hearing him promise to include one of our ideas in his party’s election manifesto.
“I hope we’ll see more recycling bins popping up in public places in Bridport, so it’s easier for all of us to recycle more and help the environment.”
Mr Miliband said: “Generation Green has come up with some powerful and practical ideas in their manifesto. I hope they don't mind if I borrow some of their proposals.”
The manifesto included:
- All UK schools to set clear goals to cut their carbon and to be able to see how much energy they are using, so they can work with their teachers to find ways to cut down.
- Green issues to become a part of every lesson and for teachers to be given more training and support to help them do this.
- All schools to be given Government funding for green energy.
- A ban on manufacturers making electrical items with standby buttons.
- Government to make it easier for people to recycle by putting more recycling bins in public places like parks, city centres and restaurants.
TTB supporting Bridport's Rights-respecting projectTTB provided a display at the Bridport Arts Centre recently. It was geared towards young transitioners, within the UNICEF Rights Respecting town event recently held there. We were one of several local groups and schools who put on an exhibition in the foyer. More
Colfox's Eco club visit Ourganics
Recently, on a wet winter’s day, the Eco group at Colfox school went on a visit. It was organised by Transition Town Bridport, as part of a link up with the school’s lunchtime ecology club, run by member of staff Alison Batchelor. The young pupils spent half a day with TTB supporters and Pat Bowcock, on her low-impact smallholding in the Bride Valley. More
Great article from the Ecologist How to Green your school
The girl who silenced the world for 5 minutes
An inspirational video from YouTube. This young girl addressed a UN Meeting on the issue of the environment on behalf of ECO - the Environmental Childrens' Organisation.
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