creating a good community and being green

Former Member

this is kind of in two parts, firstly how i feel that supermarkets have sucked the life out of my community and how presurised i'm feeling by the "green effect" and how my local council does nothing and how if feel this is all connected.

the program shopping the supermarkets, showed how supermarkets are pricing local small farms and other suppilers out of the business. Living in London creates a problem of getting fresh produce in it's self. I often feel obliged not to buy products not grown in europe, and if possible i always try to by british and local as possible. where i live there are no shops in whcih i can buy local produce and now because i am boycotting my local supermarkets with are the only shops in the area (there are no other shops of any kind in the area), and are both a 15 min walk away i have to travel 30 mins to just be able to buy basic groceries. the reason i boycott ASDA which is my nearest, due to the fact that they have a rule that no under 16 is allowed into the shop unacompanied, and that they will ID any under 18 just to shop. The other supermarket is Tesco, which i boycott for the reason they they have bought up many shops in london just so that they cannot operate, and have a monopoly in central London. ASDA provides very poor quality food to a community in which nearly 30% live off benefits, Tesco is actually quite expencive in comparision. There are no fish mongers for 3 miles, and no butchers for 2 miles or greengrocers. and this is in an area which has few bus routes and only the DLR, which makes it very isolated, and only 20% have a car or access to one. MY council is holding the 2012 games, and this is the borough with the lowest life expectancy in london.

and to connect to this...everyone is being pressurised to be green, and to buy local produce, and such, and i feel that it's very important to do all I can to be green but in this situation it's so difficult. My council doesn't recycle properly, it also doesn't help community cohision, and it's a general mess.

I feel a need to do all i can to support my community, and to help the environment, but I feel it's a lose/lose situation. but what can be done to create a good community environment, and be able to look after the environment at the same time...without spending huge amounts of money...so many of the new green ideas cost a lot of money to carry out, and again, not many people in my area would be able to afford it. 15% live in local authority housing, as do i. how is anyone in this situation going to be able to do this?

sorry if this doesn't actually make any sense I will try to clarify if needed.

**helen**

twisted_trinity wrote: »

sorry if this doesn't actually make any sense I will try to clarify if needed.

Hi ya, it all makes sense to me .

I definitely think it's harder to feel like part of a community when living in a big city like London. But getting involved, although time consuming, may not be as difficult as you think. You might find this article on having your say has some useful info.

Former Member

I think one thing you need to forget is the idea that you should buy your way to a green lifestyle. That's something spouted by upper-middle class people to feel less guilty about the amount of unnecessary shit they consume and pump out into the atmosphere. For example, if you use public transport, turn your lights off when you're done, conserve your water, own a smaller television, do your washing up by hand (maybe for selfish reasons, like you can't afford not to), you're already ahead of Mr. Locally Sourced Organic vegetables with his heavily polluting car, 42" plasma TV, jumbo sized fridge-freezer and full range oven with solar panels on his roof to make up for it.

As for the Tesco issue, I really don't know. One thing you can do, is to make sure that when you do shop in Tesco, you buy items based on the issues you think are important. At the end of the day, the more people buy something, the more Tesco will put it on its shelves. If Tesco learns that locally (or at least nationally) sourced items are more popular, then they'll be keener to get them in.

Have you checked your councils website, for infomation about contacting them with regards to recycling and having a say in future development? Also do you have community meetings where you can discuss these things?

Former Member

Not necessarily. There was an organic fruit and veg co-operative where I used to live in Southampton and it was very well used.

Former Member

there is a fruit and veg co-op. but none of it is either locally sorced or organic. just cheap and delivered!

the shopping the supermarkets, the new BBC program is really highlighting a lot of issues that are affecting community development and the environment...but who really cares?

Former Member

twisted_trinity wrote: »

there is a fruit and veg co-op. but none of it is either locally sorced or organic. just cheap and delivered!

the shopping the supermarkets, the new BBC program is really highlighting a lot of issues that are affecting community development and the environment...but who really cares?

Well there are companies which source local fruit and veg and send it to people's doors. I cannot remember who they are.

I find poverty is difficult and it is an issue, although green living can in many ways save money, it is really hard with the supermarket monopolies out there. In Wrexham, the only supermarkets in walking distance (around 45 minutes walk away) are Tesco and Asda, then it's Sainsburys. We do have farmers market though, although I'm unsure as to how local the fruit is.

I actually find it really difficult... On one hand, most markets tend to sell cheaper goods imported from abroad, but on the other hand supermarkets often tend to sell goods which have less air miles on them.

Maybe you could set up a freegan kitchen once a month.