Sustainable Community?

‘Sustainable communities are places where people want to live and work, now and in the future. They meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, are sensitive to their environment, and contribute to a high quality of life. They are safe and inclusive, well planned, built and run, and offer equality of opportunity and good services for all’(Communities and Local Government, 2010).

A sustainable community offers decent housing being sold at reasonable prices and there is a source of public transport. These communities have schools, shops and a hospital located nearby. Finally for a community to be sustainable it needs to be clean and safe. I am from a village called Glenfield located to the West of Leicester’s city centre. I feel that Glenfield can be classed as a sustainable community as it boasts all of the above. The majority of the housing is detached or semi-detached with a few bungalows. The public transport system is fantastic supported by the two bus companies First and Arriva with buses coming within every 20 minutes. Glenfield has two primary schools and a range of shops such as newsagents, hairdressers and a supermarket (the co-op). To add to this, Glenfield also has a hospital.

Glenfield encourages people to recycle by having a collection day once every two weeks and green bins have been provided to all houses in the village. The co-op also has giant recycling bins in its car park allowing villagers to dispose of all their cardboard, plastic and glass. Crime rates are relatively low in Glenfield, the fact the village has a neighbourhood watch scheme reduces crime rates even further.

The amount of households that own a car is relatively high, with 47.2% of households owning one car, 34.2% owning two cars with only a small percentage of 12.8% of households not owning a car (Office for National Statistics, 2006). To be fair Glenfield does not boast a great deal of jobs although with the amount of public transport available with the local bus links and taxi services some people may not need a car but simply have one for convenience.

Overall Glenfield is a sustainable community in many ways, although in terms of vehicle use more could be done to reduce its emissions to become even more sustainable.

References

Communities and Local Government (2010) What is a sustainable community? [online] Available from: http://www.communities.gov.uk/archived/general-content/communities/whatis/ (24/03/10). Office for National Statistics (2006) Neighbourhood Statistic. [online] Available from: http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=6161384&c=LE3+8RY&d=14&e=15&g=465049&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=0&s=1269689286374&enc=1&dsFamilyId=51 (24/03/10)

Education for Citizenship

I am from a village called Glenfield in Leicestershire. Glenfield is located to the West of the city centre and has a population of approximately 10,000 people (Leicester County Council, 2006). Glenfield’s local council is the Leicester County Council. The local MP for my constituency is the Labour MP Patricia Hewitt. As shown on the map, the Labour and the Conservative party both are responsible for 5 constituencies each. It clear that Conservative dominate as conservative is accountable for the larger districts.

I understand that this year the general election is to take place. There are many opinions on those who do not take part. Some people may see the ‘non-voters’ as people who do not care about the way in which the country or their district is run. Others may possibly just see the ‘non-voters’ as lazy.

I personally do not have an opinion on the ‘non-voters’ as this is my first year where I can legally vote and I am choosing to not take part. There are several reasons why, first of all I do not feel educated enough to make a precise decision on which political party I am in favour of as I am not fully aware of each party’s aims and visions. From what I do understand, each party seems to flaunt themselves in an over-exaggerated way to win votes. They make many promises to us that they are going to improve many things for example reduce tax, provide more money for education, create more jobs and so on. When it comes down to it, I personally feel these parties do not stick to their word 100% of the time.

Years ago, there were clear distinctions between the 3 main political parties but now a lot of their policies are very similar and people often vote for the ‘person’ they like rather than the party.

‘Voter turnout has declined in recent years due to apathy – where voters are not motivated to vote for any political party’ (Tutor2u, n.d). Tutor2u (n.d) explains how this may have been caused by false belief or people thinking there is little difference between one party to another. Tutor2u (n.d) also explains how people feel that politicians do not always listen and that one vote will make little difference to the outcome of who wins the election. I can agree with all the points the mentioned therefore I do not blame people for not taking part in the elections!

References

• Leicestershire County Council (2006) Leicestershire Small Area Population and Household Estimates 2001-2004 . http://www.leics.gov.uk/search.htm?qt=population+of+glenfield&col=all&flag= (16.03.10)

• Tutor2u (n.d) Voting Behaviour. http://tutor2u.net/sociology/power-voting-behaviour.html (16.03.10)

Is there a transport problem?

I’m not going to deny that the world, especially in MEDCs, have sustainable transport issues. In this day and age, technology has grown so rapidly it has gone beyond thinking about being sustainable.

Fifty years ago, a household would be lucky to own a car due to the expense of buying and running them. Nowadays, ‘The proportion of households in Great Britain with access to a car increased from 52 percent to 75 per cent between 1971 and 2007. Over the same period, the proportion of households without access to a car almost halved, from 48 per cent to 25 percent (National Statistics, 2009)’. Today it can be seen as “normal” for a household to own more than one car. National Statistics (2009) states that there has been an increase of 19 percent from 8 percent in 1971 to 27 percent in 2007 of households owning two cars, and an increase of 5 percent from 2 percent in 1971 to 7 percent in 2007 of households owning 3 cars.

These days, transport plays an important role in everyday life as people rely on it to get to work, to go shopping, to visit family, to go on holiday and so on. Without the use of cars, people would be limited to where they worked in relation to their home, how far away from family they may want to move. Although it is argued that people should be less reliant on cars and use public transport more often. By doing so, this will primarily cut down on the amount of greenhouse gases being emitted and will also reduce congestion.

It is in my opinion that despite the amount of harm cars are doing to the environment, cutting down on car use and replacing it with public transport is easier said than done. I can particularly relate this to myself as I have a car at university of which I use regularly as I travel home every weekend to work. The government continue to encourage more sustainable transport, especially walking, cycling and using buses if possible, yet not enough people are doing something about it. I find, just like a lot of other people, that the use of public transport is not as reliable as using your own car and can be much more time consuming. Public transport is not available as and when you need it compared to your car, for example; buses and trains only come at certain times and only go to certain destinations. If travelling a long distance and you took the train, you not only have to pay for the train but the transport to get you to and from the train stations as well, therefore it can work out much more costly.

The demand for fossil fuels is forever increasing, with prices constantly fluctuating dependent upon how much of the fossil fuels are available. If the demand for these fuels continues to increase, more people may resort to using alternative transport methods than their own car. I believe that if public transport was made cheaper and came on a more regular basis, people would end up preferring to use other methods of transport. Despite no major action being undertaken at the minute, I do agree that something has to be done about the use of cars in the long run. I am concerned about the depletion of fossil fuels, there is only so much time left until we completely exhaust our resources, and then where do we go from there?

References

National Statistics (2009) Car Access: More households than ever have a car [online] UK: National Statistics. Available from: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1770

Christmas is coming!

Cultural festivals, such as Christmas, are undoubtedly enjoyable and an important time for families and friends to relax together. Many have important religious significance. On the other hand, such events are often defined by excess and waste...lights, fireworks, over-packaging, excessive spending, over-eating and embarrassing self indulgence.

Christmas is a great time of year for people to enjoy celebrating and spending time together. For most people it is probably one of their most favourite times of year, being able to spend valuable time with family and friends, being able to enjoy festive foods and treat loved ones.
Despite Christmas being a fantastic time of year, it is very unsustainable. Year after year, 2 million tonnes of waste is created every Christmas. This includes wrapping paper, cards, food, Christmas trees, bottles and cans.

Christmas lights make the season feel much more festive and special. Some people feel it is not only important to have lights on their Christmas trees but feel the need to decorate their houses from top to bottom in all sorts of lights. As nice as it is to drive by these houses where hours of time have been spent to make them look as eye catching as possible, it is extremely unsustainable. All year people focus on keeping their electricity bills to a minimum due to the expense and for some people to cut down on pollution, yet as soon as it hits Christmas, the whole ‘energy saving’ scheme is thrown out the window and Christmas lights are kept on for hours on end, even when nobody is in the house.

I personally think that this time of year, a lot of people forget about being sustainable and use the season to let down their hair and put all their worries behind them. Even I find I am more unsustainable at this time of year, leaving the Christmas tree lights on for long periods of time just because it looks pretty and feels cosy. I also find myself over-packaging presents and not able to eat all I’ve put on my plate... my mother feeds me well at Christmas.

In a changed world, that was more sustainable, I think Christmas would be very hard and less enjoyable. I believe this because it is the Christmas lights, the amount of food we eat and the unwrapping of presents that make Christmas, Christmas. If we were to be more sustainable, presents wouldn’t be wrapped up, all Christmas trees would be fake, lights would have to be kept to a minimum, possibly allowing lights on Christmas trees but not on houses and lights should only be turned on in the evening and turned off before going to bed and so on. This would completely destroy the whole festivity of Christmas. As important as it is to be sustainable, for a lot of people being sustainable at Christmas isn’t possible. Christmas time is where people celebrate the birth of Christ and for those with children, bring them up believing in Santa Clause, neither celebrations would be possible if the cooking of vast amounts of food and the wrapping up of presents present’s were cut to a minimum. Christmas is the one time of year I look forward to more than anything, just like many other people and I feel people should be conscious about how sustainable they are being but I don’t think everyone should be that extreme it ruins their Christmas!

References
http://www.basingstoke.gov.uk/environment/sustain/christmas.htm

To what extent do the best selling UK newspapers cover stories related to serious issues? To what extent would you think that it is their role to do so? In your opinion, do the tabloid media and 'low budget entertainment' (reality shows, soaps) have too much power and influence in this country?

The UKs top 5 best selling newspapers (Jan 09):
1. The Sun
2. The Daily Mail
3. The Daily Mirror
4. The Daily Telegraph
5. The Daily Star


After looking at the cover stories for each of the above newspapers, in my opinion it is clear that the majority of them are not related to serious issues. The majority of the cover stories focus on on-goings in the celebrity world with articles on Jordan (Katie Price), the latest updates on X Factor and I’m a Celebrity get me out of here and articles on Cheryl Cole, all of which I believe tend to be greatly over-rated and unimportant in society.

The Sun, The Daily Mirror and The Daily Star all centre their cover stories on the celebrity world whereas The Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph use a combination of celebrity gossip and issues such as debt concerns and tax problems. I believe that it is extremely important for newspapers to concentrate on the more serious issues of today as it will not only make the public more aware of what’s going on in our world but will hopefully making people feel more concerned about these issues and will then want to learn more. Newspapers that prioritise celebrities in their main stories are giving readers unrealistic expectations and false impression of celebrity lifestyles which consequently is bad as the public look up to these celebrities and use them as role models.

It is in my opinion that the media these days do not focus on what is important in society but put this to one side and flaunt the latest celeb secrets. I believe that the media primarily focus on money making so instead of talking or writing about the serious matters that are happening in our world, the media chooses to talk about what the general public want to know or hear. I think that newspapers nowadays are in so much competition with one another to get people to purchase what they are publishing that they have resorted to trying to out-do one another by having the most gossip on their front pages pushing world matters aside. Celebrity gossip has no importance in our lives, yet it is their on-goings that I believe the general public can relate to the most, therefore they thrive off it.

I do believe that tabloid media and ‘low budget entertainment’ do have too much power and influence in this country. This is because I can relate this to myself. I often get distracted, reading the latest gossip on celebrities and TV entertainment rather than focusing on what really does matter in the world such as actions being undertaken by the Government, wars within other countries, worldwide development and much more. I believe people look up to and listen to the media as it is one of the main sources used to find out about the latest on-goings, therefore the media can have a strong influence on what people believe. I feel the media does provide a lot of false information to the public as I think it tends to live up to what the public want and expect.

To what extent do you think that it is your duty as a citizen to be 'informed'? Are you informed? How do you get to be informed about serious issues? To what extent do you think that you should leave the complicated decisions up to others?

I do believe that it is important as a citizen to be informed on how to be more sustainable as its important to preserve the environment for not only the people of today but for those of future generations too. I am to some extent informed on sustainable development but want to know more which is why I have chosen to study ‘Learning for Sustainable Development’. There are many people who say they feel they are informed on sustainable development but I believe people do not realise just how important a topic it is. It is my duty to be informed as it’s not just the responsibility of other people to try and preserve the earth, it is my responsibility too and I can’t emphasise enough on the fact we shouldn’t take every day living for granted.

Occasionally I’ll find myself flicking through a magazine or the newspaper but the main way in which I get informed about serious issues is by watching the news on the television, listening to the news on the radio and watching documentaries. I believe it is important to not only know about events and issues we are facing today but to also know what we are to expect in the future. If we are well educated on sustainable development so we know what impact we are having on earth and how we can reduce this impact in order to preserve the planet, I believe more people will ‘try’ and live more sustainable lifestyles. At the minute though, I do not feel enough is being done to get the message across. I feel that there are loads of worldwide debates on sustainable development, most of which many people don’t hear about. I feel that most of these debates never lead to any action being taken.

It is in my opinion that complicated decisions should be left to the Government to make because it is the Government who has the power to get people to listen and potentially do something about living more sustainably. It is the Government who has the knowledge of what is and isn’t affecting our planet, it is the Government which has the ability to find out more and make it known nationally and possibly even internationally. If the Government didn’t play a huge role in trying to combat and make people more aware of the matter, then I honestly don’t think we would take into account how unsustainable the planet currently is.

‘A sustainable society needs local and central government to lead the way by consuming differently, and by planning effectively and efficiently in order to integrate sustainable practices in the services it provides to citizens, and throughout its estates and workforce’ (Lidefjard, 2009).

Despite believing that the Government should be responsible for these big decisions, I feel it is our duty as citizens to listen and to try to do as much as we can to live our lives as sustainably as possible. It’s ok that we may all contribute to recycling and turning off electrical appliances when they’re not in use, but this is not living anywhere near as sustainably as we should be and we should be encouraged and be more informed of how to improve the sustainability of our lifestyles.

References:

Lidefjard, S. (2009) The Business Magazine for a Sustainable Government: Public Sector Sustainability Under Spotlight [online]. Martin Freedman. Available from: http://www.governmentsustainability.co.uk/content/view/141/28/

Al Gore (and the IPCC) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 (BBC 2007) largely for the production of the film 'An Inconvenient Truth'
The committee cited "their efforts to build up and disseminate knowledge about man-made climate change".

To what extent do you think this was deserved? Having watched this film in class did you feel that your opinion (or perhaps the opinion of others) to the issue of climate change could be positively influenced? What did you think of this film? Was it effective?

I believe that Al Gore deserved to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 as he had created an extremely comprehensive film that not only outlined the dramatic impact climate change is having on Earth but showed the evidence of where this is happening in many countries located all over the world. Al Gore wanted to gain a better and deeper understanding of the problems we are facing, so visited many areas around the world that are known to be suffering from global warming to see just how seriously they are being impacted. He has used his findings in his film to help explain in depth just how severe the matter is and has aimed at creating a greater awareness of the problem we are facing. It is his remarkable efforts and his devotedness on the topic that has allowed him to explain in greater detail than ever before the major issues we are currently experiencing, giving the people of today a much greater perception of how seriously the planet is suffering. Therefore I believe that Al Gore was more than worthy of winning the Nobel Peace Prize as no one has ever studied and gone into as much depth as he has to make clear how our everyday on goings are affecting the Earth at such a shocking rate.

I do feel that after watching the film, my opinion on climate change has been greatly affected. I knew that the effects of climate change were bad but didn’t have any realisation of just how bad it has got compared to a hundred years ago. After watching ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, I was overwhelmed at how significantly the Earth is being affected and to the rate at which it is being affected at. I feel that the film has positively influenced me as I would now like to do more to try and help reduce the rate at which climate change is affecting our planet. When Al Gore explained that in years to come the sea level will rise by 20ft and showed just how dreadful the effects on many countries will be, it has made me feel extremely conscious on how we are going to deal with the matter as it will have a devastating impact on millions of people’s lives. Learning that it’s not only humans that are being and going to be significantly affected but animals too, of which some may soon become extinct such as the polar bear due to the extreme rate the ice caps are melting at, I feel that not enough is being done and it shouldn’t take just one person, Al Gore, to get this message across.

I feel that Al Gore has managed to put across some very powerful and striking points that I believe will have hit home to many people. I believe that people nowadays have no concept of just how badly the Earth and its environment are suffering. It is in my opinion that people are unaware of how greatly they are contributing to the rise in climate change as they are taking their day to day actions for granted. Al Gore’s film gives a very detailed insight into the catastrophic effects the world is starting to experience of which I feel is extremely effective as he has expressed and explained a lot of very important and valuable information of how our lives are and will be affected if we continue to live the same!