This took months of discussion and planning, creating and navigating the partnership with the Eastbourne Borough Council, local community groups, councillors, businesses and activists – hundreds of emails and phone calls, but we did it! Eastbourne’s response to the Climate Emergency took off at the official launch of ECN2030 at the Welcome Building conference centre on Saturday 18th January.
Over 1,000 people walked through the doors. The entry was free so some visitors planned their visit especially and some just dropped in on the way to their daily business, the East Sussex College students were invited to help with photography and filming.
From stall to stall, from presentation to presentation local activists were revealing how our carbon footprint is created, how it affects us and what we must do now to avoid environmental disaster. What united all those people was one concern – what will become of our town in the face of the Climate Emergency and what we can do about it.
As a result of the event, the Eastbourne ECO Action Network has quadrupled the number of its members. All eight of its Working Groups are now formulating practical projects for our town designed to help reduce local carbon emissions – the message is definitely coming across.
Our initiatives include:
- Pledging by local businesses to join a four-tier programme to reduce carbon emissions
- Much more work on the planting of trees, hedges, green roofs, moss walls etc.
- Promoting healthier, greener streets
- Building a network across the education community – students, parents and staff
- Promoting greater energy efficiency in poorly insulated buildings
- Encouraging many more renewable energy installations
- Creating a community food store using local produce
- Campaigning for a better local network of safe walking and cycling paths, as well as better bus services, in order to help shift more people away from using cars
- Getting Eastbourne Park designated as a Local Nature Reserve
- Creating a Climate Adaptation Strategy to enable the town to cope with the impacts of climate change
And much, much more…
The Eastbourne ECO Action Network is always looking for more funding for its efforts, more volunteers to help it with its work, and more local businesses and community groups to partner with it. Join us or donate at our website: www.ecoactioneb.co.uk
Andrew Durling
ECO Action Network, Financial Director
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