I sent this letter today to the Central Somerset Gazette.
Dear Somerset County Council
Right now, world leaders are meeting to try to organise a more
sustainable future for everyone. Only time will tell whether their
plans will succeed, but there is a general acceptance that "business
as usual" cannot continue. The interconnected ''Three E's" of
environment, energy and economy are becoming increasingly unstable
with potentially grave consequences for all of us - especially in
relation to where our food comes from.
Apparently Somerset County Council have decided to go against this
general trend and are threatening to axe many sustainability projects.
These include the Somerset Landscape Scheme, which provides grants to
farmers and landowners to help conserve and restore our landscape, and
renewable energy generation in schools and elsewhere, which also serve
to raise awareness of sustainable energy use.
Far more serious than this is the apparent plan to sell off all our
County Farms, which provide opportunities for people to learn about
farming and growing food. Since there are 60 farms of about 7200 acres
in all, it's a tempting economic asset - but selling them off will
deprive our communities of the the very opportunities we need to meet
the challenges of an uncertain future. As energy prices rise alongside
world food demand, we will probably need to grow more of our own food,
closer to where it's eaten and the County Farms are too valuable an
asset to sell in order to plug a short-term fiscal problem.
All these projects are aimed towards sustainability, which really
means securing a decent future for ourselves and our children. It's
obvious: cutting them back and selling them off is, in the long term,
unsustainable.
What irony that these plans have been hatched by an administration
which calls itself Conservative. With a name like that, one could be
forgiven for believing that issues of conservation and sustainability
would be close to their hearts.
I bet the letters editor is getting tired of me. I've written quite a few recently.
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