Animals and the environment

Excellent Development

Transforming environmental sustainability in Kenya

For years Esther used to travel four hours a day to participate in an agricultural self-help project for her Kenyan community. This would be once a week for most of the year. But during bigger projects like dam building it would be six or seven days a week for up to a month. However, her hard work has paid off, she says. During the last 20 years she has learnt about conserving water, keeping better breeds of animals and planting trees. She used to get water from up to 10km away. Now it’s no longer than a kilometre walk as she dug a well near her home.

This is one of the results of the first community self-help group set up by Simon Maddrell, who visited the area as a venture scout in 1984, and Kenyan farmer Joshua Mukusya. After taking voluntary redundancy in 2002 Maddrell decided to commit to the work full time and created Excellent Development, which enables disadvantaged rural communities in semi-arid Africa to transform their environment sustainably and to improve water supplies, food production, health and incomes.

To date, the charity has helped 47 poor communities in Kenya to plant almost half a million trees, build 155 dams and dig over 640km of terraces. Small sand dams in seasonal river-beds are the most cost effective way known of conserving water and the charity aims to enable communities to build and maintain these dams.

And when the community work is jeopardised, the charity strives to support it. During the Kenyan drought in 2006 hard-up villagers had to travel long distances to find work for food instead of investing in the community. To stop this, Excellent Development set up a temporary programme supported by the Canadian Food and Grains Bank, which donated maize and beans so farmers could be paid food for participating in projects in the difficult periods instead of working for free.

Simon Maddrell
Executive Director
Studio 61
The Market Building
195 High Street
Brentford
TW8 8LB
020 8232 9050
www.excellentdevelopment.com
Reg no. 1094478

Arcola Theatre

Building a carbon neutral theatre

When the Arcola Theatre in London’s East End launched its Arcola Energy project in June 2007, the idea of an environmentally sustainable theatre seemed impossible. But Arcola’s reputation for staging some of the most imaginative reinterpretations of modern classics made the theatre industry take note.

In just twelve months, Arcola Energy has: partnered with two innovative young companies to stage the first ecologically sustainable play; installed a hydrogen fuel cell to power show lighting, foyer and bar and integrated sustainability in to its youth and community activities.

The creation of a new space – the Energy Incubator – to host cutting edge sustainable technology companies, marks the latest stages of a project that has radically re-imagined what Arcola can be and set challenging precedents for the creative sector to follow.
 
Arcola Energy is about more than just what the theatre can do to minimise its environmental impact. It’s a vision statement for a sustainable future, and is just as concerned with communicating low-carbon lifestyle choices to the theatre’s practitioners and audiences as with finding new ways to reduce theatre’s ecological footprint.

A key message fro Arcola Theatre is that sustainability can be achieved without compromising artistic integrity. The first 2 shows to be staged considering sustainability were The Living Unknown Solider which won Time Out’s Critics’ Choice and An Enemy of the People which gained 4 and 5 star reviews across the national press.

Dr Ben Todd, Executive Director of Arcola Theatre and lead for Arcola Energy, says: “Arcola Energy is an integral part of Arcola’s vision for the 21st Century arts organisation – one which embraces sustainability in the environmental, social, and financial senses to deliver exceptional arts for the widest possible audience”

 

Michael Harris
General manager
27 Arcola Street
London
E8 2DJ
020 7503 1645
www.arcolatheatre.com
Reg no. 1108613

Peterborough Environment City Trust

Changing environmental attitudes in Peterborough

Peterborough’s population is growing rapidly and whole new townships are springing up. By working with these new communities Peterborough’s Environment City Trust (PECT) hopes to encourage and develop sustainable behaviour for the future.

Seeding Sustainable Communities was a three year pilot project costing £324,745, which encouraged sustainable living and community cohesion in Peterborough’s largest ongoing housing development - Hamptons Township.

To kick start the pilot, project officers visited 950 homes and carried out a community survey questionnaire to gain an understanding of existing environmental attitudes and behaviour. Officers also provided each home with an environmental welcome pack which had tailored environmental goods, advice and community information.

The results from the survey fed into a range of community workshops and events which gave advice on issues such as home composting, allotment management, water saving, energy efficiency, reducing food miles and doing nature walks.

PECT carried out a follow up survey with 30 per cent of participating households three months later to gauge the impact of the project. Of these, 100 per cent said they had made at least one long-term change towards a more sustainable life.

The project also brought wider benefits for the community. It has established a local farmers’ market and instigated an annual apple day linked to the creation of a community orchard. Volunteers at risk of being excluded from employment as a result of poor mental health got invaluable work experience from the project through assisting with administration and home visits.

Hugh Cripps, PECT chief executive, says: “It’s been exciting working in new growth areas and we are working on getting more funding to carry on. We also want to see this rolled out in areas of deprivation.”

The next phase of the project will be to provide the service to growth area communities across the UK.

Hugh Cripps
Chief executive
The Green House
4-6 Cowgate
Peterborough
PE1 1NA
01733 567 411
www.pect.net
Reg no. 1023929

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