Where’s the green in the Big Society? I don’t mean money – clearly there’s not much of that around – but sustainability.
David Cameron’s speech on the Big Society in Liverpool on Monday contained no mention of carbon, or of sustainable communities. But community wind farms, shared allotments and energy efficiency organisations like Peckham Power (who Green Alliance recently met) are all great contenders for creating more community action and cohesion.
And if the government is to meet its carbon reduction targets and live up to the title of “greenest government ever”, then it’s crucial that the big society becomes the big green society.
This is especially true since the energy we use in our homes is responsible for around a quarter of UK carbon emissions, and action through groups and communities could be one of the most promising ways of bringing about behaviour change.
We’ll be holding events at all three political party conferences this year exploring the idea of a big green society, as well as looking into it in our Third Sector theme.
