Portobello Energy Descent and Land Reform Group

What is PEDAL?

We are a Portobello, Edinburgh based, community run, environmental group.

We believe that Portobello can and should re-localise. This means, for example: growing more of our food; generating our own energy; creating a wider range of jobs close to home, finding ways to get to ‘zero waste’… We’ll all get more out of living here — and help the planet at the same time. Rather than hoping that governments might act in time, we are working now to re-localise, and to help other communities do the same.

We believe that the huge wave of communities becoming Transition Towns, Going Carbon Neutral, making Community Buy Outs, kicking out plastic bags or getting more local food bought and sold, are showing that people have had enough of the way we've been doing things — and that there is another way — or lots of them! The huge challenges of Climate Change and Peak Oil have galvanised people into action, and we have huge potential to make a fundamental difference to how we live in a way that government so far has not managed, and individuals on their own often feel is beyond them.

We started the process of working towards becoming a Transition Town in 2005, just as our community was celebrating its victory in a long battle against the Superstore. Inspired by Rob Hopkins’ description of the work done by his permaculture students in Kinsale, Ireland, we decided that we were ready to follow their example and develop our own Energy Descent Action Plan (EDAP) and to begin to take steps to implement it. We’ve gone some way towards this; learned a great deal; run several public events; and have two energetic groups (Food and Land Reform) with projects on the go up and running. Clearly there’s plenty more to be done, but we feel that we’ve made a great start, have inspired other communities in our turn, and you are welcome to join us.

This last year’s successes have included:

• Porty Shopper bag (think global, buy local) for a plastic-bag-free-Porty;
• Kids Bike Parade and Car Free day 2007 events;
• Inspiring a range of similar initiatives across Scotland resulting in the
• Setting up of an organisation to support communities trying to make the transition to sustainable living (www.transitionscotland.org);
• Local Food Stall at POD Party (proceeds to the community orchard)

…and planning, planning, planning ! ! !

1. Orchard: moving ahead with creating the community orchard,
2. Café/ social space: plans for buying and running a community owned social space to help regenerate the local economy (we are doing a feasibility study for this, so let us know what you think Porty needs! Email or come to one of the Focus Groups or Open Space)
3. Energy Descent: major bid to secure funding to develop our energy decent plan into an ambitious application to the new Community Climate Challenge fund, with the aim of setting up a range of initiatives to make a serious hole in Porty’s CO₂ emissions. 

Page last updated: Thursday, August 28, 2008