A significant book The One Planet Life has been published that is being billed as a successor to John Seymour's 'Self Sufficiency', in that it comprehensively and practically tells people how to reduce their impact upon the environment. At the same time it is an appeal for governments and planners to have a new attitude to development, planning and land management to take into account the full environmental impact of human activities.
The One Planet Life demonstrates a path for everyone towards a way of life in which we don’t act as if we had more than one planet Earth. Much of the book is a manual – with examples – on how to live the 'good life' and reduce your impacts upon the environment to lower your 'ecological footprint'. The average UK citizen is unfortunately using more than three and a half times the amount of resources than the country can sustainably manage.
This book particularly examines the pioneering Welsh policy, One Planet Development but also considers efforts towards 'one planet' living in urban areas.
It contains detailed guides on: sustainable building, supplying your own food, generating renewable energy, reducing carbon emissions from travel, land management, water supply and waste treatment, plus 20 exemplary examples. It contains an introduction by former Welsh Environment Minister Jane Davidson, and a foreword from the co-founder of BioRegional and One Planet Living, Pooran Desai.
Author David Thorpe said: "The One Planet Life is perhaps the non-fiction book I was meant to write, the combination of everything I have learned, plus the collected wisdom of the scores of people I interviewed who are living the one planet life now. The book provides people with the tools to empower themselves and make their lives and the country as a whole more resilient.
"It's easy to give into a sense of fatalism when faced with climate change and other ecological challenges, but this book decisively shows how to take matters into your own hands."
Jane Davidson said: " Throughout this book you will read how those who have embraced this lifestyle fully feel liberated by their choice: they have reconnected with nature; they understand the seasons and where food comes from and the limitations of what can/cannot be grown or reared where they live; they can offer a different, more sustainable future to their offspring. Not everyone will want to take the great leap into the unknown, but all of us can use this book to help us demonstrate the principles of one planet living in one or more parts of our lives."
Pooran Desai said: "This thought-provoking book summarises some of the approaches which can help us on the journey - so please read, learn, practise and share. There are many already on the journey and we can, together, co-create a better future."
Quotes:
· "A wealth of practical detail" - Oliver Tickell, editor, The Ecologist magazine
· “Shows the journey to a new life.” – George Marshall
· "What it means to live a 'one-planet' lifestyle" – Prof Max Munday, Cardiff Business School
The One Planet Council, of which David is a patron along with Jane Davidson, is behind this title. Jane proposed and was responsible for the One Planet Development policy when she was Minister.
The One Planet Life by David Thorpe is an illustrated non-fiction guide published by Routledge (part of Taylor and Francis) on November 13 2014. 438pp, 382 full colour illustrations. Paperback: £26.99
See: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415738552/
Contribution by Jane Davidson
Can politics change anything? I believe it can. Following the referendum on the creation of the National Assembly for Wales in 1997, won with just 51% of the vote, slowly, quietly, the seed of an idea was sown. The idea was partly a response to a call from people across Wales that their new National Assembly for Wales should also be a new kind of political institution, taking into account future generations in its decisions rather than the usual short term political cycles. The seed took root, a campaign was developed and a partnership between non-governmental organisations such as RSPB and WWF, academics and MPs influenced the then Secretary of State for Wales, Ron Davies MP to introduce a clause into the first Government of Wales Bill 1998 that the National Assembly should set out how it proposed to promote sustainable development in the exercise of its functions where the goal of sustainable development is to “enable all people throughout the world to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life without compromising the quality of life of future generations” (1)
Such an approach was entirely novel and set Wales apart as one of only a very small number of nations across the world with such a distinctive statutory duty. Its potential was huge. The idea had all party support. The first Assembly Members elected in 1999 were a new political class who, for the first time in the UK, were being asked to actively enhance the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of people and communities not yet born to achieve a better quality of life for our own and future generations.
In the first ten years of the Assembly’s life, under this banner, a number of moves were made to create policies to achieve greater sustainability that were unique to Wales; in my own areas of responsibility over the years for example, we required the introduction of Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship (ESDGC) throughout the education system and funded schools to become eco-schools; we ramped up sustainability requirements for public buildings, we introduced more rigorous planning and energy efficiency requirements for sustainable homes; we introduced charging for carrier bags and legislated to increase recycling which has seen Wales coming from behind to outperform other parts of the UK.
We also encouraged others to create their own sustainable development policies and opportunities. Pembrokeshire County Council responded by introducing the radical ‘Policy 52’, the first of its kind, setting the context for permitting development in the countryside which contributes to the agenda of sustainable development. This was a really exciting move in a county that had been attracting pioneers for alternative land uses for decades including the eponymous John Seymour, whose name became synonymous with ‘self sufficiency’ from the publication of ‘the New Complete Book of Self-sufficiency’ in 1976 to The Self-sufficient Life and How to Live it’ in 2003; and whose message about the benefits of living such a life in north Pembrokeshire was taken to heart by thousands of current and future smallholders including me.
The planners were careful though. Policy 52 had a number of untried and untested conditions prior to granting planning approval for your low impact dwelling. Proof was required that there would be a positive contribution in terms of the environment, the use of resources, and a combination of social and economic benefits, and that the proposals would achieve a neutral or at least the lowest possible adverse impact. Eight criteria were set, all of which had to be met for a development to be permitted. In addition, applications needed to be accompanied by a management plan and applicants had to agree to the production of an annual monitoring report. Additional guidance spelt out the requirements for both including that 75% or more of basic household needs would be met by means of activities centred around the use of resources grown, reared or occurring naturally on the site. It was expected for this to be achieved within three years or in exceptional circumstances, five years. Clearly, not a policy for the fainthearted! There is a horrible irony that it should be so much harder and require so much more paper to submit an application to live lightly on the planet.
In June 2007, Lammas – a collective of families wanting to develop the first planned UK ecovillage -submitted its first planning application for nine family homes with eight acres each and a community hall in Glandwr in North Pembrokeshire, not far from where John Seymour had lived. The proposed village was to be on a south facing slope with water and woodland and was supported by the local farmer. The application was seen as highly controversial and given short thrift. A second planning application was submitted in May 2008 and received a similar fate. Undaunted, Lammas submitted a third application with a revised management plan in November 2008. This time, the council didn’t oppose it – just didn’t determine it. Watching it from afar through press and media reports, I was interested that a modest proposal for nine families to experiment with an alternative lifestyle on a site that could only be seen from distant hills was arousing such strong feelings.
Clearly, the Lammas proposal was testing new ground and in doing so also exposed a fundamental gap between the council’s aspirations in creating its Section 52 policy and its execution through the planning system. The council was happy to be seen to support to pioneer non-traditional ways of building and land-use management, on paper, but crumbled in the face of local opposition to those who wanted to turn that into practice. Somehow, in the furore, the fact that low impact dwellings would not only contribute towards a better future but also enable young people to have access to affordable housing with land in the countryside was lost.
Questions being asked in Pembrokeshire were also being asked of the Government. How serious was the Government in its approach to sustainable development? Did having a duty to promote sustainable development make Welsh Government policies any different? After all, in 2005, all parts of the UK had signed up to a shared statement on sustainable development. There were challenges as to whether making such changes in Wales would impact negatively on our global competitiveness – or why do it anyway when the impact of Wales is too small in global terms to make a difference. From 2008, these questions were gathering pace and in May 2009, they were answered with the publication of “One Wales One Planet” which laid out a government vision of putting sustainable development at the epicentre of government and encouraged others to embrace sustainable development as their central organising principle. ‘One Wales One Planet’ aimed to give people the confidence to be imaginative; to provide the strong sense of purpose and direction necessary to deliver real and lasting changes to transform people’s lives all over Wales.
The vision of a more sustainable Wales is one where Wales (2)
· lives within its environmental limits, using only its fair share of the earth’s resources so that our ecological footprint is reduced to the global average availability of resources, and we are resilient to the impacts of climate change;
· has healthy, biologically diverse and productive ecosystems that are managed sustainably;
· has a resilient and sustainable economy that is able to develop whilst stabilising, then reducing, its use of natural resources and reducing its contribution to climate change;
· has communities which are safe, sustainable, and attractive places for people to live and work, where people have access to services, and enjoy good health;
· is a fair, just and bilingual nation, in which citizens of all ages and backgrounds are empowered to determine their own lives, shape their communities and achieve their full potential.
The intention was to ensure that within the lifetime of a generation, ie, by the middle of the century, Wales would be using only its fair share of the earth’s resources, approximately 1.88 global hectares per person as measured by ecological footprinting. This would require radical lifestyle change, but if there was support for the direction of travel, there arehuge community and economic benefits to be had. Even so, the challenge is awesome. To achieve this goal over a generation, ie by 2050, there will need to be a reduction by at least two thirds of the total resources we currently use to sustain our lifestyles. In energy, this means a 80-90% reduction in our use of carbon-based energy over 40 years, resulting in a similar reduction in our greenhouse gas emissions; all new buildings will need to be zero carbon buildings; electricity should be produced from renewable sources; we will need to become a zero waste nation, to live and work in ways in ways which have a much stronger connection with our local economies and communities; to source more of our food locally and in season; to manage ecosystems sustainably and do all of the above in ways which make us a fairer society. In other words, to be a ‘One Planet Society’.
The Cabinet – the One Wales coalition between Labour and Plaid Cymru - signed up to the vision unanimously and the Rt Hon Rhodri Morgan AM, the redoubtable First Minister of Wales said, (3)
“I want a Wales fit for generations to come… What motivates me is doing my best to ensure a brighter more sustainable future for my grandchildren and their grandchildren and every other child growing up in Wales today. Top of the list of our priorities which will continue to improve the quality of life for people today and in the future is sustainability.”
2009 was an optimistic time. 17 years on from the first Rio conference in 1992, European leaders were preparing to make key commitments on emission reduction. Climate change legislation had been introduced in the UK. World powers were due to meet in Copenhagen in December 2009 to ratify a global treaty to bring down carbon emissions. The cross-party, cross-sector Climate Change Commission in Wales wrote a vision of what a sustainable Wales would look like (4) – to make it clear that although there were huge changes in our individual and community behaviour that would be needed to deliver a more sustainable Wales; that the changes could be planned for over the next four decades and would lead to more positive, safe and resilient communities in Wales and would contribute towards Wales being seen as a leader of small nations and regions in Europe and further afield.
What a sustainable Wales would look like
“Across society there is recognition of the need to live sustainably and reduce our carbon footprint. People understand how they can contribute to a low carbon low waste society and what other sectors are doing to help. These issues are formally embedded in the curriculum and workplace training. People are taking action to reduce resource use, energy use and waste. They are more strongly focused on environmental, social and economic responsibility and on local quality of life issues and there is less emphasis on consumerism. Participation and transparency are key principles of Government at every level and individuals have become stewards of natural resources.”
In July 2009, in line with ‘One Wales One Planet’, the Welsh Assembly Government changed its planning guidance for rural areas in a draft revised Technical Advice Note (TAN) 6: “Agricultural and Rural Development” and proposed new ‘One Planet Developments’ based largely on the Policy 52 policy that had been unique to Pembrokeshire. Planning decision-making processes rely on custom and practice about what is acceptable in local areas over many years. Having seen the difficulties in Pembrokeshire over the previous two years in delivering on a novel policy, the government decided that making such a policy national – ie across the whole of Wales - would normalise it and would encourage a range of One Planet Developments across Wales that would have local characteristics reflecting local circumstances, but would be part of a bigger government vision to encourage a national debate about low impact lives. From the government perspective, this was about a clear direction of travel – all future buildings and lifestyles should be low impact and the pioneers of low carbon, low ecological footprint lifestyles now should be supported and encouraged as they forged a way forward that would help others learn lessons in their wake and demonstrate positive responses to our ecological and carbon challenges.
Following the publication of the consultation document, the appeal by Lammas against Pembrokeshire County Council’s non determination of their 21 November 2008 planning application was heard by the Planning Inspectorate on 27th August 2009 and allowed. The UK’s first planned eco-village was born. It had not been an easy birth. The application in the end had taken a wheelbarrow load of paper submissions, three planning applications and significant bureaucratic and other opposition. Only the dogged determination of the applicants to be prepared to revisit and rewrite the thousands of pages of their application and their commitment to win support for their initiative using the planning system prior to development rather than retrospectively saw them through. This is not how pioneers of a healthier, less wealthy lifestyle should be treated by those who profess to want to deliver the same outcomes.
Although there is always an inherent danger of using the experience of the particular to inform a more general policy, Lammas’ successful appeal meant that in my role as Planning Minister, I could now meet for the first time those who had been involved in the Lammas application and understand the key planning issues from their perspective prior to our introducing the new TAN 6 planning policy following the consultation. It was an interesting first meeting. I am a passionate believer in not allowing unfettered development in the countryside and using the planning system to develop and maintain strong rural communities. So were the Lammas applicants. I am a passionate believer in creating an effective and fair planning system that is responsive to ecological challenges and encourages innovation. So were the Lammas applicants. I am also fully aware that if we want more people to live more sustainable lifestyles, governments need to make that the norm.
From my perspective, the idea of national planning guidance supporting One Planet Developments was not to build ‘hobbit houses’ across Wales but for builders and developers to be experimental with local materials. There is nothing to stop a One Planet Development looking like any other house built from local materials as you will see in the exemplars described in this book. Only last year, ‘Ty Solar (Solar House) was built as a demonstration house, again in north Pembrokeshire out of local wood according to Welsh space standards for social housing. Slowly, and I hope surely, the revolution is starting. There are still major challenges; despite the policy being in place since 2010, most applications are still being turned down; the interface between planning and building regulations for low impact developments needs to be resolved as does insurance for non-traditional buildings in the age of the computer-programmed insurance market. But these issues are solvable. The Welsh Government’s higher environmental standards are already paying off in terms of public buildings. The big challenge now is to ensure that those who want to be the pioneers of ‘one planet living’ are given a fair wind and that their planning applications are of the highest possible standard taking into account all the relevant issues.
This book should be read by planners, by policy makers and by applicants. You will be challenged, but you will also be helped to make the best possible planning application to live lightly on the land. There is an increasing amount of support out there. The Lammas website is a huge resource for anyone wanting to go on this journey. A new One Planet Council, made up of those who want to support and promote One Planet Developments is being established as I write. I believe that One Planet Developments provide a way for people to live with genuinely sustainable social, economic and environmental benefits, supporting affordable housing, self-employment and greater productivity on agricultural land. Because they are quantified by ecological footprinting, (which shows how much of the Earth's resources people are consuming) when households reduce their own ecological footprints this helps their country reduce its overall footprint. The new One Planet Council aims to support those who are making the transition to this more sustainable way of life by providing guidance and tools working together with all those with an interest in One Planet Developments: local planning authorities, policy makers, academics, landowners, and those already living on and planning to live on such sites.
The seed that was planted in 1998 with promoting sustainable development being part of the Government of Wales Act has been dormant for a decade. Now with the help of those who have believed in living in the future, it is time for a thousand flowers to bloom. Good luck!