While we despair at the pollution in our cities, the residents of a small Cheshire village have quietly been getting on with becoming the first carbon neutral community in Britain.
The 1,000 or so inhabitants of Ashton Hayes have come up with a host of measures to reduce their collective carbon footprint.
The village school for instance has been fitted with a solar panel, which enables the caretaker to wash the floors with water heated by the sun. The school also soon hopes to install a wind turbine.
The project set up in the area by the local parish council has seen interest spread throughout the village, with even their non-league football team and local boozer, The Golden Lion, getting involved. There are also plans in place to build an experimental micro-grid for the village, powered by bio-fuel or woodchips.
Project organiser Garry Charnock’s pioneering work was inspired by a Greenpeace debate he attended at the Hay Festival.
“People might have been afraid to start taking action on their own, fearful of being seen as cranky,” said Charnock, “But when the whole community has a go, it becomes a team effort. The point is that this has to be fun.”
Click here for more information
