Transition Earlham North - 23 August

This was an interesting evening based on Low Carbon Holidays. After our shared meal we propped open the laptop and looked at websites that we hoped were going to be useful and informative. There are plenty of sites out there offering eco holidays. These ranged from international couch surfing for a few pennies per night to really expensive eco units on sustainable sites.

But we quickly realised it wasn't low cost holidays we were looking for but low carbon. How easy to become distracted from the real subject.Whatever sites we looked at the question we consistently asked ourselves was.."and how do we get to this place without creating an enormous carbon footprint."So we looked for guidance on the CarbonCounted.co.uk site to understand the transport.Walking and cycling holidays in our own county in terms of low carbon travel from A to B, is obviously the best.

Going further afield however it seems that hitch hiking with a friend, or packing a car full of people, or taking bikes on a train or taking a slow ferry are the next lowest options. Interestingly the website explains that taking longhaul flights and then staying for a long time at the destination can be considered as quite 'low carbon'. Next we looked at low carbon places to stay.Renting a cottage and doing our own self catering means we can control the rate of water and fuel use. House exchanges were discussed especially where we visit a foreign country not a a tourist but with a purpose to work on a project there or help to teach English. We found this idea very appealing.EcoEscape, British Trust for Conservation Volunteers , Youth Hostelling and International Youth Hostelling. 'A Rocha' and 'Servas' were all considered. Many of these organisations actively nurture and promote peace through cooperation at grass roots level between people of different nationalities. (Diana Church/TCEN)

Transition North's next meeting is at Lucinda Smyth's house. Monday 23rd August. 6.30 pm. Bring food to share. The subject we agreed we would like to discuss is water conservation.