Sustainable Brampton: Lessons from Rural Cumbria

1

SustainingBrampton: Social Ecumenism as Practised in an Era of Climate Change.

Lessons from Rural Cumbria

Revd Geoff Smith and Revd John Smith.

Future Prospects.

By New Years Day 2101 humanity will have survived the worst of global warming, higher temperatures and sea levels, intense droughts and storms and has somehow succeeded in stabilising the Earth’s climate below a rise of 20. Atmospheric gas concentrations have peaked between 450ppmvand are declining, global temperatures are returning to their pre-warming levels, the natural world is healing and the international social contract finally agreed in 2011 held. Humanity, though lower in numbers and living sustainably, is, as a whole, better fed, healthier and more prosperous.Human beings have managed to save a world threatened by a catastrophe of their own making. A more secure, stable world, growing strongly, with a safe natural environment and with less poverty. A world acting together. Worldwatch Institute.State of the World, 2009.

Can this be achieved? There is no alternative but to ‘try it.’ (Limits to Growth; The Thirty year Update. 2005)

Alternatively

It is unlikely that any global agreement will radically reverse the emission trends required for stabilisation at 450ppmv( 20C)… an optimistic interpretation suggests that stabilization at much below650ppmv CO2 (40C) is improbable.Anderson and Bows, Reframing the Climate Change Challenge… Roy Soc, 2008.

TheChristian Basis

Christ came to restore broken relationships. Thisdivine response to the human condition opens up the possibilityof our committing ourselves to living authentic lives in authentic communities.

Christ came to share, he left us with the simple instruction to break bread and spill wine 'in remembrance'. This spills powerfully over into a human ethic for shared living; for the disciples, the 'common purse, for Peter and Paul the claims of the JerusalemChurch on the wealth of the new churches in Asia Minor, the parables of the loaves and fishes and the Samaritan’s ‘neighbour’.

For men and women in Christian and human social communities, sharing means sustainability. We share creation, as Aldo Leopold describes, not only with previous and future generations but with animals and plants, the very Earth herself. Humanity, we believe, hasa God given responsibility to restore and sustain theintegrity of creation.

Yet everywhere the detritus of over consumption threatens to overwhelm our society and the planet, from the carbon dioxide of our energy wasting lifestyle to the plastic, packaging, flotsam and rubbish. It is no longer possible to sail the seas, walk the shoreline, a country lane or a footpath through fields without being confronted with the mounting rubbish that is accumulating with the attendant threat to wildlife. This sheer unsightliness is a constant reminder of the dis-respect that human beings show each other and the created order as litter is tossed from cars and thrown away without regard for the environment or the consequences.

Responsible stewardship is a challenge arising from the requirement to share. As food production is reduced and agribusiness becomes less productive, farmers acquire a responsibility for the management of the environment. But the environment we inhabit is not natural, it is the creation of generations of land managers who havefelled and planted, raised livestock, cultivated, ploughed, scattered and harvested. Stewardship in this ‘New Age’ becomes a central plank to ensure sustainability over the long term.

Christ came in human form to live as a neighbour in community. Hetook part in local community life,attended weddings, enjoyed a drink (at least ensured that others did) visited his friends families, cared for those around him and with whom he made community. He scandalised leaders by hanging out with the wrong sort and his radical new message and shocking ways found favour with the poor, the slaves, the dispossessed and those who needed healing. The gospel was gossiped around the Middle East, whispered by the slave girl into her mistress’s ear as she combed her hair at night or in the market as she shopped and at the doorstep as she greeted her friends.

For Christians and for thechurch this may well mean re-acquiring the habits of traditional approaches to ministry i.e. visiting, trusting, being, hanging around, drinking in the local pub, meeting people where they are in context. In the countryside pastoral work is best done over gates, and in lambing sheds and milking parlours, whilst walking the dogs. This means working in community with organisations that are not church. Christians need to be inclusive not exclusive. There should be no false dichotomy between faith, life and work. Lives should not be compartmentalised. We are called to make community.

Situations and Forecasts.

West and East are in denial. The psychology of continued consumption and growth lies at the heart of our economy. Even in a credit crunch when people are beginning to realise that houses are for making a home in rather than an investment, when inflation is falling through the floor of recession into the cellar of depression, politicians are still trying to stimulate growth. Suggesting that we can address the problems arising from overproduction, limited resources, unregulated investment, the desire for cheap food and cheaper clothing and exploitation of third world economies by employing exactly the same strategies that have failed us in the past is simply false.

Ahead of contemporary humanity lie the icebergs of climate change, overpopulation, food shortages and more financial crunches as the industrialised nations struggle to spend their way out of recession.Peak oil and other shortages are forecast worsened by growing demands for energy and food in China and India and the increasing strangle hold of the USSR as Middle Eastern producers limit the supply of oil and gas to the West. Coal is still being dug and burned, with continuing CO2 contamination, but nuclear is being developed. Increased activityin the new economies will increase the damage of climate change and ozone depletion, with an accompanying increase in the risk of old and new pandemics, as diseases cross the warming climate zones of the continents. Economic growth which depends on the Earth’s materials is no longer possible. A recent report by the WWF suggests that we are globally using the resources of one and half planets. Such profligacy is not sustainable.

Alongside these developments we see other signs that all is not well as we consider the impact of human activity on the world’s oceans and the environment generally. Fisheries and agriculture continue to collapse, foot and mouth and blue tongue are endemic in animal populations and grain production is under threat. Economies as we have known them cannot continue. Business As Usual (BAU) is no longer an option.

Large swathes of Africa, that once rich continent, are now unable to feed their children and death stalks the land despite the millennium goals. Add to this the global increase in human population. Water and food shortages are being routinely experienced as droppingwater tables are over used, often for First World luxuries. We can see that the prospects of future generations, to whom current generations should be indebted, are not good.

Despite evidence and warnings we deny that the crisisis complex. The head in the sand attitude is that there are no problems that we cannot deal with, or a future, solved with not yet invented technologies. Human beings are problem solvers, but today science is identifying challenges that politiciansand societies areignoring and not solving for many solutions need radical changes in lifestyles and not advances in technology.

Communities however are responding.

Community and the Common Good.

'The common good' is a spiritual desire under God and a practical response to the economic, social and spiritual challenges of these times. Whether our perspective is urban or rural it is clear that,in the present financial crisis,the economy and economics continue to be central to human well-being. Whether we view the countryside as the'food producing' part of the economy or see the countryside as the gardenin the 'global city' a place for soul refreshment, relaxation and recreation, or as an improved lifestyle choice, it is increasingly necessary for us to struggle theologically, ethically and philosophically withglobalisation and the soil on which we depend.

The'common good' is so much more than an equitableideal; it represents the greatest possible good for the greatest possible number of people not only in the local context of our village or town or community but in the broadest global context. Prosperity without growth is possible, perhaps even essential according to research by the Sustainable Development Commissionand others.

By any definitionthe 'common good' describesa quality which is the mark and sign of an equitable,fair, just, trusting, civilised and ultimately peaceful society.

In rural communities churches need to recognise that the influx of off-comers and those making lifestyle choices should not be regarded as folk opting out of inauthentic urban living but folk opting into the life of authentic communities. There should be an encouragement and celebration of the commitment, diversity, energyand talentsuch people bring.

Rural communities can be proud of the qualityof life they enjoy, with neighbourliness a high priority and low levels of crime and aggression. Kindness as a virtue of neighbourliness cannot be overstated. People move out from the City to achieve and benefit from these ideals and should be welcomed in their search for authentic living close to the soil.

However, impatience and frustration should also be recognised, there is nothing gained if such results in commuter frustration, with aggression directed at walkers, tractors, animal movement and smells. There is little to be gained if the incomer imports the urban prejudicesthey are seeking to escape or destroys the rural economy through such attitudes. Rural life touches the sacredness of the land.

It is inevitable that the price paid by rural communities is an increased carbon footprint, higher mileages and fuel costs, often larger vehicles and 4x4's. Increased travel, whether the school-run, the office, the shop, entertainment each separate activity will increase the carbon footprint and require that as part of seeking the 'common good' ways of carbon off-setting will need to be introduced,nevertheless rural institutions such as bus routes, schools, shops, post offices, churches and chapels continue to close. The 'common good' is served and achieved when people learn to make community.The value of this should be recognised and financially encouraged.

Rural Life and Good Food.

Farmers farm because they want to make a living and generate profits for future investment in their businesses. However because farming is seen as a way of life many farms, especially subsidised hill farms, can not be called profitable, because the economic time/ energy ratio can never make sense. Farming is a craft on which good food depends. Organic farming is seen as a practical ethic where the fertility of the soil is sustained.

Nevertheless British farms do produce a percentage of our food at a time when shortages are forecast. Growing food is not replaceable by other economic opportunities such as manufacturing, tourism or golf courses. This is not to deny that diversification is important for farm incomes, but economic diversity should always be secondary to quality food production which should be ‘ fairly traded’, that is that the farmer should get a ‘fair’ return and be able to make a fair living by caring for the vital fertility and productivity of the land.

Given an increasing population, there is a need for enough good food to be grown. This can not be achieved alone by maximising agricultural output,but by changing to sustainable diets, introducing a more sustainable agriculture and even a return to farm subsidy.

However in our example of Sustainable Brampton there is a focus on three initiatives which are seen to have long term community value. First, the development of allotments locally, using current legislation.Second,the development of a locally owned and managed community market garden or some way manage to grow and market local food for local people. Third, generation of the community’s own electricity

This may not seem much when the world population, now over 6 billion, is estimated to rise 9 billion within the next forty years. With current diets requiring such a high meat content the prospect of feeding that number is unlikely to be achieved without changing to a low meat diet and farming fewer flatulent herbivores. On the high fells around Brampton specialist meats are bred and sold directly.

Given the need to adapt agriculture to human dietary needs of between two thousand and twothousand five hundred calories daily, it is possible to provide a tasty, healthy diet by reducing the amount of meat we eat and increase the vegetarian content.There is a land ethic that we need to observe if we are to maintain the fertility of our soils, the quality of our animals and recognise that caring for the soil, with all its biodiversity, not necessarily using exclusive organic principles, is a vital skill for the human future.

The most efficient way of providing this is to return to the small to medium local farm employing a mix of arable, meat and animal products such as cheese and milk with reduced animal husbandry and the sustainable tilling of the soil, not excluding fisheries.

For the high fell farms, in the north of England and in the Scottish highlands, this will not be possible. It will need to be largely stock rearing, but specialist animals, bred over generations for these environments like Hebridean sheep and Highland cattle, when well cared for, grow good and very tasty food. Local economies can reject oil based plastic man made clothing and return to wool as a basic textile or for insulation.

Such a change in agriculture, especially the reduced dependence on oil based machinery will require more people to be employed in the countryside, whether on market gardens or farms. Alternatively many farms are now growing energy crops or oil seed for use in diesel engines , as in the USA. Humanity has at a time of food shortages transport competing with food.

But if changes are made there will be an increase in rural populations and the viability of rural services such as housing, schools, post offices, shops, pubs and of course the church. With an increase in population rural communities will strengthen not only economically.

If over the next generation there could be a shift toward locally produced seasonal food, agriculture weaned of its dependence on fossil fuels, a farming which does not inflict suffering on livestock and a healthy low meat diet offering sufficiency rather than excess and a gourmet cooking that has enough calories. A prosperous local agriculture could return to its essential role as key food producer for local communities, with the rich regional and seasonal variations, once associated withBritish agriculture being restored. Rural life could returned to working, economically viable, local communities whose economic priority is growing food.

Sustainable Brampton.

The genesis of Sustainable Brampton (SB) lay in the work of an ecumenical Justice and Peace Group, who recognised the importance of the macro issues as they impacted on the local community and took up the notion of Eco-Communities, promoted by a small group of concerned individuals and institutions, among them the churches in Cumbria. The County Council provided pump priming funds of £1000 for five initiatives. SB was one of them.

SB began as a partnership between secular and religious groups within this small market town on the northern fell side on the western slopes of the Pennines nine miles from Carlisle.

The town has historically been a farming community with most farms offering a combination of arable and livestock. Cattle and lambs are taken to market in Carlisle or Longtown where they are sold on for fattening although some specialist meats are sold directly through the weekly Farmer’s Market.

Farming is still the main business of this area, but the community has changed dramatically over the years with new residentsmoving into the area. There is now a large retired population,alongside commuters drawn by the success of the large secondary school,a cottage hospital, a large medical practice and the development of small businesses.Small supermarkets, antique shops, galleries and cafes cater for the Hadrian’s Wall tourist trade. The local economy is stimulated through a recently established Chamber of Trade.

First of all, in 2005, the J&P Group called a public meeting including representatives from the vital and active Brampton Community Centre and a local organic farmer. This first meeting, funded by a vital but small County Council grant, drew upa committee and Action Groups: Transport, Food, Energy, Waste, and Reaching Out.