Torfaen Sustainability Week officially launched with conference

Torfaen council's first ever sustainability conference has been hailed a success.

Held on Monday 12 October at Greenmeadow Community Farm, the conference was hosted by council leader Bob Wellington, in his role as sustainable development champion, and was the key event of Torfaen Sustainability Week.

The aim of the first ever Torfaen Sustainability Week (10-16 October) is to encourage people to live their lives in a more sustainable fashion.

The motto of the week is 'Changing by Degrees', which shows how, by making minor adjustments to the way people live, everyone can help reduce consumption of the earth's resources and atmospheric emissions.

The message - help us create a cleaner, greener future for everyone.

Entitled Changing by Degrees, the conference featured talks from councillor Bob Wellington, Jane Davidson AM, Nic Marks (New Economics Foundation) and Dr Alan Netherwood (WLGA).

Councillor Wellington said: "Torfaen's first ever sustainability conference was a massive success and it is hoped that it will now become an annual event.

"The attendees enjoyed a series of entertaining, thought-provoking and educational talks about the environment, which I hope inspired them to promote sustainable living to everyone they know.

"By changing our lifestyles by small degrees, we can make a substantial impact on our sustainability and help protect the environment for generations to come."

The conference had four themes - schools, business, public and council staff - and initiatives for each were announced by councillor Wellington.

The first of these was an appeal for sustainability champions throughout Torfaen to come forward and help promote the message of sustainable living.

Councillor Wellington stated: "Some champions may want to organise community clear-ups and environmental projects in their area, while others may want to talk to community groups and encourage others to volunteer locally. Other champions may want to lobby for changes to national and international policy. The role is what you make it. The only restriction is your ambition.

"The champions will play a crucial role in the council's commitment to helping combat unsustainable living. If we increase awareness of the need to reduce consumption and atmospheric emissions, we can improve people's unsustainable habits."

Initially, champions are invited to apply for 12 months' of championing, which will either end or be renewed in November 2010. Contact 01495 766230 or lyn.cadwallader@torfaen.gov.uk for more information.

The second major announcement was the launch of a new website - the Torfaen Sustainability Index - that allows Torfaen residents to measure their progress towards sustainable well-being and offers advice on how they can improve this.

Created in conjunction with the New Economics Foundation, the index can be viewed at www.torfaensustainability.co.uk

Councillor Wellington said: "Rating systems such as the Torfaen Sustainability Index have proved incredibly popular in other areas and I am delighted we are launching our own site.

"The questionnaire is easy to fill in and, because it is available online, it can be completed at any convenient time. The index shows visitors how sustainable they are, how happy and healthy they are, and how much of the earth's resources they use.

"It also allows people to measure their ecological footprint, a figure based on the amount of productive land and sea that is required to support all of the resources they use in their lives each day, including water, food, energy and raw materials. Ecological footprints can also be calculated for whole regions or even countries.

"Torfaen currently has an ecological footprint of 5.1 global hectares per person. If everyone in the world lived as we do in Torfaen then we would need 2.8 planets to support us all."

More information about Torfaen Sustainability Week and a programme events is included in October's Torfaen Talks and is available online in the Torfaen Sustainability area of their website.