I am going to share my idea for creating a more sustainable community, and in return I ask that you share yours.
Remember we are thinking environmentally, socially and financially. This 6 petal flower diagram is useful to visualise how these aspects are connected when thinking about what denotes sustainable practice.
My idea is to reinstate the local milk truck
Instead of delivering bottles (glass or plastic), the milkie brings round a vat and you go out and fill your jug or bottle and pay for the volume you take. Initially due to current rules and regulations this would be offering only pasteurised stuff, but then potentially as laws changes A2 and raw...... who knows.
How cool would it be to bring the milkie back. The milkie could also deliver fresh bread and other local produce and maybe even other stuff. For example, the local veterinary clinic could get them to deliver food ordered online by their clients for example.
Of course the milkie would use a highly efficient, electric vehicle and will have EFT POS facilities.
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| NZ Milkman, Circa 1980's. Image source |
There are many advantages to this system:
- Provides fresh milk delivered to your door
- Supports local businesses
- Reduces the number of plastic milk bottles going to landfill or recycling
- Ensures the milk stays in the dark until it is delivered to the end user (in the vat) and then the end user can put it in the fridge (just in case it really is true that milk kept in the dark tastes better).
- Avoids many daily trips to the supermarket made by the majority of people who tend to buy milk and bread and other fresh items several times a week - reducing our reliance on fossil fuels
- Gets the neighbours out on the street talking to each other with a daily meeting point around the milk truck. Who knows what great ideas could stem from those daily meetings.
- Employs a local person to be the milkie
Now I am really looking forward to all your ideas!!
Have a great week.
From a student: Hi Francesca,
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on this idea but can't seem to post my comments.
An idea I have had, and have been involved in before, is community vegi gardens. We did this when living out the coast in a small community. People could come and plant what ever they liked (plus extras for other people) and as long as you helped out with maintenance (weeding, compost etc.) you could harvest anything you wanted when it was ready. Good way to reduce pesticide use, reduce waste by overplanting, try a variety of foods you wouldn't normally use, save time on having to maintain an individual garden, and play a part in the community with benefits of fresh produce. This worked brilliantly. If there was an abundance of some fruit or vegies these were given to people in the community that did not have time to contribute but appreciated greatly the gesture i.e. large families and elderly. Not all of us live in small communities but this may also work for people living on streets where they have neighbours that might like to contribute??
Fresh produce plus helping the community = sustainable living.
Feel free to use my idea.
Natalie
My response: Love it – now here is an idea to build that: that many veterinary clinics have a fair amount of space around their building. That they could dedicate an area to just a project such as this. Encourage and foster community involvement right near their business – community engagement but also potential to increase revenue all at the same time This would also be something staff could get involved in. And what about all the grass verges on quiet suburban streets – definitely room to grow food!!
ReplyDeleteAlso: Did you know that at Otago Polytechnic at the Dunedin campus we have a living campus. Slowly the gardens are going edible. Anyone in the community can work in them and take from them. It’s a developing project but it’s really looking awesome. They also intend to develop an area on a bank as a food forest too – which is a slightly different concept to a community garden but similar outcome – abundant food for the local community.
ReplyDelete