Downshifting as a community

Living a clean green life is a lot easier and fun when you can do it together with other people. It gives a chance to share experiences with others, find out what works locally and what does not.
You can find out about local initiatives at the library or from friends and neighbours. If there is not anything available, have a go at being inspired to do this yourself.

My neighbour T has sent a wholefood catalogue around inviting neighbours to do a wholesale order instead of travelling to the healthfood shops on a regular basis. Three of us are banding together to try and put in an order and see if we can expand this in our neighbourhood. We have not yet decided who will take responsibility for ordering and distribution, we may set up a rota to do this. Shopping together in bulk makes sense as it centralises packaging and gets it delivered to us instead of 3 families doing a 15 mile journey each in their car. It will take some planning to see what we use, but it is an excellent way to plan your staple foods. ( flour, pulses, beans, even chocolate).

The following are some suggestions :

Some excellent information on diet and wholefoods at Suma,
although to be a supplier you need to have an order value of £ 375 which might suit larger communities.

Wholefood net
The widest choice of wholefoods, healthfoods, fresh bread, vegetables, dairy produce, planet friendly household goods, personal and infant care and healthcare products you are likely to find. All delivered to your door (at work or at home) anywhere within the UK.

Green Drinks International
Every month people who work in the environmental field meet up for a beer at informal sessions known as Green Drinks.
We have a lively mixture of people from NGOs, academia, government and business. Come along and you'll be made welcome. Just say, "are you green?" and we will look after you and introduce you to whoever is there.It's a great way of catching up with people you know and also for making new contacts. Everyone invites someone else along, so there’s always a different crowd, making Green Drinks an organic, self-organising network.
These events are very simple and unstructured, but many people have found employment, made friends, developed new ideas, done deals and had moments of serendipity. It's a force for the good and we'd like to help it spread to other cities. Contact your local node to get the latest info about coming along.

LETS schemes in your area, exchange your skills, your produce for a bartering currency