Sustainable Harborough Community
Journey of a lifetime; helpful to golf clubs too?
If you enjoy new things and new challenges then welcome to ‘the new way of life challenge.’ You won’t be charged for taking the journey. It may even save money. Which is a help to all with big increases in energy and food bills we are facing now. It’s sometimes known as ‘the green journey,’ a ‘living life more simply’ journey.
Where do we start? That depends on your personal interests.
Do you buy local food?
Food and cooking for your family? Surprisingly knowing more about where and how our food is grown, and eating a greater variety of food, can make a difference to our money and our health. Buying local, when comparing costs with supermarkets, we need to include travel costs and time taken to shop too. We are so blessed to have local grown products like meat, cheese and eggs, and a food and veg store on Thursdays here in Kibworth as well as mobile community shops and refill providers travelling round the villages.
If you’re a local farmer there is the Environmental Land Management Scheme, and how to re-purpose land. ‘Hedges provide food and shelter for 80% of our woodland birds, 50% of our mammals and 30 % of our butterflies whilst ditches and hedgerows provide a home for frogs, toads, newts and reptiles, according to the RSPB. www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/conservation/conservation-and-sustainability
Hedges also help to prevent flooding, a big problem for some local farmers. A relatively new system now is ‘No ploughing/tillage’ reducing soil erosion, helping to maintain healthy microbes and insects that nourish the soil and helping to prevent it becoming impacted, to name some of the benefits. regenerationinternational.org/2018/06/24/no-till-farming. Maybe this is the biggest new way of life journey for anyone?
What has golfing got to do with all this? Those who golf know that it is a health giving sport. As well as this big green space can benefit any community. By taking the ‘green journey’ the golf club can save around £30,000 a year because of reduced operational costs and insurance discounts as well as causing less pollution. www.englandgolf.org/club-support/business-support/greener-golf
The very enjoyable aspect of the ‘green journey’ is we learn new facts all the time. When I just researched green golfing, this answer was a big surprise. If you like surprises, this journey is definitely one for you.
Julie Fagan, Eco Church member and volunteer @ Sustainable Harborough Community.
Running Club Leaders
