Part two in Nottingham kicked off in the afternoon. This was an interesting Sustainability Workshop as it was akin to herding cats! The level of experience , expertise and knowledge in this group was formidable and some of the debates had me foxed. Anyway, 10 people were there for this lively session.
As there were a couple of economists in our midst, the economic discussion did get a little in-depth. However, with such sharp brains before the maths was added up we had already realised that, well the maths didn’t add up. Someone who knew about how we our funded pointed out that the WEA had been about for 107 years, and that there are people in The City whose job it was to look after WEA funds, therefore we are not going to disappear any time soon due to economic unsustainablity.
The economic sphere provoked at lot of debate, about what type of environmental message the WEA can give out to the public, members and staff. There was a lot of debate surrounding attitude, and the perception that one of the barriers in the environmental sphere is “Well it’s always been done like this” and the printing off documents “just in case”. With the built environment discussion it was voiced that the WEA could put their money where their mouth is and get electricity from renewable suppliers.
Attending the workshop were two indomitable volunteers from Mansfield. Mansfield has bucked the WEA trend and has opened a branch after it being closed after 50 years. These two amazing women were a force to be recognised and inspirational. With a mixture of pavement pounding, networking, and sheer force of will the Mansfield branch is going great guns. Anyone within travel distance of Mansfield try an attend a branch meeting to find out what a buzz they have created there. This is the essence of what was said in the social discussion, we the membership of the WEA need to play a greater part in the social sustainability of the WEA. Yes those of us who are involved are greatly committed, but apparently there is 40 thousand members signed up, and the question was asked “What are they all doing?” Another hot topic was that although these workshops are happening at grass roots, what about the executive, shouldn’t they be involved in these workshop as well and look at providing strong leadership. All this brought back to the democratic nature of the WEA, and the fact that if you don’t like what is going on in the WEA, you have the power to change it.
This was a feisty group to end this week of the Sustainability Road show, and it was fitting that this group brought the whole subject back to brass tacks; if you don’t like it, you can change it!
Alan Carter-Davies
Mel
andreagewessler
Clare Davies
