Green Footprints website proves a successful example of community-design

News from Knowle West Media Centre, Leinster Avenue, Bristol, BS4 1NL

Bristol residents use design to sow the seeds of environmental change

Anthropologist Margaret Mead once said, ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.’ Residents of the Knowle West estate in south Bristol are taking steps to prove the truth of this statement, by using an interactive community-led website to encourage others to join them in tackling climate change and sharing their passion for home-growing.

Graphic and web designers based at Knowle West Media Centre (KWMC) have assisted local resident Mil Lusk [pictured] in setting up a website for her project Green Footprints, which acts as an online portal to promote and facilitate home-growing on the estate.

Through the website http://www.green-footprints.org.uk/ , Mil provides advice and guidance about sustainable living, as well as managing orders from budding gardeners, cultivating seedlings for them to grow at home. Mil commented, ‘it’s all about having fun and enjoying yourself’, and she encouraged prospective gardeners, saying: ‘keep growing until you find out what works for you […] everyone has a plant they can grow.’

Green Footprints developed out of the Carbon Makeover project run by KWMC, which saw 70 homes across the neighbourhood pledge to reduce their carbon emissions by making manageable alterations to their lifestyles. Mil is one of four Community Campaigners and, with the support of KWMC, she has become empowered to continue her work beyond Carbon Makeover. All campaigners attended a Digital Media workshop to help them utilise the digital technologies available to them and Green Footprints is one of three websites KWMC Design have developed for the project. With the help of a digital strategist, KWMC Design created websites addressing the specific needs of each campaigner, actively seeking the input of local people in order to provide high-quality, accessible solutions that can empower the community.

The Green Footprints website has provided Mil with a digital platform to manage her project and enabled the local community to access a range of services and information about healthy, sustainable living. As the result of her collaboration with KWMC Design, Mil has seen her website evolve from an idea into a vital resource that benefits both the environment and the Knowle West community.

For more information please contact Romy Purshouse (Design Programme Manager) on 0117 3532746 / romy@kwmc.org.uk or visit www.green-footprints.org.uk / http://www.kwmc.org.uk/index.php?department=2

Notes

Knowle West Media Centre (KWMC) is a Social Enterprise charity. The charity commands international respect as a producer of high-quality media work and as a provider of exciting experiences for young people in Knowle West, South Bristol – one of the country’s most socially disadvantaged wards.

KWMC Design is a professional print and web design team that sits within Knowle West Media Centre. The experienced designers use ethical and environmental design practices and any profits made go directly back into the local community. Please visit http://www.kwmc.org.uk/index.php?department=2 for more information.

Carbon Makeover is run by KWMC and aims to support local people, using media as a tool, to develop sustainable campaigns, projects and initiatives within the local community and reduce their carbon footprint. Carbon Makeover has facilitated the development of four community-led projects. Team FAB (‘Fight Against Bags’) are committed to making Knowle West free of plastic bags and meet weekly to sew reusable cloth bags. ‘Green Medicine’ promotes the cultivation and use of medicinal plants, whilst ‘Green Footprints’ encourages home-growing by selling seedlings to local people. ‘Project Agricola’ established a fruit and vegetable stall in an area of Knowle West that lacks a greengrocers, providing a hub for social interaction and the promotion of healthy, sustainable living.

For a full press toolkit for KWMC with images, background info, quotes, case studies, architectural and environmental information go to: http://www.kwmc.org.uk/index.php?project=42