A better world is possible - Global Commons Institute

Copyright Bruce Nixon 2010. All rights reserved. This electronic copy is provided free for personal, non-commercial use only.
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would lead to the creation of many identical units of similar places, what we now call “Clone town Britain”. If
we don’t act, shopping streets like the Lanes in Brighton will become the exception.
Independently owned shops are hubs of community life. Not only can small scale shopping be cheaper;
there is a growing body of evidence that the replacement of independently-owned shops - which have often
been the hub of community life for a generation or more - isolates people and increases depression.
“This should surely not be surprising, given that it is everyday experiences - such as talking to someone or
exchanging a smile in the local shop - that adds up to quality of life in a local community. As in northern
Europe, having a thriving public life in cities does not depend simply on the types of shops but on the
approach to the place as a whole and what a successful place is seen to be” .
I am indebted to Anna Minton for her insights.
London is a wonderful city that people love to come to, especially young people, from all over the world.
They say it is tolerant of diversity, exciting and good to live in. But it has problems on a vast scale of which
many visitors may not be fully aware: an enormous eco-footprint, it is wasting vast amounts of energy and
spewing out CO2 on a grand scale; pollution, both noise and air; massive waste and unbalanced land use.
Additionally, there are extreme differences in wealth and living conditions that, up until now, have been
growing rapidly. Some areas breed hopelessness, anger, crime and violence.
As cities grow bigger, their footprint enlarges. London used to be more self-sufficient in food and materials. It
had market gardens which used “night soil”. It did more recycling – look at the wood from battleships used
to build the interior of Liberty’s great store. It had a growing empire supplying it with materials and
unimaginable things to consume - a quarter of the world labouring to create wealth for its citizens in Queen
Victoria’s time – the Royal Albert Hall for instance. Slaves in plantations helped build Bristol and Liverpool.
Now London’s size is far surpassed by huge new cities in India and China.
London’s “great stink” in 1858 was so bad that debates in the House of Commons were halted. Something
had to be done about the stench and threat to health. Justus Liebig proposed a system that would reclaim
precious plant nutrients and restore them to the land – nitrogen, potash, phosphate, magnesium and
calcium. His scheme was discarded in favour of Joseph Bazalgette’s solution, which was to pour human waste
into the sea. That is what most cities do today. Berlin chose a wiser solution and reclaimed its sewerage for
about 100 years until 1985 when it was abandoned because of industrial contamination. We need to use our
“night soil” again in a better way. Technology has mastered how to extract precious water and nutrients
from sewage and return them to the land.
Good Models – study what works
Innovative leadership
BedZED, the Beddington Zero Energy Development is one of the most important exemplars for large to small
scale development, a “must see” for anyone concerned with sustainable developments. The story of BedZED
exemplifies a key message: A few inspired leaders who collaborate with each other bring about paradigm
change. That message will recur throughout these models.
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