The London Sustainable Development Commission's London Leaders programme newsletter
Issue 2 of London Leading sees the programme reaching its six-month milestone. It's certainly been a busy start for our London Leaders and all are making great strides towards delivering their programme commitments. Join us during London Sustainability Weeks (1-21 June) when we'll be showcasing some of the Leaders' work to date and welcoming more Londoners to play a part this year. More details to follow next month!
 
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Steve Howlett
Peabody promotes healthy, sustainable living.
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Six months ago each London Leader committed to developing a more sustainable city. The challenge before us all now is to strengthen that commitment and move closer towards achieving both our individual and shared goals.
Peabody Trust provides accommodation to some of the most disadvantaged and socially excluded people in London. We are therefore in a unique position to influence sustainability as we have direct access to the communities most in need.
Through our local neighbourhood and community learning centres, we have built up a close relationship with communities and are therefore well placed to help them to take advantage of these engaging opportunities.
By encouraging social housing residents to adopt healthier diets and lifestyles, I believe we can create a more socially inclusive and sustainable London.
When designing such programmes to promote healthy, sustainable living, it is essential to consider how we can empower our residents to 'own' their own projects and make them sustainable.
The best way to do this is to work closely with residents and their local communities during the early stages of design to ensure that they have substantial input into services for them. This will ultimately enable residents to pick up the skills needed to help deliver, and ultimately manage, the projects later on.
As part of an 'eat to live' initiative, we are delivering projects in the heart of communities of need, from a network of community centres, communal rooms and green spaces owned by the partnership. A "Wellbeing Wagon" will travel to and park on isolated urban housing estates with no community facilities.
The projects use innovative ways of engaging families and individuals with unhealthy lifestyles and encourage them to change their habits through community based, social activities. We will offer walking groups, gardening clubs and youth cooking activities, but to name a few. We will also help form and support groups of social housing residents and enable them to devise and deliver their own projects.
I encourage all present and future London Leaders to contact me about working together on other projects that could improve the lives of our residents, promote social inclusively and sustainable development.
Please email me at info@peabody.org.uk or visit our website www.peabody.org.uk for more information.
Stephen Howlett
London Leader
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London Leader Lutfun Hussain shared her experience at the Coriander Club at the Womens Environmental Networks event in Wapping on International Womens Day - 8th March 2008. The event was a great celebration of the womens gardening programme at Spitalfields City Farm and a round off to Fairtrade fortnight.
In the Bangladeshi community, traditional food recipes have for hundreds of years been passed on to the next generation by demonstration and word of mouth. Lutfun will be launching a bilingual cookbook at Spitalfields Green Fair in September, recording these traditional recipes.
Lutfun is also hoping to foster a greater sense of community by bringing different groups together. "I really hope to encourage inner city sustainable living," she said "The whole aim of this recipe book is to bring people together to develop a lifestyle that is physically and socially sustainable." |
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Are you doing something special to make London a better place to live and work now and for the future? Do you think you could inspire others with your work? Do you want to become a London Leader?
The call for the next round of London Leaders will soon be announced - watch this space for more information on how to get involved. |
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Broadcasting Green goes live
Last week London Leader Solitaire Townsend, Chief Executive of Futerra Sustainability Communications, held the first meeting of Broadcasting Green, a creative roundtable bringing together representatives from London's film, TV and advertising sectors to address the portrayal of sustainable lifestyles on screen.
The first meeting was hosted by Joe Oliver, London Leader and Director of Bash Creations, at Laure Genillard Gallery in central London. This is one of the most sustainable venues in London, boasting on-site renewable energy use, modern eco-friendly heating systems and the sustainable sourcing of products and services.
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