A Positive Future for Bristol After Peak Oil (2009)
authored by Simone Osborn.
The Bristol Partnership and Bristol City Council have welcomed the report of the Peak Oil Study, presented at the Partnership board meeting on Thursday 15th October, 2009. The study was commissioned by the Bristol Partnership and the city council to consider the implications for Bristol once global oil production has peaked and production is in decline. The comprehensive 108 page report spells out the potential impact of ‘peak oil’ on every aspect of Bristol life – transport, food, healthcare, public services, the economy, power and utilities.
Bristol is the first city in the country to take action in this way by commissioning the study, which is intended to be a starting point to help the city to prepare for the future oil crunch and the impact it could have. The city already has a reputation as being a leading environmental player, and last year received many awards and accolades, including being short-listed for a European Green Capital award, crowned the UK’s most sustainable city in a Forum for the Future assessment, as well as being named the country’s first Cycling City. Recent figures released by the Department of Energy and Climate Change have also revealed that Bristol is one of the most energy efficient cities in the country*.
Barbara Janke, leader of the council, said: “As part of our Green Capital programme, we are already tackling climate change issues head on by reducing our dependence on oil and ambitiously working to cut our carbon footprint by 3% every year.
“Whilst this report paints a picture of how life could be if there is an oil crunch, it also arms us with the information we need so that we can begin to take major action now.”
Dick Penney, chair of the Bristol Partnership, said: “Although experts continue to debate exactly when peak oil will occur, there is growing consensus that it will be in the next ten to twenty years, and that we have to start making plans and changes now.”
From the Executive Summary:
In 2008 oil prices hit record levels of $147/barrel. This event, alongside growing evidence that the global energy picture is changing has led the Bristol Green Capital Momentum Group and Bristol City Council to consider the issue of peak oil and its probable effects on the future prosperity of Bristol. Input and comment have been sought from organisations and authorities in the city. (For a list of other cities and organisations considering peak oil see Appendix 4). This report sets out to look at the evidence for peak oil, its potential impact on Bristol, and what actions could be taken now to address it.
Why Should Bristol Act Now?
An increasing number of experts and commentators warn that the era of cheap oil is over and that an oil crunch is likely within the next decade. An oil crunch would fundamentally threaten the way our city operates with challenges to transport, healthcare, food distribution, social cohesion, public services and other sectors. With a reputation as a leader in sustainability1, Bristol has the opportunity to show the way in responding to this challenge…
You can download the entire report here (link).
Who Feeds Bristol (2011)
authored by Joy Carey.
This report builds on findings in the Bristol Peak Oil report and explores the strengths and vulnerabilities in the current food system that serves Bristol and the city region in more detail.
The report is primarily a descriptive baseline study of the main elements of the food system with an analysis of its resilience. It looks at the ‘positive powers’ cities may have in relation to their food systems and it makes suggestions for action.
The work of researching and preparing the “who Feeds Bristol” report was commissioned and funded by NHS Bristol and undertaken by Joy Carey, an independent food systems planner and researcher. The document was published in March 2011.
You can download the full pdf here (link).
From the Foreward:
For over a thousand years, the supply and trade of food has been integral to the economic, social and cultural life of Bristol. During my career in public health I have always been aware not just of the paramount importance of food, but also of the contrasts and paradoxes it brings; from desperate shortage in refugee camps and conflict zones, to the plenty and variety in wealthy capital cities, the intense visibility of food in parts of the world like Africa and India, and of course its curious invisibility in the UK now that highly mechanised production, distribution, processing and retail operate beyond our everyday view.
Bristol is regaining its awareness of food – for the health of our local economy, for the health of our people, and for the health of the ecosystems upon which our future food production will depend. We read dire predictions of potential global food shortages, and conflicting reports as to whether these problems are real or imagined, and whether the solution lies with more biotechnology or with less. Yet we cannot begin to assess whether our own food system is healthy and robust unless we know more about it.
We read dire predictions of potential global food shortages, and conflicting reports as to whether these problems are real or imagined, and whether the solution lies with more biotechnology or with less. Yet we cannot begin to assess whether our own food system is healthy and robust unless we know more about it.
The task of tracking down and making sense of what information is available has not been easy. We are indebted to Joy Carey, who in a short time and with a very modest amount of funding, has pulled together information from numerous sources and pieced it all together into this important research report.
At the same time, work has been progressing behind the scenes to establish Bristol’s new Food Policy Council. This will be a small group of committed individuals with expertise and local experience relating to food production, preparation, distribution and retail. Under the chairmanship of Professor Kevin Morgan from Cardiff University, the Food Policy Council will drive forward the changes needed to make Bristol a city where eating and celebrating good food becomes something that everyone is proud to be part of.
We already know this is what people in Bristol want. In a survey conducted in late 2010, our own Citizen’s Panel tells us that the majority of ordinary people in Bristol care about the quality and the ingredients in the food they eat, and a very significant proportion are concerned about production methods, local farming, and animal welfare. Over a third of respondents said they are involved in food growing in gardens or allotments, and half had switched to healthier ways of eating in the previous year.
The Bristol city region has not yet lost its diversity of independent local producers, wholesalers, processors, caterers and shopkeepers. With the right mechanisms and with the growing public interest in the future of food, we can start to rebuild a food culture for Bristol that has the health of people and planet at its heart.
Dr Hugh Annett
Bristol Director of Public Health
