Abingdon Carbon Cutters (ACC)
By Susie Howard and Sarah Richards
1. What has been done?
A great range of environmental activities have been carried out over the last 20 years involving hundreds of people in the Abingdon area including: environmental education/talks (held monthly), tree planting (including community orchards), sustainable/organic gardening activities linked to improved diets, including for poor/deprived districts, working with schools, litter picking, campaigns to reduce plastic use, repair and recycling initiatives, reducing car use and related transport initiatives, etc. These activities have been carried out mainly under 6 autonomous special interest groups (SIGs), including the Food Group, the Repair Café, Liveable Streets, Clean Up Litter, Tree Planting and Plastics Groups, as well as spin-offs like the One Planet Abingdon Climate Emergency Centre, including its daily café. Over time ACC has become an important local institution, recognised by Abingdon Town & District Council as playing a vital environmental and community role in the town, e.g., ACC has worked with 18 other local organisations/institutions. It has led to great increase in awareness and understanding of local and global environmental issues, including by hundreds of volunteers. ACC now has 670 people on its mailing list. Please see attached handout for more detailed information on the activities and achievements.
2. How did it start?
ACC was a direct outcome of the 2004 joint IEF/BASED-UK conference at Balliol College, Oxford. Two of the attendees were a Baha’i and a non-Baha’i, called Francis, from Abingdon. Inspired by the Conference, they decided to take action in Abingdon. Francis in particular took the initiative in developing and distributing leaflets, calling a meeting, and chairing it. Following the meeting, four special interest groups (SIGs) were formed to tackle local environmental problems. ‘Potluck’ vegetarian suppers were also held at which people discussed how to reduce their personal carbon footprints. There was also key early support from the Oxfordshire Community Action Group (CAG) initiative.
3. What have been the main reasons for success and lessons learned? The multiple combined reasons for success of ACC include:
• There was no hidden agenda (e.g., no mention of being Baha’i-inspired)
• It has a horizontal (or non-vertical) and very inclusive ‘leadership’ culture, including each SIG having complete autonomy, and a steering group of 12 with a dedicated secretary – all actions and initiatives have been genuinely grass-roots
• Willingness to support other organisations and work with them, including local authorities (cooperation helped cut through ‘red tape’)
• Dedicated, enthusiastic & skilled volunteers - over 200 regular volunteers, including some with specialist technical expertise
• Strong ties of friendship and community developed
• Early support from the Oxfordshire Community Action Group (CAG) initiative supported by Oxfordshire County Council: this included a template constitution for the ACC, advice on officers, a £250 per year grant, and a lot of enthusiasm
• Perseverance and consistency, e.g, a talk, film or other event has been held every month for 20 years
• SIGs have benefited from local specialist expertise, e.g., in hydro energy
• Funds have been raised in line with the principles
