Bridport Big Green Week 2023 helps promote climate action

The Big Green Week was organised by West Dorset Friends of the Earth and started with a gathering at the Community Orchard, featuring various stalls from local charities, organisations and green-fingered companies.

There was also a Bike Around Bridport event with Bridport Mayor Dave Bolwell and Town Crier John Collingwood in full regalia.

Other highlights from the week included talks from Ria Burns, who runs a sustainable knitting business in Bristol and Dr Kevan Manwaring, a lecturer from Arts University Bournemouth, who gave a talk on collectively and creatively imagining a future.

Alasdair Moffett also gave a talk explaining the Upper Axe Landscape Partnership, which incorporates 23 farms in an almost completely contiguous land area.

The Brit catchment may well attempt this feat in the upcoming few years as part of the government’s Environmental Land Management scheme.

On Wednesday evening Ian Rees and West Dorset Friends of the Earth described ways the public can help monitor the health of the Brit catchment, using invertebrates such as mayflies.

Ian Rees and West Dorset Friends of the Earth gave a talk to a large audience about how to monitor the health of the River Brit and surrounding areas, a late mayfly was brought along to the talk (Image: West Dorset Friends of the Earth)

A large audience listened and many signed up to help monitor the areas over the next year.

On Thursday evening, a series of film workshops were organised for young people to talk about their feelings towards climate change.

A local young filmmaker, George Earwicker, led the workshops where the participants worked on the concept, story, character development, script, and filming with the film crew on hand to answer questions afterwards. 

On Friday swimmers gathered at West Bay to look at ways to channel their anger and concern over the continued storm overflows of sewage into the sea into political action.

Swimmers in West Bay discuss issues about sewage in the sea (Image: West Dorset Friends of the Earth)

The event included a beach clean, then some chat with Kelvin Clayton, a group swim and more chat over tea and cake.

On the final Saturday, Bridport turned out for the annual Food Festival. 

West Dorset Friends of the Earth and Sustainable Bridport shared a stall that focused on wind turbines. 

A straw poll asked whether onshore wind turbines were viewed positively by the attendees, with 70 out of 91 participants responding that West Dorset should use its wind to create energy.