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Image by Marta Berzina

The
Pesticide-Free Community
Toolkit

The Aim of the Pesticide-Free Community Toolkit

The aim of this Pesticide-Free Community Toolkit is to give people in any village, town or neighbourhood a tried and tested framework to develop their own local Pesticide-Free initiative. It is based on the practical experience of a range of community-based organisers and creatives who have been successfully enabled and encouraged people to make lifestyle changes which contribute to a more nature-balanced society.

 

The Toolkit will be a continually evolving and updated resource of advice and practical examples based on what has worked in practice to engage people in environentally positive lifestyle changes in local communities across Devon and the rest of the UK.

Our Concptual Approach

Positive Messaging

If we want to encourage people to change their lifestyle choices at home and work, it is important to define approaches that are :

  • Engaging

  • Positive

  • Evidence-based

  • Supportive

  • Inclusive

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Looking at the history of the environmental movement in the UK, many of the approaches taken to encourage large-scale lifestyle change have involved a significant focus on what is scary or damaging about a behaviour. The climate and fossil fuel debate is a good example, where groups and individuals have put a lot of energy into telling people how dangerous their behaviour is, how damaging it is for the wider ecosystem and for future generations. This approach now has resulted in a huge backlash from large numbers of people who now feel angry about feeling criticised and blamed, and arguably is now actually contributing to an increase in fossil fuel extraction and consumption.

 

We recognise how damaging pesticide use is to our environment and potentially for human health as well, but our suggested approach to designing marketing campaigns and practical community initiatives is to focus on the POSITIVE OUTCOMES of the behaviour change we are advocating i.e. reduction or transition away from pesticide use.

 

The Importance of Community

 

We all need our family, our friends and the web of relationships with people in our neighbourhood and wider community. Operating from a “community-based” perspective is all about cultivating and nurturing good relationships with other people. Togetherness would be a good way of summing this up.

 

The benefits of operating from a community-based perspective include:

 

  • Strong word of mouth networking

  • Building trust around the lifestyle change being advocated

  • Maximising reach into community and public sector institutions

 

If we start criticising and shaming others for their lifestyle choices e.g. using pesticides, they are going to feel upset, maybe anxious and angry. This scenario therefore leads to polarisation, division and separation away from a strong sense of Community

 

The Importance of Place

 

Where we live matters hugely when it comes to thinking about how best to engage with our wider community. Local distinctiveness in terms of our environment, local landmarks, architecture, demographics and land usage, can all make a difference when we’re thinking about how to design a marketing campaign to publicise our message or develop a specific services tailored to our local community.

 

Our Relationship With Nature

 

We all breathe the same air, drink from the same vast reservoir of water and we all eat food produced from the same body of Earth. Every person’s depth of relationship with the wider ecosystem matters, because this is the basis on which we all make the daily lifestyle choices that have an impact on Nature and on our future sustainability as a species.

 

Our experience of our Home – our “Oikos “(the Ancient Greek for home which is the basis for the word Eco) is the bedrock for this wider and deeper relationship with nature to grow. We might go away on an excursion, a trip or a holiday and have an inspirational experience that deepens our relationship with Nature, but we always need to come home and this is where most people’s impacts on the wider ecosystem come from.

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If we can support ourselves and the people we work with in our community group to develop a deeper personal relationship with Nature, we can enable our neighbours and people in our wider community to deepen their relationships with Nature as well, and this will help all of us to adopt lifestyles which are more balanced with our wider ecosystem.

Basic Tools that Will Be Helpful

A Group Structure

We can all operate very effectively as single or groups of individuals, but at some point it can be very helpful to create a group structure. The simplest group structure is known as an Unincorporated Association, which requires a Constitution, a Management Committee and a Bank Account. Then it is possible to raise money through donations and grants to carry out the activities that you have identified.

 

In terms of legal robustness the next level of organisational structure is a Community Interest Company. This is a company structure, limited by guarantee and registered at Companies House. The company is managed by a group of Directors and will need to submit annual Accounts, a Confirmation Statement and a CIC 34 report to Companies House.

 

Public Liability Insurance

If you are planning to organise public events, your group or organisation will need to have Public Liability Insurance. The best approach here is to contact a range of insurance companies and let them know the details of what kind of activities you will be engaging in and they will give you a quote.

 

Grant Funding

In order to develop most kinds of community initiative which encourage people to reduce pesticide use, it will be necessary to have some money to pay for publicity, website, professional services e.g. graphic design and tools and equipment. There are many different opportunities to apply for grants from a wide range of organisations, but the key skill that is needed is to be able to convey the narrative of your project in a way that answers the funding organisation’s requirements. There are people who offer professional grant making services, but this obviously has a financial cost.

 

Volunteer Support

Volunteering is an essential resource for most community-based initiatives. If you’re able to recruit volunteers from your local community this will help to spread the message of what your aims and objectives are through word of mouth. Different people will have different skills and experiences which is essential for helping your group to develop its work.

Practical Initiatives

Pollinator Restoration

One of the main consequences of our use of pesticides over the last 50 years or more has been the decline in pollinating insects. A really positive and beneficial initiative to develop in your local community is therefore around taking steps to encourage a restoration of pollinators. This generally involves identifying an area of land where there is potential to boost the abundance and diversity of wildflowers that will provide nectar resources for pollinators.

 

Biodiversity Monitoring

There are a range of approaches for gaining a deeper understanding of what different invertebrate and plant species that you have across your local community. Monitoring species levels is important because it gives you a baseline of species types from which you can start to map what affects your other nature restoration initiatives are having. Two simple and generally well supported approaches are Flower Insect Timed (FIT) Counts and Bioblitz’s.

 

FIT Counts are an easily accessible way of monitoring pollinating insects on any small patch of flowers. The UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology has established a UK-wide Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (UK POMS) which offers advice and guidance and a resource for inputting your findings into a national database. They have also developed the UK POMS app which is very user friendly.

 

A Bioblitz is when you gather together as many specialist naturalists and local volunteers as possible to carry out a comprehensive survey of a piece of land. Any species can be surveyed including plants, invertebrates, mammals, fungi and bryophytes. The bioblitz normally takes place over a 24 hour period, so it can include nocturnal surveying such as moth monitoring. It is essential to have at least one knowledgeable naturalist who is able to manage the identification of a relatively wide range of species and to include as many species specialists as possible.

 

Engaging with Your Local Council

Council’s are key organisations when it comes to community pesticide use because they have a statutory duty to keep particular areas such as streets, parks and public open space in a well managed condition. Across the UK some Council’s have taken the decision to go pesticide-free and this means that they are using a range of alternative solutions for weed and invasive plant management including :

 

  • Hand weeding

  • Mechanical scraping

  • Vinegar

  • Direct heat treatment

  • Hot foam treatment

 

In many areas there are 3 levels of local government – Parish or Town Councils are the most local, then District Councils and finally County Councils. In some areas all 3 of these levels of Council have been combined and these are called Unitary Authorities.

 

Each type of Council will have some responsibility for plant management so you can find out what their policy is about pesticide use by contacting your local Parish, Town, District of County Councillor or contacting the relevant Council Officer. For Parish and Town Councils this will tend to be the Clerk and for larger Councils they will have dedicated Officers who have responsibility for the management of green spaces.

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