# Banter 86: 10Sep25 Norwich Eco Hub, with Steve Wiseman {% embed url="" %} ### Video Timeline: 00:00 - 15:48 Presentation 15:48 - 36:38 (end). Q & A *** ### Presentation: {% file src="/files/WJlPgNC9dweOkcjGTrDH" %} You are welcome to download the presentation; a marked down copy is available at the bottom of tis page for the AI Search Engine *** ### Meeting Summary: Sep 10, 2025 11:52 AM London ID: 834 5460 8536 ### Quick recap Steve presented an overview of Norwich EcoHub's various community and environmental initiatives, including their work with local groups, solar panel installations, and educational programs. The discussion covered the organization's evolution and current projects, such as their partnership with Reimagine Norwich and support for community-led energy-saving initiatives. The meeting also addressed environmental challenges like eco-anxiety, the importance of practical solutions, and the varying levels of community engagement in urban and rural areas, concluding with observations about changing public perceptions of the natural world and environmental legislation. ### Next steps * Steve to find more volunteers to help with the EcoHub newsletter as the current person has indicated they've had enough. * Steve to continue organizing the series of events planned for October to attract more volunteers for Norwich EcoHub. * Stuart to follow up on the Esme Fairburn application for Green Essex at the Great Collaboration meeting at 3pm. * Graham to share examples of solar panel installations on heritage buildings to help address planning issues with listed buildings. * Steve to potentially gather actual figures on solar panel adoption in Norwich from Norwich BID if requested. ### Summary #### EcoHub Presentation Technical Issues Steve presented a PowerPoint on EcoHub, but due to technical difficulties, the presentation mode was not properly set up. Despite this, the participants were able to read the slides. The meeting was recorded, and Steve mentioned that he had to leave at 5:30 for another physical meeting. Graham noted that attendance was lower than usual, possibly due to post-holiday workload. #### Norwich Equal Hub Community Initiatives Steve described the establishment of Norwich Equal Hub as a community interest company focused on building a resilient local economy through cooperation and environmental protection. He explained their efforts to coordinate various environmental and community groups in Norfolk, including those focused on permaculture, mental health, and food issues. Steve highlighted their work in finding premises for environmental groups in Norwich, leading to the establishment of Norwich Unity Hub, a charity that repurposed a former social services building. #### Environmental Initiatives and Partnerships Steve discussed the evolution and current status of various environmental and community initiatives, including Norwich Unity Hub, which has become independent but still involves some EcoHub directors. He mentioned a new project to design an escape room focused on climate change awareness, which is in early development. Steve also described their partnership with Reimagine Norwich, which operates under the Donut Economics Framework, and their support for Aurapower, a community-led energy-saving initiative that has become independent. #### Norwich EcoHub's Community Initiatives Steve discussed Norwich EcoHub's various initiatives, including rooftop solar projects, community gardens, and educational programs for schools. He highlighted their work with universities on ecological citizenship and anxiety projects, as well as their regular newsletter and monthly sessions on climate topics. Steve expressed interest in expanding their work to other counties and developing an "Imaginarium" center in Norwich to celebrate the city's radical history and envision future improvements. The organization has supported about 20 volunteer groups and attracted around 200 volunteers over the years, with upcoming events in October aimed at increasing community involvement. #### Eco-Anxiety and Practical Environmental Action Steve discussed the prevalence of eco-anxiety and mental health concerns among young people, particularly regarding climate change. He noted that while this anxiety is justified given the environmental challenges, it can sometimes lead to immobilization. Steve emphasized the importance of showing practical ways people can make a difference and highlighted how volunteering and seeing tangible outcomes can alleviate anxiety. He also touched on the political aspects of environmental issues and shared insights from his work with an international development charity about the impacts of climate change in Africa. #### Community Engagement in Rural Areas Cllr.Stuart and Steve discussed the challenges and opportunities for community involvement in both urban and rural areas. They explored how smaller communities might be more successful in coordinating and bringing together various local initiatives, such as gardening and climate change efforts. Steve suggested that geographical factors, like distance and community size, play a significant role in determining the effectiveness of such initiatives. They concluded that smaller communities might be better equipped to foster a sense of shared responsibility and collaboration among residents. #### Solar Panel Adoption in Norwich Steve discussed the progress of solar panel installations in Norwich, noting that many businesses and heritage buildings have embraced solar energy, though exact figures are unavailable. Graham and Tristram highlighted the challenges of educating local authorities and overcoming their resistance to solar panel installations on listed buildings. Steve emphasized the importance of addressing environmental issues inclusively, aiming to engage a broader audience beyond the usual activists. Tristram and Graham shared their experiences with community engagement, observing varying levels of interest and participation in environmental initiatives. #### Nature's Rights and Environmental Shifts Steve discussed the growing concern for the natural world and how it has become a priority in recent surveys, highlighting the shift in public perception over the past decade. He shared insights from his experiences in New Zealand and Ecuador, where rivers are legally recognized as entities, emphasizing the importance of legislation that considers the impact on nature. Graham and Steve also discussed the decline in wildlife and changes in seasonal patterns, noting the migration of species and the earlier arrival of spring, which gardeners and farmers have observed. *** ### Chat: No entries in the chat for this sessioin *** ### Audio Transcript: 86\ 00:08:26.880 --> 00:08:31.820\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Well, if you'd like to go ahead, Steve, please, the floor is yours. Please go ahead and. 87\ 00:08:31.820 --> 00:08:36.749\ steve wiseman: Okay, well, I'll just share… I just prepared a brief PowerPoint, which I'll, 88\ 00:08:37.419 --> 00:08:42.139\ steve wiseman: find, seems to have disappeared at the moment. 89\ 00:08:42.140 --> 00:08:43.790\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Yeah, these things do. 90\ 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:46.380\ steve wiseman: Yeah, it was on there. 91\ 00:08:46.770 --> 00:08:47.840\ Garry Ford - Corsham Town Council: Oh, no. 92\ 00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:52.160\ steve wiseman: Right. Mate, I'm just gonna have to reopen it again, just a second. 93\ 00:08:52.340 --> 00:08:52.960\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Yup. 94\ 00:08:59.610 --> 00:09:03.659\ Garry Ford - Corsham Town Council: I'll probably come around the other side, because I've got a bit more leeway to get through, don't I? 95\ 00:09:04.990 --> 00:09:05.680\ Garry Ford - Corsham Town Council: Yes, sir. 96\ 00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:09.340\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: I'm just gonna mute you, Gary, there's the sounds coming in from outside. 97\ 00:09:09.340 --> 00:09:14.930\ steve wiseman: It's funny, because I tested this on my own Zoom, and now on your Zoom, it's not… doesn't seem to be coming up. 98\ 00:09:14.930 --> 00:09:18.380\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Are you getting the green share button at the bottom of the screen? 99\ 00:09:18.380 --> 00:09:20.680\ steve wiseman: Hang on, here it is, it's come up now. 100\ 00:09:20.680 --> 00:09:21.080\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: No doubt. 101\ 00:09:21.080 --> 00:09:25.440\ steve wiseman: Okay, right. 102\ 00:09:27.280 --> 00:09:30.889\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: People sometimes like to go into the slideshow mode, Steven. 103\ 00:09:33.050 --> 00:09:33.760\ steve wiseman: Yep. 104\ 00:09:36.100 --> 00:09:38.360\ steve wiseman: Can you see… can you see things now? 105\ 00:09:38.360 --> 00:09:43.150\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Yes, we can see things, but we're seeing you in, sort of. 106\ 00:09:43.310 --> 00:09:46.709\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Your edit mode, as opposed to being slideshow mode. 107\ 00:09:46.710 --> 00:09:49.109\ steve wiseman: Yeah… Okay, let me go… 108\ 00:09:49.110 --> 00:09:55.010\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Maybe that your slideshow menu is covered up by the share button. 109\ 00:09:55.230 --> 00:09:56.960\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: It's irritating at times. 110\ 00:09:58.710 --> 00:09:59.470\ steve wiseman: Right. 111\ 00:10:00.070 --> 00:10:01.390\ steve wiseman: Can we say it now? 112\ 00:10:01.680 --> 00:10:03.550\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: We're still in your mode? 113\ 00:10:04.740 --> 00:10:05.480\ steve wiseman: Right. 114\ 00:10:05.480 --> 00:10:09.590\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: But it doesn't… it doesn't matter, it's fine, it works… we can certainly read it, it's nice and large. 115\ 00:10:09.790 --> 00:10:20.389\ steve wiseman: As long as you can read it, that's… So, we're just starting off of EcoHub. I actually joined Norwich EcoHub. It was already set up as a kind of… 116\ 00:10:20.390 --> 00:10:23.320\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Mockley crew of people, as always, you know. 117\ 00:10:23.320 --> 00:10:33.889\ steve wiseman: John… Adrian Ramsey, who's now become an MP, was one of the member… members. It was just… it was around Lockbone, and for a long time, we didn't meet the people involved. 118\ 00:10:34.180 --> 00:10:51.080\ steve wiseman: And, kind of, we set up, and then I helped them establish as a… well, first we tried to establish as a charity, but there'd be… we encountered a few problems there, so we set up as a community interest company, which is… seemed to be the best way forward. And the mission we developed was 119\ 00:10:51.080 --> 00:11:07.010\ steve wiseman: I set out here, to build a resilient local economy based on cooperation, fairness, wise use of resources, and respect for the living world, which is a pretty standard thing. We were aware that there were so many small groups around our part of Norfolk. 120\ 00:11:07.010 --> 00:11:14.060\ steve wiseman: that were doing their own thing in particular areas of environmental concerns. For example, permaculture. 121\ 00:11:14.130 --> 00:11:17.139\ steve wiseman: Mental health anxiety, equal anxiety. 122\ 00:11:17.940 --> 00:11:21.919\ steve wiseman: issues around food, and so… so we thought, well, it'd be great to try to 123\ 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:30.049\ steve wiseman: coordinate them and enable information sharing to take place. So we've got… we've got these core aims, 124\ 00:11:30.330 --> 00:11:46.150\ steve wiseman: Which is basically to kind of bring people together, a bit of education, maybe a bit of campaigning if we have time. We're all volunteer-based, so it's whatever time we can fit in, kind of addressing some of the underlying issues around environmental protection. 125\ 00:11:46.680 --> 00:11:48.020\ steve wiseman: And also help… 126\ 00:11:48.260 --> 00:11:57.319\ steve wiseman: Because part of my role professionally is to help to develop community groups through applying for funding, that kind of thing, so… 127\ 00:11:57.560 --> 00:12:03.329\ steve wiseman: part of our role here, I think, and I've been instrumental in that, is to help community capacity building. 128\ 00:12:03.380 --> 00:12:18.520\ steve wiseman: And just to kind of become aware of what's going on in the wider world in terms of environmental protection and carbon emissions, that kind of thing. So it's kind of, I would guess, pretty standard of what everybody is doing, really. 129\ 00:12:20.940 --> 00:12:32.980\ steve wiseman: And we… as I say, it's a recognition that we shall be joining forces more, because there's so many people in silos, and that's still going on, but we're hoping now, gradually, to bring people together. 130\ 00:12:33.390 --> 00:12:44.620\ steve wiseman: Our aim when we started was to create a central hub for all these organizations, and include some of the business committee, in one particular base, so we could collaborate more. 131\ 00:12:45.090 --> 00:13:02.259\ steve wiseman: that kind of evolved into something else, which I'll tell you about in a moment. So we didn't actually… I think, in fact, because we wanted to do that, that was one of the reasons we struggled to get charity commission recognition, because we were involving the business sector, and they didn't want us to involve the business sector at that stage. Anyway. 132\ 00:13:02.970 --> 00:13:14.000\ steve wiseman: Where we've moved on now to is… I've categorized the projects we deal with as parenting projects, partnerships, and direct delivery. 133\ 00:13:14.400 --> 00:13:16.600\ steve wiseman: When it comes to parenting. 134\ 00:13:16.890 --> 00:13:35.750\ steve wiseman: the project we're best known for in the Norwich area is getting together… because we were looking for premises for various environmental groups, we kind of expanded our brief a bit, and we got quite a wide range of groups wanting to find premises in Norwich, because they… 135\ 00:13:35.750 --> 00:13:44.190\ steve wiseman: They were facing enormous, kind of, costs with their landlords, and the rent, and all the… all the utilities, etc. 136\ 00:13:44.330 --> 00:13:56.400\ steve wiseman: But… and also, we were well aware that in Norwich, like all towns, cities, lots of derelict buildings that formerly retail office blocks and whatever, that could easily be repurposed. 137\ 00:13:56.540 --> 00:13:59.409\ steve wiseman: So we spend quite a bit of time 138\ 00:13:59.730 --> 00:14:08.679\ steve wiseman: with our… among our volunteers and trustees, our directors, searching for premises in Norwich and trying to negotiate space. 139\ 00:14:09.220 --> 00:14:16.700\ steve wiseman: Something called Meanwhile letting, which is short-term letting, which benefits landlords because it saves them on business rates. 140\ 00:14:16.730 --> 00:14:29.869\ steve wiseman: And also, enables, the property to be used, fully used, rather than falling into disrepair. So it took some time. Eventually, North City Council came into the fray and decided to. 141\ 00:14:30.150 --> 00:14:44.670\ steve wiseman: offer us a building, called Norwich Unity Hub. We formed a charity called Norwich Unity Hub. It's a former social services building. And then we've handed it over to them. So that is the parenting bit, really. Having set everything in motion. 142\ 00:14:44.670 --> 00:15:03.080\ steve wiseman: bringing together these environmental and various groups together. We've now… some of our… I actually became a director of this new group, Norwich Unity Hub, but I'm no longer there now, because I just had too much on my plate. But some of our EcoHub directors are still involved with Norwich Unity Hub. 143\ 00:15:03.130 --> 00:15:14.210\ steve wiseman: So… so basically, in terms of parenting, that's a child that's grown up, and now it's doing its own thing, and it's thriving, but we're really proud of it. But there is still a shortage of, 144\ 00:15:14.870 --> 00:15:16.560\ steve wiseman: opportunities for 145\ 00:15:16.710 --> 00:15:30.130\ steve wiseman: for groups in Norwich to come together, so we'll probably need another… another space in Norwich, at least, and probably other parts of Norfolk, because there's a great benefit from people coming together under one roof, because of the creative synergy. 146\ 00:15:30.840 --> 00:15:33.670\ steve wiseman: To be gained, and also cost-saving, of course. 147\ 00:15:33.710 --> 00:15:51.760\ steve wiseman: Another thing we're parenting, which is very early days, because some of the people got together, they… they want to design an escape room. Obviously, escape rooms are very… all the rage at the moment, but something that mimics climate change, so to help people raise their… to raise people's awareness 148\ 00:15:51.800 --> 00:15:56.439\ steve wiseman: Of all the issues affecting the planet, but… but also, maybe. 149\ 00:15:56.580 --> 00:16:08.300\ steve wiseman: having a kind of sense of adventure, having fun, that kind of thing. So we got… we got a small team of people designing puzzles to try to make that happen. I think there are similar schemes around, 150\ 00:16:08.300 --> 00:16:18.660\ steve wiseman: the world and in Britain, but we thought we'd try for one in the Norwich area. So that's something… we're kind of open to parenting projects and providing our expertise and letting them 151\ 00:16:18.660 --> 00:16:27.139\ steve wiseman: go on with it. And then maybe, especially with Knowledge Unity Hub, they'll eventually leave us. I think Escape Room will eventually become an independent 152\ 00:16:27.230 --> 00:16:29.219\ steve wiseman: thing as well. 153\ 00:16:29.220 --> 00:16:52.120\ steve wiseman: Now, we also partner with groups. We're partnered a group that's been set up, and we're actually… I suppose we're parenting it. I'm not sure if they'll ever break away. It's called Reimagine Norwich, and it's based on… you've probably heard of the Donut Economics Framework, which is looking at all the aspects, the environmental, say, the planet issues, but also issues around social justice. 154\ 00:16:52.120 --> 00:16:58.740\ steve wiseman: So that's a separate group in Norwich that's been company, but… but we do all the backroom work for them. 155\ 00:16:58.740 --> 00:17:06.909\ steve wiseman: So, for example, All the administration side, bookkeeping, paying, 156\ 00:17:07.060 --> 00:17:21.289\ steve wiseman: making any payments. If any funding is achieved, it has to come through us, that kind of thing. And we also have Our Power, you've probably heard of that. It's a community-led energy saving initiative, and that's been getting funding from local authorities and a few 157\ 00:17:21.300 --> 00:17:38.479\ steve wiseman: charitable trusts as well. Now, that's… that's become independent, so really, that should probably now come under parent. Some of… some of the… some of these partners become… come under parenting, and they're like children that go off and do their own thing, really. But our… our power is, 158\ 00:17:39.310 --> 00:17:40.590\ steve wiseman: basically. 159\ 00:17:40.750 --> 00:17:51.010\ steve wiseman: going around house to house or community meetings to raise people's awareness of how they can save on their energy bills. And that's very… obviously very popular because of the 160\ 00:17:51.120 --> 00:18:15.399\ steve wiseman: people want to save money, but it also is a chance to kind of raise their awareness of the wider issues around environmental protection. And it's kind of getting to an audience that you… sometimes it's hard to reach, because there are people in… often on low-paid jobs, who haven't really got the time to consider these sorts of issues, but we… we can enter into conversations with them. So that's a good point, and that's thriving, and that's run through 161\ 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:20.240\ steve wiseman: an organization called Norwich Climate, CIC. 162\ 00:18:20.670 --> 00:18:22.369\ steve wiseman: So, then we have Norwich… 163\ 00:18:22.670 --> 00:18:33.000\ steve wiseman: Sorry, I'm jumping on it. Norwich Soda System is something that I was involved with a couple of years ago, and that's through Norwich BID, Business Improvement District, and that was, 164\ 00:18:33.610 --> 00:18:48.269\ steve wiseman: to kind of consult with local businesses to create a rooftop solar farm project in central Norwich. And we had a lot of consultations, a lot of feedback. It raised awareness among the business community as to what was possible, and 165\ 00:18:48.270 --> 00:19:08.060\ steve wiseman: overcoming their original skepticism, and it kind of led to quite a lot of collaboration, going on. And I know we have lots of mini-projects around Norwich, so that's going great, Guns, and I was pleased to take part in that, help with the… basically, collaboration with… with the businesses, breakfast meetings. 166\ 00:19:08.200 --> 00:19:18.989\ steve wiseman: And, doing a bit of research on… on what they were saying to us, really, and trying to overcome the barriers, as they saw it, in terms of installation of, 167\ 00:19:19.130 --> 00:19:38.069\ steve wiseman: solar panels, that kind of thing. So I think that helped. I'm quite proud that that's moved forward. A couple of research projects we've been involved with as well, because we kind of get invited to these from time to time. One is embryonic Ecological Citizenship Project through Middlesex University. We've made a bid on that, and that's all about, 168\ 00:19:38.410 --> 00:19:41.670\ steve wiseman: Trying to address some of the problems with the 169\ 00:19:41.670 --> 00:20:03.290\ steve wiseman: VCSE sector in terms of addressing environmental issues, because often they haven't… they're often one or two people banned, and they haven't got time to address these bigger issues in the way that the corporates have. So it's kind of looking at ways forward for them on the environmental front. And Anglo Rusting University is more about equal anxiety. There was a project a couple of years ago 170\ 00:20:03.290 --> 00:20:08.969\ steve wiseman: That involve raising awareness and… A lot of young people, it's one of their top 171\ 00:20:09.070 --> 00:20:23.130\ steve wiseman: sources of anxiety is the fear that the planet's coming to an end, you know, and it's obviously all down to the earlier generations, but it's a lot of… and there's an arts project, but it was funded… it was a research project. 172\ 00:20:23.130 --> 00:20:34.519\ steve wiseman: looking at how behaviour change has been affected by climate concerns. So that's quite an interesting project. So they're… they're projects we're partnered on, and then on direct delivery. 173\ 00:20:35.410 --> 00:20:42.720\ steve wiseman: We've had a lot of small prog… small funding for projects from time to time. There's a great one in the summer a couple of years ago, where 174\ 00:20:43.380 --> 00:20:47.280\ steve wiseman: Schoolchildren were asked to come up with… with a… 175\ 00:20:48.100 --> 00:21:01.920\ steve wiseman: little projects which help to raise their awareness on environmental issues. There's a community gardens festival that came up last… earlier this year, where we could show… showcase green spaces, 176\ 00:21:02.070 --> 00:21:13.439\ steve wiseman: Some of which were private, a lot of them were publicly owned, some of them were quite small, and it gave… made people proud of what was available, and made them maybe more aware of what's possible, what… what… what you… 177\ 00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:22.849\ steve wiseman: what's there, and appreciate the natural world in urban areas. We also have a regular newsletter that comes out, 178\ 00:21:23.190 --> 00:21:41.740\ steve wiseman: Although we are… we… that is… as I say, most of our work is… well, all our work is volunteer-based, unless we can get funding for one-off projects, and the newsletter, we are certainly looking for more volunteers to help with that, because as ever, if ever you want anything done, you ask a busy person, but the busy person that's doing that, I think there's no… 179\ 00:21:41.740 --> 00:21:49.220\ steve wiseman: She'd say, I've had enough now, so we need… we need to find someone else to take that on, and that… because that's great, because that's a very great way of getting… 180\ 00:21:49.300 --> 00:21:51.820\ steve wiseman: sharing information across Norwich. 181\ 00:21:51.910 --> 00:21:54.540\ steve wiseman: and, and parts of Norfolk. And, 182\ 00:21:54.640 --> 00:22:10.940\ steve wiseman: We… in the past, we've run monthly sessions on various themes, where we can get… where the funding is available. We've… we've covered areas such as biodiversity, recycling, energy, climate, anxiety, you name it. We've covered so many different areas and topics 183\ 00:22:11.130 --> 00:22:14.500\ steve wiseman: around… climate change. 184\ 00:22:14.690 --> 00:22:21.450\ steve wiseman: So, looking ahead, we obviously want to do more. We… that's what we're quite… we're enthusiastic about developing 185\ 00:22:22.060 --> 00:22:29.970\ steve wiseman: possibilities for Norfolk as a whole, expanding our facilitation and knowledge sharing, And, 186\ 00:22:30.240 --> 00:22:48.660\ steve wiseman: just moving forward for Norfolk in the way that we've been looking at for Essex and other counties. So it's really looking for funding, really, and I'm pleased that the great collaboration has been supported with that. Another thing which some of our members are very keen on is something called an Imaginarium. I think there's one in Cambridge. 187\ 00:22:48.660 --> 00:22:56.220\ steve wiseman: And it's basically looking at the past history of a tone, and in this case, Norwich's radical history, where lots of people have made 188\ 00:22:56.220 --> 00:23:00.450\ steve wiseman: Really, kind of, constructive changes, positive changes for the future. 189\ 00:23:00.620 --> 00:23:09.949\ steve wiseman: And we want to sort of celebrate that, and then imagine how Norwich could be improved in the future. So I think that kind of concept 190\ 00:23:09.950 --> 00:23:28.760\ steve wiseman: where people can come together and imagine a better future, whether it's just climate change or the bigger picture, is something that quite a few towns are doing, and I think that also fits in with this dominant economics thing. But the Imaginarium potentially could be commercially a viable thing, because it could be a center where people can 191\ 00:23:28.760 --> 00:23:36.979\ steve wiseman: turn up… appreciate the past, what's been achieved in the past, and what could be achieved in the future. So that's basically 192\ 00:23:38.290 --> 00:23:49.819\ steve wiseman: well, I've got a bit more. Yeah, why this matters, I think we're all kind of familiar with this. It took… it tackles climate and ecological breakdown. It helps with 193\ 00:23:50.250 --> 00:24:06.100\ steve wiseman: It helps to address the issues that we're all concerned about, the fairer, greener Norwich. Increasing… it also increases opportunities for volunteering and collaboration. It attracts quite a wide demographic, a lot of young people, but also older people as well. 194\ 00:24:06.100 --> 00:24:10.759\ steve wiseman: Sometimes it's the people in the middle that… because they haven't got the time, I guess. 195\ 00:24:10.940 --> 00:24:22.970\ steve wiseman: That, that are less involved, but… so we have, we have, quite a lot of events. We've got, quite a few events coming up in October to attract the general public, really, and that's often our source of volunteers. 196\ 00:24:23.210 --> 00:24:32.739\ steve wiseman: And people like to get involved, because it reduces… helps address isolation, mental health issues as well. So there are benefits to individuals as well as to the wider community. 197\ 00:24:34.350 --> 00:24:36.829\ steve wiseman: So, so far, we're… we'd say rough… 198\ 00:24:37.230 --> 00:24:45.569\ steve wiseman: we haven't really done a count recently, but it's about 20 or so volunteer groups have been supported. I think we're… over the time, we're… 199\ 00:24:45.730 --> 00:24:54.900\ steve wiseman: we've had 200 or so volunteers. I think it fluctuates the numbers of people, depending on availability, but it's definitely increasing. 200\ 00:24:55.080 --> 00:25:05.520\ steve wiseman: And lots of people have been involved in our workshops, schools have been involved in the expeditions, which we mentioned, the climate awareness adventure things, and 201\ 00:25:05.520 --> 00:25:25.119\ steve wiseman: we've had a… we've developed a good partnership with local authorities and Norwich Bid and local artists, so we tend to be… if… if they want… if they can think of a project, and they can… well, we can actually take it on, that we're… we're like a receptacle for certain… quite a wide range of projects we're taking on, as we can see there, from time to time. So. 202\ 00:25:25.120 --> 00:25:31.529\ steve wiseman: I think I'm proud of what we've been doing, but we're all… we've all got our day jobs, so it's just finding the time to, 203\ 00:25:32.120 --> 00:25:34.740\ steve wiseman: to do stuff. But we're helping to, 204\ 00:25:35.180 --> 00:25:45.260\ steve wiseman: we've got a series of events in October, and we're hoping to attract more volunteers. So that's basically Norwich EcoHub, and that's where we are at the moment. So, 205\ 00:25:45.710 --> 00:25:49.730\ steve wiseman: I don't know if anyone's got any questions. 206\ 00:25:50.120 --> 00:26:05.490\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Steve, thank you very much, and I'll certainly be keen to start the ball rolling, because you see things in towns and cities that we don't see so much in the country, and I was very struck by the number of 207\ 00:26:05.620 --> 00:26:19.670\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: at times in your show that you mentioned the word anxiety, or eco-anxiety, or mental health, and particularly, you mentioned children. Do we have a lot of issues with people being very worried about the climate? 208\ 00:26:19.910 --> 00:26:21.680\ steve wiseman: Well, anecdotally. 209\ 00:26:21.820 --> 00:26:33.549\ steve wiseman: a lot of the… what they call the Gen Z people, and people are concerned, I think it's because of a lot of information that's come out from various sources, but people fear 210\ 00:26:34.010 --> 00:26:40.809\ steve wiseman: That is one of the top fears among a lot of young people, that it's all a bit hopeless, and what's been done about it, you know? 211\ 00:26:40.920 --> 00:26:51.870\ steve wiseman: So it's definitely… but it is anecdotal. I think there are… there is research into this. I probably should have found that, but there's… there is research, but certainly lots of people talk about 212\ 00:26:51.880 --> 00:27:05.119\ steve wiseman: their kids having these fears, and young people themselves. So the movement, the environmental movement, has attracted a lot of young people and doing various things, so I think it's fair to say that it's a lot of angst 213\ 00:27:05.150 --> 00:27:13.010\ steve wiseman: Around the issue, which is obviously justifiable. But in some cases, it goes a bit too far, and people are really worried about 214\ 00:27:13.010 --> 00:27:26.249\ steve wiseman: And it kind of immobilizes some people, I think. So what we have to try to do to show that there is hope for… there are ways forward, and not… it's not all… all lost, but it's kind of, 215\ 00:27:26.940 --> 00:27:30.680\ steve wiseman: Been a lot of politics involved with this as well, of course, yeah. 216\ 00:27:30.840 --> 00:27:38.090\ steve wiseman: And are people responsive? Do they sort of cheer up a little if you share… Well, I think, I think that if you can involve people. 217\ 00:27:38.170 --> 00:27:56.330\ steve wiseman: and they can see it's… it's make… it's a practical difference they're making. It kind of energizes them, and they can… I think it doesn't… I think we always think that the volunteering side alleviates the anxiety, because a lot of people just say, well, what can I do, you know, and they feel a bit helpless with it. 218\ 00:27:56.730 --> 00:27:59.590\ steve wiseman: And they see what's happening in other parts of the world, and I think 219\ 00:27:59.760 --> 00:28:16.889\ steve wiseman: although Britain's had its ecological disasters, and it's obviously in the North Norfolk coast, it's quite evident, really, but I don't think they're seeing as much, and they're just getting in the news at the moment of what's happening in other parts of the world. I'm involved with an international development charity, and I know the effects of, 220\ 00:28:16.890 --> 00:28:28.149\ steve wiseman: the droughts going on for many years in parts of Africa, which then let… result in enormous flooding, which… so a lot of the traditional agriculture 221\ 00:28:28.340 --> 00:28:45.440\ steve wiseman: industries have declined, and affected livelihoods. So all that I'm well aware of, and I think, there's a fear that that's just what's starting in global south countries is now becoming more evident in other parts of the world. So, so I think, 222\ 00:28:46.800 --> 00:28:53.149\ steve wiseman: you know, I think… so people get stuff on the… on the news, obviously, and people have their experience, but a lot of it is… 223\ 00:28:53.710 --> 00:28:55.529\ steve wiseman: fear for the future, I guess. 224\ 00:28:56.200 --> 00:28:59.719\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: And affecting them locally, as opposed to what's happening in Africa. 225\ 00:28:59.720 --> 00:29:03.650\ steve wiseman: Yeah, well, that's right, they can see examples locally. I'm not, obviously, 226\ 00:29:04.760 --> 00:29:08.800\ steve wiseman: You know, there's a lot of political stuff going on as well about, 227\ 00:29:09.750 --> 00:29:11.469\ steve wiseman: About the whole issue, isn't it? Yeah. 228\ 00:29:11.880 --> 00:29:14.519\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Thank you very much. Over to you, Stuart. 229\ 00:29:14.910 --> 00:29:18.489\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Hi, I'd just like to say thanks, Steve. It's… 230\ 00:29:18.860 --> 00:29:24.269\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: quite an amazing piece of work, really. I'm just a little bit, 231\ 00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:33.839\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Not worried, but, wonder how relatable all this is to… Smaller towns, parishes. 232\ 00:29:34.200 --> 00:29:38.830\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: I don't know what the population of, Norwich is. 233\ 00:29:39.010 --> 00:29:44.260\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: But I presume it's, I don't know, over 100,000, maybe? 234\ 00:29:44.260 --> 00:29:48.390\ steve wiseman: Yeah, it's about 100… 160,000, I think, yeah. 235\ 00:29:49.400 --> 00:29:58.550\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: So, do you think the actual number of people available to get involved in this is an important factor? 236\ 00:29:59.280 --> 00:30:06.219\ steve wiseman: Yeah, I guess so. I suppose in a village, say, you're gonna get… 237\ 00:30:06.840 --> 00:30:16.879\ steve wiseman: I don't know if there's more… more people… it's a more intense thing, isn't it? You might… you might get more people involved through peer group pressure than you would in a… in a city, because, 238\ 00:30:17.270 --> 00:30:24.360\ steve wiseman: people thought they feel they're in it together more, whereas in… in Norwich, it is, 239\ 00:30:25.820 --> 00:30:31.849\ steve wiseman: people pick and choose things, don't they? Whereas maybe in a smaller community. 240\ 00:30:32.030 --> 00:30:36.300\ steve wiseman: people feel more… more obligation. I can't really comment on whether 241\ 00:30:36.940 --> 00:30:43.030\ steve wiseman: I mean, there's lots of examples in villages where people are doing loads of sterling work, and as, 242\ 00:30:44.190 --> 00:30:44.700\ steve wiseman: Azure. 243\ 00:30:44.700 --> 00:30:51.420\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Yeah, I think most of these are groups strongly focused on one particular thing. 244\ 00:30:51.580 --> 00:31:01.560\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: We have quite vigorous, sort of, arts groups, dance groups, gardening groups. 245\ 00:31:01.820 --> 00:31:06.169\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: But they're all focused just on that sort of one thing. 246\ 00:31:06.350 --> 00:31:15.899\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: And from what I've gleaned from you, you've got a much wider, sort of, spectrum of activities and involvements there. 247\ 00:31:15.900 --> 00:31:35.239\ steve wiseman: Well, I think… I think in Norfolk, we… we certainly have this problem as well, that people have in their… in their silos, they're in there doing different things. But often, when you get them together, they realize there's a big connection going on here between various things, like the gardening group is a good example, mate. It probably connects with, 248\ 00:31:35.240 --> 00:31:46.240\ steve wiseman: the wider issues of climate change, because they can see that… in fact, gardeners of all people can see this, can't they? So, I think maybe having a coordinating group that shares experience, which is exactly what Grain 249\ 00:31:46.240 --> 00:31:50.229\ steve wiseman: Great collaboration's doing, and it's certainly what we're trying to do locally. 250\ 00:31:50.700 --> 00:32:05.649\ steve wiseman: I think… I think that… and that's what… that's what Green Essex would presumably do. Bringing together the… these various angles, and… and getting people to say, well, this is your experience, but you can complement your experience by what… what's going on with… 251\ 00:32:06.460 --> 00:32:10.199\ steve wiseman: In other areas. So, for example, gardeners, wildlife. 252\ 00:32:10.360 --> 00:32:15.339\ steve wiseman: That, that obviously links, links very well. So I think… I think there are creative ways 253\ 00:32:15.480 --> 00:32:23.600\ steve wiseman: coordinating and bringing things together. And I think the same should apply whether it's rural or urban, really, or suburban. 254\ 00:32:24.970 --> 00:32:31.660\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Yeah, I think travel and distance probably pays quite a big role in some of these things. 255\ 00:32:31.660 --> 00:32:32.460\ steve wiseman: Yeah. 256\ 00:32:32.460 --> 00:32:41.150\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: So, if we have something, say, set up in Chelmsford, which is our nearest, like, well, city now. 257\ 00:32:41.460 --> 00:32:46.250\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: A lot of people would view that as being a long way away, and… 258\ 00:32:47.060 --> 00:32:49.840\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Wouldn't want to travel that far. 259\ 00:32:50.230 --> 00:32:52.859\ steve wiseman: Well, this is the problem with Norfolk, because, 260\ 00:32:53.770 --> 00:33:11.610\ steve wiseman: it's a… it's a county boundary that's been set up many years ago, but people living in Kingsleyan, they don't really associate with anything at Norwich at all, and I think Yarmouth considers itself separate as well, so it's really hard to unite. I mean, when we have the unitary authorities, they're probably… 261\ 00:33:12.680 --> 00:33:25.980\ steve wiseman: cover larger chunks, because the county council will probably disappear. So… but I agree, size and geographical spread is a factor, and in fact, the closer your community is, whether it's a rural 262\ 00:33:26.310 --> 00:33:28.520\ steve wiseman: Or an urban. I think Norwich has got quite a… 263\ 00:33:28.890 --> 00:33:32.960\ steve wiseman: Quite a close community, really, in terms of you can walk into the city. 264\ 00:33:33.420 --> 00:33:37.080\ steve wiseman: And the chances are, you'll see someone that you know from somewhere. 265\ 00:33:37.220 --> 00:33:44.499\ steve wiseman: walking down the street, you know, so it's kind of just the right size, it's not too large. So I think… 266\ 00:33:44.690 --> 00:33:56.069\ steve wiseman: But if it's something really large, like London or something, it'd be really difficult. You'd have to break it down into smaller components. So I'm probably… I'm probably heading towards saying, yeah, the original question, the smaller… 267\ 00:33:56.280 --> 00:33:59.200\ steve wiseman: The smaller communities, probably, in the end. 268\ 00:33:59.700 --> 00:34:03.569\ steve wiseman: Are where… where they're going to be more successful, really. 269\ 00:34:04.840 --> 00:34:06.030\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Okay, thanks. 270\ 00:34:06.660 --> 00:34:07.290\ steve wiseman: Yeah. 271\ 00:34:07.790 --> 00:34:18.560\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: I was struck, Steve, by your wonderfully grandiose title of Norfolk Solar System, as opposed to the rest of the world, Solar System. 272\ 00:34:18.560 --> 00:34:24.950\ steve wiseman: So that… that was Norris… that was Norris Bee. They were… they spent a long time trying to come up with a suitable, 273\ 00:34:25.090 --> 00:34:39.790\ steve wiseman: label for this, and then they've got… they seem to… they have a marketing person, so why not call it Norwich Silver System? I said at the time, it sounds a bit pretentious, but they… they… they seem to like it now, so that's… that's now all of their website now, so… 274\ 00:34:39.790 --> 00:34:56.449\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: So I wanted to ask, because I know this is something that Tristram is working on, is what percentage of the rooftops in that area went solar, and did you generate a substantial percentage of your needed electricity, or… 275\ 00:34:57.330 --> 00:35:09.819\ steve wiseman: Well, I haven't… you need to talk to an RHBID to get the deed, because it's a bit of an ongoing project, but I know that a lot of… a lot of companies have now got solar on their roof, they didn't have before, and 276\ 00:35:09.970 --> 00:35:15.619\ steve wiseman: ecclesiastical buildings. They… when they… when it was… when we set up, they were very… 277\ 00:35:15.840 --> 00:35:26.220\ steve wiseman: they didn't want to… and they didn't want to put anything on their roofs. They thought it might damage the look of the roof and everything. And then the church changed its view on it. 278\ 00:35:26.220 --> 00:35:45.220\ steve wiseman: And St. Peter Mancroft, which is a famous church in the center of Norwich, has now got them, and they're really proud of them, they're promoting it. So I… and a lot of heritage buildings in Norwich, and I know the planning… the planning, people are changing their attitude, because for a long time, it was quite difficult to get solar panels on heritage buildings. 279\ 00:35:45.550 --> 00:36:03.939\ steve wiseman: I think we were led by the example of Kensington, the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which decided to give unilateral permission for all… because they've got loads of heritage buildings on the installation of solar panels, rather than doing a one-by-one assessment each time. So as long as it's within the keep… within keeping of the actual grandiose 280\ 00:36:04.100 --> 00:36:06.480\ steve wiseman: the grandiose building, then, 281\ 00:36:06.510 --> 00:36:25.810\ steve wiseman: it can be done. So I think progress is being made. It's slow, but I think a lot's gone… a lot's, like, a lot's moved on in terms of the last three years, but I can't give you, actually, actual figures, but, Norwich Speed could certainly do that, I'm sure. We talked to, Martin Blackwell, who's the 282\ 00:36:25.910 --> 00:36:27.420\ steve wiseman: The main guy, they're all… 283\ 00:36:27.570 --> 00:36:35.119\ steve wiseman: or Michael, there, but if you, if you would like, I could try and get the information for you, but, I'm sure. 284\ 00:36:35.370 --> 00:36:46.440\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Well, I'm just… I'm interested because so much of what we're doing seems to involve educating ignorant or very narrow-minded people in. 285\ 00:36:46.440 --> 00:36:46.850\ steve wiseman: Yeah. 286\ 00:36:46.850 --> 00:36:49.930\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: grand positions, and I'm sort of thinking that… 287\ 00:36:50.050 --> 00:37:06.779\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: I live in a listed house, and we have a lot of trouble with the planning people on putting solar panels on the roof, because you can't have that in a listed building. I'd like to throw at them the example of Gloucester Cathedral. I mean, that's only 1,300 years old. 288\ 00:37:06.780 --> 00:37:14.459\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: So, it's got a long way to go yet, but they covered it in solar panels because, as you say, the ecclesiastical people changed their minds. 289\ 00:37:14.800 --> 00:37:16.609\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: And I'm hoping… 290\ 00:37:16.610 --> 00:37:17.469\ tristram cary: I think things… 291\ 00:37:17.800 --> 00:37:26.400\ tristram cary: Yeah, I think things are getting better. From our experience, county… local authorities and district councils are tending to say they'll put 292\ 00:37:26.520 --> 00:37:40.040\ tristram cary: They'll, you know, allow solar panels as the rule, but… so our local district heart has done that, but actually there's still… it's still very difficult to push stuff through, so getting it implemented is something else, again. 293\ 00:37:40.200 --> 00:37:46.820\ tristram cary: But I think the attitude of councils towards allowing solar as a sort of standard thing is improving. 294\ 00:37:47.140 --> 00:38:03.019\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Yes, I find myself developing techniques to work with Neanderthals, because they're so far back in the Stone Age around here that, you know, you've got to develop a new language to say, have you noticed that we're in… we're a quarter of the way through the 21st century? 295\ 00:38:03.140 --> 00:38:05.580\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: And a lot of them haven't noticed. 296\ 00:38:05.580 --> 00:38:06.710\ steve wiseman: Yeah. 297\ 00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:21.500\ steve wiseman: Yeah, unfortunately, we're planning so much depending on local authorities, and there probably should be more government sort of ruling. I know there's been some changes on planning, but I think there should be some sort of general parameters introduced to 298\ 00:38:21.620 --> 00:38:24.209\ steve wiseman: To stop local… some local authorities being… 299\ 00:38:24.320 --> 00:38:33.150\ steve wiseman: basically prejudiced against the solar panels, and others are doing… others are moving on quite well now. Norwich has slowly adapted. They were difficult… 300\ 00:38:33.190 --> 00:38:50.199\ steve wiseman: That was one of the barriers presented by businesses, that local authority was going to be difficult, but I think we're gradually working on them. And as I say, Kenston and Chelsea are kind of a sighted example of where they came up with this unilateral policy, so I think that's great. 301\ 00:38:50.440 --> 00:38:54.190\ steve wiseman: It's very much changing, but it's very… but because we… we have 302\ 00:38:54.310 --> 00:38:59.830\ steve wiseman: Because of localism, which is good in many ways, it's resulting in a patchwork at the moment. 303\ 00:39:01.880 --> 00:39:02.440\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Stop. 304\ 00:39:02.720 --> 00:39:08.730\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Well, we have examples of, More, more, conservative thinking. 305\ 00:39:09.110 --> 00:39:10.240\ steve wiseman: Yeah. Down here. 306\ 00:39:11.440 --> 00:39:18.049\ tristram cary: Steve, can I just ask about your… the fairness? You've got as one of your goals, fairness. 307\ 00:39:18.340 --> 00:39:28.119\ tristram cary: And I'm wondering how… is that… is that a central part of what you do, or is… are you… everything you do is aimed towards getting, you know, improving lives and access to clean energy? 308\ 00:39:28.120 --> 00:39:45.120\ steve wiseman: Yeah, yeah, we've thought… we've thought, really, that we're just concerned that environmental stuff isn't just a concern of the middle classes, and it affects a lot of people in so many walks of life who wouldn't normally engage. And, some of it is to do with the… 309\ 00:39:45.170 --> 00:39:58.840\ steve wiseman: the way… the way the systems are run, so we… we're trying to look more closely at, issues around equality, for example, and look at project… I mean, it's always a… it's always an issue, a problem, because we can run events. 310\ 00:39:58.840 --> 00:40:17.710\ steve wiseman: And it's always the same old people turn up, the environmental activists, young people, and older people have been in concern for some time, but just getting ordinary people in their working lives to sort of be concerned about this, and to do stuff, that's always a struggle. And we… in terms of fairness and equality, we… 311\ 00:40:17.770 --> 00:40:34.860\ steve wiseman: it's an ambition, really, to get things more… donor economics helps… gives us a framework to help adjust… adjust to this, because it's got in the frameworks, it's got… it says, what about health services? Then we have to think about, well, how can health services be improved? It's a big undertaking. 312\ 00:40:35.190 --> 00:40:35.670\ tristram cary: Hmm. 313\ 00:40:35.670 --> 00:40:39.379\ steve wiseman: But yeah, but I think we've got a structure that tries to address that. 314\ 00:40:39.690 --> 00:40:44.639\ steve wiseman: But how far we get with it is quite… quite hard, but it's a consciousness, at least. 315\ 00:40:48.170 --> 00:40:50.069\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: See, when you say that, 316\ 00:40:50.630 --> 00:41:05.009\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: hundreds of people have been involved with you, or helped, or so forth. When you hold one of these, public sessions in a city like Norwich, how many people tend to show up? Are we talking in the high tenths, in the low. 317\ 00:41:05.010 --> 00:41:09.419\ steve wiseman: We promote them, it depends what it is, but we've had events where 318\ 00:41:09.970 --> 00:41:15.790\ steve wiseman: There's been about 30 or 40 people turn up, you know, and it's been… And we… 319\ 00:41:16.260 --> 00:41:22.819\ steve wiseman: we had an event, fairly recently, it was through Reimagine Norwich, but it was looking at our… 320\ 00:41:22.940 --> 00:41:39.149\ steve wiseman: of a current, you know, the… you've heard of the Lewis… the Lewis pound, and these local currencies? Sure. We had… we had a really instructive session by a guy who was involved in a Tottenness pound, and we had about, I would say 20 turned up for that. 321\ 00:41:39.250 --> 00:41:48.059\ steve wiseman: And that… so it was something a bit different, and it kind of attracted people. Having said that, some of them were the familiar faces, so… 322\ 00:41:48.210 --> 00:41:50.160\ steve wiseman: There were a few new people. 323\ 00:41:50.390 --> 00:42:01.630\ steve wiseman: But this perpetual issue we've got, is how to get other people involved, really. But yeah, attendance… Norwich is the sort of place where people tend to come to these things, a bit like. 324\ 00:42:02.110 --> 00:42:13.039\ steve wiseman: a bit like, certain other towns in Britain, you know, but I think grow… I think there's a growing interest in these… the bigger picture. I'm… I mean, sadly, 325\ 00:42:13.180 --> 00:42:25.939\ steve wiseman: the world is becoming a bit more… a bit binary at the moment, and it's manifesting itself in Britain, isn't it? Where it's… people are on one side or the other, and there's less of a unity of purpose, but, 326\ 00:42:26.920 --> 00:42:31.050\ steve wiseman: I think, at the moment, people are coming together with a common concern, you know. 327\ 00:42:32.680 --> 00:42:37.180\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: I found in, in Somerset, in a small parish, that the… 328\ 00:42:37.460 --> 00:42:56.209\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: degree of interest shown in creating a nature reserve has been phenomenal, and we sort of… we held a meeting where we said, we're going to discuss this with people, and we came to the conclusion the meeting would be a success if 20 people showed up, and we got 120, which, from a village of 500 people, is not bad going. 329\ 00:42:56.770 --> 00:43:05.330\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: I think… I think more and more people are concerned. They're not necessarily addressing climate change per se, but they're concerned about the natural world, and . 330\ 00:43:05.710 --> 00:43:10.859\ steve wiseman: And they want to protect it, and it can't… it's coming from all sorts of sources, but… 331\ 00:43:11.670 --> 00:43:24.799\ steve wiseman: And that's why, in the recent survey, that great collaboration survey, parish council, it came up top, then the biodiversity came up top, which I don't think would have been the case, say, 10 years ago, so people are beginning to question the. 332\ 00:43:25.280 --> 00:43:27.789\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Tarmacking everything in the… the… the… 333\ 00:43:27.790 --> 00:43:35.110\ steve wiseman: Everything… Motorways everywhere and all that stuff, so they're looking… they're looking at the… bigger picture now. 334\ 00:43:35.310 --> 00:43:40.619\ steve wiseman: It's quite interesting. I went to New Zealand a couple of years ago, as mentioned, and 335\ 00:43:40.640 --> 00:43:57.390\ steve wiseman: the Maoris regard the river as a person, and the river has got the same rights as an individual would have. And that thing about the rights of nature has been replicated in various countries. Ecuador is another example, and that… I think that's quite a good policy to give. 336\ 00:43:57.610 --> 00:44:02.670\ steve wiseman: To have a… a river, rivers, given that kind of legal… 337\ 00:44:03.450 --> 00:44:12.280\ steve wiseman: legal recognition, because that means all legislation has to be… has to be mindful of the effect on a river or on a particular natural 338\ 00:44:13.080 --> 00:44:30.120\ steve wiseman: part of the natural world and how it's affected by… by changes. So I think… I think that's probably quite a good thing. But we… we have to learn from our past sometimes, you know, and there's other civilizations, that was just an example of Marley, but there's other civilizations that… that seem to have much better affinity 339\ 00:44:30.930 --> 00:44:34.270\ steve wiseman: and respect for the natural world, then… 340\ 00:44:34.450 --> 00:44:40.000\ steve wiseman: Than we historically have had in recent years, but… so it's good that if it's returning, that's good. 341\ 00:44:41.540 --> 00:44:49.390\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Well, I think certainly the older people amongst us are being more and more reminded of how much has changed, so… 342\ 00:44:49.390 --> 00:44:50.410\ steve wiseman: Yeah, that's right. 343\ 00:44:50.410 --> 00:45:02.469\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: It's a very, very long time since I had to wipe my car windscreen clear of midges and insects and things, whereas back in the 50s or 60s, you were doing it after every trip. 344\ 00:45:02.470 --> 00:45:03.940\ steve wiseman: That's true, actually, yeah. 345\ 00:45:03.940 --> 00:45:19.760\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: And of course, if they've gone, then all the, sort of higher level predators that depend upon them have gone as well, so they're… Yeah. You know, how long since you last saw a thrush, or even sparrows nowadays seem to be few and far between. Very weird. 346\ 00:45:19.990 --> 00:45:21.130\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: I'm finding. 347\ 00:45:21.960 --> 00:45:35.120\ steve wiseman: It is, yeah, that's right. And there's been a migration of certain species to Britain. Like, I remember doing a tour of the Broads last year, and these birds were turning up that hadn't been seen on the broads before. 348\ 00:45:35.250 --> 00:45:39.849\ steve wiseman: Which… which was damaging the habitat of the… of the existing birdlife, you know? 349\ 00:45:39.850 --> 00:45:40.969\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Oh, the natives, right. 350\ 00:45:40.970 --> 00:45:42.080\ steve wiseman: Yeah, yeah. 351\ 00:45:42.180 --> 00:45:54.600\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: And back to your question about the gardeners, they certainly notice that everything is happening earlier and earlier. You know, spring starts 3 weeks earlier than it did, and the farmers are planting many weeks earlier than they used to, so it goes. 352\ 00:45:54.870 --> 00:45:55.330\ steve wiseman: Yeah. 353\ 00:45:55.330 --> 00:45:56.280\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Fascinating. 354\ 00:45:56.580 --> 00:46:03.379\ steve wiseman: Yeah, and the rivers… a lot of rivers drying up as well, aren't they? That's… that's another very visible thing, the effect on the rivers, yeah. 355\ 00:46:05.330 --> 00:46:08.919\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Let me just check if anyone else has any more questions for you. 356\ 00:46:09.610 --> 00:46:12.729\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: And I see a large amount of nothing. 357\ 00:46:13.330 --> 00:46:20.350\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: So, Steve, thank you so much. That was actually very interesting. I did enjoy it, and thank you for your time and the work in putting it together. 358\ 00:46:20.350 --> 00:46:32.349\ steve wiseman: Well, thank you very much. I'm glad you've written all this out, because that reminds me, because sometimes you forget what's been achieved, so it's kind of reminded me of it. Anyway, okay, thank you. Nice to meet you, and see you at the great collaboration meeting. Take care. 359\ 00:46:32.350 --> 00:46:36.020\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Cool, and we'll see everybody next week. Take care, bye-bye. 360\ 00:46:36.020 --> 00:46:36.989\ tristram cary: If you're from a… 361\ 00:46:36.990 --> 00:46:37.760\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Alright.
*** ### Markdown copy of Steve's presentation (for AI Search engine)# Norwich Eco Hub Presentation
\## Slide 1 Norwich Eco Hub
Building a resilient, fair and sustainable Norwich
\## Slide 2 Who We Are
\- Community Interest Company (CIC) \- Mission: Build a resilient local economy based on cooperation, fairness, wise use of resources, and respect for the living world
\## Slide 3 Our Core Aims
\- Educate about interconnected challenges: inequality, climate breakdown, community health \- Promote community capacity-building and resilience \- Advance environmental protection and sustainable development \- Celebrate and coordinate sustainable living
\## Slide 4 Origins
\- Recognise need for individuals from local sustainability groups to join forces \- Adrian Ramsey a founder \- To develop a central hub for VCSE and business sectors for workshops, events, and collaboration
\## Slide 5 Key Projects: Partnering, Parenting and Direct Delivery
\## Slide 6 Parenting
\- Norwich Unity Hub \- Repurposed community space for groups and artists \- Sourcing premises, negotiating space, forming Norwich Unity Hub as a charity \- Escape Room \- Team developing this to mimic climate change issues
\## Slide 7 Partnering
\- Reimagine Norwich community-led energy saving and decarbonisation \- Norwich Solar System ecological citizenship project \- Anglia Ruskin University quests for young eco-adventurers \- Community Gardens Festival 2025 news and updates in Norwich area \- Monthly public sessions on biodiversity, recycling, energy, climate anxiety
\## Slide 9 Looking Ahead
\- Norwich Imaginarium expanding facilitation and knowledge sharing
\## Slide 10 Why This Matters
\- Tackling climate and ecological breakdown \- Growing a fairer, greener Norwich \- Increasing volunteering and collaboration \- Reducing isolation and eco-anxiety \- Improving mental health and wellbeing
\## Slide 11 Our Impact
\- 20+ volunteer groups supported in Norwich \- 200+ existing volunteers, aiming for 30% increase \- Hundreds engaged through workshops, expeditions, events \- Strong partnerships with councils, Norwich BID, artists, and businesses
--- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://wiki.greatcollaboration.uk/knowledgebase/events/banter-sessions-inc-table-of-all-sessions/banter-86-10sep25-norwich-eco-hub-with-steve-wiseman.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.