Fossil Fuel Dependency

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FOSSIL FUELS

We rely on Fossil Fuels for just about everything! All the key elements of our industrial societies, for example:

  • transport
  • manufacturing
  • farming, fertilisers and pesticides processing and packaging food
  • heating our homes and businesses
  • providing clean water and disposing of sewage
  • construction and maintenance of roads, factories, hospitals, schools, shops, houses
  • electricity generation

which is why we are currently using so much:  about 97 million barrels per day.

The urgent need to reduce the extraction and burning of fossil fuels is now widely accepted, however the journey to achieve this is not smooth or easy.  Governments, businesses and the peoples of the world all need to work hard, accept change, and embrace new ways of operating if we are to reach sustainably low levels of CO2 in or atmosphere. 

Reducing fossil fuel dependency represents a real challenge in Buxton, a town which relies on transport for tourism, food, manufacturing output to name a few. But there are ways to achieve it.

One objective for a Transition Town is to make it easy for people to work together. For example, to share lifts to work, to develop cycle ways, to reuse, repair, share and recycle, or to grow our own food using organic and permaculture methods. We can also look to reduce our own personal energy demand through retrofitting, making informed choices, and developing community renewable energy schemes amongst other things. Take a look at the ‘What we do’ tab on this website to see some of the things we get up to.

By making it easier for people to meet and share ideas we can start to build a resilient and sustainable community.