Blog 10 - Super Output Area

My Super Output Area is Northampton 012A, which is in the electoral ward of Eastfield. The population of the area is 1567 people.

A Sustainable Community is defined as;

"Sustainable communities are places where people want to live and work, now and in the future. They meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, are sensitive to their environment, and contribute to a high quality of life. They are safe and inclusive, well planned, built and run, and offer equality of opportunity and good services for all.

For communities to be sustainable, they must offer:

decent homes at prices people can afford
good public transport
schools
hospitals
shops
a clean, safe environment.

People also need open public space where they can relax and interact and the ability to have a say on the way their neighbourhood is run."


I don't think that my SOA is a very sustainable area at all, I've lived here all my life and I don't think that people want to live here, its a case of having to and they defiantly don't want to work. There has been a lot of antisocial behaviour in the area although in the last five years it has reduced quite a lot. The housing in my area varies quite a bit, there's a council estate behind my street and the housing is not the best, it used to be quite rough but the council have improved it a little, there are semi detached housing all the way down my street and new build houses have just been constructed on the old school grounds.

It does have potential though, there are some really nice areas like the park which I never really went to when I was younger as my mum always said that it was a little dodgy, but if some time and money was invested in to it maybe parents would feel safer letting their children play there, it could possibly be as nice as somewhere like Abington Park. There has been construction of new school buildings which has helped the two schools in my area improve. Also the amenities on my street are rather impressive, there's 2 churches, a nursery, 3 shops, a post office, 3 take aways, a pub, a doctors, a pharmacy and 2 schools, I think that with some work the community can become a lot more sustainable. The transport links however are really good, the bus comes every half an hour in to town but if you walk to either end of the road you can catch a bus to Weston Favell or in to town and it only takes 10 - 15 minutes for either.

I think that along with the physical things that make a community sustainable like good transport links and local services theres needs to be a sense of community which will make people want to live there and make the area better. I know my neighbours well and I think that makes my area better because theres a sense of well being and if people know each other they are more likely to work together to improve their community for the future. There is an active neighbourhood improvement scheme in effect in my area, my parents have been a couple of times and discussed how to improve the community and I think its quite effective because everyone gets their say and things actually happen.


References

1. http://nile.northampton.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_4_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_4755_1%26url%3D

Blog 8

My Local Constituency : Northampton North :)
My Local MP : Sally Keeble MP
My Local Council: Northampton Borough Council
My Local Party : Labour :(


I have mixed feelings about people who don't vote, because there's probably many reasons behind it, like not finding a party who share their particular views, or not understanding. People who say they don't vote because it won't make a difference do annoy me a little because of course it won't make a difference if you don't bother, a difference can only be seen if they make the effort.

I'm going to vote in 2010, I voted in the European elections because we were taught about it a lot at school and were given loads of background information about each party and what they stand for. I think that mainly people who don't vote decide not to because they don't really know about the policies which each party stand for, as it can be rather confusing. Watching the news and reading the papers you can be given a very biased view on particular parties especially in newspapers as they each have their own political alliance.

Political parties will promise a lot of things especially in the run up to elections and much of this will never happen but its important for people to get easy access to each parties plans. However I don't think people appreciate the mail they get sent from each party to try and sway them. I feel quite lucky that during sixth form we were taught very well about the politics of the UK and were allowed to form our own political views without being told we were wrong. I also think that my family have had a big impact on my attitude to voting, I appreciate the fact that I can vote because not long ago women weren't able to.

I know that voting in the younger generation is at an all time low, I really think that if people were informed like I was at school which I know most people aren't many more young people would vote. I know that its been attempted but it needs to be enjoyable otherwise people will be put off politics and voting for life.

Reference

1. http://www.sallykeeble.com/northampton.html (Sally Keeble Information)
2. http://www.julianwalker.org/images/nnmap.png

Blog 6 and 7

So...what are your views? Is there really a transport problem? Do the benefits of motorized transport outweigh the costs? Are there any minor (or perhaps major) changes you personally feel could make our present transport system more sustainable?

I think that there defiantly is a transport issue, but as private travel in cars has become much more accessible to people its going to be very hard to change peoples attitudes, because to be honest public transport is very unreliable at least the public transport in Northampton is. I have a car and I rarely think about how me driving everywhere impacts on the environment I'm more interested in getting where I need to be on time. I know I probably could use public transport a lot more but its a lot of hassle when I know I have my car just outside and I think this attitude is held by lots of car owners. For me to travel to Park Campus in the car it takes 10 minutes usually providing the traffic isn't too bad and to do the same journey on the bus it takes almost an hour! If I can get there in 10 minutes obviously I'm going to come in the car.

The government seem to be trying to put people off driving by increasing fuel tax and road tax and then there's the increasing cost of actually learning to drive but people will still do it as its a way of achieving your own independence. This increase in fuel tax and prices has a knock on effect for public transport like buses and trains because it means that the price of fares for that will also go up, which again pulls people back to their cars.

There has been a major increase in air pollution in the UK over the last 50 years with nitrous oxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions being particularly high which can be potentially lethal, MPs have suggested that this increase in air pollution across the country could possibly have been a contributing factor to 50000 deaths a year (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/22/air-pollution-deaths). Obesity wise I think cars are a big contributor to the expanding waste lines of Britain, with people driving short distances which can easily be walked. This does scare me a little and I do keep quite active but I think people need to be more aware of how important physical exercise is especially if their driving everywhere.

Northampton has got some very good transport links I just don't think that they are managed too well, for example I think there needs to be more regular buses on some of the more major routes like the University route or maybe just more buses at busier times of the day which would encourage more people to use it. The train links to London and Birmingham are actually really good and the bus which goes from campus to the train station really leaves no excuse for driving, however the train fares are actually rather expensive if your not a student and with annual passes being in the thousands I can see why commuters prefer to drive because either way its going to cost you a ridiculous amount of money, and personally if I could travel on my own rather than being squashed up with strangers I would! Also if it smelled nicer and the bus stations and train stations were nicer I would perhaps be a little more willing to travel on a bus or train.

I know it is in all of our interest for a healthier more sustainable lifestyle but if travel times are more than doubled whilst we do this and we have to spend the same if not more than we would on a car to travel on public transport then I personally and it seems most of the country would rather continue as I am and travel in my car.

Is Christmas Sustainable?


What do you think? Is Christmas sustainable? How would it all work in a changed world?


I think that Christmas is defiantly the most unsustainable time of the year, people seem to go crazy! Whether its overfilling the fridge with things like brandy butter and Brussels sprouts which were never ever going to eat but they still buy every year or the mundane and excessively wasteful task of sending out Christmas cards to every person you’ve every been acquainted with, don’t get me wrong I do love Christmas but I do feel its become ever so slightly over commercialised.

This Christmas despite being in a recession with 1.6 million people unemployed it’s estimated that we spent £34.6 billion showing that the Christmas retail takings have soared. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/dec/20/retail-stong-christmas-consumer-spending

The sheer amount that parents spend on their children is shocking! Working in a shop I’ve seen people spend thousands on toys! Are these children going to benefit from having every single Lego set in the world? No. Why not spend time together rather than splashing out on lavish gifts. In this News of the world article http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/598822/Average-family-will-spend-20-more-than-last-Christmas.html its estimated an average family will be spending £665 which is an increase of 20%! I think that people have lost the real meaning of Christmas, it should be more family orientated instead of the money making machine its been manipulated in to. Also the packaging they put on these toys! Where do they make it? It’s nearly impossible to get in to it, with all this emphasis on being greener is it really necessary to shrink wrap and pack everything, I think it could be done much more eco friendly. I also feel that people should be more aware of the options they have with their Christmas waste, like recycling their Christmas cards and wrapping paper.

I say that but obviously travel must increase at Christmas as people want to get back to their homes to be with their family and this is obviously not sustainable but I can’t really blame people for doing it, that’s what the seasons about.
People are taking the season too far though, the crazy people who light up their house like the Blackpool illuminations! I mean I don’t understand why you would do that because it must be costing them a fortune and I realise some people do it to raise money like a local funeral directors in Brafield raise money for cancer research but I think there are other more cost effective ways you could do it.
Finally the food! Do we need to eat it all, my family seem to buy enough chocolates to feed the county and a turkey big enough for 30 and we don’t even eat half of this food. I think its a big waste its just over excessive because we could have saved on so much packaging and transportation costs if everyone just thought about what they NEED.

To what extent do the best selling UK newspapers cover stories related to serious issues? To what extent would you think that it is their role to do so? In your opinion does the tabloid media and 'low budget entertainment' (reality shows, soaps) have too much power and influence in this country?



I think the newspapers have far too much of an influence over peoples opinions, and I think its quite sad that in this country 4 of the top 5 are tabloid newspapers. Obviously there is a difference between each paper but not much. Looking at the Sun's website this morning the headlining story is all about Katie Price (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/) infact every story on their main page has something to do with a celebrity. Then looking at the Daily Mirrors website its exactly the same story again, the latest gossip from the x factor and a sneak peek at whats coming up in Eastenders. On both of these there isn't even theslightest mention of the up and coming UN climate change debate or the latest from the war in Afghanistan. I don't really read these newspapers but I think if i did I wouldn't have a much more informed view of whats going on in the world around me, their fukll of scandle and celebrity. For example in the Mirror one of the closest stories I could get to political is "Millionaire Tory leader David Cameron claims 40p for chocolate bar on expenses - Exclusive" (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/12/03/millionaire-tory-leader-david-cameron-claims-40p-for-chocolate-bar-on-expenses-exclusive-115875-21868701/). I mean I can understand the fact that its coming out of the tax payers money but its 40p who really cares, but the public will be outraged at this kind of story and it has the power to turn people against that particular party. We all know that each of the papers have alliances with political parties and the newspapers are very clever in the way that they can change peoples views on these parties or people.



As regards low budget entertainment I don't understand why it seems to take over peoples lives, I admit I do watch the X factor at the weekend but I wouldn't go and camp outside theire house but people do and I really don't understand it. I think it is quite sad that children now could point out Simon Cowell but wouldn't have a clue who the primeminiter was. I think its a sad reflection of the dumbing down of our society. Looking at the list of the most watched television programmes its mainly dominated by soaps which are so far from reality its unreal. They do look at relavent issues like teenage pregnancies or drugs but they take these story lines to the extreme so miss out on being informal for people. Bearing in mind that the top tv shows listed were over the weekend this week the Queen documentary drama shown on channel 4 pulled in 2.4 million viewers http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/tvratings, however this is still a drama and only loosley based on facts but people will take it for gospel.

I think there needs to be more regulation in to how truthful these programmes and articles are and a possible warning put before they are shown to say they are only based on facts. The public need to learn to not believe everything they hear or read.

Should we be informed?

I agree that we should all be informed because these issues that politicians and scientists are deciding for us are going to affect us all. I feel that we aren't given enough credit as citizens, I think that most of us are well educated and the govenrment don't think we are capable of understanding complex issues when we are.

I personally try to keep myself as informed as I can, I regularly read newspapers and watch the news but I am always aware that these are made under extreme bias. The BBC for example is funded by the government therefore will never be very controversial about them this even streams down in to the type of doctmentaries they show, yes they do have Panorama but the issues they tackle here again give a biased view. The tabloid and broadsheet newspapers are very politcal with several stating there alligance to a particular party which will affect how we the citizens are informed. There have been several documentaries which I felt have really helped inform people of the real issues, one was to do with the Iraq war and looked at what the soliders had to say. At home we only ever hear about the number of soliders who have died and the Iraq war opposition groups never from the soliders themselves, this documentary went to Iraq and Afganistan and gave the viewer a look in to the life of the soliders and their opinions on what they were doing.

I think it is right that the scientists research in to the proposed changes but I think the information they find should be more freely avaliable to the public and possibly we should be able to vote and give our opinions because at the end of the day its us that its going to effect. After watching Al Gores An Inconvinient Truth and The Great Global Warming Swindle I became even more aware how uninformed people could be so easily influenced. If I had not have seen The Great Global Warming Swindle I think I possibly would have believed ever word that Al Gore said but to be shown the otherside of the argument really made me question what I was being told and I think this should be done for all matters because generally we only ever get to hear one side of the argument. I think the government need to finally appreciate that we do wish to be informed and start getting us a more involved because at the end of the day if they want us to change to make the local community, country and world a better place they need to involve us.

An Inconvinent Truth?

To what extent do you think this was deserved? Having watched this film in class did you feel that your opinion (or perhaps the opinion of others) to the issue of climate change could be positively influenced? What did you think of this film? Was it effective?



I've seen this film a couple of times before and each time the impact it has on me is softened, the first that I saw the film I did become more conscious of the impact that I have on the environment as a result for about a week afterwards I was recycling and turning off things obsessively. However I do still think that it is a good way of getting the message of climate change across, but I think my opinion has been biased because we did watch it in sixth form and then compared it to a Channel 4 film which tried to show that climate change wasn't real so I always end up comparing it and looking for the flaws in the film. I also felt that the film had too much about the life of Al Gore, he does a good job of explaining the science in various ways so everyone can understand it but he gets very political and bitter which I didn't think was totally necessary.



Personally I don't think that Al Gore deserved the peace prize for this film because although it is a useful tool for building the foundations of an understanding of climate change it has been proven that there are many misrepresentations of data in the film, for example the fact that he claims that a sea level rise over the next 200 years of 6 meters will cause the mass migration of possibly millions of people inland. Research has show that the sea level will rise by only 0.6 - 0.8 meters in the next 100 years. He constantly uses the worst possible outcome and I think this may scare people. I know that it helps him get his point across but it doesn't give a fair view of the problem. This film was used in schools but now due to the discrepancies in the information it isn't recommended and it is for this reason that I think the film shouldn't get the Nobel peace prize. I think that yes he has made more people aware of the issue but he hasn't really discovered anything which is going to stop climate change, and as most of the film is a biography of his life it kind of misses the point.

I have been positively influenced by the film, I do always feel an enormous sense of guilt after watching it but always seem to end up thinking that I can't really make that much difference on my own, yes I'll continue to recycle and turn off the lights but when it comes to walking or cycling instead of using my car its never going to happen because in the end I can't really be that committed to it on my own. Having watched a couple of documentaries which state that climate change is a myth I do now wonder throughout the film how much of it is real and how much is put in there to scaremonger us.