About the Task Force

Heat waves, floods and extinction of species make regular national front-page news. Locally, councils and residents are increasingly concerned about how we tackle climate change.

The Taskforce will act as an advisory body, operating across council departments and political parties and working with the local community and experts to listen to ideas and suggest how we can respond. We’ll look at the big and the little changes that we can make as a community and as individuals to safeguard our future.

The focus will be on identifying ideas and practical measures to make life in Camden more sustainable in the long term. This means the choices we make as consumers, the energy individuals and organisations produce and use up, our means of transport and how we reduce and dispose of waste.

As a councillor I’m trying to practice what I preach - my partner and I have spent the last year reducing our carbon footprint, by making changes to our lifestyle. None of these were too hard to do, but they will make a difference. We now recycle about 80 per cent of our household waste, use a composting bin, and have bought a water butt to collect rainwater for the garden, all of which are easily available cheaply for our residents.

We’ve virtually given up our car, in favour of bicycle and train, and are thinking of selling it to join one of Camden’s excellent car clubs. We’ve changed to a renewable energy electricity provider and refuse plastic bags in shops. I think people are willing to do more for the environment, it’s our responsibility as a council to be more active in showing what’s possible.

As local authorities our job is to give people more direct advice and explain why making changes is financially beneficial in the long run. Ideas we’ll be looking at in Camden include: how to implement a zero waste strategy; moving towards 100 per cent renewable energy; a more sustainable food procurement policy; a voluntary code to help businesses to become more sustainable; and making re-usable rainwater systems a must in all developments requiring planning permission.

As well as the moral and political imperative to act now for the benefit of future generations, we also have huge economic interest in making our lifestyle more sustainable. This is what the Sustainability Taskforce will aim to do in Camden - I’d be keen to hear from other councillors about the steps they’ve taken towards this.

Cllr Alexis Rowell, Camden's eco champion.