The PACT Buildings & Energy Group are focusing on encouraging homeowners to install insulation. We would first like to find out about people's current level of insulation and energy use, and we have access to a thermal imaging camera which we would like to use as a publicity tool, to help people to see where heat is being lost from their homes. Before starting on the general public, as a pilot project we have decided to start by asking PACT members about their current insulation. Based on this information we hope to then visit a representative selection of local properties to take thermal images of these homes.

Buildings & Energy Group meetings are held on the second Wed of each month at 7:30pm in Penrith - for further information please e-mail energy@penrithACT.org.uk, or phone Christine on 01768 866900.

The PACT Resources & Waste Group (RAW!) is involved in various projects, including a high profile campaign to reduce eliminate plastic bag usage in & around Penrith.

Following their hugely successful Shoppers Survey conducted in the centre of Penrith last year, seeking views from the community and promoting alternative forms of packaging, the group has now carried out a survey with local traders. The survey results have established that a staggering 6 MILLION single use plastic bags are currently used by traders in Penrith, and understand what their needs are.

The group is now looking to work with traders to drastically reduce this number. RAW will also demonstrate alternative greener forms of packaging, such as corn-starch biodegradable bags, and compostable delicatessen pots and takeaway trays.

PACT is also applying for a grant which would be used to help kit out shops with cotton bags and non-plastic carriers, along with campaign publicity material. Overall the view is that we all managed quite happily without plastic bags up until 50 years ago, and the trend to bringing your own bag shopping is increasingly becoming the norm again.

For more information or to get involved, please visit the PACT plastic-bag-free campaign site.

To see a short film promoting the campaign, click here.

For further information on the Resources & Waste Group please e-mail raw@penrithACT.org.uk.

Within the transition process, one of the key issues PACT is looking into is food sourcing. This will include where our food comes from, food miles, packaging, and how we can make the best use of the often abundant resources here in Cumbria! The Food Group is also looking to map other local groups and food producers in the Eden area.

If you have any suggestions for good local recipes using food produced in and around the Eden Valley, we'd love to hear from you - please do contact PACT at the link above.

PACT is delighted to have recently started an Education Group, looking at how the transition message is best conveyed into local schools from an early age. It may be a cliché to say ‘the children are the future’ but in this case it’s certainly true - what sort of challenges will the next generation grow up to face?

PACT’s action group is discussing some initial pilot projects with a local primary school, suggesting visual and engaging activities which the children can become involved with related to the transition agenda. This will hopefully show what’s possible and may provide an illustration to other schools in the area.

All those interested in getting involved in whatever way, do contact the Education group at education@penrithact.org.uk.

A key goal of the transition model is to develop an ‘Energy Descent Action Plan’ (or ‘EDAP’), laying out a vision of where we want (need!) to be in the future in terms of carbon emissions and energy usage, and then working forwards to find practical local solutions to achieve that overall goal.

PACT is in the early stages of developing its own EDAP for the local area. The central Transition Network has already developed a comprehensive EDAP for Totnes in Devon, and PACT is now keen to learn from this process as we embark on a similar exercise for Penrith.

The EDAP Group would welcome input on this from anyone keen to be involved – please e-mail EDAP@penrithact.org.uk.