Credit crunch inspires sustainable living revolution

It’s happening already. The credit crunch - which was fuelled by people taking on unsustainable levels of debt - is forcing people to think about living more sustainably.

According to a new study by the Association of British Insurers, Brits are making New Year’s resolutions to save money, rather than spending everything they have and more in a fashion that fuels the flames of unsustainable consumption.

What’s more, people in the UK are thinking about becoming producers rather than consumers.

The Guardian, for example, reports that urban hen keeping has risen ‘astonishingly’ in the last 12 months, with one company reporting a threefold rise in sales of hens and coops.

On conservative estimates, half a million UK households now keep hens in their back garden or on an allotment.

A domestic hen costs around £12, and can lay up to 300 eggs per year.

They need only food, shelter, and space for scratching about.

Meanwhile, two women in Yorkshire have started planting vegetables in small waste plots around their town.

Rhubarb, chard and other vegetables have been planted at railway stations, bus stops, alongside a cemetery and outside a doctor’s surgery in the town of Todmorden as part of an effort to inspire residents to grow vegetables wherever they can.

In response to the women’s efforts, the town council in Todmorden has given permission for 500 fruit trees to be planted around local playing fields, and is looking for land to turn into new allotments.

The revolution of a sustainable future is not on its way. It’s happening already.