Photos

Here are a few pics from the project:

Our Predictions of the Future

As part of the recent workshops we came up with a few things we predict will happen within the next ten years. I wonder how many we will be correct on. The inspiration for this came from an article Kate found "Predictions of the year 2000" from the ladies home Journal of 1900.

1. People will no longer shop in shops and will have no choice but to do their shopping online. Fridges will have been invented which will make orders once the food runs out. Internet sites will know what we have each week and send it out without us having to order.
2. We will generate power using machines which turn wheels to generate energy.
3. Gyms will be linked up to the power so that we can power things as we exercise.
4. 70% of people will have solar panels on their roves. Every community will have renewable energy sources. These energy sources will generate money for the community to pay for care for the elderly and other such things.
5. We will have discovered more species of animals and plant life. but peoples concerns will shift from saving wildlife to saving people.
   
6. Communities will get closer because they see that they have to work together to make things better and to make themselves feel better.
7. Technology will influence schools and most lessons will include the use of some form of technology.
8. Food in schools will be more processed and cheaper to make, it may be a bit more like astronaut food.
   
9. 20-30% of people will have electric cars.
10. 20% more people will travel by public transport.
11. Transport will be made from more environmentally friendly materials and be powered in different ways.
12. More things will be portable like portable power sources.
13. People will travel more.
14. More people will eat high energy foods as there will be less food but more need for this little bit of fuel to keep up going.

If you are interested in this and want to help us find some baseline data of where we are now and help check back in ten years do let us know.

Future plans for youth group work in Aston Hayes

Below is a list of things the group discussed during the course of the first day on the Letters From The Future project.
We could:
Run a youth event to help build on the sense of community (Kate added that maybe this could be part of the summer plans)

Lobby our school or other places we eat to have more say in getting local and ethically grown food.

Preserve a place for wildlife in our village.

Make a place for wildlife in our village (Kate suggested that there could be space for this in the new playing field)

Help out with the energy projects in our village.

Go to the Aston Hayes Carbon Neutral meetings.

Get other people to write there own letters from the future.

Put up bird boxes and insect stations.

Do something to stop people dropping litter (Emily suggested getting more bins fitted around the village.)

Create a blog about something we feel strongly about like the positive things which come from being a vegetarian.

Session 1

Today I had the pleasure of meeting two bright and dedicated young people from Aston Hayes Called Emily and Elenor. We chatted, we thought about the future, we played a few games we even got around to doing a bit of filming. Both Elenor and Emily won an prize each and I'm hard at work trying to find them a bird house and an insect station as they are both interested in preserving and encouraging wildlife.

As I result of the day I think we decided that we are in an exciting place in time. We are at a junction of two paths, one leading to the doom and gloom and the other leading to something better than today in lots of ways. We also came up with 5 actions that we as individuals could do and something a group of Aston Hayes young people might want to get together to achieve (will post these as soon as I get off my chair and find the list)

Tomorrow I think we'll use a bit of forum theatre to help us stop and think about the decisions we and those on power make every day and how these could affect the future. Plus we have to crack on with filming Emily's letter which she is busy producing.

The idea behind the project

Aston Hayes is a tiny village in Cheshire which is setting out to be the first Carbon Neutral Village in Britain. There are a dedicated band of adults taking steps to make the village far more green and the rest of the community is coming on board. It was felt that now is great time to get the young people of the village involved more. So Letters from The Future was born as a way of getting people talking and recording their ideas about climate change. Letters from the future is an idea developed by myself( Artist,Beth Barlow) in a previous reincarnation working with a group of teenagers. The individuals involved are asked to write letters from their great great grandchildren back to themselves. They aim to anticipate what might happen with regards to things like climate, technology, food and community. Read more on this blog to find out how the project progresses.