This is not a blame game,
although if irrational minds could turn to such activities when people set on
each other. With support that Davius has put behind recent voluntary groups it
was saddening to find a lot of initial links from only 12-18 months ago have
all dissolved.
Why? People being ignorant? Far
from it – the reason a lot of links amongst groups have dissolved is due to
many voluntary entities have sadly dissolved after real efforts in the early
days. For many – the local entities were set up by just one person, and over
several years were maintained by people flying solo. They may have been cheered
on by their community – yet trying to get support off the community with
volunteer contribution being next to zero.
This is not an attack; rather a
reflection with hundreds of thousands of families stretched to their limits the
last ten years, very few can contribute towards local positive initiatives due
to lack of time etc. So regrettably a lot of sustainability/community
initiatives are set up by just one person. Invariably after a few years many
good people across UK give up on their projects. This is a real tragedy as some
of their projects could have really taken us in a new direction. No names – you
can find out who they were in your own locale.
For group collaborations such as Friends
of the Earth, Greenpeace, AECB local groups, Transition Town groups, Community
Food/growing Markets, Community Renewable, Housing Community Projects just to
name a few – it is very hard to maintain core group structures as responsibilities
have to be maintained upon collapsing numbers.
So how to improve this situation?
How will make the sacrifice when so many in this era are so stretched already? What
is the magical solution to improve so many voluntary or community entities?
Is there a magic administration software
package that can stream line the process? With legal frameworks, constitutions,
reminder prompts of meetings – or will this not work in the real world where we
all have responsibilities, setbacks and unpredictable events that sway us.
The only thing we can all do is
persist …. If you have a good idea for human innovation, community process
and/or environmental regeneration – keep at it. You may have the saving grace
that helps the whole country start moving.
However – a warning from the
experienced ones from multiple voluntary initiatives …. A little power for just
one entity within the voluntary group can break the natural progress and
overall group dynamic.
You have been warned ….
All that said and done – on a
positive …. What can you do?
