Delegates at the Partnership’s quarterly forum on 21 January 2010 heard what a sustainable Middlesbrough might look like if we all adopted One Planet Living principles.

One Planet Living (OPL) acknowledges that we only have the resources of just one planet but our modern lifestyles in the UK use the resources of three planets. The 10 OPL principles cover everything from health and well-being through to the more familiar territory of cutting back on greenhouse gases and fossil fuels, using cars less and public transport more, and reducing waste.

During the event, delegates heard from Pooran Desai of BioRegional who founded the principles of One Planet Living. BioRegional is an entrepreneurial charity that provides a range of services to help businesses, governments and individuals to live and work more sustainably.   BioRegional also explained how B&Q had developed a range of One Planet Home products in its stores and aimed to be a ‘zero carbon’ company by 2012.

Approximately 150 delegates attended the event - with young people attending from Middlesbrough College, Archibald Primary School and Macmillan Academy.

Students from Macmillan Academy gave a video presentation of how they are bringing OPL principles into the classroom.  Over the past few years the Academy has put sustainability at the heart of its activities: from installing wind turbines and solar panels for generating renewable electricity to the school’s eco-council tackling the issue of generating waste paper.

As part of the event delegates attended best practice workshop sessions to hear about and discuss how OPL principles can influence how buildings are designed and run, keeping homes warm, green business, opportunities for young people, coping with climate change, health, and transport.  They discussed how OPL principles could be built into their organisations to give the town a more sustainable future.

The forum offered a great deal of interesting and challenging ideas for delegates to consider. The staekholders present learned that One Planet Living is for everybody.  It can be done and has to be done.

Feedback from the event will be used to inform the content of a draft One Planet action plan for the town.  This is being prepared for extensive public consultation over the coming year. Delivering the action plan will be co-ordinated by the council, and involve the partner organisations in the Middlesbrough Partnership, as well as residents, businesses, and community groups.

The event agenda, presentations and photographs can be accessed by clicking on the links below.