ABOUT ECO TOGETHER
Background
Eco Together was inspired by the award-winning Transition Streets project, where groups of neighbours got together to act on climate. Transition Streets involved around 500 households who cut an average of £570 from their annual bills and 1.3 tonnes from their carbon footprint.
We have adapted Transition Streets to focus on the powers that we all have to create change and to be suitable for groups of people who may not be neighbours.
People and funding
Eco Together is run by a volunteer team and hosted by Transition Bath, a registered charity. We always welcome more team members, contact us at hello@ecotogether.info. We are grateful to Wessex Water for a grant from their Environment Fund which is supporting the production of materials, and also to the Bath & West Community Energy Fund for a grant from excess revenue from community-owned renewable energy. This is supporting a part-time coordinator and events. Thank you!
Open Source
Any group of people, anywhere in the UK (or even world!) can run Eco Together. It can be co-branded by other community groups and organisations to use it to raise interest in their own activities. If you are part of another group or organisation and would like to run or adapt Eco Together, do contact us. We'd be happy to support.
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How the groups work
Size and membership: Groups consist of 5-10 people or a few households. Groups can be of neighbours, friends, colleagues - anyone really. You choose the group.
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Sessions: The group meets about every 2-4 weeks for 2 hours either at group members’ homes, through video calls or at a local venue. After an introduction, there are sessions themed on home energy, travel, food and purchases. The group discusses the theme and each person chooses actions to report back on at the next session.
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​Who runs the group: The First Host brings the group together and runs the first session, then group members take it in turns to run the sessions, if they feel comfortable to do so, following the outline in the Information Pack and Activity Sheets. This ensures it is truly a group effort and not all driven by one person.
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The materials: Eco Together has an Information Pack with inspiration for action and plenty of links to further information. The group sessions are structured using Activity Sheets which members fill out before the session, including a list of well-researched activities to chose from. Finally, we have a Local Resource List (for Bath, but groups from elsewhere can create their own) and a national Resource List for even more ideas.
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