Castle Douglas Development Forum’s (CDDF) environmental action group, Eco CD, has just launched its first project.
Eco CD, the environmental action group, run by Castle Douglas Development Forum (CDDF) and led by Piper Booth, has just delivered lettuce seeds and compost to all Primary 4&5 pupils at Castle Douglas, Crossmichael, Springholm, Hardgate and Gelston Primary Schools. Eco CD, which was started in March 2021, engages the community to work towards a more environmentally aware future for Castle Douglas. It has also created a safe digital space for those interested in getting involved in local climate action, one where people can learn from each other and raise questions.
Piper Booth, who is the current Manager at the Heart of Galloway Visitor Centre, launched the Lettuce project because she noted that fresh produce is hard to donate to the Castle Douglas food bank. This started a conversation amongst CDDF and ECO CD members about how CDDF could provide regular fresh food to food bank users as well as to encourage healthy eating in general.
The overall objectives of the Lettuce project are to: teach children about the positive environmental impact of growing your own food; provide a fun activity for local children to take part in; and to encourage growing fruit and vegetables at home as an avenue to tackle food poverty. Funding for this project came from both the Castle Douglas Coop Community fund and the Castle Douglas Rotary club . It’s meant that all local P4/5 pupils in the area will receive compost and lettuce seeds, to be grown at home, plus a pack of weekly activities to encourage conversations about environment. The project has also been able to provide a wider variety of seeds, pots, and compost for food bank clients to grow a selection of vegetables at home.
Piper says: “As Eco CD’s first project, I wanted to explore the environmental impact of local and sustainably grown food and teach children about the impact food has on the environment. This project provided a great starting point for Eco CD, with an immediate impact within the community and to start the discussion into what Castle Douglas can do locally to make a contribution towards climate change action.”
On the future of Eco CD, she says: “EcoCD has come such a long way in such a short amount of time. We are looking forward to our first online Climate café and the response from the community is really encouraging. Hopefully, we will see Eco CD start to take on local environment issues to support the community to take action”.
If anyone is interested in joining Eco CD, please contact Piper Booth at: info@heartofgalloway.org.uk.
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