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Health & Well-being
Health & Well-being
What would our community look like if everyone was able to flourish and thrive, that they felt connected, satisfied with services and able to cope with whatever knocks they encounter? This section will take a justice approach to reflecting on health and well-being and propose ways for people to thrive - not just survive - as members of Sustainable Communities now and for future generations.
Visioning Questions
What are we already doing to promote health and wellbeing in our community?
What would our community look like if we were to be successful in achieving health and wellbeing for all our citizens and the environment?
What would it look like for:
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for children
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for older people
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for parents
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for anyone with access issues
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for other groups who often are excluded.
In order to achieve a vision of a community supporting all its citizens to flourish as a result of positive health and wellbeing, what would need to change:
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within our natural environment
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in public spaces
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within our schools
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in our shops and services
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at policy level
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any other change needed?
Activity Idea
In small groups of 3 – 4 people, go into the community and draw a map of the area – identify and draw on the map the spaces in your area where:
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People feel safe
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People feel afraid
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People feel relaxed
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People connect with others
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Spaces that enable reflection
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Peaceful spaces
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Busy spaces
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Spaces that are inaccessible for buggies and wheelchairs, or anyone who has access difficulties
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Spaces where there are different kinds of people meeting (e.g. young/ old/ diverse backgrounds/ men/ women/ etc.)
Bring the findings from the maps together, and draw one big map of the area, merging all the ideas. Display this somewhere prominent in the community, e.g. community centre or the local health centre.
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Develop ethical purchasing and travel policies for your organisationEncourage staff to avail of cycle-to-work scheme to help reduce your impact on the environment.
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Carry out a waste audit for your organisationLearn more about the Food Waste Charter for Ireland and how you can sign up. See the template from Galway County Council on preventing food waste within organisations.
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Carry out an energy audit for your organisationYou can apply for a Better Energy Communities grant - Ireland’s national retrofit initiative. It's aimed at upgrading the energy efficiency and renewable energy usage of buildings and facilities.
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Organise a workshop for households on how to create water harvesters for their homeOrganise a workshop on how to create water harvesters for homes locally.
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Encourage people in the local community to sign up to an 'Eco-Pledge'See: http://southernwasteregion.ie/content/ecopledge/sustainable-living
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Make information available for households to to retrofit their homesThere are a range of grants available through SEAI: www.seai.ie/grants/home-grants/better-energy-homes/ and retrofit programme: https://www.seai.ie/grants/home-grants/deep-retrofit-programme/
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Facilitate a process of working towards becoming a Transition TownCheck out: https://transitionnetwork.org/country/ie/
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Set up a community gardenYou can get support from http://cgireland.org/ or even apply for Energia 'Get Ireland Growing' funding from Grow It Yourself, e.g. clearing space for an inner-city community garden, putting a polytunnel on a school roof or creating a pond at an allotment. https://giy.ie/get-involved/grow-in-the-community/
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Apply to become a Tidy Townwww.tidytowns.ie
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Develop a biodiversity plan for the local area, including measures to encourage pollinating insects"See what has been achieved by Ennis Tidy Town: http://ennistidytowns.com/project/wildlife/
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Invite your supermarket to host an information day on packaging and to offer recycling points for packaging wasteSee what Midleton Tidy Towns achieved: http://localprevention.ie/2013/04/08/midleton-event-on-alternate-environment-friendly-household-cleaning-agents/
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Use the ‘See It Say It’ app from EPA to report pollution in the local areaThis is something local people can get involved with in the reporting: http://www.epa.ie/livegreen/myhomemycommunity
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Sign up to the Sustainable Energy Community networkYour community can work towards becoming as energy efficient as possible: https://www.seai.ie/sustainable-solutions/community-projects/community-network/
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Make 'Wild' any green spaces within your local communityConsider wilding green spaces within your local community.
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Work with local businesses to support them in their waste prevention, as well as raising awareness of hazardous waste and promote sustainable alternatives"Learn from what Carlow and Kilkenny county councils have created: http://localprevention.ie/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/carlow-kilkenny-midres-2.pdf
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Arrange a community workshop on recyclingCheck out the Recycling Ambassador Programme from VOICE Ireland: http://voiceireland.org/our-work/recycling-ambassador-programme/
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Organise a monthly birdwatch or wildflower walkFor more information on free wildflower walks, visit: www.facebook.com/WildflowerWalksIreland. Birdwatch Ireland organise walks and other events on their website.
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Link in with: https://www.foeeurope.org/natures-keepers European network showcasing what it is that people love about nature in their local area – invite someone locally to contribute a video!
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Draw attention to nature!Organise a monthly bird watching morning/ wildflower walk/ other activity to draw attention to nature – if there is no one with local knowledge on these issues there are lots of online apps to assist with this!
Further Links
Check out the merging wellbeing work from the EPA: http://epa.ie/irelandsenvironment/environmentandwellbeing
Community gardens network:
http://cgireland.org
This ‘Prosperous Wales’ document looks at the Future Generations Act with some excellent ideas within it:
https://futuregenerations.wales/about-us/future-generations-act/
An interesting perspective on Burnout from the Irish Times:
https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/health-family/burnt-out-relax-we-ve-been-exhausted-for-centuries-1.3213153