Duncan's story

Name: Duncan Blinkhorn
Location: Brighton

About: Duncan believes he can help bring about change on his doorstep

Photo: Abbie Trayler-Smith

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Duncan has been behind many green projects in Brighton and Hove, with the emphasis on clean air and working together with people in his neighbourhood.

He says: "If it's broken, fix it. We can't wait for permission or fashion or elections to do what's required. My journey toward carbon-freedom has been: ditch the car, shift to renewables, stop flying, talk to neighbours, build community, green up derelict land, challenge polluters, take over the roads with bikes, be fearless, keep smiling and have faith that, if we are many and determined, a change is gonna come."

"With my daughter, Maya, in 2009 I got involved with the Climate Camp direct action protests like the swoop to close down a Nottinghamshire Coal-fired power station last October."

"I believe I can help bring about change on my doorstep and seize the opportunity to achieve multiple wins of lower carbon with improved air quality, community cohesion and better health and well-being for people around me. So, I've got together with others in my neighbourhood to initiate projects like the Lewes Road Community Garden and Lewes Road for Clean Air. A new initiative is the bike train, a new service of scheduled group bike rides between The Level and Falmer."

"For 2010, we've have signed to 10:10 climate campaign and are asking motorists who use the Lewes Road to reduce their car journeys and opt for altrenatives to achieve a 10% reduction in motor traffic by the end of the year."

"I’m also an organiser of the Brighton arm of the World Naked Bike Ride which celebrates bikes and bodies and is a protest at car culture and oil dependency, in an 8-mile carnivalesque cycle procession through the streets of Brighton and Hove, as well as 70 other cities around the world."

An update from Duncan:

It's great that the UK is now committed to halving CO2 emissions by 2025 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/may/17/uk-halve-carbon-emissions. This is a huge and necessary challenge requiring action on all fronts, including how we all move around our city. I'm therefore delighted to see that the task of shifting Brighton's Lewes Road toward a low carbon future has come a step closer with the announcement that the City Council has been awarded a £4 million Local Sustainable Transport Fund grant from the Dept. for Transport.

Lewes Road for Clean Air, as a community partner in this project, will be involved and I will be joining the project board with the hope that we can bring about some lasting and radical improvements to enable more cycling, as well as better bus services, along this vital route between central Brighton and Moulescoomb, Coldean and Falmer.

My office at Groundwork has just moved to Falmer which will make it easier to support the daily Bike Train group rides there from The Level (from Mon 3 Oct).

The Bike Train project has gathered momentum in recent months with several new routes to schools.

To mark the beginning of Bike week this year (18 - 26th June), around 40 pupils and teachers road together between the Level, Brighton, and Patcham High, Dorothy Stringer and Varndean College. The event was reported in the local Argus newspaper, and was hailed as a success, inspiring more school bike trains to be organised by the group locally.

In the Autumn Term there will be weekly Bike Trains each Friday, from The Level to Dorothy Stringer and Varndean schools as well as from near Seven Dials to Davigdor Infant school. We are also running Bike Trains to occassional events such as Springwatch (Sun 5 Jun) and Apple Day (Sun 25 Sep) at Stanmer Park and Lewes Bonfire night (5 Nov). We hope also, in the near future, to run group bike rides to the new Amex Stadium at Falmer. I hope that Bike Train can be welcomed as an informal form of cycle training which can boost the confidence of all paticipants whatever their age or experience.

I would also like to plug the 'Just Do It' movie which was released in July. The film follows climate activists taking non-violent direct action to challlenge the big polluters. It is being screened at the Duke of York cinema on 20 August 2011. Check it out at: http://justdoitfilm.com/ . I love the 'just do it' sentiment - taking responsibility and action NOW to avert climate chaos - its an approach which I have tried to apply through projects like Bike Train and the Lewes Road Community Garden."

"Change the way you travel and improve air quality, your health and contribute to cutting carbon emission."

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