The Story of ExAct

ExAct was formed in March 2009 by a group of Exeter residents who felt that not enough environmental action takes place in Devon, despite there being a number of local 'green' groups. So, we came up with a name and logo by consensus, and drafted some basic objectives for the group. Two viewpoints from members are as follows.

Viewpoint #1
ExAct is a group of people in Exeter and the South West who care about the environment and the community. We want to include everyone from those who enjoy knitting for the homeless to those who want to go on protests. Any positive act has a place on our agenda. We do not want to complain about problems we see, we want to change them. The community and environment are inseparable, as it is the local environment that the community is based in.
We first got together as a group of active people fighting for matters we felt important. We soon realised that there were many others who felt the same, but often they would often be working individually or in small groups to instigate change. So we decided that we would work together
to connect people with similar ideas and projects. We have been amazed by the positive responses we have already had from our few tables in town. There are no lack of ideas or people to implement them, we must just all work together to make a better life a reality.

Viewpoint #2
ExAct is a collaborative group bringing together the wide variety of environmental organisations in Exeter and enabling them to work together through co-operative processes. Raising awareness of issues happening in Exeter and putting people in touch with groups that they express an interest in is key.
We are also an activist group, although not a prescriptive one; the purpose of ExAct is to enable those who are interested to act on what they are interested in, rather than to prescribe the actions they should be taking.

As a fluid collective, ExAct will work best when it provides information and the hope is for the group to enable a wider and greater range of environmental activities to take place in and around Exeter. An awareness raising, friendly co-operative group open to all and welcoming of new suggestions and ideas. ExAct does not have a leader, rather a rotating Chair for meetings and will have an open, collaborative wiki site which all can edit.