Age of Stupid - screening in Abingdon, 22nd May

Further to conversations after the Power of Community screening, it has been confirmed that "The Age of Stupid" will be screened in Abingdon

It will be shown at the Peachcroft Christian Centre (community cinema) on Friday 22nd May, which corresponds to the national release of the film. Doors open at 7pm with the screening starting at 7.30. We have to pay a licence to show the film, so there will be a small entry charge of £2.50. ... Read this ...

Landshare

Further to the notes from the last CarbonCutters meeting, and thoughts on land available for cultivation, some of you might be interested in this site: www.landshare.net

This tries to link up people who want to grow with available land. ... Read this ...

Bike Week - June 13th-21st - Events in Abingdon

Saturday 13th June 10a.m.-1p.m. - Stalls by St Nicolas arch - Sustrans, event information, security marking, unusual bikes, cycling survey.

Sunday 14th June - 1-3p.m. - Bike Treasure Hunt - Follow an easy, circular course starting in Abbey Meadows with clues to look out for on the way. Bring a picnic. Suitable for families.

Sunday 14th June - 4p.m. - Cycle ride around the modern boundaries of Abingdon, led by Andy Watt. Meet by St Nicolas arch.

Wednesday 17th June - 7.30p.m. - St Ethelwold's House, 30 East St Helen St. - "How to look after your Bike" - a qualified bicycle mechanic will demonstrate bike safety checks and simple repairs to small groups. Also fun cycling films to watch, bookstall and refreshments. Entry £3.

Sunday 21st June - 2.30 -5.30 p.m. Historic Abingdon ride - Mike Ellwood will lead a ride around the historic sites of Abingdon, both ancient and modern, with frequent stops for explanatory talks.

Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult on all rides.

For more information, contact Eleanor on eledanger@hotmail.com
... Read this ...

Green Economics Institute - introductory training course

The Green Economics Institute is pleased to announce that it is running
an introductory training course in Green Economics on May 16th 2009 at
The Old Music Hall in Oxford.
There are few places left and we encourage early booking to secure
attendance.

Everyone is very welcome. No prior knowledge of economics is needed to
be able to enjoy this course- which has lecturers from and with
experience of several continents, including Europe and Asia with an
emphasis on Africa.

The course will explore green solutions to the economic downturn, to
climate change and to the current mass extinction of species. It will
also focus on prevention of poverty and also poverty as a gendered issue
especially in the context of Africa and will feedback from the important
women's unequal pay and poverty conference just held in March by the
Green Economics Institute.

The course is designed to introduce participants to some of the major
themes in economics and in the development of green economics and some
of the main theories and writers and practitioners. It is designed to
help them to share their own experiences and to be confident in dealing
with economics, and economists and economics techniques in their future
activities of all kinds.

It will appeal to government officials, business people, campaigners and
NGOs and academics in all sorts of fields. We take a wide holistic and
multidisciplinary approach to the practise and theory and implementation
of economics.

The course is participatory, and will include case studies, and lectures
and workshop. The material and course has been run in a variety of
countries and situations as varied as at Oxford University, in Poland,
in Germany, and also in the open air in fields and tents.

If you would like to come along please pre register and fill in the
booking form. There are a few places left and this will be the
last reminder sent out to fill these places.

More details and booking form are here

Miriam Kennet
Director
The Green Economics Institute
00 44 1189841026
www.greeneconomics.org.uk
Editor International Journal of Green Economics
www.inderscience.com/ijge
... Read this ...

Robert Longstaff Workshops and the Oxford Garden Project

This weekend, 24-26th April and 23-25th May we are holding special free open days where you can come and browse our gift shop, see the making of
the new kitchen garden and view the courses we are offering.

Our workshops have been making wooden toys and puzzles, dolls houses and miniatures, gift items and garden obelisks and screens for nearly 30 years and running courses and talks for over 25 years, including organic gardening, composting, cooking, woodwork, practical skills, dolls house
and miniatures, folk and early musical instruments and corn dollies to name a few.

From this week and running throughout the year we shall be offering a new range of courses, working with Garden Organic, the WI and Oxford adult education centre, some are free, other cost between £25-75.00 and
groups are welcome.

Full details can be found on our website:
www.longstaff.co.uk under news or by phoning 01865 820206.

Appleton Road,
Longworth
OX13 5EF ... Read this ...

Poster for 20th May, and more on Permaculture

Please find attached a poster for our next meeting on 20th May. Can I ask you to print out a copy and put it up somewhere in your neighbourhood and/or ar work, in your church or school? We are hoping for as wide a representation of Abingdon area residents as possible.

Below is an email from Cliff, recording the very fruitful and wide-ranging discussion prompted by Sophie and Martin's talk on permaculture last Wednesday. Turns out that permaculture is not only about forest gardening but is a way of looking at all sorts of self-regulating systems, including whole towns! And the first essential is to look at what you've got now, before trying to change it!

Ideas from last night as I recall them (from the talk, the discussion and from conversations going on):

It is important to try to achieve integration of activities as we seek to achieve a more sustainable life for the town.

We need to begin to develop a vision of what Abingdon could be in a 40, 60 or even 80% reduction of carbon emissions world and one which is losing its reliance on fossil fuels (an energy descent plan?)

We need to conduct audits of such aspects of town life as:
* shops - location, products sold, provenance
* people - occupations, commuting patterns, vital skills, craft skills and other community skills
* homes - surveys of heat loss from homes, fuller information on solar energy use across the town, othe eco-novations
* businesses that are already taking initiatives locally to reduce emissions and contribute to sustainable practice
* buildings with roofs that could be utilised to generate solar power, rain water harvesting
* existing organisations/activities that could contribute to the sustainabilty aim - allotments, farms producing food for local consumption, shared garden schemes, community associations, environmentally committed clubs and societies, schools and youth organisations, church groups, etc.,
* the amount of land available within the town / Vale, other than private resident's land, that might be usable for food production when the need comes In order to be able to make a case for any proposals we might wish to make in the future, we might try to quantify the size of the need in terms, say, of local land necessary to be under cultivation to achieve a more sustainable food supply for the town. ... Read this ...

Nuclear Power Stations, and Woking leads the way!

Dear Carbon-Cutter,

Following some discussion on Wednesday about how Abingdon could reduce our carbon footprint (maybe by generating power from the Thames?) I thought you might be interested in the article below, especially the info about Woking!


A book we have mentioned before at Carbon Cutters meetings, "Sustainable Energy without the Hot Air" by David MacKay, is at http://www.withouthotair.com, and gives several scenarios for covering UK's energy requirement, not all of which include nuclear power. It's worth looking at the 10-page synopsis which is available on the website and very clear. We plan to get a couple of copies for our Eco-library for those who don't fancy reading the whole book on-line!
Sally


Sizewell Nuclear Power Stations-‘3 times a nuisance!’

The government has announced that Sizewell is one of the sites nominated for a new nuclear power station, Sizewell activists head to court and a demonstration against new build at Sizewell is planned.
What a week!

Tomorrow ( Friday 17th , 10 am) the group calling themselves the ‘Sizewell Blockaders’ Rebecca Dale 33 from Bungay, Mell Harrison 37 from Geldeston, Nicola Stikles 39 from Saxmundham, Irene Willis 60 from Essex and Pete Lux 44 from Beccles, are again appearing at Lowestoft magistrates court for taking direct action against the what they say are ‘unlawful activities’ at the nuclear power stations at Sizewell in Suffolk. The group are hoping to have restrictions on their right to protest lifted so that they can attend the two-day demonstration and camp planned for 25th and 26th April. The reason for the planned demonstration is two fold- one to commemorate all those who died and are still affected by the radioactive fallout from the disaster at Chernobyl and two- because the government has announced that sizewell has been nominated as a site for not one, but two new nuclear reactors.
Local campaigners are concerned about this choice. Mell Harrison , who works for Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and lives in Suffolk said, “The flood risks of the sizewell coast are clear, the maps given with the site nominations show just how high risk it is. 10 years of waste are in a fuel pond at the site now- it seems very irresponsible to build here,” she continued “ everyone knows the risks involved with nuclear power but we are being told it is a necessary evil to bridge the energy gap- this is not true. Models such as the Borough of Woking show just how decentralisation of energy supplies can work, not just at delivering energy but cutting CO2 emissions too’
Woking Borough has a population of 100,000 and has the largest domestic combined photovoltaic/ combined heat and power (CHP) in the UK and is home to the UK’s first small –scale combined heat and power/heat fired chiller system. Woking borough council have developed these projects, with Allan Jones at the forefront, through its public/private joint energy service company- Thamesway Energy Ltd, again the first of its kind in the UK .The council is now recognised as the most energy efficient local authority in the UK having
achieved-
* Over 80% CO2 cuts
* 51% reduction in energy consumption
* 44% reduction water consumption

More Info:

Woking –

Sizewell new build nomination, including flood map-

Sizewell Blockaders


Mell Harrison 07760161755 08453370282 www.easterncnduk.org
... Read this ...