In the post below on ‘Community Approaches to the Green Deal’, we mention the video that was being made to accompany the project.
Now it’s finished and ready to enjoy on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNRx6tNFG8U
It’s seven minutes long – do have a look, and keep an eye out for the local locations and stars!
The partners in the project are meeting in early May to develop next steps to keep the momentum going.
We’ll keep you up to date with progress, and do get in contact via transitiontowntooting@gmail.com if you would like to be involved.
Ecobuild was again a source of wonder this year. I liked the re-use of materials such as the pallet arch, rubber band lampshade and some lovely tiles made from impressions in every day bowls and dishes. And then there was water bottle man publicising the amount of water wasted in the home.
It’s always amazing what you can overhear too …
“Cities are shaped by the environment, economy and equality, and the environment must guide the others”.
“We need ‘urban respiration’ across systems such as food, water, energy, jobs”
At a stand promoting ready-made turf full of wild flowers: “the best way to start is to kill off everything with glyphosate weed killer!”
On Thursday 15th March there were two fascinating local meetings which illustrated some of the interrelated aspects of making the low-carbon future a reality.
The first one was held in the afternoon at S Thames College in Wandsworth, and speakers examined ways that the community can anticipate, influence and make the most of initiatives such as the Green Deal.
(TTT has been a partner in a 4 month project organised by the Greener Jobs Alliance). As well as the work experience with S Thames College students, and sharing the excellent activities in local schools, and encouraging the development of the Furzedown Low Carbon Zone, an outcome of the project will be a short video examining some of the challenges and practical responses. The video was premiered on the 15th. When the edit is complete, we’ll make it available on YouTube… Oscars look out!
For more information on the project, please email TTT at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com
The same evening saw a celebration party and an interim thank-you with the many volunteers, partners, advisors and investors who have helped establish the Brixton Energy share offer which is funding the rooftop renewable energy power station in the Loughborough Estate.
They are keen to share experience and learning, and we’ll be talking in detail with them to help ‘Repowering South London’, and explore developing a local project like this that is suitable for Tooting.
Congratulations! http://brixtonenergy.co.uk/
There are lots of different ways to support Climate Week: encouraging… taking action… challenging… celebrating… What’s yours?
Looking forward to this week, three Transition Tooting colleagues – Susan, Alice and Charles – facilitated a workshop a fortnight ago with a dozen staff in a UK Government department, to contribute a stimulus for the senior director to write a personal blog during Climate Week. That blog has been posted yesterday on the department’s internal website: it touches on individual behaviours and choices as well as the department’s activities.
Why invest the time? For context, as in many organisations, there is a range of views and assumptions in this department about climate – and some sensitivity to change. It is easy to underestimate the potential impact in an organisation of even a simple blog like this that demonstrates awareness, humanity and personal leadership. Clear communication is such an effective way to support change!
What did we do in our workshop? Charles and Susan ran the ‘Home Energy’ section of Carbon Conversations (the five-part series of meetings TTT has offered locally over the past year), and discussed Susan’s own experience of carbon reduction in her own family’s house.
Alice captured some of the interchange and questions from participants in a graphic record – also placed on the department’s internal web. Here’s one of her super drawings, reflecting discussion about Susan’s house:
You’ll see the mention of the OWL electricity monitoring meter: that is where the senior director starts his blog. Please read on…….
“Owls are currently big in our house….
I have drawn two important insights from our electricity owl. First, transparency is really powerful. Simply seeing what we are consuming is leading us to consume less. That is a real opportunity provided by Behavioural Insight work like that on transparency, nudge etc. Second, thinking about our carbon footprint at home keeps climate change much more prominently in my mind when I arrive at work.
The idea to get an Owl came from a ‘Carbon Conversation’ on energy in the home with a group of staff from across
This week, as you know, is Climate Week….. ”
(…the blog continues, exploring the department’s own work).
What’s next? It was a very useful experience for us to facilitate together as a team. Personally, it showed me that one can achieve a lot in an hour, even from a ‘standing start’. And it was a creative way to work with a new kind of audience: I hope we can bring that experience back to Tooting, and to the way we run Carbon Conversations.
To follow in the footsteps of TTT helping to influence exploration of climate change impact and personal behaviours….. do go and see Susan Venner’s house in Balham for yourself. It is open to the public on 24 March for guided tours. It’s a fascinating visit hosted by Susan, and places are limited, so please book on this link if you wish to join:
http://www.superhomes.org.uk/events/london-balham-cornford-grove-24-03-2012/
– Charles
I step down after four years as TTT’s Co-Chair – an energising and rewarding role. Daunting at times, (what are we doing??? how do we DO this?) and ultimately inspiring on a daily basis to see what incredible opportunities there are to bring about change, using our imaginations and our wits to invent a more liveable future. Thankyou thankyou thankyou to everyone collaborating to establish TTT since 2008. I think we have opened up possibilities for re-imagining a more aware, creative and resilient Tooting. A warm welcome to Tim Bage who joins Charles Whitehead as our inventive and resourceful Co-Chairs.
Thanks very much to everyone who attended the 2012 AGM on Tuesday evening, in the Vestry at Streatham Cemetery on Garratt Lane. Following the adoption of our new constitution a year ago, this short annual formal meeting:
We are proud of this – thanks Leon! – as it is beautiful, creative, and easy to use image to support visualising and describing our activities and relationships.
Supporting roles within the co-ordination group are shown in the roots of the plant, alongside some of our partners; and TTT’s current project groups are shown as the plant’s flowers. One specific point we have agreed is to rotate the main supporting TTT roles around the group, so that individuals hold a role for a period of two years – sharing the voluntary ‘workload’. Lucy Neal (who founded TTT 4 years ago) has stopped being formal co-chair, and Tim Bage now becomes co-chair alongside Charles Whitehead (who started a year ago, when Hilary Jennings left the role). These are changes in role, thankfully not changes to involvement in TTT!
Other main roles continue to be fulfilled by the same individuals as during the past 12 months. If you have any questions please do contact transitiontowntooting@gmail.com
To finish here are some web stats:
In the last year, there have been 40 blog posts, more than 6,000 unique visits to the site with nearly 10,000 page loads including remarkably hits from around the world. In the last week for instance we had 46 visits from Germany and 29 from Russia!
Meanwhile TTT has 43 blog members, 578 Twitter followers, 81 Project Dirt members, 179 likes on facebook, the Garden has 83, and more than 650 people receiving the regular TTT email.
24 college students from the USA doing a ‘Sustainability in Europe’ course based in Denmark came to spend half a day in Tooting on Monday 5th March to kick off a week in the UK.
At each place we talked about the students’ own first impressions of opportunities for supporting sustainable living in Tooting, and we described diverse existing and future local projects.
In the longer discussion, the students offered very useful observations based on what they had seen, and on their own experience. It was valuable for us, and both humbling and exciting to think that some insights into community and sustainability in Tooting will find their way back to two dozen locations across the USA.
– Charles and Lucy
All welcome to an update meeting on the Furzedown Low Carbon Zone, at the Furzedown Project, 91 Moyser Road, Tooting SW16 6SJ, on March 1st from 7:00-9:00.
We will:
Here is 2-minute selection of Tooting vox pops as selected by Transition HQ as part of the new film’s promotion. Thanks to everyone who agreed to be interviewed, whether featured here or not. DT