Transition Town Tooting

Tag: Carbon Conversations

  • ‘Carbon Conversations’: our 7th series is completed

    We have finished our latest series of local Carbon Conversations – exploring personal choices for carbon reduction in travel, home energy, food and in general consumption, all in a friendly and non-judgemental way. There were even some laughs, in a subject where gloom and self-denial seem to be the norm. But gloom and denial are hardly good motivators for change…!
    Many thanks to Graveney and Meadow at 40 Mitcham Road, Tooting Broadway, for the free use of their space on the Monday evenings: much appreciated by all. Catch a glimpse of the cosy atmosphere (and the wild wallpaper) in this picture from the ‘Food’ meeting:

    In this past week’s meeting on Consumption, we briefly looked at the relationships between carbon reduction and wellbeing. For anyone who wants to spend more time on some of the background, here are some of the books, videos and websites we referred to:
    Tim Kasser, The High Price of Materialism, MIT Press, Cambridge, USA, 2002
    Annie Leonard, The Story of Stuff, Constable, 2010
    The Story of Stuff video, 2008 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8
    Mike Berners-Lee, How Bad Are Bananas?: The carbon footprint of everything, Profile Books, 2010
    Voluntary Simplicity: one site is http://www.context.org/iclib/ic33/luhrs/

    All welcome to join when we offer another series of Tooting Carbon Conversations! For info, email us at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com

  • All about food: Tooting Carbon Conversations on Monday 18th March

    In our next free ‘Carbon Conversation’, we’ll be looking at the choices for reducing our own carbon footprint in the food we buy (or grow…).
    Our relationship with food is tied up with many aspects of our health, comfort, wellbeing, family life, enjoyment, culture: we’ll touch on those.
    And we’ll look at the example of Hodmedods – building a new market for British crops that have been grown here for centuries. You can be a local food trailblazer!


    Come and join the discussion on Monday 18th March, from 6:30pm, at Graveney and Meadow, 40 Mitcham Road, Tooting Broadway, SW17 9NA












    For info, email us at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com

  • Carbon Conversations has begun – next one on Home Energy is Monday 4th March

    On Monday March 4th we will be looking at carbon-reduction choices and opportunities in the home (including energy consumption and efficiency), and at ‘what’s important to you in your home?’

    We will be joined by architect Susan Venner, who will share her experience of an 80% carbon reduction & refurbishment project at her Victorian house in Balham – done while living in it.  Susan’s experience of the ‘low-carbon future’ now is that for the first time her house is warm! 
    Click here to see some of her improvements.  
    The house is open to visitors on March 23rd. Click here to book.
    If you want to sample Carbon Conversations and join this meeting, we will be at Graveney and Meadow, 40 Mitcham Road, SW17 9NA, from 6:30-8:30pm.
    Queries to transitiontowntooting@gmail.com

  • Cold water swimming, warming atmosphere, Carbon Conversations

    Saturday 26th saw the UK Cold Water Swimming Championships at Tooting Bec Lido. Over 600 swimmers raced in many different classes in sunny weather. There were no wetsuits in use…however many competitors wore excellent hats. If you have never seen the Lido, here is one swimmer’s hat representing the pool, complete with Lego shark:

    TTT had a stand all day – very many thanks to volunteers who stayed in the marquee, and missed some of the fun outdoors. We talked about TTT with local people and visitors: the Tooting Community Garden is only a few hundred metres away, and the Lido was a stopping point on two of our Wellbeing walks in 2012. The Lido is a wonderful example of Tooting’s diverse community activities to be treasured by us all!         More at: http://www.slsc.org.uk/cwsc/cwsc-gallery/

    Carbon Conversations
    The water in the Lido was +2 degrees. That’s a good segue: if you’ve been following the science of climate change, you’ll know that a long-term two degree rise in the atmosphere’s temperature may be an optimistically low prediction. Reported on the same day as the swim, Lord Nicholas Stern (author of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change in 2006) stated in Davos at the World Economic Summit: ‘I got it wrong on climate change – it’s far, far worse…’

    Strong words, and there is action we can each take in Tooting to help reduce emissions…and save energy, and reduce our bills.

    If you would like to explore exactly what you and your household can do to reduce your own carbon footprint, please join our next series of TTT Carbon Conversations meetings. Over 50 people have joined the six series of these facilitated meetings we’ve run locally in the past 18 months. During the highly participative sessions, you’ll discuss and make plans concerned with home energy, travel, food, consumption and waste…and meet others locally who are doing the same things.

    The first meeting is on Monday 25th February, in Tooting, at Graveney & Meadow, 40 Mitcham Road. Details in the flyer at this link.

    All welcome – please join us!

  • Green Gown Awards 2012: the winner is our shared project in Tooting’s Furzedown Low Carbon Zone

    South Thames College has won the prestigious 2012 Green Gown Award in the ‘Best Newcomer’ category, from a strong field of 5 other finalists.

    Sadiq Khan MP will celebrate the Award with a local presentation to Sue Rimmer, Principal of South Thames College

    The Green Gown Awards recognise exceptional sustainability initiatives being undertaken in tertiary education across the UK
    This award was won for the project carried out in the Furzedown Low Carbon Zone with the Greener Jobs Alliance, Transition Town Tooting, and other valued local partners.
    That’s fantastic recognition of hard work, and will help enormously with the profile (and funding!) of further projects.









    For all the detail, see the Winner’s brochure: on page 4 there’s the detail about our project –  including a picture of a TTT Carbon Conversations workshop in action in Furzedown. Go to the Awards website at http://www.eauc.org.uk/2012_green_gown_awards

    We made this video in spring 2012 about the project – do have another look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNRx6tNFG8U

    Award celebration:
    There’s a celebration on Tuesday November 27th from 6 to 7pm at the Furzedown Project, 91-93 Moyser Road, SW16.
    Sadiq Khan MP will present the Award to Sue Rimmer, Principal of South Thames College
    All welcome for some celebration cake!
    Details in the Events listing here on the TTT blog, and for a .pdf copy of the celebration flyer, click here.

     
    For more information, email us at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com 

  • Two recent local low-carbon living events

    Carbon Conversations
    On Monday evening 25th June, we started our latest series of Carbon Conversations workshops with a talkative and diverse group. We will cover a lot – in particular focusing on what can be achieved at the individual, family and community levels.

    What are some of the participants’ reasons for joining? Responses included: ‘we’ve just moved – would like guidance on reducing carbon & energy use in our new home’; ‘I feel guilty that my footprint is too big’; ‘I’m concerned about the carbon impact of computer network servers’; ‘I’d like to know more about the financial aspects of reducing carbon’; ‘What grass-roots actions we can take?’

    Last evening we explored some of language & jargon of talking about ‘carbon’ as a shorthand for the impact of greenhouse gases, linked with energy use, cost saving, health, happiness, quality of life, and nature. Secondly we looked specifically at the numbers and relationships in measuring one’s carbon footprint: a valuable place to start.
    More to come!
    PS: thanks to Sophie at WBC for the Carbon Conversations shout-out at http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/blog/recyclingblog/post/39

    Furzedown Low Carbon Zone (the ‘FLCZ’)
    At the Furzedown Festival’s Big Day Out on 23rd June, the FLCZ celebrated our first year of activities by having a pop-up AGM that ran through the afternoon, with any one who came to our stand. We had some great conversations with local people who would like to be involved – thank you. Please click here to read our short Annual Report, and please comment on our plans.

    We ran some games too – including the food chain game, in which players rank foods from high to low carbon impact, by lining up large-scale painted boxes from the market.
    Have a look below at some of the ways it was played….and come and try it sometime.

  • Carbon Conversations this June & July

    We’re starting a new series of fun and participative Carbon Conversations workshops on Monday June 25th at The Selkirk, Selkirk Rd, Tooting Broadway, from 630-830 pm, and continuing on the following three Mondays. Please click here for the detailed flyer.

    We’ll explore values, behaviours and feelings, and we will ‘count the carbon’ in our daily lives, so we can reduce our impact in 4 main areas: home energy, food, travel and transport, and consumption.

    You don’t need to be an expert: all welcome to join the workshops! 
    To join or ask any questions, please email us at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com

  • News from a Tooting front room near you!

    Liz has been hosting a series of ‘Carbon Conversations’ meetings with neighbours in her front room: 

    Our latest ‘CC’ is now taking a break for the summer, so I thought I’d take the opportunity for a quick update on how it’s gone so far, since we started meeting once a week. In mid June a group of intrepid Tooting dwellers ventured up the hill into Furzedown, and we began by discussing :
    ‘why on earth are we even having a conversation about carbon anyway?’ 

    And what do these ‘tonnes’ consist of, and what is ‘carbon equivalent’, and why should we bother when China builds a new coal power station every week? We all concluded that we did want to bother, and for me it felt good to be doing something positive.  
    We had some fun thinking about what we’d say to the current prime minister about climate change if we got the chance; things like ‘don’t wait for other countries, just take a lead’, ‘be proud of the UK’s Climate Act – do more to promote it’ and ‘tackling inequality will help with climate change and vice versa, don’t forget the multiple benefits to society’.

    With thoughts racing through my mind we went on our way to ponder for a week before the next session. 
    In the second session we imagined life in a draughty 1930s home and plotted a 6 year plan to save some serious amounts of energy, and 6 tonnes of carbon emissions to be precise. We separated into two groups to do our plotting and were surprised at the different approaches each group took – and that we all left the extremely high cost but huge financial benefit option of installing solar panels till last, favouring more woolly jumpers first!
    The next session began with a mouth-watering description of life as a child in rural Greece from one of our participants, wow those tomatoes sound delicious!

    We managed to make some pretty easy-to-remember rules for ourselves when buying food – ‘Jane’s rules’:

    • meat is higher carbon than veg
    • the more ingredients the higher the carbon
    • producing the food takes way more carbon than packaging it
    • and refrigerated stuff can be high carbon even if it comes by road, not plane

    The fourth session looked at transport: we stepped into the shoes of Sarah and Edward and their two daughters. It turned out that they could save a lot of carbon through changing their lifestyles, without spending any money, just doing things a bit differently.
    Real food for thought there.

    And so we break for the summer, I am busy thinking about the actions I can take and look forward to the next session in September. On a personal note, I’ve really enjoyed having the group come together and meet in my house. I’ve enjoyed hearing seven other people’s points of views, and their way of dealing with some of the things I find challenging.

    I am looking forward to hosting some more conversations in my front room again soon!!!

    If you would like to join a local ‘Carbon Conversations’ group in September,
    please email us at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com All welcome!

  • Fancy a Tooting Carbon Conversation?

    The next Carbon Conversation in Tooting starts next week on Monday 20th June.  Organiser Liz Darley says: “It should be fun and you should learn some new things!!”  

    Carbon conversations are six meetings that explore how individuals and families can reduce their carbon footprint. Participants will find out how to make practical plans to reduce carbon consumption in areas such as home energy, travel, and food purchasing, as well as talking about their own personal visions and feelings on a low-carbon future in London.  Find out more details about how to join the conversation here.

  • Carbon Conversations

    Is our future worth a conversation?
    Would you like to reduce your carbon footprint?
    Would you like to take some practical steps on climate change?
    You are invited to take part in Carbon Conversations:
    a course of meetings starting soon in Tooting

     

    8-10 participants will meet as a group to explore climate change in a different way, focusing on values, feelings and lifestyle as well as kick-starting practical action to reduce carbon consumption in the home and community 
    Ø  Each two-hour session is supported by facilitators to build on the experience and interests of the participants: you do not need to feel you are an ‘expert’ to take part 
    Ø  Following a proven and well-designed structure, you will meet other people interested in creating a low-carbon future, and explorekey areas of your own carbon footprint including home energy, transport and travel, food, consumption and waste
    Ø  We will emphasise participation in the informal sessions – we won’t be giving lectures. You will share ideas, use the Carbon Conversations workbook, play some instructive and enjoyable games, identify tools and tips that will support you, and create personal plans that will reduce your carbon impact
    Ø  After the completion of the workshops you can choose to receive training on facilitating the course, and support other Carbon Conversations groups yourself
    The course will be facilitated by members of Transition Town Tooting. Course materials and design have been developed by Cambridge Carbon Footprint
    Meetings will take place on Monday evenings from 7-9pm. We will start the course of five meetings on Monday 28th February 2011, continuing on March 7th, March 14th & March 21st. The fifth meeting will be held on a date in May to be agreed with participants, getting together again after time taking action on individuals’ plans.  
    We will provide the facilitation and administration, and ask for a voluntary fee of £10 per person to cover the cost of the Carbon Conversations workbook

    Easily accessible, in Tooting – to be confirmed  

    Please email Charles at cemwhitehead@btinternet.com to join, express an interest, or ask any questions, and we will be in contact

    Carbon Conversations is one of the Guardian’s ‘Top 20 solutions to climate change’