Everyone is invited to the second meeting of the sustainability forum.

This is a group for local people that meets every few weeks to share ideas and opinions on different environmentally-friendly topics. Feel free to pick and choose which meeting to attend depending on the topic being covered.

The topic for discussion this time will be:

"How can we effectively reduce our dependence on the car?"

I imagine this will include discussion of public transport, car-sharing, parking, commuting, etc. and anything else that may come up.

We have a speaker to kick off proceedings - his family have been car-free for the best part of 18 years, which sets an inspirational example. (NB: There are no prizes for guessing the identity of the mystery speaker!)

We hope to meet in the Bell at 8pm on Wednesday 22nd April, unless this clashes with other events in the town.

Great, Beth - I have put it on my calendar and see you there. I guess I'll walk over?

Nice to have a "forum" that isn't here in the virtual world. The beer tastes better, too.

~Andrew~
p.s. How about highlighting the date in your posting so it pops out at people - what colour?

Green please!

Just a reminder of this meeting tonight - all welcome.

Cheers.

Just wanted to post the dates of the next meetings of the sustainability forum well in advance to allow people to make a note of them in their diaries...

27th May - Save energy, save money
24th June - Reduce, reuse, recycle
29th July - Environmentally friendly food and drink
26th August - The chemical-free home
30th September - Green parenting
28th October - Government or individual: who is responsible for greener living?

Details will be confirmed closer to the time.

Many thanks,

Beth

SAVE ENERGY, SAVE MONEY

This meeting will be held on the 27th of May in the Parish Hall from 7:30pm to 9:00pm. A trip to the pub afterwards will probably be called for in order to round off the discussion nicely (thirsty work, don't you know...!) I am asking for a voluntary donation of 50p per person to help cover the room hire.

I am in the process of confirming the speakers who will be kicking off proceedings - I will post the details here in the next few days.

Please spread the word - the more people who attend, the more opinions and experiences will be represented and the more interesting the discussion will be.

First speaker confirmed -

We will be given a presentation by a speaker from the Environment Centre in Southampton, an organisation that works in partnership with the Energy Savings Trust. They will be able to give general advice, answer your questions, give out information on applying for grants, etc.

Just a reminder of next week's meeting.

It would be lovely to see some of you there.

Bethany,
Did you see my invite (Whitchurch Arts) ?

We coud make the day a real party and fun,

Graham

Sounds good.

Especially the trip to the pub afterwards

Well, it would be terrible to dehydrate after saving the planet!

Thanks for the poster. I really like the cohesive style linking together different community events.

....and we aren't hung up about spelling either

I think promotion of this sort of thing will go a lot further if people realise that very simple things (like energy-saving bulbs or loft insulation) are a win-win that doesn't require any change in lifestyle. Often if things are pitched as being "Green" / guilt-trippy then half the constituency is immediately alienated as they associate it with <stereotype hat on>Holier-Than-Thou Mungbean-eating sandal-wearing terrorist apologists<stereotype hat off>.

Whereas if it's pitched more as a common-sense / national energy supply security / balance-of-payments / keep British money in Britain issue, even Torygraph-reading Col. Blimps will buy into it (frees up cash to spend on Horse & Hound subscriptions / new turret for Nan's wing)

The line "do you care about the future of the earth?" is, to me anyway, a bit of a red herring. Everyone cares, but there is 'disagreement' (blame idiot media, but that's where we are) on a)how bad the problem is and b) what to do.

Whereas sell it as a cost-saving / energy security drive and you avoid all the left-right / hippy-wingnut distraction. Money is the truly democratic motivator here, and will have eco-mums sitting next to bankers to find out how to save cash. The fact that they will be reducing emissions at the same time is just a "bonus".

Cheers,

Mike

This talk in particular is very practical. Lots of sensible advice, so it should definitely have a wide appeal, not just for the dark green eco warriors. Naturally people will vary in the amount they wish to do towards reducing their carbon footprint (and therefore their bills), but I hope everyone will be able to take something useful away from the discussion.

I am going to remove all my eco friendly light bulbs after learning about the Mercurious toxity.
If they are as potentially dangerous as some say we should be pressing for retention of safer light bulbs.

Thanks to everyone who came to the meeting last night - it was a lively and interesting discussion.

I thought Jo from the Environment Centre was very knowledgeable and approachable. A summary of some of the key points will be sent round to those people who left their contact details, and it is also available to anyone else who is interested. Send me a PM if you would like to see a copy.

Looking forward to the next meeting - 'Reduce, reuse, recycle' to be held on the 24th of June. Details will be confirmed closer to the time, but do please put it in your diaries now. We already have the principal waste and recycling officer from B&DBC booked in to kick off the discussion. (Perhaps the issue of disposal of energy saving lightbulbs can be discussed further at this meeting.)

Thanks again Beth for arranging the meeting - I was particularly interested in the facts Jo presented regarding where most heat energy is lost from a house: windows account for just 10% of heat loss whilst walls were, I think, 35%. Do you suppose Jo could send us that particular picture from her presentation? Does her charity have a website?

~Andrew~

I've just sent out the notes from the meeting, which I hope will answer your questions.

If anyone else would like to see the website please go to:

http://www.environmentcentre.com/

Jo has just sent me the picture from her presentation...thanks again, Jo!

~Andrew~

Confused about recycling?

Want to know how to reduce the amount of waste your household produces?

Questions about what the council are doing to increase recycling rates?

Got a good tip on reusing something to stop it from going into landfill?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you need to come to the next meeting of the sustainability forum...

"Reduce, reuse, recycle"

Wednesday 24th June

7:30pm start (discussion will probably finish by 9:00pm followed by a few sociable beers)

Back room of the Bell, Bell Street, Whitchurch

Presentation and discussion led by Nathan Sunley-Smith, Principal Waste and Recycling Officer, B&DBC

All welcome

Free!


Spread the word - I think this could be a really interesting discussion.

Just a reminder of next week's meeting.

Beth - the meeting last night was fantastic! I now know to put the metal tops from wine bottles into the empty cat food tins before putting them all out for recycling (otherwise, as we learned, the tops would fall through their filters and not be recycled).

I also learned that I can request a larger recycling bin -- and have done so! I got home and my wife said I should have asked for two!

Recycling is pretty easy once you do it for about two weeks - it becomes a habit. We bought one of those clear storage boxes and put it in our utility room -- all our recycling gets tossed in there, and once full, we take it out to our recycle bin. It makes recycling a bit easier to handle.

~Andrew~

It was an amazing meeting - thanks to everyone who made it out. People's comments and questions further improved an already excellent presentation from Nathan. I think we all learnt a lot and came away feeling motivated and inspired to take action.

I've got pages and pages of notes to sort through - I hope to have them e-mailed round to everyone on the mailing list this weekend. If anyone else would like to see them feel free to send me a PM and I'll pass them on.

The next meeting is scheduled for the evening of the 29th of July and will be about ethical food and drink. Put it in your diaries now and I will confirm the details closer to the time. We already have two speakers booked - someone from the Basingstoke Fairtrade group and John who will be talking about CAMRA's LocAle initiative. Looking forward to it already!

Just talking won't cut it, John! Will you bring samples?

~Andrew~

Does anyone still do homebrewing?

Notes have now been sent out to everyone on the mailing list. Let me know if anyone else would like to see them.

Food for thought…

“Goods produced under conditions which do not meet a rudimentary standard to decency should be regarded as contraband and not allowed to pollute the channels of international commerce.”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt

“In non-organic farming, over 311 pesticides can be routinely used and residues are often present when tested. Over 40% of all non-organic fruit, vegetables and bread tested in 2005 contained pesticides according to the Government's Pesticide Residues Committee. The results for particular fruit and vegetables were much worse. Chemicals were found in all oranges tested, 90% of bread, 72% of grapes and 95% of pears.”
– The Soil Association

“Local, seasonal food tastes far superior to the fruit and vegetables that have been picked long before they have had a chance to develop any flavour, just so they could travel thousands of miles.”
- Gordon Ramsay

If you would like to find out more about these and many other issues, come along to the next meeting of the sustainability forum:

"Ethical food and drink"

Wednesday 29th July

7:30pm to 9:00pm

Parish Hall, London Street, Whitchurch

Speakers:
Gill Barber from the Basingstoke and Deane Fairtrade Group to talk about fairtrade food and drink
Heather Rainbow, Chairperson of Hampshire Organic Gardening Group to talk about organic food and growing your own
John Buckley from CAMRA to talk about LocAle - supporting local beers for local people (including samples of beers)

All welcome

Just a reminder of next week's meeting.

Thanks to everyone who came to Wednesday's meeting - it was a very informative evening. Notes will be sent round in the next few days.

The next meeting will be held on the 26th of August and will focus on 'The Chemical Free Home.' The discussion will be led by Julie Gibson who owns 'The Natural Shop' in Basingstoke. Put the date in your diary now and details will be confirmed closer to the time.

Cheers.

Please find below the details of the next sustainability forum meeting:

"The Chemical-Free Home"

Wednesday 26th August

7:30pm to 9:00pm

Back room of the Bell, Bell Street, Whitchurch

Guest speaker: Julie Gibson from "The Natural Shop"

All welcome

I'm afraid to say that our speaker has had to postpone her talk on the 'Chemical-Free Home' due to take place next week.

At such short notice there will not be chance to find an alternative speaker, so there will be no formal meeting of the sustainability forum on Wednesday 26th of August. The planned presentation and discussion will take place on Wednesday 30th September instead. Details will be confirmed closer to the time.

If anyone would like to get together more informally to discuss environmental or local issues, we will be in the Bell from 7:30pm on Wednesday 26th August anyway. This could be an opportunity to digest and put into action the information we have been given so far, or raise any other issues for consideration.

Just a quick reminder of Wednesday night's gathering in the back room of the Bell .

People seem to be keen, and topics already proposed for discussion include home-made solar heating systems and electric cars (including an opportunity to see one!).

Feel free to pop along if you want to find out more about the forum - it will all be very informal.

Cheers.

Ah, time to resurrect the electric bike charging station idea using solar power

Another word I like.
It usuallly goes with beer and the Bell is a welcome provider of excellent refreshments...

Its sounding good.

...and what a pleasant and informative evening it was too.
Thank you so much Beth for arranging these.
I learned a lot - especially about electric vehicles, composting loos and cats.
Yep, almost anything seems to go and the company is so convivial that it just encourages new ideas.
I'm looking forward to more such evenings/activities.

I thought I was going for the beer , but it was the meeting that took centre stage.

Please find below the details of the next sustainability forum meeting:

"The Chemical-Free Home"

Wednesday 30th September

7:30pm to 9:00pm

Back room of the Bell, Bell Street, Whitchurch

Guest speaker: Julie Gibson from "The Natural Shop"

All welcome

Just a reminder of this week's meeting.

Thanks to those who came along to last night's meeting. For anyone who was unable to make it but would like to get a flavour of what was discussed, Julie very kindly brought along handouts for us. Send me a message if you would like to receive a copy and I will also bring them along to the next meeting.

The next meeting will be held at 7:30pm on Wednesday 28th October in the back room of the Bell. We will be considering the question - "Who is responsible for greener living - the government or the individual?" We already have a speaker from Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council coming along to this meeting, and I am waiting for confirmation from a further speaker. More details to follow...

Please find below the details of the next sustainability forum meeting:

"Who is responsible for greener living - the government or the individual?"

Wednesday 28th October

7:30pm to 9:00pm

Back room of the Bell, Bell Street, Whitchurch

Guest speaker: Lucy Martins, Climate Change Officer, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council

All welcome

I have just had confirmation from another speaker who will be joining us on Wednesday night - Nicky Partridge from Andover Transition Town.

Really looking forward to it!

Hope you can join us.

Beth

Thank you to everyone who made it to the forum last night - great turn out! ;D Lovely to see some new faces as well.

I think we managed to get to some of the core issues regarding the current and potential role of individuals, communities and local/central government in tackling climate change. I think it is fair to say that there was a feeling of frustration, which I hope we can channel in a positive way, but there was also inspiration and hope.

As people on the mailing list already know, there are no notes available for this meeting as it was largely a discussion of opinion and therefore a tricky one to note down in an accurate and unbiased manner.

The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday the 25th of November. I am waiting for confirmation from a speaker, but I hope we will be discussing local exchange trading systems (LETS). These are essentially non-monetary systems that allow members of a community to swap skills, goods and services. More details to follow. This will be the last meeting of the year, but we will be regrouping at the end of January.

It was certainly well attended and perhaps one of the most 'lively' meetings with some excellent ideas. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Definitely. However, the frustration comes from a positive base because people care, which is what is so good about these meetings. They bring people together and are great places to express and exchange views on matters of such importance to us all.
The Whitchurch GreenAware Week will also be a great focus for these issues.

That's a good one to look forward to. Some of us already run such a scheme...
It is based on BEER TOKENS

The Copenhagen climate conference (Dec 7-18) will be high in the news rotation then - maybe some discussion about what is latest on that too?



One way so far, isn't it John?
Or is that just because I seem to put my foot in it too often?

~Andrew~

Please find below the details of the next sustainability forum meeting:

"LETS - Exchange goods and services locally without the need for money"

Wednesday 25th November

7:30pm to 9:00pm

Back room of the Bell, Bell Street, Whitchurch

Guest speaker: Gina Hillsdon, Andover LETS

All welcome

I saw 'elsewhere' a reference to Time Banking.
Timebanking
Timebank

It would be good to have a comparison between to two systems at the Forum (and any other similar set ups), particularly as LETS has been running a long time.

However, as you know, we already have the BEER TOKEN system in Whitchurch

John B

I'm working on it!

Please find below the details of the next sustainability forum meeting:

"The environmental and health benefits of vegetarianism and veganism"

Wednesday the 27th of January

7:30pm to 9:00pm

Back room of the Bell, Bell Street, Whitchurch

Guest speaker: Sophie Fenwick, Thames Valley Vegans and Vegetarians

All welcome

This meeting is not limited to people who are interested in becoming a vegetarian or a vegan, but will also be of interest to people who would like to learn about cooking a vegetarian meal once or twice a week.

Please find below the details of the next sustainability forum meeting:

"Green personal transport: bikes and electric vehicles"

Wednesday the 24th of February

7:30pm to 9:00pm

Back room of the Bell, Bell Street, Whitchurch

Guest speakers: John Buckley from Hampshire Cycle Training and Rob Sharpe from the Battery Vehicle Society

All welcome

The big challenge in the area of sustainibility is retro-fit.

It is very difficult to change attitudes to start with.

Then how do we establish better objectives ?

Having established objectives how do we practically achieve them ?

The first stages involve thinking and talking but at somestage we need to do.

It might be easier to sustain what we have rather than retrofit.

The All Hallows Tree; the Railway Trees; The Library Site Trees and possibly The Fairclose Trees, all to be destroyed and for the rest of our lifetime irreplaceable.

We are failing in this area.

I have hope that a small number of dedicated people work hard to establish better objectives, then share the information needed to help others to change. However, I also believe that people will only change their behaviour if they already have the desire or inspiration to do so. It is very difficult to persuade people to do something they have no interest in.