transition city canterbury

some very good news

2011-07-28T11:21:00.001+01:00

i have been so, so impressed by the efforts of adelina and co

in their efforts to save the westgate hall from demolition. together they formed the westgate hall community trust and have had lots of adventures along the way.

good news came last night:

Dear Westgate Hall supporters,

We are very pleased to report that the council's executive have in principle accepted the Trust's proposal (with Curzon Cinemas), subject to various conditions (mostly to do with a satisfactory structural survey, legal work and planning permission).

They have also decided to allocate funding so that the council can keep running the Hall until March 2012, to enable the legal work to be completed. The Trust, if all works well, will then take it over on a 99 year lease.

The decision was unanimous and the councillors who spoke were all increadibly positive about the Trust's proposal and the prospect of a Curzon cinema in town.

It is wonderful to see that all the hard work has not been in vain. Thank you to all of you who have made this possible, through your help, support and encouragement. Great things can happen when a community pulls together.

Kind regards,

Adelina Comas-Herrera
on behalf of the Westgate Community Trust executive

this is excellent news for all of us, a neglected but mostly sound building in the centre of town will be returned to full and productive use, we will have another cinema, and most of all a reminder of the power of community.

i like this quote from margaret mead:

''never doubt that a small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.''

you can send the trust your support or congratulations here:

http://www.westgatecommunityhall.org.uk/

abbots mill project

2011-06-28T11:12:00.001+01:00

thanks for this adelina,

http://www.energyshare.com/abbots-mill-project/

Dear all,

If you have a moment, it would be great if you could “vote” for this group, to help them get crucial funding. I think it is a great project, of great value even if it was just because of its educational value, and perhaps a step towards taking Canterbury a step closer to becoming a transition city.

All the best,

Adelina

more info here  go and have a look, its very cool

2011-03-01T13:36:00.000Z

Many thanks to Steve Matthews and Kim Young for these  excellent summaries of the Environment conference held at Augustine  House last Wednesday 23rd February, organised by C4B’s Environmental Group and The Canterbury Partnership Environment Group. As Kim suggests, perhaps this will prompt some discussion...
  
From Steve:

My (hopefully objective) notes from yesterday's conference as follows. Hope they're of use to people:

General

Very well attended with lots of exhibitors, businesses and  community/ political people. The overall tone and focus of the event was  quite mainstream, leaning more towards the "greening of business as  usual", if you like, but good to see so many people out and involved,  and lots of practical actions being taken.

Speakers

Keith Gwilym, PVC Learning & Quality, Canterbury Christ Church University: talked about the university's commitment to sustainability and what it was doing, including the environmental credentials of the new Augustine's House itself (geothermal does 25% of the building's heating and cooling). The university has carbon reduction targets and plans to meet them, using the EcoCampus EMAS system for universities (ISO 14001). The new university Strategic Plan includes a commitment to education for sustainable development for all students (could be of interest to Transitioners).

John Atkins, Chair, CE Murch: the person behind the Blean/ Challock woodchip heating/ power initiative, which has a small village heating scheme and fuel for boilers at Canterbury Innovation Centre and (soon) Canterbury City Council. Not suggested that could meet all the district's energy and heating needs, but can make a "meaningful contribution", and help bring about a cultural change, while using a local resource sustainably, with biodiversity benefits. Combined Heat and Power seen as the main opportunity.

David Reed, Strategic Director at City Council: what the Council is doing, focused mainly on its Environment Policy, improvements to household recycling service from 2013 when new contract is let (includes "food waste" and glass collection), with increased recycling rates and less going to landfill. The Council has identified 5 trends that need to be addressed in adapting to climate change, including hotter, drier summers, milder, wetter winters, etc. An East Kent Green Infrastructure Plan is being developed to enhance biodiversity (presume this will be like the north Kent one, for example, and could be of interest to Transitioners).

Adam Lacey, Streetcar: explained how car club model works. Seems mainly a big city thing and not clear whether it would work in a place like Canterbury. Some discussion about whether it could be brought to the city, including the idea of cheaper rates for students. Getting more businesses to use it would make it more viable by increasing Mon to Fri use. Might there be scope for a "less corporate" approach to sharing the use of cars, eg: friends and neighbours?

Goran Loman, Vattenfall Wind Power. Goran is the project manager for the proposed Kentish Flats Wind Fram extension (up to 17 additional turbines at the current site). Talked a lot about the science of wind farms and the technology (eg: wind energy derived from a turbine is proportional the cube of the wind velocity). The Infrastructure Planning Authority will make the final decision and capacity would be installed some time in 2014, if it goes ahead.

The main promoters of the event were C4B, the business group, who  have a green business group, and the Canterbury Partnership, which  brings together public, private and voluntary sector groups. CP has its  own Environment Group and is looking for new members. They are planning a  "state of the district environment" report (developed collaboratively)  and are looking into the idea of a "green tour" of the district where  good green things could be showcased to visitors, residents and  important people. Both of these might be of interest to Transitioners.

Very good City Council cotton bags provided - will be great for the (locally sourced) shopping!

And from Kim:

  (Steve has done such a good job summing things up I  will merely reinforce some of his points, or make some of our own  observations): -
- Firstly, we were impressed with the venue. Augustine House  is a comfortable building to be in: pleasant temperature, lots of  natural daylight etc. What struck us was that we had no idea of the  building’s eco-credentials until this conference, which is quite  significant, considering we live a stone’s throw away, and also read the  local paper on a regular basis. We were obviously not alone in our  ignorance, because there was some fairly aggressive questioning. One of  the questions related to the matter of lighting, namely: why are so many  of the rooms lit up well into the night. Turns out, the lights are  movement/heat sensitive; but as the building is only closed at 1.00am it  appears it blazes for quite a lot of the night. My point in bringing  this up, is that it seems there could be better communication between  various local institutions and the public (a theme I will come back to  later).
One of the more positive things I took away from Keith Gwilym’s  speech was his pledge (as Christ Church University’s Pro Vice  Chancellor) that all departing students would leave with a  thorough understanding of the environment. Fairly or unfairly, there was  considerable concern within the audience about students over a number  of issues, namely: poor recycling, car usage, parking, and numbers in  general.
- We particularly warmed to the second speaker, John Atkins,  one of those small scale businessmen, who is prepared to put both time  and money on the line in order to introduce a different way of doing  business that is both good for the local economy and the environment.  Having said that, he emphasised that the technology he is using (ie.  generating energy from biomass) is certainly not a new technology.  Interestingly, he said one of his biggest regrets to date was buying an  English biomass boiler instead of a European one - the European  technology being 10-15yrs ahead! 
As a speaker, John Atkins probably had the most relevance from a  Transition point of view. It would be really great to see him succeed.
- Some Transitioners will be familiar with the third speaker,  David Reed (Strategic Director Canterbury Council) who came to talk to  us about the Council’s Draft Environmental Policy a few years ago . (I  was encouraged to see that he holds a First Class honours degree in  Environmental Science from the University of London.) He talked about  the imminent extension of our recycling scheme to include food waste and  bottles, which is good news.
- Adam Lacey (Development Manager of Streetcar) spoke  eloquently about the car hire scheme that has proved so popular in  London. As non-car owners we were rather disappointed that it has only  just been introduced to Maidstone, and to date there are no definite  plans to introduce it in Canterbury. Needless to say, there was some  strong feeling in the audience with regard to car usage, congestion and  air quality.
- Basically, Goran Loman (Project Director of Vattenfall Wind  Power) filled us in on the planned extension of the Kentish Flats, and  also explained that this type of wind power holds its own with regard to  efficiency, and for the time being is a valuable source of alternative  energy. To a certain extent wind technology is still evolving, in that  the need for repairs to turbines is being reduced with time.
 
Finally, there was a closing speech from Sue Davis, Chair of  the Canterbury Partnership Environment Group, and again I thought this  had special relevance for Transitioners. She talked about this Group  being made up of ‘doers’ rather than ‘talkers’ and mentioned they are  always in of need new members. Returning to the theme of communication I mentioned earlier, it seems  quite significant, that Canterbury Transition started up 3 or so years  ago, yet I for one, had no idea of the role of Canterbury Partnership.  Was I alone in this?  It occurred to me that maybe we could better bring  about change through an organisation like this, either working with it,  or becoming part of it.

Hope these observations will encourage some discussion, if nothing else.

--
Jules

the westgate community trust

2010-06-17T20:31:00.004+01:00

Westgate Community Trust is hosting a Big Lunch as part of the nation-wide event on sunday 18th july

''The Westgate Hall BIG Lunch
A day of food and fun, building community in the heart of Canterbury, bring your own food and decorations, home grown if you can! The Westgate Community Trust has booked the Westgate Hall for the day for the people of Canterbury to enjoy. We are planning a picnic on Westgate Hall road, followed up by a taster of what the Westgate Hall could be in the future, including children's entertainment, live music, dancing, arts and crafts stalls, a bouncy castle, and much, much more!

Please email us if you would like to help in any way: decorating the street and the Hall, having a stall, bringing us things to sell so we can raise funds (bric a brac, home made cakes...), providing children's entertainment, dancing demonstrations, playing music, or any other ideas you may have!''

sounds like it'll be a marvellous event !

big wheel of kent

2010-06-11T05:50:00.003+01:00

Big Wheel of Kent

'In association with national Bike Week SPOKES East Kent Cycle Campaign will once again be running the Big Wheel of Kent cycle event. This will be a celebration of cycling that will include long and short rides for all types of cyclist and a cycling festival at Dane John Gardens in Canterbury. The event will target both experienced cyclists and those who are new to cycling or who only get on their bikes occasionally. We will demonstrate the health, economic and climate related benefits of cycling and provide an opportunity for all to discover Kent’s rich network of Sustrans cycle routes and interesting byways and hidden-away places in and around Canterbury.'

more here:

http://www.bigwheelofkent.org.uk/

2010-06-09T08:29:00.002+01:00

looky at the top story here

disease and pest control course at brogdale

2010-02-23T10:16:00.002Z

Disease and Pest Control in Fruit course

Date: Saturday 6^th March 2010 Time: 1.00pm - 2.30pm

Instructor Mr M Austen Price: £10.00 per person

The intention of this course is to enable persons with fruit in their gardens to recognise disease & pest problems and how to treat these problems, ensuring that their fruit crops well and in a disease free condition.

Please contact me to secure a place.

Many thanks and kind regards

Kimberly Campion, Events and Marketing Co-Ordinator

Brogdale Collections

Brogdale Farm, Brogdale Road, Faversham, Kent ME13 8XZ

Tel: 01795 536250 Fax: 01795 534860

www.brogdalecollections.co.uk

are you looking for some growing space this spring ?

2010-02-17T17:22:00.002Z

we've had this very kind and generous offer from kim:

Hello,
Found your email on the Transition City Canterbury blog.

My elderly parents have a huge veg patch which they can't keep up any more. They'd love to find someone who'd like to use it as an
allottment. We signed up for the C4 landshare thing but haven't heard back.
Do you know of any local organisations that might match a gardener
with their garden?

Thanks!
Kim

if you think you could use the land productively please do get in touch using address at the top of the page or leave a comment here and we'll match up up.

something to do tomorrow evening

2010-01-19T17:17:00.001Z

You are warmly invited to come to this evening event, which is being  organised by the Canterbury Society.
 
The evening will begin  with a talk on ‘Making Canterbury more Energy Efficient’, by John Thorp from  Woking, which has been described as the ‘most energy-efficient local authority  in the country’.  A local perspective will be introduced by Emily  Shirley, and there will be plenty of time for questions and comments, and for  tea and coffee.
 
Everyone  will be very welcome at this event, which will take place at 7.30 on Wednesday  20 January at the Friends Meeting House, the Friars, Canterbury (opposite the  Marlowe Theatre).   Do get in touch with me if you have any  queries.
Very best wishes for  2010
Jan

Jan Pahl

Chair of the Canterbury Society
Mobile: 07775746144

human power station

2009-11-28T17:29:00.003Z

i know that watching telly rots your brain / is evil and all that. but. this looks like it could be interesting:

A Bang Goes the Theory special event showing how much electricity we use and abuse without even thinking about it.

This massive experiment attempts to power a house for an entire day solely through human pedal power - while the unsuspecting family inside go about their normal Sunday routine. Will they drive the Human Power Station to meltdown?

thursday at 8pm, bbc 1

congratulations to the goods shed

2009-11-28T16:20:00.004Z

our very own Goods Shed has won the Radio 4 Food and Farming award for 'best food market'
hurrah !

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/ffa/2009/finalists/
http://www.thegoodsshed.net/

fresh, local, seasonal, delicious : vote with your pocket for the good stuff.

world record tree planting event

2009-11-28T16:00:00.002Z

As part of national tree week , Tree O'Clock is a world record attempt to plant the most trees in one hour. Saturday, 5th December, 11am - 12 noon.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces/treeoclock/
our nearest organised group event is here:

Event location: Sturry Road Community Garden

Organised by: Sturry Road Community Garden

To help with the Guinness World Record attempt to plant as many trees as possible in one hour, we will plant 100 trees on Saturday 5th December, between 11.00 and 12.00. Come along and be part of something big!

Meeting point: Sturry Road Community Garden
What we provide: Tools and refreshments will be provided
Age group: Adults and children of any age
Registration: Not required
More details available from: Trust Secretary
Tel: 01227 786 486

http://www.breathingplaces.org/public/event/72239

2009-11-05T13:32:00.001Z

November's Transition meeting will be Tuesday 17th November at around 6.30pm. We'll be at The Farmhouse, Dover Street, Canterbury. We're going to be showing 'A farm for a Future', the BBC 2 Natural World's documentary about how wildlife film maker Rebecca Hosking investigates making her family's farm more sustainable. Great viewing and I strongly recommend it!

See you then.

Jules

transition chickens

2009-10-30T09:51:00.005Z

transitioners, and friends, ruth and nir have done a wonderful thing and given a home to these three ex- battery girls:

ruth has sent these photos showing their rather dramatic transformaion ( or transition ) to magnificent creatures of egg-laying beauty

''the boss is marigold, and the other two are called Dora (the explorer--and erstwhile escapee from the garden, which is now pretty much chicken-proof!) and Molly (the most timid at first, but now a rabid slug-eating fiend).

We got them from the Battery Hen Welfare Trust. They don't charge for the ex-batts, just ask a donation towards their running costs. We've found them to be really excellent.''

http://www.bhwt.org.uk/

if anyone has any questions, let me know and i will put you in touch with ruth

autumn seed swapping

2009-10-26T09:36:00.009Z

we held an autumn seed swap as part of the canterbury in bloom festival this saturday (organised by isobel and supported by kim and i)

following on from the success of the spring swap it proved to be a very interesting few hours.

these seeds have travelled from our spring swap through the whitstable and margate swaps and back to us again.
isobel did an awesome job of scoring us some excellent heritage seeds ( including a 'black canterbury' dwarf bean )

and lovely people bought seeds that they had saved and packaged so beautifully

these wonderfully looking 'pea bean' seeds arrived with such an interesting story of how they came to be, that i wish i had taken notes. apparently the pods are delicious to eat fresh and you can also dry and store the 'seeds' as dried beans.

i just need it to be spring now please.

2009-10-21T08:39:00.001+01:00

Seen this?

Please find below a link inviting to sign a petition against Boris's
folly in North Kent:

http://sites.medway.gov.uk/airport/petition

thanks to Mari, Whitstable

2009-10-07T10:41:00.002+01:00

Some of you may be interested to know that Jaime Lerner (Mayor and visionary architect of Curitiba) is speaking at the RIBA on Tuesday 3 November. Details at: www.architecture.com/programmes

Keith Bothwell

thanks keith

next meeting

2009-10-07T10:36:00.001+01:00

The next Transition City Canterbury meeting will be on Tuesday 20^th October at the Farmhouse, Dover St. Canterbury, starting about 6.30pm with a film at 7.30pm.

The film will be Blind Spot, which is described as “ a documentary film that illustrates the current oil and energy crisis that our world is facing. Whatever measures of ignorance, greed, wishful thinking, we have put ourselves at a crossroad, which offers two paths with dire consequences. If we continue to burn fossil fuels we will choke the life out of the planet and if we don’t our way of life will collapse.” – A little on the gloomy side, but it’s new (released 2008) so I thought it might be interesting.

There is no agenda for the meeting, just bring yourself, a cheeky grin and enough money for a drink or two and meet up with some like-minded people.

So far there are just two members of my Transition City Canterbury Carbon Club, but it will be much more interesting, and indeed useful, for more to join, so do please give it a go. It is highly likely that we will be able to use the energy consumption data gathered to make persuasive arguments about our future energy policies at council level, but there needs to be enough data to be useful.

See you on 20^th.

Jules

canterbury festival

2009-10-05T11:17:00.005+01:00

we're doing a seed swap as part of the 'Canterbury in Bloom' event

there's talk from dick strawbridge on the 22nd, masses of interesting sounding walks, theatre, music, art and comedy
http://www.canterburyfestival.co.uk/home.asp

transition guide to food

2009-09-29T09:17:00.004+01:00

Local Food: how to make it happen in your community
by Tamzin Pinkerton and Rob Hopkins
is now out

and we're in it.

there's a great summary of what we're all about and a few photos too.
alongside masses of other really inspiring projects.

i have a complimentary copy from the lovely people at Green Books and i'm happy to share it with anyone who has ever set foot on the allotment, or would like to.
otherwise it can be bought from your local bookshop, or here

if you'd like to become part of the allotment team, with any level of experience, enthusiasm or time to commit then drop me a line at: transitioncitygarden@gmail.com

and read more about what we've got growing here

10:10

2009-09-02T11:12:00.001+01:00

what is 10:10 ?

http://www.1010uk.org/

2009-08-09T16:17:00.001+01:00

here's richard's round up of last week's meeting:

4th August Meeting on a sunny summers evening

The transition meeting was held in the garden at the Manor Barn on a lovely summers evening.

There were no reports available from any of the transition groups.

The main objectives for the evening were to find some projects that the transition group wanted to take forward in co-operation and possible funding from the city council.

All eight of the diverse topics on the agenda where covered and explained.

1. Canterbury Pound

2. City car club

3. Edible gardens, Trees

4. Food for life

5. Anti plastic bag

6. Food/produce directory

7. Eco fair

8. Slack space initiatives Conclusion

Canterbury Pound

A full explanation about the Canterbury pound was given with a full lively questions and answer session.

There was a clear interest the complimentary currency. A list was made of people who wanted get involved in taking the project forward.

Local food

A lot of interest was given to the mapping of local food, and it was suggested that a start to this project was already underway by the transition group. An inquiry will be made to where we are with that project.

People found it difficult to fully commit to any of the other projects, but said they would be willing to support them.

Lounge at the Farm Report

It was reported that the stall at the farm was successful but the stall and how we present the transition group and what advertising banners we have available and educational literature we give out should be looked at.

Should we invest some money in getting the correct professional image?

Free Tree Scheme
40,000 trees to give away! - The Free Tree Scheme takes root across Kent

Each household is allowed 25 trees.

Canterbury Council For an application form telephone 08458 247 600

Transition City Canterbury Structure

The structure of the transition group was discussed and there was some confusion whether we still had a steering group in place and if we do who was on it? Also what active groups doe have? It was asked to get some clarification on the structure of the group at next months meeting.

Upcoming events
The following was suggested

Seed Swop in the Autumn

Public showing or climate change and sustainability films

Bohemia market transition stall 26^th 27^th September (Eurofair weekend)

Upcoming Meetings

Monthly meeting Tuesday 1st September Location to be announced

Canterbury Pound Group

Tuesday 25^th August 19.00 Manor Barn Cockering Road

wow

2009-07-27T11:22:00.002+01:00

kim found this and kindly shared it:
The Dervaeses of Pasadena: poster family for greener living

the canterbury pound

2009-07-22T08:48:00.002+01:00

richard is hatching a plan ...

We are trying to set up a local currency similar to the transition group in Lewes with the Lewes pound.

The Canterbury Pound would like to be linked to the transition city group here. We have set up a website at www.canterburypound.co.uk

We are in the process of getting funding for the project and will probably be launching a competition for the design and one for some local artist to be involved.

We are looking for people to become members of the pound group, or currency group to see how we can take the concept of a local currency forward.

Could you possibly place a link from the transition blog to the pound website?

Kindest regards Richard

if you think that you would like to be involved or have a particular skill of experience to offer this porject, please get in touch !

the prince's rainforest project

2009-07-15T15:02:00.000+01:00

this from clare jackson at transition whitstable

Hello,

I just signed up as a supporter of The Prince’s Rainforests Project and added my voice to the many calling for urgent action to fight climate change by addressing rainforest destruction. If you have a moment, will you join me?

Sign up now to put rainforests at the heart of the climate change debate:

http://www.rainforestsos.org/signup1

The number of signatories will be shared with The Prince's Rainforests Project's partnership of governments, businesses and non-profits in December at the time of the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen, where the next global climate change agreement will be determined.

Sign up and help create a climate for change. Adding your name costs nothing, but without it, deforestation might just cost us the Earth.

Thank you.

i just did it and it took less than 5 seconds, please add your name too

some interesting things flagged up by jules recently...

2009-07-15T14:44:00.003+01:00

Ed Miliband announces the UK Low Carbon Transition Plan:
See here
I like that there is the word Transition in it J.

landshare:
I’ve mentioned this before, but I just want to bump it for your attention.
http://landshare.channel4.com

ted.com

As per Paul’s email, please find a catalogue of fascinating talks and films at www.ted.com

Question: What is  Sept 12th,2009.
UK plastic bag free day

thanks jules

free compost bins

2009-07-15T14:40:00.001+01:00

Mark Saich has two second-hand compost bins available, free to the person who collects.

leave a comment, contact mark directly or use the contact email address at the top of the page.

tonight !

2009-06-16T09:58:00.002+01:00

South East Transition Get Together

2009-06-11T09:30:00.000+01:00

A day to connect and explore where we can support and learn from other initiatives in the South East.

Saturday 27th June
10am - 5pm
Friends Meeting House, Brighton

~ Review of the Transition Network Conference
~ Reports with successes and challenges from each group
~ Open space
~ Workshop options

Details of the event to follow but if it's anything like other
Transition gatherings, it should give us a Transition Tickle and help amplify and focus our energy and determination.

Includes delicious vegetarian lunch with local food.

We need your help to make it successful!
Please pass this invite on to others in your Transition Initiative

BOOKING
Early bookers will help our finances and be treated as heroes: Tickets
£20 / £8 concs
Cheques made out to: 'Transition Brighton and Hove'
Please cheques send to:
Transition Livelihoods 2020, Suite G05, 21-22 Old Steyne, Brighton, BN1 1EL

For electronic bank transfers please contact Martin at:
bookings@transitionbrightonandhove.org.uk
07891 571739

KIDS?
Would having facilities for your kids help you be able to come?
Please let us know and what age your kids are and we will explore what
can be arranged.

If you are considering coming please register here:
http://southeasttransitioninitatives.ning.com/xn/detail/2130855:Event:1102

Hope to see you there

Mike, Beth, Martin

Mike Grenville <contact@transitionforestrow.org>
Martin Grimshaw <livelihoods2020@transitionbrightonandhove.org.uk>
Beth Tilston <bethtilston@googlemail.com>

2009-06-06T11:08:00.001+01:00

The TCC food group are seeking gardens or other plots of land in Canterbury to transform into edible gardens. The gardens will be designed along permaculture lines to create a productive fruit and vegetable growing space.
If you have a garden yourself, know someone who might like to have their garden transformed, or know about a piece of waste land that would benefit from a make-over, please let us know.

Additionally, if you would like to be involved in such a 'permablitz' (www.permablitz.net), or have plants or other materials to donate, please get in touch as well.

We look forward to hearing from you,
Cheers,
Isobel

2009-06-04T08:23:00.000+01:00

don't forget to use your votes today !

the big lunch

2009-05-26T09:51:00.002+01:00

http://www.thebiglunch.com/
we're cooking up a plan, more soon.

so far residents at:

crown gardens, st dunstans
st martin's road
and cromwell road

are planning their own,

2009-05-24T13:56:00.001+01:00

i picked this up at the good food cafe this week, thought it looked interesting:

2009-05-20T16:36:00.010+01:00

monday's big event was brilliant.
great venue,
inspiring speakers,
full house.

caroline lucas enthused about the enormous potential of the transition movement,
patrick holden told us about life on his farm and how a meeting with rob hopkins rocked his world

mike grenville of transition forest row talked about some of their experiences and the steps that they had been through
the grand finale was a world premiere of the new nick broomfield film, documenting the plight of the kingsnorth 6, both featuring and introduced by the very entertaining ben stewart

thank you everyone who came, i'm looking forward to hearing ideas for the next one

a big event for may

2009-04-29T11:27:00.001+01:00

compost

2009-04-21T08:43:00.001+01:00

Members of the BTCV compost adviser group are teaming up with members of Transition Town Whitstable to build a triple composter at St. Mary’s Hall Town Garden, Oxford St., Whitstable. The building of the bins from re-used pallets will start at 12am Saturday May 2^nd at the town garden behind St. Mary’s Hall. Janet Cowell, Manager of the Umbrella Centre is excited by this new venture, as it will show members of the community how to do their own composting, while reducing the amount of rubbish going into bins from St. Mary’s Community Café and from other rooms in the centre.

All welcome - please come and help.

chartham to canterbury cycle route

2009-04-18T08:52:00.005+01:00

Dear all

Can I recommend that you support the planning application for the new cycle/walking route from Chartham to Canterbury – I do not need to tell you that routes like this are or vital importance in our transition towards zero carbon – this will be a valuable addition to the national cycle network (the only truly sustainable transport system) as well as of great local benefit.

Believe it or not there are a good number of people who are objecting to this proposal! – so it needs all the support it can get.

You can view the application here

1 Give your name and postal address including postcode and phone number. It is VERY important you do this as council will disregard emails without an address as they don't know where they are coming from.

2 You should write to: development.control@canterbury.co.uk

3 Quote the ref number: CA/09/00209/FUL. You can put this in the "Subject" line of the email address as well.

4 Quote: Chartham to Canterbury Cycle/Walking Route

5 State clearly that you are in favour of the application and reasons why it will benefit you and other people such as school kids, commuters, tourists, leisure users and aid people going to shops/ retail park, Wincheap Trading Estate, Canterbury, Chartham, the new Chartham Village Hall and weekly Farmer's Market plus all the clubs and the Stour Valley plus the obvious boost to their health and fitness.Thanks.

Keith Bothwell

skills

2009-04-03T09:49:00.004+01:00

Calling all sock darners, bread makers and bicycle fixers…

(photo from here )

At our next social meeting on Tuesday 7^th April 7.30pm at the Farmhouse, we will be setting up the TTC 'Skills Swap Database'. The aim is to create a database of local people who have 'Transition skills' they would like to share or swap with others in the community.

Come along to find out more, have your say in how it works, or just join up. All very welcome.

2009-04-01T08:27:00.003+01:00

thanks to everyone who came to the forest garden day at the allotment on sunday - we counted 32 people at one point, and a big thanks too to jo who organised and ran the session.

2009-03-30T16:37:00.001+01:00

Free Special Lecture open to public!

at UKC , Tue 31 March, 6pm in Lecture Theatre, Woolf College (new building, Giles Lane, opp. Darwin College)

"Energy Security and Climate Change - What Role for Europe" by Lord Hannay of Chiswick.

(posted by Mari)

spring cleaning

2009-03-12T10:19:00.007Z

(a beautiful lawn on the walk along st augustine's road to the allotment)

A message from Helen at Transition Town Whitstable...

I thought that I'd just send a reminder of the exciting free "Green Spring Clean" event that we're holding on Thursday 19th March 7.30pm at the Whistlestop Restaurant- as you come into Whitstable along Canterbury Road it is situated under the railway bridge within the arches.

Caroline Harris is doing a talk, demonstration and answering questions. She has just launched her new book "Ms Harris's Book of Green Household Management"- a very useful reference book but managing at the same time to be light hearted and personal.

She will cover not only her ideas on an "essential green cleaning kit" but also ideas for mending and for Easter and obviously whatever else there is an interest in.

Caroline is a journalist and has been an editor on a national paper. She is now involved withTransition Larkhall and lives in Bath. I think that we are very fortunate that she has agreed to come and talk for us, as having read her book, I know that she is a mine of fasinating and useful information.

She has a beautiful website- www.ms-harris.com which is worth a browse if you are interested.

Please forward this to anyone that you think may be interested as there is nothing worse than hearing that you've just missed a great event while you were sitting in with nothing much to do.

Hope to see you there,

Helen Smith Transition Town Whitstable

www.transitionwhitstable.org.uk

2009-02-24T13:58:00.001Z

there will be a strategy meeting at the farmhouse, dover street, on 3rd March at 7pm,
everyone welcome

forest gardening

2009-02-15T17:52:00.001Z

power of community

2009-02-10T15:50:00.004Z

a transition city canterbury film screening:

the power of community - how cuba survived peak oil
tuesday 17th feb, 7pm at the farmhouse, dover street

an inspiring film about Cuba's enforced transition. ( i hear that this is far from a doom-fest and this is why we have chosen to screen it )
''Cuba was undergoing a transition from a highly industrial society to a sustainable one. Cuba became, for them, a living example of how a country can successfully traverse what we all will have to deal with sooner or later, the reduction and loss of finite fossil fuel resources.''

seed swap sunday...

2009-02-10T15:33:00.008Z

was very well attended

was spudtacular

was brimming with expertise

was informative, inspiring, and fun

...it was a runaway success !

many thanks to everyone who came, everyone who donated seeds:

Thomas Etty gave us 25 packets of unusual seed,
Fran - one of the organisers of the big Brighton SeedySunday
gave us a shoebox packed full of goodies and a load or Jerusalem artichokes.
Edwin Tucker and Sons Ltd - literally hundreds of packets...
Garden Organic for info sheets
Ripple Farm for the seeds potatoes
Chiltern Seeds for seeds
Tamar Organics for seeds
Marshalls for seeds

and to the wonderful Good Food Cafe for being such a fine host.

super job isobel !
xx

feb strategy meeting round-up

2009-02-06T12:48:00.002Z

1) Response to Canterbury Environment Policy Document
- Everyone seems broadly satisfied with the document.
- We must go through the final document when it is released, and see
if we had any influence.
- ACTION: find out when the vote on the document will be
(Responsibility:Nir)
2) Guest Speaker's talk
- The St Peter Methodist Church has been hired, we have it from
6:30-9:30pm
- Julian Brazier has been invited as a speaker, no response yet
- ACTION: we need to come up with a topic for Guest Speakers
(Responsibility: Geoff and others)
- ACTION: Promotion (Responsibility: ?)
+ Press releases
+ Leaflets
3) Press officer
- Ruth has been volunteered, Tessa is willing to provide some help as necessary.
4) Wincheap children's center
- We will be informed of dates for workshops, and the website (will
be put
on the wiki).
- If we have any skills (running workshops, etc), we should offer
them.
5) Allotment fees
- These have now been paid
6) Social meeting
- The next social meeting will be on 17/02/2009. (Do we need to book
anything/inform anyone).
- Current suggestion is to show a film: The power of communities.
- People suggested that some project meetings should be more active,
e.g.
workshop like, rather than sitting around discussing ideas.
- Others suggested that social meetings will be a good place to
organize
these types of events instead.
- ACTION: Come up with ideas (Responsibility: Isobel).
- Ideas for future social meetings:
+ Discussion on introducing Canterbury pound
+ ``Invite the enemy'',
+ Fergus
+ How to use the wiki
7) Leaflets
- Printing will be cheap, but we need to come up with a distribution
policy
so as not to waste them. Ideas
+ Get a copy on the wiki
+ Put them in the library
+ Identify events in the summer for a stall
+ Wholefood shop, goodshed, siesta, churches
8) Council interactions
- We should organize letter writing/meeting with Julian Brazier and
council
to encourage green policies.
9) Other
- Kim will follow up what the Cathedral has done since the PACE
meeting (one of their speakers discussed their ``green'' policies.
- Some people were interested in the possibility of starting up a
crag. Nir to investigate and report back. This could be part of a social
evening.
- Nick Leader will collate ideas for a letter to the universities,
encouraging stronger environmental policies.

meetings for february

2009-02-02T11:18:00.003Z

strategy meeting, tuesday 3rd feb, 7pm at the farmhouse, dover street.

social meeting, tuesday 17th feb, 7pm at the farmhouse, dover street.

everyone welcome

seed swap

2009-01-20T09:38:00.003Z

(you can click to read the details)
lots of other new year news over on the allotment blog

the cunning plan

2009-01-15T12:58:00.001Z

let's help make it not happen !

Canterbury City Council's New Environment Policy

2009-01-12T19:33:00.004Z

January's Social Meeting will be on Tuesday 13th January 2009, 7pm at The Farmhouse, Dover St., Canterbury. This will be a 'focussed' social meeting to discuss Canterbury City Council's New Environment Policy, which is available for review on our Google Group page
here
the architect of this policy, David Reed, will be at the meeting to field your questions. Please take advantage of this opportunity to challenge our Council on their plans for our future; we don't get enough of them!
See you then,
Jules For Steering Group Transition City Canterbury

december drinks / meeting

2008-12-10T11:40:00.001Z

A 'focused' social at the Farmhouse - we will be discussing arguments from climate change sceptics. This will be a great opportunity to learn more about classic and lesser known arguments against the existence of climate change and/or its human causes, and to learn and develop counter-arguments.

tuesday 16th december, 7pm at the farmhouse, dover street, canterbury.

meeting tonight

2008-12-02T11:15:00.004Z

tue 2nd dec, 7pm at the farmhouse, dover street, canterbury
this will be a business-type meeting, but hopefully fairly relaxed and informal with drinks and chat and stuff.
everyone welcome.

2008-11-14T09:58:00.003Z

TRANSITION TOWN WHITSTABLE AND WHITSTABLE FARMERS MARKET PRESENTS: A MASTERCHEF EVENING
Saturday November 22nd
8pm – St Mary’s Hall, doors opens 7.30pm
Celebrate the art of seasonal cooking with the Master of Wild Food – Fergus Drennan
Demonstrations, samplings, food hampers to be won, locally stocked bar.
Tickets £8 available from Herbaceous, Whitstable Farmers’ Market or The Cheese Box (Harbour Street). or call 07749 835041

buy nothing day

2008-11-12T15:46:00.004Z

...is on saturday 29th november, http://www.buynothingday.co.uk/
To mark the occasion,and in the run up to Christmas, isobel and stephan thought it would be good to hold an event where people could get ideas for making their own Christmas gifts. They are organising a sort of skills-swap were individuals can show others how to make Christmas presents, cards, decorations or wrappings. Obviously it would be great if these could be as environmentally-friendly as possible. They would be very pleased to hear about any ideas you may have or particular skills you can share.

the event will be held at the good food cafe between 3 and 6 on saturday 29th november.

contact isobeltomlinson@hotmail.co.uk if you'd like to know more or have a really good idea for making something.
there's plenty of inspiration here: http://blog.craftzine.com/

news about the next meeting...

2008-11-12T10:16:00.004Z

a new strategy ... drinks / fun / chat / community building, whatever you want to call it,
at The Farmhouse, (behind the cinema)
7pm, tuesday 18th november
no agenda.
it'll be nice.

wwf news

2008-11-12T10:06:00.005Z

from nick:

Climate celebration
Thanks to you, WWF's Get on Board campaign has had a major breakthrough. MPs have responded to pressure from WWF supporters, resulting in a much tougher Climate Change Bill that meets our key demands. The Bill now requires: a reduction of at least 80% in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050- UK emissions calculations to include pollution from international flights and shipping. But there's still more to do before the Bill becomes law. Together with other members of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition, of which WWF is a founding member, WWF will keep up the pressure. Keep a lookout for future updates...
Get the full story and download the Climate Change:Faster, stronger, sooner report at: here

and ...

Urgent - Heathrow rebellion taking off.
In the next few days MPs will have a chance to voice their opposition to the expansion of Heathrow Airport - and you can help by asking your MP to join the debate.The government is looking increasingly isolated on their plans for a third runway at Heathrow - over 100 MPs have already signed a petition calling for a full investigation into the potential for a new high-speed rail network to replace short-haul flights. Please ask your MP to sign the petition - and help stop the inevitable damage to our climate that would result from a third runway.
Ask your MP to oppose Heathrow expansion http://wwf.org.uk/heathrowdebate

architecture tuesday

2008-10-12T17:25:00.005+01:00

on tuesday this week, two architectural delights:

a talk on Food and Cities by Carolyn Steel next Tuesday at Kent School of Architecture. (UKC)
17:00, Marlowe Lecture Theatre 1

and

garbage warrior, 10pm on more4
a documentary about the earthship guy

''The story of maverick architect Michael Reynolds
Oliver Hodge's inspiring account of the epic story of maverick architect Michael Reynolds and his fight to introduce sustainable housing in the Nevada desert.
Shot over three years and in four countries, True Stories: Garbage Warrior is a timely portrait of a determined visionary.''

october general meeting

2008-09-26T15:59:00.001+01:00

October’s meeting will be at 6.30pm on Wednesday 1st October at The Farmhouse, 11 Dover Street, Canterbury (behind the cinema). Make your way to the back of the bar and that’s where you’ll find us.

The Farmhouse is part of Lounge on the Farm and they are very keen to support what we do, so I’m hoping for a good attendance, please.

We’re going to be running through a few of our proposals for events to hold over the winter and into the Spring of 2009 so please come along and add your support.

See you then.

Jules

What comes before a fall?

2008-09-10T23:50:00.005+01:00

Here's a list of things I should be doing tonight: researching funding for insulation projects, what other transition town groups are up to, filling in FAQs. Instead, this blog.

The last days I've been putting something off: I can tell in the way I'm finding the book I'm reading at the moment a real page-turner. All 900 of them. Half-way so far.

This weekend I went to the Green Party Conference. Yes, a member; no, not active, or especially enthusiastic. Before slipping away to my girlfriend's graduation ceremony I listened to one of the closing presentations, from Kevin Anderson, who works at the Tyndall Centre for climate research at the University of Manchester (neither sandals nor David Ike were visible, although there was mention...). He was talking about what it would take for a 50% chance of avoiding the 'catastrophic' threshold of 2 degrees warming by 2050.

In doing so he was going over territory studied by Nicholas Stern, former chief economist for the World Bank, and flagship report-writer in support of the government's leading sixty-percent-cut-by-2050 pledge. Why? To point out precisely how Stern, as he himself has admitted, had underestimated the problem.

This wasn't George Monbiot, fishing for a worst-case scenario to put in his latest book, I should add. Kevin went through the numbers he had chosen, pointing out that he had in fact picked the most optimistic numbers available, and made up an imaginary, even more optimistic set.

His point was this: the long-term target for carbon-dioxide emissions reduction was not important, rather it was the actual amount of carbon dioxide emitted. In other words, we should concentrate not on what percentage of emissions in 2000 we are emitting in 2050, but how much carbon dioxide (or equivalent) we emit in between. Or, we should not worry about where the carbon emissions percentage line meets 2050 on a graph, but the area underneath the line. The later the line falls, the greater the area, the greater the total emissions.

Except there is only so much carbon dioxide equivalent it is possible to emit and still have a 50% chance of avoiding a 2 degree rise (or was it a 30% chance? I can't remember, but let's pretend optimism, if foggy, for the moment; it's late). Whether the line is concave or convex makes a very big difference to whether or not we have those odds, or far worse ones.

Stern's projections, published in 2007, were made on the basis of 2000 emissions figures. Unfortunately, the intervening 7 years were of unprecedented growth in carbon emissions around the globe, meaning that Britain's actual share of the remaining emissions admissible before breaking the 2 degrees threshold shrank.

I'll give you the references at the end of this, and email me if you what to read more, but this is the summary: we are locked into increased emissions until 2015. If by then we do not start reducing emissions by between 8% and 10% year on year we will not make it.

2015 ends about a hundred months away. The Greens have started speaking the way parents do of babies. Speaking in years when there are so few of them would be too inaccurate. 100 months.

The only precedent for such a dramatic fall in carbon emissions was the fall of the Soviet Union.

Recently, Rob Hopkins had an exchange of views with two critics, also academics, and members of the Trapese Collective, an offshoot of Rising Tide, that aims to use popular education techniques to help communities and groups discuss big issues like climate change. It was a messy and unsatisfactory discussion: Alice Cutler and Paul Chatterton didn't seem, in Rob Hopkins' view, to have read the book they were criticizing, while Rob Hopkins' reply didn't seem to respond to quite the same problems as the two were raising.

The point was about whether the co-operative, non-critical strategies used within Transition Towns were enough. Or is it necessary to have system-critical, confrontational strategies?

Rob Hopkins argued, with reason, that Trapese were complaining that Transition Towns were not enough like them. He also argued that co-operation and confrontation were just different ways of achieving the same goals, a low/no-carbon economy. But he failed to spot that his examples of successful co-operation with people in positions of power were not the same kind of people in power that Trapese were suggesting it is necessary to challenge. They were people with an in-built degree of 'public' interest, such as the representatives of regional development agencies, rather than the CEOs of some of the world's most powerful and rapacious carbon-dependent companies.

This is where George Monbiot does come in. He has been arguing (in a dispute with Eva Jasiewicz) that it is necessary to put all political ideologies (he calls them identity politics) aside in the urgent need to face up to climate change. Eva says we need a revolution (Ra!). They are both being completely unhelpful.

George says that we need to accept that there is a role for the state in a climate change solution because all small-scale, personal or local actions are rendered meaningless without state regulation (i.e. no point Canterbury going Low Carbon if Newcastle rediscovers coal). Eva says the state is part of the problem: lap-dog to big fossil fuel guzzlers, it should be swept away in a rev..

George is being unhelpful because he makes it sound as if what he is talking about is co-operating with the state (I'm not sure this is what he means, but there you go). Eva is being unhelpful because her argument ends where it needs to begin.

Simply, neither co-operation on its own, as too ineffective, nor revolution, as too unlikely (or to Monbiot's mind, as flirting with totalitarianism), are helpful ways of thinking about having a 50% chance of avoiding the 2 degree threshold. So why don't we add the two together, much as Rob Hopkins suggests: radical action and co-operative work as two sides of the same coin?

But.

They aren't as commensurable as that: this is what, behind the sloganizing, Trapese are getting at, and what is part of the grumbles of the more 'radical' parts of the we-must-do-something-about-climate-change 'movement' that have emerged since the Camp for Climate Action started three years ago (I've had my ear to the ground).

Co-operative work drains energy and resources from more 'radical' (as you can see, I don't find this a very helpful word), direct, confrontational-instrumental action. All the LETS-projects in Wellmeaning-dom are not going to have the desired effect if big polluting projects like new runways and coal-fired power-stations aren't stopped and this, and other, governments, aren't humiliated into responsible action; but they will commit potentially political activists to time-consuming, albeit very worthy, social projects.

Two words sum this up. Time. Scale. Time-scale.

This is what is keeping me away from my book-strewn bed. What kind of individual decision does this situation entail? How much personal responsibility can be construed from the prospect of breaching 2 degrees? How valid and reliable do the scientific projections have to be before they are imperative? How dramatic does the change have be? Can I keep my job (alright, studentship)? How much should I take account of the possible effect on personal relationships, or their effect on me?

All my girlfriend and I want to do is live self-suffiently, growing our own food in our own garden (land-price and planning-law barriers aside, which they are not). Would it matter if it was one of the last? Would it be? Would it?

Anderson, Bows, Mander in Energy Policy
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V2W-4T5JPH4-1&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=ccdef7529a07df695012c088fb0231ed

Anderson and Bows in Transactions of the Royal Society (upcoming)

Stern Review
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/independent_reviews/stern_review_economics_climate_change/sternreview_index.cfm

Trapese
Rocky Road to Transition
http://trapese.clearerchannel.org/

Rob Hopkins
http://transitionculture.org/2008/05/15/the-rocky-road-to-a-real-transition-by-paul-chatterton-and-alice-cutler-a-review/

Monbiot
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2008/08/22/identity-politics-in-climate-change-hell/

Ewa Jasiewicz
21st August 2008. Time for a revolution. Comment is Free. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/21/climatechange.kingsnorthclimatecamp

Further Interest

A Green New Deal
http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/z_sys_publicationdetail.aspx?pid=258

Zero Carbon Britain
http://www.zerocarbonbritain.com/

september meeting

2008-09-01T09:10:00.004+01:00

the next meeting will be on wednesday of this week
3rd sep
at the friends meeting house ( near the marlowe, pretty house next to the river)
starting at 6:30
do bring snacks and drinks if you wish as there is no bar at this venue.
we have an exciting guest speaker, Alison Cambray, Kent County Council’s Climate Change Project Manager, please show her your support.
see you there,

free food part 2.

2008-08-23T09:21:00.004+01:00

yesterday's haul from the allotment.

bohemia

2008-08-22T10:37:00.003+01:00

a new arts, crafts and gastro market for canterbury, monthly on palace street, starting saturday 23rd august.

promising to feature the very best of local suppliers

free trees

2008-08-22T10:27:00.003+01:00

more here

2008-08-22T10:23:00.002+01:00

so who got one of these through the door ?
i think it's really nifty and suggests that the council have a budget and ambition to improve recycling. which is all good.

free food

2008-08-17T08:38:00.004+01:00

now harvesting over at the allotment.

we'd still like to meet anyone who can commit to coming regularly.

if you don't have a garden but would like one... fancy an allotment but not a whole one... bit scared of what to do ?

we're starting to get the hang of things now, come along on a sunday morning and we'll happily show you the ropes.

Camp for Climate Action 2008

2008-08-16T21:43:00.002+01:00

The Camp for Climate Action 2008 took place between the 3rd and 11th August in a field outside the of village Hoo St. Werburg's outside Chatham and Rochester, on a hill overlooking Kingsnorth and its coal-fired power-station.

In its third year, the camp is an event that aims to take action on the issue of climate change over and above the usual demands to tinker with our lifestyles, or for government and businesses to 'do more'. Instead, it is a demonstration of how ordinary people can do much, much more, despite corporate and institutional reluctance.

Last year, at Heathrow, the camp received a great deal of media attention because of the absurd legal over-reaction of BAA, which threatened to criminalise members of the National Trust using the Piccadilly line. This year the camp received media attention because of the behaviour of the police. Unfortunately, the articles I've read have tended to be euphemistic: what do 'violent scenes', 'police brutality', or 'heavy-handed police tactics' mean? It is possible to get more of a picture online, and at the bottom of this blog I'll put some links if you're interested to find out, but these films and images will to take a sequence of events out of context.

Doesn't this focus on policing draw attention away from what it was really about, climate change - wasn't the camp getting attention for the wrong reasons? I don't think so, I think it's getting attention for inevitable reasons. I also think that if you were put off from going, this time, last time, or the next, because of the way the link to non-violent direct action drew the attention of the law, it's more important that you go next time round. I spent four nights at the camp, and this is my report.

Kingsnorth was the focus of action this year because it is the first case in the UK of coal power being proposed as a way of solving the problem of how to provide enough energy for future business-as-usual needs, reducing CO2 emissions, and improving energy security. Six or seven more projects are in the pipeline, along with already active plans to carry out open-cast coal mining in Scotland, Wales, and the North of England to supply the new demand. The problem is that the claim about CO2 emissions reduction is greenwash. 80% of the new station proposed by the energy company Eon will be a standard coal-fired power station, albeit new and more efficient, 20% will be given over to exploring carbon capture and storage technology that may never materialise. Meanwhile, the reduction in emissions on offer is far far less than it is thought necessary to avoid a potentially dangerous 2 degree celcius rise in average global temperature.

The protest day, Saturday, had four parts: orange, green, blue, and silver. Preparations were made on camp, and throughout the preceding year, for people to plan and participate in these groups. The orange group was a simple march from the camp to the station. The green group attempted to go over land to reach the station and climb over the fences. The blue group attempted to reach the station via the River Medway, and the silver, which didn't work in the end, hoped to get kites into the air above the station. On the day, the march passed off successfully, and some members of the green group succeeded in climbing the outer fence as well as the inner fence, which fortunately wasn't electrified at the time. But that group only reached the fences after running a gauntlet of police, hitting, threatening, chasing, and blockading them along the way. Only those that climbed over the second fence were arrested for aggravated trespass. Meanwhile, a few members of the blue group reached an outlet pipe for cooling waters from the station, dropped a banner, and were also arrested.

But for me, the important part of the camp was the camp itself, and the workshops, learning, co-working, networking, and organizing taking place there. The camp was divided into different neighbourhoods based on regions, and people in those regions had been working together for some time to organize their own cooking, social, and other needs. Tellingly, there was no 'South East', or 'Kent' neighbourhood, even though the camp was in Kent, so people from this area drifted into either 'London', or 'South Coast'. The neighbourhood is also the point of contact for the form of direct democracy practiced at the camp: a 'spokes' system. Each morning the neighbourhoods would meet to try to reach consensus (not universal agreement) on both local and camp-wide issues such as dealing with drunks, cooking the next meal, welcoming new people, or how to defend the gates from invasion by the police, and what position to take in negotiation with them. 'Spokes' would then represent the neighbourhood at a camp meeting. This form of consensus decision-making relies on, even demands, the engagement and participation of everyone in the meeting, and people use hand-signals to show their agreement, disagreement, or when they wish to say something, to help speed things up. It feels strange at first, and people are self-conscious about it, but when it works it is an obvious advance on a traditional structure where a few people dominate and there is no opportunity to balance them out. Obviously, a minority were most active, even within this 'participatory' process, because some people were more experienced and confident than others, but it was obvious that there was plenty of opportunity to be included, as long as people were prepared to take responsilibity for their own participation.

There were a huge number of workshops, and I couldn't possibly summarize all of the ones I went to here. If you want to know more about one you see on the camp website, come and ask me. Overall, though, people agreed that a 90% reduction of emissions would be necessary, and that direct action was an effective was of achieving political aims. Frankly, if you didn't agree with that, you wouldn't be there. But most of the workshops focused on solutions: how to do anything from build a compost toilet to build a mass social movement, to find a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol. For me, the most interesting thing was the growing interest in popular education as a way of reaching out beyond the usual political suspects to other people and the constraints they face in their everyday lives. There was also a lot of discussion about 'class', and how to engage with people who are just too oppressed to get political, or with those with historically-based political-class identities who feel threatened by the anti-coal, anti-industrial, and often, anti-capitalist stance of many camp participants.

But that is not all. The camp was in a field, borrowed for a week or so from a sheep farmer. The camp had to have as little impact as possible. All toilets were compost toilets: habitual flush-users had to remember to keep their solids and liquids separate: wheelie-bins and saw-dust for solids (later to be the basis for a good crop of potatoes), and straw bails for the liquids. Or did the straw-bails end in potatoes? I can't remember, and didn't think about it too much. Hand-washing was a priority (there was no outbreak of the squits, as you might of heard in the press), and that, and all other grey-water waste ran off into the soil (no chemical soaps), after filtering through straw bails. All the food was vegan, as meat and dairy draw on a much larger carbon-footprint, and many were heard to say 'I haven't eaten so well for months', or 'give the cops a meal, then they'll support you'.

All week, people were under pressure from the police. It didn't go away after the police had their wrists slapped in the press after the events of Monday morning. I arrived on Monday evening, and it was obvious people were very stressed. The police had entered the camp at dawn at a weak point at one of the gates and tried to seize some vans which they claimed were abandoned. People were sleeping in them. The police smashed the windows and batonned campers who tried to prevent them. Around the camp on Tuesday I saw people with sticking-plasters and bruises, people who were still clear physically shaken-up and exhausted.

There was an alarm almost every morning, at some point between 3 and 6 am. Riot police were not always trying to get in, sometimes they were 'just testing', but they must have known it would be enough to cause an alarm, get people up, tire them out, wear them down. The weakest gate took a lot of energy to defend. On Wednesday, a line of campers sat at the feet of a line of police officers, the gate of the field behind them. The police officers were digging their knees into the campers backs, trying to force them forwards so they could establish control of the exit. A comedienne spent the afternoon mocking them, and, with the help of music and video cameras, eventually managed to diffuse the tension and dissuade individual officers from pressurizing the campers at their feet. That night there was a storm, and the police gave up trying to hold their ground at that gate. The atmosphere on camp on Thursday leavened considerably.

Many people had trouble entering and leaving the site, as police claimed to have found a stash of knives that appeared to signal some people's violent intent, justifying stop and search of everyone entering and leaving. Or some people had hidden their knives so they wouldn't be confiscated by police when they entered: travellers' penknives and camp kitchens' cooking knives. Whether or not your stop and search team were humane or aggressive depended on the atmosphere, the time of shift, and the force you chanced upon. Good luck if it was the Metropolitan police. On Friday things were tense and people were arrested: mobbed to the ground, forced to submit with the use of pressure points, cuffed, and gaffer-taped before being dragged into the back of vans, if they refused to co-operate or had misunderstood. Hearing about that incident was the point at which a friend of mine decided she wanted to leave, terrified of being 'kettled', or surrounded and kept on-site by police, attempting to prevent anything 'criminal' happening on the Saturday. And there were the helicopters, buzzing over day and night, drowning out conversations and workshops, and keeping people awake, taking pictures of campers in case they later commited a crime, or had done in the past. Legal observers, campers after a training session and wearing orange tabards became the focus of aggression, no doubt because they kept reporting incidents and linking them to officer numbers: standing on fingers, kneeing in backs, hitting, verbal confrontations, 'feeling' women during searches.

It was more than just incidents. Throughout the week campers discussed ongoing negotiations with the police. The police were demanding unimpeded access for all emergency service 'and related' vehicles, an on-site mobile police station and unlimited, unconditional (later downsized to 12 pairs of Kent Police) patrols around the site. The campers refused: no-one could see how any police presence would do anything other than disrupt the camp, given what was going on outside, and what had already happened. Many people were outright opposed to the police from the start, but clearly they had already had experiences that many others were now having for the first time: harrassment, 'repression'... political policing. The police refused to distinguish between themselves and the ambulance and fire service, even though their roles were clearly different. There was a subtext to these negotiations. Firstly, if the police controlled the access, the site could no longer be a squat, and would no longer require a legal process to enter, and riot police would be able to sweep in and put the camp to an end at will, on any pretext. Secondly, the longer the negotiations went on, the closer it came to Saturday, and the point when any more negotiation would be pointless, and attention turned to the power station.

Political policing has three levels: that written into the law, that exercised by commanders, and the everyday politics of choosing a career in the police force. Beginning with the Criminal Justice Act, and going on with later public order and terrorism legislation, it has become very easy to find a pretext to disrupt or prevent protest, even peaceful protest, if it is possible to claim even a tiny minority might be associated with crime of some kind. Commanding officers have to deal with operational success, which has a lot to do with control, media perception, and face within the force, rather than the law. The first prioirity appears, from the police demands to the camp, to be in control of the situation even when it is not necessary. Preventing a mass protest that spills over the constraining boundaries of what has been sanctioned often appears to involve throwing the baby out with the bathwater. For individual police officers this is their career, and its continuation depends on following orders. It's strange how matters of conscience (like hitting ordinary citizens on flimsy pretexts) seems to arise less in policing than it does in the military.

An obviously convenient side-effect of the policing was that people would stay away, or leave, if they were concerned for their safety, or their clean-criminal-record-dependent careers. This, you might say, is one of the goals of political policing. By enforcing this boundary of fear between protestors on one side and people who might want to protest on the other, the police are able to legitimate their use of tactics against domestic extremism, developed to combat radical animal rights activists. It also has a practical effect on the work of movement-building that many campers are striving for: it is much harder to develop links with other ordinary people when they have to work against this impression of 'dangerous', 'criminal' radicalism. The knowledge that the police are not the good guys, at least when it comes to protest, is one that is hard to come by. It is the function of political policing that you could spend an entire lifetime and never find out. It seems that only by experiencing it do you believe it enough that it will stay with you. I'm sure that, as I use the term political policing, I sound strange to some readers, giving an impression of police that is different: negative and clearly ideological. Again, that is the point of a form of policing that attempts to move all press cameras and reporters to a safe distance before wielding the stick. Until I was personally affected by it, I didn't believe it either. This is why I think that the issue of policing and the issue of climate change are linked. To achieve the change it is thought necessary to achieve in the time it is thought there remains, environmentalists are likely to be confronted with police drawing on the grounds of law, and beyond-the-law operational and on-the-ground practices, trying to prevent them.

There was, already, a great deal of pluralism shown during the camp, at meetings and workshops. We are not talking about a small number of middle-class, white student radicals who have just discovered Marx and Kropotkin, Porrit and Monbiot in the same university term. We are talking about representatives from almost every environmental NGO in the country, from unions, as well as authors and journalists of repute, academics, life-long labour, environment, peace, anti-nuclear, race- and gender-equality, animal and civil rights activists, students, yes, as well as pensioners, people in wheelchairs, local people of the Hoo Peninsula, and just people, with jobs, homes, families, and an evidence-base for at least one strong belief. But that pluralism, the bio-diversity of the movement, will die away if those participants become socially and legally isolated by police action. Many people have been inspired and motivated (and infuriated) by going to the camp for the first time, but there's a danger just as many have been put off, even if they are supportive of 'the camp's' position. For that pluralism to continue to exist, differences must be in contact with eachother. Tolerant disengagement is not enough. If you think 'this is not for me', it is more important that you go next time than me.

http://blip.tv/file/1167973
http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/08/406076.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/places/features/kingsnorth_power_station/

charlie champions food security over food production

2008-08-13T13:40:00.003+01:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7557644.stm
i just listened to a phone in on the radio about this, overwhelming support for charlie from the callers.
seems some folks do care

the sustainable communities act

2008-08-12T11:19:00.003+01:00

an email we recieved recently:

Dear Transition Town Network Member

I am contacting you with regards to a new Act of Parliament that will come into effect this October and will give significant opportunities for Transition Towns to achieve their aims – the Sustainable Communities Act.

I am the co-ordinator of Local Works, a coalition of over 90 national citizen organisations that campaigned for 5 years to see this Act become law and now campaign to promote the use of it. This Act is radical and it was not thought up by central government but by the organisations of Local Works. It gives communities new and real powers to make central government do more locally to promote genuine sustainability. It is NOT yet another meaningless consultation exercise.

However there is a hurdle - you and your communities will only be able to use this Act if your local authority chooses to ‘opt in’ to it when invited to by central government this October. So I am contacting you to ask you to please do 2 things;
1. please write to your councillors urging them to ‘please opt in to the Sustainable Communities Act process when invited to by central government this October’, and
2. please inform your local networks and people in your community of this Act and urge them to lobby their councillors too.
Best wishes
Steve
_________________________________________

Steve ShawCo-ordinatorLocal Works - promoting the Sustainable Communities Act
a project of Unlock Democracyoffice: 020 7278 4443
mobile: 07788 646 933website: www.localworks.org
address: Local Works, c/o Unlock Democracy,
6 Cynthia St, London N1 9JF

we have more details and a sample letter, get in touch at transitioncity@mac.com with any thoughts or comments or to have us mail you the sample letter.

on the march

2008-08-04T09:39:00.004+01:00

from this week's gazette:

more over here

2008-07-31T11:16:00.001+01:00

the next meeting is:

monday 4th august

orange street music club

6:30 - 8:30

we hope to be hearing back exciting news from the sub-groups that were formed last month.

see you there

Sunday Sizzler

2008-07-30T08:15:00.000+01:00

Just to keep you up to date with Sunday’s allotment news:-

Well, Kathryn and Tim had been and gone and watered by the time we arrived. Very wise of them, as it was ultra-hot later. Zoe and Ashley were already at it, cutting back nettles in preparation for the raised beds.

A couple of hours later they had levelled the ground nicely, and placed the wooden frames down - very aesthetically, I might add! We discussed what should go into the beds. One crop that seemed to make quite a lot of sense was Autumn King carrots - you can plant them as late as the end of August apparently, and then they’re not affected by carrot fly. We also thought possibly a few herbs, and whatever else seems appropriate. Ideas welcome.

In between, Ashley also managed to deliver a lesson on rhubarb harvesting. Thanks, Ashley - who knows, maybe even I will be turning out rhubarb crumbles and fools by next summer! Zoe was going to try out a rhubarb fool. Let us know how it went, Zoe, and don’t forget to give us the recipe.

Colin and I got stuck into the weeding, starting with the mange tout, and working back up towards the rhubarb.

A few items worthy of note:-

- Apparently if onions start to flower, one should nip off the flowers and bend back the main stalk, which stops all the energy going into the flower stem.

- Wild parsnips closely resemble fennel above the ground. Zoe found out this fact by googling ‘wild parsnips’ last week, and we proved it by lifting the so-called “fennel,” only to find a pungent aroma of parsnip, and a rather slim root. Not to be daunted, Matthew, who joined us later for a spot of weeding, took the stalks (in their entirety!) home for his dinner.

- The sprouts seem to have quite a lot of white fly. Not sure if this is a problem or not, but to be on the safe side I made up an oil spray (Mix1Tblsp dishwashing liquid detergent with 1 cup of cooking oil; add 1 to 2 tsp of this solution to a cup of water, and spray plants every 10 days). I got this recipe from allotments-uk.com by the way - a useful site for all sorts of things.

- The organic gardening charity, Garden Organic, recommends making the most of bindweed (yes, you did read correctly!) Collect in a black plastic bin bag, leave in a warm, sunny spot until the weeds have broken down into an absolute mush, then add it to your compost heap. That way, all the minerals from the bindweed go back into the soil!

Well, on that bright note, I must wind up, but one thing more, unfortunately on the down side, that big roll of blue string that was in the shed has gone missing. It may be that whoever brought it has taken it back home. If that is the case, please let us know, because, if not, it may mean we’ll have to padlock the shed in future. Thanks.

Anyway, till later………Kim

2008-07-18T08:38:00.004+01:00

from friends of the earth: use your voice.

Stop the biofuels targets
Biofuels are a false solution to climate change and are doing much more harm than good.
The EU is proposing a binding target to increase biofuels use to 10% of road fuels by 2020.
This massive increase in Europe's demand for biofuels will have a devastating impact on the world’s poorest countries by:
Destroying communities.
Damaging wildlife.
Pushing up food prices.

In recent months, report after report from esteemed organisations like the UN and the Royal Society have warned of the dangers of biofuels expansion.
Friends of the Earth is calling on the EU to scrap the target.
Instead we want measures that will double the fuel efficiency of new cars, a real climate change solution.
Hiding behind sustainability criteria
The EU proposes to avoid the negative impacts of biofuels through the introduction of sustainability criteria.
But sustainability criteria simply won’t work.
It's impossible to make the quantity of biofuel needed to meet the target without chopping down more forests.
The biofuels target risks environmental damage and human rights abuses on a massive scale.
The EU can, and must stop the 10% target.
Email your MEPs

go here to send a pre-written email to your mps, it's easy, i've just done it.
http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/biodiversity/press_for_change/biofuels/index.html?ic_number=866768&m_sourcecode=CO04105975

july meeting

2008-07-07T12:34:00.011+01:00

Transition City met last night (for the last time on a sunday evening) at orange street music club, from next month we're moving to mondays at 6:30, which will hopefully be a friendlier time for more people.
here's a quick round up of all that we covered:
jules and nick zipped through the 'principles' by which TCC will operate and invited any comment or objection. no objections were raised. ( this was emailed to the google group - email trancitioncity@mac.com if you missed it )

next: angela has done a marvellous job in focusing us. based on ideas suggested over the past six months she has identified specific areas of interest; these have been filtered through to create ten working groups:

admin/co-ordination

raising awareness/ editorial

food

allotment ( food sub-group)

waste and recycling

research

canterbury city council liaison

ukc

housing

transport

everyone present was invited to sign up for at least one group and we finished the evening with a good and even expression of interest for all the groups.

rick norman gave an informative introduction into the good work done by the fairtrade association. he acknowledged that there are many complex issues surrounding the subject and did a good job of explaining some key points:

concern for environment is a condition of certification
local trade and fairtrade are complementary, there are very few products that could overlap both categories.
transport - all fairtrade products except kenyan roses travel by ship.
global justice

rick also talked about his ongoing correspondence with MP julian brazier, and his recent meeting with him,(which nick also attended) to discuss details relating to the climate change bill.

anyone who couldn't make the meeting but wants to do something:

please email transitioncity@mac.com with your choice of working group and contact details. if you can't commit to being part of the group but are able to offer skills in a consultancy role then that would be great too.

the steering group will sort through all the names and make sure that each group has enough people to get going. after that, it's up to you to organise yourselves and report back at the next main meeting.

the next meeting will be monday 4th August at orange street music club

and some more good news...

2008-06-30T17:46:00.003+01:00

... you like my ability for selective reading don't you, eh ?

Seeds of change: cabbages and carrots could replace flowers in royal parksSam JonesMonday June 30, 2008 The Guardian
Designed for the Prince Regent by the architect John Nash, Regent's Park is noted for its lovingly tended blooms. But soon the flower beds of that - and other London royal parks - could make way for rows of humble carrots, cabbages and globe artichokes.
In a plan inspired by American cities, the royal parks are pondering the creation of a string of model allotments to give the public a living, ripening illustration of the virtues of growing your own fruit and vegetables.
Article continues

we've also been gifted a greenhouse for our own plot, thank you kind benefactor.

next meeting: sunday 6th july, 7pm at orange st. music club. see you there.

something good in the news

2008-06-19T09:36:00.001+01:00

Bristol named UK's 'cycling city'
Bristol is to be the first place in the UK to share in a £100m government scheme aimed at encouraging cycling.
The city intends to double the number of cyclists over the next three years with a series of innovations.
Other areas involved will be York, Stoke, Blackpool, Cambridge, Chester, Colchester, Leighton, Shrewsbury, Southend, Southport and Woking.
Among the features in Bristol will be the UK's first major bicycle rental network modelled on a scheme in Paris.
BRISTOL'S CYCLING PLANS
-Create the UK's first on-street bike rental network
-Establish a 're-cycling' scheme that repairs bikes and provides them free of charge to deprived communities
-Build state-of-the-art facilities for cyclists commuting to the city centre
-Create a dedicated cycleway to link the suburbs with the city centre
More than double the number of children receiving cycling training
Develop a Personalised Travel Plan programme, focusing on changing the way people conduct short journeys to workThe government is giving Bristol £11.4m to transform cycling by creating dedicated cycle lanes, better facilities and more training for children.
The local area will match this funding to bring the total investment package to about £23m.
Transport secretary Ruth Kelly said: "I am delighted to appoint Bristol as the UK's first ever cycling city. I am sure that Bristol's bold and ambitious plans will support cyclists and encourage more people to get on their bikes, get fit and beat the traffic.
"The first step in persuading people to leave their cars at home is to offer them a real choice.
"Bristol is leading the way. I hope that many more will follow its excellent example," she said.
The Public Health Minister and Bristol South MP Dawn Primarolo said: "I'm delighted that Bristol is Britain's first Cycling Demonstration City.
"Tackling obesity is the most significant public and personal health challenge facing our society.
"For most people, a great way to keep healthy is by building physical activity into everyday life, such as cycling to work or school."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/7462791.stm

meanwhile, over on the allotment...

2008-06-09T08:34:00.009+01:00

plenty happening at the transition city allotment now, pop over and and read the latest here

in times of such enormous problems in the world you might well wonder why are we bothering with an allotment. indeed our little patch won't stop any wars, or have an impact on climate change or fossil fuel depletion. what it can do is build resilience, the driving force of the transition movement.

it is not our mission to save the world, but to demonstrate to our community and our surrounding communities that we could live in a more intelligent and responsible way. the likelihood then is that more and more communities will think that what we are doing makes sense and create their own transition town/city/village. we have already seen the start of this ripple effect, there are now at least 27 transition initiatives in the south east of england.

so from my perspective, here's the good bits about the allotment:

1. working collectively is fun, i've made some lovely new friends

2. we have 2 plots of 36 x 10m, that's 720sqm of growing space... that's potentially a lot of 'free' food. much of it, like the soft fruit was already established

3. if you haven't grown food before then it's hard to understand how good it feels to have 'created a thing' and how much better it will taste.

4. food feet, not food miles.

5. a connection to nature

6. being outside and keeping fit

7. there must be tonnes of people who'd like to grown something but don't have a garden and couldn't manage a whole allotment

8. i hope that people will learn skills at the allotment that they can transfer to their own gardens and those of their friends.

9. learning new things every day - a very important one. who knows, even you could become our very own brassica expert :)

we're there sunday mornings, come along and see for yourself:)

11th hour

2008-06-06T12:44:00.004+01:00

people came from far and wide last night to see...

jules standing on a chair...

and also

to discuss their reaction to the screening of '11th hour' at UKC gulbenkian cinema. It was really good to continue meeting some new and interesting people.

thanks for coming, if you wanted to say something but didn't get a chance, please leave a comment here or email transitioncity@mac.com and we'll make sure you get heard.

Ashley, your poster is flippin' genius !

2008-06-06T12:14:00.005+01:00

leaving canterbury wholefoods yesterday, this caught my eye:

nice one Ashley, i mean really ! those biscuits... and geese in helmets !

Ashley is offering his time for free to anyone who is nervous about cycling on the roads, he'll check over your bike if it hasn't been out of the shed in a few years and take you out and about round the city's roads. you can contact him on 01227 785697

this got me thinking, i like to knit and crochet - in a very non-granny way:

i started about 2 years ago, teaching myself and trying to remember how i had been taught to do it as a child. my motivation was a need to do something creative and an aversion to spending any more of my money in topshop. Nothing beats getting a compliment and being able to say 'yeah, i made it myself'.

anyone who wants to learn to knit or crochet or share what they already know,do let me know - now is a great time to start then you'll be a real scarf expert in time for knocking out some excellent handmade christmas presents.

i have odd bits of yarn and needles to practice on so you don't even need to bring materials. it'll be fun i promise :)

so who else know's how to do something that they can share ?

leave a comment or email transitioncity@mac.com

our man in france

2008-06-04T08:52:00.001+01:00

''Hi Jules from what should be the sunny south of France but is dismal and rain drenched! Good to keep in touch and hope the June 1st meeting went well. Down here in Provence some of my pet hates don't surface so often. Our village market has all local produce- few veg and fruit from Spain but the exception, NO plastic bags anywhere in supermarkets, and shop doors are open and the heating off. At the moment am negotiating with EDF to install solar panels on our roof and sell back electricity to them i.e being an energy producer as well as consumer. EDF are short of power and have a contract for private suppliers over 20 years. Any chance EDF UK will match this? Will be back in Canterbury early August and hope to catch a meeting then. Julian Brazier has been very good with lots of follow up to my letters and meeting.Hope you are having a lovely summer in Kent. don't come down here except for the cherries!!''
Regards Nick Leader

oil depletion petition

2008-06-03T14:25:00.000+01:00

Hello
You might be interested in signing this petition -
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Undertake a reassessment of UK Energy Supplies, in particular evaluate the risk of an imminent peak or plateau in global oil production.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Oil-Depletion/

Tess

June Meeting

2008-05-27T15:12:00.001+01:00

June’s meeting will be at 7pm - 9pm Sunday 1st at Orange Street Music Club.

At the last meeting, we were challenged to bring another person to the next meeting and this is it, so I look forward to seeing a whole bunch of new faces!

I also want you to bring your ideas for achievable projects we can take on in the name of Transition and sustainable living – Can we get a campaign together to install more insulation in homes? Can we create more cycle routes through our community? Can we create a car-sharing scheme? Whatever…Bring your ideas on Sunday and we’ll set about realising them!

If you can’t make it on Sunday, put your idea in an email, but either way, let’s hear it! transitioncity@mac.com

There’ll be plenty of good company and refreshments, so don’t think of it as a meeting, think of it as a party!

Hope to see you there.

Jules Cousins
for Steering Group
Transition City Canterbury
Our Google Group
Our Facebook Page

the story of stuff

2008-05-12T11:19:00.004+01:00

''From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever''

you can watch it here: http://www.storyofstuff.com/

a crude awakening

2008-05-05T19:54:00.006+01:00

the first transition city canterbury film night happened last night in the grand surroundings of the orange street music club, we showed 'a crude awakening' with fairtrade drinks on sale at the bar.

''Compelling, intelligent, and highly entertaining, the film visits with the world's top experts and comes to a startling, but logical conclusion: our industrial society, built on cheap and readily available oil, must be completely re-imagined and overhauled.''

thanks to everyone who came along.

new venue

2008-05-02T15:33:00.004+01:00

Thanks to the amazing support Canterbury is generating for Transition, we’ve outgrown our venue at Simple Simon’s and it’s time to move on.

Thanks to Nick’s tireless efforts and huge powers of persuasion, we have secured Orange Street Music Club as our new venue, but with the new venue comes a new schedule: we will no longer be meeting on the first Tuesday of every month; our next meeting will be on Sunday 11th May between 5pm and 7pm (because we have our film night on Sunday 4th May ). Subsequent regular meetings will then be on the first Sunday of every month (when possible) between 6.30pm and 9.30pm.

Please make sure anyone who may be interested, especially those who do not receive email, is aware of the new arrangements

I look forward to seeing you all soon.

Jules Cousins
for Steering Group
Transition City Canterbury

transition city allotment

2008-04-29T10:17:00.005+01:00

we have a new site dedicated to all the allotment news:

http://transitioncityallotment.blogspot.com/

leave a comment here or email transitioncity@mac.com if you'd like to get involved.

WWF campaign to make coal-fired power clean

2008-04-17T14:42:00.002+01:00

from wwf-uk, one planet future:

Carbon emissions from new coal-fired power stations must be controlled. Please contact your MP.

''Despite the growing urgency to cut UK carbon emissions, the government looks set to approve the construction of a new wave of coal-fired power stations in the UK. If approved, these would be the first coal-fired power stations to be built in the UK for over 30 years.
At a time when the government is also about to pass the Climate Change Bill – aimed at greatly reducing our carbon emissions – deciding to build more of the most carbon-intensive power stations is clearly indefensible without some control on the carbon they emit.
WWF-UK therefore believes that these power stations – the first is planned for Kingsnorth in Kent – should only be built if they can capture and store carbon emissions that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere.
Asking your MP to support an amendment to the current Energy Bill is our best hope of ensuring this happens.''
Contact your MP now »

day one at the allotment

2008-04-12T16:55:00.004+01:00

it was sunny, and we dug.

the plot measures 6m x 30m (and we have two, but we won't think about the other one just now) we chatted and dug and weeded a pleasing 6m square in the sunshine for a couple of hours.

you can leave a message here or email transitioncity@mac.com if you'd like to come along sometime.

film night

2008-04-08T17:06:00.009+01:00

transition city canterbury hosts a screening of 'a crude awakening' with a post film discussion.

orange street music club

sunday 4th may

7:30pm

£4/ £3 on the door

fairtrade drinks at the bar.

please print and display a poster wherever you can

transitioncity@mac.com for more info

What will we eat as the oil runs out?

2008-03-26T11:04:00.003Z

Jules reports back on a talk that a few of us attended last night:

I attended the talk hosted by Lewes Transition Town last night and very interesting it was too. http://transitiontowns.org/Lewes/Events You might have guessed that the main theme was food, but it was surprisingly sobering to have the issue brought to the forefront of the Peak Oil debate. We've all discussed transport and energy consumption and economics etc. etc., but, unless we can dramatically change our method of food production, all that other stuff pales into (relative) insignifance. Heinberg's main proposal was that communities should support and promote the productivity of modest local food producers, creating a healthy 'market' for new producers (farmers) to enter, and making farming (even on as small a scale as 5 acres) an appealing and, yes, profitable career choice. I got to speak with him afterwards (yes, I have shaken the hand of greatness ) and I asked him what feedback he gets when he speaks with the higher eschelons of government... Do they know about PO? Do they get it? His answer? "It depends... it depends on who you talk to". Apparently, there are many PO aware MPs across the parties (as we suspected), but, interestingly, Golden Brown won't hear about it. It sounds like he's in complete denial - he's shut it out. So I asked whether the fact that these PO-aware MPs appear to be doing nothing in the way of preparing their constituents, was as a result of Gordon's direct orders, or merely the self preservation of their own careers? And, as we all suspected, it is the latter. The topic is too taboo for anyone with a prosperous political career in mind to face up to. So there you are... straight from the horse's mouth (via my keyboard). Our only hope of mitigating the worst effects of PO/CC is from grass roots action.

Transition Town Ambridge !

2008-03-25T11:10:00.004Z

if you missed The Archers last night ... ooh... big news ! you can read more here at rob hopkins' blog and catch the next installment tonight at 7pm on R4.

wellies at the ready

2008-03-21T15:49:00.010Z

So, if you saw the whole page article in the Guardian yesterday then you'll know all about the enormous demand for allotments at the moment, as many as 100,000 people are on allotment waiting lists and vegetable seed is outselling flower seed 60:40,and 70:30 in some parts of the country. All this makes it even more exciting that Tim, Nick and I were able to visit Tess at her allotment last weekend and leave twenty minutes later having secured two good sized plots for the Transition City group.

It gets even better: both plots will be free until rents are due again in october (and then only £20 a year). i can't help but be very excited about this, there's great scope for permaculture training, summer outdoor meetings, producing something tangible and tasty, and newsworthy...and i'm sure we'll have lots of fun.

the guy in charge at the site is called George and he's had an allotment at that site for fifty years. He is by far the jolliest 80 year old that i have ever met, so there's clearly something in this vegetable business.

Our plots are at the furthest point of the lower level of the Pilgrims Way site, come in the small gate nearest the blossom tree and walk straight (heading for the brambley mess).

The first site was kept fairly recently and is probably almost ready to get going with... the next one along needs some more attention(vigorous clearing) but does have gooseberry bushes. If we do fantasticaly well and outgrow these two plots then, as we're on an end, there is scope to clear further into the brambles.

This is clearly something to talk about at the next meeting, in the meantime please think about what you can contribute... time, seeds, tools, muscle or wisdom!

probable dates for the clearing party - weekend of 5th 6th April.

now you can take a little look from the comfort of your chair (turn on sound - there's music to this)

the latest

2008-03-10T14:52:00.005Z

thanks to anne for these two interesting links:
http://www.greencredit.org.uk/
http://www.canterbury4business.co.uk/

Nick would like us all to support this:
The aim is to encourage concerned individuals to write to their MP with the link at the bottom of this email asking them to support EDM890. This is basically support for an alteration to the UK Energy Bill to improve feed in tariffs - essentially the amount of money you will get back from the grid when you connect your own PV's or wind Turbines. At present its too low. If people could actually get paid a reasonable amount for surplus energy they create then it would be an enormous boost to the renewables industry and people would see them as a viable investment.
Please contact your MP asking them to sign up ASAP to the Early Day Motion, EDM 890, in support of a Feed-In Tariff. If we are to tackle climate change, and help meet the EU target of 20% of all our energy to come from renewables by 2020, we desperately need more renewable energy generation in the UK. The UK is at the bottom of the EU renewables league table and needs to achieve a 10 fold increase in renewable energy deployment over the next decade. REA, together with Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and others including the Mayor of London, is promoting the establishment of a UK feed-in tariff scheme. REA believes this could work alongside the Renewables Obligation on large suppliers, and would enable many citizens, businesses and public sector bodies outside the traditional energy industry to invest in renewables. Including you! The Feed-In Tariff has proven to be successful at doing exactly this for renewables in Europe, and has enabled Germany, a larger economy than our own, to achieve a real breakthrough for renewable electricity. The scheme is simple to understand and relatively easy to administer.The REA has helped draft amendments to the Energy Bill currently being discussed by the Energy Bill Commitee. MPs from all three major political parties advocate a Feed In Tariff, but Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks has indicated he is not in favour at this stage. (See the REA Energy Bill asks)Please help us underline political support for this measure by asking your MP to sign EDM 890 and by writing yourself to Malcolm Wicks urging him to adopt this scheme at the earliest opportunity.You can find your local MP at http://www.theyworkforyou.com/ and email them directly from this website.

Paul has asked if you have any ideas about where to install more bike racks in the city ? - it apears the council have budget remaining to provide some more but are a bit stumped for locations... please leave a comment here if you do. thanks

''when i see an adult on a bicycle i have hope for the human race''

H.G. Wells

unleashing the collective genius

2008-03-05T11:03:00.010Z

report from last night's meeting:

we filled the room once again, about 30 attendees and a good sprinkling of new faces. thank you all for coming, i hope you found it interesting.

Jules kicked off with the exciting announcements that we're now an official transition initiative with access to the resources and support of the wider network. It's worth noting that we have achieved this spectacularly fast, and also that we hold the record for the steering group with the most years spent in the community ( an average of over 30 !)

Ecotricity have agreed to give a 5% discount to the first ten businesses in canterbury to switch their energy supply, (the following ten will also get the discount but we need 10 to get the ball rolling) - please let jules know if you are interested. It could make a big difference, be very easy to do, and possibly save you money. please consider this if you can.

We have some cards and booklets, let me (kathryn) know if you need some of these, we know that it can be hard to explain to others just what this is all about - sometimes it's easier to point them in the direction of something that they can read. Those that took a card and a booklet - i'd love to hear any feedback.

Nick talked some science, reminded us of the big issues facing the world and why it is essential that we do something now.

Geoff drew our attention to the front page of the adscene this week. Check it out if you can, it's a cracker ! the timing is very interesting for us... the steering group are going to have to give this some thought.

Tim talked a bit about his research into some of the aspects of the wider network - what some of the other towns are getting up to, which sub groups have they formed... his overwhelming impressions were

1. that the network as a whole is extremely young, and that so many towns are already actively engaged in their communities is an amazingly encouraging thing.

2. that each town needs to identify it's own goals, there is no 'transition town' one size fits all method. we have to assess our community strengths and use them !

On the matter of creating working groups, we will encourage anyone with a particular area of expertise in areas like, law, ecconomics, publicity ... anything really... to please make sure that we know your special talent so we can make the most of it !

The book that tim mentioned can be found here.

Following a break for a trip to the bar we re-convened to start some working groups:

Luke will be co-ordinating a transport group.

Patrick and Dan will be co-ordinating an group concerned with affecting change at the University of Kent.

Kathryn, Tessa, Rose, Aha, Nick L and Tim began talks in a food focussed group. we're looking for a volunteer for a co-ordinator here...

Keith and Nick S voiced an interest to get a buildings group going.

For next time, Jo has kindly offered to enlighten us on all things permaculture ...we have a venue for a film showing and will try to organise that within the next month...i'm hoping to talk to journalist Jenny this week for a short piece in 'your canterbury'

Our big green challenge entry has been submitted, by next meeting we will know if we have made it to the next stage.

hope to see you and all your ideas next time, which will be tuesday 1st april, 7pm, upstairs at Simple Simons

fledging

2008-02-27T13:57:00.002Z

no longer an ugly duckling, as of yesterday we are a fully fledged, official,no stopping us now, transition city !

we'll be upstairs at simple simons on tuesday 4th at 7pm for the next meeting. this time it's going be much more informal, we want to hear some good ideas, and form a couple of sub groups to deal with specific tasks.

hope to see you there

A roomful of ideas

2008-02-06T11:36:00.000Z

Thank you to everyone who came along to Simple Simon's on Tuesday, you far exceeded our expectations for the evening !
Kathryn, Nick, Geoff, Mark, Jules, Rose ,Nadia, Jo ,Tessa, Matt, Rocky, Rick, Patrick,
Paul, Jim, Sally Ann, Tim, Luke, Mayler, Chris, Amina, Pat, Aha, Rhiannon, Keith, Jana, Kim,
Daniel, Paul ,Jo ,Richard ,Adam, Ben, Gina

A month ago when we met we were 14, before that just 2s and 3s; on Tuesday we were 34 with 46 names now collected in the googlegroup - I think that there is potential for this to grow very quickly. Hold on to your hats !

From the meeting, in response to the agenda:
Introduction from the steering group – welcome to new members, Mark and Geoff.
What is Transition City Canterbury? Progress made by other initiatives and what can we hope to achieve: Nick wowed the crowd with his PowerPoint skills: an introduction to the core motivations of the Transition Town Network, and an overview of what some of the other initiatives have achieved so far.
Connections made since last meeting. In recognition that 'raising awareness' is the first big task, we have been busy contacting any groups and organisations who share a similar agenda. So far these have included: Canterbury City Council, Canterbury Women's Institute, Student groups at the University of Kent, namely Conscious Consumers, Cinema 3 at UKC - we hope to host a discussion following a screening of '11th Hour' sometime in May, We will be contacting the Archbishop of Canterbury following his heavy focus on environmental issues in his New Year's Speech. We will also be looking to establish links with the local press - anyone have a good contact ?
We have a blog. http://transitioncitycanterbury.blogspot.com/

Please visit and leave comments (click on 'comments', then select either 'nickname' or 'anonymous' and type away) - no registration or passwords required. This is an easy to run and free web presence, I will add links to interesting articles and document all the progress of the group here.
Big Green Challenge http://www.biggreenchallenge.org.uk/ This is a sizeable fund (£1 million) available for a community project that is able to demonstrate methods to reduce their community carbon footprint.
''This prize is about encouraging change and innovation. We’re challenging you to make big reductions in CO2 emissions in your community - which can be local, regional or more widely dispersed. How far could you go towards a 60% cut?''
The steering group is very keen for this to be a great way to focus our initial enthusiasm, we could do lots with the money, it would be a fantastic way to start. We have registered interest on behalf of the group, there is a deadline of 29th Feb for full applications. Jim Jackson pointed out that we should contact Ben Brangwyn to find out whether something is already being done by the Transition Network, whether we can help, whether we will be ‘competing’ with other Transition Towns etc.
*if you have an idea for the Big Green Challenge, please contact one of us directly or leave a comment on the blog (here) and we will contact you *

A summary of some of the post-agenda chat from the room:

High on the agenda must be to tackle The Big Green Challenge

Jim (steering group, Whitstable) pointed out how much more is achieved in terms of networking etc. after the initial meeting has taken place. In fact, the initial meeting should only really act as a seed for ideas to be discussed once the official meeting is over. We could see that happening last night. However, it makes keeping minutes very complicated!

There was a meeting held at the Cricket Ground recently, hosted by someone at the council, with a serious environmental agenda. Sally Ann said she would try and find out who was behind the meeting and let me know, so we’ll pursue them as another potential contact.

Rocky has worked in publicity and may have some useful knowledge there for us.

Jim: we have to book places at the next Transition Initiatives meeting (Cirencester) and he strongly recommended that at least one of us (preferably two) attend. Also, he is very keen that we support each others events and perhaps consider halving our workload by alternating events/activities.

a young chap whose name I didn’t catch (sorry) said his mother works for KCC and she was instrumental in a recent orchard planting event(s). He said he would ensure she makes contact with us. He also knows someone else in the Council that he would speak to.

Tim thinks we should try and encourage a little more audience participation and this might be achieved by encouraging people to think about sub-groups they might like to form - some research can be done by everyone into this for next time.

Jo has kindly agreed to advise us on all matters Permaculture. This specialist knowledge forms part of the criteria for achieving official Transition Town status, thank you Jo. We look forward to learning exactly what Permaculture is sometime soon.

Terry wants to build an alternative technology centre, powered by reinstating the watermill by the Millers Arms, I'm sure he will welcome any advice and ideas.

Post-meeting chats seemed to be very animated, I think next time we will keep the formal bit brief, perhaps think about forming subgroups and re-convene at the end of the evening to decant any relevant information.

We will aim to have some posters, flyers, business cards available for general use next time. Which will be first Tuesday in March, 4th, probably same time, same place.

We will try to keep emails to a minimum, we know it can get annoying.

Thanks again for all showing your support - all your ideas will be put to good use, if you have any more please contact one of us directly or leave a comment on the blog and we will contact you

That's all folks,

Kathryn
on behalf of the Transition City Canterbury Steering Group (Jules, Nick, Mark, Geoff, Kathryn)

agenda for tuesday 5th feb

2008-02-01T08:45:00.000Z

anyone is welcome to attend
informal meeting

Transition City Canterbury
Agenda – tuesday 5/02/08 - 7pm (upstairs) at Simple Simons, St Radigunds Canterbury
Meeting 2

Introduction from the steering group – welcome to new members, Mark and Geoff.

What is Transition City Canterbury? Progress made by other initiatives and what can we hope to achieve.

Connections made since last meeting

We have a blog www.transitioncitycanterbury.blogspot.com

Big Green Challenge www.farmgarden.org.uk/prizes-for-climate-ideas.html

Any other business

Next meeting

hope to see you there

2008-01-28T12:35:00.000Z

''never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has''

Margaret Mead, Anthropologist

meeting 7pm tuesday 5th feb, upstairs at simple simons

come and talk about what you would like to change.

starting somewhere

2008-01-27T16:45:00.000Z

A Transition Initiative is a community that is unleashing its own latent collective genius to look Peak Oil and Climate Change squarely in the eye and to discover and implement ways to address this BIG question:

"for all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to sustain itself and thrive, how do we significantly increase resilience (to mitigate the effects of Peak Oil) and drastically reduce carbon emissions (to mitigate the effects of Climate Change)?"

The resulting coordinated range of projects across all these areas of life leads to a collectively designed energy descent pathway.

The community also recognises two crucial points:
that we used immense amounts of creativity, ingenuity and adaptability on the way up the energy upslope, and that there's no reason for us not to do the same on the downslope
if we collectively plan and act early enough there's every likelihood that we can create a way of living that's significantly more connected, more vibrant and more in touch with our environment than the oil-addicted treadmill that we find ourselves on today.

read more at the transition town wiki