What's New?
On this page you'll find an archive of items from our email newsletter, which goes out roughly monthly. To sign up to receive Transition Leicester news send a blank email to: transitionleicester-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
16th August 2008
31st July 2008
14th July 2008
11th June 2008
19th May 2008
1. Upcoming Events
We'll be holding our first evening event of the autumn on Monday 8th September at the Friends Meeting House on Queens Road, from 7pm until 9pm. The event will focus on what the ideas behind Transition mean for cities and in particular, on what can be done on the level of your local neighbourhood. Sarah Pugh from Transition Bristol will give a talk, focussing on what local neighbourhood groups are doing about Peak Oil and Climate Change in Bristol (which became the first official Transition city in early 2007). We'll then discuss in groups what changes we'd like to make in our own communities to reduce carbon emissions and increase resilience.
On Thursday 11th September, the Leicester Partnership will be screening the Peak Oil documentary A Crude Awakening. This will be at Phoenix Arts on Newarke Street, and will start at 2pm. Transition members will be on hand with a stall and to take part in the discussion afterwards. Tickets are free - email debbie.hill [AT] leicester.gov.uk if you'd like to attend.
2. News from Groups
First of all, news of another new group, focussing on re-skilling. The idea of re-skilling is a central part of the transition idea - that people will try to recapture many of the practical skills that former generations took for granted, so that we're better equipped to manage a shift towards a more localised and less resource-intensive way of life.
Louise and Cat from the re-skilling group say... "A re-skilling group is meeting for the first time on Thursday 4th Sept at the Serendipity Cafe, Lytton Road, off Clarendon Park Road, 7pm to 9pm. We'll be sharing skills in domestic crafts, such as knitting, sewing etc. You are welcome to come if you have skills to share or an interest in learning. We aim to meet once a month. There is no fee, the cafe will be selling refreshments like tea, coffee, herbals, flapjack, for about £1. Look forward to seeing you there. Louise Hall (0777 3353 482) and Cat Bellinger
If you have any skills that you'd like to share in the future through the Transition re-skilling group (which could be anything from domestic crafts to basic woodwork to bike repair) then call Louise, or email her on louisemhall [AT} ntlworld.com.
The awareness raising group is organising an all-day training event on September 9th focussed on developing speaking skills to communicate climate change / peak oil / transition. Contact Reevesie on reevesie [AT] gmail.com if you're interested in attending.
The food group organised a successful jam-making workshop in late July, and a wild food walk on August 10th (see http://transitiontowns.org/Leicester/Brambling for a report). Another walk will take place on Sunday August 31st - meeting at 3pm at Kings Lock Tea Rooms in Aylestone Meadows for a 4pm start. The group are busy planning an event for the autumn, called Harvest Inspiration, which will look to give people information and inspiration to help them start growing food in the city. They're looking to have stalls where people can share seeds from this year's veg, and have tastings of locally made jams, chutneys and other preserves - so get collecting/preserving now if you'd like to help out with that!
3. Take Action!
The city council are currently consulting on their plan to plant 10,000 new trees in Leicester over the coming few years (see here http://www.leicester.gov.uk/your-council--services/lc/parks--green-spaces/trees). We'd like to encourage people to respond to this, both by letting the council know good locations to plant the trees, and to make the argument that the planting should add to the resilience of the Leicester economy, by focussing on planting food-producing trees (nuts and fruit) wherever possible. To contribute, either write to the council (follow the above link for details), or go to your next Ward Community Meeting (see http://www.leicester.gov.uk/wards/index_wards.asp for details) - the council are currently using these meetings to ask people for their ideas for planting locations.
The Sustainable Communities Act recently became law, and it puts a lot more power into the hands of local people to help create policies that will benefit their communities (for more info look here http://www.localworks.org). However, we can only make use of it if our local authority has opted in to the process, which they need to by October. We think that if the council adopted this act it could really benefit the city, so we think that writing to councillors to show support for adopting this act would be really useful. For more info look here (http://www.localworks.org/node/3) and to find out who your councillors are and their contact details, look here for Leicester http://www.cabinet.leicester.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.asp?GL=1&bcr=1 and here for Leicestershire http://politics.leics.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.asp .
A huge threat to our goal of combatting climate change is that Governments look to go back to coal in the name of "keeping the lights on". This could have an impact locally, as UK coal are proposing the development of a new open cast coal mine in Leicestershire at a site called Minorca, near Measham. A campaign group, Leicestershire Make Coal History, has been set up to organise against this. If you would like to get involved contact: leicestershire.makecoalhistory [AT] yahoo.co.uk
4. In the News
A few things we've come across in the media over the last month that should be of interest...
Firstly, on the bad news front, there's news that rapid decline in arctic sea ice of 2007 seems to being repeated again this year (see http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/10/climatechange.arctic), which seems to show that the impacts of climate change are being felt faster than the climate scientists thought possible. There's also a new report by WWF detailing the frightening environmental impact of unconventional oils (tar sands, oil shale and the like, which some people suggest are a solution to peak oil), which you can read here http://www.wwf.org.uk/news/n_0000005247.asp .
Secondly on the solutions-based front, there's plenty of good news. The idea of a Green New Deal has been launched, as a strategy to restructure our economy to respond to climate change, peak oil and the credit crunch (and create a lot of jobs) - read about it here http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/z_sys_PublicationDetail.aspx?pid=258. The 100 months campaign (http://onehundredmonths.org/) has been launched to focus our attention on how urgently we need to respond to the climate crisis. A new book by Oliver Tickell called Kyoto2 (http://www.kyoto2.org/) has been released with an exciting proposal to cap global fossil fuel extraction and use the billions generated by selling permits to extract fossil fuels to fund responses to climate change. Finally, there's news from Yorkshire of a project looking to make Todmorden the first UK town to be self-sufficient in food (http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/features/Todmorden-sows--the-seeds.4103427.jp). How close could we get to achieving that here?
1. Event on September 8th
A date for your diary - we'll be holding an event on the evening of Monday September 8th, from 7pm to 9pm (venue to be confirmed). This will focus on what the questions that our Transition project is raising mean on the level of our neighbourhoods/villages and local communities. Sarah Pugh of Transition Bristol will give a talk on the approach their Transition initiative has taken, of encouraging neighbourhood-scale groups to form around the city, and will inspire us with some examples of what is being achieved in neighbourhoods in Bristol. There will also be plenty of time to discuss ideas for taking action to reduce fossil fuel use and improve resilience to high fuel prices in local communities in Leicester.
2. News from the food group
The food group has organised two Wild Fruit walks in August, one taking place on Sunday August 10th (a Bramble-Ramble...), another on Sunday August 31st. On both dates, meet Andy, who'll be leading, the walk at King's Lock Tea Rooms in Aylestone Meadows - at the end of Marsden Lane, off Aylestone Road. Meet at 3pm for a cup of tea, before heading off to pick fruit at 4pm.
The food group is also planning to organise an event in late September to celebrate locally produced food and raise awareness of the opportunities to get growing in and around Leicester. It'll be called Harvest Inspiration, and it'll feature displays of locally grown fruit and veg (including jams, chutneys and drinks), a seed-swap stall and a chance to learn more about local organisations that can help you start growing your own. The group are looking for volunteers who can either help on the day or help to organise the event, and people who can provide jams/chutneys/drinks for people to try, or saved/unwanted seeds for the seed swap stall. Contact Lisa on lisam183 [at] hotmail.com if you'd like to help.
3. Transition Training events
We've got two Transition Training events coming up for anyone who wants to learn about the Transition process and the issues we're addressing in more depth. First up, on Tuesday September 9th 2008 - a 1 day Transition Speaker Training course, with Sarah from Transition Bristol and Nick from Transition Glastonbury.
Final details aren't arranged yet, but it'll be from 10am 'til 5pm or thereabouts, somewhere in Leicester. Cost is on a sliding scale: either £10, £20, £30, £40 or £50 depending on what you can afford. We need to average about £40 to cover costs, so please pay the full £50 if you can afford to, and we'll use whatever excess we generate to cross-subsidise the cost for people who'd like to attend but can't afford the full cost. Email Andrew Reeves at reevesie [at] gmail.com to register your interest in coming along.
Second, we've got the 2-day Transition Training on the Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th of October 2008. Cost will be £90 for the weekend, but we'll make bursaries available once we've covered our costs to anyone who'd like to attend who can't afford the full rate. Contact Doug Golding on transitioncity [at] freeuk.com if you'd like to attend.
4. Items of interest from the national media A few things in the media over the last few weeks that are worth a look...
A team of green-minded thinkers have proposed a way of tackling the triple-threats of peak oil, climate change and the economic crisis - A Green New Deal. This means a massive Government organised public spending programme to retrofit buildings, and invest in the new skills needed for a sustainable economy. Well worth a read - find it here: http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/z_sys_publicationdetail.aspx?pid=258
Al Gore gave a speech last week in which he challenged the people of the US to move towards having 100% renewable electricity within 10 years. Just the sort of radical thinking we need to seriously address climate change! Watch a 7-minute clip of the highlights of his talk here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9cllAiXImg
1. What's new?
Since the last newsletter went out in mid June, we've been out and about at a number of events and we've shown our face in the local media too. You can read our article from the Leicester Mercury that gives a short introduction to Peak Oil and Transition Leicester here http://www.transitiontowns.org/Leicester/Media.
We've uploaded picures from our successful stall at the Riverside festival in early June (see http://transitiontowns.org/Leicester/Riverside ). We've also added some of the many responses we received when we asked people how life would be better in Leicester, when we meet our energy needs without using fossil fuels. These included "Everyone will know their neighbours", "Streets would be safer", "There'll be more people cycling everywhere, and lots of great bike trailers!" and "There will hopefully be less plastic production, more community spirit, more compassion and a healthier lifestyle for everyone!".
We also held a summer picnic in Abbey Park (see http://transitiontowns.org/Leicester/Picnic for pictures) and had stalls at the Aylestone Ecofair and a climate change themed event at Leicester cathedral.
We're taking a bit of a break from organising events over the summer, as we gear up for plenty of activity in the Autumn. We will be having a stall at the Watermead Family Discovery Day though (which we thoroughly recommend going to) on the 30th August, so come see us there if you come along. We are also looking to organise a basket-weaving workshop at some point in the summer - contact Sam on sam@samanthawoods.wanadoo.co.uk if you'd be interested in this.
2. Updates from groups
We have four groups on the go at the moment (the Steering group, the Awareness Raising group, the Food group and the Heart and Soul group) and a couple more showing signs of forming...
The Steering group has recently put together a consitution for Transition Leicester which you can find here http://transitiontowns.org/Leicester/Documents . With a constitution in place, we'll be able to apply for grant funding to start making practical projects happen under the Transition Leicester banner.
The Steering group has also been focussing on planning for the year ahead, and organising a programme of events for the coming autumn. Some of the bigger events we're looking to work on over the year include a Transition festival in summer 2009 (with practical workshops, talks, fun and games), a mass bike ride in Leicester city centre next summer, and an Open House event, where people can visit local homes with energy saving features (in the spring next year). We're also planning to give talks to local groups, organise regular film showings, organise theme-based events (on transport, energy, etc.), organise skill sharing events, and much more. We'll have details about our plans for the Autumn available in late August.
The Food group is now up and running, and focussing on the challenge of promoting more sustainable food production in and around Leicester to meet our local needs. They're currently working on organising a harvest festival event in late September / early October, which will include sharing of produce and workshops on local food production. If you would like to help organise this then please contact Lisa on lisam183 [AT] hotmail.com. The food group's next meeting is on Wednesday 30th July in the cafe at the Phoenix Arts Centre on Newarke Street. 7pm start, all welcome.
The Awareness raising group focusses on raising awareness locally about Transition Leicester and the challenges of Peak Oil and Climate Change. We will be holding a speaker training day for anyone interested in giving talks on Transition on Tuesday September 9th, featuring trainers from the Transition Network. If you're interested in attending, send an email to reevesie [AT] gmail.com. As always, we're looking out for groups/organisations who'd like to have a Transition talk/workshop, so let us know if you're interested
The Heart and Soul group is a forum for the emotional and spiritual issues that the issues of climate change and peak oil bring up. For example, this includes working through feelings of despair and powerlessness that may overtake us when faced with such great problems. The group will also focus on what kind of social values we'll need to cultivate to make living low-carbon, community-focused lives possible, and how we go about developing those values ourselves and in our communities. The minutes from the group's first meeting can be found here http://transitiontowns.org/Leicester/Heartandsoul and the group will be meeting next on Wednesday August 6th. Contact Marie on creative.heart [AT] ntlworld.com if you'd like to get involved or come to the next meeting.
Leicester's Carbon Rationing Action Group (CRAG) will be becoming a group under the Transition Leicester banner - most likely calling itself a Carbon Reduction Action Group. They'll be focussing on education about what makes up individual carbon footprints (especially from energy use in the home and through transportation), helping people calculate their own footprints and taking action to help people bring those footprints down. If this sounds like a group you'd like to get involved with drop a line to Reevesie at reevesie [AT] gmail.com. They'll be having an introductory meeting on Thursday 25th September - drop Reevesie a line to find out more about the group or the meeting, or to register your interest.
There's also interest brewing in having an initial meeting to discuss a Transition Leicester Transport group - drop us a line if you're interested in hearing more about this, or indeed in helping to put such a meeting together (transitioncity [AT] freeuk.com is the email address).
3. News from Kirby Muxloe
One of the main aims of the Transition Leicester project is to act as a catalyst in the local community - to hopefully inspire individuals, communities and organisations in the area to take action to address climate change and peak oil. There's a nice example of this working in practice that's starting to unfold in the village of Kirby Muxloe to the west of Leicester - Rich Claxton from Kirby Muxloe tells the story below...
Open Doors
It seems that for some the name of Transition is not new. My community, Kirby Muxloe is in the process of embarking on a Parish Plan (http://www.ruralcc.org.uk/parishandcommunityplans.html). This involves discussions and questionnaires involving as many local residents as possible to form a plan of what the community needs in the next 5 - 10 years. There is a commitment from the councils, police, and NHS to review this plan with the community. Like Transition, this process is a grass-roots operation. I felt this was an ideal oportunity to include some of the aims of Transition within this process so I hopped on my bike and went to the meeting.
At an opportune time I spoke of how the village needed to look at how it will be affected by climate change and peak oil, and I said that the parish plan was an ideal chance to discuss these things in real terms for our community. After using the Archers as an example I learned that many people had heard of Transition but had not connected it to Leicester or Kirby. I also learned of other initatives in the village such as a plan for the retailers to go plastic bag free.
After the meeting I was approached by two parish councillors asking for more information about Transition and Transition Leicester , I suggested we could have a meeting about Transition and they offered the village hall. So we are in the process of arranging this for early September. I have no idea where this is going... is it awareness raising to gain more support ? or is it the start of a Transition community ? Either way it's very exciting for me, my community and for Transition Leicester.
So, I guess the lessons learned are that if you talk to people in your own community, then you may find that people are ready and keen to talk to us. You'll also find that there are already initiatives going on in our communities and that we can help them, learn from them and support them.
If there is anyone else in Kirby Muxloe reading this who can help out then then please get in touch!
So go push on some doors, you never know where they may lead you...
Rich Clafton rclafton [AT] lineone.net
4. Peak Oil film showing
An advance date for your diaries - The Phoenix Arts Centre in Leicester will be showing the Peak Oil film "Crude Impact" on Thursday 11th September. It's pencilled in at present for 2pm, though the time might change. The film gives a great introduction to the issue and how it could affect all of our lives over the coming years - check out http://www.crudeimpact.com for more info.
5. New resources
Here are three short films that have recently come to our attention that you can watch online, and that we thoroughly recommend...
Cyclovia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELa5CHsUepo - an inspiring 10-minute film about the Cyclovia project in Bogota, Columbia (recently shown at Leicester's bike film festival). Every weekend, streets are closed in the city centre and are freed up to be used by cyclists and pedestrians for getting around, exercise and fun. This is something we think we could try to recreate in Leicester for at least a day next summer.
350.org: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5kg1oOq9tY - a 97-second film that simply using pictures and music puts across why we should be aiming for reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels down to 350 parts per million (they're at 387ppm now) to avoid dangerous climate change.
Zero Carbon Britain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE8ThoXgGkA - in just two minutes, the people at the Centre for Alternative Technology explain their Zero Carbon Britain project, and why making the UK zero carbon in the next few decades is necessary.
Also, for anyone working in or connected to local authorities we recommend a new report, "Preparing for Peak Oil", put together by the Oil Depletion Analysis Centre on how local authorities should respond to the issue of Peak Oil - you can find it here: http://www.odac-info.org.
6. Plugs for other groups: Wind farm support and climate camp
Leicester's Friends of the Earth group is taking a lead in supporting the proposed Swinford wind farm south of Leicester. They have helped set up an email group for supporters of the wind farm who are interested in becoming more actively involved in the campaign. To join the Swinford Wind Farm Supporters (SWFS) e-group go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SWFS/
The 2008 Camp for Climate Action will be taking place in the south east of England this year in the first week of August, near Kingsnorth power station. This is the site where the first new coal-fired power station to be built in the UK for decades has been proposed, a situation that prompted Climate Change researcher James Hansen to write to Gordon Brown last year, urging him to not give approval for the plan (find the letter here: http://transitiontowns.org/Leicester/Background). Even if protest or direct action isn't your cup of tea, the camp is a great chance to learn more about the issues (with a week full of workshops and talks) and experience low-impact living in a friendly atmosphere. Check out http://www.climatecamp.org.uk to find out more - drop us a line if you'd like to find Leicester folk to go along with.
7. And finally... Transition Leicester goes global!
Whilst casually googling "Transition Leicester" the other day, a fine thing turned up - one of the top 10 links was from the website of an environmental group called Sustainable Saunders that was forwarding our group's "Big Ideas for Leicester" report around to its members, as a shining example of cutting-edge ideas on sustainability (read our Big Ideas here: http://transitiontowns.org/Leicester/Documents).
And where was this "Sustainable Saunders" group based, you might ask? Ten points to you if you guessed Hawaii. Rest assured that our new found global fame won't make us lose our focus on Leicester (and perhaps far flung places like Kirby Muxloe), and if they do invite us over to give a talk, we'll be doing it by tele-conferencing rather than hopping in a plane.
1. High oil prices in the news
You would have had to have been asleep over the past few weeks to miss some of the media coverage about soaring oil prices (up to $139 a barrel), and the impacts this is having on fuel and food costs. It seems that a shortage of supply is one of the main causes behind what is happening, and we'd argue that we should see what is happening now as a wake-up call - hopefully it'll inspire us to reduce our oil dependency so we don't suffer from the likely higher price increases in the future.
Lots of ink has been spilled about what's going on, so we thought we'd share a couple of articles that we think are full of good sense. There's this piece by David Strahan in the Telegraph, this article by Johann Hari in the Independent and this piece from the website The Oil Drum that goes into more detail on why the oil price has got so high recently.
2. Transition Leicester in the news - tomorrow!
It looks like Transition Leicester will be featuring in the Leicester Mercury tomorrow (thursday 12th June) too - check out the First Person column on page 15 for a fine attempt to summarise what we're all about in only 470 words. The article will be up on our website soon afterwards.
Correction - the story went out on the 17th June - see the Media page on the website
3. City Council's 25 year vision - full of great ideas
You might have heard about Leicester City Council's plans to come up with a 25 year vision for the city, which they're branding as "One Leicester". Well, the draft version has been quietly published on the council's website (go here, then it's item 7 - this was back at the end of March, but it's taken us this long to come across it!).
We submitted a response to the council's consultation for this (find it here), and we've been delighted to find that a number of our suggestions feature in the council's plan. We're not sure whether that's because of our input or if they were things that were going to be included anyway, but either way, there's some good stuff in there.
Some of the nuggets from the report are:
"We will develop a network of safe routes for cycling and walking into and around the city centre from all major directions, between key places within the city and along routes used by schoolchildren to get to school. We don't just mean the usual lines painted along the side of a busy road but pleasant, purpose made routes for walkers and cyclists. Essentially this means a new "New Walk" along with new cycle routes for all major routes to the city centre so that people feel safe to walk or cycle rather than use their car."
"Trees are the lungs of a city. Trees also improve the feel of a city. We will plant at least 10,000 more trees in the city to create tree lined streets, small forests and green spaces."
"To ensure that those who can't walk or cycle are cared for we will invest in a joined up and efficient public transport system. This will include work to improve the bus station, introduce 3 further Park 'n' Ride schemes, introduce greener electric buses and a single ticketing "Leicester Card" which can be used on all city buses."
Let's hope all of this happens!
4. Ecohouse organic gardeners question time
There's a chance to get your questions answered about organic gardening this week in Leicester. BBC Radio Leicester are recording their weekly gardening programme, Down to Earth, at the EcoHouse on Hinckley Road in Leicester on Thursday 12th June (to air about 10 days later). The general public are invited to come and be in the audience and ask the experts their organic gardening questions. The event starts at 6:45pm and will be over by 9pm. Refreshments will be available in the cafe.
5. Forthcoming events: speaker training and transition picnic
On Saturday 21st June we'll be putting on a training event, which will aim to increase people's confidence in their understanding of Climate Change/Peak Oil/Transition, and give people practice and increased confidence at giving a talk about Transition Leicester. This is mostly aimed at people interested in helping with awareness raising, but it's open to anyone who'd like to come, and is free of charge (though donations always help). It'll take place from 10am until 3pm - venue to be confirmed (somewhere in Leicester). Email Reevesie on reevesie [AT] gmail.com if you're interested.
On Sunday 29th June we're having a social event - a picnic and games afternoon in Abbey Park. We'll be gathering near the bandstand from 1pm - come and join us, and bring food to share and fun things to do.
6. Get MPs and the PM to act on Peak Oil
You'll no doubt be happy to hear that not every member of parliament is ignoring the challenges that Peak Oil could bring to life in the UK. A small group of MPs has formed the All Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil and Gas (which has the fine acronym of APPGOPO and a website here - http://www.appgopo.org.uk), and they've got 50 MPs to sign an early day motion urging the government to look more closely into what Peak Oil could mean for the UK (see here).
John Hemming MP, who proposed the motion, said "the government is failing to address the reality that we are reaching the limits to growth in global oil production. The implications for the way we run our society and economy are profound, but the government refuses even to initiate a contingency study. Rather than making futile appeals to OPEC to raise production, Gordon Brown must recognise that we cannot carry on with the same old assumptions of endless growth in world oil."
Why not drop a line to your MP and ask them to support the Early Day Motion (you can go here)?
If you're feeling active, then in a matter of about 10 seconds you could also sign up to an online petition urging Gordon Brown to look into the issue of how Peak Oil will affect the UK. You just need to go here to do it - if enough people sign up, then the government will have to issue a response. What it says is "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."
19th May 2008
1. What's new?
Over the last month we've been doing a lot of behind the scenes work. At the end of April, several members of the steering group attended a Leicester Partnership event on the city's Local Area Agreement, and fed in our ideas for reducing the city's carbon emissions and increasing the resilience of the economy.
We sent out a survey to everyone on this list (over 150 of you now), and big thanks to everyone who responded. The good news was that enough people came forward interested in being part of an Awareness Raising group and a Food group, so they're being created now (more on that later). We also got lots of great ideas for future activities from the responses, and we'll be sharing those with you all on our website soon. If you intended to send in a reply but didn't get around to it in time, we'll still be very pleased to hear from you, and hear your ideas, whenever you get back to us.
We're also steadily adding more content to our website. Coming next will be an extensive selection of Links, and some background information on Climate Change and Peak Oil.
2. Food and Awareness Raising groups formed
There was huge interest in participating in a group focussing on Food (or as one survey respondent nicely put it, Food Security). There will be an initial meeting to set this group up on the evening of Tuesday June 3rd. Venue and time are yet to be confirmed - we'll send out an email to this list and post details on the website once we know. If you'd like to get involved with the Food group, contact Dani Pattuzzi on pattuzzi [AT] tiscali.co.uk to join the Food group mailing list.
There was also plenty of interest in getting involved with an Awareness Raising group, to try and take our message about Peak Oil, Climate Change and the Transition approach out to people, organisations and businesses in Leicester. We held an initial get-together for this group last week (see website for meeting minutes), and we are planning a speaker training event for Saturday June 21st. This will cover more detailed background knowledge on Peak Oil, Climate Change and Transition, and will give people practice in presenting an example Transition Leicester talk. If you'd like to come to this event, or get involved with the Awareness Raising group, then contact Reevesie on reevesie [AT] gmail.com .
3. Transition Loughborough and Charnwood?
A few Transition Leicester folk who live in or near Loughborough got together last week to discuss forming a new Transition Initiative for that area. Perhaps it'll be Transition Loughborough, or maybe Transition Loughborough and Charnwood. If you live in that part of the world and would like to get involved, then drop a line to Sam Woods on sam [AT] samanthawoods.wanadoo.co.uk .
4. New wind turbines.
If you saw today's Leicester Mercury, you would have been excited to find out that the council are considering installing several wind turbines in the city, generally in large parks on the outskirts of Leicester. So long as the sites are well-selected, this represents an excellent opportunity to increase Leicester's resilience and reduce the city's carbon emissions. The council will be consulting people in the city and in areas that might get turbines installed over the coming months, so we can really make a difference during this process by showing plenty of support. A good place to start would be the letters page of the Leicester Mercury - you can go here to submit a letter to the editor.
And there's more! Nuon Renewables are planning to develop a windfarm near Swinford (about 15 miles south of Leicester), consisting of 11 wind turbines. You can see their plans for the windfarm here:
A group campaigning against the turbines is already forming, so again it looks like they'll need support if they're to be installed. Leicester Friends of the Earth are intending to campaign to support the wind farm, and they will be hosting a visit from a speaker from Nuon Renewables this week, who will explain in more detail what is planned. This event is happening tomorrow - Tuesday 20th May - at 7.30pm in the Adult Education Centre on Wellington Street.
5. Transition Picnic in June
We're organising a social event for June, which will be a picnic and outdoor games get-together in Abbey Park. This will be on Sunday 29th June - meet from 1pm by the Bandstand in the park. Bring food to share, and ideas for games to play (for kids and adults). It'll be a great chance to get together with fellow Transition folk, and talk about the price of oil/your plans for reducing your fossil fuel reliance/the weather.
6. Rob Hopkins talk in Nottingham
Transition Nottingham are holding an event on Tuesday 27th May, where Transition Towns founder Rob Hopkins will be speaking, along with Nottingham's own celebrity environmentalist, Penney Poyzer. This is a great chance to see two great speakers in action, so do make it over if you can. The event will take place at the Mechanics Institute, South Sherwood Street, Nottingham, starting at 7.30pm.
If you can't make it, why not watch Rob and Penney speaking from the comfort of your own living room? You can see Penney discussing her ecohouse conversion here and Rob discussing the 12 steps of the Transition process here (steps 1-6) and then here (steps 7-12).
7. Up and coming activities
We'll be doing a number of stalls over the coming months, including the Riverside Festival in Bede Park on the 7th and 8th of June, and the Aylestone EcoFair on the 5th of July. We've got some exciting plans for props and activities at these stalls, including a Peak Oil Slide and an ideas-tree where we'll share ideas on how life will be better in Leicester after oil. If you're feeling creative and would like to help us put together props for stalls, then get in touch (email Reevesie on reevesie [AT] gmail.com).
We'll also be taking the Transition message to local businesses at an event on climate change and business on the 20th of May at the City Rooms in Leicester. We'll be plugging the tool of Oil Vulnerability Auditing, which we intend to offer to local businesses in the future - this is a method for identifying the risk to a business of increasing oil prices, and to find strategies to increase the resilience of the business by reducing fossil fuel use.