Bulletin May 2007

Open Space

I thought you’d like to know that our first Open Space event on Saturday 5 May on Feeding Lewes went really well. Over 60 people attended through the day, many staying for the whole day including lunch. Market Lane Garage was a perfect venue: spacious, light and with pigeons flying above our heads.

Some fascinating information came from the creative occasion, such as a rough idea from one farmer of how much land it would take to feed Lewes (far less than expected) and the fact that we could have an incredibly diverse and healthy diet, if well planned. There were wide ranging discussions, from peeing on compost heaps to bringing in tea on clipper ships.

We’ve documented it all on the wiki pages for those of you who could not make it, with lots of photos here.

Thanks to Una Nicholson for facilitating the event; Artemis Arts and Angel Properties for use of the venue; Sarah Bristow for delicious local seasonal food; Chloe for wiki documentation and all the other volunteers and participants. The information generated was sent to the participants on Saturday evening, and will be used as a starting point for the food transition group, about to be formed.

Our next Open Space event on Saturday 2 June is about housing: living in Lewes on less energy; hope you can make it then.

Forum

Please do use the FORUM on the wiki pages, where we are starting discussions about a number of Lewes Transition issues such as

  • Collective buying of solar water heaters
  • Support for growing your own food
  • Local farm shops
  • Water storage/collection/green plumbers

There was talk at the Open Space about forming garden buddies and a community orchard; who wants to start the ball rolling?

Let’s step up the debate about these practical issues.

Click here to go to the forum.

Funding

We have been given two generous donations in the last week by two local donors. One is to fund a project called The Bridge, which is to take Transition Town Lewes’ work into primary schools in June and for 900 children to work with their families to help them reduce their use of fossil fuels.

The other grant will help fund the core expenses of Transition Town Lewes over the year to come, including printing, rent, phone, venue hire and speaker costs. We thank these two women wholeheartedly, as these donations mean we can afford to take this fantastic work far and wide into the community. All human work continues to be donated freely.

Important information

Finally here’s a sobering column by George Monbiot about why current government targets currently in planning will not avoid climate meltdown and a death toll of millions, and how only 90% reduction in CO2 emissions for Britain by 2030 will keep our biophere safe.

Conclusion: Britons must be living on 10% of current fossil fuels by 2030. Step up the home experimenting!

Click here for Monbiot's article.

Please forward this email widely to anyone you think would like to subscribe (details on our wiki home page).

Best wishes, on behalf of Transition Town Lewes

Adrienne

Get involved: contact hello [at] TransitionTownLewes.org.uk