Next round of Carbon Conversations groups start soon!
Join the community of over 500 local people who have taken part in a group. Learn how to reduce your carbon footprint in a friendly, informative and supportive atmosphere.
Each group meets 6 times, usually at fortnightly intervals. Details for January 2012: Continue reading
Can’t tear yourself away from the keyboard? Love social media? Can’t stop sharing the latest on low-carbon living? Perfect!
We are looking for someone who can manage the CCF Twitter and Facebook accounts. We have over 300 followers on Twitter and 138 members on our Facebook group. It would be your job to keep these two accounts to be as active as possible, especially using both to promote our events, but also to share and re-share interesting articles, news and videos related to low-carbon living. We need someone who can be very pro-active about transfering event info from our website to these two mediums and keeping content fresh and updated. At a minimum you will need to attend to both accounts once a week.
If this sounds like you, get in touch with Stephanie (stephanie@cambridgecarbonfootprint) as soon as possible!
6 CCF supporters are spending 6 weeks just eating local food to find out how it works for them - and to cut their carbon.
They feature in Cambridge News and are blogging here about their experiences, with tips for delicious local food – even in the middle of winter!
Cambridge Carbon Footprint is starting the year 2012 with an exciting program! This winter you can, for example, learn about seasonal cooking, get new clothes in an eco-friendly fashion or combine entertainment with climate change information with Danny Chivers, just book your place quickly as these events are very popular!
Our January eco-renovation tour is now fully booked (get in touch to join the waiting list), but we have another eco-renovation event taking place in February. Find our more below!
The first days of 2012 begun with above average temperatures – enough for some plants to start growing if this continues. Already the small, but highly-scented flowers of winter flowering honeysuckle are in bloom and the catkins of hazel bushes will be lengthening in the next few weeks, depositing their pollen into the wind. However every year is a ‘natural lottery’ when it comes to the weather and as gardeners we have to prepare for every eventuality. It could remain mild for most of the remaining winter or turn wintry with sub-zero conditions.
Make sure you install water butts to capture any rainwater run-off as spring droughts seem to be a quite common now. Be prepared to protect any tender plants from severe frost with fleece of other materials. In very cold weather rabbits can eat the lower bark of fruit trees, so protect the first 20cm with netting. In mild, drier periods it’s an ideal time to time to plant fruit trees and bushes. This gives time for the roots to establish before they start to develop leaves and demand water.
Mulching (with home-made compost or well-rotted manure) around fruit bushes later this month will help increase yields and drought resistance. Just lay this on the surface and the worms and rain will transport the water-holding materials and nutrients to where the roots are developing. If you have a spent Christmas tree in the ‘rapid leaf fall’ stage of the festive season make use of the needles to mulch around your shrubs that like acid conditions – blueberries, rhododendrons or hydrangeas. I cut up the stems and distribute around plants. The chalky, alkaline soil of my Cambridge allotment also stresses out raspberries and strawberries (the signs are yellowing between the leaf veins in summer), so pine needles can help in a small way neutralise the pH.
We are very pleased to welcome Sally Fenn into the office. Sally has kindly agreed to help us out as a volunteer for the next few months, and we are sure she will be a real asset!
We have a stall at the Mill Road Winter Fair on Saturday 3 December. Don’t miss a chance to say hello and have a chat!
| 30 January 2012 | ||
| 7:30 pm | to | 9:30 pm |
We’ve teamed up with the Cambridge World Development Movement to host an evening with Danny Chivers
‘Some good news about climate change’
A fun interactive session for up to 40 people, looking at thelatest climate science and politics but with a focus on the positive. It is still possible to achieve climate justice, and this session willhelp you to work out what role you can play in making it happen!
Where? Friends Meeting House, Jesus Lane, Cambridge
Booking essential – email info@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org to book or call 01223 659962 Admission free but donations always welcome.
| 7 February 2012 | ||
| 6:45 pm | to | 8:45 pm |
The Economics of Happiness: film showing at the Arts Picturehouse with a talk by Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta
Cambridge Carbon Footrprint and Transition Cambridge are delighted to offer a screening of “The Economics of Happiness” by Helena Norbert-Hodge at the Arts Picturehouse, followed by a talk by renowned economist Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta. Set against a background of the lives of the people of Ladakh as their way of life is altered by contact with western capitalism, the film questions whether our current economic model is damaging our wellbeing.
Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta is the Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus of Economics, whose interests and writings include environmental economics. Tickets can be booked in the normal way through the Arts Picturehouse box office.
You can view the trailer and learn more about the movie here: www.theeconomicsofhappiness.org
| 8 February 2012 | ||
| 7:30 pm | to | 9:30 pm |
We have a very exciting prospect to warm us up in February! Tine Roche, founder of the Cambridge Cookery School, is generously giving a demonstration of how to cook gourmet
food with local, seasonal ingredients in the middle of winter. Tine will cook delicious food for us to sample, so don’t eat too much supper beforehand! Most food served on the night will be vegetarian, although I understand there will be some wild venison, too, from Radwinter Wild Game Company! (Vegan, vegetarian and meat recipes for us to cook at home will be included.)
As usual with our events, we will not charge for this, but would be grateful for a donation of around £5 per head to cover our expenses. Booking is essential, as we expect this event to be very popular and there are only 30 places, so the office at info@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org to book early! The demo will take place at the Cambridge Cookery School at Unit 9D, The Imre Building, The Michael Young Centre, Purbeck Road (behind Hill’s Road Sixth Form College) in Cambridge (detailed directions can be found here). Continue reading
