Hope you are able to come to the AGM. We would love to hear from you as we discuss the past year and plan the future, so come along for a cup of tea and a friendly chat!
Open Eco Homes are back and this time more exciting than ever! Booking lines are now open (closed over Easter) and the tours are filling up quickly. Get a good start and find out how to make your own house an eco home at the Eco-renovation Question Time launch event on 2 May.
Want to consume less and help build stronger communities? Come to our Sharing Economy event next Thursday for an interesting discussion on how sharing can change our ways of consumption.
Open Eco Homes: Website now live and places filling fast
Open Eco Homes is an annual eco-renovation event organised by Cambridge Carbon Footprint, a registered climate change charity. With 25 venues in Cambridge and surrounding villages opening their doors to the public, this year’s Open Eco Homes offers something for everyone. Open day weekends are on 12/13 May 2012 and 26/27 May 2012.
Check our brand new website at openecohomes.org to check this year’s eco houses, choose the ones you’d like to see and give us a call, as lines went live on 2 April and places are filling up fast!
Help us make Open Eco Homes even more popular!
Could you help us put up some posters in your neighbourhood to help us spread the word about Open Eco Homes 2012? If there is a notice board in a local shop, fence or office near you, download them from openecohomes.org/poster-and-flyer/ or if you prefer us to post you some, get in touch with info@openecohomes.org, we can send as few or as many as you would like, and can laminate for outdoors too.
If you replied to info@openecohomes.org about this last week, our apologies for the email not working, this has been fixed and we’d love it if you could please resend!
CCF is looking for a Fundraising Officer
We are looking for someone with fundraising experience who can help us for one day a week with the following crucial tasks:
– keep tabs on funding websites such as Funding Central
– update our fundraising spreadsheet/database
– research funding opportunities for CCF
– help write funding applications
– other fundraising duties as they apply and are agreed upon, such as event organisation.
Some fundraising experience and/or with charities would be preferable. Ideally we would like someone who could work with us on a voluntary basis for at least a year, but if you think this is the ideal role for you and can offer at least six months, please apply. You can work mainly from home, but will liaise with staff and trustees. Induction and support provided will be provided and you’ll be involved with regular meetings with our fundraising team.
CCF relies on volunteers to run its successful projects and in 2011 had around 150 active volunteers. This fundraising role is crucial to all our other work and an excellent opportunity for the right person.
If you would like to apply please email your CV and a short letter of intent (describing highlights of your experience relevant to this position and why you would like it) to our Volunteer and Events Organiser at stephanie@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org. Deadline 16th April. Interviews will take place the week of 23rd April.
Carbon Conversations Revisited – join our new group!
Last Autumn, at the suggestion of several Carbon Conversations “graduates”, who came to a meeting in July about developing Carbon Conversations, we started a time-limited Carbon Conversations Revisited group. Around eight of us agreed to meet regularly (every six to eight weeks) to share how we have been getting on with reducing our carbon footprint in the areas covered by the Carbon Conversations handbook (general consumption, home energy, travel, waste etc).
We met about five times and then, having covered the topics in the handbook and shared what our future plans are, we agreed to have an annual reunion. This format felt very helpful to us – the sessions (taking turns in each others’ houses) were very enjoyable and stopped us from losing momentum after finishing Carbon Conversations. We also had a really good session on having a low carbon Christmas! (Some of us also decided to take part in the various challenges for which CCF has blogs, such as Eating Local and Living Well with Less Stuff.)
Since we started last Autumn, there have been several new Carbon Conversations groups and there may be new people who would like to join a Carbon Conversations Revisited group, starting from scratch again, with topics chosen by the group. (But it doesn’t actually matter when you did Carbon Conversations! – you could have done it five years ago and feel like a refresher or just have done it in January this year – everyone is welcome!) If you just want to find out more or know you definitely want to join, contact Bev via info@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org and we will try to find an evening which everyone can manage. It doesn’t cost anything and we meet every six to eight weeks.
” Joining the carbon conversations revisited group was just what i needed to make me re-look at the plans I had made during my carbon conversations course. It reminded me of all the things I planned to do that I had actually done (Yeah! A nice feeling!) and inspired me to get on with the rest! It was great to meet a new group of carbon conversations “graduates” too and to share some stories of what we’d all been doing to reduce our carbon footprints.” (Fiona)
The Sharing Economy – An Introduction to Collaborative Consumption 12 April
Thursday 12 April, 7.30 – 9.30pm, St. Andrew’s Hall, St Andrew’s Rd
Could something as simple as sharing be a key remedy to hyper consumption and waste while building community at the same time? As the authors of “What’s Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption” argue, traditional sharing, bartering, lending, trading, renting, gifting and swapping, redefined through technology and peer communities, is transforming business, consumerism and the way we live. Join us for this exciting evening that includes guests from Zipcar, Life is a Gift, and more, to find out what exactly this powerful emerging economic force is, how it’s being applied in Cambridge and how you can be a vital part of it.
Space is limited so please save your place by booking ahead:info@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org or 01223 659962.
Plant, Grow, Eat: An Introduction to Growing Your Own 18 April
Wednesday 18 April, 7.30 – 9.30pm, Ross Street Community Centre, Ross Street
If you’ve never grown your own food but would like to start this year, this is the workshop for you! Join expert grower Keith Jordan in this workshop that will teach you what will grow best in your particular space – no matter what that space is and tips on how to do it. You’ll come away from the workshop with a plan for your new garden, allotment or patio filled with containers and growbags, plus, ideas for what food crops will best suit both your kitchen and your plot.
Growing your own has never been more hip, fun or important! Don’t delay, book today!
Limited to 15 people! Email the office or call 01223 301842 to reserve a place.
Carbon Conversations Facilitator Training 21 April
Saturday 21 April, 10am – 4pm, Ross St Community Centre, Ross St
Are you enthusiastic about Carbon Conversations? Would you like to co-facilitate a group of your own? Or maybe you’re an existing facilitator and want to improve your skills?
Penny Henderson and Liz Serocold will be running this one-day facilitator training for those who have already taken part in a Carbon Conversations group.
Numbers limited to 10, booking essential. Contact Mary to book, or for further information.
Cost: free to Cambridge residents, £40 to others (we can usually provide somewhere to stay for anyone coming from afar).
Eco-Renovation in Progress 23 April
23 April, 7.30 – 9.30pm, off Histon Road
Following on the success and high demand of our Eco-Renovation in Progress tour in January on Hills Road, we’re offering a new Eco-Renovation Tour in north Cambridge off the Histon Road.
This is an exciting opportunity to go round 1930′s house with Anne Cooper of award-winning AC Architects Cambridge Ltd, who specialise in sustainable architecture. Anne will do an initial appraisal of the house and offer recommendations for making it more energy-efficient, taking into account the need to conserve original features.
While Anne will look at the larger picture, Martin Roach, who has a great deal of experience in DIY energy efficiency, will look at the smaller jobs that can be done straightaway.
The session will last two hours. After an introduction by Anne, the group will split into two, with Anne and Martin each taking a party round the house. The groups will then change over, giving everyone a chance to look at the house from both points of view. The owners will be on hand to answer questions and discuss what has been done already.
Booking is essential for this, as the house cannot accommodate more than 20 people! Email the office to book. We will give you the exact address upon booking. In the meantime you can check out the owner’s blog.
Annual General Meeting 25 April
Wednesday 25 April, 7.30 – 9.30pm, The Octogon Room, Wesley Methodist Church
It’s been a lively and challenging year for Cambridge Carbon Footprint: there’s a good buzz with lots of volunteer enthusiasm. We’ll follow the AGM with a meeting to discuss our successes and challenges – and how best to develop the charity further. We hope you can come and contribute your views over a cup of tea and slice of cake
Parking: Nearest car parks are at the Grafton Centre or Jesus Lane. On street parking is fairly easy in the evenings in King St and Jesus Lane.
Eco Renovation Question Time 2 May
Wednesday 2 May 2012, 7.30 – 10.30pm, St Paul’s Centre, Hills Road, Cambridge
We’re celebrating Open Eco Homes with an exciting Eco Renovation Question Time event chaired by Energy Editor of The Guardian, Terry MacAlister.
The programme:
7.00pm – Come in to view the Open Eco Homes showcase and browse stands
7.30pm – Introductory talk and overview of the Green Deal
7.50pm – Question Time – ask about making your home low energy
8.45pm – Refreshments and an opportunity to meet Open Eco Homes renovators
The panel:
The question time panel will consist of local low energy homes’ experts, as well as Eco Home owners with a range of eco-renovation experience.
• Peter Thom – energy efficiency pioneer, Green Heat Ltd
• Jeremy Ashworth – sustainable architect and custom built eco home owner
• Tim Acheson – environmentally conscious builder, Green Hat Construction
• Howard Rice – eco renovator, St Barnabas Road, 1890s home
• Spencer Hagard – eco renovator, Milton Road, 1920s home
• Mark Houston – architectural technician, The Green House Project, 1960s home
• Free admission – with a retiring collection to help cover costs
• Wine and soft drinks served
Eco Question Time will be kindly hosted by Transition Cambridge Energy Group in partnership with Cambridge Carbon Footprint
Bringing the safe inner space to climate change communication
The inner state of the person we are communicating with is crucial in fostering a creative response to climate change. What can we do to help people avoid the flight into false certainty and paranoia that I wrote about last month?
Read more at rorandall.org.
Gardening in April – Minimal cultivation to reduce water and carbon loss
Once again a subject that keep rearing is head is drought. Nothing new to many parts of the world, but it is now having an impact here in the UK with rivers and reservoirs dryng up, hose pipe bans and farmers choosing not to plant some crops this season (those that require more water). Even on my allotment I am starting to wonder if it is worth sowing some crops as the soil surface in some places is so dry after another spring drought.
Read Keith Jordan’s full article on our website.
Transition cafe evening – Eating local and buying local 5 April
Thursday 5 April, 7.30 – 9pm, CB1 cafe, 32 Mill Road, Cambridge
Is it possible to ‘eat local’ for six weeks? And how much would you miss bananas? Helen Karapandzic and Ann Mitchell (who’s a member of Transition Cambridge Food Group) were up for a challenge when they signed up for this project with Cambridge Carbon Footprint in January. During this café evening, they’ll talk about how they got on and what they learned about the local food system and its resilience. There will be plenty of time for questions. The café opens at 7.00, and the evening will begin at 7.30. More info about the project is on the CCF website and this article gives more detail.
Growing Spaces Dig Day 10 April
Tuesday 10 April, 10am – 3pm, Brown’s Field Community Centre
Growing Spaces is helping to revive Brown’s Field Youth and Community Centre’s front garden by planting a host of new herbs and edible flowers. We could use some helping hands to weed, prep the bed and spread compost and mulch in the morning, and some hands to help plant and seed in the afternoon. If you have some time during the day on 10th April, please get in touch with Stephanie so she has an idea of numbers and can advise you what to bring!
Alternative Energy Show 28 April
Saturday 28 April, 10:00-14:00, The Community Centre, Melbourn Village College, The Moor, Melbourn SG8 6EF
Come and find out all about greening your home or business. Stalls, displays and talks about energy efficiency, insulation, heat pumps, solar panels and wood burning stoves. Organised by the Sustainable Parish Energy Partnership. Free of charge.