You’ll have to act fast if you want to book for our popular Eat Buy Local event this Friday! There are still a few places on our October Carbon Conversations groups, but these are going fast, too – and there won’t be any more groups until the new year after this!
Want to learn new ways to make and mend? Our SkillsFest is coming on 6th October, so save the date! If you want to help others learn new skills too, join our pre-SkillsFest learning party next week, pick a new skill and share it with others at the SkillsFest.
Carbon Conversations groups starting in October
This is the time of year we often sign up for evening classes, wanting to make a fresh start with something that interests us. Why not make this the time you sign up for a Carbon Conversations group, which many people have found inspiring and life-changing? Whether you already know a lot or a little about how our lives contribute to climate change, you will find out a lot more on this course, plus practical, concrete, doable suggestions for halving your carbon footprint and enjoying it while you do! Making significant lifestyle changes is so much easier and more enjoyable when in the company of like-minded people. Find out why Jade called this the best educational experience she had ever had! To find a group near you and check the dates, visit our website – we have groups in Newnham, Mill Road area, Milton Road and Cottenham. To book, email elizabeth@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org or phone 01223 301842
Volunteer opportunity: Admin Assistant
Are you looking for office experience? Do you have a keen interest in environmental issues? Could you volunteer your time 3 mornings a week for 3 to 6 months for a small, friendly environmental charity in Cambridge?
You would be:
- Dealing with events bookings
- Dealing with phone and email enquiries
- Inputting data
- Managing newsletter sign-ups
- Maintaining parts of our website (for which training would be given in WordPress)
- Occasional postering around the town
- Other sundry tasks as required
We are looking for someone:
- Well-organised
- Reliable and committed
- With good communication skills, both written and verbal
- Basic IT skills (we can provide some training)
You would be working alongside our Volunteer and Events organiser and the CCF Co-ordinator, plus our board of six Trustees.
If interested, please send your CV and a covering letter to Elizabeth Bruce (elizabeth@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org).
Deadline 20th September, interviews planned for Tuesday 25th September
Eat Buy Local: book for our celebration of local food! 21 September
Friday 21 September, 7:00pm – 9:00pm, St. Andrew’s Hall on St. Andrew’s Road, Chesterton
Food and drink make up nearly a quarter of our carbon footprint, so it’s as important to look at reducing our emissions from food as it is from our homes. One way is eating more seasonally and locally. For our Eat Buy Localevent we have an exciting line-up of local food-producers who will tell us what’s available locally and what it’s like making a living this way. You can also hear from participants in our Eating Local blog, including people who have kept up the challenge for most of the year – what was it like, was there a particularly difficult time? Find out if this is something you could get involved with! We need you to book, as we will be serving a simple, delicious home-made meal from local ingredients, so we need to know how many to cater for. The evening is free, but we would appreciate a donation to help cover costs. CamBake, Waterland Organics, Hawthorn Farm, CamCattle, Cambridge Country Markets.
Email info@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org or phone 01223 301842 to book your place.
Volunteer Orientation 25 September
Tuesday 25 September, 6.30pm, CCF Office (Milton Rd)
Learn more about what CCF does, our outreach activities and our procedures for events. Essential training if you’re interested in volunteering with us! Email stephanie@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org if you’d like to join in.
Pre-SkillsFest Learning Party 26 September
Wednesday 26 September, 6.30pm, CCF Office (Milton Rd)
Come get your hands dirty and learn a few new skills for presentation at our SkillsFest. You should also be available for SkillsFest on 6th October and happy to share what you’ve learned with others! Dinner included, skills to be determined. Email stephanie@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org if you would like to come.
Trip to Hockerton Housing Project 29 September
Saturday 29 September, 11am – 7pm
Join us on a tour of Hockerton Housing Project. The tour lasts three hours, from 2pm to 5pm. It takes about 1hr 45mins to get there from Cambridge so we’ll leave around 11am which will give us time for a picnic lunch. We expect to arrive back in Cambridge by 7pm at the latest (the plan is to car share).
Cost: £24 (payable in advance) plus a contribution towards travel costs (payable on the day). We can offer a couple of bursaries to our volunteers.
Booking essential, places limited to 10. The booking deadline is 14th September. For further information, or to reserve your place, email the office at info@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org
SkillsFest 6 October
Saturday 6 October, 12pm – 4pm, St. Andrew’s Hall on St. Andrew’s Road
SkillsFest is a free skills sharing event featuring workshops, demos and tutorials on a variety of skills, including willow weaving, sewing, knitting, DIY energy saving tips, growing your own, bicycle maintenance, herbal healing, and lots more! We will also have a cafe, creche, recipe swap and lots of information on how you can continue learning and sharing skills after the event is over. Please note the creche will require booking ahead, which you can do via info@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org. There will be so much to learn and to do on the day; check our website for more details and latest updates!
CCF’s great fundraising Ceilidh 20 October
Saturday 20 October, 7.30 – 10.30pm, Arbury Community Centre, Campkin Road
Don’t miss this wonderful evening! We have the fantastic Cambridge University Ceilidh Band playing live for us, with their own caller, so you don’t need to know the steps in advance! There will be food and drink and a raffle with great prizes. Our last ceilidh was a packed-out success, so do book early! In order to make sure you are not kept away by cost, we have two ticket prices: £5 and £10 (or more if you can afford it – this is a fundraiser, be generous!) and you decide which you pay. This covers entry + food + one drink.
Have a look at our gorgeous ceilidh poster, which we would love you to download and display! Tickets can be booked from the office (info@cambridecarbonfootprint.org or phone 01223 301842).
Carbon Conversations facilitator training 20 October
If you have participated in a Carbon Conversations group, this is your chance to co-facilitate a group yourself! The training is free and you are always paired up with an experienced facilitator for your first group. If you enjoyed the course and want to help ensure others can experience it, sign up for this workshop and see if this is for you. (There is a wonderful facilitator’s guide, as well as the participants’ handbook you are familiar with, so you get a lot of guidance.) Email elizabeth@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org or phone 01223 301842 if you are interested.
Low Carbon Future: Dream or Nightmare? 29 October
29 October, 7.30pm – 9.30pm, St. Andrew’s Hall in Chesterton
What will peak oil and climate change bring to Cambridge, positive changes, negative consequences, both? Cast your imagination to the future in this interactive talk that explores the possibility of a low carbon world which is rewarding and enjoyable.
This workshop provides a taste of what Cambridge Carbon Footprint covers in our award-winning six-session course, Carbon Conversations, and touch on what Transition Cambridge created for their positive vision of Cambridge in 2030 earlier this year.
The event is part of the 2012 Festival of Ideas. To book please emailinfo@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org or call 01223 301842.
Warm homes in Trumpington 10 November
Saturday 10 November, 10:00pm – 4:00pm, Trumpington
Following on from our successful Eco-renovation in Progress evenings, we are very excited to be offering a Saturday daytime workshop focusing on the types of houses in a certain area: Foster Road, Paget Road and Byron Square in Trumpington, which have 350+ post-war semi-detached and terraced homes, some council-owned and some owner-occupied. These include homes with cavity walls and some steel-framed houses which require external cladding.
We now have confirmation that we will have two Eco-renovations in Progress visits to offer on the day (times TBC). There is only room for small numbers of people (probably eight at a time), so you need to book early (bookings have already started!). Everything else will be open to all on the day: specially-made videos of homes in the area, Question and Answer sessions with experts (including Anne Cooper of Acarchitects and Alex Rice of Green Tomato Energy), supplier stalls, DIY workshops. Detailed programme to follow.
If you live in the Foster Road area (post-war council housing, now partly owner-occupied) and are interested in having a free expert eco-renovations visit, giving you advice on how you make your home more energy-efficient in return for our filming you, or if you would be willing to host an Eco-renovations in Progress visit on the day, please contact info@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org or phone 01223 301842. More information to follow on our website.
The Bioregional Economy, a talk by Molly Scott Cato 15 November
Thursday 15 November, 7.30 – 9.30pm, St. Philip’s Church Centre, 185 Mill Road
When ecology meets economics…The Bioregional Economy
A public talk based on the new book by renowned green economist Molly Scott Cato
A strong local economy is important to sustainability, but how large is a local economy, how self-reliant can it be, and what resources will still need to be imported? A bioregional economy explores these questions while challenging the values of the current global economic system, putting people and locality before profit and growth. Join Cambridge Carbon Footprint and leading Green Economist Molly Scott Cato as she sets out a visionary account of what a bioregional approach to the economy would mean — and how to get there from here.
Molly Scott Cato is professor of Strategy and Sustainability at Roehampton University, Green Party spokesperson on economics and a Director of Transition Stroud.
Global Sustainability Institute lunchtime seminar 24 September
Monday 24 Sep, 1 – 2pm, Lord Ashcroft Building 222, Anglia Ruskin University, East Rd
Andy Brown, from Anglian Water, and Dr James Jenkins, from the University of Hertfordshire will debate:
“Water meters: vital to adapt to climate change or doomed to failure?”
Lunch will be provided. For details of future seminars and events see www.anglia.ac.uk/gsi
No booking necessary, but if you would like to confirm your attendance or get any more information, please contact rosie.robison@anglia.ac.uk, 0845 196 5107.
Green Enterprise meeting: Dr Aled Jones 24 September
Monday 24 September, 7.30 – 9.30pm, Friends Meeting House, 12 Jesus Lane, Cambridge
Talk by Dr Aled Jones, Director of the Global Sustainability Institute at Anglia Ruskin University. Prior to this he was Deputy Director at the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership. He will share with us his thoughts on the big picture, influencing government, policy and regulation.
This is an area in which he has impressive and wide ranging expertise, including chairing the working group on climate finance within the Capital Markets Climate Initiative on behalf of Greg Barker, the Minister for Climate Change, sitting on the UNEP FI insurance sector working group and setting up the Banking & Environment Initiative. He has also worked in academia, consultancy and a high tech startup.
He leads a number of research projects in climate finance, energy and behaviour, and resource management.
Given the current horrible mess we’re in, with govt backsliding on its green promises and the financial system in meltdown, this should be a fascinating opportunity to hear from someone who’s at the heart of trying to improve the situation.
Cost £5
Book launch: Looby McNamara – “People and Permaculture – Caring for ourselves, each other and the planet” 26 October
Friday 26 October, Heffers Bookshop, 20 Trinity Street (time TBC, finalised details from Penny Hall tcheartandsoul@gmail.com)
Book launch in Cambridge with Looby McNamara: People and Permaculture – Caring for ourselves, each other and the planet – The first dedicated Peoplecare book.
“This is the first book to explore how to use permaculture design and principles for people – to restore personal, social and planetary
well-being. People & Permaculture widens the definition of permaculture, taking it right into the heart of our own lives, relationships and society, making it relevant to everyone . It provides a clear framework and guidance for both experienced permaculturists and people completely new to permaculture, and indeed for anyone who wishes to live a more creative, abundant life. Including over 50 practical activities, People & Permacultureempowers readers with tried and tested tools to initiate positive change. It is a hands-on, powerful guide to creating a sustainable world.”
Permaculture Magazine
More reviews here. To find out more about Looby, visit her website.
People and Permaculture: Creating synergetic productive groups – a workshop with Looby McNamara 27 October
Saturday 27 October, 10am – 17pm at Trumpington Pavilion, King George V Playing Field, Paget Road, Trumpington
We will explore group life and how to make the most of the group energy and people’s skills. This will include decision-making, facilitation techniques and roles within groups. The workshop will be fun and interactive. Cost £45/£35 unwaged if booked and paid for by September 25th. After this date the cost will be £55/ £45 unwaged.
For more information and to book contact Penny Hall at tcheartandsoul@gmail.com. Please book early if your keen as places limited.
For more info about Looby go to her website