Penney Poyzer gives a tour of her Nottingham eco-home
Penney Poyzer gives a tour of her Nottingham eco-home
After the success of last year’s Green and Organic event in September 2007 The View from the Top will be doing it all again this year.
Eco queen and Nottingham lovely lady Penney Poyzer will be MC-ing at the opening night on 4th september (6pm – 9pm). That’s not all – there will be an exciting eco fashion show and stalls from local green and Fairtrade companies too.
From 3rd to 13th September the View from the Top gallery will also be exhibiting works from green artists, designers and makers. If you’d like to showcase your work, the deadline is 30th August so hurry!
Visit the Green and Organic ‘08 event blog to find out more.
Hope to see you there on the opening night!
This meeting has been organised by Transition Nottingham which is part of a network of pioneering communities working to reduce our impact on the climate and increase our resilience to the effects of Peak Oil.
SPEAKER: Rob Hopkins, Architect of the Transition movement, co-founder of the Transition Network and and Transition Totnes.
Date: Tuesday 27th May 2008 5.45 – 6.45pm
Venue: BioCity, Pennyfoot Street, Nottingham, NG1 1GF
Please download the event flyer for further information as well as www.transitionnottingham.org.uk
Please note this meeting is aimed at a business, professional and academic audience. It is additional to another event being organised by Transition Nottingham aimed a broader audience on the same evening, also with Rob Hopkins. The second event will be at the Nottingham Mechanics, North Sherwood St. at 7.30pm
If you’re in Nottingham this weekend come along to the Green Festival in the Arboretum.
There will be music, games, crafts, demonstrations and lots and lots of green businesses and organisations. Jez and I will be there with our Make Hay ethical e-media and Green Hosting stall and we’ll also publicise GGG of course!
This event is part of Nottingham’s Greenweeks to celebrate sustainability. It opens at 11.30am and finishes at 6pm on 25th May at the Arboretum on Waverley Street in Nottingham.
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If you’re around, come and say hello. It would be lovely to meet you.
For more details visit the Greenweeks website – www.greenweeks.org
For all green art enthusiasts, this is the event for you!
A charity art auction, ‘Art Aid: Embrace‘ will be taking place on Saturday 21st June to raise money to support poor communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America adapt to climate change.
The work of around 50 artists from the East Midlands will be displayed in the View from the Top gallery in Nottingham from Wednesday 18th June until the reception and auction on Saturday 21st June.
The many artworks available are:
Painting and Drawing
Mixed Media
Original Printmaking
Ceramics and Sculpture
Photography
Signed Print
So there’s something for all art lovers out there!
If you’d like an evening of culture, treat yourself to a beautiful piece of art and help raise money for those affected by climate change then pop along to the website www.art-aid.org to find out more.
Did you know that 2008 is the 100th anniversary of that wonderful children’s book, ‘Wind in the Willows’?
For those of you who recollect the classic story you will remember characters such as Mr. Toad of Toad Hall, Mr. Badger, Mole and also ‘Ratty’ who was actually a European Water Vole.
In addition to 2008 being the anniversary of the book, it is also the year that the Water Vole has been finally provided full legal protection. Six years after a change in the law was first recommended, ‘Ratty’ is finally to receive full protection from the law, under new proposals announced today by Defra.
Photo by Aphid Twix, source Flikr.
Water Voles have been threatened due to habitat loss and predation by American mink. Back in 1990 there were seven million water voles in the UK. By 1998 numbers had crashed to less than a million and they have since continued to fall.
I am delighted to hear that ‘Ratty’ is finally being provided the legal support to be protected. In addition to the new proposal, all across the UK organisations such as the Wildlife Trust are embarking on river restoration projects which will help to create suitable habitats for water voles and other threatened riparian mammals such as Otters. Projects include the Trent Holmes in Nottinghamshire, the Itchen Navigation in Hampshire, River Eden in Cumbria.
When I received details about this event in Nottingam the organiser said “The name of the event is ‘Smarter than Yeast?’ Check out the dictionary definition of yeast and let’s hope we can prove we are!”
‘Smarter than Yeast’ is a day of fun and education for people in Nottingham who are concerned about environmental issues taking place on Sunday 3rd February, 2.00pm – 10.30pm at The Art Organisation, 21 Station Street, Nottingham, NG2 3AJ
From 2pm to 6pm there will be:
A free shop – Take home some new (to you!) clothes
V3 Power- Learn about renewable technology and hand built wind turbines
Still Within- Find out about permaculture
From 6pm to 10.30pm there will be:
Peak Oil Talk – by local Ecological Economist Brian Davey
Plus – Eco Poetry, Collaborative Art, Live Music & Veggie Food
If you would like to showcase your group or share skills at this event contact Hannah or May at maisiebate@hotmail.com.
“How vulnerable is your business or organisation as the oil price continues to rise?”
The workshop being organised by the Nottingham Fuel Depletion Analysis Group which is working with Transition Nottingham, the Nottingham Energy Partnership and the Nottingham University Business School.
The Venue: University of Nottingham – Jubilee Campus, off Wollaton Road, B2 Business School South.
Date and Time: 2.00pm – 4.00pm Tuesday 8th January 2008
The event is free but places are limited and booking is recommended. Please e mail Brian.Davey@cooptel.net
“How do community gardens and agriculture adapt to peak oil & climate change?”
Peak oil will present many different challenges in the coming years but will also offer several opportunities for local growers. A need for localised markets will make community gardens a vital part of the city economy but will we be able to cope with our new found demand?
The Venue: The Arts organisation, Station Street, Nottingham.
Date and Time: Saturday 12th January 2008
Please email info@transitionnottingham.org.uk to book a space. The event is free but donations are welcome
This Hybrid School Bus story isn’t a new one but I just found out about it and thought I would share anyway.
Over in the US they have taken a huge step forward with school transport. The programme, led by the non-profit organisation Advanced Energy, is planned to revolutionise the school bus market. Starting with 19 hybrid buses in several states this year and the most recent going to Texas the programme will eventually be rolled out country-wide.
The buses are primarily run on diesel and also have an electric motor. The ‘plug in’ technology that they use means the batteries can be re-charged overnight and therefore more energy taken from them whilst the bus is being driven. Electricity is relatively inexpensive so as well as creating less pollution they can, in the long term, save money for schools too. If the buses were charged on renewable energy then they would be even greener!
For a more detailed explanation of how it all works visit the technical pages of the Hybrid School Bus website.
Learning about these school buses got me thinking about public transport in general. Here in Nottingham a car park, which was demolished in January 2006 and re-built, recently opened in the middle of the city. The lovely people of Nottingham had lived without the car park for nearly two years and nothing disastrous happened so I can’t help but ask why bother re-building it at all? The Nottingham City Council website boasts that the new Trinity Car Park has 120 more spaces than the old one, a special shopper tariff and “high lighting standards”. Surely this is encouraging even more visitors to drive right into the heart of the city and I dread to think how much electricity the lighting is going to use!
I think that Nottingham City Council could take the lead from Texas and other participating states and consider spending money on our public transport system instead of new ways to invite more cars. The re-build of Trinity Car Park was part of £100 million development in the city – I wonder how many hybrid City Transport buses could have been commissioned for the same price…
Nottingham Bus image is from FreeFoto.com
……… the Sustrans Connect 2 project! Which will create and connect more cycling and walking networks in the UK.
Personal reaction to the results
Although I am very disappointed that the Sherwood: Living Legend project did not win (as I live in Nottinghamshire and was helping to promote the bid as reported in the post titled (Vote for Sherwood Forest) I am delighted that the winning project will help to provide resources for a stronger sustainable transport network.
As a cyclist (though been naughty and caught the bus to work the last few months) it is great the see that the Sustrans Connect 2 project will improve local travel in 79 communities by creating new walking and cycling routes for the local journeys we all make every day.
Building Bridges
According to the Sustrans website the project will involve building bridges and crossings over busy roads, rivers and railway lines, resulting sustainably getting people to the places they want to go. Each crossing will link to a network of walking and cycling routes, taking you to your schools, shops, work and green spaces.
In addition to the £50 million of lottery funding, Sustrans have also secured £100 million of funding from the local government. Wow, they have a lot of money to build new bridges. I hope that in addition to connecting these new cycle routes they will also be embarking on a creative and wide marketing campaign encouraging people to use these new cycling and walking paths. If they don’t and the routes are only used by the existing cyclists then it’s not really going to help create a greener and healthier UK, as in order for such new resources to be effective you have to encourage people to use them. The project will be completed over five years and I will keep you updated about their progress.
Don’t forget Sherwood Forest
Whilst the media may end up concentrating on the winning project, it’s important that the public does not forget and also considers the funding requirements of the three projects that did not win the £50m – especially Sherwood Forest!
Without such significant funding, Sherwood Forest could potentially become a complete shadow of the past. The ancient and historic forest is all ready fragmented and suffering due to industrialization. It really needs significant funding and hard work to restore it to its former glory.
Restoring Sherwood’s Ancients Heathlands
I truthfully do not know what the other project partners will be doing to raise money for the areas of Sherwood Forest that they manage or support, however at Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust we will be embarking on a fundraising appeal in 2008 to raise over £350,000 to restore some of Sherwood Forest’s Ancient heathlands. The project will involve undertaking important practical conservation work at two nature reserves (Rainworth and Strawberry Hill Heath) both of which formed part of the original Sherwood Forest. 
Historically, the majority of Sherwood Forest was heathland, not dense oak woodland as many people believe. What’s left of this habitat in the UK represents one fifth of the entire world’s lowland heathland resource, making it extremely important both locally and internationally that remaining heath is properly cared for and that new areas are created to conserve this cherished landscape.
Appeal for funding
Whilst I have tried to limit how many funding appeals that I do via GGG (only cycling to save our seas so far), I am now appealing to GGG readers for your help to support the Restoring Sherwood Forests Ancient Heathlands project.
Thank you
