This month we are teaming up with Hereford City Partnership to put on a Halloween extravaganza in High Town… This is the opportunity you’ve all been waiting for to dress as a zombie (c2050 climate casualty?! Or is that too doomy?) and stagger into High Town…! or you could just come as a Spook of course.

There will be jazz bands, face painting, and children’s games going on in High Town from 11am onwards. Or you could come and join the Climate Action Carnival Zombie Samba Band: no experience needed, just join zombie master Bym Welthy for a free workshop outside the Shire hall from 11.00 – 12.00. The samba band will lead the amassed Halloween procession just after noon… (costumes optional… really!)

Then from 1 – 3pm at the Shire Hall we will have an inspiring short film to get you all thinking (tbc – watch this space!), followed by a Q&A session with a panel of local experts looking at how we can each make a difference to our home energy consumption.

Bring along your questions: anything from how to sort out your home insulation issues to how to set up a local community energy scheme!

For more info see: www.climateactioncarnivalhereford.info

We have a whole day of climate related thought-provocation for you! Debates & speakers at the Town Hall, workshops, films & stalls at the Shire Hall, poetry readings in the Black & White House (High Town), and a massed all-comers singing event at the Shire Hall at 3.50pm… a day to dive into! For more information about the 350 day, see http://hereford350.wordpress.com/

The lobby of parliament organised by the Climate Change Coalition a few days before the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen.

Coach leaves Main Road Gedling (Main Line Travel) at 6.30 am and Maid Marion Way (lay by – Salution Inn) at 6.45 am Returning from London at 4 pm. Cost £12 – Unwaged £9 PLEASE WEAR BLUE

For tickets contact:
Phil Barlow 12 Pierrepont Av Gedling Nottingham NG4 3NG asap PLEASE
Further details – Tel 0115 9526488       philipbarlow@hotmail.co.uk

There are lots of events being organised for the International Day of Climate Action in Stafford…

Events being held in the Market Square in Stafford include:

• Building a pledge tree out of recycled materials to post personal pledges on
• Guest speakers
• Dancers and music
• Postcards of demands for the talks in Copenhagen

24 October 2009 – 10:00am – 2:00pm

Join us in High Town for poetry, performance, & a free samba drumming workshop!! the fabulous Bym is back!! don’t miss this opportunity to drum those samba rhythms.

Join the Carnival around High Town 12—1pm.. come in colours / costumes / with friends / family .. come and have some fun.

Then come along to the Shire Hall for some foodie related serious stuff:
1.00 – 1.45pm: “The Agricultural Rebel” – Entry is free for the first Hereford showing of this inspirational film about Permaculture in the Saltzburg Alps.
1.50 – 2.40pm: Hereford’s very own Gardener’s Question Time!! Bring along your Grow-Your-Own and local food supply questions for our panel of local experts.

We will have hot drinks available for you, lots of information about local & national groups & campaigns, an opportunity to network, share ideas thoughts, stories, gossip… And of course we’ll have those vital Climate Action Carnival Postcards which you can send off to your MP, PM and other elected worthies to let them know that we want them to be making climate canny changes in their policies.

Come and join the samba! See you there, 11am onwards…

For more information: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=143329487040

When: The Low Carbon Communities Conference is on Saturday 19^th September 2009.

Where: The Lakeside Conference Centre, Aston University, Birmingham: http://www.abs.aston.ac.uk/conferenceaston/the_venues/lakeside_centre.asp

How to get there: Nearest railway station is Birmingham New St. There is NO PARKING on campus. Directions and parking information can be downloaded from here

The walk from New St to Aston takes approx 10 mins. Disabled parking and cycle racks are available on campus.

Where to Stay: Accommodation is available on campus at competitive rates to all delegates, please call the Conference Aston  team for details: 0121 204 3726

How much does it cost: £20.00 for existing members, £40.00 for new members and non members (existing members applies to those who joined before 30^th June 2009). If you require an invoice, please write this on your form and return by email to membership@lowcarboncommnities.net

Cheques should be sent with your application made payable to LCCN.

Booking confirmations: All bookings from existing members will be honoured. Non members and new member conference bookings will be confirmed by 7^th September.

Refreshments: Hot and cold drinks will be available throughout the day, a sandwich lunch is provided. All special meal requirements MUST be recorded on the booking form.

Help with costs: All delegates are invited to apply to EST’s Green Communities Fund for assistance with fees, travel and accommodation. For details email greencommunities@est.org.uk

Speakers and Presentations: Confirmed speakers and presenters Include: Ed Gillespie (Futerra Sustainability Communications), Chris Church (London LCCN), Ashok Sinha (Stop Climate Chaos), Siobhan Mellon (Cambridge Carbon Footprint), Penney Poyzer (LCCN Patron), Mark Lynas (LCCN Patron), EST Green Communities and many LCCN members including Climate Durham, the OMNI Group and Resource Futures, Oxford (final programme  with times of all sessions and all workshops will be available  1 week before the conference).

Times: Welcoming Address by Pro Vice Chancellor of Aston University at 10.30am, coffee and registration open from 9.30am. Finish: 4.30pm with time for coffee and networking to follow.

Display and exhibition space: If you have not booked your display space in the exhibition area please do so before 7^th September. Exhibition space is free to existing LCCN members

http://lowcarboncommunities.net/2008-conference/members-conference-2009/

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Climate &  Justice

Friday 18th September, 6 – 8pm at Aston University, Main Building Rm 644

In December 2009, Our Future will be decided at the 15th Conference on Climate Change, in Copenhagen.

‘The ambition of the Danish government is that the COP15 conference in Copenhagen will result in an ambitious global agreement incorporating all the countries of the world.’

- http://en.cop15.dk/climate+facts

What do we really understand about what is going on?
How can it mean something to us in our everyday lives?
How we act, affects others!
Come along and hear about…

- Climate & Justice

For more information or to register your interest, please email maud[AT]birminghamfoe.org.uk

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The United Nations Climate talks in December in Copenhagen are critical and we need to show the policy makers how angry we are and that we need to do very big things very fast. This is a Public Meeting arranged by theDerby-Copenhagen Steering Group. Come together to prepare for ‘The Wave’ the biggest Climate March ever in London, on December 5th.

Rally at 7 pm supported by Derby Campaign against Climate Change, Derby Transition Town, Oxfam, E-midland co-op, and other organisations.Free event Refreshments provided.

Location:
Central United Reformed Church
Corner of Victoria St and Becketwell Lane
Derby, DE1 1JW

Speakers:

• Ashok Sinha (SCC)
• Lizzie Gawen – Leader of the UKYCC Delegation to Copenhagen, studying at the University of Derby
• Elaine Graham-Leigh – National Campaign Against Climate Change
• Hilary Jones (tbc) – Leader of Derby City Council

Chair:

• Peter Robinson – Derby Campaign Against Climate Change

SPANNER FILMS AND ALL SAINTS SOCIAL JUSTICE ACTION GROUP AND BIRMINGHAM FOE PROUDLY PRESENT

The Age Of Stupid

SATURDAY, 3RD OCTOBER: 10.00, 12.00, 14.00, 16.00, 18.00 AND 20.00.
ENTRANCE IS FREE, BUT DONATIONS TO HELP COVER OUR COSTS WILL BE WELCOME.
Email maud@birminghamfoe.org.uk for more info

More information about The Wave available on the day!!

Location: ALL SAINTS CHURCH HALL, 2 VICARAGE RD, KINGS HEATH, BIRMINGHAM, B14 7RA

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Moseley folk festival is a great three day festival held in Birmingham every year. This year Birmingham Friends of the Earth are stewarding and holding a stall so if you are at the festival head over to the BFOE stall to find out about their campaigns and The Wave.

Check out Oxjam in Nottingham and head to the Oxfam Outreach stall to find out about what Oxfam are up to in the Midlands, including promoting The Wave!!

A celebration and evolution of the ideas of Small is Beautifulin a weekend summer festival in the grounds of The Schumacher Centre for Technology and Development, Practical Action’s Warwickshire headquarters.

Inspiration and exchange on questions of international development and the planet. A varied programme of debates, workshops, learning and exchanges structured around the following themes is planned:

Small is… Economic

Small is…Appropriate

Small is… Political

Small is… Personal

Tickets are very cheap and being snapped up at http://practicalaction.org/?id=climatechange_smallis

For the celebration of her daughter’s 5th Birthday, Hayley Nielsen is holding a picnic in Hubbard Hills,  near Louth.  She hopes to highlight how  Climate Change will impact the younger generation.

Come along and be one of the many local community members to flood Hubbards Hills with a sea of blue representing the rivers, lakes, oceans and people that are all under threat from dangerous climate change!

“Time is running out to keep us safe from climate change, and blue is the colour that will bring us together in a rising tide that will help make things right. We will make waves that Government cannot ignore and put a stop to rising sea levels, spiralling temperatures and global injustice.”

- Hayley Nielsen

A petition will also be available to sign on the day, and hopefully also signed by Lincolnshire’s local MPs;  MPs Austin Mitchell, Edward Leigh, Peter Tapsell, Mark Simmonds, Gillian Merron and Shona McIsaac have all been invited to the picnic.

So, if you’re from the area, come along in Blue!, bring blue goodies,  and be part of it. Register your support for the urgent political action that must be taken to protect people and the planet.

Oxfam Outreach held an SCC  stall at Birmingham University student run Vale Festival. One of the headlining bands also promoted SCC through wearing all blue!!

A group of us here in Bradford are planning to cycle to London for the march on 5th December.  We’re planning to take a week off work, starting on Monday 30th November, stopping for a night each in Sheffield, Nottingham, Peterborough, Cambridge, and ending up in Walthamstow on Friday 4th December:

Bradford (30/11) → Sheffield (1/12) → Nottingham (2/12) → Peterborough (3/12) → Cambridge (4/12) → Walthamstow , London → The Wave

Our intention is to find people who can put us up in each stop off place, and also to hopefully hold a networking and awareness raising event in each town, maybe involving a screening of Age of Stupid, which is the film that motivated us to do this in the first place.

At present we are about 10 people, but it is our hope that more people might want to join us along the way – maybe just for one leg of the journey, or maybe even join us and then stay with us until we get to London. Even better would be if people who live nowhere near our route might be inspired to set up their own Climate Chains ride from their own town/city into London. Wouldn’t it be great if there were numerous groups of Climate Chains all converging on London during that week!

We need:

• participants in the ride
• finding bed or floor space for each night,
• places to store our bicycles,
• fodder (in return for donations?),
• people to help put on events in the cities we stop at,
• help with publicity

We may need a bit of organisational or individual sponsorship, but apart from the above mentioned things, we don’t really need a lot of money, and we certainly don’t want to raise any more money than we actually need to use.

We have a blog which we will update at various times between now and December with key info, and we hope to be able to update it along our route as well. And of course, if other groups are inspired to do a similar thing, we can include their info on there too.. The blog (including a link to our Google Group) is at this page:

http://climatechains.blogspot.com/

Here’s a powerful video from  Climate Change Day of Action march against the E.oN headquarters in Coventry.

Organised by Christian Aid, over 1,000 marchers carried 10 black coffins through the city streets in mourning for the people of Africa, Asia and South America who have lost their lives in floods and droughts brought by climate change. Led by an undertaker and backed by an eerie New Orleans-style jazz band the funeral procession, which included leading NASA climate expert James Hansen and Hollywood actress Greta Scacchi demanded that the giant energy utility cancel its plans to build the UK’s first coal-fired power station for 30 years at Kingsnorth in Kent.

Later the marchers flooded into Coventry Cathedral for a special service which heard both scientific and theological appraisals of the crisis from Professor Hansen and Bishop of Liverpool James Jones.

Dr Hansen, who heads New York’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said: “Science has revealed we have a crisis, a planetary emergency.

“Humans have set in motion a process of climate disruption that, if not interrupted, threatens the very existence of many species on our planet as well as many members of our own species.

“We cannot burn fossil fuels without creating for our children, grandchildren and the unborn a far more desolate planet than the one we inherited.”