Evening Constitutional September 16, 2008
Posted by jsquires in : Uncategorized , add a commentThere will be a General Meeting on 29th September, 7 pm in the Bridge Centre, Haddington, to approve (hopefully!) the Constitution for the Steering Group. The purpose of the Steering Group will be to work towards setting up Sustainable Haddington as a company limited by guarantee and a register it as a charity. Constituting the Steering Group formally will also allow us to open a bank account so we can receive and spend money while we are taking Sustainable Haddington through the registration process at Companies House and OSCR.
To constitute the Steering Group, we will need to elect office bearers including a Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, so if you would like to nominate yourself or anyone else for any of these posts, this is your chance.
02 Energy Saver Project September 11, 2008
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O2 Energy Saver Project
We are delighted that O2 have chosen us for their energy saver project. We will be organising a meeting of everyone involved at the end of September, surveying the properties should start in October, and the work should be done by November…so a lower fuel bills and warmer homes on the way before winter really sets in. And our first step towards reducing our carbon emissions!
29 July Meeting July 25, 2008
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We discussed the Haddington Bag (known to its friends as the Hadbag), and the O2/Energy Saving Trust Community Insultation project, as well as possible ideas for fundraising. We decided to try and put in an application for the Energy Saver Project, despite the tight deadline. Following the meeting, Jean put out about 40 leaflets round the Victoria Park/Princess Mary Road area, and also put an item in East Lothian Council’s Email Alert. 13 households responded, and luckily there were enough in the categories asked for by 02 so that we could include all of those who weren’t. Frustating that the timescale was so tight though. The application was duly sent off, so fingers crossed, and we should hear by mid-August.
The Hadbag project is gaining momentum - a separate meeting was held about the bag on 4 August. Elisa is approaching suppliers for costings, and Abbie is looking into various sources of funding. All of us are racking our brains for local graphic artists to design the bag. We are aiming to have this ready by Christmas, but the word from North Berwick is that if they could give one piece of advice it is don’t expect the ship to arrive when it’s meant to. So, maybe not, then.
The next meeting is at 7.00, Monday 25 August, Bridge Centre. All welcome, biscuits, coffee, comfortable chair…
Decision Meeting 24 June 7.30 Bridge Centre June 21, 2008
Posted by jsquires in : Uncategorized , add a commentThe next meeting of Sustaining Haddington will be at the Bridge Centre on Tuesday 24th June. At this meeting we hope to decide on some positive action we can take over the summer. Hopefully this will be where we go from Climate Change Discussion to Climate Change Action.
Anyone is welcome to come along, but it would be helpful if you have had a think about what you would like to get out of this, and what might be worth doing as a community rather than as individuals, or things that only government could do. If you would like some ideas to mull over, there is a file on the Yahoo discussion group site, or phone Jean on 01620 823966 and she will get a copy to you.
Haddington Communities Day June 21, 2008
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For the stall at Haddington Communities Day we made a display showing the food miles of various bits of fruit and veg. It was a strange experience going round Tesco’s deliberately buying things that had come a long way! The potatoes were particularly surprising - there were some from Aberlady, about 5 miles away, some from Jersey (470 miles), and some all the way from Israel (2500 miles). Another surprise were the onions - despite UK onions coming into season, it is still possible to buy ones from Argentina - 7500 miles distant.
Of course it’s not always clear cut - because of methods of production you may be better from a CO2 point of view buying say butter from a long way away that has been made from cows that can stay outside all the time and don’t need to eat anything but grass. But generally speaking, it surely is not a good idea to bring food from the other side of the world when we are surrounded by prime agricultural land here in East Lothian. The idea of the stall was to get people to think - food production and distribution is a large part of our carbon footprint because eating is something you have to do such a lot of. If we are going to move to a sustainable lifestyle, that means aiming for eating local, seasonal, organic produce, as well less meat generally.
Penguins Against Climate Change also put in an appearance at the stall. Their numbers were boosted by Snowmen for a Cool Planet, worried about their long term job security. They said the Berg they floated down on used to be 2 miles across, though it is now a mere half metre or so, and has been moulded by the action of the sea to look remarkably like an upturned bath tub. Nice to see you again, penguins.
Al Gore Film June 7, 2008
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We showed An Inconvenient Truth as planned in the Bridge Centre - Haddington’s newest film venue. At the start there was a slight high whiny noise from the equipment. “Was it Al Gore?” some wag asked when I mentioned this later. No. Al Gore went carefully through why we should care about climate change in a deep southern drawl.
All in all not a bad turnout, considering the rival festival events, and some new folk have signed up to the newsgroup (hello!) following this. After the film we had a discussion which ranged from what we can do as individuals, to what governments really ought to be doing, with what communities could do in between. One of the things that seemed to make the most impression in the film was the graph at the end where Al Gore shows how much of a cut in CO2 emissions could be made now, in each sector, using existing technology, to make cuts needed. It can be done. All we’ve got to do is - do it, as Al Gore says, person by person, town by town, country by country.
Haddington Festival Stall June 7, 2008
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We did, amazingly considering the timescale, manage to get a stall together for the Haddington Festival. It consisted of several saplings and a wormery, both kindly lent by Haddington Infant School, loads and loads of relevant leaflets, and a flock of penguins protesting against climate change. Apart from some ants escaping from the saplings, it went off more or less without incident. We had to take the stall down on the Monday for an event later on, but decided to risk leaving it up for the children’s Dog Show, despite warnings of chaos from the stall holder next door. Which turned out to be a good call, as captive adults had a good chance to have a look through all the leaflets, especially since most of the stalls had packed up. It was interesting getting to talk to people while manning the stall - sadly couldn’t do as much of this as hoped due to work/children/abundance of cheap (locally baked) cakes.
We ran out of several of the leaflets - the eco-driving one was popular, not surprising with rising fuel prices. The Vegetarian Society ones also went well, and Walks Around Haddington disappeared early on. The penguins, luckily, stayed till the end, surviving both the Dog Show and the unmanned hours. Let’s hope their trip from the Antartic will pay off.
New Website May 11, 2008
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Sustaining Haddington has got a new name for its website. We are now at www.sustaininghaddington.org.uk - actually it will bring you straight back here! But it’s a slightly more memorable name which we thought might help people get in touch.
(Thanks to freedigitalphotos for the picture)
The Inconvenient Truth May 5, 2008
Posted by jsquires in : Uncategorized , add a commentShowing at the Bridge Centre, 7.30 pm, 27 May 2008
The vast majority of the world’s scientists think that our home is heading for ecological catastrophe if we go on heating it like we have been. Al Gore set out to convince the vast majority of the world’s population that we should do something about it. He presents his case in a clinical but passionate manner, with humour and hope. The film charts his journey from idealistic student to his bid for the Presidency of the United States. As the door to the White House closed in front of him, he took up the challenge of awakening the world to the effects of global warming.
The Inconvenient Truth is the result. With predicitons of flood, plague and pestilence, not to mention adverse weather conditions of epic proportions, this really is the scariest movie you are likely to see. And if you thought the effects are something for future generations to worry about - think again.
This film was released in 2006 - and 2007 did feel like the year politicians started ‘getting it’. Coincidence?
Following the film will be a discussion on what we could do here in Haddington to reduce carbon emissions. You are welcome to stay for this if you would like, or just come along for the film and see what all the fuss was about.
For more information on The Inconvenient Truth, see Wikipedia
Next Steps April 23, 2008
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Many thanks to Lorraine MacCauley from SEAD for coming out to Haddington to run the climate change workshop. Thanks also to everyone who came out. Lorraine had us think about the causes of climate change, and what is already happening because of it. A short film, The Story of Stuff, gave one American’s take on the problems of consumption - including the shocking fact that of all the material that moves through the American system to create consumables, only 1% is still in use after 6 months. Horrendous. She also had some case studies of what other communities are doing, some of which might be possible in Haddington.
The best thing to come out of the workshop though was the opportunity to meet other people interested in doing something to make Haddington more sustainable. To move this on, we are setting up a Yahoo newsgroup - details will be posted here as soon its ready. Through this newsgroup, and phoning those not on email, we will discuss what is the best thing to do next. If you have any ideas in the meantime, just click on ‘add a comment’ above.
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