Inspiration from Take the Jump; Summer activities & plans; Support is growing for Dorset COP; Exciting local food projects; Shaftesbury Orchard Town; Shared transport; Regenerative economy; Other news & campaigns in brief |
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Take the JUMP promotes six lifestyle shifts to people who are comfortably off - affecting diet, travel, dress, clutter, holidays and influence - and moving towards a more equitable climate impact. Those of us at July's meeting with one of their team (Magsy, who joined us online) were inspired by their approach. Key principles were: to make change easier for people not to win arguments; and to show that trying the shifts can bring joy to our lives. Afterwards we reflected on what we might do differently in our own lives and on occasions where we want to interact with the wider public. # We recognised that being non-judgemental is both critically important AND challenging. # Our local connections offer opportunities: we could make a difference through schools, market stalls or 'pop-ups'. # There are already many local projects that illustrate the fun to be had in making sustainable choices. We resolved to make more time to discuss how we might take this forward. |
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NOTE there will be no Planet Shaftesbury meeting at the town hall during August Next meeting: Thursday 21st September, 7.30pm, Shaftesbury Town Hall This will be an opportunity to hear about and discuss local activities and events. Depending on who's able to be there, we can follow up on Take the Jump, hear from those who've contributed to the Sustainable Shaftesbury Plan or participated in Dorset's COP (Sept 9th, see below), find out about local venues joining Greener Open Homes at the end of September, and catch up with individual and group activities across our network. Open to all and a good meeting for first-timers to come to. Topics for autumn meetings: the meetings in October (19th) and November (16th) are likely to feature herbalist Julie Wood talking about Green Medicine, including plant-based pain killers, and marine expert Jocelyn Elson-Riggins presenting information about ocean ecology and the issues raised by international consideration of deep sea mining. For a short video on the risks of deep sea mining (16mins) see link below. If you want to arrange a speaker (or film or panel discussion) for a subsequent winter meeting please let Rachel know, Rachel.Bodle@gmail.com |
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Dorset COP: Saturday 9th September 2023, Dorchester Corn Exchange. This innovative day of stimulating talks, workshops and more has attracted support from both Chris Packham and Dorset Council. There are a few places left - open to individuals or representatives of a group. If you are interested find out more and register using the link below. If you'd like to lift share from Shaftesbury please email planetshaftesbury@gmail.com. |
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Food Resilience in Dorset - the Next Step: Following July's online discussion of local food resilience, the Dorset Climate Action network is seeking to find out if there is sufficient interest and support countywide to make sense of Dorset applying to become a member of Sustainable Food Places (a partnership programme led by the Soil Association, Food Matters and Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming). If you are interested in being involved at any level or finding out more about it, please attend this online meeting. Sustainable Food Places: Who are they? Should Dorset become a member? Wednesday 30th August, 5.00-6.45pm Alex Ward from Sustainable Food Places will be there to answer any questions. More background information and the meeting link are included in a recent post on the website - use button below and click through to the Forum. Sustainable Shaftesbury - Food Action Plan: Sam Joshi is a participant in the Sustainable Shaftesbury working group who is starting to shape a food action plan for the town. He's already in touch with Shaftesbury Homegrown as he explores the feasibility of establishing a dedicated marketplace to champion local farmers, producers and retailers, where people can access local food as a sustainable substitute to the established supermarkets. He's also seeking to incorporate education about sustainable food into special sessions during the next academic year at Shaftesbury School. He's keen to connect with others, especially if able to suggest speakers or share past experiences. sam.joshi.8888@gmail.com |
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Shaftesbury Orchard Town Joe Hashman writes: "In 2008 we started growing dozens of apple seedlings which germinated from within the mash left over from cider making at Apple Day at the Donkey Field Community Orchard in Enmore Green the year before. Just under ten years later these seedlings had become small trees and a few began to produce apples. Every year subsequently, more and more give us fruit. Every apple tree grown from seed is genetically unique. As such, we don’t know how vigorous they are or what size they’ll be when full grown. The edible or drinkable virtues of their apples is also a mystery. So as each tree starts to bear, we taste-test. Some have proved good enough to get excited about, some might be best left for the birds. These are the ‘Shaston’ apples - locally grown, locally propagated, locally distinctive. Further propagation is done by grafting. Simply put, grafting means we can increase numbers of the apples which we want and we can control their vigour and eventual size. This means we can grow useful Shaston apple trees to suit any location, from patio pot to gardens small and large, parks, open fields and along hedgerows. Imagine an orchard integral to the footprint of our town, spreading up, around and over. Would you like to plant an apple tree to develop this orchard? Are you a chef or cider maker who could experiment with the different seedling fruits so we can discover which ones make the best cookers, drinkers, or both? Does growing and grafting trees excite you, and you’d like to do more? Please get in touch." contact Joe at joekenhash@gmail.com or 07395 954579 |
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Shared Transport Mixed news: Co-Cars, an electric bike and car-sharing social enterprise company in Devon & Cornwall has collapsed. They stopped trading on 14th July mentioning a range of issues including fuel prices and vandalism. Devon County Council is looking for ways of ensuring that car clubs and bike hire schemes remain part of their local integrated transport offer. Meanwhile CoMoUK, the charity that supports shared transport, has just published an assessment of UK car club membership in 2022. Total members (more than 750 thousand) were more than double the number (just over 350 thousand) in 2019 (the last year for which figures were collated). There's a link to their annual report below. Dorset Council hosted the first BUS (Bus User & Stakeholder) meeting online in June. It included an annual review of their bus service improvement plan (link below) and an extensive discussion with Q&A. Planet Shaftesbury was invited and received notes of the meeting. Anyone interested in seeing the notes or receiving details of the next meeting - to be held in Autumn - please email planetshaftesbury@gamil.com |
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Regenerative Economy The 'Circular Economy' concept underpins the development of environmental resilience, an integral part of the emerging Sustainable Shaftesbury plan (bring questions about progress on the plan to September's meeting). For those who want to explore further, see link below. Regenerative Economics covers a range of alternative models to mainstream economics, all of which propose ways of putting people and the planet before profit. It was the subject of a 1hr webinar hosted by Schumacher College with Ruth Potts and Jay Tompt last month: available to watch through the link below. Lush Green Hub in Poole (link below) exemplifies circularity and is open for special sessions on Wednesday mornings (10am) and afternoons (2pm) through the summer. £15 per child (adults not admitted without one!). |
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Other events, news & campaigns in brief Dreamscheme is an engaging summer holiday activity for 10-16yr olds. It was run at the start of the summer holidays by volunteers from St Peter's, with help from the Diocese of Salisbury and friends, and included growing and sewing activities with Shaftesbury Homegrown and Hawkers Recreatives respectively. Summer activities: Cranborne Chase AONB, the Wildlife Trusts and the Woodland Trust offer a range of activities for all ages and interests - use the links below. Dorset Climate Action Network: Dorset CAN has given its website a new look. The link below will enable you to see news of recent events and activities, join (its free!) and donate. 50 years of great work! This year is a landmark for both the Centre for Alternative Technology and the Campaign for Better Transport. Links included below. Last but not least! Many thanks to Shaftesbury Town Council who have, for another year, offered us free use of the Town Hall for our monthly meetings. |
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Have a good summer! The timing of the next newsletter will depend on the amount of fresh news to share, but in any case we'll get back to a regular cycle after the September meeting. Please send contributions to planetshaftesbury@gmail.com |
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