Shaftesbury 2030 - following up the event held in May; Shaftesbury School studies the Future; Other news in brief; event & web-links |
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May's event created an impact and has been described as 'EPIC'! This month we discussed how we can follow it. |
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ONE: Prepare to handle questions about sustainable lifestyle changes To support people who want to make sustainable lifestyle choices, we need to know what sort of questions might arise and then find ways to make relevant information and advice available. A compact, engaging display at the Library will prompt questions about Home energy; Travel; Food; Waste; Food waste; Gardening for wildlife, and more. September's monthly meeting will consider how, when and where we can make helpful information accessible. Get involved in a fun day designing and producing the display. Show some of the things people can do in response to global challenges and seek information about the questions local people will have as they choose to make lifestyle changes. Our A5 leaflet could be expanded and we can use the backdrop developed for the stall at the Gillingham & Shaftesbury Show as an additional provocation. A working group will come together one day between 1st & 13th August to design and produce a 'table top' display plus poster for our exhibition in the Library between 12-17th September. Should be fun - please join in! Date will depend on what suits the most people - use this link to say when you're available. |
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TWO: Promote autumn events to keep the Shaftesbury 2030 conversation flowing Events already lined up include a talk about artificial lighting and its impact on biodiversity, a workshop on an electric car club or rental service, and local participation in Dorset's open greener homes event (1st-9th October). Additional ideas are being explored: a guided walk with potential for collecting flower or tree seeds; an art project; cooking sessions with a focus on low-cost & no meat; a film show (possibly 'Kiss the Ground'); an information stall. Further sustainability events can be promoted as part of this package: test your ideas at an online meeting or email details to planetshaftesbury@gmail.com. The town hall has been reserved for Sept 22nd, 29th & Oct 6th and our publicity will make the link to Great Big Green Week which runs from 24th Sept to 2nd Oct. Offers of help welcome. Save the dates! Of course some of the ideas above, as well as new ideas, will lead to events later in the year or into 2023: use any meeting to test ideas, seek support, or choose a convenient date. |
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THREE: Engage & collaborate with others Keep the conversation going to arrive at a vision for Shaftesbury by 2030. Keep looking for ways of enabling greater sustainability to emerge. We're continuing and seek to extend the collaboration with Shaftesbury School (see more below), we're maintaining a town centre noticeboard in Swan's Yard, and some of us are liaising with the town council on relevant projects. We can all draw on Dorset's Climate Action Network for expertise and inspiration from slightly wider afield. The scope of our projects continues to grow: not only is the monthly vintage and eco market (1st Sundays) providing a supportive setting for a repair cafe but also an exciting new initiative has been introduced by Florence Mudoti who first joined us at the school event. Florence is connected with other Shaftesbury families who have relatives in Africa, many living in villages where local people want to respond to climate change by tree planting but do not have the spare resources to do so. Florence will arrange to twin interested families here with families in Africa so that we can support them to plant trees; Florence described the potential connections as being like 'having a pen friend in the global south'. The project will appear on the website shortly along with details of how to join in. |
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The Future Series at Shaftesbury School Alex More leads Shaftesbury School's award-winning STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, maths) programme and the 'future classroom'. He was our main point of contact (and a source of inspiration) for the Shaftesbury 2030:Choosing our future event. Alex proposes to host a series of student events in the next academic year and wants to hear from additional people with relevant expertise to lead or support a workshop. The sessions (with dates) are: Future of Space (19/10) , Future of Food (07/12), Future of the Planet - Looking Forward 2 (11/01), Future of Music (08/03), Future of Fashion (10/05).
In May, several participants in our Planet Shaftesbury network enjoyed supporting workshops at the first Looking Forward event. There are opportunities for new people to step in for the next academic year. If interested please make offers to Alex (Alex.MORE@shaftesburyschool.co.uk), or to be put in touch with one of this year's workshop leaders for a chat please email planetshaftesbury@gmail.com.
Extended collaboration with local schools could seek to involve some of a wider group of students (primary school, boarders, groups not signed up to STEAM projects). We need an additional one or two enthusiasts for this to volunteer to help us build on the progress made to date. |
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Nurturing nature Big Butterfly Count: organised by Butterfly Conservation. It asks us all to take 15 minutes to identify and record the butterflies we spot. Join in any time up to Sunday 7th August. Details including help with identification through the weblink provided below. Hedgehogs (and young trees) need water: Please put water out for hedgehogs, or if you have a pond make sure there's a ramp for hogs tempted to drink there to get out safely. |
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Updates from across the Dorset Climate Action Network (D-CAN) Dorset 2030, the report and project being pursued by Zero Carbon Dorset, continues to offer inspiring information and ideas. Details of monthly online presentations are included on our website with the next session having a focus on Travel. Energy Security was the topic of a recent meeting hosted by D-CAN. The speakers offered different perspectives on balancing supply and demand as the UK aims to reach net zero by 2050. One speaker was Chris Goodall, author of What We Need To Do Now, who spoke in Shaftesbury just before the pandemic. Chris focused on the need to enable individual ordinary households to reduce their energy use and costs at this time. He mentioned The Heating Hub, an independent company that offers free and low-cost advice on fuel-efficient heating systems. Chris explained that, at installation, many gas condensing combi boilers are not set up to operate with maximum efficiency. However, the adjustments needed are very simple and lead to savings in gas used and energy bills of around 5-10%. Web links below. Gillingham & Shaftesbury Show on August 17th provides an opportunity to engage with families having a day out. This year local green groups are sharing a stand with Dorset Climate Action Network. Key themes are hedgerows, energy-saving measures for the home, information for the curious and activities to engage children. To join the rota or offer materials for the stall please contact the coordinator, jennymorisetti@hotmail.com Great Big Dorset Hedge: project volunteers have started to gather information about the extent and condition of hedgerows along the Jubilee Trail, developing their approach to mapping the potential network of new and conserved hedgerows along east-west and north-south long distance walking routes. They aim to offer 'recorder training sessions' in nearby villages when the project is formally launched, possibly in National Hedgerow Week (17-25th September). The next two online meetings of the group will be 4th August and 8th September: email Julie to receive invites and updates (julie.leah150@gmail.com) Dorset Greener Homes: we're seeking additional local hosts. Ideally, we'll have examples of a cross section of local home styles. Hosts must be happy to talk about their experiences (could be outside) but don't need to be expert. The event provides an opportunity for ordinary people to have conversations about any of these aspects of aiming to live more sustainably: home heating, insulation, natural & artificial lighting, growing food, local travel, gardening for wildlife, reducing waste, conserving water, d-i-y adaptations, renewable energy installation etc. Email Rachel (rachel.bodle@gmail.com) |
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Other local news - in brief A Small Farm Future: following the enjoyable session when Chris Smaje was in conversation with ffinlo Costain earlier this year, ffinlo has recorded a podcast with him. ffinlo says many governments see farm expansion as the future of agriculture, but there's a grave risk that this will simply embed the challenges inherent in today's food system. Instead we need diversity - and small farms play a critical role. Link to podcast below. Chase & Chalke Landscape Partnership is seeking volunteers of all ages to become Biological Recorders and Conservation Volunteers. There'll be summer workshops and on the ground training provided so that volunteers can survey species and habitats and enhance the biodiversity of the landscape. Sign up link is below. Protest to save an ancient tree: on Sunday 31st July from 11.30am local XR activists are highlighting the risk to the last ancient oak on the route of Sparkford A303 road widening scheme in Somerset. There will be music from Seize the Day, talks on ancient trees, trainings and samba practice & performance. We're invited to bring placards and banners, a picnic and a love of nature. More details from xrsouthsomersetaction@protonmail.com Recycle your old phones, tablets & laptops for refugee families: a recent Forum post on the website provides more details of an arrangement established by Shaftesbury Refugee Group. Shaftesbury drop-off point for IT to be recycled this way is Coconut & Cotton in Swans Yard. Link below gives details of other drop-off points. |
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National updates Climate briefings: Around 70 MPs and Peers attended an online briefing on the current state of the climate and ecological emergency from Professor Sir Patrick Vallance and other expert scientists. The sessions were recorded and are available to us all. An authoritative source to share with others? Link below. Big Plastic Count: this recent survey by Greenpeace revealed that UK households throw away almost 100 billion pieces of plastic every year and only 12% of this is recycled in the UK. Full comment and video on the Greenpeace UK website. Well-being: Ro Randall is a trained psychotherapist who researches, writes and blogs about climate change. She was one of the originators of Carbon Conversations in 2006, a structured small group process for helping individuals to tackle the practicalities of reducing their carbon footprint whilst taking account of the emotions and social pressures that make this difficult. She is now working on a successor to this programme, to be called Living with the Climate Crisis, currently being piloted. Meanwhile, checkout her series of short videos on living with aspects of the climate crisis. Link below. |
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The next monthly newsletter will appear in the week following August's 3rd Thursday monthly meeting. If you have news to share please send it to planetshaftesbury@gmail.com |
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