a busy day... will update this on Wednesday to report on Carbon Detox and several other events.
It was indeed a busy day, although it had a slightly later start than I expected... Gill walked to school with our youngest before I got up.... nice! She then went on into town by bus and from there up to the other school to deliver something and from there to visit Ashley for lunch... so I had the morning to myself and I did a variety of jobs around the house.
At 1pm I was booked into a seminar at the Biology Department of the University of York, entitled 'How Can We Communicate Climate Change Better?'with George Marshall, who is performing his stand-up comedy 'Carbon Detox' tonight at the Theatre Royal. George has a fascinating and honourable 'history', including being one of the founders of Rising Tide and working for Greenpeace and the Rainforest Foundation, as well as the governments of Papua New Guinea and Germany! Then he joined Climate Outreach and Information Network (COIN) which amongst other things trains people in how to communicate about climate change, helping them with public speaking, interesting ways of getting complicated information over and the like.
So this seminar was packed, and I got a lot out of it, despite it being a one-day training packed into about an hour! We first looked at various messages used by advertising agencies to try to achieve change, and rated them as good or bad. Then looked at various parts of the process, including the message, the messenger, the medium, the audience and the action,all of which have to be considered when trying to get a message across. He showed us several adverts including Don't Mess With Texas and viral videos like Greg Craven (for instance....) and we discussed why they work and why others don't. One of the key factors is 'peer to peer' information... one of the reasons York Rotters has been successful.... people listen to their friends, family and workmates more than to experts or Governments.
That finished shortly before I had to go to school to pick up our youngest, so I went straight from there to school, feeling quite elated and happy. I had taken a load of paper plates from the seminar (there was some nosh available) to put as a carbon-rich layer in the compost bin I manage at school....but when I arrived, the bin I am currently filling had been moved and the contents disposed of, I know not where. I found the empty bin round the back of the school so I went to speak to the school secretary about what had happened. She told me that a Health and Safety person had said that composting wasn't allowed in schools, and had ordered it to be removed. I was furious, but remained polite as the messenger in this case should not be shot (just the H+S idiot). On the way home I was furiously composing a letter in my head to fire off to a number of people, but I couldn't do it immediately as I'd invited Richard around for 4pm so I had a nice chat and a cuppa with him instead.
Soon after he went, to close the shop, I had some tea and then cycled off to the Theatre Royal, stopping by at a friend's who'd asked me to pop in, as she needed to talk to me, and indeed she did have some very sad news to share, very upsetting. What a rollercoaster of a day.... already!
My role at the Theatre was to stand behind a table and sell books... George's Carbon Detox book, and Rob Hopkins' 'Transition Handbook' which is a must for Transitioneers. Gill was due to follow me down there by bus once our lovely babysitter Simon had arrived. She actually arrived about 10 minutes into the show, as the bus was late or something.
So, the long-awaited Carbon Detox stand-up-comedy show. Well, although I'm no a fan of this kind of thing, it was good.... it certainly helped me get my head around the subject just a little more. He has some great analogies and interesting ways of looking at the subject. He suggests that climate change is a bit like a rollercoaster that we're all on... some of us know it and are getting prepared, many others will suddenly wake up at the beginning of the ride and it may very well be scary. I liked his way of describing the average Brit's carbon footprint, using our friend Candy who volunteered, and asking her to take quite big strides across the stage.... two for heating, two and a half for food, various smaller steps for assorted car journeys, 6 strides for a flight to America etc etc, and then taking one and a half steps back for getting renewable electricity, three inches back for unplugging phone chargers and switching off standby buttons, quarter of an inch back for using re-usable bags... a great way to communicate the different impacts of our various behaviours and choices. Nice one George!
I had a cider in the interval, and got a beer for Gill and our friend Sarah, who is moving to Bristol at the weekend. We will miss her, as she is one of the lovliest people we know.
At the end of the show I raced out to get our book sales table ready for the inevitable rush, and George signed copies of his book (and at least one copy of Rob's book, hahaha!) I had a good chat with Verna about the nonsense which has happened at school, and chatted with another of my favourite people, Sam, who had two of her daughters with her.
Right at the end of the evening, George was in a tizzy as he'd lost his bike lock key.... I do hope he managed to find it!
I cycled home, getting in just before 11pm, and then managed to get my thoughts down in a polite email which I sent to the school, the lovely people at Green Thumbs Gang, several city Councillors, the sustainability officer, Verna who is on the board of governors, and others. The school HAS to get itself into the 21st Century and take on board what the Government has said they must do, which is to be a 'Beacon of Excellence in the centre of their community' re Sustainable Development... it's called ESD. (excellent links here) I didn't finish on the computer til nearly 4am.
Showing posts with label Carbon Detox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carbon Detox. Show all posts
Had a mini-lie in... til after 9. But then zoomed into the garden to continue riddling mature compost so I could take some down to the veg shop for distribution. I got just 5 carrier bags worth ready and took them down to Country Fresh, getting some provisions at the same time, and then heading off to St Nicks for their 5th anniversary of the surrounding area being designated a Nature Reserve.
Met Jean Claude my new Chilean friend, who bought my last Carbon Detox ticket off me... that means I've sold 18, not including mine and Gill's. I'm pleased with this. There is now a special deal on at the Theatre Royal, two tickets for the price of one... a 'Buy One, Get One Free' offer! so any folks still thinking about whether to come to see George Marshall's one-man stand up comedy show can now come with a friend for a tenner... see you on Tuesday folks!
The event at St Nicks was good, soup and bread, coffee and good company. Gill and the boys came down, and some of the boys' friends appeared which was a blessing... A photographer took some commemorative pictures and there were speeches from Pat Hearn, chair of the Friends of St Nicks, Barry Potter, chair of York Natural Environment Trust and Andrew Waller, leader of the Council, who just happens to be a trained Rotter and keen composter too!
I didn't have time to go on the new Tree Trail guided walk, as I had to get back home to tidy myself up, get changed, circus stuff packed and cycle off to Osbaldwick to do a party at 3pm. It was, as usual, a good party. The children were on the lively side of average... quite a noisy audience but lots of participation and fun, and the mum commented on my ability to hold their attention. Several of the youngsters said to me afterwards that they wanted to have a Professor Fiddlesticks party, so I told them to tell their parents! Finished on the dot of 5, having had a 55 minute circus show and workshop and 40 minute modelling balloon activity.
Later, at about 11pm, I popped out to retrieve the wood from that skip, quietly. Two cycle trailer loads... excellent!
Answered several composting queries on Facebook, and prepared an interesting fruit leather... about 15 passion fruit which had been rejected by one or other of the shops, plus maybe 15 bananas... liquidised together and pushed through a sieve and the resultant smooth pulp put in a tray for drying on the woodstove. Smells heavenly!
Met Jean Claude my new Chilean friend, who bought my last Carbon Detox ticket off me... that means I've sold 18, not including mine and Gill's. I'm pleased with this. There is now a special deal on at the Theatre Royal, two tickets for the price of one... a 'Buy One, Get One Free' offer! so any folks still thinking about whether to come to see George Marshall's one-man stand up comedy show can now come with a friend for a tenner... see you on Tuesday folks!
The event at St Nicks was good, soup and bread, coffee and good company. Gill and the boys came down, and some of the boys' friends appeared which was a blessing... A photographer took some commemorative pictures and there were speeches from Pat Hearn, chair of the Friends of St Nicks, Barry Potter, chair of York Natural Environment Trust and Andrew Waller, leader of the Council, who just happens to be a trained Rotter and keen composter too!
I didn't have time to go on the new Tree Trail guided walk, as I had to get back home to tidy myself up, get changed, circus stuff packed and cycle off to Osbaldwick to do a party at 3pm. It was, as usual, a good party. The children were on the lively side of average... quite a noisy audience but lots of participation and fun, and the mum commented on my ability to hold their attention. Several of the youngsters said to me afterwards that they wanted to have a Professor Fiddlesticks party, so I told them to tell their parents! Finished on the dot of 5, having had a 55 minute circus show and workshop and 40 minute modelling balloon activity.
On the way home I spotted a skip with some good big chunks of untreated wood in, so I stopped and knocked on the door, and asked if I might later go and retrieve them to recycle them, to which the answer was of course!
Home soon... and needed to collapse as the concentration and unicycling around is hard work, and both my sons were both very cuddly and loving, which was unexpected and very welcome! Watched 'You've Been Framed' and 'Harry Hill's TV Burp' which are definite favourites in this house!Later, at about 11pm, I popped out to retrieve the wood from that skip, quietly. Two cycle trailer loads... excellent!
Answered several composting queries on Facebook, and prepared an interesting fruit leather... about 15 passion fruit which had been rejected by one or other of the shops, plus maybe 15 bananas... liquidised together and pushed through a sieve and the resultant smooth pulp put in a tray for drying on the woodstove. Smells heavenly!
I managed to get our youngest into school on time but our eldest is unwell so he stayed at home.
I spent a chunk of the morning writing my column... did it on 'greener driving' which was interesting... ie acknowledging that if people HAVE to use their motor vehicles, there are things they can do which will reduce the cost to the planet as well as to their wallet. I enjoyed writing this and got it in at lunchtime. It'll be published in 2 or 3 weeks time in Community Care magazine.
After lunch cycled down to town with my poorly bike not letting me go at my usual breakneck speed (!) and put a cheque in and got some cash out so I could buy another £50 worth of Carbon Detox tickets, which I hope I'll sell at the York in Transition clothes swap tomorrow. I then went straight to school to collect our youngest. His bike has a puncture which was initially a slow one, meaning that I could pump up the tyre and it would last until he got to (or home from) school. However, it's now a fast puncture, so I strapped it onto my trailer and we walked home together, holding hands and chatting. A very enjoyable 'being a good daddy' experience! Helped of course by him 'being a good son'!!! Both boys had some time on the Wii and then on the computer after school, and barring one short outburst followed by a sincere apology, we had a really nice evening together.
I spent a chunk of the morning writing my column... did it on 'greener driving' which was interesting... ie acknowledging that if people HAVE to use their motor vehicles, there are things they can do which will reduce the cost to the planet as well as to their wallet. I enjoyed writing this and got it in at lunchtime. It'll be published in 2 or 3 weeks time in Community Care magazine.
After lunch cycled down to town with my poorly bike not letting me go at my usual breakneck speed (!) and put a cheque in and got some cash out so I could buy another £50 worth of Carbon Detox tickets, which I hope I'll sell at the York in Transition clothes swap tomorrow. I then went straight to school to collect our youngest. His bike has a puncture which was initially a slow one, meaning that I could pump up the tyre and it would last until he got to (or home from) school. However, it's now a fast puncture, so I strapped it onto my trailer and we walked home together, holding hands and chatting. A very enjoyable 'being a good daddy' experience! Helped of course by him 'being a good son'!!! Both boys had some time on the Wii and then on the computer after school, and barring one short outburst followed by a sincere apology, we had a really nice evening together.
Gill took our youngest into school and I had a lie in... thank you Gill, I needed it.
Gill and I had a lazy and enjoyable morning.
I tried to prepare some notes for tonight but kept on getting distracted. I think that detailed notes won't actually be necessary.
Had an early lunch and then headed into town to get some money out to buy a block of 10 tickets for Carbon Detox on March 3rd at the Theatre Royal. Met up with Edward and co in the Theatre and he told me the password for the block of ten cheap tickets... just £5 each!
Home via the cycle track where a large group of workers were taking down quite a lot of trees, shredding the branches but leaving the cut up trunks. They were happy for me to take some on the trailer, and invited me to take as much as I could... there must be over a tonne. Nice!
I picked up our little one and he came back on the luggage rack, as it's still too slippery for him to cycle safely and confidently. I'm happy to, though... I've been cycling in snow and ice lots... nothing puts me off!
When I got back I did some more washing up and had a bowl of soup and a sandwich, and did manage to think about my talk to the York Pain Management Support Group tonight. At 5.40 I set off for the hospital where I had agreed to meet Jess, who is going to supervise me (!) and make sure I get my facts right, and hopefully add some of her own expertise too.
Jess appeared soon after I arrived and we had a sit down and chat, and the structure of the talk became clearer. I would first say what the talk was going to be about (Climate Change, Peak Oil, York in Transition and what we could do) and then introduce Jess and myself. The Climate section would have info about the greenhouse effect, gases and the sorts of activities that these gases come from, plus the complications from positive and negative feedbacks, and some of the possible effects of increased greenhouse effect. Then the peak oil section would be pretty straightforward... about Hubbert's predictions and how they came true, and what the post-peak would mean for humanity. The Transition Towns bit too would be fairly simple, with Jess doing her bit about inclusion and participation re the non-usual suspects, including people with disabilities. We'd talk about York in Transition and what our aims are, to probably focus on food. Finally I'd talk through some of the things that we can do to reduce our impact, including diet, reducing our resource use, recycling and composting, plus ideas such as calculating your carbon footprint. We'd invite them to get on YiT's email list and to come to the Carbon Detox show.
Then we walked over to the venue on White Cross Road and met the organisers. After 15 minutes, just six people had turned up... they usually get between 5 and 20. The cold icy weather had probably put some folks off. The group organiser bought us both a drink and soon I was invited to start. The talk went well and there were quite a few questions afterwards, and comments and anecdotes.
We left at about 8.45pm, and walked along the cycle track together... I collected a good stash of logs and then parted company with Jess. I got home soon after 9.30, and rang Ben who had rung Gill, saying the memory chip had arrived. He came to fit it... this took just 2 minutes and he went. My computer now works more quickly... it has 1.24 whatever it is now... double what it used to have!
Watched a good programme on exploring the Amazon on BBC2... a low-carbon method of enjoying the planet.
Gill and I had a lazy and enjoyable morning.
I tried to prepare some notes for tonight but kept on getting distracted. I think that detailed notes won't actually be necessary.
Had an early lunch and then headed into town to get some money out to buy a block of 10 tickets for Carbon Detox on March 3rd at the Theatre Royal. Met up with Edward and co in the Theatre and he told me the password for the block of ten cheap tickets... just £5 each!
Home via the cycle track where a large group of workers were taking down quite a lot of trees, shredding the branches but leaving the cut up trunks. They were happy for me to take some on the trailer, and invited me to take as much as I could... there must be over a tonne. Nice!
I picked up our little one and he came back on the luggage rack, as it's still too slippery for him to cycle safely and confidently. I'm happy to, though... I've been cycling in snow and ice lots... nothing puts me off!
When I got back I did some more washing up and had a bowl of soup and a sandwich, and did manage to think about my talk to the York Pain Management Support Group tonight. At 5.40 I set off for the hospital where I had agreed to meet Jess, who is going to supervise me (!) and make sure I get my facts right, and hopefully add some of her own expertise too.
Jess appeared soon after I arrived and we had a sit down and chat, and the structure of the talk became clearer. I would first say what the talk was going to be about (Climate Change, Peak Oil, York in Transition and what we could do) and then introduce Jess and myself. The Climate section would have info about the greenhouse effect, gases and the sorts of activities that these gases come from, plus the complications from positive and negative feedbacks, and some of the possible effects of increased greenhouse effect. Then the peak oil section would be pretty straightforward... about Hubbert's predictions and how they came true, and what the post-peak would mean for humanity. The Transition Towns bit too would be fairly simple, with Jess doing her bit about inclusion and participation re the non-usual suspects, including people with disabilities. We'd talk about York in Transition and what our aims are, to probably focus on food. Finally I'd talk through some of the things that we can do to reduce our impact, including diet, reducing our resource use, recycling and composting, plus ideas such as calculating your carbon footprint. We'd invite them to get on YiT's email list and to come to the Carbon Detox show.
Then we walked over to the venue on White Cross Road and met the organisers. After 15 minutes, just six people had turned up... they usually get between 5 and 20. The cold icy weather had probably put some folks off. The group organiser bought us both a drink and soon I was invited to start. The talk went well and there were quite a few questions afterwards, and comments and anecdotes.
We left at about 8.45pm, and walked along the cycle track together... I collected a good stash of logs and then parted company with Jess. I got home soon after 9.30, and rang Ben who had rung Gill, saying the memory chip had arrived. He came to fit it... this took just 2 minutes and he went. My computer now works more quickly... it has 1.24 whatever it is now... double what it used to have!
Watched a good programme on exploring the Amazon on BBC2... a low-carbon method of enjoying the planet.
An early start as had been asked to be in Knaresborough for 10.30 for a photoshoot at 11. As the train got in at 10.35, I got the one before, to ensure I was at the venue in good time. So I arrived in Knaresborough at 9.35 and took just 10 minures to walk to King James High School... and had 45 minutes of unfettered reading time, George Marshall's 'Carbon Detox', an excellent book.
At 10.45 other Co-op and Knaresborough Car-Free Day photoshoot people started arriving, and my role was to be a unicyclist... an alternative means of transport, eye-catching, unusual! So I was in a static pic for the newspaper and did some action shots for the Co-op photographer.
I got the train back soon after midday... again, plenty of time for reading.
I called in on the Council Finance Centre to pay the second half of our Council Tax and Country Fresh just in case there was any recycling... which there wasn't.
Home after 1, lunch and emails, and then at 2.30, went to the City Screen to meet with Jackie from Northern Green Gathering, for a coffee and a chat as she was in York for a meeting. I had more time with Carbon Detox... it's a brilliant book, very easy to read, and wasn't unhappy she was late. We went to El Piano and chatted for over 2 hours, all sorts of subjects, nothing seemed off limits. I carried her luggage in my bike trailer towards the station and then cycled home, past queues of almost stationary traffic as there'd been some kind of blockage somewhere.
Home at 6ish, home-grown potatoes for tea with tomatoes from the conservatory, lettuce from the garden and cheese from the Co-op!
Quiet evening, did paid blog on Dexter's Art and IPCC suggesting not eating meat for one day per week...
At 10.45 other Co-op and Knaresborough Car-Free Day photoshoot people started arriving, and my role was to be a unicyclist... an alternative means of transport, eye-catching, unusual! So I was in a static pic for the newspaper and did some action shots for the Co-op photographer.
I got the train back soon after midday... again, plenty of time for reading.
I called in on the Council Finance Centre to pay the second half of our Council Tax and Country Fresh just in case there was any recycling... which there wasn't.
Home after 1, lunch and emails, and then at 2.30, went to the City Screen to meet with Jackie from Northern Green Gathering, for a coffee and a chat as she was in York for a meeting. I had more time with Carbon Detox... it's a brilliant book, very easy to read, and wasn't unhappy she was late. We went to El Piano and chatted for over 2 hours, all sorts of subjects, nothing seemed off limits. I carried her luggage in my bike trailer towards the station and then cycled home, past queues of almost stationary traffic as there'd been some kind of blockage somewhere.
Home at 6ish, home-grown potatoes for tea with tomatoes from the conservatory, lettuce from the garden and cheese from the Co-op!
Quiet evening, did paid blog on Dexter's Art and IPCC suggesting not eating meat for one day per week...
