I knew you could get yellow tomatoes, but apparently there are purple and yellow carrots too. Agricultural regulations have increasingly stifled the basic trading of seeds that was standard practice in an age gone by, and there is a wide variety of fruit and vegetables available out there that you cannot even buy at your local greengrocers let alone at the big supermarkets. To counteract this local gardeners and enthusiasts have been clubbing together for Seed Swaps over the past decade. These are great places to swap your own seeds and discover little known but fabulously named plants and vegetables.

To find out why this practice is becoming vitally important to the environment I spoke to Sara Cundy, who became fascinated by the interaction between people and the natural environment during her degree in Geography. She has carried out research into consumers’ understanding of Fairtrade, and is currently Waste Minimisation Officer at the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust where she works with communities to help reduce the amount of waste generated and sent to landfill. Trained as a Compost Ambassador, she also volunteers as co-ordinator for the Wiltshire Fairtrade Coalition; who are in the process of organising events during the upcoming Fairtrade Fortnight 2011. Phew! I have no idea how she also found the time to organise a successful Seed Swap!
 

Green Fingered Gent by Velimir Illic
 
You organised Bradford-on-Avon’s first seed swapping event, did you go to many before you decided to run one yourself? Do you know how these swaps started?


I went to some of the very early seed swaps in Brighton (well Hove actually) and it was about the same time that I got an allotment with friends. 

 

I hope it was successful! Do these events educate people or are gardeners already quite clued up on this practice?


The event on Sunday was fantastic! We had over 300 people attend, and around 40 volunteers either helping on the seed swap stall, making refreshment and running the other 20 or so stands that where at the event. There was an amazing buzz for a really concentrated 2 hour slot. The stalls that we invited to the event had a connection with growing your own and gardening and where from the local area. We also had stands on Composting, food waste, Wiltshire Wood Recycling (who are part of a national network of wood re-use organisations), Beekeepers, Hen Keepers and Tools for Self Reliance, who send tools for use in Africa, but also gave advice on the day on how to maintain your own gardening tools. Freecycle, which is very active in our local area, ran a garden book swap, and promoted the fact that you can advertise through them if you have unwanted gardening equipment or are looking for someone, such as a chap wanting to try out Wormeries. We had three different children’s activities also; Growing Micro-Greens, Fitzmaurice Primary School Gardening Club; making bug houses, The Mead School Wingfield Gardening Club; and Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, making your own willow woven hanging flowerpot holder.  Friends of Fitzmaurice Schools Gardening Club also made the fantastic cakes (cake is always a winner!) to raise funds for infrastructure such as raised beds at the school. 

We had a number of volunteers who were able to give advice such as the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Compost Ambassadors. One of the compost ambassadors is also a ’seed guardian’ for the Heritage Seed Library and she was able to give advice on the some of the seeds that where available at the swap that had been kindly donated by the Heritage Seed Library, but also how to go about saving your seeds.
 
Sounds like a fun and interesting afternoon well spent. I read on the Seedy Sunday webpage that this event “…shows up the idiocy of draconian seed laws and the Gene Giants’ restrictive practices: in this warming world we need to exchange more diversity of uncontaminated plants to secure future food.” Can you explain to us what these laws and practices are?


Yes – Seedy Sunday started in Brighton & Hove 10 years ago back in 2001.  Over the last decade the idea has caught on around the country and so from the original there are now numerous seed swaps around the country (which some combine with potato days – the selling of seed potatoes), the founders I think stumbled across the idea of seed swaps in America.  There are EU and national laws regarding the selling of seeds – requiring them to be registered on a national list. This was brought in to maintain quality, but has had the knock on effect of being illegal to sell seeds that aren’t listed. As it costs money and a considerable amount of paper work to list seeds it’s really only the commercially viable seeds that are on these lists.  Some of these heritage seeds produce fantastic tasting crops, but aren’t commercially worth growing.
 
 
Seed Swap by Cat Palairet.



I’ve been a member of the Heritage Seed Library which is hosted by Garden Organic in Warwickshire for just over a year (but been aware for much longer) last year we had some Bronze Arrow Lettuce – this year I’ve got Cherokee Trail of Tears which was traditionally grown with other crops such as squash and maize which constituted the Three Sisters that provided the foundation of Native American agriculture. The connection to the growers and the history behind the various seed is fascinating – and you feel like you are playing a part in our agricultural history – food is fundamental to our life. It also helps to maintain our agrobiodiversity.


How does swapping seeds benefit the environment?


It helps to maintain our agrobiodiversity to support the future of agriculture and food security particularly in a time of changing climate. I also think that it re-connects us to the land and the importance of working in harmony with nature, the fragility and frustrations of growing your own can hopefully I think help us appreciate and value our food more. With the resurgence of growing your own, thrift, making and mending etc – I think that seed saving is an important skill that many of us could learn. The seed swap also feeds into tackling waste higher up the chain, by growing your own you can cut down on the amount of packaging that you consume (even if it’s just herbs in your window box), you tend to value food more so less likely to throw it away (hopefully!). Many people also get into composting which is part of the natural cycle of returning nutrients to the soil. Many people don’t realise that disposing of biodegradable waste in landfill, which is buried and then decomposes anaerobically, you produce methane, a greenhouse gas more than 20 times more damaging than C02 – which you avoid with home composting.

Colourful Swappers by Velimir Illic 




These events also appear to create a brilliant excuse for communities to come together, will you organise anymore Seed Swaps?
I organised the event this year on behalf of the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, working in conjunction with Climate Friendly Bradford-on-Avon and hopefully we will be able to run similar events in future years. We very generously got funding from the co-operative membership which helped with a lot of the costs, such as hall hire, advertising, producing banners/flyers/posters and distributing seed envelopes – which meant that this year we did not have to charge any stall holders (who were principally other charity groups) or entrance fee.

Find out where the next Seedy Sunday is taking place in your area by visiting their website.

[All photos by Zofia Walczak]
Today I took part in my first ever Green Gym session, an initiative run by BTCV (the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers).  Funded by NHS Camden, the Green Gym is basically a combination of volunteering on biodiversity projects in London’s green spaces, getting a good work out and meeting new people.  As someone who detests gyms (positively loathes them), I was keen to find out exactly what these ‘Green Gym’ sessions entailed.  The thought of working out in a green area, fresh air and not doing exercise just for the sake of exercise appealed greatly. 

I have tried gyms extensively, and failed.  Gyms make me feel tired and bored.  The constant monotonous whir of exercise bikes and running machines, coupled with people in their own bubbles looking stressed and thinking about other things, monitoring their heart rates and counting every calorie they burn makes me depressed.  Likewise, seeing my reflection in the mirror-covered walls everywhere I turn, under the unflattering lights that make everyone (even the buffest-looking posers in the highest-end gym wear) look like sad, old potatoes, has made me finally admit to myself that gyms are not the answer.  After a run in the park (rare, lately) I always feel energised and glowing, but the gym just makes me look and feel grey, sweaty and blotchy…more like I should be in bed on medication than like I’ve just had a 45-minute workout.

So here I was, on my way to Baker Street, battling severe delays on the circle line, and modelling some of the least fashionable garments in my wardrobe.  I was wearing a pair of old, black hi-top trainers (NB these were my dad’s old pair from his engineering work, not of the retro ilk).  I had baggy woollen long-johns underneath some rather tired looking tracksuit bottoms tucked into long green and red thick woollen socks, about 3 jumpers, big fat bright green men’s fleece gloves, an old bright pink scarf, and a men’s waterproof jacket.  Chris, the organizer, had warned me to dress warm and prepare to get muddy.  For a second, as I stood on the packed London tube, it struck me that I might bump into an ex in this less-than-attractive get-up, but I soon felt liberated, and everyone else started to seem over-dressed!

Today’s green gym session was in a blissfully serene, snowy, slushy, empty Regent’s Park.  It’s incredible how the grey, heavy sky which is a permanent backdrop to the London skyline actually looks so beautiful and poetic in a wide open space, a background for the silhouettes of huge old oak trees and their twisted branches. 

Super-keen, but with no idea of what I was letting myself in for, I skipped insouciantly into The Hub, a cafe/sports area in Regent’s Park, where I was greeted by the smiling faces of the group I’d be working with.  There were a few more newbies so I wasn’t on my own, but mainly people who had already been to a few sessions.  After quickly filling us in on what we might expect they praised us for being hardcore enough to have our first green gym session in the current muddy and cold conditions.  Apparently it’s all much easier and more pleasant in summer…

After a brief introduction we wandered to the site that Green Gym participants will work on in the next few weeks.  It was so easy to talk to everyone, and it was such a mixed group.  There were people who had been referred by the NHS (the scheme is a physical and mental well-being initiative as much as a ‘green’ one), editors and anthropologists who had been made redundant, new graduates and people on volunteering schemes…in all we were about 16 or 17 people, though I’m told groups number between 20 and 30 in spring and summer.

We started off with a warm-up, and then Chris from BTCV explained the tools we’d be using and went through health and safety…basically, the saws and shears used for cutting up big boughs and clearing huge twisted areas of extra-thick bramble are not to be chucked and swung around carelessly if you want to come out intact!

Laurent, who had done the warm-up, showed us around the area, and explained more or less what our aims were.  The area had once been a meadow, but was now covered in thick, intricately interwoven ivy, bramble and deadwood. Ivy is a great habitat on trees, Chris explained, but on the ground it acts as a thick barrier preventing birds from finding food.  One of the key aims of BTCV is to enhance biodiversity, which the UN has decided to dedicate this year to (see International Year of Biodiversity).  We would also be clearing and thinning-out the south-facing side of the space, allowing trees and plants to receive more sunlight rather than it being blocked out by dead branches.  The best branches would be used to start making a deadwood hedge.

So we got to work, with smaller groups working in different sections.  I worked with Catherine, a nutrition graduate who was taking up volunteering after finding it impossible to find work.  It was also her first session, so we stumbled along and asked lots of questions together.  With over-enthusiastic use of the huge shears, we quickly cleared a very messy area of the woodland, forming a huge pile of dead branches, bramble, weeds and ivy.  Any doubt that an indoor gym session would have actually been a better workout soon disappeared; there is not a single muscle in my arms or back that escaped un-used!  

Whenever we found a thicker, straight and strong branch, we would cut it to size (about 5 feet) to make stakes for the hedge.  The stakes needed to be sharpened at one end and hammered into the earth, and then long bendy branches would be woven around the stakes.

The session was split into two, with a tea and biscuits break in the middle.  The hard work meant a re-fuel was definitely on order, and we got to mingle and chat again.  We got back to work, sawed and sheared and chatted some more, and when 2 o’clock came around most people didn’t want to stop.  This kind of work can be so refreshingly addictive if your workout ‘routine’ is usually a mind-numbingly repetitive set of excercises you have stuck to on and off for seven years.

I initially planned today to be a one-off trial, but it would be ideal to continue.  The sessions will be held in the same place for the next few weeks, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11-2.  Some people come to every session and some come along sporadically; there’s no pressure to commit but people seem to keep returning.  To sign up for a session you can go to BTCV’s website, send them an email, and they’ll reply with all the joining info. The Green Gym certainly beats running around in circles in my small local park, but the disadvantage is that you can only really take part if you don’t work 9-5 full-time. 

I spoke to Chris after the session, and he told me some more about what BTCV is up to this year.  Green Gyms are soon to start in four other boroughs, and Camden Council is also funding a BTCV Carbon Army project to plant orchards in council estates.  To be selected for the scheme, residents of the estates had to express and prove an interest, since they will be planting the fruit and berry trees themselves with guidance from BTCV, starting their own vegetable patches, and later taking care of them.  It is a way to get people working together as much as an environmental and local food initiative.  We are so  removed from most food production now that this will be a great way to start democratising the process again.  Having grown up on an inner city estate myself I can definitely appreciate the scheme and it will be interesting to see where it goes.  

Ducks recklessly ignoring Police 'Do not cross' signs

I’ll be going along to the setting-up of one of these orchards in the coming weeks, so will write up about the experience.  For now though, I really really need to go and stretch some more.  I have a slight fear I won’t be able to move when I roll out of bed tomorrow morning… but at least I’ll have spent the day breathing fresh air and surrounded by green leaves rather than grey concrete…bliss.

If you are a tad tired of always being against things and would like to start doing something more positive and creative when it comes to environmental issues, but don’t want to go it alone, then this course may well be for you.

Image courtesy of transitiontowns.org

The Carbon Literacy Forum is co-ordinating a 6-session course starting in January, which will help participants reduce their carbon footprint.  Facilitators from various Transition Towns, including Hackney, Stoke Newington, Highbury, Waltham Forest, Primrose Hill and other environmental groups will be involved.  The course will be run in groups of 8-10 people with fortnightly meetings consisting of a mixture of information, group discussion, and learning activities. The aim is to “understand the issues around climate change and carbon reduction, and learn practical ways to reduce carbon and save energy and money”.  So, not a bad idea for the post-Christmas overdraft and loooong wait until next payday either then!!  Plus, DIY-ing with other people is much more fun than reading books and apocalypse-predicting articles, and figuring out how you’ll ever do anything by yourself. 

There are nine courses planned altogether – two in Highbury, two in Hackney, one in Waltham Forest, one in Angel, Islington, one in Westminster, one in Lambeth and one other to be confirmed. 

The purpose is for participants to learn how to monitor key areas of their carbon footprint, including home energy, travel and transport, food and water, and other consumption and waste, after taking part in a questionnaire at the beginning of the course to calculate their current carbon footprint.  You’ll also be encouraged to keep a brief, simple diary of the steps you take to reduce your carbon footprint.  By the end of the course you will have ideally created your own personal plan for reducing your carbon footprint, tailored to your own lifestyle.

The facilitators will also organize special workshops and talks, and you’ll get to borrow books and energy-monitoring equipment. An online network will also be set up for people who have been on the courses to share information, tips and discuss issues with other, and facilitators will also signpost members to public workshops, talks, local community groups, and relevant Council services.  All the organizers ask you to bring is enthusiasm and a willingness to ask questions and share your learning with the rest of the group! 

Importantly, once you have completed one of the 6-meeting courses, you will be able to start facilitating meetings yourself.  You will need to attend a half-day’s ‘facilitation workshop’, after which you can pair up with another facilitator and start organizing your own group.  It would be a super way to spread the initiative to more areas and regions. You could even tailor them to your particular area or interest, such as how to reduce carbon footprint in the creative industries (might also be a great way to network with like-minded people!).  The Carbon Literacy Forum will provide help and support to people looking to start their own meetings.

[Image courtesy of transitiontowns.org]

Participation in the London Carbon Conversations courses is free, apart from the £15 Carbon Conversations handbook you’ll need to get at the beginning to follow the course.  The book is very detailed and should come in handy long after you’ve finished the course, especially if you start your own meetings.

If you contact London Carbon Conversations, they will be able to advise which group is nearest to you.  If you can’t make the planned dates and times, you can mention which dates are most suitable for you. They will put you in touch with a group that hopefully meets at a more convenient time. 

If you live or work in Hackney, the local course will be held near Broadway Market, E8 on fortnightly Mondays, 7-9pm, starting from 8th February.

Alison Thorpe and Abbie Maxwell are facilitating The Hackney course, so to join the group or express an interest, email Alison[AT]phonecoop.coop for a Joining Form.  For more info on the London-wide initiative contact Tom Hitchman of the Carbon Literacy Forum at Tom Hitchman[AT]carbonliteracyforum.org.
[Hackney Transition Town Seedy Sunday flyer, above, by Holly Gregson]

I will be attending the sessions in Hackney, so even if you can’t make it for the course, I will try my best to keep you posted via the Earth section at Amelia’s Magazine!

It is hard not to be moved by the contrasting sight of those stumps laid to rest on white concrete blocks close to the 196 feet-tall Nelson’s Column. Londoners know Trafalgar Square as a rather uninspiring and barren site inhabited by a swarm of pigeons and tourists. The place is now invaded with what appears to be sculptures for posh interiors. Or is it a vast graveyard of searing beauty? The Celtis is used for interior joinery, plywood, and furniture components back in its country of origin, Ghana. In Europe, it is mostly used in the coffin industry. At Trafalgar Square, it all looks like an odd burial site. Now Ghana’s trees have the good fortune of benefiting from the Voluntary Partnership Agreement. Artist Angela Palmer says: “Having lost 90% of its primary rainforest over the past 50 years, Ghana now exercises strict regulations in sustainable and responsible forestry. Last year it became the first country in Africa to enter the VPA (Voluntary Partnership Agreement) with the European Union in an effort to outlaw illegal logging.”

Celtis and its friends do not end their epic journey in London; having traveled all the way from the tropics, they will travel to Copenhagen to remind UN employees that the removal of the world’s ‘lungs’ through continued deforestation needs to be dealt with without delay.

Angela Palmer is an artist with convictions: “Many thinkers maintain that all art is political; politics touches all aspects of our lives. Life is about politics. And art is about communication, often transmitting unpalatable truths.” Breathing In, currently at the Welcome museum from the 20th of October to the 22nd of November 2009, is another one of Palmer’s projects currently in the capital. In April 2007 Palmer travelled to Linfen in Shanxi Province, China, home to the most polluted air on Earth, and then to Cape Grim on the northwest tip of Tasmania where there’s the purest air and water on Earth.

The exhibition is a straightforward display of the results of her journey to capture the physical properties of climate change. The evidence is undeniable- the previously white outfits worn for a day now blackened by the unhealthy Linfen air, the dark face cleanser pads and air pump filters…the facts are brutal. There is an uneasy juxtaposition between the pristine green luscious Tasmanian rainforest and the cloudy, polluted, dusty and overpopulated Chinese streets. Angela Palmer’s art is good medicine for anyone still wondering what all the fuss is about Climate Change. You leave the building wanting to help a worthy cause.

Copenhagen info evening
Tuesday 10th November 2009

The prospects for the negotiations are not looking great, but the good news is the movement for climate justice is going strong, and you can still be part of largest ever climate mobilisation in Copenhagen this December!

Climate Justice Action Network, have been working hard to make it easier for people to attend the summit, with transport, free accommodation and food all being arranged.
Come to the event to discuss why we think its important to come to Copenhagen in December, and get all questions on logistics answered, what we are trying to achieve in Copenhagen.

Time: 19.30hrs – 21:00
Venue: School of Oriental and African Studies, Room G50, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

Embrace Woodlands! – Glade Creation
Wednesday 11th November 2009

Join a group of people making their very own glade in Dulwich Upper Wood in order to help increase the biodiversity in the urban woodland. Get involved, get stuck in and help to improve the environment in the area. Everyone is welcome, tools will available and food will be put on

Time: 10:30am to 3:30pm
Venue: Dulwich Upper Wood, Farquhar Rd, London, SE19 1SS, United Kingdom
Website: http://embraceenvironment.wordpress.com/

NATO Not Welcome in Edinburgh
Thursday 12th November to 17th November

The NATO Parliamentary Assembly meets in Edinburgh this week. There is a welcoming Committee providing convergence space from the 12th and support to activists. There is a call for a mass demo on 13th to hold militarist profiteers to account. Nato members currently account for 70% of the world’s military spending.
Website: http://natowc.noflag.org.uk

Tar Sands UK Tour
Friday 13th November 2009

Tar Sands Action in London earlier this year

Indigenous people in Canada are fighting ‘the most destructive project on earth’ – the extraction of oil from Tar Sands. Hear their stories first hand and get involved in the new UK campaign to halt one of the world’s fastest growing causes of climate crisis.
Featuring, from the Indigenous Environmental Network in Canada: Eriel Tchekwie-Deranger Melina Laboucan-Massimo Heather Milton-Lightening

Time: 7-9pm
Venue: Bristol Arnolfini, C words Festival
Website: http://www.arnolfini.org.uk/whatson/events/details/546

Living in communities
Friday 13th November 2009

A course run since 1994 by Redfield Community in association with Diggers and Dreamers. It focuses the social issues involved in collective living, communes, squats, collectives or cooperatives. Looking at work, relationships, disagreements, play and also the organisational side of how communities were founded, and the financial and legal structures they use.

Venue: Lili, Bucks
E-mail: taryn@lowimpact.org

Website: www.lowimpact.org

Signs of Revolt
Saturday 14th – 22nd November 2009

Signs of Revolt is an exhibition that weaves together the story of the past decades social movements, drawing out the influences and connections between and across the movements against Capitalism, War and Climate Change. Using archive material and documentary photography and video from movement photographers and filmmakers. It reveals the story of how we got from Seattle to Copenhagen.
Interspersed in this narrative are works by artist and designer activists and collectives, produced during, within and for the movements.

Venue: Shop 14 Truman Brewery, London
Website: http://signsofrevolt.net/

Illustration by Anneka Tran

Architecture and Climate Change – The Sustainable City
Tuesday 3rd November 2009 


Acclaimed architect, planner and former Mayor of Curitiba, Jaime Lerner, discusses his visionary ideas concerning cities and their future. Lerner’s talk will look at design in structuring urban growth as well as focusing on the importance of public transportation as well as engaging with some of the key issues affecting the built and natural environment now and in the future.

Time: 6.30pm
£8, £5 concession
Venue: RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London W1B 1AD

Website: http://www.architecture.com

Fast Facilitation – An action-packed taster course
Wednesday 4th November 2009

Getting a group together focusing on environmental issues in your neighborhood, or looking to take a new role in a discussion group? This course is suitable for people with little or no experience of facilitation. This course aims to help you design, facilitate and evaluate meetings or workshops that engage and include all participants effectively in order to achieve desired outcomes.

Time: 9.30am – 5.00pm
Venue: 212 High Holborn, London, WC1V 7BF
Website: http://www.the-environment-council.org.uk/training.html

Establishing a food forest: the Permaculture way
Thursday 5th November 2009


An inspiring and practical film from permaculturist Geoff Lawton about the potential of permaculture forest gardening to design abundant human ecosystems. Part of a programme of film and events to accompany C Words: Carbon, Climate, Capital, Culture – an exhibition by artist-activist group PLATFORM and their collaborators.

Venue: Arnolfini, Bristol
Website: http://www.arnolfini.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/details/416

Met open discussion about policing of the G20
Thursday 5th November 2009

The Met police will be hosting a public meeting about policing of the G20 demonstrations, chances for people to vet their anger, frustration or glee at seeing protestors get beaten up. The police will be answering questions and making sure the media see they are taking some initiative, although I’m sure continuing their oppressive tactics away from the spotlight.

Time: 9.30am – 12.30pm
Venue: London’s Living Room, City Hall

Climate Emergency Copenhagen forum
Saturday 7th November 2009

Looking everything we need to do to stop climate change in it’s tracks, 10% cuts by end 2010 and the case for emergency action. Creating a million climate jobs by end 2010, decarbonising our transport fast and looking at the Copenhagen talks, and the deal we need and the deal we’re likely to get. Plus plenty of workshops on the day.

Venue: South Camden Community School, Charrington St., London, NW1 1RG

Time: 12 – 6pm
Website: www.campaigncc.org

Put People First G20 Counter Conference
Saturday 7th November 2009

The Put People First G20 Counter Conference will bring together academics, activists, campaigners, unions and policy makers to debate alternative policies to promote jobs, justice and a safe climate. Following on from earlier this year, where we marched in our tens of thousands to demand the G20 Put People First. However, we’ve seen nothing but a return to business as usual.

Time: 10am – 5.30pm
Venue: Central Hall Westminster SW1 9NH
Website: http://peopleandplanet.org/navid8537

Green Sundays
Sunday 8th November 2009

Bored with lazy Sunday afternoons? Why not go down to Green Sundays at the Arcola Theatre and explore environmental issues in a relaxed and chilled out manner? The event provides an opportunity for like-minded people to get together to learn about the planet while listening to live world music, film, spoken word, games and discussion.

Time: 3:00pm – 7:30pm
Venue: Arcola Theatre, 27 Arcola St, London, E8 2DJ
Website: www.greensundays.org.uk

Held on 350:Day of Climate Action, the event was one of the hundreds happening worldwide to push people to tackle climate change. The Bigger Picture was held in an old warehouse on the South Bank, which although fairly old and decrepit, had a certain charm to it. The day before was spent setting up the four floors and rooms so that when the public were let in, the warehouse was packed full of leaflets, objects, art and a yellow t-shirted posse, ready to navigate people up the narrow staircases and back-rooms.
I spent the day wondering in and out, generally getting a bit overwhelmed by it all, but I’ve managed to pick out five of the workshops that stood out the most…

1. Climate Camp
Climate Camp had it’s own two rooms and had set up a replicate camp complete with tents, a fire made from bike lights, and a huge banner backdrop of tripods from a previous camp at Kingsnorth. All that was missing were hay bales that had been stopped by the determined health and safety who also prevented us from giving away cake, yes cake. Although, that didn’t stop a range of speakers and musicians telling people all about Climate Camps in the past and what we aim to do in the future.

2. Ministry of Trying to Do Something About It
You could pay a visit to the Ministry of Trying to Do Something About It and collect your very own Carbon Ration Book. The issued ration books showed the carbon emissions of our daily activities, like using a laptop or using public transport. This little book is something that we may have to get used to in the not so distant future, when carbon emissions become a commodity, although probably not in such a lovely 1950s design.

3. Magnificent Revolution
Art collective, Magnificent Revolution, was also there to create the world’s first cycle-powered home in a special room at The Bigger Picture. Strangely shaped, bike-like sculptures, with protruding pedals powered various things from washing machines to blenders. You could even jump on and have a go, which is a great way to encourage all of us to take more steps towards low-energy living.

4. Beekeeping
Heidi Hermann, founding member of the Natural Beekeeping Trust, gave an introduction into natural bee keeping with an array of beautiful crafted beehives and advice on how to set up your own. Due to human impact, the number of bees are dying dramatically and setting up your own can help reverse this. Believe it or not, when bees become extinct, the human race can only survive for a few years. Most people don’t realise how much the humble bumble bee is indeed an important part of our delicate eco system.

5. Breadmaking
There was a chance to join master baker and bread hero, Paul Barker of Cinnamon Square, for some bread making lessons and tips to bake the perfect loaf. People could also take home the bread at the end of the day, which meant the lovely freshly baked bread aroma filled the warehouse all day.

With over forty-five leading thinkers, activists, authors and artists attending The Bigger Picture, it meant throughout the whole day people could get involved with a range of debates and discussions, from lively talks on money issues to in-depth discussions about the Copenhagen summit in December.

The one-day event put on by Nef, an independent think-and-do tank, was hugely popular. Huge queues snaked around outside most of the day, with singers and speakers having to keep people entertained outside. The day certainly helped to encourage people to look at their own carbon footprint and it was good to see solutions and not only the problems, with everyone starting to look a little closer at the bigger picture.

Illustration by Andrea Kearney

The Alternative Food Shopping Tour!
Tuesday 27 October 2009

An event to accompany C Words: Carbon, Climate, Capital, Culture – an exhibition by artist-activist group PLATFORM and their collaborators. Join James from action hero on a guided tour around Bristol’s alternative food shopping. Where to buy, what to choose, and how the hell it got there!

Time: 10.15am
Venue: Arnolfini 6 Narrow Quay, Bristol BS1 4QA

Embedded! Arts, Energy and Climate Change
Wednesday 28th October 2009

Another event in the programme C Words: Carbon, Climate, Capital, Culture. This day conference is aimed at arts and cultural organisations facing up to the challenge of moving towards low impact and carbon neutral operations. Looking at the investment structure of the arts into funding into climate change as well as discussions into a radical reduction in dependency on carbon and on fossil fuel based economics

11.30am – 4.30pm
£20 / £10 concs
Website: http://www.arnolfini.org.uk/whatson/event

3rd Native Spirit Festival
Friday 30th October 2009


The 3rd Native Spirit Festival will be held in London, it is held to promote the Cultures of Indigenous people. The annual season will include films, talks and performances. All proceedings made at the festival will go towards educational resources for schools in indigenous communities.
Venue: London, Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre
Website: http://www.nativespiritfestival.com/

Healing the wound: the struggle for truth and justice in Mexico
Friday 30th October 2009 


Film screening of 12.511 Rosendo Radilla case: An open wound from Mexico’s Dirty War. Q&A follows the film showing with human rights defender Tita Radilla to discuss the struggle in Mexico over the past decades.

Venue: Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, London W2 1QJ
Time: 7pm
Website: http://www.peacebrigades.org.uk/

CAAT National Gathering 2009
Saturday 31st October 2009 


Join Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) supporters from around the country for a day of speakers, discussion and inspiration!
There will be an array of workshops on topics from arms fairs to corporate mercenaries to challenging the arms industry’s jobs argument. The event will have opportunities to hone your skills in making the most of the media.
With an election looming and BAE Systems taking advantage of the recession to claim it invests ‘more and more in UK manufacturing’, this year’s event will provide the facts, skills and passion you need to challenge government support for the arms trade and tackle the arms industry’s spin.

Time: 10.15am – 5pm
Venue: Toynbee Studios, London, E1 6AB
Website: www.caat.org.uk/events/nationalgathering/

Training for Gaza Freedom March
Saturday 31st October 2009

Seeds for Change are putting on training for those interested in taking part in the Gaza Freedom march. There is a central London venue, crash-pad accommodation available on Fri and Sat evenings.

Website: http://www.gazafreedommarch.org/

Croydon Eco Veggie Fayre
Sunday 1st Nov 2009

The Croydon Eco Veggie Fayre is a superb day out for the whole family and is the perfect introduction into an eco friendly veggie friendly Fair Trade way of life. Over 50 stalls now allocated, to browse, buy and

Venue: Fairfield Halls, Park Lane, Croydon, Surrey CR9 1DG
Admission £3 for adults, £1 for Kids under 14
Website: http://croydon.ecoveggiefayre.co.uk/

Illustration by Michael Maitland

Agrofuels don’t ROC(k)! Demo
Monday 12 October 2009

Agrofuels – biofuels produced using intensive agriculture – are a major driver of deforestation, in turn, a major cause of climate change. Agrofuels from palm oil in particular are accelerating the burning of Indonesian forests and underlying peat bogs with truly astronomical emissions as a result.

Burning palm oil is probably the most environmentally damaging and climate negative way to produce power and yet this seems to be what the government wants to subsidise. A demo called by
Campaign against Climate Change, Biofuelwatch and Food not Fuel will take place on Monday outside DECC (Dept of Energy and Climate Change)

Web Address: http://www.campaigncc.org/node/336

2012 Imperative Teach-In
Monday 12 October

An event geared for the education system, students and teachers alike and how we can confront the issues of the time, resource depletion, loss of biodiversity and especially the issue of climate change. Speakers include John Thackara, Andrew Simms, Jonathan Crinion, Stephanie Hankey, Richard Hawkins, Ben Gill and Emma Dewberry.

Website: http://www.teach-in.co.uk/
Time: 10am

Architecture and Climate Change
Tuesday 13 October 2009

The UK has one of the biggest targets of for delivering zero-carbon homes by 2016, with time pressing how is the government living up to it’s targets? Join the debate with leading Ashden Award winners as the respond to the proposition: ‘If I were the Government Minister responsible for zero carbon new buildings the key things that I would do to ensure that we are able to meet our targets would be…’
In partnership with The Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy £8, £5 concession.

Venue: RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London W1B 1AD
Time: 6.00pm
Venue: www.architecture.com/WhatsOn/Talks/Events/2009/Autumn/Talks/IntDiaPorritt.aspx

Earthwatch lecture: Meeting Marine Needs
Thursday 15 October

Human activities and climate change pose multiple threats to marine species. At the lecture you will hear how their conservation needs are being addressed, while also bringing social and economic benefits to the local communities.

Time: 7.00pm-8.30pm
Venue: Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2AR
Website: www.earthwatch.org/europe/get_involved/events09/lecture09-marine/

Naturewise Workshops
Date: Saturday 17 – Sunday 18 October

Feeling a bit out of touch with the how the food got onto your plate? A day dedicated to an overview of traditional ways of preserving food and to gain hands on experience of some of those techniques.

Venue: Hornsey Rise Gardens, N19
Time: 9am-5pm
Web Address: http://www.naturewise.org.uk/page.cfm

How to make a wood-burner from a gas bottle
Date: Saturday 17 – Sunday 18 October

Been impressed with someone with a wood burner, here is your chance to learn how to construct a wood-burning stove out of recycled materials quickly and easily. Suitable for home, workshop, motor-home, yurt, shed or canal boat. Learn how to design, build and install a strong, effective, durable stove for your own needs.

Venue: Hackney City Farm, London
Web Address: http://www.lowimpact.org/

Introduction to Permaculture Design
Date: Saturday 17 – Sunday 18 October

A chance to learn the basics of permaculture, a process where plants are grown in accordance to the natural order of things.
These courses introduce the basics and show how this approach can be applied to your garden at home or allotment.

Venue: Brighton Earthship, Stanmer Park Brighton
Time: 9.30-5pm both days
Web Address: http://www.brightonpermaculture.co.uk/

The Great Climate Swoop
Saturday 17 October

This Saturday people from across the country will descend on Ratcliffe On Soar Power station to raise awareness of the huge affect coal power has on the planet and how the governments continued reliance of the energy is accelerating climate change.
There are a four different blocks to choose from that will aim to shut down the power station, make sure you get down for what’s geared to be an exciting and empowering day.

Venue: Ratcliffe On Soar Power Station, meet at Nottingham Train Station at 10am
Website: http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/actions/climate-swoop-2009

The gallery has brought together an array of artists, designers and architects across different generations to collaborate in the space. The ideas are drawn from environmental activism, experimental architecture and utopianism and make for an interesting whirlwind tour of how we can look to live in the changing global climate.
With over 20 artists presenting their work there is plenty to take in and lots to learn, I’ve picked out my top 6 most inspiring installations.

1. Air-Port-City
Tomas Saraceno

One of the first things you come across, the bubble cell joined up plastic blobs that relate to Tomas’s concept of Air-Port City. He wants it to challenge the political structure and look for people and nations to communicate and join in synergy with a no borders approach. The conjoined cells, and black rope make up an interesting visual and you can instantly relate it to some far off futuristic utopia.

2. Geodesic Dome
Richard Buckminster Fuller

Taking one of the centre places is the Geodesic dome, pioneered by Richard Fuller over sixty years ago. The revolutionary structure built up of triangular elements is now replicated all over the world. A film, Modelling Universe, where Fuller explains how universal and natural elements can be simplified down to triangles is defiantly worth a watch.

3. The survival Series
Newton and Helen Harrison

A collaboration in the seventies where the two began to work on projects that would benefit the ecosystem. It culminated in Full Farm, which is restaged at the Barbican. Cleverly constructed raised beds and vegetable plots are used to grow a range of crops. Tomatoes in a gallery are certainly a first for me, although not too sure about the huge watt bulbs powering the photosynthesis.

4. Wheatfield
Agnes Denes

An inspiring take on environmental art that can’t help to challenge peoples perceptions. Wheatfield – A Confrontation where two acres of wheat were planted in a landfill right next to New York created amazing images. The project was created at Dalston Mill for the Radical Nature exhibition. The fields and towers give an apocalyptic and futuristic feel and the idea of crops bordering towns and cities seem like an attractive idea to me.

5. Fallen Forest
Henrik Hakansson

Another installation to challenge perceptions, a 16metre squared piece of rainforest is flipped on its side. The massive lights create an artificial environment that Hakansson aims to point out the unbalanced relationship between man and nature, although I’m not sure if the huge electricity power needed is meant to be part of the analysis.

6. Waste Flow
Mierle Laderman Ukeles

Involving all of New York’s districts Mierle met every bin man in the area and personally thanked all 8,500 of them. What I found most interesting was the rubbish flow film that came out of the project, which follows the household rubbish through the streets to landfill. The amount of waste and the fact that we all distance ourselves from the process means that it is a fascinating and eye-opening documentary on our waste and throw away culture.

The exhibition is defiantly worth a visit and with plenty of other intricacies and projects to look at and learn from on the two floors. Urban Harvest Festival will also be taking place next Thursday the 15th where a DIY disco invite people to bring their own music to season the evening alongside a food and end-of-season harvest Swapshop, as well as chefs from Searcy’s cooking up a treat.