Climate Explorers Update 02
Hello, and I hope you're enjoying springtime. Here's an Explorers updates to let you know what other explorers are up to..and to ask your advice! Don't forget, next intro meeting on Weds May 9th (details at end). If you've a friend to bring even better, if you've not been to one we'd love to see you and if you'd like to come again it'll be great to see you.
Round up
It's been a busy few months! Here's a glimpse of some of the events that explorers have been involved with:
- Sam in East Hendred has screened An Inconvenient Truth to his Scout Group.
- David has had his first meeting of Carbon Addicts Anonymous in Burcot - ‘We had about 18 people along...with speakers from Abingdon Carbon Cutters and Sustainable Wallingford, and some of the ClimateXchange toolkit. It was a great first meeting'.
- Kalpana has been involved in the Blewbury Energy Initiative, they'll be screening ‘An Inconvenient Truth' this Friday
- Faith from the Wantage Green People, is organising a screening and after show talk in Wantage on May 17th.
- Fred is organising a climate change forum in Merton
- Mike (Development Coordinator for the Midcounties Co-operative) has organised a Climate Change group, the first meeting is this evening, more info about it on the website soon.
- Sarah, together with the Sustainable Wallingford Climate team have organised a stall in the market place in Wallingford, and are planning more events locally.
- Kayley has been doing climate surveys and making presentations at school
- Roy has been doing climate surveys in Cornmarket St, and at Wolvercote Farmers market
- Christopher has been showing the light bulb library in Wolvercote
- Jane and Pat have been getting hundreds of surveys out within the W.I., and are planning a very creative project!
- Karen created a table display of climate change books and surveys in Blackwells
- Sue is working with Young Enterprise in Oxfordshire, finding ways to inspire their climate creativity
- Athene got ClimateXchange along to the West Oxford Community Association AGM, to celebrate them turning on their new solar panels
Loads going on then. Please write a few words about what you're been up to - this will be great to report to our next intro meeting on May 9th. Please either post updates to your blog, or email them to me... better still both. I can't tell you how important telling people details of what's going on, when a very frequently asked question at events is ‘but what can one person / group do?'.
Tools - all will be available at the meeting on May 9th
- Leaflets - brand new, featuring explorers and an Oxfordshire climate map - ready to distribute
- Sunflower Seeds -500 packets printed with Energy Efficiency info
- Please help distribute them at events / the village halls/ shops / pubs / churches - let me know how many you want and I'll put them in the post.
- The light bulb library is ready to be hosted - see the website for more info and to download some of the materials: http://climatex.org/articles/Tools/low-energy-light-bulb-libraries/
- If you have a Plug Monitor, please send us in your results to build up the database online. Some initial results from Stephen Reece: ‘Shocks and surprises - 1.2KW to cook my Sunday dinner nut loaf (have now
found one that can be microwaved in 3 mins), ~0Watt for leaving phone charger plugged in and <1Watt for TV on standby'. - Books - We've got 6 copies each of Mark Lynas' Six Degrees, and Tony Juniper's How many lightbulbs does it take to change a planet?'.
- Website - what do you think? How do you like it? Have you got an account?
Upcoming events
We've got heaps of events coming up, why not volunteer for a chance to enthuse people about what you've been up to? You won't have to do it alone, it'll only be for a couple of hours, and we'll provide ice cream / tea / whatever tickles your fancy...have a think and let me know. Here are some already happening...
- Tues May 1st 6am - May morning: a time for festivities, people on the streets of Oxford, Morris dancers and musicians .. also a great time to ask people about climate change! If anyone would like to take a bundle of leaflets, or parade a washing line of climate underwear (!) around, get in touch - free breakfast for two for anyone who'd like to enter into the festivities with a ClimateX hat on.
- Botanic Gardens Picnic Afternoons, Oxford - 1-4pm on Sat 19th May, Sat 9th and Sat 23rd Jun . The ClimateX stall (and giant climate snakes and ladders) will be part of the Picnic afternoons, which also offer family friendly activities
- North Leigh fete - Sat 23rd June - Another chance to get out the giant snakes and ladders, enthuse people about what's happening in Oxfordshire, and how they can be more involved
- Cowley Road Carnival - Sun 1st July
- West Oxford Community Association Fun Day - Sat 21st July - sim to North Leigh Fete
Got an event or festival you'd like to go to? Let us know - perhaps we could get a free ticket so that you can do some climate buzzing!
Communicating
Jane Pendlenton, who produced the excellent Oxfordshire Climate impacts presentation (available here: http://climatex.org/articles/climate-change-info/climate-change-impacts-oxfordshire-words-and-pictu/) will be in touch very soon to see how you'd like to keep each other updated, and to share experiences. You've each got such valuable insights that we could learn from. You could contribute to the Explorers forum (will be set up tomorrow) - or maybe you'd like a group email list, or weekly update? We'll be discussing this at the meeting on May 9th.
Surveys
A big THANKYOU to everyone who has helped get the surveys out. We've got one more week to get as many in as possible. Preliminary result are fascinating..we'll keep you posted.
*** Next Climate Explorers intro meeting - Weds May 9th, 6.30 - 8.30 pm, Environmental Change Institute Come find out more about ClimateXChange!
- Meet explorers, swap ideas, find out who's doing what
- Discover the range of climate tools - light bulb library, power monitors, games, DVDs, presentations
- Meet the ClimateXChange team
- Delicious food from the Global Deli and refreshments will be provided.
We'd love to see you - bring a friend. Please let us know by Tues 8th May if you'd like to attend.
Venue: Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University Centre for the Environment, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY
For more info contact: jo.hamilton@ouce.ox.ac.uk
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That's quite enough for now... keep well, keep exploring, keep telling us about what you're discovering, and keep enjoying it!
