At a packed meeting on 16 June, there was a strong feeling that we could be more radical. One idea that emerged there, and has been developing since, has been to create groups of perhaps 10-12 people who are ready to make a really big change in their lives, radically cutting their climate change impact, and want to support each other in that process. The meeting also initiated some new...

At a packed meeting on 16 June, there was a strong feeling that we could be more radical. One idea that emerged there, and has been developing since, has been to create groups of perhaps 10-12 people who are ready to make a really big change in their lives, radically cutting their climate change impact, and want to support each other in that process. The meeting also initiated some new neighbourhood groups (which may or may not be the same thing!). We’re planning another meeting in mid-July, but meanwhile there’s a very lively discussion on the TN-2 google group - do join in! See the TN-2 page for more.

Click on the theme groups on the left to see what is being planned in each of these different areas of our work.

JUNE 2009 BULLETIN

Welcome to the June issue of the Transition Norwich Bulletin. This week the heat is on as the sun reaches its midsummer zenith - TN2 launched on Tuesday and we have our first celebratory gathering since the Unleashing on...

Click on the theme groups on the left to see what is being planned in each of these different areas of our work.

JUNE 2009 BULLETIN

Welcome to the June issue of the Transition Norwich Bulletin. This week the heat is on as the sun reaches its midsummer zenith - TN2 launched on Tuesday and we have our first celebratory gathering since the Unleashing on Saturday. There are also active events to engage in reported by TN’s Transport and Building and Energy groups, as well as a short review of the eco-pic, Home, in our new film section. We’re planning the next Open Space meeting for July 11, so put the date in your diary and keep a look out for the TN stand at the up and coming St Benedict’s Fair on Sunday. If you would like to give a hand with this great street festival do get in touch. All help welcome!

What’s in this month’s bulletin:

TN2 - the New Phase of Transition

More of a Party Than a Protest March - Midsummer Transition Party

Food: Norwich CSA - report

Transport: Bike Week

Buildings and Energy: Insulation Grants and Wind Week

Training for Transition

RELATED EVENTS: Sustainable Living Festival - May report

St Benedict’s Street Fair

The Peace Camp

Milli-band at Kingsnorth

FILMS: Power of Community

Home and In Transition

What if we only had 3 years to save the planet? TN2

What if we only had three years to save the planet from unstoppable climate change? Is Transition Norwich geared up to make a 100% cut in carbon emissions over that kind of time frame? This is the subject of an important meeting this Tuesday evening.

The climate change science is making it increasingly clear that this is the time-frame we need to be thinking about. Not an 80% cut by 2050. And if Norwich is going to be a leader in that change, we need to move even faster. This means a huge change in the way each of us thinks about our lives. Yes, it might seem impossible. But we also have a message of hope, a vision of a better, happier, healthier world that we can create as we stop using fossil fuels. And we have a fantastic movement of capable people (that’s you of course). What could be more pressing than saving humanity from extinction and creating a better world? If you can possibly get to this meeting please do. It’s at the Baptist Church on St Mary’s Plain (corner of Duke Street). 7pm (N.B. not 7.30) and might go on until 10pm.

Midsummer Transition Party - 20 June

Meanwhile . . .roll up for the party of the year - a Summer Solstice outdoor picnic hosted by HEART AND SOUL, RESKILLING and NR3. It’s a chance for everyone in transition to get together, have fun and celebrate in a sustainable way. We’re having it in the garden at the Ranger’s House at Mousehold Heath (a house also in transition, with plans for becoming a nature study centre, run on alternative energy). Do bring food and drink to share (and plate, fork and cup) and anything you feel would make the party go with a swing. There will be reskilling activities through the afternoon (check out the main TN calendar next week for details and times), as well as storytelling, live music, children’s crafts, an "Old is the New New" stall, skills exchange, a conversation cafe and more. For directions, and more information on what to bring see the attached map. A good drop off point - and look-out across Norwich - is on Brittania Road opposite the track to the house. See you there!

Time : 12noon-5pm (and beyond). Food: Bring and Share stall, please bring any locally sourced, organic, in-season dishes and also the recipes (for special diets and for Transition cookbook). There will be a BBQ and drinks, tea and coffee available for a donation. Transport: There is very limited parking so people are encouraged to walk and cycle, or car-share from further afield (find someone to share with by registering your journey on www.carsharenorfolk.com). Nearest car park is ten minutes walk (by Zaks further up Gurney Road). There will be walk and cycle groups leaving from the Red Lion Pub at 11.45 and 2.30 if you would like some help finding your way. Please drop us an email if you want to join one of these groups, as they’ll only run if we have sufficient demand, transitionparty@hotmail.co.uk.

Food: Community Supported Agriculture in Norwich

The Transition Norwich Food group hosted a very exciting and energetic meeting on June 2 to get to grips with the details of how we will run Norwich’s CSA. Everybody came with lots of enthusiasm and ideas for our discussion about the pricing and distribution of our food shares and even what those shares could include - from scorzonera to kiwi fruit, but not forgetting potatoes and onions. It was really inspiring to see how much passion there is in Norwich for locally grown produce and how committed people are to making Norwich’s CSA happen. By the time you read this the Food Group will have submitted a funding bid to the Lottery-funded Local Food Fund, to pay for the start-up costs of this, the School Farm, the flour mill and the other Norwich food projects. We hope to get a decision in October and to have vegetables ready for pickup next spring or early summer. If you want to get involved but were not at the meeting please email tully@transitionnorwich.org.

Transport: Bike Week - 13-21 June

As part of the national Bike Week, come along to the launch event outside the Chapelfield Shopping Centre on Saturday 13 June from 10am where there will be a unique Tall Bike that is twice the height of a normal bike. The bike fair will include free bike health checks from Halfords and police security marking. Other events through the week include a ’Tour de Diss’ - a 13 miles ride on Sunday June 14, a Bike to Work breakfast on June 17 in Norwich and one in Thetford on June 18 and the Kett Rebellion 26 mile ride. Full programme details are available at www.bikeweek.org.uk.

The Transport Group is involved in Bike Week and meets monthly to plan a programme of public awareness and campaign for a more sustainable transport .

Buildings and Energy: Insulation Grants and Wind Week - 13-21 June

The Buildings and Energy group aims to encourage the community to reduce their energy usage and source energy as sustainably as possible. As so much of our energy consumption is at home, an important part of their work involves designing ways of creating or adapting Norwich’s homes to be more energy efficient.

If you are over 70 or claiming certain benefits you may be eligible for a full grant for insulation. Even if you do not fall into either of these catagories you are still eligible for a partial grant of between 40-60%. These are national grants so even if you are not under Norwich City Council’s jurisdiction you can still access these grants and they make a huge difference to the amount of energy wasted.

Meanwhile don’t miss Wind Week 2009 from13-21st June with events across the country.On the 19-20th there are 4 different wind farms open across Norfolk. So if you would like to visit one (and climb a turbine!) or find out what else is happening then visit www.embracewind.com.

Training for Transition - 25-26 July

This inspiring weekend course run by Transition Network trainers is essential for those wishing to know how to set up, run, and maintain a successful transition initiative. This "fundamentals" course is packed with imaginative and inspiring ways to delve into both the theory and practice of Transition. Let’s maximise our networking, support for each other and our chances of a successful transition by filling the course with East Anglians. We already have participants from outside the area and have had enquiries from as far away as Korea but places are still available for this Norwich course so book your place soon. Further details are available at www.transitiontowns.org or email training@transitionnorwich.org tel. 01603 614460.Bookings can be made by sending your cheque for £105 payable to ‘Transition Norwich’ to Inner Space, Maude Gray Court, St Benedicts Street, Norwich NR2 4PA.

RELATED EVENTS: Sustainable Living Festival - May Report

Transition Norwich’s stand at the Sustainable Living Festival was a great success - thanks to all who contributed and all who visited. Our first visitor was Nicholas Crane from BBC’s Coast programme, who promoted Transition at the CPRE’s annual general meeting that evening. Lots of suggestions and feedback from the public on ideas for a more resilient Norwich, which we will be sharing with you very soon. And a great opportunity for joining forces with like-minded groups such as Permaculture, Norfolk Wildlife Trust and even the beekeepers.

St Benedict’s Street Fair – 21 June

Transition Norwich will have a stand at the annual St Benedict’s Street Fair in the heart of Norwich Lanes on 21 June (we’d be most grateful for volunteers to help on the day!). This hugely popular event is supported by Norwich City Council funding. The whole street is pedestrianised for the day; there’s lots of entertainment, stalls and food offerings, including live music, busking competitions, magic, salsa and tango. We need people to volunteer to work at the stand, to chat to interested people about the exciting, inspiring projects that TN is developing. If you’re interested in being part of this and can offer even just an hour or so please email info@transitionnorwich.org with your preferred time. The fair will run from 11am – 4 pm but we’ll need help to set up from 9.30am

Norwich Peace Camp at the Forum – 4 July

From 9am-4pm the atrium and the amphitheatre outside will be filled with inter-active exhibitions organised by a wide variety local peace, human rights, environmental and community groups,including Transition Norwich. There will also be a peace cycle around the old city walls or inner ring road. Again we will need volunteers for the stand so email info@transitionnorwich.org if you can join us.

Milli-band at Kingsnorth - 4 July

This fete to save the climate is being organised by Oxfam and has been named MIlli-band in honour of the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. Partygers will include People and Planet, Christian Aid, The Women’s Institute, the World Developement Movements, National Uniton of Students,. Woodcraft Folk, RSPB adn Greenpeace - and hopefull plenty fo transition people. Find out more here.

FILMS: The Power of Community – 7 July

This powerful film tells the story of how Cuba responded to the peak oil situation that was imposed upon it by the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is perhaps one of the most inspiring films about transition and provides hope that we can make the lifestyle changes needed to survive in a post oil society. Instead of ice cream bring a loaf of bread or some chopped veg to add to a big pot of soup to share during the interval! 7pm. Inner Space, Maud Gray Court. St Benedict’s Street.

Home: Cinema’s Most Powerful Wake-up Call Yet?

Remember the Earth from the Air show outside the Forum 2 years ago? The aerial photographer, Yann Arthus-Bernard, has made a blockbuster documentary that tells the story of humankind’s devastating influence on the natural balance of the planet in the last 50 years. Home is a spectacular movie, and the first ever to be released simultaneously in cinema, on TV, DVD and free on the internet.

Home might just be the most powerful wake-up call to our planet’s urgent plight to date and has already reached over 2.5 million on YouTube since its release on June 5th. The nature of the collective action we need to take in order stop runaway climate change is less clearly defined here, We certainly need to do more than “be responsible consumers and think about what we buy” as the narrator implores us to do in the concluding part of the film. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU&feature=channel or go to www.youtube.com and search for Home).

For all its powerful statements and inconvenient truths about our use of oil and natural resources however what Home does not deliver is any sense that ordinary people, or life’s innate capacity for restoration, can turn this situation around. For that you have to see a film at the other end of the spectrum that tells the same story from ground level - grassroots community actions and testimonies from Transition Initiatives world-wide. For a limited period the preview of In Transition is on-line. Catch it while you can.

http://breadcrumb.tv/~admin/streaming/in_transition_preview.mov.

Next issue of the TN Bulletin will be published on July 14. All contributions welcome. Please send news, events, requests, photographs to editor@transitionnorwich.org by 12 noon Friday July 13.