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Knitted Ninjas Launch event Thursday 13th December 10:00am-12:30pm

Posted on by Jo-Wilkes

 

Josephine Adamson AKA the knitted_ninja will be launching her new Local Project Manager Project ‘Knitted Ninja’ at the Cafe on the Corner (venue: Fallowfield Methodist Community Church) on Thursday 13th December at 10:00am till 12:30pm.

Whether you are a beginner or you can match Josephine’s ninja knitting skills, all are welcome. You will learn how to knit a variety of cool gifts such mobile socks, mouse warmers, crocodile scarves, cupcakes and lots lots more.

No need to bring anything but yourself as there are lots of knitting needles, patterns to share and cups of tea.

So come along bring your friends, be in the ‘loop’ of the gossip and lets ‘knit’ our community together.

 

 

Richard Bendall-Jones – Compere Extraordinaire

Posted on by Sarah-Irving

Richard is one of our new LPMs and has kindly agreed to compere for our celebration event!  So that you can get to know him a little better, here is a bit about his project.

My AfSL project is taking place in the Ladybarn/Withington (M14) area to improve the condition of alleyways and cul-de-sacs. This will include devegetation of unpleasant areas and the installation of ‘green’ gardening infrastructure like unobtrusive beds, planters and hanging baskets. I love the area that I live in, and I hope this project will result in finding others who feel the same way.

Most of all, I hope to improve the aesthetics of the local region and to engage local people with volunteering opportunities to increase local pride. The key aim is to give people the chance to invest their time in the area they live in, as well as doing things they’re interested in.  I hope this project will improve their relationship with their neighbourhood, and also with their neighbours.

Plant Plot

Posted on by Sarah-Irving

Hi my name is Matt and I am one of the new Local Project Managers for Chorlton.

My time at university taught me many things, the complexity of cellar management, the glorious nature of local ales, how to bust those awesome moves but most importantly it taught me about that word everybody is talking about, ‘Sustainability.’

Leaving university I felt an almost impending doom that no matter what I did I couldn’t fix them wrongs of the past but then I had a moment. I realized that alone we are weak and together we are strong, that if I take just one step forwards it can accumulate with all the other little steps to become a lunge, a stride, even a marathon.

I then decided to create the ‘Plant Plot,’ a community garden that will bring local residents together, give educational resources tom local schools and hopefully create a space people will be proud to be a part of.

A little step in the grand scheme of things but an important step I think. Come walk with me.

We are what we eat

Posted on by Sarah-Irving

Each month we will be featuring some of our fantastic volunteers – check out Nico and his project idea:

Nico swinging

Hi there, my name is Nico Caldararo and I’m from a small mountain town in central Italy.

I spent my childhood summer-time with my grandfather in the country side (taking cows to  pasture, providing them fodder or medicinal herbs to treat them), and I still remember that particular period as one of the most enjoyable of my life.

My love for nature and all that is natural grew in me even more when I undertook my studies for civil engineering. I escaped away from the conception of the concrete building

construction and instead turned my interests to green building and sustainable development. My dream is to combine these skills with my hobbies, thus creating a building which is as much as possible independently sustainable in energy, as well as in genuine food and healthy herbs.

The latter is just the side I’d like to develop here, creating with your help a “simplex garden” corner in which the Moss Side community (and whoever wanted) can help itself with officinal herbs and can share its knowledge about ancient natural remedies. To do that, I couldn’t find a better place to develop it than in with AfSL as a Local Project Manager, because don’t forget: “we are what we eat!”

Art in Action, 12.12.12

Posted on by Kate-Wels

 

When: 12th December 2012, 12pm til 6pm

 

Where: ANTWERP MANSION, Rusholme Grove off Wilsmslow Road, Rusholme M14 5AG

 

What: As part of the 12.12.12 Humanity event, Art in Action is a series of creative events aimed at 18-24 year olds to think about/question their urban environment.

 

Itinerary includes:

- a free lunch

- seed bombing of underused sites

- junk sculpting

- a chance to have a voice on community issues

 

+18s only. Wear warm and practical clothing. For further information check out the facebook page:

www.facebook.com/pages/Art-in-Action/462882770416900?fref=ts

 

5th December: Our Legacy, Our Future Celebration Event

Posted on by Catrina-Pickering

AGM and Christmas Celebration
6:15pm, Wednesday 5th December 2012, Platt Chapel, Fallowfield

Our last celebration event in April

This is our big, booming annual celebration.  Our Green Seeds project that has so far trained up some 45 Local Project Managers to deliver sustainability projects across South and supported hundreds if not thousands of people to volunteer is now entering its fourth and final year.

Come along to find out about and reminisce over what Green Seeds has achieved and tell us how you see the future of community action around sustainability in South . We’ll be starting with our AGM and finishing with mulled wine and a festive AfSL Cellidh.   It’s sure to be an inspiring and fun packed evening.

 

RSVP here

 

PROGRAMME:

1.) Arrival, 6.15pm
2.) AGM, 6.30pm
3.) Our Legacy, Our Future Event, 7pm prompt

  •  Introduction
  • Green Seeds in Action:  Inspiring Case Studies
  • A few words from our trustees
  • Past, Present and Future: Tell your sustainability story, past, present and future
  • Mini craft Xmas present workshops or “meet the descendents” mini workshop (you choose)
  • Announcements:  South Environment Forum renamed winner and announcements
  • Sum-up

4.) Ceilidh merriment, buffet snacks and mulled wine

Climate Week

Posted on by Sarah-Irving

Climate Week

Britain’s Biggest Climate Change Campaign – 4 to 10 March 2013

Are you planning an event for the spring?  Why not boost your publicity by tying it in with Climate Week activities?

Climate Week is the UK’s biggest environmental occasion reaching every part of society and supported by everyone from the Prime Minister to Paul McCartney, the NHS to the Met Office, the TUC to the CBI, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations to the National Association of Head Teachers.

Climate Week is a supercharged national campaign to inspire a new wave of action on climate change. It culminates in thousands of events and activities, planned by organisations from every sector of society. Showcasing real, practical ways to combat climate change, the campaign aims to renew our ambition to create a more sustainable, low-carbon future. During Climate Week 2012, over half a million people took part in over 3,000 events across the UK.

So why not start thinking about ways in which the great work you do in your community could be part of Climate Week 2013. This could be by showcasing your project or holding a Climate Week event to bring members of your community together. For further details about Climate Week and to register your event, please visit the Climate Week website and help to create a national movement for change.

To find out more about Climate Week visit: www.climateweek.com

To contact Climate Week Email helen.baldock@climateweek.com   Telephone: 020 3397 2602.

Sustainable Firestations

Posted on by Sarah-Irving

Firestation IllustrationIn June 2012, we were commissioned by Joe Hulme (former Local Project Manager, turned current Sustainability Officer for Greater Fire and Rescue Service) to run a workshop with staff at ’s fire stations to inspire staff to take action on environmental issues. We caught up with Joe this week to find out how they’re getting on.  With some 125 environmental champions across the fire service and awards galore, they’re now set to be possibly the greenest fire service in the country.

Check out their recent article in October’s edition of the Environmentalist. (download below)

Envrionmentalist on line – October 2012 Issue

Sharing Ideas and Inspiration

Posted on by Simon Robinson

Action for Sustainable Living (AfSL) has been organising South Environment Forum (SMEF) events in some shape or form since 2010.

Over the summer, we reviewed how SMEF could be sustained with less resources and found that there was appetite for a less formal format, with more opportunity for networking and socialising.

With this in mind, on a drizzling October evening, around 25 environmental enthusiasts from around South gathered for the no frills re-launch of South Environment Forum, complete with networking, talks and an open mic – make your announcement spot.

 

People brainstorming environmental solutions

 

There were representatives from groups such as Hulme Community Garden Centre and the Secret Garden alongside people who are just getting started around sustainability and wanted to find out more.
We started off with some “crowd mapping” where people were asked to re-arrange themselves in order in the room according to where they lived, how long they’ve been interested in environmental issues, whether they feel they have sufficient information to be active and so on. Matt Rowe then gave a 10 minute talk on the Envirolution programme. He highlighted how they were working to connect people in who were interested in environmental issues, using Platt Fields park as a venue and a focus for events and activities. He explained how the ‘hook’ of such events enabled Envirolution to start a dialogue with local people which was seen a precursor to involvement and action. Q&A and a tale of Cardboard to Caviar from our very own Simon Robinson ensued.

 

 

 

We rounded off with an open mic session where people could make announcements about existing projects or upcoming events they’re involved in. Most people stayed around beyond the formal end of the evening to continue conversations already begun.

We also gathered some vital feedback to make our next event even better next time round.
Action for Sustainable Living will be hosting these events once every two months for at least the next year. Our next forum will be a rather special one that will double up as our annual Christmas extravaganza – not to be missed.
Oh and one other thing, South Environment Forum – it’s a bit of a mouthful isn’t it? The acronym of SMEF we imagine also holds little meaning to the everyday punter. We’ve therefore been polling people to ask for alternative names. Here’s a few suggestions:

• Environmental Collective of (Eco )
• Environmental Collective of South/Sustainable (Eco South )
• Greater Environment Forum
• Environmentally Greater Forum
• South Uniting Greens

Please keep your suggestions coming in to [email protected] We’ll be voting at our Xmas bash for the best one and the winner stands to win a cycle computer and tickets to a Bridgewater Hall concert.

Local Project Manager training October 2012

Posted on by Jo-Wilkes

On the weekend of the 12th/13th/14th October the 2nd wave of Local Project Managers (LPMs) for 2012 started their training. 14 new LPM’s attended the training venue at the Biospheric Foundation based in Salford.

The Biospheric Foundation in Salford run by Vincent Walsh was chosen as this waves training venue due to the pioneering vision and project which is being created there. An old unused factory in Salford in the heart of a high deprivation area is being transformed into a place to host a new form of urban food production and research. The venue has a great grass roots, community change, and feel to the place. For more details about the project see http://www.biosphericfoundation.com/home

The jam packed weekend of training and inspiration started on Friday Night with Climate change bingo followed by introductions. A moving speech was given about the history and foundations of AfSL by the new Development worker Catrina Pickering.

Three of the 2nd generation LPM’s gave brief introductions to last year’s LPM projects which they are involved in ‘The Secret Garden’ by Mark Roberts and ‘Sustainable Housing’ by David Schofield. This showed the new LPM’s the potential of what they could achieve with their projects ideas.

A wide selection of exciting LPM project ideas have been brought to the October 2012 wave, projects such as: teaching people how to knit blankets for the local dogs home, greening up alleyways, environmental video production,  energy efficiency in the home, working in Hospitals/schools, encouraging bike riding etc…  All these ideas were discussed over a lovely buffet provided by The Eighth Day Cafe.

The weekend training covered everything from project management, involving volunteers and diverse communities, press worthy projects and event training to name but a few topics.  The space in the venue was great for adaptability for the different training activities and styles. The venue this time was cold however this meant it gave way to our LPM Ruth to run energising, fun ‘ice breakers’ and ‘warm ups’ which were enjoyed by all.The weekend concluded with a visit from the Founder of AfSL Chris Wright and Trustee Gaby Porter (a copy of Chris’s book ‘Your wakeup call’ had been given to each of the LPM’s on the Friday night in their goody bags). Chris gave a brief talk to share his vision of AfSL and sustainability with the group which was warmly received. Each LPM then shared their project vision and how the weekends had changed or strengthened their idea.

This was the first time the training had been delivered in a whole weekend instead of eight evenings spread over eight weeks. This was with an aim to really bond the group creating friendships and support networks. Following the feedback from the event from the LPM’s this seems to have done just that, helping create solid foundations for some amazing projects this year.