CLIMATE CHANGE & ME: free conference Sat 11 Oct 2008 at Highbury Fields Secondary School, 11-5

How did it go?

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Nearly 800 people, including children, students and local authors (see pix below), found out ways to tackle climate change at home during the first CLIMATE CHANGE & ME week which kicked off with a free family festival on Sat 11 October at Highbury Fields School.

“It was an inspiring event,” said voluntary co-ordinator Nicola Baird. “Both schools put so much effort into making the day good fun, and informative, for all ages and we were lucky to have the expertise of the Green Living Centre’s Kerry Kirwan. We got to see the girls in the edgy Blackstock Road band performing live; found ourselves humming Drayton Park’s “Let’s insulate’ song and learnt all sorts about recycling, water use and fashion. Highlights included a visit from the Mayor; a children’s question time with local politicians – Cllr Greg Foxsmith, Cllr Katie Dawson and MP Jeremy Corbyn chaired by sustainability expert Bob Gilbert, free cakes and a goody bag to take away.”

What did you think?
“I hadn't expected to enjoy it as much as I did, but there was so much on offer to stimulate from home insulation to neck massages to cracking good books.”

“I am going to try and arrange a similar thing over this neck of the woods - so I am going to unashamedly steal ideas from your event!”

“It had a very friendly atmosphere and was very enjoyable.”

“It was a really successful event - the energy was good, the kids just a delight.”

What’s next?
Something’s cooking – but you’ll have to wait and see. Unless you wish to be involved in plastic bag free or transition town – in that case please contact Nicola on 020 7704 6420. Pic below shows children at Drayton Park's climate club measuring their carbon footprints during the festival.

Who came?
Saturday – 200 people attended
Monday – 10 for Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth
Tuesday – 10 for Message in the Waves with Orlando Jopling’s amazingly informed talk about making your local shops into a plastic bag free zone.
Wednesday – 30 attended. 10 for the End of Suburbia (followed by a talk led by Duncan Law from Transition Town Brixton) and 20 for the Swish which saw Emma Hope shoes, Betty Jackson dresses and all sorts of glad rags swapping homes
Thursday – 10 attended the Power of Community film (about how Cuba copes with an oil embargo).
Friday – 300 children at Drayton Park Primary School, some as young as 4, created an assembly that showed the teachers and parents what they’d learnt about recycling, fair trade and reuse. Two Y6 children dressed the head and deputy in a newspaper outfit (including a necklace and shoes!) and two Y2 children did a live planting… Then at the going home/cake sale the Streetcar car club arrived attracting all sorts of questions – and a queue by the kids for those helium filled balloons.
Sunday – the car boot sale was buzzing, approx 200 people and #260 raised for Drayton Park School PTA's school funds.

Not counted – assembly or work done by Highbury Fields school’s students OR time spent by Drayton Park’s climate club working on posters, rehearsing their show or the dress rehearsal in front of the whole school on 10 October.

Spread the goodwill
>>It was Highbury Fields’ first public community event
>>Tesco Finsbury Park donated #200 worth of cakes (see pic) so festival goers had free tasty snacks.
>>Woodland Hardware, First Choice Hardwar and Mix offered 10 per cent off energy efficiency goods to festival goers (with a voucher)
>>Hotblack Desiato, Highbury, printed out the display cards to make a fab window display
>>Oasis cafe sold lunch making #240
>>Extra bagels were finished up at Monsell Road’s open day.
>>Three not for profits made a small sum from selling snacks – Market Road Playgroup, the Latin American Women’s Self Education Fund and a Somali group.

>>Drayton Park school received #53 to use on a climate change project. The school opted to use it buying seeds and tools for their allotment.
>>Highbury Fields school will receive #54 to use on a climate change awareness project, possibly films from the CLIMATE CHANGE & ME week. TBC

Special thank yous
Many people deserve a big thank you but especially the school teams: from Highbury Fields it was Julia Hodson and Zofia Hodgkinson. At Drayton Park it was Rosie Walden and Emma Jones.

Others on the organizing team included the Green Living Centre’s wonderful Kerry Kirwan, Antony Melville, Kelly Webb-Lamb, Caroline Russelll, Faisla Dilmi from the North London Mosque and Nicola Baird.

Speakers and workshop coordinators gave their time so generously, including: Chris Baker, Polly Higgins, Debbie Warrener, Sarah Harrison, Pete May, the politicians, the Mayor, Bob Gilbert, Rohan Knox, Jean Hughes, the Green Living Centre (including Andrew Ford), Penney Poyzer and Dilys Williams.

On the festival Saturday we benefited from help from students from Highbury Fields and Drayton Park’s climate club as well as Charlotte Eilenberg, Sue Jandy and Caroline Bucknall. The trio who ran the crèche; Janice who served teas and all the caretakers (Peter, Tony and William at HFS, Gary at DPS) made the event run far more smoothly.

Without Nicolette Jones there would have been no authors (see pic, left). She didn’t just collect up Highbury’s authors, she also helped raise #107 to be divided between the two schools towards climate change projects. At Central Library support from Teresa Gibson led to a special display (see top pic).

Clothes lovers can thank Kelly Webb-Lamb and friends for running the Swish (posh clothes swap) twice. #100s of pounds worth of glad rags changed hands – and all for free. See pic (right) of happy swishers. This is something we should definitely do again. You can find out how fun it is to run a basic Swish here.

We also need to thank speakers during the week of CLIMATE CHANGE & ME talks/workshops - Orlando Jopling, Duncan Law, the Green Living Centre’s Mark Donaldson and Karen Liebenguth.

Our funding was minimal – the Islington Festival Fund provided a grant for printing 3,000 flyers (this was printed on certifiably eco paper) by KopyKat. More info from print@kopykat.co.uk or tel: 020 7739 2451. Stalls provided raffle prizes as did Friends of the Earth. Two speakers received a fee but both planned to donate this to favourite charities (one for children/music and the other students/fashion).

Nicola Baird would also like to thank many people for the extra help/advice she got from Rita Marcangelo, Jane Hutching and Andrea Lewis (for design and marketing), Christian Graham and Polly Higgins (for blog expertise), Liz Laine (for explaining how to run the carbon footprints game), Rachel Cooke, Sue Jandy and the many people who helped by putting up flyers in their shop windows, circulating on email lists or talking up the event. It was also a great boon to have so much coverage in the Islington Tribune, so special thanks to the editor and Peter Gruner. Thanks all, now I wish you merry insulating…

Timetable 11 Oct

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If you are thinking of coming to the free family festival about CLIMATE CHANGE & ME on Saturday 11 October you can find out what's happening by scrolling down this blog to the entry on 16 September for a full timetable. There are also films and talks from 13-16 Oct (see timetable in the blog entry just below) and a car boot sale on 19 Oct. See you there. Snacks on sale from Oasis cafe.

Events also on 13-19 Oct

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CLIMATE CHANGE & ME isn't just a one-off. There are also FILMS, TALKS AND CLOTHES SWAPS from 6-9pm at Highbury Fields School from Monday 13-16 October. Films start approx 6.45pm, end at 8.15pm and then if you like, stay for a half hour discussion. (And don't forget the car boot sale on Sun 19 October at Drayton Park School) .

Mon 13 Oct – Watch Al Gore’s classic Nobel/Oscar-winning presentation on climate change, An Inconvenient Truth. Snacks on sale from Market Playgroup.

Tues 14 Oct – Discover how to go plastic bag free with Message in the Waves and Orlando Jopling (who helped Newington Green do this). Somali-style samosas on sale.

Wed 15 Oct – Watch The End of Suburbia with Duncan Law from Transition Town Brixton OR bring a posh piece of clothing you no longer wear and join a SWISH clothes swap. (7-.8.45pm)

Th 16 Oct - Watch Cuba deal without oil and get gardening in the city in Power of Community OR
get practical advice how to green your office in a talk from Friends of the Earth’s Karen Leibenguth (7-8pm). Snacks on sale from a South American charity.

Sun 19 Oct - Car boot sale at Drayton Park School, Arvon Road, N5. Sellers 9am, buyers 10am. Breakfasts and bargains.

Authors at the festival

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Homework may sometimes be a chore for school students – but working from home is a great way to live a low carbon life. Energy-efficient boffins reckon that working from home just once a week can save up to 20 per cent of the carbon dioxide emissions created by traveling to work. That’s why CLIMATE CHANGE & ME is showcasing local authors who both live and work in Islington.

"The Climate Change & Me Festival is a great idea, and a good thing for the local community and beyond, which I am delighted to support." Nick Hornby

"We're all trying to figure out how to save the polar ears while reducing our heating bills. Come to the Climate Change & Me Festival for great ideas about both." Meg Rosoff (Carnegie Medal-winning young adult author; latest book What I Was)

We now have the following authors offering signed copies. A selection of them will also stop by at the festival (approx 4.15-5.15pm). All of them live, or wrote their books, within walking distance of Highbury Fields School.

Charles Palliser The Unburied (novel)
Katharine Quarmby Fussy Freya (picturebook)
Pete May There's a Hippo in My Cistern: One Man's Misadventures on the
Eco-Frontline (humorous memoir)
Betsy Tobin Ice Land (novel)
Nicola Baird Save Cash & Save the Planet (eco guide co-author)
Nicholas Clee Don't Sweat the Aubergine: What Works in the Kitchen and Why
(book about cooking)
Nicolette Jones The Plimsoll Sensation: The Great Campaign to Save Lives at
Sea (historical non-fiction)
Meg Rosoff What I Was (young adult novel)
Harry Ritchie The Third Party (lad lit novel)
Nick Hornby Slam (young adult novel)
Sue Gee Reading in Bed (novel)
Maya Slater My Darcy's Diary (novel based on Pride and Prejudice), see pic left.
Tim Rushby-Smith Looking Up: A Humorous and Unflinching Account of Learning
to Live Again with Sudden Disability (memoir)
Alison Allen-Gray Unique (picturebook)
Judy Cumberpatch Can You Hear the Sea? (picturebook)

Possibly also (TBC):
Andrea Levy Small Island (Orange Prize-winning novel from the former Highbury Fields student)
Nigel Slater Eating for England (book about cooking)
Jackie Wullschlager Chagall: A Dream of Life (biography) (published on 30
Oct - if copies available)

Some goodie bags will also have copies of books that Ian Jack has generously donated.

As 2008 is the National Year of Reading all authors recommend that you read more with your local library. Look out for the display of local authors’ books during the CLIMATE CHANGE & ME festival at Central Library, just off Holloway Road.

The library is even planning to create a display of local authors' books as part of the CLIMATE CHANGE & ME free family festival.

TIP: Sharing books with friends or book club members, using libraries and donating books to (or buying from) charity shops like Marie Curie at Highbury Corner and Finsbury Park (Seven Sisters Road) or The C4 Charity Bookshop on Blackstock Road is a good way of keeping your reading bill down and doing some good for others at the same time.

Watch this video too

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On Sat 11 Oct the free CLIMATE CHANGE & ME festival, held at Highbury Fields School, will offer loads of tips about energy efficiency and saving cash. There's also films and discussions every night from Mon 13-Thurs 16 Oct, starting 6pm designed to help you reduce your carbon emissions with minimal pain.

Here's a funny video that might help your family turn the lights off and switch off at the wall - so that the next electricity bill will be less of a shock...

Watch Shane Meadows' climate change ad Media guardian.co.uk

The organisers

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The CLIMATE CHANGE & ME festival is a joint event run by Highbury Fields Secondary School, Drayton Park School and Islington Green Living Centre. It aims to empower the people in Highbury - and other parts of Islington - to become more energy-efficient, save cash & have fun tackling climate change.

The photo shows some of the organisers (l-r): Kerry Kirwan from the Green Living Centre; Julia Hodson, acting head at Highbury Fields School and Zophie Hodgkinson who leads on sustainability at Highbury Fields School. All the events are being run at Highbury Fields School, except the car boot sale on Sunday 19 October which is at Drayton Park, Arvon Road, N5. See more about Highbury Fields School here. Here's how to find the school using streetmap.

Drayton Park School is represented by head teacher Rosie Walden and Emma Jones, who leads on eco issues at the school, and runs the gardening club. See more about Drayton Park School here.

When is it? CLIMATE CHANGE & ME is a free festival on Sat 11 October, 11am-5pm held at Highbury Fields School. Just turn up (crèche, activities for teenagers too). Lunch on sale provided by the Iraqi Women’s League. TBC

There are also films & talks every evening from 13-16 Oct, at 6pm, Highbury Fields School. See the timetable for details on another post on this blog.

Watch this video

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On Sat 11 October come to Highbury Fields School for the free CLIMATE CHANGE & ME festival. It's a chance to learn, think about and share ways to tackle climate change without breaking the bank.

"You don't have to be green to be green." Here's a toe-tapping tune that emphasises in a witty way how easy it is to live a sustainable life if you are watching your cash and making sure you are as energy-efficient as possible. It's just a minute long. Enjoy!

Watch MTV Switch anti-'greenwash' video Media guardian.co.uk

Eco raffle

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At the CLIMATE CHANGE & ME free family festival on Sat 11 October there will be a raffle. Buy a ticket and you could have the chance to win interesting -and sometimes hard to find - eco goodies.

Prizes include:

A unique cloth shopping bag from the world's largest environmental organisation, Friends of the Earth. Or avoid the raffle risk and buy one for just #3 at www.foe.co.uk/shop.

>>The brilliant new book How can I stop climate change (Collins) - see sample pages here.

>>Win the new eco cleaning mitt from Enjo. Enjo is the brainchild of Johannes Engels who invented a range of cleaning fibres which eliminate the need to use harmful chemicals in the home and workplace, make a positive contribution to reducing land, waste and water pollution, and that produce better results in less time and with less effort.

Timetable 11 Oct

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Drop in to the CLIMATE CHANGE & ME free family festival to the events you think interest you, or stay for the whole day. Lunch will be on sale and there's free tea and coffee. Below is the programme of events from 11am - 6pm. Please note the organisers reserve the right to change this.

11 – 11.15 housekeeping, welcome songs by North London Mosque children/young people HALL
Welcome by comic writer Pete May. HALL

11.15 – 11.55 Speaker Polly Higgins (talk & questions) HALL
Time travel in Dr Who’s tardis for an overview of climate change

11.55 – 12 Facilitator introduces Islington’s Mayor HALL

12 – 1pm first adult workshops (one in each of 3 classrooms)

12 – 12.30 – Young people's performance HALL

Lunch available from 12.30 – 1.30
Lunch provided by Iraqi Women’s League TBC

1.15 – 2pm Speaker TV’s Penney Poyzer (talk and questions)
Climate change & me (including travel, energy efficiency, kitchen, food and community)

2-2.05pm Facilitator HALL

2.05 – 2.45pm Question Time with a twist. Politicians (Jeremy Corbyn MP, Cllr Katie Dawson, Cllr Greg Foxsmith - chaired by Bob Gilbert) HALL
What are you doing about climate change here in Islington?

2 – 3.50pm Come to the SWISH (posh clothes swap) hosted by Kelly Webb-Lamb (producer of The Apprentice)

2.50 – 3.50 second adult workshops

2.50 – 4.45 Creative recycling - a child focused workshop – maybe making something that could be taken away/shown off/ pester power/campaigning?? Run by Rohan Knox

2.50 – 4.45 Campaigning for kids workshop on pester power/campaigning?? TBC

2.50-4 Chance to look at stalls & ask questions
Opportunity to write pledges - what are you going to do about tackling climate change?

4-4.03 Facilitator HALL

4 – 4.40 Speaker Dilys Williams (talk & questions) HALL
What’s fashion got to do with climate change? More than you think…

4.45-5pm FACILITATOR Thank you & close with song by North London Mosque children/young people TBC, HALL

5- 6pm Cup of tea & chat
Chance to look at pledges/swap contacts. Questions for any of the workshop facilitators, questions for stall holders.

WORKSHOPS
1) How can I make my Victorian House more energy efficient?
Facilitators: Antony Melville & Sarah Harrison

2) How can I save cash and save the planet?
Facilitator: Kerry Kirwan, from the Green Living Centre

3) How can we have more fun in our street?
Facilitator: Debbie Warrener

If you have any questions please contact Nicola, 020 7704 6420

Films & talks 13-16 Oct

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FILMS, TALKS AND CLOTHES SWAPS run from 6-9pm at Highbury Fields School during the CLIMATE CHANGE & ME FESTIVAL. Snacks will be on sale.

Mon 13 Oct – Enjoy Al Gore’s classic, Oscar-winning film, An Inconvenient Truth

Tues 14 Oct – Go plastic bag free with Message in the Waves, the film that inspired first Modbury and then more than 100 towns to go plastic bag free. Also meet Orlando Jopling who spearheaded a community campaign to get Newington Green to go plastic bag free.

Wed 15 Oct – Watch the film that launched the Transition Town movement, The End of Suburbia with Duncan Law from Transition Town Brixton OR
Wed 15 Oct OR bring a posh piece of clothing you no longer wear and join a SWISH clothes swap. (7-.8.45pm)

Th 16 Oct Watch Power of Community - how Cuba coped without oil followed by a discussion led by Mark Donaldson from the Green Living Centre (expect lots of info about Transition Towns) OR
Th 16 Oct OR get practical advice how to green your office in a talk from Friends of the Earth (7-8pm)

If you have any questions please call Nicola, 020 7704 6420.

Green your office

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Come and find out how Friends of the Earth has reduced its paper use, found sustainably sourced products and encouraged staff to recycle everything - from tea bags to PC monitors at Highbury's CLIMATE CHANGE & ME evening conference. Tickets for the evening events are free, just turn up anytime from 6pm at Highbury Fields School, Highbury Hill. Karen's inspiring workshop runs from 7-8pm on 16 October.

"Of course you'd expect Friends of the Earth to have good recycling systems in place, but we've found that you need to keep on encouraging and inspiring staff. We make it easy, we explain what and why, and we give out awards," says Karen Liebenguth who has worked at the environmental campaigning organisation, based in nearby Old Street, for three years.

Karen (right) is in charge of keeping Friends of the Earth's office and staff green. Come and find out the innovative, but simple, ways this is achieved. Karen can answer your questions too.

If you've ever felt frustrated by the waste in your office then please come and find out how to do something practical about it on Thursday 16 October from 7-8pm.

Useful books: Save Cash & Save the Planet (Collins) available here.

Warming up Victorian homes

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Our homes can be very chilly - they leak heat thanks to poor insulation, gappy sash windows and old age - but there is a cure. Come and hear TV's Penney Poyzer talk at 1.15pm about tackling your home at our CLIMATE CHANGE AND ME free family festival on Saturday 11 October. Or better still join Antony Melville's workshop (at 12 and again at 2.45pm) on brilliant ways to make your Victorian terrace house warmer without making your carbon footprint soar.

Energy use in our homes is responsible for more than quarter of the country’s carbon emissions (another 26% coming from our food and our travel). In the home, we have on the one hand electrical gadgets and stuff, and on the other, comfort provided by space heating, hot water and cooking (from gas for most of us in London); and lighting.

Given that burning gas and generating electricity (unless it’s from renewables) generate greenhouse gases, in order to head off the risk of runaway global warming (that “tipping” word) all this energy use has to be reduced, so we produce 80 per cent less carbon emissions as soon as possible. (The government target is 2050, but it’s more urgent than that).

The old houses many people live in around Highbury were built with open fires - a system which did a very good job of drawing cold air into the house and sending the heat up the chimney, while leaving a small, hot area to huddle round.

Even the most basic central heating system is massively more efficient than that, but thre's a big hitch. At least £1 of every £3 we spend on gas is simply thrown away, because without insulation heat is lost through the roof, walls, windows, floor and outside doors. But recently it has been shown that Victorian homes can be retrofitted with insulation in the roof, on the walls, and under the floors, and with either secondary glazing or double glazed windows, with good draught-proofing, thus achieving reductions in energy use of 65 per cent or more. So your £3 bill comes down to £1, and the wastage to 33p.

The nearest example of such a retrofit is Sarah Harrison’s house in a conservation area in Tufnell Park, a 3-bed semi-detached house built in 1870. In the last couple of years she insulated the walls and floors with 10cm of wood fibre and double glazed the windows (with new wooden frames at the back of the house), and achieved a 75 per cent reduction in energy use.

In Highbury fields the architect Robin Nicholson lined the walls of his Georgian house (then in a state of dilapidation, and before the building was listed) with fibreglass insulation 4ins deep 30 years ago. Insulating inside the walls is a challenge for highly ornamented (and mostly listed) houses where part of the cornice would need to be re-made, and other elements such as dadoes replaced, but a thinner insulation called Spacetherm C is available (at a price) which would be little thicker than the plaster it replaces.

I believe we can develop a low-carbon plan for each terrace in Highbury. We can make a plan for one house that sets out the measures needed to achieve 80 per cent emissions reductions and use that as a basis for the rest of the terrace, which were after all built as repeats of the same plan. This work will become essential for maintaining the value of our houses in the low carbon age, which is approaching fast.

I am seeking 50 homeowners to join together and apply to the government at the end of this year to be a Green Neighbourhood, which means we could get a bit of grant money for insulating older houses. I am calling this the VICTERI project – that’s a misspelt acronym for the Victorian Terrace Energy Reduction Initiative, exploring ways of making Victorian streets into low carbon communities. I don’t wish to exclude Georgian houses, but there’s an awful lot more Victorian housing than Georgian.

If we start in Highbury we can then go Islington-wide, and then London-wide – we could make ourselves a “tipping point” for low carbon living in old housing stock.

If you’d like to be one of the 50 to make a Green Neighbourhood in Highbury, please contact me at antonymelville@dsl.pipex.com or (020) 7607 1540, and I’ll come round and talk about what you need to do for your house. Or come to my workshop at the CLIMATE CHANGE & ME festival and hear some more about what could happen to transform the street you live in.

Can I bring my child?

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The free CLIMATE CHANGE & ME festival on Saturday 11 October is for everyone. It promises to be an inspiring day out for the family.

There will be a creative recycling workshop for children aged 7 years and over; and also workshops for teenagers. Babies in arms (or buggies) are welcome.

There will also be a free creche for 3-6 year old children with qualified carers. For safety reasons children will remain their parents/carers responsibility. Find the creche on arrival as there are just 20 places.

The creche will be open in the morning from 10.30-12.30.
It will be closed for lunch from 12.30 to 2pm (so please bring food for your child).

The creche will reopen (so you will need to re-register your child if you have already used it in the morning) from 2-4.45pm.

If you plan to use the creche please arrive in good time to ensure you get a place.

Where is the festival?

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If you're planning to come to the free CLIMATE CHANGE & ME festival this is how to find it. And if you see the clock in the picture you are nearly there, just turn left.

1) All events on Saturday 11 October will be held at Highbury Fields Secondary School, Highbury Hill, London, N5 1AR.

Highbury Fields School is at the top (Highbury Barn) end of Highbury Hill. It is about a 10 minute from two tube stations. Choose either an uphill walk from Arsenal tube (Piccadilly line); or you can get off at Highbury and Islington tube (Victoria line) and stroll through Highbury Fields.

There are lots of buses. The 4 and 19 stop a 2-minute walk away from the school.

There are cycle racks close by at Highbury Barn or use the school's railings.

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2) All evening film shows and talks held every day from Monday 13 October - Thursday 17 October will be held at Highbury Fields Secondary School (see how to get there above). Starting times vary, but most start at 6.30pm and will be over by 9pm. Snacks and drinks can be bought.

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3) The car boot sale on Sunday 19 October will be held at Drayton Park School, Arvon Road, London, N5 1PJ. Gates open at 10 am (sellers can arrive at 9am). Breakfast and cakes will be on sale too.

To reach Drayton Park School by tube you can walk from Highbury & Islington, Holloway or Arsenal stations. Or use the buses along Holloway Road and alight near Greggs the baker on the Drayton Park/Holloway Road junction. Drayton Park School has a lifeboat in the playground, so you will know if you are in the right place!

Funny man kicks-off festival

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Comic writer Pete May will be giving a short welcome speech to kick off Highbury's CLIMATE CHANGE & ME festival on Saturday 11 October. Tickets for the event are free, just turn up at 11am at Highbury Fields School, Highbury Hill. Pete will be speaking at approx 11am after the North London Mosque's youth group sing us a welcome (please arrive in good time).

Pete May doesn't support Arsenal (he’s a lifelong West Ham fan see this year’s blog here) but he's lived in Islington since 1993.

The greenest thing Pete ever did before moving to Islington was recycling old jokes... In fact he didn't want to be a green but his girlfriend was an eco activist and the result is his hilarious eco rom-com set among compost loos and chicken coops, There’s A Hippo In My Cistern: one
man's misadventures on the eco-frontline, (Collins, £6.99).

Now he's a man on a mission to make green living easy, cheap and fun. Watch the 3-minute video below for a taster...

Flyer for 11 Oct

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More than 2,000 flyers will be distributed around Highbury. If you'd like any for your school, business, community centre or library please let Nicola know on 020 7704 6420. Thanks.

On TV and speaking to us

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Penney Poyzer will share her clever tips on saving cash and saving the planet at Highbury’s CLIMATE CHANGE & ME conference on Saturday 11 October. Tickets for the event are free, just turn up at 11am at Highbury Fields School, Highbury Hill. Penney will be speaking at approx 2pm (please arrive in good time).

Penney Poyzer is a TV star and an eco-expert. Her hit show There’s No Waste Like Home (on BBC2) got 3 million viewers. Who can forget the faces of energy-guzzling contestants being first shown how to save energy around their homes and – if successful at changing their wasteful habits – be given wads of crisp cash.

The book of the series, There’s No Waste Like Home, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Waste-Like-Home-Penney-Poyzer/dp/0753510278 showed how easy it is to stop yourself wasting as much as #4,000 a year. She shows how you can cut back on water, gas and electricity bills and finds cash and planet saving tips to stop you wasting food or fossil fuels as you drive.

Penney, 48, is a great speaker. She’s funny and informative. She is just finishing writing her latest book which is about having a really green life.

Come and hear what she says because she really does know a lot about tackling climate change. “I'm really looking forward to coming back to the increasingly green streets of 'The Izzle' - as one of my mate’s calls it! Getting to grips with the big green issues is so much easier when we tackle them together. Whatever walk of life we follow, whatever creed we believe in, we have this lovely planet in common. Time is our most precious non-renewable resource so let’s not waste a second."

Penney lives in Nottingham in a Victorian semi that she’s made really energy-efficient with her husband Gil Schalom, who is a green architect.

What's fashion got to do with it?

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Dilys Williams from the London School of Fashion loves clothes enough to be helping fashion designers create an ethical revolution. She’ll be explaining What fashion’s got to do with climate change at Highbury’s CLIMATE CHANGE & ME conference on Saturday 11 October. Tickets for the event are free, just turn up at 11am at Highbury Fields School, Highbury Hill. Dilys will be speaking at approx 4pm (please arrive in good time).

We all have some clothes we don’t wear much – but did you know that the average woman over their whole lifetime throws away #12,000 of clothes that have not been worn?

Sometimes clothes are so cheap they don’t last for more than a few outings, or are not good enough quality to repair. So if you love clothes Dilys Williams, who has worked with top designers including Katharine Hamnett (at her Highbury studio) and Stella McCartney will be a speaker you don’t want to miss.

Click here for a pic of Dilys and an interview about what she likes wearing published recently in The Guardian newspaper.

“Love your clothes. Don’t be dictated to by the magazines and change your clothes and identity all the time. Be proud of who you are and think about your identity – and make sure your clothes reflect that identity. If we all loved our clothes more I’m sure that that would change the impact of the fashion industry dramatically,” says Dilys who admits to loving black frocks and cagoules (not necessarily together!).

“We don’t have to be a martyr to ethical fashion and wear grungy items. But we will only get more choice if we go to the kind of designers and retailers that offer what we like. So:

1 Look for something that is your style.

2 Demand more from retailers – such as Gap, Next, Monsoon, Top Shop and Primark - by asking how does this piece impact on the environment? How was it made? Who made it?

3 It sounds radical, but don’t wash your clothes as much instead care for them more and repair them.

4 If you can try reusing something you already have. Some designers take a material and then upscale it; maybe make it more beautiful or fit better. You can see how the Brick Lane company, Junky Styling transforms suits at http://www.junkystyling.co.uk/ (and yes they do women’s clothes too).

Come and hear more money saving and fashiontastic ideas from Dilys at the free CLIMATE CHANGE & ME festival on Saturday, 11 October. You can find out more about London College of Fashion's Centre for Sustainable Fashion here.

Meet Polly and Dr Who's Tardis

2008-08-22T06:22:00.000-07:00

Polly Higgins, who lives in Islington, just can't resist taking over Dr Who's Tardis for a show and tell adventure about climate change that will have you fired up for Highbury's CLIMATE CHANGE & ME conference on Saturday 11 October. Tickets for the event are free, just turn up at 11am at Highbury Fields School, Highbury Hill. Polly will be speaking at approx 11am (please arrive in good time).

In 2005 Polly gave up life as a practising barrister, fighting other people's fights in court, to go off and fight for what she believed in - the environment. She now advises on international environmental and energy legislation, works with TREC and is a regular public speaker. Recent engagements include speaking on climate change at a rave, briefing MPs on a clever renewable energy (Concentrating Solar Power also known as CSP) and speaking at the Climate Camp which was set up near the site of E-ON's controversial proposed new coal-powered dinosaur plant at Kingsnorth, Kent this August.

Polly runs Wise Women (Women in Sustainability and the Environment) network, founded the online eco-store called The Lazy Environmentalist, and blogs on her journey to discover what we need to do to save the planet. You can read about her progress here .

Funny weather?

2008-08-03T03:02:00.000-07:00

We know about climate change, so let's do something in Highbury to tackle it...

Funny weather we're having this year in N5, N4 and N1 aren't we? One moment it's wet. Then cloudbursts. Then steamy hot. Then mizzle. It turns organising summer picnics on Highbury Fields, Gillespie Park or a rug in the back garden into more of a risk sport than a mealtime diversion.

The weather has been getting stranger for some years now though, and not just in Islington.

In fact if you look at the weather records it's fascinating seeing how often this month we're in right now has just been the warmest, or wettest, or driest - since records began in 1854. Check for yourself at bbc weather. As 2008 is an Olympics year it's quite human to want records to be smashed. But when it comes to the weather, it ought to be seasonal variation, not global change.

Most of us know that a build up of greenhouse gases is changing our climate, see how in the very detailed Stern Report here.

Carbon dioxide - which our homes and cars, schools and buses release by the tonne - is one of these greenhouse gases and it is helping to warm up the Earth's atmosphere. It's no comfort to know that carbon dioxide molecules have a long, long life - at around 100 years it's longer than we can expect. So every time we use a fossil fuel like carbon dioxide it's not just having an instant impact, it's going to keep on heating up the atmosphere for the next 100 years.

Some people talk about global warming. But here in the UK, in this bit of Islington, it's simpler to explain the variation in our weather if we blame it on a changing climate.

The expression "climate change" neatly explains that the weather is more unsettled (and generally warmer around here) but if in the future something went wrong with the warming Gulf Stream current that hugs the west coast of our island, making it a great deal colder, then no one would be embarassed.

We can start tackling climate change by making our homes more energy efficient. That way we also reduce the pain of all these rising fuel bills (nice), and try to shrink our own carbon footprint.
We cannot tackle climate change by claiming that the unreliable British summer weather is the reason we need to hop on a plane and take off to somewhere we think will be sunnier. But don't worry if you have - some treats are really hard to alter. The task of this blog is for us all in Highbury to share ways to tackle climate change that we can manage, whatever the weather.