A space to share skills, learn about technologies, create networks, develop ideas and be inspired about international development and the planet.

I had read about the festival but Eiffelover and I were unable to attend as we had we had a prior engagement at the very beautiful and inspiring wedding of two lovely friends.

But fortunately I have a hotline to a Practical Action insider (uh, my sister) who sent me the following extract from Andrew Simms’s keynote address. Andrew’s talk apparently focused on the impossibility of maintaining growth in our unique and fragile planet and that transitioning to a more equitable zero growth economy is possible and necessary “…we can do this…and the money is there if you just reorient production and government priorities”.

He gave a lot of emphasis to the ‘well being’ that can be achieved in this transition process and ended with a quote from a speech by the American environmentalist Edward Abbey:

One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am — a reluctant enthusiast… a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.

(From a speech to environmentalists in Missoula, Montana, and in Colorado, which was published in High Country News, (24 September 1976), under the title “Joy, Shipmates, Joy!”, as quoted in Saving Nature’s Legacy : Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity (1994) by Reed F. Noss, Allen Y. Cooperrider, and Rodger Schlickeisen, p. 338 ISBN 1559632488)

I love this quote. On a day-to-day basis it reminds me why how even when I head for my desk each morning I remember to do simple things like enjoy the pleasure of cycling through Highbury Fields and take in my own lunch rather than join the ranks of the desk-bound in the supermarket queues. And more fundamentally it recognises our humanity and our need to cut ourselves a bit of slack – however noble the cause – in order to remember just what it is that we’re fighting to preserve in the first place. Keep body and soul together – active, breathing, blood-pumping, conscious – and whatever you do you can only win.

Rambling out yonder in the Peak District - June 2007

Nearly eight months ago Oliver and I travelled by train from London to Copenhagen. On the return journey, inspired by the conversations we had had and the people we had met, I made ten pledges for 10:10 which I posted on this blog. Since the spring I have been very quiet on this site. There are two main reasons for this. One is that I increasingly find that away from my job I derive more and more pleasure from activities that do not tie me to screen: working outside, making and repairing things, cycling, meeting and talking to people. The second is that when I am at my computer I tend to have a long list of other tasks to do, many arising from the pledges, and the blog rarely receives my attention.

But now I am on another train, this time cutting right across the south of France, and with five hours to kill and no access to Internet this seems like a good time to take stock.

We are en route from Agen to Marseille, from one half of Oliver’s family to the other. As I write we are just coming into Carcassone. The Atlantic clouds are starting to lift and we have just passed an impressive array of wind turbines spinning in the sunlight on the rocky horizon. It is a couple of years since I have spent any time in the south-west of France and in a number of respects there are some very positive signs. All along the roadsides adverts are starting to appear for solar-thermal water-heating (a no-brainer in this part of the world), wood-fired heating and improved insulation. Indeed the green economy seems to be putting down roots across the region: Port Sainte-Marie, the village closest to Oliver’s grandmother’s house, now sports a ‘bio-coop’ (a large organic food distribution warehouse), in the pharmacy adverts are appearing for lessons in vegan cookery and ‘mieux-être’ (not well-being but better-being), a small miracle in the home of foie-gras and confit de canard, and links are beginning to emerge between local produce and sustainable tourism, with marchés nocturnes drawing visitors and providing new outlets for local producers.

Only a few years ago big agri-business looked set to see off the small producers of the Garonne valley, much as the overuse of pesticides had silenced the birds. But according to more seasoned observers than me, over the last decade or so the birds have begun to return and this year for the first time our vegetables, including a number of traditional varieties, came direct from a thriving farm shop. There is still a long way to go. As in many rural areas the car is still king (although the concept of co-voiturage – car-sharing – appears to be becoming more mainstream), and a canoe trip we took down the valley of the river Célé in the neighbouring department of the Lot was the amongst the first permitted after the temporary closure of the river following a pollution ‘incident’ higher upstream; our canoe paddles left a trail of stiff yellowish bubbles in their wake and on a 15km stretch of clear water we spotted only one fish. In general, I suspect the driving force for the changes is as much a desire for greater economic independence and a more resilient local economy than any change in political outlook or environmental awareness. But some grounds for optimism, nevertheless.

So what of my pledges? What changes have I made in the last eight months?

1. Get involved with a local campaigning group

Tick. An occasional participant in Highbury Transition Town activities before this calendar year, since January I have become a regular, making contacts, sharing ideas and taking on responsibility for the skills-sharing aspect of the group. My energies in this respect have mostly been directed towards the setting up of a Time Bank for  Highbury but I am hopeful that come September it will be possible to put together a programme of skills-sharing events with a more obvious transition focus. For example I am keen to make sure that we do something for the 10:10 work day in October. More generally there is still a lot of work to do to really place the Time Bank on a sustainable footing, and in particular we need to work hard to set out a strategy and identify some funding. To this end I have for now changed my working hours to a compressed week (the same number of hours, spread over 4.5 days) and whilst there are some real challenges ahead, including on a personal note making sure I make the most effective use of this time, I think we’ve made a good start.

In addition, I am finding ways to take a role in the local community. If all goes to plan from September I will be taking on a new role as a local school governor and I recently attended the first meting on the council’s very interesting new ‘fairness commission’, to which I also submitted written evidence about the importance of placing sustainability at the heart of the fairness agenda.

Verdict: doing well, but a lot of work to do to make real change.

1. Get more involved with a national campaigning group

Tricky. National campaigning groups, like Friends of the Earth for example, have explicit political agendas and I’m still struggling to work out the boundaries my professional activity as a civil servant places on my engagement with such organisations. I continue to make donations, but have still not managed to get my act together to boost the value of my charitable contribution by, where possible, taking donations out of my salary pre-tax. The form has been sitting on my desk since January.

Of course, 10:10 itself could be considered a national campaigning group, and work itself has provided some opportunities to get involved here, through the my organisation’s ‘environmental champions network’ whose aims include supporting my organisation to meet its commitments. In this capacity I have acquired a reputation as the team nag, sending regular reminders about reducing waste and energy consumption and also led our participation in TfL’s June ‘Cycle Challenge’ (21 participants (not great), 5581 miles cycled (better), 1.45 tonnes of CO2 saved (according to TfL – good news!)).

Verdict: not doing badly, given the challenging circumstances, but could again make more of an impact.

1. Take at least one action to improve the sustainability of our block

Mixed. The triumph of the keys (reported here back in January) turned out to be hollow: the keys I was issued didn’t in fact open the door to the garden and, what’s more, it took me until June to figure this out, by which stage I was too embarrassed to go back to the Homes for Islington official I’d been haranguing to admit that I had only just got round to testing them. More encouragingly, changes are being proposed to the whole entry system, and hopefully new keys for the front door will mean a new system for the back too. Sustainability isn’t just about environmental sustainability but also about increasing social capital; I did also organise a give-and-take event, attracting about 50 people to come and swap unwanted items. So a partial success, but I’d still really like to get a small gardening group going and address the issue of lighting in the block (why does it sometimes seem to be on all day long on the outside corridors?).

Verdict: some progress, but again a long way to go.

1. Communicate and connect

Part of this was about writing the blog… More positively, I have got to know a lot of people this year with sustainability interests and that’s a tremendous asset and been very exciting. On the other hand, I’m not sure I’ve got any better at preaching to the unconverted. Sustainability is still often seen by some of my friends and acquaintance as one of my personality quirks: I don’t eat meat, I eat seasonally, I cycle and record my weekly energy consumption in the same way as other people collect jazz records, run marathons or enjoy cooking Chinese food. But mine are not just lifestyle choices, they are political decisions and behaviours which I am convinced need to be far more widely adopted if we are to prosper collectively in the future. It’s not enough for people to tolerate them sympathetically in me, especially in a context where confidence in/awareness of climate science is falling (MORI polling), and I’m by no means sure that trying to lead by example is enough.

Verdict: could do more to promote my sustainability interests and share the things I learn – and the aspects of my lifestyle I most enjoy – with a wider audience.

1. Get knowledgeable: read more and write about it

Again, I struggle to do this outside of work. This is partly laziness – it’s not necessarily a lack of time – and it’s perhaps also an ongoing reaction to the years of academic work. I’m keen to learn more through practice rather than theory. But on the other hand when I do get to the theory I am often motivated and inspired. This year I have read a couple of things from the New Economics Foundation (including The New Economics and The Great Transition), The Spirit Level and E.F. Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful. Not really very impressive. Of course, the great barrier to reading is the bicycle… A lot of Londoners do a lot of their reading on public transport. There is also of course the wealth of resources and thought-pieces out there on the Internet but I’m still not really keeping up with this as I’d like. I need to reorganise my web feeds, and select a few key blogs I want to keep up with. But this requires the kind of online housekeeping I’m not very good at prioritising.

Verdict: underwhelming.

1. Improve our water efficiency

This was the biggest concrete change we were able to identify to reduce our domestic energy consumption. And it’s done! Earlier this year we replaced our bathroom, using mostly appliances identified from B&Q’s One Planet range (certified by Bio-regional, the people behind Bed-Zed). So we have an aerating low-flow shower (which also doesn’t drip unlike its predecessor), a water-efficient toilet and a slightly unusual basin tap that clicks when you’re using more water than necessary. We freecycled the old appliances, where useable, and also retained the old bath, so that we didn’t unnecessarily send a huge chunk of metal to landfill. We did re-tile, since mould had conquered almost all the gaps between our predecessor’s hastily installed mosaic tiles, but we used tiles made of recycled materials for this (also from B&Q). There’s still no way to capture rainwater for the plants on the balcony (more thought required) but overall I think this counts as a success. And, hopefully, a success that will be passed on to our successors in the flat, since we’ve tried to do everything in a neutral style that no one is likely to want to rip out.

Verdict: pretty well there.

1. Measure my carbon footprint

I haven’t been able to use the app I originally had in mind – it still doesn’t seem to be up and running – but I have been regularly recording my energy consumption, since March. And it’s had an effect: both our gas and energy consumption have dropped by at least 10%, mainly as a consequence of constant monitoring and thoughtfulness. On the rare occasions where we fail to turn everything off we notice the different. On the other hand, we have also acquired a number of new appliances: I’ve got a shiny new mobile phone, I bought a digital projector (admittedly second-hand and reconditioned) and we’re toying with the idea of (whisper it) buying a dishwasher. This might actually reduce our water consumption (and certainly buy us more time) but it’s not likely to help our overall carbon emissions and I do question how it sits with the wider transition agenda. We’ll have to get one that’s built to last.

Verdict: done – more or less – but measuring isn’t the same as keeping it down.

1. Trial carbon rationing

We keep meaning to start this, and then not doing it. Perhaps it’s because the system’s a bit complicated, or perhaps it’s because we know we’re likely to fail. This trip to France, for example, would probably eat our travel rations for the best part of a year if not more, despite the fact that we haven’t flown. But it’s still worth an experimental go. I think for rationing to work for us for real we’d have to go for a gradually falling ceiling (the 10% year-on-year approach) rather than the sudden drop the ration book would entail.

Verdict: A voir.

1. Organise a sustainability social event

At the back of my mind when I first came up with this was some sort of swing-dancing event. But I’m not the world’s most natural party organiser, and anyway I think this box has been ticked by the give-and-take event and the Big Lunch in the garden of our flats. (Even if in the event it was a rather small lunch). Arguably also, although it’s not until next year, our wedding is an attempt to do this on a grander scale….

Verdict: Yup.

1. Grow more veg – especially herbs

All sorts of good intentions here, but I still struggle to make it work. We have the problem in our flat of no rainfall (the balcony is covered), so everything has to be watered. And things die on me: this year’s victims include our courgettes and all of our runner beans.  Even the radishes failed, despite the fact that these are supposed to be easy enough for a small child. The real problem is pest control; I’m not about to give up so I think next year we need to think more carefully about flowers as well as edibles, in order to attract a wider range of insects and develop a proper system of companion planting. Also, starting to grow my own veg has made me more aware of how much of the gardening industry based on disposability. It seems strange to me to throw away plants every year and lots of flowers seem to require this. I think, to be honest, I need a bit more help, but I’m also learning by experience. I’ve never really believed, incidentally, that with our 3 square metres of concrete we were likely to make much of an impact on our carbon footprint. But it’s more about being part of a culture change, and of encouraging everyone to see outside space as spaces for growing and nurturing useful plants, and not merely as purely decorative extensions to living rooms.

Verdict: room for improvement…

My measures of success are my own of course, and I have a habit of setting high standards for myself. I’m doing OK, I think, and importantly, enjoying the way my life is changing, as I get to know more people locally. I strongly believe that thriving local communities are the key to greater sustainability and also, however hackneyed a phrase it may be, in being the change you want to see in the world. I’d like my world to be composed of a bit less talk and a bit more action, better relations between local people, a bit more greenery, and better informed lifestyle and choices. I’ll see how I’m doing at the end of the year.

Jontahn Porritt inspires the crowds at The George pub

On Monday night I went to an event hosted by the Brighter Future crew. The highlight was the keynote speaker, Jonathon  Porritt, one of the leading environmental campaigners of the last thirty years. It was fantastic to get to hear him in such an informal setting and he also seemed pleased to be addressing an audience that was not just the ‘usual suspects’. Indeed, this is the whole genius of Brighter Future  – it’s ability to tap into a particular demographic (young, professional) without necessarily previous experience of activism.

Unsuprisingly, Jonathon Porritt’s speech was very political, touching on the Labour government’s record on the environment, the Greens chances with Caroline Lucas in Brighton and making the case very powerfully for any future government to prioritise retrofitting the existing housing stock. There are huge potential benefits here – environmentally and socially – and for me it was a good reminder of some of the reasons that led me to end up working where I do.  And an interesting perspective on how far we’ve come, a point he illustrated by discussing how Amory Lovins’ once far-out concept of the negawatt is today (in different language, admittedly) the stuff of mainstream energy company advertising.

More broadly, Jonathon made some thoughtful points about the role of campaigning in the present climate and what strategies we should adopt. First there is a huge energy around climate change campaigning at the moment. This is hugely exciting but it also entails responsibilities. Put simply, we cannot, must not squander the present opportunities. On the strategy point, this means finding the right voice to connect with people and starting from where they are (and not where we think they should be, or where we are).  There is a compelling case that greener lives are better lives for all and this is the case we need to be making to convince people that this is their story and their responsibility too. 10:10 has been fantastic at this – and hearing Dan from 10:10 talk about how they’d managed to get the campaign in all sorts of unlikely places (including teen mags and on the boards at White Hart Lane) really brought this home. He also made a plug for the ‘Lighter Later’ campaign, which I think is just brilliant

Meanwhile, Brighter Future has three campaign areas coming up this year to coincide with the seasons: transport (to encourage people to book sustainable summer holidays and get on their bikes), insulation (preparing homes for winter over the summer) and sustainable consumption. Some of this ties in with stuff I’m doing – for example our cycle trip to Scotland in May and plans to organise something for bike week in June at work so it will be good to know that there is the support of a wider network out there.

Pete, who’s co-running the transport bit of the campaign began by singing the joys of spring cycling. In the words of a mate of his, “it’s that bit where your face stops feeling like it’s being bashed by a hammer.” Not today it wasn’t. Roll on spring…

,

All of the stuff we used on our balcony was either recovered from the street or recycled from previous projects in the flat (replacing the boiler for example). So the total cost was about £20 for some brackets and other such bits and pieces (screws, hinges etc.). More pictures in the photostream in the sidebar.

Meanwhile the big question is what to plant. Fortunately eatseasonably has some handy tips.  I’m not convinced they’re that easy – I’ve almost killed last year’s mint I think from over-watering. But I’ll update regularly with our progress.

Our little attempts pale into insignificance next to this fabulous project in a social housing block in Paddington.  There are now 46 adults and 16 young people growing food in raised beds on a plot previously experiencing problems with anti-social behaviour and crime. Apparently the founder Mike Wohl started out with only two tomatoes. So who knows how quickly our ambitions will grow….

Me emptying the wormery

First, women continue to be seriously under-represented on the road. According to the government’s National Travel Survey, only 28% of journeys made by bike in 2008 were by women. There are all sorts of reasons why women cycle less overall than men and quite a few of these were set out in the fabulous film screened at the end of the ride, Beauty and the Bike.

Unfortunately women’s nervousness is not entirely misplaced. 7 of the 8 cyclists killed by HGVs in London last year were women (BBC). This may or may not be statistically significant but it has been suggested that less confident riders are more likely to hug the kerb and end up in the danger spots – and that women make up a higher proportion of this group than of London cyclists in general. Two of the riders killed last year were very experienced, so this was probably not what put them at risk (I don’t know the full details) but overall I think there may be something in this explanation. I would count myself as pretty experienced now (especially if you base it on mileage) but the aggression of London drivers can sometimes push me into positions I know I should avoid and I’m not always confident to ignore being honked at because I’m ‘hogging’ the road, for example.

Safety certainly preys on a lot of women’s minds (and men’s too). I was reminded of this this morning when I arrived for a training course with people I don’t know on my bike and was met with the all too familiar refrain: “You’re so brave! Isn’t it dangerous? I don’t think I could cycle in London.” Given that I have previously estimated that cycling saves me as much as £800 per year (even including the cost of servicing and parts), not to mention the gym fees I don’t pay and the late-night taxis I don’t have to take to get me safely to my door at night it always seems to me the real madness is to not cycle (so far as people are able). And that’s before you’re even got to the reduced CO2 emissions.

So hopefully the feeling of solidarity that comes from riding as part of a big group of other women will have boosted some of the riders’ confidence: we need more women on the roads and the sad truth is that we need to be better riders too. (Of course what we really need is better provision).

Meanwhile I asked the event’s Dr Bike (and our upstairs neighbour) for his expert view on the best bike shops in London and he came up with this one (set up and run as it happens by a female mechanic). (There was a lady Dr Bike on the ride too by the way). It reminded  me that I only learned to fix a puncture properly when I was no longer able to call on my sister to do it for me…

I’ve added a few (not very good) photos to my flickr page (see link the sidebar).

He had two suggestions, both of which are set up to enable you to add your meter readings weekly. imeasure, from Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute is probably the more sophisticated. But The Carbon Account is definitely the more user-friendly, with a great interface and the option of joining groups and competing against your friends (imeasure also has ‘carbon clubs’ but they’re not visually so appealing). The Carbon Account also adds transport (cars and flights). Flights add staggering peaks to otherwise fairly steady graphs, a very visual indicator of just how damaging they are.

I’m going to see how I get on with both and report back. Meanwhile if anyone wants to join me search for 10tentacles and add me as a friend.