Bountiful Bristol Bulletin

As I hope you all realise its Eastside Roots first Spring Fayre - this Saturday from 11am (Grand opening featuring Easton Community Choir - come early so as not to miss a great acapella sing song!) to 6pm up at Stapelton Road Train Station site. Below is a list of activities for adults and children alike so please check out so you dont miss anything.

Main Tent: (more…)

There was a great article in yesterday’s Independent Extra section called The Front Garden Farmers and yes, GROFUN got another few column inches! and also please check out this empowering story about a village in Hampshire called Martin who are collectively growing and rearing as much of their food as possible and making a profit, operating as a cooperative. The idea is to wean people off the supermarket and we at GROFUN salute them!

SUBURBAN FUTURES

Designing sustainable neighbourhoods
Exhibition: Main Gallery
20 March ­ 8 June, 2008
Like them or loathe them, the ‘leafy suburbs’ are where the vast majority of
us live. But challenges such as housing shortage and climate change mean
that the suburbs face potential radical change. Can we respond by creating
neighbourhoods that are low-carbon, healthy and happy places to live?
This thought-provoking exhibition sets out the key issues and asks how we
might make outer urban areas more sustainable. (more…)

A talk by Megan Quinn - film maker of Power of Community - How Cuba survived
Peak Oil.
Tuesday 7.30 pm on Monday 1st April
At Easton Community Centre, Kilburn St, Easton, BS5 9AW.
Megan will cover the basics of peak oil and climate change, but focus on the
potential solutions including curtailment strategies for housing,
transportation and food, and the importance of local community living and
community values in addressing the challenges at hand.
Followed by an open space session.
£3 donation on the door

For those who cant make that date Transition Bristol are screening film The Power of
Community also
At 7pm on Monday 31st March
At The Pickle Factory, All Hallows Rd, Easton

GROFUN (Growing Real Organic Food in Urban Neighbourhoods) is a grass-roots, community lead inititative where teams of neighbours help one another set up back garden veggie patches and then reap the rewards of a mixed and locally grown ‘veg box’!

It teaches practical skills, address’s the problem of air miles and pollution and builds communites that are closer and more resilient to ever increasing energy shocks and food insecurity! Think about it, there’s only 3 days worth of food stocked in the supermarkets-what do we eat then???

For 2008 we need new recruits with gardens, preferably in the St Pauls, Montpelier and St Werbs area (to keep it local and ’sustainable’) and anyone interested in being involved, any which way, is invited to come along to the Grand Premiere of the GROFUN Movie to be aired at a get-together in the Albany Hall on Shaftesbury Avenue at 6.30pm on March 4th.

Please please tell your friends with gardens, a desire to grow veg and an interest in ‘relocalization’ and community etc to come along.

Furthermore, the current group has a Yahoo group where we stay in touch. It would be a great idea to join this…

We need many hands to make light work of this rewarding and fun project.

Vegetables need people like people need vegetables.

TRANSITION BRISTOL PRESENTS THE BIG EVENT

SUNDAY 25TH NOVEMBER All day 9.30am to 6pm

AT THE COUNCIL HOUSE, COLLEGE GREEN

With chilled music at the Folkhouse after-party 6.30 to 11pm. You are invited to The Big Event - a lively day of talks, workshops, films and discussions designed to inspire and inform local action. Find out how you can get involved with a community led, radical rethink Bristol’s dependency on fossil fuels and planning how we can move towards a resilient, creative, positive future. Keynote speakers include leading experts Richard Heinberg, Jeremy Leggett, David Strahan and Dr Chris Johnstone. There will also be a packed programme of workshops covering topics like sustainable transport, eco-building, alternative energy, community gardening, herbal medicine, local economics, composting, carbon reduction action groups, how to work effectively as a group and much more. Many workshops will be run by local groups who are already initiating positive changes in their community plus experts fom national organizations Sustrans, The Soil Association and Centre for Sustainable Energy and others. Full listing on www.transitioncitybristol.org

Lifecycle UK will be providing Dr Bike to give your bike the once over while you fill your head with positive ideas. If you’ve already changed your light bulbs and turned your heating down a notch and are wondering what to do next The Big Event is a chance to find out how you can get involved with shaping Bristol’s transition from energy dependence to a sustainable, resilient and positive future. You are invited to come, be inspired and learn how to find the confidence to act. Ticket sales online or at The Better Food Company, Fresh and Wild, Windmill Hill City Farm and other outlets.

For details visit www.transitionbristol.org. Cost £14/£8 concessions. Please book in advance. Tickets are limited so early booking is advised. Bristol Permaculture Group are holding a benefit at the Folkhouse from 6.30pm to 11pm. Chill to beautiful music from Slow, The Dearlings, Eirlys Rhiannon and Susannah Waters. Simple affordable food. £5 on the door. Flyer

Contact Sarah Pugh

sarah@transitioncitybristol.org

www.transitionbristol.org

Transition Bristol is a not for profit community led organization working in conjunction with the national Transition Network. The project is run entirely by volunteers. Transition Bristol supports and is accountable to a network of locally active Transition Villages including Easton, Barton Hill and Redfield, Bishopston, Redland and Ashton. We also have close links with Transition projects in Bath, Wrington and Thornbury. Sarah Pugh 0117 370 1362 07765 604571 sarah@transitioncitybristol.org www.transitioncitybristol.org Transition City Bristol The Hub King St Bristol BS1 4DZ

Full Programme of Talks and Workshops here

Post Peak Agriculture/ From the USA without FlyingTransition Bristol Talk with Patrick Holden, Director of the Soil Association and Josh Hart of the Chooseday movement.

The talk is on Post-Peak Food & Farming and the subject is ‘Fossil Fuel Depletion: Agriculture and the Soil Association’. Josh famously came to the UK to study without using an airplane. Here his story.

Wednesday 14th November at Redland Friends Meeting House 126 Hampton Road at 7pm

This Tuesday (Oct 30th) sees the start of something different in Bristol, as Tuesdays become ‘Choosedays’ and people, employers and organisations across the city come together behind a citywide initiative to promote ‘Tuesdays without cars’. (more…)

Sunday 25th November 9:30am to 6pm
The Council House, College Green, BristolAn exciting day of talks, workshops, films and open discussion.

A host of expert speakers will present & discuss ideas, issues and practical solutions for Bristol’s transition towards a sustainable future. (more…)

“The Power of Community”

Film showing & discussion

Monday 15th October

7pm-9:30pm

Central Friends Meeting House, River Street, BS2 9DG (map)

“End of Suburbia”

Film showing & discussion

Thursday 25th October

7pm-9:30pm

St Werburghs Community Centre, Horley Road, BS2 9TJ (map)

“An Inconvenient Truth”

Film showing & discussion

Thursday 1st November

7pm-9:30pm

Create Centre, Smeaton Road, BS1 6XN (map)

“Post Peak Agriculture”

Talk & discussion with Patrick Holden (Director, Soil Association)

Wednesday 14th November

7pm-9:30pm

Redland Friends Meeting House, 126 Hampton Road,  (map)

We are all becoming very aware of climate change, but how can we do anything about it? It all seems too big and complex. Something needs to shift.

How would it be if Tuesdays became a focus across the Bristol region for us all to re-imagine our lifestyles - a day on which we choose to live differently.

This is Chooseday — why don’t you join in ?

Chooseday will begin with the challenge that every Tuesday we ‘choose’ to leave our cars at home and experience what a day without cars feels like.

Are you up for it?

At a guess, thirty or so local residents came along to tonight’s meet at Seven Generations. Some general concerns were raised about the speed of the process and the methods by which the previous meetings had been handled. While some were concerned that the ethos and tried and tested (though evolving) principles of Transition were not being followed, some, it seemed were more happy to drive forward with positive, local actions now! (more…)

The Seven Generations shop and cafe was heaving last night with a spunky group of local folkies bursting forth with ideas and energy to make Montpelier more attractive, more community-minded and more prepared for the giant challenges of climate change and energy shortages. The meeting was very productive due to excellent facilitation and strong participation and ‘focus groups’ were formed for six key areas of interest, including mapping of the area, a web-site and community notice board, local business involvement, food security and a local LETS scheme. The cafe-style facilitation, favoured by the Transition City movement, worked very well cos everyone got involved and had several chances to make their voices heard. The info gathered will be redistributed to the whole group and a WIKI will be created soon for us to keep in touch. Actions were agreed upon to launch new ideas and as if that wasn’t all positive enough…..the creation of a simple community-garden and Welcome sign by bedtime symbolizes all that is exciting about grass roots, community action. Great to finish a meeting with a bit of direct action. It was an honour to be involved. The garden at the town end of Picton Street is for the community. Feel free to enhance it, make additions and especially, to water the plants if they need it.

Anyone interested in getting involved should come along to the next meeting at Seven Generations eco-book shop and cafe on Picton Street on the second Thursday of every month at 7pm. There are exciting plans afoot which will benefit our community and inspire others I’m positive.

In the abscence of a Montpelier community centre, 7G are doing more than their bit to assist the community. The friendly staff there have offered up their facilities (space, chairs etc) for anyone local needing a meeting space…do take advantage!

Tuesday June 19th, 7.30pm, evening talk at St Stephen’s Church, St
Stephen’s Avenue, Bristol BS1 1EG 7.30pm £3 entry.
Even George Bush has talked about oil addiction. But what he hasn’t
mentioned so much is how insights and strategies from addictions
treatment can be applied to recovery from oil dependence. Drawing on
spiritual insights used by self-help recovery groups, Addictions
Specialist Dr Chris Johnstone explores how letting go of oil
dependence can help us move towards an improved quality of life and
spiritual wellbeing.  He also explores how spiritual perspectives can
help us find our power to face challenges like Peak Oil and Climate
Change.
Dr Chris Johnstone is author of the self-help book Find Your Power - a
guide to cultivating positive vision and finding the power to live
from this. He has worked in Bristol’s Specialist Alcohol Service for
fifteen years and been involved in the Transition City/Town movement.
He has a website at http://www.chrisjohnstone.info
For details of the Agora Programme at St Stephen’s Church, see
http://www.agoraspace.org/

Transition Town Totnes are setting up a Transition Network conference for 31st May 2007 in Nailsworth, near Stroud, Gloucestershire, at Ruskin Mill. The purpose of the event is to add momentum to existing Transition Towns and Cities like Bristol and increase the connections between them. We’re also hoping to be able to encourage others to embark on their own voyage of self-determined energy descent.

Because Richard Heinberg will be attending, Peak Oil will feature more heavily than Climate Change. (FYI, Heinberg is also presenting to Transition Stroud the day before at the Subscription Rooms, 7:30pm to 9:30pm, tickets at £5/£3, available from the box office or 01453 760900)

Here’s what we’re planning for the 31-May conference: (more…)