The text below is from an e-mail I had the other week from someone in Transition Town Stroud which I think sums up the situation that we're in and what we need to do!!! Check out http://www.transitiontowns.org/ to find out more about these issues.
"The normal response to environmental issues are that they are too expensive or threaten the magical economy. But the economic model requiring infinite growth to sustain itself is fundamentally flawed when it is based on finite resources and energy inputs. Our economy and ecosystems are at breaking point from the crazy party which has been fueled by cheap energy and cheap credit, but now we are going to start suffering the consequences of this. It is likely we will enter an extended period of economic slowdown, whilst this is likely to befairly disruptive to the current system it provides huge opportunities to rebuild from the bottom upwards. The advice ELP or Economise (live within your means some suggest surviving on as little of your income if possible, and reducing your use of fossil fuels especially oil based) Localise (Use local services especially food supply) and Produce (as much of your own food and energy as possible.) Increased global tensions make a short term shock far more possible as well, it is vital to reduce our dependence on oil for economic, political and environmental reasons but this message is not being supplied by the government. Within the next 10 years we are going to have to deal with the effects of peak oil, economic slowdown, climate change and heightened global tensions as a result of this. The transition movement has a huge part to play, hope everyone realises what we may be in for!!"
Thursday, 4 October 2007
Tuesday, 2 October 2007
Burma protests
I'm copying below an e-mail message that I have had from the SPEAK Network about the recent protests in Burma. Also there is an international day of protest for Burma this Saturday; lots of info online including this Facebook group; http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=24957770200
Dear friends,
Hopefully many of you will have seen pictures of the peaceful and prayerful protests by Buddhist nuns, monks and ordinary people in Burma against the longstanding, brutal military dictatorship there. I hope that their brave example inspires us to prayer and campaigning action. We can pray with them at this crucial time for peace, justice and reconciliation in their land. See the Burma Campaign (http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/crackdown.php) for action ideas.
Prayer Points:
· for the protestors to be protected and for their brave actions and prayers to bring real change at last
· for comfort for all who continue to suffer under the regime in Burma
· for international media and political pressure to make an impact
· for NGOs and voluntary groups working in Burma to have wisdom and resources to deal with the results of the protests
Dear friends,
Hopefully many of you will have seen pictures of the peaceful and prayerful protests by Buddhist nuns, monks and ordinary people in Burma against the longstanding, brutal military dictatorship there. I hope that their brave example inspires us to prayer and campaigning action. We can pray with them at this crucial time for peace, justice and reconciliation in their land. See the Burma Campaign (http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/crackdown.php) for action ideas.
Prayer Points:
· for the protestors to be protected and for their brave actions and prayers to bring real change at last
· for comfort for all who continue to suffer under the regime in Burma
· for international media and political pressure to make an impact
· for NGOs and voluntary groups working in Burma to have wisdom and resources to deal with the results of the protests
Monday, 1 October 2007
My web links
I just wanted to post links to some websites that I like. Many of these relate to groups, organisations or activities that I'm involved in, but some are just things that interest me or are just good sites. Do have a look at them. And sorry about all the references to "Facebook groups"! I originally prepared this list with the idea of posting it somewhere on my Facebook page, but Facebook doesn't seem to have any real space to post anything big like this!!!
I hope all these links work!!!
I will work to post most of these links (and others) to the links boxes of this blog site, but they may not all come at once!
Social Justice & Environmental; Campaigning websites;
http://www.speak.org.uk/
The SPEAK network is fab. SPEAK’s annual “Soundcheck” conference, each February in London tends to be the best weekend all year. I highly recommend it. This year’s Soundcheck saw the launch of the “Big Dress tour” and we had Tony Campolo speaking to us. Also see “The SPEAK Network” Facebook group.
http://www.tearfund.org/
http://theonetonners.blogspot.com/
A blog about Climate Change by Cathy Green; “Cheltenham Climate Change Campaigner” and a colleague of mine in “Cheltenham Friends of the Earth”. Cathy has been running a series of events/presentations called “The One Tonners”; looking at how you can reduce your personal CO2 emissions from a UK average of 5 tonnes a year, down to just 1 tonne (an 80% cut).
Also see the local FoE network’s site http://www.glosfoe.org.uk/ for news from the five local FoE groups around Gloucestershire, and the national FoE site (for England & Wales) http://www.foe.co.uk/
http://www.fairtradenetwork.com/
The Gloucestershire Fairtrade Network.
With the network’s support and as part of the local SPEAK group, in early 2005 I was highly involved in compiling Cheltenham’s first ever directory of shops and cafes in the town that sell or serve fairtrade products. After surveying the town’s shops and cafes we produced a printed leaflet listing all the outlets we found to be supplying fairtrade and what fairtrade products they had. All the details are also available on the website.
Also see the national Fairtrade website; http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/ and the “FairTrade in Norfolk” (FTiN) site; http://www.fairtradenorfolk.org.uk/
Sustainability & Green websites;
http://www.transitiontowns.org/
A new and fast growing initiative. Transition Towns are places that are looking to reduce their dependence on oil (and other fossil fuels) due to the threats posed by the imminent peak (and subsequent fall) in global oil production and the effects that will have on our oil-addicted economy.
I attended several meetings/events between January and June 2007 as part of Transition Town Stroud (TTS). The best of these was a talk at the Stroud Subscription Rooms by the American author and Peak Oil expert Richard Heinberg on 30th May.
Also see the Transition Town Stroud blog; http://transitiontownstroud.blogspot.com/ and the Facebook groups; “Transition Towns” and “Peak Oil”.
There are numerous websites about Peak Oil. Some good ones I’ve found are; http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/ , http://www.postcarbon.org/ , and http://www.princeton.edu/hubbert/current-events.html
http://www.permaculture.org.uk/ (& .co.uk )
The Permaculture Association. Permaculture is all about living sustainably…
The quarterly “Permaculture Magazine” is extremely good. See http://www.permaculture.co.uk/
http://www.wwoof.org/wwoof_uk/home.html
“World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms”
http://www.cat.org.uk/
The Centre for Alternative Technology, Machynlleth, Wales.
http://www.greenhousetrust.co.uk/
The Greenhouse, 42-46 Bethel Street, Norwich
I highly recommend the Greenhouse. It’s a very nice place to go to have a fairtrade coffee or an organic lunch if you’re in Norwich for a day. (Do not confuse the Greenhouse with the Weatherspoons pub “The Glasshouse” in another part of the city!!!).
Politics
http://www.politicalcompass.org/
Take the Political Compass test, responding how strongly you agree or disagree with a series of about 60 statements, to find out where you lay on the compass, and compare your position to that of many prominent political figures.
The test gives you a score on two separate scales, which it then plots on a graph; an economic scale from –10 (left wing/socialist) to +10 (right wing/capitalist), and a social scale from –10 (liberal/libertarian) to +10 (conservative/authoritarian).
I come out with scores of about –6 (quite left wing) and –1.5 (slightly liberal!), which puts me very close to the website’s assessments for Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi ;)
http://edmi.parliament.uk/edmi/
Early Day Motions (EDMs) are statements that MPs sign to express their views about various issues. One way of lobbing government is to get your MP to sign up to a particular EDM. The more MPs that sign a particular EDM the more notice the government is likely to pay to that issue. On this website you can read all the EDMs and see which MPs have signed each one, or look up your MP and see which EDMs they’ve signed. Many campaign organizations will from time to time ask people to lobby their MPs to sign particular EDMs (e.g. Friends of the Earth as part of its “Big Ask” campaign for a climate change bill got 400 MPs to sign an EDM, which has resulted in the Government publishing a draft Climate Change Bill which it is now consulting on).
Some other political websites I would recommend are;
http://www.greenparty.org.uk/ and http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/
Churches, etc;
http://www.wellspringfamilychurch.org/
This is the church that I attend at home in Dereham. It currently meets on Sunday mornings at Neatherd High School. Wellspring Family Church is part of the Newfrontiers network of churches; http://www.newfrontiers.xtn.org/
http://www.trinityuk.org/
The church that I attended in Cheltenham. Trinity is a very large, very lively Anglican church. It is very involved in New Wine; http://www.new-wine.org/
Also see the “Trinity Cheltenham” Facebook group.
http://www.fridaynightchurch.co.uk/
A fortnightly gathering at the Salvation Army, Bath Road, Cheltenham, aimed at students and young adults. A relaxed, café atmosphere with some worship and teaching in the middle of the evening followed by a good meal and socialising. I’ve been going to FNC since I first heard about it in October 2003. FNC came to an end in September 2007 due to the changing circumstances of many of those who lead it.
http://www.derehambaptist.org.uk/
The church that I grew up in, and that my parents still go to, in Dereham. Located in the centre of Dereham, up a large driveway off the High St.
http://www.oakhall.co.uk/
A Christian travel company. As a family we went on an Oak Hall holiday to Catalonia (north east Spain) in 2000. Then in 2001 my brother and I went on another Oak Hall holiday, this time to Tuscany (Italy), linking up with a number of friends from our Catalonia trip in the process. My sisters then did the Tuscany trip in 2002.
Also see the “Oak Hall Holidays” Facebook group.
Some friends’ websites;
http://www.clairebarnes.com/
Claire is a friend from Trinity church from my first two or three years in Cheltenham. She has since moved on to other things/places.
http://www.bretriches.co.uk/
Brett is one of the leaders of FNC in Cheltenham. His website is largely about his Album; “Hope for New Day Coming” produced in May 2004.
I hope all these links work!!!
I will work to post most of these links (and others) to the links boxes of this blog site, but they may not all come at once!
Social Justice & Environmental; Campaigning websites;
http://www.speak.org.uk/
The SPEAK network is fab. SPEAK’s annual “Soundcheck” conference, each February in London tends to be the best weekend all year. I highly recommend it. This year’s Soundcheck saw the launch of the “Big Dress tour” and we had Tony Campolo speaking to us. Also see “The SPEAK Network” Facebook group.
http://www.tearfund.org/
http://theonetonners.blogspot.com/
A blog about Climate Change by Cathy Green; “Cheltenham Climate Change Campaigner” and a colleague of mine in “Cheltenham Friends of the Earth”. Cathy has been running a series of events/presentations called “The One Tonners”; looking at how you can reduce your personal CO2 emissions from a UK average of 5 tonnes a year, down to just 1 tonne (an 80% cut).
Also see the local FoE network’s site http://www.glosfoe.org.uk/ for news from the five local FoE groups around Gloucestershire, and the national FoE site (for England & Wales) http://www.foe.co.uk/
http://www.fairtradenetwork.com/
The Gloucestershire Fairtrade Network.
With the network’s support and as part of the local SPEAK group, in early 2005 I was highly involved in compiling Cheltenham’s first ever directory of shops and cafes in the town that sell or serve fairtrade products. After surveying the town’s shops and cafes we produced a printed leaflet listing all the outlets we found to be supplying fairtrade and what fairtrade products they had. All the details are also available on the website.
Also see the national Fairtrade website; http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/ and the “FairTrade in Norfolk” (FTiN) site; http://www.fairtradenorfolk.org.uk/
Sustainability & Green websites;
http://www.transitiontowns.org/
A new and fast growing initiative. Transition Towns are places that are looking to reduce their dependence on oil (and other fossil fuels) due to the threats posed by the imminent peak (and subsequent fall) in global oil production and the effects that will have on our oil-addicted economy.
I attended several meetings/events between January and June 2007 as part of Transition Town Stroud (TTS). The best of these was a talk at the Stroud Subscription Rooms by the American author and Peak Oil expert Richard Heinberg on 30th May.
Also see the Transition Town Stroud blog; http://transitiontownstroud.blogspot.com/ and the Facebook groups; “Transition Towns” and “Peak Oil”.
There are numerous websites about Peak Oil. Some good ones I’ve found are; http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/ , http://www.postcarbon.org/ , and http://www.princeton.edu/hubbert/current-events.html
http://www.permaculture.org.uk/ (& .co.uk )
The Permaculture Association. Permaculture is all about living sustainably…
The quarterly “Permaculture Magazine” is extremely good. See http://www.permaculture.co.uk/
http://www.wwoof.org/wwoof_uk/home.html
“World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms”
http://www.cat.org.uk/
The Centre for Alternative Technology, Machynlleth, Wales.
http://www.greenhousetrust.co.uk/
The Greenhouse, 42-46 Bethel Street, Norwich
I highly recommend the Greenhouse. It’s a very nice place to go to have a fairtrade coffee or an organic lunch if you’re in Norwich for a day. (Do not confuse the Greenhouse with the Weatherspoons pub “The Glasshouse” in another part of the city!!!).
Politics
http://www.politicalcompass.org/
Take the Political Compass test, responding how strongly you agree or disagree with a series of about 60 statements, to find out where you lay on the compass, and compare your position to that of many prominent political figures.
The test gives you a score on two separate scales, which it then plots on a graph; an economic scale from –10 (left wing/socialist) to +10 (right wing/capitalist), and a social scale from –10 (liberal/libertarian) to +10 (conservative/authoritarian).
I come out with scores of about –6 (quite left wing) and –1.5 (slightly liberal!), which puts me very close to the website’s assessments for Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi ;)
http://edmi.parliament.uk/edmi/
Early Day Motions (EDMs) are statements that MPs sign to express their views about various issues. One way of lobbing government is to get your MP to sign up to a particular EDM. The more MPs that sign a particular EDM the more notice the government is likely to pay to that issue. On this website you can read all the EDMs and see which MPs have signed each one, or look up your MP and see which EDMs they’ve signed. Many campaign organizations will from time to time ask people to lobby their MPs to sign particular EDMs (e.g. Friends of the Earth as part of its “Big Ask” campaign for a climate change bill got 400 MPs to sign an EDM, which has resulted in the Government publishing a draft Climate Change Bill which it is now consulting on).
Some other political websites I would recommend are;
http://www.greenparty.org.uk/ and http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/
Churches, etc;
http://www.wellspringfamilychurch.org/
This is the church that I attend at home in Dereham. It currently meets on Sunday mornings at Neatherd High School. Wellspring Family Church is part of the Newfrontiers network of churches; http://www.newfrontiers.xtn.org/
http://www.trinityuk.org/
The church that I attended in Cheltenham. Trinity is a very large, very lively Anglican church. It is very involved in New Wine; http://www.new-wine.org/
Also see the “Trinity Cheltenham” Facebook group.
http://www.fridaynightchurch.co.uk/
A fortnightly gathering at the Salvation Army, Bath Road, Cheltenham, aimed at students and young adults. A relaxed, café atmosphere with some worship and teaching in the middle of the evening followed by a good meal and socialising. I’ve been going to FNC since I first heard about it in October 2003. FNC came to an end in September 2007 due to the changing circumstances of many of those who lead it.
http://www.derehambaptist.org.uk/
The church that I grew up in, and that my parents still go to, in Dereham. Located in the centre of Dereham, up a large driveway off the High St.
http://www.oakhall.co.uk/
A Christian travel company. As a family we went on an Oak Hall holiday to Catalonia (north east Spain) in 2000. Then in 2001 my brother and I went on another Oak Hall holiday, this time to Tuscany (Italy), linking up with a number of friends from our Catalonia trip in the process. My sisters then did the Tuscany trip in 2002.
Also see the “Oak Hall Holidays” Facebook group.
Some friends’ websites;
http://www.clairebarnes.com/
Claire is a friend from Trinity church from my first two or three years in Cheltenham. She has since moved on to other things/places.
http://www.bretriches.co.uk/
Brett is one of the leaders of FNC in Cheltenham. His website is largely about his Album; “Hope for New Day Coming” produced in May 2004.
Hello
Hello
I have a MySpace page; www.myspace.com/loudactions which I set up a couple of months ago after first becoming very addicted to www.facebook.com . I have now just started using my MSN space; http://loudactions.spaces.live.com and thought that I would try out blogspot to see how it compairs and discover which one is best!!! I will try to post the same blogs to each site for a while till I decide which one (if any) to stick with!!!
My blogs may be a bit random, with no one subject.
I have a MySpace page; www.myspace.com/loudactions which I set up a couple of months ago after first becoming very addicted to www.facebook.com . I have now just started using my MSN space; http://loudactions.spaces.live.com and thought that I would try out blogspot to see how it compairs and discover which one is best!!! I will try to post the same blogs to each site for a while till I decide which one (if any) to stick with!!!
My blogs may be a bit random, with no one subject.
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