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| Will Greenham - Bicycle Generator Engineer |
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| Cocos Lovers powered by our Steve |
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| Yes, we really did burn rubber! |
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| Ben Bano - One Mayor power! |
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Our star the bicycle generator.....
Couple more pictures of our wonderful bicycle generator and generators.....
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Deal's Big Green Experiment works !
Over £177 was raised for the Astor Roof Insulation Fund.
We got a number of photos at our facebook page & more to follow http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38647&id=165415000144451
or see our flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/43967078@N03/sets/72157625369995107/show/
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Growing pains: Transition Towns
BBC Radio4's 'In Business' programme had an interesting edition tonight on 'Growing Pains: Economic Growth'.
A good & balanced discussion which covers the work of the New Economic Foundation and The Transition Towns (like Deal With It) movement... well worth a listen http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00w228b
A good & balanced discussion which covers the work of the New Economic Foundation and The Transition Towns (like Deal With It) movement... well worth a listen http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00w228b
Deal With It: Report on Tuesday's Transport Meeting
Sarah gave us a very interesting power point presentation comprising information about car sharing, cycling, train and bus travel.
As an enthusiastic car sharer she was able to tell us of her own experiences which are so far good. Ian Kilberry, from Trains4Deal, also shared some of his acquired knowledge.
We were pleased to welcome Jeremy Cooper, Commercial Director for Stagecoach in Kent and Sussex, who gave us a very interesting talk about bus travel in general and bus travel in Deal in particular. He was very interested in all our comments and questions, noting some points in particular which were news to him. He is also an environmentallist, and practises what he preaches by travelling by cycle, bus and train when he can.
All in all, it was a very successful evening and very enjoyable.
Thanks to Vicki Nicholls and Rose Dowd for words & photos
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
350 Earth ... building up for Mexico...
THIS NOVEMBER 20-28, 350 EARTH IS CALLING ON PEOPLE TO USE THEIR MOST POWERFUL SKILL—THEIR CREATIVITY—TO CONVEY THE URGENCY OF CLIMATE CHANGE.
This November 20-28, 350 EARTH will launch the world’s first ever global climate art project. In over a dozen places across the globe, citizens and artists will create massive public art installations to show how climate change is already impacting our world as well as offer visions of how we can solve the crisis. Each art installation will be large enough to be seen from space and documented by satellites generously provided by DigitalGlobe.
350 EARTH will be the first-ever global scale group show on the front line of climate change—our polluted cities, endangered forests, melting glaciers, and sinking coastlines. People around the world are invited to take part by attending signature events, submitting their own art, and spreading the word about the project.
350 EARTH will take place on the eve of the next United Nations climate meetings in Cancun, Mexico where delegates will work to create an international climate treaty. Our politicians have all the facts, figures, and graphs they need to solve the climate crisis. What they lack is the will. 350 EARTH will demonstrate the massive public support for bold climate action and the role that art can play in inspiring humanity to take on our greatest challenge: protecting the planet on which we live. http://earth.350.org/about/
If you are in Brighton next saturday...
Next Saturday the 27th of November, we'll be gathering a massive crowd in Brighton for one of the largest artistic symbols of climate chaos the world has ever seen. If you are anywhere nearby, come out and participate!
Thom and artist Stanley Donwood have adapted the story of King Canute into a visual image of human beings trying to hold back the chaos of climate change (you may recognize it from Thom's album Eraser, or perhaps even the original Jonathan Porritt speech where Thom got the idea). We are hoping for a massive crowd there because, well, we will form the art ourselves across hundreds of meters, so the bigger the crowd the better the art.
Victoria's Green Matters - 24th Nov 2010
Recent scientific research has shown big changes in the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica. These are far away places but the sea level rise that melting ice creates will cause coastal flooding and endanger some of the world’s great cities, London among them, by the end of this century.
Rising sea levels could turn out to be the single, most serious effect of global climate change. Not only are air temperatures rising around the world but ocean temperatures are rising, too. Warmer water, originating in the south, is travelling into Greenland’s fjords and melting the sea ice from below, causing the glaciers to move twice as quickly as ten years ago and throw out more ice into the ocean. The volume of the oceans has remained the same for thousands of years but in the middle of the 19th century, when developed countries started to burn large quantities of coal and oil, this volume started to increase.
Coastal erosion has become a huge problem for many areas in the world, including the UK, and governments have spent many millions of pounds trying to slow it down. The underlying cause, the burning of fossil fuels, still continues at an alarming rate today. Little effort has been made by governments to cut carbon emissions to lessen the increase in world temperatures.
Changes in our way of life to adapt to a low carbon future must come from the bottom up, it seems. In other words, we must lead by creating communities that use the world’s resources carefully, ever mindful of our effect on world temperatures.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Trains4Deal AGM
Please help us keep up the great momentum of the campaign!
Come to Trains4Deal's Annual meeting:
in The Alma, West St Deal, as before.
on Monday 6th December (in two weeks' time)
at 7.30 pm.
in The Alma, West St Deal, as before.
on Monday 6th December (in two weeks' time)
at 7.30 pm.
Tell your friends and make sure there's lots of support to hear guest speaker, Cllr Julie Rook, Kent county councillor for Deal.
She will report on progress towards top-level action at County Hall on better rail services for Deal and Sandwich.
Next Monday, 29th November, Trains4deal will be at Southeastern's Stakeholder Forum in Tonbridge
Help us represent YOUR views.
Their Managing Director, Charles Horton, will present their plans for the remaining four years of the franchise, followed by plenty of time for questions.
The company says, "We are now half way through our franchise and would be interested in your feedback in how Southeastern has performed.
This is a particularly challenging time for the rail industry and we look forward to hearing your views."
How well have they performed? What do you think?
A number of Trains4deal supporters are keen to organise a demonstration outside the meeting hall in Tonbridge. It's not an open public meeting, but they want to make sure Southeastern's top managers are fully aware of local anger and outrage at our continuing dreadful service. Transport can be arranged. Click on our website for details, and email mailto:admin@trains4deal.com urgently if you'd like to join in,
best wishes,
Tom Rowland / Ian Killbery admin@trains4deal.com
Join the rail-users' group for the Deal area
Campaigning for High Speed trains to Deal - NOW!
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Eco-Christmas advice from Walmer Parish Council&DDC
As well as all the wonderful things about Christmas, it is also a time of excess, over-indulgence and waste. Enjoy its pleasures and feel good this year by trying some of the following:-
Buying Presents
Remember to take your re-useable shopping bag.
Buy rechargeable batteries for toys.
Avoid shiny wrapping papers that can’t be recycled.
Instead of computer games that use energy, why not buy a board game that will bring the family together?
Present for gadget man? How about a wind up radio, or solar powered lamp?
Decorations
Why not try using what nature provides and gather pine cones, ivy and fallen branches?
If you prefer the real thing to artificial, purchase a sustainably produced, locally grown Christmas tree.
Why not make your own tree decorations - edible tree ornaments are attractive and delicious too.
Christmas wouldn’t be the same without fairy lights. Switching from conventional to LED Christmas lights will reduce your energy consumption by 90%. As they don't generate as much heat, you’ll be making your tree safer.
Make your garden sparkle with waterproof solar powered lights.
Food
Plan your menus ahead, check your stock cupboard and stick to your shopping list – that way you cut down on how much food you buy and there’s less to waste.
Turn your vegetable peelings into compost to provide nutrition for your plants.
Freeze leftovers – they’ll make a quick and cheap meal.
New Year’s Resolutions
Don’t dump – recycle your Christmas tree, wrapping paper and cards.
Start the New Year by taking an invigorating walk, or cycle – leave the car behind.
Make your New Year’s resolution to live leaner and greener– you’ll benefit, you’ll being doing your bit for the environment and helping to ensure a sustainable future.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
BBC Report on Guerilla Gardening...
Also watch out in Deal in Spring (you know, when it gets light again ;) )...
as rumour has it that guerilla gardeners will be stalking the byways of Deal....
Exciting New Anthology Launch
An evening of entertainment with readings from your local writers
7.30 – 9.00 p.m. Deal Town Hall , Thursday 2nd December 2010 (Doors open 7.15)
Free glass of wine.
Enter our limerick competition on the night for a chance to win a free, signed copy of the new anthology. Simply complete either of the following limericks:
Limerick 1 – first line: My father said, “Get a career …
Limerick 2 – first line: In Deal every day you can find …
Anthologies can be purchased on the night for £4.50
An ideal Christmas stocking filler for all the family!
http://www.dealwriters.co.uk/
Victoria's Green Matters - 18th Nov 2010
Let’s talk rubbish again! Better than rubbish, let’s talk recycling. From early next year we will be able to recycle much more of our waste, leaving very little to go for incineration or to land fill.
It has been very annoying to be able to recycle plastic bottles but not plastic containers of other types. We all have lots of other plastic containers because it becomes increasingly difficult to buy many products without the accompanying plastic package of some sort - margarine, cottage cheese, yoghurt, cream and many more. These cartons will all go for recycling, as will Tetrapaks in which many of us buy milk and fruit juice, amongst other things. While we must make every effort not to waste food, there are always things such as vegetable peelings that must be thrown away. If you don’t have space for a compost bin, both cooked and raw food will be collected each week and will be composted. For some people the new wheelie bins will be inconvenient and arrangements will be made for households that cannot accommodate the bins or will have difficulty in moving them.
It is good to hear that the new contract for waste and recycling will actually save the council £200,000 per year, something of a change from hearing how everything is too expensive to continue. But money is not everything and knowing that we are helping to conserve the world’s resources by wasting as little as possible is very satisfying.
As a country we are far behind others in Europe in the amount that we recycle. We have increased our rates of recycling since European legislation required our councils to provide a minimum level and it is good that they have taken that step further to enable us to waste as little as possible.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Every wondered what the Welsh for 'Zero Carbon Concert' is ...?
I know this because our transition towns colleagues at Transition LLambed in Wales.....
Zero Carbon Concert to rock Aber
Aberystwyth hosts its first Zero Carbon Concert at lunchtime Saturday 27th November. The town is maybe the only place in Wales to be taking part in this worldwide event.
Starting at a rather unusual time of 11.45am, the free Aberystwyth Zero Carbon Concert takes place in the bandstand on the promenade and finishes about 3pm.
It is one of many concerts being held on that weekend, just before the UN climate summit in Cancun, Mexico. The Worldwide Zero Carbon Concert intends to demonstrate that it is possible to have fun without causing climate change.
Local organisers are planning a multiple line up at Aberystwyth bandstand over lunchtime on Saturday 27th November. Bands that will be rocking the bandstand include Quercus Burlesque, The Unknown, The Present, and The Horizons.
The line up will include other performers such as Côr Gobaith and Samba Agogo.
But it does not stop at performers - there will also be stalls and displays promoting ways to reduce our carbon footprint.
The Zero Carbon Concert, mid-day 27th November, has only been made possible with the help of Seren Events, providers of bespoke low energy solutions for any and all events .
Monday, November 15, 2010
Smugglers Singers CD for Deal's ZCC
The cost of this rare collectors item is only £5 from Sound House
Elham low carbon village in the news...
Three years ago a number of Kent's rural community leaders took up the challenge to help tackle climate change, with some now reporting impressive results thanks to the energy-saving efforts of their residents.
Villagers in Elham, near Folkestone, are among those to have successfully reduced their carbon footprints after being persuaded to take measures to improve their energy efficiency such as using low-voltage light bulbs and providing better insulation for their homes.
The Elham Environmental Group (EEG), which was formed in 2007, has also planted a large number of trees for the community and produced sustainable shopping bags for local traders.
Residents who sign up to the Fuel Club can also enjoy cheaper bills thanks to pooled deliveries of heating oil that limit the number of times lorries have to visit the village..... read on here"
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Delicious Deal - the first course!
We have volunteers looking at three main iniatives:
1. Food Mapping. This will be doing some research on where our food comes. Sean Furey from Protect Kent described how this had been tackled elsewhere in Kent and the sort of 'toolkits' which are available. We hope this initiative will be extended to cover things like cost comparison between buying & eating local compared to supermarket shopping. Rose R, Diana and Rose D will be getting this off the ground
2. Baking, Cooking & Preserves. This group is about getting 'older' skills out to an new local audience. The intention to get a practical skills & recipes group going with some dropin workshops - Jay, Vicki, Helen are moving this on.
3. Grow Group - A number of related themes here with the twin objectives of getting more people in Deal Growing their own food and setting up a local Community Garden & food coop. A good discussion was had about increasing peoples knowledge about sustainable growing thats supports wildlife habitats and just getting out there and dig! A Guerrilla Gardening campiagn in the Spring following the idenfication of possible sites & assessment on impact of wildlife over winter (Keiran, Steve, Thea, Adrian), A Garden Share scheme (Sandra, Sue & Steve), Looking a Community Garden sites in the town (Thea & Steve). Adrian & Sue are going to host a 'Grow your own' at home with a demonstration of basic gardening skills and wildlife gardening. Mapping Allotment provision locally - still looking for someone to work with Steve to do the research.
Big thank you for Vicki and Rosie for organising the venue & all the prep work, to Deal Fairtrade for the display & cakes, Kieran for the home make chocolate and all those who bought cakes to share.
If you missed the day its not too late to get involved in any of the projects just email food@dealwithit.org or give Steve a bell on 01304 372673
Friday, November 12, 2010
News from Trains4Deal...
Trains4deal welcomes more last-minute changes for Southeastern's December timetable for PEAK TIME EVENINGS that benefit Deal and Sandwich rail-users:
(1) NEW 1724 from Cannon Street, arr. Deal 1933, Sandwich 1939
This gives a better (but not brilliant) connection at Dover for the 1740 high-speed from St Pancras, reducing your wait at Dover from 46 mins to 25!
It also fills a one hour gap in the Dover - Ramsgate service.
We'll still only have one direct train from Cannon St - see (3) below.
(2) NEW 1821 from Charing Cross, arr. Deal 2019, Sandwich 2025.
By not calling at Marden or Pluckley, this new service will hold the current speed record for the Charing Cross line - London to Deal in 1 hour 58 mins! (shows it can be done!)
(3) 1808 from Cannon St will run via Canterbury instead, but you could catch it , change at London Bridge (or maybe Ashford) onto the new 1821 from Charing Cross, and still get back home at the same time.
These evening changes are additional to the morning peak time changes announced previously. Full details at http://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk
WINTER EMERGENCY TIMETABLE
Last winter's snow severely disrupted services on our line.
It was particularly frustrating when snow elsewhere in Kent stopped the Charing Cross trains getting through while the high-speed trains managed to keep running (even on the third rail track).
Trains4deal welcomes Southeastern's plan to run separate services, Charing Cross - Ashford and Ashford - Ramsgate when there's a winter emergency.
We'll press for priority to link our stations with the high-speed services at either Dover or Ramsgate in the vent of serious snoe - so our area isn't left completely stranded.
HAVE YOU ANY COMMENTS?
Trains4deal will be at the Southeastern Stakeholders Forum on 29 November - please send in any issues you want us to raise with Southeastern managers.
OUR CAMPAIGN FOR DIRECT HIGH SPEED TRAINS
Deal County Councillor JULIE ROOK reports that discussions re. a trial of direct high-speed services during the Open Golf next July are "looking good".
KCC is looking at doing an independent survey of passenger satisfaction, an issue raised at the Kent Rail Summit:
The full Kent Rail Summit debate is on-line, together with the presentations from KCC and Southeastern. All are available by clicking the underlined words.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Tidal barrage goes live (but in France)
From the Ecologist " The UK may have turned its back on the Severn barrage but across the channel they have been harnessing tidal energy from the River Rance for more than 40 years - and it may yet point to a way forward for smaller-scale renewable projects
Although France is rich in many areas, it is very poor in energy resources. The Germans and Spanish have coal, Britain has enjoyed an abundance of oil, gas and coal, the Dutch have gas from the North Sea, and the Swiss enjoy plentiful hydro-electric power.
French coal mining ended in April 2004 with the closure of the last pit in the Lorraine region. Until the end of the 1970s, French natural gas supplied between six and seven million tons of gas per year, contributing up to 15 per cent of France's primary energy production, but this has now fallen to just 2 per cent, and oil production now stands at less than 1.5 million tons per year..... read more here
How France eclipsed the UK with Brittany tidal success story
Robert Williams 10th November
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Green Xmas Lights for Sandwich
Paul Carter, Chair of the Committee said to Deal With It "for several years have been trying to turn the event 'green' by using LED lighting and this year I will. Our County Councillor has given me the grant so we are having LED lighting which will consume about a tenth of the previous electricity and we are having a vehicle-free parade! "
The Event happens on Friday 26 November from 6pm from the Guildhall in Sandwich..
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Deal ZCC: thanks to all our Buskers ...
We had the Smugglers Singers singing their shanties, Driftwood, Bottles, Mac, Eddie all playing.and a bit support from Lynda B...
Thanks to all whose who helped on the day to set things up & leaflet: Vicki & Tony, Charles, Kath, Carol, Joy, Keinran, and all the kids! We manged to handout over 250 leaflets!
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Another C4 hatchet job ? Nov 4th
Channel 4 have a documentary on Thursday 4th Nov 9pm 'What the Green Movement got wrong' followed a studio debate on the issues raised at 10:20
'A group of environmentalists are challenging the movement they helped to create. These life-long diehard greens advocate radical solutions to climate change, including GM crops and nuclear energy.'
Hope it does not end up as a rant against Greenpeace & FoE...But I think it is made by the sort of people who shouted 'What Fire!' in the Towering Inferno!
See a good response in the Ecologist
'A group of environmentalists are challenging the movement they helped to create. These life-long diehard greens advocate radical solutions to climate change, including GM crops and nuclear energy.'
Hope it does not end up as a rant against Greenpeace & FoE...But I think it is made by the sort of people who shouted 'What Fire!' in the Towering Inferno!
See a good response in the Ecologist
Victoria's Green Matters - 3rd Nov 2010
It is difficult to imagine that our actions here can have a long-term effect on the other side of the world. When you buy patio or garden furniture, do you spare a thought for the people who live in the rainforests from where the wood originates?
Indonesia has one of the largest rain forests in the world but hundreds of acres of trees are being cut down to make furniture, trinket boxes, doors and plywood to be sold here. This devastation is endangering not only the people and wildlife but it is contributing to global climate change on a large scale.
These rainforests contain a remarkable biodiversity and are the only home to the pygmy elephant, the clouded leopard, the sun bear and the orang-utan. They all face extinction if the forest is destroyed. As trees are felled, the surrounding flora die too, allowing the free flowing of floodwaters to kill more trees, insects and plants and soil erosion follows.
The livelihoods of the local people are all affected by the floodwater. People move about by boat, wading through the water to get to the shops. There are fears for the rice harvest and rattan, for weaving into baskets and mats, is more difficult to find.
There are attempts to licence companies to log sustainably so that the forest is not ruined, but illegal logging is everywhere. It is very difficult to track the trees from forest, to sawmill and then to boat. There is so much money to be made exporting logs that unscrupulous companies continually take out timber extra to their licence. Products from sustainable logging can be bought in this country at B&Q, John Lewis and Argos.
It is important to remember to look for the Forest Stewardship Council certification when you are buying any wood products from overseas to ensure that you are not adding to the troubles of people so far away.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Zero Carbon Britain demo 4th Dec
 Campaign against Climate Change www.campaigncc.org |
March on Parliament for a Zero Carbon Britain
Saturday December 4thAssemble at Speakers Corner, Hyde Park 12.00 noon.
http://www.campaigncc.org/climatemarch2010
Part of a Global Day of Action on climate www.globalclimatecampaign.org on the Saturday midway through the UN Climate Talks in Cancun, Mexico.
Challenge the government to take the action we need to meet the climate threat.
Challenge the government to take the action we need to meet the climate threat.
The failure of the international Talks in Copenhagen doesn't mean the threat of catastrophic Climate Change has got any less grave or less urgent. Don't let them think last year's big climate demo was just a 'one-off wonder'. Tell them we need urgent action now and take to government a message and vision for a Zero Carbon Britain that won't just stop with this demo but that we can build on afterwards !
And building a Zero Carbon Britain means Climate Jobs Now : we have a positive vision not only for addresing the global threat of climate catastrophe but also for the economic crisis.
Timetable:
10.30 am Protest Bike ride assembles at Lincoln's Inn Fields - to join the main protest at Hyde Park later. Bike protest web page coming soon)
11.00 am Climate Service at the Church of the Annunciation, Bryanston Street organised by Christian Ecology, see here.
12..00 noon Assemble on North Carriageway Drive (near Speakers Corner), Hyde park
12.00 - 1.00 pm Help us spell out a message for Zero Carbon by 2030 - with hundreds of people in a photo taken from above in Hyde Park.
12.00 - 1.00 pm Help us spell out a message for Zero Carbon by 2030 - with hundreds of people in a photo taken from above in Hyde Park.
Zero Carbon March to Parliament
via Park Lane, Hyde Park Corner, Piccadilly, Picadilly Circus, Lower Regent Street, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, Parliament Square.
via Park Lane, Hyde Park Corner, Piccadilly, Picadilly Circus, Lower Regent Street, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, Parliament Square.
2.00 pm: Climate Emergency Rally opposite Parliament
March with us for…
Climate Action and Climate Justice….
Green Transport exhibit in London 16-18 Nov
Monday, November 1, 2010
Delicious Deal is unleashed!
Following our ‘Transition Town’ workshop in September we are launching our ‘Local Food’ Group - ‘Delicious Deal’.
The purpose of the day is get everyone passionate about eating local food or growing their-own, involved in a number of projects; which will give us new skills, new opportunities to grow & cook our own food and to gain a better understanding of where Deal’s food comes from.
In doing so we hope to reduce Deal’s Carbon Footprint & enjoy some local delicious food. Suggested projects are:
- Deal Garden Share Scheme
- Deal Guerrilla Gardening
- Research into Allotment provision locally
- Survey of where we buy our food
- Local Food mapping & Directory exercise
- Skills for cooking real bread, preserves and family food.
DealAbility, 43 Victoria Road, Deal CT14 7AY
Night Flights over Thanet Council halt consultation....
Thanks to ProtectKent for the info http://protectkent.posterous.com/thanet-dc-press-release-night-time-flying-con
Video from recent meeting the expansion of night flights from Manston:
Link in case you cannot see the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHpIoO7KBq0
Video from recent meeting the expansion of night flights from Manston:
Link in case you cannot see the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHpIoO7KBq0
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