Never before have I sat with my mouth wide open in amazement for so long, as I have with the BBC’s recent Frozen Planet series. It left me a gasp at sheer beauty of the land/seascapes, in awe of the The Inuit, the penguins and polar bears, and almost heartbroken at thought of what lies ahead for our precious ice caps.
It also made me think to myself, what wonderful world this is with David Attenborough in it.
If you’re regular – and I hope there’s a few of you – you’ll know that we’ve been working on the Greens Stories project for Affinity Sutton since October last year. We are really, really pleased to say that the final part of the project – the films – are in the can and on YouTube. You can vote for your favourite on the Affinity Sutton website.
Of course we’re totally impartial and without sounding like a swarmy game show host, all the competition winners were top folk and dead lovely to work with.
The films feature pensioners with attitude Jeannie & Eddie and their Guerrilla Vegetable Gardening, Phil the Power Saver telling us how we too could have Smarter Energy Use, Christine, Ian & Tom with their ambitious yet eco-friendly Community Growing Gardening Project in Stoke, Rob who has been patiently creating his very own Open source Carbon Calculator and Brian, Steph & Tony who took matters into their own hands to create a Recycling Revolution in Middlesbrough.
On July 20th Affinity Sutton will be screening the films and announcing the final winner of the competition. The prize is a weeks holiday at the Eden Project.
They were all an inspiring bunch who are the real faces of everyday activism. People creating changes in their lives and their communities; it’s heart warming stuff y’know.
Last Friday evening the distinct waft of bbq deliciousness and booming speakers was my cue to leave the office. That’s one of the bonuses of having a roof top garden on your building.
The Bootstrap Company recently launched the Dalston Roof Park, which will be hosting a variety of cultural events for the community over the summer.
Unfortunately I missed out on a tasty burger from Meat Wagon as the queue was a tad too long for me to make it in time for a date with my cutie god daughter.
If you’re in the E8 area in the next few weeks though, pop in and visit; it’s dead nice.
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Garden Opening Times: Monday – Friday 09:00 – 23:00, Sat 13:00 – 24:00, Sun 13:00 – 22:00
Bar Opening Times: Monday – Thursday 17:00 – 23:00, Sat 13:00 – 24:00, Sun 13:00 – 22:00
Last week the twenty%extra team packed our backpacks and headed off to Middlesbrough, Stoke-on-Trent and East Grinstead to start part two of Green Stories for Affinity Sutton.
We got the chance to meet the 5 finalists of the Green Stories competition, learning about their personal stories of how they improved sustainability, energy use to recycling in their community. We have to say, they were a lovely bunch and made us laugh (a lot) throughout our workshop sessions.
The photographs above (yeah there are a few!) are of one of the projects in Stoke, a resident led community & garden centre. Watch out for part three where we will be making short films of each of the projects.
Affinity Sutton has taken an innovative and creative approach to engage their residents into green issues.
Last year we started working them to create a marketing campaign to encourage the early adopter green residents to share their Green Stories by making 6 short films, which in return will inspire other residents to recycle and make positive eco choices.
Above is the fabulous, Vee, who started modelling at the grand young age of 70. She has appeared in ads fromVogue to Harry Potter to Mickey D’s, so we were very pleased she was available for our shoot!
Yes, it’s that time again. We opened up shop after a restful break and a tally ho to 2009.
2010 is here. New Year, new decade, how very exciting! I’m looking forward to seeing what the next ten years will bring, and what new technologies we’ll not be able to live without in the next five. I’m also wondering what the official term will be for this decade. Ansel, our CD, has put forward his prediction – the tensies – you heard it here first.
So to get off on the good foot for 2010, we’ve signed up to the 10:10 campaign, which is urging us all to try and cut our carbon emissions by 10% for the year. Businesses, schools, in fact anyone, can sign up. I’ve got the 10 point check list; No 1. Fly less – holiday more. Hmmm, not a bad idea.
Well head down to Trafalgar Square tomorrow afternoon. Feeding the 5000 is an event happening on the 16th December between 12 -2pm, with the aim of raising awareness of food waste.
Over the past few weeks, Feeding the 5000 were donated fresh produce and in their words; “from farms, packers and markets – from the tonnes of produce that are ‘outgraded’ for being cosmetically imperfect and which would have been wasted though they are still good to eat”.
From all the perfectly, ‘imperfect’ grub, they plan to feed lots of hungry folk with a free lunch, that’s what I call a win / win situation. Do a good deed and get fed too. Sweet.
At twenty%extra, we tick a few of the ‘green’ boxes. We reduce, reuse and recycle (which includes a home made wormery). We cycle, and generally try and preach the green word to the ungreen heathens. Hands up though, I do like to take holidays where the sun shines. Which means jumping on a plane. Doh! But seriously, thinking consciously about the environment can feel like a full time job in itself. I suppose that’s the effort required to make up for those who really just don’t, well, care.
December 7th is a big day for international environmental political consciousness. The UN meets up for the annual Climate Summit 2009 in Copenhagen. Will it be another opportunity for nations to drag their proverbial feet with type of yeah but, no, but, yeah, but, responses that would make Vicky Pollard feel she just met her long lost relatives? Hmmm… We’ll have to wait and see.
There are a few organisations however, that are ensuring the issue stays high on the agenda while helping us all to contribute to the debate. Seal the Deal, has an online petition that you can sign to show support for a fair and comprehensive agreement. The Wave is a Stop the Climate Chaos Coalition event taking place in central London on the 5th December, and they want you to make a gigantic Mexican wave. Whichever one floats your boat, try and do something while boats can still float, if you get my drift.
How are we spending our summer? Well not in the sunny climates of Brazil or Jamaica, oh no no no. Instead we’re hanging out in Shoreditch. And while we won’t be basking in sun rays, we will be working with some very bright young things (aka 13 – 21 year olds) to produce a campaign for the London Community Recycling Network. To see the end results check out www.letsbebrief.co.uk over the coming months.
