Events and Stalls - June 2019

The stall at Peace in the Park at the Pondarosa went well, lots of people attended. Great to have more volunteers from the group at events.

Next one is the Sharrow Festival on the 6th of July and the Low Edges festival . Abby available to help at Low Edges and Helen to help with Richard and Tamara at the Sharrow festival.

A previous Sheffield Friends of the Earth stall at Heeley.

Picture Source: Shaun Rumbelow

Stall, Talks and Events - April 2019

Richard gave positive feedback from the High Storrs School Eco Expo.  Our stall with Shaun’s Eco City model raised lots of interest, as did Richard’s talk on solutions to Global Warming.

High Storrs School's Eco Expo. The Sheffield Friends of the Earth stall and eco-city model.

We can promote the BBC One “Climate Change - The Facts” documentary on 18th April

FoE Groundswell events for Climate Change campaign are in Manchester 1st June 10-5 (Richard, Tamara and June attending), Also an event in Darlington on 18th May. You can book these on Eventbrite.

Also coming up:  Clean Air Day 2019 is on June 20th. We will discuss again at May meeting with Graham’s input.

Anti-fracking stalls are being planned for May and June – next one is Barlborough Hall Country Fair stall on 4th May (Richard organising with SAF and local anti-fracking colleagues).  Peace in the Park is the same weekend as Mam Tor event so we agreed to prioritise supporting the latter event. Other potential stalls including Heeley City Fair and activities for Clean Air Day will be discussed at our May meeting.

Hope for the Future emailed to say they are now working with local councillors as well as MPs and we agreed to invite them to a local group meeting to share strategies to increase impact of our work with local politicians.

Events and Stalls - May 2018

Events 
BaseCamp is from 1-3 June. https://friendsoftheearth.uk/latest/basecamp-13-june-2018
If you are not free for the weekend, you can go for a day.

Stalls
We are planning to have both anti-fracking and Plastics campaigning materials on the stalls.

1. The Sharrow Festival is on 7th July this year. Set up is from 10am and we ask for any vehicles to be off site by 12pm, midday, when the public comes along, the stage on the top field is programmed until 6pm and the bottom field until 8pm. They will not allow vehicle access to the site once the festival has started. Richard and Alan are co-ordinating

Sign up here https://doodle.com/poll/hg9m8y9p9whw73uc

2. Stannington Carnival is on the 14th July.  We need people from about 10:30 to set up (for official start at 11:30) and until 5pm (no vehicles allowed on site between 11 and 5). Please select one or more time slots and try to make sure we have at least 2 people in each slot.

Sign up here https://doodle.com/poll/q7zr6d2zbpy2tggs

Stalls and Events

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals - NHS Sustainability Day
Francois will be running a stall in the canteen at the Northern General Hospital on Thursday 24th for the NHS Sustainability Day. Beatrice is running the second stall a week later at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital. Material will be about membership, food and fracking.

Sheffield Hallam University
April 6th - Sustainable Homes (John will send an email about this). See link here.

Global Justice
April 16th - Food Campaign which our food group plan to take part in.

Hillsborough Walled Garden
Sunday April 3rd

Sharrow Spring Market
April 30th

Permacultre
14 May Introduction to Permacultre Burngreave Cemetary  - led by Sheffield FOE

Food
May 1st is launch of Meat Free May. See link here.

Bees
May 21 - 29th May is Bee Cause week. See link here.

More events can be found on our diary. See link here.

Yorkshire Gathering

The Yorkshire Gathering takes place on Saturday 19 March at the Quaker Meeting House in Leeds. If you are interested then see https://www.facebook.com/events/153037075062532/ or https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-yorkshire-gathering-friends-of-the-earth-tickets-20123142862

So far, Richard, Emma, Jane and Sean are interested.

There is another event in Sheffield on the same day about using social media to promote food issues. Shaun is interested in attending this. If you fancy it, the event is called “Sheffield Local and Sustainable Food (workshop on boosting social media impact)” and takes place on Saturday 19 March at 10:00–14:00, 57-59 Club Garden Road, S11 8BU Sheffield. See https://www.facebook.com/events/1676523642629584/ for more details.

Actions: 

1. People to attend these events and report back their findings.

Zero Carbon Yorkshire Meeting

There is a day of open space conversations to explore how Yorkshire can become the first Zero Carbon region in Britain - how can we accelerate the transition to renewable energy, insulate all our homes to a high standard, reform our transport system, and move to sustainable agriculture - or whatever else you know that can help Yorkshire to make its contribution to the huge challenge of keeping the Earth's climate within sustainable limits.

The event takes place on 27 February at 11:00–14:00, Leeds Civic Hall, Calverley St, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS1 1UR, Leeds. See https://www.facebook.com/groups/ZeroCarbonYorkshire/ or https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/zero-carbon-yorkshire-launch-day-tickets-20102317573

No one at our February meeting is able to go to this, but if anyone else has the time to go then please let us know what happened. If you are involved in the fight to tackle climate change in any way - as a grass-roots climate campaigner, local government officer or elected representative, business leader, scientist or technologist, or just a concerned Yorkshire citizen, please attend and help find a way forward to do our bit towards meeting humanity's greatest challenge.

2012 - 2013 Yearly Review

Clean British Energy Campaign
This has mainly focused on people signing postcards to urge the government to invest in renewables rather than following a ‘Dash for gas’.  If gas fired power stations were built it would mean the UK would not achieve it’s Climate Change targets, it would mean less green jobs and higher fuel bills as gas prices continue to rise.  People were also encouraged to earn a CBE certificate by switching to a power company that invests in renewables such as Ecotricity or Good Energy.  A petition to make Sheffield a Frack-free city was started with Sheffield Climate Alliance.  A photo stunt entitled ‘Green is working’ to promote green jobs was held in October.  A display of photographs featuring Renewable Energy was set up in the Town Hall foyer in December.

‘Energy we can all afford’ public meeting – Clive Betts MP (Labour), Cllr Joe Otten (LibDem) Simon Bowen (FoE) Craig Jackson (SYHA & LiveGreen) and Emma Bridge (Sheffield Renewables) answered questions from the public about the rocketing fuel bills, green jobs and climate change.  The meeting held at The Circle on Rockingham Lane, was organised by Sheffield Friends of the Earth in collaboration with Sheffield Campaign Against Climate Change.  It was held despite heavy snowfall and hope it influences Decarbonisation targets being included in the Energy Bill.

The Bee Cause
In July we held a Bee Breakfast with Meg Munn MP & Cllr Isabel Bowler and were featured on Radio Sheffield by Paulette Edwards.  In September Cllr Jillian Creasy and Cllr Sylvia Anginotti attended a Bee Walk.  There was a petition for a National Bee Action Plan and cards for people to sign.  Free seeds, wildflower posters and booklets made this a very popular campaign.  A bee map where people had marked their bee friendly gardens was displayed in the Town Hall foyer in September.  The group are currently searching for a site to plant a bee meadow in Sheffield.

Make it Better Campaign
Some smart phones contain tin which comes from Bangka Island in Indonesia causing devastation of the environment.  E-mails were sent to Samsung and Apple.


Litter Pick
We conducted our litter pick on Penistone Road on the Jubilee Holiday Tuesday 5th June 2012.  We wore masks of the Royal Family and were featured in the Sheffield Star newspaper.

Free Green Film Festival
As a result of a ‘buy two get one free’ offer at Dogwoof films, we showed ‘The Island President’, a very recently released film, on 30th May 2012.

The latest film festival will take place in the Spring 2013 with four films being shown on successive Wednesdays at the Red Deer pub beginning with Blue Gold on 17th April.

Stalls
We have run 9 stalls at: Environment Week, National Climate Jobs Caravan, the Green Fair, Firth Park Festival, Lowedges Festival, Ecclesfield Gala, Sheffield Food Festival, Riverlution and Peace and Craft Fair

Facebook, Twitter and Website
Sheffield FoE now has an active presence on Facebook and Twitter thanks to John who tweets and posts regularly.  Shaun has radically updated the website so it has a fresh modern feel.

Speakers
Dave Berry from Sheffield Renewables spoke at the September meeting about the share offer.  As a result of this it was decided that Sheffield FoE should buy a share.  Malcolm Lee of Sheffield Forgemasters spoke at the February meeting on the subject of ‘A Manufacturing Perspective on UK & EU Climate Change Policy’

Training
Members have attended various training sessions including the FoE Northern Gathering at Haworth, Local Groups' Conference in London, Planning Masterclass (Richard) and the Bee Prepared Day in Darlington.  There were also more varied local training days such as Planning and Sustainable Housing.

Other Actions

• Gerry attended the ‘Broomhill Air Quality Symposium’ on 21st April 2012.  
• Richard reported on his visit to the Garden Organic AGM at the May meeting.
• Liddy helped out on 15th September on a Greenpeace stall to lobby MPs about the Electricity Market Reform Bill.
• Richard attended the Sheffield Food Conference on 13th September and wrote a short report.
• Maureen wrote in support of Holbrook Biomass plant providing it is locally sourced.
• We opposed the RecyCoal planning application with a draft letter of objection being circulated among members.  Unfortunately this was passed at the January planning meeting. 
• Met with Cllr Jack Scott in October to discuss SCC environmental policy.
• We opposed the widening of the Incinerator’s resource base to as far away as Newark.  A sample bullet pointed letter was circulated among members for them to lodge their objections.
• Maureen’s letter about fracking was featured in January 10th Sheffield Telegraph.
• John talked to Sheffield Rotary Club about Sheffield FoE on 12th February
• Beatrice and John lobbied David Blunkett on 9th March about putting pressure on the government about the Energy Bill

Green Film Festival 2013

We are hoping to run another film festival in 2013 (propably in February). We may be able to return to the Medical School but are awaiting confirmation. The films so far chosen by Sheffield FoE members are:          

The Happy Movie – see www.thehappymovie.com          
Blood of the Amazon - see http://www.eyesofgaia.com/pb/wp_66d94db1/wp_66d94db1.html           
Blue gold - see http://www.bluegold-worldwaterwars.com/          

There is one more film still to be chosen. Please contact Maureen (see contacts tab) with your suggestions.

Stalls & Events

Fracking – More signatures were collected at stall outside Howden House on 22^nd October and at Peace and Craft fair.

Peace and Craft Fair – 3^rd November 2012. A very worthwhile event with some recycled bags and Xmas cards sold. Lots more CBE cards were filled in and lots more signatures on the anti-fracking petition.

Shared Planet event and Young Friends of the Earth –this event took place in Sheffield and was attended by 400 students from across the UK, 50 of them signed up for Young Friends of the Earth. John was a steward at this event and is now part of the Young FoE steering group.

 

Sheffield 2012 Transition Awards - Thursday 29^th November 7-11pm. 
Join us for a sparkling evening to celebrate groups who are creating more sustainable communities in Sheffield. With inspiring local artists, special celebrity guest, and irrepressible compère Chrystine Moon Tickets are £12 / £8 / £5 according to income, and include a vegetarian buffet (hot and cold drinks may be bought at the bar).

Buy tickets online with an easy one-off payment through GoCardless - choose your contribution: High / Medium / Low.

Our venue is the fully accessible Burton St Function Suite, Hillsborough, Sheffield S6 2HH. See directions.   NB. There's still time to nominate a group who you think are inspiring - make your nomination now.

More more details see http://www.transitionsheffield.org.uk

Christmas Meal

Our next meeting will take place on the 17^th December at 7:30pm for a Christmas dinner at 8pm. It will be in the upstairs meeting room at the Red Deer pub. Contact Liddy (see contacts tab) if you would like to join us and order a meal e.goyder@sheffield.ac.uk. Once we have the menus we will send them to you along with the price.

Andy Aitkins Visit

Andy Aitkins is the Executive Director of Friends of the Earth. He sent us a letter saying

I’m keen to spend more time with local groups over the next year and am writing to you as I’d like to visit you and your area.  I greatly value the work that Local Groups do and I’m convinced that a strong grass roots movement is essential to bringing about the urgent and large scale changes that we need in society to achieve something akin to sustainable development.  My twin aims are to update my first-hand knowledge of how local groups are tackling environmental issues locally and nationally, and to learn lessons from this; and to share analysis on the fast changing context and our new strategy in England, Wales and Northern Ireland responding to this.

I would like my visit to be of maximum use to you in your campaigning.  So, for example, as well as me meeting the group, I would welcome you using my visit as a hook to engage more people for example by doing a public meeting, getting your local MP along, or doing some activist activity in which I could participate.   You could also use it strengthen your relationships with leaders of the local council or a local green business for example.  I could speak around a particular theme like Environmentalism in a time of economic crisis or a particularly locally resonant subject you might suggest. Whatever I speak on, I would be keen to link back to any national campaign you are working on locally and other local issues you would like support on.  

At our meeting we suggested using Andy to speak to local business and union groups about green jobs. Andy's trip will be sometime between January and July 2013 so we hope to build on the ideas from this meeting over the coming months. Let us know if you have any ideas at admin@sheffieldfoe.co.uk

Shared Planet

The UK’s largest student conference on world poverty, human rights and the environment will take place in Sheffield on the 10-11th November. The event called Shared Planet  is open to all young people and students over 16 who want to find out about the world’s big problems and share solutions. This year it is being held in at the Sheffield Hallam University Hub. If you book a place before 31st October it’s £19 or £25 on the door.  For more details: http://peopleandplanet.org/shared-planet