Two inspiring & successful sustainability projects!

Sharing two inspiring projects! 
Both projects aim to demonstrate and create something that is beautiful and functional, creating results which please people and show that sustainability is achievable and attractive now.

One is in Tooting: a front garden restoration that takes into account affordability and biodiversity.
One is north London-based: an bamboo bicycle enterprise which is imaginative and practical.

Tooting Front Garden Restoration
The project has been a partnership between a housing association, residents, project leader and a professional team including Community Gardener Rose deFalbe. The intention was to carry out the restoration in a way that is participatory, affordable, adaptable, biodiverse and with zero environmental footprint. There's a full description of the project downloadable here.
Here's the result photographed earlier this week. 37 Manville Road - go and have a look as it's a beautiful sight!

In April the restoration was Commended at the Wandsworth Design Awards. Here's the team in front of their display with the Mayor of Wandsworth who gave out the awards.
Congratulations!


Bamboo Bicycle Club
Engineer James Marr has established this business designing cycle frames out of bamboo (imported at the moment) and hemp (grown in Yorkshire). All the details online here.

A unique element is that BBC sells no finished bikes at all: the new owners and riders make the frames and fit out the bikes themselves. James want to offer cycles that are sustainable, recyclable and designed collaboratively according to need.
As a consumer, the maker-rider is in charge and makes all the decisions. Each maker practices or learns new skills.

Over 200 have been designed and built in all shapes and sizes (look at their Hall of Frames) - either from kits at home or on weekend courses where the output is a bamboo cycle frame that you then fit out with the drive train, wheels, handlebars, etc. Track bikes, tandems, balance bikes...and a new project in Africa where farmers will make their own bikes that can each carry 100kg.

Tour de Tooting in the Press

Delighted that last weekend's Tour de Tooting makes the front page of the Wandsworth Guardian this week!

With this report on page 3

And this is Emma Brazell's short reportage film of the day on youtube.
 

Well that was fun! #TdeT

Tour de Tooting - workshops, a film night, a parade!

 

Tour de Tooting Creative Director Lucy Neal

With less than 2 weeks until Tour de Tooting, are you ready for a wonderful wheeled parade through Tooting, followed by a sharing picnic on Fishponds Fields?  Pop 3rd July in your diary!

Maybe you've found one of these mysterious #tourdetooting tags on your wheels?

#tourdetooting

Maybe you've been to one of the wheelie workshops we've held so far? No! Don't worry! There are three more workshops to come. They're all free and everyone is welcome - whether you have wheels or not. Join in the fun!

• 26 June - wheel decorating and bike workshop, 12.30-5.30pm, Bruce Hall
• 01 July - wheel decorating at Fransciscan School's Festival, 4-6pm
• 02 July - wheel decorating and bike workshop, 11am-4pm

Pedalista Workshop - This Tuesday!

Could you be a leader in making, could you become a Prime Pedalista? 

Hello Pedalistas*

Tour De Tooting is fast approaching.  Pedalistas of Tooting will be looking to get making and decorating throughout June in preparation for the Parade of Wheels on the 3rd July.

This Tuesday, Tour De Tooting are hosting a workshop of making and decorating to prepare you to share techniques with friends, family, community groups , school pupils and more.

Could you be a leader in making, could you become a Prime Pedalista?

*A Pedalista is anyone who is excited by the idea of celebrating the freedom and liberation of the wheels in their lives.

Tuesday 7th June
6:30 - 8:30
Work and Play Scrapstore, Hazelhurst Estate, 13 Blackshaw Road, London SW17 0DA

Come to the Hubs & Spokes Cafe - Thu. 19 May, 6.30pm @ Rechere's

Want to find out more about Tour de Tooting?

Come along to our second Hubs and Spokes café on Thu. 19 May, from 6.30pm to 8.30pm at Rechere’s Wellbeing Centre, 163-165 Tooting High Street in anticipation of  the Tour de Tooting, Sun. 03 July.

What will be doing in this Hubs and Spokes Cafe?

The gathering on Thu. 19 May from 6.30pm to 8.30pm will fill in the gaps of what remains to be invented. Do we need more rides? More people? More materials? What part might you like to play?

Pedal by pedal, we will look at compatibility between the Tour's four components:

• Creating and making:  Decorate your wheels, bring your machines if you like!
• Roads and Rides:  Catching up on our route and sites – we need people to marshall / steward / site manage. Would you like to ?
• Connecting and Communication:  Telling people in Tooting what's happening
• Resourcing:  Join our team! Time, sweet time – do you have any you might like to give? Whether it be for something specific or getting involved in the co-ordination. We need Principal Pedalistas! Social Media advocates, Volunteer Stewards, Leaflet distributors and poster putter-upperers, Site Managers for on the day and help with Volunteer Co-ordination! Roll up! Roll up!

We're wheely looking forward to seeing you, please do spread the word and bring folks who you think might be interested.

In the meantime, have fun trying to Draw A Bike From Memory!
http://www.booooooom.com/2016/05/09/bicycles-built-based-on-peoples-attempts-to-draw-them-from-memory/

What happened at the last Hubs and Spokes Cafe? 

Those who came along to the first Hubs and Spokes café enjoyed Cake! Tea! and a short movie on the bici-machinista-cycle-powered marvels of Guatemala and the collective energy of creating this emerging event! 

Lots has happened since:

• We’ve been developing Route, Traffic and Event Management plans
• Leaflet and Poster design are underway
• A logo, thanks to everyone, with help from Sue Rentoul!
• We’ve engaged with Wandsworth Cycle Campaign and Wheels for Wellbeing, a fantastic charity that removes barriers to cycling
• Organising workshops with children at Franciscan School, our Départ point     
• Continuing plans for a wheel-themed film night in Tooting Market
• Co-ordinating a bike-themed Tooting Restart Party on June 21st Tuesday

We look forward to seeing you. Come join in the fun! #tourdetooting

You're invited to the Hubs & Spokes Cafe, Tue 19 April, 7pm

Join us in planning a wheeled parade and ride through Tooting!

Over the last few months, Transition Town Tooting have been experimenting with the idea of a wheeled parade and some bike rides through Tooting - a chance to celebrate the possibilities of safe, open roads for everyone where clean air and community conversations meet.

In early July, we will be running Tour de Tooting!

On Tuesday, 19th April at 7pm, we'll be holding an open meeting at the pop up Hubs & Spokes Cafe to bring everyone "up to speed" with plans so far. If you'd like to find out more about how to get involved and generally get to grips with all the exciting possibilities of this new Tooting Wheeled Venture, come along!

Hubs & Spokes Cafe

Tuesday, 19th April at 7pm

Mushkil Aasaan, 222 Upper Tooting Road

We'll be making more announcements about the Tour de Tooting very soon, so if you can't make the meeting, keep an eye on the blog. There will be pop ups happening in the weeks leading up to the main event, so keep an eye on the blog or search #tourdetooting!

Transport in Tooting

A few transport issues have caught my eye this weekend. Firstly I am well in support of Wandsworth Council's opposition to the expansion of Heathrow. Who wants more aircraft noise blighting our quiet enjoyment of SW17 and around. Not me. See the Council's reasoning and ways to have a say in the consultation here.

Crossrail2 Safeguarding Area

Another issue for consultation is the proposed route and access shafts for Crossrail2. The plans will undoubtedly be of benefit to commuters in the Tooting Broadway area, but a big concern for me is the proposal to site permanent access shafts on both Trinity Fields and Wandsworth Common. This is currently under consultation and I think it is important to oppose any further infringement into community green spaces. Dan Watkins has a good analysis of the impacts for Tooting and around on his site here.  You have until Weds 28th January to voice your opinion to crossrail2@tfl.gov.uk.

Meanwhile Jon Irwin's tireless campaigning for a more people and cycle friendly urban space in our area continues. His latest campiagn is to make Tooting Bec Road safer. Will Balham Boulevard become a reality this year? I hope so. Check out details on these and the latest on local cycling and street design issues here. 

Finally Wandsworth Council's snail's progress towards 20mph on residential roads sees some action now in Bedford and Furzedown but what about the rest of us? Let's hope there is more progress in 2015. Wandsworth Living Streets and the Wandsworth group of 20s Plenty For Us continue to campaign for better safer streets for all.  dt

Travel and Transport: Carbon Conversations Meeting 4

Jenny has posted her response below to the most recent meeting in our 'CC' series. During the series we have been digging into understanding our own 'carbon footprint' and what it means to us in real life.

The UK average carbon footprint per person per year now is c12 tonnes of C02 emissions. There's a challenging and more sustainable goal of four tonnes of CO2 emissions per person per year (= emissions from home energy, travel, food purchasing and general consumption, at roughly a tonne each).

"I offered to write a post on this, because when I did my carbon footprint, I realised that travel and transport form a significant portion of my annual carbon footprint, so it’s an area I want to improve on.

In this session, we shared what was important to us - peaceful, safe streets, short journeys to work, lower speed limits and safer cycling. 

We imagined what it would be like if people didn’t own cars anymore and there was a cycle super highway like the one Norman Foster has proposed. We didn’t all agree on these more extreme re-imaginings of how we travel, but we all agreed that shorter local journeys on peaceful streets would be a good thing.

While looking at the pros and cons of different types of transport, there was a lot of debate and focus on cycling. Most people in the group own cycles and had cycled to the meeting. It’s a quick and easy way to get around Tooting, but all agreed cycling in the centre of London was not such a pleasant experience.

Wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t have to be aggressive cycling in the city just to claim your piece of road? Would more people cycle if London was more like Amsterdam? What if the state gave you a free bike if you promised to use it more than three times a week, like in Sweden?

We played a game, imagining we were a family of four making travel choices based on lifestyle, and on government policy.

What soon became clear was that low carbon choices aren’t always made with the sole intention of doing good for the planet. More often, travel choices were made based on money or time saved – money and time that could then be spent as a family. Policy rarely influenced decisions in our game and sometimes, that was surprising.

In the future, we may have to reduce to 1 tonne of CO2 per year per person for travel. Here’s my challenge: can I get to 1 tonne?

I started my own travel diary and estimated my day trips & holidays.
Here’s how my annual carbon footprint stacks up now in 2014:

• Commuting and local travel around London: 6,396 miles per year = 0.9 tonnes of CO2
• Day /weekend trips out of London, and holiday travel: 1640 miles = 0.3 tonnes of CO2
• 2 return short-haul plane trips to Europe: 4 tonnes of CO2

In total, that puts my travel emissions at just over 5 tonnes per year. 
Is it time to cut the trips abroad or can I save enough by getting a job locally to afford me one flight a year?

One tonne is certainly going to be a challenge!
I’ll post a follow up on this, and from the other participants in the group"

Thanks for these honest comments, Jenny!
We'll report back from the two remaining Carbon Conversations meetings in this series.
If you would like to get into this fascinating and urgent topic, do join us in the future when we next offer 'CC' locally. All welcome: you do not need to be an expert, just interested in exploring your own choices, and in taking some action.

Cycling & Better, Safer Streets

I was reminded in Amsterdam recently, what a vast difference there is between cycling in the Dutch capital and cycling in London.

In central Amsterdam, bicycles and feet seem the primary mode of transport followed by trams. Far fewer cars, less pollution, a more pleasant environment and a slimmer looking population from this brief survey. There are many segregated lanes for bicycles, separate bike traffic signals, a generally friendly mixing of bikes and pedestrians and no helmets, not one, in sight.  Cycling is a pleasure not an ordeal.

Could London ever become this civilised?  Or must every journey involve a running of the gauntlet, sharing tiny spaces with huge vehicles, oblivious, aggressive or on the phone drivers coccooned in their metal boxes, cycle lanes that go nowhere etc?  As a daily cyclist, I can confirm it's a jungle out there, even on the roads of Tooting and Balham which I use a lot.  You have to keep your wits about you to stay safe.  If only here was as cool and bike/people friendly as Amsterdam!

So what is going on in our local area?  Campaigner Jon Irwin has several petitions running on his traffik in tooting blog looking for support for trial changes to road layouts in Tooting and wider Wandsworth, and he'd welcome your support - all petitions here.  One idea I particularly like is making a section of the A24 between Tooting Bec and Balham a French style boulevard with segregation for cyclists and pedestrians.  "Balham Boulevard" apparently has some chance of success with interest from Council Transport lead Russell King and even a name check from Boris!  Jon adds: "The campaigns I've been running ... have been incredibly well received. Do get in touch if you'd like to help out, I can only do this with local support". Email Jon here

Meanwhile 20's Plenty looks to implement a 20mph speed limit where people live.  I recently petitioned a Council meeting requesting this in my street.  Why not do the same for yours?  Already over 12m people live in local authority areas which are adopting this policy - why not round here too?  Despite Wandsworth Council never seeming keen on actually DOING anything in this area (better at talking), it's up to us as individuals to keep applying pressure.  There is an election next year ... politicians do seem to be interested in those.  DT