TTT's next series of Carbon Conversations is postponed until early 2019 - in time for New Year's resolutions!

We're postponing our new series of Carbon Conversations until the New Year.
Tonight's first session is cancelled, as are the following 5 meetings. The series of meetings needs a critical mass of local people to join in so we have rich and diverse discussions - we are nearly there but not quite for the series due to start this evening. So we will find new dates early in 2019 with that existing participant group, and encourage more people to sign up and join them. Let us know if you are interested!
Very early New Year's resolutions, anyone?
All the info on the six free meetings organised by TTT's Ben Cuddon in a recent blog post here. Just ignore the dates.

The facilitated workshops enable individuals to explore the areas of our lives where we can reduce our own carbon emissions: travel, food, domestic energy, consumption and waste.
During the six weekly sessions you'll discuss in a supportive atmosphere all the practicalities of making your own 'low-carbon lifestyle' changes. Making these changes is never one size fits all. 

A quote from a past participant:  

"The beauty of Carbon Conversations is the 

optimism, creativity and shared ideas" 

Local Stories of Sustainability Success - four vivid can-do examples of reducing carbon footprints and increasing wellbeing

We're hosting a new free event: Local Stories of Sustainability Success in the afternoon of Saturday 20th October, from 2:00 to 4:00 at the Mushkil Aasaan Hall, 220 Upper Tooting Road SW17 7EW.

The event will illustrate vivid can-do stories by local people who have reduced their carbon footprints and increased their wellbeing 

Martin, Susan, Tanya & Dermot - clockwise from top left

• Martin Cobley and several hundred worms will demonstrate why he is the borough guru for how worm composting
• Susan Venner will share the steps to make a 19th century family house in Balham warm and cosy, emphasising how to tackle the high-impact things first. More detail on Susan's experience on the Superhome Database at https://tinyurl.com/y94mqnsb
• Dermot Jones will share his experience of switching to an electric vehicle. Dermot also tweets as @ElecticVanMan about the story of his first 4000 miles - and the myths and memes
• Tanya de Afonseca will share her own experience of reducing (refusing?) household plastics. Tanya's BYO Zero Waste Shop is in Tooting Market https://byo.london/

We'll discuss these inspiring examples of what can be done, share ideas, be energised, make some new resolutions & links.

For the 'Local Stories' flyer, please click here.

The session is designed for anyone who is interested in these lively local stories. You do not need to be an expert!
Please share with friends and colleagues who you think would appreciate the event.
Bring the family! We'll have a crafts table alongside for some making.

Thanks to the Zero Waste Shop for sharing this diagram of five core elements of zero waste.


We'll also introduce the next run of Carbon Conversations starting on Thursday November 1st. For details, click here. Please encourage friends to join in with this 13th series!

TTT's new series of practical & participative local 'Carbon Conversations' is running in November & December - you're invited to take part!

Carbon Conversations is back! Our new series of six free meetings in November & December in SW16 - organised by TTT's Ben Cuddon. 

The facilitated workshops enable individuals to explore the areas of our lives where we can reduce our own carbon emissions: travel, food, domestic energy, consumption and waste.

A quote from a past participant:  

"The beauty of Carbon Conversations is the 

optimism, creativity and shared ideas" 

During the six weekly sessions you'll discuss in a supportive atmosphere all the practicalities of making your own 'low-carbon lifestyle' changes. Making these changes is never one size fits all. 

Exploring your own situation, start point and preferences is so valuable and makes the series personal and practical. 

The meetings are well structured with a mix of games, conversation, debate, activities and exercises.


Click here for the flyer and here are the summary details:
Venue: in SW16 between Mitcham Lane & Streatham Common Station 
Timings: all meetings run from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm 
Dates: six Thursdays from Nov 1st to Dec 6th, once a week
Free: there is no fee to take part. The only cost is currently £14 for the workbook and learning materials, which TTT charges at cost. Sessions are led for free by TTT's trained Carbon Conversations facilitators. 
To join or ask any questions: contact Ben Cuddon by email here or TTT by mail here

TTT has run over 12 series of Carbon Conversations since 2011. 
On average participants are able to identfy how to reduce their own carbon footprints by a third - by over 4 tonnes of carbon.
Wait a minute! 
What does 'four tonnes of carbon' mean? 
You may already be worried about shorthand & jargon. The way we facilitate the meetings means that you do not need to be an expert. 
Although it's a complex subject, we guarantee that by the end of the sessions you will learn useful new language and concepts and understand the practical elements of household carbon reduction.

This series is a great place to start if you want to reduce your carbon footprint, meet some friendly and like-minded people and explore the topic as it affects you, rather than being lectured at!

As a participant said: 

"At the last session I don't think anybody wanted to leave!"

 Join us to find out how to reduce heat loss from your home!

Exploring Food and Travel in your carbon footprint - stories from May's 'Carbon Conversations'

TTT's 10th local Carbon Conversations series continues - the free weekly local facilitated meetings where participants can explore their own practical options for low-carbon living.

The sessions are not only about 'counting carbon' and understanding our carbon footprint; they are also about exploring our own values and preferences in a safe and facilitated setting with a small group. Understanding the meaning of our choices.... the 'why' as well as the 'what'.... means we are more likely to take steps which we can sustain over time.
Quoting one of the participants in this series:

"The beauty of Carbon Conversations is 

the optimism, creativity and ideas

that are shared and emerge"

Each of the six meetings has a theme - for example home energy, or waste. We reported on the first two sessions in this blog - read it here, and below two more participants describe the discussion points and feelings raised by the third and fourth meetings: about food and travel.


1 Food: probably the issue that goes to the core of our identities more than any other.
We did an activity reflecting on all the aspects of food production that worry us most. One of the group shared a really heart-rending story of playing a game with a child where they had to mime different animals. They wagged their tail like a dog, pranced like a horse, but when asked to enact a chicken they curled up into a ball on the floor. This child only knew a chicken as a dead body wrapped in clingfilm on a supermarket shelf. It was a poignant moment...

We also played a board game to figure out the carbon emissions embedded in all the different stages of the food production process: growing, processing, packaging, transport.

It was illuminating, but it also made us realise the complications of solely judging things based on carbon emissions. What is something is 'really low carbon' but harmful in other ways? There are lots of factors to take into account.
It also made us reflect on the foods we eat. As one group member said: 'it does make you think....what ARE we eating?!'

Rewilding in Tooting - a new storytelling event to explore environmental thinking with children

Children from 5 to 8 years old and accompanying adults are welcome to join this new event which explores rewilding and environmental thinking in a fascinating and participative way - right here in Tooting on Saturday 8th April.

All welcome to come and explore our themes:

Play - Learn - Dream 

We're thrilled that Andres Restrepo and Emily Duizend are running this imaginative free event based in the Tooting Community Garden.

 

We hope you're intrigued and want to join us on the first weekend of the Easter holidays. Adults welcome if accompanying children, and together we'll be look at nature, use our senses and imaginations, focus on what's special about our surroundings, appreciate Tooting as a place - all from angles that may be new to us.

When? Saturday 8th April, from 11:00 to 1:00. And it's free

Where? Tooting Community Garden, 5 North Drive SW16 1RN

For who? Children aged 5 to 8 years old

Details? Children need to be accompanied by an adult

Flyer? Click here for a copy of the flyer

How to book? Contact Andres by email to book and for more details

We want to inspire children and adults to 

explore how the outdoors can be experienced right here in the city

All welcome on Saturday 8th April - please book in and we'll see you there!

#Foodival2016 starts tomorrow! Join in, donate produce and celebrate local grow-&-cook-your-own

The Tooting #Foodival2016 starts Saturday 10th from 1300-1700

This is the ninth year we've run the Tooting Foodival, and every year we call out to local gardeners for home-grown donations.

Every year we're amazed at the range and quality of what gets grown locally by beginners and experts in backyards or pots, on balconies or allotments.
Maybe you took part in our Growing Tooting classes in spring 2016?
Maybe you have been growing your own all your life.

Here's our 'I Grew This' poster of locally-grown donations at the 2015 Foodival.


To contribute your locally-grown donations, please select something you've grown which you'd like to share and bring it along to Mushkil Aasaan, 222 Upper Tooting Road SW17 7EW between 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm on Saturday 10th Sept. There are lots of other activities at the venue on Saturday.

• After 4:00 pm on Saturday 10th, local cooks taking part in the Top Tooting Cook event will be able to choose produce from what's on offer. There will be the potential for wonderful dishes - maybe with surprising ingredients that the cooks had not anticipated using before seeing the selection. Top Tooting Cook will be judged on Sunday afternoon at Mushkil Aasaan.
• Then we'll store remaining vegetables overnight for use in the Soup Disco cook-up with music and dancing on Sunday evening in Tooting Market.
• Any surplus will be donated to the Battersea Canteen supper clubs being run by the London Cooking Project and Tooting's own Be Enriched. The clubs aim to reduce food waste and feed those in need.  And to CARAS, who run clubs and support services for refugees and asylum seekers in south west London.

A huge Jerusalem Artichoke!

And small ones - but with big leaves!

Whatever you decide to bring along, donating is all about celebrating local food and wanting to share that enthusiasm with others.
It's about sharing Tooting's flavour, diversity and interest! 

Number 12 in TTT's '12 tweets to Christmas'

Here is tweet number twelve:
No.12 tips for Xmas. Celebrate Xmas eve with some English wine from Kent or locally brewed beer from By The Horns! 
pic.twitter.com/A1c75HsVtt

And...that's the last of our twelve seasonal sustainability tweets: each one from a different person, saying something she or he wants to share that fits with this time of year. We hope that each of them gives you something to think about, or follow up.

We hope you enjoyed them too, whether you saw them on twitter as they came out during the past 12 days, or if you are seeing them gathered here on the TTT blog.
We'll list them again in our next TTT monthly mail out. 
Thanks for following!

Made in Tooting

We have a new project promoting all things Made In Tooting. It's the brainchild of low impact living initiative founder Dave Darby who has organised an inaugural meeting on Wednesday June 18th - all welcome.  Over to Dave to explain the concept in more detail:

The idea is to promote local businesses making things in Tooting, and also to help people make (and grow) things themselves. We have a web address and a twitter account (@MadeInTooting) but they're not live yet. The idea is that local businesses making things in Tooting are promoted on the website, as are the small shops, restaurants and bars stocking the local produce.
That way, people interested in buying things made locally can find places near where they live to buy them.

There must be hundreds of small business making things in Tooting (as well as north, south, west and east Tooting, sometimes called Balham, Mitcham, Wimbledon and Streatham). Let's find them and promote them!  I've already made contact with By the Horns brewery (beer); Naked Loaf (bread); the Urban Wine Company (Chateau Tooting!); Nuff Naturals (skin-care products). They're all keen to get involved.  I've also talked to a few local shopkeepers about stocking 'Made in Tooting' products, and the idea was well-received. So there are plenty of things to do:

1. finding and talking to more local businesses
2. talking to local shops, bars and restaurants
3. designing and building the website
4. designing a logo
5. making a flier to give to local shops
6. maybe making a 'Made in Tooting' shelf sticker
7. researching what other similar groups are up to
8. helping people make and grow their own things locally

If any of this appeals to you, and/or if you'd like to come along on the 18th, contact Dave on dave@lowimpact.org