Growing for the Foodival

Are you growing for the Foodival?  Unfortunately so are the caterpillars! They are causing havoc on the local cabbage patches!

Foodival is TTT's sustainable celebration of local growing, local cooking and all things food related, taking place this year over the weekend of September 12th & 13th.

There will be a competition for weird looking vegetables, something on fermentation, a schools cook off challenge, plenty of entertainment, including I am reliably informed a giant pea, as well as the usual features such as Top Tooting Cook and dishes to sample cooked by local restaurants.

Keep an eye on the Foodival blog for the latest information and keep growing for this year's event despite adversarial critters! 

No, not these people ... they are donors of home grown veg & fruit snapped at a previous Foodival.  Recognise anyone?  Fancy joining in this year?

Yes You Can!

What would a low carbon future look like?

The first session of six in our ninth Carbon Conversations series took place this week.
We dug into motivations for reducing our carbon footprints, who is responsible for addressing climate change and what a low carbon future might look like.

Each week, a different person taking part will report on the themes of each session, giving you a flavour of the series as a whole, while picking up some tips on how you might be able to reduce your own carbon footprint.

Carbon Conversations facilitator, Ben Cuddon, gives us his impressions of the first session.


We took some time this week to look at who is responsible for addressing climate change, and the question was raised of how far individuals can make a difference. There were certainly different opinions - some thought individuals could make a real difference; others weren't convinced. 

We discussed how business and government can take meaningful action and whether legislation or ethical convictions will be the driving force for change.  The question of whether moral or legal change comes first is a fascinating one to think about!

Group members shared thoughts over how the problem could be solved. Whether our entire economic model (free-market capitalism, endless economic growth) was the essential problem, or whether climate change could be solved within capitalism, through technological innovation.

We thought about why we want to reduce our carbon footprints and why it’s important. A range of opinions emerged – from the importance of the equal distribution of resources around people to the importance of reducing the world’s overall consumption of resources. Most people seemed to agree that activism on climate change brought people together through a sense of shared purpose, and that this made it exciting and fun.

Finally we tried to imagine what a low-carbon future world might look like. Some of our ideas were easy to imagine - less long-distance travel, more vegan and vegetarian food, less material consumption. Others were more surprising. I liked the idea of making insects and garden creatures a bigger part of our diet. Worm stew anyone?.

Calculating your carbon footprint

Each member of the group also calculated their carbon footprint, so they can start to explore areas where reductions are possible. If you'd like to calculate your footprint, head over to Carbon Collaborations, where you'll find a range of calculators including some for children.

Urban Heat in Tooting

Today we facilitated our first workshop on a new project in Tooting which aims to explore how communities can best deal with the impact of heatwaves. Called "Urban Heat" the project is funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and run by the Policy Studies Institute at the University of Westminster (See http://www.psi.org.uk/site/project_detail/urban_heat for more details).
 
In an age when average global temperature is on the rise, the workshops will look at the effect of heatwaves on communities, particularly with regard to more vulnerable members of our society. Tooting is one of three locations chosen to participate alongside Hounslow (with South West London Environment Network) & Hackney (with Age UK). 

Workshop held at CFC in Tooting today

In parallel, the project will also be working with the local councils, emergency services, and other public bodies to see how actions for and by the community could feed into their emergency plans.

Today was a successful first foray into this area, on an appropriately warm day, if not anywhere near the heatwave threshold for London of two consecutive days at 32°C or above.  We look forward to the second workshop on July 1st and aim to disseminate some of the findings and developments via this blog.

If anyone reading this is interested in taking part please do contact Charles to find out more via transitiontowntooting@gmail.com
DT

Meet & Make Bunting Party

Annual Tooting Community Garden Open Day Sunday June 14th 11am - 5pm

All welcome to our free Garden Open Day!

There's plenty to join in with:
> For the third year running we're part of the Open Gardens and Squares London-wide weekend.
> Aesop Grimm is telling intriguing stories.
> We're linked in with the local Furzedown Festival, and the Furzedown Oak Community Project will start to shape a sculpture.
> fanSHEN come to the Garden with the June Tooting Field Day: we'll be cooking on charcoal, and fanSHEN will perform their show The Apple Cart.

And: you can simply relax, chat and enjoy the space. 

Timings and details:  

For more details on the Field Day arrangements for preparing treats to cook, please click here

We'll be posting any late news on the Open Day on our Tooting Community Garden pages on Facebook.
Any queries? Please email us here

To download the Open Day poster, please click here.

Here's where we are
Off Tooting Common on the south side at 5 North Drive, SW16 1RN:

We look forward to seeing you!

Carbon Conversations - free workshops to reduce your carbon footprint

Do you want to make some changes to reduce your carbon footprint and save money, but not sure how or where to start?

Join a group of local residents in a free series of 6 sessions to explore how small changes can make a big difference. You'll assess your own footprint, then together we'll look at home energy, transport and travel, food, consumption and waste to help you make changes that fit your situation.
To read personal blog posts by participants in our 2014 series of meetings, click here and scroll down the six posts (they are in reverse order..).

Sessions will take place every Monday, 7pm-9pm, from 22nd June - 27th July 2015, at 43 Woodfield Ave, SW16 1LE (near Tooting Bec Common).

Trained facilitators from Transition Town Tooting will run each session. Please email Jane at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com to join, express an interest, or ask any questions. 

The workshops are free.  We ask for a voluntary contribution of £14.00 per participant to cover the direct cost of “In Time for Tomorrow?” - the excellent Carbon Conversations handbook.

For more information, download our flyer.

All welcome - you do not have to be an expert!

Volunteering Opportunities - Join the Foodival Team

We're starting to plan Foodival 2015 - Transition Town Tooting’s sustainable food festival – and we’re looking for people to join the team.

Maybe you want to meet local growers? Or you love cooking? Maybe you’re looking for publicity experience? Or maybe you’d like to get involved on the day, making the event a success.

Whatever takes your fancy, we’ve got a role for you.  You’ll meet some wonderful people, have the chance to shape the Foodival, and of course, get to eat some delicious food!

Foodival takes place over the weekend of 12 – 13 September.

How can you get involved?

There are lots of ways you can get involved, either by joining the planning team, or helping out over the weekend.

Head over to the Tooting Foodival blog to see what we're looking for, and get in touch at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com if you're interested, or know someone who can help.

Or just pop in to the next planning meeting - Tuesday, 27 May, 7pm at the Kings Head on Upper Tooting Road.

Restart Party Report

Last Saturday, TTT hosted another Restart Party with the Restart Project at Mushkil Aasaan in Tooting.  As usual the brilliant volunteer repairers did their utmost to help prevent an assortment of electrical goods from laptops to kettles to cameras from going to landfill.

It can be scary to see your beloved item taken apart (see the DAB radio and laptop above!).  However these things go wrong so readily these days due to built in obsolescence, that learning how to provide a simple fix can make you feel good and save you money, while doing your bit to lessen human impact on the planet.

The Fixing List

The Restart Project is a London-based social enterprise that encourages and empowers people to use their electronics longer, by sharing repair and maintenance skills. Thanks again to Ugo, Janet and all the fixers. 

It would be great to set up a local group so if you are interested in becoming a local repairer in Tooting, contact us via transitiontowntooting@gmail.com.  The next Restart Parties in Tooting are on Saturday July 11th and Saturday September 26th.  Put the dates in your diary and keep any broken electronics out of the bin till then!

TTT AGM & 7th Birthday

TTT celebrated its 7th birthday at the 2015 AGM on Monday. After a Tooting Quiz, including ICU nurses from St George's who provided a tie-breaker, we heard a review of the last year and ideas for future vision and direction. New co-chairs were elected for the next two years, congratulations to Richard & Jenny, and also to Martin as the new Secretary.

The one-minute updates on the myriad TTT and related projects showed us how much is going on, from Field Days to Restart, Garden events to Foodival, while we also aim to tackle big issues like pollution, heatwaves, renewable energy and carbon emissions.  Retiring co-chairs, David & Belinda, were thanked before a general retirement to Dosa 'n Chutney for some tasty South Indian food.  Thanks to all who contributed to another uplifting and interesting evening, to Lucy for another creative cake and to Graveney & Meadow for hosting.

TTT AGM 2015

The TTT AGM 2015 takes place next Monday 27th April in the back bit at Graveney & Meadow, 40 Mitcham Rd SW17 9NA.

The night's festivities will include a Tooting Quiz with prizes, brief updates on current TTT projects and ideas, some official business re finances and electing new officers (including co-chairs & secretary), plus one or two surprises.

Then hopefully there will be plenty of time to chat and celebrate TTT's 7th birthday.  It's a good event to come and network, find out a bit about what Transition Town Tooting actually is, meet some of our active members, find out about what projects are going in and how you can get involved.  It should be fun, everyone is welcome and we look forward to seeing you there!

Broken electrical and electronic items? Restart are back in Tooting!

Do you have an electrical or electronic item that needs fixing?

Something broken you don’t want to throw away?

Challenge the culture of built-in obsolescence and take back control of your electronic stuff....

The Restart Project, a London-based social enterprise that encourages and empowers people to use their electrical and electronics longer, are running regular “Restart Parties” in Tooting. Sounds interesting? Then come along to one of the events below:

Restart Parties
at Mushkil Aasaan, 220 - 222 Upper Tooting Road, SW17 7EW (next to Nandos) 2.30-5.30:

Saturday 25th April

Saturday 11th July

Saturday 26th Sept

Do note that Restart Parties are a community self-repair space where you take responsibility for your own gadgets and data, so please do not forget to take any back-ups beforehand, if relevant – and if possible arrive during the first two hours to allow time for fixing!

Read a great blog about one of our previous parties here.

We hope to make Restart Parties a regular feature in Tooting and are on the lookout for skilled local fixers. If you are interested come along and say hello - or email Hilary Jennings on transitiontowntooting@gmail.com

More info at Restart Project (http://therestartproject.org/) including details of regular skillshares.