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In the last show of this series, we cycle to the local farmers market and see our low-carbon future emerging in front of our very eyes.We interview the following traders and cyclists at Alexandra Palace farmers’ market:
- Chris Elder (City and Country Farmers Markets)
- Martin (Pitfield Brewery)
- Adam Coffman (of CTC – the UK’s national cycling organisation)
- Helen & Jim (producers of biodiesel from used cooking oil)
With music from The Carbon Town Cryer
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A 60-minute edit of the historic panel discussion held at the 2007 Camp for Climate Action featuring:- George Monbiot – Guardian columnist and author of “Heat: How to stop the planet Burning” (Penguin)
- Richard Hawkins – co-author of “Zero Carbon Britain” (Centre for Alternative Technology) and
- Sophie and Olly from the Climate Camp
Both George Monbiot and the Centre for Alternative Technology have worked out what the UK needs to do in order to play its part in the global challenge of avoiding dangerous climate change. New scientific findings are telling us we need to act faster than we previously thought and move rapidly to a world without fossil fuels by reducing our energy usage and powering our remaining energy use from renewable sources.
– How can we galvanise the political will to make it happen?
– How will these changes affect the way we live?
– Can we, in fact, live better with less?Recording by Indymedia.
Programme produced by Phil England.http://www.zerocarbonbritain.com/
http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/08/378866.html -
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Like Slow Food, Slow Travel is all about quality rather than speed. We investigate this emerging concept with two of its leading proponents:- Author and deputy editor of The Idler, Dan Kieran, who recently travelled across England in a milkfloat;
- Founder of fledgeling low-carbon travel agent Loco2, Jamie Andrews, who is co-authoring the Slow Travel Manifesto
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What will holidays be like in a low carbon world?Will we feel the need to escape so much if we are living less stressful, more community-focussed, local lives that give us greater well-being?
We speak to Laura Burgess, editor of a new directory called Ecoescape which brings together sustainable accomodation, eateries, and environmentally-focused places to visit in the UK.
We also speak to artist Lottie Child who has been developing the practice of “street training” with people of all ages and exploring creative approaches for interacting with, and feeling at home in, our own localities.
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Stop doing. Stop consuming. Stop. Period.Could doing nothing be an easier and more pleasurable way of saving the planet? We discuss this contention with author and editor of The Idler, Tom Hodgkinson.
Making the transition to a low carbon economy necessitates a fresh look at the skills we have and the jobs that we do. What activities are going to be most valuable in a world without fossil fuels? How will we organise ourselves in a world that is less wasteful, more local, and more about self-sufficiency and community resilience?
What interested me in talking to Tom Hodgkinson was the fact that the ideas he had been exploring about freedom and a life of leisure matched increasingly closely to some of the visions that are emerging of what our low carbon future will look like. In a sense, Tom has been beavering away on the development of a philosophical justification and historical precedents for environmentally-friendly lifestyles.
Check out Tom’s books – “How to be Idle” and especially “How to be Free”.
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Growing Communities is a social enterprise based in Hackney, North London which has cut through the multitude of environmental and social costs incurred by our globalised, supermarket-led food system and set up community led models for a more sustainable future.The project represents a model of best practice that is ripe for replication across the capital and across the country.
Their organic box scheme was the first in London and now supplies 300 households in Hackney with their weekly fruit and veg for as little as £6. Most of the salad leaves in the boxes are actually grown in Hackney in Growing Communities’ own urban market gardens – which is the only organically certified growing land in London. And their farmers market in Stoke Newington is the only weekly, fully-organic market in the UK.
They employ 13 part-time staff, a large team of volunteers and two
apprentice gardeners on a project that supports farmers who are producing food sustainably.The Low Carbon Show met up with co-founder and director, Julie Brown. With the sun beating down on their Allens Gardens plot we talked about food swaps, seasonal feasts and edible orchards….
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A recent UN report reveals that livestock are responsible for 18% of global emissions – more than the entire transport sector. We visit the largest vegan fayre in the world to find out why eating less meat and dairy is likely to be the single most significant thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint.We interview:
- Nigel Winter – Chief Executive, Vegan Society
- Dr Stephen Walsh – nutritional advisor to the Vegan Society
- Justin Kerswell of campaign group Viva!
- Tim Yaoh – the organiser of the Bristol Vegan Fayre
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Today we catch up with Mukti Mitchell who is travelling around the coast of Britain in his self-built, low-emissions micro-yacht. Mukti is stopping at 40 ports en route to give talks about the benefits of low carbon living and to promote his new downloadable publication “The Guide to Low Carbon Lifestyles”. Mukti is also the creator of what is widely regarded as the best online calculator for measuring your carbon footprint.PLUS: We manage to squeeze in some expert advice on carbon offsetting and green electricity from last week’s guest, Chris Goodall.
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Almost every week a new Transition Town emerges in the UK – a new neighbourhood committing itself to engaging the community in plan for a future without oil. In the process they are imagining a world that it is cleaner, has an enhanced sense of community, is more local, where people are fitter and healthier, and there is a stronger connection to the land. This programme features an interview with the Transition Town founder, Rob Hopkins – who set the ball rolling three years ago.
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The second of two programmes comprising our coverage of the RSA’s “No Way Back?” conference on arts and ecology.
Featured guests:
- Stewart Wallis, executive director, New Economics Foundation
- Max Andrews, editor, “Land, Art: A Cultural Ecology Handbook” (published by RSA, distributed by Cornerhouse)
When Nicholas Stern describes climate change as the biggest market failure ever, he is effectively admitting that our current economic system – which does not place a value on environmental or social costs – has been responsible for our failure to act sufficiently to combat climate change.
The New Economics Foundation has been arguing for over 20 years that our economic thinking is outdated. The strength of their arguments has grown as our present economic system reaches its limits and leads us towards collapse. NEF’s arguments are now unavoidable. Stewart Wallis explains why we need to replace GDP with Well Being as the goal of our economic system if we are to make the transition to a sustainable society.
A major new book was launched at the “No Way Back?” conference. “Land, Art: A Cultural Ecology Handbook” traces the often hidden set of diverse artistic practices that, from Land Art in the 1970s onwards, have explored themes relating to the land and the environment. We spoke to the editor of this beautifully designed, thought-provoking anthology, Max Andrews, about some of the issues it raises.
