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Tree damage to Walled Garden
As you know, the winds have been very powerful this week and unfortunately an ash has fallen onto the wall of our walled garden. It has cut right through a section of the wall between the old doorway and towards the compost bins.
Teignbridge will have been working on removing the tree yesterday (Saturday) and sadly we are not allowed to go into the walled garden until Teignbridge declares the site safe. So until further notice there will be no further gardening.
Food for Life Partnership Local Programme Manager – Devon
The Food for Life Partnership (FFLP) has been commissioned by NHS Devon to support the delivery of the programme in the county. They are now looking for a locally based manager to work directly with schools to improve the knowledge and consumption of healthy and sustainable food, act as the first point of contact regarding the FFLP programme for schools, caterers, producers and others, and ensure that regional stakeholders are engaged in and value the FFLP programme.
Fixed term contract until 31st March 2013 with annual extension to March 2015 depending on further funding. 15 hours per week (0.4 FTE). Salary £29,877 pro rata.
A full job description is available from the Soil Association web site.
Earth Hour 31st March 2012
A lantern of the Earth hanging outside the TAAG on the evening of 31st March was the symbol around which we gathered to celebrate the amazing planet on which we live and to affirm our determination to protect it. We sang together, we ate together and many of us did our very best to draw a map of the world from memory – all by lantern light and after a few drinks. Not surprisingly the task not only provoked some animated discussion but also a great deal of hilarity!
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the evening with lantern making, food and song including our friends in Bishopsteignton who sent over some food from their Earth Hour event for us to share. We would also like to thank Robin Brown and friends for providing the fabulous live music. See you all next year.
Mary
Iceland’s volcanoes may power UK
A web of sea-floor cables – called interconnectors – may be connecting the UK to countries around the world in the next decade, providing access to sustainable energy.
‘The energy minister, Charles Hendry, is to visit Iceland in May to discuss connecting the UK to its abundant geothermal energy. “We are in active discussions with the Icelandic government and they are very keen,” Hendry told the Guardian. To reach Iceland, which sits over a mid-ocean split in the earth’s crust, the cable would have to be 1,000 to 1,500km long and by far the longest in the world’.
See this Guardian story at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/11/iceland-volcano-green-power
A Visit to the Zoo
On March 3rd a group from TET enjoyed an excellent morning at Paignton Zoo Environmental Park in the company of Kevin Frediani, curator of Plants and Gardens. We had come to learn about the vertical growing system which is providing much of the feed for the animals. However, we learnt much more.
For many of us who have previously been to the zoo (more than 5 years ago) it challenged our view of the role that zoos can play in sustainable living and the crucial relationship between plants and animals. Zoos, at least Paignton, could become TET’s most visited tourist attraction.
We were not expecting to be shown around the zoo or to see how the ethical motif of sustainability underpins so much of their work. As we know biodiversity, both in plants and animals, plays a leading role in our survival and here it is in action led by a passionate advocate in the field.
Following a slide show of the verticrop system illustrating how this intensive vertical growing system can produce huge crops, without soil, crops that have higher nutritional value and are protected from pests and diseases, we were led through to see the system. Besides providing constant food for the animals, the application of this model could have a use in providing fresh food in cities or any land challenged area.
In other situations it frees up land that can then be used for crucial habitats for diffent species. It also produces fresh food where it is needed thus cutting air-miles. We could appreciate why this work has received so many awards both nationally and internationally.
Finally, we were shown a small system using fish and their by-products to nurture vegetables. We are hoping to have a future event in Teignmouth on this topic. Watch this space!
Earth Hour events: Fri 23rd and Sat 31st March 8pm
Share with Teign Estuary Transition a celebration of Earth Hour on Saturday 31st March at 8.00pm.
Bring food and enjoy an evening of song, food and music by lantern light at TAAG, Northumberland Place, Teignmouth.
To ensure we have some beautiful lanterns for the night please also join us for a fun couple of hours of lantern making from 4pm on Friday 23rd March at TAAG. Materials provided.
Earth Hour
Earth Hour is is an annual global event when people across the world turn off lights for one hour between 8.30 – 9.30 pm to celebrate the planet together and raise awareness of climate change. More than 5,200 cities and towns in 135 countries worldwide switched off their lights for Earth Hour 2011 alone, sending a powerful message for action on climate change. See http://www.earthhour.org/.
See what Teign Estuary Transition got up to for Earth Hour last year at:
https://teigntransition.org.uk/2011/03/27/saturday-26th-march-social-event-celebrated-earth-hour/
We also have a flier here for downloading if you would like to print out copies to put in your window or pass on to others
Teign Estuary Transition 