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Friday 23rd September: Science Café at the Oystercatcher
CARBON STORIES
Every day human society wraps the planet in a paper thick layer of carbon dioxide. Antony Turner will illustrate this and other ‘carbon stories’, show his latest animated film of the carbon footprint of UK potatoes and open up lively discussion on carbon footprints and why they matter.
Speaker Antony Turner, Founder and Director of Carbonsense and Carbon Visuals and member of the local Teign Estuary Transition Group.
7pm – Talk beings at 8pm – no admission charge – all welcome
Oystercatcher Café, 12 Northumberland Place, Teignmouth
September 10 -11: Open Eco-Homes in Totnes
A chance to visit 19 homes in Totnes, Dartington and nearby at different stages on the journey to reducing their environmental impact and household bills.
Friday 9th, Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th September.
See the Transition Town Totnes web site for more details, with PDFs of their leaflet listing the homes involved and times when they are open.
Climate Change and Peak Oil -The Psychology of Change
The next Teignmouth Science Cafe is on Friday 26th August. Anni Mitchell, a practicing clinical psychologist, is asking: “What contribution (if any) can psychology make to our individual and collective actions in response to climate change and peak oil?”
Oystercatche Cafe, Northumberland Place, Teignmouth.
Cafe opens 7pm, talk commences 8pm.
No admission charge, donations welcome.
Bite-Sized Permaculture – new rain-free date
Join us for an introduction to permaculture gardening with Jane from HogCo in Eastcliff’s Walled garden on:
Sunday July 10th 10 – 1
Following Jane’s short presentation, there will be practical application within our garden.
Cost £2 No need to book – please just turn up in study shoes!
See: http://www.hogco-devonrcc.org.uk
Phone: Fran on 078 120 134 88
Independents’ Day
Skillsmart Retail and the National Skills Academy for Retail are teaming up with local retailers across the country on 4th July to celebrate Independents’ Day.
The public are encouraged to buy at least one item from a local independent retailer and celebrate diversity on the high street.
They are also championing the skills independent retailers have to show the public that their local shopkeeper is not only a vital service, but someone who wears many hats: accountant, sales assistant, buyer and everything in-between.
See their web site for more info.
Film into Action: Money as Debt
The last of our Film into Action screenings, Money as Debt was well attended by approximately 40 people. The post film discussion highlighted the importance of a thriving local economy and spurred us into setting up a subgroup to think about sustainable ways to boost the local economy. We talked about the challenge of typical loan systems that charge compound interest and discussed the potential benefits of belonging to a Credit Union (Association of British Credit Unions). The Credit Union model does not depend on debt like other models but rather on commitment and a level of trust; this led us into a discussion about the importance of community building as we work together to develop a sustainable local economy that is not based on a more traditional model.
There was discussion around the benefits of a zero interest currency and we heard about the JAK bank in Sweden which has been operating an interest-free savings and loan system since 1970. A member of the no longer running Teignmouth & Dawlish LETS (Local Exchange Trading System) group described the challenges and benefits of the scheme and we wondered whether now could be a good time to restart LETS in the Teign Estuary. We then learned a bit about the Totnes Pound, a local currency set up in Totnes to encourage residents to spend more money in the town. There was a lot of enthusiasm for learning more about all of these ideas and we were keen to include more local traders in further discussions.
It was fantastic to have invited guests Fraser Durham, Robin Currie, Rychard & Will with us to share their knowledge and experience during the discussion.
We plan to arrange a meeting in the next few weeks to think about taking some of these ideas forward. Please check this website for further details, or join our free membership by emailing info@teigntransition.org.uk so that you can receive updates on all our Transition activities
Teign Estuary Transition 