Autumn is calling; dreams of change…

Autumn is around the corner. The trees are changing their colours, and the city is full of dreams of change. Here are a few strands of hope and energy for you to weave into your schedule this month:


Abundance Community Jam and Chutney Making workshops

Every Tuesday evening from 6-9:30pm from Tuesday 2nd September at St Mary’s church on Bramall Lane.  Learn how to make amazing chutney with locally picked fruit and go home with a jar of it and the recipe so you can make more! Surplus chutney from the workshops is used to help fund the Abundance project.  Please email abundance@gmail.com for more information.

Wednesday 17 September: Open Evening and AGM

6.30-8.30 pm,  Strip the Willow, 226b South View Road S7 1DH
An open evening of Recovery Insulation & Strip the Willow and the AGM of the Schools and Homes Energy Education Project/Solar-Active. Includes an open discussion with invited experts to discuss home energy efficiency and how to improve your home air quality. See Inno-Therm® installed in the ceiling at Strip the Willow cafe, and register for a free home insulation survey.
For more information, see http://www.inno-therm.com/contact-us/open-evening/

Sunday 21 September: Sheffield Climate Alliance’s Sheffield Rivers Rally

On Sunday 21st September, just days before a landmark climate summit at the UN, people all around the world are taking part in a global day of action on climate climate.  In Sheffield there will be walks along four different rivers into the town centre, all starting at 1pm and converging outside the Town Hall at 3pm, where there will be speakers and music. For information visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/1484881805089191/

Wednesday 24 September:  Against the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)

7pm, Central United Reformed Church, 60 Norfolk St. S1 2JB
A meeting to discuss the secret talks between the governments of the UK and the US taking place which would result in big corporations holding tremendous power over countries and individuals. The speaker will be Linda Kaucher who is a trade treaty researcher. Linda is a campaigner against TTIP and lectures at the London School of Economics and London Metropolitan University.  See http://alt-sheff.org/events/3600/ and more info on TTIP at: ethical consumer

Sunday 28th September: Allotment Soup

Manor Allotments on City Road
Allotment Soup is an annual creative and artistic harvest celebration that takes place at a different Sheffield allotment site each year, to celebrate food growing and allotment culture. Plot holders are invited to open up their plot to host an installation, artwork or event, whilst artists, performers and poets are encouraged to create new, original work in response to the allotment site, theme and season. See photos on Facebook from 2013, and info about how to get involved in 2014.

Grow Sheffield: Local fruit trees for sale

Grow Sheffield now have a range of fruit trees including apple, plum, damson, gage and cherry. All trees have been grafted and nurtured here in Sheffield and are suited to the local climate and soils.  Trees are priced at £21.75 and can be collected from the Old Junior School in Sharrow by arrangement.  Please email adamh.grow@gmail.com for information

Opportunities for volunteering

Grow Sheffield has a wide range of volunteer opportunities from digging and building to blogging, updating the Sheffield Food Network Map, and helping at events. Volunteers selling Abundance chutney and fruit trees at local fairs and markets will be ‘paid’ with a jar of chutney, and mileage can be paid for drivers.  Also, if you are a community project that has some land or a gardening club that you need help with, Grow Sheffield may be able to match volunteers with your project.  See http://growsheffield.com/volunteers/

Green Homes Sheffield open days during October 2014:

Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th October, and Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th October
Green Homes Sheffield are organising further Open Homes events in Autumn 2014, where you can see how other people’s homes have been upgraded, and ask the householders about their experience and how it all works. A range of different houses will be open, showing off their insulation, draught-proofing, solar panels, heat pumps, windows and low-impact extensions.
For more information, see http://www.greenhomessheffield.net/

Thursday 16 October 2014: Sheffield Friends of the Earth, 40th Birthday Party

7.30pm until 11pm, Showroom, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield S1 2BX.

Sheffield Friends of the Earth is celebrating 40 years of environmental campaigning by hosting a 40th birthday party, open to all. The party will feature a vegetarian and vegan buffet, live music from a number of different bands, a review of the past 40 years of campaigning (talks and videos), a bar (not included in the £10 ticket price), and a talk by Friends of the Earth Executive Director, Andy Atkins.

Closing Date: 24 October:  Nominate a school for free solar panels!

Friends of the Earth want to make it easy for schools to run on solar power.  In this competition a lucky primary school could win a set of free solar panels. Solar panels could help the school save thousands of pounds every year as well as generating clean energy in your neighbourhood. Is there a primary school that’s close to your heart?  Just provide their name by 24 October and the school will receive everything they need to enter the competition. After nominations close, you’ll get a chance to vote for the winner.  Don’t delay – nominate a school today.

18-28 September: Festival of the Mind

Tuesday 23 September: Urban Agriculture – The Roots of Change
Meet the guerilla gardener from South Central LA who found that a garden has the power to break the chains of injustice, because a garden is not just about food and plants.

Saturday 27 September: Thermal Imaging of Sheffield’s Buildings – Talk and exhibition
Could some of Sheffield’s famous landmarks be more environmentally friendly? Panel discussion about heat loss from city buildings, contributing to CO₂ emissions.

Thursday 18 September: Grow Wild – Love Square
How an eyesore plot of land was transformed into an urban eco-park which combines nature and wildlife with ingenuity, youthful energy and local pride.

Saturday 20 September: Open Data | Open Hardware – Resilient Cultures
A participative exhibition about how open source software, open data and open hardware can help build social resilience. It includes demos, performances and workshops using Raspberry Pi computers and open software to promote creativity in technology.

18-28 September: Fairness on the 83 – Exhibition
Do we live in a divided city? This interactive online map of the bus route that links north and south Sheffield includes filmed interviews with the people who catch the 83, and is an important document of social inequalities in Sheffield.

23-28 September: The Resilient City: Ecology, People, Nature
How can we transform public spaces to create a liveable, sustainable and climate-adapted cities? – An exhibition by the University’s Department of Landscape.


Finally, Sheffield’s Green Commission aims to create a vision and blueprint for the future of Sheffield.  So think about the key changes that would help in creating a city and planet in which future generations can thrive, and we’ll try and keep you posted as to how to contribute to the Commission.

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