Anyway, here’s a rather fun cold frame made from fizzy drinks bottles taken at a sustainable schools event  last week., which has the dubious honour of being the first photo taken with  the new camera.  Maybe I can persuade all the children on my street to drink lemonade and then I can make one  for myself. If you’re feeling inspired, here’s the instructions to make one for yourself (or even your local school).

After I left the Low Carbon Communities Network, I was supposed to take a sabbatical, time out to finish a book, catch up on the gardening, walk to dog, spend more time with my horse… but then along came 10:10 and all those plans went on hold.  It’s been a whirlwind 6 months, full of exciting plans and projects and I’m sorry to bring that part of my work to an end. But, there’s more to life than work. So, (reluctantly) I’m putting my city life on hold to indulge in a few months “gardening leave”, only I really will be gardening (and sewing, and knitting and baking)!

Over the next few months prepare to read more about friends, fun and family and less about my travels.  Of course, I won’t be giving up grass roots campaigning and I’ll still be volunteering on local projects – it’s just that my focus is moving closer to home – and that feels good.  And, I’ll finally have  achance to sort through all the photos we took on last summer’s “Grand Tour”. Here are a couple to inspire you to jump on the Eurostar!

Looking down on Pompeii

Volterra

Wholemeal loaf:

200g Doves farm Malthouse flour

200g strong plain flour

1/2 tsp instant yeast

280ml of cold water

a splash of milk

a knob of butter

2 tbl of runny honey

a pinch of salt

Bake on wholewheat medium setting, sit back and enjoy!

8am: Bath

Yes, I admit it, every once in a blue moon a low carbon day begins with a bath. For Christmas some very dear friends bought me a selection of Origins Ginger bath treats. They smell heavenly and are a complete inulgence. I’m off to Birmingham tomorrow, so I thought a facepack was in order, as always  I reached for the Liz Earle intensive nourishing mask and enjoyed a few moments of complete stillness. I’ve been using Liz Earle for 15 years and it’s still my favourite.

10am: walk the dog

This is always the best part of my day, no matter what the weather. Today we walked over the fields to the nearest village, Kelsall, I bought Crabbies Ginger beer in the pharmacy (yes, that’s right the pharmacy) and a new toothbrush (aren’t you glad you’re still reading!), then a quick detour to the Co-op to buy the latest copy of Grazia, ok not my usual reading material. But, I’ve been reading Liberty London Girl’s blog for the past year and this week she “came out” to Grazia – like so many bloggers before her she decided to reveal her identity before someone  else did. It’s a sensitively written piece, brutally honest and forthright – just like LLG herself.

12.30 Home for lunch

One of the real benefits of working from home -  and having a loved one who does too – is lunch together. We sat in front of the wood burner eating dips and nibbles and planning an Easter camping trip.

(Dear reader, I’ll spare you the next few hours, imagine the laundry basket, the vacuuming, the ironing, the cleaning of the bathroom and other typical week day chores that can’t be ignored – low carbon living or not the housework still needs to be done)

5pm: Radio 4 and a curry

Time to cook tea, there’s something comforting about switching on the radio (it’s a wind up Freeplay if you really need to know), hearing the familiar voices of PM’s presenters, listening to the dog munching through his evening meal, the sound of teenage daughter’s drum practice in the background. I chop onions and garlic (homegrown), fry mince from the local butcher, add some curry paste and tomatoes, boil rice and spend a peaceful 20 minutes stirring and listening to the day’s news.

Evening:

Here I am sitting in front of my laptop, the others are watching re runs of Top Gear and soon we’ll settle down to watch an episode of Bones on DVD. I’ll put another log on the fire, and spend an evening in the company of my loved ones, maybe indulging in a small glass of Sloe Gin a friend made for Christmas. The coffee pot is bubbling away on top of the woodburner and the low energy light bulbs are dimmed.

Then,

bed

You see – a low carbon life isn’t so very different after all is it? And tomorrow I’m  going here for 4 days -  surely there will a blog story or two there?

Enjoy your weekends, what ever you’re up to.

Events like this should be welcomed, they are a great way for different community groups to connect, share and collaborate and I really hope the event becomes a regular fixture in Manchester’s calendar. But, I couldn’t help feeling that with a few “tweaks” a good event could have been great and so, I’d like to offer a few suggestions – and – an offer to help put some of them into practice at the next event. I’ve used a few photos to illustrate my points, these weren’t taken at yesterday’s event, but come from other community organised events I’ve been to in the North West, and I hope they show that a slightly bolder approach to community events can be successful and rewarding for the organisers and the attendees.

So here goes, feel free to disagree, add your own contributions and maybe even come along to the next event and join in?

Make me welcome:

The event was organised using Eventbrite, which can be set up for free if you’re not charging a booking fee, this meant participants could be contacted prior to the event by the organisers. There was a hashtag on twitter #con2com – but it wasn’t used as widely as it could have been to create a sense of anticipation before the event and I didn’t notice many other people tweeting during the afternoon. Why not consider offering participants the chance to network or start conversations before or after the event? Secondly, make the event “check in” a positive experience. I was greeted by a friendly smile from one of MDDA’s staff and I was asked to complete a monitoring form. Next time it might be helpful to delegate the job of sitting on the welcome desk to  specific person, get attendees to sign in so you know who’s there and ask everyone to wear a name badge (organisers too – it’s nice to know who you are).

Tell me what’s going on

Yesterday’s event was advertised as a “drop in”, and when I arrived there was a real buzz, people were sitting, standing, talking and laughing. It would have been helpful to know what was planned, “presentations” were hinted at but no-one seemed to know what was on offer, so I wasn’t able to decide if they would be relevant or useful to me (more of those later).  It might be helpful to find out from people as they arrive what they have come for – to network, to ask a specific question or to simply find out more about social media tools. Having someone on hand to point out people who might help or having a system for accessing advice might be helpful? Keep the presentations short, informal and optional.

Trust people’s ability to self organise

The first part of yesterday’s session was really helpful, I found a very nice “expert” who was able to show me how to embed some links into my Tumblr – he also tried to convert me to Google Chrome instead of Firefox, but I’m sorry to say after trying it out on the way home, I’m a Firefox girl through and through! I found the formal presentations frustrating, Matt from Virtual Construction, told a great story about how he had helped one of Manchester’s voluntary groups to use online tools to create and spread a message very successfully, and Richard tried to convince us of the need for every organisation to develop an “IT Strategy”. And, even though the “Expert Panel” were very friendly and willing to offer advice I couldn’t help feeling that the “audience” were being treated like empty vessels waiting to be filled with the geeky bounty of the (all male) panel. It came as no surprise to hear that at least 2 of them were academics and at least 3 had a teaching background. I wondered if maybe next time the organisers could take a more open space approach, learning from the Bar Camps and Unconferences which have taken place in the past few years, allowing participants to self organise around a topic or question. It may seem unnerving if it’s not an approach the roganisers have used before, but most of those in the audience were there voluntarily, all with something to offer or to share and maybe a less informal approach might help to break down the “digital divide”? Which brings me on to a personal request: Please don’t call the panellists, “Experts”, call them contributors, collaborators – even to borrow a term from the excellent Social Media Surgeries springing up around the country -  “surgeon” (never heard of a Social Media Surgery? listen to this podcast on Paul Webster’s Tumblr ). Use a term which implies the opportunity for collaboration, alternative opinions and offers a more inclusive approach than that of the traditional teacher / pupil relationship implied by the term expert. Also, there’s no shame in admitting you don’t know the answer to a question. Take for example yesterdays discussion about free hardware. Obviously the panel didn’t know or couldn’t remember the name of local social enterprises which can offer advice or support – but surely someone in the sudience could have taken advantage of the free wifi and  googled it – or instead of suggesting adding another page to the MDDA website, why not direct participants to the excellent online resource One Central Place which has its offical launch next week?

Show jargon the red card

Finally, a plea for some plain English please. The “expert panel” clearly shared a common language, which excluded most of the audience. There was plenty of self congratulation and back patting – not a bad thing in itself, but I’m sure I’m not the only one who sat in the audience bemused and confused by the “geek  speak”. So, I would suggest that if the “Social Media Question Time” approach is used at future events, everyone in the audience is given a red card with the instruction, that  as soon as an “expert” says something you don’t understand you show them the red card! Believe me, there’s no better way to remind a presenter the value in plain speaking (I know I’ve been the recipient of several red cards at community events).

So there you are, a few minor gripes and niggles. I really hope the Connecting 2.0 Communities becomes a regular event, I’d love to be part of it and watch it flourish and I’d love to know what other attendees thought of it and I’d be very interested to know how the organisers plan to reach out to more voluntary groups across Manchester and create a vibrant social space for collaboration and conversation. After all, isn’t that what at’s the heart of “engagement”?

But, apart from an excuse to catch up with Mark Shearer (one of the founders of Project Dirt, I’m also heading over to the RSA for the launch of a new publication from Green Alliance. Called “From Hot Air to Happy Endings”, this new publication is an examination of how the Government should communicate on climate change.  I’m looking forward to seeing the final version “in the flesh”!

It’s been an honour to be part of the informal advisory team at  Green Alliance,they are a  bunch of really interesting and interested people and I’ve learnt so much from them in the past few months.  But, I also think that I’ve been able to contribute too. My work with communities over the past few years has given me a real insight into how “ordinary people” AKA you and me, think and feel about climate change and sustainability. I’ve written and spoken a lot recently about how we need to make low carbon living tangible, to present real stories of how it feels to live and work in a society where energy efficiency and sustainability matter enough for people to make smarter choices.

But, this needs to be more than a grass roots approach, we need businesses and Government to get involved too,  and make real commitments to supporting community led responses to climate change. That’s why I was so disappointed to see Birminham’s planning committee turn down Sustainable Moseley’s application for a community  solar project on St Mary’s Church which  the community hope will be  supported by funding from British Gas.

I hope, that organisations like Green Alliance can continue to  help politicians  recognise the potential that exists in our communities to make all aspects of sustainable development part of our everyday lives. There is more than enough evidence to show that collaborative approaches to community development work better than a simple “top down” or “bottom up” approach. Using the language of communities, of shared experience, hopes and aspirations we can begin to understand how policies can be framed to acknowledge the lives and motivations of UK householders. I know that “From Hot Air to happy Endings” is going to be a valuable part of the debate and hopefully a driver for change in UK policy and communications on climate change and the environment.

I’ll be tweeting about the launch this week – and looking forward to seeing how the guests at the launch event react to this latest contribution to the debate on climate change communications and  I’d like to hear from you… what approaches have worked in your community or workplace – and what do you want to see your elected representatives doing to show a real commitment to the move to a low carbon society?

“It is with some regret that SusMo must report that the application made by St. Mary’s Church with regards to the installation of a photovoltaic array on their south-facing roof has been turned down by the Planning Committee. We are very disappointed in their decision. Just last week, Birmingham launched its ‘Green New Deal’, and the City Council signed up to the 10:10, and for the Planning Committee to instantly reject a promising microgeneration project such as this has little resonance with those commitments, and bodes ill for Birmingham’s low carbon future”.

For most of us installing renewable technologies such as solar panels, groundsource heatpumps or wood pellet  boilers  etc will remain out of reach. Despite reports that the Government’s scheme will have a pay back of around £900 pounds a year, the upfront costs make sure it won’t be on my shopping list any time soon.

Writing in the Guardian Miles Brignall is optimistic about the benefits the scheme will bring to householders, quoting Ed Miliband

“The feed-in tariff will change the way householders and communities think about their future energy needs, making the payback for investment far shorter than in the past.”

Friends of mine installed solar panels a couple of years back and they do generate a significant amount of energy, thereby reducing the overall emissions of CO2 and for those who can afford it and have a suitable roof it’s an option that should be considered (after all measures to reduce energy demand have been taken which they did – see photo).

But for me, efficiency remains the primary route for tackling my household energy consumption. I think the situation is pretty similar for most of us – unless you happen to be a tennant of Housing Associations such as Wulvern who refurbished some of their homes with renewables technologies,making them warmer and cheaper to run, solar panels etc remain beyond reach until an effective loan or finance scheme is devised to assist people like me to get on the “renewables ladder”.

The example of Wulvern and other Housing Associations shows that renewables can be a smart choice for landlords, and schemes such as Low Carbon West Oxford’s  large scale project to install photovoltaics on community buildings show that it is possible to create a local demand for renewable technologies which can be accessed by everyone, not just the affluent, where there is suffient will from planners and landlords to make it happen.

Of course, I’m just bitter because I can’t afford to borrow the money I’d need to take advantage of the new scheme, and our woodburner doesn’t qualify as it’s not a new installation. So, forgive the rant, at least I know my carbon footprint is heaing in a downward direction, and surely that’s the bottom line?

How am I supposed to pass judgement? Surely the “planet” doesn’t care if your flight is for work, play or environmental justice? What really matters is that we all fly less and that we lobby for suitable alternatives (whether that’s web conferencing, trains or whatever).  A quick poll of my neighbours reveals that 8 out of ten of us haven’t flown at all in the past five years (either because of lack of money or inclination or both),  I’ve been to more than a dozen European cities by train or car and had amazing adventures, but I would certainly never make a “no fly” commitment.

So, forgive me for asking, but what do you think? Are some flights more justifiable than others? Is my once every ten year flight to visit familiy in the States more sinful than an academic flying across the Atlantic  several times a year to give a 20 minute presentation at a climate change conference  or an activist flying to Copenhagen and then being denied access to the talks because of an oversubscription of delegates then catching  a return flight home to get back to work?

I doubt there’s a definitive answer. But, if you want to know the carbon cost of your travel take a look at RouteRank, a new website which compares CO2 emissions from various methods of transport and for goodness sake, remember that offsetting does not “neutralise” your carbon and that yes, a tree might “reabsorb” the CO2 emitted by your flight – but by the time it’s done so, the real human damage has already been done. On the face of it, sometimes flying really is Plane Stupid?

Thank you everyone for your contributions, I’m off to make macaroni cheese with pasta shells left over from yesterday, the recipe came courtesy of C Bailey.Who wrote “Hi We love Home made macaroni cheese, its really easy and cheap and tastes gorgeous, although we have been known to add a bit of gammon or tuna to give it a bit more ooomph “

Superlittlemen replied: ” Hi have you tried Quinoa? You can buy it in healthfood shops, I think Sainsbury’s do it as well. I like the red quinoa (as do my 2 boys, its full of protein and also very filling which is a plus). Follow the instructions on the packet to make the quinoa, and then I fry up some onions with garlic in a small amount of olive oil, chopped tomatoes, I also use a food chopper to chop tiny bits of carrots and pepper in it, and mix it all up together, season it and also add some herbs, either parsley or mixed, bit of worceter sauce or chilli, and mix it in with the quinoa, its really tasty. As a variety I have also used quorn pieces and it works well with chicken for meat eaters as well.Liz Jarvis told us  “I spent so many years as a veggie there’s nothing I can’t do with lentils. I can offer a veggie chilli recipe, veggie moussaka, leek and potato soup… but they’re not posts… do you need them to be posts, or do you just want the recipes?

Then Andrea Daly said ” I’ve been veggie for over 25 years and this has got to to be the easiest recipe ever! In fact we had it last night.

I roll out one sheet of ready made puff pastry and cut into squares, one for each person eating. using a knife to score a smaller square within the square I’ve just cut. Finely chop carrots, red onion and garlic and stick this in a pan with olive oil. Cook through and then fill the smaller square. Top with sun dried tomatoes and grated cheese and bake for 20mins at 200 in a fan oven. (Don’t know gas setting) The outer square will puff up and the mixture stays in the middle. It tastes great and looks like you spent hours on it!” If you’re interested, she’s right – and the teenagers here loved it.

Mummyzen wrote This is very quick and easy: Veggie Enchiladas:

Can of mixed beans in spicy sauce (or make your own spicy sauce with tomato, chilli pepper, seasoning)
Flour tortillas
Tomato sauce (make your own by reducing canned or fresh tomatoes with some salt, basil)
Cheese, grated

Heat up beans, put a serving into a tortilla and wrap. Place in an oven dish. Continue with the other tortillas until you’ve used up bean mixture.
Cover tortillas with thin layer of tomato sauce, sprinkle cheese on top and put in moderately hot oven for 15 mins.

Other suggestions:
Veggie lasagne
Vegetable egg-fried rice
Risotto (mushroom/leek/broccoli/squash are all good)

So, there you are an eclectic and tasty selection that will certainly see me through the year.

If you try any of the suggestions here, let me know how you get on.

A middle aged woman is sitting a room full of mainly strangers, sipping tea and eavesdropping on the conversations.  Two men are comparing iPhones, words like RSS, tag, feed, code, drupal, wiki, wordpress and blog are tossed around by confident men and the woman begins to think she’s come to the wrong place, a “Focus group on Web 2.0″ maybe wasn’t such a good idea, after all. She decides to finish her tea and then quietly slip away. Then someone leans across and asks:

Have you got any idea what these guys are talking about?

“No”, She says.  They begin to talk about where they’ve come from and what has brought them to a day on Social Media and if you want to know what digital exclusion looks and feels like, she was in that room, feeling lost and bemused. But – to give away the ending – I stayed, and I’m so glad I did.

Soon introductions were made, friendly smiles exchanged and we played  a game. Now, my background is community work, so I like games. They break they ice, allow people to start making connections and a competitive edge always helps.

The game was called the Social Media Game, it’s undergone a few refinements since then and is still useful. I learnt that social media is just another tool for conversation, finding spaces to share, to be social and to collaborate. I knew that in my work with communities we weren’t being heard outside our own neighbourhoods, the “powers that be” were often  oblivious to what was going on at the grass roots and if I was serious about establishing a network of low carbon communities, I had to get myself online. Not to replace the conversations we were having on the streets, post office queues and school gates, but to have more conversations with more people who felt the same.

After that day, I dipped a toe in the murky waters of “social media”, began to ask questions, google things I didn’t understand.  I’ve learnt a lot. I’ve made new friends who gave up their time to help me. I’ve had the opportunity to share some of my skills with others by running workshops  on blogging and twitter for community groups. The week after that focus group  I set up a twitter account, dived into facebook, even set up a blog (all by myself)!

So, fast forward two years to a freezing night in January. I’m in Manchester, sitting in a room once again full of strangers (though some friends are there too), I’m at the first meeting of the Manchester Net Tuesday at the recently opened Manchester Digital Laboratory on Edge St. We’re all here because we think we have something to offer and something to learn. Experiences vary and we’re all from different backgrounds -youth workers, IT professionals, volunteers, keen amateurs (like me),  we start playing the Social Media Game, expertly facilitated by Nick Booth and Amy Sample Ward – we begin to talk and more importantly to listen to each other and to talk about the potential we have to use our skills and create spaces for creativity (a phrase I stole from Amy, but I’m sure she won’t mind). We decided we’ll meet again, that we’ll find ways to collaborate to talk to each other to make things “happen”.

I left the meeting and walked back to the railway station with an old friend and a new one, then sat on the train, eating a hot pasty (it was cold) and thinking how far I’ve come.  I’ve learnt that anyone who tells you they’re an expert in social media probably isn’t, that the internet can’t be broken (just borked), that when you don’t understand something there are people who can explain, that the world is full of people trying to make connections and collaborate using  web based tools alonside traditional media.

Today I’m thriving on my social media adventures, I get a kick out of helping a community volunteer set up a twitter account, showing someone how to put a photo in the customisable header on a woprdpress blog. I can’t code, I can’t get the hang of wiki spaces and I still don’t  know what RSS feeds do (although I use them a lot).  I’m feeling ready to take off my armbands and swim out of my depth. But , if you’re still in the shallow end trying to figure out this whole social media  game, don’t worry  I haven’t gone so far I won’t swim back to help you and nor have my online friends*.

(*If  you want to know who they are read the acknowledgements page ).

Thanks to Paul Henderson and Nick Booth for the photos.