Archive for the 'events' Category

Ilminster’s Bring-Your-Own-Bag Day - Market Day, Thursday 20 March 2008

Sunday, March 16th, 2008

Ready to say, 'No thanks' to new plastic bags!

South Somerset Climate Action has taken the lead in encouraging shoppers to bring their own bags for one day at least.
The question is, can we break old habits? In the days before plastic bags, people would often carry string bags in their pockets but now there are some fold-up bags that are very compact. So please bring baskets, cotton bags, bags for life, or whatever suits you best!

Most shops are fully behind the scheme and the Chamber of Commerce Committee has been most helpful.

Members have been discussing plastic bags for some time and this one-day experiment may help traders to decide whether they could soon declare the town “plastic bag free!” Nobody wants to see a customer upset and shopkeepers cannot afford to lose a sale, so shoppers themselves are asked to say, “No thank you!” to new plastic bags. Some traders are investigating bags made of corn starch for products like fish and meat. These bags are ‘biodegradable’ but don’t worry, you will certainly be able to get home before they fall apart!

The bigger message, of course, is that we would be wise to make and use things which last, to use only what we really need, and to treat our planet and its resources as the treasures that they are. Future generations will thank us if we learn to be more careful.

The inspiration for the event came from a BBC film Message in the Waves and press reports such as the Guardian profile which starts: “Last year Rebecca Hosking was filming wildlife on a beach on Midway Island, a remote Hawaiian atoll when, instead of finding wilderness, she and a colleague were confronted with the horror of hundreds of albatrosses lying on the sand.The great birds’ stomachs had been split open by the heat, and bits of plastic were spewing out between the feathers and the bones. All kinds of plastic - toys, shopping bags, asthma inhalers, pens, cigarette lighters, toothbrushes, combs, bottle tops. The birds had swallowed them and choked to death. It got worse …”

For the full article, headed, ‘She has changed the national perspective about plastic bags in a few months. She should be Prime Minister’. see: www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/nov/23/plasticbags.recycling Rebecca returned to her home town of Modbury, near Plymouth and, within months, the town was “plastic bag free”. see: www.plasticbagfree.com/facts.php

South Somerset Climate Action members who organised the recent rubbish clearance in Old Road, created the idea of a single “plastic bag free” day to get things moving. They have printed flyers and leaflets, negotiated with the Chamber of Commerce and the Managers of Tesco and the Coop and visited almost all the shops in town.

The free newspaper, “View from Ilminster”, has taken up the cause. They have designed our poster and devoted almost the whole of the front page of the 14 March issue to the campaign. Not only that, an entire double page spread inside recreates the poster, lists the facts, and even explains how to make your own reusable bag!

“Nearly everyone we have spoken to is behind this.”

Climate Action March in London : Sat 8 Dec

Tuesday, November 20th, 2007

John Burbidge has booked the minibus to take us up to the Climate Action march in London on Saturday December 8th.  It will be picking up from Yeovil Bus Station at around 8.30am and in Sherborne at 8.45. 

Fare - full £12, unwaged £7.

Please book by phoning John on 01935 873028 or email Lesley l.docksey@yahoo.co.uk

Climate Change talk : Thu 1 Nov 7:30

Saturday, November 3rd, 2007

Professor John Bowman, Chairman of the local Lib-Dems is giving a Climate Change talk on The Liberal Democrats’ latest policy proposals. John was a member of their committee which devised the policy
Hinton Parish Hall. Non members most welcome. £3.50 to inlcude a non alcoholic drink and biscuits. Non-Lib-Dems are welcome

Global warming and related issues : 5 Tuesdays from 16 Oct 7.30 – 9

Saturday, November 3rd, 2007

Global warming and related issues – Dr John Baxter
Some of us have missed the first one but John will repeat it for us.
Scientific but excellent and intended for the non-scientist I am assured.
DO COME AND JOIN US.

Planet Earth as a dynamic structure, constantly changing. What affects our atmosphere and climate and how lifestyle changes and technology might come to our rescue.
£30 St Mary’s Church Rooms, North Street, Ilminster - Workers Educational Association Call 0845 458 2758 or www.wea.org.uk or turn up on Tuesday.

Meeting the CO2-Operative Challenge : Sat 20 Oct 10 – 3.30

Saturday, November 3rd, 2007

A one day event at the Genesis Centre, SCAT, Taunton with workshops about how you can help to reduce your environmental impact with your local community. Guest speaker is Chris Goodall, author of How to Live a Low Carbon Life. See www.ecostrust.org.uk/seminars.html or Ecos Trust, Old Town Hall, Bow Street, Langport TA10 9PR     T: 01458 259400

Film Showings

Saturday, November 3rd, 2007

Our third showing of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth attracted only 40 people compared with 150 at each of the two previous screenings but it was followed by a thoughtful discussion led by David Gordon, Chairman of the award-winning eco-house builders, the Ecos Trust.
I like to think that our 340 film-goers – and all those who saw or heard the publicity for the movie on, for example, BBC Somerset Sound – contributed in some small way to Al Gore’s Nobel Prize announced this week.
Al Gore’s update, and the two GreenPeace films, A Convenient Solution  and What are we waiting for? about combined heat and power was better attended and former County Councillor Catherine Le Grice Mack fascinated us on aspects of organic farming as well as stimulating a number of new people to get involved with us.