Farmers Markets
Yes - Suffolk is full of farmers and their shops and markets - which is great news if you want to buy food which has been produced locally, seasonally and often organically. Avoid supermarkets, additives, preservatives, food which has travelled further than you have, and forge new friendships with the makers of the food you eat... something so far removed when you shop in certain well known large out of town pplaces. Children love it too; far more exciting to see what's on each stall and how it changes through the year and be free outside than suffer time under the striplights in the supermarket where mum can't find anything.
Click HERE for a great list of Famers markets, shops and producers in Suffolk.
Walking !
Possibly the greenest activity of them all.
Why ? Well it's what our bodies are designed to do, not running or sitting squashed up in a car or stuck in front of a screen somewhere... It's good for you physically and mentally - very meditative, lots of fresh air and not too strenuous. Anyone from 1 to 100+ can do it and as far as human activities go it must cause the least impact on the environment (if you stick to the footpaths !).
Anyway Suffolk is perfect walking country; there are so many gentle circuits to amble via a pub and pretty village or two and John Harris has now created a website to help you find the perfect path. See www.walkinginsuffolk.co.uk
Enjoy the weather ..
Al Gore
The almost president of the USA and producer of the Oscar award winning An Inconvenient Truth will almost be in Suffolk this month. On March 26th Al Gore is giving a public lecture in the Corn Exchange in Cambridge on Monday 26 March. Like the film, Gore’s presentation will offer a passionate and inspirational view of the urgent need for action in order to prevent the dire and irrevocable changes to the planet that global warming threatens.
I read recently that he produces 20 times more CO2 than the average american - due to the alomst presidential sized home he possesses according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES). Given that the average american uses more "energy" per capita than any other country, I'm sure he still has a way to go in implementing his own personal energy saving strategy, mind you he's clearly busy jetting over here to talk to us ....
Actually the film is good - it lets the facts do the talking, Gore does buy "green" energy at a premium, he is part of an offsetting programme and he's got the guts and contacts to stand up and talk about it. So I'll be attending his talk ... then I'll judge him.
Further details and tickets at: http://www.cornex.co.uk/
East Anglian Daily Times
Well Done to the EADT who are moving with the times and now will have an Environment section every monday. They wiil profile people making a difference environmentally in East Anglia - presumably not fly tippers or Monsanto. Hope they remember to tell people to reuse the articles after they have enjoyed them e.g.paper hats, wrapping paper, recyclling bin, compost etc etc
David.green@eadt.co.uk for more info or ideas
I approached a another local newspaper not many months ago to do something similiar - or even just a column. I got the impression they wondered why anybody would be interested - so I shall follow the EADTs attempt with interest.
Ipswich Ripple
The food cooperative mentioned below has a new website www.ipswichripplefoodcooperative.co.uk/
And WILL be starting at the end of March - unfortunately their previous opening day has been postponed, good job I had just moved house and couldn't go ... Hopefully I'll make the next one and stock up on lots of essentials. I am WILLing you guys along .. hopefully it won't clash too much with school hoildays .. always a busy time.
Good Luck - Hope the ripple effect works
Moving Home
Mission accomplished - we have a new old home needing renovation and repair. Only half of it is heated but we are on mains gas which makes quite a difference after our years of oil n' aga dependency. Hot showers when you want them !! However this also means a whole new set of eco-dilemmas as we set about making the place more habitable. We have lots of stuff to freecycle as the previous owners left alot of furniture and fixtures and fittings which .. well I don't want to live them - lots of odd lampshades with multiple bulbs, which has prompted us to make sure we replace all the bulbs which energy efficient ones. The Energy Saving Trust has lots and lots of tips on assessing your energy use in the home and making it more efficient.The third reason to be excited about Suffolk ...
Wholesale Organic Consumer Cooperative .... IPSWICH RIPPLE @ The Savation Army Hall on Bramford Road
As arrived in Ipswich fortnightly on a Saturday from 17th February 10 - 1pm ish
Ring Gemma on 07816 146567 or email: sayersgemma@hotmail.com
Green Drinks ...
Like minded people meet in a pub once a month to share ... well, woes and joys of being a pain in the posterior (!)
About Ipswich Green Drinks :
If you've not been along before, this is an informal pub get-together for anyone local who works in - or has an interest in - environmental issues. It's not a formal meeting - there's no agenda or committee, no invited speakers etc. - it's just a chance to meet and network with a selection of like-minded people over a drink. If this is your first time, there's a pretty good chance that you'll know some of the people there, but in case you don't, there should be something green and obvious (a folder marked "GREEN DRINKS" at the moment) on the table. We are regularly at the Dove from 8:00pm onwards on the Second Thursday of each month.
Ipswich Green Drinks is part of an international movement - Green Drinks International. You can read more about it at:
http://www.biothinking.com/greendrinks/index.php
Contact: Dave Fincham - jub.jub@btinternet.com
Freecycle
Join now ! find your local network at www.freecycle.org
Get rid of your junk and collect someone elses .... one man's junk ... etc
It's like a free ebay !
