SuScit e-newletter October 2009
Contents
a.
Better buildings and spaces improve quality of life, says the
public…
b.
2007-08 Citizenship Survey: Empowered Communities Topic Report
a. 'Hard to Reach?' Manifesto launched
b. New report - 'Personal carbon Budgeting : What People need to Know, Learn and have in Order to Manage and Live within a Carbon Budget, and the Policies that could Support them?
Events
a. Delivering Sustainable Communities
b. Environment, Well Being and Healthy Lifestyle 2009
c. Green Shoots at the Grass Roots
d. Bridging the Energy Gap
e. Delivering the UK Renewable Energy Strategy
Policy
a. Extra £20 million for clean energy technology
6. News
a.
Electric vans are a viable cleantech alternative…
b.
Small springs could provide big power…
c. Airlines have vowed to slash carbon emissions in half by the year 2050
d. Tens of millions of jobs at stake in new, low carbon global economy
7. Funding
a. £10m for 20 best low carbon communities
8. Training and jobs
a. 8 Oct: Climate Change Communication & Facilitation Training
b. 17 Nov: Hard to Reach? Engaging Diverse Communities
c. Be a Beta Tester and Help Green Thing Develop a New Service
d. Climate Change Adaptation: Drivers Barriers and Strategy
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.channel&channelID=486868826
Research
a.
Better buildings and spaces improve quality of life, says
the public…
Nearly
nine out of ten people say that better quality buildings and public
spaces improve their quality of life, according to new MORI research
published by CABE.
Find out more: http://www.cabe.org.uk/news/better-buildings-and-spaces-improve-quality-of-life
b.
2007-08 Citizenship Survey: Empowered Communities Topic
Report
2007-08 Citizenship Survey: Empowered Communities
Topic Report Using 2007-08 Citizenship Survey data, this report
provides an in-depth examination of community empowerment: whether
people feel they can influence local and national decisions; whether
they would like to be more involved in decision making; what would
make it easier to influence decision making; and how people would
influence decisions if they wanted to. It also looks at people's
trust in institutions and what activities people actually take part
in (civic activism, civic consultation, civic participation and
volunteering).
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/citizenshipsurvey200708empower
Published 29 September 2009 ISBN: 9781409818663
Publications
a.
'Hard to Reach?' Manifesto launched (18 Sept).
This
looks at why the environmental sector has failed so often to engage
with diverse groups.
http://www.capacity.org.uk/downloads/hard_to_reach_manifesto.pdf
b. New report - 'Personal carbon Budgeting : What People need to Know, Learn and have in Order to Manage and Live within a Carbon Budget, and the Policies that could Support them?
This
working paper, produced by Oxford's Environmental Change Institute,
explores what people may need to know, learn and have if a Personal
Carbon Allowances (PCA) scheme were to be implemented, and suggests
ideas for policies, programmes and initiatives that could support
them.
More...
http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/research/energy/downloads/paragstrickland09pcbudget.pdf
a. Delivering Sustainable Communities
A series of workshops throughout England that will inform Local Authorities and Developers of the content and process of the BREEAM Communities assessment, and to raise awareness of the sustainability objectives and planning policy requirements that are key to the new planning system.
Date: 6, 8, 13, 19, 22 Oct 09
Organised by: BREEAM
Location:
Cambridge, Manchester, Bristol, Brighton, Newcastle and
Watford.
More Information: Heather Frame,
training@breglobal.com,
01923 664462 or www.bre.co.uk/
b. Environment, Well Being and Healthy Lifestyle 2009
This conference will bring together a wide range of groups with concerns for relationships between the environment, well-being and lifestyles, including academics; local government officers with responsibilities in sectors such as housing, planning, recreation and transport (RENEW); representatives of the voluntary sector (e.g. Groundwork); the health sector (e.g. PCTs, health authorities); and public agencies (e.g. CABE, Natural England).
Date: 21Oct 09
Organised by: Centre for Sport and Exercise Research, Stafford University
Location:
Moat House Hotel, Stoke on Trent, ST1 5BQ.
More
Information: www.staffs.ac.uk/iesr
or Christine Dover 01782 294110 c.j.dover@staffs.ac.uk
c. Green Shoots at the Grass Roots
This one-day event will focus on the key issues of working with communities during and after a recession and explore the possibilities of renewal and sustainable working. There will be workshops, seminars and an interactive market place demonstrating examples of good practice.
Date: 5 Nov 09
Organised by: Community Development Exchange
Location: Central Hall, Westminster, London SW1
More Information: http://www.cdx.org.uk/events/cdx-events or tess@cdx.org.uk
d.
Bridging the Energy Gap
Between
now and 2016, the UK faces the prospect of a significant energy gap.
Find out how it will be bridged.
Date: 24 Nov 09
Organised by: Emap Networks
Location: London (TBC)
More Information: constructconferences@emap.com or www.energygapconference.co.uk
e. Delivering
the UK Renewable Energy Strategy
This
seminar looks at the future of renewable energy in the UK - bringing
out latest thinking on the practicalities, challenges and the
unintended consequences relating to delivering the Government's
Renewable Energy Strategy, with a target of 15% renewable energy in
the UK by 2020.
Organised
by: Westminster Energy, Environment & Transport Forum
Location:
The Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG
More
information: pvg.weet@westminsterforumprojects.co.uk
or www.westminsterforumprojects.co.uk
Date: 2 Dec 09
The clean energy
technologies of the future will have access to an extra £20
million in government-backed venture capital support, Ed Miliband
announced today.
New
advances in technologies such as wave, tidal, fuel cells, solar and
energy efficiency are dependent on a mixture of R&D grant
support and venture capital, but the flow of private money for early
stage development has fallen back since the downturn started in
2008.
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn110/pn110.aspx
News
a.
Electric vans are a viable cleantech alternative…
Now
able to compete on range and price, electric vans are a cleantech
alternative to diesel
Find out more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/sep/23/electric-van-viable-cleantech-alternative
b.
Small springs could provide big power…
Mechanical
engineer Carol Livermore and colleagues
find that carbon nanotubes, used as springs, have potential to
compete with batteries for energy storage.
Find out more: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/super-springs-0921.html
c.
Airlines have vowed to slash carbon
emissions in half by the year 2050…
- a target that is
likely to spark a green technology race among aircraft manufacturers.
23/09 Guardian
Find out more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/21/airlines-carbon-emissions-cut
G20
Governments meeting in Pittsburgh, USA, could create tens of millions
of new jobs by investing in low carbon technologies, according to
a new
report published
by the Global Climate Network. The report argues that the bolder
government policies to promote rapid growth in climate-friendly
innovations and industries are, the higher the likelihood of new job
creation on a significant
scale.
http://www.ippr.org.uk/pressreleases/?id=3734
Funding
The Government has today launched a search for local authorities, charities and social enterprises to take up the challenge to help communities fight climate change.
Communities
can apply for a share of a £10million fund as part of the Low
Carbon Communities Challenge to build on existing low carbon
schemes.
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn109/pn109.aspx
Training and Jobs
a. 8 Oct: Climate Change Communication & Facilitation Training - Dublin
Communicating
climate change to different people in different situations. Organised
by Talk Action.To book a place, or for more information, please
contact Matt Sellwood at matt@talkaction.org
or 0207 324 4774 www.talkaction.org
Time:
10.00 – 16.00
Location:
Carmichael Centre, North Brunswick Street, Dubli
b.
17 Nov: Hard to Reach? Engaging Diverse Communities, London
A
course about engaging with diverse and excluded communities on
climate change and the environment.
To book a place contact
odiri at odiri@capacity.org.uk
or www.capacity.org.uk
Time: 10.00 – 4.30
Location:
NCVO, Regent's Wharf, 8 All Saints Street, London N1 9RL
c. Be a Beta Tester and Help Green Thing Develop a New Service
Green Thing is a not-for-profit public service that
inspires people to lead a greener life.We're recruiting a small group
of beta testers to help develop new ways to reach and inspire more
people. We'd love to get you involved. We're going to start by
holding some focus groups at Wyoming Studios in Oxford Circus
(London, UK) in early October. If you'd like to come, or would like
to be involved in some other way, please drop me an email:
andrew.sleigh@gmail.com or http://www.dothegreenthing.com
A
two day training course delivered by Collingwood Environmental
Planning (CEP) to provide in-depth and practical knowledge of policy
and practice relating to climate change adaptation and how to plan an
effective strategic response.
Date: 1 - 2 October
2009
Location: Imperial College London
For more
information: cpd@imperial.ac.uk
or www.imperial.ac.uk/cpd/adaptation
If you have any news, publications, diary dates, research or policy that you would like to share with the SuScit community, please email details to web@capacity.org.uk. The next SuScit e-newsletter will be out early December 2009.