 September 2021
Welcome to this month's joint newsletter of
|
|
Kingston Green Diary
A selection of the local green activities that have come our way. Send us more - and tell us for our next issue what your green group is doing in the run-up to COP-26. .
Tuesday 31st August, 7.00 – 9.00pm, Kingston Climate Emergency Centre on-line visioning workshop
1st Tuesday morning of every month, TTK Energy Group meetings - contact Peter to find out more.
Saturday 18 September, 11.00am – 4.00pm, Kingston Environment Centre's Autumn Extravaganza
Sunday 19 September, Talk: Fighting the Climate Emergency in North Wales, Mozambique and Kingston
Wednesday 22nd, 10.30 - 11.30am, Green Business Opportunities from Decarbonising Transport
Saturday 25th,Surbiton Festival 2021 (GreenZone postponed, look out for a GZ stall at the Festival.)
Regular gardening opportunities
Regular conservation volunteering
What else is happening soon?
We recommend that you continue to check websites or social media before setting out to confirm that events are happening and to check requirements intended to keep you and others safe. Check the current Covid rules for Kingston here.
|
|
|
Local news and activities take priority in the newsletter and within sections - and most of the local groups below have their own websites, social media and newsletters – so if you are particularly interested in any of them, follow the links to find out more and join in their activities. If you'd like more news from elsewhere, try some of the sources listed here.
Apologies - some pictures seem to have gone astray in this issue despite (or maybe because of) all our efforts to correct and reformat. We are running out of time but will have another go before the next issue.
|
|
Next issue
Notes to contributors, current and future
If you normally contribute items to this newsletter, or would like to, and haven’t heard from us recently, please subscribe to our contributors’ list via this sign-up form to get our requests and reminders - and make sure they are not disappearing into your spam folder! You can update your own contact details in this list or unsubscribe at any time.
We look forward to hearing about more environmental activities, on-line or in the real world of Kingston, as and when possible - we try to give local news and campaigns top billing, so do please keep them coming in. Do use this newsletter to promote new local green groups or enterprises – and also to check what's already happening locally to avoid clashes.
In any case, please send us your environmental news and updates in good time to feature in the next newsletter which will go out on or just before 1st of next month. According to Mailchimp, 58% of our 800+ readers frequently click the links in this newsletter and 23% do so sometimes, a good number of engaged readers worth reaching.
If you have problems viewing this newsletter, please click the link at the very top of this page to see it in your browser.
|
|
|
Campaigning together
"The future is written nowhere…you have to write it." Amin Maalouf
Please tell us about local and national green campaigns we should highlight in this section. See the Have Your Say and Kingston Council sections and look out for Megaphone Man for more opportunities. Please take action - if not us, who?
Sam and Simon’s cycle ride around Spain
Towards the end of their trip, Sam and Simon share their his motivations for doing it - watch the video here and find out more about their marathon bike ride for good local causes here.
Biofuelwatch says: Tell the Government to STOP burning trees for energy NOW!
Biofuelwatch thanks all those who have signed and shared the Cut Carbon Not Forests petition against biomass electricity in the UK. The petition now has over 20,000 signatures - can you help double that before it’s handed in this autumn? As you know, burning trees in power stations fuels climate change and threatens wildlife. Yet, the UK spends more money on the practice than any other European country, while at the same time the UK Government claims it wants to lead the world in tackling the climate crisis, protecting nature and cleaning up the air.
From The Climate Coalition – Act Now!
August’s @IPCC research was clear: we need to take urgent action to keep the hope of limiting global heating to 1.5°C alive. The window of opportunity is closing, but it’s not slammed shut yet. That means we need our governments to take immediate action to reduce emissions.
Every tiny increase in global heating is serious and makes every one of us less safe. We’re already seeing an increase in extreme weather like flooding, heatwaves and super strength storms. These will only get worse unless we take real action today that can reduce how often and strong deadly weather will be in the future.
We already know what we need to do to tackle climate change. We can take action right now by: saying no to polluting fossil fuels; shifting to clean cars and vans, like electric cars; stopping deforestation, and protecting and restoring nature the world over; meeting financial obligations to support people on the frontline of the climate crisis.
Why now? In 2015, 195 countries went to Paris to talk about climate change. We agreed that we need to stop the Earth warming by more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels as a result of our actions. Those same countries are meeting in Glasgow in November to talk about how they deliver their plans to create a safer future in the coming years, and are meant to be bringing their latest, most ambitious plans.
 The time for action is now: write to your MP and/or go to Glasgow for COP-26, 31 October to 12 November 2021
Is anyone from our various green groups and networks planning to go to Glasgow? And if so, when? Is there a meeting place or transport to share? Let us know for the next issue.
And sign The Climate Coalition’s letter to the Prime Minister
“The time is now to lead the UK towards a healthier, greener, fairer future. Ahead of hosting the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow in 2021, we can build back better together...” says TCC (TTK is a member). Sign here.
|
|
Useful resources for campaigners
Find contact details for your councillors, MP, MEPs, and LA members at WriteToThem.com Rather than repeating our advice on writing every month, we have saved it here on the TTK website.
TheyWorkForYou shows what MPs have been speaking and voting on recently, with a page on the website devoted to recent votes and parliamentary business on the environment),
Info on Citizens’ Assemblies: Participo offers info on the research on and practice of innovative citizen participation – useful and interesting for anyone interested or involved in planning Citizens’ Assemblies.
|
|
|
News
Volunteers needed!
We need your help, ideas and creativity to keep Kingston Environment Centre going. It was very encouraging that so many people attended and enjoyed our Grand Fete in July and we want to build on this. We need help with fundraising, gardening, maintenance of the building and ideas for spreading awareness of how we need to be tackling the Climate Emergency. Get in touch if you would like to help.
Hire KEC
 One way for us to raise funds is through lettings. We have a lovely meeting place, a small kitchen, toilets and even an outdoor area, very suitable for one-off events or ongoing courses. Cost is set low for members at £8 per hour and £15 for non-members. Email Pat if you are interested.
Coming soon
Autumn Extravaganza
Saturday 18 September, 11.00am – 4.00pm
Apple juice pressing, a vegan food presentation, bottle and preserve tombola, teas, coffees and vegan cakes, Bantam Lady produce, plants and more. This will be the first Kingston event in the Great Big Green Week which takes place between September 18th and 26th. Come along and have some harvest fun! And come along to learn how to press apples into delicious apple juice - we need to prepare 100 Kg of apples, so if you fancy spending an hour washing, chopping and pressing apples, your help would be much appreciated - email Pat if you are able to help or if you have surplus apples you would like to contribute.
|
|
Regular events at KEC and on-line
Creating a Climate Emergency Centre in Kingston!
Regular meetings at Kingston Environment Centre and on-line, 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of the month, 7.00pm.
Stitch and Chat is now back to meeting in person - see poster above for details. A few of us have been knitting and crocheting panels to go to the COP26 Climate Change conference in Glasgow. Craftivists from all over the country and indeed the world have been making panels which will be sewn together to form a 1.5 mile long scarf to represent the 1.5 degrees of global warming that the Earth needs to have as an absolute limit to avoid irreversible climate change. Details and pictures here.
Socially distanced gardening 
Saturdays, 10.00am - 3.00pm, and also Thursdays, but email Pat to make sure
We welcome volunteers to help us in the yard and the outside planting areas with gardening, and also need people to help with carpentry, fundraising and events. Please do get in touch if you have spare time and would like to volunteer.
Listen or catch up with previous shows on Mixcloud..
See the KEC website calendar for info and updates on events and activities at Kingston Environment Centre, 1 Kingston Road, New Malden, KT3 3PE.
|
|
|
News
The Climate Coalition hosted two meetings on the IPCC report recently - and as members, TTK was there to hear several very informative presentations. Richard Black of the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit talked about the IPCC report and explained its remit, membership (not just scientists but international government representatives as well), and the context of their worrying findings about our chances of keeping temperature rises to below 1.5C. Charlie Ogilvie, Director of Strategy for COP26, talked about the run-up in the next 95 days to COP and what to expect – lots of media coverage and meetings, including a Youth COP in Milan at the end of Sept.
Help with the harvest
 Fancy picking fruit for yourself and getting in this year’s harvest? Perhaps you would like to join in making apple juice or cider? Or offer your glut? Abundance Kingston is a volunteer group which helps local people to harvest their gluts of fruit and veg and then distributes them throughout the community wherever they are wanted and can be used. We have all the necessary equipment and will visit gardens, allotments and street trees to save the delicious organically grown produce from going to waste and possibly landfill. We also enable fun community juicing events all over the area. It’s good fun, very sociable and always outdoors, so if you would like to join in and/or offer us your glut, please email Abundance or phone 07749 633973 and help prevent local food waste.
Gr eenZone 2021 - postponed
TTK was working hard with other local green groups to get this off the ground for September, but has had to postpone - watch this space. We hope to have a stall at Surbiton Festival on 25th September.
Coming soon
 TTK's Stitch in Time
- but not in September! Find out more below in Save the World Club's section and confirm nearer the time on our Facebook Events page or TTK Events on the website.
Green Drinks hope to return this autumn on the last Tuesday of every month, after TTK management team meetings – watch this space for more details nearer the time..
Transition news and events
Distant Socialising please, not Social Distancing
“...Our new familiarity with ‘distant socialising’ might be a silver lining of the pandemic – and considering the diverse online workshops we’ve been part of in the past year, there are certainly facilitation methods that are worth continuing with, once physical socializing is possible again...” Read more from the Transition Network.
Green Bullet newsletter
Recommended by the transition Network, the latest news, information and updates on green-related laws and campaigns across the UK. Read it here.
Transition London & SE Hub Online Meet- Ups
Find more Transition activities, discussions and events in London and the S E on Facebook
Find out more about the wider Transition Network.
|
|
Regular TTK events
TTK management team meetings
Last Tuesdays of the month
Details will be posted on the TTK Facebook page.
TTK Energy Group meetings
1st Tuesday morning of every month
Contact Peter to find out more.
|
|
|
News
Open for donations of goods again
We have reopened for donations with some rules around what goods we can currently take. We are now open 7 days a week with differing times on Saturdays.
BBC uses The Circulatory!
The BBC used the Circulatory recently to source some props for an up-coming TV programme "Toast of Tinsel Town". If you watch the show, keep your eyes peeled yo see if you can spot stuff from us in the show. Read more and see some photos here.
|
|
 Regular events at The Circulatory
Barbeque
Last Sunday of each month, 1.00 - 6.00pm - next one on Sunday 26th September
Free and open vegetarian and vegan BBQ from Feel free to use this as an opportunity to browse the warehouse and interact with some of the other charities and social enterprises that share our space!
TTK's Stitch in Time
1st Thursday of every month, 7.00 - 8.30ish, September workshop cancelled
We’ve had to cancel this month's sewing session owing to Covid quarantine and lack of volunteer stitching supervisors - we could do with more help! If you feel confident about working on your sewing project independently and finding and using our sewing machines, you are welcome to use them unsupervised. Look out for updates on future sessions on TTK's Facebook Events page or TTK Events.
Keep up with, and donate towards, Save The World Club's excellent food redistribution work during the pandemic here and/or make sure you don’t miss any news by following us on Facebook.
Nextdoor
STWC now also has a page on Nextdoor
A little bit extra to STWC -
AmazonSmile customers can support Save The World Club. Simply turn on AmazonSmile whenever you shop with Amazon, select Save The World Club as your chosen charity, and a small percentage of each purchase is then donated automatically to STWC.
The Circulatory, Unit 5, Chiltern Works, Station Way, Surbiton, KT5 8LS. We are at the end of the driveway adjoining Berrylands train station - look for the big blue barn doors..
|
|
|
A network of local environmental organisations covering a wide range of blue and green issues in Kingston
News
KEF in Kingston's Covid Recovery Task Force
KEF representatives have continued to attend meetings of the Council's Communities Task Force and its various sub-groups, where we have promoted the value of clean air and accessible and plentiful green spaces for health and wellbeing, as well as the benefits of outdoor volunteering. We publish occasional updates and useful links on the KEF website and we email KEF members with relevant information and opportunities that come up.at these meetings.
See Money, Money, Money below for an update on the Green Funding Collaborative.
|
|
Local green organisations, please make sure you are still members of the KEF website and that someone interested will pick up our messages, so that you can contribute and be consulted as and when relevant. New organisations and/or new group representatives are welcome to join too, by clicking the Join Website button at the top of the KEF Home page. And have a look at the website and Facebook page occasionally - there may be a question or issue for you to take up.
KEF events: we hope to run roughly quarterly discussions or round-tables (avoiding when possible the months when KBN hold theirs, maybe even IRL), with the aim of bringing us together, communicating and coordinating with each other better, and reminding ourselves of what we share as a community. Possible future themes for public or smaller round-table discussions include collaboration (how could Kingston’s green groups work better together, especially now that environmental concerns are becoming mainstream?) and Seething Wells nature reserve, but please contact us with other ideas for themes and offers of speakers for a quarterly discussion.
Coordinating KEF: any KEF member-group interested in taking this over this role, which has plenty of scope for expansion and networking, is invited to contact Marilyn, who would like to hand over and stand down before the end of 2021.
Individuals, there is almost certain to be an organisation or person in the group who can answer your eco-questions or take up local environmental issues or send you in the right direction, so do use the Facebook page to share these. If KEF (or one of the organisations that feature in this newsletter, many of which are KEF members) can’t help, we almost certainly know someone who can. And you don't need to join KEF’s website to access its useful information and resources.
If you’d like to write something on a green theme that is too long for this newsletter or too broad for more specialist green groups, please send it to us for possible publication in KEF’s blog.
|
|
|
Green volunteering
 Berrylands Nature Reserve Volunteer Sessions in September
Upcoming dates, 10.30 – 12.30:
Help to improve Berrylands Nature Reserve and our other local green spaces, making them better for the local community and its wildlife!
Wednesday 1st September
Saturday 11th September
Wednesday 15th September
Wednesday 29th September
Find out more about upcoming volunteering sessions, and drop in on the day.
Nature conservation volunteering with Citizen Zoo
Citizen Zoo - volunteer with us!
 Friends of Ham Lands’ monthly volunteer conservation session
Saturday September 11, 10.00am - 12.00pm and every second Saturday in each month
The conservation work to improve the habitat for butterflies has been identified and agreed by local naturalists and LBRuT’s ecology officer. Find out more.
September Scything Workshops at Tolworth Court Farm Moated Manor Nature Reserve
Tuesday 28 September, Wednesday 29 September & Thursday 30 September, 10.00am – 2.00pm
Would you like to learn more about the traditional hay meadow management technique of scything? This is an opportunity for adults over 18 with and without experience to undertake free scything training, help celebrate our natural heritage, and improve our grassland habitats. Sessions are free and you are more than welcome to sign up for more than one session if you wish. Register Interest here.
Volunteering Kingston seeks stories of people who volunteer to tackle the clima te crisis
Volunteering Kingston, the volunteer centre for the borough of Kingston, supports people who want to volunteer and organisations which involve volunteers. We want to tell stories of people who are volunteering to help tackle the climate crisis and help the environment to inspire others from all backgrounds to get involved. If you have a good story to tell and encourage others to volunteer, please email Molly.
Looking to recruit volunteers?
Volunteering Kingston is here to help! Volunteering Kingston is the volunteer centre for Kingston. If you are looking for more volunteers to support your activities or advice on any aspect of involving volunteers we can help: we have a website where you can advertise volunteering opportunities and a resource bank with advice on a range of different topics; we can provide one-to-one advice on Zoom to support you on various topics such as recruitment, retention, reward and recognition, managing difficult situations, and how to organise volunteers when you are an informal group. Please get in touch any time via enquiry@volunteeringkingston.org.uk or 0300 365 9980
Get Connected
 Connected Kingston is a site dedicated to helping Kingston residents find local activities and navigate local services [and local groups to find helpers and participants]. It is run by the Royal Borough of Kingston Council and Kingston Voluntary Action in conjunction with local charities and statutory organisations. Special training is available to anyone who regularly comes into contact with people that may be struggling to navigate or find local activities or services. Our goal is to help residents of Kingston stay happy, healthy and connected to each other. Contact us here and/or register an activity or find something to do.
|
|
Sowing and growing in Kingston
|
|
Hogsmill Community Garden
Our usual volunteer days continue, and monthly work parties start on Saturday 25th September. For monthly projects see our Facebook page.
On Swan Path, Vineyard Close
|
|
Canbury Community Garden
Our new hens have angelic days when all three lay eggs, peck happily around the Garden and return to their run when called. And they have naughty days when they squeeze though gaps into the vegetable beds or Canbury Gardens, though as they get fatter we anticipate fewer escapes.
|
|
|
|
Along with many gardens this warm wet summer, our tomatoes have suffered from blight and we have had the sad task of pulling up and disposing of a lot of infected plants. But we recently harvested the first of our runner beans, potatoes and plums, and continue to harvest rhubarb and giant "courgettes"..
Between Canbury Gardens, Kingston Riverside [tennis] Club and Kings’ Passage - current access only via our Canbury Gardens gate near the bandstand.
|
|
Kingston Edible Forest 2100
A food forest planted for the long term with perennial edible flowers, veg and fruit, details on our website. We are there most Sundays and a weekday evening when there's light. Please contact us to check as the gates to the allotment site are locked.
Knollmead Allotments, Tolworth
KT5 9QP
|
|
|
Community Gardening News and Events
London's food growing community takes on the climate and nature emergency
Capital Growth launched a new initiative this summer to help protect and enhance London’s existing network of food gardens, as well as create new ones, providing open space and climate-friendly food for thousands of Londoners, thanks to a £246,000 grant from the City Bridge Trust. Find out more, including about their 2021 London Grow Back Greener Fund, open till 13th September for community projects across London to apply for a new grant to support their work around improving access to green space or adapting to climate change.
Apply to Capital Growth’s Spotlight Garden programme 
A Spotlight Garden is a London-based food growing space that will be featured by Capital Growth during a one-month period to highlight their story, activities and community. Each Spotlight Garden will also be invited to join the upcoming Garden Leaders Group to help steer our work including ideas for developing ways to protect food growing spaces. Register your interest in becoming a Spotlight Garden via Capital Growth or your Capital Growth/Good to Grow dashboard if you are already a member, by 30th September.
The Urban Harvest 2021
23 - 29 September
Capital Growth invites gardens across London to open their doors to volunteers and members of the public for its 12th annual Urban Harvest. Register your community garden or find one to visit here.
|
|
KBN exists to highlight and promote local conservation work in Kingston.
Click on an icon below for news of conservation activities around Kingston - get involved or set up a project of your own or see Green Volunteering below.
Coming up
The next KBN meeting
October 13th, so get it in the diaries now!
|
|
Regular events
Every Wednesday is Wildlife Wednesday on the RBK social media feeds, with a small factoid about local and seasonal wildlife.
Every Monday there’s a Reading Nature session with the Library Service on their social media - a short video encouraging people to go outside and explore green spaces to find wildlife
See the website or Facebook page for other KBN activities
|
|
|
Habitats & Heritage acts for the natural and historic environment in south and west London. In a time where the health of our environment and each other has never been more important, and never more interlinked, we invite readers to support our work by signing up to our Supporter Scheme today for just £10 a year.
|
|
|
XR Kingston
News
Join the Rebellion and help to make the politically impossible inevitable. Everyone is invited to rebel for life. Want to get involved? Here’s how!
Read news from global Extinction Rebellion here and the latest from London XR.
|
|
|
Regular events
For XR Kingston meetings, actions, film shows coming up check Events on the Facebook page.
|
|
|
We believe in giving people ‘permission’ to be brilliant because everyone can be brilliant...
|
|
|
Climate crisis updates
Working towards a Climate Emergency Centre in Kingston
 A visioning workshop at Kingston Environment Centre in August led by Alison Whybrow of TTK generated a long wish-list of hopes and values, with a second Kingston Climate Emergency Centre on-line visioning workshop on 31st August.
What could a local Climate Emergency Centre be like? Lots of examples here, some planned, some up and running, and some quite nearby such as Zero Carbon Guildford and Talking Tree, Staines.
Time to act! 
“The costs of stabilising the climate are significant but manageable; delay would be dangerous and much more costly.” Stern Review: The Economics of Climate Change, 2005. So we’ve known this for at least 16 years...
You may have noticed -
The UK is already undergoing disruptive climate change: 2020 was the third warmest, fifth wettest and eight sunniest on record, scientists said in the latest UK State of the Climate report - no other year is in the top 10 on all three criteria. The experts said that, in the space of 30 years, the UK has become 0.9C warmer and 6% wetter. The report's lead author Mike Kendon, climate information scientist at the UK Met Office, told BBC News: “A lot of people think climate change is in the future – but this proves the climate is already changing here in the UK." Read more in BBC News.
Fairness and opportunity: A people-powered plan for the green transition
The final report of IPPR’s Environmental Justice Commission, established in May 2019 in recognition that action to address the accelerating climate and nature emergencies can be about more than staving off the worst; it can be about imagining a better world which we can build together.
Debt and the climate crisis: a perfect storm
As extreme weather events become more common, countries that have contributed least to the climate crisis are increasingly feeling its effects. Many of those countries are also in debt crisis, diverting billions of dollars to paying debts and leaving them less able to invest in adapting and mitigating the devastating effects of the climate crisis. Watch a Jubilee Debt Campaign webinar on the importance of debt cancellation for climate justice.
Part 3 of IPCC report on Climate Change leaked ahead of COP26
Part 3, on ways of reducing human influence on the climate, is not scheduled to be released before next March, but a small group of scientists decided to leak the draft via the Spanish branch of Scientist Rebellion. The leaked draft says that: global greenhouse gas emissions must peak in the next four years; coal and gas-fired power plants must close in the next decade; lifestyle and behavioural changes will be needed to avoid climate breakdown; rich people in every country are overwhelmingly more responsible for global heating than the poor, with SUVs and meat-eating singled out for blame; and the high-carbon basis for future economic growth is also questioned. Read more, with links to the Spanish source in The Guardian.
Read more on the climate crisis
Read the full IPCC report here
Read news reports in The Guardian here and here, and on the BBC website
Reports on climate change from the New Economics Foundation
And finally -
Dr Charlie Gardner offers words of support and comfort to those of us made anxious and frightened by recent bad news
Events
Christian Aid inaugural annual lecture: Poverty, Natural Capital and the Climate Crisis
Monday 6 September, St Martin in the Fields, London, and streamed
Sir Partha Dasgupta, author of the UK Government’s Economics of Biodiversity Review on the threat to poor communities in the global south from the climate crisis and ecological loss. Find out more
 .
18 – 26 September
The Climate Coalition’s national week of events celebrating action on climate change in the run-up to COP26 - communities across the country will join together for the Great Big Green Week, the biggest event for climate and nature ever in the UK, and everyone’s invited! Find out more and get involved.
Fighting the Climate Emergency in North Wales, Mozambique and Kingston
19 September, 7.00pm, Kington Quaker Centre
A talk by Bob Dean of Kingston Friends of the Earth, covering the latest news on climate change, an inside look at some big renewable energy projects in North Wales and Africa, and a discussion on what is being done to fight the climate emergency here in Kingston. Reserve your place on Eventbrite.
|
|
Let's Talk about the Kingston Plan
 What should Kingston look like in 20 years’ time? So much has happened since 2019 when the Council last had a conversation about our new Local Plan: the London Plan has come into force and set Kingston a really challenging housing target, COVID-19 has changed the way we all live our lives, the Government has changed the planning rules, Brexit has happened, and the Council has declared a climate emergency. Find out more and share your thoughts before Thursday 30 September. You can: take part on Kingston's online engagement portal or email the team your ideas. Following this round of feedback, the Council’s planning team will draft Kingston’s Local Plan. which will be taken to the Place Committee for approval to go out to public consultation during summer 2022.
Seizing the Moment in September
The Kingston Strategic Partnership is asking community groups to hold focus groups during September to inform the borough's future community vision. In order to hold a focus group, organisations are invited to follow a brief guide on how to run the focus group and then, with the help of your focus group, to fill in and return a discussion guide/questionnaire. It would be great if lots of local green groups participated - responses requested by 30th September.
How does our Council do?
More than a third of English councils support policies that could increase carbon emissions despite having declared a "climate emergency", BBC research suggests. Read more on the BBC website.
.
|
|
|
See the Council's website for the latest news.
|
|
|
Have your say -
See Campaigning Together and Council News above, and look out for Megaphone Man in other sections.
|
|
Money, money, money...
Don’t miss funding opportunities for your green group
Keep an eye on Kingston Voluntary Action’s Funding page and regular Funding bulletins.
Green Funding Collaborative - an update on our survey
Is your green group or project looking for funding? KVA and KEF collected some useful information from the environmental groups that responded to our pilot survey, and we hope that completing it helped those groups to assess their funding application readiness. We are now inviting other green groups to participate via this link. If your group can answer yes to all the questions, you probably have all the information and procedures needed for a funding application; if not, you will be directed to some useful sources of advice and help. The information gathered will also help KVA and/or Kingston Council officers to forward funding opportunities that come their way to relevant groups, and even to recommend collaborations between groups that could support and strengthen applications.
Together for our Planet 
Launching in September, this programme will offer grants from £1,000 to £10,000 of National Lottery funding to support communities across the UK to take action on climate change. Projects should reflect what matters to your community and can be small in scale. They could cover an area like: food; transport; energy; waste and consumption; the natural environment... Click here for more info.
Veolia Sustainability Fund
This fund is open for applications - deadline October 31st - to support local projects that: enhance biodiversity; promote sustainable waste behaviours (reduce, reuse and/or recycle); protect or preserve resources and the environment. This funding opportunity is open to not-for-profit organisations and community groups within the Royal Borough of Kingston - more detailed information at the Veolia Sustainability Fund webpage.
Veolia Environmental Trust grants for winter projects
The Veolia Environmental Trust now provides three different grants to communities with projects near qualifying Veolia Trust sites in England, such as landfill sites or recycling facilities. Priority will be given to projects that can demonstrate benefit to the public and the environment, create opportunities for community involvement and show sustainability. There are four funding rounds per year. The current round is for projects starting in Winter 2021/22, deadline for applications 12 noon on 30th September.
Grow Back Greener
Applications for the Grow Back Greener Fund 2021 are now open. Groundwork London is managing the Grow Back Greener Fund grants for community projects across London that will improve access to green space and help us adapt to climate change. Deadline Monday 13 September 2021, find out more here.
Tesco Community Grants
Tesco Community Grants is always open for applications from charities and community organisations to bid for up to £1,500. Projects are voted on by Tesco customers in stores across the UK, with projects changing every three months – the scheme is currently looking for applications from charities and community groups who deliver projects that help to tackle food insecurity in their communities. This might include, for example, breakfast clubs, holiday clubs and food banks. Visit the Tesco Community Grants website for further details.
|
|
Nature notes
The Royal Parks – Helping Nature Thrive
The Royal Parks (including those on our doorstep) ask visitors to help nature thrive and keep wildlife wild by not feeding wildlife, by observing and enjoying nature from a distance, and by leaving no trace, with a handy guide on how this can be achieved. Find out more on the TRP website.
Silent Earth?
An edited extract from Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse by Dave Goulson in The Guardian tells how insects have declined by 75% in the past 50 years – and that the consequences may soon be catastrophic.
Rewilding naturally
Rewilding Britain proposes natural regeneration as the default approach, with tree planting as a support option only where the natural regeneration of diverse habitats will not happen without it. Read more here.
Events
Welcome to Kingston's Wilder Side
Friday 8 October, 6.00pm supper (pay only if and what you like), 7.00pm talk, Kingston Quaker Centre
A short talk on Kingston's ecology by Elliot Newton, Biodiversity Officer, Kingston Council. Find out more and respond.
Launch of Kingston Friends Forum
Saturday 9 October, 10.00am - 2.00pm.
A coming together of residents with an interest in their local green spaces,, open to Friends and Residents groups across the Borough, as well as informal non-constituted groups and community gardeners. If your Friends group doesn't receive an invitation please contact Andy.
|
|
Interesting websites and apps for nature-lovers
The RSPB’s advice on planting for nature
Friends of Ham Lands work with local naturalists to preserve and enhance the natural habitats of Ham Lands, a Local Nature Reserve right next to Kingston. You can read current and previous newsletters on their Newsletter page.
Citizen Zoo - a social enterprise dedicated to rewilding in the UK – sign up for their newsletter highlighting lots of lovely rewilding news and events.
The London Natural History Society Virtual Natural History Talk series brings together naturalists, experts and specialists via Zoom. Talks are recorded and you can catch up with them here.
The Seek app uses your smart phone to identify the plants and animals all around us, and can make the daily walk much more interesting.
BirdNET can identify 984 of the most common bird species of North America and Europe. from song recorded on your phone.
UK Bird Sounds
Backyard Nature.
|
|
|
Waste matters 
It’s only one coffee cup - said 8 billion people.
Repair, reuse, and create jobs
Repairing and reusing household goods could create thousands of green jobs across the UK. The Green Alliance think tank found more than 450,000 jobs could be created by minimising waste Read more in The Guardian.
Environmental impact of bottled water "up to 3,500 times greater than tap water"
Researchers also found that the impact of bottled water on ecosystems is 1,400 times higher than that of tap water. Read more in The Guardian.
The Dirty Dozen
Surfers Against Sewage launched their 2021 Brand Audit Report in August, revealing that two thirds of the UK’s plastic and packaging pollution can be traced back to just 12 polluting companies - find out which they are.
|
|
Energy and transport news
The Cost of Flying: A Reality Check
 A key reason why people are reluctant to choose a train journey over a plane is that flying is seen as a lot cheaper. That’s what Possible found in their recent Fare Competition report, which explored how people decide between travel options (impact on climate influenced a disappointing 12%). So are flights actually much cheaper in reality, or is that more of a misconception created by airline marketing? And when it comes to our carbon footprint, how does flying measure up against other things we do?
Policy paper on UK hydrogen strategy
Published recently, this government strategy sets out its approach to developing a thriving low carbon hydrogen sector in the UK.
Electric (or hydrogen-powered) vehicles won’t solve all our transport problems
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) warns that, rather than improving air quality by lowering exhaust emissions, these incentives risk making highways far busier and even slower - as people buy so-called "zero-emission, guilt-free" vehicles. Read a BBC report.
|
|
Useful resources
What to do? Possible suggests five key areas where we can all take action to tackle the climate crisis.
Recommended by The Climate Coalition: The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, “a non-profit organisation that supports informed debate on energy and climate change issues in the UK.” and Carbon Brief “ UK-based website covering the latest developments in climate science, climate policy and energy policy. We specialise in clear, data-driven articles and graphics to help improve the understanding of climate change...”
CarbonCopy's brilliantly designed map showing us the level of climate ambition from councils across the country - from places that have not yet declared a climate emergency to places targeting net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.
Fossil Free News
There’s so much happening in the climate movement — it can be hard to keep up. Get highlights from campaigns everywhere working for a #FossilFree world, delivered twice a month.
Off-set your carbon footprint...
It is estimated that an average UK household emits around four tonnes of CO₂ each year. Even if you’ve pared your carbon footprint down to the minimum, there will still be carbon dioxide emissions associated with your everyday life. The World Land Trust Carbon Balanced calculators enable you to calculate how much – and then offset it with a donation towards tree-planting and conservation projects around the world. If that’s not your thing, there are other ways to offset – tell us your favourites.
What is COP26, How does it work, Why is it important? A short explanatory video on YouTube
Climate Outreach’s How to have a climate change conversation – Talking climate.
Environment Now – the facts
The Earth is changing faster than at any point in human memory as a result of human-caused global heating and The Guardian is tracking the changes via the vital signs, from carbon dioxide levels to Arctic sea ice, taken from data sources including Nasa, the US National Snow and Ice Data Center and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Want to take action on climate change, but don’t know where to start? Possible has divided their campaigns across five key areas where we can all take action to tackle the climate crisis. Click the buttons on Possible’s website to find out what you can do right now to help.
|
|
|
Food, glorious food...
The Good Food Co-op
A Kingston not-for-profit enterprise championing local, spray-free, ethically sourced, seasonal, healthy food for all. The profits from every full price veg or fruit box subsidise a box for someone local in need. Find out more and order a veg or fruit box.
Possible’s August Climate Cook resulted in some useful resources: Five ways to eat better for the planet; How to shrink your food waste footprint; and Tips and recipes for a Climate Cook-In.
|
|
Reviews
We read the reviews so you don’t have to... (We haven’t read or listened tp everything in this section, but we think they all sound interesting.)
Read
Salmon
Look out for the summer edition of Kingston's magazine for ethically-minded people who live, work and play in the borough and the surrounding area, or read it on-line by clicking on the picture on the right.
 The Sustainable(ish) Living Guide: Everything you need to know to make small changes that make a big difference by Jen Gale
Easy, do-able, down-to-earth ideas and suggestions on how we can live more sustainable lives and save money at the same time - from switching off (devices on standby cost UK households £227m per annum) to being mindful of the food we waste...
Clean Green: Tips and Recipes for a naturally clean, more sustainable home by Jen C hillingsworth
Learn how to create natural cleaning products that are better and healthier and help you to cut down on your plastic waste too. “Small steps. Big changes.”
 Who Owns England?: How We Lost Our Land and How to Take It Back by Guy Shrubsole
“A formidable, brave and important book” (Robert Macfarlane)
“Potentially one of the most important books of the year” (Chris Packham)
“Shrubsole ends his fine inquiry into these issues with a 10-point prospectus as to how this millennium-long problem might be brought up to date, and how our land could be made to work productively and healthily for us all” (Observer, Book of the Week)
Your Planet Need You! 
Our friend Bernadette Vallely's book is now out in paperback. “A fantastically clear compendium of environmental issues… and simple ways to solve them. Anyone who wants to help save the world should read it” (Nathalie Fee, founder of City to Sea) Find out more.
Listen
39 Ways to Save the Planet
BBC Radio Four, in partnership with the Royal Geographical Society, continues its series of 39 ideas to relieve the stress that climate change is exerting on the planet - and us humans. Listen here.
|
|
Regular updates on all things environmental
Most of them will send environmental news direct to your inbox:
EcoWatch - online environmental news, also on Facebook
The Independent environment news
The Guardian environment news and The Guardian’s weekly Green Light email.
The BBC environment news
The Ecologist, currently celebrating its 50th year; its impressive archive includes the landmark A Blueprint for Survival (1972) outlining the need for a serious economic and environmental overhaul
Fix the Planet - New Scientist’s monthly dose of climate optimism
|
|
|
More things we like this month 
|
|
What else is happening soon?
|
|
Kingston Heritage Festival
September
Delve into Kingston’s heritage with a series of events, talks, walks and open house days celebrating the borough’s rich 1100-year history (and local biodiversity), all of which are free to explore! Find out more.
London Open House 2021
4 - 5 September
This year Open House will be a festival of rediscovering the richness of the city after months stuck inside. It will be a celebration of the buildings, parks and places that we’ve all been missing, local places and spaces that are important to local communities, such as community centres, volunteer centres, local parks and open spaces. Find out more and propose a place which would fit this bill, or offer a community-led tour or talk.
 Ham Fair
Saturday 11 September, Ham Common
Ham United Group will have a stall where you can meet members from HUG, Friends of Ham Lands, Richmond MakerLabs, Ham Meditation Group and Grey Court Allotments at various times of the day, so come and say hello to our green-minded neighbours in Ham. Here on the left is a marble game that Ian from Richmond MakerLabs has made especially for the fair!
“Happy Spaces” in Kingston - public session
15 September, 5.00 – 6.00pm, Eagle Brewery Wharf
Get an update on Kingstonfirst’s initiative to create inclusive "happy spaces" within the town centre for local residents, visitors and the business community to unwind, enjoy and connect with nature. Learn more about the proposed designs and the next steps for how the spaces will be improved and developed.
The Great Big Green Week
18 - 26 September
 The Climate Coalition invites communities like ours to host thousands of events and activities across the UK, an opportunity to raise the profile of climate change and how it is impacting the people and places we love here in Kingston and across the world. Together we can show our communities, local decision makers and the UK government that it’s time to step up. Find activities and resources, and register your event(s) on this website. |
|
|
Green Business Opportunities from Decarbonising Transport
22 September, 10.30 - 11.30am, on-line
T he first in Think Green, a new, bite-size programme, led by Kingston Council and supported by Kingston Chamber of Commerce, to help businesses understand growth opportunities in the green economy. Free to attend and open to SMEs, start-ups and students who want to learn or take the lead on green business growth. Find out more and register here.
World Car-Free Day
22 September, everywhere
Encouraging giving up the car for a day, with organised events in some cities and countries. A letter, supported by many local environmental groups including Kingston Environment Forum asked The Royal Parks for a car-free day in Richmond Park on one of the weekends nearest the 22nd - but met with a disappointing answer. Can other roads and places do better? Find out more.
Communities - a new form of leadership
Friday 24 September, 6.00pm supper (pay only if and what you like), 7pm talk, Kingston Quaker Centre
Discussion on sustainability and community-building led by Robin Hutchinson, Director of the Community Brain. Find out more and respond.
Surbiton Festival 2021
Sat 25 September, 10.00 am – 4.00pm
St Andrew's Square, Claremont Gardens, Victoria Road, St. Andrew’s Road
Food & drink, free family fun and music, market & craft stalls, and more! If your group would like to be in the midday parade, or if you would like to book a stall, please visit the festival website.
Creating a Sustainable Future
Saturday 25 September, 10.00am – 5.00pm, on-line and on-demand
A New Scientist day of inspiring talks and discussion with scientists and thinkers on the greatest existential challenge of our age, featuring what we must do to create a sustainable future and the science and technology enabling it to happen. Find out more and book your place. https://www.newscientist.com/science-events/sustainable-future/
COP26
31 October to 12 November
The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference is the 26th UN Conference of the Parties, and is scheduled to be held in Glasgow under the presidency of the United Kingdom
Greener living: your guide to climate change and leading a more sustainable life
Online course, as and when suits you
This New Scientist expert-led online course shows you easy changes you can make to your life that will have a big impact on the environment and help tackle climate change
Cost £199, find out more.
Buy Nothing Day
November
The international day of protest against consumerism. In North America, the United Kingdom, Finland, and Sweden, Buy Nothing Day is held the day after U.S. Thanksgiving. Find out more.
Living Streets’ National Walking Summit 2022: Walking for everyone
Tuesday 22 March 2022, in person in London or online
Bookings now open, find out more and secure your place today at National Walking Summit 2022 | Living Streets
Kingston Voluntary Action events and training
Ongoing
If your group would like advice or support, please complete this form, outlining your support needs and we will get back to you as soon as we can to set up a free 45 minute appointment with a relevant member of staff. KVA also offer free easy to use websites to community groups. Find out more here.
|
|
|
|
|
