 October 2021
Welcome to this month's joint newsletter of
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Kingston Green Diary, October
A selection of upcoming local green activities
Friday 1st, 7.00 – 8:30 pm, Save the World Club AGM
Friday 8th, 6.00pm, Talk: Welcome to Kingston's Wilder Side
Saturday 9th, 10.00am - 2.00pm, Launch of Kingston Friends Forum
Sunday 10th, 11am – 3.00pm, The Greenzone at Kingston Museum
A mini-festival outside the museum as part of Kingston Arts Festival, with talks, music, stalls, coffee van, children's entertainment, workshops and Climate Kaos art exhibition. Bring clothes for printing on and swapping, bring yourself for dancing, playing, conversation and connection. Find out more on Facebook or via Kingston Arts.
Wednesday 13 October: Fixing London's Rivers, a talk
Tuesday 26 October: TTK hosts Kingston Green Drinks
Sunday 31 October: Halloween events at Kingston Environment Centre and at The Circulatory
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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.
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Collaboration and cooperation are clearly the way forward for green groups (this newsletter is one example and our Campaigning Together section another), so it's good to see even more of it happening in Kingston, including the return of the GreenZone in October, and the ongoing work on creating a Climate Emergency Centre in our town centre.
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 their 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.
To borrow from French philosopher Blaise Pascal, “I would have written a shorter [news]letter, but I did not have the time.” Editing items down to make them more readable (most people these days have very short attention spans) takes time and late items don’t leave much time for editing, checking links, making sure items are in the right place and proofreading. Just saying...
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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.
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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?
From The Climate Coalition – Act Now!
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
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.
Stop the Insect Apocalypse
Sign the Avaaz petition to the European Commission, the European Parliament and governments worldwide: “As citizens concerned about the fate of our bees and other crucial pollinators, we call on you to set ambitious goals to phase out the use of all synthetic pesticides, and take urgent measures to restore our habitats. We also urge you to support small, sustainable farming as part of the necessary transition towards an agriculture that allows nature and farmers to thrive in harmony.”
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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.
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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 summer and autumn events 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.
Stitching for COP26
Three Stitch and Chat members completed panels for the Stitches for Survival project which will be taken to Glasgow for COP26. We also have nine patches to be completed for the Coat of Hopes to be worn by the Camino to COP walkers, who are walking from London to Glasgow, and hope to get a few people together to start this project off this week.
Plants
We have strawberry plants to give away or for a small donation, and we are propagating plants at the moment so should have some for sale in the next couple of weeks.
Coming soon
Halloween children's event
Sunday 31 October
Christmas 'Fair Fayre'
Beginning of December
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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.
Volunteer gardening at KEC
Thursdays 10.00-2.00pm. Saturdays 10.00 - 3.00pm
Contact Pat on 0776 2846 906.
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.
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News
Help with the harvest
 Thank you to everyone who has contributed to 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.
TTK Energy Group had a recent enquiry via the website from a Kingston resident asking about the relative costs involved in installing a heat pump. Though references to a “gas furnace” and her “old limestone stable downtown” with “thick stone walls” alerted Peter of the Energy Group to the fact that she was probably living in Kingston, Ontario or Kingston, New York, he was happy to help as far as he could.
The Climate Coalition (TTK is a member) funded a brilliant week of activities: the Great Big Green Week consisted of 4,500 events across the UK including sewing repair shops, giant puppets, flowery murals, tree initiatives, green fairs, film screenings, climate marches, beach cleans, clothes swaps, bat walks, concerts and so much more. It was an explosion of creative engagement. And it looks as if there is more to come. You can join the 1 billion seed challenge, between the 23rd September and 30th October - getting 50% off seeds at Homebase to help you run or join a planting event near you. Join the #BillionSeedChallenge
Kingston GreenZone is going ahead
Join us and other local green groups on the 10th October between 11.00am and 3.00pm at Kingston Museum Gardens. We have a great line up of creative events and activities that include a consortium of groups from across the borough. Take part in story based activities, music from young local artists and browse some of our local innovative businesses. Read a possible vision for Kingston and make your wishes and pledges heard. Join the Kingston Mayor as we open the day at 11.00am.
We are hugely thankful for the £1550 funding received from The Great Big Green Week. The Climate Coalition very kindly allowed us to continue to use the funding. We are also thankful to Kingston Arts Festival for incorporating the GreenZone into their programme.
Coming soon
 TTK's Stitch in Time
Find out more below in Save the World Club's section and confirm our sociable stitching sessions nearer the time on our Facebook page or TTK Events on the website.
Kingston Green Drinks is back!
Tuesday 26 October, 7.00 - 8.30pm, Spring Grove pub, Bloomfield Road, KT1 2SF
Hosted by members of TTK Energy Group and preceded by TTK management team meeting from 6.00pm, Kingston Green Drinks will be on the last Tuesday of every month until further notice, starting on the 26th October (Covid regulations permitting). We look forward to seeing some of you there.
Transition News and Events
Kew The Transition
Our neighbouring Transition group held an “Evening of Inspiration” in September, sharing lots of good ideas and advice on: a “Patchwork Farm” and establishing a community market from Crystal Palace Transition Town; the benefits of a local currency from our friends at the successful Kingston Pound; crowdfunding to create a mobile hub of art, imagination and connection; establishing Libraries of Things in Wales; Camden’s multi-functional community space, Think & Do. A lot to take in and learn from! See Kew The Transition on Facebook.
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.
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Regular TTK events
TTK management team meetings, followed by Green Drinks
Last Tuesday every month, 6.00pm and then 7.00 - 8.30pm, Spring Grove pub, Bloomfield Road, KT1 2SF
Updates will be posted on the TTK Facebook page.
TTK Energy Group meetings
1st Tuesday morning of every month
Contact Peter to find out more.
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News
To make sure you don’t miss any news from us, follow our Facebook page.
Coming soon
Save the World Club 2021 AGM
Friday 1 October, 7.00 – 8:30 pm, in person at The Circulatory and on-line
Updates, financial report and AOB. Find out more and register here.
We will be taking part in the Greenzone festival on 10th October.
Halloween Maze
Sunday 31 October, 3.00 – 9.00pm at The Circulatory
The best 3 outfits will win a prize (adults and children). Find out more
October BBQ
Sunday 31 October, 3.00 – 9.00pm
At the same time as the Halloween maze, this time it will have a separate meat BBQ and another for vegetarian and vegan food. These BBQ's are networking, entertainment, social and sometimes fundraising events for projects. Find out more.
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 Regular events at The Circulatory
Barbeque
Last Sunday of each month, 1.00 - 6.00pm - next one on Sunday 31 October
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, next one on Thurs 7 October
Covid regs permitting, we will be back – bring your own sewing project or make a hop pillow (hops from Canbury Community Garden provided). Look out for updates on future sessions on TTK's Facebook page or TTK Events.
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..
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A network of local environmental organisations covering a wide range of blue and green issues in Kingston
News
KEF in Kingston
KEF, along with other local environmental groups, continues working on bringing a Climate Emergency Centre to Kingston and participating in the various Covid Recovery Task Force groups convened by Kingston Council. A recent Task Force meeting heard an interesting presentation on local volunteering – Kingston residents are doing well compared to national averages, with around half our fellow-citizens giving time in various ways, formal and informal.
See Money, Money, Money below for information about the Green Funding Collaborative.
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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.
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.
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Green volunteering
 Berrylands Nature Reserve Volunteer Sessions
Help to improve Berrylands Nature Reserve and our other local green spaces, making them better for the local community and its wildlife! 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 9 October, 10.00am – 12.00pm, meeting at the corner of Croft Way and Riverside Drive
Come along to help improve the habitat for butterflies. If you have got secateurs, loppers, garden saws, and gloves please bring them and wear working clothes, including strong and waterproof footwear. Find out more.
Gardening at Ham Library
Saturday 16 October, 2.00 – 4.00pm
Autumn maintenance sessions to keep Ham Library Garden the beautiful oasis it is for both people and wildlife. We will be planting spring bulbs and raking leaves. Whether you are a keen gardener or a complete newbie, please join us for a fun and family friendly session.
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.
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Sowing and growing in Kingston
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Hogsmill Community Garden
Our usual volunteer days and monthly work parties continue. Find out more on our Facebook page.
On Swan Path, Vineyard Close
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Canbury Community Garden
This is the first summer in our five years of existence that we have not had to pull water out of the nearby Thames – which says something about the weird weather this year. Bedraggled members of the Chicken Collective gave the run a good clear out (and our raised beds a good top-up) in pouring rain one recent Sunday, and we joined in Capital Growth’s Autumn Harvest open days on the last weekend of September.
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Between Canbury Gardens, Kingston Riverside [tennis] Club and Kings’ Passage - current access only via our Canbury Gardens gate near the bandstand.
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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
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Regular gardening sessions
See also socially distanced gardening at Kingston Environment Centre, and go to Facebook pages to confirm opening times and safety advice before turning up.
Useful resources for gardeners
Rather than letting this list become ever longer, we have moved older items to Growing Tips on Transition Town Kingston's website.
- LFGN London Friends of Greenspaces Network - celebrating Friends Forum’s efforts, sharing ideas and experiences, and supporting each other in valuing and improving London's parks and open green spaces.
- Food Not Lawns is a network of ecologically conscious gardeners around the world, sharing seeds, food, resources and information toward building a more sustainable gardening community.
- Learn about urban food growing and running community gardens at Capital Growth training sessions (online for now) which cover a number of themes from climate resilience to growing for nature. Recordings of some sessions are also available to members on the Capital Growth member's dashboard.
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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: Fixing London's Rivers, a talk by Joe Pecorelli
Wednesday 13 October, 7.00pm, on-line
As always this is a free event and anyone is welcome to join, but booking via Eventbrite is essential.
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Regular events
See the website or Facebook page for other KBN activities.
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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.
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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.
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Regular events
For XR Kingston meetings, actions, film shows coming up check Events on the Facebook page.
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We believe in giving people ‘permission’ to be brilliant because everyone can be brilliant...
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Ham United Group (HUG) is a Community Interest Company (CIC) aiming to improve the environment and the quality of life for the people in Ham and Petersham, just next to North Kingston. HUG supports projects and groups that help make our community more sustainable.
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HUG News and Events
Last month’s Ham Fair was a great success. It was great to see so many familiar faces – and new ones! Thanks to all the volunteers who worked hard to make hand pressed juice throughout the day with apples very kindly donated by The German School in Petersham.
Richmond Maker Labs
RML is an informal workshop where ideas can be transformed into objects, and faulty goods can be repaired instead of being replaced. RML is open to the public on Tuesday evenings and to existing members on Thursdays. Tuesday evening places can be booked via Eventbrite.
See also HUG volunteering sessions in Green Volunteering.
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Climate crisis updates
Working towards a Climate Emergency Centre in Kingston
 The Kingston Climate Emergency Centre group is moving towards refining the asks and aims that emerged in its visioning workshops into “charitable objectives”. These will help the group to decide on the most appropriate legal entity, along with all the other elements needed such as a name and a constitution. The group is also setting up working groups on funding and on outreach, and now has a Facebook group, Watch This Space. Regular planning meetings take place at Kingston Environment Centre on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday evenings of the month.
The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty 
On the eve of the UN General Assembly, 2,185 scientists and academics from 81 countries delivered a letter calling for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. The academics recognised that the burning of coal, oil and gas is the greatest contributor to climate change – responsible for almost 80% of carbon dioxide emissions since the industrial revolution and noted that “air pollution caused by fossil fuels was responsible for almost 1 in 5 deaths worldwide in 2018”. The open letter outlines the academics’ call to world leaders to initiate a new chapter of international cooperation on climate change via a mechanism to complement the Paris Agreement and manage a just transition away from fossil fuels. Read their letter and view the full list of signatories
Samela Sateré Mawé and Greta Thunberg at the Brazilian senate in September
“Brazil sure did not start this crisis, but your leaders are adding a lot of fuel to the fire. Just because the leaders of the global north have failed, that is no excuse for Brazil not to take a different path...” Watch here.
Read more about and from Greta Thunberg in The Observer
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
Global heating in graphic form
Events
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. What will you be doing then?
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Kingston’s Air Quality Action Plan
Kingston Council recently published its new Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) setting out the work they will undertake to help improve the borough's air quality over the next five years. It was shaped, in part, by residents who took part in the Citizens’ Assembly on air quality. Find out more and read the report.
Let’s talk about trees
This winter, Kingston Council will be planting 500 trees across the borough, with 250 set aside for requests, and seeks your input on where you would like to see new trees planted. There is a space in the survey for comment – an opportunity to request a good maintenance and watering regime for the newly planted trees, something that hasn’t always happened. Respond to the the survey here.
Greening Kingston
It was good to learn that the Council is applying to the GLA’s Green & Resilient Places Fund for funding for green links. The Council officer leading on the bid welcomed support from local environmental groups, and thought that the proposed Climate Emergency Centre could be part of their proposed green network.
Low Traffic Neighbourhoods
The Council’s final set of traffic surveys have begun on the Albert Road Low Traffic Neighbourhood LTN). This will provide the first tranche of data the Council wants, but Keep the Albert Road LTN Support Group would like to back up the Council's vehicle counts with a simple survey and invites people in the neighbourhood and anyone who uses the LTN to respond.
Environmental sustainability - advice and opportunities from the Council
For businesses: join the UK Business Climate Hub where you’ll be given all the information and tools you need to help reduce your carbon emissions; take a look at the Workplace Charging Scheme which provides support towards the costs of the purchase and installation of vehicle charging points; take a look at the cargo bikes on offer from Peddle My Wheels - they're great for the environment and the health of your staff too - £400,000 has been made available by the Department for Transport in 2021/22 for the purchase of e-cargo bikes; the Good Business Charter provides a good lever for businesses to change the way they operate; the Kingston Living Lab aims to assist businesses to reduce energy usage, supporting SMEs to experiment with new practices for keeping workplaces warm, while data is gathered to address important research questions related to sustainability and energy research - it looks to recruit 50-100 businesses in October; an initiative to reduce water consumption and waste water; and Net Zero Hero on 04/11/2021, 10.30 - 11.30am, a Roundtable Discussion organised by RBK and Chamber of Commerce, focusing on what Net Zero means for businesses during COP26 (registration info to be published in October).
For everyone: although the Great Big Green Week and Car-Free Day were in September, the advice on sustainable living offered by the Council for these events remains useful..
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See the Council's website for the latest news.
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Have your say -
See also Campaigning Together and Council News above, and look out for Megaphone Man in other sections.
 Take a walk round the town centre, then vote for your favourite sculpture here, and the one with the most votes will be purchased by the town to become a permanent fixture in Kingston town centre, creating a lasting legacy. There are also a few quick questions about the sculpture trail and what else you’d like to see in the town centre – a chance to support less dependence on shopping and consumerism, and maybe even a Climate Emergency Centre in Kingston?
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 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
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 invite 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 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.
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.
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Nature notes
Events
Good Gardens for Everyone: How to get the most out of water in your garden
Saturday 2 October, 2.00 pm
An informal tour of residential ponds and water harvesting systems in Ham, organised by our neighbours in Ham United Group. If you are considering building a pond in your garden or are curious about conserving water, this event is for you. During this informal tour, we will visit residential wildlife ponds as well as micro ponds. Their owners will share their lessons learnt and wildlife observed. We will also look at rainwater harvesting systems to improve the sustainability of your gardening practice. Click here for more information and to sign up.
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.
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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.
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Energy and transport news
Help with research on making private homes greener
Please take a local postgraduate student's survey to contribute towards research on how measures such as improving insulation and switching heating sources could reduce emissions. Residential dwellings consume 30-40% of all primary energy in the UK and emit between 15-25% of the UK's total green house gas (GHG) emissions, making them a substantial contributor to climate change. They are therefore a key area for improvements if the UK is to meet its ambitious target of reducing GHG emissions by 78% compared to 1990 levels by 2035. This means we must not only ensure new houses are built to a low emissions standard but also take steps to improve energy efficiency in existing homes through retrofit measures.
The Life Scientific
Brenda Boardman talks to Jim Al-Khalili about her work on making our homes energy efficient. When did you last really think about the amount of electricity your household uses? Are all your appliances A-rated? Have you switched to LED lights? And what about the Energy Performance Certificate of your home - is there room for improvement there?
Electric Mail 
Royal Mail is set to trial two types of micro electric vehicles for delivering letters and small parcels in a move aimed at stepping up its drive to further reduce emissions. We can’t help wondering what took them so long, when milk has been delivered in electric vehicles for ever? Reported in the Surrey Comet.
How we insulated our Victorian home
A useful September blog by domesticfrugality on Sustainable St Albans website: “Insulation is a strange affair – lots of effort with nothing to show. Friends admire the kitchen clock, the lights, the flooring. ‘But you should see the insulation,’ I cry. ‘Just pause and you’ll feel it.’ “
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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.
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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.
Con sumed by Aja Barber
Consumed will teach you how to be a citizen not a consumer. “Consumed takes us through the hideously complex topic of fashion and sustainability, from its knotty colonial roots to what everyday people can do to uproot those systems, today.' (Yassmin Abdel-Magied”. “An absolute must-read for any person who wears clothes.” (Orsola de Castro”)
The Wild Silence by Raynor Wynn
”It was the land, the earth, the deep humming background to my very being”. In this sequel to the best-selling The Salt Path, Raynor Wynn describes how she and her husband grasped the chance to rewild an old Cornish farm it, reconnecting again with the natural world and finding in it a path to healing,
How To Save Our Planet: The Facts by Mark A. Maslin 
“Punchy and to the point. No beating around the bush. This brilliant book contains all the information we need to have in our back pocket in order to move forward” Christiana Figueres, Former Executive Secretary UN Climate Change Convention, A recent talk by the writer reminded us how encouraging and useful this book is as a primer tor all the things we can do.
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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
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More things we like this month 
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What else is happening soon?
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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.
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Matt Stephen met with councillors Liz Green and Diane White (see photo on the left) about reducing road traffic in the Cranes Park area, highlighting how busy the route from Kingston to Berrylands and Tolworth is despite the long hill and how the neighbourhood it's used as a cut-through for drivers . We've also had meetings with councillors Dave Ryder-Mills and Steph Archer about the Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs), particularly the Albert Road one. The traffic data provided by officers appears to have been quite wrong - it looks as if hey counted bikes as cars- and we're trying to extract the correct information, but it's been a long, tedious struggle!
Our rides leader Roger has continued to provide a varied and interesting series of bike rides, including one on 'Car Free Day', and they continue all through the autumn and winter, so if you want to join us please check our website for dates and registration details. It's free to join in and rides are mostly quite gentle with some more challenging rides available for those who want to exert themselves more. 
