Talks about food waste and local food

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Next Tuesday at 7pm the Horsham Future Forum will be listening to a talk about The Food Resilience Project at Cootham presented by Adam Stark. You can book FREE tickets to this or any other Horsham Future Forum, Youth Eco Forum and Horsham Climate Cafe events using our Eventbrite page here.
Last Tuesday’s Horsham Future Forum attendees learnt about the important work of the  Community Fridges and plans for Horsham Community Fridge, learn all about it……

How did it start?

Sarah Renfrey set up Fare Divide in 2018 with a vision to save perishable foodstuff from landfill by setting up community fridges in West Sussex to encourage healthier communities by forging partnerships with local food suppliers and make surplus food available to all without judgement or stigma.

What is Fare Divide?

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Help keep Rookwood green

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The Keep Rookwood Green bio blitz on Saturday 15th August was an outstanding success which a stream of timed arrivals of families who went to record the wildlife.  The council plan to build 1,100 new houses on Roowood Golf Course, which is located next to Horsham’s nature reserve, this area makes up 28% of Horsham’s large green space.  This wildlife-rich natural world is vital for our wellbeing and survival, once built on it is lost and gone forever.

You can listen to the talk by Keep Rookwood Green and see their presentation here.

People are being encouraged to write to their councillors, sign the Keep Rookwood Green petition and carry out their own bio blitz on a day which suits you and any friends or family members. Use this map and log to plot your finds, take photos and share them in the social media with this hashtag #foundonrookwood. You can find Keep Rookwood Green social media details and the petition on this page.  Read more

Reducing energy, saving money and the planet

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  • Over the last 10 years the UK has made some good progress reducing the carbon emissions associated with the generation of electricity. However – over the same timeframe – very little progress has been in reducing the emissions associated with heating our homes (ie “space heating” the heating of our home spaces). This is mostly due to our reliance on gas boilers in the home.
  • There are a number of options that can reduce the emissions related to space heating, not least improvements in home insulation (reducing wasted heat that “leaks” out of your home). But which insulation – wall, floor or roof ? And when you have optimised the insulation, which non-gas technology should you consider – solar, heat pumps (air source or ground source), or is there something new just around the corner ?
  • Warmer Sussex offer impartial advice (via a Retrofit Coordinator) to give you a plan/road map to reducing the emissions related to the space heating of your home. You will receive a bespoke Whole House Plan which looks at what has been done before, and what can be improved now. The Retrofit Coordinator considers the property, the clients budget, and any future plans they have (eg updating kitchen) when developing the strategy for the property. The insulation and ventilation will be considered first before starting to tackle heating/renewable.

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Guildford Community Hub unites community

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On Tuesday evening our Horsham Future Forum were inspired by a presentation about the new Guildford Community Hub which it is in the early stages of development. It consists of 12 different local organisations working together, their aim: education and engaging the wider population to drive behavioural change, and thereby try to reduce consumption emissions. Presented by Ben McCallan.

The Guildford Community Hub is built on a model called Space Generators, which has been operating for about 30 years. Space Generators focus on arts environmental community and sustainability projects / events using their network built up since 1992, when their campaign for the reuse of empty space began after the Rio Earth Summit. They tailor events or create a variety of modules to match vacant space in the interim period before development. Helping to provide space for local community use.

Currently there are Community Hubs being formed in Staines, Farnham, Elmbridge and two in Scotland. Could we develop a community hub in Horsham?

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Learn about Horsham’s eco churches

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On Tuesday 7th July 2020 our Horsham Future Forum meeting talk was presented by Rosemary Couchman and Karen Park from Horsham Churches Together – focusing on eco churches.

There are 32 churches in Horsham Churches Together representing Christian denominations in Horsham and the surrounding villages. Horsham Churches Together looks to witness together, work together and influence together, and, in this way, desire to be an influence for good in the community. At present, church services continue to be live-streamed, some buildings are open for private prayer, and others for services. The church is more than the building and there are Christians everywhere making a difference at this time.

The A Rocha UK Eco Church Scheme has been adopted by a number of churches in Horsham Churches Together and we are delighted to have churches who have achieved the Bronze and Silver Awards, and are now going for the Gold Award. The actions and achievements impact on the churches and congregations, the wider communities they serve, and God’s planet. The slides from Karen’s presentation are attached and we would be very happy to answer any further questions – just email admin@horshamct.org.uk. Read more

Planning environmentally friendly celebrations

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On Saturday 4th July the Horsham Climate Cafe session focused on life celebrations, and how to make them more pocket and planet-friendly. Christenings, weddings, anniversaries and funerals needn’t cost the Earth, in more than one way! Presented by Jeanie Francis, a Billingshurst-based OneSpirit Interfaith minister/celebrant who over the last 25 years has developed a passion for creating personal, environmentally friendly special occasions that celebrate milestones in life.

Whether you are planning a celebration of new life or loosing a loved one, with a little thinking ‘out-side the box’ (excuse the pun) a personal and unique occasion, honouring a specific religion, mixed religion or no religion can be planned.

This is what one couple said recently about their son’s baby naming ceremony: “With a deep love of nature but with no particular religious faith we felt unsure how to celebrate the arrival of our son, Adam. With Jean’s imaginative guidance we created a beautiful ceremony which took place in our cottage garden beneath the willow tree. Everyone wrote wishes for Adam on cotton flags and tied them to the willow tree. Jean suggested we ask special friends to be guardians to Adam for Male Youth, Wisdom, Creativity and Spirituality. A day full of truly wonderful memories thank you Jean”. Read more

Safer cycling, healthier people, less air pollution & less C02

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Our Horsham Future Forum talk on Tuesday 30th June was presented by Peter Silburn the Secretary of the Horsham District Cycling Forum (HDCF). He shared the HDCF’s ideas for changes to create safer walking and cycling in Horsham town, including their future vision for a low traffic neighbourhood. You can watch Peter’s presentation below.
How can you help?
Write to the councillors below showing your support for improving the road networks to provide safer walking and cycling in the town or indeed in your own area if you do not live in Horsham. If campaigning for your village or town forward your letter to the relevant councillors.  If writing about Horsham please focus on the Albion Way cycle lane and any personal requests you might have, sending it to the councillors below. HDCF have provided some pointers to include:

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recyling drop off

Parishes and Schools Keep Joining in on Our Single-Use Recycling Scheme

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In partnership with TerraCycle, a global leader in recycling hard-to-recycle materials, Sussex Green Living is now working with over twelve parishes and schools to divert billions of waste resources from landfills.

Why is Recycling Single-Use Plastic Important?

Plastics are extremely durable and cheap to manufacture, making them almost impossible to overlook for manufacturers when it comes to product design and packaging. But their durability comes at the cost of slow degradation rates in the wild; upwards of 300 to 1000 years.

With about 380 tonnes of it being produced every year, by the time the plastic we have disposed of today begins to degrade the quantity in landfills, oceans and everywhere else will have become totally unmanageable. That is, unless, we can turn the tides.

Bisphenol A has been observed to disrupt physiological levels of sex hormones, negatively affect thyroid hormone gene expression in humans, and cause other detrimental effects. In marine life, issues with plastic entanglement and ingestion have been observed at a broad scale.

The Differences in Plastic Recycling Types

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E.Y.E.’s 1st Virtual EYE Eco-Summit

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*** UNDER A WEEK TO GO…***

…to the online launch of E.Y.E.’s 1st Virtual EYE Eco-Summit, on the 2nd July at 10:00.

The social distancing has led to the postponement of the 13th Worthing and Adur Eco-Summit gathering. I know that your participation in the event was booked into your calendar, and that you might take an interest in our virtual event. As always we look forward to your involvement and support with our future events.

EYE have taken the initiative to collate and post a selection of workshops, to keep our keen eco-learners busy. Kindly provided by some of our supporters who were able to do so, in these challenging times we currently find ourselves in.

The 1st Virtual EYE Eco-Summit will be available via YouTube. Read more