On Nov 29, Rock House hosted an evening of short, PechaKucha style presentations. These are intended to inform, inspire and even include calls-to-action. Our very own Karen Simnett gave an excellent presentation about the work of Transition Town Hastings and what we have achieved in the last 2 years!
Please share this with anyone you think would be interested.
The East Sussex Pension Fund – which is administered by the County Council – currently has an estimated £172m invested in fossil fuels. In April, Hastings Borough Council – a member of the Pension Fund – passed a unanimous cross-party motion, calling on East Sussex County Council to divest the East Sussex Pension Fund from fossil fuels.
Now members of the East Sussex Pension Fund can use the new web tool (available online at http://tinyurl.com/divesteastsussex) to contact the chair of the East Sussex Pension Committee, Richard Stogdon, and urge the Committee to divest the Fund from fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas).
Hastings Supports Refugees is in the process of mounting a very rapid campaign to try to help the nearly 400 Calais children who already have legal right to be to be brought immediately to the UK. Below are the details of the campaign.
Access the online petition here.
Give refugee children safe passage now.
Children and unaccompanied minors in the Calais jungle are suffering appalling conditions. Many are being abused and have mental health problems. In recent months many have been injured and some killed trying to reach the UK.
The jungle is due to be demolished by 31 October. The children must be brought to safety before then.
Their suffering is needless – they have the legal right to be in the UK.
Your government has already given legal entitlement to nearly 400 young people to come to the uk, and they are therefore now our responsibility. Refusing to welcome them is criminal negligence.
We call on you, Amber Rudd, to take urgent action. Do whatever is in your power to honour the legal ruling now and enable their immediate safe passage to the UK.
The home office has the details of 400 legally entitled children and young people from the Calais camp but has processed only a small number.
They have a legal right to come here. Hastings and Rye say: let them in now.
https://www.facebook.com/hastingssupportsrefugees/
Bohemia Walled Garden have produced the first edition of a Heritage Lottery Funded booklet. You can download it from their website. The final edition will be done during 2017 when the other deliverables have been completed.
They do have a few printed copies available and if you would like one of these, please email via their “Contact us” page.
Geoff Dann (fungi and foraging expert) from Transition Town Hastings features in a short documentary by Sadie Scarlett Smith submitted for her BA in Multimedia Broadcast Journalism final project. See Geoff at 7:12 mins into the film!
Two new low emission cars are now available for residents to hire in central Hastings, as part of a ‘pay-as-you-drive’ car club.
Hastings is the latest car club location to be launched by Co-wheels, the UK’s only independent car club operator, which runs successful car sharing schemes in over 60 locations across the UK. The scheme allows residents to have short term access to vehicles in an affordable and convenient way.
Residents and businesses can join the car club for a one-off fee of £25, which then allows them to quickly book cars online, and unlock them with a smartcard. Keys are kept in the car, and mileage and bookings are tracked with an on-board computer. At the end of the booking time, the car is returned to its bay.
The car club in Hastings has been brought about demand from environmentally-minded residents and community groups who have used car clubs elsewhere, and have campaigned to bring the service to Hastings. The council are not financing the scheme, but have provided two parking bays in Russell Street Car Park, where the cars have permits.
The two Toyota Aygo cars in Hastings can be hired from 30mins up to several days at a time, and are charged at £4.50/hr + 15p mile, which included insurance and fuel. This enables huge savings to be made on the cost of driving compared to car ownership, and studies show that anyone driving less than 6,000 miles per year could save money by switching to using a car club.
Car clubs also help to lower emissions and improve air quality in towns, as well as adding social value by providing access to cars for those unable to afford their own, or who need a second car occasionally.
Richard Falconer, Managing Director at Co-wheels said
“We are delighted to be expanding our service in response to demand from residents in Hastings. The car club will enable a new level of transport flexibility in the town, whilst encouraging people to think differently about car ownership.”
Residents can find out more about the scheme, and claim £10 free driving credit at www.co-wheels.org.uk/hastings
It’s quite hard to get your head around which of our actions create the largest CO2 emissions. Also how much do we need to reduce to keep temperatures from rising by more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels?
Ian Smith’s talk on Household Sustainability at Nico’s Kitchen last Saturday provided some answers. Many thanks to Nico’s Kitchen for hosting.
The talk, which you can download below, encouraged us all to consider our personal contribution to global carbon emissions.
Did you know that travelling on a cruise creates more CO2 than flying in a plane?*
Also, turning your thermostat down by 1°C could save 8-10% on your heating consumption?*
However, we all need to make big changes to our lifestyles to reach the ideal target of 2 tonnes of CO2 a year!
Download Household sustainability presentation file.
*Statistics above and in the presentation come from Carbon Conversations.
We’d really like to hold some Carbon Conversations for local residents. Please get in touch if you are interested in getting involved.
Co-Wheels Hastings is soon to arrive in our town! Check out the website and show your support by signing up.
Co-Wheels is an environmentally sound alternative to car ownership, a Pay-as-you-drive car hire scheme. Hire a car when you need it, and not when you don’t. Low hourly rates and excellent insurance cover.
There was a great turn out on November 26th at the Observer Building to hear Jeremy Leggett talk about the ‘great global energy transition‘.
The donations collected online and on the night raised over £400 for Solar Aid!
Thanks to OST Energy and Energise Sussex Coast for sponsorship, Dublin and Holland for giving the Observer Building for free and doing a great job setting up the event.
Several Transition Town Hastings committee members and supporters took part in the London Climate March on November 29th. A day before the Paris Climate Talks, around 70,000 people came together calling for real action on climate change.