Reducing food waste is a major issue for climate change.   If we all stop wasting food that could have been eaten, the CO2 impact would be the equivalent of taking 1 in 4 cars off the road.

The next Akashi Project event explores how we can cut down on food waste.  Bev Sedley, Trustee of  Cambridge Carbon Footprint, will set the scene with a short presentation.  This will be followed by activities in small groups to get us thinking about what we can do to make a difference.

As always, we will complete the afternoon with home made refreshments and a chance to mingle.

• Sunday 20th March, 2.30 – 5.30 pm
• Abbey Meadows Primary School, Galfrid Road, Cambridge CB5 8ND

All welcome.  It’s really useful to have an idea of numbers so if you think you’ll come please let us know by calling 01223 971353 or emailing info@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org.  If you don’t get round to contacting us, then feel free to turn up anyway.

Thanks to Faiths in Action for funding for this event.

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We are committed to making our events as accessible as possible.  This venue is wheelchair accessible and there is plenty of car parking close by.  Please contact info@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org and ask if there is any way we can help with accessibility needs, eg large print hand outs, hearing loop.

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Directions:

By bus from Cambridge City Centre:  Take the 2 pm Citi 3 from the S3 stop on St Andrews St, and get off outside 22 Rawlyns Road.  It’s a 4 minute walk from there.  (Ask the bus driver which direction).

By bike or car, Galfrid Road is about 2 miles from the city centre.  Follow  the Newmarket Road, take the second right after the Football Club into Whitehill Road (as you would for the Abbey Swimming Pool), and continue along Whitehill Road until the end where you turn left into Galfrid Road.  There is plenty of parking.

We’ll have signs up at the school to direct you to the Community Room.

As always, we will complete the afternoon with delicious refreshments and a chance to mingle.

• Sunday 6th February, 2.30 – 5.30 pm
• Abbey Meadows Primary School, Galfrid Road, Cambridge CB5 8ND

All welcome.  For further information and to book please call Siobhan on 0753 1627188 or email siobhan@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org.

Thanks to Faiths in Action for funding for this event.

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We are committed to making our events as accessible as possible.  This venue is wheelchair accessible and there is plenty of car parking close by.  Please contact Siobhan@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org and ask if there is any way we can help with accessibility needs, eg large print hand outs, hearing loop.

Fair trade?  Organic?  Local?  Tescos?

• What should we eat?
• What do our faiths say?
• What’s low carbon and healthy?

Come together in Inter Faith Week to share ideas, recipes and delicious food

Sunday 28th November 2010, 3 – 5.30 pm

Abbey Meadows Primary School, Galfrid Road, Cambridge CB5 8ND

All welcome.  Please book a place as space is limited.  Call 01223 971353 or email info@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org

We are grateful to Faiths in Action and  Abcam for funding this event

Best wishes
Christina
Arts & Entertainments
Cambridge City Council

The festival brings the current phase of the Akashi Project to an end.  But if you’d like to get involved in other Cambridge Carbon Footprint projects, then do contact us via our website,  www.cambridgecarbonfootprint.org.

Doors open at 1.30 pm

Full Programme Details

How to get there

A fantastic afternoon is taking shape, thanks to the hard work of our dedicated team of volunteers.  Highlights include:

• Keynote speech by Ashok Sinha, Director of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition
• Dance performances from African and Indian communities
• Sacred song, dance and poetry from Mem and friends of the Sufi tradition
• Singing workshop led by Arthasiddhi of  Cambridge Buddhist Centre
• Bollywood dance workshop, led by Shilpa Shah, Co-founder of the Akashi Project
• Faiths Panel in discussion about faiths and climate change, chaired by Jenny Kartupelis, Director of the East of England Faiths Council
• Workshop on greening your church or faith meeting place, led by David Chandler and Hilary Marlow of A Rocha.
• For the sceptics (!), Climate Change:  is it really happening?  talk by Dr Stephen Peake of the Judge Business School
• Children’s activities
• Hula hooping
• Henna painting
• Films:  Hanging Gardens of Arabia, and Sisters on the Planet
• Delicious food on sale
• Freebies
• Lots of engaging activities on how to go low carbon!

Take a look at the programme to see how it all fits together here.

Festival Poster as pdf file

Getting to Festival

The college is on the local bus route and is in walking distance from the railway station. Cambridge citi 1 buses run every 15 minutes and citi 7 buses run every 30 minutes both stopping at Hills Road Sixth Form College from the city centre and Cambridge train station.

The Babraham Road Park & Ride service stops directly outside the College and operates on Sundays.

Please contact www.stagecoachbus.com or traveline (0870 608 2608) if you require further details of local bus services.

The College is subject to parking restrictions on site. You are therefore encouraged to arrive on foot, bicycle or bus.

If driving, festival visitors are encouraged to use the multi-storey car park, conveniently located on Clifton Road. The car park is a short walking distance from the College.

Purbeck Road is a private, non-through road. This road is the  access route for fire appliances and other emergency vehicles supporting the  College, local businesses and residents. A company operates a wheel clamping service along this road to  ensure that the double yellow lines are adhered to. A non-refundable £90 release charge applies if a vehicle is clamped.

Anil Soni giving a reading from the Hindu faith

People of different faiths came together on Saturday, at the end of the first national Inter Faith week, to discuss climate change and how faith gives strength to deal with the challenges it presents.

The gathering, organised by the Akashi Project, was in the Community Room at Abbey Meadows Primary School. It was attended by around 50 people from at least six different faiths. The programme included readings and statements from Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism, and short talks on Climate Change from Prafulla Soni, and on the Role of Faith Groups from Ellis Weinburger, Co-chair of the East of England Faiths Council, followed by discussion in small mixed faith groups.

Participants at the faiths event

Afterwards, everyone enjoyed refreshments kindly prepared by volunteers from different faith groups. The mood was very positive and enthusiastic, with one participant commenting, “Something very special and magical seems to happen in this sort of gathering.”

The meeting was part of the lead up to the Many Voices, One World Festival, which will be held in Hills Road Sixth Form College on 21st March 2010.

Talking about what we can do to help

Members of Cambridge’s Hindu community got together recently  to discuss climate change and action which groups and individuals can take which make a difference.

Organiser of the meeting, Tina Shah, said, “I want my grandchildren to enjoy a stable climate, much as I have been able to.  Climate change threatens that, and it’s up to us all to do what we can to tackle it.”

Shilpa

Shilpa Shah, the first co-ordinator and originator of the Akashi Project, has won the Sheila McKechnie Foundation Environment Award, which highlights campaigners working to provide sustainable solutions to the environmental problems we face locally and globally.

In an interview after receiving the award, Shilpa said, “Climate change is affecting, and is going to affect absolutely everyone, and at the moment, the voices that are being heard in the environmental movement are from a narrow sector of the community.  We need to be more inclusive, and more accessible and make sure everyone’s voices are heard.”

The award includes a development package  to equip award winners with the skills they need to make a greater impact and achieve real change.  More information about the award, including a video clip of Shilpa, can be accessed here.

Playing the Food Game on the Carbon Conversations course

Carbon Conversations courses are being run in three faith-based groups in Cambridge this autumn.  Each course consists of six friendly practical meetings to help participants halve their carbon footprints, and includes games, discussions and practical information.

Around 40 of these courses have been run in and around Cambridge over the past three years, helping around 350 people reduce their contribution to climate change.

The course includes discussion of ‘why we bother’ acting on climate change, and the faith based groups are building on this element by including discussion of faith teachings on the environment.   St Marks church, Newnham, Castle St Methodist church and the Buddhist Centre are all hosting courses this autumn.

If you are part of a faith group, and are interested in running a Carbon Conversations course, then do get in touch.