Hi all,

See you all (marrieds, singles, everyone!) on Tuesday night at the Sandbar for “Carbon Dating” or for chatting and mingling and meeting old friends and new ones…

Please encourage your climate-concerned friends to take out a (free!!) subscription to the blog/newsletter – via our subscribe page.
If they need convincing, here’s a 40 second video explaining the top ten reasons folks should subscribe…
And follow us on twitter (@mcr_climate).

Coming up this week (for details see our online calendar!)
Tue 14th, 10am – 3.30pm Gather to Grow – Free 1 day food growing conference. Trafford College, Talbot Road, Stretford M32 0XH To book a place please call Abigail Pound (Groundwork) on 1060 220 1000 or email msstt@groundwork.org.uk

Tues 14, 6.45 to 9pm Manchester Friends of the Earth Full Group Meeting Monthly full group meeting – open to everyone! Contact Cat at cat@manchesterfoe.org.uk or on 07754 042716 for further details. 46-50 Oldham St, Manchester, M4 1LE, UK

Tues 14 , 8 till late MCFly’s “Carbon Dating” valentine day mingler! If you’re single and you’d like to meet eligible singles, come along to our Valentine’s Day mingler! The Sandbar, Grosvenor St

Sat 18, 1-4pm Urban Edible Gardening Workshop at MERCi
This free workshop will give you an introduction to permaculture principles and ‘urban edible gardening’. Come along and make a design for your own edible space – be it window box, back yard, garden or guerilla gardening plot. Children accompanied by parents welcome.This workshop is run by Jennifer Lauruol of Carpe Diem Garden Design for MERCi’s Eco Hub project. For more info on Jennifer’s work see: http://www.carpe-diem-gardens.co.uk

Sat 18, 1 to 3.45pm – Stories of Climate Justice – Strategies for Change in a changing world This workshop will be facilitated by Southern Voices with Caroline Downey, Executive Director of MERCi (the Manchester Environmental Resource Centre initiative) and Councillor Rabnawaz Akbar.
* Exploring the impact of climate change
* Sharing experiences and success stories
* An opportunity to influence Manchester’s climate change action plan
This will be an interactive and participative workshop.
Venue: MERCi building, Bridge 5 Mill, 22a Beswick Street, Ancoats, Manchester. M4 7HR.

Sat 18, 12 to 5pm Netroots North West at University of Manchester, £5 “We’re getting together 100 activists and campaigners from across the North West and beyond, for an afternoon of shared learning, ideas and debates.”
At Manchester University, 12 noon to 5pm. Tickets (strictly limited) are £5, or free to unwaged/student participants.

Sun 19th, 10 to 2pm, Levenshulme community orchard project is holding a work session at the Crayfield Road entrance to the Loop in Levenshulme The major part of this session is to tidy up the area of the old Levenshulme station site and adjoining bits of the Loop towards Errwood Road and the Highfield Park lattice bridge.

MCFly stories you may have missed
Council to sign off on more regeneration in West Gorton
“Animal Farm” and Climate Change
Job Advert for Environmental Planner (closes Feb 24)
Event: Planning for a Low Carbon Future, 8th March

Lessons we like to believe we’ve learnt this week
Everything takes longer than you think.
If a task is big and/or threatening, you WILL procrastinate.

Jobs that need doing!
Could someone trawl twitter for groups MCFly could follow?
Could someone audit MCFly to see how much we are writing about people who don’t happen to be white males?

Training Opportunities
Open days at Chorlton garden project
Riverbank Market Garden will be open every Saturday morning from 10 AM-1 PM beginning 18 February for local people to get involved in growing fruit and vegetables. The community project is now running a series of free training courses to help local people learn more about growing and cooking their own food. Riverbank will also be giving away free fruit trees, bushes and vegetable plants to local residents. For further information, please contact Amanda Benson, Project Manager on (07989) 198687 or riverbank.amanda@gmail.com

New “Action for Sustainable Living” project

Resources
Religious convictions around climate change
(hat-tip to FoE)

Art Galleries and Climate Change (story from Melbourne)

“Why your audience isn’t participating”

Local and Regional News
Feb 7 Tesco announce they are opening three more stores in Manchester

“Chorlton Refurb” gets 50 grand (Cllr Victor Chamberlain’s site)

What you always suspected about Metrolink…

National News
Two stories via Manchester Friends of the Earth‘s weekly bulletin… (you do not need to be a paid-up FoE member to get these!)

“Ed Davey has got off to a good start in his new job (Report, 3 February) firmly backing an agenda for green growth, jobs and defending wind power…

Carbon emissions rise despite climate change policies (Telegraph)
The latest figures from the Department of Energy and Climate change show emissions rose by more than 3 per cent in 2010, the first increase since 2003…