Job(s) Alert: Press & Publicity Worker and Finance Worker Kindling Trust #Manchester

Posted on April 9, 2013 by manchesterclimatemonthly

From Kindling Trust website

We are recruiting. Fancy joining us as a Press & Publicity Worker or Finance Worker?

We are looking for people to fill two part-time employment opportunities here at Kindling and join our little team.

Do you have a passion for social justice, sustainability, co-operation and enterprising ways of working?

Do you want to help raise our profile as part of our work to encourage people to live in more ecologically and socially responsible ways? Or use your knowledge and experience of financial systems to support us to become more efficient in our work on these issues?

If so and you think you’ve got the skills and experience to be either our Press & Publicity Worker or our Finance Worker, then please consider working with us.

We are seeking a Press and Publicity Worker because we lack the time and experience to get our message and ideas ‘out there’, to bring people on board and encourage others to do the same elsewhere.

And we are recruiting a person to become our Finance Worker who has greater experience of financial systems and budgeting to help us become more efficient in this area of our work.

We are therefore looking for ambitious and motivated people to join Kindling on a part-time basis, working  the equivalent of 7.5 hours per week  (ways of working these hours to be discussed).

The work will start in June and is a 3-year contract.
The salary is £3,120 (gross) per annum (£15, 600 pro rata).
To Apply:
For a job description, person specification and application form email mail@kindling.org.uk and title the email: Publicity Worker Opportunity or Finance Worker Opportunity

Once completed, email us your application form, detailing how your experience meets the requirements of this post (related to the points set out in the person specification) by 12 noon on Thursday 2nd May.

Interviews will take place on Friday the 10th May.
The start date is as soon as possible after appointment and the end of June at the latest.
This post & the development of The kindling Trust is supported by The Tudor Trust.

Posted in Job Alert | Tagged | Leave a comment

#Manchester and Earth Hour? City Council does its bit

Posted on April 9, 2013 by manchesterclimatemonthly

No matter what the subject, one of our regular commenters (hi Patrick!) is likely to chip in with a comment about the wasted energy from lights being left on in big buildings in the city centre. He will not doubt be relieved that for one (hour of one) night at least, the lights were out.

earthhourmccSpotting a gap in the City Council’s twitter feed on the subject of Earth Hour, and peckish for some gratuitous Council-bashing, we asked the press team for a statement. For once we’ve been thwarted – here’s what we got;

A Manchester City Council spokesperson said: “The city council recognises the importance and significance of global events such as Earth Hour in raising awareness about climate change and encouraging organisations and individuals to act. The city council therefore eagerly participated in Earth Hour 2013 with a particular focus on ensuring maximum participation at the Town Hall (as a landmark building), but also with the involvement of buildings and staff throughout the estate.”

Our activities can be summarised as follows: A briefing note endorsed by the Executive Member for the Environment and the Deputy Chief Executive (Neighbourhoods) was circulated to all building managers advising them of the campaign and asking them to join in. Additional arrangements were also made at the Town Hall with facilities management staff to ensure all non-essential lighting was switched off between 8.30 and 9.30pm, as a minimum. An email bulletin was sent out to all Council employees advising them to ensure that, as per normal working practices, they switched off all lights and equipment. And finally a press release was circulated and published online. http://www.manchester.gov.uk/news/article/6572/climate_change-no_likey_no_lighty

The Council’s participation was registered with WWF who acknowledged our support.

Could they have done more? Yes, but couldn’t everyone… 266 people out of 400,000 or so… oh my.

266people

Posted in Energy, Manchester City Council | 1 Comment

#Manchester City Council; #carbon budgets to continue #climate

Posted on April 8, 2013 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Manchester City Council has recently abolished the post of “Director of Environmental Strategy” (another casualty of the Central Government cuts). Given that this person was responsible for producing the “Annual Carbon Budgets” of the City Council, we asked Team Grayskull’s press-people a couple of questions…

MCFly sent:
a) The presentation of the outcome of the Annual Carbon Budget for 2012/13 that is due to go to Neighbourhoods Scrutiny and then on to Executive in July; who is responsible for producing that and presenting it?
b) Who has responsibility for producing the 2013/4 Annual Carbon Budget.

Despite its woeful lack of punctuation, MCFly got:
A Manchester City Council spokesperson, said: “The Council will be maintaining its commitment to carbon budgeting and the production of an Annual Carbon Reduction Plan in 2013/14. Councillor Nigel Murphy remains the Executive Member with executive responsibility.  Co-ordination of this work will continue to be a responsibility of the Environmental Strategy service in 2013/14. Plans to integrate this service with the Council’s City Policy team will be progressed early in the financial year.”

MCFly says:
Manchester City Council has aimed for a 10 per cent reduction in its emissions in both its first two budgets, and fell short on both occasions. It has aimed again for 2012/13.
Let’s hope that, unlike last year, the report on 2012/3, and the budget for 13/14, is ready for Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Committee to do its scrutinising in July rather than September…

Posted in Manchester City Council | Tagged , | Leave a comment

#Manchester #climate nuggets April 8th 2013

Posted on April 8, 2013 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Hi all,

we hope you can make it along to “Exchange for Change” on Saturday 27th April from 1pm to 5pm.  It’s an opportunity to share your skills and knowledge, meet other people who want to make Manchester a greener and fairer place, and perhaps get involved in some other projects!  It’s free (we will be asking for donations).

More to follow…

Also, we have got the details of our short story contest all sorted.  Two thousand words (in English) on the subject “Manchester (UK) in a warmer world.”

 

Arwa Aburawa and Marc Hudson

Coming up this week

Tues 9th, 6.45pm to 9pm Manchester Friends of the Earth Full Group Meeting, Greenfish Resource Centre, Oldham St. http://manchesterfoe.org.uk/

Stories you may have missed on the MCFly website

Things to read/watch while the algae grows on your fur

Great video on why we don’t panic more about climate change!

Posted in Weekly bulletins | Leave a comment

Upcoming Event: “Ecohome lab”, #Manchester launch Fri April 19th

Posted on April 7, 2013 by manchesterclimatemonthly

from carbon.coop

Ecohome lab – launch workshop, build day & first meet up

OpenEnergyMonitor

Carbon Co-op have been working with OpenEnergyMonitors to develop tools to help our members take greater control of their homes.

We’ve now set up Ecohome Labs, a project to further develop, test and experiment with these and similar technologies. If you’re interested in getting involved in the project, you may want to attend one of the upcoming events:

all at MadLab, 36-40 Edge Street, Manchester, M4 1HN
– come and get your geek on
ECOHOME LAB
——————–
Ecohome Lab is a monthly hangout for people taking control of their home energy use and generation. We use open-source hardware and software to enable a better understanding our homes and how they work. Making best use of the energy we generate whilst reducing waste.

Register for the group here: http://www.meetup.com/Eco-Home-Lab-Manchester/

Each session will consist of an open drop-in to troubleshoot and develop, combined with a more structured element for presentations and learning opportunities. Need a monitor? Click here.

LAUNCH/INTRO EVENT
——————–

6-9pm Friday 19th April 2013

Heard about Arduino, Rasperyy Pi or OpenEnergyMonitors and want to know more? We’ve scheduled an event which is part workshop, part introduction to the field and part social.

If you’re just curious about the potential of this technology come along at 8pm. If you want to get hands-on come along at 6pm for the practical elements. If you’re new to this area and want to participate in other elements of the project attendance from 6pm is pretty much essential!

Followed by a social in Common Bar…

Click here to view the agenda and attend: http://meetu.ps/Sy6jg

BUILD DAY
——————–
10am-6pm, Saturday 20th April

To get involved in Ecohome Labs meet ups it is highly recommended you have an OpenEnergyMonitor. These monitors need to be built and programmed and for those who need one we’ll be running a special, supervised build session. NB based on previous experience space will be limited and demand high so book early!

No experience of soldering is required but the day will be focused and intensive and people new to this are advised to attend the launch event the night before.

There are three options to get hold of the kit:

1. Build one to keep. Carbon Co-op can supply OpenEnergyMonitor at a discounted price of £100 for members. Not a member? Click here to join.

2. Buy one direct from OpenEnergyMonitor, approx price £200, all the kit you need is listed here: http://carbon.coop/blog/matt/build-your-own-home-monitoring-system

3. Carbon Co-op will supply you with the kit but once assembled it will be used by other Carbon Co-op members as part of other ongoing projects.

To book click here: http://meetu.ps/Sy6C2
…indicating which option you wish to pursue to obtain the kit.

If there is sufficient demand we’ll consider running more build days in future.

APRIL’S SESSION
——————–
6pm, Thursday 25th April

We are focusing on home energy and environment monitoring using Arduino hardware from the brilliant OpenEnergyMonitor project. Our first monthly session will be a skill share for troubleshooting issues, creating a better dashboard for your home and adding more sensors to monitor more stuff.

Register for the event here: http://meetu.ps/Sy7gs

FUTURE SESSIONS
——————–
Each month we’ll expand on our understanding and starting to integrate the monitors in to different areas of Carbon Co-op’s development.

Topics will include:

  • Yaye, more sensors! – air quality, ventilation flows, dew point
  • User interfaces – your smart home on your smart phone
  • Gas meter bounties – monitoring the un-monitorable
  • Integrating Open Data sources
  • Taking the power back! – Making better use of the surplus power we generate.
  • Zoning and home automation: “Monitors have only interpreted the home in various ways, the point is to change it.”

WHO’S IT FOR?
——————–

  • Anyone using OpenEnergyMonitor kit: come and get help making it work better for you or share your knowledge and shiny dashboard goodness.
  • Anyone with skills in physical electronics, web development, interface design or programming who wants to use that knowledge to avert this whole climate apocalypse thing.
  • Anyone! There will be open space for small groups to focus on adding new sensors or hacking the user interface, there will always be a ‘newbies’ group for people interested in finding out more.

Come join the energy geek revolution. We have biscuits…

——————–

Sign up here: http://www.meetup.com/Eco-Home-Lab-Manchester

Tweet us here: @ecohome_lab

A project of Carbon Co-op

Supported by Catalyst, a research project based at Lancaster University and funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Posted in Energy, Upcoming Events | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Upcoming event: “Bee Cause” training with #Manchester FoE Weds 17 April

Posted on April 7, 2013 by manchesterclimatemonthly

It will be interesting to see how our species feeds itself when the insects that currently pollinate our crops give up the ghost.  Just sayin’.

From the Manchester Friends of the Earth website; Join us for a Bee Cause training evening with Sandra Bell, Campaigner from national Friends of the Earth Bees team for an Bee Cause training evening in Manchester on Wednesday 17th April.

Bee Dazzle your MP 400Manchester Friends of the Earth are kindly hosting us at the Green Fish Resource Centre, 46-50 Oldham St, Manchester, M4 1LE, 15 mins walk from Manchester Piccadilly station.

There’ll also be an excellent selection of bee-pollinated fruit and biscuits.

During the training event we’ll be covering:

  • the latest research on the causes of bees declining
  • campaign aims; progress in Parliament and details of which MPs have supported the Bee Cause statement (or you can check on your MP here www.foe.co.uk/beesmps)
  • what worked well last year and a chance to share ideas/plans for 2013 with other groups
  • practical steps to getting your MP to support the campaign
  • communicating key messages to the public & your MP
  • creative ways of inspiring & involving people in your local area
  • questions from you

A new action pack is now available for this year’s bee campaign which you’ll hopefully have received in the post if your group is signed up to the campaign, and can also be found online at http://tinyurl.com/cgw8hbn

It’d be great if you could pass this on to anyone else in your local group or networks you think might be interested, too.

Please RSVP to Rachel if you’d like to come along.  Email:  rachel.hubbard@foe.co.uk

PS. If you can’t come along on the 17th but would like some campaign advice, do get in touch and I’ll see what I can do

Posted in Biodiversity, Upcoming Events | Leave a comment

#Manchester EveNews #climate reporting #virgin on ridiculous. Same story, consecutive days #pressrelease #churnalism

Posted on April 6, 2013 by manchesterclimatemonthly

All the way back in 2006 manchestereveningnewseditorial3Manchester Evening News thundered in an editorial that “Going green must be our top priority.”

Their main contribution appears to be recycling.  Sadly, that effort is the recycling of … press releases.  Ahead of “Earth Hour” they printed the same story twice.

Earlier this week they ran  two puff pieces on consecutive days about Virgin starting new services for people who want to fly to London instead of taking the bleeding train.  Scroll down for the full horror…

littleredmen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did either story contain any mention of the carbon footprint impact? Or a react quote from Tyndall Centre, or Friends of the Earth? Er, no.

“Top priority.”  Yes, of course.

Marc Hudson, in full self-righteous mode
mcmonthly@gmail.com

PS The journos in question are not bad people.  They are just being forced by economic circumstances to engage in churnalism.

Posted in Aviation, humour | Tagged | Leave a comment

Repair Cafe for #Manchester – help needed

Posted on April 6, 2013 by manchesterclimatemonthly

This, from James Harries, landed in our inbox. There is, inevitably, a facebook group.

Pick up a screwdriver and help end our throwaway society!

Fed up with our throw-away society? Want to help the transition to a more sustainable economy? Enjoy taking things apart and putting things back together again? I am looking for like-minded people in Manchester to set up a group that gets together for evenings of fun, chat and repairs!
We will have a go at taking apart and putting back together mobile phones, cameras, printers, irons…anything you can think of. Through this we can learn about how things are designed, come up with ideas on how to improve product recycling and reuse and, who knows, maybe even bring a few old products back to life!

At this stage I am just looking to gauge the level of interest, so please do email if you’d like to get involved. No prior expertise or knowledge needed, although I am keen to find one or two people with a good technical knowledge of electronics and repairs. Once we get enough people together we can look to set something up. I have already been in touch with the Restart Project in London (http://therestartproject.org/) who are keen to help.

If you are interested, or want more information, email James Harries at jharries17@gmail.com

Posted in recycling, volunteer opportunity | Tagged | 1 Comment

Ecocide Webinar on Tuesday 9th April

Posted on April 5, 2013 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Do you want to learn more about ecocide and how to speak about ecocide?

ending ecocide
Polly Higgins, the international lawyer who proposed ecocide to become a crime, will give an online webinar to explain the idea and answer your questions.

In order to attend the webinar, you will have to go to the following link: http://earthcharter.wiziq.com/online-class/1154504-ecocide-earth-charter-webinar

And you must have working loudspeakers and microphone (to ask questions) and a good internet connection.

If you want to participate, please send an e-mail to Ramón (ramon@endecocide.eu) to sign up.

Also, we would like to remind you that we have made a form to fill in of you would like to help us volunteering.

And there is also an open call for international translators coordinators.
http://goo.gl/zrV2E

For any extra information about anything, you can ask me at ramon@endecocide.eu

Posted in Upcoming Events | 2 Comments

Upcoming Event: “Exchange for Change” – skillshare,networking, pitching projects to potential volunteers #Manchester April 27

Posted on April 5, 2013 by manchesterclimatemonthly

exchangeforchangelogosmallThere is an eventbrite for this. If you want to come, please fill it in!

How do we develop our skills, share our skills with others and enable our groups and our community to grow and achieve the positive changes we want?
“Community Activist Skills and Knowledge, from Novice to Ninja” is one way

This event will surprise and inspire. We want it to be the beginning of a more confident community activism in and around Manchester as we network the amazing range of skills and knowledge we have collectively.

You are invited to attend!
Rough outline of the day (subject to, well, change)

Welcomes, ground rules etc at 1pm

We will start by getting everyone to write down on two bits of paper one skill/bit of knowledge they have, and one that they would like. People can – if they choose – walk around the room holding these up.We will then collate these and use them to run “novice lines”

We start with some identifying of who is in the room, based on what people do (retired, unemployed, student, full-time employment, part-time employment etc), what subjects they are passionate about (e.g. what they campaign on or would like to), where they live, where they grew up.

There will then be structured mingling and “warm-up” in small groups (of no more than five) people. What are people hoping to get from the day? What is the main thing they want NOT to happen. These will get written down on sheets of paper and collected.  We will make sure that we do everything we can to avoid the stuff people don’t want.

We will then (re)introduce the Activist Skills and Knowledge scheme (askfortheworld.net) and run some “novice lines” about what skills there are in the room and what skills people would like

We will then have a break of about 15 minutes (probably longer)

There will be flipchart posters up for people to add “details of upcoming events”, “groups that people should know about”, “people who should be in the room but are not” and blank ones for people to ask the room other questions

We will then come back and have mini-workshops about the most popular topics, with experts and ninjas leading small groups of no more than 5 or 6 people. Perhaps doing a “practical” task, perhaps just a general discussion – it depends on what topics are popular.

We will then find out what questions/concerns/suggestions people have about Activist Skills and Knowledge before doing the major part of the day –

Jobs fayre/dragon’s den

Projects will have 90 seconds to present what problem it is they are trying to solve, how they are going to do it, what track record (if any) they have, and – crucially – what specific skills and knowledge will be needed, and what skills and knowledge they expect people to gain if they are involved.

(You will not be able to say “We want everyone to do everything” or just make a general advert to “join our group” – it has to be a specific project)

After 90 seconds everyone will start applauding to shut the person up.

We will do batches of three job pitches, and then have time for people to either approach the job advertisers, or else just mingle/chill out.

Closing.

We will bring the formal part of the day to a close no later than 4.30pm  We will hand out anonymous feedback forms (inevitably) with a raffle ticket attached.

We will then draw the raffle.

And then to the pub (drinking of alcohol is NOT compulsory).

Posted in Upcoming Events | Tagged | Leave a comment