December 2012

Mon 3, 7pm Natalie Bennett, Green Party leader, in Manchesterat University of Manchester Students’ Union

Tue 4 Dec, 6.30pm – 7.15pm Manchester FoE Annual General Meeting.
Manchester Friends of the Earth’s annual general meeting will be held on Tuesday the 4th of December, join us to hear the highlights of 2012, vote in officers for 2013 before celebrating in style with a vegetarian meal and drinks. More information to follow, including how to book yourself a place.
6.30pm – 7.15pm for the A.G.M, 7:30pm-onwards meal and drinks,
The Angel Pub, Northern Quarter

Wednesday 5th, 6:15pm, Action for Sustainable Living: Our Legacy, Our Future.  AGM and Christmas Celebration, Platt Chapel, Fallowfield

This is our big, booming annual celebration.  Our Green Seeds project that has so far trained up some 45 Local Project Managers to deliver sustainability projects across South Manchester and supported hundreds if not thousands of people to volunteer is now entering its fourth and final year.

Come along to find out about and reminisce over what Green Seeds has achieved and tell us how you see the future of community action around sustainability in South Manchester. We’ll be starting with our AGM and finishing with mulled wine and a festive AfSL Cellidh.   It’s sure to be an inspiring and fun packed evening.
RSVP here:  http://ourlegacy-ourfuture.eventbrite.co.uk

PROGRAMME:
1.) Arrival, 6.15pm
2.) AGM, 6.30pm
3.) Our Legacy, Our Future Event, 7pm prompt

• Introduction
• Green Seeds in Action:  Inspiring Case Studies
• A few words from our trustees
• Past, Present and Future: Tell your sustainability story, past, present AND future
• Mini craft Xmas present workshops or “meet the descendents” mini workshop (you choose)
• Announcements:  South Manchester Environment Forum renamed winner and announcements
• Sum-up

4.) Ceilldh merriment, buffet snacks and mulled wine

Thursday 6th 5:30pm “Can the free market save the planet?” Council Chambers, University of Manchester Students Union
A joint discussion with Manchester Liberty League and Manchester Young Greens.
How should we best protect the environment?
Does leaving the issue to the market mean that lazy individuals and corporations will simply waste resources and pollute the planet until its too late? Do externalities reflect unequivocal government failure? Do we need firm government action within the economy to ensure the earth’s sustainability?
Or is the problem that we have not enough markets where we need them most? Would assigning property rights to environmental resources be a better way to protect them and optimise our usage? Do governments actually know what industries to fund and protect when ‘going green’, or are entrepreneurs and individuals a much better judge of such a thing?

Here to present the debate Liberty League and the Young Greens are delighted to host John O’Neill and Mark Pennington.
John O’Neill holds a Chair in Political Economy at the University of Manchester. He is currently director of the Political Economy Institute and is on the editorial boards of a number of journals including New Political Economy, The Journal of Applied Philosophy, and Historical Materialism. He has been involved in a number of European projects on environmental policy. He is the author of many books, including ‘Markets, Deliberation and Environment’.

Mark Pennington is a Professor of Public Policy and Political Economy at KCL. His work emphasizes the implications of bounded rationality and imperfect knowledge for institutional design. He has written widely on the political economy of environmental planning and regulation, and explores the potential for property rights approaches to environmental problems.He has recently published ‘Robust Political Economy: Classical Liberalism and the Future of Public Policy’

Come join us for what is certain to be a fascinating and heated discussion!

Friday 7th, 6.00pm  MERCi AGM and the big debate…
At Bridge 5 Mill, 22a Beswick Street, Ancoats, Manchester, M4 7HR

Ethical Fundraising – luxury or necessity?
In these uncertain times when funding is scarce is it OK to ditch ethics in order to survive?

MERCi Festive Fair 10-6pm
Big Debate – Ethical Fundraising  – luxury or necessity? 6-7pm
led by Gudrun Cartwright and Eric Woodcock and Sasirekha Palaniswamy and Mike Franks. An interactive and lively debate.
MERCi AGM 7.00pm
Welcome: Neil Corney Chair, Minutes 2011, Highlights of the year and where next for the future,
Accounts, Appointment of Accountants,Trustees.

We are actively seeking more Trustees – if you would like to help change the world then please look at our Trustee advert attached.

Saturday 8th 11:00 am: Manchester Land Grabbing Café Nero next to Piccadilly Gardens
How would you feel if your favourite landmark was up for eviction? How about your home? What if it was taken away with just 5 minutes notice, forcing you to leave forever?
Hey all, we’re looking for anyone with a bit of Christmas cheer and an interest in Oxfam to come along next Saturday!
We are going to be ‘land grabbing’ Manchester in an attempt to raise awareness of the consequences of land eviction, and how this is affecting more and more people in developing countries. To learn more about the campaign:
http://www.oxfam.org/en/grow/issues/land-grabs and
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/get-involved/campaign-with-us/find-an-action/land-freeze.

We will go out in groups posting up ‘eviction’ notice placards on Manchester landmarks, taking tons of pictures, as well as collecting petition signatures all the while learning more about the campaign.
With lots of fabulous festivity going on in the city, this should be a great day and a really effective way of raising awareness and highlight the effects of land grabbing.
We are going to meet outside the Café Nero next to Piccadilly Gardens at 11:00 am, before we split into groups and target different areas of Manchester.
We will be ready and armed with placards, petition sheets, campaign leaflets, props and more – everything we need to Land Grab Manchester!
If you have cell phones or cameras, please bring these along so that we can document the day! Bring your friends along too and we’ll take photos of our favourite Manchester landmarks up for eviction. So wrap up warm, bring your cameras and get ready to Land Grab!

Nicola Sansom
Activism and Community Campaigner (North of England)

Monday 10 December from 6.30pm BOWL on for Didsbury Dinners
Sponsored Bowlathon, Hang on to your seats. Didsbury Dinners is pleased to announced its first ever sponsored event. We’re looking to recruit a team of 24 tenpin bowlers who’ll help to raise £2,000 for the project.
Registration costs just £10, and buys you:
* TWO games of tenpin bowling (RRP £6.99 per game)
* FREE refreshments
* PRIZES, including most stylish bowler and wooden spoon for whoever comes last (someone has to…)

Tues 11th, 7.30pm Screening of new documentary “97% Owned” followed by a discussion.

97% Owned is a new documentary that reveals how money is at the root of our current social and economic crisis. Featuring frank interviews and commentary from economists, campaigners and former bankers, it exposes the privatised, debt-based monetary system that gives banks the power to create money, shape the economy, cause crises and push house prices out of reach. Fact-based and clearly explained, in just 60 minutes it shows how the power to create money is the piece of the puzzle that economists were missing when they failed to predict the crisis.

Produced by Queuepolitely and featuring Ben Dyson of Positive Money, Josh Ryan-Collins of The New Economics Foundation, Ann Pettifor, the “HBOS Whistleblower” Paul Moore, Simon Dixon of Bank to the Future and Nick Dearden from the Jubliee Debt Campaign, this is the first documentary to tackle this issue from a UK-perspective, and can be watched online now.

Venue: KRAAK – located on Stevenson Place (just off Lever Street) the alleyway opposite the Bakery. 11 Stevenson Square, Manchester M1 1DB

Organised by: Manchester Film Cooperative

Admission: ’£3 waged, £2 unwaged/student’ to cover room hire

If you care about social justice and economic stability come along to this FREE screening of 97% Owned and join in a discussion afterwards.

This meetup is for everyone interested in how money system works and how it could be changed to be constructive and socially beneficial. Come and feel free to invite your friends who might be interested too. Everyone is welcome!

RSVP HERE

Tue 11 Dec: MFOE full group meeting, Green Fish

Our monthly full group meeting is the ideal time to come along if you’re new to the group or want to find out more about our campaigning.

This month we will be focusing on learning more about our campaigns and planning activity for next year. So if you’re interested in climate, energy, food, transport or bees this is the meeting for you! We will provide an introduction to the various campaigns and then split into sub groups to work on and plan the different campaigns that we will run into next year.

When: 6.45pm for 7pm – 9pm, Tuesday 11 December

Weds 12th, 5.30pm to 7pm Steady State Manchester December social, At the Eighth Day Cafe, Oxford Rd (followed by the Sandbar!)

Thurs 13th, 12pm – 6pm Open Source Energy Monitor build day at MadLab

Thurs 13th, 5.30pm to 8.30pm North West Sustainable Business Quarterly, with Alan King and Mike Berners-Lee. In the Bruntwood “City Tower” (overlooking Piccadilly Gardens. Booking essential). Organised by M4C

Thu 13th, 6.30 to 8.30pm : Friends of the Earth Bike Fabulous evening, Keep Pedalling

“The Bike Fabulous team (part of the group’s Cycle campaign subgroup) are hosting a Christmas social with the lovely people of Keep Pedalling and everyone is invited to join them for drinks, Christmas nibbles and an opportunity to purchase cycle-related presents.To RSVP and for more info, email bikefabulous@gmail.com Where: Keep Pedalling Bike shop, Hilton Street, M1 1EL”

Thursday 13th, 6pm Carbon Co-op X-mas social
Common Bar, 39 Edge Street Manchester, Greater Manchester M4 1HW
Following our Open Source Energy Monitor workshop we’ll be holding a social at Common Bar, Northern Quarter, Manchester City Centre.
It will be very informal, a chance to meet others, update on the progress of Carbon Co-op over the past year and see some of the results of our energy monitor workshop.
Let us know if you’re coming via email info@carbon.coop, Twitter @carboncoop or Facebook

Saturday 15th, 3-5pm Interested in Social Change? Would you like to meet with others in Manchester of similar mind? Come and share thoughts and make friends at Manchester’s first WiserLocal gathering! This will be a chance for people in the West Yorkshire area to connect with like-minded people, discuss what issues and topics are important and relevant to their lives, and create a community wherein collaborative changes can happen. This will be an introductory meeting to learn more about the Wiser.org community and to get to know one another. Children welcome.

Where: The People’s History Museum Cafe, Manchester

For more information, please connect with organizer Anna Harris through Wiser.org, send an email to anna@shsh.co.uk or you can reach her at 07954345550.

Wed 19 Dec: MFOE Website Training & Christmas Drink, Green Fish

Since Manchester FoE re-launched its website last year, we’ve keen to spread skills throughout the group so that all involved in campaigning can make updates to the site. This doesn’t mean getting bogged down in programming, just some simple editing so that you can advertise a FoE event your involved with or put photos up after it’s happened. We’ll be running this intro session starting from 18:30 and then going for a Christmas drink. You are welcome to join us for a drink afterwards if you prefer. No web skills needed, but please let Graeme know if you’re planning to come and if you’d be able to bring a laptop.

Where: Green Fish Resource Centre, 46-50 Oldham St, Manchester M4 1LE

Friday December 21st End of the world. I read about it on the Internet. It must be true.