“Enough Waiting” is hosted by the Yorkshire Chapter of CASSE (the Centre for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy). All are welcome to attend!

Following the successful book launch of Enough Is Enough, Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources in January (see here for videos and photos), a series of monthly meetings on the theme of “Enough Waiting” has begun. The next event is on 15th May and you are warmly invited.

Timings:
5.30 – 5.45: Refreshments
5.45 – 6.45: Reading and Discussion Group
6.45 – 7.00: Break
7.00 – 8.00: Action Group

The Reading and Discussion Group will discuss the main ideas that are put forward in Enough Is Enough. The Action Group will consider what actions are required to progress the steady state agenda in our region and beyond.

They are keen to follow people’s interests so that the issues addressed chime with what people feel they need. So go along and contribute.

Their aim at this stage is to ensure a wider understanding of the critical issues around our current addiction to growth and to bring the alternative of a steady state economy into the public domain.

Please register for the event by following this link.

You are welcome to attend either or both events, and there is no charge.

At the first meeting the group agreed to take five actions. See here for more details.

An event to get clued up and skilled up to stop the impending fossil fuelled disaster and create a sustainable future.

INFORMATION****SKILLS****GAMES****ACTION****ALTERNATIVES

Featuring the Fuel Poverty photography exhibition Cold Snap.

The arctic is melting. Hurricanes like Sandy are lashing major cities. People in Leeds are dying in their homes because they can’t afford to pay their gas bills. West Yorkshire towns are seeing their worst floods in decades. Energy companies are showing their highest ever profits. 21 people shut down EDF’s new gas fired power station for a week. It’s snowing in March.

It’s all linked!

As old coal fired power stations are coming to the end of their life around 2015 crucial decisions are being made about our energy future.

Do we build 40 new gas fired power stations, cover the countryside in fracking rigs in a desperate and dangerous bid to get some domestic gas supply and import the rest from Russia and Qatar, like George Osborne is planning?

Do we extend the life of the old dirty coal plants by fitting new kit to make them marginally cleaner, like the Big Six energy companies want?

Or do we take seriously the option of renewable energy, energy efficiency and challenge the system that says we need to constant economic growth and the energy demand that goes with that.

This event will help you think your way through the issues, find people who think like you, get some skills to take action and have fun.

Another world is possible. What are we waiting for?

It will also be a chance to see the fuel poverty exhibition Cold Snap, featuring stories from Leeds and what we can do about ending fuel poverty.

See the facebook event

This new project organised by Co-operative Membership North Region will inform, motivate, educate, and inspire women co-operators to realise their full potential.

The Co-operative North Region Membership is proud to work with Ice and Fire theatre company (www.iceandfire.co.uk) and Conversations with Purpose (www.conversationswithpurpose.com) to develop the next step of The Co-operative Womens Challenge 2020 in the North Region.

This event is the launch of their Widening Opportunities for Women (WOW) programme which will sit at the heart of our drive to make their elected structures representative of the communities that they serve. The mentoring programme will enable elected members in the North Region to provide female members with one to one guidance about becoming more involved with the Co-operative’s democratic structure. It will include a virtual platform with extensive supporting material available to our 20 mentors and 20 mentees.

The launch event will include a theatrical piece, based on the experiences of women in the co-operative movement in addition to workshop sessions.

If you have any questions regarding the event please contact linda.gomila or
Nicola.wylde at co-operative.coop

The event is free but booking is essential. Register at Eventbrite.

Organised by a coalition of local and national anti-fracking, Trade Union and environmental groups including Campaign against Climate Change, REAF, RAFF, FFF, Merseyside Against Fracking, Friends of the Earth & Gtr Manchester Assoc. of Trade Union Councils, Frack Off and many more!

TIMETABLE:
Friday 10th: 5.30pm-11pm (transport at midday from London, see below)
Saturday 11th: 10.30am-11pm – Workshops, music, etc.
Sunday 12th: Protest Action – Assemble at 11am

Programme includes live music, presentations and workshops, film showings, discussions on campaign strategy, children’s entertainment, poetry, protest action and lots more!

Due to the cost of the event there will be a charge of £12 per pitch for camping (includes free admission to the entire event) and day tickets are £2 for adults, £1 for under 18s, £5 for a family.

Campaign against Climate Change are organising a coach from London leaving on Friday 10th (lunch time) and returning to London on Sunday 12th after the march (please check the website for updates).

Want to help? (This will grant you free access to the event and meal vouchers).
They are looking for stewards, first aiders, cooks and artists: please email us now at info@campaigncc.org.

More information to come. In the meantime, join them on facebook and help them promote the event!

The City of Leeds is proud to support and work together with partners in promoting and delivering peace initiatives.

You are invited to an event to present an annual Olof Palme Memorial Peace Lecture. The Lord Mayor of Leeds will start the event with a short welcoming speech.

The event has a long line of esteemed speakers for this lecture, last year Professor Sir Richard Jolly presented the lecture on “Security for People – the real alternative to crisis and war” which was very well attended.

This year, Colin Archer Secretary General of International Peace Bureau will be the guest speaker for 2013 Peace Lecture.

Colin is a long time peace and human rights activist and, among many other things, has worked in Latin America and Caribbean and directed a Third World Centre in Manchester. He is co-founder of the Institute for Law, Peace and Accountability (INLAP) and has been Secretary-General of the International Peace Bureau since 1990. Based in Geneva, the International Peace Bureau is dedicated to the vision of a World Without War. It has 300 member organisations in 70 countries, together with individual members that form a global network, bringing together expertise and campaigning experience in a common cause. Its work was recognised in 1910 when it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and over the years, 13 of its officers have been made Nobel Peace Laureates. Among the annual projects of the Bureau is the Sean MacBride Peace Prize, awarded in memory of IPB’s former President Sean MacBride.

To reserve a place or more information, please contact: peace@leeds.gov.uk or tel: 0113 247 4339

Policy dismantling is a distinctive form of policy change, which involves the cutting, reduction, diminution or complete removal of existing policies. The perceived need to dismantle existing policies normally acquires particular poignancy during periods of acute economic austerity. It can be especially productive of political conflict, pitting those who benefit from the status quo against those who, for whatever reason, seek change.

However, scholars of public policy have been rather slow to offer a comprehensive account of the precise conditions under which particular aspects of policy are dismantled. Dismantling does not even merit a mention in most public policy textbooks. Yet without an account of both expansion and dismantling, our understanding of policy change in general, and the politics surrounding the cutting of existing policies, will remain frustratingly incomplete.

In this talk Andy Jordan, Professor of Environmental Politics at the University of East Anglia will seek to offer a more comparative approach to understanding policy dismantling, by looking in greater detail at the dynamics of cutting in two different policy fields: one (social policy) which has been subjected to study before and the other (environmental policy) which has not. Andy will examine what motivates politicians to dismantle, the strategies they employ to dismantle and the effects these have on policy and politics.

For more details and to register see here.

An informal course to discuss the possibilities and tools of the non-violent activist to bring about social change.

For further information and to book a place phone 07703 120806.

Also info here.

“I didn’t know they were ripping their workers off, but I’ll definitely avoid them now”.

The local police loitered around the store, and Footlocker had hired security especially for us. Theyd be interested to find out how much this secrutiy had cost Footlocker and hope that it affects their relationship with Adidas. Stocking Adidas gear certainly isn’t ethical and somewhere down the line, for Footlocker, it won’t be profitable either.

For more info see here.

If food could talk – reflections on power, poverty and malnutrition in the 21st century

An evening discussion about the challenges and actions – local to global – we face in creating a peaceful, well-fed world.

Introduced by Geoff Tansey

Geoff Tansey has worked on food, agriculture and development issues for over 35 years. He has degrees in soil science (Univ of Aberdeen) and history of and social studies of science (Sussex Univ). He helped found and edit the journal Food Policy in the mid-1970s, has worked on agricultural development projects in Turkey, Mongolia, Albania and Kazakstan and travelled widely. Since 1981, he has been an independent writer, consultant, and occasional broadcaster.

His books include The Food System: a guide (with Tony Worsley) and co-editorship of The future control of food – A guide to international negotiations and rules on intellectual property, biodiversity and food security. In June 2005, he received a Joseph Rowntree ‘Visionaries for a Just and Peaceful World’ Award and, in 2008, he won the Derek Cooper Award for best food campaigner/educator, at the BBC Radio 4 Food and Farming Awards. He is a member and a trustee of The Food Ethics Council. Website: www.tansey.org.uk

This will be an excellent opportunity to talk with a world expert on food ethics, especially for those who are getting involved in the IF.. campaign (Enough food for everyone) in the run up to the G8 in Enniskillen this July.

Event organised by Leeds Met Student Union. This will include face painting, give-aways and some environmental stalls.

Leeds Met SU are looking for anyone to help volunteer or for any environmental group to have their own stall. Contact j.watt at leedsmet.ac.uk for more details. Also see here.