Skip to content or view screen version

The Big Shift

Shift Bristol | 26.10.2010 07:22

A one-day event aiming to provoke discussion and inspire informed individual community action towards a healthy, productive and sustainable city for the future.
9.30am to 5.00pm
at The Council House, College Green, Bristol, BS1 5TR

Cost £14/£8 concessions on the door.

SPEAKERS

Shaun Chamberlin, author of Transition Timelines speaking about the latest information on Peak Oil and Climate Change and the inspirational work of Transition Towns in responding to these twin problems at a local level.

Stephan Harding, author of Animate Earth, is an ecologist and head of Holistic Science at Schumacher College. Speaking about the earth and all its inhabitants (including us) as a living system.

Scilla Elworthy has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize, founded the Oxford Research Group and Peace Direct. Speaking on the internal shift that is necessary to make the Big Shift possible.

WORKSHOPS

Community-owned renewable energy with The Bristol Energy Network. Trevor Haughton, energy and climate change researcher and consultant, explores ways we can own the production of local renewable energy, reinvesting in our communities and creating energy security.

Permaculture with Mike Feingold, international permaculture teacher and founder member of the Bristol Permaculture Group. Permaculture is a simple, commonsense design for growing and living sustainably. Mike looks at how we can create systems that regenerate rather than degrade the environment we live in.

Collective land buying with Land Roots. Sharon Pollit explains how, by pooling our resources, we can buy land to be developed as a showcase for permaculture design, good stewardship and sustainable community as a legacy for future generations.

Agroforestry. Patrick Whitefield, permaculture teacher and consultant and author of The Earthcare Manual and The Living Landscape looks at combining farming with trees for more productive, biodiverse and resilient land use.

Who feeds Bristol? Joy Carey has been commissioned by Bristol Green Capital Momentum Group to develop a resilient food plan for the city. Looking at where our food comes from and what we need to do to future proof our food supply.

The Bristol Pound with The Bristol and Bath Local Currency Scheme. Ciaran Mundy looks at the importance of a local currency in promoting the relocalisation of trade, production and exchange and at the possibility of Bristol havingits own Pound in the near future.

Community Supported Agriculture with Simms Hill Shared Harvest. Bobby Sunderland and Tim Laurence explore the benefits of community run farms dedicated to feeding the local community. An approach that puts the farmer and the consumer back in touch with eachother and the land. Find out how far Simms Hill have got in setting up a CSA for Bristol.

Grass, Our Most Bio-diverse Crop. Simon Fairlie, author of Low Impact Development and Meat: A Benign Eztravogance and editor of The Land magazine examines the complex issues around the use of animals in the food system. He argues that our society needs to reorientate itself back to the land and explains why an agriculture that is most readily able to achieve this is one that includes a measure of livestock farming with a less industrial and more humane approach.

The Work That Reconnects with Jenni Horsfal, Jenny Smith and Jewls Wingfield, An experiential workshop based on the work of Joanna Macy that invites us to connect with our concerns for the planet and turn our fears into positive action.

Community-Led Local Transport Plans with Transition Stroud’s Tripswitch initiative. Helen Royall explains what can be achieved when local groups and transport campaigns work collaboratively with the council, bus companies and other organistions on developing a sustainable vision for local transport.

Local, natural healthcare with Max Drake, founder of The Urban Fringe Dispensary. Max looks at the role of locally sourced and grown herbs in a relocalised health care system that puts the knowledge and skills needed to stay healthy back in our own hands and gardens.

Plus an OPEN SPACE session where you can put forward ideas for everyone to discuss in groups.

STALLS
from Eco-logic Books and The Bristol Green Store , Source Magazine and information stalls plus a chance to buy the brand new book Bristol- A Guide to Good Living at a discount price.



Shift Bristol
- Original article on IMC Bristol: http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/696665