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Carbon literacy trials prove successful

Spreading awareness about the causes of and solutions to the climate crisis is a critical first step if we’re to empower Cumbrians to play a role in tackling it, and that’s what we hope to achieve with a new training course called carbon literacy.

CAfS ran two pilot courses during our Cumbria Green Build & Sustainable Living Festival in September 2019, with all the places snapped up by organisations and community groups keen to learn more climate science, carbon footprints and solutions.

This very interactive and fast-paced day was led by certified carbon literacy trainer Sarah McClelland of Great Places Housing Group, supported by Sarah Donaldson from Small World Consulting.

“The presentations we heard give an excellent overview of the climate science, how we know climate change is happening, how it will affect us in the future, what we are already doing about it, and what we can do about it,” said Hazel Graham, chief executive of CAfS. “There were lots of interactive exercises to get us all thinking about the things we do in our daily lives that contribute to climate change, and how we might do things differently.”

CAfS is now preparing a bid for funding to tailor the course for Cumbria and set up a programme to roll it out widely among organisations and communities here.

“We’ve had some great feedback after the courses, including one organisation that now intends to roll out carbon literacy training to their staff,” Hazel said. “That’s exactly what we want to see happening across the county, if we can secure funding.”

CAfS is grateful to the National Lottery Community Fund, Electricity North West, Carlisle College, Kendal College, Carlisle One World Centre and Sustainable Brampton for their support with these pilot courses.

If you are interested in attending our next session of Carbon and Climate Literacy training, you can book onto the event here.

29 September 2019
Climate emergency action summit helps forge next steps

Councillors, council officers and community groups came together on Saturday 22 September to pick up lots of practical information about next steps after a climate emergency has been declared.

The Cumbria Climate Emergency Action Summit, organised by CAfS and sponsored by Ecology Building Society, was designed specifically for everyone grappling with what to actually do after declaring a climate emergency – what actions to take, whether to set up a citizens’ assembly, how to engage the public, what partners to involve. The event aimed to answer those questions, drawing from the experience and knowledge of experts and those who’ve begun the journey.

13-year-old climate campaigner Ada Wood opened the event with the voice of young people, describing the impact that the climate emergency is having on her life now and what she fears for her future.

Councillor Simon Pickering from Stroud District Council explained the actions his council has taken since becoming the first council in Europe to declare itself carbon neutral, back in 2015. Simon, who had an instrumental role to play in driving the council’s actions, as chair of its environment committee, gave lots of practical information and tips on creating an implementation plan.

Pete Bryant, chief executive of Shared Future CIC, shared his expertise in public engagement, including citizens’ assemblies and juries. He gave real-life examples of his work, organising and running engagement forums on a wide range of topics across the UK for the past 15 years.

Paul Allen from the Centre for Alternative Technology set the scene with the national context for actions to tackle climate change. For the past decade, Paul has been coordinating ground-breaking research into how the UK can be zero carbon with technology we already have. His seminal Zero Carbon Britain report is being updated right now, so Paul was able to share the very latest information on what needs to happen nationally and locally.

Hazel Graham from CAfS got everyone thinking about the partnerships they need to build in their districts, to help implement their climate emergency motions. Jaki Bell, also from CAfS, gave a whistlestop tour of planning communications with the public, to engage people in actions to cut emissions, with Henry Goodwin from Sustainable Carlisle outlining the role of campaigning.

Among the highlights of the day was undoubtedly the delicious hot vegan lunch served by Alisdair McKee of JoviAl catering, with support from Sustainable Carlisle.

“Feedback from attendees has been very positive, and we hope the event has given them the practical information they need at this stage, as councils and community groups gear up to implement climate emergency motions in their districts,” said Nigel Jenkins from CAfS, the event organiser and chair.

“We’re very grateful to our sponsor, Ecology Building Society, for helping to make the event possible, and to our very helpful hosts, Cumbria CVS.”

Videos of the main presentations will be available shortly. Please keep an eye on our social media for updates.

29 September 2019
CAfS supports global climate strike

Cumbrians took part in global climate strikes on Friday 20 September, joining with people from around the world calling for urgent action on climate change.

Rallies were held in Carlisle, Penrith, Ulverston, Kendal, Keswick, and Cockermouth.

Cumbrian businesses and organisations supported the strikes in large numbers. Ellergreen Hydro, RSPB and 2030 Architects were among those giving staff time off to support and speak at the strikes.

“Young people’s future is in our hands,” said Tracey Hart, associate director at 2030 architects in Penrith, and a trustee of CAfS. “What we do today will shape their tomorrow. We believe architects have a responsibility to make it a regenerative, living future and that every act of design or construction should make the world a better place.”

RSPB campaigns officer Natasha Yorke-Edgell added:

“It is time for politicians to decide whether we will be the ones who hand the next generation a planet scarred by the climate crisis. Nature doesn’t belong in a museum. But over 50 per cent of UK species are already struggling and climate change poses a catastrophic threat to wildlife. Young people all over the world have taken the lead, demanding urgent action. We are proud RSPB staff members and volunteers will support them in strike action. Our leaders must act immediately to avert climate disaster and mass extinction. The future of their children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews depend upon it.”

Hazel Graham, chief executive of CAfS, spoke at the Carlisle rally. (Watch the video of her speech – you’ll find the link on this page.)

“We are living through a unique moment in history where, as understanding of the scale of the climate emergency grows, so does fear and anger and demand for real, meaningful action,” Hazel said. “At CAfS, our vision is a zero carbon Cumbria, a county with a better way of life in balance with the environment. This means warm homes that everyone can afford to heat, affordable transport that everyone can afford to use, improved health and the creation of thousands of climate jobs.

“Young people have shown extreme courage in standing up for their beliefs, striking from school and demonstrating. And they are absolutely right when they say that we already have the solutions that we need to rapidly reduce emissions. We must listen to their voices.”

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29 September 2019
Food businesses tuck into advice on changing diets

Cafes, restaurants and caterers tucked into expert advice and experience to help them prepare for the trend towards diets with less meat and dairy, at our sustainable food event in September, co-hosted with Eco-innovation Cumbria.

A wide range of food businesses gathered at the National Trust’s Sticklebarn Tavern in Langdale on Monday 23 September to hear how they could cater for changing food trends and make their businesses more sustainable in other ways, too – from reducing food waste to using renewable energy.

We heard from carbon expert Mike Berners-Lee from Small World Consulting about the need to become more sustainable, in the face of the growing climate crisis, and why the food sector has such a big part to play.

We also heard from the team at Chesters restaurant about their experience of shifting to a vegetarian menu.

Gareth Fuke from the National Trust explained how the Trust’s Sticklebarn pub worked with Mike Berners-Lee to show the carbon footprint of their menu items, and the effect it has had.

Glyn Griffiths from Eco-innovation Cumbria outlined how this ERDF-funded programme is helping Cumbrian businesses to improve their sustainability – including this event. The event was also supported by South Lakeland District Council, as part of their strategy to cut carbon emissions in the district.

29 September 2019
CAfS addresses business leaders

CAfS chief executive, Hazel Graham, addressed the board of Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership on Friday 27 September, explaining the urgency of the climate crisis. Hazel was speaking along with Colin Cox, director of public health, about the scale of the transformation required for a transition to a zero carbon Cumbria and the huge wealth of benefits this would bring.

LEP board members were extremely positive and it was proposed to include the climate crisis as a standard agenda item. Board members emphasized the potential benefits for businesses and communities of decarbonising and acknowledged the huge opportunity it offers.

Cumbria LEP will be represented at the county-wide climate change sub group and will feed their views into a funding bid being led by CAfS for a Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership, to enable a programme of work to cut emissions in the county.

29 September 2019
CAfS team on Cold to Cosy mission!

Our Cold to Cosy Homes Cumbria team have been out spreading the word about this brilliant new service to help people to save energy and cut their bills.

Tina and Andrew from CAfS were at Ulverston’s bustling Eco Fair on Thursday 26 September, sharing information about the benefits that householders can tap into. A free home visit by our trained energy advisors, draughtproofing and energy-saving kit, LED bulbs, advice and referrals for other improvements are all on offer as part of the scheme.

“This free support is available to a wide range of people, so we’d encourage everyone to take a look at the broad eligibility criteria, which relate to health, benefits, income and some special circumstances,” Andrew said.

“For example, if you’re living alone and earning £14,520 or less we can help you, or a household with two adults and two children with an income of £31,020 or less. The criteria cover a wide range of health conditions and benefits, including child benefit. We can also help those who’ve been bereaved recently, recent immigrants and people moving in and out of homelessness, among other situations.”

If you’d like to have a chat with the Cold to Cosy Homes team, they’ll be at the Sedbergh Environmental Market on Saturday 12 October, at St. Andrew’s Church from 10am to 3pm.

There are more details here on our website or call CAfS on 01768 210276.

Cold to Cosy Homes Cumbria is funded through the Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme, in partnership with the Local Energy Advice Partnership (LEAP), South Lakeland District Council, Eden District Council’s Warm Homes Eden project and Carlisle City Council.

27 September 2019
CAfS appoints new CEO

We are delighted to announce that we have appointed Karen Mitchell as our new chief executive, after a very extensive recruitment campaign.

Karen, who is currently the fundraising manager at Friends of the Lake District, will bring an exceptional breadth of expertise to CAfS. She has worked in the fields of sustainability and climate change for many years, for organisations including Natural England, Nurture Lakeland, Trees for Life and South Lakes Action on Climate Change.

“We are very happy to have found a new chief executive with the combination of experience, knowledge and networks that we need at this time of unique opportunity for CAfS,” said David Beuzeval, chair of CAfS’ board of trustees.

“Her significant experience in charity management, income generation and partnership development will add greatly to our strengths, as we grow our capacity to meet the unprecedented upsurge in demand for our support.”

Karen’s appointment will enable our current chief executive, Hazel Graham, to take up a new senior management position at CAfS, to develop and influence networks and partnerships at a strategic level.

“It’s an exciting time for CAfS, as we expand and realign our team so that we can make the most of emerging opportunities to drive the rapid change that climate science unequivocally demands,” Hazel said.

Karen will join CAfS in December. We look forward to introducing her to you then!

27 September 2019
Stay warm with our insulation offer!

If you’re looking for home insulation and want to use a sustainable, natural product, you could take advantage of a special discount for CAfS supporters.

Ecological Building Systems are offering you 8 packs of Thermo-Jute 100 insulation for the price of 7, plus free delivery to CA and LA postcodes.

Thermo-Jute 100 is made using jute bags from the food industry. As well as its superb thermal properties, it can help to regulate humidity in your home and buffer noise. It comes in different thicknesses. You can get full details about this type of insulation on the Ecological Building Systems website.

Please see the offer flyer for full details: Thermo-Jute discount for CAfS supporters

How to order

Contact Ecological Building Systems directly to place your order and benefit from your discount. Phone 01228 711511 or email [email protected].

Ecological Building Systems are based near Dalston, Carlisle, and they’re experts in low-energy buildings. They’ll be happy to advise on a range of products for insulation and airtightness, whether you’re improving an old property or building a low-energy home, including to Passivhaus standard.

This offer doesn’t constitute a recommendation by CAfS – we’re just happy to pass on this discount, which we hope might be useful to some of our supporters.

30 August 2019
Could your premises host an electric vehicle charge point?

CAfS would love to hear from venues that could potentially host a charge point for electric vehicles (EVs).

We want to find two hundred sites in Cumbria and other parts of northern England over the next 18 months, as part of the new project to build EV infrastructure that we announced in July.

The project kicks off next month (September), so the eligibility criteria for charge point hosts haven’t been set just yet, but at this stage we’re keen to have expressions of interest from possible sites.

Community buildings, private businesses with a forecourt, rural hotels in a village and housing association areas are all examples of places that might fit the bill. In fact, there’s potential for any car-parking space where the owner is happy for the public to park an electric vehicle for at least part of the time, even if just overnight. It means that the host might use the charger for their own staff or customers’ vehicles during the day, and then make it available for the public out of hours. All booking, charging and billing is organised through apps that will be developed as part of the project.

The chargers that will be installed are 22 kW ‘fast charge’ points. These are an intermediate step between ‘slow charge’ and ‘rapid charge’ points, the latter costing up to ten times more than a fast charger.

We’re one of several partners in the Government-funded project, led by Cybermoor Ltd and Charge My Street. The aim is to address a potential gap in EV infrastructure, where sparsely populated rural areas and urban areas with terraced homes are likely to be left behind by the commercial roll-out of charge points, making electric vehicles less attractive to residents there. People living in terraced homes typically can’t install their own domestic charge point, because it’s illegal to trail charge cables across pavements and roads. It means they have to rely on charge points in other public or private spaces.

How to register an interest

If you, your business or organisation would like to find out more, then please register your interest online now. (Click ‘Continue’ at the bottom of the page once you’ve entered your postcode.) One of the project team will get back to you once we’re up and running, to discuss eligibility with you in greater detail.

And, of course, we’ll keep you updated through the CAfS newsletter. You can also keep an eye on the Charge My Street website.

30 August 2019
Celebrating 20 years on the journey to a zero carbon Cumbria!

This year, CAfS has been celebrating our first full 20 years as an independent organisation tackling climate change in Cumbria!

It’s a fantastic opportunity to look back and remember just how far we’ve come and all that we’ve achieved – especially at at time when there’s more collective determination than ever to achieve our vision of a zero carbon Cumbria.

To mark the occasion, we’ve produced a new booklet capturing some of our many highlights down through the years – from starting the UK’s first Green Build Festival to helping set up several of Cumbria’s community energy schemes. There’s so much to be proud of and to celebrate, and we’re hugely grateful to everyone who has supported us along the way.

We hope you enjoy this stroll back in time with us! Download the booklet below:

Celebrating 20 Years – CAfS – web version

30 July 2019