Transition Bedford

What are you doing on Saturday May 15 2010? Nothing much?

Think again – you could be helping to reshape the future of your town.

Transition Bedford is hosting an event that will bring together different groups of people to create a vision for a sustainable Bedford in 2020.

If you belong to a group that’s interested in what our town looks like in a decade’s time, you need to be at this event – I’m not just talking about environmental groups, but also everyone from allotment societies to local history groups to walking groups and all points in between! We’re looking for as many interested groups as possible to get involved, both before the event, on the day itself and on into the future (and the year 2020!) and we’d love to know who is interested in participating.

So far we’ve created a list of topics that we’d like to explore at the meeting. If you – either a group or an individual – are willing to participate in some way in one or more of these topics, please add a comment below, saying who you are and which topic(s) you’re fired up about. “Participation” could mean helping with a demonstration, giving a talk, or simply sharing your ideas with others.

The topics are, in no particular order:

• Food
• Transport
• Energy
• Education
• Building and housing
• Local government
• Heart and soul
• Health and wellbeing
• Waste and recycling
• Community and culture
• Economy and business
• Media and communications

Once we’ve compiled a list of the people who want to take part in this inspiring event, we’ll post that onto this blog so that you can tell us if we’re missing out anyone crucial.

Still confused? If you’re wondering what on earth this whole “transition” thing is about, check out Transitiontowns.org

To learn more about what we’re doing to make Bedford a transition town, and watch a video about the transition movement, click here.

Tony Juniper

I am most pleased to announce that on Wednesday 20 January, at 6pm UK/1pm EST, I will be hosting campaigner, writer, sustainability adviser and one of the UK’s best known environmentalists, Tony Juniper, on the special 1st anniversary edition of my radio show, my radio show Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul

A dynamic and inspiring speaker, and often referred to as an “Eco Hero”, Tony has worked for the last 25 years for change toward a more sustainable society at local, national and international levels. Amongst his almost endless list of personal and professional experiences, he has served as Vice-Chair of Friends of the Earth International, and is currently Special Adviser to the Prince of Wales Rainforests Project, Editor-in-Chief of National Geographic’s new Green Magazine supplement, and is the Green Party Parliamentary candidate for Cambridge, England.

On this very special anniversary edition, Tony and I will discuss his thesis of “Harmony” as taken from the upcoming book of the same name he is currently writing with Prince Charles and Ian Skelly, and is scheduled for publication by Harper Collins in autumn 2010. Tony will tell us about the present state of environmentalism, what we’ve achieved and not achieved, and what’s next for humanity at this time in history, and explain how the solutions to the ecological and economic problems we now face at a planetary level are not due so much to our political, technological or corporate systems, but rather to the fundamental fact that we as a culture have become disconnected from the Earth, and are illiterate as to how nature works and how we as humans fit into the natural order on a cosmological and spiritual level.

On the air, Tony will offer us some easy, joyful and practical ways to re-engage and reconnect with our planet and re-establish the true, holistic harmony that is meant to sing within every human soul.

You absolutely will NOT want to miss this most important and truly inspiring show.

Listeners can listen LIVE or “on demand” any time at http://ow.ly/UvBM

Another upcoming guest of interest to Transition Town followers and other “green” folks is Dr Leo Sharashkin, translator/editor of the “Ringing Cedars” (aka Anastasia)  book  series that is creating a wide-spread “return to the Earth” movement in Europe. That show is coming Wednesday 24 February.

To be sure you don’t miss either of these broadcasts, subscribe to the show either via iTunes, or mark it as a favourite on Blog Talk Radio.

Just look for “Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul”
http://blogtalkradio.com/Lynn-Serafinn

Lynn Serafinn (right) receiving BBW Award

This month, I had the great honour of receiving the Bedfordshire Businesswomen (BBW) 2009 Award for “Working within a Community Organisation or Not-for-Profit Organisation”, for my work as Founder of the Global Wellness Circle, a holistic health and wellness community, as well as my more recent work as Chair of Transition Bedford.

The winners of the BBW awards were announced Wednesday 18 November 2009 at the Woburn Sculpture Park. There were 6 awards in various business categories, all sponsored by Barclays Bank. Transition Bedford was specifically cited during the ceremony as a key reason for their selecting me for this award.

If any of you are unfamiliar with BBW, it is a long-established and highly reputable not-for-profit networking organisation for women who live and/or have business interests in the Bedfordshire area. I have been a member now for 2 years, although the awards were not restricted to members only. The women in this organisation own and run some of the most successful and influential businesses in the county, if not the country.

To have Transition Bedford be recognised at this level is not only a personal honour for me, but it is also a clear indication that the need for and importance of the work we are doing together at Transition Bedford is starting to be duly recognised by local business owners.

After the awards, I spoke with Jenny Tomsett, President of BBW, about having Transition Bedford lead a presentation at one of their upcoming meetings in 2010. (more…)

Great changes are happening at the Global Wellness Circle (GWC).

GWC was started in May 2008 as a means to support local holistic wellness businesses, and to provide a forum where people can join together to learn about each others’ values and beliefs, and form friendships and partnerships. The focus from the onset has been to build an inclusive, holistically-minded community and to provide information to the public about health, environment, and overall wellbeing of mind, body, spirit, society and world.

Now 18 months old, the Global Wellness Circle is going through some exciting changes.  Originally a small business, GWC are now in the process of applying for CIC status (Community Interest Company/Social Enterprise), and the Bedford chapter have established a firm link to our Transition Bedford initiative. That means, whereas GWC used to have a policy of drawing only from its paid membership for its speaker rota, they now are inviting (and encouraging) volunteer speakers from Transition Bedford OR other Transition Towns to speak as a representative of their initiative and the Transition Town movement in general, to share whatever valuable skills or information they have with the group.*

GWC have active chapters in Bedford, Milton Keynes, Cambridge and Hemel Hempstead, and should be getting Northampton and Dunstable up and running by February 2010. They welcome anyone and everyone to attend their events (membership is NOT required to attend), and hope that with the addition of Transition Town members, they will become an even more vibrant and exciting group, working together for a better future.

To see the kind of events GWC help to promote, check out their November 2009 events listings at http://www.global-wellness-circle.com/events/events_listings/2009/GWC_events_1109.html The listings include a wide range of events such as GWC evenings, local workshops, training, speakers, community events, exhibitions, radio shows, parties and more, all in the central UK area. All events focus on health, wellbeing and natural lifestyle, and include activities for children, families and adults.

For more information about GWC, or to enquire about becoming a speaker, kindly contact Lynn at lynn@global-wellness-circle.com. You are also invited to subscribe to the GWC mailing list at http://www.global-wellness-circle.com, so you can receive both their events listings and their newsletter, “All is Well”, every month.

Wishing you WELL,
Lynn Serafinn
Founder, Global Wellness Circle
Chair, Transition Bedford

* If you are a member of a Transition Town group and would like to speak at a GWC meeting, it is expected that you will come as a representative of your TT initiative, as opposed to representing your private business. If you do wish to promote your private enterprise (e.g., a green or holistic business you own), you are most welcome to consider becoming a practitioner member of GWC.

Bedford will come together and vote on our new Mayor in the coming days. This article isn’t meant to answer the question “Who will be the next mayor?” nor “who should be the next mayor?”, that’s your choice. It’s a quick temperature gauge on the local political promises around climate change.

I put a question to each of the mayoral candidates via the Times & Citizen;  “I see a Local Authority’s approach to renewables as a kind of litmus test to just how seriously you take the issue of climate change, i’m not particularly interested in opinions on climate change, i’d like to know what specific policies you intend to implement to increase renewables in the area?” The Times & Citzen published a written edit of the response in last Thursdays edition. My initial response was one of dismay at how many of the answers seemingly missed the point. However, some of the content is lost in translation which is largely an issue of editing. I’ve since watched the video responses online. I urge you to take a look. The candidates mostly promise significant action. This article is a request that we hold to account who ever gets in.

(more…)

Some time ago, Bedford received an Age of Stupid award.  This happened because planning permission was rejected for a proposed Wind Farm in the Bedfordshire village of Podington.   The whole issue was covered, in some detail, in a movie called, The Age of Stupid.   In that movie one could see the residents of Podington campaigning against the wind farm.   The campaign against the wind farm came across, in the film, as a very NIMBY (not in my back yard) affair, with campaigners affirming that they were concerned about climate change but making it very plain that this form of renewable energy would not be tolerated in their own neck of the woods.

So the question arises.   Did Bedford deserve its Age of Stupid award?   Why not see the film and make up your own mind?   The film will be showing as part of a double bill with the controversial film “The Great Global Warming Swindle” at the Bedford Film Society on Monday 9th and Tuesday 10th November at Bedford High School Sports and Performing Arts Complex, Bromham Road, Bedford,   MK40 2BS.  Shows start at 7.30 PM and non-members can attend as a guest for a cost of £3 at the door.

For the alternative view, there is an article on the Bedford Today Website, dated 8th June 2007, which makes the case against the wind farm.   The article was entitled: Protestors welcome wind farm report.

Richard Gillard

Do you Tweet?
If so, then please follow Transition Bedford on Twitter! Just go to http://twitter.com/TTBedford and click “follow”.

Follow us on Twitter for the latest news about the Transition movement in Bedford, the UK and throughout the world. AND be sure to share your own news with us, if you are a member of any Transition Town group, so we can ReTweet your great work. It’s all part of “raising awareness”.

If you don’t have a Twitter account, you can sign up for free at http://www.twitter.com.

I (Lynn) am a bit of a Tweet-geek, so if you are new to Twitter and you need any help, just Tweet me at http://www.twitter.com/LynnSerafinn