News and recent activities  We have a new logo! Our thanks go to Chris Day, a local graphic designer whose work you may have seen around Lichfield Engaging with Councils Keep your eyes and ears open for the appointment of a LDC officer responsible for the climate change strategy! We are assured that this in the pipeline. The new LDC CEO should be in place within the next few months and it is hoped that he will be keen to work with community groups like ours. If you find it difficult to know how best to engage with the council then perhaps join in this forthcoming session with Friends of the Earth - Winning change from an unresponsive council (26 July, 19:00-20:30) “In this session we’ll explore how you can influence your council to take climate action where direct lobbying isn’t working. We’ll take you through some key arguments to use and discuss what tactics can help to push your council to go further and faster to address climate breakdown”. Register here. LDC are holding a ‘Public Realm Consultation’ and it is certainly worth taking part in this. Here are the details from a recent email we had from Simon Humble, Major Development Projects Officer: As part of the ongoing work to implement the Lichfield City Centre Masterplan, Lichfield District Council have recently commissioned Gleeds Management Services together with Austin-Smith:Lord Architects and Hydrock Consulting to develop a strategy that will enable us to provide a distinctive and high quality public realm throughout Lichfield City Centre. The Public Realm Strategy will, when completed, build on the proposals set out and approved by the Council within the Lichfield City Centre Masterplan, in order to further develop a detailed strategy for future implementation. We want to develop distinctive, local solutions with the people who know the city best, so central to this process, the team wishes to engage with you as key stakeholders to develop city centre-specific concepts, and we would welcome your involvement with this exciting project. From Monday 21 June to Friday 2 July 2021 we will be consulting with the public on some emerging ideas we want you to have your say on. The consultation has been developed to review specific themes that will be incorporated into our final strategy. These include:
There are three ways you can get involved:
The City Council have a new Green Spaces/Parks officer (Nigel Boden) so we will be liaising with him on planting/greening activities around Lichfield where possible. One of the areas that we have mentioned before are the Festival Gardens where the central area has been left wild. It is hoped that a log circle will be installed as a space to meet up, for social and crafting activities. As willow whips have been planted there, one idea would be to run willow crafting sessions, once there is enough willow to use of course! Learning opportunities, inspiration and handy hints The Globe Foundation We came across this fantastic looking organisation/centre in Uttoxeter – The Globe Foundation. We think it merits a group outing there one day! They are a non-profit working to reduce the impact of modern living on the climate and have an Eco Centre, Green Skills Hub, Zero Waste Shop and Recycling Hub. Do take a look and if anyone has a minibus then let us know….! Book Buying Where do you turn to first when you want a book? A local bookshop or Amazon? If you prefer online shopping but want to support small bookshops then look no further than Bookshop.org. You can choose which local shop you want to buy from and place your order that way and they get the full profit. So much nicer than supporting Mr Bezos! Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk The Committee on Climate Change has just published the Adaptation Committee’s 3rd Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk. The report draws on an extensive programme of analysis, consultation and consideration by the Committee involving over 450 people, 130 organisations and more than 1,500 pages of evidence and analysis to sets out the priority climate change risks and opportunities for the UK. Read it here. Over 60 major risks were identified, with 8 as absolute priorities. Some areas that have relevance to the kind of issues we have been talking about for Lichfield:
Our Water Supply Some of you may already have seen this from South Staffs Water if you have paperless billing but we thought it was worth sharing:  And there is an app/website that you can make use of to monitor your water usage – we really do take our water supply for granted and should all be more aware of how much we use. The CCRA 2021 Report says that water scarcity in the UK will be a major issue by 2050, if not before. Spotlight slot Our group focus this month is The Big Red Bike
A volunteer run charitable organisation that takes older adults in particular but not exclusively, on short rides in a two-seater electric bicycle called a Trishaw, piloted by trained volunteer cyclists. Residents of care homes and any users of disability organisations in the Lichfield area can call/email to book a ride for family, friends and members of the community. Carers and family members are able to join the ride too and the route where possible can be determined by the passengers. The cycle ride experience is focused on kindness, a slow, gentle ride, conversation, building trust through relationships, the benefits of fresh air and having fun. What a wonderful project! If you want to find out more then check out their website. Please do share with anyone you know who may benefit. Get involved Letters to the Earth Project In February 2019 the British public were invited to put pen to paper and write a Letter to the Earth, perhaps to apologise for the behaviour of the human race or to reassure that things will get better. The invitation was open to all – to think beyond the human narrative and bear witness to the scale of the crisis. Letters of love, loss, hope and action were written by over 1000 people worldwide – from 4 year olds to great grandparents, authors, scientists, nurses. A book was put together of some of the letters received and it has inspired us to run something similar in Lichfield, and to display letters received at the Lichfield Arts Fuse Festival – the FREE community music and arts festival, held in Beacon Park – 13th to 15th August where Transition will have a stand. The project will be launched at the start of July, so watch out for further details! We would appreciate volunteers to help staff the stand at Fuse so please get in touch if you are able to help at all, but make sure you come along anyway as there are lots of great music and activities! Sign the State of Nature Petition The Government are currently debating the Environment Bill and put forward an amendment in the last few days which could have a big impact on wildlife. Read this piece by Richard Benwell, CEO at Wildlife and Countryside Link, where he explains why this falls far short of the promised "net zero for nature" and how a simple change could make a world of difference. Sign the State of Nature Petition too if you haven’t already (link in the article). Dates for your diary17th July – Repair Café at Curborough Community Centre, 2-5pm Tues 13th July – A tentative group meet up in Festival Gardens, Lichfield. Head towards the little red bridge that crosses the stream for 7.30pm and let’s see who comes along for a catch up! Great Big Green Week will take place from the 18th to 26th September – what should Transition Lichfield be doing locally for that? Lichfield Methodist Church plan to hold something so perhaps we could contribute to their plans. Other Transition Town groups are very active and have all sorts of talks and events going on. Here are some links from the Chesterfield group if you are interested. Something for us to aim for here in Lichfield! 11.00am - 12.30pm, Saturday 26th June: The Circular Economy The speakers at this Circular Economy event will talk about an introduction to the topic, packaging recycling, and repairing items and pushing for longer-lasting products, followed by Q&A. Click here to register for the event. Dates of forthcoming events can be found here: Transition Chesterfield: Countdown to COP26 *****We welcome your suggestions for newsletter content, for Transition group projects and events, for groups that should be listed on our website and for useful connections.
Thank you for reading and feel free to share the newsletter with friends and family. TRANSITION LICHFIELD
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