Over 50,000 people, including members of The GMF, attended The Wave this Saturday (5th December 2009), with Climate Marches being held in London, Glasgow and Belfast.
Such was the turnout that even the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, ended up inviting 24 supporters to 10 Downing Street afterwards, to hear their concerns.
We now have a group on the 'great book of faces' AKA Facebook, check it out and do add any thoughts or photos...
This Saturday (5th December 2009), ahead of the Copenhagen climate talks, people will be converging on London for the National Climate March. At noon there will be a Climate Emergency Rally in Speakers' Corner, Hyde Park (bring a picnic!), followed by the march at 1pm leaving Grosvenor Square to surround Parliament and ending with 'The Wave' at 3pm.
Residents of Mole Valley will be present, including members of The Green Mole Forum who will be catching the following train - 10.26am from Dorking Station (mainline) to London Victoria, calling at Leatherhead 10.33am, Ashtead 10.37am and Epsom 10.41am. Look out for people wearing a lot of blue! For more information you can email rally@greenmoleforum.org
On Saturday 20th June 2009 the Green Mole Forum attended Bookham Village Day. Having set up the stall in the wee hours (okay, so it was 8am) and following the arrival of the fancy dress parade, the event kicked off at noon.
With the gazebo bedecked with old swimming costumes (the theme was 'Beach Party'), a striped wind breaker, and eco-friendly balloons and bunting (from eco my party) it certainly looked the part.
As well as eco games for the young ones (and the young at heart!) there was a selection of more serious material on offer, from magazines and leaflets to a display of home energy monitors. We added more names to our list for the loan of monitors and talking to people it was quite clear that there were two camps - those who religiously turn off everything when not using it and those whose homes are lit up like Christmas trees thanks to all the standby lights!
The afternoon was well attended, the weather stayed fine and it was great to help 'spread the message'. Thanks go to Margaret, Bill, Esther and Matt (who I'm sure signed up more people than me) of the GMF and to all those who supported the event.
Richard Molyneux
Green Mole Garden
On Sunday we opened our garden to the public within the Bookham Open Garden days and it was a very successful day. About 250 people walked trough our fairly small patch during the day and we had so many positive comments about what we were trying to do that we felt all the efforts were well worth it.
The write-up on the garden (about wildlife, savings water, organic treatments, introducing edible plants, flowers for the bees, ornaments and composting) was very well received and people gave me lots of tips, some of which I shall definitely try out in future.
I had heard about the properties of Comfrey (you macerate the leaves and they provide both an insecticide and a fertilizer) before, my mum used to use nettles to the same effect.
The other interesting tips were the slug repellents (copper bands apparently do work very well, ground coffee, but also most interestingly garlic spray – the Lady had picked that one up at the Chelsea Flower show and now her Hostas are doing fantastically). Now being French I probably had my first dose of garlic via breast milk, I love the stuff and I also know how many medicinal properties it has.
So apparently you crush garlic, boil it and then use the water – diluted but I don’t know in how many parts – as a spray that repels the slugs. Might not work with French slugs but apparently it works a treat over here.
One Lady has resolved the beer problem (our hubbys generally don’t like it when we pinch their beer and give it to the slugs to make theirs a happy demise) by sending her hub to the pub with an empty milk bottle. The nice bar tender lets him have the dregs at the end of the evening…
Also a big thank you to those who helped and to those who offered. We raised nearly £100 for the Bookham Community Association.
Happy Green Gardening!
Esther
Aiming to 'hit that standby'. Many devices use virtually as much power on standby as 'on'. Turn them off at the wall!
On Sunday 7th June 2009, the Green Mole Forum took part in the River Mole Discovery Day run by the Lower Mole Countryside Management Project.
Despite ominous clouds the weather held up beautifully, and all who came were treated to a range of stands from different organisations and walks and talks about the wildlife surrounding this precious resource.
The Green Mole Forum started putting names on the waiting list for loan of Home Energy Monitors. Interested? Contact us. More details will appear here soon.
Playing a solar powered dexterity test
The Environment Agency collecting samples of the amazing range of fish in the river.
The Green Mole Forum was established in Spring 2008 to bring together individuals and
groups interested in sustainability and concerned with environmental issues in Mole Valley. We aim to be a hub connecting people and groups together for the benefit of all.
We have had a busy and successful first year. We meet monthly, alternating between various locations within Mole Valley, and we regularly invite local groups to the meetings to tell us about their activities.
During the year we have set up our website with many useful
links and the chance to blog and
comment. We have held a
public meeting about environmentally friendly building projects which was well attended and led to a follow up visit to a house illustrating the various energy saving methods. We've been to local Village Days with a stall offering eco-friendly
games and informative quizzes. Members have helped local Chambers of Commerce with a survey on
plastic bag use - which is now very much reduced.
Some members have decided to take part in a
CRAG for 2009. This is a
Carbon Rationing scheme in which we monitor our energy use at home and in personal travel and see whether we can live within a set allowance for the year. This exercise is designed to help us discover our individual energy "weaknesses" and where we can reduce them.
Most recently there has been a growing interest in the
Transition Towns movement within the group and some members, joining with others from the local community, have already formed Transition Dorking. Transition Ashtead is also under way.
Come and join us - you will be most welcome! Our next meeting will be at the end of April in Dorking -
contact us for details.
Margaret Hibbert
Over the past year The Green Mole Forum has gently been incubating Transition Town initiatives in the area.
A Transition Initiative is a community (lots of examples here) working together to look Peak Oil and Climate Change squarely in the eye and address this BIG question:
"for all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to sustain itself and thrive, how do we significantly increase resilience (to mitigate the effects of Peak Oil) and drastically reduce carbon emissions (to mitigate the effects of Climate Change)?"
Rather than creating an unwieldy 'Transition Mole Valley', people seem to appreciate several more community-focused groups (that, of course, is part of the point!).
In 2009 Transition Dorking and Transition Ashtead are really starting to get into gear.
If you would like to join in, or even perhaps start a Transition Leatherhead, Fetcham, Bookham, please contact us!
For more articles on transition, click here.
We're starting a CRAG today. (What's a CRAG?)
Fancy joining us? Then read you household meters, make a note of your car mileage and contact us.
We will welcome you in at any time of the year.