News

Sue just made her first pair of curtain quilts! Quick and easy to do and they look wonderful!

All she did was take an existing pair of curtains that she purchased at ikea (cheap) and then went to the cloth shop on Dunbar High Street and purchased fleece for £2.00 per meter.She turned her curtains inside out, tacked the fleece at the top with a basic hand stitch and then turned the curtain right side out – dahdah! – insulated – gorgeous curtains!

If you sign up to the Household Canny Challenge and get an energy audit done by BeGreen – you get curtain fleece at more than half price off! Contact sue@sustainingdunbar.org for details.

 

We know that lots of people in Dunbar own bikes, but don’t use them. Is this you? What happened to those good intentions of cycling round town?

If you can make a commitment to replacing at least one regular car journey by a cycle trip, we’ll give you £25 to spend on bike accessories. What do you need to cycle more regularly? New lights? A basket? A child-seat?

What’s Stopping You? Email morag@sustainingdunbar.org to find out more or stop by the BeGreen shop at 16 West Port to pick up an application form.

February 11, 20129:00 amto12:00 pm

Saturday 11th February, 9am-12pm, Gibb Room, Dunbar Library

Our steets have long been dominated by traffic issues: speeding cars, parking spaces, crossing points. Yet these are areas where children used to play, and neighbours used to chat.

Of course, in the 21st century we still need to make room for cars, but this need not be at the expense of everyone else. At this Saturday morning workshop Sustrans will present a vision for streets where people, not cars, are the priority.

We will spend some time looking at inspiration for people-friendly streets from around the world, then focus on ideas for the Parsonspool area of Dunbar which East Lothian Council has selected to be the first retro-fit ‘home zone’ in the county.

Please join us. Contact judy@sustainingdunbar.org to book your space. Places are limited and priority will be given to Parsonspool residents.

The Parsonspool workshop is organised by Sustaining Dunbar on behalf of Parsonspool residents and delivered by Sustrans, a national organisation which is working to help Scotland create better places and spaces to move through and live in. For inspiration visit www.sustrans.org.uk, or see the progress of a similar project in Kirkcaldy here: www.templehall.wordpress.com

The next Sustaining Dunbar basic bike maintenance class is at 9-11am on Friday 10th February at The Stables, Belhaven Church.

Email morag@sustainingdunbar.org to book your space. Bring your bike along along and Mark and Dan will show you how to mend a puncture, adjust the brakes etc.

January Newsletter now out!

 Julian Paren, currently vice-convenor of Transition Black Isle, has circulated the latest newsletter to members:

January letter to Transition Black Isle members

This is a quiet season of the year as we heat our houses and make as much of the limited daylight as we can. Seed catalogues and the anticipation of Agric’s potato day keep us looking ahead to the time when the land is more fruitful. This is a good time to take stock on our personal ambitions for living more sustainably, and exploring ways of introducing our Transition ideas to the wider community.

Next week on January 30 there is a great occasion for TBI members to meet up again and take part in the event A Question of Vegetables where our inspiring experts will take questions on how to get the best from our gardens and allotments. I am sure we all have some tips to pass on and it will be good to see how much our panel share the same approach for increasing our independence from the supermarkets.

The Community Markets across the Black Isle are providing a weekly focus for talking to stallholders and for purchase of food and crafts direct from the producer. In these recessional times we are grateful for their attendance and hope that TBI members will continue to visit the markets. Please pass on to your friends your positive experiences of the markets, so that more people may support them. Last week’s Out of Doors programme on BBC Radio Scotland reported on stalwarts of these markets. First, Anne Thomas (TBI Director) discussed the proposed link road through Whin Park in Inverness that developers feel is necessary to provide a through connection from the Southern Distributor Road across the River Ness. Then the photographers whose stall includes their “Coffee Table” book on The Black Isle -Eilean Dubh, spoke feelingly about the scenery, wildlife and attractions of our area.

Next month we should have feedback from the Climate Challenge Fund about our Transport project that was described at our Members’ Evening in November. Last week The Energy Savings Trust organized a meeting in Inverness for Community Groups to see how their objectives in carbon reduction could be met with participation from groups like TBI. This meeting was attended by three TBI Directors (Martin, Wendy, Julian) and provided useful networking with The Climate Challenge Fund and with groups from Lochaber, Sleat and Applecross who had secured large amounts of funding through community-led initiatives. I hope the meeting will have positive outcomes for TBI.

My own conversion to the needs for a sustainable lifestyle came through my scientific work on ice cores and the glaciology of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, while working for the British Antarctic Survey. I am giving an illustrated talk for Resolis Community Arts at the Resolis Memorial Hall on Friday 17 February at 7.30pm entitled Going South – the Antarctic Experience. The evening will be an audiovisual extravaganza, but the reasons why the world should not ignore the science and why we need to plan a sustainable future will be the take-home message. Tickets are £5 on the door.

I look forward to seeing you in the near future. Do come to A Question of Vegetables our “Gardeners Question Time” on Monday 30 January at the North Kessock Mission Hall.

Julian Paren
Deputy Convener, Transition Black Isle
 

This feed was drawn from the Transition Black Isle website

TBI still growing! Now's the time to join (or re-join)

 Transition Black Isle has reported a hugely successful year in 2011.  It has now become a Company Limited by Guarantee and a registered charity and new members are still joining - proving that the group is becoming a long-term part of the local scene rather than a flash in the pan!

There are currently 112 members of whom 54 have transferred to the new company. Membership renewals are due at the end of March, so now is the time to bring your membership up to date if you haven't done so yet!
 

This feed was drawn from the Transition Black Isle website

Let us help you get your heating and electricity bills under control. We can help you access free or subsidised insulation or heating improvements check that you are getting the best deal from your energy supplier carry out simple energy saving improvements in your home, free of charge to eligible people advise on ...

[caption id="attachment_1599" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Home handyman Sandy on left, plus assistant"][/caption] Our handyman provides simple measures to reduce your heating bills. These can make a real difference to your comfort too. What will the handyman do? Things like draughtproofing doors and windows, insulating pipes, putting an extra jacket round your hot water ...

A number of useful news items which may be of interest to you have scrolled off our main news section, or will do soon. Here they are, gathered together. Get them while they are available. Free cavity wall and loft insulation is available in Glenrothes. An interest free loan is available for ...

Some great news - we have been awarded £8,000 by the Comic Relief Local Communities fund, to help older people to stay warm and comfortable while reducing their fuel bills this year. The Greener Kirkcaldy energy advisors will work with older people who are struggling to pay high fuel bills, ...

Solar PV panels produce electricity from sunlight. They reduce your greenhouse gas emissions immediately and have a financial payback over the medium term. The Energy Saving Scotland advice centre South East has been running a promotional offer in partnership with an installer and Fife Council. They wrote to households within target ...

The Warm Home Discount is a four year scheme which replaces the social tariffs some households got from their suppliers. There are two groups the discoiunt is aimed at: The Core Group The Broader Group The Core Group is a specified group of older customers on low incomes. For the first year of ...

We recently compiled our second short report on the progress of our Lang Toun Energy Savers project from August to October (Acrobat file 1.3 MB). It is very readable and only seven pages long. This project is funded by the Ebico Trust for Sustainable Development and we are very grateful ...

You may have heard of the Green Deal and ECO (Energy Company Obligation). These are the UK government's new schemes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as they have to under the 2008 Climate Change Act. Green Deal/ECO will replace a swathe of schemes in use at the moment, dramatically changing ...

Fife Council successfully bid to the Scottish Government’s Universal Home Insulation Scheme for £575,000 to run the scheme in partnership with Energy Saving Scotland advice centre (ESSac) and the installer Everwarm. Letters about this offer should now have arrived at eligible households. Anyone who is unsure about this ...

A Scottish Government pilot scheme to help people with solid wall insulation in Fife (and Orkney) has been announced. This pilot scheme will take the form of an interest free loan for installing insulation. It will be run by the Energy Saving Scotland advice centre (ESSac) and offer a loan ...

We have updated our About Us page. As well as all of our funders we have gathered reports on our past and current projects into one place. We have also added our annual accounts and Memorandum and Articles of Association (our constitution). Under s.23 (1) (a) and (b) of the Charities ...

Our food project group met last week to further discuss the idea of a local food cafe and shop. We decided to do some research into possible premises for this and to gather information about using a social enterprise model for running the project.We're keen to raise the pofile of ...

Thanks to your continued support we've again increased our range of refills of eco-friendly Ecover cleaning products. We have added Lemon & Aloe Vera washing-up liquid and Lemon & Aloe Vera liquid hand soap. We also stock delicates laundry liquid, non-biological laundry liquid, fabric softener, Camomile & Marigold washing-up liquid, all purpose ...

What are the ingredients that can help us to build resilience and to use the transition to a low carbon future as an opportunity for creative change?
Rob Hopkin’s ‘Transition Companion’ shares inspiration, ideas and experiences from across the world that demonstrate some of the ingredients we will need. Click on the widgit above for a preview of the book, including video and audio bits.
Then go and buy the book -or call in and borrow a copy from the BeGreen shop- or why not order it from the library?