Vegetal Inclusion for the Conker Tweetup!

original photo from here by valjk | creative commons license

How would your carrot like to tweet up with my potato for a bit of potage bonne forme?  Closet Chef, Steve @visitconkers is offering to Ready Steady Cook a dish for our delight, if we can bring a veggie for @philcampbell to twitpic whilst I compose an ode to the Cauldron of ConkerTU!

Seriously though, we can only campaign effectively if we nurture our sense of fun, so why not infect ConkerTU with a little laughter?  What better gift can we share on Buy Nothing Day than the soulfood of a shared creation to nourish our zero-carbon thoughts?

If you’re new to this site, forgive us!  Steve, Phil and I have been working on ConkerTU for little more than a month.  Sharing sustainable lifestyles is a mission for us – I think you’ll save money, Steve believes you’ll save the planet and Phil knows he can connect people who want to share ideas.

Maybe we are ideallists, but we’ve done this at short notice because we think it needs to happen now.  There are too many arguments about the economy and climate change to make easy sense of it, yet each have folk we can rely on in a crisis and sustainability helps us to strengthen such networks.

Whilst “vegetal inclusion” is the jokey banter of a tired team, there is a certain poetry in the promordial soup of new beginnings. To take part in our light relilef, you will need to bring a home or locally grown vegetable – that’s it – except to say that we do have alternative sustenance for the less adventurous amongst you!

by emma (@zerocredit_uk)

ConkerTU Line Up

08.45 The Green Bus departs Tamworth Station GPS & WIFI enabled journey into the Forest

09.30 Meet, greet & tweet over caffeine fuelled infusions @ Waterside, Conkers!

10.15 Conkerchoo or saunter over to the Discovery Centre, Conkers

10.30 Green Voice of Britain, Piper Terrett officially opens ConkerTU

11.00 Sustainable communities panel, including Penney Poyzer & Julian Dobson

12.00 Musical interlude, from celtic folk fiddler, Sian Phillips

12.30 Voyage of Discovery - extended lunch to explore Conkers & tweet with Millie, the owl!

02.00 Rural Energy explain how Conkers’ new Biomass heating system works

03.00 Hyperlocal pecha kucha, a quick fired contrast and compare, session with Q&A
including Nottngham Eco House, Lammas Project, Ibstock does Climate Change,
Self help housing

04.00 Summing up and thanks

05.00 The Green Bus returns to Tamworth Station - Bon Voyage!

In addition to the above there will screenings of various Buy Nothing Day and Climate Change media in the Discovery Hall, with a further last minute surprise to be confirmed!

Transport from Tamworth Station via thegreenbus.co.uk

for those travelling down by train we have a bus organized via thegreenbus company that probably takes a more countryside route than the m42 above.  conkers is roughly ten miles away from tamworth station.

Tamworth railway station is located where the Cross Country Route passes over the West Coast Main Line, in the United Kingdom, although there is no rail link between the two lines. There are four platforms: platforms 1 and 2 on the low level (the West Coast Main Line) and platforms 3 and 4 on the high level (on the Cross Country Route)

Please let emma@conkertu.com or phil@conkertu.com if you are travelling in on the train and your expected time of arrival we really hope to have everyone arrive around similar times so we can get everyone on in one go.   the bus will also take people back at the end of the day - ideally all in one go also.

Penney Poyzer attending conker tweetup

Penney Poyzer and husband Gil Schalom co-own the Nottingham ecohome. The first radical eco retrofit of a Victorian house in the UK.

Penney is an author, broadcaster, special adviser and lecturer covering a broad spectrum of green issues. Gil is a green architect and NHER SAP assessor specialising in low carbon design for both new build and retrofit - including listed buildings.

They started ‘recycling’ their house 10 years ago and their pioneering project has been acknowledged as the  UK’s benchmark for domestic low carbon retrofit. The house has gone from an energy rating of G to an A. They live their with their daughter Jasmine aged 3 and Puzzle their cat.

International Day of Climate Action Today - 350.org

fantastic to see the power of the internet to effect change on a massive scale.

350.org is an international campaign to support a clear and bold solution to the climate crisis: reducing the level of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere to 350 parts per million. The 350 goal has become a symbol of climate action around the world. This October 24, 2009, over 5,200 events are planned in more than 180 countries for the 350 International Day of Climate Action. From the melting snows of Mt. Everest to the sinking beaches of the Maldives, people will gather to send a message to world leaders: 350!

They have a twitter account and lots of great photos over on flickr