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Parents Like Us festival for children and parents

If you have children there’s only one place to be on the 11th to 13th May, and that’s the Parents Like Us festival in Edinburgh. In it’s third year the festival has gone from strength to strength. Not only will your tots get to hob knob with some big names from the world of CBBC, they’ll be able to take part in many activities such as baby massage, sign and sing, baby shiatsu and yoga. There’s also the chance to learn more about real nappies, organic food for kids and recycling. Tickets are £3 for each event (this admits two kids, adults go free if they are accompanied by a child under 5).

Related: Ethical families fork out £700 more per year on baby, says survey | Comic relief: Charlie and Lola bring the fairtrade message to kids | More kid’s stuff

Golden Eagle spotting in Ardnamurchan

If you’re looking for something exciting to do this summer why not try some Golden Eagle spotting in the Scottish Highlands? A recent joint venture by the RSPB and Ardnamurchan Natural History Centre means you can witness Scotland’s national birds feeding on a tasty deer carcass, via the power of some carefully positioned CCTV cameras.

There is also a new exhibition within the centre totally dedicated to these majestic birds, teaching us all about their breeding, feeding and conservation. The centre is already a draw for tourists in the area, serving delicious local food and teaching it’s visitors about sustainability in the fragile Highlands, but this is guaranteed to bring more people in and give the area an economic boost. Obviously there is a chance to see Golden Eagles over the glens and hills in most parts of Scotland, but with a little help from the cameras you are more likely to see the birds up close and personal. A truly awe inspiring experience.

Related: Easter fun with RSPB Wildlife Explorers | Nest Box Challenge – who’s sleeping in your garden?

Free DIY composting toilet course at Low Luckens farm

If you’re sick of flushing all those valuable nutrients down the loo and want to reclaim them as your own, then you could spend a lot of money on a composting toilet by one of the increasing specialist companies, or you could follow the likes of Dick Strawbridge and make your own.

Low Luckens Organic Resource Centre are hosting a six day residential course, starting on 28th May. It will provide you with the history of composting your waste, plus some ‘hands on’ experience of building your own composting toilet. The course (including accommodation) is totally free and all you have to pay for is your organic food, which will cost £50.

Related: Sitting Pretty: the international green bathroom hunt | Green Building Company’s one stop shop for water saving

Kids’ Easter activities at the Centre for Alternative Technology

Looking for some interesting ways to fill up the Easter holidays? The Centre for Alternative Technology are offering a range of activities for kids until the 15th of April.

Daily activities run from 10.30am until 4.30pm and include workshops and games with a focus on reducing environmental impact, as well as interactive theatre and bug and slug hunts. All activities are included in the usual entrance price – that’s £5 for children aged 5 – 15 and free for under-5s.

More information is available on the CAT website.

Related posts: Easter fun with RSPB Wildlife Explorers | Fairtrade Easter eggs for kids from Dubble

Vote with your feet at the Scottish Parliamentary election

On 3rd May us Scots get the chance to make some much needed changes in the Scottish Parliamentary and local council elections.

To coincide with this an environmental question time has been set up by ‘the everyone campaign’, a large and impressive group of Scottish environmental charities whose aim is to bring environmental issues to the forefront of Scottish politics.

It will be attended by many of our top politicians, and will be held in the impressive ‘Hub’, at the foot of Edinburgh Castle on 17th April at 7.30pm. The main topics up for discussion will include climate change, loss of wildlife habitats and pollution of our seas.

Entry is free and there are no tickets, so arrive early to secure a place. There will be entertainment (in addition to the MSPs) in the form of Scots folk band Capercaillie and to make the whole experience even more interactive there will be audience voting buttons. You can post your question for the evening in advance at Scottishvotepods.com

You can also help the campaign by downloading (on recycled paper) one of their big footprints, colouring it green, signing it, and sending it back to campaign HQ. All the feet will be gathered together for a huge exhibition highlighting the environmental cause.

Related: Government learns it’s not cheap being green

Climate change in Britain – in pictures

The National Trust asked ten photographers to answer the question ‘what does climate change mean for Britain?’ using their cameras. The results are shown in a new photography exhibition at Hoopers Gallery in London from the 12th of April, before going on tour around the UK – see below for all dates and venues.

The images (which you can preview online at the National Trust and Guardian sites (some different photos at each), show how wide the impact of climate change already is: the ‘permanent’ snowline on Snowdonia has moved drastically; exotic plants (and diseases) now flourish on the British Isles; and once-full moats and rivers run dry.

But the exhibition doesn’t only focus on the negative. Other pictures show responses to climate change, such as the use of thermal energy and biofuels.

Exposed: Climate Change in Britain’s Backyard is at Hoopers Gallery, London EC1, 12 April-11 May; Nottingham Castle, 19 May-1 July; Penrhyn Castle, near Bangor, 7 July-2 September; Bristol Museum and Arts Gallery, 2 November-2 December; and Waterfront Hall, Belfast, January 2008.

Related posts: 2007 Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition opens for entries | Draft UK climate change bill launched

Nigel’s Eco Store to set up shop

Good news for Brighton based greenies – online eco emporium Nigel’s Eco Store is to set up an actual shop in the Poets Corner area of Hove sometime in May. The online store – which we’ve mentioned many times – sells a huge range of eco products from gadgets to homewares, kiddy stuff to health and beauty. [Via New Consumer]

Related: Bespoke twig bench from Nigel’s I Linen, beech and coconut laundry basket I More from Nigel’s Eco Store

Campaign to save Manor Garden allotments

On the 2nd of April, a group of allotment holders in London will be officially evicted to make way for the Olympic development.

The land was given to its tenants 100 years ago be used for gardening in perpetuity, but the London Development Agency wants to demolish them and use the land for a footpath during the Olympics, moving the allotment holders elsewhere. The gardeners are happy to give up their allotments while the Olympics take place, but claim that the plots could easily be incorporated into the development and do not need to be destroyed. They continue to fight to preserve their allotments, and have set up a website documenting their campaign.

The allotment holders are throwing a Spring Party on the 1st of April in support of their campaign – full details are available on their site.

You can also show your support by signing the petition asking for the allotments to be incorporated into the 2012 Olympic site.

The LDA didn’t turn up to its last scheduled meeting with tenants, but it seems that with a little imagination and planning, these plots could continue to feed their gardeners for another 100 years…

Related post: Allotmental

Campaign to save Manor Garden allotments

On the 2nd of April, a group of allotment holders in London will be officially evicted to make way for the Olympic development.

The land was given to its tenants 100 years ago be used for gardening in perpetuity, but the London Development Agency wants to demolish them and use the land for a footpath during the Olympics, moving the allotment holders elsewhere. The gardeners are happy to give up their allotments while the Olympics take place, but claim that the plots could easily be incorporated into the development and do not need to be destroyed. They continue to fight to preserve their allotments, and have set up a website documenting their campaign.

The allotment holders are throwing a Spring Party on the 1st of April in support of their campaign – full details are available on their site.

You can also show your support by signing the petition asking for the allotments to be incorporated into the 2012 Olympic site.

The LDA didn’t turn up to its last scheduled meeting with tenants, but it seems that with a little imagination and planning, these plots could continue to feed their gardeners for another 100 years…

Related post: Allotmental

Live Earth concerts – Save our Selves says Gore

Politicians love to use rock’n’roll to spread their message of peace and unity across the planet. They know it‘s a sure fire way to get the ‘apathetic’ youngsters of today interested in a cause (and let’s face it, slogan t-shirts are in!).

Al Gore has been whipping up an eco storm all over the world with his series of lectures on climate change and his movie ‘An Inconvenient Truth’. It was only a matter of time before his bio diesel powered bandwagon would come up with the idea of a Live Aid type concert to spread his message. Except, as usual with the Americans, this concert has to be bigger and better than anything that’s ever gone before. And so he gives you…Live Earth.

Its a series of concerts which will take part on all seven continents, bringing together over 150 big bands, and which will be beamed live for 24hrs to an estimated audience of over 2 billion people worldwide.

A recent press conference, which featured stars like Cameron Diaz and Pharrell Williams announced the concerts, which will also be broadcast live on the internet in conjunction with MSN. It also marked the creation of a new alliance called ‘Save our Selves – The Campaign for a Climate in Crisis’ which, in the words of it’s chairman Al Gore, has been designed to “trigger a global movement to combat our climate crisis”. Gore’s enlisted the help of Kevin Wall, an Emmy Award winning producer who was, amongst other things, the Executive Producer for Live 8

And incase you’re questioning the eco credentials of a series of rock concerts in large venues which will be using an indecent amount of electricity and probably creating a small eco climate of their own fear not! Live Earth will be implementing a new standard called the ‘Green Event’ that will become a model for carbon neutral rock and pop concerts and other live events, such as sports, in the future. All the venues are being created to have a minimal environmental impact and will be show grounds for the latest state of the art energy efficiency, sustainable facilities and on site power generation.

Bands who have signed up to the concerts already include the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Bloc Party, Duran Duran, Paolo Nutini, Snow Patrol and many others (what no Bono?!). Tickets are yet to be released but you can sign up for alerts at Live Earth.org

Related : Tuesday blog roundup : Inconvenient Truth 2 et al | Yay or Nay : Should Al Gore give it away?


all womens talk

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