March-ing on! 2nd March 2020
Thanks to all who took part in last month's CCF events! It was another fun month with lots of classes, workshops and visits.
We are now working with a lot more schools around Inverclyde, taking the Climate Challenge Fund to younger participants. We were also at the second Winter Wellness event held by Acumen, and got members of the public involved in planting up simple, easy microgreens! It was great to interact with different organisations throughout Greenock, in recognising the importance of reducing mental health stigma. We were part of the 'Climate Change Plan for Scotland' conference held in Glasgow, where we were able to input our ideas and opinions to representatives from the environmental sector. It was encouraging and inspiring to interact with different groups and individuals who held climate change interests at heart.
Here are the events (so far!) that are planned for March. Please get involved by signing up via email, phone, or through social media. We must stress that you contact us as soon as you can, when you know that you cannot make the class - we don't want anyone missing out and spaces are limited.
As always, spaces are free and accessible for everyone. We'd love to see you get involved!
What have we been up to? 23rd January 2020
A happy new year to everyone involved in our Climate Challenge Fund project! It's been a busy January with plenty of events to plan and people to collaborate with. But we're back with the newest workshops and classes for February - find them in the cafe, on our social media pages, and on our website under 'CCF news'. Remember, we need to know who is coming along to our classes as spaces are limited. They're free, they're fun, and we're a friendly bunch, so come along and join in with one of our upcoming classes!
Over the past few months we have had new and used markets, swap shops, cooking classes, arts and crafts events, movie days, a Christmas fete, a tree planting day, and the opportunity to showcase our work at the Winter Wellness event held by local mental health 'Acumen' network. Our Pay What You Wish market raised £93.50 which was donated to Glasgow and the West 'Cash for Kids'. A massive thank you to everyone who helped out, especially our friends at the Energy Activators. Our Christmas fete had our local community involved with environmentally friendly arts and crafts, such as wooden ornament making and bauble decorating. We've also been cooking everything from breakfast food to desserts, and getting carbon literate through recycling classes and interactive movie days.
We're looking to get a lot more planting and sowing done as the weather gets better, so watch out for gardening workshops and classes taking place in our brand new greenhouses. As always, message us with any questions you have about the project, and we hope to see you all soon!
Planting trees with the 'Garden Gang' and Natalie Jones from CGI Ltd.
A huge thank you to CGI Ltd, Carbon Footprint Ltd and everyone at InWork Enterprsies.
Happy new year! 21st January 2020
We came straight into a busy January after the festive period, but we're finally ready for the newest CCF events! Starting in February, there's plenty of food, growing, and Carbon Literacy to get involved with.
All classes are available to everyone regardess of age and ability. The only exception to this is our Tues 11th 'Cooking with the Wee Ones' class, which is specifically for kids and their parents/carers. Planned for the local school holidays, this will give kids the chance to get involved with the popular cooking classes that us older ones have gotten to enjoy.
Reduce - reuse - recycle! Swap shops & nearly new markets 9th November 2019
Buying new clothes all the time contributes massively to our carbon footprints across the world. In a circular economy, items are used to the absolute limit of their lifetimes, reducing our impact on the environment. This means repairing, swapping, reusing and donating rather than constantly buying - whether it's clothes, electronics, or toys.
We've had a great response to our new and nearly new markets. Our swap shops proved to be popular, with plenty of happy customers and a surprising amount of donations!
Say no to fast fashion and YES to recycling and reusing!
Community Fun Day 18th October 2019
A huge thank you to everyone who made our open day a success. We had jaw-dropping face-painting by Gadsya, the Animal Man provided us with scaly, feathery, and furry creatures to learn about, Susan inspired us with some environmentally themed art, Jeanette kept our energy up with some lovingly and ethically home-made snacks, and even Spiderman took some time out of his busy day fighting crime to show up and get pictures with his fans!
And we had plenty of representatives from various projects around Inverclyde who were able to tell us about their work and answer any questions we had. Thank you to all!
We hope you had a great day and learned something about taking care of the planet as well. We were super impressed with everyone's 'earth pledges'. From 'picking up my litter' to 'walking to school', the kids at Broomhill Gardens have shown us that they are smart, capable, and inventive youngsters who care about climate change. We are so inspired!
We have plenty of new faces to add to our food classes and growing sessions - why not message us to get some information about the next CCF event? We'd love to see you here.
Recycle Week 2019 2nd October 2019
For those of you who may not know - last week was National Recycling Week 2019. The Scottish Government (with Zero Waste Scotland) has focussed on 'food waste' as a hot topic for this years recycling week! At the Hub, we welcomed any questions from those who were unsure of how to recycle their food waste properly. In our carbon literacy workshops, we discussed what can and what cannot be put in your food caddy for kerbside recycling. We looked at the amount of food waste as part of our carbon footprints, and debated the best way in which to store food and use up leftovers.
On the 27th September, we had our well-awaited Swap Shop! We had a very successful day with plenty of swapping and donating. Customers were made aware of the 'exchange rate' of preloved items and the benefits of a circular economy. We welcomed Yvonne from Energy Activators and William from the WISE Group, to give people advice on energy efficiency. Thanks to some lovely donations, we now have a good stock of items to hold another swap shop in the future!
Before the Flood - movie day 23rd August 2019
Thank you to everyone who came along and enjoyed our special screening of 'Before the Flood'. As always, it is great to have a chat about the ways in which we are affected by global warming and what we can do as individuals, and in our community, to do our part.
We had our fabulous Energy Activators present to answer your questions about energy efficiency, and to talk a little bit more about what they do with their Climate Challenge Fund project. We also had the lovely Jeanette from Heavenly SeaSources, who provided us with some samples of her delicious - and healthy! - snacks. Jeanette was able to tell us about the ethically sourced and lovingly made snacks she makes.
We hope you can join us for the next CCF movie day - as always, suggestions are welcome!
(c) Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Rainbow Salad Shaking 22nd August 2019
A huge thanks to everyone who has taken part in our first proper week full of CCF events! We have had our first growing session, food class, and our first carbon literacy project sign up in the last few days.
We had a great time today creating rainbow salads and shakin' them up to create a simple, healthy, delicious meal. Rainbow salads can be prepped to last the week, so are perfect for busy people who don't have time to pack lunches for school or work everyday. They're also useful for an amazing zero-waste picnic, as the jars are robust, leak proof, and reusable.
After shaking our salads to some salsa music, we sat down together for lunch and shared tips and recipes with each other. Part of our discussion involved looking at food miles and weighing up the emissions of certain products, something that reflected the theme of our growing workshop earlier in the week, where we talked about recognising produce that's 'in season' and growing winter veg.
(c) Chasing Coral Netflix
A huge thank you to everyone who braved the weather to come along to our movie day! We had a great time watching Chasing Coral, which both shocked and amazed us with beautiful imagery of life under the sea and the cruel effects of climate change on our coral reefs. Afterwards, we had a discussion about what we could do to stop contributing to climate change and how the next generation should be educated on this.
We were so happy to have the Energy Activators with us on the day. Mark and Lisa were able to give advice on energy saving measures and reducing the carbon footprint in the home. It was interesting to learn about the advantages of renewable energy, which tied in with the theme of our movie. We also had Catharine from 'Bee Happy' chocolates, who brought along some tasty - ethically and lovingly made - chocolate and showed off some of her stunning artwork.
Overall, a brilliant day! Hope to see you all at the next showing!
It's been a good few weeks at the Hub, with lots of new faces joining our food workshops, growing sessions, and carbon literacy classes. We've made healthy takeaways, pizzas, fajitas, and soup - all using locally grown or in-season produce! We're lucky that we can take advantage of the beautiful veggies growing in the greenhouses.
Speaking of which - we are delighted to welcome the 'Garden Gang' to Broomhill Gardens! A lovely bunch of mini gardeners, the Garden Gang come from Wellpark nursery and have been learning lots about where fruits and vegetables come from, safety in the greenhouses, and identifying different types of plants.
This week, we've also joined up with Cycling UK for 'Biking at Broomhill', where the cycling experts showed us how to get confident with biking and ran a few off-road sessions. We also discussed the benefits of cycling versus other forms of transport, and how this relates to our carbon footprint. It is shocking to see the difference in carbon emissions between a one-passenger car journey and the same journey on a bicycle. This definitely got us thinking about our transport habits.