On the Programme
Changing behaviour: changing society
Tim Chatterton (UWE, Bristol)
Dr Tim Chatterton argues that the policy world is awash with the phrase ‘behaviour change’ – this season’s ‘sustainable development’. Meaning many things to many people it fails to highlight the real causes that lie at the heart of many of the challenges that we face.
Whether we are tackling climate change, facing up to limits on environmental resources, or trying to improve public health, putting the focus on individual actions in not going to solve our problems. Read more
Cohousing – a way to zero carbon
Dawn Keyse (Lancaster Cohousing)
By 2016 the UK Government wants all new homes to be ‘zero carbon’. While commercial developers struggle to meet the interim steps to zero carbon, Lancaster Cohousing is developing a community of 40 new homes with shared office space and community facilities which when opened in 2012 will meet the Passivhauss standard and the Association of Environment Conscious Building (AECB) Gold Standard (equivalent to Code for Sustainable Homes Level 6).
Dawn will talk about her involvement in the project, and the ecological and sustainable aspects of the development, and the approach to constructing zero carbon buildings four years ahead of the Government’s schedule. Read more
Do ‘Climate Refugees’ exist? Dispelling some key myths around climate change and migration
Hannah Smith (COIN)
A number of experts and institutions now warn that climate change has the potential to displace millions. Of equal concern is that climate change has the potential to impinge upon the full range of internationally protected human rights. At GreenTalk Hannah will ask ‘whom does this affect and how should we respond?’.
Financing the green transition – why we can afford it
Ann Pettifor (PRIME (Policy Research in Macroeconomics))
Ann Pettifor argues that we can afford to finance the green transition, but that it is going to require a major shift which subordinates the finance sector to the interests of society and the ecosystem.
Green Poems for a Blue Planet
Martin Kiszko’s ‘Green Poems for a Blue Planet’ are described as witty, whimsical, thought-provoking and meant seriously, despite their light-hearted tone, taking as their subject matter the threat that humankind poses to the future of the planet.
Martin will open GreenTalk with a selection of readings from his book with illustrations by Nic Park of Aardman Animations.
Lessons from Antarctica
Richard Dunne (Head - Ashley Primary School)
At this year’s GreenTalk Richard will highlight the importance of experience and leadership in designing and creating a sustainable future. And he will show how, if children are given a key role in leading learning around issues of sustainability, they can achieve the most incredible things. Read more
Listening to Food
Arthur Potts Dawson (The Peoples' Supermarket)
Arthur Potts Dawson feels passionately that we have to listen to food. Listen to its seasons, listen to its pollinators and producers, and listen to it slowly become just another commodity. If we ignore the food in our lives we risk allowing huge corporations to make our food decisions for us, making decisions that are financially driven rather than globally/planetary driven.
At GreenTalk he will call for an alternative approach to food which looks to the needs of future generations, those who go hungry, and which cuts the criminal levels of food waste today. And he will call for food to be valued as one of the most important things in our lives. Read more
Reclaiming streets for play
Alice Ferguson & Amy Rose (Playing Out)
Alice Ferguson and Amy Rose believe that free play is an essential part of childhood. Over the past generation it has been marginalised to designated spaces so that often children no longer feel safe or welcome on their own streets. At this year’s GreenTalk they put the case for reclaiming residential streets for play and for communities to generate a sense of collective responsibility for the next generation. Read more
The secret gardener—creating urban wild spaces
John Gapper (Brighton & Hove DC)
In 1965 John Gapper realised that native British butterflies on the edge of the South Downs were in serious decline. Drawing on 47 years of experience John will explain how he set about collecting, cultivating, and planting indigenous wildflowers for the benefit of insects and butterflies, how for part of that time he had to work in secret, and what impact creating species rich havens from inhospitable spaces in our towns and cities can have on insects and people.
Read more
