ENABLE Conference 2008

The fourth ENABLE annual event was held this year on Thursday 3^rd July at the National NSPCC Training Centre, Beaumont Leys, Leicester.

The theme was Climate Friendly Communities with a keynote speech from Professor Roy Alexander from the University of Chester who spoke about his involvement with the Ashton Hayes Going Carbon Neutral campaign. Ashton Hayes is a village in Cheshire which aims to be the first carbon neutral community in the UK and has already carried out energy surveys for homes in the village and the pub serves locally produced food and beer! Roy also showed a copy of a film which was produced as part of funding from DEFRA the village received to help raise awareness about climate change. The film ‘Our Footprint, Our Journey’ can be viewed on You Tube and is available to buy on DVD.

There were also two workshop sessions with four workshops to choose from. Presentation slides from most of the workshops can be viewed below.

Community Carbon Footprinting workshop
Dr Beverley Allan from the Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development at De Montfort University explained the different terminology relating to climate change including the difference between global warming, climate change and greenhouse gases. The group also had the opportunity to carry out a carbon footprint for each other based on their energy use at home and travel options. For further information see the presentation or contact Beverley Allan Tel. 0116 257 7970.

Community Capacity Building workshop
Neil Lambert from Voluntary Action Charnwood explained why communities might want to get together to form a group, their role as a voice for the community and how to go about setting up a group. For further information see the presentation or contact Neil Lambert email neil.lambert@voluntaryactioncharnwood.org.uk

Developing an Action Plan for your community group workshop
Claire Lyons, Community Champion from Every Action Counts, looked at the different topics community groups might want to tackle to become more environmentally friendly such as saving energy, reducing waste, travel options, ethical purchasing and caring for your local area and how groups could produce an action plan to help them tackle climate change. For further information contact Claire Lyons Tel 01302 388 841 or email c.lyon@btcv.org.uk

Local Economy and Climate Change workshop
Rachel Elliott talked about the history of Ibstock Community Enterprises Ltd helping to regenerate Ibstock after the mining and other heavy industry closed in the area and how by simply installing a cashpoint on the High Street helped to increase the amount of trade in the town. The group also played the Leaky Bucket game and had to think about how money leaves local economies. For further information see the presentation or contact Rachel Elliott Tel. 01530 262882, email ibstockcommunity@hotmail.com