Forthcoming events from Sustainable St Albans and friends – across St Albans, Harpenden and the villages.
Thursday 25th February 7.30pm. Creative Ideas for SustFest21 – to inspire you about SustFest21 activities you could run. Click here for info/to book
Tuesday March 2nd March 1pm. Creative Ideas for SustFest21 – to inspire you about SustFest21 activities you could run. Click here for info/to book
SustFest 21 Register your activity – Registration is now open for your activities/events for the 2021 #Covid-safe Sustainability Festival – across St Albans, Harpenden and villages. See ideas for #Covid-safe activities and how to register on the festival website. #StaySafe
Climate Anxiety event – we have postponed this – but will soon have some dates for you.
Monday 8 March 2021 7.30-9.30pm: Doughnut and Decision Making – including the environment and nature in local decision making – FREE online event. Click here for further information and to book.
Do you think we need to integrate environment and nature into decision-making the same way as finances are? Would you like to see that happen with local decisions, by your local council or where you work?
Come and hear about the fascinating approach of the Doughnut! And how it can be used to make sure the right questions are asked – so people know the consequences of the decisions they are making. Doughnut economics is a flexible approach, that has been used by community groups, local government and corporates to help them improve their decision making.
Rob Shorter will introduce us to the Doughnut approach, explain how it has been used and encourage us to think how we might use it in the district.
Thermal imaging camera
Jan 2021 update: we are sorry that as a result of the recent changes in response to the COVID pandemic, our Thermal Imaging Cameras are not available to borrow at present.
Please see the camera webpage for updates regarding the project and to find out more about the project.
Playing Out
Playing Out sessions cannot take place at this time. We very much hope to be accepting applications for Playing Out from St Albans District residents in Spring 2021. If you would like to start holding Playing Out sessions on your street, please read these pages for inspiration, talk to your neighbours and sign up to our mailing list for updates.
And here is a video we made during the first lockdown – Playing In with Playing Out! If you are interested in starting Playing Out on your street when it starts up again, please do get in touch with us. You can find all the information that you need to start Playing Out is on our webpage here.
Open Food Gardens 2021 – Saturday 13th March – organising group zoom meeting
This annual free programme – run by residents who are passionate about growing food opening up their gardens to visitors – with advice, tea and cake – has been running since 2009 – with hundreds of people coming along to visit the gardens. Seedlings are sometimes on offer. Local allotments and community growing projects are included. Would you like to join our organising group for the 2021 programme? If so we’d love to hear from you.
Join us on Saturday 13th March, 2.30-4.00pm, on Zoom; register here to attend, or email us at ofg AT sustainablestalbans.org for more information.
The 2021 programme is likely to be a mix of virtual and traditional open food gardens. In the meantime, do check out the 2020 Open Food Garden videos and this blog on setting up a Low Maintenance Garden
SustFest21 Dates
Sun 23 May to 6 June 2021
PAST EVENTS:
Tuesday 11 January 7.30-8.30pm. Rising to the Challenge: A Life on our Planet.
Watch David’s Attenborough’s film, hear his impressive and thought provoking witness statement (on your Netflix at home) and then join us for an evening of discussion on how we can rise to the Climate Emergency challenge set out in this film. How do we put nature at the heart of our decisions? We’ll explore Energy, Food, Restoring Nature and Finance. See Action ideas and resources from the event here
Tuesday 8 December 7.30-8.30pm. Sustainable St Albans Annual General Meeting
Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, we are holding our AGM much later in the year than usual and over Zoom. All are welcome to attend, to hear about our past year’s activities and a brief update on the current year. We will end with contributions from local young people about what the climate crisis means for them. See our AGM page for more details and an agenda.
2020 Open Food Gardens is virtual!
We didn’t run our programme of garden visits in 2020, we went “going virtual” by creating videos of food growing in local gardens. These can be found on our open food gardens on our Open Food Gardens page.
Carbon literacy/Climate awareness courses in 2020
If you are interested in attending a session or finding out more please email us here
Wednesday 25 November
SADC Sustainability and Climate Crisis Strategy Event: how can we be involved?
Be informed: read the strategy here.
Our panelists have all been involved in drafting this Strategy following the District Council’s Declaration of a Climate Emergency in 2019. The discussion will centre on how we, as a community, can get involved to make the strategy work and create a more sustainable district. There will be plenty of opportunity to take questions from the floor so this is a great opportunity for you to ask anything you want to be answered about the strategy.
Our panel included:
- Cllr Chris White, Leader of St Albans District Council, and portfolio holder for the Climate, Environment and Transport,
- Cllr Will Tucker, Chair of the SADC Climate Crisis Response Working Group
- Tim Hill, Conservation Manager, Herts and Middx Wildlife Society and member of the Climate Crisis Response Working Group.
- Amanda Yorwerth, St.Albans Friends of the Earth and member of the Climate Crisis Response Working Group
- Jess Simmons, UK Student Climate Network and lay member of the Climate Crisis Response Working Group
- Catherine Ross, Sustainable St Albans trustee and lay member of the Climate Crisis Response Working Group
Thursday 12 November
Solar Streets Open Q&A
“This is an open Q&A session held via Zoom for residents of St Albans City & District to learn more about the Solar Streets Scheme, which provides discounted Solar PV installations and adds a donation to a Community Fund with every order. Savings are usually over 20% versus a standalone quotation and start from £4,000 including VAT for a 12 panel 4kWp system which normally costs over £5,000. Each residential installation earns £50 towards a Community Fund that will be spent on sustainable projects in the area. Each typical 4kWp installation saves 1 tonne of CO2 per annum.
The session is your chance to ask anything you like about the scheme and you need to register by emailing us at info@solarstreets.co.uk”
Monday 9 November 2020
Sustainable holidays, 7.30-9.00pm, via zoom
Our Planet Our Future – Sustainable Holidays – who knew?
Talks and discussion about taking your sustainable lifestyle on holiday with you
Many aspects of taking a holiday seem to challenge the very principles of sustainable lifestyles but some holiday providers are offering ‘sustainable’ and ‘regenerative’ tourism opportunities. This event hosts presentations from the CEO of the Youth Hostel Association UK and the founder of Earth-Changers, both of whom promote tourism that consciously places the destination countryside and environment up front and centre. They will explain how your tourist dollar can generate positive impacts for people and places in the UK and around the world.
Our guest speakers are James Blake, CEO of the Youth Hostel Association and Vicky Smith founder of Earth Changers. Join us to hear from our inspiring speakers and to discuss actions that you can take and pledging on how you can take these actions forward. Free event, please book via Meetup here
Thursday 29 October
Eco Homes zoom event
Expert panel with Q&A. See more and register here Local companies offer practical advice on solar panels, solar thermal, heat pumps, Passivhaus Plus, government Green Homes’ grants and more! Panellists are: Giles Hanforth from the Small Solar Company; Tomas Larsson, director of Better Planet; Andy Tunstall from St Albans Solar Streets, Linda Shall, local resident and proud owner of a Passivhaus Plus; Peter Block local resident and solar tech enthusiast.
7.30pm Thurs 30 July 2020- Share chat/tips on Plastic Free July: SSA Open Meeting – #PlasticFreeJuly feedback . Time: Jul 30, 2020 19:30 London. See info and book here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sustainable-st-albans-july-open-meeting-tickets-113005283846
The Story of Plastic -Brand new film special #lockdown online screening – Tickets Limited for 1st July 2020.
FREE Online screening ‘The Story of Plastic – Wed 1st July 7pm. Details and tickets here. With post-film panel discussion at 8.30pm with Jen Gale, author of the popular Sustainable-ish blog and book; Amanda Yorwerth, St.Albans Friends of the Earth, and Catherine Ross from Sustainable St Albans.
Thursday 18th June 2020 8pm Food Garden Question Time online Book here
Grow Community Sopwell host the ZOOM online Food Garden Question Time with local food gardeners, Amanda Yorwerth, Ian Langford – chair of FoodSmiles St Albans and Sopwell gardener and allotment holder Michelle Mackenzie. See more and book your ticket on Eventbrite here
Getting Involved in Sustainable St Albans -Zoom Meetings 
An informal online Zoom session aimed at anyone who wants to hear a little more about the work of Sustainable St Albans and find out how they could take part –
- Getting Involved – Wednesday 10 June 2020, 10-11am, https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88135835615
- Getting Involved – Wednesday 10 June 2020, 8-9pm, https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84607975377
