Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said recently : ‘I am committed to reducing the amount of waste generated in the capital and support a ban on plastic bags. Cutting our use of plastic bags would help to reduce waste going to landfill and litter, as well as saving vast amounts of greenhouse gases. I back Sustainable Merton in its campaign and commend them for taking a lead on this issue. Londoners can take action by using fewer plastic bags, and also by contacting their local MP to drum up their support for London Councils bid to get the Government to bring about a ban on single-use, throwaway shopping bags in the capital.’
Find out more…

6.30 ’til late.

And the second Wednesday of every month.

Where is it?

In the Ted Higgins Bar (the bar on the left) as you enter THE SULTAN PUB, 78 Norman Road, South Wimbledon, SW19 1BT

How do I get there?

Walk, cycle, bus (200, 57, 493, 152), tube (South Wimbledon, Colliers Wood). Click here for a map.

Why should I go?

Merton Green Drinks is for anyone interested in environmental issues or studying them. The idea is to meet for fun, contacts, alcohol, info, gossip, inspiration, business and pleasure. If you are new, just go up to someone and you’ll be made welcome. Please forward this email to anyone you think might be interested. To get on the email circulation list for reminders, send an email to: info@sustainablemerton.org.uk We will not give your email address to anyone else.

After a successful pilot year in 2007, Food Up Front is expanding in to the borough of Merton, hoping to encourage even more London residents to grow food in their unused outdoor space.

The team are working hard to prepare the start of the 2008 growing season and they are keen to hear from people who would like to join the scheme or become a Food Up Front representative in their street.

The team attracted an unexpected amount of interest in its pilot year, with interviews on television and radio, culminating in the Green Guardian award for Best Green Project.

The project is designed to give anyone and everyone the tools and knowledge necessary to grow something, no matter how small their space.

Seb Mayfield, co-founder of the project, said: “We want to show people that they don’t need an allotment or large garden to grow food. Any space is appropriate, including balconies and even window sills.

Once people feel that they have support, they feel more confidence to have a go at growing. It is also a great way to develop community interaction, especially when a number of people are involved in the same street.”

On registration, residents will receive a starter kit, with everything they need to get going in a matter of weeks. The kit even includes compost from London garden waste, along with green boxes, previously used as recycling containers.

The food growing has been accompanied by evening events, enabling participants to meet each other over drinks.

Zoe Lujic, Seb’s project partner, said: “By starting small, some participants have found the confidence to develop their food growing and have gone on to grow a variety of different vegetables, including beans, carrots and spinach. Others have just enjoyed the fact that they could pick salad leaves and herbs, rather than buying them in a packet.”

A registration event will be held in conjunction with the Sustainable Merton Green Drinks on March 12^th.

For more information about the Food Up Front project visit www.foodupfront.org.

To sign up for the Schools Eco Forum please contact Sustainable Merton t.020 8540 0622 or email info@sustainablemerton.org.uk

Are you looking for an interesting & lively activity for your group?

While it is easy to do nothing and feel despondent about Climate Change…

…it is just as easy to take action and feel good.

Sustainable Merton invites you to take part in a free workshop to help you and your friends tackle Climate Change.

Our workshops…

…are designed for community groups across Merton who want to find out more about Climate Change and take practical action.

…are interactive and will generate plenty of discussion and ideas!

…can take place on one of your regular meetings or at a different time suitable for you

…will be running from October 2007.

Spaces are limited! To register your group for a workshop please call Sustainable Merton on 020 8540 0622 or email info @ sustainablemerton.org.uk (remove spaces)

At an awards ceremony on Friday 12th October, Sustainable Merton was awarded the Green Project or Group award for Merton.

Winners from each borough went through to the regional final  at the Queen’s Stand, Epsom Racecourse on Friday, November 16 with the Green Goddess, Penny Poyzer, as guest speaker.

Sustainable Merton was commended in the Green Project Category

On Thursday 27th September supporters of Sustainable Merton packed into the Guardian Centre in Colliers Wood to review the progress made over the last seven months and to make plans for the future. Sustainable Merton Co-ordinator Tom Walsh highlighted the exciting developments which have taken place this year including projects to develop a plastic bag free zone (Volunteers have been busy on the streets of Wimbledon Park talking to retailers, residents end community organisations as part of a campaign to make Wimbledonb Park London’s first plastic bag free zone, following in the footsteps of Modbury in Devon and Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire. To find out more about the campaign and how you can get involved email Mariana at kingstonmertonrnn@yahoo.co.uk) and a community-owned wind turbine. Ideas for future projects included an Eco Pals mentoring scheme, door to door education, letter writing campaigns, a Merton Food up Front project, working with faith groups, recycling at Merton events, and an anti-bottled water campaign. If you are interested in getting involved in these or any other projects you might like to see happen then please email info @ sustainablemerton.org.uk (remove spaces)

At our Energy meeting we had a lot of lively and interesting participation.

Our speakers Adrian Hewitt and David Bell of Merton Council, Malcolm Evans of Sutton Solar Club and Russell Smith of Parity Projects all stimulated interesting discussions in the workshops afterward.

The workshop groups in the second half of the meeting broadly followed the subject areas of the four speakers.

THe first groups discussed Combined Heat and Power (CHP), District Heat and Power (DHP) and Energy from Waste (EfW). The responsibility for these areas was seen as The Council, The Government and the Greater London Authority (GLA). What is required is for the community to ask the council why these kind of projects aren’t progressing in the borough. Merton residents can write to their local councillors asking them to push forward these kind of projects and make climate change a key priority of the council, making  a cabinet position for Climate Change. One of the participants suggested the following as suggested content for a letter to the council:

The Council should be urged to consider

·         Trailblazing in issues relating to energy efficiency and local, renewable energy generation. If Merton gets ahead of the game now it could generate business locally later when others realise they need to follow this borough’s lead, as well as bringing immediate advantages for businesses and residents.

·         Constructing only mixed developments, not just single function housing or business alone, to spread the energy requirements of all new developments and enable local, sustainable energy generation schemes to be installed.

·         Collaborating with other local authorities to enable economies of scale to be achieved in installing sustainable energy generation schemes and starting up other sustainable initiatives in the spheres of waste disposal, pollution control, water supplies, flood control, transport and biodiversity.

·         Aiming to achieve the government’s target of 60% of energy supplies being from renewables by 2050 far sooner than this date, and then going on to exceed the proportion of our energy which comes from renewable sources.

·         Taking measures to increase Merton’s ability to generate its own power from renewable sources, with aim of becoming entirely self-sufficient in 10 years. Energy costs could rise astronomically, quite possibly doubling within the space of a couple of years, rising 10 times over 5 or 10 years, should the UK’s gas supplies from Russia dry up, if, or more likely when, Russia decides it needs the gas for its own use or China is able to pay a higher price than the UK.

·         Offering some sort of incentives to increase energy efficiency in existing housing, local authority and business premises. At the moment energy efficiency is just as important as switching to renewables, since the vast stock of existing premises is so poorly insulated, uses relatively few energy efficient appliances and residents/users have not yet adopted sufficent energy efficient behaviours. Energy efficiency is an easy way for everyone to realise financial benefits.

·         Offering free/low cost individual energy audits to enable businesses and householders to see how easily they could improve their energy efficiency.

·         Aiming for a Merton target that in 10 years time everyone should be able to see the source of the power generated to keep their home/business/facilities running – ie establish local renewable power generation.

·         Offering funding to one or two permanent staff for Sustainable Merton to build on the goodwill and enthusiasm which has so far been shown by a big cross-section of the Borough’s residents and to help make all the businesses and residents of Merton experts in sustainable living.

The second group looked at community wind projects which might involve local schools who can get grants and finance up to £30k to set up a turbine which would pay for itself within 5 to 7 years. Support would be required from the local community to avoid planning hitches so it was suggested that trips to successful renewable energy projects mights be arranged.

The third group focussed on setting up workshops to teach people how to build their own solar water heaters. One of the participants volunteered to contact Sutton Solar Club and organise a workshop. The project will need space and equipments such as old copper cylinders.

The final group suggested a range of projects including a Merton Environment Centre similar to the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales, a house conversion scheme linking residents with finance and accredited suppliers perhaps in partnership with a local Energy Supply COmpany (ESCO) - a survey of householders intentions was suggested, turning the lights off in the civic offices and a community trip to the Centre for Alternative Technology.

The consensus of this groups was also that the council should be made to feel guilty that these kind of projects were not already happening in the borough.

You can write to your local councillors at http://www.writetothem.com/. Pressure can also be levied by writing to the local press.

You might have lots of other ideas to bring to the table so join the debate online at http://sustainablemerton.wordpress.com/issues/energy/

On Saturday 9th June, Wimbledon’s Piatza was filled with sustainability stalls and enthusiastic volunteers advising passers by on changes they could make to their lifestyles to live more sustainably.

View the pictures here