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We've spent the last four months developing a Climate Change exhibition for the Uganda Museum in Kampala. It consists of seven zones with posters and display cabinets including a model of two future climate change scenarios - one with no action on climate change and the other with a combination of adaptation and mitigation responses.

The Zones:

Zone 1 Climate change science
Zone 2 Climate change and the home
Zone 3 Transport and climate change
Zone 4 Climate change entrepreneurs
Zone 5 Renewable energy
Zone 6 Climate change and the land
Zone 7 The future

All of the work was done remotely from here in the UK and we even turned down an invite to fly out for the opening.

Here are links to the some press for the opening.

Daily Monitor
New Vision
We've had great feedback already and are hoping to make this available to other countries as well.

"It's not bad to own things that you genuinely like. Things that you cherish, that enhance your existence in the world. The rest is dross."

"Do not 'economize'. Please. That is not the point. The economy is clearly insane. Even its champions are terrified by it now. It’s melting the North Pole. So 'economization' is not your friend. Cheapness can be valueless. Voluntary simplicity is, furthermore, boring. Less can become too much work."

Bruce Sterling, Science Fiction Writer

It’s Green Drinks time next Wednesday (3rd June) and we’ve got another speaker lined up for you. Mandy Stoker of E4Environment in Shrewsbury and chair of Shropshire Environmental Network will be talking about the Green Achiever Scheme – a scheme that lets businesses show off their green practices using a ‘Green Achiever’ logo. Do come along to the talk to find out more! 7.30 at the Loggerheads, Shrewsbury. Shropshire Green Drinks occurs on the first Wednesday of every month. For more info contact nancy_at_mea.org.uk or visit http://www.greendrinks.org/index.php?city=Shropshire&country=UK
 

Visitors: 600
Bulbs distributed: 1200
Powerdown Units distributed: 240
CO2 saved (lifetime): 173,208kg
Retained economic benefit (lifetime): £90,383
Most people who visited the stall had not undertaken many measures yet to reduce their energy use and everyone was very positive and appreciative of the service we were offering. We were able to sign post some people to cheap or free insulation. We also had a number of enquiries about solar water heating and met a guy who is going to re-roof his house with solar tiles.
The energy bike went down a treat as well with the young and old having a go. We set up three low energy light bulbs against a standard incandescent and people were amazed that it took the same energy to power both.
Lastly, a story which I think sums up the advantage of having people on the street answering questions rather than sending light bulbs or energy monitoring forms through the post. We had one visitor who did not like low energy light bulbs (there is always at least one). He had fitted one CFL in his upper hallway and each time the bulbs had stopped working after a few months. For this reason he did not believe the longevity claims of CFLs and was unwilling to fit them to the rest of his house. After a long discussion it was revealed that the loft hatch is right next to the light fitting and he and his wife regularly go up into the loft to store their children's toys. In doing so, they move the light out of the way with the top of the ladder - it does not have a shade. I suggested to him that the ladder was making a hairline crack in the bulb, leading to it blowing. A (low energy) light bulb lit in his head. I gave him four new bulbs to try and a list of stockists for the more hard to get bulbs (he has 10 GU10 halogens in his kitchen). He was so pleased he came back twice to thank me.

We're rather proud of the feedback we get and we update our page pretty regularly. Most of them are edits of more extensive feedback. Posting the all the feedback would be cumbersome, but I just wanted to share this one with you in full....you'd think we'd written it ourselves (we didn't honest!)

‘Richard delivered an inspiring presentation to launch Huntingdonshire District Council’s ‘Green Force’ employee environmental awareness initiative.

Given a challenging brief he captivated the audience by imaginatively conveying the environmental issues facing the world today, whilst also introducing a wealth of ideas for practical solutions. Considering the gravity of the world’s predicament it was impressive that Richard’s presentation was full of humour and amongst the many highlights there included light hearted interactive quiz with a carbon neutral beer as the first prize! 

Above all Richard’s message was one of hope and was a call to action that energised everyone present and sent them away focussed on how we can all make a real difference.  In short any organisation seeking to take forward their environmental agenda should consider engaging the services of Marches Energy Agency to help with both conveying the message and delivering possible solutions.’

Dr Paul Jose, Head of Environmental Management, Huntingdonshire District Council
 

“You see, we should make use of the forces of nature
and should obtain all our power in this way.
Sunshine is a form of energy, wind and sea currents
are manifestations of this energy.
Do we make use of them? Oh no! We burn forests and coal,
like tenants burning down our front door for heating.
We live like wild settlers and not
as though these resources belong to us”

Thomas A Edison, 1916, (inventor of the tungsten light bulb)

On Monday (16th March) Richard Hammerton went to Market Drayton to deliver a staff training session - one of the distinguishing features of the session was that it was certainly the earliest one he has ever done, beginning at 7am and ending at 8.30!

The purpose of the training session was to provide accessible energy advice to the staff of the Swimming Centre, and also staff from other leisure facilities in North Shropshire, with a focus on behavioural changes and actions which are free or low cost.
 
In order to provide a context and highlight the reason why energy saving is of particular importance the session began with a talk on the background issues – climate change and energy security. The talk provided a clear and substantive introduction to these topics.
 
Following on from the introductory talk the main part of the training was the workshop activity; our ‘Convenience vs Effectiveness’ exercise. This activity has been designed to achieve several key outcomes. It raises awareness of the range of measures that can be employed in an energy and carbon reduction strategy. The range of energy saving measures that were covered in the session included many that could be applied at work or at home, to maximise the benefit of the training for those that took part. It highlights the importance of balancing the energy saving performance of a particular measure with a realistic appraisal of how likely it is that people will adopt that measure – a highly efficient technology that is too inconvenient to appeal to a wide audience will be less useful than a moderately efficient approach that is easy to implement and thus achieves a wider uptake. The workshop culminates with the production of a ranked list of measures that reflects the amalgamation of both energy saving and convenience considerations.
 
When the list was complete the results were discussed with the group, and formed the starting point of a wider discussion about approaches and opportunities for energy saving. It was explained to the attendees that the list they developed during this workshop provided the basis for a workplace or home energy action plan. This was used as a good opportunity to introduce the Energy Action Pack as a tool for developing a year long energy saving strategy. The final part of the session was spent concluding the energy session, inviting the attendees to ask questions, and examining some of the more widespread misapprehensions that stop people from taking personal steps to reduce their carbon footprint.

We're very excited to announce that we have been commissioned to develop member and officer training for Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. We will be working with them to develop a set of tools and training that they can deliver in the future.

We will also be taking the Light Fantastic out there for ten events over the summer, including a staff training event.

We'll keep you posted!

Session: Climate Talk
Date: 4/3/09
Location: Ross Library, Ross-on-Wye

Attendees: 12  

A good turn out and good cross section of the community. Most were from Ross and attendees included a Town Council Member, a Herefordshire Council Member, a representative from a neighbouring Transition Town group, a civil and an electrical engineers as well as other local business people.

The group was split into two and Antonia Fitch from Herefordshire Council was able to apply her training from the Ledbury session to facilitate her group.

There was a good mixture of opinion and experience, from seasoned campaigners to sceptics to novices on the subject. A sometimes heated debate ensued with many useful topics covered. This included drawing together the links between climate change, peak oil, fuel poverty and energy security, whilst also focussing on local activity. 

After closing the session attendees were given low energy light bulbs, action packs, room thermometers, posters and switch it off stickers as well as being signposted to further engagement materials available on the internet. It was identified that two people from each group were interested in setting up a Ross Transitions Towns group, they were introduced and will pursue this potential.

At the close of the session I attended a Ross Town Council meeting that was organised to co-ordinate with my session. This was regarding the council’s aspiration to fit low energy or LED Christmas lights this coming year and in addition raise awareness of low energy lighting and energy saving opportunities in the town. A potential funding application was discussed and MEA may assist with this as well as be involved with delivery of the project.

Session: Climate Talk
Date: 17/3/09, 7.30-10.00pm
Location: The Globe, Hay-on-Wye
 
Attendees: 16
 
A good turn out given that the town has had possibly the most climate change talks and presentations - we were following in the footsteps of Al Gore, Jonathan Porrit, George Monbiot and Mark Lynas. Most were from Hay and attendees included three members of the local Transition Town group, a ‘local energy champion’, chemical engineer and a local light bulb salesman. Harry Fitch, Herefordshire Council’s HECA officer, was also in attendance and was trained in the use of the Climate Talk tool.
As expected, there was a high level of understanding of the issues and discussions flowed freely and very quickly moved to solutions and sharing experiences. Most people in the room had a good understanding of what they should do and indeed had done many things already (although no one had completely sorted their own houses out). The discussion centred around how to engage other members of the community and community level projects such as a car or electric bike share scheme, a waste digester and co-ordinating energy efficiency advice for householders. We also discussed engaging the council and their local MPs more significantly.
After closing the session Harry Fitch gave a brief overview of grants and funding available from the council for energy efficiency and renewable installations. Attendees were given low energy light bulbs, powerdown units, and action packs.
There was very positive feedback on the session from all the attendees and several were keen to run the session themselves in the future.
The Transition Hay group are now keen to move on to assisting the wider community to access and understand energy efficiency and renewables better.