MOTHERLOAD! is a dark comedy for the end of days.

Meet Mother Nature, the sexiest woman alive turned dumpster fire. She’s doing a TED Talk, a last chance bid to save her favourite creation. As the tech starts to glitch and her body gyrates with the FEVER of a morally confused echo chamber, she regurgitates our cultural trash into a lipsync of epic proportions. MOTHERLOAD! asks the question that every parent is thinking … should we? Winner of the Pulse Suitcase Prize and the Brighton Fringe International Touring Award.

The show is playing at Summerhall on August 3-14 at 7:30pm, as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkm8OOciz5Q

Warnings:

Audience participation.
Strobe lighting.
Discusses the climate crisis and references abortion. Mild language.

Can small people, in small places, doing small things, change the world?

One of Mexico’s most remarkable ecosystems, the cloud forest, is under threat as coffee plantations, cattle grazing and an increase in human population all take their toll. In response, the people of a small town in Veracruz take it upon themselves to “be the change” and protect this unique habitat. Building their own homes, schools and farms, they set out to restructure their entire culture, from the food they grow to their children’s education, radically redefining their relationship with nature – and each other – along the way.

With birdsong, the sound of water flowing and the wind as its only musical soundtrack, this gentle, contemplative documentary offers an intimate and inspiring portrait of community resilience.

CONTENT NOTES: Contains depictions of animal slaughter

We’ll be welcoming guests from 6.30pm for a 7pm screening and will leave opportunity for some open discussions if you’d like to stay on afterwards.

The most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world’s leading climate scientists, is stark in its assessment of the current and impending crisis 3.5 billion people are already facing. Half the world population is suffering water shortage at any time during the year; and 1:3 facing deadly heat stress.  Where is the action on pledges made in Glasgow and what will COP27 in Egypt achieve later this year?

This event is a part of Book Fringe 2022 series. Click to view more from this festival.

at the University of Edinburgh, where she engages with amazing students whilst helping to run the MSc in Environment and Development. Her research explores the social relations involved in conservation and the politics of environment and development initiatives. Sam is currently working through participatory action research with forestry professionals in Nepal to collectively and critically reflect on issues of social justice. Having trained in ecology and worked in conservation around the world for 10 years before returning to academia to complete a PhD, Sam is committed to building meaningful relationships with practitioners; one example of this is the Edinburgh Environment & Development Network. Sam has written a number of papers on conservation in the UK, including ‘Conservation’s All about Having a Blether and Getting People on Board: Exploring Cooperation for Conservation in Scotland‘ and ‘The value of listening and listening for values in conservation‘.

Following on from our Falkirk Food Conversations series we invite you to this interactive discussion session and meeting.

All are welcome to attend and contribute to the discussion, however, the aim of this meet up is to solidify commitments to the Sustainable Food Places working group by individuals and organizations who wish to have formal responsibility for Sustainable Food Places.

For each of our events we will invite an inspiring speaker relating to each topic and follow with discussions. Keep an eye on our social media pages and Eventbrite to hear when they are announced.

To sign up please book via the Eventbrite link or get in touch with [email protected]

About Falkirk Food Futures

Falkirk Food Futures is a partnership project funded by the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund. The partnership comprises of Forth Environment Link, Falkirk Council, NHS Forth Valley and CVS Falkirk.

Our Falkirk Food Futures event program aims to offer enjoyment, education and wellbeing around topics of food and growing. Forth Environment Link have curated a range of activities to suit a variety of perspectives based on feedback from community groups and organisations in the area. We hope you enjoy what is on offer whether you are an individual, volunteer or part of a community group or organisation!

The UK Community Renewal Fund is a UK Government programme for 2021/22. This aims to support people and communities most in need across the UK to pilot programmes and new approaches to prepare for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. It invests in skills, community and place, local business, and supporting people into employment.

Following on from our Falkirk Food Conversations series we invite you to this interactive discussion session and meeting with a chance to also enjoy our Falkirk Food Futures Exhibition.

This session is for any organisation or individual that wishes to participate, inform, guide and campaign for a Good Food for All. We will explore the idea of a members’ network, food action plans and how organisations and civic society can support the aims of Sustainable Food Places.

For each of our events we will invite an inspiring speaker relating to each topic and follow with discussions. Keep an eye on our social media pages and Eventbrite to hear when they are announced.

To sign up please book via the Eventbrite link or get in touch with [email protected]

About Falkirk Food Futures

Falkirk Food Futures is a partnership project funded by the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund. The partnership comprises of Forth Environment Link, Falkirk Council, NHS Forth Valley and CVS Falkirk.

Our Falkirk Food Futures event program aims to offer enjoyment, education and wellbeing around topics of food and growing. Forth Environment Link have curated a range of activities to suit a variety of perspectives based on feedback from community groups and organisations in the area. We hope you enjoy what is on offer whether you are an individual, volunteer or part of a community group or organisation!

The UK Community Renewal Fund is a UK Government programme for 2021/22. This aims to support people and communities most in need across the UK to pilot programmes and new approaches to prepare for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. It invests in skills, community and place, local business, and supporting people into employment.

We’re going for a group swim to explore and get to know our local seaweed environment and to gather edible species in advance of our community meal. We’ll be joined by the adventure library who lend adventure gear, as well as a local cyanotype photographer, Ally Lomas. After our swim, we’ll gather in the sailing club for a short sharing from the researchers who are part of the group. These include seaweed researchers and physicists.
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We’re a collective of artists, scientists and growers. We’re doing an experiment at the moment to grow better vegetables using nutrient rich liquid seaweed fertiliser.

We’re a collective of artists, scientists and growers. We’re doing an experiment at the moment to grow better vegetables using nutrient rich liquid seaweed fertiliser.

We’re meeting on the shore in Oban opposite the Corran Halls to have a family friendly seaweed gathering session. We’ll hold a seaweed identification workshop, offer facepainting and hot drinks and attendees can prepare their own fertiliser to take away with them. We also want attendees help to sustainably gather beach cast seaweed for our fertiliser.

Join us for a free introduction to fermenting foods workshop, learning how to preserve some of summer’s abundance for later on in the year.

Our food system and the climate crisis are inextricably linked. Not only is our Western industrial food system one of the main drivers of climate change, but a changing climate will also impact access and availability of food in Scotland, particularly for migrant and low income communities. We need a more resilient, climate-friendly and just food system in which everyone has access to nutritious and culturally appropriate food. Come and learn some of the skills to build more resilient, local food systems in our communities.

The Food & Climate Action Free School is a growing season of free workshops, sharing different skills related to food. It is organised by the Space in collaboration with the Food & Climate Action Project and a variety of wonderful partners.

All workshops are free but registration is essential. Participant numbers are limited due to Covid-19 so please only register if you intend to come and please cancel your ticket if you can’t make it anymore so that your spot can be given to someone on the waiting list.

In this workshop we will learn how to preserve the abundance of summer through fermentation. Rox Madeira, community herbalist, wild food and medicine foraging guide and nutritional therapist with Trossachs Wild Apothecary and Movement in Thyme CIC will show us some simple fermentation techniques in this workshop.

Access and Covid-19 info:

Soul Food Sisters Café is in Gallowgate, close to the Barras with public transport connections to the city centre and other areas in Glasgow via bus on the same street, the bus stop being a 2 minute walk from the café. The café is unfortunately not wheelchair accessible as there is a small step to enter the café and no wheelchair accessible toilet. Reimbursement for travel costs is available, please get in touch with Jac at [email protected] if you would like your travel costs reimbursed or if you would like to attend but you have concerns about accessibility.

This event is held indoors. Please adhere to physical distancing during the event. Please do not attend if you feel unwell, have been in contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 or have tested positive yourself. Please let us know if you can’t attend anymore.

This event is funded by the National Lottery.

Part one of a three part dialogue series focussing on key elements of climate justice and exploring solutions that we can all be part of.

Interfaith Glasgow in partnership with Nourish Scotland invite you to:

Climate Justice is Food Justice

Food unites. It is both a basic human need and something that can bring meaning and joy to our lives, particularly when it is shared together. But the food that we are eating and the way it is produced causes a third of total greenhouse gas emissions, which is driving climate change. If the global food industry was a country, it would be the third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases on the planet. Moreover, most of the damage to biodiversity is caused by the food system. It is also driving inequality and poverty, particularly in the global south – but also here in Scotland, with low wages and harsh working conditions endemic globally both among small producers and in other parts of the supply chain and with corporations controlling most of our crops.

In this first event of a 3-part series exploring various aspects of Climate Justice – we consider this enormous piece of the puzzle. We can’t tackle climate change without tackling the food system, and, as we’ll see, food intersects with lots of other issues too.

Join us to hear from expert speakers with real life experience from the UK, South Africa and India – they will explain the complex global food system and how we connect with it, and point toward the solutions that we can all be a part of.

Learn to facilitate SCCAN’s new Climate Knowledge in Action training. FOUR online sessions: 9.30am to 1.30pm on 23, 24, 30 & 31 August.

This training runs over four sessions. You must attend all to become a certified facilitator:

• 9.30am – 1.30pm Tuesday 23 August
• 9.30am – 1.30pm Wednesday 24 August
• 9.30am – 1.30pm Tuesday 30 August
• 9.30am – 1.30pm Wednesday 31 August

12 spaces max.

As more people in your community take action on the climate and ecological emergencies, they will want to know more about the causes and impacts of climate change and ecological degradation and decline as well as what actions they can take and how much of a difference these will make.

Increasingly people want to understand how climate change will impact them and others in their community in Scotland and around the world.

The accredited Knowledge in Action facilitator’s course will equip you with skills and knowledge to cascade down to your community group.

What do facilitators do?

SCCAN Knowledge into Action facilitators are trained to run the 4 two-hour sessions using the comprehensive set of materials that have been accredited with the Climate Literacy Project. These sessions are designed to be engaging as well as informative. They will help your community come together to define and carry out new actions.

The facilitator shares the materials with the group and then guides activities and discussions which help people to process and embed what they have just learned. It is not a lecture, but instead a joint exploration of facts.

The facilitator training starts with experiencing the sessions for yourself over 2 half days, followed by 2 half days to explore facilitation skills and importantly to do some practice.The best facilitators are not climate-change experts but people who are good at listening and passionate about making a difference.

All of the information presented is in the materials. You don’t need to be an expert since you will be presenting information from experts. The sequence is:

1. Sign up for and attend 4 half days online training (attendance in the 4 sessions is required to be able to use these materials)
2. Add local information into the Knowledge into Action’s pre-prepared sections for sign-posting to local projects and resources.
3. Recruit 8-10 people and decide how you will run these sessions:

• either online, in person or hybrid
• either 4 x 2 hour sessions, 2 half days, or 1 full day

In order to facilitate these workshops in your community, attendance at all 4 sessions is required.

If you are part of a community group we may be able to run a course just for your group, online or in person. Please email [email protected]

More about Knowledge into Action

Our Climate Literacy course entitled ‘Climate: Knowledge into Action’ will tell your community members all they need to know to confidently discuss the climate emergency and describe the actions we can all take to tackle it.

The sessions look at the science, causes and impacts; consider what a climate friendly Scotland might look like and have plenty of time throughout for discussion. At the end of the sessions, your community members will have an awareness of the carbon costs and impacts of everyday activities and the ability and the motivation to reduce emissions on an individual and community basis.

This training will help people to:

• Understand the science of climate change.
• Understand how the wider community and local area will be impacted by climate change.
• Appreciate the significant changes we will all need to adapt to as Scotland moves to a low carbon future.
• Identify practical actions you can take to reduce emissions and future-proof your organisation.

Knowledge into Action meets the Carbon Literacy Project Standard, meaning that participants may opt to gain Carbon Literate accreditation and receive a certificate on completion of the training.

Our ‘Climate: Knowledge into Action’ course is delivered online across four 2 hour modules:

• Module 1 – Climate Science & Justice
• Module 2 – Causes & Impacts
• Module 3 – Adaptation & Action
• Module 4 – Communicating Climate Change

This course is designed for you to offer free of charge to people in your community who are looking to gain an understanding of the climate and ecological emergencies and to learn what we can do to tackle it. It will equip people to confidently communicate the urgency for taking climate action, with the knowledge and ideas of how to take action.

Visit and tour around this established community garden, talks from Clacks Good Food the regional Sustainable Food Places partnership.

As part of our Falkirk Food Futures event programme we are taking tours and inspiration from food growing sites around Scotland.

Join us for a learning visit to Tullibody Community Garden. We’ll have a tour around the growing site with some of the Tullibody Garden team and there will be open opportunities to ask questions throughout. Come and experience first hand how the community has transformed this growing space. FEL will provided some coffee/tea and cake and everyone is welcome to bring their own lunch to enjoy on site.

https://www.facebook.com/TullibodyCommunityGarden

Joining us for a chat will be Stuart Guzinski from Clacks Good Food Clackmannan’s regional Sustainable Food Places partnership.

We will be supporting travel with a hire bus to these events, please indicate when booking whether you would like to book a space. If not we’ll assume you are making your own way and see you there!

For people booking the bus we will be in touch with arrangements depending on where people are most based. Pick up and drop offs will be Falkirk based.

About Falkirk Food Futures

Falkirk Food Futures is a partnership project funded by the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund. The partnership comprises of Forth Environment Link, Falkirk Council, NHS Forth Valley and CVS Falkirk.

Our Falkirk Food Futures event program aims to offer enjoyment, education and wellbeing around topics of food and growing. Forth Environment Link have curated a range of activities to suit a variety of perspectives based on feedback from community groups and organisations in the area. We hope you enjoy what is on offer whether you are an individual, volunteer or part of a community group or organisation!

The UK Community Renewal Fund is a UK Government programme for 2021/22. This aims to support people and communities most in need across the UK to pilot programmes and new approaches to prepare for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. It invests in skills, community and place, local business, and supporting people into employment.

Activists and thinkers fight for better cities, and refuse to stop riding bicycles despite the increasing number of riders killed in traffic. But will dominant economic interests allow bikes to change our way of life?

From bike activists in Sao Paulo and Los Angeles fighting for safe bike lanes, to Copenhagen, where forty percent commute by bike daily, Bikes vs Cars looks at both the struggle for cyclists in a society dominated by cars, and the revolutionary changes that could take place if more cities moved away from car-centric models.

Part of Take One Action Film Club Take One Action! Film Festivals | See the change you want to be

We will meet and watch the film together online via Zoom and follow with some short discussions afterwards. Your link will be sent via email after registering for this event, alternatively you can get in touch with [email protected]

About Falkirk Food Futures

Falkirk Food Futures is a partnership project funded by the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund. The partnership comprises of Forth Environment Link, Falkirk Council, NHS Forth Valley and CVS Falkirk.

Our Falkirk Food Futures event program aims to offer enjoyment, education and wellbeing around topics of food and growing. Forth Environment Link have curated a range of activities to suit a variety of perspectives based on feedback from community groups and organisations in the area. We hope you enjoy what is on offer whether you are an individual, volunteer or part of a community group or organisation!

The UK Community Renewal Fund is a UK Government programme for 2021/22. This aims to support people and communities most in need across the UK to pilot programmes and new approaches to prepare for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. It invests in skills, community and place, local business, and supporting people into employment.

If there is any further information you need or would like to ask in terms of accessing this event please feel free to get in touch with [email protected] or [email protected]

We are trying out a new format for our podcasting skillshare!

Join us on Thursday, 25th August, 7-9pm, for a listening party and Q&A with Emma Yule, a member of our collective, who has just launched a new podcast, Our Green Futures. She will play us a selected episode and hold a Q&A to ask for honest feedback from the audience.

We will also have time for more general discussion on what training you would like us to provide through our Autumn and Winter programme and other ways we can work together in using audio storytelling for change.

We changed the time of the skillshare to the evening slot to allow more time for discussion and welcome those of you who can’t make lunchtime slots. We are giving ourselves a generous 2 hours but we will wrap up earlier if needed.

The Green Wellies group is for those aged 18+ who would like to make improvements to Edinburgh’s greenspaces and their own wellbeing.

Join us at Comrie Croft to get some hands-on experience of how to do plant biodiversity surveys.

Come and join in at the Eco Festival which will take place on Saturday 27th of August from 1-4pm at St Columba’s Church Field, Dores Road, Inverness, IV2 4XT. There will be ideas and activities for all ages.

No need to register to attend this event- just turn up on the day. There is no parking available in the field, so please consider the use of public transport or active travel.

We’re taking action by cleaning the beach at Bowling Harbour. The Clyde is an inland estuary, with salt water, connected to the oceans. So as part of our Protect The Oceans Campaign, we’ve been organising beach clean ups here for the last few years.

You can get to Bowling by train, bus, bicycle or kayak.

On this occasion we can’t provide litter picks or gloves. (we’ve been trying to organise this since April without success from our normal host partner so we thought we’d just go ahead by ourselves!) So please bring any of your own equipment such as gloves, bags and litterpickers. Please wear sensible clothing and bring some water and snacks.

Families and dogs welcome.

This is a part of our current Protect The Ocean campaign for a secret Greenpeace Ocean action. Greenpeace want 30% of the oceans to be protected by 2030.

The photo, by Gavin Newman is of a Basking Shark. An endangered species that can occasionally be spotted in the Clyde Sea Estuary.