What's On? - 2010 calendar

Once again, CEL will be at Greenbelt, and you are invited to join us.
We will be part of a new 'green zone' which brings together all the
environmental organisations featured in the G Source exhibition tent.

The CEL stall is a great place for members to meet each other, so
come and see us. Even better, could you spare us some time to help
staff it? We aim to have two CEL members on at the same time, and
this year we'll also be with friends in A Rocha, Ecocongregation, the
Quakers, Creation Challenge and others.

You can sign up for just one two-hour slot, but if you can spare more
it would be a great help - we may be able to let you have a free
ticket. We have a free day or weekend ticket for someone who can
offer a substantial amount of time.

Please let Paul Bodenham know if you can help. Email
paul@christian-ecology.org.uk.

Creation-Time or Creationtide- An opportunity to celebrate and care for God's Creation in Church Services etc.
CEL's website on Creation - Time
CTBI website on Creation-Time
European Christian Env Network on Creation - Time

Why not organise something at your church? - especially in this the International Year Of Biodiversity
Please help us to advertise Creation Time 2010
by downloading and printing this flyer (PDF) from CTBI website:

Creation Flourishing flyer
Creation Flourishing flyer (2 x A5)

London and

Manchester

End Domestic Flights Now! - Start: 04 Sep 2010, 11:00 am
Demonstrations in London and Manchester,
Campaign against Climate Change say:-

Click to read The Plan in detail:

Join us on the special "train-not plane" carriage on the 13.40 train !
Cost is £ 11.50 Make it a full fun day of aviation activism! (return from Manchester Saturday night or party in Manchester and return Sunday morning ) Book a ticket at enddomesticflights@campaigncc.org Cost is £11.50 for a seat on the carriage, first come first served for available seats. (Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester airport is £ 3.20 Return by train is £11.50 if booked well enough in advance, or £ 5.50 on megabus )

Put this date in your diary now! This will be the time to take the agenda forward on aviation, and insist that at this time of climate emergency we cannot afford to be using high-emission forms of transport where viable alternatives exist. And that aviation will need to bear the burden of emissions reductions along with other sectors

Campaign against Climate Change
www.campaigncc.org +44 (0) 20 7833 9311

Eco-Fair - organised by Fairtrade Group at Haworth as part of Arts Festival - in Bronte Meadow 9-12 Sept www.fairintents.org.uk/

Christians Aware are holding at day conference, The World Faiths and the Environment, on Wednesday 15 September 2010 from 10.00am to 4.30pm. It will be at Hothorpe Hall, Theddingworth, Leicestershire LE17 6QX.

In addition to workshops and seminars the artist, Jyoti Sahi will be giving a lectures on art and interfaith dialogue, and art and the environment.

Green as a Leaf: Renewing a Theology of Creation - Southwell Minster, Nottinghamshire, Keynote speakers: Simon Conway Morris, Michael Northcott, John Rodwell, John Milbank, Simon Oliver, Alison Milbank, Margaret Barker

Call for Papers

Often today debates about our policy towards the environment are purely reactive to events or to the current perceived risk of climate change. In contrast, this conference jointly mounted by Southwell Minster, Southwell and Nottinghamshire Diocese, the University of Nottingham Theology Department Centre of Theology and Philosophy and Nottingham Trent University Department of Environmental Sciences brings together theologians, philosophers, scientists and cultural critics to a Norman cathedral and to the historic Brackenhurst estate in Sherwood Forest to explore the specifically theological resources that can be brought to bear on our relation to the natural world. We invite short contributions of 20 minutes on any of the following areas: theology or philosophy of nature, theology of creation, history of environmental ethics, the human relation to the natural world, local ecology and local culture, religion and folklore, different religious perspectives and particularly those of religions other than Christianity, the role of cultural productions such as poetry, music, architecture or film as theological responses or critiques, the Bible and ecology. Papers addressing Nottinghamshire itself and Sherwood Forest will also be welcomed.

Please submit a 250 word abstract of your paper to alison.milbank@nottingham.ac.uk or by post to Revd Canon Nigel Coates, The Minster Centre, Church Street, Southwell, Nottinghamshire, NG25 0HD by 1 July 2010.

Bell-Ringing for Biodiversity

On 22 September Heads of State will assemble at the United Nations in New York to discuss the biodiversity crisis and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is encouraging the ringing of bells all over the world as an urgent call to rouse the world to action.

The UK organisers of IYB (International Year of Biodiversity_ and Shrinking the Footprint hope that church bells throughout this country will join them. Already several messages of support have been received from ringers across the country.  If you are taking part please let ruth.watkinson@c-of-e.org.uk know.

See CofE Press Release

National Demonstration against Agrofuels

At the site of the proposed new palm-oil burning, agrofuel power station at Portland in Dorset. Transport will be organised from London and possibly other places. If you are interested in joining the coach from London (to Portland for the day) please contact stopagrofuels@campaigncc.org Provisional Timetable: 9.00 am: Bus leaves London for Portland
1.00 pm Assemble for march
2.00 - 3.00 pm Rally outside port gates (site of proposed plant)
3.00 pm > Workshops and entertainment in local hall
8.00 pm bus sets off back to London .

Camping/crash space will be available overnight. The demonstration will be organised together with Biofuelwatch, Food not Fuel and a very strong local group, down in Dorset - NOPE (No Palm Oil Energy) see nope.org.uk/ The application for an agrofuel power station in Portland was approved in January (after the initial rejection was overturned on appeal by the company making the proposal, W4B). The power station will burn palm oil and increase by one third the volume of palm oil currently being imported to this country for energy usage. See more here.

For an even bigger W4B plant proposed for Bristol , and how to help stop it, see next item, below. Stopping W4B in Portland will help to stop them in Bristol , too! Agrofuel burning power stations like the one In Portland would not be going ahead were they not subsidised by the government. Insanely, agrofuels are classified as a renewable energy and as such receive subsidies - so that, in effect, the government is subsidising massive deforestation in South East Asia (and other places), thereby accelerating, rather than slowing down, the destabilisation of global climate. Make a stand against the madness of agrofuel use, wholesale destruction of the rainforest and spiralling emissions! Put the date in your diary now! More details soon. +44 (0) 207 833 9311

Join Kathy Gallaway, Henry Cator and others for a discussion -7.30pm. Fairly traded 6pm supper beforehand - Fair Food Night Out! - Norwich Cathedral - with an optional fairly traded 6pm supper beforehand in one of several participating restaurants. Menus for this are now available (locally sourced and fairly traded ingredients will be given pride of place) and the cost in each restaurant will be the same - £10. with an optional 6pm supper beforehand in one of several participating restaurants. Menus for this are now available (locally sourced and fairly traded ingredients will be given pride of place) and the cost in each restaurant will be the same - £10.

Friday 8 October 10am-12pm – sixth form student s to participate in an event based upon the BBC's ‘Question Time' format

•  They will listen to and engage with a panel of high-profile contributors including Norman Lamb MP, The Bishop of Norwich, Andy Hamilton (comedian and broadcaster), Michael Hulme (UEA Professor of climate change), Ian McPherson (Assistant Commissioner with the Metropolitan Police) and Harriet Lamb (Director of the Fair Trade Foundation).

•  The chair will be George Alagiah, BBC news presenter and foreign correspondent.

•  This event is open to the public but priority will be given to sixth form student s.

3pm – Fari Food weekend's conclusion will co-incide with the annual Harvest Festival of the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association

http://www.christian-ecology.org.uk/ringsfield-2010.htm Another return visit to Ringsfield Hall Christian Eco-Study Centre for a weekend of worship and fellowship, with time out in the surrounding countryside. This year's focus will be on biodiversity.

Christine Allen : Director of innovative development agency Progressio
Sheila Dillon : Presenter of BBC Radio 4's topical Food Programme
Edward Echlin : Theologian and writer of many books on ecology and religion

Workshops with Wells for India, CAFOD, Broadwater Farm community Food Growing, Spirituality and Urban Gardening, and more.

Moving to a No Growth Society - : Saamah Abdallah, New Economics Foundation - Cathedral 7:00 p.m.

London - CEL's Annual Members' Meeting and workshop, close
to Euston Station, in the afternoon of Saturday 6 November. An opportunity to contribute to the work of CEL, and gain inspiration for your own. This will include an 'ECOCELL' WORKSHOPS to help us plan Stage Two of the 'ecocell' programme. All members and friends are invited: the Magdalen Centre, Eversholt Street, London NW1 1BN. 2pm to 5pm.