Author: Julia Patrick

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Climate Conversations: talking with friends and family about the climate crisis

Our Climate Conversations workshops are for anyone worried about the climate crisis who wants to build their confidence having difficult conversations about climate with friends and family. The workshops are based on materials created by Rosemary Randall, long-standing expert on climate psychology, and by Climate Outreach. They are led by Rebecca Nestor, LCON trustee.

Our upcoming workshops will be run in two parts on consecutive days and will be online through Zoom. You can find out more and sign up here:

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Want to talk about Climate Change? Join one of our friendly Climate Cafes

Our Climate Cafes run monthly. Details are on our Meetup page. Climate Cafes provide a supportive space in which to talk about how the climate crisis is affecting us – without pressure to act. The cafes are facilitated by Rebecca Nestor. 

During the Coronavirus outbreak our Climate Cafes are taking place via online platform Zoom. Please see the Meetup page for further details, including future dates.

We think our Climate Cafes offer something different from the usual gatherings of people with interests in climate change. They are facilitated – so you can be sure that there will be space for you to speak. They are not designed to recruit you to do anything or to put you under any pressure. The idea behind them is that talking about climate change is really important – but it is often made more difficult by our feelings of guilt that we are not doing enough, or frustration that others are not doing enough. So we provide a space in which we don’t talk about what we or others are doing or should be doing. We just talk about climate change and how it is making us think and feel. Everyone is welcome.

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Cancelled due to Coronavirus: Help care for our new trees

Join us on Saturday 4 April from 10am for a ‘mulching morning’ in Cutteslowe Park. All welcome!

  • 10am – 2pm, drop in when you can
  • Hot drinks and cake provided
  • Overseen by Oxford Direct Services
  • Kit provided (please bring a spade if you can)
  • This event is part of Oxfordshire Trees for the Future (oxtrees.uk)

Find out more and register on Eventbrite.

Find us at the entrance to the community woodland (signposted from the pond, or ask at the Cafe):

Please ensure all children are accompanied by a responsible adult. LCON is unable to take responsibility for unaccompanied children.

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E-Car Club is leaving Oxford

E-Car Club is, sadly, withdrawing its presence in Oxford. This means that the electric car in Summertown will no longer be available after 9 March. We are investigating opportunities to replace E-Car and expand car-sharing services. Please get in touch with Rebecca (treasurer@lcon.org.uk) with any suggestions or contacts.

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Time to act: fossil fuel divestment

  • Students call for fossil fuel divestment at St John’s College

Last week Oxford students occupied St John’s College in protest at its £8.1m fossil fuel investments. The students held up placards reading “We can’t eat money or drink oil”, “Fossil Fuels are History” and  “Wake up Fossil Fools”. As they endured the overnight cold in their tents, the college’s response included attempts to keep out sleeping bags and blankets, deactivating the students’ key fobs, and a proposal from the Bursar that he could “arrange for the gas central heating in college to be switched off with immediate effect”. Calling themselves “Direct Action for Divestment“, the campaign group was supported by the Oxford Climate Justice Campaign, XR Oxford and other climate activists.

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Missing the wood for the trees? Tree planting vs rewilding

Last summer it was hailed as a climate change solution with ‘mind-blowing potential’: tree planting has been making national headlines as government, NGOs, national and local organisations have launched initiatives to increase UK tree cover. Thousands of trees were planted in Oxford during National Tree Week in November, with support from Oxford Direct Services, Oxfordshire Trees for the Future and the International Tree Foundation.  We were delighted to be joined by over 100 enthusiastic volunteers to plant 500 new trees in Sunnymead Park.

Increasingly, however, this focus on tree planting is being questioned. Journalist George Monbiot, in particular, has argued that public resources should be directed towards “rewilding” – allowing trees to seed and spread themselves – instead of tree planting. According to Monbiot, rewilding “is much faster and more effective, and tends to produce far richer habitats”. Monbiot draws on work by Simon Lewis and others which suggests that “[commercial] plantations are much poorer at storing carbon than are natural forests, which develop with little or no disturbance from humans”.

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500 new trees planted in North Oxford!

Over 100 people joined us on a bright and frosty Saturday morning to plant more trees in North Oxford, as part of National Tree Week. As one of them said – “What a great way to start the day”! Thank you to everyone who came, to Oxford Direct Services who organised the trees and oversaw the event, and to International Tree Foundation, who funded the trees.

Michael Woods from Oxford Direct Services’ Parks Team was up early to prepare the site at Sunnymead Park, and the first volunteers arrived shortly before 10. Soon the park was busy with people of all ages and, under Michael’s expert supervision, 500 trees were planted in record time.

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National Tree Week starts 23 November – help us plant more trees in North Oxford!

We are delighted to have secured funding for 500 trees from the International Tree Foundation. Come and help us plant them!

When? Saturday 30 November, from 10am until about 1pm.

Where? Sunnymead Rec Ground (next to Cutteslowe Community Centre, Wren Road).

Please share with your family and friends – all ages are welcome, no experience necessary, and children are encouraged to help!* Turn up any time from 10am and we will guide you to the exact site. Please bring sturdy shoes and gloves. We will provide cake, hot drinks, trees and equipment.

Oxford Direct Services’ Landscape and Countryside team will be there to oversee the planting and provide advice and help. We will plant a mix of native trees, including oak, hazel, silver birch, sweet cherry, European spindle, wayfaring tree, and whitebeam. You can find out more about most of these on the Woodland Trust’s A-Z of British native trees. Or download their free Tree ID app.

If you have a moment, please sign up or register your interest on our facebook page.

*Please ensure all children are accompanied by a responsible adult. LCON is unable to take responsibility for unaccompanied children.

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Want to talk about Climate Change? Come to our next Climate Cafe on 27 October for a friendly chat and cake

Our next cafe is at 15.30 to 17.00 on Sunday 27 October at the Bicycle Shed, 204-206 Banbury Road (opposite Thorncliffe Road and next to Summertown Cycles).

We think our Climate Cafes offer something different from the usual gatherings of people with interests in climate change. They are facilitated – so you can be sure that there will be space for you to speak. They are not designed to recruit you to do anything or to put you under any pressure. The idea behind them is that talking about climate change is really important – but it is often made more difficult by our feelings of guilt that we are not doing enough, or frustration that others are not doing enough. So we provide a space in which we don’t talk about what we or others are doing or should be doing. We just talk about climate change and how it is making us think and feel. Everyone is welcome.

For more details and to RSVP visit our Meetup page.