There are many sustainable activities happening across Dorset we would like to share with you, including talks, meetings, outdoor activities, repair cafes, film screenings etc. Please see below, there’s bound to be something going on near you. We do recommend you check the details of events with the organiser before going in case of any last minute changes since listing. When you’re thinking about how you’re going to make your journey to get to the event you might like to take a look at our travel tips for sustainable suggestions.
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16 February 2017
Apple Day – Transition Dorchester
Apple Day – Transition Dorchester Transition Town Dorchester had a lovely sunny day for Apple Day, held this year on October 1st at the Railway Orchard. Our wassailing earlier this year had clearly worked, since we had an abundant crop of apples from both orchards. We had a group of willing children to pick the remaining apples on the trees, and the rest of us came armed with chopping boards and knives to cut up the apples ready to be macerated. The shreds were then put into the apple press and beautiful golden juice, sweet and tangy, came out of the holes in the container – it was a sort of special autumn magic happening right before our eyes! We now have two apple presses, and there was a big crowd of us working flat out for several hours. But whereas in the past we could easily deal with all the apples on all our trees in one day, we have realised that trees have a way of growing and we now have far more apples than we ever had before! So we may be doing another pressing later in the month.
6 April 2017
Soup Comes to Bournemouth
Time for a Taste of Crowdfunding. If you are looking for funds for a sustainable project you would like to run in the Bournemouth area, then read on. And if you would like to eat soup and support one such project then read on too….. In the past six years Soup events have been taking the world by storm, and now for the first time Soup is coming to Bournemouth! Starting in Detroit in the aftermath of the financial crash, Soup gathered people from around the city to eat food together, and crowd fund for local community projects. The idea took off, and has since found success in over 60 different locations in the UK alone. Now, on Saturday 29th April at the Wellspring Centre in Boscombe, the first Bournemouth Soup will welcome up to 150 people to eat soup together, and to hear from four community projects from around Bournemouth. With a suggested donation of £5 on the door, up to £750 will be raised for one project to take away at the end of the evening. Each community project gets four minutes to talk about what they do, and then the audience can ask each project four further questions about their work, […]
21 April 2017
A Plastic Ocean is Coming to Dorset…
By Harming the Oceans we are also Harming Ourselves. A new feature length adventure-documentary film is coming to Dorset for the first time since it’s official release earlier this year. In the film A Plastic Ocean (12A) an international team of adventurers, researchers, and ocean ambassadors go on a mission around the globe to uncover the shocking truth about what is lurking beneath the surface of our seemingly pristine Ocean. It is estimated that 8 million tonnes of plastic waste enter the seas every year and it’s accumulating. Large pieces of plastic break-up into smaller pieces called micro-plastic. Discarded ‘Ghost’ fishing nets drift through oceans snaring everything in their path. Disposable wrap, bottles and packaging used on average for just 12 minutes will last a lifetime, even longer, littering the seabed, surface & coast. A Plastic Ocean brings to light the consequences of our global disposable lifestyle. We thought we could use plastic and throw it away with negligible impact to humans and animals. That turns out to be untrue. The result will astound viewers–just as it did the adventurers–who captured never-before-seen images of marine life, plastic pollution, and its ultimate consequences for human health. A Plastic Ocean with special […]
11 May 2017
A Wave of Change in Dorset
Film Screening of A Plastic Ocean. Queen Elizabeth School in Wimborne was the venue for the latest screening of A Plastic Ocean – a film that has gained a huge following worldwide, and widespread publicity as it attempts to highlight the plight of our oceans, to educate and be part of the solution. The 200 strong audience gathered at the event hosted by Ecotainment to watch as images unfolded of the majesty of blue whales gracefully diving in the ocean. However, it was not long before scenes of destruction replaced these beautiful images as we saw dolphins caught up by tangled plastic cords and the seabed littered with discarded plastic bottles and debris. The plastic that doesn’t sink to the bottom gets broken down into tiny fragments of microplastics that then get mistaken for food by fish and eaten along with the plankton. This harmful ingested plastic then leeches chemicals into the stomachs of the fish and so it begins its infiltration into out food chain. The effects of this on humans are hormonal problems, reproductive problems, nervous system damage and kidney damage. As well as damage to us, the harm that we are doing to our oceans and wildlife […]
22 May 2017
A Vote for Sustainable Food
Saturday Night Voting with a Difference. When it comes to audience participation it doesn’t get much more participatory than at a SOUP event. In a hall of over seventy assembled residents from across Bournemouth this week, this was voting with a difference. Instead of the usual Saturday night entertainment of at-home TV viewers passing judgement on, or voting for light-hearted acts trying their best on stage, this was Bournemouth SOUP, live at the Wellspring Centre in Boscombe, and the voting was meaningful, supportive and community-spirited. The Projects Four chosen projects each got the opportunity to pitch for four minutes, sharing their ideas and projects, with a chance of taking the prize of the cash on the door. The audience then asked questions about the projects; who were they; how they would deliver; what support did they have; how would they benefit Bournemouth; and what they would spend the money on. The pitchers, introduced by Michael French, were from CENTRE MYSELF a group aiming to instil confidence in young women using a holistic approach; COMMUNITY FRIDGE an idea to share quality surplus food that would have been thrown away; CHANCE a group of young teenagers planning a FREE Community cinema for […]
7 July 2017
Dorset gets set for Renewable Energy Revolution
Powering Dorset Together Event. As part of community energy fortnight, Sustainable Dorset was delighted to attend this inspirational event on 29 June in Dorchester hosted by RegenSW, which showed just how much renewable energy there is in Dorset, and what the potential is for more communities to join the energy revolution. There was a good turnout of local residents, campaigners, council staff, and community energy groups from across the region coming together to celebrate and explore the future possibilities for renewables. We heard an excellent presentation from Jodie Giles, senior project manager for Regen, which highlighted that the South West topped the national league for installed renewable generation in 2016, but that Dorset only came 5th out of the five South West counties. Electricity generation from renewables in the region ranges from 25% in Christchurch down to just 1% in Bournemouth and Weymouth, which leaves plenty of room for improvement. And more improvement will be needed if we are to reach our 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, or indeed meet the Paris target of no more than a 2 degrees Celsius rise in global temperatures. How this will be achieved when the UK Government has progressively decimated support […]
19 July 2017
Nominations Now Open for Recycling Awards 2017
Ideas2Action Second Recycling Awards 2017. Following on from the success of the first Recycling Awards event last year Ideas2Action would once again like to recognise the people who love recycling and helping their local communities as well as reducing waste. Each year Ideas2Action meet and hear of so many people who go that extra mile when it comes to recycling, so if you know anyone and would like to nominate them (please get their agreement that they are happy to be nominated, they don’t want to choose a winner and find they are unhappy about it!), The categories are listed below. Adult recycler (over 18) A team of recyclers from a private/statutory/voluntary organisation A team of recycling volunteers (a group of individuals who come together to recycle) The No 1 recycler (someone who has really gone the extra mile) Young recycler (under 18) A private/statutory/voluntary organisation whose employees recycle (but not where its main business is recycling). The Awards Ceremony will take place on Friday 29 September, 7pm in the Cattistock Room, Poole Civic Centre. Closing date for nominations 18 August, 2017.
28 July 2017
Wimborne Leads the Way to Ditching Disposables
Wimborne War on Waste, Saving the World, one Coffee Cup at a Time. Wimborne was buzzing on Saturday 22nd July 2017, however it wasn’t the caffeine from the coffee that was providing the kick but the excitement around what you do with the disposable cups that it’s served in. Reclaimed coffee cups formed arrows at the entrance to the Allendale Centre showing the way to the Coffee Cup Awareness event hosted by the newly formed group Wimborne War on Waste. The hall was adorned with coffee cup bunting, and an amazing array of hats and fascinators worn by both the organisers and event participants which had been made with old coffee cups and recycled odds and ends from the Dorset Scrapstore. The mood was exuberant helped along with music from The Midnight Voids, The Wimborne Ukulele Band and Just Sing choir. However the message was clear – we need to reduce the amount of rubbish and single-use plastic we generate – especially disposable coffee cups and those little pesky lids. Each minute 5,000 single-use cups are thrown away in the UK. The event, supported by the Wimborne Minster BID and Litter Free Dorset, was the brainchild of organisers Sarah Wise […]
28 July 2017
Tomorrow (Demain) A Feel-Good Story
Travel the World of Solutions. If you watch just one film this year about what our future could look like, then this should be the one! The young DEMAIN film crew, backed by an amazing soundtrack, lead you on their journey that leaves you feeling positive and inspired, knowing that action is necessary and worthwhile. Tomorrow (Demain) has had a phenomenal impact on audiences in France and Belgium and the Transition Town Network has negotiated the rights to distribute it in the UK. It tells the story of the search for solutions to the crisis humanity faces. It is a hugely positive, affirming and inspirational film, exploring creative solutions in the fields of food, energy, transport, economics and education. It visits projects relating to permaculture farms, urban agriculture, community-owned renewable energy, local currencies, creative schools and ambitious recycling activity. It has been a huge boost to community-led projects. The project was launched by a crowdfunding campaign to raise 200,000 euros but in just 2 months the amount raised was 444,390 euros. The film premiered in Paris during C0P21 in December 2015, is currently on release in 29 other countries and began its UK rollout on 24 January with simultaneous screenings in the leading Transition Towns of Totnes, Todmorden, and Bristol. The recent screening by Transition Town Poole was […]
17 September 2019
Dorset Green Living Project
A Lottery win for Green Living. We have been awarded nearly £10,000 by the National Lottery Community Fund to support our exciting new Dorset Green Living Project. The aim of this one-year pilot project will engage groups of neighbours to work together to reduce their carbon footprint whilst saving money on their bills and building stronger local communities. The new funding from The National Lottery Community Fund has enabled us to set up the Project and recruit a coordinator, Rachel Lamb, who began work September 2019. Since the release of the IPCC report last September, when scientists warned that ‘the 1.5C goal will require a drastic cut in greenhouse emissions’ within 12 years to avoid runaway climate change, ‘eco-anxiety’ has been on the rise. In Dorset people are becoming increasingly worried that failure to act will result in more flooding or wildfires ruining our precious countryside and causing severe food shortages and price rises. With greater focus on climate change and its impacts along with a heightened awareness in plastic contaminating the plastic, people are looking at ways that they can reduce their own impact. The project is designed to help people regain hope via positive actions to […]
23 September 2019
Discover easy steps to greener living
Easy steps to greener living with Dorset Green Living Project. Sustainable Dorset’s Green Living Project has been awarded £10,000 by the National Lottery Community Fund to launch a project that may potentially help up to 160 households around Dorset reduce their carbon footprint. Groups of between 6-8 local households will come together to work through the Dorset Green Living Guide. This manual is based on the guide developed by Transition Streets (formerly Transition Together) to give households the tools and information to help them minimise their carbon footprint and save money at the same time. Each group will meet every 2 to 4 weeks to discuss each chapter and choose which lifestyle changes or minor home improvements to complete within the following month. The idea behind it is a group effort and run in a fair and organised way, so each group will agree at the beginning who will host each chapter and at which house, so that no one person feels overburdened with responsibility. The chapters cover basic principles of green living such as reducing energy and water consumption, eating more plant-based foods that are local and organic, reducing waste, using greener means of transport and community building. The idea […]
16 December 2019
Results of our schools Poetry Competition
Our schools poetry competition results. During the autumn of 2019 we ran a poetry competition for children in Years 3-6 (aged 7-11) in Dorset schools on the theme of climate breakdown, the environment and sustainability. We were delighted to learn that a number of the schools encouraged many of their classes to write something, and then they submitted the best. In all we had 165 entries and our grateful thanks go to all the teachers who spent time educating these young people about such important issues. The competition was judged by Anne Peterson of SOUTH poetry magazine and was partly sponsored by Wessex Water. We were also most grateful to BCP Libraries for hosting the prize-giving event. Here are some of the Winning poems
4 October 2021
News from Dorset CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England)
A campaign announced by CPRE (the Campaign to Protect Rural England) in their latest newsletter is reaching out to have a Re-think of the Dorset Local Plan. You may have read earlier this month that sources for the government confirmed that they will be pausing their unpopular plans to change planning rules. While we await the formal announcement, CPRE urges Mr Gove to listen to local communities and not developers when considering the future of planning. Dorset CPRE and Dorset CAN (Climate Action Network) are also awaiting the publication of the responses to the Dorset Local Plan before formally launching the campaign for ‘Re-think of Dorset Local Plan’. Additionally, there is a question being put to Dorset Council Cabinet Meeting on the 5th October. See it below:“In view of the number of responses to the consultation on the Dorset Local Plan, the fact that BCP Council are challenging their housing target, the unknown effects of Brexit and Covid-19, the stalling of the government proposals to the planning system, and the reported problems of capacity within the planning service at Dorset Council, we are asking ‘Why is the Dorset Council not seeking a legal
4 October 2021
CPRE raises concerns regarding Nitrate & Phosphate pollution of rivers
The issue of nitrate and phosphate pollution of rivers was raised at the CPRE Countryside Forum (Campaign for Protection of Rural England) Meeting on 17th September. Suzanne Keene has written an article highlighting the issue for our Autumn Magazine (due out week beginning 18th October) following a Farm Meeting on ‘Diversify your rotation’ hosted by Wessex Water. Of particular interest, are ways to control the pollution that is poisoning our streams and rivers.Nitrates are washed out of the soil during agricultural activities, and phosphates are mainly generated from domestic wastewater. The phosphates neutrality crisis is preventing planning permissions from being granted across much of the area in Somerset and could particularly impact smaller developments in Dorset that may not be able to afford an expensive system to deal with the issue.
4 October 2021
Dorset Climate Action Network (DCAN) Invites community groups to work together for COP26
Dorset CAN is trying to make all the different actions that are taking place in Dorset at this important moment more visible. Please let DCAN know if you are marking COP26 so that it can help promote and support your actions in the final run-up to Glasgow at the start of next month.How can DCAN help you?1. DCAN is organising an online COP26 event on 13th October with a presentation from local Climate Reality leaders. They aim can give attendees a mini speaker’s slot at that meeting to share your event/s, and/or DCAN can circulate your plans to its members at the event.2. The team at DCAN can promote your community’s actions on social media, our website and in our newsletter in the run-up to COP 26.What next?Please send dorsetcan@gmail.com any images, details and links of your action(s) – so we can share and publicise widely. And let us know if you want a mini slot at the meeting.If you haven’t got plans yet, come along to the DCAN COP26 event for information, inspiration and to build a sense of community! No registration necessary. Here’s the Zoom Link.Stronger Together Rob Waitt and Sandra ReeveFor the Dorset CAN Action Team
21 January 2022
Sustainable Dorset AGM Documents
To view our documents please see the following page entitled ‘Meetings’ for our upcoming AGM on 29th January 2022 at 2-4 pm; click the following link: Meetings – Sustainable Dorset 0
9 February 2022
Dorset Declares Launches for Businesses that want to Become More Sustainable
The Dorset Declares website can be found at: http://www.dorsetdeclares.com Dorset Declares is a not-for-profit initiative created by local charitable organisations Sustainable Dorset and Community Alliances. This was developed to encourage Dorset businesses to declare a climate emergency and provide a platform for positive change. In making a declaration, businesses will have access to free guides, tools and resources designed to help business leaders understand their environmental impact, create an action plan to reduce carbon emissions and form part of a growing community of local businesses doing the same.
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