Welcome to this exciting project which is - with a little help from all our friends, neighbours and local people - virtually organising itself. Initiated by Michael Soth, a resident in West Oxford for nearly 20 years, on the occasion of his 50th birthday, we are creating this one-day one-off event in co-operation with local projects, community initiatives and climate change and other campaigns. And we are inviting you to join us - in whatever way you can.

The day is made possible largely through voluntary contributions and the generous input, creativity and goodwill from local people, and we are grateful for all the help and support we are receiving. This is no high-flying media stunt or other slick operation, but a simple get-together, organised on a shoestring, by local people for young and old in West Oxford, Oxfordshire and beyond.

What are we aiming to do in organising this day ?

There are many local initiatives tackling the issues of climate change, CO2 emissions and our soon-to-be-decreasing supply of fossil fuels (‘peak oil’).
But although some reduction targets for CO2 have been set and clearly established for some years now, there is no sign that - as a society and as a planet - we are making any serious inroads into still rising curves on all the wrong graphs. Unless something more radical happens, there is no way on earth that we will meet those targets.
What is to be done ?
Many of us are feeling desperately urgent about the impending dangers of climate change. But the majority of us live in denial, at least to some degree. Public discussions of these issues (e.g. Question Time) quickly lead into stalemate, with people becoming polarised, conversations and cooperation petering out and opposing factions accusing each other of vested interests or dogmatic opinions.

I recently saw a good example of this when I watched the film The Age of Stupid (a film in which Pete Postlethwaite plays a man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?; the film had input from Oxford-based journalist and writer Mark Lynas (“Six Degrees - Our Future on a Hotter Planet”) who will also be with us on Oct. 17th).
One part of the film documents the struggles of an expert on wind power whose attempts to initiate the building of a wind farm are frustrated by the opposition of his neighbours. Through their protests, and through planning procedures and committee meetings, the project eventually fails, mainly because in the opinion of the anti-lobby wind turbines would spoil the landscape. And, of course, they ARE entitled to their opinion - at the heart of the democratic process is a cherished plurality of opinions which we cannot afford to short-circuit or undermine, whatever the urgency and difficulties. But in the end, we see the dedication, commitment and conviction of a worthy activist being thwarted by a haphazard, arbitrary and ill-informed moral majority.

Our political leaders (see reports on Ed Milliband’s recent visit to Oxford, from Sustainable Woodstock or from Low Carbon West Oxford) have said in various ways that their hands are tied: that although they recognise urgency, they cannot afford to take the necessary steps if it makes them too unpopular. These issues require long-term strategies and commitments which politicians on a 4-year life cycle find hard to generate by themselves.

So who CAN take action (other than you and me) ?

It seems to me that as a neighbourhood, as a community, as a group of people sharing the same environment, we need the occasional opportunity to get together WITHOUT agendas, fixed ideas, bias or vested interests. Yes, we need to inform ourselves and become familiar with these issues. But more importantly, I think, we need to share, talk and learn together. We need to network and to maybe re-learn to work collectively, communally - something our culture has neglected or lost to some degree. Tackling climate change head-on will require collective creativity and cooperation on an unprecedented scale, if we want to stand any chance at all.

A day like this cannot replace the hard, everyday, nitty-gritty work that will be required. But a day like this CAN provide a shared experience of unbiased conversation and exploration. We will need information and inspiration - from across the world and from other communities tackling these issues - to create local solutions. We have invited a selection of highly knowledgeable experts - thinkers, writers and doers - who have between them spent years and decades accumulating information, ideas and strategies which they are happy to share with us. I am confident that their contributions will generate many important discussions and joint actions.
But although substantial input and information will be available, we want to avoid an atmosphere of rarefied, jargon-based expert discussion. One of the main principles for all contributions is that they are accessible and inclusive, many of them also for young people. All contributors have been invited to bring together global visions and big ideas with practical, down-to-earth steps that we can all get involved in.

What about this website ?

This website is now live, but a lot of information is still missing and will be filled in over the coming weeks. Soon you will be able to see the full programme, with all the presenters and their contributions described in detail. We will have a good number of sought-after experts in their respective fields presenting a variety of events as well as being available to your questions. You can see most of the proposed titles and themes listed on the Presenters page. Other sections of the website will be filled in as we go along and collect links, background materials as well as generating more stall holders and sponsors. There are many ways you can help and join in, see the Get Involved page which lists the kind of tasks for which we seek volunteers and helpers. And please join in with comments, feedback and suggestions, in response to this blog or through our Contact page.

In the meantime, whilst the website is being developed further, have a look at our current draft leaflet (front page),(back page) or (main page with draft titles of presentations), or click to the next page to view an article which appeared in our parish magazine ‘The Sprout’.