4TH OCTOBER 2001

PLUS NEWS- POWER STATION PROTESTS IN AUSTRALIA

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A weekend of information, inspiration, meeting people and sharing experiences.

The Saturday will concentrate on exchanging information about climate change and debating ideas. Sunday will concentrate on action- sharing experiences of our own activities and developing new plans and campaign. So it's best to try an attend both days- but if you can only make on day you're still very welcome, but please we MUST know which day you are coming so we can plan for numbers and food.

The venue is the Bridge 5 Mill, Beswick Street, Ancoats, Manchester. Directions are at the bottom of this news sheet.

Food during the weekend will be provided by Misty‚s vegetarian café and will cost approx £12 for the weekend, that includes Friday evening meal and as much tea as you can drink! In order for the catering to work smoothly it is really important that people book in advance and let us know when they will be arriving. If you do not require a Friday meal, or are coing for just one of the days on the weekend please let us know - that will keep the price down for everyone as they‚ll be none wasted. Please also let us know if you have special dietary requirements.

Accommodation will be basic but cosy. You will need to bring your sleeping mat and bag. If you do require a separate bed, i.e. if you have special needs or small children that can be arranged but again we need to know very soon.

Cost We will be asking for donations to cover the costs of the gathering and materials of between £3-10 per person. If for any reason you feel you will not be able to attend because of cost, please contact us!

Things to bring. Please bring materials and pictures to inspire each other, especially for the campaigns forum on Sunday morning which is open for everyone to share what they have been doing within their own campaigns. Bring any instruments, poems, stories and party tricks if you'd like to contribute to the open mike session on the Saturday night.

And, of course, bring a sleeping bag and mat.

Childcare - we will have somebody to look after children for the daytime sessions. If you would like to bring your child, please let us know so that we have an idea of numbers.

We‚re looking forward to meeting you all, and if there are further questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch - either call the office (01865 241 097) until Thursday am or email soaringskywards@yahoo.co.uk. <soaringskywards@yahoo.co.uk> During the gathering you can call the mobile on 07762 252 932

With best wishes,

Jo Hamilton and Lisa Clayden

This is provisional agenda. The timings and contents of the agenda below may change, but not massively. We are currently looking for facilitators for the weekend and would love to hear from anyone with experience or those who would like to learn facilitation skills and could take on a session with someone more experienced.

The building will be open from 6 pm, and people are welcome to arrive from this time onwards. There will be food, drinks, videos and a chance to socialise and get to know people.

An introduction to Rising Tide, the aims of the gathering, outlines of workshops, housekeeping, agenda

Covering Bonn agreements and Kyoto, alliance building, where we are as a movement, key aims and questions for the weekend

The aim of this discussion is to bring people up to speed with what C&C is about, how it fits into political framework, how effective it could be; alternative angles on contraction and convergence and discussion around these points.

Either one of the following two ˆ the other will be in the round 3 slot

Looking at how climate change impacts on people throughout the world, issues of racism, class and contextualising in terms of neo-colonialism

Carbon trading/sinks and tree planting ˆ covering carbon trading, looking in more detail at the sinks not solutions approach

Effective campaigning/personal climate change ˆ an in depth look at what building campaigns around climate change means, what impedes us, and how we can be more effective.

Stop Esso campaign - looking in detail at the campaign so far, and where people would like to work with it, including plans for the Dec 1st Stop Esso day of Action

Rio+10 ˆ more info and campaigns linking climate change and Rio +10 in South Africa next year Current political situation - a chance to touch base with whats happening re Sept 11th, general campaigning and links to climate change issues

Given climate change, should we be looking to 'dismantle' the fossil fuel industries? What would it mean to do this? How could it happen? Can we even conceive of the possibility? A challenging and (hopefully) thought provoking discussion, facilitated by PLATFORM

Looking at personal and domestic emissions, carbon footprints and what it would mean to significantly reduce our own CO2 to 0.6kg! Looking at fuel poverty in UK and ways we can build practical local solutions.

Report back of workshops running over the day, drawing out the common strands for focusing on campaign planning tomorrow, plus intro to rest of evening

9pm open mike -

Celebrate! beers for sale

A chance to hear about the variety of climate change campaigns which have been happening, both in the UK and abroad. We will have a reminder of the main campaign strands from Saturday, and divide up the campaign planning section accordingly

The chance to put ideas and plans into action. The group will divide into specific campaign planning groups - eg national day of action, tackling carbon trading. A chance for ideas to be pooled and discussed, and from this session we will have plans for the coming months and a sense of direction.

Reports from campaign planning discussions, what next - getting our year planner together!, network building. This will be in both large and smaller groups

There will be space and time for further group discussions to be arranged for the afternoon ˆ eg national action planning, getting more involved in Rising Tide. If you are interested in playing an active role, please plan to stay for the afternoon.

From Piccadilly Train station (in the centre of town). Head down ramp,and turn right into Ducey Street, follow the road and take the right hand fork (left hand fork if in a car). You will get to a T junction, (main road) take a right, then first left onto Old Mill Street (by the side of a retail park). At the first set of lights turn right down Beswick Street, and Bridge 5 Mill is the first building on the right after the canal - you'll probably see Rising Tide signs by now anyway. Its about a 15 minute walk from the train station, and there‚s no public transport..

From the bus station (Chorlton Street) head into Picadilly gardens (its a big building site at the moment). Follow signs for the station, then at the bottom of the station ramp turn left into Ducie street, and follow directions above. Its about a 20 minute walk. Lifts may be arranged on Friday evening from the centre of town - call the mobile number If you need to contact us, please call the office (01865 241 097) until Thursday am. After this point you can call the mobile on 07762 252 932

Please contact us if you need specific road directions or any other help finding the venue.

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Friends of the Earth Australia and the Friends of Merri Creek are currently blockading the construction of a gas-fired power station at Somerton, in Melbourne‚s. The station is one of eight planned in Victoria state to meet peak demand for summer air conditioning. The protests focus on the effects of the greenhouse gas emissions (Australia already has the highest emissions per person in the world!) and the destruction of a fragile ecosystem at Merri Creek.

You can send an email of support to the blockaders c/o al@projectx.com.au

You can send an e-mail to the Australian Minister for Energy and Resources candy.broad@parliament.vic.gov.au

For more information and daily updates http://www.climatejustice.melb.net/

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