7.30pm Wednesday 26 July

‘Practical steps to living within planetary boundaries’

at RISC, 35 – 39 London Street, RG1 4PS

 

We left our last meeting inspired by Jason Hickle’s talk on ‘degrowth’ but wanting to know more about how it can be achieved. So we are continuing that theme at this meeting.

Jason defined degrowth as ‘A planned and democratic reduction of less necessary forms of production in rich countries to bring economies back into balance with the living world in a safe, just and equitable way.’

At this meeting we will have a few short talks to start us think about ways we could ‘degrow’ our economy and about countries or groups that are already managing well with less. Then we will break into groups to continue the discussion.

In order to prepare for the meeting you may like to read Jason Hickle’s book ‘Less is More’ or watch the video that we watched at our last meeting, ‘How to Save the Planet: Degrowth vs Green Growth?’   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxJrBR0lg6s

Could you help?

Our next stall is on Saturday 5 August

10am – 3pm 

at Green Fair, Maiden Erleigh Local Nature Reserve

This will be another opportunity to explain to people why we need a pharmaceutical system that puts lives before profits and provides affordable medicines for all. We have some new fold-out leaflets entitled ‘Lives Not Profit – Why we need a new pharma system’. Inside there is a map of the world highlighting hopeful alternatives from other countries. We will also have an information sheet called ‘Ten Reasons Why We Need a New Pharma System’ and petition forms for people to sign.

Please let me know if you can help at jackieoversby@gmail.com

Could you lend us a gazebo?

Our gazebo is broken; it met a sorry end at the East Reading Festival. A sudden gust of wind blow it over and broke the structure. We only do stalls about half a dozen times a year when we need a gazebo. We have an offer of a gazebo for our remaining two stalls this year but it would be helpful if we had offers from several people so that no-one feels that their gazebo has to be available every time!

Please let me know if you could lend us a gazebo occasionally.

Autumn Dates for your Diary

Sunday 10 September: A stall at Reading Cycle Festival. Please let me know if you think you will be able to help.

Saturday 23 September: ‘Make Polluters Pay Day’

7.30pm Wednesday 27 September: meeting at RISC

7.30pm Wednesday 8 November: Nick Dearden will be speaking about his new book ‘Pharmanomics’ that will be published in October. (Please note that this meeting has been brought forward by a couple of weeks)

‘How to Save the Planet: Degrowth vs Green Growth?’

Film and Discussion

Wed 24 May 7.30pm at RISC, RG1 4PS

How do we secure a thriving future for humanity and the rest of the living world? Green growth and degrowth proponents take very different stances but they agree that changing the current economic growth model is necessary.

In this video Prof. Samuel Fankhauser and Prof. Jason Hickel went head to head on one of the biggest questions of our time and gave us an interesting introduction for a discussion. The discussion, in small groups with feedback at the end, ranged from criticism of growth to those pressing for urgent action to curb growth. The contributions were lively and the small group format encouraged more to share their views.

‘The Big One’ Friday 21 April – Monday 24 April

Near the Houses of Parliament, London

Extinction Rebellion, Global Justice Now, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and others came together for these four days. The streets were transformed with People’s Pickets outside government departments and a diverse programme of speakers, performers and workshops, awash with colour and culture. There will be art and music, talks from experts, places to listen and engage, and activities for the kids.

Global Justice Now had a stall and gazebo in Parliamentary Square, supported by stalwarts from Global Justice Reading on different days. It had an ambitious schedule of events, including workshops and talks, a walking tour, and even some comedy. These were very well attended, sometimes with so many attendees that the workshop spilled outside the tent. As part of the ‘People’s Picket’ we will joined our allies to picket the departments for trade and health on Friday 21 and Monday 24 April. 

You can still find the outline of the weekend on Global Justice Now’s website, and FAQs about nearly every element of the protest on the Extinction Rebellion website.