Category Archives: Consumption

Green Christmas, Everyone!

Posted on December 9, 2011 by | 1 Comment

Back in December 2010, many of you came along to our “How to Green Your Christmas” Open Meeting event, facilitated by Catherine.

At the meeting, we collected your ideas for how we can make Christmas a little more sustainable, how we can buy a little less, waste a little less, and Catherine kindly compiled them all into a nice Green Christmas Guide.

There is no Open Meeting this month, because it fell too close to Christmas. See you all in 2012; our first open meeting is on Weds, 18th January.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from everyone at TSA!

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Posted in Consumption, News

Consumerism and the importance of values

Posted on November 2, 2011 by | 1 Comment

October’s Open Meeting was about “Consumerism”: Why do we consume so much? And is it really all that bad?

We started with a Think-and-Listen exercise to reflect on how we each see the consumerist society we live in. At the end, everybody was asked to write down on a post-it something negative and something positive we associate with consumerism. The word cloud below shows what was written (positives have a plus sign in front).

The answers seem to reveal our dilemma: we know well what’s not good about consumerism but the problem is big and we are worried about our economy (mentioned equally as positive an negative) and, most of all, about employment. Continue reading →

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Posted in Air quality, Climate change, Consumption, Economy, Energy, Environment, Food, Health, Waste

The Story of Stuff

Posted on October 16, 2011 by | Leave a comment

The theme for our Open Meeting on Weds 19th Oct is “Consumerism“.

We will be showing the film “The Story of Stuff” by Annie Leonard.

The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled, humorous look at the underside of production and consumption. It explores the connections between a vast array of environmental and social issues, and points the way toward a more sustainable and just world.

Afterwards we’ll have a friendly discussion, thinking about how we can transform our culture of consumption and waste into a culture that prioritizes social and ecological well-being.

You’ll learn something, you’ll laugh, and you just may never look at stuff the same way again. [UPDATE: you can read how it went here]

As usual, there will also be updates on projects ongoing and planned.

Everybody welcome! Suggested voluntary donation of £2 to cover costs.

Time and place: Weds 19 Oct, 7.30pm at Fleetville Community Centre on Royal Road, off Hatfield Road, near Morrisons [map].

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Posted in Air quality, Consumption, Economy, Environment, Health, Waste

How to green your Christmas

Posted on January 14, 2011 by | 1 Comment

 

In December we organised a special Christmas Event together with St Albans Friends of the Earth, and supported by the St Albans Local Strategic Partnership.

The theme was “How to green your Christmas“ and the event took place on Wednesday, 15th December, 7.30pm, at Fleetville Community Centre.

Over a mince pie, we discussed how to make Christmas a little more sustainable … how to buy a little less, waste a little less, use a bit less meat and buy more locally.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Community, Consumption, Economy, Environment, Food, Waste