Zero Carbon Caravan

Less than three weeks to go before the Wales route departs!

A number of Zero Carbon Caravan routes are now in the process of being planned, some more advanced than others.  Have a look at them and contact me chris.keene@zerocarboncaravan.net if you want to join in anywhere.  Remember the caravan journeys are relays, so you can just join for a day, or even a few hours riding into town with us, or along to the next town on the journey if that’s all you can manage.  The more the merrier, and the more people there are the more media coverage we will get, which is one of the reasons we’re doing this.

The route through Wales and England is now very nearly organised, starting from Climate Camp Cymru in less than three weeks, demonstrating practical methods of travelling, working and playing with zero carbon emissions along the way!  The route through Belgium and the Netherlands is also planned, although activities there have yet to be worked out in detail. We are still working on the route through Germany and Denmark, but we will arrive in Copenhagen on 4th or 5th December.

In addition people are travelling by kayak through the inland waterways of Scotland from Argyll to Edinburgh, and it looks like a yacht, or even a couple of yachts, will be making their way up the English Channel from the West Country to Brighton or even further.  Whether we can extend the relays to Copenhagen for these two journeys will depend on finding yachts to cross the North Sea.

Have a look at our website www.zerocarboncaravan.net and click on MAP OF ROUTE on the right hand side of the home page.

We won’t be going by very direct routes, because we will be visiting lots of interesting places on the way - not to mention lots of meetings with people from Transition Towns and Low Carbon Communities to Friends of the Earth group and cycling campaigners, like the Cyclists’ Touring Club and Sustrans, and commercial organisations from renewable energy suppliers to organic growers, all showing us the way to cut carbon, and providing us with the information to take to the negotiators in Copenhagen, proving it can be done, if they have the political will.  And we will have fun as we go too, just to prove you don’t need to emit carbon to have a good time.

Most people will be on bikes, but some are going in kayaks, (Myles Farnbank and friends are paddling sea kayaks through the inland waterways of Scotland from Argyll to Edinburgh) and on skateboards (Valdemar Silverstein Markussen is going on his long board from Germany to Denmark).  Robin Emley is still looking for people to join him in kayaking down from Liverpool to the Midlands so get in touch if you are interested, and also we are still looking for a yacht, to cross the North Sea, (or yachts, because one in Scotland would be useful too, as would one to cross the Irish Sea to link up with those travelling up the English Channel from the West Country) after the Keewaydin pulled out as it needs repairing – so if you know of one then please contact me, Chris Keene, chris.keene@zerocarboncaravan.net or 01603 614535 or 07801 250982

As we go we will collect information on carbon reduction and put it on a datastick, as well as our website, so when we get to Copenhagen we will be able to demand a zero carbon world, and show the negotiators how to do it.

The route and activities along the way

When we leave Climate Camp Cymru (near Merthyr Tydfil in south Wales – the exact location will be announced nearer the date on www.climatecampcymru.org) on August 14th at 10am, we will be visiting the first community owned power station in Wales, a hydro-electric plant at Talybont reservoir, in the afternoon before heading in the evening to the Low Carbon Community at Talgarth, staying there on 14th/15th and 15th/16th August, then heading for Transition Rhayader, where we will stay on 16th/17th and 17th/18th August.

Next we have a beautiful cycle ride over the mountains to Aberystwyth to meet the people from Transition Aberystwyth, staying there for 18th/19th and 19th/20th August before cycling on to Machynlleth, where we will stay for a couple of days so that we can visit the Centre for Alternative Technology and the Public Interest Research Centre , who co-authored the Zero Carbon Britain report http://www.zerocarbonbritain.com/ that was the inspiration for the Zero Carbon Caravan, as well as meeting with Transition Bro Ddyfi.

After we leave Machynlleth on 23rd August we will travel to the Low Carbon Community at Llanidloes , staying there on 23rd/24th and 25th/26th August, giving a talk at a Low Carbon Community meal, and visiting the listed building that climate campaigner George Marshall of the Climate Outreach Information Network is eco-renovating. We will be staying with Transition Llandrindod Wells on 25th/26th August and Transition Presteigne on 26th/27th August

Following that we head through England, staying in Ludlow on 27th/28th  and 28th/29th  August, visiting the biogas waste plant owned by Greenfinch and then cycling down to Hereford on 29th August to take part in their climate action carnival http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=78136223261, staying overnight in Hereford on 29th/30th and then cycling on to Worcester, to look at some of the areas which are already being devastated by climate change in the form of regular flooding of the River Severn – we will stay overnight on 30/31 August and 31st August/1st September in the area of Worcester.

After that we go to Birmingham, where we will stay overnight on 1st/2nd and 2nd/3rd September.  We are trying to set up a meeting there, on the theme of green jobs.  We then cycle south to Snitterfield, to visit Snitterfield Actioning Climate Change, staying overnight on 3rd/4th September.

Following this we will spend several days in the area of Leamington Spa/Coventry/Rugby, with zero carbon concerts, including one with the Eco-worriers on 4th September, and another with Seize the Day at the Annual General Meeting of Garden Organic on 5th September, with a Skype conference at Practical Action on 6th September which will allow people from the South to share their thoughts about climate change.

On 7th September we will cycle to the Permorganics small holding near Northampton, staying overnight on 7th/8th and 8th/9th September, to see how they are using the principles of permaculture with organic cultivation and how this can help to fight climate change, and learn about their Community Supported Farming scheme. Then on 9th September we have an amazing event planned, a demonstration of zero carbon flight (weather permitting) by a microlight powered by green electricity  at Sywell aerodrome, before we cycle on to Bedford in the evening to meet members of Transition Bedford .

After staying the night of 9th/10th September in Bedford, we cycle on 10th to Cambridge, spending two nights in the area – 10th/11th and 11th/12th September, on 10th having a meeting organised by Transition Cambridge with Tony Juniper talking about the Green New Deal , and Rosemary Randall of Cambridge Carbon Footprint discussing psychological reactions to climate change.  We will also be having a meeting with Histon and Impington Climate Change Action in the suburbs of Cambridge  to talk about all their successes in reducing carbon.

The 12th September sees us heading for Ely, staying overnight with Transition Ely members , travelling on 13th to Transition Downham Market, and then on 14th Transition King’s Lynn.

On the 15th September we cycle up the coast of the Wash and around the north west corner of Norfolk to stay overnight at the eco-friendly backpacker’s hostel at Burnham Deepdale, where we will see the various energy and water saving devices they have installed, together with their solar powered heating system, something that has yet to become popular in this country.  On 16th September we will cycle four miles down the road to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reserve at Titchwell, to hear how climate change is affecting them and how they are adapting to it, before we return to spend another night (16th/17th September) at the hostel.

We return south on 17th September, cycling through the heart of Norfolk to Swaffham, where we will spend two nights, 17th/18th and 18th/19th September, visiting the Ecotech centre  on 18th to view their wind turbine and discuss the technology and the public reaction to it.

On 19th September we cycle to Norwich, where we will have an improvised environmental opera, the ‘Carbon Chronicles’  on the evening of 19th, followed on 20th by a family friendly zero carbon festival in Chapelfield Gardens in the centre of Norwich, organised by the local Friends of the Earth, with stalls for campaigning organisations and those selling green goods and climate friendly food (local, organic), and a zero carbon concert, and in the morning of 21st September at the University of East Anglia by an international video conference linking Clive Hamilton (author of ‘Growth Fetish’) in Australia with a number of people from Norwich, just to prove that you can have an international conference without flying .  Later that day we will visit the Ranger’s House on Mousehold heath, which is being turned into an environmental education centre.

After spending the night of 21st/22nd September in Norwich, we will cycle down to Bungay, a Transition Town,  to take part in their car-free day.

After this, our plans are a little uncertain, for we have still not found a yacht to take us over the North Sea, but we are hoping we will have a day or two to join with Communities Against Nuclear Expansion in activities protesting against Sizewell nuclear power station before we leave for Belgium.

Routes through Belgium and The Netherlands

The activities on the continent are yet to be worked out in detail, but these are the routes through Belgium and the Netherlands

CYCLE TO THE NETHERLANDS ON 10 OCTOBER

NIGHT                              LOCATION

CYCLE TO GERMANY ON 24 OCTOBER