The news, last spring, that improvements to the insulation of Cotteridge Quaker Meeting House, together with more energy efficient heating and lighting, had cut the building's energy use by 59% over the past five years was welcomed by Cotteridge Quakers. I'm a member of Cotteridge Meeting and have learned a lot from those who have worked so hard to achieve this.

I confess that, at first, when the new heating system was installed I was not entirely happy. Our old electric storage heaters were replaced by air-source heat-pumps, and I found their intermittent noise a distraction during our Quaker silence. The noise was significantly reduced by skilful handy work and it didn't take long for my negative feelings to be replaced by joyful ones. I now like to be reminded, by the distant hum, of the energy savings that have resulted from the new heating system.

Work to reduce energy use still further was approved and on Tuesday we will celebrate the addition of a new "warm roof" which, together with further wall insulation, should cut heat loss by another 21%.

Cotteridge Meeting's next plan is to install solar PV panels on the roof and it is hoped that these will produce enough electricity to render the building "carbon neutral".

I have not put a link in this blog to the Cotteridge Quaker Meeting website page "greening our meeting house" as it needs updating. When the update is completed I will add the link.

In my family, wasting food is unacceptable. This is not new: my mother would not tolerate wasted food since, when she was a child in Germany during World War 1, she was malnourished. Fortunately, Quakers provided a Soup Kitchen where she lived, so she survived.

The need to avoid food waste is now recognised, but one third of the food we buy is still thrown away - and only two thirds of fruit and vegetables that are grown in the UK reach the shops in the first place. One third of the harvest is wasted either because it is not up to the supermarkets' standard or because it is in excess of supermarkets' need during a good harvest.

On Farming Today today (October 31st) we were told that, in the UK, 4.4 million apples and 5.1 million potatoes are thrown away every day.

A few Local Authorities put this waste food to good use. On Farming Today we were told about Wychavon District Council which collects food waste, takes it to a composting plant and then spreads it on farmland as a soil improver.

Hilary Benn tells us that "... if all the food and other organic waste that the UK produces could be harnessed ... it could provide enough heat and energy to run over two million homes."

In Birmingham we can put waste food in our bins and it is taken to the Tyseley Energy from Waste plant, along with other rubbish that cannot be recycled.

Some of us prefer to keep our dustbins odourless and prefer to compost food waste - but rats can be a real problem if we add food to garden waste in our traditional compost heaps.

I am familiar with two solutions:
We have a Green Cone in our garden.

An alternative is Bokashi, which is recommended by Lynne Jones MP.

Check the websites for explanations of their merits and details of the costs.

SusMo is one of three groups in the Birmingham regional finals of the British Gas GREEN STREETS competition, to be held next Wednesday at the NEC.

The project has six partners and the plans range from installing a roof mounted photovoltaic system on St Mary's Church that would deliver renewable electricity, saving costs and generating income, to providing 20 low-income households, that are in need of energy efficiency, with improvements such as roof insulation, solid wall insulation, new boilers or solar hot water.

A grant of £182,400 is requested - watch out for news of the result on the Moseley Forum Website and on local notice boards.

Some of us may be tempted, in a panic reaction to the approaching climate change disaster that is significantly affected by our greenhouse gas emissions, to change our lifestyles in an unsustainable way. The risk is that, as with strict slimming diets, we may reach a personal breaking point and then binge.

Reduction is a more sustainable approach than prohibition, and it is easy, and more effective, for almost all of us to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, gradually, than for a very small number of us to strive for a "zero carbon" lifestyle.

I came across a useful brochure recently "Omnivore or vegetarian?" which quotes Caroline Lucas MEP: "A vegan driving a 4X4 does less damage to the planet than a meat eater on a bicycle".

The brochure states "...the production of a kg of beef generates approximately the same GHG emissions as driving 250 km." It records other environmental factors, such as: "For every litre of milk produced, we use 990 litres of water in the production process. This rises to over 15,000 litres for a kg of beef."

However the recommendation is to reduce meat and dairy consumption, not for us to change our diet overnight. Occasionally eating vegetarian or vegan food is an easy decision for all of us. It just means that we need to pause and reconsider what ingredients we will buy and what we will eat.

Once in a while try buying some soya, rice or almond milk, soya yoghourt, a vegan margarine and either make or buy a vegetable spread, to replace some of your meat and cheese sandwiches.

Look at some simple vegan recipes and buy a few ingredients if they are not already in your kitchen.

If you plan to eat out, ask the restaurant what vegetarian or vegan dishes will be on the menu. The more requests that restaurants receive, the choice and standards will improve to please the market. As the cost of ingredients in a vegan dish are usually significantly less than for a meat or fish dish, the cost of the dishes is often less. However, for restaurants unaccustomed to vegan cooking the costs, at present, are similar as the labour costs are greater.

The most important thing is to enjoy what you eat, and there are so many delicious vegan and vegetarian meals for you to choose from. Please spread the word and pass on your tips.

I haven't written about the Northfield Ecocentre since May and, as there is a lot happening this month, this is a good time for an update.

There are three regular, open, free, events:
> campaigning for beginners,
> a gardening club and
> a sewing club ,
plus more free events during half term week.

The following are the events for the rest of October - please check the "comments" items on the right in case there are further updates and check the website for further details.

10th from 10:00 - 13:00
Gardening Club

15th from 18:30 - 19:30
Campaigning for Beginners: Guest speaker from Birmingham Friends of the Earth

16th from 10:00 - 12:00
Sew, Darn and Tea

17th from 10:00 - 13:00
Gardening Club

23rd from 10:00 - 12:00
Sew, Darn and Tea

24th from 10:00 - 13:00
Gardening Club

27th from 9:30 - 15:30
Family Fun Day - including nature walks and storytelling

29th from 15:00 - 19:00
Warm for Winter: Everything you need to know about how to keep warm and save money this winter. Talk to the experts plus family activities and free, organic soup.

30th from 10:00 - 12:00
Sew, Darn and Tea

31st from 10:00 - 13:00
Gardening Club

Please spread news of these events to everyone you think may like to join in, save money and make a difference to the future of our planet.

There is an interview with Luke Olley, the new assistant co-ordinator at the Ecocentre, on page 5 of the latest Go Green supplement of the Birmingham Mail.

First an explanation, in case this "post" looks odd: I'm writing with my little finger on an iPod touch, I will sort out defects when I return to my PC.

I'm on holiday this week - a very enjoyable holiday with a "lighter footprint" which I recommend to all, reasonably fit, readers.

We took our bikes on a train travelling south from Birmingham, to Malvern Link. We have cycled an average of 29 miles a day, mainly on single track, hilly, roads in good weather.

Travelling by bike you stop and take detours when you spot something interesting (such as a church described as "Strawberry Hill Gothic") and you deserve frequent stops at pubs and cafés for home made refreshments.

The contrast to Birmingham with the roads through farmland, woodland, small villages and historic small towns is far greater than to most European cities.

We will return to Birmingham, after the short return train journey from Malvern Link, greatly refreshed.

Have you seen The Age of Stupid yet? The film stars Pete Postlethwaite as 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?"

I don't think it has as much to do with stupidity as with selfishness - I would be interested to know what you think. Check the Age of Stupid website for screenings near you, or how you can organise a screening in your neighbourhood yourself.

The Avaaz Wake-Up call, that I mentioned last week, was a bit low key in Birmingham. I felt a bit conspicuous as the only grey haired person amongst a large group of young Oxfam volunteers. However, overall, the event was a great success: there were more than 2,600 events in 135 countries. Gordon Brown became the first major world leader to agree to the demand to attend the UN climate summit in Copenhagen, where he will press for a fair and effective climate agreement.

In a phone call to a demonstrator in Parliament Square, Gordon Brown acknowledged that organised pressure from the public does make a difference, and "...what people think is impossible can become possible".

The next date for our diaries is December 5th, when Stop Climate Chaos has organised a human wave of support in London, for action on climate change, before the UN climate summit in Copenhagen. Transport information can be found on the Wave website.

Some of you will know about this already but, in case you are undecided about participating, I hope that you will think seriously about it.

131 countries have planned 2,146 events and there will be 219 events in the UK. If none of them are near you, or you can't attend for any reason, you can still send a message of support which will be registered.

Thousands of people across the world are getting together in groups for a great global climate wake up call on Monday 21st September.

If you have a few minutes to spare Monday lunchtime in Birmingham, come along to Victoria Square with a mobile phone and alarm clock and show your support for an 'ambitious, fair and binding global treaty that will stop climate catastrophe'.

Further details on the Avaaz website for Birmingham and for the UK and the rest of the world.

Information about vehicles and fuel technologies, which could deliver an 80-90 per cent reduction in vehicle emissions, will be presented by Professor Julia King at a Lunar Society lecture at Aston University on Thursday September 17th.

Birmingham, the motor city of the past, could revitalise a key sector of the city's economy by leading in the design and manufacture of new low-carbon cars.

Birmingham Airport hit the local news headlines this week, when an Airbus A380 arrived from Dubai. The C0₂ emissions from this aircraft are claimed to be less than the emissions from British trains, per kilometre travelled.

Low-carbon cars, and three storey aircraft, may satisfy politicians as a way of achieving C0₂ reductions, and gain profits for businesses, but are they a sustainable solution for travel in the twenty-first century? Will our great-grand-children be able to drive to work from leafy suburbs and be able to fly to Dubai, to have exotic holidays on unspoilt beaches?

Electric cars, and three storey aircraft, have a lower impact on scarce resources, and lower emissions to speed up global warming, than fossil fuel cars and Concorde, but are they really a sustainable solution?

The Government's Planning Policy Guidance PPG13, back in 1994, advocated that we should be trying to reduce the need for travel.

If you have not yet watched the film "Wake up, freak out, then get a grip." I recommend that you take a 12 minute break now.

The most pressing action this week, to help south Birmingham residents to achieve "lighter footprints", is to send a letter to Centro about providing railway stations at Balsall Heath, Moseley, Kings Heath and Stirchley along the existing 'Camp Hill line', which need to be connected to Moor Street station using a new curve. I wrote about this in early August and, just in case you thought "Yes, I should write a letter", and have not written one yet, this is a timely reminder.

The Centro draft 'Rail Development Plan' is open to public consultation until 11th September 2009 - so please act by next Friday.

More details of how to ask for the project to be brought forward as soon as possible are on the Friends of the Earth's website.

Please check this out today and pass this message on to as many people as you can.

Friends of the Earth issued a press release today and I hope that you will read the story in newspapers soon. Just in case the full text is not published, it was as follows:

Huge Backing for Local Stations

Campaigners asking for the re-opening of local stations In South Birmingham say that the number of letters going to public transport planning body Centro will provide incontrovertible proof of the demand for local rail services.

With all the pressure being put on rail providers and politicians, local people are hoping they will soon be celebrating a new chapter for rail in Birmingham.