Environment

Today members of the Clean Air and Healthy Streets subgroup of the Whalley Range Climate Action Group met to plan further awareness-raising activities with schools in Whalley Range. The climate action group is an informal network of around 40 local people, currently building-on the success of Clean Air Day in June, which saw a road outside of a Whalley Range school closed to vehicles.

We cycled to Wythenshawe Park this afternoon to visit the Pineapple Cooperative. The park is host to a growing number of eco-friendly projects, the Pineapple Cooperative being one of many. It’s an offshoot (no pun intended) of ‘Real Food Wythenshawe’ and is run entirely for the benefit of the local community. Members are given their own allotment space to grow fruit, veg and flowers inside the beautiful old walls of this historic garden that dates back centuries to the origins of Wythenshawe Hall.

To help tackle climate change, just Touch Wood!

Emerge 3Rs started in 1996, carrying out kerbside collections of paper for recycling.  Since then it has gone from strength to strength, becoming both a social business and a registered charity, moving to a base in Smithfield Market and running a range of activities all focused on reducing consumption, reusing resources and recycling responsibly.

Bridge 5 Mill is a converted Mill based in Ancoats, and serves as the base for 18 different tenant organisations as well. It is also open for use as a venue. From this brief description, you might be led to think that there is nothing out of the ordinary about Bridge 5 Mill, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

FareShare GM works with the food industry to redistribute surplus food to frontline charities and community groups. They also educate nationally, regionally and locally on the impact of waste food upon people's lives and the planet.

On Wednesday 25 September, members of the Manchester Carers Network attended a cookery and nutrition workshop, delivered by Bounceback Food. The five people attending had the opportunity to make their own tabbouleh, hummus and delicious (and low-sugar) Eton Mess. This was the 3rd workshop in the Live Well programme, which is designed to help people learn how to cook healthy recipes, improve their budgeting skills and get support with nutrition.

Every Wednesday and Thursday, the Green Doctor groups meet at Glasshouse number 1 at the Horticultural Centre, Wythenshawe Park. These are drop-in sessions where people can learn all about food plus how to grow and harvest vegetables. If people just want to come along to have a chat and enjoy good company and a cup of tea then they are welcome too!

On Wednesday 25 September, Helen from the Furniture Poverty Hub is working with the Tree of Life Centre to promote furniture reuse and it is a good start to the day as the civic centre in Wythenshawe have given them a shop free of charge to run this activity. They have displayed some donated furniture in the shop window and the aim is to have a conversation about the links between reusing furniture and the climate. 

What has our consumer-led, throw-away society got to do with the climate emergency?
A great deal, as it happens.

On Tuesday morning, we visited Anson Community Grocers, a volunteer led project based in Anson House in the heart of the estate. Anson House has been providing valuable services for local people for the last 40 years, but three years ago Anson Community Grocers was set up by volunteers with the support of Healthy Me Healthy Communities.

EMERGE Recycling is an award-winning social enterprise, formed in 1997 in Manchester. Its name is an acronym of East Manchester Environment and Resources Group Emerge and it operates under its parent charity EMERGE 3Rs, which champions sustainability across all its operations.