Starting in March, the Carbon Forum Team will be joining forces with the Shrewsbury branch of Friends of the Earth to work with the residents of Underdale and Monkmoor in Shrewsbury.

Theai ultimate m of the project is to build up capacity and knowledge of climate change and energy issues, enabling them to assist the wider community to reduce their energy use, CO2 and bills. We've lined up a ton of low energy light bulbs for them, powerdown units, and subsidised insulation.

Our Light Fantastic trailer will be visiting the area and after that we will organise a relaxed training morning providing them with training materials. The volunteers will then be able to co-ordinate their own community engagement over the coming year.

Carbon Forum have undertaken to design and manage the implementation of a major new Climate Change exhibition for the National Museum of Uganda, in Kampala.

The exhibition will introduce climate change, its history and potential impacts with an emphasis on how these issues are important from a Ugandan perspective.

Sections of the exhibition will focus on specific areas of life, such as the home, transport, agriculture and entrepreneurial opportunities. To reduce emissions, all the work is being done remotely.

We hope to post a virtual tour soon.

Our Carbon Forum team are currently working with Herefordshire Council on an EST funded project to raise energy awareness and inspire action on climate change across the county.

Over the last month, Richard Hammerton has been running a series of two hour staff training sessions for the officers of Herefordshire Council. The sessions are intended to raise energy awareness and carbon literacy throughout the Council, and include topics such as Climate Change & Energy Issues, Carbon Footprinting, Renewable Technologies, Energy Efficiency, Transport and Food. They are delivered to a diverse range of participants from across all of the teams in the Council.

Each one begins with a talk from Richard to introduce the subject followed by a specially developed workshop activity where participants get to grips with some of the most important issues and learn more about the subject of the session.

All of the sessions have been very well received and the early feedback comments we have had reflect this:

“I am greatly enjoying your training sessions”

“I have found it really valuable already and have briefed up in the organisation”

In keeping with the low carbon message of the course Richard has travelled to all the sessions using public transport.

Our Director, Richard Davies, supported by the Carbon Forum team, will be undertaking a strategic piece of development work culminating in a presentation to the Dudley Community Partnership Board on 19th February.

This will seek to embark on an ambitious programme of MEA work in Dudley across most of MEA's themes.

The research in advance of the board meeting will identify 'all the talents', ongoing activity as well as funding opportunities. Dudley MBC are relishing the opportunity to work with MEA. We look forward to assisting them on their journey to a low carbon future.

Contact the Carbon Forum Team on info@carbonforum.org for more information about our Corporate Services and Member and Officer Training.

MEA's Carbon Forum team have been developing a new training programme to train trainers in delivering their flagship community action scheme - Carbon College. The new training programme means that more people can now benefit from this very productive learn and do scheme, harnessing the creativity at a grass roots level to create vibrant and informed responses to the important issues of fuel poverty and climate change.

Carbon College combines a series of awareness raising workshops with help in planning out and running community based projects, all with a focus on climate change and/or sustainable energy. The scheme gives a core group community's members a solid grounding in energy awareness and all the skills needed to make a difference in their community - from fund raising and planning projects to using those plans to create some really effective action. In this way, the scheme empowers the group to help to cut rates of local fuel poverty and to raise general awareness of energy issues and ways of keeping carbon emissions down at safe levels.

Community leaders or established community groups can now sign up for the training - to be given all the instruction and equipment needed so that they can run the workshop series and support sessions for a Carbon College scheme of their own.

Anyone interested in registering for this training programme or finding out more can contact Nancy Davies (nancy@mea.org.uk or 01743 277 113)