WIRRAL ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK :
COURSES WE CAN OFFER 2012 – 2013
The following formats are available for most of our courses ;One hour introductory presentation ;Morning / afternoon workshop ; Single day training session 5 weeks at 2hrs per week ; 10 weeks at 2hrs per week
Plant and veg growing courses
1. Growing healthy food
Organic produce all through the year
2. Make your garden work for you
Get the most out of your garden for free – plants, fruit and veg
3. How to grow with your children
Family learning is fun : ideal for schools and community groups
4. Growing food in small spaces and containers
- No need for an allotment to grow your own fruit and veg the back yard is fine
5. Setting up a community allotment or garden
Design and construction of your space or site; tools needed; growing calendar etc
6. Cheap and cheerful growing
grow from seed ; cuttings ; use of recycled materials for containers
7. The 1.5 metre garden
Ideal for community groups, children centres, etc looking to turn derelict land into useful low maintenance asset
8. Get outside and enjoy the air
-Organised walks in local parks and gardens identifying trees, shrubs and plants
9. Preparing and maintaining your container garden
- everything from pots to small raised beds , plants , fruit and veg
10. How to compost and recycle
- how to dispose of your food waste and produce valuable free compost for your garden and how to recycle
EVENTS
Plant and eat day [ Summer ]
Plant containers with herbs and salad ; make herb oil vinegar ; build a better butty ; raw food taster sessions
PRESENTATIONS
Presentations are 35 / 40 mins long with 20 minutes for Q and A.
Oil and Economy
This looks specifically at our global dependence on the fossil fuel energy source of oil. It looks at the peaking of global production , alternatives to oil, and effects on our national and international economy.
Energy , Food & Economy
Outlines the link between cheap energy in the 20th Century, growth in food production and growth in world population. Explains how work and living patterns in the 21st Century will change with the ending of cheap fossil fuel energy.
Sustainability Courses
1. Understanding Sustainable living
We don’t want wind turbines but we do want washing machines, tv’s, dishwashers etc, so how are we going to power them when fossil fuel energy starts to run out ? 25% of the earths population use 75% of its resources what happens when the other 75% of the population ( many of them in economically booming China and India ) start catching up ? Sustainable living is not a lifestyle choice its an absolute necessity in the 21st Century.
2. Understanding Food
Supermarkets only sell it they don’t produce it so how much do you understand about the most important resource to human beings beyond the supermarket shelf ? This course outlines the unsustainable nature of global food production ; food miles, food waste, corporate monopoly versus local community agriculture. We also look at the content of our food – in the UK we are overfed and under nourished as well as exploring some of the myths about nutrition .
3. Environmental Community Development
How improving the environment can bring communities together – this is a practical course focussing on real life examples of change in communities – from food , recycling, composting. How we can educate ourselves to live sustainably and cascade this knowledge into the community. We also look at how it works in other parts of the world. Involves skills such as action planning, team work, communication sought after by employers. This course is very much about getting out and doing it.
4. Green Economics
The clash between ecology and economy ; exploring the meaning of the new ‘Green Economy’ ( worth 5% of current GDP ) in relation to working in the 21st century ; the problems of a society whose economy is based on consumption when resources are dwindling and energy costs are set to spiral. We look at the problems and potential solutions.
5. Green Politics
in the past two decades environmentalism has moved from the margins to the centre of politics, this course looks at the role of pressure groups in forcing change, radical ecologists versus mainstream ‘business as usual’ environmentalists and the role of local community in the Transition Town movements especially concerning food and land use.
6. Writing an environmental funding application
Funding is a highly competitive market, this course will teach you how to write a funding bid that will have them in tears and desperate to give you the money.
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