Living Witness Day 2009

Living Witness Day 2009

Saturday 7th February 2009 10.30 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Central Edinburgh Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace

We plan to celebrate our commitment to sustainability and the natural environment through our second Living Witness Day.

All Friends and attenders are warmly invited and this year we want to extend the invitation to other Quaker meetings in Scotland, as well as to the Edinburgh Transition Towns Heart and Soul group and others with a sympathetic interest in what we do.

This year also, for the first time, we will be offering activities for children and their carers.

Refreshments and a light lunch will be available in the meeting house.

In the morning

Our headline event in the morning will be a talk and workshop with Alastair McIntosh author of:

· Rekindling Community: Connecting People, Environment and Spirituality (Green Books, 2008).

· Hell and High Water: Climate Change, Hope and the Human Condition (Birlinn, 2008).

· Soil and Soul: People versus Corporate Power (Aurum Press, 2001, 2004).

For children, we will have access to the Scottish Wildlife Trust reserve at Johnston Terrace. This will be supplemented with information about the conservation activity at the reserve and some discussion about how our children might best make use of the site in future.

In the afternoon there will be a talk and workshop on composting for all, with our very own master composter, Emma Chapman. Emma will be outlining the principles of composting and some of the main container options. We then hope to have some breakout discussions on how we can take better care of our organic waste, whether individually, in local groups or as a meeting.

LIVING LIGHTLY - We hope to set up a friendly peer-support group to help each other save money and the planet: to cut our ecological footprint as much as possible and work towards living within our means. There will be a stall to discuss the project, sign up, and try out online eco-footprint calculators.

GREEN BOOKS CLUB - Come and browse through a selection of natural history, fiction and travel books: the kind of titles we might read as part of an occasional 'green books' reading group.

LWP BANNER - Needle workers and all other creative people are invited to help us with our Living Witness Banner.

There will also be an interactive art installation for all ages. This will involve our ideas about the shape of things to come as we would wish them to be.

On the allotment there will be a medieval map of the Allotment indicating this year’s ground plan and usage. This will be the main feature of the Allotment Stall along with photographs, sign up sheets and horticultural suggestion boxes.

In between times there will be screenings of some entertaining and informative internet movies on climate change; our photo journal of the year will also be available and we will have information on the Heart and Soul initiative that links our Living Witness with Edinburgh Transition Towns.

For more information email ecm-living-witness-steering-group@googlegroups.com or keep up to date with our blog at

http://www.edinburgh-living-witness.blogspot.com/


What do we mean by Heart and Soul?

Heart and Soul is a term that covers a range of reflective and sharing activities. Originally developed by Joanna Macey, author of “The Work that Reconnects”, the intention is to provide support and inward restoration. Joanna Macey says “We must learn to see in new ways and experience for ourselves the powers that are essential to the healing of our world.

The ‘Work That Reconnects’ is a pioneering form of group work that began in the 1970s. It demonstrates our interconnectedness in the web of life and our authority to take action on its behalf. It is based on systems theory, spiritual teachings, and deep ecology.”

http://transitionedinburgh.wordpress.com/