Oxford, on a "bit nippy" night in March...back to the Old Library above the Vaults...for the second "inaugural" launch of the Climate Information Outreach Network COIN Climate Action Groups

http://coinet.org.uk/coin_action_groups_brochure.pdf.

Around 30 people in the room : ably and wonderfully and humanly facilitated once again into announcing their ideas for Climate Action Group topics. I stood up and said I want to do a "LETTER SLAM" : get together some example letters to MP's, MEP's, local councillors and so on and post them on the Internet so that people who are feeling frustrated but uninspired can cut and paste from the sample letters into their own letters...we're already doing this on the Campaign against Climate Change website forum/portal

Crisp spring sunshine lit up the Palace of Westminster as a host of lobbyists wound their way, in twos and threes, towards the venue for Stop Climate Chaos' first proper event.

The Central Methodist Hall was vast and baroque and buzzing with activity when I arrived. Milling between lines of ecologists, it was not long before I saw faces I recognised (about 0.3 seconds, in fact, as Jo was on the front door). The social side of events like these is always a major part of the fun. In the Big Westminster Villlage, it's usually MPs, policy wonks and hacks who frequent the bars and mingle like smoke along the streets. Today, unusually, it would be a green schmooze.

[ Tim Helweg-Larsen and Jo Abbess hold their first task management meeting at the offices of COIN the Climate Outreach Information Network in Oxford. On the list of outputs is a spellchecked version of the mission and aims of the Animated Resources organisation. See below... ]

Animated Resources is an Oxford based think-tank providing analysis and communications on key global issues. Our products are "e-briefings" – computer animated policy documents that present complex systems analysis in a format that can rapidly be understood. Central to our approach is identifying key global issues and the systems that they represent and interact with.

Community Ecology - Do It In A Group

An exciting development last week in the emergence of
community-based action on Climate Change was the
inaugural meeting of the Climate Change Action Groups
in Oxford. The Action Groups are the inspiration of
COIN, the Climate Outreach Information Network, part of
the Stop Climate Chaos coalition alongside Operation Noah.

In the Upper Room at the Vaults of Saint Mary the Virgin
University Church in Oxford, we networked and workshopped
our way to some excellent groups, each focussed on
specific topics, such as Carbon Rationing, Household
and Feelings&Fun. It was an energising and positive

News from your dutiful reporter in Oxford ;) --

Tonight saw the launch of COIN's Climate Groups - locally-based community projects to get people really thinking about how they can practically address the issue of climate change in their everyday lives.

A packed meeting hall buzzed with the warmth and good humour of over 40 ecological Oxfordians - and there were even some familiar faces from CCC, including Jo, Jon Essex, and Dave Tonderai (was good to see you guys :)), testament to the interest generated by this venture. The use of hand-cymbals to call for attention, and the general composure of the introductory speeches, lent a slight Buddhist atmosphere to the event. But as the gathering split up into discussion groups - each coalescing around topics like 'Carbon Rationing', 'Street Theatre and raising public awareness', and 'Households and lifestyles' - it became clear this would be no mere therapeutic exercise.