Please come to Open Project Night on Monday 20th, 'Ensuring a just and green local economic recovery'.

[Duncan Law]

Dear Lambeth sustainabilty peeps

Apologies for late notice. Our second online Open Project Night is imminent, this coming Monday 20th July, 7-9pm, focusing on Ensuring a just and green local economic recovery. Please sign up here to make sure you receive the link which will be sent out shortly after 6pm on Monday. The facebook event is here to share and invite to.

How can we, the community, shape and support a recovery that is fair and green, supplying the real needs of all and moving fast towards zero-carbon - not an opportunity for corporate take-over? How can we can help our cherished local businesses adapt and thrive, and develop a fair, future-appropriate, local economy? 

We are excited that both the Lambeth Local Economic Regeneration team and Brixton BID will be presenting and a number of key local community activists from the Vassall and Coldharbour Forum, Loughborough Farm, Repowering London, the Remakery, Urban Growth, OurSpace, Spiral Education and Save Nour will be there.

We will hear from Lambeth and the BID and any organisations working on the Recovery and then break into smaller groups to discuss topics and issues raised focussing first on equalities and justice issues and then on climate and green outcomes.

We will aim to set some principles and aims for a just and green recovery and some actions we can take as individuals and groups to promote it and support each other's initiatives.

Follow up from the last OPN: The notes are here (please correct, clarify, comment). The video of the evening is here: Duncan's introduction and framing at 9'45"; thanks to Kate, Sonia and Sarah from Lambeth who presented on what Lambeth is doing on the climate emergency, economic recovery and plans for retrofit from 15'20"; and Sue who updated on the excellent work of the Lambeth Food Hub and future plans from 35'30". The feedback from small-group discussions on Climate and Justice, Economic regeneration and Covid 19 start at 1.36'20".

We resolved that justice must be at the centre of our work on climate, recovery, everything. This must be an active anti-racist process. "You can’t care about the external world if you're in turmoil inside" caused by systemic injustice. System change must be an opportunity to remove systemic racism and injustice. The 'liberal' western system doesn't think it needs to change. 

People and the community have shown their power in this crisis. Local is where it's at! We must find ways to maintain and develop that and increase connection and mutual aid. We must address people's urgent problems before we can ask them to get active on important issues. We must look for solutions that solve many problems at once. The old 'normal' creates more problems than it solves.

Transition Town Brixton, through the Lambeth REconomy Project, has been 'working for a strong, community-supported local economy' since 2013. We produced two reports on the benefits of localising the food and energy economy and held a Local Entrepreneur Forum in 2015 (5 minute film) before starting Open Project Night with the Impact Hub in 2016 and doing lots of work supporting local food businesses. 

We look forward to working with you more (on Monday) on community-led, local interventions towards a better future. Please invite others who should be there and circulate it through your networks.

#BuildBackBetter and Fairer

Wayne, Steph and Duncan 

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Duncan Law
Transition Town Brixton
Tel: 07958 635181
Skype: ttbrixtonite

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