Just a reminder that there is only one week left to submit an art work for Granton Goes Greener’s CHILDREN ART COMPETITION – “Little steps to save my planet”.
The deadline is 9 am on Friday 25 March.
See the poster for more details
Mums/carers and their under 5s are coming along to @grantoncastle to meet us and @trees_seas for more Play Together Outdoor Activities.
Lots of fun to be had – some of it’s messy but who cares !
BOOKING ESSENTIAL
GRANTON Goes Greener are very ecited to be hosting another CREATIVE WRITING workshop with an Edinburgh based climate activist and a writer-@KirstyLewin at @GrantonParish.
The workshop is part of #climatefestivalscot and sponsored by @KSBScotland
Granton’s iconic gasholder was lit up in the colours of the Ukrainian national flag last night.
The Council in partnership with Edinburgh College hosted members of the local and Ukrainian communities to watch the switch on of the lights as a gesture of solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
This follows city leaders coming together at a summit held last week at the City Chambers to discuss Edinburgh’s ongoing response to the crisis in Ukraine.
Council Leader Adam McVey said: “Last week when we met at the City Chambers with the Ukrainian community, we made a commitment to offer support wherever we can. Lighting the gasholder is a symbol of our support and solidarity with the people of our twin city Kyiv and all of Ukraine.
“As the humanitarian crisis escalates in Ukraine, the people of Edinburgh have been extremely generous in offering support and donating to the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal to help those facing terrifying circumstances as they defend their country.
“We’ll also continue to fly the Ukrainian flag at the City Chambers and take local actions to support Ukraine further and condemn Putin’s illegal war.
Depute Leader Cammy Day said: “There’s more people of Ukrainian descent living in the Capital than anywhere else in Scotland and so we’re lighting up the gasholder as a display of our support for them.
“I’d like to offer my thanks again to the people of Edinburgh for their outpouring of support at this time of crisis for the people of Ukraine. We welcome Ukrainian citizens to Edinburgh and we will do whatever we can to support them.”
Edinburgh College Principal and CEO Audrey Cumberford MBE FRSE said: “By lighting the gasholder in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, we, together with council colleagues, are demonstrating our solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
“At Edinburgh College, we stand with all of those who are suffering as a result of this war and are providing direct support to staff and students who are affected. We will continue to do what we can to support the local Ukrainian community in the city and are proud to play our part in Edinburgh’s collective effort to help.”
Environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful is delighted to award twelve schools in Edinburgh with an Eco-Schools Green Flag.
The international award recognises nurseries and schools which have demonstrated a commitment to the Eco-Schools Scotland programme and over two years have engaged their whole school community in local climate action.
The schools are: St David’s RC Primary School (which has held a Green Flag since 2010), Craiglockhart Primary School (which has held a Green Flag since 2016), Granton Primary School (a Green Flag school since 2013), Drummond Community High (achieving its first Green Flag Award), St Cuthbert’s Primary School (a Green Flag school since 2014), Ratho Primary School (a Green Flag school since 2010), Blackhall Nursery (which has held a Green Flag since 2009), St Margaret’s RC Primary School (which has held a Green Flag since 2011), Arbor Green Nursery (a Green Flag school since 2012), Hermitage Park Primary School (which has held a Green Flag since 2007), Kirkliston Nursery School (since 2005) and St Mary’s RC Primary School (since 2012).
All the schools took part in a variety of fantastic litter-busting and climate action activities including litter picks, litter surveys, recycling and community clean ups.
Pupils in the Eco Den at St David’s RC Primary School used their litter picking kit to tidy the playground. The nursery class also carried out a clean up.
Craiglockhart Primary School’s Eco Committee carried out a litter survey and using the results, decided to modify or replace their outdoor bins to prevent the litter from blowing out. They also wrote to the council to ask them to reduce the amount of single use plastics in school lunch boxes.
Granton Primary School’s Eco-Committee solved the problem of seagulls dragging litter out of the playground bins, by sourcing new seagull proof ones to replace them.
Drummond Community High introduced recycling bins to communal areas in the school, to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. St Cuthbert’s Primary School’s Eco-Committee purchased extra bins for the playground after finding there were not enough.
Ratho Primary School started a weekly class litter picking rota, with the nursery children working with their P6 buddies. Blackhall Nursery children learned about the effects of plastics on the environment and wanted to make long term changes at nursery and at home, so the nursery no longer uses plastic glitter or wet wipes. They also filled two perspex boxes with littered items to see which materials decompose and which don’t.
St Margaret’s RC Primary School pupils made posters which were displayed around the school to promote the use of bins. Arbor Green Nursery introduced regular activities promoting the 3 Rs – reduce, reuse and recycle. At Hermitage Park Primary School there was already a minimal amount of litter in the playground, and pupils aimed to decrease it even more..
Kirkliston Nursery School children joined in with a local community spring walk, talked about the litter in the local community garden and why we shouldn’t drop litter, and did a litter pick, recycling the items they collected. St Mary’s RC Primary School adopted a local street and encouraged residents to join in and pledge to take action on the problem.
Through the Eco-Schools Scotland programme, Keep Scotland Beautiful aims to make action to tackle climate change and environmental awareness an intrinsic part of the life and ethos of schools, for both pupils and for staff.
The programme provides a framework to engage the wider school community in climate action aligned with the purposes of Curriculum for Excellence and Learning for Sustainability.
To complete the Green Flag journey each school has a choice of ten topics to engage with, from climate action, to food and the environment, to litter, to energy. The schools also choose one of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to link their Eco-Schools work to.
Catherine Gee, Deputy Chief Executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “I’d like to congratulate the Eco-Committee, pupils and staff at each of these schools, who have worked so hard to play their part in combatting climate change and achieve their Green Flag Award.
“This is particularly impressive during a time of unprecedented adjustment and change to education due to the pandemic and is testament to the resilience and creativity of both pupils and educators.
“Keep Scotland Beautiful is committed to supporting all our children, young people and educators through our climate action schools activities to develop the capacities, skills and attributes required to protect our planet and work towards our goal of a Net Zero future.”
More information about the world’s largest sustainable schools programme and Eco-Schools Scotland can be found at www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/eco-schools
A new Breastfeeding Group starts this Thursday afternoon at Granton Parish Church from 1.15 – 2.30pm.
Registration is essential: email Lothianpeers@nct.org.uk or text Feed and your name to 81222.
Seed funding for Edinburgh communities to combat climate change
Since Scotland’s Climate Festival launched during COP26, just over 100 days ago, environmental charity, Keep Scotland Beautiful has funded four projects in Edinburgh to support ambitions to host a climate festival event.
Across Scotland 30 projects from 13 local authority areas – from the Highlands to the Borders – have received funding of up to £500, to help them inspire their communities to take action on climate change – and there is still time to apply before the deadline of 1 March.
The first project to receive funding was Falkirk Delivers to support a two-day event, Shop26, in Falkirk town centre. Since then, the seed funding has supported festivals themed around food, waste, growing, energy, travel, culture, conversations and policy.
The funding supported four projects in Edinburgh including:
To support local event organisers, online Festival Forum events have also taken place, bringing together projects all working to a common goal to share their experiences and learnings.
Paul Wallace, Campaigns and Social Innovation Manager, said, “Now, more than 100 days since world leaders met to discuss climate change in Glasgow at COP26, there is even more urgency for us to support climate action so that everyone, from all areas of life, can play their part combatting the climate emergency.
“We’re delighted to have been able to fund 30 projects so far, including the four in Edinburgh, and strongly encourage others to find out more about the funding available and make their applications before the upcoming deadline at the start of next month.”
Alongside the wide range of local climate festival events, the charity’s Climate Festival team has held a national event series which is free and open to all.
These events have created space for conversations around climate change and positive actions we can take to tackle it. The inaugural event was in December and kicked off discussions with a crucial conversation on the outcomes and opportunities following COP26 and what is next for Scotland.
Since then, further events have included a panel of experts talking about women’s roles in sustainable food systems, an online film screening and discussion session with the makers of the documentary ‘Scotland: Our Climate Journey’ and a panel discussion on the Wellbeing Economy with Minister and MSP Lorna Slater.
The recordings of Scotland’s Climate Festival national events can be found on YouTube and people can sign up to attend future online and in person events in March, including ‘Storytelling for Change’ on March 8 and a film screening of ‘The Ants and the Grasshopper’ at Glasgow Science Centre on March 14, via Eventbrite.
Scotland’s Climate Festival is supported by the Scottish Government.
Further information can be found at:
Pharmacist Yaseen Yousaf hopes to open a new pharmacy in the expanding Granton Waterfront area.
Yaseen said: “I am proposing to run a Pharmacy First Plus Service (Pharmacist Independent Prescriber-led common clinical conditions service).
“This will really help patients, as pharmacies are now doing more, and we are diagnosing and prescribing medication.
“Pharmacies are overwhelmed at the moment and this new addition should really help the community.”
A public consultation is underway and will end on 7th June 2022. The link to the consultation can be found below:
https://nhslothiansurveys.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/pharmacy-public-consultation-granton
granton:hub and Edinburgh College of Art invite the local community to discuss what could happen with local spaces, places and landscapes.
Pop along on Friday (25th February) between 3 – 7pm to the heritage exhibition.
Find out about Granton, its past and its future as told by the local community.
Edinburgh College of Art students will present their findings, whilst over a cuppa you can read and hear about Granton’s rich industrial #heritage.
Want to find out more about what goes on in Edinburgh’s local food scene & find more sustainable options?
Join @EdinComFood at the @EdibleEdin Inspiring Food event on Friday 25th February at @edinburghcoll Granton campus!
Sign up here: https://bit.ly/3GNCQFr
