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The end of the beginning went off with a bang at the GLA, and the thousands of people listening to our radio show was absolutely awe-inspiring. The greatest thing was seeing these teenagers talking about combined heat and power, and insulation as if it was the best thing since sliced bread. Climate change doesn't have to be this depressing thing - it shouldn't make you so apprehensive that you feel you can do nothing, because that's just not true.
thanks xxx

We launched our c-change film festival in bradford's very own NMPFT (as us bradfordians like to call it ) other wise known as Bradfords National Media Museum last weekend! It was JAM PACKED with stuff to do all film and climate change related (suprisingly)! We had a very successful diary room where people could come and talk about all things climate change related.

Also, we have our c-cast programme coming up in london that all sounds very exciting. We have some hilarious, fantastic and inspiring ideas that are all bubbling away at the moment but stay tuned for they are coming to a radio frequency near you!
Blogging out!
Sarah xx

After the flm fest, there'll of course be the Club Nites and then C-Cast, to go out with a bang! I don't know that much about the club nites (though I'm really excited about there being one in Newcastle for us Geordies). I'm helping organise the C-Cast - this will be 24 hours of radio in January, along with a C-Change conference for 6th formers/colleges/schools.This should involve lots of debate, maybe some politicians, and of course Fun! We're not sure about the exact plans for that, but we're going to be getting different community radio stations involved with the production of it, and anyone else who wants to help is more than welcome.

Any ideas for radio programmes or for what we could do at the conference, give us a shout!

Hello blog-lovers, me again with some more news from the project.

First, I must apologise, there's been a lot going on and we've been slack at telling you about it here. In particular, a big hello to everyone who came to see us at the Scout Jamboree and The Thames festival (do I sound like a cheesy DJ there? Sorry, I'll try to control that). Everyone from the project in the Face Your Elephant tent at these events learned a lot from you, not least the power of free stuff (that's right, I'm talking to you Scouts, you walk around casually but as soon as someone shows you a "free hugs" sign you're claiming them left, right and centre). Another exciting edition to our Face Your Elephant freebies was The Badge, taking over where the lovely tattoos left off, although I imagine it was being worn in slightly less imaginative places (if I'm wrong, send us your photos and we'll see if we can get some - clean ones - on the website). But with winter drawing in, we've packed up our marquees for the last time, and put our elephants, Winston and Fiona, out to graze in pastures new.

So, with that out of the way what else has been happening? Well, last weekend we had our first Steering Committee meeting since any of our events started, and as you can imagine there was a lot to discuss. We also said goodbye to Julie, our wonderful Project Co-ordinator, and welcomed Margaret as our new Project Manager and Kirsti in her re-jigged role as Programme Manager; good luck to all of them in their respective new roles. While it was really sad to say goodbye to Julie, her leaving served as just the thing to shake up the work we're doing and give us a new, no-holds barred approach to our final events. It's really scary to think that in a few months all this will be over, there's a lot of work to be done before then, but I'm positive there's even more fun to be had.

So we've been talking about what we'd like to do and see for these, but what do you want? The events we have left are Club Nights and C-Cast, discussion these is open on the forum, so if you have any ideas post them there and we'll see if we can incorporate them.

Finally, it would be rude of me not to mention the Film Festival. This Friday and Saturday is the Co-op Young Film Maker's Festival, and guess who's got a screen there: C-Change! Not only will we be showing films made by young people for young people, but we'll have a Diary Room for people to come and give us their views (feel free to have a Nikki-style rant, that'll make great viewing), and many of our little treasures from Face your Elephant. It promises to be a great couple of days.

There's a lot more to say, but that's enough from me for now, someone else should be filling you in on more stuff in the next few days. If you've attended any of our events over the summer why not send us in any pictures or what you thought and we'll see if we can get it up somewhere on the website for you.

We're sitting in the Premises cafe (in london) as, in the attached studios Sleeper Cell are locked in a studio perfecting their prize track.
Having won our battle of the bands competition, they're now sounding fantastic in the high profile eco-studio, frequented by the Klaxons and other amazing acts.
In fact earlier today sixteen year old Matt from Sleeper Cell was thrilled to bump into band Bloc Party!
They seem humbled, working with a producer who has worked with famous bands such as the Pet Shop Boys.
They are in Studio A which is powered by the solar panels on the roof of the building, in fact it only took five minutes to find our way through the maze that is premises studios, to the roof home to solar panels capable of producing 4200 watts.
The band sound really great and we can't wait to hear the finished product. We wish them loads of luck and have had a fantastic day.

George Brooke and Emma Kosmin

on the 7th of july battle for the band and pary for the planet was held. it was absolutly amaing. loads of people came along, over 3000!! their was a great atmousphere that surrounded the day with every one having fun and learning about climate change. during the day party for the planet took place and in the evening lots of good music was played.

Well after Clapham, cchange went straight (well we went home to wash and get some clean clothes first) to the Hub Urban Youth Festival (I think I got that right) up in Liverpool. We arrived to the wonderful sight of rain, apparently quite light for Liverpool, but enough to make us wish we were safely indoors instead of setting up a marquee and trying to push our van out of where it had stuck in the mud. In spite of the weather we eventually had our tents standing and, with the help of the team setting up the stage our vehicle unstuck, we then got a good nights sleep (in a house).

The next morning dawned bright and clear (well brighter) and having set the insides of the tent up in record time (ejecting people who tried to get in through the back entrance before we were ready), we opened Face your Elephant to the festival goers, a completely new group for us. As people first arrived we got the expected smart-arse asking us where the elephants were (outside on either side of the doors before you ask as well) but on the whole people were interested in learning more about the effects that we have on the planet. Our demo solar powered fans worked wonderfully in the bright sunlight (apparently a rare event there) to the extent that some one was caught trying to carry on away in a box of grapes.
The popularity of our bike powered smoothies was proved when someone tried to ride away with the bike!
Of course everything didn't go absolutely fine in the morning our van got stuck in the mud (thanks again to the stage crew/stewards for pushing us out) and in the evening a dustbin van got stuck in front of the stage and, in the end and in spite of all Kat's efforts they needed a tow to get out.

The second day didn't quite match our expectations after the first with the normal weather of the north reasserting itself (rain) we still got people flocking to our tents to the extent that we even used up our last questionnaire (a rare event - some researches will think that Christmas has come early). Luckily for me I had to leave early to catch my train but I'm sure that it wasn't great fun packing up afterwards.

Saturday 7th July and Clapham Common is buzzing.

After the success of the Face Your Elephant tent at Glastonbury, C-Change go and make their own mini festival in the heart of London. The weather was for once fantastic, giving a great atmosphere to the day. Wether it was lounging in deckchairs, or dancing to your favourite band, there was plenty to do for everyone.

The wealth of things to see, do, play, created a dynamic and varied event. People were thinking, talking and playing. There were mock court cases, craft, graffitti, power pods, theatre, and of course music. Everything was full of action, ideas, and enthusiasm. Its what C-Change is about, and it was done in style.

It is estimated that about 3000 people came throughout the course of the day. Thats 3000 people who will each take something away from the day and tell their friends and family, start making changes in their lives. Job well done. Im now looking forward to the rest of the summer...

So after all of the funness of squelching through Glastonbury mud (although some of us missed out on that – nope, I’m not jealous at all… well maybe a little… ok, I was crying myself to sleep at night :) ); then someone has to deal with the aftermath.

I’ve been helping to power spray (yeh, ok, that makes up for it a bit) everything to be spick and span for Party for the Planet this Saturday. Exciting!

We’ve also been making banners for the Battle of the Bands stage that the swallows have been liking to poo on. Very inconsiderate of them.

But, it’s all worth it so that everything looks wicked for Saturday. The only worry now is… RAIN! Lets cross our fingers.

See everyone there! If anyone wants to say hello I’m gonna be in ‘Make’, but there’s so many other lovely people around, and so much to do, there might be no time.

Have a brilliant day!

So we've just about recovered from our week at Glastonbury, and I thought it time to share some musings with you.

What I have learned...

*That cheap 'waterproofs' don't always do what they say on the bag
*That mobile phones disappear into mud much faster than you'd think
*That once they've sunk, there's no hope of getting them back
*That marquees are pretty damn heavy
*That blow up sofas can be moe comfortable than the ones you have at home
*That people are intricate beings, with amazingly different views on the same subjects
*How competitive you get playing Bottom Trumps (before you ask, it's a card game)
*How to spell photovoltaic (as in the cells, as in solar cells), and how to increase my success in describing how they work
*How a free smoothie with no stirngs attached can breakdown all defences
*How people are genuinely interested in finding out things they don't know about Climate Change. I'll be honest, I thought there'd be quite a few people we were boring the socks off who just popped in for freebies, but I was wrong. Often it was the people with the lowest levels of previous knowledge and interest who were asking most questions and sparking genuine debate. And it was great.
*That when a marching band hand you a kazoo, it's impossible not to dance behind them playing Seven Nation Army.

Bring on Party for the Planet and Battle of the Bands, that's what I say!