We will only achieve the target of limiting global warming to safe levels if carbon dioxide emissions begin to fall within the next two decades and eventually decrease to zero. That is the stark message from research by an international team of scientists, led by the University of Exeter.

Cairn Energy is drilling for oil in Arctic waters. Yet Cairn's own spill response plan shows that an oil spill there would be catastrophic and near impossible to clean up. Please sign the petition below to ask Greenland's Prime Minister, Kuupik Kleist, to protect the Arctic and his country's economy by cancelling Cairn's drilling programme and refusing future licences.

We have continued to contact schools and to give them free copies of 'Hot Tips for a Cool Planet', a booklet kindly donated by Southgate Publishers of Sandford. So far we've given out 640 copies. We have also been giving out copies of 'Positive News', an encouraging quarterly newspaper with good news on sustainability issues from around the world. Look out for them in and around Crediton.

We could do much more with more members of the group - contact Chloe

Seminars on Climate Change and Peak Oil

We now have an excellent visual presentation about climate change, peak oil and sustainability which we want to show to groups and organisations in the Crediton area, followed by a discussion about action that can be taken to move towards a more sustainable future. 

If you know of or are involved in groups that might be interested in this please let me know. 

We also need more people to help deliver the presentation. We can provide a preparation session and you would have the option to work with an experienced presenter, so if this appeals, get in touch. You can do as much or as little as you have time for.

Gerald Conyngham

As a government source has said "This is a victory for the cause of enlightenment over the dark forces at the Treasury."

We had a productive meeting in April.

Southgate Publishers (based in Sandford) have donated 1600 copies of 'Hot Tips for a Cool Planet' for us to distribute to schools as a resource for families and schools to work together on environmental activities and projects. We are exploring various ways of engaging with schools such as through the Crediton Learning Community, through PTAs and individual schools. 

We have received several responses to our questionnaires sent to all the schools in the area and will follow up those that have requested further information or help. 

Sustainable Crediton is to receive 200 issues of Positive News on a regular basis for a year. We are keen to distribute them to every local school and are appealing for readers of this newsletter to volunteer to drop off issues to your local school. We have had offers of help for Haywards, Landscore, Queen Elizabeth's, Sandford and Copplestone but would really like people to come forward to cover schools such as Bow, Morchard Bishop, Newton St Cyres, Thorverton, Silverton, Cheriton Fitzpaine, Lapford, Yeoford and Bramford Speke. All it would require is to pick up Positive News 4 times a year and take it to your school. Please contact us if you are able to help

We are reviving the Education Group.

Penny Westlake from the Crediton Learning Community is sending out a questionnaire for us to all the local schools. We hope the responses will give us a contact in each school who is working on sustainability issues and enable us to know what individual schools are doing.

We hope, too, to find a Sustainable Crediton member to liaise with each of the schools. We can then use this network to exchange ideas and support each other in projects within the schools. 

If you have links with any of the following schools (perhaps you are a parent, teacher or work there in some capacity) and are interested in being a school contact please get in touch.

Schools that need covering include:

• Queen Elizabeth
• Landscore
• Haywards
• Sandford
• Bow
• Copplestone
• Cheriton Fitzpaine
• Yeoford
• Newton St Cyres