While we admire and support the Christmas campaigns that we see pop up in December, we also know that help is urgently needed all year round, each and every year. As some people pack away after the festive break, we are still here.
Our support is not limited to a food package, but it leaps beyond - we form connections, we listen and respond to everyone who steps through our doors. We open up a warm, safe, environment which aims to feel like a home away from home.
For us to continue to thrive and grow, and keep supporting as many people as possible, we are asking you to become a Friend of Cooking Champions. Even a donation of just £5-10 per month can make a HUGE impact on the lives of those who come through our doors.
Pop to our People's Fundraising page to donate, and we promise to keep you updated with how your support is making a difference. Thank you, we appreciate you! Team Cooking Champions
Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation are calling for the ultra-low emissions zone (ULEZ) to be extended to cover the whole of London in order to improve the health of sufferers from asthma and other lung diseases. They say Sadiq Khan's planned extension of the zone to the area within the North and South Circular Roads would leave 360,000 asthma sufferers exposed to harmful air. The Green candidate for mayor agrees with the charities, but the Conservative candidate has said he would cancel even the currently planned extension
Local environmentalist Georgia Elliott-Smith is in court this Wednesday and Thursday - the High Court, no less - arguing that the government's new carbon trading scheme is in contravention of the Climate Change Act. It will be possible to watch the proceedings online. Georgia' crowdfunding page, raising money for legal costs, is still open for pledges.
The February meeting of Enfield Climate Action Forum (EnCAF) focussed on the links between injustice in the global trade system and continuing failure to reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases. There were presentations from four people involved in the launch of a bid to make Enfield an official Fairtrade Community.
Environmental campaigners have issued a challenge to the seven borough councils that are funding the North London Heat and Power Project - the construction of a new and larger incinerator to replace the existing facility in Edmonton: 'The question before north London's councils is: Will the decision to reverse course be taken now, responsibly, before costs skyrocket, opportunities for a green recovery are lost, and the equivalent of 250,000 diesel cars are added to our roads? Or will the decision be pushed off to the near future? That's the real call being made.'
The annual Fairtrade Fortnight runs from 22nd February to 7th March. This year there are three special events in Enfield (on Zoom, of course) which investigate how unfair trade terms are hampering international efforts to tackle global climate change.
How do Enfield Council's ideas for protecting and enhancing the borough's 'green and blue assets' measure up against the challenges of providing a healthy and pleasant environment, good jobs and, above all, halting climate change and mitigating its effects? In its consultation response, Enfield Climate Action Forum praises the draft strategy's ambition, its 'laudable goals and intentions' and 'real strengths', but concludes that it neglects some important opportunities and that overall it lacks a 'long-term all-embracing strategy to fulfil the admirable ambitions'.
A campaigning group set up to defend the borough's green belt and open spaces has published its submission to the council's consultation on a new 'blue and green strategy' for Enfield. While calling it 'ambitious with some worthy goals', Enfield RoadWatch is concerned about omissions from the draft - in particular with regard to agriculture and horticulture - and remains anxious about the possibility of development on Green Belt land. It is encouraging individual residents to register these concerns when responding to the consultation, which runs until 11th January.
Enfield North MP Feryal Clark was recently interviewed by three members of Enfield Climate Action Forum's youth section. All questions put by Navaeh West Lawson. Kim Ly and Dhaneesha Cattaree related to the plan to replace the existing incinerator on the North Circular Road in Edmonton with a much larger facility
Biodiversity is declining globally but one option for helping to reverse this issue is to improve natural spaces in cities for wildlife. This research project is exploring ways in which people perceive nature-based solutions to urban planning problems so that we can better enhance cities for people and nature.