Sustainable Living
Time: Afternoon.
Frequency: Monthly.
Vacancies: Yes
Coordinaror: Elizabeth Birks
Phone:0114 2552146
Venue: Accessible public venue
We are a group interested in all aspects of living sustainably. We cover organic gardening and land use, energy conservation, finance, supply chains, transport, housing and other issues at a local, national, and a global level. The natural resources on which we all depend are running out. We, in this Group, are determined not to just bury our heads in the sand but to learn how best to adapt and change. This learning we would also like to share with the wider SU3A membership. Current interests within the Group include food growing (home, allotments, community growing) renewable energy, particularly locally sourced, and applied, climate change and networking with other relevant Sheffield Groups to learn from their experience.
Our group generally meets on the first Monday of the month (unless it's a Bank Holiday when it shifts to the previous or the following Monday). Quite often, meetings are at the Red Lion pub on Charles Street in the centre of town, where some of us meet for lunch at 1pm before a topic discussion at 2pm.
We also go out on local visits. Last year we went to Hillsborough Park walled garden and Parkwood Springs Forest Garden to look at their biodiversity. We had a session on architecture, with a focus on viewing houses with external insulation and solar panels. These visits may be any day of the week to work in with the venue or the event we are visiting.
At our November 2025 meeting, we considered the book by Jason Hickel called ‘Less is More’ and we agreed that we need less stuff, we need Degrowth!
A few of us sign up to the monthly newsletters called 'Second Nature' produced by John Baxter, the u3a Subject Adviser for Climate Change and Environment (see more about his activity here: https://climatechangesubjectnetwork.u3asite.uk/subject-advisor/).
We welcome anyone who would like to come along! Feel free to check with us first in case we've made last minute alterations.