Cloud Cafe

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We have been running monthly Cloud Cafes since 2020. Most of our speakers offer their services for free and we are proud to offer such a great range of topics for discussion. If you are able to, please contribute towards the sessions.

Previous cloud cafes

You can watch all previous episodes of Cloud Cafe on our YouTube channel or browse below.

GREENing education – September ’24

Click here to watch the recording of our September 2024 Cloud Cafe on Green Education.

GREEN PARTY INFLUENCE IN BRITAIN AND EUROPE – July ’24

Click here to watch the recording of our July 2024 Cloud Cafe on Green Party influence in Britain and Europe.

FAITH AND ACTIVISM – may ’24

Click here to watch the recording of our May 2024 Cloud Cafe on Faith and Activism.

Stroud’s history of dissent – April ’24

Click here to watch the recording of our April 2024 Cloud Cafe on Stroud's History of dissent.

Doing Politics Differently – March ’24

Click here to watch the recording of our March 2024 Cloud Cafe on doing politics differently.

Media Reporting on environmental Issues – February ’24

Click here to watch the recording of our February 2024 Cloud Cafe on Media reporting on environmental issues.

WHAT WOULD A PROGRESSIVE MIGRATION POLICY LOOK LIKE? – November ’23

Click here to watch the recording of our November 2023 Cloud Cafe on what a progressive migration policy would look like.

ECONOMIC GROWTH OR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT? – September ’23

Click here to watch the recording of our September 2023 Cloud Cafe on Economic growth or sustainable development?

THE MACHINES ARE TAKING OVER, OR ARE THEY? – July ’23

Click here to watch the recording of our July 2023 Cloud Cafe - The machines are taking over, or are they?

A BRIGHT GREEN FUTURE – April ’23

Click here to watch the recording of our May 2023 Cloud Cafe on opportunities to solve the housing crisis.

FARMING POLICY – IS IT FIT FOR PURPOSE? – April ’23

Click here to watch our April '23 Cloud Cafe on farming policy

STROUD YOUNG GREENS CLOUD CAFE TAKE-OVER – March ’23

Click here to watch the recording of our March 2023 Stroud Young Greens Cloud Cafe take over.

LOSS & DAMAGE WITH SARAH QUEBLATIN – February ’23

Click here to watch the recording of our February 2023 Cloud Cafe on Loss and Damage with Sarah Queblatin

GREEN MONEY, NOT DIRTY MONEY – January ’23

Click here to watch the recording of our January 2023 Cloud Cafe on Green Money, Not Dirty Money

EQUALITY & DIVERSITY – November ’22

Click here to watch the November 2022 Cloud Cafe - Equality and Diversity

ENERGY – October ’22

Click here to watch the October 2022 Cloud Cafe on Energy.

A Party for the Future – September ’22

THE USE OF SATIRE AS SOCIAL COMMENTARY – may ’22

Enslavement, Colonialism & Empire – April ’22

What is the reality of poverty in Stroud? – march ’22

Art in Action and Action in Art – February ’21

Nationality & borders bill debunked – December ’21

COP26 special – The Day After – November ’21

COP26 special – Time for real action, our final chance for climate justice? – October ’21

Rod Nelson’s illustrations from cop26

India, the mother, the great Sacred Cow amongst nations, has produced a display stand of Bollywood magnificence, and considerable opulence. I scratch my head at what this means and why. The image I remember is a photograph of the ruthlessly political and extremely worldly wise Narendra Modi sitting in half-lotus on the Janpath in Delhi, with the magnificent Empire architecture of Lutyens as a background to hundreds and hundreds of Yoga practitioners joining with their Prime Minister to practice. If there is one thing I do know, it is that all people who practice Yoga are equal on the mat, so the image pleases me. And even though I know I am being a sucker for being pleased a soft smile comes to my mouth that there are certain things that cut through politics.
Every evening at 5, all comers from every nation on Earth, no questions asked, nobody excluded however unpromising, are welcome to come onto the Indian Stand to practice for an hour under some really delightful, stylish and expert Yoga tutors. Here we are, stretching ourselves in thirty languages. Thank you India!

The sinuous tarmac way to COP23 in November 2017 upon which the eternal thunderous ribbon of European prosperity snakes its way nose to tail into Germany, and I am part of it. But my purposes are different from almost everyone else in this procession.

I am sitting in a darkened room on a plastic chair, one of hundreds of minds and brains and energies organised neatly into serried rows in the Forestry conference day at the COP, a tiny speck of being, but the one I call me. As the speaker intones, I allow my eyelids to half close, and the sense of warm cosy sleepiness lulls me dangerously towards that indolent den of comfort, the oblivion of Morpheus. The speaker speaks of forests, forestry, forestry initiatives, of measures and protocols, standards and protections, parternships and planning and a whole lot else besides. Suddenly I snap out of it: there is some creativity to be done. I am instantly taken back to 1994 when I first went to a forestry conference. A sudden spark of realisation comes to me. THE LANGUAGE IS IDENTICAL. I have heard all this before. This single speaker has been speaking for twenty three years and nothing has changed!. Furiously I start to scribble down the words as they pour in an endless torrent from his mouth. I write them as they are.

Egged on by the magnificent and formidable Bianca Jagger, every shaman in the place is assembled in revolutionary defiance. WE NEED A SEAT AT THE NEGOTIATING TABLE! Yes, we do.

The faceless men……there they are, faceless, and there they are, men. Oh man! There must be money in it, no other explanation fits for the rapt attention, the full attendance, the complete order, such conformity. The room hangs on every word….or does it? I wonder what is going through the mind of the shaman sitting in front of me. I wonder what ancestral memories lie under that magnificent headpiece, what magical knowledge there must be on those shoulders.

COP26 special – Opportunities for a transport revolution – September ’21

The Right to Protest – July ’21

Footpaths and the Right to Roam – June ’21

the end of trump and the birth of hope? How do we recover from the four-year nightmare that was Trump? – march ’21

COPportunity knocks! – February ’21

Valley Protectors – January ’21

Creating resilient and sustainable local food supply chains – December ’20

The Rise of Conspiracy Theories – November ’20

The Politics of Climate: Where are we now? – September ’20

Build Back Better across Europe – July ’20

Build Back Better 2 – This time it’s local… – June ’20

International Response to Covid-19 – June ’20

Build Back Better – may ’20

Protecting Stroud District Community – may ’20

Civil Liberties in the age of COVID-19 – April ’20

Community Response to Covid-19 – April ’20

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