Welcome to October’s Update from Climate Action Stokesley & Villages
Thank you for playing your part in taking urgent action globally and locally on climate breakdown.
This month we are refocusing on our values and purpose, summed up by our motto ‘Think global, act local’, so the update will now start with global / national issues including ways in which you can influence policy, followed by local news and activities you can participate in that develop our relationship with the environment and fight climate change.
Think global
Latest report shows the planet is far off track to meet its climate goals
A new multi-agency report coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) clearly shows that the planet is far off track from meeting its climate goals. This undermines global efforts to tackle hunger, poverty and ill-health, improve access to clean water and energy and many other aspects of sustainable development.
Read the full report here : https://public.wmo.int/en/resources/united-in-science-2023
North Yorkshire Climate Coalition response to the Prime Minister’s net zero row-back
In the face of overwhelming evidence that even with existing climate action plans averting climate breakdown may be unavoidable, on Wednesday, 20th September Rishi Sunak, our local MP as well as our PM made a series of net zero policy announcements, claiming these are to reduce the costs to ‘ordinary working people’ of the planned transition to a low carbon economy. However, his plans raise serious concerns about how we can tackle the imminent climate breakdown.
The North Yorkshire Climate Coalition, comprising of county wide environmental and climate action groups including our own, have released a statement highlighting these concerns and the dangers of back tracking on climate action commitments.
More information here including the complete response sent to Mr Sunak.
https://www.nyclimatecoalition.org/response-net-zero-rowback
Friends of the Earth Petition
In response to the PM’s plan to weaken the existing climate action plans, Friends of the Earth have created a petition to call on the government to create a better plan to cut emissions fast enough to protect people and the planet from climate breakdown. Set up a few days ago, it has already gained nearly 65,000 signatures, you can add your signature via the link below.
https://action.friendsoftheearth.uk/petition/tell-government-fix-its-weak-climate-plans
Raise your voice – other petitions calling for greater climate action
Save the Children have also started a petition calling on UK Government to protect children through the climate crisis.
https://action.savethechildren.org.uk/page/130893/data/1
WaterAid is asking our government to invest one third of our international climate finance budget in locally-led adaptation projects that will bring a year-round supply of clean water to those most in need – and to persuade other governments to make similar commitments.
https://www.wateraid.org/uk/our-climate-fight
Use your vote to cut UK carbon emissions
Your vote at the next general election could have real impact on long-term reduction in UK climate emissions.
VoteClimate is a new campaign which aims to rank the political parties’ manifestos according to which, if fully implemented over 5 years, will lead to the greatest impact on reducing carbon emissions, based on expert analysis.
You can sign a petition to support this campaign here:
More information here:
H2Teesside
The Development Consent Order for H2Teesside requires a statutory public consultation. So, BP are currently consulting about building a 1.2GW blue hydrogen from natural gas plant on the site of the old Redcar blast furnace. The plant will result in production of 1.2GW of blue hydrogen and over 3.6milion tonnes of CO2 per year (from well to hydrogen). Nearly 3million tonnes of CO2 will be captured and stored per year, with 700 thousand tonnes being uncaptured/released into the atmosphere.
While hydrogen will be important for decarbonising some activities, its importance is likely limited to heavy industry, such as steel making and cement manufacture, plus possibly the use of green hydrogen for energy storage and heavy transport. The need to manufacture hydrogen makes it energetically inefficient compared to renewable energy at best 50%, as energy is consumed in its production and wasted in its conversion back to energy. Hydrogen was previously slated as the solution for home heating, cars and trains, but now heat pumps with efficiencies of 300% make hydrogen at 50% an unrealistically expensive solution. Battery electric cars with minimum ranges of 200 miles negate the need for hydrogen. The German national rail company despite having invested heavily in regional hydrogen trains is now converting these lines to electricity as the costs of both hydrogen and the engineering required were uneconomic when compared to the costs of electrification.
There is no question that hydrogen will be important in our shift away from fossil fuels, and that green hydrogen made from electrolysing water with renewable energy has almost zero CO2 emissions, but building blue hydrogen now will mean H2Teesside will be releasing at least 700thousand tonnes of CO2 in 2053, and making the UK’s goal of Net Zero by 2050 more challenging.
H2Teesside is seen as helping the transition to green hydrogen, surely it would be better to prioritise insulation, home heating efficiency, renewable energy, energy storage and green hydrogen now. H2Teesside will receive considerable public finance, which could otherwise be spent on more rapid routes to decarbonisation of the UK.
You can find more information here, H2Teesside, or go to one of the public consultation events:
Thursday 5th October 15:00 – 19:00 Inspire2Learn, South Bank, TS6 9AE
Friday 6th October 15:00 – 19:00 St Aidan’s Church Hall, Billingham, TS23 2DF
Thursday 12th October 15:00 – 19:00 TunedIn, Redcar, TS10 5BJ
Up in smoke – too many incinerators will mean less recycling and waste reduction
A new report published on 26th September 2023 by the UK Without Incineration Network (UKWIN) shows that if waste reduction targets are met English incineration capacity would exceed available feedstock by 2.6 million tonnes in 2027, with this overcapacity growing to 7.4 million tonnes by 2042, even if no additional incinerators are built.
The study shows how expansion in England would increase incineration overcapacity at local, regional and national levels, harming current and future efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle.
Most of what is incinerated is material that could and should have been recycled (including paper, card, plastic, and food).
Limiting incinerator feedstock to genuinely residual waste would free up more than half the current capacity, undermining the rationale for building new incinerators.
There are 51 operational incinerators in England and 12 sites under construction with a combined total of 19 million tonnes of incineration capacity.
According to report author Josh Dowen: “The more incinerators that are built, the greater the pressure to feed them, and the greater the threat to the top tiers of the waste hierarchy. As our report shows, incineration overcapacity is not a distant threat but a current concern that should act as a wakeup call for those who have yet to realise that ever increasing incineration capacity is incompatible with the environmental and economic imperative to move towards a more circular economy.”
Responding to the report’s findings UKWIN National Coordinator Shlomo Dowen said: “The expansion of incineration in England has got to stop. Wales introduced a halt to new incinerators in 2021 and Scotland did the same in 2022. For years we have seen incineration increase, with more and more incinerators burning material that should have been recycled or composted. If England is to increase recycling we must stop building new burners and start diverting recyclate away from incinerators”.
A legally binding commitment to halve the amount of England’s residual waste going to incineration or to landfill by 2042 came into force on 30 January 2023 under the Environmental Targets (Residual Waste) (England) Regulations 2023.
More information here: https://ukwin.org.uk/
This month’s Discussion Point: Should we have seven bins?
On 20th September Rishi Sunak announced that he would not be forcing households to have seven bins for roadside waste / recycling; whilst this had never been official policy it would have made a lot of sense.
If the rate of recycling (amount of raw material that comes from post-consumer products) is to increase then there are broadly two factors to consider: how much people individually recycle and the quality of that recycling. Seven bins may put people off, as the prime minister suggested, but this number of bins would mean that there was less contamination of recycling streams and thus more of the recycled materials could be made into raw material for new products. For example having two bins for paper and card, one for food contaminated paper and card and another for all other paper and card, would result in more paper and card being recycled, as currently small amounts of food contamination on a few items means that all of a consignment is composted or anaerobically digested rather than being repulped.
If we are now not going to have seven bins then the other alternative is to encourage manufacturers to only use materials which are/can be efficiently recycled. This is the role of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), basically getting the polluter to pay, so a manufacturer has to pay tax based on how much post-consumer recycling of the materials they use happens. The manufacturers then have an incentive either to use materials that currently have a high quality of current recycling or put in place systems to increase the level of recycling of materials they use.
Deposit Return Schemes (DRS) work in a different way by simply reducing the amount of material that needs collecting for recycling and ideally by allowing a container to be reused rather than remanufactured.
In 2018 the government published “Our waste, our resources: a strategy for England” which ambitions with plans to implement action to tackle food waste, consistency of waste collection, EPR and DRS. However, successful industry lobbying has meant that these schemes have suffered from successive push-backs of the date of implementation.
So without EPR, DRS or 7 bins, it is not obvious how we can improve our recycling rates and reduce the impact that our waste of materials has.
Some thoughts – what would you be willing to do to help improve recycling?
a) have seven roadside collection bins / containers
b) return packaging to collection points
c) pay more
Or/and would you like the producers to own the problem?
a) deposit return schemes
b) reusable packaging
c) higher taxes for producers who use unrecyclable materials
Act local
What’s Going On – upcoming activities to promote care for our environment and fight climate breakdown locally
CASaV Monthly Meeting Tuesday 17th October 7.30-9pm
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This month’s meeting will be on Tuesday October 17th at the Globe Community Library, Stokesley 7.30-9 pm, all are welcome to join in our discussions about climate breakdown and help plan our events and activities.
Green libraries week 2nd-6th October
Libraries Week is an annual showcase and celebration of the best that libraries have to offer. Each year a theme is chosen to focus on one many of the innovative activities that libraries are doing to support their communities.
This year, Libraries Week becomes Green Libraries Week. Between the 2nd and 8th October, the work going on in libraries across the UK focused on sustainability and climate change will be highlighted. More information here: https://librariesweek.org.uk/
The Globe Community Library, Stokesley is a regular venue for our Repair Cafe every other month (next one will be 14th October) and will also be hosting eco events during Green Libraries Week:
1. Pop Up Repair Cafe Thursday 5th October 10-12
A smaller version of our larger Repair Cafe, skilled volunteers will be on hand to repair (or give advice where they can’t) your broken household items – electrical, furniture, ceramics, clothing – to save you the cost of buying new, save resources of manufacturing new and preventing waste going to landfill or incineration which creates more carbon emissions. All for free but donations to cover costs welcome.
2. Free Upcycled Draught Excluder Workshop Friday 6th October 11am -1pm
As the temperature drops and the heating bills rise, all are welcome to a free draught excluder workshop where our sewing volunteers will help you make your own draught excluder for doors and windows from upcycling fabric. All materials provided but you can bring along a favourite old jumper or jeans to upcycle if you’d like!
3. Crisp packets into waterproof and warm sleeping bags!
Metallised crisp packets, as with all composite packaging are very difficult to recycle and usually go to landfill or incineration. However, they can be upcycled into valuable waterproof and warm emergency sleeping bags for homeless and vulnerable people. Nite Light CIC in Middlesbrough, where our Food Group take surplus food to weekly (see below), is appealing for your metallised (i.e. foil on the inside) crisp packets.
By the end of Green Libraries Week there should be a collection point in the Globe, Stokesley or you can take directly to Nite Light at units 3 & 4 North Street, Southbank, Middlesbrough (just opposite Asda Southbank).
October’s Repair Cafe – Saturday 14th October 10-12
The Globe, Stokesley
Waste collection, treatment, disposal and material recovery in the United Kingdom produced 3.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2021. Our Repair Cafes aim to help cut waste by repairing and restoring to use items that would have otherwise gone to landfill or incineration, whilst also saving the energy and resources that would have gone into manufacturing new items alongside sharing repair skills and knowhow and encouraging people to think more sustainably about consumable items.
This month’s Repair Cafe will be on Saturday, 14th October, 10-12 at the Globe Community Library.
Everyone is very welcome to bring along household items in need of repair – computers, mobile phones, electrical items, clothing & textiles, ceramics & glass, wooden items, all blades in need of sharpening including gardening tools – and our friendly pink T shirted repairers will aim to restore your items to working order or give advice if they can’t. All for free including refreshments, donations to cover costs welcomed.
International Repair Day Saturday 21st October
A week after our Repair Cafe is International Repair Day so look out for other events happening around the UK and the launch of the UK Repair and Reuse Declaration, a request to our MPs to sign up to support repair properly, through requiring manufactured items to be designed to be repaired, making sure spare parts are available for at least a decade after manufacture, providing financial incentives for people to repair rather than replace.
https://openrepair.org/international-repair-da
Apple pressing times October and November
Food accounts for 10-30% of a household’s carbon footprint which includes transportation so eating what we produce locally is important for reducing carbon emissions. Food waste from households and businesses accounts for about 9.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gases so reducing food going to waste is also essential.
CASaV owns an electrical scratter for chopping apples easily and a press for juicing. This year, due to the weather, people are commenting they don’t have so many apples suitable for juicing or storing. However, the CASaV team did manage to press approximately 215 kg of apples and pears giving over 80 litres of juice at Yatton House on Friday 22nd September. The morning was spent helping members of Yatton House juice their apples and then there was a session in the afternoon open to the public.
CASaV will be running a second session on:
Sunday 5th November, Faceby between 10am and 3pm
To book a slot, email CASaV or phone 0777 3048250. There is a suggested contribution of £5 per slot to cover costs and you will need to bring your own bottles.
If you have apples ready before then, Maggie Rich, of Off the Rails bakery at Glaisdale Station, is running a number of sessions, using CASaV’s equipment. Maggie says:
“Equipment will be available to use at the station as follows:
Saturday 7th October, 12 noon – 5pm
Sunday 8th October, 12 noon – 5pm
Monday 9th October, 10 am – 5 pm
Tuesday 10th October, by arrangement only if necessary.
Please note:
* Please let me know you’re planning to come with date & rough time of arrival, an idea of quantity – then I’ll be able to give you a steer as to whether you might need to hang around a bit to access the equipment. Ideally contact via 07419 197742.
* You need to bring your own bottles / containers to take away your juice.
* Please bring your apples ready for pressing, ie with any bad bits already cut out.
* I’m not having the pasteuriser this year; if you’re wanting to keep the juice unfermented you will need to pasteurise at home.
* Suggested donation of £5-£10 please to help cover costs. Any surplus will be divided between Glaisdale Head Chapel and Holyrood House, Thirsk. Thank you.”
NB Pressed apple juice will keep for 3-4 days in the fridge but to keep for longer you can freeze or pasteurise the juice, information here https://www.orchardlink.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Pasteurising_your_apple_juice.pdf
For peat’s sake – peatland visit being arranged
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What’s climate change got to do with peat bogs? Peat bogs play a crucial role in the carbon cycle. Peat bogs in good condition have the potential to offer a significant nature-based solution to tackling climate change as they are capable of absorbing and storing large amounts of carbon dioxide known as “carbon sinks”.
Since 2009, the Yorkshire Peat Partnership (YPP) has been working to help restore Yorkshire’s internationally important peatlands. Sadly more than 80% of Yorkshire’s peatlands are in poor condition. Without projects to help stop these habitats degrading we will lose a very precious resource.
The CASaV Nature group have been in contact with the YPP regarding a visit to the restored peatlands on the moors around Rosedale in December and they will confirm the date nearer the time but it would be great to have an idea who would be interested in visiting and learning more about the restored peat. Please contact Bridget Holmstrom.
Last month’s events & updates from the sub groups
Restore Nature Now
Members of CASaV joined members of Yorkshire’s wildlife charities, environmental activists and nature lovers outside DEFRA offices in York on 28th September as part of nation wide protests organised by Restore Nature Now, a new coalition of 30 of the UK’s nature advocacy organisations in response to the publication of the State of Nature Report which shows that the UK’s wildlife is continuing to decline. Already classified as one of the world’s most nature-depleted countries, nearly one in six of the more than ten thousand species assessed (16%) are at risk of being lost from Great Britain. More information here: https://nbn.org.uk/news/state-of-nature-2023/
Great Ayton Floodplain Meadow
Representatives from CASaV, Brighten Up great Ayton and Great Ayton Wildlife Association helped rake some of the floodplain meadow on Sunday 17th September. A report on the 2-year project will be presented to the Great Ayton Parish Council in early November, including next steps for managing the meadow to increase the biodiversity of the area.
Yatton House Community Garden Opening
The garden, a project that has been developed through the hard work and support of a number of partners including Brighten Up Great Ayton, Great Ayton Parish Council, CASaV and local Rotary Groups, had its official opening on 22nd September. The Community Garden has been created in an old allotment for the enjoyment of residents and visitors to Great Ayton. If you are interested in bringing a group to the garden or volunteering contact admin@yattonhouse.org.uk, call in at Yatton House during working hours or go to Yatton House website .
Environmental / Nature Group – meets regularly by zoom, contact for details
Wildflower Walk
Anne Prest, local botanist and environmentalist, led a fascinating wildflower walk from Ingelby Bankfoot on 27th September. It was interesting to see the range of plantlife in early autumn and hear about their practical and medicinal uses, for example hawthorn berries have been used to make jams and jellies due to being particularly high pectin and they have historically been used to protect against heart disease. Further wildflower walks are planned, check further updates for details.
Waste Group (page) – monthly zoom meetings, next meeting Tuesday 10th October 7.00pm, please contact if you would like to join
September’s Repair Cafe
Last month’s Repair Cafe took place at Swainby Village Hall on Saturday 16th September. 30 items were brought, everything from a slow running computer to wobbly chairs which needed skilful alignment of all the parts before gluing and clamping. As normal our electrical repairs went from the miraculous to the frustrating, the item that appeared dead but after logical fault finding the single disconnected wire could be reconnected so it sparked into life again, to the items where the failed component is found but the replacement part is unavailable, inaccessible or more expensive than a new item. Over 20 items went away mended and some of the rest will be back next time once the owner has purchased a required spare part.
Repair Cafe at the Festival of Thrift
On September 23rd some of our Repair Cafe volunteers joined the Newcastle based Star and Shadow Fix It Cafe at the annual Festival of Thrift in Billingham to repair a wide range of items (including a trumpet, a 50 year old clockwork toy, a laser disc player and several toasters!) preventing waste going to landfill or incineration and saving several happy ‘customers’ the cost of replacing the items by buying new.
Adam Wilson has joined our electrical team, Adam is an electronic engineer, lives in Billingham and also has a blog “Adam’s Vintage Computer Restoration”. Adam has written up a blog item about the repairs he carried out at the Festival of Thrift Repair Cafe (23-09-23), this gives a great view of what is needed to repair items and how repairs are often possible.
Guisborough Eco Group Repair Cafe
On Saturday 30th September some of our Repair Cafe volunteers also popped in to help out at the new Guisborough Repair Cafe, organised by the Guisborough Eco Group leads Jemma Joy and Fred Page. It was great to see a brilliant new Repair Cafe getting off the ground, starting with sewing repairs, which was very popular and enjoyed by all who attended. The team hope to run further Repair Cafes with a wider range of repairs so keep an eye out for updates. More information here
https://guisboroughecogroup.co.uk/
Allerton Waste Recovery Park Visits
Last year the Waste Group organised several popular visits to the Allerton Waste Recovery Park to see at first hand how our black bin waste is dealt with, including incineration. Due to demand, further visits are now being arranged, if you are interested please email or contact Bridget Holmstrom.
Food Group (site) – monthly zoom meetings, next meeting Monday 23 rd Oct. 2023 at 18.00, please contact if you would like to join
Co-op Foodshare and Middlesbrough Nitelight CIC
One of the organisations that benefits from the surplus food collected from our local Co-op stores each night by the Food Group volunteers is Middlesbrough Nitelight ( https://nitelightcic.co.uk/)
The organisation had an opening celebration for it’s centre (opposite Asda in South Bank) on 25th September with face painting, stalls, musician, magician and free food. The Centre provides facilities for homeless people including showers, clothes washing and drying, clothes, kitchen and hot food. Donations of food, garden produce, sleeping bags and clothes are welcome.
Please save and donate your empty foil crisp packets which can be turned into sleeping
bags, these can be taken to the centre directly or to the Globe, Stokesley (see article above).
Seed saving and seed share
This harvest time is a good time to collect and save seed for sowing next year, information on how to do this here: https://www.rhs.org.uk/propagation/seed-collecting-storing
The Food Group runs regular free seed share events to encourage all to grow their own fruit, vegetables and flowers and live more sustainably.
Stokesley U3A: Food, glorious food, veggie style!
This veggie food group meets on the 3rd Wednesday of each month from 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm in Stokesley Town Hall, next meeting Wednesday 18th October. The group is for collaborative folks who are interested in sharing ideas,knowledge,recipes and enthusiasm for veggie style food.
Book of the month
This month’s book recommendation comes from Tessa Whitwell who has just completed fully restoring a lodge in France, completely sustainably.
In the early 1600s, a newly-unified Japan had just emerged from centuries of civil war and was staring down a multitude of problems: severe environmental degradation, exhausted farmland, depleted forests, population growth, famine and reduced agricultural production.
Two hundred years later, Japan had successfully reversed deforestation, increased agricultural yields and grown its population while managing to keep them fed, housed, clothed, educated and healthier than before.
This book explores how did they accomplished this, with ideas how we can use today.
Podcast of the month
A new section with reader’s recommendations for climate action / environmental podcasts.
This month Jenny Earle recommends ‘Carbon in the Ground 4: Serengeti of the North’ the latest in a series about polar research, which describes how the Arctic region became a valuable carbon ‘sink’, locking carbon out of the atmosphere.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1977380/13434126-carbon-in-the-ground-4-serengeti-of-the-north
Signing off
If you have any news or any event / activity you would like promoting on next month’s (November) update including Book of the Month and Podcast of the Month recommendations or This Month’s Discussion Point please email Kate Gibbon by the end of October.
Kate will also be helping promote activities via Facebook and Instagram so let her know if there is anything that you would like shared via our Facebook group or Instagram page if you are not a Facebook / Instagram user.
Hope to see you at the CASaV whole group meeting on Tuesday 17th October, 7.30 at the Globe, Stokesley
Kate Gibbon,
on behalf of the Climate Action Stokesley and Villages Steering Group Steering group:
Bridget Holmstrom, Caryn Loftus, Jack Turton, Ron Kirk and Simon Gibbon
Climate Action Stokesley and Villages 