Welcome to March’s Update from Climate Action Stokesley & Villages
Thank you for your role in taking urgent action globally and locally on climate breakdown and biodiversity loss.
Diary dates (event details below)
- Saturday 9th March 11 – 1pm Dark Skies Family Activity Event, Discovery Centre, Great Ayton
- Monday 11th March 2.30pm – 4.30pm 2.30pm – 4.30pm Open Spring Garden at 19, The Avenue, Stokesley
- Tuesday 12th March 1.30 – 3.00pm Yatton House Community Garden working party
- Tuesday 12th March 7.30pm Gardening for Wildlife Talk, Faceby Village Hall
- Saturday 16th March 10-12 noon Repair Cafe & display on reducing single use plastics at Swainby Village Hall
- Wednesday 13th March 7.00pm Waste Group meeting by zoom
- Tuesday 19th March 7.30 – 9 pm Whole CASaV Group meeting at the Globe Community Library, Stokesley
- Wednesday 20th March 6.30-8.30pm Coat of Hopes display at East Rounton
- Thursday 21st March 3.30pm Nature Group meeting at the Globe Community Library, Stokesley.
- Thursday 28th March 7.00pm Food Group meeting by zoom
Newsletter
Our online newsletter / magazine focuses on our group’s values and purpose, summed up by our motto ‘Think global, act local’, beginning 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 and biodiversity loss.
“Think global”
National and global climate action news and campaigns
The Big Plastic Count 11-17th March
Nearly 100 billion pieces of plastic packaging are thrown away by UK households every year, and just 12% is recycled in the UK.
It’s time the government got serious about tackling the plastic crisis. You can help by taking part in The Big Plastic Count!
Count your plastic for one week – 11-17 March 2024.
For one week in March, thousands of schools, households, community groups and businesses will be coming together to count their plastic waste. And you can join them.
Almost a quarter of a million people took part in The Big Plastic Count in 2022. This revealed that almost two billion pieces of plastic packaging are being thrown away a week. This year you can help build even more evidence to convince UK ministers to lead the way at the global talks that could finally phase out plastic pollution for good.
More information in this link:
Drax: still burning rare forest wood and how you can act to prevent this
A power company, local to us, that has received £6bn in UK green subsidies has kept burning wood from some of the world’s most precious forests, the BBC has found.
Papers obtained by Panorama show Drax took timber from rare forests in Canada it had claimed were “no-go areas”.
It comes as the government decides whether to give the firm’s Yorkshire site billions more in environmental subsidies funded by energy bill payers.
Drax says its wood pellets are “sustainable and legally harvested”.
The Drax Power Station, near Selby in North Yorkshire, is a converted coal plant which burns wood pellets. In 2023, it produced about 5% of the UK’s electricity. The site has become a key part of the government’s drive to meet its climate targets.
Its owner, Drax, receives money from energy bill payers because the electricity produced from burning pellets is classified as renewable and treated as emission-free. However, Drax is only considered as zero carbon in the UK as international carbon accounting rules state that greenhouse gas emissions from burning wood are counted in the country where the trees are felled as opposed to where they are burned.
More information here: BBC report on Drax
The Stop Burning Trees organisation says that Drax is not a renewable energy company and is not emission free as it emits 12 million tonnes of carbon a year. They note that this investigation has revealed that, despite claiming otherwise, they used 40000 tonnes of wood from precious old growth forests in Canada last year and therefore consider that the UK taxpayer should not be subsidising Drax.
If you agree with this view you can act by following this link Stop Burning Trees and writing to your MP.
Join the call to ban single use packaging in restaurants
Plastic pollution is one of the biggest environmental issues we face. Yet at hundreds of thousands of cafes, bars and restaurants across the country, we’re still being served food and drink in single-use packaging – even when we’re eating in.
City to Sea, the non-profit organisation behind the Refill campaign (which CASaV actively supports – see in Waste section below), is calling for an urgent ban on ALL single-use packaging served to customers eating-in at restaurants, cafes and bars – will you consider joining them?
The use of single-use packaging in dine in facilities is wasteful and completely unnecessary – especially when it can easily be avoided by replacing using reusable cups, crockery and cutlery which get washed and reused instead of single-use packaging which is thrown away after just one use.
That’s why City to Sea is calling on Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Steve Barclay to take single-use off the menu for good.
If you are interested you can sign the petition calling on the government to urgently ban single-use packaging in dine in settings here Ban Single Use Packaging in Restaurants
“Act Local”
This month’s local activities and ideas from our focus groups (Nature, Food, Waste, Energy, Transport) to address biodiversity loss and fight climate breakdown
CASaV Monthly Meeting at the Globe Community Library, Stokesley
Tuesday 19th March 7.30-9pm
Our next whole group meeting will be on Tuesday 19th March, in The Globe Community Library, North Road Stokesley, from 7:30 – 9:00 pm. As well as hearing updates from the various sub-groups we will focus on the next steps in the United for Warm Homes and Local Area Demonstrator campaigns. All welcome!
This is a link to last month’s meeting’s minutes to give a flavour of what we discuss. https://climateactionstokesleyandvillages.org/2024/02/11/casav-meeting-20th-february-2024/
Saturday 9th March 11 – 1pm Dark Skies Family Activity Event, Discovery Centre, Great Ayton
To celebrate British Science Week https://www.britishscienceweek.org/ there will be a fascinating, interactive event Dark Skies: who needs them at 11am to 1pm on Saturday 9th March at the Discovery Centre in Great Ayton. At this family focused event you can find out why Dark Skies matter to all life on earth, the difference between blue light and warm light, and what you can do to protect our disappearing darkness.
Monday 11th March 2.30-4.30pm Open Spring Garden in Stokesley
Be inspired by a beautiful local garden full of spring flowers. This special open garden will take place on Monday 11th March at 2.30-4.30pm in Stokesley, at 19,The Avenue,Stokesley, please book your place with Bridget Holmstrom via email bridgetholmstrom@hotmail.com
Tuesday 12th March 7.30pm Gardening for Wildlife Talk, Faceby Village Hall
Our gardens matter. Domestic gardens cover more land in the UK than all nature reserves combined. So, while wildlife is suffering from loss of natural woodland, hedgerow, and meadow habitats, our gardens take on an ever more important role. Find out how to best manage your garden to encourage wildlife and biodiversity at the Gardening for Wildlife Talk at 7.30pm on Tuesday 12th March at Faceby Village Hall. There will be a small charge of £5. This includes refreshments and is to help support the Village Hall. Do join us for an interesting evening.
Saturday 16th March 10-12 noon Repair Cafe plus display & activities on alternatives to single use plastic, Swainby Village hall
Our monthly Repair Cafe will be at Swainby Village Hall on Saturday 16th March 10-12, together with a display and information on ways you can reduce single use plastics in your home and living generally including having a go at making your own fabric shopping bag to replace plastic shopping bags.
You can save yourself money, the earth’s resources and prevent climate damaging gases from waste going to incineration or landfill by bringing along your household items in need of repair – electrical appliances, bikes & toys, clothing & textiles, computers (laptops, tablets) & mobile phones, wooden furniture, clocks & watches, blades in need of sharpening – and have them mended (or receive advice if we can’t) by our friendly volunteer repairers. On average, we manage to fix 70% of items, give advice on possible repair steps for 20% and how best to recycle the 10% that are sadly beyond repair.
Whilst there, have a look at our display on the environmental problems of single use plastics and how you can find alternatives to help fight climate change and biodiversity loss including the opportunity to make your own fabric shopping bag. Bring along an old T shirt to upcycle or use materials provided.
This month’s free refreshments include Fair Trade beverages and home made sweet treats made with Fair Trade ingredients, kindly donated by Stokesley Co-op, facilitated by Eileen Driver.
You will also have the chance to pick up information on the Local Energy Advice Demonstrator project through which you may be eligible for a free whole home retrofitting survey (see article below).
New repair and reception volunteers always welcome – come along, have a cuppa and a chat!
Wednesday 20th March 6.30-8.30pm Coat of Hopes Display – Roots Farm Shop, East Rounton
Katherine Brown from Roots Farm Shop, attended our February whole group meeting to tell us about this fascinating event taking place on Wednesday 20th March 6.30-8.30pm at the Roots Farm Shop, East Rounton. The Coat of Hopes is a patchwork pilgrim coat, made, worn and walked by hundreds of people over hundreds of miles from Newhaven on the south coast of England to the gates of COP26, the UN climate summit, in Glasgow in 2021. The coat is made up of pieces of blanket into which have been sewn or otherwise marked, the griefs, remembrances, prayers and hopes of people along its route and beyond. Following it’s purpose to engage with politicians and decision makers at COP26 to provoke discussion and raise awareness of climate breakdown and it’s impact on climate justice and biodiversity loss, the coat has been taken on a pilgrimage around the UK further raising awareness and engaging with a wide range of communities. Katherine has arranged for the Coat of Hopes to visit our area on it’s journey and this is a special opportunity to see it close at hand and be inspired by the messages created in it’s hundreds of patches. More information here: Coat of Hopes
Yatton House Community Garden working party – Tuesday 12th March 1.30 – 3.00 pm
Global and national research shows that community gardens positively affect biodiversity, local ecosystems, and the well-being of people that work in them.
Locally in Great Ayton the Yatton House Community Garden was established in 2022 to:
• Provide a safe and accessible community garden and space for groups and individuals.
• Provide a space which is fully inclusive by ensuring accessibility and safety are central to the design.
• Bring different sections of the community together.
• Promote awareness of mental health and loneliness.
• Champion environmental impact and climate change through wildlife, biodiversity, and the growing of sustainable organic fresh fruit and vegetables.
• Deliver educational experiences.
To support this great initiative there are monthly ‘Working Party’ days planned, the first of the year having taken place on 9th January with the next opportunity to support the Yatton House Community Garden on Tuesday 12th March, 1.30 – 3.00pm. Pick up useful pruning skills and other gardening know how along with some exercise in the open air by coming along – all welcome! If you can’t make this session, there will be further sessions each month on the 2nd Tuesday of each month.
Ideas from the groups: Nature
This month’s Nature Group meeting is at 3.30pm, Thursday 21st March, at the Globe Library In Stokesley. Please join us there.
Contact Bridget Holmstrom for information
North Yorkshire Council Local Nature Recovery Strategy
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As required by law under the Environment Act 2021, every county in England will produce a Local Nature Recovery Strategy. These strategies will work together to restore, create and connect habitats across England.
The Local Nature Recovery Strategy will:
- agree priorities for nature’s recovery, such as increasing woodland cover or creating wetlands
- map the most valuable existing areas for nature
- map specific proposals for creating and improving habitat for nature and wider environmental goals
Decisions about where and how to recover nature will be reached through consultation with a wide range of people and groups in each county, from ecologists and community groups to health professionals and local businesses.
If you are interested in contributing towards the strategy or would like to sign up for updates follow this link
NYC local-nature-recovery-strategy
North York Moors Nature Recovery Plan – have your say
North York Moors National Park wants to hear from you regarding proposed plans to support nature recovery across the North York Moors.
Alongside partner organisations and stakeholders, they have put together a draft Nature Recovery Plan that will act as a tool to help better deliver on nature recovery objectives, as stated within the Management Plan. It will also provide long-term direction for nature recovery in the National Park and provide guidance for land managers and developers to ensure nature is in a better state than it was before development – otherwise known as Biodiversity Net Gain.
More information here
Ideas from the groups: Food
Thursday 28th March 7.00pm Food Group zoom meeting – contact Wendy for link to join
March Seasonal eating
Eating food in season (local as far as possible) can have substantial positive impact on climate breakdown by reducing high-energy input from artificial heating or lighting needed to produce crops out of the natural growing season. In March’s section we will look at what foods are in season right now together with a seasonal recipe.
Tasty fruit and veggies available now include cauliflower, kale, leeks, purple sprouting broccoli, rhubarb, salsify, spinach, spring onions, swede, wild nettles, wild garlic
Try some seasonal fruit (or is it a vegetable – you decide!) in a tasty dessert for flavour and freshness.
Rhubarb, ginger and custard galette
Link to recipe here: Rhubarb galette recipe
More information here:
Growing & gardening tips month by month: March
Some quick tips for growing your own in March. Now is the time to:
Plant Jerusalem artichoke tubers. Chit early and maincrop potatoes. Plant asparagus crowns. Sow seed outdoors in mild areas with light soil, eg: broad beans, carrots, parsnips, beetroot, onions, lettuces, radish, peas, spinach, summer cabbage, salad leaves, leeks, Swiss chard, kohl rabi, turnip and summer cauliflower.
Ideas from the groups: Waste
Wednesday 13th March 7.00pm Waste Group zoom meeting – contact Simon for link to join
Reduce – Reuse – Recycle: current local actions you can take to prevent waste and benefit our community
Whether household waste goes to landfill or incineration climate damaging carbon gases are produced. Here are some current local options for your unwanted or waste items that will not only cut carbon emissions but in some cases benefit those in our local community. It’s a big win / win.
Recycling pool & swimming equipment at Stokesley Leisure Centre
Worn out swimming equipment like goggles, floats, arm bands and flip flops can’t be put in to your doorstep recycling blue bin and would typically go to landfill or incineration but Stokesley Leisure Centre has usefully installed a Leisure Loop recycling point for all your worn out swimming equipment. The collected materials are then upcycled into useful items.
More information here: https://ecoleisuresupplies.com/
Refill – have you got the app?
Refill is a handy app which connects you to a directory of places where you can consume with less waste i.e. where you can refill your water bottle for free, where you can get a discount by using your own coffee cup, where you can fill your own food containers, putting the power to reduce plastic at your fingertips.
Anyone can download the free Refill app to tap into a global network of places to reduce, reuse and refill. With 300,000 Refill stations, offering refills for water, coffee, food containers and plastic-free shopping, 400,000 app downloads and 100 million pieces of plastic avoided to date, the company has shown that Refill has the power to create a wave of change and stop plastic pollution at source.
Anne Mannix from the Waste Group has been active locally, signing up businesses to the App including where you can get your water container refilled for free.
More information here Refill
Recycling for Good Causes: household items needed!
The CASaV Waste Group are collecting unwanted items which will raise funds for MacMillan Cancer Support via the Recycling for Good Causes scheme whilst saving them from going to waste in landfill. The scheme has provided us with a large collecting bag and free collection of a minimum of 10kg of items, with funds going to support people affected by cancer.
Items we are collecting are:
- Jewellery and watches
- Any currency UK or foreign of any age / unchangeable currency (banknotes and coins)
- Mobile phones, video / film / digital cameras, computer games and accessories, MP3 players, ipods, tablets, computers of any age or condition
- Stamps (loose /single stamps, first day covers, presentation packs)
Please have a look through your household and if you have any of these items going spare, please bring them along to our next Repair Cafe on March 16th at Swainby Village the Globe Community Library.
More information here: Recycling For Good Causes
Recycling stationery at Rymans
Do you have a drawer full of plastic pens that have run out or don’t work? Did you know you can recycle them at Rymans, our closest store is in Northallerton but there is also a store in Darlington.
Rymans offer pen recycling in all of their stores. They’ve collected over 1,900,000 pens which we convert into charity donations.
Ink and toner cartridge recycling is available in all stores as well and they provide customers with a 50p discount for each cartridge returned (discount is only available when making a subsequent purchase of ink / toner in store on the day of making the return and is for a maximum of 5 cartridges per transaction).
Under the Waste Battery Regulations, they offer a take-back scheme for all portable waste batteries. Recycling boxes can be found in all of Rymans stores, alternatively, you can find your local waste portable battery recycling facility at www.recyclenow.co.uk.
Recycling Make Up & Toiletry Containers
Whilst you’re in Northallerton High Street recycling your stationery you can pop in to Superdrug and recycle your make up and toiletry containers directly into their special recycling bin. They take empty Foundation bottles, Concealer tubes, Powders and blushers, Mascaras and mascara wands, Eyeliner and eyeshadow palettes, Lipsticks, glosses, and balms as well as other packaging – caps, pumps, and sprays. More information at Recycling at Superdrug
Boots also offers a make up and toiletry containers recycling facility which requires you to register online and scan your items but you do get Advantage Card points for doing so. More information at how-to-recycle-at-boots
Wear it, don’t waste it
Our neighbouring Climate Action group in Middlesbrough is organising a number of events next month (March) named ‘Wear It, Don’t Waste It’ looking at reducing waste going to incineration and landfill and giving clothes (and toys) to those in need for free. If you have any unwanted toys or clothes that you would like to donate please drop them off at Middlesbrough Environment City offices on Sandy Flatts Lane, Acklam TS5 7YN or at the Acklam Green Centre, Stainsby Road TS5 4JS Mon – Fri 9am – 5pm.
Upcycling project of the month: a (plastic free!) shopping bag from an old T shirt
A great way to save resources going to waste as well as reducing the need for single use plastic shopping bags, follow this link T shirt bag to make a handy bag from an old T shirt. Or come along to this month’s Repair Cafe on March 16th 10-12 at Swainby Village Hall and we’ll show you how.
Ideas from the groups: Energy
Local Energy Advice Demonstrator (LEAD) project
LEAD is a £1.2M scheme to stimulate demand for energy efficiency measures in homes across North Yorkshire. The funding has been received from the Department of Energy Security and NET Zero and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and will be focusing around retrofitting homes to reduce energy consumption. The project will be piloted in a number of neighbourhoods including around Stokesley.
Led by North Yorkshire Council, the scheme will be focused on specific streets, villages and neighbourhoods where studies have highlighted priority areas and where interest in tackling climate change through retrofitted schemes has been shown.
Households in these pilot areas will be offered a free ‘whole house plan’ – a survey of their homes with advice on what would be needed to make them more energy efficient such as new windows and doors, or cavity wall and loft insulation.
About 325 plans will be facilitated through the project, comprising in-house assessments, whole house plan development in collaboration with the householder, and elements of design work, leaving the resident with a clear plan of action and next steps to implement their retrofit project.
CASaV is actively involved in facilitating this project, led by Mark Lewis, one of our CASaV members with an interest in energy matters.
It is hoped that there will be a formal launch of the project next month. If you would like more information or to participate in this project, please check our website for updates LEADproject
Round up of last month’s events
Free seed & seedling stall at Stokesley Farmer’s Market
Wendy, Food Group joint lead, reports a popular response to her free seed and seedling stall where enthusiastic home growers quickly snapped up dozens of free seed packets as well as Welsh onion and Jerusalem artichoke seedlings, making donations to CASaV in the process.
Rosedale Peat Bog Restoration Guided Walk
Fourteen participants were taken on an informative and inspirational guided walk by members of the York Peat Partnership (YPP) around the peat bog restoration area in Rosedale, organised by Nature Group lead Bridget. They saw at first hand the damage erosion has done to the bogs which act as natural carbon capture. The erosion causes the peat to dry out which means that CO2 is released into the atmosphere. The group were heartened by seeing how the YPP is reversing some of the erosion through coir ‘leaky dams’ to contain water and also replanting nearly a million peat bog plant plugs such as sphagnum moss and cotton grass. If you are interested in supporting this work for example volunteering to monitor the restoration of the bogs contact Bridget Holmstrom
February Repair cafe at Stokesley Globe
Our monthly Repair Cafe was yet again well attended with over 80 household items being mended, and so saved from going to waste in landfill or incineration, including this visibly mended cashmere sweater which delighted it’s owner. Refreshments included Valentine’s themed sweet treats made from Fair Trade ingredients and there was a display about Transform Trade and the links between Fair Trade and Climate Justice. £50 was given to Transform Trade from donations made.
.Co-op Foodshare continues!
Every night, every week Jenny Earle, joint Food Group lead, organises volunteers to collect surplus food from our local Co-op stores and resdistributes it locally to those in need, not only reducing food waste which produces carbon gases affecting our climate but also providing a huge benefit to the community.
New volunteers are always welcome, please contact.
Signing off
If you have any news or any event / activity you would like promoting on next month’s (April) update please email Kate Gibbon by the end of March.
Kate also helps promote activities via Facebook and Instagram so let her know if there is anything that you would like shared via our Facebook page and Instagram if you are not a Facebook / Instagram user.
Hope to see you at the CASaV whole group gathering on Tuesday 19th March at the Globe Community Library, 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 