Welcome to December’s Update from Climate Action Stokesley & Villages

Wishing you a very merry Christmas and thank you for your role in taking urgent action globally and locally on climate breakdown and biodiversity loss.

Action all!!

Please complete the online survey exploring the impact of our group

As a year of numerous events, activities and actions by CASaV comes to a close, it is a useful time to assess if we are meeting our goals of making a tangible impact. Having been in existence for just over five years we have commissioned an assessment of our impact in the local community so far. This will be conducted by CaVCA (Coast and Vale Community Action) with funding from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund North Yorkshire. The findings will help us shape the actions we take over the coming years to tackle and adapt to climate change locally.

Please help us by completing this short online questionnaire – CASaV Impact Survey

The survey has 10 main questions and should only take up to five minutes to complete. The survey is anonymous and the data collected will be used only for the purpose of assessing the impact of Climate Action and Stokesley and Villages.

The survey will close on Friday 10th January.

As part of the study David Stone, from CaVCA, will also be undertaking some individual interviews with stakeholders and holding a focus group of CASaV members in December/January. He will then produce a report for us in February

Diary dates

(details of all events below in Newsletter section)

Tuesday 17th December 19.30 – 21.00 Whole Group Christmas Gathering, the Globe Community Library, Stokesley

Tuesday 3rd December 10.00 – 12.00 Osmotherley Mending Group, St Peter’s Church, Osmotherley

Tuesday 3rd December 19.00 Waste Group Meeting (incl Repair Cafe) by zoom (see Waste Group section below)

Friday 6th December 9.00 – 13.00 Sustainable Christmas Stall at Stokesley Market

Tuesday 10th December 10.00 – 12.00 Osmotherley Mending Group, Quaker Meeting House, Osmotherley

Tuesday 10th December 13.30 – 15.00 Yatton House Community Garden Working Party Wednesday 11th December 19.30 Environment Climate Osmotherley (ECO) monthly meeting & festive drinks at the Golden Lion

Saturday 14th December 10.00-12.00 Christmas Repair Cafe, the Globe Community Library, Stokesley

Thursday 19th December 15.30 Nature Group meeting (with mince pies), the Globe Community Library (see Nature Group section below)

Tuesday 14th January 19.00 Waste Group Meeting (incl Repair Cafe) & Wassail Gathering, Church Lane, Swainby (see Waste Group section below)

Thursday 30th January 19.00 Food Group Meeting by zoom (see Food Group section below)

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 / county 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”

United for Warm Homes Community Scarf

United for Warm Homes is a national campaign concerned that millions in the UK will struggle to pay their energy bills this winter because of soaring prices and after years of government inaction which has has left millions of homes damp, cold and expensive to heat.

United for Warm Homes campaigns to raise awareness of the long-lasting solutions to not only cut our bills and keep our homes warm but critically to reduce carbon emissions.

Last year CASaV members and people who came to last December’s Repair Cafe created this United for Warm Homes community quilt as an act of craftivism and we presented it to the chair of North Yorkshire Council (see below).

This winter, the campaign is to make scarves or use existing scarves and decorate them with messages from our communities to show our MPs and local decision makers why we need urgent action on warm homes.  At the end of the winter, the aim is to bring all the scarves together in Westminster to demand the government commits to an urgent, ambitious and fair Warm Homes Plan.  

At our Sustainable Christmas market stall and Christmas Repair Cafe (see below) we will invite people to create a fabric or paper patch to attach to our scarves. They can add images representing how they feel about the energy crisis, handwritten messages sharing their experiences of cold homes or demands for action from the government.  

Overview of UN Biodiversity COP 16

The UN Biodiversity Summit happens every other year rather than annually, and aims to ensure global action happens to stop and reverse the frightening global rate of biodiversity loss. Early November saw the end of the Biodiversity COP 16, here is an overview and a link to more information from the RSPB

https://www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happening/news/what-happened-at-cop

Three key successes from Biodiversity COP16 that we are celebrating:

Empowerment of indigenous people and local communities:

In a historic milestone, a new special advisory body was agreed. The voices and knowledge of Indigenous Peoples and local communities will be cemented as an integral part of decision-making on nature conservation; this is a crucial step to build equity in global decision-making processes. In the words of the representative from the Global Youth Biodiversity Network, ‘global biodiversity policy will now be stronger and wiser’.  

A new mechanism to safeguard nature’s genetic resources:

In another momentous outcome for COP, parties agreed on a new global mechanism that will see money flowing from those that are benefiting from the use of biodiversity (like pharmaceutical companies) to those who are protecting it – especially Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

Strong progress on links between nature and climate:

This COP saw the recognition of the need to tackle the climate and nature crisis in tandem. In the negotiation rooms, at the ministerial level, and over the course of many events, the case was made clear that climate action must support biodiversity, and vice versa.

Three key areas that have fallen short:

National planning is too slow:

COP16 was intended to be a demonstration of how global promises would be turned into action at home, but the level of urgency required was still yet to materialise.

60% of countries have now put forward their national targets, indicating what they will aim to do nationally to put their global promises into action. However, only about a quarter have put forward plans to show how they are going to practically meet those targets.

We need governments – including from the UK – to return from Cali with a refreshed sense of hope and urgency, ready to get stuck into action. We need to see the implementation of delivery plans that meet the scale of the challenge. In the UK, that means backing up their ambitious National Targets with detailed, robust and financed delivery plans.

Lack of decisions on future finance:

Finance was a fundamental element of this COP, dominating hours of negotiations. Huge time pressures at the end of the COP meant that countries did not manage to take a decision on a strategy for future finance for nature. It is urgent that a solution is reached on global financing for nature, otherwise our ambitions will continue to remain simply aspirational.

Final agreement on monitoring process is still pending:

Time pressures, and political discussions about financing, also meant that an updated version of the monitoring framework (the set of indicators that every country will use to track progress) was not agreed. It’s essential that this is finalised urgently, to help guide countries to take action that is measurable, and to enable governments to be held accountable towards meeting their targets.

COP29 happened, so what?

COP29 UN Summit on Climate Change has now taken place in Baku, Azerbaijan. COPs are where the world agrees how all the countries are going to act to tackle climate change.

For CASaV the big takeaway from COP29 is that governments aren’t going to do it all for us.  We have to keep acting locally and continuing to make it clear to our politicians and our business leaders that we want them to step up to take real actions to protect climate and nature.

The one line summary is COP29 was all about finance – with progress on funding for developing countries and agreement on an international carbon market.  Other areas made less progress than hoped for, partly due to the struggle to reach the finance agreements.

While the outcomes of COP29 were at the lower end of what was hoped for, we should not give up on COPs. Almost every country in the world attends COPs showing that while they may not all be willing to do what is necessary to reverse climate change and biodiversity loss, they want to be part of the process and they do not want to be seen to be not taking part. So while COP29 did not achieve all that was hoped it is a step on our road to a better world and maintains the hope that future COPs will make more significant progress as Rio did in 1992, Paris in 2015 and even Glasgow in 2021 did with the first serious inclusion of fossil fuels. COP29 could be the COP where the need to tackle finance finally became clear and will hopefully result in even more progress at COP30 in Brazil in 2025.

You can read more about COP29 on our zero carbon page – COP29 – A summary.

Global Plastics Treaty 2024 UN Negotiations

Plastics are key materials in innovation and for helping us reduce greenhouse gas emissions and tackle climate change. Our everyday lives rely on plastics, but any plastic waste in the environment is unacceptable. While plastics have had a history of innovation, particularly in supporting areas like healthcare and food preservation, plastic pollution is a growing crisis.Plastics must be sustainable.

Negotiations are currently ongoing at the UN to establish an International Plastics Treaty with a goal is to end plastic pollution by 2040 through a circular economy where all plastics are responsibly managed during production, use, and end-of-life, enabling a climate-neutral plastics industry. More info here – Global Plastics Treaty

Whatever governments decide, individual actions can make a substantial difference for example in developing Plastic Free Communities (see Waste Group section below).

“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

Tuesday 17th December 19.30 Whole Group Christmas Gathering, Globe Community Library, Stokesley

We celebrate another year of our whole group’s activities and actions with a Christmas gathering on Tuesday 19th December with a spread of pooled festive nibbles and mulled drinks at the Globe Community Library, Stokesley from 19.30 until 21.00.

All welcome to come together to share food and thoughts on all things climate change and biodiversity loss, updates from the sub groups and looking ahead to 2025.

We’re a friendly bunch and we welcome everyone!

Osmotherley Mending Group – Tuesday 3rd December 10.00 – 12.00 Mending Group, St Peter’s Church, Osmotherley & Tuesday 10th December 10.00 – 12.00, Osmotherley Quakers Meeting House

A new weekly group activity organised by ECO (Environment Climate Osmotherley). Meet for coffee, cake & conversation with knitting, crotchet & sewing, an opportunity to share your skills with experienced & novice friends.

Friday 6th December 9am – 1pm Sustainable Christmas Stall & Draft Excluder Giveaway at Stokesley Market

At Christmas many of us spend and consume a little more than usual. We do this to indulge ourselves and to celebrate the festive season, brightening up the bleak midwinter period.

But with increasing waste issues, and the climate change emergency, it is more important than ever to celebrate Christmas in a way that doesn’t cost the Earth.

The Waste Group are holding CASaV’s annual Sustainable Christmas stall at the Stokesley Friday Market on 6th December to help our local community enjoy their Christmas more sustainably with information and activities including:

• Draft excluder giveaway – help yourself to a FREE (limited numbers, come early!) handcrafted draft excluder to keep your home warm, cut heating bills and reduce climate impact
• Display on looking after hedgehogs this winter
• Add messages to our United For Warm Homes Community Scarves
• Reducing waste by reducing, reusing and recycling including advice from Tracey Flint, North Yorkshire Council’s recycling guru
• Making upcycled Christmas cards and gift tags
• Sustainable Christmas recipe leaflets
• Upcycled & compostable wrapping ideas

Tuesday 10th December 13.30 – 15.00 Yatton House Community Garden Working Party

As well as the monthly Yatton House Community Garden working party on Tuesday 10th December 1:30 – 3:00pm, the garden is now open weekdays unless raining so call in and enjoy sitting in the restful space.

The monthly working party in the Yatton House Community Garden on Tuesday 10th December (2nd Tuesday of the month) from 1:30 – 3:00 pm. Jobs for December in the community garden include tidying up after the first frosts of the year. All welcome to come and help or just sit and watch.

Photo from Yatton House Facebook page.

Saturday 14th December 10.00-12.00 Christmas Repair Cafe

We can fix Christmas! Our end of year December Repair Cafe casav.uk/repaircafe will be on Saturday 14th December 10 – 12 at the Globe Community Library, Stokesley.

As always, our pink T shirted repair volunteers will be eager to fix your household items – clothing & textiles, electrical appliances, wooden furniture, toys & bikes, laptops & mobile phones, blades needing sharpening – as well as giving you hands on demonstrations to encourage us all to extend the life of things we own by mending them when they get damaged or wear out, saving money from not buying new, saving resources used to make new and also reducing carbon emissions in manufacturing.

As usual, through coming to the Repair Cafe you can save yourself money, the earth’s resources and prevent climate damaging gases from waste going to incineration or landfill. 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 (statistics). But 100% of attendees are offered free refreshments of tea, coffee or juice as well as cakes and biscuits and a great opportunity to chat with friendly, like minded people.

This month’s free refreshments include Fair Trade beverages and home made sweet treats (including vegan!) made with Fair Trade ingredients, kindly donated by Stokesley Co-op, facilitated by Eileen Driver.

New repair and reception volunteers always welcome – come along, have a cuppa and a chat or email Simon Gibbon.

Ideas & news from the groups

1. Nature Group

Festive Nature Group meeting with mince pies!: Thursday 19th December 15.30, Globe Community Library, Stokesley Contact Bridget for information

The next Nature group meeting will be held in the Globe Library on Thursday 19th December at 3.30pm Mince Pies will be available. Come and join us to find out what we are doing.

Hedgehogs

October’s CASaV meeting had a great talk from the Cleveland Hedgehog Preservation Society. We learnt a great many things including hedgehogs prefer oak leaves for nesting, they have multiple different locations to spend the daylight hours and they can also share their hibernation nests with other hedgehogs.  

If you find a hedgehog that needs help you can try Smoggy Hogs based in Middlesbrough. Here is their Facebook Page.  

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1405156287011431

However if you do find a hedgehog in need of help then Smoggy Hogs give the following advice

If you do find a hog in need please place in a high sided box with some newspaper or blanket or towel with some water available. Do not give milk or bread as this is very harmful.

Heather burning: Community Earth Project

The Community Earth Project (CEP) based in the Esk Valley on the North York Moors is trying to collect data across the North York Moors for particulate matter (PM) levels during heather burning events. PMs are known carcinogens as are associated chemicals in smoke from burning organic matter. CEP is installing  sensors which will contribute to the sensor.community database of global air quality measurement and hopefully will be used to increase awareness of the health issues caused by moor burning. You can see the local measurements here.

CEP is looking for people who would be prepared to ‘host’ a PM sensor to monitor this year’s burning season. For more information contact cep.nature.recovery@gmail.com

2. Ideas from the groups: Food Group

Meetings bimonthly, next meeting Thursday 30 January 7pm at 19.00 by zoom contact Wendy for a link to join

The Food Group would like to wish you all a sustainable, fairly traded Christmas

Fair Trade, Climate Justice and really great coffee

Small-scale farmers who did the least to cause the climate crisis are feeling it’s worst effects right now. Lives and livelihoods are being lost due to extreme weather, pushing families and whole communities to the brink. The highest-earning 1 percent are responsible for the same level of emissions as the lowest earning 5 billion people in the world. (Oxfam, Climate Inequality report, 2023).

Fairtrade farmers are taking action already – Many small-scale farmers and workers in countries most affected by climate change are often experts in adapting to climate change. But unfair trade means they don’t have the money to invest in sustainable farming techniques that can secure a fairer, greener future for people, planet and the world’s food supply.

Did you know that every time you choose to buy Fairtrade coffee, you are contributing to real change, driven by coffee farmers and workers?

It isn’t just about great taste, it’s about the ability for farmers like Marlene, a coffee farmer in Colombia, to transform their lives and support their communities.

Watch a video about Marlene here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVLQmtCTb9Q

Using the power of Fairtrade, Marlene is investing in sustainable farming practices, tackling deforestation and producing more great quality coffee.

How well do you know Coffee?

Pour yourself a cup of Fairtrade coffee and take our coffee quiz to test your knowledge! You might discover new insights about the coffee you enjoy and the farmers who grow it.

https://www.fairtrade.org.uk/fairtrade-coffee-quiz/

Enjoy your Christmas dinner (sustainably)

For ideas for sustainable festive eating have a look here: top-tips-for-a-sustainable-christmas-dinner

Everyone loves chocolate at Christmas and you may want to choose Fair Trade dark chocolate as it is more environmentally friendly than less sustainable milk chocolate info here
chocolate-environmentally-friendly

Foodshare: surplus food prevented from going to waste and helping those in need

Foodshare is a joint initiative by the Food and Waste groups and is organised by Jenny. EVERY evening at 9pm a Volunteer collects surplus food from the Ayton Coop and Premier supermarket and both Stokesley Coops and takes it to various distribution centres (often in Middlesbrough) such as Nitelight (for homeless) for use/distribution amongst those in need. This is fresh food such as fruit, veg and bread, NOT the tins and dried food that are needed by Food Banks.

Foodshare collects 40 – 60 kilos of food each day with a value of approx £250. This is £78,000 worth in a year!

Jenny is always keen to recruit more volunteers to support the foodshare so if you feel this is something with which you could help, please contact Jenny here Jenny Earle.

December 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.

Seasonal eating

How to eat seasonally

Fruit and vegetables in season in December include:

apples, beetroot, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, chestnuts, chicory, horseradish, Jerusalem artichoke, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, parsnips, pears, potatoes, salsify, shallots, swede, turnips, wild mushrooms

3. Ideas from the groups: Waste

This month’s Waste Group (including Repair Cafe) Meeting Tuesday 3rd December 7.00pm CASaV by zoom – contact Simon Gibbon for a link to join

A Plastic Free Community for Stokesley & Villages?

At our November meeting Edith Reeve told us all about the Plastic Free Communities (PFC) network, created by Surfers Against Sewage to tackle plastic pollution at source – from beaches and green spaces right back to the brands and businesses that create it – read about it here.

Would you be interested in helping to set up a Plastic Free Community in Stokesley & Villages (Great Ayton, Hutton Rudby, Great Broughton & Kirby, Seamer, Swainby, Osmotherley, Picton, Rountons) to support individuals, businesses, schools and organisations work towards reducing single use plastics? If so contact Kate

At our December meeting we will be focusing on all things sustainable Christmas including our CASaV Sustainable Christmas Stall on 6th December and thoughts from CASaV’s “Enjoy the festive season and protect the climate” leaflet.

South Gare – A Landscape Created from Waste

Haul Away is a short musical film created by North East Opera (NEO) which uses South Gare to highlight our role in nature and our responsibility for nature. South Gare sits at the mouth of the Tees and was constructed in the 19th century from blast furnace slag. Nature has come in and softened it with sand and dunes, birds have made it their own. The River Tees has historically been full of waste (pollution), while nature is back in the river, its existence is often tenuous as shown by the mass mortality of crabs in the river and along the coast, and the mortality of seal pups born in the Tees. The premiere of Haul Away is at the Redcar Regent Cinema at 4pm on Monday 9th December – trailer – more info.

Waste group events in November:

November Repair Cafe

November’s Repair Cafe in Swainby was particularly busy and saw over 60 items in need of repair dealt with by our ever ready pink T-shirted volunteer repairing heroes and the majority were fixed to the delight and gratitude of their owners who were also treated to free Fair Trade cuppas and biccies.

Tuesday 14th January 19.00 Waste Group Meeting (incl Repair Cafe) & Wassail Gathering, Church Lane, Swainby

After the Christmas rush is over, the Waste Group is having their January meeting as a Wassail Gathering at Church Lane, Swainby. All are warmly welcomed to sup a fortified apple wassail, feast on sweet and savoury nibbles and reflect on all things waste reduction and repair cafes.

Please let Simon or Kate know if you are able to come.

4. Ideas from the groups: Environment & Climate Osmotherley (ECO) Group

The Environment Climate Osmotherley Group continues to thrive with new events and activities to engage and inspire the local community to take steps to fight climate change and biodiversity loss.

The weekly Mending Group has been bringing together skilled enthusiasts and enthusiastic beginners with darning, felting and knitting skills being shared and perfected, saving resources from going to waste and making loved items last longer.

Last week on an appropriately starry night, the ‘Dark Skies and why they matter’ talk was very well attended and enjoyed by all with great interest shown in developing Osmotherley as a designated Dark Skies Village.  

Wednesday 11th December 19.30 there will be the Environment Climate Osmotherley (ECO) monthly meeting & festive drinks at the Golden Lion, Osmotherley

Signing off

If you have any news or any event / activity you would like promoting on next month’s (January’s) update please email Kate Gibbon by the end of December

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.

Don’t forget to complete our online impact survey!

Link here: CASaV online survey

Hope to see you at the whole group CASaV Christmas meeting on Tuesday 17th December 19.30 at the Globe Community Library, Stokesley

Wishing you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Kate Gibbon,

on behalf of the Climate Action Stokesley and Villages Steering Group Steering group:

Bridget Holmstrom, Caryn Loftus, Ron Kirk, Barry Warrington and Simon Gibbon