Climate Action Stokesley and Villages
Think Global Act Local
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!
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.
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
(details of all events below in Newsletter section)
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)
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.
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.
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 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.
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).
This month’s local activities and ideas from our focus groups (Nature, Food, Waste, Energy, Transport) to address biodiversity loss and fight climate breakdown
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!
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.
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:
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.
.jpg)
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.
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.
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.
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
The Food Group would like to wish you all a sustainable, fairly traded Christmas
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/
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 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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
Our next whole group meeting is on Tuesday 19th November, at the Globe Community Library, North Road, Stokesley from 19.30 until 21.00.
All welcome to come and discuss all things climate change and biodiversity loss, updates from the sub groups and planning for future activities
We’re a friendly bunch and we welcome everyone!
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.
If everyone on Earth lived like people in the UK, we would need over two and a half planets to regenerate and absorb our waste. As a society, we need to move to a circular economy that wastes less and puts more value on the things we already have. From the water and energy used in production, to the fuel used in delivery, every new item we buy comes with an environmental price tag.
Buy Nothing New Month is organised by Keep Britian Tidy and calls on us to boycott Black Friday and the culture of impulse buys that goes along with it and instead, aim to waste less, make the most of the stuff we already own, and cut our carbon footprint by buying nothing new – excluding essentials like food and medicine – throughout November.
If you sign up to the campaign, you can receive expert tips to help you shift to a ‘buy less’ mindset and swap the way you shop, find creative ways to reuse the things we own, and clear the clutter by rehoming the things we no longer need.
More info: buy-nothing-new-month
1st – 30th November World Vegan Month
A vegan / plant based diet can reduce an individual’s annual carbon footprint by up to 2.1 tons. Plant-based foods require less land and fewer resources, and produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than animal products. Animal waste from factory farms is a major source of nitrous oxide emissions, which are 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at driving the greenhouse effect.
But to make a big difference it isn’t about giving up meat completely. Eating just one vegan meal per week can reduce your carbon footprint by nearly 50 kilograms per year. According to Oxford University, if every family in the UK ate one plant-based meal instead of red meat once a week, it would be the same as taking 16 million cars off the road.
During World Vegan Month, you are likely to see more vegan products in stores, along with the promotion of vegan events, recipes, clothing and more.
For more info see here: world-vegan-month
In the UK there is a Countryside Cop from the 4-8 November. This is for the rural communities and agriculture to inspire activity prior to COP 29 being held in Baklu. There are a number of events that are happening and some are on line and free to attend. If you would like to find out more please follow this link. countryside-cop4-04-08-november-2024/
Every month across the country there are sociable community based meet ups for people to share ideas about sustainability with the added bonus of a free drink (for the first 33 people to arrive!). The meet up nearest to CASaV is at the Potting Shed, Northallerton so why not pop down there to meet like minded people, find more about what’s going on locally with sustainability and how you can get involved. Book a place to get your free drink via this link:
northallerton-small99s-people-planet-pinttm-sustainability-meetup-tickets
The 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 11 to 22 November 2024. This is a pivotal opportunity to accelerate action to tackle the climate crisis. With global temperatures hitting record highs, and extreme weather events affecting people around the globe, COP29 will bring together leaders from governments, business and civil society to advance concrete solutions to the defining issue of our time.
A key focus of COP29 will be on finance, as trillions of dollars are required for countries to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect lives and livelihoods from the worsening impacts of climate change. The conference will also be a key moment for countries to present their updated national climate action plans under the Paris agreement, which are due by early 2025. If done right, these plans will limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and double as investment plans advancing the Sustainable Development Goals.
As Antonio Guterres said at the Montreal COP ‘It up to us to accept responsibility for the damage we have caused and take action to fix it … I urge you to do the right thing. Step up for nature. Step up for biodiversity. Step up for humanity. Together, let’s adopt and deliver an ambitious framework — a peace pact with nature — and pass on a better, greener, bluer and more sustainable world to our children.’
More info here: https://cop29.az/en/home
While climate change crisis often grabs the headlines, there are many headlines about both national (birds) and global biodiversity loss (polar bears), which are signs of the nature crisis that the world is currently suffering. So at the Rio Conference in 1992 the UN was tasked to address both of these crises – climate and nature.
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. As with the climate COPs, nations make specific commitments on actions their country will take to protect their national biodiversity. Similar to the climate COPs progress over the last 32 years has been slower than expected in 1992.
You can read a detailed summary produced by Carbon Brief – https://www.carbonbrief.org/cop16-key-outcomes-agreed-at-the-un-biodiversity-conference-in-cali-colombia/. So just a few headlines here – the summit came to an abrupt halt after countries failed to reach consensus on the creation of a new fund during a mammoth 10-hour final plenary session. However, a number of steps forward were made for example, a new benefit-sharing mechanism for genetic resources will protect sovereign rights, a new permanent body for Indigenous peoples which will allow them to advise and offer their view at biodiversity COPs directly for the first time.
Disappointingly of 196 countries at the COP only 44 countries (including EU 27) had met the deadline to produce their own biodiversity plans, developed countries saying they did not have the time and developing countries blaming lack of finance promised by developed countries.
National Tree Week, organised by The Tree Council and partners, brings together the conservation sector, volunteers and tree-lovers to mark the start of the annual tree planting season.
There are free online tree talks, tree planting information guides and face to face events across the country. More information here: national-tree-week
“Act Local”
Our next whole group meeting is on Tuesday 19th November, at the beautifully updated Globe Community Library, Stokesley from 19.30 until 21.00.
All welcome to come to discuss all things climate change and biodiversity loss, updates from the sub groups and planning for future activities
We’re a friendly bunch and we welcome everyone!
A new regular 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.
As well as the monthly Yatton House Community Garden working party on Tuesday 12th November 1:30 – 3:00pm, the garden is now open weekdays unless raining so call in and enjoy sitting in the restful space.
The bog garden area is now planted up with donations from CASaV members. Geoff Jacques took a walk round the garden and shared a great video with our CASaV Facebook page. If you can’t make it to the garden you almost feel as though you are there. Thanks Geoff. https://www.facebook.com/reel/472877255781684
Saturday 16th November 10.00-12.00 Repair Cafe, Swainby Village Hall, High Street Swainby
Our monthly Repair Cafe casav.uk/repaircafe will be on Saturday November 16th 10 – 12 at Swainby Village Hall, High Street, Swainby. 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 give 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.
Delicious homemade cakes, scones, tea & coffee – everybody welcome. Find out about the aims and activities of Environment Climate Osmotherley (ECO).
Richard Darn is an experienced astronomer based in the North of England. Enthusiastic in outreach, Richard delivers astronomy events across the region and we are fortunate to have the opportunity to hear a talk by him locally.
Richard advises on dark sky designations, having helped Northumberland National Park, Yorkshire Dales National Park, and North York Moors National Park achieve dark sky status with the International Dark-Sky Association. Richard helped launch Kielder Observatory and co-founded the popular Kielder Forest Star Camp.
In this presentation at Osmotherley Village Hall, Richard will celebrate the glorious auroras & gossamer Milky Way with pointers to what is coming up in the night sky. Richard will also be discussing the fragility of our nocturnal environment & the growing impacts of light pollution and explain the importance of dark skies to the wildlife and indeed to our health. He will also give an overview of the North York Moors International Dark Skies Park. It will be a great event. This event is being organised by the Osmotherley Environment Group.
After last year’s successful and popular FREE upcycled Christmas decoration workshops, more are planned this month to help you prepare for Christmas whilst reducing waste. Using a range of materials which would otherwise gone to waste we will show you how to craft your own bespoke Christmas decorations, suitable for all ages.
Dates still being arranged, check social media and posters for updates.
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 their annual Sustainable Christmas stall at Stokesley Friday Market on 6th December to help our local community enjoy their Christmas more sustainably with information and activities including:
Please get in touch Anne Mannix if you would like to be involved or have a suggestion for what else we should include on the stall.
This time of year we often have surplus apples from our trees which might otherwise gone to waste but using CASaV’s equipment and volunteer skills, approximately 1,250 kg of apples were pressed to make 470 litres of juice.
Furthermore, some local cows and llamas enjoyed the apple pomace that was left after pressing so again, nothing went to waste.
Thanks to all the volunteers who helped run the sessions.
Issues / ideas from the groups: Nature
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 and hopefully will be used to increase awareness of the health issues caused by moor burning.
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
As you harvest your autumn veg, make sure you save some seeds and keep them dry both for yourself next spring but also to contribute to the seed bank at The Globe, Stokesley and for the Food Group Free Seed Stall at the March Farmers’ market in Stokesley.
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 jennyearle.
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.
Fruit and vegetables in season in November include:
apples, artichoke, beetroot, butternut squash, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, chestnuts, chicory, cob nuts, horseradish, Jerusalem artichoke, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, parsnips, pears, potatoes, pumpkin, quince, rosemary, sage, salsify, shallots, swede, turnips, watercress, wild mushrooms
If you’re looking for ways to eat more sustainably and meat free, Quorn could provide a good source of protein. Quorn is made from a natural protein (mycoprotein) which is derived from soil living fungi which is grown using a fermentation process similar to the one used to make bread, beer, and yogurt. Unlike many ultra high processed meat replacement foods containing dozens of additives, Quorn is relatively low processed with only egg whites or potato extract (for fully vegan items) added. Furthermore, being produced locally here in Stokesley, Quorn is a food source with a low carbon transport footprint.
The Quorn business is planning to increase the biodiversity of their grounds and have been working with members of the Nature Group to identify their current flora with view to creating wildflower meadows and other valuable habitats.
Recipe here: christmas-stuffed-squash-quorn-pieces
Chicory should ideally be dug up this month but then kept in the dark for using from January.
When aiming to eat more sustainably it is also useful to consider what your pets are eating. The global production of pet food releases 106 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent into the atmosphere each year.
There are new developments in the pet food industry which aim to reduce this carbon footprint.
For example, nutritious pet food can be made from farmed insects, more info here:
https://entocycle.com/complete-insect-farm
https://mygrubclub.com/pages/about-us
Unlike cats which require animal based protein, dogs can live healthily on a vegan / plant based diet. Some sources of vegan dog food here:
The Plastic Free Communities (PFC) network has been 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. Plastic is a growth industry, with one in every ten barrels of oil now used to create new plastic. 38 million plastic drinks bottles are bought in the UK every day, 112,000 pieces of plastic leave UK supermarkets every minute.
By taking action in our local community we can make sure we don’t choke our coast, streets, parks and playgrounds with it. Because if it’s on our streets today, it’s in our rivers tomorrow, and our beaches and oceans forever. Locally there are PFCs in Redcar & Cleveland and Saltburn & Marske but none in the whole of North Yorkshire other than Scarborough.
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
The organisation behind the Big Plastic Count decided to track the soft plastic collected for recycling at Sainsbury’s and Tesco to find out how much was actually recycled.
The results were shocking: some 70% of the soft plastic collected for recycling was actually incinerated instead.
Incineration is terrible for the environment and for human health. Waste incineration is now the UK’s dirtiest form of power. Burning plastic is more polluting than even burning coal, and releases toxic gases and particles into the air.
In a massive win for all of us who care about ending plastic pollution, last month the UK signed the Bridge to Busan declaration. This is a statement signed by 40 countries at the United Nations affirming the need for global cuts to plastic production.
If you haven’t already signed the Greenpeace petition for a strong Global Plastics Treaty, they really need your support:
.png)
We are all used to adverts trying to get us to buy more, a lot of which rapidly becomes waste, as well the old item the new item replaces. Advertisements are regulated on television and elsewhere to protect children. This is not the case for street advertising, or even the adverts in shop windows or on transport. AdFreeCities are asking people to be an AdSpotter (sign up here) on the school run, whether your children walk, go by bus or are even driven what adverts are they exposed to.
One of the main ways we will reduce waste is by buying less stuff and AdFreeCities are helping us to not be exposed to these commands to buy more stuff.
AdFreeCities – https://adfreecities.org.uk
AdSpotters – https://adfreecities.org.uk/adspotters/
October’s Repair Cafe in Stokesley saw over 60 items in need of repair dealt with by our intrepid pink T-shirted volunteer repairers and the majority were fixed to the delight and gratitude of their owners who were also treated to free Fair Trade cuppas and vegan cakes and treats. The sewing team were busy helping people craft their own bespoke draft excluders, using textiles that would have otherwise gone to waste to keep their homes cosy and draught free, cut their heating bills and also reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Meet up to discuss the activities of the group and future plans.
Contact Rebecca for more information
See also Dark Skies Talk and Mending Group above.
Whether you think Net Zero Teesside (NZT) is a key step on the road to net zero or rather you think it is Not Zero Teesside, it is being subsidised by our taxes. There is a meeting in Redcar in support of the project at 7pm on 22nd November at Redcar and Cleveland College (https://www.britainremade.co.uk/netzeroteesside).
The pros – Net Zero Teesside – https://www.netzeroteesside.co.uk/
The cons – Crowd Justice – Stop the Fake Carbon Capture Project https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/net-zero-teesside/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5SasZ5MHn8
Simon’s summary NZT was originally going to capture CO2 from existing chemical plants/incinerators on Teesside, but now it is only going to capture CO2 from new gas power stations and hydrogen from gas. So even if the CO2 capture was 100% effective it still locks in new large CO2 and methane emissions in extraction and shipping of the gas. NZT will not directly contribute to the UK’s net zero target. So the question is do you believe that NZT is necessary as a technology demonstration on the route to net zero, and to do this it needs new sources of CO2.
Read the links above, come to the meeting, make up your own mind and make your views known to your MP.
If you have any news or any event / activity you would like promoting on next month’s (December) update please email Kate Gibbon by the end of November
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 whole group CASaV meeting on Tuesday 19th November 19.30 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, Ron Kirk Barry Warrington and Simon Gibbon
We had a great time pressing apples again this year. Approx. 1,250 kg of apples were pressed to make 470 litres of juice.
Some local cows and llamas were amongst the animals that enjoyed the apple pomace that was left when the apples were pressed, so nothing went to waste.
Thanks to our volunteers who helped run the sessions.
As we head into autumn hedgehogs will be starting to hibernate but along with so much of our wildlife this species is under threat of extinction. This month Climate Action Stokesley and Villages group are hosting a special talk on hedgehogs’ natural history and how we can play a part in protecting them by experts from the Cleveland Hedgehog Preservation Society.
All welcome to come to this free fascinating talk as well as an opportunity to discuss all things climate change and biodiversity loss, updates from the sub groups and planning for future activities.
Tuesday 15th October, 7:30pm in The Globe Community Library, Town Close, North Road, Stokesley TS9 5DH
(details of all events below in Newsletter section)
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.
Organised by Living Streets who advocate to enabling walking as the natural choice for everyday local journeys, Walk to School month encourages pupils to walk, wheel, cycle or scoot to school as much as possible in October using an Autumn Street Safari activity, but kids who can’t walk to school can also try out other outdoor activities in the playground. Not only healthier for children (and their parents / carers) walking to school reduces the number of cars on the road, which reduces harmful emissions. The school run is responsible for half a million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. More information international-walk-to-school-month/
1st to 31st October National Unblocktober Month
Unblocktober is an awareness month to improve the health of our drains, sewers, watercourses and seas in the UK. Launched in 2019, the first Unblocktober saw more than 4,500 homes and businesses pledge to change their kitchen and bathroom habits to benefit the environment and fight biodiversity loss, rising to more than 66,000 in 2022. Millions of us have been putting dangerous liquids and items into our drainage systems and sewers that lead to untold damage to the environment around us. You can commit to stop pouring or flushing environmentally harmful items down your drains or into the toilet, for the whole month of October. By taking part in Unblocktober, you will be making a big difference, without having to make a big effort. More information here: unblocktober
Almost all of us have unwanted, broken cables (containing infinitely recyclable copper) clogging up our drawers, that’s millions of cables and thousands of kilograms of copper going to waste that could be reused or recycled. If 1 million of us all recycled one cable, we could save at least 5,000kg of copper from going to waste. And it’s not just copper – in fact 75% of materials in our electricals can be recycled and used again, like copper, gold, lithium or aluminium. Don’t let these precious materials go to waste – let’s give them a new lease of life!
So bag up your old cables – or any old electricals in your ‘drawer of doom’! – ready to recycle this October – and take them to the Stokesley Recycling Centre in Stokesley Business Park Stokesley TS9 5PT. Also did you know that all retailers selling electrical goods are obliged to take back items for recycling?
More information recycleyourelectricals.org.uk/international-e-waste-day-2024/
This year’s Recycle Week theme is ‘Rescue Me’. The campaign will run from 14th-20th October 2024, focusing on rescuing recyclable items from heading to the rubbish bin. By recycling at least one extra item as part of our daily recycling routine will make a huge difference. We can now recycle more than ever of what we used to consign to waste – check here for how and where you can recycle almost everything at home
Also check here to find out how our county council is enabling recycling recycling-and-waste
World Food Day is an international day celebrated every year worldwide on October 16 to commemorate the date of the founding of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in 1945. It aims to raise awareness and take action against worldwide hunger and malnutrition and serves as a reminder of the need to ensure food security and access to nutritious food for all. It also highlights the importance of sustainable agriculture and food production to address global food challenges including the devastating impact of climate breakdown on food supplies. The day is also an opportunity to rethink our food choices to make them more sustainable and climate friendly, including more plant based meals using locally grown and seasonal vegetables and fruits (see Food Section below).
More information: world-food-day
On the theme of enabling access to food for all, particularly the most vulnerable people, Jenny, joint lead of the Food Group was very busy last month as, due to other Foodshare volunteers being away, she did a whole week of the daily surplus food collections by herself. She used the opportunity to weigh the food each day to quantify how much food on average is saved from waste and goes on to benefit those in need.
Jenny noted that she collected between 40kg and 60kg per day and using a rough estimate of the discounted cost of the food of £5.5 per kg this made the value of the food between £220 and £350 daily being made accessible to those who most need it locally whilst also saving it from waste.
See the Food Group section below for more information and how to get involved.
In 2024, Repair Café turns 15! There are plans to celebrate this in various ways. On Friday 18 October – their actual anniversary – they will hold a Repair Café XL in The Hague, where the Dutch government is housed. Repair Café is a global movement, with supporters in more than 40 countries across six continents so all Cafes which are registered have been invited to create their own piece of bunting which will be used to make make a very long bunting line to decorate the Repair Café XL party location on 18 October. This way, all Repair Cafés will be joined in celebration. See above for our very own Stokesley & Villages Repair Cafe bunting which will be representing us in The Hague.
In 2016 the Earthworm Society of Britain (ESB) nominated 21st October as World Earthworm Day to give the world an opportunity to celebrate these ecologically vital and under-appreciated animals. An October date was chosen in order to honour the father of earthworm ecology, Charles Darwin, as this is the month that his book ‘The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Actions of worms’ was published. More information worldwormday
“Act Local”
Our next whole group meeting is on Tuesday 15th October, at the newly updated Globe Community Library, Stokesley from 19.30 until 21.00.
As we head into autumn hedgehogs will be starting to hibernate but along with so much of our wildlife this species is under threat of extinction. This month we have a special talk on hedgehogs natural history and how we can play a part in protecting them by experts from the Cleveland Hedgehog Preservation Society. All welcome to come to this fascinating talk as well as an opportunity to discuss all things climate change and biodiversity loss, updates from the sub groups and planning for future activities
We’re a friendly bunch and we welcome everyone!
National Green Libraries Week greenlibrariesweek celebrates libraries with a focus on the climate and sustainability and runs 7th – 13th October. At The Globe Community Library, Stokesley, there will be a display of books on green matters all week selected by CASaV members as well as our monthly Repair Cafe at the end of the Green Libraries Week on Saturday 12th October (more info below). At The Discovery Centre, Great Ayton there will be displays and activities on all things green and sustainable.
Yatton House Community Garden working party 1:30 – 3:00pm
Looking forward to picking french beans and mangetout during the October working party. The garden is now open weekdays unless raining so call in and enjoy sitting in the restful space.
Our monthly Repair Cafe casav.uk/repaircafe will be on Saturday 12th October 10 – 12 at The Globe Community Library 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 give 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.
This month as the nights draw in and there’s a nip in the air our thoughts turn ways we can keep warm, save energy and save the environment from waste so there will the first of our colder seasons’ free draft excluder workshops / giveaways. Cold draughts make their way in through gaps under doors, skirting boards or on window sills rapidly bringing down a room’s temperature, particularly when it is below zero outside. Draughts cause up to 15% heat loss in the home, and properly draught-proofing your property can save as much as £125 a year on energy bills. You can buy ready made draft excluders from about £20 up to £70 for deluxe versions but here at October’s Repair Cafe we will provide you with the materials and show you how to make your own ‘bespoke’ draft excluder. If the sewing team aren’t too busy with sewing repairs they will be making up draft excluders to give away to you to keep you warm and more in pocket this winter.
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.
Apple Day, 21 October, was launched in 1990 by CommonGround. They said that “The aspiration was to create a calendar custom, an autumn holiday. From the start, Apple Day was intended to be both a celebration and a demonstration of the variety we are in danger of losing, not simply in apples, but in the richness and diversity of landscape, ecology and culture too. It has also played a part in raising awareness in the provenance and traceability of food.”
Locally, Ripon Walled Garden riponcommunitylink is running an Apple Day event on Saturday 5th October and Helmsley Walled Garden helmsleywalledgarden is running an Apple Day event on Sunday 20th October
There was a successful day of apple pressing in late September with a group from Faceby where the equipment is stored. The result was nearly 200 litres of juice and the apple pomace left over has gone to feed a herd of cows in the village so nothing has gone to waste.
Coinciding with Apple Day there are two further apple pressing days on 18th and 21st October but slots on these are now fully booked.
If there are any cancellations we will announce these on social media so keep an eye out.
More info here https://climateactionstokesleyandvillages.org/food/apple-pressing/
At CASaV we are very fortunate to have a super range of tremendous people from all walks of life. This month we shine a spotlight on Geoff, the ‘Dean of Green’.
Even when you’re ‘retired’ there still aren’t enough hours in Geoff’s day. Unofficially known as the “Dean of Green” he encourages all the churches in Stokesley Deanery to care for creation.
Geoff says “Over the past 3 years 14 of the 20 churches have registered as Eco Churches in the A Rocha programme which enables churches to assess how ‘green’ they are and work towards becoming greener; 8 of those churches have now gained awards on the scheme – 5 Bronze And 3 Silver!
“Its important that we get the message across that ‘There’s still Time to Make things Better’, he says. “That’s why I’ve joined ‘protest’ marches in York and Leeds”.
“Having joined the 2022 visit to the Allerton Waste Recovery Park, I was so enthused by their work that I organised a visit for the local churches the following year. Hopefully it helped each of the folk who came to take one more step to reduce their own waste.
“A couple of years ago I was part of the team that organised the ‘Food Farming and the Environment’ evening in Stokesley Town Hall, the joint CASaV, Deanery and Farming team put on a great evening which I’m encouraging others in the south of the county to copy.
“We have a static caravan in Cumbria, so not surprisingly we’re members of Cumbria Wildlife Trust and are looking forward to volunteering again there soon as the massive Skiddaw Forest Project gets underway.
“Over the years Angela and I have walked many miles and climbed many mountains, now our walks tend to be on lower ground and at a slower pace – which means we get to observe much more of God’s wonderful creation using Apps such as Merlin and Seek to help us identify bird song, fungi and lichen!”
As well as being the Climate Action Stokesley & Villages co-ordinaor, she is also very active each month with Yatton House Community Garden
She writes:
“I can’t remember why I first got involved with Yatton House which is a centre for adults with learning/physical disabilities in Great Ayton. However, over the last few years I have helped run apple pressing sessions for their members and organised pruning the fruit trees in the Yatton House Orchard. This year, members of Yatton House will be having a trip out with crates of their apples to press them as part of one of CASaV’s apple pressing sessions at Faceby.
When an old allotment became available across the road from the centre the manager, Jonathan, was keen for it to become a community garden to help Yatton House become more involved with the local community. I was asked to join a steering committee with my Brighten Up Great Ayton hat on. But I felt that I should also represent CASaV as I hoped we could show the benefits of growing fruit and veg in a community space whilst showcasing gardening for wildlife and bearing in mind climate change.
I have learnt that in developing a community garden you need to compromise to some extent given the different groups involved and their approaches to gardening whilst keeping in mind the original vision to:
· To provide a safe and accessible community space for groups and individuals.
· To bring different sections of the community together.
· To promote awareness of mental health and loneliness.
· To champion environmental impact and climate change through wildlife, biodiversity, and the growing of sustainable organic fresh fruit and vegetables.
· To deliver educational experiences.
At times the task seemed overwhelming, not helped by one passer-by who said it would be a white elephant as no-one would visit. How wrong they were! Now that I am just running a working party once a month the workload is more manageable and each time there are new visitors enjoying the space, with the local infant school soon to be helping. I even come away with some fresh fruit or veg.
The community garden, on Guisborough Rd, Great Ayton is open weekdays if the weather is nice. Look for the ‘Garden Open’ sign that Pete Smith helped upcycle from an old tourist information board. The next working party is on Tuesday 8th October, 1:30 – 3:00pm. Come and give a hand or enjoy sitting in the garden.
How about you?
If you are interested in playing a more active role in thinking globally, acting locally to fight climate change and biodiversity loss please visit our website and look at the volunteer opportunities or pop along to one of our meetings – whole group and Food, Nature & Waste sub groups – and have a chat!
For those wondering what how to entertain their children and grandchildren during the half term break (haven’t they only just finished the summer holidays?) you may like to consider going to the RSPB Saltholme reserve. There are plenty of activities and there should also be some exciting winter visitors and starling murmurations to see. More information here
Another great thing to look out for at this time of year is fungus. All the rain and the cooler weather is starting to bring toadstools to the surface. Fungi is, without doubt, fascinating. Surprisingly science has found fungi to be genetically closer to animals than to plants. They come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes and whilst they can be devastating to crops they are also fundamentally important to our existence. The best place to discover fungus is in woodland, particularly broadleaf. Enjoy your Fungus Foray but remember if you aren’t completely sure what it is, don’t eat it.
identify-wildlife/british-woodland-fungi-id-guide
Some great work is happening in the North York Moors bringing back woodland to areas where it is sorely missed. Here is a great example on what has been over the 8 years the woodland creation scheme has been existence and why woodland is so important.
On a less hopeful note, the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust has recently issued the State of Nature for Yorkshire. It highlights both the diversity and national significance of wildlife found in Yorkshire but also the multiple threats from human activity that this biodiversity struggles against. Highlights include facts such as nearly 2,000 species have disappeared from Yorkshire over the last 200 years, a further 3,000 are at risk from extinction. Rare species are at risk whilst common species take over.
Few of Yorkshire’s wildlife sites are protected legally, less than 1 in 10 and of those that are protected less than 20% are in a good state. Globally important sites for carbon sequestration such as moorland peat bogs are in a terrible state with less than 20% in a good shape.
You can read more here and learn how to get involved www.ywt.org.uk/StateofNature
Resources: If anyone would like to get some inexpensive guides on wildlife, the Field Studies Council is an excellent resource. They also do online and face to face education sessions so are well worth investigating. They have a couple of bundles of three guides for Autumn, check them out here field-studies-council.org/product-category/publications
As you harvest your autumn veg, make sure you save some seeds and keep them dry both for yourself next spring but also to contribute to the seed bank at The Globe, Stokesley and for the Food Group Free Seed Stall at the March Farmers’ market in Stokesley.
Free produce is now available to pick your own – ripe red currant tomatoes and herbs are now available.
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.
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 jennyearle.
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.
Fruit and vegetables in season in October include:
Fruit: Apples, Blackberries, Elderberries, Pears
Vegetables: Aubergine, Beetroot, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Butternut Squash, Carrots, Cauliflower, Celeriac, Celery, Chestnuts, Chicory, Chillies, Courgette, Cucumber, Kale, Leeks, Lettuce, Marrow, Onions, Parsnips, Peas, Potatoes, Pumpkin, Radishes, Rocket, Runner Beans, Spinach, Spring Greens, Spring Onions, Summer Squash, Swede, Sweetcorn, Swiss Chard, Tomatoes, Turnips, Watercress, Wild Mushrooms, Winter Squash
Pulses (chick peas, lentils, beans etc) are a superfood as they provide essential vitamins, minerals and fibre as well as being a great source of plant based protein. Many pulses are grown and imported from abroad which adds to their carbon footprint but increasingly there are more pulses being grown in the UK. A company at the forefront of this is Hodmedods an East Anglian based business working with farmers growing sustainably across the UK who have successfully revived the growing of long lost British pulses like black badger peas as well as successfully cultivating the first British grown quinoa.
Beans is How is an international campaign to encourage more cultivation and consumption of pulses for the health of the planet as well as human health. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a global blueprint adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015 in order to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all by addressing critical challenges such as poverty, inequality, climate change, and the attainment of peace by 2030. They emphasise that beans are a simple, affordable solution that contribute to nutrition, health, economic growth, environmental sustainability, and social equity, making them a valuable crop in the global effort to achieve the SDGs. The campaign aims to double global bean consumption by 2028, by adopting a comprehensive approach to addressing global challenges through food systems transformation, supporting multiple SDGs.
beans-is-how for more information.
Roast winter veg with carlins and quinoa
roast-winter-veg-with-carlins-and-quinoa
This month’s Waste Group (including Repair Cafe) Tuesday 8th October 7.00pm CASaV by zoom – contact Simon Gibbon for a link to join
More than 100,000 tonnes of waste electricals are thrown away every year, and there are 880m repairable electrical items of all kinds lying unused in UK. Every October the Open Repair Alliance openrepair.org/ celebrates the power of repair to bring our communities together, reduce our impact on the planet, learn new skills and support all in the community with the cost of living. The Open Repair Alliance is an international group of organisations committed to working towards a world where electrical and electronic products are more durable and easier to repair. They are building an Open Repair Data Standard to enable community repair groups around the world to collect and share open data on electronics repairs performed at their events. Eventually the aim is to extend their reach to commercial repairers and others collecting repair data. This data will be used to tell stories about the positive impacts of repair, and to inform advocacy. Working together, they advocate for a stronger case for more easily repairable devices.
Zero / reduced waste shopping locally
Just popped up on our radar but trading for sometime is the Old Weigh at Bridge Street, Pickering another local option for shopping with less waste using local greengrocers and market stalls by reusing bags to put your fruit and vegetables in as well as existing zero waste shops. They have recently put out a request for your spare clean, empty jam jars and bottles so you can repurpose your stash of empty jars plus pick up your dried food goods, local rapeseed oil and other goodies all zero waste.
On our doorstep is Tindalls Homehardware which as well as supplying all your DIY needs will also refill your Ecover household cleaning and bathroom supplies. Find the at 1 Springfield, Stokesley TS9 5DS
Other local shops which allow you to refill your own containers to reduce waste:
Roots Farm Shop & Café, East Rounton DL6 2LE;
Fletchers Farm Shop, Woodhouse Farm Great Ayton TS9 6HZ
Spilman’s Farm Shop, Church Farm, Sessay, ThirskYO7 3NB
Sweet Treats (refill section), 59 Market Pl, Thirsk YO7 1TF
Off the Scale, 28 Church St, Castleton, YO21 2EQ
Guisborough Refill, Tony Gallagher Hairdressing, 12 Chaloner St, Guisborough TS14 6QD
Earth Warriors, 76a Skinnergate, Darlington DL3 7LX .
And of course don’t forget your refillable water bottle, which you can find places to refill locally using the Refill app (https://www.refill.org.uk/).
September’s Repair Cafe in Swainby saw over 50 items in need of repair dealt with by our intrepid pink T-shirted volunteer repairers and the majority were fixed to the delight and gratitude of their owners who were also treated to free Fair Trade cuppas and mini Fair Trade chocolate cakes.
Environment & Climate Osmotherley (ECO) is now an established part of Climate Action Stokesley & Villages. ECO is a group of like-minded villagers with shared concerns around our environment & climate change. Their lead, Becci Wright notes “We meet once a month & also have four sub-groups exploring Decarbonisation, Sustainability, Flora & Fauna who meet regularly. We hope to encourage other residents & visitors to our village to adopt a more thoughtful & sustainable approach to our environment, and also work with the relevant local authorities to promote sustainable living.”
Bridget from the Nature Group writes: “The Osmotherley Environmental Group held a very exciting Bat Watch evening event last month. There was an initial presentation from Rebecca Wright with lots of interesting bat facts. We then went for a walk around Osmotherley armed with bat detectors and found Common and Soprano Pipistrelles and a Noctule. Our thanks to Rebecca for leading the evening.”
Rebecca is organising a Dark Skies presentation by Richard Darn, currently in the pipeline, check ECO group & CASaV social media for updates.
Contact Rebecca for more information
Running on weekends until the end of October and run by volunteers, the Moorsbus covers so much of the beautiful North York Moors, great walking and carrying bicycles as well. Plan a day out in nature! More information here moorsbus
Thinking of travelling further afield this summer? Have a look at The Man in Seat 61 website for detailed itineraries of how to travel across Europe and even worldwide without flying. Train travel can be a more rewarding alternative to flying which reduces our contribution to climate change and brings us closer to the countries we visit. This site explains how to travel comfortably & affordably by train or ferry, rediscovering the pleasure, romance & adventure of the journey. More information here: seat61
If you have any news or any event / activity you would like promoting on next month’s (October) update please email Kate Gibbon by the end of October
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 whole group CASaV meeting on Tuesday 15th October 19.30 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, Ron Kirk Barry Warrington and Simon Gibbon
Our next whole group meeting is on Tuesday 17th September, at the newly updated Globe Community Library, North Road, Stokesley from 19.30 until 21.00.
All welcome to come and discuss all things climate change and biodiversity loss, updates from the sub groups and planning for future activities
We’re a friendly bunch and we welcome everyone!
Thank you for your role in taking urgent action globally and locally on climate breakdown and biodiversity loss.
(details of all events below in Newsletter section)
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.
National and global climate action news and campaigns
Second Hand September is a moment for all of us to come together to choose a more planet-friendly way to shop. There was a time when what we wore meant something. It said something about us and our community. But what does it mean today? A throwaway culture? Planet wrecking waste? This September, take a stance against the impact of fast fashion by shopping second hand. Reclaim what style stands for. Dress for the world you want to see.
Explore slow fashion, sustainable fashion and ethical fashion, shop and donate second hand and help create a fairer world.
oxfam.org.uk/get-involved/second-hand-september/
It is well established that we need to move away from using fossil fuels for energy production and use renewables as our long term sources of energy not only for energy security but more importantly to reduce the impact of climate breakdown. Alongside wind turbines, tidal and river turbines, solar (voltaic) panels are a key energy source. Siting the solar panels has become a issue for complex discussion. Although using domestic and commercial rooftops is now commonplace, using land with potential for agriculture as solar farms is heavily debated.
In 2022 Greenpeace published information on how farming and solar panels can work together farming-and-solar-panels-can-work-together and in 2023 the first Global Agrivoltaic conference took place, highlighting how agricultural production, such as crop or livestock production or pollinator habitats can successfully take place underneath or adjacent to solar panels. You can see the proceedings of this conference here
The Council for the Preservation of Rural England (CPRE), although highly supportive of renewable energy and of solar panels on buildings, expresses concern about the use of countryside for solar farms cpre solar-energy-the-countryside
What are your thoughts?
The Soil Association has created this Organic Living Guide to celebrate all things organic, and provide you with tips for living a life in harmony with nature. The FREE digital guide is packed with top tips and advice from our team of experts at the Soil Association. It also includes features from special guests who have shaped the organic movement.
Inside this guide you will find: advice for choosing animal products which work with nature, not against it, how to buy, plant and harvest in tune with the seasons, tips for avoiding greenwashing and your guide to planting for pollinators.
You can obtain your FREE guide here: organic-living-guide/
Growing and cooking your own food is not only delicious and healthy but is also good for climate change. Enjoy a relaxed day out at this autumn food event – Festival of Flavours – from 7 to 8 September. Get take-home tips from chefs and local food producers, browse food and drink stalls and take Kitchen Garden tours, while relaxing to live music in the beautiful surroundings.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/harlow-carr/whats-on/festival-of-flavours
“Act Local”
Our next whole group meeting is on Tuesday 17th September, at the newly updated Globe Community Library, Stokesley from 19.30 until 21.00.
All welcome to come and discuss all things climate change and biodiversity loss, updates from the sub groups and planning for future activities
We’re a friendly bunch and we welcome everyone!
What is the link between Fair Trade and climate breakdown? The impact of climate breakdown is often experienced more harshly on the most vulnerable global communities. Fairtrade aims to promote sustainable food production and environmental protection through a number of strategies including adhering to the Fairtrade standards and to be certified as a Fairtrade producer, farmers must improve soil and water quality, manage pests, avoid using harmful chemicals, manage waste, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and protect biodiversity. Production wise, Fairtrade supports and incentivises agroecology principles to transition toward more resilient farming practices and implement climate change adaptation plans. Fairtrade is also actively involved and advocates for better climate justice in trade by reviewing legislation that aims to tackle the negative impact of trade practices on the environment. This also includes working with traders and retailers to be accountable for their climate commitments and environmental due diligence.
Stokesley and Ayton FairTrade Group are holding the FairTrade Fortnight 9-22nd September, especially with the support of all our local Co-op stores, in which they’ll have displays, information and a FREE raffle, (though it will be necessary to answer one question about FairTrade!) The group are striving to enable local people to see reasons to choose FairTrade and support FairTrade producers who will be the first to be struggle with Climate Change.
More information on the links between Fair Trade and climate breakdown Fair Trade Climate Issues
Yatton House Community Garden working party 10th September 1:30 – 3:00pm
Looking forward to picking french beans and mangetout during the September working party. The garden is now open weekdays unless raining so call in and enjoy sitting in the restful space.
North Yorkshire Council: Let’s Talk Rubbish survey
NYC collects around 310,000 tonnes of household waste each year from over 300,000 properties. About 45 per cent of this is reused, recycled or composted.
The Let’s Talk Local and Let’s Talk Money feedback to NYC requested that the council should focus on providing the best value for money and tackling climate change. NYC notes that the formation of North Yorkshire Council has brought together seven different ways of collecting household waste and recycling. By reviewing the different recycling collection services, they aim to become more efficient and cost-effective.
NYC currently (until 16th September) has an online survey (can also be completed on paper) asking for YOUR thoughts, wishes and ideas on rubbish collection and recycling.
Make your voice heard! letstalkny survey-rubbish
Our monthly Repair Cafe will be on Saturday 21st September 10 – 12 at Swainby Village Hall, High Street, Swainby
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 give 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.
Bicycle Health Expert Andy from Sustrans is joining us again this month to provide free bicycle ‘health checks’ – a thorough check over of your bike to check it’s road worthiness plus small repairs and advice.
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 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.
CASaV will be running a couple of apple pressing sessions in Faceby this autumn. Dates coming soon. Check our apple pressing website page in early September for details https://climateactionstokesleyandvillages.org/food/apple-pressing/
At CASaV we are very fortunate to have a super range of tremendous people from all walks of life who give their time, skills, passion and knowledge, thinking globally and acting locally to help fight climate change and biodiversity loss. Last month we started a new series highlighting the great work our volunteers and project supporters do, this month we continue:
About a year ago Katy came along to the Stokesley repair cafe because she wanted her faulty toaster fixed. During her visit she noticed there was a sewing section and that was it – she was hooked, in more than one way as she can use a crochet hook!
Katy is a very busy woman! She is the Founder Director of a literacy company called Lexonik. She, along with her Lexonik staff passionately believe ‘nobody should be limited because they can’t read.’
Sewing, knitting, crocheting and cooking have been her hobbies since childhood. She also taught food and nutrition, child development and textiles in Secondary schools before changing her teaching career to specialise in Special Educational Needs. Her literacy work has taken her to California, Florida, Georgia and Middle East. Having the opportunity to travel for work may sound exciting perhaps even glamorous but Katy says “It’s just a very long way to go to the office!”
When she was younger she spent time dressmaking, and loved working with quality fabrics making wedding dresses and bridesmaid dresses but now she prefers smaller projects and crafting. In the last few years she has also learned how to cane chairs, thanks to YouTube videos and has beautifully restored a number of cane seats brought to the Repair Cafe in varying states of disrepair!
She really enjoys being part of the CASaV team and gets great satisfaction from working on damaged often cherished possessions, bringing them back to life. But she also enjoys her CASaV time because, in her words “we basically laugh a lot, chat a lot and mend a lot.” She is also fearless and undaunted by one of the most frequent and biggest challenges faced by the sewing repairers – broken zips!
One type of mend she would like to see more of is turning collars and cuffs on shirts which are otherwise in perfect condition as it makes those favourite shirts as good as new again.
David has attended many Repair Cafes as a repairee as well as joining Waste group meetings, attending walks organised by the Nature group and was a key speaker at the CASaV Environment and Farming event. As a local farmer and councillor at North Yorkshire Council he was delighted to be elected as Climate Change member champion. His interest in climate change goes back to 2008 when he travelled extensively overseas while researching a paper titled “The Carbon Footprint of British Agriculture”. Since then he has farmed with climate change in mind and was one of the first farmers in the UK to adopt the practice of mob grazing.
While there were agricultural reasons for putting himself forward for this council role, David notes that it was his occasional forays to CASaV which provided the spark. His travels back in 2008 starting by studying the Peatlands of The Peak District so he greatly enjoyed joining the CASaV trip to Rosedale peat restoration earlier this year.
The member champion role is relatively new in North Yorkshire having been introduced early in the new Council when members declared a climate emergency. David sees his role as working with the Assistant Director of Environment and Executive member who have responsibility for climate change in their portfolios.The role is a cross party one as he will see all 90 members as champions. Already he has taken a request to the Scrutiny Board from a member who believes we should be managing highway verges in a more nature friendly way. David notes that he is looking forward to working with the family of climate action groups in the county and make them feel part of the NYC climate change strategy.
David says he is proud of his fifteen years of service representing local villages on four different Authorities. However it doesn’t always go to plan – when as Chairman of Hambleton District Council he put the case containing the Mayoral Chains on the bonnet of his car while checking the cows after a function. They were later retrieved by a police officer in the middle of the night from Faceby water splash! David notes “To add to my embarrassment this even made the local radio news the following day.”
How about you?
If you are interested in playing a more active role in thinking globally, acting locally to fight climate change and biodiversity loss please visit our website and look at the volunteer opportunities or pop along to one of our meetings – whole group and Food, Nature & Waste sub groups – and have a chat!
Issues / ideas from the groups: Nature
Last week Becci of the Environment & Climate Osmotherley and Bridget the Nature group lead organised a very popular ‘Bat Night’ in Osmotherley. Rebecca started the evening with a inspiring illustrated talk about these amazing mammals then the group was shown how to use bat detectors and we set off for a fascinating walk around Osmotherley using the detectors to identify at least four different species of bats as they flew around us on their night time hunting forays! The evening was so well enjoyed another is planned to take place in Great Ayton in the coming months, watch out for details.
Food Revolution: watch ‘Eating for Tomorrow’ film
The Food Revolution Network is an organisation committed to inspiring and advocating for sustainable and ethical food through education about plant based foods. They have a film by leading environmentalists about the impact of what we eat on the environment and climate ‘Eating For Tomorrow’, narrated by Kate Winslet, available for free viewing via this link: Eating for Tomorrow
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. If you feel this is something with which you could help, please contact Jenny on jennyearle@phoneccop.coop.
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.
Fruit and vegetables in season this month include: apples, artichoke, aubergine, beetroot, bilberries, blackberries, broccoli, butternut squash, carrots, celeriac, celery, chard, chestnuts, chillies, chives, cob nuts, coriander, courgettes, cucumber, damsons, elderberries, fennel, french beans, garlic, horseradish, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce & salad leaves, mangetout, marrow, mint, onions, oregano, pak choi, parsley, pears, peppers, plums, potatoes, pumpkin, radishes, raspberries, redcurrants, rocket, rosemary, runner beans, sage, shallots, sorrel, spring onions, sweetcorn, thyme, tomatoes, turnips, watercress, wild mushrooms
Use up a glut of freshly harvested pears with this tasty recipe:
preserved-pears-a-lovely-recipe-an-even-better-gift/
Wendy from the Food Group notes”If you are fortunate enough to have an excess of fruit and all your friends have plenty too, you could preserve some for use in the winter, Freezing is possible, but why not try bottling (Boyes sell Kilner jars) or dehydrating. If you do not have an Aga, dehydrators cost about £45. Dried fruit can be stored in any airtight jar or tin. Storing in these ways uses no electricity.”
Every year, millions of people all around the world commit to reducing their landfill waste for a week during September – saving money, preserving resources and having fun in the process.
It’s simple to take part in Zero Waste Week: Choose an action which will help you reduce your waste, do it every day throughout Zero Waste Week in September and share your experience with others in person or online using the hashtag #ZeroWasteWeek.
More information: zerowasteweek
Coffee lovers can now dispose of their used pods in an environmentally friendly way as part of a new service aimed at reducing waste by North Yorkshire Council. They are is working with Podback, a coffee pod recycling service, to offer the containers at our household waste recycling centres (HWRCs). Used coffee pods, as well as tea, milk, and hot chocolate pods, are accepted. The plastic or aluminium pods need to be collected separately, as they are recycled at different facilities. As part of the scheme, pods will be sent to specialist recycling plants and be transformed into new products such as packaging, car components and building products.
Coffee grounds will be treated by anaerobic digestion to create soil improver and renewable energy. The containers are available at all household waste recycling centres in North Yorkshire excluding Leyburn, Settle and Wombleton. More information here
Sadly another local zero waste store has now closed, the great Earth Unwrapped, Barkers Arcade, Northallerton but there are still lots of local options for shopping with less waste using local greengrocers and market stalls by reusing bags to put your fruit and vegetables in as well as existing zero waste shops.
A number of local shops allow you to refill your own containers to reduce waste:
Roots Farm Shop & Café, East Rounton DL6 2LE;
Fletchers Farm Shop, Woodhouse Farm Great Ayton TS9 6HZSpilman’s Farm Shop, Church Farm, Sessay, ThirskYO7 3NBFive Houses Farm Shop, Crathorne TS15 0AYDL7 8LNSweet Treats (refill section), 59 Market Pl, Thirsk YO7 1TFOff the Scale, 28 Church St, Castleton, YO21 2EQ
Guisborough Refill, Tony Gallagher Hairdressing, 12 Chaloner St, Guisborough TS14 6QD
Slightly further afield, but if you’re in town, pop in to the brilliant Earth Warriors, 76a Skinnergate, Darlington for zero waste and plastic free items.
And of course don’t forget your refillable water bottle, which you can find places to refill locally using the Refill app (https://www.refill.org.uk/).
August’s Repair Cafe at the Globe, Stokesley was predicted to be a quiet affair with many people on holiday but in fact it turned out to be the busiest Repair Cafe of the year so far! Over 86 items in need of repair were seen by our intrepid pink T-shirted volunteer repairers and the majority were fixed to the delight and gratitude of their owners who were also treated to free Fair Trade cuppas and edible treats.
The beautiful weather on Saturday 31st August brought hundreds of folk of all ages to the beautifully located Bilsdale Agricultural Show, many of whom engaged with interest with our environment and climate ‘zone’ which included the North Yorkshire Rotters and Surfers Against Sewage alongside our CASaV stand promoting simple but effective ways that everyone can take action on climate change and biodiversity loss. Our volunteers in their bright yellow high vis ‘Act Local’ vests also litter picked around the showground, encouraging everyone to think about recycling and reducing waste.
Environment & Climate Osmotherley (ECO) is now an established part of Climate Action Stokesley & Villages.
ECO is a group of like-minded villagers with shared concerns around our environment & climate change. Their lead, Becci Wright notes “We meet once a month & also have four sub-groups exploring Decarbonisation, Sustainability, Flora & Fauna who meet regularly. We hope to encourage other residents & visitors to our village to adopt a more thoughtful & sustainable approach to our environment, and also work with the relevant local authorities to promote sustainable living.”
Becci is a great source of wildlife expertise delivered a fascinating talk and a bat walk last week, more planned for the future. Date and time will be announced soon on the to the CASaV Facebook page and website.
Contact for more information
Running on weekends and bank holidays from now until the end of October and run by volunteers, the Moorsbus covers so much of the beautiful North York Moors, great walking and carrying bicycles as well. Plan a day out in nature! More information here moorsbus
Thinking of travelling further afield this summer? Have a look at The Man in Seat 61 website for detailed itineraries of how to travel across Europe and even worldwide without flying. Train travel can be a more rewarding alternative to flying which reduces our contribution to climate change and brings us closer to the countries we visit. This site explains how to travel comfortably & affordably by train or ferry, rediscovering the pleasure, romance & adventure of the journey. More information here: seat61
If you have any news or any event / activity you would like promoting on next month’s (October) update please email Kate Gibbon by the end of September
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 whole group CASaV meeting on Tuesday 17th September 19.30 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, Ron Kirk Barry Warrington and Simon Gibbon
This month we highlight some of the people who bring the love to CASaV
(details of all events below in Newsletter section)
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.
National and global climate action news and campaigns
Biodiversity loss is happening at a greater and greater rate. Currently 16% of all species in Great Britain (where sufficient data is available) are threatened with extinction. But you can help address this by becoming a Citizen Scientist.
Citizen Science, also known as Community Science, is a way anyone can help gather scientific information in their local surroundings or the comfort of their own home. Citizen Science initiatives focusing on the environment are becoming more common – such as the loved Big Garden Birdwatch – and with technological innovations increasing the ways in which individuals can participate, projects can even become global in scale, long-term, and engage hundreds of thousands of volunteers. The information Citizen Scientists gather is hugely valuable for furthering our understanding of the impact of climate change on biodiversity for example. People taking part as Citizen Scientists feel closer to nature and get great satisfaction of doing something valuable and purposeful.
Some Citizen Science environmental information gathering you can take part in now:
Did you know that there are eleven different species of bats living in North Yorkshire, according to the North Yorkshire Bat Group north-yorkshire-bats/
The Sunset Survey (running from now – October) organised by the Bat Conservation Trust brings you a perfect opportunity to get together with family/friends and discover bats and other wildlife in your local area. This is ideal for you if you don’t have previous bat surveying experience. Just spend an hour from sunset (or before sunrise) and let us know what you see/hear from your window, balcony, garden or local green space. More information here:
national-bat-monitoring-programme
The Bugs Matter citizen science survey is an important initiative measuring insect splats on vehicle number plates as a marker of insect abundance. In previous survey years, with the valuable contributions of citizen scientists across the UK, we have made significant strides in understanding the challenges facing our insect populations.
This year, we need your help, once again, to build on our knowledge and make our impact even greater. Sharing the findings from your journeys will help us understand more about our insect populations, as growing evidence highlights their declines on a global scale.
Your participation in this nature survey is vital for us to monitor population trends, address causes of insect loss, halt and reverse them. It’s really simple to take part, involving cleaning your number plate before you set off on a journey and counting the number of bug splats after the journey, then logging the data online. info here: bugs-matter
Great UK Water Blitz 20 – 23rd September
The Great UK WaterBlitz is a biannual campaign calling on everyone to go out and test the quality of their local freshwater including rivers, streams and lakes. This helps to build a national picture of water quality across the UK.
Our rivers and freshwater habitats are at crisis point and we need urgent action. Join us this September to add your data to the fight for healthy freshwater. You can register here now to take part: greatukwaterblitz
This month’s local activities and ideas from our focus groups (Nature, Food, Waste, Energy, Transport) to address biodiversity loss and fight climate breakdown
Our next whole group meeting is on Tuesday 20th July, at the newly updated Globe Community Library, Stokesley from 19.30 until 21.00.
All welcome to come and help plan a programme of talks and other activities following our AGM last month (see below for links and information).
We’re a friendly bunch and we welcome everyone!
Our monthly Repair Cafe will be on Saturday 10th August 10 – 12 at the Globe Community Library, Stokesley.
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 give 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.
Bicycle Health Expert Andy from Sustrans is joining us again this month to provide free bicycle ‘health checks’ – a thorough check over of your bike to check it’s road worthiness plus small repairs and advice.
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 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.
The Yatton House Community Garden is now open most weekdays, weather permitting. Do call in and have a look. There is even now a solar powered water feature to accompany the planting. The next working party will be on Tuesday 13th August, from 1:30 – 3:00 pm.
The Waste group are organising a stall at the great Bilsdale Agricultural Show on Saturday 31st August 9.00 – 17.00 advising on ways we can all take to help fight climate change and biodiversity loss alongside supporting the show to encourage recycling to reduce waste going to landfill and incineration.
We are also going to be joined by John and Edith Reeve from local Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) who will be showcasing SAS’s fantastic programme of education and activism not just aimed at cleaning up our seas but also our rivers as these all eventually flow into the sea – more information here: SAS sewage and water quality
Thank you to all who have already volunteered to help run the stall. It should be a great day out for all ages and interests and if you visit the show, please pop by and say hello to us on the CASaV stall!
At CASaV we are very fortunate to have a super range of tremendous people from all walks of life who give their time, skills, passion and knowledge, thinking globally and acting locally to help fight climate change and biodiversity loss. Meet just a few:
Meet Phil, the sustainable alternative to Jay Blades at our monthly Repair Cafés.
Phil got involved via his brother who volunteers at a Repair Café in the south of England.
Phil can sharpen most blades including knives and scissors but particularly enjoys working on
gardening tools including secateurs, shears and lawnmower blades. We are a nation of gardeners and he is usually in high demand, over two years he has saved many hundreds of Repair Cafe visitors the cost of replacing equipment and the environmental impact of blunt tool disposal.
Quite a few different things get brought along to the Repair Café but his most memorable was the 2 foot long machete which he wasn’t sure whether to sharpen or hand into the police.
When not bringing new life to blunt blades Phil is an aviation fanatic, he is secretary of ‘Guisborough Model Flying Club’ and also has a share in a light aircraft syndicate. He has even persuaded his good lady wife into joining the Repair Café as a ‘front of house’ volunteer.
Dante is one of the hard working volunteers at the Foodshare. As with the other Foodshare volunteers, Dante collects surplus food in the evening from stores in Great Ayton and Stokesley and takes it to groups who support vulnerable people locally who cannot afford to buy food. Dante is so committed to this project that he actually volunteers for two nights every week so many families have him to thank for being able to sit down to have a meal each day.
Dante’s most memorable Foodshare collection was picking up twenty four cases of mince pies with fifteen pies in each case (360 mince pies in total!) and struggling to fit them all in the car. Dante notes “It was hilarious, I’d never seen that many mince pies before and it was like something from a comedy sketch”. A happy Christmas for quite a few people thanks to Dante!
Dante is also tremendously fit and active, and is now setting himself mountain hiking challenges and, as in his Foodshare work, he always goes the extra mile.
Setting his sights on the highest peaks in the UK Dante says “My initial idea was to climb every peak three times using different routes until I realised there’s eight routes up Snowdon so in July, last month, I completed all eight routes in four days, doing two routes a day.
So far I’ve hiked up Ben Nevis once but I’m going back in November when there’s snow blizzards and bad weather to complete it twice more. I completed the Yorkshire Three Peaks three times in one week and I plan to do Scafell Pike this year, likely October. I don’t want to follow others just do my own thing and next year I have my focus on Everest base camp”.
Dante says in his spare time he combines his interests in all things food together with adventuring by hunting for Paddington bear and his marmalade sandwiches. A trip to Darkest Peru soon?
Tracey’s day job is Service Improvement Officer for North Yorkshire Council but she is also active out of hours supporting CASaV, specifically advising on all things waste and recycling.
Tracey says “Having worked for several years as a Recycling Officer and then a Recycling and Climate Change Officer in North Yorkshire I’ve had several opportunities to work with CASaV either through Recycling Talks, Climate Change events or through the Waste Group’s monthly meetings, as well as arranging for group members to visit recycling and energy from waste projects. I love talking rubbish and in my new role I think it important the Council maintains links with community groups to see what opportunities may arise to help achieve the shared goal of reducing waste and empowering communities.
In my spare time I am busy with a multitude of pets which include cats, a dog, bearded dragon, giant African land snail, giant millipede plus more, my daughter is studying Zoology so mum gets to look after all her hobbies while she’s away!”
Following the moving on of Jack Turton from the steering group due to other commitments we are delighted to announce that Barry, CASaV Transport lead has stepped up to join the steering group. Barry was active in the formation of CASaV over 5 years ago and took on the responsibility of leading the Transport focus of the whole group in which role he has championed the Endeavour Way, an active travel route as an alternative to private vehicle and public transport between Stokesley and Great Ayton, been active in the development of North Yorkshire Council’s Transport Strategy, organised the ‘Route Ahead to Sustainable Transport’ day event in Stokesley and lobbied NYC on ‘Twenty’s Plenty’ among other sustainable actions local and county wide.
Barry’s skills and interests extend to being a guitar genius and his guitar group entertained visitors to the transport event in Stokesley.
Anne has been involved in CASaV, specifically the Nature group, since the very beginning. As a botanist with extensive experience across the globe she has brought her skills and knowledge on natural history to our group through the seasonal nature and wild flower walks and talks she regularly leads locally.
Anne says “My original research was with the British Antarctic Survey mapping the two flowering plants of the Antarctic, unfortunately at a distance, from records, as females were not allowed to work there in those days! I did work in situ on forestry projects in Zambia and later in Northern India, while more mundanely I ran a gardening club and took children on nature walks while at a bush camp in the Congo! And grew vegetables in the sand of the Sahara dessert with camel manure and water while living in Mauritania!
Now I work on maintenance of my old Forest Garden at Natures World (one of the oldest in existence in the UK, now 30 years old) as well as a wildlife area there. I am Chairman of Great Ayton Wildlife association, weekly talks during the winter months. I help with the Brighten Up Great Ayton and Yatton House Community Garden groups Tidy up Great Ayton and Ayton. I am involved with Esk Valley ‘Community Earth Project’, the ARK, ( acts of restorative kindness to nature) and I write regularly for the ‘Esk Valley News’ . I am a member of the North York Moors Association, go on their walks and write regularly for their ‘Voice’ magazine. I belong to a Great Ayton Churches Together Group and am helping to give advice for some local churchyards to be managed in a more wildlife friendly way. A rather sensitive subject!
If you are interested in playing a more active role in thinking globally, acting locally to fight climate change and biodiversity loss please visit our website and look at the volunteer opportunities or pop along to one of our meetings – whole group and Food, Nature & Waste sub groups – and have a chat!
Book of the month: A Gift for Conversation
One of the biggest impacts we can each have on climate change is to have conversations about climate change. None of us can solve climate change alone, and while we are continually exposed to climate change denial and delay, there is not the pressure from everybody on industry and governments to stop damaging the climate and instead act with the urgency necessary. Real conversations about climate change and what we can do about it help to counter the drip feed of denial and delay.
Conversations about climate change are challenging as none of us knows everything in this complex area, so Dr Louis Keal has written a short book for people to give other people you would like to have a climate conversation with “A Gift for Conversation: Let’s discuss climate change: Why it matters. What to do about it.” In this spirit of giving, the book is available to read or listen to on our website, reading or listening to it will help you have conversations about climate change. The book addresses in a clear way what we need to be able to talk to other people about how climate change is happening now, how we caused it, how we’re sure we caused it, how climate change is bad and how there is still time to act to avoid a terrible future.
Please have a look at the book on our website (or buy a paper copy) and let us know about your climate change conversations.
There were several events in late June and July including:
The CASaV AGM took place at Howard’s Court, courtesy of Caroline Kitching and members enjoyed a shared picnic before having a tour of the tree planting areas.
The annual report is here
The financial report is here
Whilst on the CASaV organised walk round Great Ayton floodplain meadow at the end of June, listening to a selection of poems by Margaret Mawston, the participants contributed their thoughts to compose the following poem in the style of Margaret Mawston:
“A walk around Great Ayton Floodplain Meadow June 2024
How can people have such contempt for the countryside when,
we see beauty all around us at any time of the year.
Give yourself time to enjoy something – a plant or a bird song you’ve not noticed before. Give yourself time for companionship in enjoying the scenery and plant life.
Listen to the tranquil birdsong, although is the chiff chaffing of the Chiffchaff tranquil? Once heard you will hear it all summer.
Moving on, a profusion of feathery wafts of heady scent from the Meadow Sweet and high grasses –calm scents surround
Crested Dogs Tails and Timothy jostling each other to get to the sun, fleeing from the Himalayan Balsam.
Spear Thistles stand proud next to the gift of Creeping Thistle – food for butterflies, bees and birds.
Under lichen covered branches we talk about the importance of ‘weeds’ and times past, memories unfurled.
How can people have such contempt for the countryside?”
Find out more here Floodplain meadow
Some members of CASaV went to hear Feargal Sharkey, in his capacity of vice chair of River Action UK, support Save our Swale group in their work to stop the ongoing pollution of the River Swale caused by Yorkshire Water. The event was well attended and it was good to have such a high profile ambassador in the campaign to have clean river water in the UK.
Feargal Sharkey highlights water pollution during Richmond rally | The Northern Echo
More about Save Our Swale on their Facebook page: SaveOurSwale/
More about River Action UK: riveractionuk.com/
Issues / ideas from the groups: Nature
There is substantial evidence that biodiversity in this country is at an all time low. One of the many species that is suffering is the hedgehog particularly in rural areas. We hope to have a talk in the coming months from a local expert but in the meantime here is some information on how to help hedgehogs in your garden.
www.wildlifetrusts.org/what-do-if-you-find-wild-animal/help-hedgehog
Together with the ECO (Environment Climate Osmotherley) group, a fascinating ‘Bat Night’ is planned! Details below.
.jpg)
UK peat bogs are an essential landscape for carbon capture but sadly they have declined by up to 94% in the last century. Earlier this year the Nature group organised a fascinating tour of peat bogs under restoration on the North York Moors led by the local Yorkshire Peat Partnership
RSPB & the Co-op are working together to restore other areas of this vital resource in response to the nature and climate crises. The new partnership forms part of Co-op’s Climate Plan commitments to fund UK natural restoration and funding has been generated by sales of Co-op compostable carrier bags.
You can read more about this here
We had a delightful evening in Jenny’s garden, joined by the Foodshare Volunteers. It was a shared supper and what a feast of interesting dishes we had. All veggie/vegan and delicious. And plenty of interesting conversation as well!
The Food Revolution Network is an organisation committed to inspiring and advocating for sustainable and ethical food through education about plant based foods. They have a film by leading environmentalists about the impact of what we eat on the environment and climate ‘Eating For Tomorrow’, narrated by Kate Winslet, available for free viewing via this link: Eating for Tomorrow
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. If you feel this is something with which you could help, please contact Jenny on jennyearle@phoneccop.coop.
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.
Heat-loving crops like tomatoes, cucumbers and chillies are in their prime now. Look for locally grown aubergines and peppers, which are usually imported to the UK.
Fruit and vegetables to harvest or buy locally now:
Aubergines, Beetroot, Blackberries, Blueberries, Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Carrots, CeleryChard, Courgettes and summer squash, Cucumbers, Fennel, French beans, Lettuce and other salad leaves, Peas and mangetout, Peppers and chillies, Plums, Potatoes, Raspberries, Runner beans, Spring onions, Sweetcorn, Tomatoes
Vegetables to sow and plant now:
Lettuce, Pak choi, Parsley, Rocket, Spinach
Use up a glut of fresh tomatoes with this tasty dip:
Fast fashion has had a big impact on how we create, buy, wear, and dispose of clothes as individuals and businesses. Clothes production and consumption levels have significantly increased over the past few decades, driven by demand, availability, low costs, and a throwaway culture. It’s also led to unstylish levels of waste.
Every year across the world we produce 92 million tonnes of textile waste. Unless big changes happen and improve how we make, use, and dispose of clothes, it’s estimated that by 2030 we’ll create 134 million tonnes of textile waste globally. And the global fashion industry is responsible for 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions.
As autumn approaches, particularly with the new school year in mind, think before you follow the rush to buy ‘new season’ clothing.
1. The most sustainable clothing are the items you already own. Have a look through your wardrobe and rediscover your existing clothes. If they need a button sewing on, a zip replacing or a seam strengthening remember to pop along to our monthly Repair Cafes.
In Stokesley Feet First, 53 High St, Stokesley can bring new life to your worn out footwear.
Or use your creativity to transform your existing clothes into something new. Look here for idea: upcycling-clothes-ideas
2. Preloved, vintage, second hand. Someone else’s unwanted item is your ‘new to you’ clothing. As well as charity and vintage shops also look at preloved on ebay and Vinted. Ask at your children’s school for second hand uniforms for example Stokesley School maintains a stock of second-hand uniform which is available for parents/carers upon request. The school encourages all parents/carers to donate any outgrown or unwanted uniform items to the school if they are able. For other schools, have a look here: uniformd.co.uk/schools
Some local charity clothes shops:
3. Swap your unwanted clothes for vouchers
Don’t consign your unwanted clothes to landfill or incineration – H&M, M&S. Schuh, John Lewis, River Island and New Look all have schemes that let you swap your unwanted clothes for vouchers and they’ll find new uses for your surplus items.
4. Buy sustainable
If you really have to buy new, consider purchasing from the most sustainable UK brands you can find, some ideas here:
slow-and-sustainable-clothing-directory
Sadly another local zero waste store is closing, the great Earth Unwrapped, Barkers Arcade, Northallerton but there are still lots of local options for shopping with less waste using local greengrocers and market stalls by reusing bags to put your fruit and vegetables in as well as existing zero waste shops.
A number of local shops allow you to refill your own containers to reduce waste:
Roots Farm Shop & Café, East Rounton DL6 2LE;
Fletchers Farm Shop, Woodhouse Farm Great Ayton TS9 6HZSpilman’s Farm Shop, Church Farm, Sessay, ThirskYO7 3NBFive Houses Farm Shop, Crathorne TS15 0AYDL7 8LNSweet Treats (refill section), 59 Market Pl, Thirsk YO7 1TFOff the Scale, 28 Church St, Castleton, YO21 2EQ
Guisborough Refill, Tony Gallagher Hairdressing, 12 Chaloner St, Guisborough TS14 6QD
Slightly further afield, but if you’re in town, pop in to the brilliant Earth Warriors, 76a Skinnergate, Darlington for zero waste and plastic free items.
And of course don’t forget your refillable water bottle, which you can find places to refill locally using the Refill app (https://www.refill.org.uk/).
Environment & Climate Osmotherley (ECO) is now an established part of Climate Action Stokesley & Villages.
ECO is a group of like-minded villagers with shared concerns around our environment & climate change. Their lead, Rebecca Wright notes “We meet once a month & also have four sub-groups exploring Decarbonisation, Sustainability, Flora & Fauna who meet regularly. We hope to encourage other residents & visitors to our village to adopt a more thoughtful & sustainable approach to our environment, and also work with the relevant local authorities to promote sustainable living.”
Rebecca is a great source of wildlife expertise and is planning a fascinating talk and a bat walk, weather conditions permitting. Date and time will be announced soon on the to the CASaV Facebook page and website.
Contact for more information
Running on weekends and bank holidays from now until the end of October and run by volunteers, the Moorsbus covers so much of the beautiful North York Moors, great walking and carrying bicycles as well. Plan a day out in nature! More information here moorsbus
Thinking of travelling further afield this summer? Have a look at The Man in Seat 61 website for detailed itineraries of how to travel across Europe and even worldwide without flying. Train travel can be a more rewarding alternative to flying which reduces our contribution to climate change and brings us closer to the countries we visit. This site explains how to travel comfortably & affordably by train or ferry, rediscovering the pleasure, romance & adventure of the journey. More information here: seat61
If you have any news or any event / activity you would like promoting on next month’s (August) update please email Kate Gibbon by the end of August
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 whole group CASaV meeting on Tuesday 20th August 19.30 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, Ron Kirk Barry Warrington and Simon Gibbon
Climate Action Stokesley and Villages