CASaV Update – January 2025

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

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

This month we have a wealth of ideas and activities to help you if you’ve made New Year’s resolutions to do more for biodiversity (tree planting), to learn a new sustainable craft (Osmotherley Mending Group), to learn hands on gardening skills (Yatton House Community Garden working party), to make your possessions last longer (Repair Cafe), to get out and meet more like minded people (all of our events!)

Action all!!

Please complete the online survey exploring the impact of our group

– closing date January 10th

As we start 2025 planning ahead for a year of events, activities and actions by CASaV, it is a useful time to assess if we are meeting our goals of making a tangible impact. Having been in existence for just over five years we have commissioned an assessment of our impact in the local community so far. This will be conducted by CaVCA (Coast and Vale Community Action) with funding from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund North Yorkshire. The findings will help us shape the actions we take over the coming years to tackle and adapt to climate change locally.

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

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

The survey will close on Friday 10th January.

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

Diary dates

(details of all events below in Newsletter section)

Tuesday 21st January 19.30 – 21.00 Whole Group Meeting, the Globe Community Library, Stokesley
Wednesday 1st – Friday 31st January ‘Veganuary’
Tuesday 7th January – Friday 14th February Big Schools’ Birdwatch
Tuesdays 7th, 14th, 21st & 28th January 14.00 – 16.00 Osmotherley Mending Group, Quaker Meeting House, Osmotherley
Sunday 12th January 10.00 – 12.00, 13.00 – 15.00 Tree Planting, Faceby
Tuesday 14th January 19.00 Waste Group (incl Repair Cafe) Meeting & Wassail Gathering in Swainby (see Waste Group section below)
Tuesday 14th January 13.30 – 15.00 Yatton House Community Garden Working Party
Wednesday 15th January 19.30 Environment Climate Osmotherley Group meeting, Methodist Chapel, Osmotherley
Thursday 16th January 15.30 Nature Group meeting, the Globe Community Library (see Nature Group section below)
Saturday 18th January 10.00-12.00 Repair Cafe, Swainby Village Hall
Friday 24th – Sunday 26th January Big Garden Birdwatch
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.

“Think global”

Veganuary

Veganuary has inspired and supported millions of people to try vegan since 2014 – with participants from almost every country in the world.

At CASaV we are interested in the impact veganism can have in reducing the impact of climate change for example:

Reducing carbon footprint: A vegan diet can reduce an individual’s annual carbon footprint by up to 2.1 tons.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions: A vegan diet can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are a major contributor to climate change:

For more information see here: veganuary

Tuesday 7th January – Friday 14th February Big Schools’ Birdwatch

Getting out in nature is good for our well-being and gathering data on the state of nature is good for the well-being of the planet. Big Schools’ Birdwatch is a great way to do both. If you are a school pupil, or are connected to any of our local schools – junior and secondary – find out how you can join thousands of other schools to find out which birds visit your school grounds. More information here: big-schools-birdwatch

Friday 24th – Sunday 26th January Big Garden Birdwatch

Big Garden Birdwatch is the world’s largest garden wildlife survey. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people who care about wildlife take part, helping to build a picture of how garden birds are faring.

The information gathered is essential for monitoring biodiversity. Across the UK, over 600,000 people took part in Big Garden Birdwatch 2024, counting 9.7 million birds. House Sparrows took the top spot, but counts of these birds are down by 60% compared to the first Birdwatch in 1979.

It is hugely concerning that we’ve lost 38 million birds from UK skies in the last 60 years. With birds facing so many challenges, it’s more important than ever to get involved in the Birdwatch. Every bird you do – or don’t – count will give us a valuable insight into how garden birds are faring.

Find out how to take part here:

big-garden-birdwatch

Global Plastics Treaty 2024 UN Negotiations – outcome

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.

The Global Plastics Treaty is a legally binding instrument that aims to address the negative effects of plastic pollution on the environment and human health.The fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) took place in Busan, Republic of Korea, from 25 November to 1 December 2024.

The talks aimed to finalise a Global Plastics Treaty but concluded without a formal decision.

A resumed meeting will now be held at a later date. This means that member states did not meet the ambition under the UNEA 5.2 mandate to deliver a treaty before the end of 2024.

Talks are continuing but while we wait for global and national decisions we can take action ourselves locally and individually – see the Plastics Free Communities information in the Waste section below.

“Act Local”

This month’s local activities and ideas from our focus groups (Nature, Food, Waste, Energy, Transport) to address biodiversity loss and fight climate breakdown

Tuesday 21st January 19.30 Whole Group Meeting

Globe Community Library, Stokesley

We start 2025 with planning for another year of our whole group’s activities and actions at our whole group meeting on Tuesday 21st January at the Globe Community Library, Stokesley from 19.30 until 21.00.

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

We’re a friendly bunch and we welcome everyone!

New Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission website and video

The new website for the Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission is now live. This is the new home for the Commissions research, projects, news, events, case studies and publications, as well as an overview of how the Commission is working to tackle the climate and nature crises. There’s also lots of information about how you can get involved in the Commission and how you can play your part.

The new website makes finding out about the 60 actions in the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Action Plan easy, with an interactive preview showing specific actions for different sectors, as well as case studies of work already happening.

Take a look at the online Climate Action Plan here: climate-action-plan

Tuesday 7th, 14th, 21st & 28th January 14.00 – 16.00 Osmotherley Mending Group – Osmotherley Quakers Meeting House

The weekly creative and sustainable community activity organised by ECO (Environment Climate Osmotherley) starts again for the new year. Meet for coffee, cake & conversation with knitting, crochet, darning & sewing, an opportunity to share your skills with experienced & novice friends. Check the ECO group on social media for any updates.

Sunday 12th January 10.00 – 12.00 & 13.00 – 15.00 Tree Planting Day, Faceby

Planting trees can have a significant impact on climate change and biodiversity, including:

Climate change – Trees are effective at capturing and storing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. This carbon is stored in the leaves, roots, and soil of the tree, and can remain locked up for centuries. Trees can also help reduce flooding by reducing the amount of rainwater that enters watercourses.

Biodiversity – Planting trees can help re-establish biodiversity by creating habitats and corridors that help wildlife spread.

To help improve local biodiversity, the Loftus family are holding a tree planting day on Sunday 12th January, aiming to plant 200 native trees round some new ponds in Faceby, all are invited to help. Tree planting will be taking place in the morning from 10am – 12 noon in the afternoon from 1pm – 3pm, weather permitting.

To keep everyone warm there will be homemade soup and bread provided at lunchtime!

If you would like to help please contact Caryn for details

Tuesday 14th January 13.30 – 15.00 Yatton House Community Garden Working Party

(Image: winter catkins at Yatton House Community Garden)

The monthly working party in the Yatton House Community Garden will be on Tuesday 14th January (2nd Tuesday of the month) from 1:30 – 3:00 pm.

Following a visit to Marwood C of E Infant School in Great Ayton, we will be looking at the ideas the children have suggested for the garden. Cleveland Mountain Rescue are kindly donating some of the proceeds from their Santa Sleigh Tour of the village towards making the children’s ideas a reality.

All welcome to come and help or just sit and watch.

Saturday 18th January 10.00-12.00 Repair Cafe, Swainby Village Hall

Start the new year with good intentions to reduce waste going to landfill or incineration and protect the earth’s natural resources whilst saving yourself the cost of buying new and keeping your treasured belongings in use for longer by coming along to our January Repair Cafe casav.uk/repaircafe on Saturday 18th January 10 – 12 at Swainby Village Hall.

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.

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

Ideas & news from the groups

1. Nature Group

Nature Group meeting: Thursday 16th January 15.30, Globe Community Library, Stokesley Contact Bridget for information

The next Nature group meeting will be held in the Globe Library on Thursday 16th January at 3.30pm. Come and join us to find out what we are doing locally for biodiversity and spreading the climate action message.

Heather burning: Community Earth Project

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

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

2. Ideas from the groups: Food Group

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

Growing Your own: January Tips of the Month

Try and resist the temptation to sow seeds early. The seedlings may need to be planted out before soil and air temperatures are suitable.

But you can get growing microgreens inside on your window sill – microgreens are vegetables that are harvested when they are about one to three inches tall, soon after the first adult leaves have developed. They are high in nutrients and a great way to grow your own fresh food in winter.

Choose the right seed – Mustard greens and other brassicas, like broccoli and kale, are good choices for winter microgreens because they are robust and don’t need much light.

Prepare the seeds – Soaking seeds overnight can speed up germination, but it’s not required.

Prepare the container – Use a small seed tray or a recycled food tub. Sterilize the tray by soaking it in water with a little bleach for five minutes.

Plant the seeds – Sow the seeds thickly, with a space between each seed equal to the size of the seed.

Provide the right conditions – Place the container in a warm windowsill to germinate.

Love Food, Hate Waste

Love Food, Hate Waste are looking for your food saving success stories to shout about. If you have savvy shopping habits – like writing an epic shopping list or only buying loose fruits and veggies, they would love to hear from you: lovefoodhatewaste

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

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

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

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

January Seasonal Eating

Eating food in season (local as far as possible) can have substantial positive impact on climate breakdown by reducing high-energy input from artificial heating or lighting needed to produce crops out of the natural growing season.

Seasonal eating

How to eat seasonally

Fruit and vegetables in season in January include

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

3. Ideas from the groups: Waste

This month’s Waste Group (including Repair Cafe) Meeting / Wassail Gathering Tuesday 14th January December 7.00pm CASaV in Swainby – contact Simon Gibbon for address and to let us know you are coming

After the Christmas rush is over, the Waste Group / Repair Cafe is having their January meeting as a Wassail Gathering in Swainby. All are warmly welcomed to raise a glass of fortified apple wassail, feast on sweet and savoury nibbles and reflect on all things waste reduction and repair cafes.

Please let Simon know if you are able to come.

One Change for 2025

As 2025 starts we are all thinking about things we can do differently. On 1st January the Daily Difference email from the Carbon Almanac Network had some simple ideas, which I have added some links to CASaV resources and local/UK groups. Good to see that reducing waste is strongly represented in their list directly, but of course many of the other actions also act to reduce waste, less fossil fuels means less CO2 waste.

One change, as you think about your goals for the year ahead, consider one change you can make that supports climate change efforts. Some thought starters:

Reducing your food waste or adopt a more plant-based diet – Veganuary above / seasonal eating / CASaV Food Group
Repairing clothes and appliances rather than buying new – Stokesley and Villages Repair Cafe
Talking about climate change in your circle of friends – A Gift for Conversation
Listening to a podcast – The Climate Question, Climate Change and Me, 23 Suggested Podcasts
Switch to investment tools that don’t finance fossil fuels – Go Fossil Free
Lobby a level of government to make policy change – Rishi Sunak MP / Department of Energy Security and New Zero / North Yorkshire Council
Donate to organizations doing work in the climate change space – Friends of the Earth / Greenpeace / Surfers Against Sewage / Climate Coalition / Woodland Trust
Get involved with a local environmental group – Climate Action Stokesley and Villages
Subscribe to a climate newsletter – you already get this newsletter but most climate interested groups also have useful newsletters (see list under donation above).

A Plastic Free Community for Stokesley & Villages?

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

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

Waste group events in December:

Christmas Repair Cafe & festive meal out!

December’s Christmas Repair Cafe at the Globe, Stokesley was very well attended with 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 vegan mince pies and mulled juice.

After all their hard work the volunteers relaxed with a slap up vegan Christmas meal at the Station Coffee & Kitchen in Stokesley.

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

Wednesday 15th January 19.30 Environment Climate Osmotherley Group meeting, Methodist Chapel, Osmotherley

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.

Tuesdays 7th, 14th, 21st & 28th January 14.00 – 16.00 Osmotherley Mending Group, Quaker Meeting House, Osmotherley

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.

Signing off

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

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 by January 10th!

Link here: CASaV online survey

Hope to see you at the whole group CASaV Christmas meeting on Tuesday 21st January 19.30 at the Globe Community Library, Stokesley

Wishing you a very 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

Help measure the impact of our group

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

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

The survey will close on Friday 10th January.

CASaV Christmas Gathering – 19th December 2024

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!

CASaV Update – December 2024

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

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

Action all!!

Please complete the online survey exploring the impact of our group

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

The survey will close on Friday 10th January.

Diary dates

(details of all events below in Newsletter section)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Think global”

United for Warm Homes Community Scarf

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

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

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

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

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

Overview of UN Biodiversity COP 16

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

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

Three key successes from Biodiversity COP16 that we are celebrating:

Empowerment of indigenous people and local communities:

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

A new mechanism to safeguard nature’s genetic resources:

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

Strong progress on links between nature and climate:

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

Three key areas that have fallen short:

National planning is too slow:

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

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

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

Lack of decisions on future finance:

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

Final agreement on monitoring process is still pending:

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

COP29 happened, so what?

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

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

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

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

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

Global Plastics Treaty 2024 UN Negotiations

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

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

“Act Local”

This month’s local activities and ideas from our focus groups (Nature, Food, Waste, Energy, Transport) to address biodiversity loss and fight climate breakdown

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

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

We’re a friendly bunch and we welcome everyone!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo from Yatton House Facebook page.

Saturday 14th December 10.00-12.00 Christmas Repair Cafe

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

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

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

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

Ideas & news from the groups

1. Nature Group

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

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

Hedgehogs

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

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

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

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

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

Heather burning: Community Earth Project

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

2. Ideas from the groups: Food Group

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

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

Fair Trade, Climate Justice and really great coffee

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

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

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

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

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

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

How well do you know Coffee?

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

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

Enjoy your Christmas dinner (sustainably)

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

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

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

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

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

December Seasonal Eating

Seasonal eating

How to eat seasonally

Fruit and vegetables in season in December include:

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

3. Ideas from the groups: Waste

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

A Plastic Free Community for Stokesley & Villages?

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

South Gare – A Landscape Created from Waste

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

Waste group events in November:

November Repair Cafe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Signing off

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

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

CASaV monthly meeting – 19th November 2024

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!

CASaV Update – November 2024

Welcome to November’s Update

from Climate Action Stokesley & Villages

Thank you for your role in taking urgent action globally and locally on climate breakdown and biodiversity loss.

Diary dates

(details of all events below in Newsletter section)

1. ‘Act Local’

Tuesday 19th November 19.30 – 21.00 Whole Group Meeting, the Globe Community Library, Stokesley
Tuesday 5th November 10.00 – 12.00 The Mending Group, Osmotherley Quakers Meeting House
Friday 8th November 8.00 – 12.30 Retrofitting Workshop: Building Airtightness (free), Hutton Rudby Village Hall
Tuesday 12th November 19.00 Waste Group Meeting (incl Repair Cafe) by zoom (see Waste Group section below)
Tuesday 12th November 13.30 – 15.00 Yatton House Community garden Working Party
Saturday 16th November 10.00-12.00 Repair Cafe, Swainby Village Hall
Saturday 16th November 10am onwards, Environment Climate Osmotherley Coffee & Cake Morning, Osmotherley Methodist Chapel
Wednesday 20th November 19.30 Environment Climate Osmotherley Meeting, Osmotherley Methodist Chapel
Thursday 21st November 15.30 Nature Group meeting, the Globe Community Library, Stokesley Library Green week (see Nature Group section below)
Thursday 21st November 19.00 Food Group Meeting by zoom (see Food Group section below)
Tuesday 26th November, 19.30 Dark Skies Talk, Osmotherley Village Hall
November dates tbc Sustainable Christmas decorations workshops at the Globe, Stokesley and the Discovery Centre, Great Ayton
Friday 6th December 9 – 12 Sustainable Christmas Stall at Stokesley Market

2. ‘Think Global’

1st – 30th November Buy Nothing New Month
1st – 30th November World Vegan Month
4th – 8th November UK Countryside COP 4
6th November 18.00 People, Planet, Pint™: Sustainability Meetup, Northallerton
11th – 22nd November 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
22nd November 19.00 – 20.00 Net Zero Teesside – Gas Power, Blue Hydrogen and Carbon Capture Public Meeting, Redcar & Cleveland College
23rd – 1st December National Tree Week

Our online newsletter / magazine focuses on our group’s values and purpose, summed up by our motto ‘Think global, act local’, beginning with global / national / county issues including ways in which you can influence policy, followed by local news and activities you can participate in that develop our relationship with the environment and fight climate change and biodiversity loss.

“Think global”

National and global action on climate breakdown & biodiversity loss news and campaigns

1st – 30th November Buy Nothing New Month

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

4th – 8th November UK Countryside COP 4

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/

6th November 18.00 People, Planet, Pint™: Sustainability Meetup, The Potting Shed, Northallerton

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

11th – 22nd November 29th Conference of the Parties (COP 29) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change

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

Report from COP 16 Biodiversity Summit – Cali, Columbia – October 21st – November 1st 2024

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.

23rd November – 1st December National Tree Week

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”

This month’s local activities and ideas from our focus groups (Nature, Food, Waste, Energy, Transport) to address biodiversity loss and fight climate breakdown

Tuesday 19th 19.30 Whole Group Meeting, the Globe Community Library, Stokesley

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!

Tuesday 5th November 10.00 – 12.00 The Mending Group, Osmotherley Quakers Meeting House

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.

Tuesday 12th November 13.30 – 15.00 Yatton House Community Garden Working Party

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.

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

Saturday 16th November 10am onwards, Environment Climate Osmotherley Coffee & Cake Morning, Osmotherley Methodist Chapel

Delicious homemade cakes, scones, tea & coffee – everybody welcome. Find out about the aims and activities of Environment Climate Osmotherley (ECO).

Tuesday 26th November, 19.30 Dark Skies Talk, Osmotherley Village Hall

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.

November dates tbc Sustainable Christmas decorations workshops at the Globe, Stokesley and the Discovery Centre, Great Ayton

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.

Friday 6th December 9 – 12 Sustainable Christmas Stall & Draft Excluder Giveaway at Stokesley Market

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

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

The Waste Group are holding 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:

Draft excluder giveaway – help yourself to a FREE (limited numbers, come early!) handcrafted draft excluder to keep your home warm, cut heating bills and reduce climate impact
Make upcycled Christmas cards and gift tags
Sustainable Christmas recipe leaflets
Upcycled & compostable wrapping ideas
Reducing waste by reducing, reusing and recycling
Information on how to save energy and keep warm this winter.

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.

Apple juice pressing 2024

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

Next Nature Group meeting: Thursday 21st November 15.30, Globe Community Library, Stokesley Contact Bridget for information

Heather burning: Community Earth Project

The Community Earth Project (CEP) based in the Esk Valley on the North York Moors is trying to collect data across the North York Moors for particulate matter (PM) levels during heather burning events. PMs are known carcinogens as are associated chemicals in smoke from burning organic matter. CEP is installing sensors which will contribute to the sensor.community database 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

Ideas from the groups: Food

Next Food Group zoom meeting: Thursday 21st November at 19.00 by zoom contact Wendy for a link to join

Save your seeds!

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

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.

November Seasonal Eating

Seasonal eating

how-to-eat-seasonally

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

Sustainable food source of the month: Quorn

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.

Seasonal recipe: Christmas Stuffed Squash with Quorn Vegan Pieces

Recipe here: christmas-stuffed-squash-quorn-pieces

Gardening tip of the month

chicory

Chicory should ideally be dug up this month but then kept in the dark for using from January.

Sustainable Pet Food

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:

https://veggiepets.com

https://justbekind.co.uk/

Ideas from the groups: Waste

This month’s Waste Group (including Repair Cafe) Meeting Tuesday 12th November 7.00pm CASaV by zoom – contact Simon Gibbon for a link to join

A Plastic Free Community for Stokesley & Villages?

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.

Soft Plastics: Recycled or Incinerated?

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:

global-plastic-treaty

AdFreeCities

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/

Waste group events in October:

October Repair Cafe & Draft Excluder Workshop / Giveaway

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.

Issues / ideas from the groups: Environment & Climate Osmotherley (ECO) Group

Wednesday 20th November 19.30 Environment Climate Osmotherley Meeting, Osmotherley Methodist Chapel

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.

Ideas from the groups: Energy / Net Zero

22nd November 19.00 – 20.30 Net Zero Teesside – Gas Power, Blue Hydrogen and Carbon Capture Public Meeting, Redcar and Cleveland College

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.

Signing off

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

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

Apple pressing 2024

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.

Talk about hedgehogs and CASaV group meeting – 15th October

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

CASaV Update – October 2024

Thank you for your role in taking urgent action globally and locally on climate breakdown and biodiversity loss.

Diary dates

(details of all events below in Newsletter section)

Act Local

Tuesday 15th October 19.30 – 21.00 Whole Group Meeting & Hedgehog Conservation Talk, the Globe Community Library, Stokesley
Monday 7th – Saturday 12th Green Libraries Week, The Globe Community Library, Stokesley & The Discovery Centre, Great Ayton
Tuesday 8th October 19.00 Waste Group Meeting (incl Repair Cafe) by zoom (see Waste Group section below)
Tuesday 8th October 13.30 – 15.00 Yatton House Community garden Working Party
Saturday 12th October 10.00-12.00 October Repair Cafe & Free Draft Excluder Workshop / Giveaway, The Globe Community Library, Stokesley
Thursday 17th October 19.00 Food Group Meeting by zoom (see Food Group section below)
Thursday 17th October 15.30 Nature Group meeting, the Globe Community Library, Stokesley Library Green week (see Nature Group section below)
Monday 21st October National Apple Day (local event in Helmsley walled gardens)

Think Global (details below)

1st to 31st October International Walk To School Month

1st to 31st October National Unblocktober Month (to improve health of our drains, sewers, watercourses and seas)

14th October International E-Waste (electronic equipment) Day

14th – 20th October Recycle Week

16th October International World Food Day

18th October Repair Cafe International 15th Birthday Party, Den Hague

19th October International Repair Day

21st October World Earthworm day

Newsletter

Our online newsletter / magazine focuses on our group’s values and purpose, summed up by our motto ‘Think global, act local’, beginning with global / national / county issues including ways in which you can influence policy, followed by local news and activities you can participate in that develop our relationship with the environment and fight climate change and biodiversity loss.

“Think global”

National and global climate action news and campaigns

1st to 31st October International Walk To School Month

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

14th October International E-Waste (electronic equipment) Day

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/

14th – 20th October Recycle Week

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

recycle-week

Also check here to find out how our county council is enabling recycling recycling-and-waste

16th October World Food Day

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.

18th October Repair Cafe International 15th Birthday Party, The Hague & 19th October International Repair Day

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.

21st October World Earthworm day

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”

This month’s local activities and ideas from our focus groups (Nature, Food, Waste, Energy, Transport) to address biodiversity loss and fight climate breakdown

Tuesday 15th October 19.30 Whole Group Annual Meeting & Hedgehog Conservation Talk, the Globe Community Library, Stokesley

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!

Monday 7th – Saturday 12th Green Libraries Week, The Globe Community Library, Stokesley & The Discovery Centre, Great Ayton

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.

Tuesday 8th October 13.30 – 15.00 Yatton House Community Garden Working Party

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.

Saturday 12th October 10.00-12.00 Repair Cafe & Free Draft Excluder Workshop / Giveaway, The Globe Community Library, Stokesley

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.

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

Saturday 21st October National Apple Day

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

Apple Pressing success in September

(all October slots fully booked)

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/

Meet the CASaV people!

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’.

Geoff

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!”

Caryn

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!

Issues / ideas from the groups: Nature

Thursday 17th October 15.30 Nature Group meeting, the Globe Community Library, Stokesley

Contact Bridget Holmstrom for information

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

saltholme

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.

woodland creation

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

Ideas from the groups: Food

Next Food Group meeting Thursday 17th October at 19.00 by zoom contact Wendy for a link to join

Save your seeds!

Stokesley Community Bus Stop Veg Garden update

Free produce is now available to pick your own – ripe red currant tomatoes and herbs are now available.

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

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.

October Seasonal Eating

Seasonal eating

how-to-eat-seasonally

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

Sustainable food source of the month: UK grown pulses

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.

Seasonal recipe

Roast winter veg with carlins and quinoa

roast-winter-veg-with-carlins-and-quinoa

Ideas from the groups: Waste

This month’s Waste Group (including Repair Cafe) Tuesday 8th October 7.00pm CASaV by zoom – contact Simon Gibbon for a link to join

International Repair Day 19th October

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/).

Waste group events in September:

September Repair Cafe

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.

Issues / ideas from the groups: Environment & Climate Osmotherley (ECO) Group

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

Ideas from the groups: Transport

Last chance to catch the Moorsbus 2024: now until end of October

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

The Man in Seat 61

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

Signing off

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

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

CASaV monthly meeting – 17th September 2024

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!