Updates
Anne – interesting article from the Times (220204Times-SayFreeze.pdf) about the use of Thermal Cameras, could be really useful to give people confidence to improve their home’s energy efficiency. It is now possible to get a cheap camera for only £200 which plugs into a mobile phone to provide the thermal image.
Jenny – Climate Fresk was a great way to get to know more about the science behind climate change, made easier by being a good social experience due to the food and informality.
Made a start on a draft article for the D&S to record the event and make people aware of Climate Fresk.
Joy – Great article about the Jump process with 6 active steps to do something about the climate.”6 very simple but wide ranging steps to take:
- Eat a largely plant-based diet, with healthy portions and no waste
- Buy no more than three new items of clothing per year
- Keep electrical products for at least seven years
- Take no more than one short haul flight every three years and one long haul flight every eight years
- Get rid of personal motor vehicles if you can – and if not keep hold of your existing vehicle for longer
- Make at least one life shift to nudge the system, like moving to a green energy, insulating your home or changing pension supplier”
Especially sobering locally where flights contribute nearly 20-25% of an individual’s carbon footprint – https://www.carbon.place/
Jump – Less stuff more joy – sign the pledge here – https://takethejump.org/
Guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/mar/07/six-key-lifestyle-changes-can-help-avert-the-climate-crisis-study-finds
Pete – Refugees through the experience they have been through and sometimes from their original countries have a great view of thrift – is there an opportunity for us to learn from other cultures or could they show us where we are making change difficult.
Climate Fresk process worked well, great to learn from others.
Animal waste is causing major issues with river water quality, as highlighted on Radio / TV Farming Today / Countryfile. It turns out that “Improving manure management” is one of the actions of the York and North Yorkshire LEP’s “Routemap to Carbon Negative” which all the stakeholders buy into – https://www.ynylep.com/Portals/0/adam/HtmlNewApp/vLmW1zYL9Eeuc6XK-_W86w/Body/Routemap%20to%20Carbon%20Negative%20Development_Roundtables%20&%20Stakeholder%20Engagement%20Summary%20.pdf
Wendy – Seed stall on Saturday – saving seeds going to waste – seeds are still available from the Globe.
Guardian about keeping grid power on with renewable energy. Fossil fuel system turbines have a big inertia which store considerable energy just by rotating, these can be used to maintain frequency when the grid frequency drops due to drops in power input. Solar generation has no rotating components with inertia, and while wind turbines rotate they are small disparate units, unlike single huge turbine found in fossil fuel plants. The National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) investing in inertia turbines – new green turbines for wind / solar – a small amount of the renewable energy will use to keep big inertia turbines to use with renewable energy.
The proposal for land use changes to enable carbon capture by land, create tension with farmers tension between agriculture land for food and for carbon use.
Carrying out monthly check on river Leven quality – through checking on 8 species of invertebrates – data goes to Tees River Partnership.
David – The Rubbish Book – You and Yours (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001546x – 31:30) – interviewed James Piper about what to do with plastic waste and recycling in general – James run Ecosurety, an environmental compliance consultancy, and has just published “The Rubbish Book” (https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-rubbish-book/james-piper/9781800180864) all about recycling.
The programme talked about how people are not sure what to put in the different recycling bins, not helped by the variation across UK local authority areas. James had a number of tips – keeping labels on plastic containers – it helps separation, don’t crush cans too much – machines can’t recognise them, keep bottle tops on plastic bottles – tops too small to be recognised. In fact there is a minimum size of object that can be recognised, so aluminium needs to be the size of a tennis ball to be recognised.
Bridget – Climate Fresk – different and interesting approach to the science behind climate change.
CASaV Food and Environment Session in April – David Hugill – country councillor & long term farmer, currently chickens at Faceby / Howard Petch – farmer and past principal of Askham Bryan / Robert Campbell – local farmer at Seamer.
Peat Partnership will be talkin in September. It appears that the peat ban that is still not in force is voluntary.
Matters Arising
Climate Fresk – 1st March Swainby – 12 people plus Simon facilitating, split into 2 groups to lay 2 Climate Fresks. Everybody who attended, with varying levels of climate science awareness, found it useful to get a connected view from our activities through CO2 to the impacts on the earth, basically what causes climate change, what climate change will do and hence the things that need changing to stop climate change.
Climate Fresk What next: A few thoughts – After the Repair Cafe in Swainby pm – 26th March, possibility of approaching the Waiting Room in Eaglescliffe to see if they would be happy to host it with people buying food / drinks, also approached Hambleton District Council via Tracey Flint. Jack Turton is possibly interested in hosting the Stokesley School, and North Yorkshire Scouts.
Article in D&S Climate Column from CASaV – CASaV has been invited to a 6 month trial of presenting a climate column in the Darlington and Stockton Times – https://www.darlingtonandstocktontimes.co.uk/news/19963671.tackling-climate-change-reducing-waste-saving-money/ – the first article was on waste: included a picture of the waste pyramid; mentioned retrofitting; talked about the upcoming Repair Cafe.
Stokesley Show – can we make it greener?
Simon has made a proposal on behalf of CASaV to help with waste specifically enabling recycling at this year’s Stokesley Show on 17th September 2022, as below:
“I understand that normally the show ground is layed out with “builders’ bags” for show goers to place their rubbish in and the contents of the builders bags are concentrated in skips which a waste firm removes at the end of the show.
Climate Action Stokesley and Villages (CASaV) propose:
- Recycling bins which would be placed next to a number of the “builders’ bags”
- CASaV members would be present on the show ground:
- Before the show is open, they would ensure correct placement of the recycling bins according to showground plan
- During the show, they would help with use of the recycling bins and would also help with litter picking
- At the end of the show, they would move all the recycling bins to an accessible location for collection”
HDC are able to supply recycling bins (240L – domestic bin size), they would deliver these to a location with suitable vehicle access on the showground, and then collect these after the show. There would be sets of 2 separate recycling bins, one for cans/plastic bottles and one for paper/card. Additionally, In discussion with Stokesley Show, we would decide whether it is necessary to also provide a 3rd bin for glass recycling, depending on need. These would be for visitor use rather than stall holders use.
I also said CASaV would also be interested to help with any environmental actions that the show already has in place or is thinking of doing.
We are now waiting to hear back from Stokesley Show Management Committee to see if this is acceptable to them, if so we will need to do some detailed planning and ensure correct resources from HDC.
A number of issues came to mind at the meeting:
- How many bins – what happens when they become full?
- We can’t empty the bins, as they will be emptied by HDC recycling wagon
- So we would need spare bins to move around to where bins are full
- Probably couldn’t move full bins on the day due to crowds
- Should be able to move empty bins to where needed
- Waste food – not collected by HDC so not obvious we could do anything with it
Items will be addressed as part of planning if the proposal is accepted.
Action: Simon ask Caryn to approach Stokesley Show to request a charity stall
Water refill scheme
Climate Action Stokesley & Villages has a Refill Scheme, previously managed prior to the pandemic, by someone who is no longer a member of the group. Refill and Reuse has become a global campaign with its roots in local and community schemes around the UK.
Anne volunteered to be Reuse and Refill manager – approach main group for additional help.
Repair Cafe Swainby 26th March – get in touch if you want to repair or help
Simon is still checking up on insurance – CASaV insurance from FoE did not cover it, Swainby Village Hall doesn’t, so approached Swainby Parish Council who are checking.
Pete / Andy Pickering – wood work etc, Arthur Harding – computer repair, Matthew Brown – electronic / electrical repair, Mike Foster / Terry Andrews – general mechanical, Kate / Sarah Irwin – sewing / soft repairs, Wendy – catering / front of house, Simon – reception
Action: All please bring broken things to Repair Cafe
Action: Simon forward full details of Repair Cafe.
Action: All do you know local professional repairers – email details to Simon to include in director on CASaV website
FYI – On Saturday March 19th March there is a repair cafe in Hovingham – https://www.facebook.com/repaircafehovingham
Virtual Share Shed – what have you got to share? No further progress, ready to go just needs things to share.
Action: All what might you share in the Virtual Share Shed.
Virtual Share Shed – https://climateactionstokesleyandvillages.org/casav-share-shed-mock-up/
Visit to / meeting at Allerton Waste Recovery Park – 3 provisional dates: Wednesday 30th March, Thursday 31st March or Tuesday 5th April. One day will be chosen based on availability of people to attend one of two overlapping sessions – am tour then lunch – 10am – 2 pmor lunch then tour pm – 12pm – 4pm.
Upcycling – Kate will cover this at the next meeting.
Recent online meetings – none mentioned
AOB
Consultation on “York and North Yorkshire Routemap to Negative Carbon” – https://www.ynylep.com/strategies/routemap-to-carbon-negative-consultation – version with links to referenced documents plus some absolute unit additions added and blank consultation reply attached.
This consultation is open until 17th March – the document refers to a large number of existing reports / strategies / projects / plans and these have been added as links to the document.
It is worth looking at the document and the questions asked in the consultation, they are not expecting people to comment on the whole document but on the sections most relevant to them. So do you have views as to how a particular sector should reach negative carbon, the sections are
- Power
- Heat & Buildings
- Transport
- Business & Industry
- Environment – Land Use, Agriculture & Marine
I am still trying to get my head around the whole document, but I am concerned as it looks like there are a few big changes which make the major contributions and allow a lot of other activities to continue in an almost “business as usual manner”. The routemap sees Drax burning 100% biomass and capturing all the carbon dioxide (4GW of generation), a large amount of gas heating will be replaced by hydrogen in the grid, land use changes will result in large amounts of carbon sequestration, there will be a 48% reduction in private car use and a 10% reduction in power use. Both Drax and at least blue hydrogen rely on carbon capture and sequestration, so will require CO2 being transported from generation to storage local – in the case of Drax this is approaching 20million tonnes per year – how wide will the pipe need to be?
The document uses a lot of different units, so comparison is difficult in terms of relative contributions to carbon dioxide reduction.
Letter to elected representatives to ask for urgent action based on the recent WG2 report from the IPCC – letter attached sent to HDC, NYCC and North Yorkshire MPs.
Climate Action Stokesley and Villages 