Wiltshire Council U-turn leads to 10:10

Posted on September 28, 2009 by msaxton1

A councillor and climate change sceptic who planned to lead Wiltshire Council to abandon the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change, a document signed by more than 300 councils pledging their commitment to fighting global warming, has seen his efforts spectacularly backfire.

Local community groups were dismayed at the motion and mobilised an email campaign and petition asking for leadership and environmental sense in Wiltshire about climate change. Not only did the Tory Councillor’s motion suffer the humiliation of a resounding 84 – 8 against, but Wiltshire Council has now promised to join the 10:10 campaign by committing to cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 10 per cent in 2010.

Nine councillors had put their names to the motion led by Councillor Rod Eaton to pull-out of the agreement, but eventually only six voted for it. Two abstained and one changed his mind. A total of 84 councillors voted against the motion.

Despite the abject failure to convince fellow members that the effects of global warming are uncertain, Rod Eaton said: “I think we managed to get our point across today and make fellow councillors realise that there is uncertainty towards climate change.”

However, Councillor Toby Sturgis, Wiltshire Council’s portfolio holder for the environment, said: “I’m pleased we’ve made this pledge to continue to combat climate change. It shows Wiltshire Council is committed to reducing its carbon footprint.”

His views were shared by the local community, two hundred of whom signed a petition, delivered to the Town Hall by local people both angry and upset at the prospect of Wiltshire Council turning its back on tackling climate change. Hours later however, they were celebrating the unexpected triumph of witnessing the Council not only reject the motion but also sign up to 10:10, which was launched at The Tate Modern on 1^st September by Age of Stupid director Franny Armstrong and The Guardian.

Beck Dawson, Sustainability Director at The Hannover Consultancy, who attended the 10:10 launch and who is one of the founders of Marlborough Climate Pledge, which encourages the Wiltshire town’s residents to be aware of how they can reduce their energy output and carbon footprints, was jubilant.

“The motion put forward spectacularly backfired on the councillors because it provided an opportunity to discuss the 10:10 campaign which the council has now agreed to sign up to.”

Juliet Davenport, chief executive officer of renewable electricity supplier Good Energy, in Chippenham, said: “I’m really glad that the council has seen sense.

“Wiltshire Council has a great opportunity to take the lead on this important issue, by winning the hearts and minds of the public and ensuring that the minority of individuals who have no vision of a future low-carbon world don’t stand in the way of the majority that do.”

Marlborough Climate Change has launched a campaign ahead of the Copenhagen summit talks in December and wants the Prime Minister to receive at least one letter a day for 100 days from people in the Marlborough area urging him to make Britain the loudest voice for global change and action at the talks.

Dawson’s own daughter became the first person of the proposed 100 to send a letter to the PM and she helped the baby post it on her first birthday last Wednesday.

The letter said: “I am one year old today. The devastating environmental, climatic and economic impacts of climate change will affect me for all of my lifetime” and invited Gordon Brown to show leadership at the summit in December.

The group is also screening Age of Stupid at Marlborough Town Hall on 7^th October. Anyone interested in Marlborough’s progress can visit www.climatepledge.org.uk and sign up via the Marlborough Climate Pledge Facebook page.

NOTES:

Beck Dawson of Marlborough Climate Pledge was a recipient of a Guardian-UnLtd social entrepreneurship award in 2006.

Martin Kemp uses celebrity status as force for good

Posted on September 17, 2009 by msaxton1

We live in a celebrity-obsessed and manufactured culture where a dustman sings a half-decent cover version of a Frank Sinatra classic and X-Factor makes him famous for fifteen minutes. May be I’m being churlish. It’s just that so many ‘celebrities’ seem to earn their stripes by having very little substance and moreover, they exist to take, take, take and put next to nothing back.

So, it’s great when a proper celebrity steps up. Take Martin Kemp who this week opened the revolutionary Gamma Knife Centre to treat brain tumours. The centre is a £3 million joint venture between HCA, the leading London private hospital group, and the Barts and The London NHS Trust.

Located at world renowned Barts in the City of London, the state of the art Gamma Knife radio therapy machine is able to treat brain tumours with greater accuracy than before. More than 85% of the patients are expected to come from the NHS.

Martin Kemp is just about to leave the UK for a sell out tour with his reformed band Spandau Ballet. But as he told the audience after opening the London Gamma Knife centre, he is lucky to be alive.

Fourteen years ago Martin was in North America when he discovered a lump on the back of his head. He flew back home where doctors found he had two tumours, one of which was buried deep in his brain. The prognosis was not good. Surgeons removed the larger tumour and put a metal plate in his skull but the second was in a position where an operation was going to be highly dangerous, possibly causing irreparable damage to his brain. Then Martin heard that Barts had a radio therapy machine which might be able to help him. He was treated there, the second tumour was destroyed and now he has had the ‘all clear’.

Bricks and Bread sustainable living centre

Posted on September 2, 2009 by msaxton1

Chalking up the eco message at Bricks and Bread

Trudy Thompson is a woman in a hurry to make things happen. Not surprising perhaps given her background in motorsport. But that she turned her back on motorsport and selling cars (not to mention a well paid career) to almost single-handedly establish a centre for sustainable business and living with almost no income is nothing short of Damascene conversion to low carbon existence

The centre, known as Bricks and Bread and based in Aldershot has five simple aims – or FACTS as Trudy puts it.

Find solutions and offer realistic ways for others to reduce their carbon emissions. 

Act as a hub for independent information, products and skilled people.

Collaborate with local people and businesses to enable people to live sustainably. 

To reduce dependence on fossil fuels by promoting alternative transport and renewable fuels.

Support enterprise, research and careers in sustainable business.

The centre is a hub for experts in eco building, organic farming, horticulture, ecology and living sustainably. The focus is on realistic and proactive ways for the community and business to learn about sustainability, and equip them with ways to obtain the eco-friendly products that save time, money, waste, energy or resources.

Trudy is passionate in particular about sustainable building. “There is a massive skills gap and lack of all round knowledge about the subject.

“It is still really difficult to find independent information, joined up thinking, all round advice, easy and worthwhile training opportunities, or to find a reliable source who can supply a range of products.”

Which is where Bricks and Bread come in with its barn of carefully sourced products from good suppliers. While next door Trudy has created an inspiring venue for training and workshops. It’s home to daily sustainability masterclasses that she runs, but also available for hire.

And in typical can-do style, the whole enterprise will be running off renewable energy, sending nothing to landfill and saving natural resources like rainwater by the end of the year.

“I have realised my vision for a viable business that offers a unique and useful service to anybody or any company,” she adds. “I have had to be innovative and collaborative in order to make this business work and have done my best to create a fantastic opportunity for others to benefit from. I promise this will offer a genuine chance for local people to make a huge difference to their own lives.”

Bricks and Bread is open Monday – Friday 9am to 5pm, and Saturday between 9am and noon.

Telephone  01252 314060

Email centre@bricksandbread.com

Address: Bricks and Bread Sustainable Living Centre,  Albion Works, Church Lane East, Aldershot, Hampshire GU11 3BT

You can follow Trudy’s tips for sustainability on Twitter

A perfect 10:10 to cut carbon

Posted on September 1, 2009 by msaxton1

It’s all too easy to talk about landmark moments. But for those that attended the 10:10 launch at the Tate Modern on 1st September it could be one that made them believe they could make a difference to the planet. It could be a date that galvanized change.

10:10 invites people to make a pledge to reduce our carbon emissions by 10 percent in 2010. I believe it’s a reasonable, do-able target. It doesn’t require dramatic lifestyle changes, which only real hairshirt wearers are capable of. Rather it sets a challenge that we can all make with some simple adjustments to the way we live.

10:10 is the brainchild of Franny Armstrong, the director behind Age of Stupid. The hope of 10:10 is that thousands of people – more like hundreds of thousand, I suspect, given that 6000 people took the pledge just today – not only cut their carbon emissions, but also that their involvement in the campaign sends a powerful signal to politicians ahead of Copenhagen this December.

On a smaller scale, Beck Dawson is leading the charge for Marlborough in Wiltshire. Its citizens are each sending a ‘wake up to climate change ‘ letter to Gordon Brown every day for the 100 days until Copenhagen. But that’s not all. For three years they too have been asking their friends, neighbours and community to cut their carbon by signing up to a pledge scheme, dubbed climatepledge. The scheme has attracted government interest, including a visit by MPs to hear first hand about how the project works and the support of NESTA and DECC, including funding to scale up the initiative.

What they have found will encourage 10:10. Not only have the majority of people exceeded their carbon reduction targets, but they have also changed their lifestyles in other ways: reducing their waste; cycling and walking over taking the car; shopping locally more often; and generally going easier on the town’s resources. All this has been achieved says Beck Dawson not by hand-wringing worthiness or brow-beating the community, but through informed advocacy.

You can take the 10:10 pledge and tell the world how you will cut your 10% at www.1010uk.org, watch Franny talk about the campaign at www.guardian.co.uk/10-10 and follow Marlborough’s progress and get involved at www.climatepledge.org.uk