PUBLIC MEETING
TIME TO ACT ON CLIMATE CHANGE
7 pm, Wednesday, 19 November
St Peters Church (opp BHS)
St Peters Street, Derby.
Please book your free tickets here
This will help us deal with catering, but you can phone 07876595993 or email Derbyclimatecoalition@gmail.com or just turn up on the 19th. Continue reading Time to Act On Climate Change Public Meeting November 19
Derby Climate Coalition has been very concerned with cuts to recycling and the impact upon greenhouse gas emissions. As a result we had a meeting with the relevant director, Paul Robinson, and Councillor Afzaz, who has the remit for waste collection services. Here is the letter we sent September 17 and we are waiting for a reply (Oct 14).
Dear Paul
Thank you very much for coming to the July 30 of Derby Climate Coalition, and for giving us an update on recycling of waste and the links with greenhouse gas emissions. You kindly invited us to follow this up with further questions.
Seven of us went down from Derby(shire) on a mini-bus to the London Peoples Climate Change march, (click here for a picture ) others went independently and others went elsewhere. The front of the march arrived at Westminster about 2 pm. I walked back to the end. It took 50 minutes and I got to the Embankment station. I then went back to the front, by then the rally was ending and many people were leaving. It will have taken about 90 minutes for the march to pass a fixed point. Sometimes 30-40 abreast. So I guessed there were 30,000 people there. Avaaz said 40,000.
Here are some more photos https://secure.avaaz.org/en/climate_march_reportback/?bXgsfcb&v=46379
Avaaz also said there were more than 2,700 demonstrations across the world. And 380,000 people in Manhattan. The New York Times says the march was “a spectacle even for a city known for doing things big”,.
I believe there were a couple of hundred people in Nottingham (organised at very short notice), 400 or so at Sheffield, a couple of thousand in Manchester (focusing upon fracking and the Labour party conference) and more than two thousand in Bristol and Edinburgh
So all this is absolutely magnificent and should provide a fillip for activists up and down the country. We in Derby came back fired up, determined to do more locally, and to intertwine across the region and nationally. At long last the world might be waking up!
But the London demonstration also highlighted a weakness. There were very few trade union banners on the march. The million climate jobs argument can help provide a bridge.
Peter Robinson
Chair of Derby Climate Coalition
On Tuesday 19 August, we joined forces our friends from Action For Rail, Bring Back British Rail, We Own It, the Campaign against Climate Change and the new All on Board campaign to protest against rail price increases increases in the New Year. Hence about 15 of us handed out leaflets at Derby railway station, and the same thing happened at more that 60 stations. Our protest was shown on BBC Midlands TV, and Nadine Rae, from the railway union the TSSA, was interviewed.
We also displayed the above A2 poster which has been produced by the TSSA in conjunction with the Campaign against Climate Change.
The message, as you can see, is that in order to combat global warming it is necessary to invest in railways. 85% of global CO2 transport emissions come from cars, planes and trucks. Planes produce eight to eleven times the CO2 of high speed rail and lorries emit about six times more CO2 than trains for every ton carried. Radical improvement to the rail services are required if we are going to replace air and road travel.
Copies of this poster are available; all you have to do is email us.
To the Ends of the Earth: A Guide to Uconventional Fossil Fuels
Corporate Watch’s new cutting edge report provides the most comprehensive and accessible guide yet to unconventional fossil fuels.
From the dangers of fracking to the devastating effects of tar sands extraction, this guide brings together everything you need to know about unconventional fossil fuels in one place for the first time.
We have spent about 6 months in Derby talking about the Council taking a stand against fracking. To cut a long story short a heavily modified motion was passed at the Council meeting on the 11th of June; see this link to one of the bits that appeared in the local paper: ‘Fracking impact to be subject of probe’
We in Derby Climate Coalition are opposed to fracking for one reason above all: the impact on Greenhouse Gas emissions. To have any hopeof avoiding runaway climate change the world needs to wean itself off fossil fuels and invest in a renewable energy infrastructure.
There are many other reason to oppose fracking; some are shown on the attached leaflet. But we want to draw your attention to the fact that Derby City Council are debating this motion (on Wednesday 11 June 2014 at 11.00 am) at their Annual Meeting.
There’s a great climate change and eco fest event taking place at Cromford Mills at Thursday, 1 May, 2014 to Sunday, 4 May. There is a question time panel evening on Thursday May 1st, chaired by award-winning environmental journalist, Fred Pearce. Two different internationally known climate experts giving talks on climate change issues on each of the next three nights, with a schools and family day, as well as a Transition Café on Saturday May 3rd.
Please note that because of limited space, tickets for Question Time and the talks will be on a ‘first come first served’ basis from Cromford Mills – See http://cromfordmills.org.uk/content/warm-wet-and-windy-2014 for further details and you can book there or phone: (01629 825995) .
Please join in with us and come to our PUBLIC DISCUSSION
CLIMATE: WHAT IS THE IPCC UP TO?
The Intergovernmental Panel (IPCC) on Climate Change officially released the “Fifth Assessment Report” from working group three on Sunday, 13/4/2014. [1] The report is on mitigation; which is described as “human intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases”.[2] The IPCC has told the world yet again that climate change is a huge risk we must tackle. What is new is the clarity and urgency of the message. This report warns that governments are set to crash through the global CO2 safety threshold by 2030. Humans have tripled CO2 emissions since 1970, it says – and emissions have been accelerating rather than slowing. The report finds “without additional efforts to reduce GHG emissions… likely temperature increases from 3°C to more than 5°C” are projected by the end of the 21st Century”. It would also push us beyond ‘tipping points’[3] which would mean run-away climate change, with drastic shifts in the Earth’s natural systems including the melting of the Arctic and the Greenland ice-sheet leading to huge sea-level rise; and the dying-off of the Amazon jungle, triggering mass extinctions.
We will be showing a five minute video from leading climate scientist Prof Kevin Anderson on the need for urgency and ambition. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7pwpjthh6E
We suggest you share this on your social media platforms and tweet etc.
This meeting, on Wednesday the 16th, will also discuss ongoing business. One of the items is FRACKING. We will hear reports from what is happening and what can be done.
[1] The IPCC was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 1988,
[3] See http://www.campaigncc.org/blog/KCCCtippingpoints, which shows the Kirklees declaration
Derby Campaign against Climate Change has produced, in conjunction with the Campaign against Climate Change, a leaflet on fracking. This was distributed at a very well attended meeting (more than 55 people) organised by Wirksworth Transition. Brain Davey gave a terrific presentation, which you can download as a PDF
