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Transition New Mills

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Transition New Mills

Category Archives: Climate change

Join the Community Conversation!

13 Monday Jan 2020

Posted by Julian Ashworth in Climate change, Discussion, Events

≈ Leave a comment

New Mills Town Council have declared a climate and ecological emergency. Transition New Mills is pleased to be in partnership with the Town Council to take this forward; come and be part of the conversation to explore what this means for you and your community.

New Mills Town Hall, Saturday 7th March, 10am-4pm

New Mills has a proud history of change: from the start of the industrial revolution, through the Cooperative movement, to reclaiming the Torrs and Mousley Bottom.
Now it is our turn for the history books! What would we like New Mills to be like in the future? How will it look, sound and feel? This is our chance to reimagine our Town and help create a positive vision for us all.
Last year we experienced:
• moorland fires in February
• record breaking temperatures in July
• intense rainfall in August putting us at threat of flooding from the near collapse of the Whaley Bridge dam
Instead of feeling disempowered and disconnected, our community can start to build a response. We need to build resilience to future threats and actively create new and positive ways of living. What would you like future generations to thank you for?
Our Community Conversation will be imaginative, creative and, we hope, inspiring to all who attend.
We want to include as diverse a range of people as possible so please encourage colleagues, clients and friends to register their interest too; we are hoping to have a creche area also to help children contribute. This is not a one-off process, and there will be plenty of opportunity to develop the plan further in the future, so if you cannot come but want to remain in touch please let Transition New Mills know.
In the spirit of the day, it is proposed to have a ‘bring and share’ lunch. If you can, please bring a little food to share. If you have specific food allergies, we do recommend bringing your own food. Tea, coffee and soft drinks will be provided. If you have additional support needs please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate you
It would be really helpful if you could let us know if you intend to come by sending us an email at transition.newmills@gmail.com or on our Facebook events page.

We have set up a new page on the Transition New Mills website which will be updated with the latest developments.

Another type of Manifesto

09 Monday Dec 2019

Posted by Julian Ashworth in Climate change, Discussion

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The New Mills Transition Reading Group meets monthly in someone’s home to discuss a book or, occasionally, to watch a film/video or host a speaker. Last month we discussed Derbyshire County Council’s Carbon Reduction Manifesto which was published in May 2019.

There was a lively discussion critiquing the Manifesto –

Overall it was seen as aspirational but vague, lacking in ambition and not something that the public could use to hold the Council to account on. Most points in the manifesto triggered many questions, needed further elaboration, measurement, targets, auditing, policies, deadlines, discussion of investment etc. It does state that targets would follow in 6 months, this  is nearly up, so we would welcome sight of these. Issues not covered in the manifesto include any plans to create a circular economy, plans to mitigate against the consequences of climate change (already with us and going to get worse), and a notable absence of discussion of agriculture and forestry which seemed strange given the large rural areas in the county. The County Council is in a prime position to provide leadership and act as a facilitator and we hope that this first draft of the manifesto will be followed by further commitments for carbon reduction.

The discussion looked at the resources in the County and some of the challenges and possibilities – around renewable energy, newbuild and retrofitting homes, heating and transport. A member of the group is to write a summary to submit as a response.

There is no meeting in December, instead members are invited to the solstice celebration at The Torrs on 19th December from 5-9pm. Meetings have been set for 2020 – Mondays January 20 and February 17.

Image

Forthcoming Café Transition: Save Money and Emissions

28 Sunday Apr 2019

CafeTransition_Retrofit_poster (1)

Posted by Julian Ashworth | Filed under Climate change, Energy, Events

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What Are Your Plans For 2016?

23 Saturday Jan 2016

Posted by Julian Ashworth in Climate change, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

As we get into the New Year proper, we take a quick look at what the challenges and opportunities are, and what we could collectively do about it.

The floods over Christmas reminded us once again just how precarious our environment can be at times. Climate change almost certainly means that events like these will become more frequent over the coming years and the resources and resilience of local communities will be tested to the full.

Globally, air pollution has been called a worldwide ‘public health emergency’ with millions estimated to die each year. Scientists have also advised us that we are entering the sixth great extinction of animal species with the extinction rate estimated to be 100 times higher in the 20th century than it would have been without man’s impact.

So, after the disappointment and failure of previous climate meetings, the world looked towards Paris COP21 at the end of 2015, to at least give us a glimmer of hope. And, to a certain extent, it did. Although some will argue that it didn’t give us enough hope.

Most scientists believe that the plan, to keep global temperatures to no more than 2c, ideally 1.5c, has the potential to work. Whether it will is a completely different matter.

Despite what was signed and agreed upon in Paris by a government who briefly tried to convince us it would be the ‘greenest ever’, our government have continued to cut away at renewables whilst offering further financial support for the fossil fuel industry. Solar subsidies have been slashed, potentially wiping out over half of all solar industry jobs in one go, whilst at the same time dramatically increasing the subsidies given to the fossil fuels. It’s not been a good start.

But, if the future success of the Paris agreement remain uncertain there is one thing that we can guarantee and that is, if we leave climate action to others, then Paris will also turn into failure. And it will simply be left to us to explain to our children and grandchildren that we potentially had the chance but failed take it.

So, it is clear from Paris that there is a lot we can and should do – individually, locally, nationally and internationally. And what is becoming clearer is the vital role that community led grassroots action will play in this.

Transition New Mills was set up in a few years ago and our focus, as ever, is looking after our shared natural and environmental resources, reducing our energy needs and carbon emissions, supporting appropriate jobs and resources and strengthening community involvement, creativity, confidence and pride in the Town.

2015 was a very productive year for us;

  • we led the incredibly successful balsam bashing project as we continue to aim for a balsam free New Mills thus allowing native species to bloom once again,
  • we’ve collaborated with Thornsett School in the planting of hundreds of new trees on the Derby Road playing fields,
  • worked on a County-wide campaign to try and convince Derbyshire County Council to divest pension funds out of the fossil fuel industry,
  • collaborated with Moors For The Future in offering vital bumblebee survey training around Kinder,
  • looked into the viability of a community energy project,
  • actively lobbied local MP, Andrew Bingham, and delivered a letter and petition regarding the recent Paris talks – we will keep up the pressure on him!
  • sent a series of green questions to all of our local parliamentary hopefuls before the General Election,
  • promoted local ventures such as ‘How Does Your Garden Grow?’ and Torrside Brewery as well as raising awareness about local and not so local green issues.

It’s been a busy year!

This year, we plan to build upon this; an Incredible Edible type project in New Mills, looking into the viability of a High Peak food hub and exploring the idea of a ‘Freshers’ Fair’ type event for community groups in New Mills.

Are these things that you would like to help set up or support? But what about transport? What about recycling? What about a community energy project? How can we support our local high street?

Interested? We need as many people as possible to get involved in Transition New Mills because this is your project, your chance to help shape your town and our future. So, we are also going to make it even easier to become a supporter of Transition New Mills this year, and it‘ll only cost you as much as you want to give – more details as we approach our AGM in late spring / early summer.

Paris showed us once and for all that the cavalry may never come. But what happens if we decide that we are the cavalry? If enough people do, we can make a real impact. So, join us. Join us in trying to create a future whose viability can no longer be ignored. Join us and together we can see just where this may take us.

 

 

 

 

Transition New Mills Lobbies MP To Support A Safe Climate

22 Tuesday Dec 2015

Posted by Julian Ashworth in Climate change, Politics

≈ 1 Comment

Three of us from Transition New Mills (Jane Ayres, Sue Cooper and Rick Seccombe) met with Andrew Bingham on 12th December 2015.

We handed him 38 letters, most of which had been signed by constituents during a street leafleting session in New Mills on 28th November.  Additional letters were sent by email.

We had a wide ranging discussion with him.  We urged him to use his influence to support the government in taking a lead in ensuring that UK greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to keep global temperature rise within 2 degrees.

We suggested that immediate strategies would include the expansion of renewable energy production and the reduction of energy consumption through a massive insulation programme and a tightening of environmental regulations on household appliances.

We said that the priority was to massively reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and that government was in a position to take a lead on this and that it was not enough just to educate people of the need to individually have a lower carbon footprint.  One example we gave was the need to make air travel a less attractive means of travel rather than more attractive through building more runways.

Andrew Bingham confirmed in a letter that he thought that climate change was one of the most serious threats that the country and the world faces and he believes that the UK is taking a leading role on the world stage in the fight against climate change.

Lobbying by members of Transition New Mills and Sustainable Hayfield seems to be encouraging an interest in green issues so we encourage further engagement and recommend booking a slot at his surgery.

His contact details and surgery sessions are on his website  http://www.andrewbingham.org.uk/

Let us know how you get on!

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