Vegetarian cookery demonstration in December

One of our members, Siu Wan Thomas, is a keen advocate of vegetarian cookery. She says that vegetarian cookery can be very tasty and nutritious, and wants to show people how easy it can be to make seasonally available vegetarian meals. Moving towards a vegetarian diet helps reduce our impact on our planet. Siu Wan says: ”It uses much less energy, water and land and so is healthy to our planet.  It is also healthy to our bodies and minds and everyone can do it.“

She has devised a number of sample recipes which are available for free here.

All of the recipes require less than 40 minutes in the kitchen and cater for a wide range of tastes.

She will also be giving a cookery demonstration at Oak Tree House at 7.30 on Wednesday 9 December  as part of our ‘Dreaming of a Green Christmas?’ series of events. For more details and to find out more about our other events see here.

Livestock contribute a considerable amount to greenhouse gases ( figures vary considerably so are not quoted here), through the emissions in their feedstock, and also in the case of beef and lamb, in the methane they emit as part of their digestive process. So, if you are interested in moving to a less carbon intensive lifestyle and saving on the emissions that you contribute to the earth’s atmosphere, then cutting down on the amount of meat you consume is a very sensible step.

How about having one meat free day a week to start with?

And why not come along  to the demonstration and find out more about how good vegetarian cookery can taste and how easy it is?

Is Woking on track to reduce its carbon emissions?

Under the 2008 Climate Change Act, the UK is committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 66% of 1990 levels in 2020 and then to 20% in 2050. These medium and long-term targets imply a reduction of about 3% year on year.

Emissions from energy use in the home make a significant contribution to the UK’s total – a figure of 27% is widely used. By 2005 home-energy related emissions had increased 6.3 per cent from 1990 but the trend since 2005 has been downwards.

With gas and electricity meter readings being collated centrally, it’s fairly straightforward to work out if we are reducing our use of energy at home, and if we are doing it in line with the 3% annual reduction needed to support the long term overall target.

For the years 2005 to 2007, the answer for Great Britain is that we definitely are - by some margin. However the South East region is failing.

The figures here are for domestic energy use, per household, so they take into account changes in the numbers of dwellings.

Domestic GAS	2007 vs 2005	2007 kWh
Guildford	-3.92%	20199
Rushmoor	-5.14%	17634
Surrey Heath	-4.76%	21703
Waverley	-4.73%	21955
Woking	-5.90%	19461
Wokingham	-3.83%	20174
South East	-6.29%	17799
Great Britain	-7.39%	17614
Domestic ELECTRICITY	2007 vs 2005	2007 kWh
Guildford	-0.83%	5136
Rushmoor	-3.03%	4283
Surrey Heath	-1.94%	5164
Waverley	-3.25%	5247
Woking	-1.16%	5025
Wokingham	-2.90%	5090
South East	-2.99%	4741
Great Britain	-4.56%	4392

(These figures of course exclude any use of wood and oil for home heating. They also exclude Northern Ireland)

What strikes me as significant?

Across all the councils I’ve selected here and across Great Britain, our use of gas has reduced faster than our use of electricity. Have milder winters reduced our need for heating and magnified the effect of better home insulation and more efficient heating systems? Or has electricity use dropped less because the positive effects of low energy lighting, energy efficient applicances for example, are being offset by increased use of electronics in the home – more TVs, games consoles, computers, and bigger screens, all being left on for longer? 

Woking achieved a creditable reduction of 5.9% in gas usage but electricity consumption only fell by 1.1%.

In the South East, gas use per household in 2007 was 17799 kWh, just 1%  above the average for Great Britain. Warmer weather overall in the South East should mean we need less heating than the rest of the UK. I suspect our bigger houses and aversion to sweaters cancels that out.

Whereas South East domestic electricity at 4741kWh per household, was 7% higher than Britain’s.

In affluent Surrey, the picture is gloomy. Woking’s houses used an average of 19641 kWh of gas and 5025 kWh of electricity in 2007 – 10% and 6%respectively worse than the South East.

But on a positive note,  cutting household energy use in Woking by (say) 10% will have a bigger effect on the country’s emissions than the same percentage reduction in an area with lower energy use.

The carbon intensity of gas and electricity are markedly different. Currently electricity has a carbon intensity of about 0.43kg per unit (1kWh), and gas is 0.19. For the average Woking house, the total annual energy-related emissions are therefore 2.16 tonnes from electricity and 3.79 tonnes from gas. Over time, the electricity grid will be de-carbonised as wind power comes on line and coal power stations are closed. As a result, the proportion of household emissions due to gas usage will tend to increase.

Spreadsheets giving gas and electricity usage data for all council areas in Great Britain are available for downloading from DECC.

Age of Stupid showing a great success.

The recent Age of Stupid showing at the Lightbox was extremely well attended, with over 50 people turning up on the night.

The film, starring Pete Postlethwaite as one of the last remaining humans, depicted an archive of events leading up to the demise of the human species. The film was a moving warning of living beyond our means in terms of resource usage, and showed current day footage of Nigerians as they are ridden over by big oil business, Iraqi exiles, a French glacier which receded at an alarming 10 metres in the last year, and an ambitious Indian business copy of Easyjet, oblivious to the fact that increased flying can only add to our current climate change crisis.

As the film ended, there was a spontaneous round of applause.

In the ensuing discussion there were a number of clear messages which emerged, loud and clear.

• If we want to get appropriate government response, both nationally and internationally people needed to get out on the streets and protest, just as they did against the Iraq war. There will be a large scale public march in London on 5 December. For more details: http://www.stopclimatechaos.org/the-wave  and  http://www.campaigncc.org/nationalmarch2009.
• We need to show solidarity with developing nations, rather than allowing ourselves to become trapped in a ‘we won’t do it until they do it’ mentality. Campaign against Climate Change has arranged a global day of action against climate change for many years. For more about their activities see here: http://www.globalclimatecampaign.org/
• Test what other people recommend as solutions by applying  the following test: if the solution doesn’t involve significant change or some sacrifice, it probably isn’t going to work.
• Use your anger, against the multiple systemic crises we face, constructively and creatively, by teaming up with others to find solutions. Join Friends of the Earth, World Development Movement, Practical Action and Greenpeace, join local groups that are working to develop positive solutions, such as Transition Towns, or, in Woking, Woking Local Action 21, which runs an increasing number of projects to help the community reduce their environmental impact. In many places there will be an existing group which is already involved in doing similar things. If one doesn’t exist, find others with whom you can start up such a group.
• Read The Transition Handbook by Rob Hopkins. This is an ideal textbook for anyone who wants to start developing local projects, whether in the guise of a Transition Town, or with an alternative name.
• If you are feeling disempowered, remember that there are groups all over the country and all over the world who are working hard to change things for the better. Power comes as one joins up with others to create change.
• Climate change and sustainability are not just specialist subjects for specialist groups. They need to become mainstream. If you are involved with any local group, such as a church or place of worship, a reading group, scouts, guides, football club or any community group, then take the messages from The Age of Stupid out to your group.  For details of how to arrange a showing see below.

The Age of stupid will be launching a campaign in the near future, so keep watching their site: http://www.ageofstupid.net/ Here you will also find how to arrange a local showing of the film, and, by joining their mailing list,  you can be kept up to date on when the DVD of the film will become publicly available for purchase.

Vision ‘tree’ for Woking in 2020

Woking vision tree for 2020

At the recent Environmental Fair at the Lightbox, we asked visitors what they wanted Woking to look like in 2020.

Posed with questions such as :

• How can we ensure our children are happier and healthier?
• Where will our food come from?
• How will people travel?
• How different will our work/life balance be?
• How close to zero-carbon will our economy be?

Visitors listed a number of very creative and inspirational ideas. Amongst these were ideas about future quality of life, food supply/growing and transport, as well as several aspirational ideas for changes in working practices.

“Carbon Detox” by George Marshall

At Woking Local Action 21’s AGM on Wed 10 June, George Marshall presented his amusing and provocative one-man show, “Carbon Detox”. Based on his book of the same name, his show illustrated how to detect and overcome climate denial.

Using amusing anecdotes and analogies, George asked us to imagine how we would feel if we awoke on a roller coaster once it was under way. That, he suggested, would be how we felt if we did not wake up to the fact that climate change was already happening and accept the fact, acknowledging in the process how scared we all were. This would then allow us to start acting appropriately.

He went on to describe how to take personal action to respond to climate change, using a simple carbon footprint walking demonstration. Using one pace to symbolise a tonne of carbon dioxide emissions, he demonstrated that the average UK emissions per person, excluding flying, equated to ten paces. Flying, averaged over the whole population, equated to another 4 paces (ie 4 tonnes per person). By contrast, eliminating plastic bags would reduce one’s footprint by one millimetre, and turning one’s TV off at the wall all the time, was equivalent to about 5 millimetres.

He elaborated on a number of simple and effective ways to reduce national and individual footprints, including improving all houses to current insulation standards (1 ½ paces), decarbonising electricity (2 ½ paces), eating a local, seasonal and low meat diet (1 pace) and a number of other solutions, relatively easy to implement.

He highlighted that a positive response to climate change would inevitably result in a greatly improved quality of life, as we found more time for friends and family and local entertainment, ate a healthier diet and found time to become involved in meaningful pursuits. Lower traffic levels and shorter commute distances would improve air quality and noise levels too.

Questioned about whether individual actions would provide a rapid enough response to climate change, or whether political action was needed as well, he replied that he didn’t believe that political action would happen until there was sufficient groundswell of public opinion to motivate policy changes. In the long term, he anticipated that there would need to be a number of significant policy changes, including some form of carbon rationing and financial measures to incentivise a low carbon economy.

Spring email newsletter

 Spring email newsletter

Welcome to the first of our quarterly email newsletters. We plan to keep you up to date on what has been happening recently within Local Action 21 project groups and what other initiatives are happening elsewhere locally. This is just a snapshot of what is now happening in Woking in the sustainability and climate change related arena and there are bound to be many other activities, which we would like to promote, so if you know of something going on which is not noted here, then please let us know.

Carbon Detox show at AGM in June

We will be holding our AGM at 7.30 on June 10 at HG Wells Conference and Events centre. Map  here. No need to book in advance and entrance is free.

After a brief AGM George Marshall will be presenting his show
CARBON DETOX

-a fast moving, highly entertaining one man show based on his acclaimed book, Carbon Detox.

He will challenge your assumptions and help you to find fresh ways to deal with climate change.

Why is climate change often so boring
Why do polar bears leave us cold
How have plastic bags became a fetish
How can a spin in a Ferrari fit into a low carbon future
Why can smokers teach us anything we need to know
What is it like to ride the climate roller coaster
How can we find joy and thrive in a climate change world
….and not a graph in sight!

Carbon Detox argues that we must stop thinking about ‘saving the planet’ and ‘giving things up’. Instead let’s adopt a light-carbon lifestyle because it is the only smart, fun, healthy and modern way to live in the 21st century.

George Marshall is one of the most entertaining and inspirational environmental public speakers in Britain. He is founder of the charity the Climate Outreach and Information Network www.coinet.org.uk and appears regularly in newspapers and on television and radio . He has 20 years’ experience in environmental research and campaigning and lives in Llanidloes.

 

WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT PREVIOUS SHOWS

Fantastic show. If you are scared this will turn it all around.
Lizzie Gillett, Film producer, McLibel: Two Worlds Collide.

Al Gore and Woody Allen wrapped in one…George Marshall has created the world’s first stand-up climate change routine. It is hilarious, and really challenged me to change the way I thought.
Roman Krznaric, The Oxford Muse

Witty, pithy, engaging and generous. George doesn’t tell you off, he doesn’t lecture you, he makes you want to do something about climate change. Go and hear him if you can. Excellent!
Rosemary Randall, Cambridge Carbon Footprint

I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much at a climate change show Rachel Howell-student

George helped me to see how to be cool over global warming Nigel Cooper – chaplain to Anglia Ruskin University

A refreshingly different and enjoyable approach Anne Miller author of ‘The Myth of the Mousetrap’

Entertaining, punchy, thought provoking Tim Nicholson- Head of sustainability- Grainger PLC

George Marshall laughs you into learning Kate Raworth- senior researcher, Oxfam

George was super entertaining and made climate change seem like something that’s actually to do with me- and I didn’t even daydream! Janine, Political Sciences Student, Cambridge

Climate change is a threat to house prices

The Daily Telegraph warns that the property market in some Devon towns will be affected by climate change:

“The A379 at Slapton Sands in Devon runs for miles along an elevated shingle bank with the English Channel on one side and a vast, tranquil freshwater lake on the other.

But the road is threatened by a combination of spring tides and easterly winds, which may mean the road will be swept away in the near future – and with it would go a lifeline for local residents and businesses.

“We’ll maintain the road for a while if there’s a relatively minor problem but if the breach is large, we’ll leave it. We must accept sea levels are rising and it won’t be viable to preserve the coast long term,” warns Simon Dunford of Natural England.”

Prosperity without Growth?

Professor Tim Jackson* has been interviewed about his report for the Sustainable Development Commission,

‘Prosperity without Growth?  (The transition to a sustainable economy)’

 Among his comments to the interviewer:

“We’re saying it’s time to question it [economic growth]. The UK Government, like many governments around the world, has had a sort of unfailing allegiance to the idea that we must keep the economy growing at all costs, and it’s time to question that goal.”

“….the goal of the economy is not economic growth in itself: it’s believed that that’s going to give us prosperity, it’s going to give us a good life, it’s going to give us the conditions in which we can flourish as human beings. And the point of our report is to say that that’s the goal that we should be going for – that the aim is to deliver the ability for people to flourish. But we can only do that within the limits of the natural environment, we can only do it within the ecological capabilities of the planet. And at the moment we’re going in completely the wrong direction in ecological terms, and that is going to mean ultimately that we won’t have prosperity in any form if we don’t think more carefully about that relationship now.”

“…what we’re saying is that we need to put prosperity itself at the heart of
government policy, and that means understanding what prosperity means. Our report argues that it means we have to put people’s capability to flourish, to live well, at the heart of policy; so that they have, for example, a good work-life balance, that they are capable of integrating into their communities, that they have the necessities of life, of course. But it’s also vital that people can participate and take part fully in the life of society in ways that are less materialistic than they have done in the past. And so there are really three tasks for government:

• one is to fix the economics that we’ve been working on which assumes that we can grow consumption endlessly;
• the second is to go directly for the jugular – what matters is people’s capabilities to flourish, we should build those capabilities and protect peoples’ ability to flourish;
• the third key message is that government needs to establish the ecological limits.

At the moment some of those are half-established but most of them are just lying in the margin, we don’t know what our requirements are, what our limits are in terms of material throughputs, and we need to establish that.”

Read the full interview  and the report on the SDC website,

* Commissioner for Economics at the Sustainable Development Commission, and Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of Surrey

Severe global water shortages predicted

In an article in The Independent, 15th March 2009, “Water scarcity is ‘now a bigger threat than financial crisis’” Geoffrey Lean reported that:

“By 2030, more than half the world’s population will live in high-risk areas.”

“Humanity is facing “water bankruptcy” as a result of a crisis even greater than the financial meltdown now destabilising the global economy, two authoritative new reports show. They add that it is already beginning to take effect, and there will be no way of bailing the earth out of water scarcity.”

“The two reports – one by the world’s foremost international economic forum and the other by 24 United Nations agencies – presage the opening tomorrow of the most important conference on the looming crisis for three years. The World Water Forum, which will be attended by 20,000 people in Istanbul, will hear stark warnings of how half the world’s population will be affected by water shortages in just 20 years’ time, with millions dying and increasing conflicts over dwindling resources. “

What should our response be in Woking? The obvious short term action is to cut out wasteful use of water in the home and at work. Turn off taps when brushing teeth; only wash full laundry and dishwashing loads; take short showers instead of baths; wash the car from a bucket, not a hose; use rainwater collected in butts to water the garden etc etc. The LA21 information resources on water use in the garden and in the house give lots more tips.