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Marc Hudson
(MCFly editor)
Posts
Is this the Ungreenest Government ever?
14 years ago
Monday, 19 July 2010
Friday, 18 June 2010
Steering Group meets at long long last
OK, so that may not be quite the most exciting news headline you'll ever read, but this stuff does matter*. Please read on!
On the evening of Thursday 17 June, the "Steering Group" (SG) for the Manchester Climate Change Action Plan finally met. MCFly has been reporting on this group since it was first mooted, back in the back end of 2009. Essentially, its purpose is to be a group. That steers. The Action Plan. You know, the Action Plan that you've heard so much about from the Council; on their website, on their twitter feed, in the pages of Manchester Pravd.. People, on their facebook group, on the big screen in Piccadilly Gardens, on the blog of Richard Leese and the blog of the Executive Member for the Environment, via your Council Tax bill, via the Manchester Evening News and via interviews by officers and members when they pop up on BBC radio and Northwest Tonight and on Granada tonight. You know, that Action Plan.
But anyhow, about this group; It has a chair- Steve Connor, of the ethically inclined communications outfit "Creative Concern". That's the same Creative Concern who were heavily involved in the unsuccessful "Yes" campaign for the Transport Innovation Fund referendum of 2008. Mr. Connor has a blog called "headstretcher".
At the moment there is no Vice Chair (but that could change.) The SG was to be a twelve member body, but when the original nine met they decided to give themselves the option of expanding to 15, since they are keen to "plug gaps, grab talent and increase the diversity of the group." This expansion may go some way to help redress a pretty pale and male set up as it stands (Steve Connor is joined by Phil Korbel, Dave Coleman, Richard Paver, Paul Andrews, Nigel Murphy, Nigel Rose and two other... men.) The SG is not to be panel of experts, bur rather a stakeholder group. MCFly will report on these as they are announced.
The original plan was for the Steering Group to meet four times a year, but after discussion, it will meet "6 to 8 weekly in the first instance" with two more meetings before the November 30th "Stakeholder conference". The next meeting will be in late July, and IS open to the public (if you ask nicely).
They'll be preparing a report for that Stakeholder conference,and have as their immediate priority "to do a push on getting more organisations to endorse the plan and start preparing their own plans. That includes McFly readers of course!" Given the truly appallingly low take-up rate by organisations invited to endorse the Action Plan so far (46 out of 1067), that seems like a very good place to start. Watch this space.
MCFly says:
MCFly's gift to Steve Connor would be a lawn-mower. Or a scythe. Or perhaps a flamethrower. Anything that will help him hack away at the sky-high grass that has grown under everyone's feet since November 2009, when the action plan was launched with a certain hullaballo and self-satisfaction. We're more than half way to the first "stakeholder conference" (Tuesday November 30th. Book yer annual leave now) and there's been virtually no work on telling the public about what's going on. The website for the Plan doesn't allow people to make comments on it (positive or negative) and does not explain how businesses and organisations can "endorse" it. There's been no effort to maintain and nurture the incipient networks established in the hurly burly of writing last year's Action Plan. The second half of 2010 had better be substantially less crap than the first. Just sayin'.
*Sort of: MCFly is with John Maynard Keynes on this - "in the long run, we're all dead." It's just, he didn't mean gnawing on the bones of a beloved pet cat while wondering why we didn't ever pull our finger out on carbon dioxide mitigation in the 2010s...
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Manchester's Food and Sustainability Question time.
Thurs June 10, Manchester. Eighty people tonight heard five speakers debate “Food and Sustainability” at the University of Manchester. The event, hosted by the now venerable EMERGE, covered packaging, carbon footprints, vegetarianism and supermarkets.
After brief opening remarks by Lucy Danger (including a shout out to the brilliant FareShare project), chair Mark Shayler (Eco3, previously Environment Manager Asda), gave a brief spiel (about embedded water etc) and introduced the five panelists; Stefan Stainsby (WRAP's Love Food Hate Waste Campaign)
Julie Bagnoli (Business Link & Isinglass Restaurant), Pat Foreman (Foods North West), Chris Shearlock (The Co-operative Group) and Debbie Ellen (Independent Researcher & Community Grower).
The first question was perhaps the best of the evening (that's not to say that things went downhill – for the most part they didn't).
What was the biggest threat to Manchester/Northwest in the coming decade(s)?
Chris Shearlock spoke of two- one being outbid for the “nice things” (exotic fruits etc) by the emerging economies,and also biodiversity loss (Plan B). He worried that the biodiversity crunch would come sooner than the climate crunch.
Debbie Ellen saw four interlinked problems 1) skills shortage (with lots of farmers being over 55, and only 5% under 35), 2) access to affordable land, 3) erratic weather and 4) lack of training in vegetarian and vegan cooking in the catering trade. She also gave a shout out to the Manchester Climate Change Action Plan (subject of the latest MCFly youtube video)
Pat Foreman endorsed the previous points and chipped in with concerns on the ability to innovate. Julie Bagnoli pointed to the tiny availability of locally grown food.
The next set of questions were, IMHO, a bit of a diversion- around packaging. It's emotive and obvious, but as Chris Shearlock pointed out, not the biggest 'carbon' part of the problem, and needs to be weighed against increased spoilage if food is under-packaged.
The chair kept things moving along fairly nicely, giving both audience and panel chances to expand and interact. Shearlock came across as very well-briefed (as you'd expect of the point-man for Britain's biggest farmer!), and adamant that life cycle analysis was crucial for looking at whether food flown in from Kenya was 'lower carbon' than locally produced. He defended Fairtrade while acknowledging it wasn't always the lowest carbon option (pointing out its other advantages, of a secure price for Majority World growers).
On whether vegetarianism/veganism was the most important action an individual could take, Shearlock and Ellen and Bagnoli said yes. Foreman, in keeping with her general “let the market decide/let's all be practisch” approach suggested it wasn't but rather thinking about what was bought and when, while Stefan Stainsby, as befits his WRAP role pointed to not wasting food while proclaiming he didn't want a nanny state.
MCFly ducked out slightly early (along with a few others who'd presumably found the two hour duration a bit punishing), so can't say if there were any final surprises.
How could the event have been improved? More vegetarian food during the mingler! Name badges and the various forms of soft coercive mingling that help English people overcome their reserve. Perhaps a tighter focus on some of the really pressing issues facing us. A few fun memes like “Permanent Global Summertime”. But nothing fundamental, nothing structural. This was no Dire Mountain.
Other impending food related events-
Create your own Abundance - June 12 2010
Feeding Manchester 4 - June 25, 2010
After brief opening remarks by Lucy Danger (including a shout out to the brilliant FareShare project), chair Mark Shayler (Eco3, previously Environment Manager Asda), gave a brief spiel (about embedded water etc) and introduced the five panelists; Stefan Stainsby (WRAP's Love Food Hate Waste Campaign)
Julie Bagnoli (Business Link & Isinglass Restaurant), Pat Foreman (Foods North West), Chris Shearlock (The Co-operative Group) and Debbie Ellen (Independent Researcher & Community Grower).
The first question was perhaps the best of the evening (that's not to say that things went downhill – for the most part they didn't).
What was the biggest threat to Manchester/Northwest in the coming decade(s)?
Chris Shearlock spoke of two- one being outbid for the “nice things” (exotic fruits etc) by the emerging economies,and also biodiversity loss (Plan B). He worried that the biodiversity crunch would come sooner than the climate crunch.
Debbie Ellen saw four interlinked problems 1) skills shortage (with lots of farmers being over 55, and only 5% under 35), 2) access to affordable land, 3) erratic weather and 4) lack of training in vegetarian and vegan cooking in the catering trade. She also gave a shout out to the Manchester Climate Change Action Plan (subject of the latest MCFly youtube video)
Pat Foreman endorsed the previous points and chipped in with concerns on the ability to innovate. Julie Bagnoli pointed to the tiny availability of locally grown food.
The next set of questions were, IMHO, a bit of a diversion- around packaging. It's emotive and obvious, but as Chris Shearlock pointed out, not the biggest 'carbon' part of the problem, and needs to be weighed against increased spoilage if food is under-packaged.
The chair kept things moving along fairly nicely, giving both audience and panel chances to expand and interact. Shearlock came across as very well-briefed (as you'd expect of the point-man for Britain's biggest farmer!), and adamant that life cycle analysis was crucial for looking at whether food flown in from Kenya was 'lower carbon' than locally produced. He defended Fairtrade while acknowledging it wasn't always the lowest carbon option (pointing out its other advantages, of a secure price for Majority World growers).
On whether vegetarianism/veganism was the most important action an individual could take, Shearlock and Ellen and Bagnoli said yes. Foreman, in keeping with her general “let the market decide/let's all be practisch” approach suggested it wasn't but rather thinking about what was bought and when, while Stefan Stainsby, as befits his WRAP role pointed to not wasting food while proclaiming he didn't want a nanny state.
MCFly ducked out slightly early (along with a few others who'd presumably found the two hour duration a bit punishing), so can't say if there were any final surprises.
How could the event have been improved? More vegetarian food during the mingler! Name badges and the various forms of soft coercive mingling that help English people overcome their reserve. Perhaps a tighter focus on some of the really pressing issues facing us. A few fun memes like “Permanent Global Summertime”. But nothing fundamental, nothing structural. This was no Dire Mountain.
Other impending food related events-
Create your own Abundance - June 12 2010
Feeding Manchester 4 - June 25, 2010
Monday, 7 June 2010
Green Monday (tell me now how do you feel?)
Last night around 100 business people (and one spy) met for the first Green Monday event to be held in the North west. Held at Old Trafford Football ground, the event succeeded in providing food for thought (three short speeches and Q and A), space for info exchange (themed discussion tables) and scope for networking (wine, beer and the usual flurry of business cards being exchanged). Putting aside the (inevitable) failure to deal with the scale of the challenge facing this species, it was... a pretty good event, and hopefully the first of a regular series.
After brief comments intros, Paul Turner, Head of Sustainable Development at Lloyds Banking Group kicked things off with a succinct talk that pointed out that the Environmental Sustainability agenda covered many bases- pricing power, access to markets, access to capital, risk management, employee retention – but was still seen as an item only in the 'cost' column of the ledger by some. He added that only 30% of business schools have environmental issues in their core curriculum, and worried publicly about the risk of 'environmental sustainability' being seen as something to be cut during a recession.
He seeded an image that was then picked up by other speakers and questioners, when he cited Wayne Gretzky (Canadian ice hockey legend) opining that the reason for his success was that he “skated to where the puck is going to be”
He was followed by Chris Matthews, Head of Environment and Sustainability atUnited Utilities, who looked at the most important current issue facing his business (water scarcity), the most innovative project UU have on the go at the moment - gas-to-grid (energy from your sewage) and the “emerging trend”, which he felt was the focus on biodiversity. The final speaker was Chris Lewis, Head of Environment at AstraZeneca. He covered a lot of ground, including the observation that AZ, while externalising their supply chain, were retaining 'ownership' of the carbon footprint that the supply chain created.
Questions from the floor covered biomimicry, the moment when the speakers realised how serious the situation was, what they want from the Coalition Government, the impact that the lack of a 'global deal' would have on their future plans and the possibility of growth on a finite planet.
On the global deal question- both the Chrises felt that the lack of a deal meant little to them- their businesses were forging ahead because it was the right thing to do, it saved them money and it was a key feature for their ability to attract and retain talent. Paul Turner of Lloyds demurred slightly, saying the lack of a deal (at Copenhagen, Cancun etc etc) mattered insofar as it provides non-progressive countries and companies with an excuse to do nothing, putting first movers at a disadvantage. He pointed out that South Korea had used its stimulus package from early 2009 to 'go green', with 81% of its government pump-priming in clean tech.
On the possibility of growth, Turner was also interesting. MCFly was expecting the usual ducking and weaving. Instead Turner quoted John F Kennedy (“GDP measures everything but that what matters”) and gave a shout out to the New Economics Foundation and Nicholas Sarkozy's calls for environmental/social sustainability to be included in measures of economic well-being. He made a useful distinction between progress and grwoth.
This Q and A was then followed by roughly an hour sat in tables on various themes (decarbonising supply chains, employee engagement etc), and followed in turn by complementary wine and beer (which had nothing to do with MCFly's willingness to schlepp out to Old Trafford).
“Green Mondays” have been running in the Big Smoke for sometime now. With Greater Manchester hoping to be a hub for environmental business, then these sorts of events will be happening more frequently.
Verdict: Within the logic of “industrial ecology/ecological modernisation” Media4change have put on a thought-provoking and interesting event. If MCFly gets along to another, it'll be in suit and tie to blend in better.
Footnote to the Man United guy who refused to even give MCFly so much a business card- I said Manchester CLIMATE Fortnightly, not Manchester CITY Fortnightly. Assuming that was what was hacking you off?
After brief comments intros, Paul Turner, Head of Sustainable Development at Lloyds Banking Group kicked things off with a succinct talk that pointed out that the Environmental Sustainability agenda covered many bases- pricing power, access to markets, access to capital, risk management, employee retention – but was still seen as an item only in the 'cost' column of the ledger by some. He added that only 30% of business schools have environmental issues in their core curriculum, and worried publicly about the risk of 'environmental sustainability' being seen as something to be cut during a recession.
He seeded an image that was then picked up by other speakers and questioners, when he cited Wayne Gretzky (Canadian ice hockey legend) opining that the reason for his success was that he “skated to where the puck is going to be”
He was followed by Chris Matthews, Head of Environment and Sustainability atUnited Utilities, who looked at the most important current issue facing his business (water scarcity), the most innovative project UU have on the go at the moment - gas-to-grid (energy from your sewage) and the “emerging trend”, which he felt was the focus on biodiversity. The final speaker was Chris Lewis, Head of Environment at AstraZeneca. He covered a lot of ground, including the observation that AZ, while externalising their supply chain, were retaining 'ownership' of the carbon footprint that the supply chain created.
Questions from the floor covered biomimicry, the moment when the speakers realised how serious the situation was, what they want from the Coalition Government, the impact that the lack of a 'global deal' would have on their future plans and the possibility of growth on a finite planet.
On the global deal question- both the Chrises felt that the lack of a deal meant little to them- their businesses were forging ahead because it was the right thing to do, it saved them money and it was a key feature for their ability to attract and retain talent. Paul Turner of Lloyds demurred slightly, saying the lack of a deal (at Copenhagen, Cancun etc etc) mattered insofar as it provides non-progressive countries and companies with an excuse to do nothing, putting first movers at a disadvantage. He pointed out that South Korea had used its stimulus package from early 2009 to 'go green', with 81% of its government pump-priming in clean tech.
On the possibility of growth, Turner was also interesting. MCFly was expecting the usual ducking and weaving. Instead Turner quoted John F Kennedy (“GDP measures everything but that what matters”) and gave a shout out to the New Economics Foundation and Nicholas Sarkozy's calls for environmental/social sustainability to be included in measures of economic well-being. He made a useful distinction between progress and grwoth.
This Q and A was then followed by roughly an hour sat in tables on various themes (decarbonising supply chains, employee engagement etc), and followed in turn by complementary wine and beer (which had nothing to do with MCFly's willingness to schlepp out to Old Trafford).
“Green Mondays” have been running in the Big Smoke for sometime now. With Greater Manchester hoping to be a hub for environmental business, then these sorts of events will be happening more frequently.
Verdict: Within the logic of “industrial ecology/ecological modernisation” Media4change have put on a thought-provoking and interesting event. If MCFly gets along to another, it'll be in suit and tie to blend in better.
Footnote to the Man United guy who refused to even give MCFly so much a business card- I said Manchester CLIMATE Fortnightly, not Manchester CITY Fortnightly. Assuming that was what was hacking you off?
Tuesday, 1 June 2010
Happy Birthday to MCFly!!
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The next issue is number 50. We've been publishing for two years now, not missing a deadline (tho' we've shaved one or two of the blighters!)
We're having a minor knees up at the Sandbar, Grosvenor St, on Weds 9th June, from 8pm or so.
You are all - new readers and old - very welcome to join us.
Sunday, 30 May 2010
Another Talking Shop Bites the Dust?
And so the organisation formerly known as the North West Regional Assembly - '4NW' - has been read its last rites by the Coalition, and will grace the headlines no more. Which is sort of the point isnt it? It didnt grace the headlines and so you might be forgiven for thinking that its demise was a welcome part of the bonfire of the quangos.
The evidence for the prosecution would include the fact that we the tax-payer funded the organisation to little effect. But it's when you put it in the context of the governace of the North West that things get a little more equiviocal. Once the idea of a devolved region was scuppered (by the disastrous referendum on that subject for the North East), 4NW ended up as a secretariat for the NW Leaders Council - pretty much the only place where all the leaders of the local councils of the region got together. Again - so what?
The most powerful public body in the NW is the North West Development Agency - which as well as giving out many hundreds of millions in grants, is also the distributing agency for a pretty huge wad of EU money too. The NWDA also authored the Regional Economic Strategy which guides its investment decisions. It answers to a Board made up of a mixture Council and business leaders with a few other worthies thrown in but it is not democratically accountable. The Chair of that Board is pretty influential. The previous incumbent of that post, Brian Gray, was the former head honcho of Baxi the heating people, and the new one is Robert Hough. He used to be Deputy Chair of the massive Peel Holdings (think Trafford Centre, Salford Quays/Media City and all the land along the Ship Canal) and his NWDA predecessor went straight from that post to chair the Peel company that runs Media City - Peel Media. Can you see a name that is starting to pop up here a bit? Peel will also benefit massively from a huge NWDA project around the 'Mersey Gateway', and over a £100M of public money went into Media City.
So - on one side an unelected Board running a very powerful public body from which - rightly or wrongly - Peel Holdings benefits considerably. On the other - the democratically constituted 4NW who, up until the recent announcement, were for the first time co-authoring the next regional economic policy. The Chair of the Leaders Board, one Sir Richard Leese, has made it plain that they won't go without a fight. It should also be noted that the reclusive boss of Peel Holdings is a prominent Conservative.
Speaking of Sir Richard brings us to the other way that the wings of the NWDA are currently being clipped - by the creation of Greater Manchester as a 'City Region.' This brings considerable devolved powers and possibly control of funds from both Whitehall and the NWDA. The city region is governed by another council of leaders - this time the council leaders of the ten districts that make up the former county of Greater Manchester. All laudably accountable.
The Coaltion has made the decentralising of powers from Whitehall a central plank of its vision, and the word on the street is that they quite like the City Region concept. The policy nugget that could radicalise this picture is the Coalition's promise to allow referendums [or, for the benefit of pedants 'referenda'] on whether the country's ten biggest cities should have elected mayors. A Manc Boris anyone? It is by no means clear whether such a move would apply to the city of Manchester or the city region - but one could well imagine the concept being popular. A boost to public interest in local government would certainly be welcome... it is the list of ambitious former celebrities eying up a big chair in the Town Hall that scares this correspondent, as would any link between such an incumbent and, er, prominent NW business interests. Whatever happens - it's not going to be dull.
And the relevance of all this to the teeming throng of McFly readers is this... The NWDA, as well as being unaccountable, is all about Gross Value Added (that's pure business growth to you and me) whatever bells and whistles they put on it. Whilst this also features very large amongst the policy drivers of Sir Richard and his elected colleagues, we can be confident that it is tempered by real notions of social justice and, increasingly, sustainable development. Watch this space..
The evidence for the prosecution would include the fact that we the tax-payer funded the organisation to little effect. But it's when you put it in the context of the governace of the North West that things get a little more equiviocal. Once the idea of a devolved region was scuppered (by the disastrous referendum on that subject for the North East), 4NW ended up as a secretariat for the NW Leaders Council - pretty much the only place where all the leaders of the local councils of the region got together. Again - so what?
The most powerful public body in the NW is the North West Development Agency - which as well as giving out many hundreds of millions in grants, is also the distributing agency for a pretty huge wad of EU money too. The NWDA also authored the Regional Economic Strategy which guides its investment decisions. It answers to a Board made up of a mixture Council and business leaders with a few other worthies thrown in but it is not democratically accountable. The Chair of that Board is pretty influential. The previous incumbent of that post, Brian Gray, was the former head honcho of Baxi the heating people, and the new one is Robert Hough. He used to be Deputy Chair of the massive Peel Holdings (think Trafford Centre, Salford Quays/Media City and all the land along the Ship Canal) and his NWDA predecessor went straight from that post to chair the Peel company that runs Media City - Peel Media. Can you see a name that is starting to pop up here a bit? Peel will also benefit massively from a huge NWDA project around the 'Mersey Gateway', and over a £100M of public money went into Media City.
So - on one side an unelected Board running a very powerful public body from which - rightly or wrongly - Peel Holdings benefits considerably. On the other - the democratically constituted 4NW who, up until the recent announcement, were for the first time co-authoring the next regional economic policy. The Chair of the Leaders Board, one Sir Richard Leese, has made it plain that they won't go without a fight. It should also be noted that the reclusive boss of Peel Holdings is a prominent Conservative.
Speaking of Sir Richard brings us to the other way that the wings of the NWDA are currently being clipped - by the creation of Greater Manchester as a 'City Region.' This brings considerable devolved powers and possibly control of funds from both Whitehall and the NWDA. The city region is governed by another council of leaders - this time the council leaders of the ten districts that make up the former county of Greater Manchester. All laudably accountable.
The Coaltion has made the decentralising of powers from Whitehall a central plank of its vision, and the word on the street is that they quite like the City Region concept. The policy nugget that could radicalise this picture is the Coalition's promise to allow referendums [or, for the benefit of pedants 'referenda'] on whether the country's ten biggest cities should have elected mayors. A Manc Boris anyone? It is by no means clear whether such a move would apply to the city of Manchester or the city region - but one could well imagine the concept being popular. A boost to public interest in local government would certainly be welcome... it is the list of ambitious former celebrities eying up a big chair in the Town Hall that scares this correspondent, as would any link between such an incumbent and, er, prominent NW business interests. Whatever happens - it's not going to be dull.
And the relevance of all this to the teeming throng of McFly readers is this... The NWDA, as well as being unaccountable, is all about Gross Value Added (that's pure business growth to you and me) whatever bells and whistles they put on it. Whilst this also features very large amongst the policy drivers of Sir Richard and his elected colleagues, we can be confident that it is tempered by real notions of social justice and, increasingly, sustainable development. Watch this space..
Friday, 28 May 2010
MCFly youtube video launched
The MCFly Youtube video about Manchester City Council is up.
It's not very polished, let's just leave it at that. But it fulfills (half) a promise that I made in MCFly #49 to have two videos up by the end of the week.
It was fun to make, and future videos will (fingers crossed) be marginally-to-significantly less rubbish.
Comments welcome, but ESPECIALLY, offers of help to improve things.
It's not very polished, let's just leave it at that. But it fulfills (half) a promise that I made in MCFly #49 to have two videos up by the end of the week.
It was fun to make, and future videos will (fingers crossed) be marginally-to-significantly less rubbish.
Comments welcome, but ESPECIALLY, offers of help to improve things.
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Ecoteams Schmecoteams
MCFly spent a glorious sunny Saturday morning... indoors, being depressed by the format and execution of a climate event called “Eco-teams”. Not asking for sympathy - MCFly is an idiot, and getting too old for this stuff.
The event was organised by “Global Action Plan”. They had contacted all sorts of groups, and invited people along to hear about what they do, with the idea of people leaving all fired up to lead “Eco-teams” of 4 to 6 people reducing their emissions over a few months.
As feared, it kicked off with a goodly portion of death by powerpoint. First off, a Council officer gave an overview of the Manchester Climate Change Action Plan. She managed to mention AfSl, FoE etc but not the group that actually created the conditions for broad participation. No surprises there then.
After that the audience sat through a twenty five minute explanation of "Ecoteams," a straight-forward concept that anyone who came was – by definition – sold on. It could have been explained in a two page briefing that could have been sent out earlier, freeing up time and bandwidth
Just when I - and others- were losing the will to live, we had a pseudo-mingler where we had to go around the room to find people who had led meetings, had alternative energy sources at home etc.
I say pseudo-mingler, because that didn't lead on to us forming groups based on where we live, what work we do, what we've already done, what we might want to do. Typical of the underlying (and false) liberal assumptions about individual behaviour change, we spent the day being bombarded with facts and gimmicks but never was any attempt made to find out what people already knew, were already doing, specifically wanted to know.
We then had lots of “put laminate cards of these appliances in order of least to most polluting” games, that you'd get teenagers to play. Nothing wrong with that, but is it the best way to embed an enthusiasm for/interest in being an EcoTeam Leader, and role-playing the difficulties etc?
The whole day seemed predicated on the tedious and ineffective* “information deficit model”, and the underlying assumption was that Consumer Capitalism was fine as long as it was Green Consumer Capitalism. In academia this is known as "ecological modernisation". All the talk is of “efficiency” and “waste-reduction”, never of justice, or lessening consumption.
Tony Lloyd, recently re-elected MP for Manchester Central bravely took on the post-lunch slot. His advice for effective lobbying?
a) feel entitled to do it
b) lobbying is a discussion, in which you have prove your case (blackmail along the lines of “Do as I say or I won't vote for you” is not effective!!)
c)the most direct (face-to-face) engagement is the best
Two more sessions and then we were done. We had the same person facilitating throughout the day (a mistake. If there are other people who could take some on, then let them. They will benefit from the experience, and the audience will hear a different voice!)
Trouble was, even on its own terms- of encouraging people to become eco-team leaders, this event was at best a half-success. At the end of the event, someone asked me “so, what now? Is there a pack that you get if you agree to be an Ecoteam leader?” This person is intelligent, dedicated and effective. If he/she is not able to get that basic information from a day, then the organisers have some soul-searching to do.
But, I suspect most of the feedback forms they got spoke in glowing terms (English people rarely tell hard truths, even in anonymous feedback forms) and that at least some of those who attended will start up teams. But not as many as could have. Verdict: yet another missed opportunity.
Disclaimer - MCFly is jealous of Global Action Plan's resources, and irritated that a bunch of Londoners have come up and done something that AfSL, FOE, C2RA, MCA between them could have done, only better.
*Ineffective in achieving the ostensible goals of the organisation – creating empowered and effective citizens who maintain long-term reductions of their carbon footprint and that of a bunch of people around. Very effective in allowing people to stay in their comfort zones, tick the boxes that say “information delivered” and so forth.
For how it SHOULD be done, see Cambridge Carbon Footprint
The event was organised by “Global Action Plan”. They had contacted all sorts of groups, and invited people along to hear about what they do, with the idea of people leaving all fired up to lead “Eco-teams” of 4 to 6 people reducing their emissions over a few months.
As feared, it kicked off with a goodly portion of death by powerpoint. First off, a Council officer gave an overview of the Manchester Climate Change Action Plan. She managed to mention AfSl, FoE etc but not the group that actually created the conditions for broad participation. No surprises there then.
After that the audience sat through a twenty five minute explanation of "Ecoteams," a straight-forward concept that anyone who came was – by definition – sold on. It could have been explained in a two page briefing that could have been sent out earlier, freeing up time and bandwidth
Just when I - and others- were losing the will to live, we had a pseudo-mingler where we had to go around the room to find people who had led meetings, had alternative energy sources at home etc.
I say pseudo-mingler, because that didn't lead on to us forming groups based on where we live, what work we do, what we've already done, what we might want to do. Typical of the underlying (and false) liberal assumptions about individual behaviour change, we spent the day being bombarded with facts and gimmicks but never was any attempt made to find out what people already knew, were already doing, specifically wanted to know.
We then had lots of “put laminate cards of these appliances in order of least to most polluting” games, that you'd get teenagers to play. Nothing wrong with that, but is it the best way to embed an enthusiasm for/interest in being an EcoTeam Leader, and role-playing the difficulties etc?
The whole day seemed predicated on the tedious and ineffective* “information deficit model”, and the underlying assumption was that Consumer Capitalism was fine as long as it was Green Consumer Capitalism. In academia this is known as "ecological modernisation". All the talk is of “efficiency” and “waste-reduction”, never of justice, or lessening consumption.
Tony Lloyd, recently re-elected MP for Manchester Central bravely took on the post-lunch slot. His advice for effective lobbying?
a) feel entitled to do it
b) lobbying is a discussion, in which you have prove your case (blackmail along the lines of “Do as I say or I won't vote for you” is not effective!!)
c)the most direct (face-to-face) engagement is the best
Two more sessions and then we were done. We had the same person facilitating throughout the day (a mistake. If there are other people who could take some on, then let them. They will benefit from the experience, and the audience will hear a different voice!)
Trouble was, even on its own terms- of encouraging people to become eco-team leaders, this event was at best a half-success. At the end of the event, someone asked me “so, what now? Is there a pack that you get if you agree to be an Ecoteam leader?” This person is intelligent, dedicated and effective. If he/she is not able to get that basic information from a day, then the organisers have some soul-searching to do.
But, I suspect most of the feedback forms they got spoke in glowing terms (English people rarely tell hard truths, even in anonymous feedback forms) and that at least some of those who attended will start up teams. But not as many as could have. Verdict: yet another missed opportunity.
Disclaimer - MCFly is jealous of Global Action Plan's resources, and irritated that a bunch of Londoners have come up and done something that AfSL, FOE, C2RA, MCA between them could have done, only better.
*Ineffective in achieving the ostensible goals of the organisation – creating empowered and effective citizens who maintain long-term reductions of their carbon footprint and that of a bunch of people around. Very effective in allowing people to stay in their comfort zones, tick the boxes that say “information delivered” and so forth.
For how it SHOULD be done, see Cambridge Carbon Footprint
Green Expo report
by staff reporter Scott Templeton
A slightly nervous looking Cllr Nigel Murphy, the new Executive Member for the Environment, kicked off this exhibition and conference of sustainable building held over two days at GMEX (now known as Manchester Central). Our new Executive Member must still be getting up to speed with his
new portfolio as his introduction to the A Certain Future report lasted around 12 minutes rather than the expected half an hour. To be fair this was his first speech on the subject and its probably too early to judge his abilities although his recognition that the Council “does not have all the answers” is a good start. The speech, which he had only looked at early in the morning and was reading word for word, was lacking conviction. However, in it Cllr Murphy reaffirmed the 10:10 pledge to carbon reduction, and suggested that Manchester City Council was the largest organisation taking part in this scheme. This civic boosterism characterised much of the presentation with claims such as “the only UK city to involve stakeholders” in the climate change strategy and the distinctive “original modern” approach to climate change that we are apparently taking continuing that well loved narrative about the greatness of the city so beloved by our leaders.
The exhibition and conference, a two day event, provided a showcase for the “latest ideas, products and technologies that help reduce the environmental impact of building” and there were dozens of companies displaying these solutions. From Malaysian timber housing systems to green roofs this was a reminder of the economic opportunities that are presented by climate change and sustainability needs. This underlying economic opportunity orientation of the event was confirmed when Cllr Nigel Murphy suggestion that there are “significant economic opportunities for cities that grasp this challenge” woke up the early morning crowd of developers, architects and builders.
With dozens of seminars from building green schools to the benefits of biomass providing a good opportunity to learn about some of the building/construction issues facing the industry and showed how these companies are at the forefront of developing new technological solutions to renewable energy systems. Yet this could be the weakness of the event with its focus on business and technology there seemed to be a number of unmentionable issues especially anything to do with politics. In fact the whole event seemed to be devoid of climate change politics or the need to make some increasingly tough decisions about our lifestyles with technology being positioned as the solution to all our worries. This was also reflected in seminars by Chris Birch and Robert Shaw, both directors of sustainability at planning consultancies who gave presentations looking at the planning systems and master planning. Using formulas such as P* + A* + T* = environmental impact or statements such as “everyone has a role to play in delivering the new paradigm” the speakers seemed to get lost in a world of built environment expertise and technological configurations that speak of a business as usual approach.
Another ‘elephant in the room’ was the economy with questions of funding for all these schemes being greeted by smiles and nervous laughter. The Green City team at the Council stand seemed to pass on the burden of its strategy to the mythical ‘business partner’ but there was no clear evidence that anyone in the conference had any idea about how their solutions could be delivered on a scale beyond the ubiquitous experiment or case study.
Still, there was lots of ideas and inventions at the conference, clever people coming up with all manner of energy-saving and generating devices of the future. It will be interesting to see how these develop in our new economic climate.
A slightly nervous looking Cllr Nigel Murphy, the new Executive Member for the Environment, kicked off this exhibition and conference of sustainable building held over two days at GMEX (now known as Manchester Central). Our new Executive Member must still be getting up to speed with his
new portfolio as his introduction to the A Certain Future report lasted around 12 minutes rather than the expected half an hour. To be fair this was his first speech on the subject and its probably too early to judge his abilities although his recognition that the Council “does not have all the answers” is a good start. The speech, which he had only looked at early in the morning and was reading word for word, was lacking conviction. However, in it Cllr Murphy reaffirmed the 10:10 pledge to carbon reduction, and suggested that Manchester City Council was the largest organisation taking part in this scheme. This civic boosterism characterised much of the presentation with claims such as “the only UK city to involve stakeholders” in the climate change strategy and the distinctive “original modern” approach to climate change that we are apparently taking continuing that well loved narrative about the greatness of the city so beloved by our leaders.The exhibition and conference, a two day event, provided a showcase for the “latest ideas, products and technologies that help reduce the environmental impact of building” and there were dozens of companies displaying these solutions. From Malaysian timber housing systems to green roofs this was a reminder of the economic opportunities that are presented by climate change and sustainability needs. This underlying economic opportunity orientation of the event was confirmed when Cllr Nigel Murphy suggestion that there are “significant economic opportunities for cities that grasp this challenge” woke up the early morning crowd of developers, architects and builders.
With dozens of seminars from building green schools to the benefits of biomass providing a good opportunity to learn about some of the building/construction issues facing the industry and showed how these companies are at the forefront of developing new technological solutions to renewable energy systems. Yet this could be the weakness of the event with its focus on business and technology there seemed to be a number of unmentionable issues especially anything to do with politics. In fact the whole event seemed to be devoid of climate change politics or the need to make some increasingly tough decisions about our lifestyles with technology being positioned as the solution to all our worries. This was also reflected in seminars by Chris Birch and Robert Shaw, both directors of sustainability at planning consultancies who gave presentations looking at the planning systems and master planning. Using formulas such as P* + A* + T* = environmental impact or statements such as “everyone has a role to play in delivering the new paradigm” the speakers seemed to get lost in a world of built environment expertise and technological configurations that speak of a business as usual approach.
Another ‘elephant in the room’ was the economy with questions of funding for all these schemes being greeted by smiles and nervous laughter. The Green City team at the Council stand seemed to pass on the burden of its strategy to the mythical ‘business partner’ but there was no clear evidence that anyone in the conference had any idea about how their solutions could be delivered on a scale beyond the ubiquitous experiment or case study.
Still, there was lots of ideas and inventions at the conference, clever people coming up with all manner of energy-saving and generating devices of the future. It will be interesting to see how these develop in our new economic climate.
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
Who owns the emissions? We do.
Mary Heaney, top sustainability bod for Manchester Metropolitan University, isn't playing the game fair. At the end of an interesting and thought-provoking breakfast meeting at the CUBE, she was asked “who owns the aviation emissions of overseas students attending Manchester Metropolitan University?” Speaking for MMU she said simply “we do.” She was supposed to wiffle-waffle about off-sets this or the lack of a settled system for apportioning international aviation emissions that. Then MCFly could write a sneery snarky squib and MCFly reader(s) could be confirmed in his/her/their world-views. That's the game, or it was until this morning.
image courtesy Adrian Pope
Ms Heaney, the game-changer, was the speaker at a well-attended panel discussion on Sustainability in the Built Environment, organised by Insider Media (a source for some of MCFly's local/regional news snippets). She gave a coherent powerpoint presentation entitled by“A vision for transformation, regeneration and sustainability” about the (controversial to some) plans for expansion of MMU onto Birley Fields in Hulme.
The plans, approved last year by the City Council's Executive, are part of an overall strategy to consolidate MMU's seven campuses down to two. This will improve MMUs building usage and overall operational efficiency.
Ms Heaney alluded to previous masterplans for Hulme (the Crescents, anyone?) and admitted that residents could be justifiably cautious/suspicious. Her presentation made use of various (positive) comments that emerged from the consultation done last year. She spoke of 430 full-time equivalent jobs (with about 340 being local jobs), and an aspiration to dramatically increase local attendance.
She moved on to talk about the aspiration for “zero water, zero waste and zero carbon.” Water would be sourced from a bore, with 100% rainwater capture for flushing toilets etc. Waste would be tackled by minimisation first and aggressive recycling. MCFly may have misheard, but the phrase “48% reduction by 2020 for carbon emissions” seemed to be mooted.”The buildings would be all BREEAM 'excellent' or 'outstanding', and a low carbon energy centre looking at biomass and a power/heating approach. There is also a biodiversity plan looking at green roofs/habitat linkage.
Critics of this plan (whom MCFly will invite to comment on this blog post) will doubtless point to the loss of green space and the building of a car park.
The final point Ms Heaney made was very sound indeed- buildings can be 'green' but the outcomes 'brown' because of the way they are used. Behaviour change (education, incentives, social norms engineering) are all essential. It's almost as if folks need “Green Nudges”.
Hopefully MMU will put the powerpoint presentation online, and we can link to it.
After her presentation, she, Felicity Goodey (see disclaimer below) and Professor Andrew Thomas of CCINW fielded questions from the audience.
The first was on on which of economic, environmental and social sustainability was being paid the most attention.
Prof Thomas said definitely economic, because the building profession is dominated by engineers and quantity surveyors, and that economic sustainability can be easily measured.
Felicity Goodey chipped in agreeing with this and adding that evidence showed that social sustainability could also be measured and shown to have an economic impact. Her example was that having trees around reduced stress levels and therefore staff sickness decreased. In terms of being able to retrofit 1960s buildings, she pointed to the example of Wythenshawe Hospital, first hospital to win a Carbon Trust award, as well as dramatically reducing its heating and cooling bill.
Ms Heaney added that as well as being driven by government fiat, there were also expectations from students that the institutions they attended would behave responsibly.
As befits these events, there was a question about retrofitting. Given that 80% of the buildings we have in 2050 are already built, this is where the real savings will have to come from.
Felicity Goodey agreed, saying that to win arguments you need to have case studies to show how much money could be saved how quickly. She advocated that there should be an expectation that any publicly owned building (hospitals, police HQs etc) should be replacing windows during routine maintenance with double-glazing and thermal maintenance. She lamented that this doesn't happening. She cited the current VAT regime as a perverse incentive for knocking down buildings and replacing them with things that had the same carbon footprint, calling it “absolutely barking mad.”
Prof Thomas chipped in with the observation that who pays and who benefits is a key question. Landlords are (sometimes) paying up front, with tenants getting lower fuel bills. He advocated “pay as you save” schemes, and pointed out the challenges will only get bigger as time goes on.
Mary Heaney, who now sits on the Environment Commission, advocated looking to the Registered Social Landlord sector as 'low hanging fruit', and mentioned cladding work done on 60s buildings at MMU.
The next questioner took the retrofitting theme further. Was it possible to retrofit to zero carbon by 2050? Prof Thomas was reluctant to prophesise. From the floor (Roger Burton of JMarchitects) came the observation that doing energy generation on a per-building basis was not going to work, it would have to be done at a community level, with heat mains, recovered waste etc. He said that the city has to lead.”
Felicity Goodey added that zero carbon also involved procurement of, for example, food. She gave the example of food being brought in from South Wales by contractors when it could be sourced more locally. She also wondered aloud if too much emphasis was being put on recycling and the waste minimisation (and consumption reduction generally, if MCFly doesn't misrepresent) was where the action was at.
Alex Sol of Sheppard Robson said, while everything MMU was doing was good, wasn't it maybe fiddling around the edges, with legislation needed to force things to happen.
Prof Thomas proclaimed himself a great believer in sticks as well as carrots, but was worried the early adopters would lose their competitive advantage if everyone was having to perform at the same high level. MCFly reckons this is wrong on two levels- one the goal is to preserve a habitable biosphere, not (necessarily) current market models and two the 'early adopters' will simply push on to even more ambitious technologies/techniques.
Felicity Goodey was also not keen on legislation (though the reason she gave – globalised economy- wouldn't hold carbon if the disclaimer (see below) wasn't in play; States can – and do- impose conditions on capital flows/capitalist behaviour. Thus the spatial/sustainability fix. She advocated using audit tools, since the UK is “audit mad.”
Mary Heaney cited MMU's use of Display Energy Certificates on all its buildings, big and small, as a way of driving behaviour change (with informal competition between faculties) and speculated that if DECs were put on private buildings, this would create reputational risk/opportunity.
And the final question? MCFly's attempt to bring the love-fest down to earth, exposing the contradiction between all the good stuff aimed at making Manchester 'greener' but within the context of 'Manchester as a “world city”' and the attendant aviation emissions. And I would have gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for those meddling kids... Now, if we can just get Manchester Airport to adopt MMU's logic...
The event was hosted by the Centre for Construction Innovation and sponsored by AECOM and Sheppard Robson. The coffee, pastries and networking were all good. MCFly will highlight future events of interest to its reader(s).
Disclaimer- Ms Goodey is MCFly's boss in real life, so OF COURSE every single word she uttered was a pearl of wisdom!
image courtesy Adrian Pope
Ms Heaney, the game-changer, was the speaker at a well-attended panel discussion on Sustainability in the Built Environment, organised by Insider Media (a source for some of MCFly's local/regional news snippets). She gave a coherent powerpoint presentation entitled by“A vision for transformation, regeneration and sustainability” about the (controversial to some) plans for expansion of MMU onto Birley Fields in Hulme.
The plans, approved last year by the City Council's Executive, are part of an overall strategy to consolidate MMU's seven campuses down to two. This will improve MMUs building usage and overall operational efficiency.
Ms Heaney alluded to previous masterplans for Hulme (the Crescents, anyone?) and admitted that residents could be justifiably cautious/suspicious. Her presentation made use of various (positive) comments that emerged from the consultation done last year. She spoke of 430 full-time equivalent jobs (with about 340 being local jobs), and an aspiration to dramatically increase local attendance.
She moved on to talk about the aspiration for “zero water, zero waste and zero carbon.” Water would be sourced from a bore, with 100% rainwater capture for flushing toilets etc. Waste would be tackled by minimisation first and aggressive recycling. MCFly may have misheard, but the phrase “48% reduction by 2020 for carbon emissions” seemed to be mooted.”The buildings would be all BREEAM 'excellent' or 'outstanding', and a low carbon energy centre looking at biomass and a power/heating approach. There is also a biodiversity plan looking at green roofs/habitat linkage.
Critics of this plan (whom MCFly will invite to comment on this blog post) will doubtless point to the loss of green space and the building of a car park.
The final point Ms Heaney made was very sound indeed- buildings can be 'green' but the outcomes 'brown' because of the way they are used. Behaviour change (education, incentives, social norms engineering) are all essential. It's almost as if folks need “Green Nudges”.
Hopefully MMU will put the powerpoint presentation online, and we can link to it.
After her presentation, she, Felicity Goodey (see disclaimer below) and Professor Andrew Thomas of CCINW fielded questions from the audience.
The first was on on which of economic, environmental and social sustainability was being paid the most attention.
Prof Thomas said definitely economic, because the building profession is dominated by engineers and quantity surveyors, and that economic sustainability can be easily measured.
Felicity Goodey chipped in agreeing with this and adding that evidence showed that social sustainability could also be measured and shown to have an economic impact. Her example was that having trees around reduced stress levels and therefore staff sickness decreased. In terms of being able to retrofit 1960s buildings, she pointed to the example of Wythenshawe Hospital, first hospital to win a Carbon Trust award, as well as dramatically reducing its heating and cooling bill.
Ms Heaney added that as well as being driven by government fiat, there were also expectations from students that the institutions they attended would behave responsibly.
As befits these events, there was a question about retrofitting. Given that 80% of the buildings we have in 2050 are already built, this is where the real savings will have to come from.
Felicity Goodey agreed, saying that to win arguments you need to have case studies to show how much money could be saved how quickly. She advocated that there should be an expectation that any publicly owned building (hospitals, police HQs etc) should be replacing windows during routine maintenance with double-glazing and thermal maintenance. She lamented that this doesn't happening. She cited the current VAT regime as a perverse incentive for knocking down buildings and replacing them with things that had the same carbon footprint, calling it “absolutely barking mad.”
Prof Thomas chipped in with the observation that who pays and who benefits is a key question. Landlords are (sometimes) paying up front, with tenants getting lower fuel bills. He advocated “pay as you save” schemes, and pointed out the challenges will only get bigger as time goes on.
Mary Heaney, who now sits on the Environment Commission, advocated looking to the Registered Social Landlord sector as 'low hanging fruit', and mentioned cladding work done on 60s buildings at MMU.
The next questioner took the retrofitting theme further. Was it possible to retrofit to zero carbon by 2050? Prof Thomas was reluctant to prophesise. From the floor (Roger Burton of JMarchitects) came the observation that doing energy generation on a per-building basis was not going to work, it would have to be done at a community level, with heat mains, recovered waste etc. He said that the city has to lead.”
Felicity Goodey added that zero carbon also involved procurement of, for example, food. She gave the example of food being brought in from South Wales by contractors when it could be sourced more locally. She also wondered aloud if too much emphasis was being put on recycling and the waste minimisation (and consumption reduction generally, if MCFly doesn't misrepresent) was where the action was at.
Alex Sol of Sheppard Robson said, while everything MMU was doing was good, wasn't it maybe fiddling around the edges, with legislation needed to force things to happen.
Prof Thomas proclaimed himself a great believer in sticks as well as carrots, but was worried the early adopters would lose their competitive advantage if everyone was having to perform at the same high level. MCFly reckons this is wrong on two levels- one the goal is to preserve a habitable biosphere, not (necessarily) current market models and two the 'early adopters' will simply push on to even more ambitious technologies/techniques.
Felicity Goodey was also not keen on legislation (though the reason she gave – globalised economy- wouldn't hold carbon if the disclaimer (see below) wasn't in play; States can – and do- impose conditions on capital flows/capitalist behaviour. Thus the spatial/sustainability fix. She advocated using audit tools, since the UK is “audit mad.”
Mary Heaney cited MMU's use of Display Energy Certificates on all its buildings, big and small, as a way of driving behaviour change (with informal competition between faculties) and speculated that if DECs were put on private buildings, this would create reputational risk/opportunity.
And the final question? MCFly's attempt to bring the love-fest down to earth, exposing the contradiction between all the good stuff aimed at making Manchester 'greener' but within the context of 'Manchester as a “world city”' and the attendant aviation emissions. And I would have gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for those meddling kids... Now, if we can just get Manchester Airport to adopt MMU's logic...
The event was hosted by the Centre for Construction Innovation and sponsored by AECOM and Sheppard Robson. The coffee, pastries and networking were all good. MCFly will highlight future events of interest to its reader(s).
Disclaimer- Ms Goodey is MCFly's boss in real life, so OF COURSE every single word she uttered was a pearl of wisdom!
Monday, 24 May 2010
Manchester Airport invaded by activists
Fresh from bringing an inflatable elephant to last Wednesday's post-election City Council meeting, activists from Manchester Climate Action and Manchester Plane Stupid have broken into the freight terminal of Manchester Airport and chained themselves to the wheel of a plane.
You can read about it here.
As per the latest MCFly's calendar, the next meeting of Manchester Climate Action takes place this Wednesday, 26 May, starting at 7.30pm at the Bowling Green Pub, Grafton St.
MCFly will be there, and doubtless there will be some new faces, complete with inquisitive minds.
You can read about it here.
Protesters have cut through a perimeter fence at Manchester Airport and chained themselves to the wheels of a plane.
Members of the group Manchester Plane Stupid are demonstrating against the expansion of the World Freight Centre.
A spokesman for the airport said six people cut a hole in the fence and flights were suspended for 20 minutes following the security breach.
Police are currently working on removing the protesters, who started their demonstration at about 0700 BST.
As per the latest MCFly's calendar, the next meeting of Manchester Climate Action takes place this Wednesday, 26 May, starting at 7.30pm at the Bowling Green Pub, Grafton St.
MCFly will be there, and doubtless there will be some new faces, complete with inquisitive minds.
MCFly 049- Glebelands
Glebelands city growers is a haven of green lushness hidden behind a simple walk way between two buildings. The scenery is idyllic; a market garden perched on the banks of the River Mersey, the earthy smell of freshly tilled soil and sounds of chirping birds fill the air. A gentle breeze and the flowing river all but shut out the noise of traffic from the M60, isolating the farm from the hustle and bustle of Sale South Manchester.
The land for the farm is on lease from the Trafford Metropolitan Council and the market garden is run by a friendly and dedicated four member strong team of Charlotte, Adam, Sally and Ed. They are helped by Emily, who has been volunteering on the farm for over a year. The team met through World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF), a registered UK charity made up of an international network of organic farms, gardens, and small holdings which are called hosts. These hosts offer food and accommodation in exchange for practical help on their land which they farm using ecologically acceptable methods.
Glebelands is certified by the Soil Association, a membership charity that campaigns for organic food and farming. The farm operates on the principle of feeding the soil rather than the crop and has a balanced ‘ecosystem’ approach to farming without the use of fertilizers or pesticides. Rows of polytunnels, a glass house and a green house filled with ready to plant seedlings, help ensure the production of leafy crops all year round. All produce - mainly vegetables - is sold within 5 miles of the farm. Composting is done onsite with additional plant inputs sourced no further than 5 miles. The farm has just one tractor, keeping mechanisation to the minimum. Most of the work done manually, which helps to significantly reduce the farm's carbon footprint.
Although the team members do admit that it is a lot of hard work, they are also quick to add that they find it rewarding and well worth it. Innovative irrigation systems applied on the farm comprise of buried pipes under the vegetable beds with tiny holes to ensure that the soil is properly irrigated with no water wastage. This is usually not the case with traditional sprinklers due to changes in wind direction. Plans are currently under way for a sustainable irrigation system that is to be served by the River Mersey.
The farm's steadily increasing clientele include Unicorn- Manchester’s Co-operative grocery a successful whole food UK outlet named The Observer Food Monthly's 'Best Independent Shop' and Radio Four Food Programme's 'Best Local Food Retailer in 2008. Dig food box scheme a South Manchester home delivery service started in Chorlton but now moved to Altrincham. It specialises in locally sourced organic fruits and vegetables. Glebelands also supplies Organic North Wholesale, a co-operative formed by a group of organic businesses. Café Ark-Sale Water Park a vegetarian café located adjacent to the Mersey Valley visitors centre and Jam Street Café, Chorlton.
In April 2010, the Glebelands City growers’ team began work on the ‘Grow for it!’ project an educational programme for local schools, being funded by the Big Lottery Fund’s Local Food scheme. Training and volunteering opportunities do exist on the farm as well; visit their website/ for more details.
Forthcoming events include the "Open Farm Sunday" scheduled for the 13th of June 2010 and Community Volunteer Task Days that run throughout the year. There is a ‘Hoe down’ event coming up on Saturday 17th July 2010. The team hopes that community involvement would help raise the awareness of low carbon food production, which is an undeniable benefit of urban sustainable horticulture.
Membership based organisations such as the Organic Growers Alliance (OGA) provide support in the form of workshops, forums, quarterly magazine etc to organic horticulture practitioners throughout the UK. The support helps overcome challenges such as land procurement, finding the market for the produce, funding, weather, crop failure etc. These challenges notwithstanding, market gardens such as city growers serve as not only a shining example of the successful practice of urban sustainable horticulture, but also remind us of where the food we consume comes from. I agree with Ed’s words ….. ‘We have all become far too removed from how our food is produced’. As I sit down enjoying a cup of tea and biscuits with the team, I am reminded of nature’s ever-nurturing capacity.
by Lilian Ikiriko
Interested in volunteering at Glebelands City Growers? Send an email to contacts@glebelandscitygrowers.co.uk
Friday, 21 May 2010
The Green Wave
Hundreds of people tonight packed the Great Hall at Manchester Town Hall, and cheered the premiere of a new film about North Manchester leading the way on all things green. The forty-minute film, “The Green Wave”, looks back from 2080 at the present day, and shows how a small group of people made a global difference. It was made by people in Charleston and Higher Blackeley, supported and guided by an innovative organisation called Reelmcr.
The new Lord Mayor of Manchester, Cllr Mark Hackett, introduced the evening. He said that, as a councillor for Charlestown for 20 years, he was delighted to see the “skills motivation and talent that we know are already there” unlocked. He was followed by Manchester-based poet Tony Walsh, who spoke of the “journey of learning and self-discovery” that the cast and crew had been on, before expertly whipping up (even more) enthusiasm for the film.
The film itself is book-ended with scenes of an elderly couple being interviewed about the year 2010. The female interviewee's father is trying, with no success, to get his friends and family to take care of resources (and save money). For MCFly, the best quality of the film was how it captured the loneliness of 'activism' - the derision and gentle/firm telling-off activists can get when they try to raise uncomfortable issues. The film also looks (in an admittedly 'short-hand' way!) at the vested interests that stand in the way (a cartoon villain from the Hexagen energy company), and the ease with which people can be distracted or corrupted from the path of green-ness. Ultimately the message is one that anyone who has been paying attention these last twenty years can agree with- we can't wait for governments and corporations, we have to act now (and bring them along with us).
After the main film, which is filled with memorable performances from young and old, professional and amateur, the audience saw an interesting “making of” documentary, which explained just how interactive and collaborative the process of making the film had been. This was intriguing, and something all involved can be proud of. After that there were a series of speeches and presentations. Deputy Leader of the Council, Jim Battle gave a speech where he used the “f” word and the “c” word – fun and commitment. He was among a large number of people who gamely gave out awards to cast and crew. The loudest applause came for Jacqui Carroll, director of Reelmcr.
MCFly caught up with Jacqui, who led a large team of dedicated and talented people in making it all come to life, and asked her what the most important outcomes of the film were. She told us “the biggest thing was that it was a celebration of community. The film- and the process of making it, taught people things we didn't know, that people had taken for granted. For example, that not switching off appliances costs lots of money. We've learnt that the oil isn't going to last forever, and that we have to do it together. No-one is going do it for us.”
The film was made with money from Manchester City Council's Carbon Innovation Fund, Enterprise Manchester and the Climate Change Local Authorities Support Programme, with many other organisations and individuals donating time, skills and facilities.
What next?
It's great to see so much enthusiasm and concern. The challenge for all involved will be to harness that energy, minimise the inevitable falling off in participation, and choose new projects that will keep people involved and enable more to use their energy and talents. Given the good will, hard work and brimming talent on display already, this is very doable.
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Manchester City Council's first post-election meeting
For anyone who has been observing Manchester City Council's slow slide back into 'business as usual' on climate change, it will come as no surprise that there was no mention of the subject in today's full Council meeting. The job of raising the issue of this most threatening of problems was left to Manchester Climate Action, who greeted the returning – and new – councillors with a larger-than-life inflatable elephant wearing a banner reading: "Manchester Airport – the Elephant in the Room." An amplified recording of the noise of planes taking off ensured that the windows of the Council Chamber were firmly closed.
As the first Council meeting after both local and general elections, there were Council formalities to be attended to – including the election of the new Lord Mayor and the confirmation of Leader of the Council Richard Leese back into post (despite an unusual challenge from the Liberal Democrat opposition).
Cllr Mark Hackett's acceptance speech as mayor included nostalgic references to the suffragettes and Chartists and to his own days protesting against the Vietnam War and supporting striking miners in 1964. Sadly, this radicalism wasn't replicated in his planned focus for his Lord Mayoral year. Although he did apparently consider championing the natural environment, he's actually plumped for upping the profile of volunteering, especially in sports clubs and teams. Nice, but not very earth-shaking – or -saving.
The new Executive Member for the Environment was confirmed – as per rumours - as Councillor Nigel Murphy. He will, according to the new web page listing the new Executive,
"Lead on:
* Transport Policy (including highways & parking)
* Green issues (including waste strategy & waste collection)
* Planning
* Licensing Policy"
So, no mention of climate change there either, which is mildly worrying, unless it's been given to someone else... in which case, who? Councillor N. (there are 3 other Murphys on MCC) Murphy's Assistant Executive Member is Fallowfield's David Royle.
The other nine executive members, and their responsibilities, are listed here. The other main appointment likely to be relevant to day-to-day environmental activities in the chair of the Communities & Neighbourhood committee, which remains with Cllr John Flanagan.
Monday, 17 May 2010
News flash - rumours of new Environment Executive
Rumour reaches MCFly from more than one source (so it MUST be true!) that on Wednesday May 19th, at the first full Council meeting since the May 6th local elections, Cllr Nigel Murphy will be named as the Executive Member for the Environment. He will replace Richard Cowell, who lost his seat in Northenden to the Liberal Democrats, a ward in which the Green Party did not stand a candidate.
Cllr Murphy, who retained his Hulme seat in the 2010 elections, was officially Richard Cowell's deputy. However, MCFly never saw him at the meetings that Cowell attended, whether Environmental Advisory Panels, public debates, the meetings around the creation of the Climate Change Action Plan last year or the like. Cllr Murphy also did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Manchester Climate Fortnightly, both before the elections and at the count on Friday May 7th. It will be interesting to see if- assuming the rumours are true - Cllr Murphy takes a different view on communication after he rises to a position of some power in the City Council's political structures.
It appears that Cllr David Royle (Fallowfield) will be deputy Exec for the Environment.
The full council meeting takes place at 10am, the Council Chambers, 3rd level of the Town Hall Extension. It is open to the public. MCFly will be there.
Cllr Murphy, who retained his Hulme seat in the 2010 elections, was officially Richard Cowell's deputy. However, MCFly never saw him at the meetings that Cowell attended, whether Environmental Advisory Panels, public debates, the meetings around the creation of the Climate Change Action Plan last year or the like. Cllr Murphy also did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Manchester Climate Fortnightly, both before the elections and at the count on Friday May 7th. It will be interesting to see if- assuming the rumours are true - Cllr Murphy takes a different view on communication after he rises to a position of some power in the City Council's political structures.
It appears that Cllr David Royle (Fallowfield) will be deputy Exec for the Environment.
The full council meeting takes place at 10am, the Council Chambers, 3rd level of the Town Hall Extension. It is open to the public. MCFly will be there.
Sunday, 16 May 2010
FutureCity mass "debate"
MCFly went along to the “City Debate” that was part of the FutureEverything festival. It was perfectly clear from the blurb that this was mostly going to be about shiny technology and weightless informational flows yadder yadder yadder. The format was also a little unusual, in that there were 17 speakers listed, each who would get approximately 90 seconds, with a couple of panels chipping in questions at some of those 17, and a couple of opened-out Q and As for hoi polloi to intervene.
For an event all about how the future is about hi-tech, there were entertaining (and instructive if we care to think about them) snafus involving dead microphones and even the simple matter of getting a 'tape' of Sir Howard Bernstein to play. Moderator Jenni Murray tried to forge on regardless, only to be “interrupted” by the absent Sir Howard on his second or third attempt.
There followed a rush of speakers. All the usual jargon and cliché got an airing- forefront of cutting edge... global... connected... game changers... challenging... hugely rewarding... going forward.. diversity... the future is speeding up... independent business... collaboration.... step changes... There was also a fair amount of vacuous boosterism, but I suppose that will come as a surprise to no-one.
The medium was the message, to quote somebody. Each speaker could only speak in banalities, unable to unpack their ideas and allow the audience to see if they made sense. There was no give or take, nobody was really able to pick up on other people's points. It all resembled a google-binge, where after 90 minutes you've been exposed to a lot of shiny ideas and words, but they're all muddled and you feel a bit queasy.
Only one speaker (asides the taped SHB) explicitly mentioned Climate Change and low carbon economies. That was Roger Milburn, Environment Commissioner and also Director of Arup. One of the provacateurs, Maarteen Hajer asked Roger Milburn to elaborate. [Hajer implied that the climate science suggests we have four decades left to do anything. I hope he's right, but MCFly's understanding of the climate science is that it is very much 'now or never' for this species]. Milburn did elaborate a bit- a low carbon economy has, in his eyes, finance mechanisms, a changed skill base, “product” and research (the Manchester Corridor, with the universities and the entrepreneurs was his example). Jenni Murray, who was chairing the meeting, invited other speakers to chip in on this question of “low carbon”. Incredibly, they didn't. It's not on their radar, they don't think it matters, they've not informed themselves; MCFly doesn't know why, but it's grotesque- how can you talk about the future of this city without grappling with the fundamental crises of peak oil and climate change?
So there was more talk, with the real standout one– grounded in social realities – saved for last. Patsy Hodson, vice principal of the Manchester Communication Academy, gave a succinct account of what the MCA will be trying to do, in an area where 41% of the people are economically inactive and 49% have no qualifications. With that, the room came to life a bit, and the Q and A that followed was a little more “real.” The 'elephant in the room' (the public sector money running out) even got a mention!
On the plus side- an innovative format that mostly worked (and given that it could have failed spectacularly, it should be chalked up as a success, even though it was the intellectual equivalent of speed-dating.
On the minus side – utterly disconnected from the real challenges that will face us.
If it's ok for the speakers to drag out hoary old images, so it is for the blogger. This event made me imagine us all as passengers in first class on the Titanic. The unsinkable ship has – thanks to the greed and hubris of its owners - hit an iceberg. In the background we could, if we chose to, see crew and other passengers talking about life rafts and so forth. Do we join that fact-based initiative? Sadly, no. We're having too much fun speculating on all the things to do and buy in New York... The stupid, it hurts...
For an event all about how the future is about hi-tech, there were entertaining (and instructive if we care to think about them) snafus involving dead microphones and even the simple matter of getting a 'tape' of Sir Howard Bernstein to play. Moderator Jenni Murray tried to forge on regardless, only to be “interrupted” by the absent Sir Howard on his second or third attempt.
There followed a rush of speakers. All the usual jargon and cliché got an airing- forefront of cutting edge... global... connected... game changers... challenging... hugely rewarding... going forward.. diversity... the future is speeding up... independent business... collaboration.... step changes... There was also a fair amount of vacuous boosterism, but I suppose that will come as a surprise to no-one.
The medium was the message, to quote somebody. Each speaker could only speak in banalities, unable to unpack their ideas and allow the audience to see if they made sense. There was no give or take, nobody was really able to pick up on other people's points. It all resembled a google-binge, where after 90 minutes you've been exposed to a lot of shiny ideas and words, but they're all muddled and you feel a bit queasy.
Only one speaker (asides the taped SHB) explicitly mentioned Climate Change and low carbon economies. That was Roger Milburn, Environment Commissioner and also Director of Arup. One of the provacateurs, Maarteen Hajer asked Roger Milburn to elaborate. [Hajer implied that the climate science suggests we have four decades left to do anything. I hope he's right, but MCFly's understanding of the climate science is that it is very much 'now or never' for this species]. Milburn did elaborate a bit- a low carbon economy has, in his eyes, finance mechanisms, a changed skill base, “product” and research (the Manchester Corridor, with the universities and the entrepreneurs was his example). Jenni Murray, who was chairing the meeting, invited other speakers to chip in on this question of “low carbon”. Incredibly, they didn't. It's not on their radar, they don't think it matters, they've not informed themselves; MCFly doesn't know why, but it's grotesque- how can you talk about the future of this city without grappling with the fundamental crises of peak oil and climate change?
So there was more talk, with the real standout one– grounded in social realities – saved for last. Patsy Hodson, vice principal of the Manchester Communication Academy, gave a succinct account of what the MCA will be trying to do, in an area where 41% of the people are economically inactive and 49% have no qualifications. With that, the room came to life a bit, and the Q and A that followed was a little more “real.” The 'elephant in the room' (the public sector money running out) even got a mention!
On the plus side- an innovative format that mostly worked (and given that it could have failed spectacularly, it should be chalked up as a success, even though it was the intellectual equivalent of speed-dating.
On the minus side – utterly disconnected from the real challenges that will face us.
If it's ok for the speakers to drag out hoary old images, so it is for the blogger. This event made me imagine us all as passengers in first class on the Titanic. The unsinkable ship has – thanks to the greed and hubris of its owners - hit an iceberg. In the background we could, if we chose to, see crew and other passengers talking about life rafts and so forth. Do we join that fact-based initiative? Sadly, no. We're having too much fun speculating on all the things to do and buy in New York... The stupid, it hurts...
Friday, 14 May 2010
News flash- Council releases a Carbon Reduction Plan
Manchester City Council has released a "Carbon Reduction Planfor 2010/11 (Including action on the 10% in 2010 Campaign)"
It's a 24 page pdf document that can be downloaded here-
MCFly will digest and do an analysis.
It's a 24 page pdf document that can be downloaded here-
MCFly will digest and do an analysis.
News flash- Lib Dems appoint new environment spokesman
OK, we here at MCFly Towers have enough of a sense of irony to realise that this newsflash isn't up there with "Kennedy Shot" or "Man walks on the fucking moon", but here goes. The Manchester Liberal Democrats have announced that Cllr Paul Ankers (Chorlton) will be the new shadow Environment Spokesperson. He takes over from Cllr Graham Shaw, who has had the role for as far back as MCFly can remember (that is, at least two years).
On Wednesday 19th, Council Leader Sir Richard Leese (yes, he's back) will unveil the new Council Executive. A new Exec Member for the Environment will be needed, since Richard Cowell lost his Northenden seat at the May 6th local elections.
Next newsflash- Council's Carbon Reduction Plan announced.
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
A tale of two meetings: barges and argy-bargy
First off to Castle Grayskull to hear about “The Science Barge,” a floating greenhouse on the Hudson River that is the brainchild of Groundwork Hudson Valley. The two American speakers have been touring Manchester today with people from Manchester City Council. After a scene-setting presentation by a Food Futures person, Groundwork USA deputy director Curt Collier spoke at just the right length and detail about the rationale of the project. (Give it a year and the good people of Ancoats will be getting their fruit and veg from a converted coal barge parked alongside MERCi.)
Then off to the Manchester Skeptics Society, where Dr Andrew Russell gave an entertaining whizz through the standard skeptic 'arguments' (you know- natural cycles, the sun, climate gate, glacier gate etc) to a large audience (60?). Carol Batton, well-known fixture on Manchester's poetry scene heckled the third slide and then self-ejected in a robust and somewhat premature fashion. Things settled down after that, with Russell enjoying himself and not bothering to hide his disdain of zombie arguments and the zombies who try to spread them.
The Skeptics Society meets monthly, covering a bunch of topics (including an upcoming one on the 'Quacklash', of libel laws being used against journalists critiquing homeopathy etc). On tonight's showing, they seem a friendly and intelligent bunch. If you need an excuse to get drunk and argumentative, then this looks like a good place to start.
Just visited their website, and found their tagline- "a Manchester based organisation dedicated to rational thinking, non-homoeopathic drinking and the promotion of skepticism."
Then off to the Manchester Skeptics Society, where Dr Andrew Russell gave an entertaining whizz through the standard skeptic 'arguments' (you know- natural cycles, the sun, climate gate, glacier gate etc) to a large audience (60?). Carol Batton, well-known fixture on Manchester's poetry scene heckled the third slide and then self-ejected in a robust and somewhat premature fashion. Things settled down after that, with Russell enjoying himself and not bothering to hide his disdain of zombie arguments and the zombies who try to spread them.
The Skeptics Society meets monthly, covering a bunch of topics (including an upcoming one on the 'Quacklash', of libel laws being used against journalists critiquing homeopathy etc). On tonight's showing, they seem a friendly and intelligent bunch. If you need an excuse to get drunk and argumentative, then this looks like a good place to start.
Just visited their website, and found their tagline- "a Manchester based organisation dedicated to rational thinking, non-homoeopathic drinking and the promotion of skepticism."
Monday, 10 May 2010
Thinking about transitions
The Planning and Environment Research Group (PERG) for the Royal Geography Society had its annual get together last week in Birmingham. The aim was to think about issues around transitions and climate change. Somewhat surprisingly, many of the geographers present were engaged in practical projects a long way from the ivory towers of academia. The workshop covered a lot of ground, since papers were circulated beforehand. Attendees were therefore spared two days of powerpoints, which allowed for much longer discussions on the issues. Not so surprising was the constant debate about what transitions are and who they are for, with a lot of criticism on the so called ‘Dutch School’ of transitions...a discussion far from finished by this group of geographers.
Amanda Smith from Nottingham Trent University gave some feedback from her work with
the Nottingham Transitions Town group (http://www.transitionnottingham.org.uk/) and their focus on community resilience, permaculture, changing behavior and the desire to be seen as ‘apolitical’. A discussion on whether the transition town network had a cult feel with its ten steps to happiness took up some of the questioning, as did the inaction of a number of transition town groups and the often bumpy relationships with local authorities.
Harriet Bulkeley from Durham University gave an overview of initial findings from her mammoth quest to create a database of hundreds of transition experiments from cities across the globe. Harriet went on to show how the collection of over 450 of these experiments shows the diversity of different things going on and the different ways community groups and local authorities are thinking about the challenges of climate change. Manchester had a number of entries into the database which will be finished over the next year.
Sarah Hards from York University presented some of her initial research looking at people lifestyles in relation to addressing climate change and how transitions in individual lives are shaped by their location in specific times and places. Does this mean that people in Manchester are transitioning differently to people in neighbouring cities?
Other discussions included how communities are adapting in Hull to the danger of flooding and what this means to different neighbourhoods in terms of being prepared for climate change affects. A paper about public building energy systems in Burkino Faso began a fascinating debate about the responsibility of African countries to lower their carbon emissions...should they bother when people are poor and hungry? Should historical polluters such as the UK pay for these changes? and should African
cities see these as challenges or opportunities?
It was good to see much of the research supporting practical action alongside communities and local authorities showing the positive role academics can play in addressing climate change challenges.
These conversations will continue at the annual Royal Geographical Society conference in London 1st to 3rd September. You can email James Evans,(james.z.evans@manchester.ac.uk) a Manchester based geographer for more information about the work of the PERG group.
All papers are available for download on the blog http://pergtransition.wordpress.com/abstracts
"MCFly's roving reporter"
Amanda Smith from Nottingham Trent University gave some feedback from her work with
the Nottingham Transitions Town group (http://www.transitionnottingham.org.uk/) and their focus on community resilience, permaculture, changing behavior and the desire to be seen as ‘apolitical’. A discussion on whether the transition town network had a cult feel with its ten steps to happiness took up some of the questioning, as did the inaction of a number of transition town groups and the often bumpy relationships with local authorities.
Harriet Bulkeley from Durham University gave an overview of initial findings from her mammoth quest to create a database of hundreds of transition experiments from cities across the globe. Harriet went on to show how the collection of over 450 of these experiments shows the diversity of different things going on and the different ways community groups and local authorities are thinking about the challenges of climate change. Manchester had a number of entries into the database which will be finished over the next year.
Sarah Hards from York University presented some of her initial research looking at people lifestyles in relation to addressing climate change and how transitions in individual lives are shaped by their location in specific times and places. Does this mean that people in Manchester are transitioning differently to people in neighbouring cities?
Other discussions included how communities are adapting in Hull to the danger of flooding and what this means to different neighbourhoods in terms of being prepared for climate change affects. A paper about public building energy systems in Burkino Faso began a fascinating debate about the responsibility of African countries to lower their carbon emissions...should they bother when people are poor and hungry? Should historical polluters such as the UK pay for these changes? and should African
cities see these as challenges or opportunities?
It was good to see much of the research supporting practical action alongside communities and local authorities showing the positive role academics can play in addressing climate change challenges.
These conversations will continue at the annual Royal Geographical Society conference in London 1st to 3rd September. You can email James Evans,(james.z.evans@manchester.ac.uk) a Manchester based geographer for more information about the work of the PERG group.
All papers are available for download on the blog http://pergtransition.wordpress.com/abstracts
"MCFly's roving reporter"
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