Email Bulletin Sept 13

Hmm,

done it as a pdf here, via scribd.

And it's here on the MCFly website...

And here's the whole dang thing, layout be damned...

Email Bulletin #17

September 13, 2009

If you want to subscribe, send an email to info@manchesterclimatefortnightly.info

Dear all,

another email bulletin from Manchester Climate Fortnightly. Next full newsletter will be out Sunday 20th September, with the usual mix of upcoming events, council news, “Coping with Copenhagen” etc.

There's a quick survey that the Call to Real Action group has devised, in order to get you thinking about your “2020 vision of a fair and climate-safe Manchester.” Answers from the survey which you can fill in online via this link- http://calltorealaction.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/2020-vision-for-a-fair-climate-safe-manchester/- will be used to help write C2RA's Alternative Action Plan.

Dates for your diary

Weds 16^th Sept from 7pm Manchester's Ecosystems: Political, Economic, Environmental, et cetera” a brief talk/info share followed by mingling/brainstorming/networking. Friends Meeting House, 6 Mount St

www.manchesterclimateforum.org.uk

Saturday 10^th October, 1 to 4pm Call to Real Action miniconference at the Friends Meeting House

Saturday 17^th October 10 to 4pm Climate Action Now conference organised by the Stop Climate Chaos coalition and Co-op

http://climateactionnow.eventbrite.com/

In this bulletin-

Upcoming Events

Why not in Manchester?

Flash mob

Error in MCFly!?!

Best wishes

Marc Hudson, co-editor of Manchester Climate Fortnightly

Upcoming events

Monday 14^th Sept from 7.15pm

Campaign against Climate Change meeting to organise activity in run up to Copenhagen talks Friends Meeting House

Agenda

Vestas (wind turbine workers fighting factory closure) day of action, next Thursday, 17th Sept

Public meeting about climate change and Copenhagen

Transport to London demonstration on 5th December

AOB

Tues 15 from 7.30pm

Stop Climate Chaos meeting, Friends of the Earth office, Green Fish Centre, Oldham St.

Mainly we need to talk about... transport , media opportunities, council, flash mob 21st Sep

Weds 16 “Manchester's Ecosystems” (see top of this email for details)

Thurs 17 day of action
5pm leafletting in Piccadilly
8pm Vestas support gig at Irish Club, Chorlton
See here for more details
http://www.manchestergreenparty.org.uk/events/events.php?eventid=273

Thursday 17, 5.30pm Action for Sustainable Living  "local project managers meeting", St Wilfrid's Enterprise Centre, Royce Road, Hulme.

Thurs 17, 6.30 to 8pm  Manchester Oxfam Campaigns group presents climate change hitting the poorest first and worst What can we do Greenfish Resource Centre info@manchester-oxfam-group.org

Sat 19 10am to 4.30pm Local Transport Activist day Fancy learning more about how to get serious about cutting carbon from  local transport?  Meeting hosted by Friends of the Earth, Campaign for Better Transport, CTC, Sustrans, and CPRE.  St Thomas' Centre, Ardwick Green North, Manchester.  Attendance free, but registration required www.foe.co.uk/community/news/ltp_day_21085.html

Sat 19, 1-4pm Harvest fun day at St Sebastian's Community Centre, Douglas Green, Salford The event is free and there will be various stalls and activities connected to food. All welcome to come along. Carol.Rosewarne@groundwork.org.uk

Sun 20,  from 1pm Harvest Celebration of Chorlton’s Lost Plot community allotment (Southern Allotments, off Nell Lane, Chorlton). All welcome to come down and have a look at the plot and meet other volunteers at the BBQ celebration. Contact Helen Starr -Keddle allotment@afsl,org.uk 

Sunday 20th September, 11am-4pm

HEAP EVENT: Foraging On Your Doorstep
Join us on a guided walk through natural abundance

- Learn the important botanical families
- How to recognise edible, medicinal and poisonous plants and fungi
- Sample wild food and learn to prepare meals using wild ingredients

Meet 11am at Highfield Allotments car park
(top of Highfield Rd, off Broom Lane, Levenshulme)

Waged £8 Unwaged £5 (includes free feast at the HEAP)

contact Gill 07964066256

Click here to read more on our site

Flash mob

Monday the 21st September
“We will meet from 11.30 till 5 to 12 outside Dawsons music shop on Portland street. People should come here to receive t-shirts and flyer material. They should also bring with them an alarm of some description to set off. I need some volunteers to hold the banner. Perhaps about four people.
Once people have collected flyers and t-shirts from me at Dawsons. We shall disperse to then meet again at 12.15 outside the cafe Nero to set off alarms and release the banner for 12:18. It will last approx 5-6 mins then we shall disperse again to meet at nexus art cafe for handing back the t-shirts. Here we can go for a coffee and cake in the art cafe to celebrate and swap any pictures or video taken!!!
Bring as many people as you can with you!! I'm looking forward to meeting you!
Feel free to put these details anywhere you like to publicise the event.
People should email me on activismnorthwest@oxfam.org.uk or send me a message on facebook or join the event called wake up call for climate change, to let me know they are coming. So I can arrange for people to have t-shirts.
The event is called 'tck, tck, tck', it is to raise awareness for the global campaign for climate action. Oxfam is helping to communiticate to the public the need for a wake up call to take action about climate change NOW. The event has been organised by the Oxfam campaigns office in Manchester. .
Rachel 0161 234 2787 (Monday and Thursday)

Why not in Manchester?

BBC Sept 9 Council staff in Devon are being banned from parking their cars twice a week in a bid to ease traffic congestion. Devon County Council is also introducing parking charges at County Hall in Exeter for employees on the days they can park and for visitors. The local authority said the move was designed to encourage more car sharing and a better use of public transport.

Error in MCFly!?!

We wrote in the calendar that

Thurs 24, 4 to 6.30pm Energy in Buildings- Towards Zero Carbon
Abbey Business Centre,Barnett House, 53 Fountain St, Manchester, M2 2AN £15 if not a member of IEMA. http://tinyurl.com/nf2w2t

But it's £15 if you're not a member of the Northwest Energy Forum. IEMA don't come into it, y'see...

Email bulletin 4, in its entirety

Between proper issues of MCFly, because we've got ten minutes we don't know what to do with, we knock out these email bulletins. Does anyone find them useful? Don't know. You can reply to that transparent bid for affirmation to the usual email address...

a) Local news

Cllr Richard Cowell and Dr Victoria Johnson spoke at a Manchester Climate Forum meeting on Tuesday. Cllr Cowell spoke about the Council's “Call to Action”, and Dr Johnson spoke about her experiences at Poznan and the international negotiations leading to Copenhagen.
A report can be fond here.
http://manchesterclimatefortnightly.blogspot.com/2009/02/local-and-global-manchester-climate.html

Arwa Aburawa won the MCForum essay contest, with an essay that highlighted how white the usual climate campaigning scene is, and giving a whole series of practical steps that should be taken. Congrats to her, and you can read her winning entry here-
http://manchesterclimatefortnightly.blogspot.com/2009/02/essay-contest-winner.html

The Sustainable Cities Institute (yes yes, the one sponsored by Tesco) hosted an interesting lecture on carbon emissions from production and consumption and who is really responsible for what. It was delivered by Dr John Barrett of the Stockholm Environment Institute, who travelled all the way from... York, to deliver it.
The next meeting is on Tuesday March 10, and details will appear in MCFly in due course.

On Saturday the “Call to Real Action” group, which is writing a report about what the Council and the people of Manchester could do about climate change, met for the first time. It meets again this Saturday Feb 21^st, and is planning a half day conference on Saturday 7^th March, on the way to launching their report in early April. For more information, and to get involved-
http://www.calltorealaction.wordpress.com
calltorealaction@googlemail.com

Council gossip

The Environmental Strategy Board, set up as part of the Council's “Call to Action” on climate change, and chaired by MCC's chief executive, Sir Howard Bernstein has already met twice. MCFly sources are well-impressed with the speed and vigour with which things are moving.

In unhappier council news, the post of Director of Environmental Strategy remains unfilled, despite interviews taking place. The job is, MCFly is told, to be re-advertised.


b) Upcoming local events

Tuesday February 17 at 7:00pm.
University of Manchester Students Union - Meeting Room 1Environmental Direct Action in Britain -
a Short History    "a look back with academic Brian Doherty at our recent past including Reclaim the
Streets, the Anti-Roads movement, Mayday Protests, the Climate Camps and more......"

Friday 20 February 6.30 for 7pm
Tar Sands: The Most Destructive Project on Earth?
CUBE, 113 Portland Street, Manchester M1 6FB

On Friday 20th Feb, Jack Woodward, Canada's top aboriginal lawyer and legal council to the
Beaver Lake Cree Nation, will be in Manchester to talk about his fight against Canadian tar sands.

Tar sands are an unconventional source of fossil fuel which emit on average three times more
carbon emissions in their extraction and production than conventional oil.  The processing
involved is highly polluting and if the planned expansion of tar sand developments goes ahead
unchallenged, it threatens to cause not only local ecological and social disaster, but also runaway
climate change - in comparison to a list of 207 nations ranked by greenhouse gas emissions,
Alberta's tar sands come out higher than 145 of them.

Sat 21 Call to Real Action from 12 noon to 2.30pm. Forming writing groups, getting the questions right, brainstorming who to ask for answers/ideas. Mingling and meeting etc.
email calltorealaction@googlemail.com for more info.

100. international news stories of interest/importance

Dr Chris Field, one of the lead authors of the last Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has told the American Association for the Advancement of Science that "We now have data showing that from 2000 to 2007, greenhouse gas emissions increased far more rapidly than we expected," and that- as some environmentalists said all along, the last (2007) report was too small c-conservative

The AFP story (see link below) concludes with the cheerful lines

'The 2007 fourth assessment presented at a "very conservative range of climate outcomes" but the next report will "include futures with a lot more warming," Field said. "We now know that, without effective action, climate change is going to be larger and more difficult to deal with than we thought."'

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090214/sc_afp/usclimatewarming_20090214150716

d) "other stuff"

Competitions

“Do you want to do something positive that benefits others?
Young people aged 16-25 who live in Manchester can apply to the Green Machine seed fund for up to £500 along with support and guidance to start up their project.
Deadline for applications: Friday 27th February
For more information call 0161 228 0459, or email: greenmachine@myvp.org.uk

Please do forward these email bulletins to whoever you think wants them, and obviously, if you don't want to receive it, let us know.

Email Bulletin 3 out now

In the weeks between MCFlys, we publish an email bulletin.

We've started posting it on the website too. Here's a link to the latest bulletin.

And here it is as a blog post-

Dear all,

welcome to the third “in-between” email bulletin of Manchester Climate Fortnightly. These will be sent out on the weeks in-between issues of Manchester Climate Fortnightly. The next MCFly, issue 17, will be published Sunday February 10.

Last chance to win £30 for your 600 words on climate change!
You have until Friday 6^th February to enter the “Climate Change: What Do We Do Now?” short essay competition, on the question “What are the current problems/future opportunities for climate campaigners in Greater Manchester”
http://www.manchesterclimateforum.org.uk/whatdowedonow.html

LOCAL NEWS

1) On Tuesday 3^rd February Manchester City Council's Oversight and Scrutiny Committee for Neighbourhood Services meets on Tuesday afternoon, for one of its scheduled meetings.
The committee is made up of Labour and Lib Dem councillors whose job it is to, erm, have oversight and do scrutiny on what the Executive is up to. (Roughly comparable to Select Committees in the Westminster System)
Why are we telling you this? Well, it's an opportunity for the “Call to Action” report that has featured in the last two MCFlys to be examined in more depth. We will blog about it!

2) The third bulletin of the Manchester Climate Change Agency, which will open its doors late summer, has been published. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be up on their website yet, http://www.manchester-enterprises.com/news/ManCCAB2.html
So you'll have to make do with a MCFly gloss
http://manchesterclimatefortnightly.blogspot.com/2009/01/manchester-climate-change-agency-news.html
The MCCA has awarded a £25,000 tender to a consultancy to investigate potential governance structures, with the work to be completed by mid March. MCFly will tell you more as soon as we get info.

3) Manchester Climate Fortnightly is blogging on each of the City Council's proposed “Catalytic Actions”, and encourages you to add your comments. Think of it as a DIY consultation, since the Council seems very very resistant to the idea of keeping its promise to consult with the people of Manchester about its Climate plans.

Action 1- World-leading neighbourhood regeneration
http://manchesterclimatefortnightly.blogspot.com/2009/01/catalytic-action-1-world-class.html

Action 2- Retrofitting Manchester's Civic Heritage
http://manchesterclimatefortnightly.blogspot.com/2009/01/catalytic-action-2-retrofitting.html

Action 3- Business Alliance for Climate Change
http://manchesterclimatefortnightly.blogspot.com/2009/01/catalytic-action-3-business-alliance.html

Action 4- Low Carbon Energy
http://manchesterclimatefortnightly.blogspot.com/2009/01/catalytic-action-4-low-carbon-energy.html

Action 5- Low Carbon Communities
http://manchesterclimatefortnightly.blogspot.com/2009/02/catalytic-action-5-low-carbon.html

4) Manchester Climate Fortnightly has learnt that the Call to Action cost at least 650 a page.

Beyond Belief Monday 26 Jan blog posting.
“MCFly can exclusively reveal that Manchester City Council paid the London-based consultancy 'Beyond Green' a whopping ₤28,000 plus VAT and expenses for the 50-page Call to Action report, published last week. With VAT, this brings the total to ₤32,900 and we have no idea how much this 'eco-consultancy' has claimed for expenses- the Council's information did not include these figures. All in all this means that the council has paid- hopefully not from the ₤1 million Carbon Reduction Innovation and Investment Fund- over ₤650 per page....”
http://manchesterclimatefortnightly.blogspot.com/2009/01/beyond-belief.html

UPCOMING LOCAL EVENTS

Tues Feb 3 8pm Manchester Climate Action social, at Sandbar, Grosvenor St www.manchesterclimateaction.org.uk

Thurs Feb 5 7pm Rubbish Revamped –workshop to turn junk into attractive items. rubbishrevamped.wordpress.com

Tues Feb 10 from 7.30pm

Cllr Richard Cowell, Executive Member for the Environment and Dr Victoria Johnson of the New Economics Foundation will be discussing the City Council's "Call to Action" and the recent climate negotiations in Poland.
Friends Meeting House, 6 Mount St
www.manchesterclimateforum.org.uk