Climate Change

The last few weeks have brought out the sceptics about climate change. I suppose it is the build up to the Copenhagen talks that has made them realise that there is some publicity available for outlandish statements.

I wonder where all these people have been living for the last few years or is it just me that is showing my age.

When my children were young we bought two sledges because each year it was fun to go to the hill local park. Before they were teenagers we found we never got the sledges out of the loft as the snow was not thick enough! That was only twenty years ago. About the same time every year I would anticipate waking up at least a couple of times in the morning and find the snow too thick to even try and get to work. Only ten years later it was never a problem.

I keep some notes about when my trees and plants first flower or bear fruit. Over the years this has steadily been getting earlier. There is an occasional year which bucks the trend but the warmer weather is clearly there in my records.

Yes none of the above stand close scientific scrutiny but it convinces me that there is something happening. Surely all the sceptics can see the changes as well or do they not look out the window?

The Wave

Occasionally there is an event that attracts people’s attention. The one that is coming soon is “The Wave”. This is an event that is happening in London on December 5th.
Activists from all over UK are coming together to show that they are concerned about Climate Change and want our elected leaders to do something about it.
Ahead of the crucial UN climate summit in Copenhagen, tens of thousands of people from all walks of life will flow through the streets of London to demonstrate their support for a safe climate future for all.
Part of a global series of public actions, The Wave will call on world leaders to take urgent action to secure a fair international deal to stop global warming exceeding the danger threshold of 2 degrees C.
The Wave, organised by the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, will show mass support by people from all backgrounds for a better, low carbon future for the UK and the world.
We want the UK Government to show leadership at Copenhagen. We want them to Protect the Poorest, Act Fair & Fast, and to Quit Dirty Coal now, to inspire the deal the world needs..
I will be at "The Wave” - the UK’s biggest ever demonstration in support of action on climate change so far. There are buses going from all round Birmingham.
Hope to see you there.
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Made in Birmingham

Esther Boyd describes in her Birmingham Mail – Lighter Footprints Blog visiting the Ecohouse in Balsall Heath last Saturday. I also went during the day but was impressed with some different issues.
It is a great achievement to build a house that conforms to Sustainable Homes Code 6. It is even more of an achievement to incorporate an existing Victorian house into the design. John Christopher the architect and owner of the house described the effort he had put in to achieve the standard. What we have to remember is that by 2016 this house has not to be the exception but the norm. Every new house will have to achieve this standard.
The house is very much a building that will be appreciated by architects both for its layout and aesthetics but it was not that which impressed me. What I thought was especially special was the way materials had been chosen. Some were recycled, some were local but all had a low embedded energy content. For instance the floors were made of clay from the site instead of using cement that uses a lot of energy to produce. A lot of care had gone into each detail but I was left wondering what will happen when houses to Sustainability Homes Code 6 have to be mass produced.

A great effort and one that should put Birmingham on the Eco-homes map.

Growth or Degrowth?

The forthcoming Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December is encouraging many people to put forward their suggestions and comments. These include Nick Stern who was one of the first to write about the economics of Climate Change. He has now said that ” the current economic depression gives the world a unique, unrepeatable opportunity to tackle climate change and poverty.”
Oliver Tickell in the Guardian follows this up with “one thing we do not need is an early recovery which raises demand for fossil energy, creating new spikes in the price of oil, gas and coal, so sowing the seeds of its own destruction. For the high price of fossil fuels was surely one of the triggers that created this global depression in the first place. That is why we need to to bring about huge investments in renewable energy technologies and the associated infrastructure
Not to forget energy efficiency and conservation: making our homes, offices, industries and transport systems more frugal in their energy demands. In this way when the recovery comes, we will have the clean, green energy to supply it, and lower demand to avoid pushing up fossil fuel prices. And in the meanwhile we will have created millions of jobs in the new green industries, civil engineering and construction, putting skilled but idle hands to productive use.”
All this may sound rather academic and you find yourself asking “What can I do?” Magazines and newspapers are full of adverts encouraging us to take advantage of offers about insulating our homes. At least we should each look to see if we have brought our own properties up to scratch. Also remember that this encourages employment in the local green industries.

Leaves

The colours in the leaves that have fallen off the trees is always a pleasure to see. To walk through leaves rustling under your feet is a memory that goes back to childhood. Its also amazing that the trees do it in the same order each year. The ash tree in my front garden is now clear of leaves but the one I can see through my back window still has almost all its leaves present. Its always that way round. What does vary is the date that it occurs. This year is almost exactly the same date as the last two years but about a week earlier than the few years before those.

We collect all our leaves up and put them in plastic bags so that they will rot down into compost that we can use on the soil another year. However we are not the only ones who collect leaves. Here in Birmingham there is a company who collects leaves from parks etc and compresses them into logs that can be burnt on an open grate. They do this in conjunction with a number of local authorities in the area and are now selling them in some of the bigger DIY stores. To read more about them go to http://www.leaflog.com/.

If you have a clever use of leaves let us know and we will pass on the tip to others.

Apple Day

Today was not only the day we changed the clocks but it was also Apple Day. Changing the clocks seems to herald the start of the dark nights but Apple Day draws are attention to the fact that soon most of the fruit will have gone off our trees for another year.

What we often forget is the huge variety of apples that this country enjoys. There are hundreds of varieties. Some are ready to eat in August whilst others are still not quite ripe. There are eaters and there are others that are much better cooked. I was reminded today that we used to have apples wrapped in pastry served with custard. Whatever happened to them as I have not had one for years nor have I heard of them for years.

Around Erdington they are plotting all the places that there are apple trees and are trying to identify all the varieties. Some are in peoples gardens others in allotments and even waste ground. Lets hope they find some long lost variety that can be restablished.

If you have to buy apples during the coming months, look at the variety and try and find out a bit more about it. Is it grown in this country? Is it grown in the Midlands? Could it even have been grown in Birmingham? Remember the more local it is the less carbon used to get it to you.

Quiet

Last Sunday I woke up realising something was different. It took me a little while to realise what it was. There was no traffic noise. We can normally just hear the almost continuous traffic on Pershore Road. It is one of those things you notice when it is not there.
The reason for the quietness was that all the roads around here had been closed for the half marathon.
The previous time I had had the same sensation was on September 11th 2001. I was in the States at the time. All aircraft were grounded for several days and again it was quiet strange looking up into the sky and seeing no vapour trails. The sky was suddenly perfectly blue and clear.
Both of these instances have shown me how much we take pollution for granted whether it is noise or just vapour trails across the sky.

Simple advice

It is good that everyone is handing out advice on saving energy now that the cooler weather is beginning to show up. The Mail has just featured two people giving such advice including our own Luke from the Northfield Ecocentre.
However it is the simple things we must do first in order to keep warm and also save energy and money.
· Draw the curtains as soon as it gets dark. Tuck them behind the radiators.
· Ensure the curtains are lined.
· Stop the draughts.
· Make sure the hot water tank is insulated and set at a temperature that is not too high.
· Put foil behind the radiators to reflect heat back into the room.
· Turn heat off in rooms that are unused.
· Set the heating timer so it is only on when you need heat. There is no point heating the house when you are out or snug in bed.
· Put on a sweater rather than turning the heat up.

The list above is not exhaustive so add your own in the comments below and I will add them to the list.