GREEN WATCH is Glastonbury community radio’s monthly one hour show exploring all that’s eco, green and sustainable. The January edition goes on air this week, with a repeat on Saturday 30th January on GFM 107.1FM, between 2.00 and 3.00pm.
Launched last November, with a first or pilot show recorded at Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve, the interest in a dedicated local green programme is growing as more people hear about it.
GFM’s development manager, Allan Trinder, says: “The aim of Green Watch is to highlight local countryside places, people, events and news of interest, including wildlife observations, eco-friendly tips and advice, what’s on around the communities, practical conservation, sustainable living... in fact all things environmental and green.”
In December the programme visited Somerset Organic Link, and focussed on their local food supply and delivery service run in combination with Somerset Local Food Direct. Christina Ballinger and Roger White explained their part in supplying fresh local organic food to the doorsteps of local customers.
January’s Green Watch makes a return visit to another part of Shapwick Heath NNR in the company of Natural England’s reserve manager, Simon Clarke, and conservation volunteer Karen Haddy. Karen explains what it is like being a volunteer and how she has gained new skills, which she hopes will help her find paid work in nature conservation.
Regular contributor Amy Lawson, who runs the Eco-friendly shop in Glastonbury and newly opened Eco-friendly Bites at the Peat Moors car park – serving refreshments to passersby, using locally sourced Somerset food – gives the what’s on news and eco friendly tips and advice.
Also included is Sunrise Celebration Festival organiser, Dan Hurring, who gives an insight into how the event began and explains about their eco policies which drive the whole not-for-profit festival, run by Natural Communities, a community interest company.
“Tickets to the festival are selling fast and we have a reduced price offer of £95 until they run out or the end of January, whichever is the sooner,” says Dan. He also explains how they will give life-long free entry to Sunrise for what are judged the best, most innovative, green ways by which ticket holders travel to this year’s festival (3 to 6 June). Details on how to register are on the website.
Additional regular contributors are being lined up to take part in the show, and visits to local eco homes, green events, farms, wildlife and country sites are being planned for the months ahead.
· Glastonbury 107.1 FM broadcasts free to air on the FM waveband across Glastonbury, Street and Wells and surrounding villages. It is a not-for-profit community interest company. News and contributions for Green Watch are very welcome, as is anyone with an interest in green issues and radio broadcasting who would like to help the programme. www.glastonburyfm.co.uk or telephone 01458 835299
· Sunrise tickets and details are available from www.sunrisecelebration.com or 0845 108 0259
Paul Lund
Friday, January 29, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Crispin School’s message to everyone
Blog 14 – by Paul Lund
Crispin School, in Street, held its first community climate change debate, organised by students and staff to bring together their local community with the aim of identifying the urgent action that is needed. Up to 100 parents, pupils, school staff, governors and members of the public gathered for the evening last week (13.1.10).
To quote the programme for the evening: “United community action is the only way in which climate change can be solved. By taking part in this debate you are personally taking part in something much larger which will not only impact this local community but also the national community.”
The event was also a stage in the year 11’s Citizenship GCSE, but the pupil’s enthusiasm in meeting their audience and hosting the event was truly inspiring and showed real commitment beyond simply obtaining their course marks.
Green leadership comes from Frances Thomson, the school’s deputy head and climate action champion. “The school is a three times holder of the Eco schools national Green Flag award, and we’re hoping to reach our fourth,” said Frances, who chaired a panel of five experts for the debate. To receive the Green Flag award the school has to reapply every two years and meet a set of standards under the Eco-Schools programme. “We have set aside a Sustainable Learning Room in school to show pupils examples of sustainable living and some of our pupils took part in the pre-Copenhagen march in London, called the Wave, and afterwards they met Prime Minister Gordon Brown at Number 10,” Frances told me. They are also aiming for a 10 per cent reduction in their school’s C02 emissions this year.
Before the debate started, introductions and an outline of global warming were carefully presented by students Charlie Johnson, Ben Judge and James Paterson in front of the audience. This would be a daunting task for anyone, but rehearsals clearly paid off as it was done perfectly.
Four topics were raised for the panel of experts to discuss after which members of the audience were invited to ask questions.
Under ‘bridging the energy gap...’ both Mike Beal from Sustainable Shapwick and Charles Graham of the Green Party supported clean renewable sources, including hydropower (wave and tidal barrage) as well as reducing and saving energy. Producing electricity locally, where it is needed, is less wasteful, said Charles, as power through the grid results in a net loss. Ross Edwards, PRO for EDF Energy with responsibilities for public communications at Hinkley Point power station, defended the role of nuclear energy for the future saying power stations were being designed to be safer and nuclear electric generation had equal C02 emissions, in total, as those associated with wind energy production. He didn’t say what the disadvantages were with cost and waste disposal.
‘Community climate action...what do we need to do, and are young people today ready for the challenges of tomorrrow,’ had Dr Stewart Barr, senior geography lecturer at Exeter University, urging people to lobby and protest to make their views heard by government. Everyone agreed that young people today will be the future negotiators of climate deals, and they will look back at the disarray exhibited by current world politicians at Copenhagen. It was also clear that working on smaller, local, issues made sense as individuals and communities saw the effect of such things as saving money by home insulation, growing your own food and reducing the amount of unnecessary items we buy. A show of hands indicated half the audience would give up air travel entirely if that was what it would take to reduce aviation carbon emissions.
‘Adapting to climate change...what will the impacts be and will we be able to cope’ was tackled by Lucy Hunt, South West regional development manager for the Environment Agency, who explained how managed retreat from coastal areas will be necessary and how the EA has strategies in place to work with communities.
Lastly, ‘Copenhagen, should we be optimistic or pessimistic’ had most people in agreement that staying positive was the only way forward and that better deals must be done in the next round of talks by world leaders.
As a former schools education officer and projects coordinator for RSPB and BTCV, I have seen hundreds of schools involved with creating their own nature areas and environmental resource centres, all of which were ‘sowing the seed’ of care and respect for our natural world. Now that we have the most serious of global issues to contend with, it is through education and giving young people of school age the skills and opportunities to influence others, especially their communities, that a new era of understanding and human change will come about.
It has been said before that adults are all too often set in their habits and won’t act in significantly different and lasting ways. For many people it is hard to switch after decades of plentiful supplies of cheap energy and fuels to embrace an uncertain future that will involve the need to save and cut back.
Some with the best intentions, even those who experienced war time rationing, can be of the opinion that they are too old to bother about climate change or to carry out simple things like reducing electricity through using energy saving light bulbs.
Younger generations growing up now will need a very different view of the world and their place in how to shape it, if things are to change for the better.
Education for sustainable development, as practiced by Crispin School, is something all children and students need to encounter in their timetables, and if Crispin is anything to go by then the subject will be as popular as media and the arts.
For more information about the Green Flag awards and Eco-Schools programme go to www.eco-schools.org.uk
Paul Lund
Crispin School, in Street, held its first community climate change debate, organised by students and staff to bring together their local community with the aim of identifying the urgent action that is needed. Up to 100 parents, pupils, school staff, governors and members of the public gathered for the evening last week (13.1.10).
To quote the programme for the evening: “United community action is the only way in which climate change can be solved. By taking part in this debate you are personally taking part in something much larger which will not only impact this local community but also the national community.”
The event was also a stage in the year 11’s Citizenship GCSE, but the pupil’s enthusiasm in meeting their audience and hosting the event was truly inspiring and showed real commitment beyond simply obtaining their course marks.
Green leadership comes from Frances Thomson, the school’s deputy head and climate action champion. “The school is a three times holder of the Eco schools national Green Flag award, and we’re hoping to reach our fourth,” said Frances, who chaired a panel of five experts for the debate. To receive the Green Flag award the school has to reapply every two years and meet a set of standards under the Eco-Schools programme. “We have set aside a Sustainable Learning Room in school to show pupils examples of sustainable living and some of our pupils took part in the pre-Copenhagen march in London, called the Wave, and afterwards they met Prime Minister Gordon Brown at Number 10,” Frances told me. They are also aiming for a 10 per cent reduction in their school’s C02 emissions this year.
Before the debate started, introductions and an outline of global warming were carefully presented by students Charlie Johnson, Ben Judge and James Paterson in front of the audience. This would be a daunting task for anyone, but rehearsals clearly paid off as it was done perfectly.
Four topics were raised for the panel of experts to discuss after which members of the audience were invited to ask questions.
Under ‘bridging the energy gap...’ both Mike Beal from Sustainable Shapwick and Charles Graham of the Green Party supported clean renewable sources, including hydropower (wave and tidal barrage) as well as reducing and saving energy. Producing electricity locally, where it is needed, is less wasteful, said Charles, as power through the grid results in a net loss. Ross Edwards, PRO for EDF Energy with responsibilities for public communications at Hinkley Point power station, defended the role of nuclear energy for the future saying power stations were being designed to be safer and nuclear electric generation had equal C02 emissions, in total, as those associated with wind energy production. He didn’t say what the disadvantages were with cost and waste disposal.
‘Community climate action...what do we need to do, and are young people today ready for the challenges of tomorrrow,’ had Dr Stewart Barr, senior geography lecturer at Exeter University, urging people to lobby and protest to make their views heard by government. Everyone agreed that young people today will be the future negotiators of climate deals, and they will look back at the disarray exhibited by current world politicians at Copenhagen. It was also clear that working on smaller, local, issues made sense as individuals and communities saw the effect of such things as saving money by home insulation, growing your own food and reducing the amount of unnecessary items we buy. A show of hands indicated half the audience would give up air travel entirely if that was what it would take to reduce aviation carbon emissions.
‘Adapting to climate change...what will the impacts be and will we be able to cope’ was tackled by Lucy Hunt, South West regional development manager for the Environment Agency, who explained how managed retreat from coastal areas will be necessary and how the EA has strategies in place to work with communities.
Lastly, ‘Copenhagen, should we be optimistic or pessimistic’ had most people in agreement that staying positive was the only way forward and that better deals must be done in the next round of talks by world leaders.
As a former schools education officer and projects coordinator for RSPB and BTCV, I have seen hundreds of schools involved with creating their own nature areas and environmental resource centres, all of which were ‘sowing the seed’ of care and respect for our natural world. Now that we have the most serious of global issues to contend with, it is through education and giving young people of school age the skills and opportunities to influence others, especially their communities, that a new era of understanding and human change will come about.
It has been said before that adults are all too often set in their habits and won’t act in significantly different and lasting ways. For many people it is hard to switch after decades of plentiful supplies of cheap energy and fuels to embrace an uncertain future that will involve the need to save and cut back.
Some with the best intentions, even those who experienced war time rationing, can be of the opinion that they are too old to bother about climate change or to carry out simple things like reducing electricity through using energy saving light bulbs.
Younger generations growing up now will need a very different view of the world and their place in how to shape it, if things are to change for the better.
Education for sustainable development, as practiced by Crispin School, is something all children and students need to encounter in their timetables, and if Crispin is anything to go by then the subject will be as popular as media and the arts.
For more information about the Green Flag awards and Eco-Schools programme go to www.eco-schools.org.uk
Paul Lund
Friday, January 8, 2010
Climate challenge intensifies
Blog 13 – Climate Challenge & Communities 05.1.10 by Paul Lund
We know that ‘unprecedented’ weather disasters are causing human suffering, economic loss and deaths around the world and what affects people also affects wildlife. Climatologists believe climate change is now indisputable and that carbon dioxide (C02) levels must be reduced or the situation will get worse. Furthermore, we could arrive at a ‘tipping point’ over climate change when changing conditions will become unstoppable, giving rise to serious disasters to life on Earth.
After all the debate at the Copenhagen Summit, the economic argument for mitigation measures to slow or stop climate change caused by our carbon emissions is well rehearsed. Put simply paying billions of dollars now for nations to stop polluting, to invest in new clean technology or for people to not cut down rainforests makes more economic sense than if the rich countries have to compensate for the damage that will eventually be caused.
The Stern Report (Lord Nicholas Stern), commissioned by the government, identified the economic cost of unmitigated climate change to be greater than any depression or world wars. It could take 20 percent or more of global gross domestic product. It could eventually lead to the collapse of world trade in the final throws of society breaking down, as other climate change effects are compounded. The bigger the polluter is, like a big bank, the more their failure to come clean and change their ways is not an option when the stakes are so high.
It seems a mad situation to be in, and I wonder how far it will go the other way? Will this policy end up paying holiday makers not to fly, or parents offered sums of money to walk rather than drive their children to school. Probably not, but seriously much more will have to be done at the local level to meet the carbon reduction targets the government has set. If people don’t believe they have to, or can’t afford to change, then we might not achieve what is necessary.
The start of this new decade will focus minds on what to do next at international and national level with climate change agreements, targets, and how communities at local level can continue to make a difference.
Community side of climate change
Large industries in the UK have their subsidies from government to ‘transition’ to a low carbon economy, but what we don’t have yet is a substantial ‘community fund’ to reward towns and villages that have formed green groups and are making significant changes to their overall carbon footprints. As with nations, transparency on quantifying how much C02 reduction has been achieved will be an issue, but communities who achieve reductions at all levels should benefit.
Part of why I think this would be a good idea is because government has so far left the voluntary sector to largely take up local green campaigning and with it the challenge of changing people’s minds towards living sustainably. This is being done with very little support financially or organisationally from the public sector toward the thousands of small groups now active. Although many work with little or no monetary support, this community role requires knowledge and understanding of the social as well as climate changes taking place; the groups are encouraging positive action and many would benefit with funding that is not dependant on time consuming form filling.
Campaigners started Transition Towns, others formed Sustainability or Go Green groups and some of these groups have been active now for several years. Their members report finding the ‘job’ is harder to do and part of the reason for this is that more people seem unwilling to accept or engage with what is happening to our world and more volunteers are dropping out because of fatigue or simply wanting less pressure and stressful things to spend their un-paid time doing.
In some areas there has been demand for self-help guidance and de-stressing sessions. In Glastonbury meetings among Transition activists have started with meditation and guided visualisation techniques to help people cope with their emotions and anxieties in dealing with the issues and problems.
The Energy Saving Trust recognises this and has set up some support for community groups. Their free Green Communities membership provides a range of services including newsletters, training, networking and help with funding. Green Community Heroes is their award which recognised four groups and one individual, nationally. The Wiltshire village of Urchfont was one of the lucky winners of the award last year.
· A tip, if you are feeling the campaign pressure of working on climate change issues then step back, if you can, and become a mentor to others. Experienced green / environmental community workers are valuable assets in every county and many new groups would benefit from your advice, and helping others could be a way to help yourself.
People who support and work for environmental ‘good causes’ do so not for the recognition but for the ethical and scientific principles involved, but it is none-the-less an achievement to be honoured or have their work validated. More might be done by the communities, government – even the royal family – to popularise the efforts being made by individuals and groups.
My own view is that each county could add a best green village and town award going forward to regional and national level awards, especially if the award brings significant investment to go further – encouraging every other village and town to try to win.
Setting the green example
Government’s support for the environment is seen by activists as having double standards as airport expansion is approved, investment or support for nuclear power is put before renewable, and there is a lack of positive greening in much of the legislation.
If communities are going to be fully engaged in tackling the causes of climate change then all the voluntary green groups must be fully supported and be ‘resource-enabled’ to make real differences. This could mean all the groups participating in planning changes would contribute to targets and local strategies. ‘Military-like’ efficiency would be necessary if hundreds of more groups are to be involved in return for the rewards.
In Somerset, Callie Gauntlett, a volunteer with the campaigning group Milverton Climate Challenge, says more should be done: “I think everyone should have smart meters to measure what electric appliances are costing and the power they are using; all homes should make some electricity from solar PV and we would like to see local bus transport turn electric.”
At South Somerset Climate Action group, Joe Burlington says we should be taking action on all possible fronts to safeguard our future: “Councils should be doing more to help, especially over what can be done with energy saving and adaptation in older, more difficult, dwellings under the planning regulations.” He also wants to see all useless floodlighting of buildings stopped as an immediate energy saving measure and many workshops and teaching events held to show people how to use or make renewable energy installations.
The Pilton Go Green Group’s chairman is Reverend David Osborne, who also chairs the Bath and Wells Diocesan Environment Group. He says, “people’s awareness of green issues has grown and therefore the situation is changing as everyone becomes more informed; Pilton Go Green Group feels it is important to respond to this changing situation and as an election is coming we have invited politicians to a ‘green question time’ public meeting on 24th February, 7.30pm at the Village Hall.” David adds that they are fortunate as a village group in Pilton to not need much funding and have found support from the district council and Glastonbury Festivals with the cost of small projects.
As far as local practical schemes go, Paula Jordan, a member of Pilton Go Green Group says “We would like to grow more food on our allotment and set up a cooperative type of trade among villagers; I also think more people could be encouraged to have solar PV panels on their homes if they were cheaper, perhaps through a discounted multiple order.”
All these groups differ in what they want to do and the needs they have. They find various ways to take action, but I think as more communities join in there will need to be extended measures to reward and value such grass roots mobilisation. If this is not forthcoming, then much more support and organisational involvement (like it or not?) will need to come from local government to meet the 2020 targets. Councils so far have seen community based climate change issues as budget dependent and if legislation does not tell councils to act then staffing and green community support will be discretionary.
Staying positive
The situation is not helped by wavering general doubts and some vocal opponents in some communities. Even some members of parliament seem completely out of touch with the science and economics concerning climate change. Others find it hard to understand how with global warming we can still have snow storms in Europe’s winter months. The number of individuals airing their unscientific arguments is small against the majority of people who believe we must do something. However, space is easy to grab in the press and media because editors, especially on radio programmes, like to ‘balance the argument’ – “do you or don’t you believe in climate change and man’s part in it” – but this does lead to a feeling the country is divided down the middle, when the one in 10 callers who don’t believe go head to head with one of nine who does.
Until the scientific world makes enough quantifiable evidence available then this will continue, much as it must have done when the flat Earth proponents argued against those who said the world was definitely round. At some point it must have seemed pointless to argue any longer, unless you are a conspiracy theorist who likes a good game.
Community green groups do a great deal to help and educate their local populations and most of them do so without any pay for what they do and little in terms of income to support their costs.
It would be a great help if a green ‘Secret Millionaire’ paid a visit to our communities and gave them some help towards the many projects that could be started.
· Joe Burlington in South Somerset said they need a paid administrator to help with their group’s work and Callie Gauntlett in Milverton said if their group had enough money they would spend it on a shared fundraiser working for all the Somerset green groups.
For more information about Green Community Heroes, and how the Energy Saving Trust can help, you can sign up for free support by calling 08448 480077, or log on to energysavingtrust.org.uk/community
Paul Lund
We know that ‘unprecedented’ weather disasters are causing human suffering, economic loss and deaths around the world and what affects people also affects wildlife. Climatologists believe climate change is now indisputable and that carbon dioxide (C02) levels must be reduced or the situation will get worse. Furthermore, we could arrive at a ‘tipping point’ over climate change when changing conditions will become unstoppable, giving rise to serious disasters to life on Earth.
After all the debate at the Copenhagen Summit, the economic argument for mitigation measures to slow or stop climate change caused by our carbon emissions is well rehearsed. Put simply paying billions of dollars now for nations to stop polluting, to invest in new clean technology or for people to not cut down rainforests makes more economic sense than if the rich countries have to compensate for the damage that will eventually be caused.
The Stern Report (Lord Nicholas Stern), commissioned by the government, identified the economic cost of unmitigated climate change to be greater than any depression or world wars. It could take 20 percent or more of global gross domestic product. It could eventually lead to the collapse of world trade in the final throws of society breaking down, as other climate change effects are compounded. The bigger the polluter is, like a big bank, the more their failure to come clean and change their ways is not an option when the stakes are so high.
It seems a mad situation to be in, and I wonder how far it will go the other way? Will this policy end up paying holiday makers not to fly, or parents offered sums of money to walk rather than drive their children to school. Probably not, but seriously much more will have to be done at the local level to meet the carbon reduction targets the government has set. If people don’t believe they have to, or can’t afford to change, then we might not achieve what is necessary.
The start of this new decade will focus minds on what to do next at international and national level with climate change agreements, targets, and how communities at local level can continue to make a difference.
Community side of climate change
Large industries in the UK have their subsidies from government to ‘transition’ to a low carbon economy, but what we don’t have yet is a substantial ‘community fund’ to reward towns and villages that have formed green groups and are making significant changes to their overall carbon footprints. As with nations, transparency on quantifying how much C02 reduction has been achieved will be an issue, but communities who achieve reductions at all levels should benefit.
Part of why I think this would be a good idea is because government has so far left the voluntary sector to largely take up local green campaigning and with it the challenge of changing people’s minds towards living sustainably. This is being done with very little support financially or organisationally from the public sector toward the thousands of small groups now active. Although many work with little or no monetary support, this community role requires knowledge and understanding of the social as well as climate changes taking place; the groups are encouraging positive action and many would benefit with funding that is not dependant on time consuming form filling.
Campaigners started Transition Towns, others formed Sustainability or Go Green groups and some of these groups have been active now for several years. Their members report finding the ‘job’ is harder to do and part of the reason for this is that more people seem unwilling to accept or engage with what is happening to our world and more volunteers are dropping out because of fatigue or simply wanting less pressure and stressful things to spend their un-paid time doing.
In some areas there has been demand for self-help guidance and de-stressing sessions. In Glastonbury meetings among Transition activists have started with meditation and guided visualisation techniques to help people cope with their emotions and anxieties in dealing with the issues and problems.
The Energy Saving Trust recognises this and has set up some support for community groups. Their free Green Communities membership provides a range of services including newsletters, training, networking and help with funding. Green Community Heroes is their award which recognised four groups and one individual, nationally. The Wiltshire village of Urchfont was one of the lucky winners of the award last year.
· A tip, if you are feeling the campaign pressure of working on climate change issues then step back, if you can, and become a mentor to others. Experienced green / environmental community workers are valuable assets in every county and many new groups would benefit from your advice, and helping others could be a way to help yourself.
People who support and work for environmental ‘good causes’ do so not for the recognition but for the ethical and scientific principles involved, but it is none-the-less an achievement to be honoured or have their work validated. More might be done by the communities, government – even the royal family – to popularise the efforts being made by individuals and groups.
My own view is that each county could add a best green village and town award going forward to regional and national level awards, especially if the award brings significant investment to go further – encouraging every other village and town to try to win.
Setting the green example
Government’s support for the environment is seen by activists as having double standards as airport expansion is approved, investment or support for nuclear power is put before renewable, and there is a lack of positive greening in much of the legislation.
If communities are going to be fully engaged in tackling the causes of climate change then all the voluntary green groups must be fully supported and be ‘resource-enabled’ to make real differences. This could mean all the groups participating in planning changes would contribute to targets and local strategies. ‘Military-like’ efficiency would be necessary if hundreds of more groups are to be involved in return for the rewards.
In Somerset, Callie Gauntlett, a volunteer with the campaigning group Milverton Climate Challenge, says more should be done: “I think everyone should have smart meters to measure what electric appliances are costing and the power they are using; all homes should make some electricity from solar PV and we would like to see local bus transport turn electric.”
At South Somerset Climate Action group, Joe Burlington says we should be taking action on all possible fronts to safeguard our future: “Councils should be doing more to help, especially over what can be done with energy saving and adaptation in older, more difficult, dwellings under the planning regulations.” He also wants to see all useless floodlighting of buildings stopped as an immediate energy saving measure and many workshops and teaching events held to show people how to use or make renewable energy installations.
The Pilton Go Green Group’s chairman is Reverend David Osborne, who also chairs the Bath and Wells Diocesan Environment Group. He says, “people’s awareness of green issues has grown and therefore the situation is changing as everyone becomes more informed; Pilton Go Green Group feels it is important to respond to this changing situation and as an election is coming we have invited politicians to a ‘green question time’ public meeting on 24th February, 7.30pm at the Village Hall.” David adds that they are fortunate as a village group in Pilton to not need much funding and have found support from the district council and Glastonbury Festivals with the cost of small projects.
As far as local practical schemes go, Paula Jordan, a member of Pilton Go Green Group says “We would like to grow more food on our allotment and set up a cooperative type of trade among villagers; I also think more people could be encouraged to have solar PV panels on their homes if they were cheaper, perhaps through a discounted multiple order.”
All these groups differ in what they want to do and the needs they have. They find various ways to take action, but I think as more communities join in there will need to be extended measures to reward and value such grass roots mobilisation. If this is not forthcoming, then much more support and organisational involvement (like it or not?) will need to come from local government to meet the 2020 targets. Councils so far have seen community based climate change issues as budget dependent and if legislation does not tell councils to act then staffing and green community support will be discretionary.
Staying positive
The situation is not helped by wavering general doubts and some vocal opponents in some communities. Even some members of parliament seem completely out of touch with the science and economics concerning climate change. Others find it hard to understand how with global warming we can still have snow storms in Europe’s winter months. The number of individuals airing their unscientific arguments is small against the majority of people who believe we must do something. However, space is easy to grab in the press and media because editors, especially on radio programmes, like to ‘balance the argument’ – “do you or don’t you believe in climate change and man’s part in it” – but this does lead to a feeling the country is divided down the middle, when the one in 10 callers who don’t believe go head to head with one of nine who does.
Until the scientific world makes enough quantifiable evidence available then this will continue, much as it must have done when the flat Earth proponents argued against those who said the world was definitely round. At some point it must have seemed pointless to argue any longer, unless you are a conspiracy theorist who likes a good game.
Community green groups do a great deal to help and educate their local populations and most of them do so without any pay for what they do and little in terms of income to support their costs.
It would be a great help if a green ‘Secret Millionaire’ paid a visit to our communities and gave them some help towards the many projects that could be started.
· Joe Burlington in South Somerset said they need a paid administrator to help with their group’s work and Callie Gauntlett in Milverton said if their group had enough money they would spend it on a shared fundraiser working for all the Somerset green groups.
For more information about Green Community Heroes, and how the Energy Saving Trust can help, you can sign up for free support by calling 08448 480077, or log on to energysavingtrust.org.uk/community
Paul Lund
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