John's Weird World

This is my last post for Community Care, and I'd like to thank all readers, especially the few who have written interesting comments, and my employers at Community Care who have been so good to me.

I want to start this offering with a correction. In my last column ('Our last chance to halt greenhouse gas emissions', Community Care Magazine, 28th May 09) I stated that CFC gases were 'nothing to do with... greenhouse gas emissions'.  Well that is incorrect.  Chlorofluorocarbons, once used as propellants in aerosol cans and still in many fridges and freezers, ARE greenhouse gases.  They aren't as powerful as some, and their contribution to climate change is not nearly as much as the fossil CO2 were pumping out or the methane from cows and rice paddies, but they do add to the anthropogenic warming.  I think it is important to get the science straight!

I found this out because I attended a workshop at the Transition Network Conference about how certain chemical/physical feedback mechanisms are accelerating climate change.  These so-called 'positive' feedbacks (actually not very positive, and better known as accelerating feedbacks) include some which are quite easy to understand, for example: we all know that dark colours absorb more heat than lighter ones, so imagine the north pole of a planet covered in snow and ice.  That reflects sunlight and heat and the area remains cold.  Now warm it up a bit and melt some of the snow and ice, revealing dark rocks and dark sea water. This allows more heat to be absorbed, so the area warms up some more, and more ice melts.  This is one simple accelerating feedback, and Earth has several, amplified by our CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions.  Anyone interested in learning more about this could check out this 27 page pdf or other bits of the Apollo-Gaia website, such as the video resources. The main thing we must take from this is that we have no time to lose if we're to stop ourselves making ourselves, and most of the other species on Earth, extinct.  We are on our way to making this planet uninhabitable.

I attended another Film Premiere last night, that of a very educational documentary called The End Of The Line which is about the situation facing our fisheries, and overfishing. This is a powerful film which anybody who eats seafood needs to see.  I thought that by not eating seafood (I've been vegetarian for 25 years) I was doing enough to reduce my impact on the World's oceans, but I could be doing more.  I firmly believe that we in the developed countries, with access to lots of fruit, vegetables, grains, seeds and beans, do not need to eat any animals, but I understand that the majority of people like eating fish, and for between 1 and 2 billion people, fish is a key part of their diet. So, if you want to be able to continue eating fish (and this film shows that there won't be any left by about 2048, as we will have eaten them all) you can do your bit by asking your supplier about where the fish came from, how they were caught and are they from sustainable sources?  There is a great website called fishonline which has a list of fish which are not endangered (fish to eat) and those to avoid.

And don't think that eating farmed fish is the answer either, as one kilo of farmed salmon uses 5kg of anchovies as food.  Far better to use the anchovies direct, if you eat fish at all, that is!  Some fish farmers are exploring using vegetable protein to feed their fish, and this means soya beans, often planted where rainforest used to be.  So your farmed fish might be responsible for destroying the oceans or the rianforests... which do you prefer?  You might now understand why I don't eat fish!

The film is now on release and will probably be on our small screens soon.  Well worth watching as it has lots of information which should help us to preserve fish stocks for future generations.

Regular readers will know of my interest in how money affects sustainable development, stemming from my early involvement in York Local Agenda 21. The three pillars of sustainability, according to Agenda 21, are our natural environment (air, water, soil, ecosystems and living things) our social environment (people) and our fiscal environment, which is how we organise our trade, taxation, businesses, banking and how wealth is spread between us.  Our monetary environment is just as important as our biosphere and our fellow humans.

It was my birthday yesterday and after the York Green Festival planning meeting that I chaired, some of us went to the pub. I hardly ever do this anymore so it was a bit of a treat.  And the experience reminded me why it is so popular... you can have conversations with people you've never met as well as old friends, and the alcohol (if that's what you're partaking of) loosens the tongue somewhat, so the talk flows and ebbs and goes off at tangents... excellent!

Over the past few years there's been a lot of noise about the evils of plastic bags.  They've been blamed for filling up landfills and inflating people's carbon footprints, mimicking jellyfish and confusing turtles, even being labelled 'witches knickers' when blown into Irish hedges and trees.  Now, in the grand scheme of things, plastic bags are not the biggest of our consumption 'wrongs', despite a million being given out every minute.  But every little thing we do to improve the problem helps us go in the right direction.

I like watching television, but I know where the off-button is and I do lots of other things as well as watch telly.  I have several friends who don't have a telly and when I mention something I've seen or that they 'should see', they remind me that they don't sit and goggle... and on occasions I've felt a bit guilty that I do!  For a period of about 5 years in my 20s I also didn't have a telly, until my girlfriend's grandmother gave us one.  We didn't miss TV, and couldn't understand how people made the time to watch it, but once we'd got one, we quickly became hooked, sorry 'accustomed' to our daily watching habits.

Coal's in the news a bit recently.  The G20 protests, some of which were about the lack of action to combat climate change, and the disgusting response from some of the police has put images of last year's Kingsnorth policing back on our screens.  And then there is the pre-emptive policing of a proposed protest on Ratcliffe on Soar power station... another coal-burning electricity generator.

But this blog isn't about policing, however interesting that is.  It's about Coal.  Coal is fossilised plant remains from millions of years ago, and as such, is carbon which was sucked out of the atmosphere by those plants. When we mine coal, and burn it, that carbon is released right back into today's atmosphere.  Whilst coal is underground, it is in an oxygen-free environment.  When we dig it up, the methane (natural gas or 'firedamp') which is in the coal also gets into our atmosphere, and this gas is even more powerful than carbon dioxide for the global greenhouse.  When the coal comes in contact with the air, reactions take place on the surfaces oxidising the carbon, so releasing carbon dioxide even before the coal is burnt, which of course releases ALL of the carbon it contains.

Supporters of he coal industry talk about 'carbon capture and storage', an experimental technology in it's early infancy.  The theory might look good... take the carbon dioxide out of the gas leaving the chimney, pressurise it into liquid and pump this into empty gas fields, oil wells and aquifers... But large scale CCS is years if not decades away, and we really don't have that kind of time scale to continue trashing this planet.  We have existing technology which would stem our carbon haemorrhage... insulation, switching things off, A-rated appliances, renewable generation... and I believe that some of the investment in CCS could (should) be spent on these proven technologies.  I think that CCS does have it's part to play in a sustainable future, but I despair about disinvestment in renewables (for instance, what happened to Pelamis).

So, I want to invite you to participate in the Coal Caravan, a cycle trip from Nottingham to Blyth, starting on 24th April and finishing on 5th May, and taking in some of the biggest of the UK's coal mining communities.   There's cycling during the day, and nature walks, visits to open cast coal mines, and then meetings with discussion or film showings in the evening.  I hope to join them as they pass near to York, just for part of the day, to support the riders.

If some of you think that I'm being alarmist about climate change, then read what experts say in this website, 100 months. Some of the so-called' tipping points' seem to have already started... for instance there are disturbing reports of permafrost melting and raised methane levels in the arctic....  So, time is short.  What are YOU doing to be a responsible ancestor?

There are two things which have led me to email my MP and ask him to support a motion (EDM 1082) which proposes the development of a Post Office Bank.  Firstly, with many 'High Street' banks having financial difficulties and some having to be bailed out by the Government, it would make sense to have a bank entirely supported by the Government, with no shareholders looking for a profit.  Secondly, Post Offices are still closing down partly as a result of decisions to increase the online or electronic transfer of pensions and other benefits.

I see Post Offices as an essential cornerstone of local communities, and their closure has meant that people who used to walk less than a mile to get to their local Post Office might now have to go by car.  Their loss isn't just the Post Office facilities, but the other things the shop sells... newspapers, sweets, basic groceries (our local one sells milk, sugar, teabags, basic stationery and birthday cards etc). The weekly trip to the Post Office, for some, used to be an important part of their social lives, as some people living alone don't have a lot of human contact and their weekly pension collection is the contact they need to feel part of society.  If a Post Office closes, other shops nearby might lose trade too, so putting them at risk.  

The House of Commons Business and Enterprise Select Committee is conducting an inquiry into the future of the Post Office, and this includes suggestions about a Post Office Bank, able to offer cheques, credit/debit cards, overdrafts and other financial services.  My MP, Hugh Bayley, suggested a number of other possible services (after consulting with sub postmasters and the City of York Council) including allowing branches to process some other financial products such as council tax and rent payments, insurance etc, and issuing things like bus passes.  Some Post Offices could have internet terminals to allow access to services currently being promoted as easily accessible on the web, like TV licences and car tax.  Many people still don't have domestic access to the 'net and access at a post office might be one way of keeping the local offices open.  Hugh Bayley also suggested a Post Office Travel Agency... something I'm less keen on, but my suggestion would be being able to link with the local Credit Union so payments could be made easily, instead of the current arangement (in York at least) of the CU having a room in the Council Treasury Building twice a week.  And, of course the main (perceived) reason that Post Office use has declined, being able to issue pensions and benefits. 

So, I look forward to hearing more about the future of the Post Office, and to knowing that their future is assured.  I will also make more use of the Write to Them website, as it enables you to contact your MP, MEP, local councillor and other representatives very easily.   I also pledge to use my local Post Office more often, to play my part in it's continued success. 

There are many ways to convey a message.  And when it comes to climate change and overconsumption, there are blogs, protest marches, films, and I've just discovered poetry.

So, I'd like you to click on this link: http://www.myspace.com/dannychivers and then click on the poem 'Consumed' by Danny Chivers, and listen, whilst you read the text.  But as I'm inexperienced in this bloggy webby thing, I've discovered that clicking on this opens Danny's page in the same window so you'll have to open a new window with this page in to read the poem at the same time.  Getting the message across isn't always that easy!