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.
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?
These days there are hundeds of campaigns, schemes and groups aiming to 'save the planet', all of then well-meaning but of varying effectiveness. I don't actually like the term 'save the planet', as I tend to take things literally and in my view, the planet will be around for a long time... I prefer to think of these ideas as 'keep the planet habitable for humans and other life-forms' but that's much less catchy....
One such scheme is Earth Hour, which this year takes place on Saturday 28th March at 8.30pm. The idea is that for one hour, around the globe, all participating individuals, businesses, local authorities etc switch off their lights, computers and other electrical appliances for one hour. All well and good... it's not asking anything too difficult or complicated, it saves energy, gives people a sense of participation, and yes, this has made it one of the most popular campaigns around.
This year it is being labelled as 'Vote Earth' and the website claims that 930 cities and towns in 80 countries are participating; the aim is to involve a billion people. It started in Sydney, Australia, in 2007, with about 2.2 million homes switching off their lights, and last year an estimated 50 million people joined in. So, during that hour, a lot of energy was not used which would have been if things had gone on as normal.
The popularity of this event is evident when doing a search on Facebook for 'Earth Hour'... I counted up to 300 groups dedicated to it before I gave up. Some were for individual towns and cities, some for states or countries, some for supporters and fans. However, this search also showed a handful of groups with names like 'Anti Earth Hour', 'Earth Hour Sucks', 'People against Earth Hour', 'Earth Hour was Useless', and 'F*ck Earth Hour'. These groups fall into two broad categories, the so-called 'climate deniers' who think that the broad scientific consensus that man-made gas emissions are altering the planet's atmosphere is wrong, and that any observable warming is part of some 'natural cycle', and those who feel that just switching off your lights for one hour per year is a complete waste of time when what we actually need to do is to cut our total emissions by 80%. This view is promoted by the various Facebook groups such as 'Earth Hour Every Month' and the more radical 'Earth Hour Every Week'. Maybe I should start a Facebook Group called 'Earth Hour Every Hour'?
Unfortunately, I will be unable to 'attend' Earth Hour this year as I have a ticket to go and see the Ukuele Orchestra, and my guess is that they'll need amplification which is of course, based on electric power. I'll stick to my Earth Hour Every Hour concept, I think!
Earlier this week I took the train up to Middlesborough to do some filming wih the BBC, for the programme 'Inside Out' which has local editions for the different regions. I'd been asked to go and help a radio presenter, John Foster, start a week of living on a pound a day. This was inspired by a book by Kath Kelly called How I Lived a Year On Just a Pound A Day.
I attended a York in Transition meeting last night, the first Solar Panel Buyers Club. I was planning to extol the benefits of bulk buying this type of hot water system, but news this Monday morning from another airport protest means that some of this post will be discussing that too.
People like me do go on about how big the problem is. We often use numbers to prove a point. Sometimes it's difficult to envisage how many, or how much when it comes to climate change, resource use, waste etc, but I've found an excellent website which gives us an insight into some of these figures.
The current 'Credit Crunch' combined with high energy prices is seemingly causing a recession... a period of no economic growth or contraction. Part of me welcomes this, despite the discomfort we will all experience (such as reduced entertainment bookings for me) as in a greener world we'd consume less, and in a recession we do just that. One of the weird effects of this economic situation is that with reduced demand, some prices will fall... so I'm not suprised to see the fuel prices dip temporarily.
You may remember seeing the Climate Camp in the media this year, where protestors and campaigners gathered near Kingsnorth Coal-Fired Power Station in Kent during the first week of August. One of the aims of the camp was to draw attention to the situation that faces humanity if we continue to burn coal unabated.. like E ON would like to do, by building another power station at the site to replace the old one. The proposed new electricity generator would emit millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere, with no 'carbon capture and storage' technology installed. To many of us, behaviour like this is just criminal and exceedingly foolish.
This week sees a mass action at Kingsnorth coal-fired power station in Kent, where the old power station is due to be replaced by a new coal-fired power station. There had been talk of putting experimental 'Carbon Capture and Storage' technology into this development, but not enough money has been invested to know whether it works, so it looks likely that a new dirty electricity generator may be built.
What will you do when there's less oil? How will you or your children live? How will your community cope? Life won't just stop when the price of oil reaches a certain point, and that figure, that 'line in the sand' won't be the most expensive this raw material will be. Expect oil to keep getting more expensive, and everything which uses it or the energy it provides. Factor in climate change, and the uncertainties in these scenarios, and the future is looking somewhat tough, for some: bleak.
But for some people, it looks like a challenge, a series of opportunities for humanity to evolve and progress. A grassroots movement is underway called Transition Towns, and as many of these aren't actually towns, they're districts, cities, islands and even forests, the label may be better known as 'Transition Initiatives'. These communities are preparing for the double whammy of post-peak oil and climate chaos by going local, 'powering down', generating renewable energy and strengthening community links.
There are already many activities, groups and initiatives which are in their own way working towards a transition towards a post-oil world. Groups as diverse as cycling campaigns, allotment societies, 'breast is best' groups, ban plastic bag activists and those brave climate camp people all know that we cannot go on with 'business as usual'. We have to prepare, to start building resiliance to cope with what's coming.
York has just started developing a 'York in Transition' process. I couldn't get to the first meeting as I was talking to members of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health about the same issues of too much carbon dioxide being emitted and some of the solutions, but I attended the second meeting this week. I am one of the optomists who sees the opportunities and challenges we have to rise to, I'm not the 'it's too big to deal with, I'll be dead soon, let's go down the pub to seek oblivion' type!
