#Manchester, #Brexit and #climate change – what is to be done about this total hash?

Posted on June 27, 2016 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Nobody knows what is going to happen.  Will “Article 50” even get invoked?  Will there be a second referendum, and if there were, would it actually go differently?  Will the Tories split? Will Labour?  Will Scotland leave?  So what comes below are simply guesses, not pronouncements.  Am happy to hear other people’s thoughts…

Manchester City Council
Manchester City Council has already given up on doing anything about climate change.  It is in a pattern of ignoring old promises (not just from 2009, but even from as recent as 2014 – see next blog post for details).  You need an electron microscope to see their commitment to climate change action.  The leadership on this issue is either/both non-existent or actively hostile.  I believe brexit will just make that worse, for wo reasons.

Firstly, because Manchester City Council’s entire “business model” over the last 30 (and especially 20) years has been built on inward investment.  They’ll now be spending every minute of every day assuaging the freak-outs of the investors (Chinese, German, whatever) and trying to show that Manchester – even outside the EU – is a good place to do business. Any perception of ‘green tape’ will be killed off.

Secondly, because there is likely to be an even more hostile and stupid Government in London, with direct impacts on Manchester’s citizens AND on the money the Council gets from Westminster.  Everything non-statutory – including climate change – is at risk of getting thrown out because there is no money, and competent staff need to be kept, and kept on the core stuff.

The uncertainties are these – what will happen to the Labour Party nationally?  Will it split?  If it does, most councillors and apparatchiks will move in with the “right-wing”/”Blairites” whatever you want to call it.  That may have a (small) impact on how well opposition parties do in the 2018 “all-out” election – I suspect a lot of people vote Labour in Manchester thinking they are voting for a left-wing party..  UKIP, the Greens, the Lib Dems may all fancy their chances in different parts of the city, and the sitting councillors will be scrambling to save their arses.  They won’t be talking climate, and they won’t be admitting previous screw-ups.

And of course, now that the prospect of becoming an MEP is gone, a bunch of ambitious councillors will be chasing a diminished number of other opportunities, in very direct competition with each other. Watch the fur fly, if you can be bothered.

The activists
Activists are already paying very little attention to the City Council’s grotesquely bad performance on climate change.  With the rise of racism, (and probably fascism), individuals and groups will (quite rightly!) be struggling against that. Climate change will stay in the ‘too hard/not immediate enough’ box, with the probable exception of fracking.  The Green Party will (only) try to win council seats, and Friends of the Earth will have its hands very very full trying to fight against the inevitable bonfire of the European regulations that have stopped the UK from being a total slagheap and set for a dystopian horror film  (see here and here and here).

One silver lining.
The totally useless and mis-named “Manchester Climate Change Agency” will surely now be killed off.  It won’t be able to access European funds, and the Council is blowing  (high) tens of thousands of pounds a year propping it up.  I wouldn’t give much for the future of the Greater Manchester Low Carbon Hub either.  What has it produced except some colourful organisational charts, after all?

What is to be done?
Carpe the diems.
Grab your ankles and prepare to kiss your arses goodbye.
Do enough to pass the mirror test.
If we DO try to do something, let’s make it based on principles of sustainability, legitimate peripheral participation, skill-sharing and avoidance of the smugosphere [what’s that? see this ‘movement-building, what is to be done?‘ post from late last year], emotathons and all the old nonsense that has not worked.

 

Posted in Manchester City Council, Signs of the Pending Ecological Debacle, Unsolicited advice | 5 Comments

How do we honour Jo Cox in Manchester?

Posted on June 23, 2016 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Last Friday, in Chorlton, Jeff Smith MP, gave a short and from-the-heart speech about the assassinated MP, Jo Cox. About 40 people were present (a presumably much bigger gathering was held in Piccadilly Gardens an hour later). The event was short, dignified and much-needed. Not just for the Labour Party figures present (GM mayoral candidate Tony Lloyd, local Councillors Matt Strong, John Hacking, Grace Fletcher-Hackwood) but for anyone who understands that it wasn’t just a mother of two young children who was attacked, but the essence of our hard-won democracy.

These are dark – horrible – times. If we can’t disagree without resorting to violence, how on earth are we supposed to meet the challenges of the 21st century?

Politicians – of whatever stripe – are nervous. They’d be stupid not to be. And most of them are not stupid, corrupt or lazy, despite what the media will tell you. Yes, they maybe too tribal, too willing to shift blame, but show me a social grouping that doesn’t circle the wagons. It’s how the species rolls.  Being a representative means long long hours, thankless tasks, a certain amount of verbal abuse.  But what happened on Thursday sends a horrible message.  And without democracy, what are we?

Each of us has to decide how we respond to this awful event. Jo Cox’s husband was crystal clear about what he wanted, and it bears repeating.

“Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy, and a zest for life that would exhaust most people.

“She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her. Hate doesn’t have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous.

“Jo would have no regrets about her life, she lived every day of it to the full.”

Other intelligent and compassionate people, like Laurie Penny, have also weighed in. With her typical brilliance she observed

Right now our society is full of lost, angry people looking for someone to blame. Right now, our culture is captured by swivel-eyed demagogues only too happy to take that blame and direct it for their own political ends. Racists, xenophobes, homophobes, misogynists, religious extremists and right-wing fanatics, all offering their own lyrics to the same chorus of fear, the same promise to restore your lost pride if you only march along.

This is not simply a question of terrorism, or of mental illness, easy as either of those answers would be. It’s both, and more. It’s hate-groups preying on the broken and hopeless and fearful, and we are letting it happen.

I can’t answer the question of this blog post for anyone else. Everyone has to answer it for themselves.

For what it’s worth, my answer is this.

We honour Jo Cox’s memory and life by striving at being democratic. By being active citizens who struggle for our values and causes non-violently, diligently and relentlessly.

We honour her by knowing that this is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s not about this election, that by -election, this scrutiny committee, that march. It’s about the long haul. And bar the obsessives, that means having a ‘crew’ to do it together.

We honour her by knowing that it is not a game, that the consequences of inaction, failure or retreat because of ‘burnout’ or ‘disappointment’ are real, and will be paid by real human beings, future generations and other species. It is real. All too real.

Here’s what I will do.

  • I will press the Council to keep its existing climate promises (there are many, mostly ignored).
  • I will press the Council to take the threat of climate change seriously. Lip service won’t do.
  • I will try to help other citizens who want to do this democratic long-haulism to do it more, to do it better.

I ask you – what will you do?

RIP Jo Cox.

Posted in Democratic deficit | 4 Comments

If MCFly could vote, she’d vote “Remain”

Posted on June 22, 2016 by manchesterclimatemonthly

However, the tartan-wearing insect is only a fly, so she can’t.  I (MCfly editor, Marc Hudson) can vote, and I voted Remain already

Why?  Not because I love the neo-liberal EU.  A lot of what the Brexiters say of it is true. As George Monbiot said it’s a “festering cesspool of undue influence and opaque lobbying.”  Though um, we do actually elect our MEPs, which is more than you can say of the House of Lords.

Not because I am under any illusions about how life will be like if we stay and end up with a neo-liberal TTIP. And Cameron and Osborne are gagging to use TTIP to further strip workers of their rights, to privatise the few remaining things that haven’t already been flogged off, in a process that 13 years of Labour did nothing to slow down.

Not bec…   Look, because of this.

Our species is in far deeper trouble than it realises.  There is a sniff of a chance that the EU might help in softening the blows. It is a big enough body, with enough political and economic clout that it might – just might – do enough of the right things that mean we have a “transition” to a low-carbon future, with loads of off-shore wind, renewables, energy efficiency.

Personally I wouldn’t put the odds at more than about 3 in a 100, and that is with an unprecedented civil society mobilisation, over and above the “sucking up to policy-makers” approach some believe is the way forward.  Outside the EU, our neoliberal elite, of whatever shade (dark blue, light blue, pink)  will keep doing the insanely short-sighted things that favour existing incumbents.  It will keep smacking renewables in the face. It will keep subsidising oil, gas and fracking.  How do I know? Because I have been paying some attention for the last 20 years.

We (the species) are in the fight of our lives. We will almost certainly lose.  We (in the UK) have a tiny chance inside the EU of being part of the solution.  I believe we have zero chance outside.

How’s that for a rallying cry?

PS And if you think Manchester City Council are a bunch of neoliberals who do whatever Westminster tells them, while mouthing pieties about being a ‘dented shield’, you ain’t seen nothing yet.  With Prime Minister Gove, or Johnson, it will be even more insane.

Posted in Unsolicited advice | 3 Comments

City of Trees – 1/6th of target = “success”

Posted on June 21, 2016 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Last year, the “City of Trees” project was launched with the bold aim of planting 3 million trees in Greater Manchester over the next 20 years. At the launch of the project last November, the Manchester Evening News reported that

“Tony Hothersall from Red Rose Forest said: “City of Trees is a long term movement looking to achieve mass tree planting over the next 20 years. It has momentum right now with a planned 40,000 new trees going into the ground in the autumn/winter planting season and we plan to create 15ha of new woodland.”

Last week, the City of Trees project launched a new website. On the website, they proudly announce that

“We look back on a successful tree planting season, which saw partners come together to plant over 6,000 trees from November 2015 – March 2016.”

And more specifically 6,364 trees were planted in the season. In other words, they planted less than a sixth of the trees that they aimed to plant. That’s hardly a success.

Assuming that City of Trees plant half their trees each year in the autumn/winter season, it’s going to take them 236 years to plant 3 million trees in Greater Manchester.

By staff correspondent Ann Onymous

Posted in Signs of the Pending Ecological Debacle | 2 Comments

Film4Climate competition open. First prize$8k

Posted on June 20, 2016 by manchesterclimatemonthly

One of the many suggestions that Manchester City Council and the “Steering Group” have ignored is to set up a video competition about what Manchester is doing/needs to do around climate change. But then, that would throw up some awkward gaps between their rhetoric and everyone else’s reality. While you’re waiting for them to do more than produce glossy booklets and nowt else, if you’re under 36, there’s this contest to enter…

Inline images 1

 

Following the success of past editions, Connect4Climate and +60 Partners are launching the Film4Climate Global Video Competition, TODAY, Monday June 20 – see more at http://bit.ly/261oIVe.
 
Young  filmmakers are invited to showcase their talents and create either a Public Service Advertisement (< 1 min) or a Short Film (1 – 5 minutes) about climate action. The competition is open to filmmakers from all over the world, ages 14 to 35, and the deadline to submit the video on the Film4Climate portal is September 15, 2016. Submit early to allow for public voting.
 
The film should show a personal climate change narrative and emphasize what people around the world are doing to promote action, offer new solutions, and inspire change. The jury, chaired by acclaimed Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci, will select the winning entries based on content, technical expertise and innovation, and originality. 
 
First prize will receive US$ 8,000, second prize US$ 5,000 and third US$ 2,000. Special prizes, offered by our sponsors, will also be awarded. The winners will be announced during the Conference of Parties (COP22) in Marrakesh, Morocco.
 
Following the signing of the Paris Agreement, and because of the growing urgency of climate change, we are hoping to receive submissions from all 174 signatory nations.
Posted in Competitions | Leave a comment

Manchester City Council and its #climate silence – “Scrutiny” Week June 2016

Posted on June 19, 2016 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Why doesn’t Manchester City Council put all its scrutiny committee meeting agendas on one web-page?

Is it just their usual incompetence and indolence, or are they trying to make it that leeeetle bit harder for citizens to know what is going on, how and when to engage?

(to be fair – there is now a page from which you can see the upcoming meetings. But all the agendas on one page is still not happening)

Manchester City Council has 6 “scrutiny” committees that are supposed to keep tabs on what the 9 member Executive and the officers are up to. Supposed to. One of the problems is, there is – out of 96 councillors – only a single non-Labour councillor (John Leech, Lib Dem, in Didsbury West Ward). So, while there are some councillors with axes to grind and bones to pick, there are very few who will get hold of an awkward issue on which the council has been faaaaaaiiiiiiling consistently (take, oh, I don’t know, climate change as a random example) and ask specific questions, and then refuse to be fobbed off by the officer or Exec member. Failure to back off and accept the nonsense they spout would be a career-limiting move, you see. The people at the top do not reward such awkward independence that lets cats out of bag, skeletons out of closet.

But asides from them all being from the same party, the problems go deeper.  Reports are opaque, delivered at short notice and there is simply too much for some committees to tackle.  And councillors are just normal human beings (well, most of them), with other commitments (jobs, family, volunteering, helping people who are getting screwed by the Tories).  So the amount of time and energy they can dedicate to piercing the propaganda is extremely limited.

Meanwhile, both the media and civil society are largely asleep at the wheel. [For more on all this, see here] .

So, scrutiny is an empty soothing ritual, where naïve activists go to get their belief in the representatives of representative democracy crushed.

If you DO want to go to a scrutiny committee meeting then please, for the love of gaia

a) do not go alone

b) do not go unprepared.

Some of the most miserable, horrible, soul-destroying hours of my life have been spent watching the farce that calls itself ‘scrutiny’.

It IS worth going (once or twice maybe), but not alone, and not unprepared. Srsly. Here’s a five minute video about what happens and some further advice.

Please feel free to contact MCFly – mcmonthly@gmail.com if you want more info.

Here below I have click click clicked through to all the specific pages of the website where the six scrutiny committee agendas are.  The Council COULD, if it wanted, easily have one page where all the agendas were available. The fact that it doesn’t tells you exactly how much they care about keeping citizens informed.

Tuesday 21st June

Young People and Children’s

10am The Scrutiny Committee Room, Level 2, Town Hall Extension

Agenda

Reports

Neighbourhoods and “Environment”

2pm The Scrutiny Committee Room, Level 2, Town Hall Extension

Agenda

Reports

 

Weds 22nd June

Economy Scrutiny Committee

10am The Scrutiny Committee Room, Level 2, Town Hall Extension

Agenda

Reports

 

Communities and Equalities

2pm The Scrutiny Committee Room, Level 2, Town Hall Extension

Agenda

Reports

The Health and “Resources and Governance” meetings are happening on 30th of June.

Posted in Democratic deficit, Manchester City Council, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Upcoming Event: Poetry and Art After Hours at #Manchester Museum 30th June

Posted on June 16, 2016 by manchesterclimatemonthly

An evening of poetry and art exploring issues of climate change.

MM Climate Control After Hours e-flyer High_resMigratory Birds: Poetry and Perceptions of Climate Change
6-8pm
How does poetry represent birds and our relationship to them and how might it change the way that we relate to the natural world?
What impact is climate change going to have on migratory bird species? Tom Pickard, a poet, Dr Matthew Ward a literary scholar, Dr Sam Illingworth, a climate change scientist and Dr Huw Lloyd an ornithologist will discuss these questions.

Climate Change Synaesthesia: the exhibition unleashed
8 – 9.30pm
Climate scientists and artists take hold of the exhibition, inviting the public to take another look….an immersive installation unfolds and we hear, touch, smell and taste the effects of climate change through a labyrinth of stories, images and objects
with EXIST and Little Wolf Parade

Book on mcrmuseum.eventbrite.com

Posted in Upcoming Events | Leave a comment

Upcoming Event: Fuelling #Manchester 28 June.

Posted on June 15, 2016 by manchesterclimatemonthly
from here.

Fuelling Manchester – the community energy meetup for Greater Manchester

 

Posted in Energy, Upcoming Events | Leave a comment

#Manchester Ward Plans not available, no actual #climate angle

Posted on June 15, 2016 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Manchester City Council has not produced ‘ward plans’ for the 32 wards of the City.  These ward plans do not contain local SMART objectives around climate change. There is not and will not be one central page where you can find the ward plans.

Other than that, everything is completely fine.

funfactwardplans-page001Manchester Climate Monthly submitted a Freedom of Information Act request last month. Unusually, the Council ‘answered’ it without being reminded or dragged to the Information Commissioner.  That’s where the good news ends though.  See their complete answer below, here’s the tl;dr;

It turns out there is NO NAMED councillor with responsibility for making sure ward plans happen.  So, the bureaucrats are left to themselves.  There are no climate objectives; in response to MCFly’s question there was just guff about the truly laughable ‘Manchester Strategy’ and its bromides.

Finally, we asked a very specific question about whether a page containing links to all the plans had been considered.  They did not answer that very simple question.

Two and a half years ago MCFly raised the question of Ward Plans with the Executive Member for the Environment.  It and other activists called upon the Council to

“Make sure all 32 ward plans contain detailed and ward-specific reference to both carbon mitigation measures and community resourcefulness measures by May 2015”

We went ahead and wrote an implementation plan for the Council, because they are so soul-crushingly incompetent.   They ignored it of course, because they are so good at what they do that they don’t need any help.

This, despite the Executive Member for the Environment saying (in the same letter she promised a blog) that “a similar topic was discussed by the Environmental Sustainability Sub-group at our November 2013 meeting and there’s a recommendation relating to this in the final report.”

Three years ago.  So much progress since then, eh?

Councillor Chappell then stated that Rusholme is wonderful and that she “likes the idea of carbon literacy at Ward Coordination level, and think this would be a good way of making goals on carbon reductions meaningful to people.”

Has this happened?  I feel another FOIA coming on…

 

 

Those answers in full. Questions in bold.

“My questions concern the Ward Plans for the Council, and specifically carbon literacy and climate change action

a) Given the Council’s stated commitment to climate change action and carbon literacy, who (i.e. named councillors, officers) has responsibility for ensuring that the ward plans  contain SMART objectives for actions that will meet the headline objectives of the Climate Change Action Plan that was endorsed by the Council’s Executive on 17 November 2009.

a)Responsibility for developing ward plans rest with the City Council’s Neighbourhood Teams.  For each ward a Neighbourhood Manager will lead the process
b) When will the 2016-17 plans for the 32 wards be available on the Council’s website  (none is, that I can see, at present)

b) The priorities for each ward are determined by the elected members, based on an analysis of data and local intelligence. The names of the elected members for each ward are available on the city council website and can be accessed here; http://www.manchester.gov.uk/manchester councillors
A date has not been currently set. We therefore do not hold this information
c) Has a central page on the council’s website from which  all 32 ward plans can be downloaded been considered by the Council’s web team/communication team?  If so, will it be implemented? If not, why not?”

c)Ward plans follow the themes of the Manchester Strategy (Our Manchester) which has been the subject of extensive consultation prior to approval by the City Council – and apply these in a neighbourhood context to address issues which are important to local communities. The theme “Our Manchester – a liveable and low carbon city” gives an idea of the sort of issues which residents have said are important (eg; better recycling, parks, water ways, green spaces etc).  The ward plans for 2016/17 are not currently held  as these are being developed and will be available on the City Council’s website shortly. Ward Plans for 2015/16 are still available on the Councils web site. For your convenience l have copied the link for the wards in the Central area (the same information is available for north and South areas). http://www.manchester.gov.uk/downloads/download/6056/central_manchester_ward_plans_2015-16

FWIW (not much) I have sent the following back to the Council officers
Dear Council Officers.

Please read the question I asked and the answer you gave.  Then please send me an actual answer to the question I asked.  It can be “No, and we won’t be doing that because we think it’s a stupid idea“.

Doubtless you will consider this to be a request for an Internal Review.  That is not what I am asking for. I am just asking for an actual answer to the question I asked. Is that so hard?  Really?

c) Has a central page on the council’s website from which  all 32 ward plans can be downloaded been considered by the Council’s web team/communication team?  If so, will it be implemented? If not, why not?”

c)Ward plans follow the themes of the Manchester Strategy (Our Manchester) which has been the subject of extensive consultation prior to approval by the City Council – and apply these in a neighbourhood context to address issues which are important to local communities. The theme “Our Manchester – a liveable and low carbon city” gives an idea of the sort of issues which residents have said are important (eg; better recycling, parks, water ways, green spaces etc).  The ward plans for 2016/17 are not currently held  as these are being developed and will be available on the City Council’s website shortly. Ward Plans for 2015/16 are still available on the Councils web site. For your convenience l have copied the link for the wards in the Central area (the same information is available for north and South areas). http://www.manchester.gov.uk/downloads/download/6056/central_manchester_ward_plans_2015-16

Posted in Democratic deficit, Manchester City Council | Leave a comment

“Localgiving Sow the Seeds for a Greener Future”

Posted on June 13, 2016 by manchesterclimatemonthly

This below is a press release MCFly got sent.

Localgiving this week launches a match funding campaign to provide valuable funds for local charities throughout Manchester and the North West. To celebrate the launch one of Localgiving’s charities is supporting a South Manchester care centre by running a number of workshops and activities on 15th June for residents and carers. Details below.

On 15th June Localgiving will be joined by Manchester social enterprise, Sow the City, to ‘Build a Pond in a Day’ for a local care and respite centre.  This event will mark the launch of a new Localgiving initiative to help grassroots environmental groups across the North West of England improve their digital skills and fundraise online.

Celebrating Small Charity Week 2016, this event will kick off Localgiving’s Regional Development Programme in the North West – funded by People’s Post Code Lottery.

To demonstrate the difference that local groups make to their communities, Sow the City will be building a pond in a day for Hall Lane Resource Centre – a care and respite centre in Wythenshawe.  Sow the City coordinates environmental projects across Manchester, ranging  from running community gardens to delivering workshops on all areas from garden irrigation to solar panel installation.

Localgiving’s Regional Development Programme will give local environmental charities across the North West the skills and confidence to benefit from online fundraising and marketing. Many local charities in the UK lack core digital skills making it difficult for them to spread their message, reach  beneficiaries and fundraise – 59% of small charities do not accept donations online.

This programme will give 75 grassroots groups free membership to Localgiving and up to £500 each in match funding.  There has been a hugely positive response to the programme already with 15 local groups fully signed up and another 15 in the process of doing so.

The Coordinator of the North-West Programme, Joe Burns said: “Today is the start of something exciting. The North West has many areas of outstanding natural beauty that local community groups protect, from the Lakes to the Wirral Peninsula to the Cheshire countryside.  Even in our major cities like Manchester, Liverpool and Carlisle there are green spaces, such as here today, which bring joy to people and which need our support.  This is a fantastic opportunity to fulfil a real need in the North West, providing vital funds for our amazing local charities, all while sowing the seeds for a greener, happier society.”

The Sow the City team are also enthusiastic about the programme. Jon Ross, MD at Sow the City, said: “This project will give us, and groups like us, the skills and capacity to raise funds online. The matched funds will also go towards helping to fund projects like today’s, giving people another reason to donate! This will help us to achieve sustainability as a charity, make our communities stronger, and our city a happier place to live.”

Clara Govier, Head of Charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, added “We are proud to support the efforts of good causes like Localgiving and this is made possible thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery who are helping to raise millions of pounds for charities This event is a fantastic way to not only enhance the natural environment, but provide long lasting benefits for participants.”

Localgiving’s Regional Development Programme launch will take place on Wednesday 15th June 2016 at 12:45pm-1:30pm, Hall Lane Resource Centre, M23 1WD

For more information about the event or the campaign, including details regarding attendance and participation, please contact Joe Burns on joe.burns@localgiving.org  or 07872 041989

MCFly sometimes just cuts and pastes press releases.  I don’t get paid to do this, after all.  I never take cash or other inducements for stuff.  On the rare occasion that someone offers me goodies (e.g. tickets to theatre) afterwards, I declare.  Ethics? Ithn’t that thomewhere in the thouth of England?

Posted in press release journalism, Upcoming Events | Leave a comment