Action: Please write to councillors about lack of promised quarterly climate plan

Posted on December 2, 2014 by manchesterclimatemonthly

UPDATE: The report is now up (it wasn’t yesterday), buried at the bottom of one of the seven pages.

“View the latest quarterly report, which gives a snapshot of progress against our targets Manchester Quarter 2 2014/15 Internal Carbon Emissions Report.”

That scene from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, where Arthur Dent is protesting about the Council knocking down his house comes to mind –

“But Mr Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months.”

“Oh yes, well as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn’t exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them, had you? I mean, like actually telling anybody or anything.”

“But the plans were on display …”

“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”

“That’s the display department.”

“With a flashlight.”

“Ah, well the lights had probably gone.”

“So had the stairs.”

“But look, you found the notice didn’t you?”

“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard’.”

Please write to your three ward councillors (you can find out who they are here) and to Councillor Jeff Smith about the latest City Council climate failure. His email is cllr.j.smith@manchester.gov.uk

Here’s a sample letter (but please modify as you see fit).

Dear Councillors,

in February 2014 Councillor Kate Chappell promised that quarterly progress reports on the Council’s climate plan would be produced.

For whatever reason (and we were never informed), these did not occur. In mid-November, Councillor Jeff Smith wrote to several people assuring them that quarterly progress reports WOULD start to be produced and that the first one would be up “by the end of the month”.

It is now December 2nd. I cannot find any progress report on the Council’s website.

Why make a promise and then not keep it?

Yours in bemusement

Name

Address

lettersent

Posted in Campaign Update, Climate Change Action Plan, Manchester City Council | 2 Comments

Manchester Council Exec member promises quarterly climate reports. Doesn’t deliver.

Posted on December 1, 2014 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Three weeks ago the politician in charge of climate change for Manchester City Council promised that quarterly progress reports would finally start to be released, “by the end of November.” Nope.

On November 13th, two weeks after Manchester Climate Monthly had started publishing daily examples of the Council’s broken climate promises, the Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration (1) Councillor Jeff Smith, wrote an email to several people. In it he promised that, “by the end of this month,” the first quarterly progress report would be up.

jeffsmithnovember

So, you can click on each of the menu items on the page he suggests. There’s a small amount of inaccurate and unhelpful information about the past. But the promised first quarterly plan? You’re having a laugh, son.

screengrab001

There is a chance that the report is lurking somewhere else on the Council’s website. We did a search with “climate change quarterly” and got back nothing except “State of the City” reports
climatechangequarterlysearch
No doubt the progress report will put up imminently. There will be a certain amount of scalded cat activity within the Town Hall over the coming hours and days.

Not good enough.

What we’ve learnt: 1) That even when you have a firm promise, and even when it comes from a politician who is trying to win a parliamentary seat at next May’s general election, then don’t expect anything. Promises from the City Council are not worth a bucket of warm spit.
2) That the Freedom of Information Act is the only reliable way to get information out of the Council. Even though its use has much higher cost implications for the council, this seems to be what they want citizens to do.

What you can do:
1) Remember this as an example of what you have to do as an activist.  Extracting the promise is not enough.  Extracting it twice is not enough.

2) Don’t get demoralised.  We will eventually win.  We – and circumstances – will force the Council to start behaving itself, to start acting sensibly.  One way not to be demoralised is to be learning new skills, meeting new people who are taking action.  On Monday 15th December, at 7pm, there’s the next meeting of the People’s Environmental Scrutiny Team, at Friends Meeting House, 6 Mount St.  Free to attend, no need to book.  At this meeting we will be helping people get better at public speaking and video-making.  If you’re not interested in either of those, still come!  If you can’t come, email environmentalscrutiny@gmail.com for other ways of getting involved.

3) If you’re interested in learning how to use the Freedom of Information Act, get in touch.

 

Footnotes

(1) The Executive Member for Environment, Kate Chappell, is on maternity leave. In February 2014 she committed the Council to producing quarterly progress reports. These did not, of course, happen, along with other simple, low-cost promises.

Posted in Democratic deficit, Manchester City Council | 3 Comments

Video: “doomed I tell you, all doomed!” #Manchester #climate #Malthus etc

Posted on November 30, 2014 by manchesterclimatemonthly

So the following is theatre, and (a bit!) theatrical.

The audience is second year students at University of Manchester. Their lecturer wanted a lively and staged (in every sense) debate between someone arguing that Malthus was wrong/there are no limits on human ingenuity/technological progress will make everything better and better forever and… well, the “we’re doooooooomed” school of thought. Oddly she came to me to provide the latter. I hope I obliged?

Cassandra

Noam Chomsky

Anthropocene & Great Acceleration

Exponential Growth

Thelma and Louise!

Terror Management Theory

Raymond Williams

Posted in youtubes | 2 Comments

Climate Change, the musical!! (cartoon)

Posted on November 29, 2014 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Hat-tip to Tree Alerts.

ClimateChangeTheMusical-600x976

Posted in Fun, humour | 1 Comment

And the winner is…. Manchester’s Be Proud Awards 2014

Posted on November 29, 2014 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Slickly organised, nice live music, decent veggie option and some genuinely awe-inspiring citizens of Manchester. The Manchester Be Proud awards could dent your cynicism if you let it.

Manchester Town Hall was filled last night with people in their glad rags, come to see who had won this year’s City Council “Be Proud Awards.”

After a drinks reception with music from the Encompass Jazz Trio (hat-tip to RNCM) we got the obligatory Lord Mayor’s Welcome, followed by a three course dinner (hat-tip to t’cooks and silver-service waiters). A short and heartfelt speech by the Deputy Leader of the Council, Bernard Priest, followed. He congratulated everyone who’d been nominated and identified a couple of trouble-makers and offered them holidays at a special Caribbean facility run by the Council’s current security providers, G4S (1).

Then it was on with the awards. The judges must surely occasionally have resorted to tossing coins, since there was a very high quality in the various categories. And the winners are (opens envelope)

Young Achiever of the Year Winner – Blackley volunteer police cadets (other finalists- Grant Lopo, Michael Delaney)

Business in the Community Winner – Manchester Cathedral Employment Partnership (other finalists: John Falder, Sidney Street Cafe)

Creativity in the Community Winner – Leah Cavanagh (other finalists: Jessica Loveday, The Community Leadership Programme )

Clean City (2) Winner – Upping It! Steering Group (other finalists: Greenbank Residents Association, Junior Wardens)

Unsung Hero Winner – Kirsty Taylor (other finalists: James field, Joanne Kelly)

Community Force Winner – Lisa Minott (other finalists: Mediation Service Volunteers, West Gorton Youth Partnership)

Blossoming Communities Winner – Eat Green (UK) (other finalists: Friends of Angel Meadows, Old Moat Greenies)

Community Project of the Year Winner –The Cheetwood Centre (other finalists: The Booth Centre, Wythenshawe Community Farm)

Neighbour of the Year Winner – Patricia Lesley (other finalists: Emma Armitage, Maria Carabini)

Volunteer of the Year Winner – Roger Smith (other finalists: Kathryn Harrison, Steve Buckley)

Special Achievement Award Winner – Betty Kay

Pride of Manchester Community Diamond Award – Upping It! Steering Group

The event, while very glitzy, had clearly been run on the back of some hard-work/arm-twisting to get such broad sponsorship. It’s worth shouting out those sponsors, since there is no way on God’s green earth – or Manchester’s “clean city” for that matter –  that this event can happen again without ’em (have you seen the budget cuts the ConDems are forcing on local authorities?) And the sponsors are – Manchester Evening News, The co-operative Bam, Rowlinson, Redgate, Tony Lloyd Police & Crime Commissioner, Manchester Arndale, Helping Hand, Laing O’Rourke, the Sweet Shop, Southway Housing Trust, Wythenshawe Community Housing Group, Keep Britain Tidy, 1 team, Eastlands Homes

What could have been done better?

Hmm, this is a tricky one. It’s a Friday night, people have come for an enjoyable dinner and an awards ceremony (which they got). You can’t very well run novice lines, or run pre- or post- event workshops or get people in pairs to walk around putting ideas on flipcharts.

Also, you have no money.

HOWEVER, you want to a) try to leverage some help for the existing groups and b) get them interacting with each other a bit more.

So – why not ask each of the short-listed groups to provide a single side of A4 that says

  • what has gone well in the last year
  • what hasn’t gone well
  • what they hope to start doing differently next year
  • what specific skills/knowledge they need to do things bigger/better/more

Together with a map of Manchester showing where these short-listed individuals and groups are active, all put together in a simple booklet would make a very handy tool for people who perhaps had skills or time to offer to some of the groups. #enablingstate and all that….

If you really wanted to push the boat out, why not offer to make a two-minute film about each of the short-listed groups, based around video-footage on the evening and some still photos they’ve provided and the last answer on the sheet above. These could then be an online advert for the group (though clearly, many individuals and groups operate in places where internet access is patchy at best)

Footnotes

  1. Additional, um, “nuance” may have been added for dramatic/comedic effect. Always read the label.  And G4S have now given up on providing janitorial services at Gitmo. But #neverletthefactsgetinthewayofagoodstory etc

  2. There will be much more to say about just how badly and cynically and opaquely this 14.5 million pound disaster has been run, but not here.

Posted in Event reports, Manchester City Council, volunteer opportunity | Tagged | 4 Comments

“Merchants of Doubt” co-author Naomi Oreskes interview – worth watching! (non- #Manchester)

Posted on November 28, 2014 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Active doubt and denial campaigns are not the reason climate action in Manchester is so hopeless.  (This is in contrast to, say, Australia and the United States).  Here it’s down to other reasons, among which are – good old-fashioned bureaucratic inertia, some conflicting goals, nobody in the Manchester mafia having a pair/being willing to rock the boat. And the great and the good having neither the attention nor the capacity to push forward. Meh.

Here is an interview with Naomi Oreskes, who co-authored a book called “Merchants of Doubt: How a Scientists obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming.”

There’s a film of this book coming out next year.

Posted in youtubes | Leave a comment

Mon 15th Dec – public speaking and video making practice opportunities at PEST meeting

Posted on November 27, 2014 by manchesterclimatemonthly

From People’s Environmental Scrutiny Team website

public speakingOn Monday 15th December you can get help, practical advice and encouragement about

a) public speaking and/or
b) video-making.

The next meeting of the People’s Environmental Scrutiny Team will focus on these two skills from its list of 11 that it is trying to nurture and spread. It takes place at the Friends Meeting House, 6 Mount St, from 7pm. There is no need to filmaking ICONbook.

If you feel that you are a “practitioner”, “expert” or “ninja” at either public speaking or video-making and can attend the night, please get in touch. (And if you want to help, but can’t come, please have a look at the “bluffer’s guides“ for public speaking and video-making and tell us what’s missing).

The format is yet to be decided (anyone want to help design this meeting?) but will involve a brief intro and then work in small groups. Nobody will be filmed without their consent, and footage of people who do consent to being filmed will be given to them so they can see what they look and sound like while doing their public speaking.

PEST has three goals

a) increase the skills, knowledge and connections of those who are involved
b)lobby the council (principally by example) for the creation of a seventh scrutiny committee (on the environment)
and as of 2015, c) help people prepare for unpleasant changes ahead

So far PEST has held some interactive meetings and released a whole bunch of reports

The next report (help is needed in project-managing this) will be on the subject of “What can we do to help each other be less unready for unpleasant surprises (Flu Pandemics, Extreme Weather Events, power cuts etc).” It will be released in January. Help is needed on all aspects of this – researching, writing, proof-reading, choosing a snappy title.

Posted in Campaign Update, Upcoming Events | Leave a comment

Will the promised quarterly #climate plans be any good? Don’tholdyourbreath #Manchester

Posted on November 26, 2014 by manchesterclimatemonthly

A couple of weeks ago Manchester City Council finally agreed to keep a promise it had made in February – for quarterly reports on its climate plan “progress”. This came after a two week blitz of blog posts about the Council’s broken promises, and ahead of the May 2015 elections.

One promise in the email various citizens received was that minutes of the Environmental Strategy Programme Board (a not-open-to-the-public meeting of senior Council officers and some councillors) were available on the Council’s website. A link was provided. Well, either that assurance was wrong, or the ESPB didn’t meet between February and October. Which is it?

espbminutes

More importantly, what will the promised quarterly plans actually contain?

With regard to the Council’s own emissions;

  • Will there be acknowledgement that selling off council buildings and warm winters have helped?
  • Will they try to take the credit for other external factors – (e.g. the 2013 traffic lights debacle?)
  • Will they generally try to spin the numbers/shift the baselines?
  • Will an explanation be given for why the Town Hall extension lights are on seemingly 24/7 be given?

With regard to the “Creation of a Low Carbon Culture” (goal two of the Climate Plan)

  • Will the numbers of councillors who are carbon literate be given, with their names?
  • Will there be an explanation of the factors behind the failure to deliver the training efficiently be given, and a credible plan for future actions?
  • Will OTHER actions towards goal two be mentioned?

And more broadly:

  • Will the 18 recommendations of the Environmental Sustainability Subgroup be included? (People’s Environmental Scrutiny Team came up with a series of detailed implementation plans for these 18 recommendations. These were helpfully rubbished by a councillor).
  • Will there be a timed goal for first the Environmental Dashboard?
  • Will there be an acknowledgement that most of Manchester’s 32 wards don’t have ward plans, and the few that do have no climate mitigation or adaptation element?
  • Will the plan be readable and clear?
  • And will the reports even GO to a scrutiny committee to be discussed?*

Ten days ago Manchester Climate Monthly asked Councillor Jeff Smith if he would be willing to meet to discuss this. He has not yet replied.

What you can do:

  • Write to your councillors, raising these questions.
  • When the first report comes out, read it, come up with questions, send them to your councillors.
  • Come to the next meeting of the People’s Environmental Scrutiny Team – Monday 15th December, 7pm at the Friends Meeting House.  The theme of the meeting is “learning public speaking and vide0-making”. If you are interested in both, one, or neither, it will still be a useful meeting for you!

* MCFly doesn’t bet (except an occasional lottery ticket), but if we did we’d put a pony on an accumulator on the following –  no, yes, yes, no, no, no, no, no,no, no, no, no

Posted in Climate Change Action Plan, Democratic deficit, Manchester City Council, quarterly reports | Leave a comment

“Environmental transitions: perspectives on everyday urban and regional transformation” Thurs Dec 11th

Posted on November 25, 2014 by manchesterclimatemonthly

This afternoon seminar, organised by the Centre for Urban Energy and Resilience (CURE) and cities@manchester seeks to explore how lived experiences of nature, community and everyday life challenge linear understandings of social and environmental transition.

Speakers include: Dr Vanesa Castan Broto (University College London) – Experiences of transitions in South Europe: Environments, knowledges, communities Dr Petr Jehlicka (Open University) – Post-socialist household food production: Resistance hidden in plain sight? Dr Saskia Vermeylen (University of Lancaster) – Institutional Conservation Practices and Rhizomatic Contestations in the Kalahari Desert, Namibia Chaired by Dr Andrew Karvonen, University of Manchester

This event is free to attend and open to all but please register your place via Eventbrite: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/environmental-transitions-seminar-tickets-14442508933?utm_campaign=new_eventv2&utm_medium=email&utm_source=eb_email&utm_term=eventurl_text

Posted in academia, Upcoming Events | Leave a comment

Professor Kevin Anderson on the “2 degrees” target #climate #Manchester

Posted on November 25, 2014 by manchesterclimatemonthly

Professor Kevin Anderson answering a question on the “two degrees celsius” for global warming- what the goal/duty is, whether it is doable.
Extremely clear (of course) and well worth sharing!!

For background to the controversy, see Real Climate’s blog post on this.

Posted in academia | Tagged , | Leave a comment