Wed 19 Nov: Energy to Invest, Manchester Cathedral
A day celebrating a Greener Cathedral and in a call to care for all in creation:
10am – 12 noon: That Children may be heard on Earth
Presentations for Church schools and activities with Oxfam, 10:10, Christian Aid and many more
2pm – 4pm: That Churches may attend to the earth
‘Why divest from Fossil Fuels?’ Speaker Canon Giles Goddard + practical guidance on how to finance greener Churches
7pm – 9pm: That Community may sing of the earth
A prophetic old story retold for the present day with poetry and Community choirs
All are welcome to the Cathedral for these free events. Contact: John Hughes. Email: john_dhughes@yahoo.co.uk
When: Wednesday 19th November, see above for times Where: Manchester Cathedral
In July 2013 the Environmental Strategy team (bureaucrats employed by Manchester Town Hall) promised councillors (and the public) that
“Cut car journeys to school, including 800 less cars travelling to school during competitions.”
And what did they achieve?
“We do not collate this information.”
How do we know? Certainly NOT because the Council released the information in a timely and easy-to-digest manner. In July 2014, despite repeated lobbying, they refused to release a report on what they actually achieved of the “Annual Carbon Reduction Plan 2013-4”. It was left to a group of Manchester citizens to submit Freedom of Information Act requests just to obtain basic information about what the Council had (not) done.
And this above is a pattern repeated – they didn’t even bother to collect information, since the promise was presumably just there to pad out the report. And did any of the councillors spot this, did any ask for follow-up? You know the answer to that one…
In February 2014 the Executive Member for the Environment (a local councillor who has become a member of the 9 councillor “inner core”) promised (among other things) that quarterly progress reports would be produced for the Council’s carbon reduction plans. (see image)
This promise is of course entirely unrelated to the election he is fighting next May, and the desire to not allow the Lib Dems or the Greens a stick to beat him with. Already Labour hacks are leaving comments on this blog lauding him, as if keeping a clear and quite old promise is something praiseworthy.
Frankly, I don’t care about these men (and women) and their ego games. I care about this city and its people and the impending ecological debacles. I care about how ready we (and not just the rich white people) can be. Quarterly reports will initially probably be full of bluster and evasions, strategic silences and shoddy statistics. Doubtless senior councillors will berate me for this opinion, but it is based on long previous experience of the Council’s climate documents)
But these quarterly reports, beefed up and fact-checked by independent eyes, are an important way for us to pressure councillors – and the bureaucrats – to do better.
They’re doing it. Nine months after Kate Chappell (the councillor in charge of Environment) promised it, and 4 months after they failed to report on last year’s Climate Plan, Manchester City Council is finally going to start putting up the quarterly progress reports on climate change.
Two weeks since we’ve started posting the results of our collectively performed “Freedom of Information Act” requests that revealed that the Council had;
we have just received an email (see below) from Councillor Jeff Smith. The quarterly reports start at the end of the month. What these reports will actually contain remains to be seen. But it is a start. It is a victory. It is a victory to be celebrated.
THANK YOU to all the people who sent in Freedom of Information Act requests. THANK YOU to all the people who wrote to their councillors. You’ve done more for scrutiny of the Council’s environmental “performance” than pretty much all of the councillors who are paid to do it. Be proud of your efforts.
Please come along on Monday 17th to the next meeting of the People’s Environmental Scrutiny Team, to discuss next steps… 7pm, Friends Meeting House, 6 Mount St. No need to book.
Here is the email I have just received, from Councillor Jeff Smith, who is currently in charge of (some) environmental issues while Councillor Chappell is on maternity leave.
Dear Marc
Thank you for your email.
I would like to reassure you that the Council will be meeting its commitment to produce quarterly progress reports on the Council’s Climate Change Action Plan, and publishing these online.
The Council’s Environmental Strategy Programme Board is responsible for overseeing and driving the delivery of the Council’s three-year Climate Change Action Plans. Minutes from the meetings of the Board over the last 12 months are available online and may be of interest to you. The most recent meeting was held in October 2014 and minutes will be available online in November 2014 from: http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/500002/council_policies_and_strategies/3833/climate_change/5
Other relevant reports that you may be interested in include:
The Council’s next three-year Climate Change Action Plan for 2015/16 to 2017/18 and the progress report for 2014/15 is scheduled for Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Committee and the Executive in February 2015.
Regards
Councillor Jeff Smith
Executive Member for Housing & Regeneration
& Labour Member for Old Moat Ward
Executive Members’ Office, Manchester City Council
Trafford Council last night (Wednesday 12 November) formally voted to oppose fracking at its Full Council meeting. The Trafford Labour group had submitted a motion opposing fracking [1] which was also supported by the Liberal Democrat group. During the debate the motion was amended to affirm that Trafford council will oppose fracking “until such time as it can be proven safe” and this was passed with cross-party support.
Over 1500 people have signed a petition to Trafford Council opposing fracking. Local campaigners, who had gathered outside the Town Hall ahead of the meeting, reacted with delight at the news the council was opposing fracking but called on Councillors to do the same for other unconventional gas such as coal bed methane which is proposed for Davyhulme.
Pete Abel, a Trafford resident and co-ordinator of Manchester Friends of the Earth said: “We are pleased that Trafford Councillors have acted to protect their residents against the risks of fracking, and call on them to do the same for other risky unconventional gas such as coal bed methane extraction which is proposed for Davyhulme. Trafford’s economy and environment could benefit hugely from renewables and energy efficiency which will offer far more for jobs and will tackle climate change more effectively than dirty gas.”
The council were due to decide on an application by IGas to drill for unconventional gas in Davyhulme at the October planning committee meeting, but this was postponed following concerns raised by Friends of the Earth regarding the environmental assessment.
From press release sent out by Friends of the Earth.
In July 2013 the Environmental Strategy team (bureaucrats employed by Manchester Town Hall) promised councillors (and the public) that the Council would, on its internal activity,
“Switch 5% of taxi journeys to City Car Club”
And what did they achieve?
“We do not collate this information”
And this above is a pattern repeated – they didn’t even bother to collect information, since the promise was presumably just there to pad out the report. And did any of the councillors spot this, or ask for follow-up? You know the answer to that one…
How do we know about the Council’s (non) performance ? Certainly NOT because the Council released the information in a timely and easy-to-digest manner. In July 2014, despite repeated lobbying, they refused to release a report on what they actually achieved of the “Annual Carbon Reduction Plan 2013-4”. It was left to a group of Manchester citizens to submit Freedom of Information Act requests just to obtain basic information about what the Council had (not) done.
As if that were not enough, in February 2014 the Executive Member for the Environment (a local councillor who has become a member of the 9 councillor “inner core”) promised (among other things) that quarterly progress reports would be produced for the Council’s carbon reduction plans. (see image)
Well, that is still not happening. So who knows how far behind the Council is on its “three year rolling plan”. Who knows if they are, as above, just not doing anything? Not you, not me, and not the councillors who sit on the relevant scrutiny committees. That’s the state of democracy and transparency in this city in November 2014.
What you can do.
Write to your three ward councillors (enter your postcode here to find out who they are), to the Executive Member for the Environment (she’s on maternity leave, but the principle’s the same, cllr.k.chappell@manchester.gov.uk) and to Council Leader, Richard Leese – r.leese@manchester.gov.uk
Something like:
Dear councillors,
In February 2014 the Executive Member for the Environment made a public written commitment that quarterly progress reports on the Council’s Climate Reduction Plans would be brought to Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Committee and posted on the Council’s website.
This hasn’t happened.
I’d like to know why not.
Yours sincerely
[name and address]
Let us know what, if any, replies you get. MCFly will continue to post examples of the Council making empty promises. We have 14 more examples, just from the so-called “Annual Carbon Reduction Plan 2013-14”.
In July 2013 the Environmental Strategy team (bureaucrats employed by Manchester Town Hall) promised councillors (and the public) that it would produce
“A Manchester Standard for city parks and green spaces.”
And what did they achieve?
“We do not have an MCC endorsed Manchester Standard. Background work is being done to develop the Manchester Standard as part of reviewing the existing Parks Strategy.”
How do we know? Certainly NOT because the Council released the information in a timely and easy-to-digest manner. In July 2014, despite repeated lobbying, they refused to release a report on what they actually achieved of the “Annual Carbon Reduction Plan 2013-4”. It was left to a group of Manchester citizens to submit Freedom of Information Act requests just to obtain basic information about what the Council had (not) done.
As if that were not enough, in February 2014 the Executive Member for the Environment (a local councillor who has become a member of the 9 councillor “inner core”) promised (among other things) that quarterly progress reports would be produced for the Council’s carbon reduction plans. (see image)
Well, that is still not happening. So who knows how far behind the Council is on its “three year rolling plan”. Who knows if they are, as above, just not doing anything? Not you, not me, and not the councillors who sit on the relevant scrutiny committees. That’s the state of democracy and transparency in this city in November 2014.
What you can do.
Write to your three ward councillors (enter your postcode here to find out who they are), to the Executive Member for the Environment (she’s on maternity leave, but the principle’s the same, cllr.k.chappell@manchester.gov.uk) and to Council Leader, Richard Leese – r.leese@manchester.gov.uk
Something like:
Dear councillors,
In February 2014 the Executive Member for the Environment made a public written commitment that quarterly progress reports on the Council’s Climate Reduction Plans would be brought to Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Committee and posted on the Council’s website.
This hasn’t happened.
I’d like to know why not.
Yours sincerely
[name and address]
Let us know what, if any, replies you get. MCFly will continue to post examples of the Council making empty promises. We have 14 more examples, just from the so-called “Annual Carbon Reduction Plan 2013-14”.
In July 2013 the Environmental Strategy team (bureaucrats employed by Manchester Town Hall) promised councillors (and the public) that
Further increase staff cycling levels to 12% of journeys.”
And what did they achieve?
“We do not hold this information”
How do we know? Certainly NOT because the Council released the information in a timely and easy-to-digest manner. In July 2014, despite repeated lobbying, they refused to release a report on what they actually achieved of the “Annual Carbon Reduction Plan 2013-4”. It was left to a group of Manchester citizens to submit Freedom of Information Act requests just to obtain basic information about what the Council had (not) done.
And this above is a pattern repeated – they didn’t even bother to collect information, since the promise was presumably just there to bad out the report. And did any of the councillors spot this, ask for follow-up? You know the answer to that one…
As if that were not enough, in February 2014 the Executive Member for the Environment (a local councillor who has become a member of the 9 councillor “inner core”) promised (among other things) that quarterly progress reports would be produced for the Council’s carbon reduction plans. (see image)
Well, that is still not happening. So who knows how far behind the Council is on its “three year rolling plan”. Who knows if they are, as above, just not doing anything? Not you, not me, and not the councillors who sit on the relevant scrutiny committees. That’s the state of democracy and transparency in this city in November 2014.
What you can do.
Write to your three ward councillors (enter your postcode here to find out who they are), to the Executive Member for the Environment (she’s on maternity leave, but the principle’s the same, cllr.k.chappell@manchester.gov.uk) and to Council Leader, Richard Leese – r.leese@manchester.gov.uk
Something like:
Dear councillors,
In February 2014 the Executive Member for the Environment made a public written commitment that quarterly progress reports on the Council’s Climate Reduction Plans would be brought to Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Committee and posted on the Council’s website.
This hasn’t happened.
I’d like to know why not.
Yours sincerely
[name and address]
Let us know what, if any, replies you get. MCFly will continue to post examples of the Council making empty promises. We have 14 more examples, just from the so-called “Annual Carbon Reduction Plan 2013-14”.
In July 2013 the Environmental Strategy team (bureaucrats employed by Manchester Town Hall) promised councillors (and the public) that
Energy audits will be concluded on three of the top 25 energy consuming operational buildings, and analysed with a view to establishing business cases for capital investment this year or beyond.“
And what did they achieve?
a) Six Energy Audits took place during 2013.
b) No business cases for Capital Investment have been created.
How do we know? Certainly NOT because the Council released the information in a timely and easy-to-digest manner. In July 2014, despite repeated lobbying, they refused to release a report on what they actually achieved of the “Annual Carbon Reduction Plan 2013-4”. It was left to a group of Manchester citizens to submit Freedom of Information Act requests just to obtain basic information about what the Council had (not) done.
As if that were not enough, in February 2014 the Executive Member for the Environment (a local councillor who has become a member of the 9 councillor “inner core”) promised (among other things) that quarterly progress reports would be produced for the Council’s carbon reduction plans. (see image)
Well, that is still not happening. So who knows how far behind the Council is on its “three year rolling plan”. Who knows if they are, as above, just not doing anything? Not you, not me, and not the councillors who sit on the relevant scrutiny committees. That’s the state of democracy and transparency in this city in November 2014.
What you can do.
Write to your three ward councillors (enter your postcode here to find out who they are), to the Executive Member for the Environment (she’s on maternity leave, but the principle’s the same, cllr.k.chappell@manchester.gov.uk) and to Council Leader, Richard Leese – r.leese@manchester.gov.uk
Something like:
Dear councillors,
In February 2014 the Executive Member for the Environment made a public written commitment that quarterly progress reports on the Council’s Climate Reduction Plans would be brought to Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Committee and posted on the Council’s website.
This hasn’t happened.
I’d like to know why not.
Yours sincerely
[name and address]
Let us know what, if any, replies you get. MCFly will continue to post examples of the Council making empty promises. We have 14 more examples, just from the so-called “Annual Carbon Reduction Plan 2013-14”.
The brilliant ReelMcr folks interviewed me a couple of weeks ago at the Moss Side Community Allotment. Here’s the video. Comments welcome!
And here is brilliantly useful feedback from one person –
When discussing effects like droughts affecting grain crops and impacts on food prices and availability, and also the possibility for increased political violence around the planet due to climate impacts, I think it’s worth pointing out that while these have always happened, what’s different, is now they are forecast to be more frequent and more intense.
Climate on steroids. And likewise with respect to wars, outbreaks of citizen revolts… The piece that’s new: now lots more and more severe. More crises in countries than ever before.
Joe Romm influence on my thinking I believe.
You did mention that intensity issue on the rain issue.
Maybe the steroids issue isn’t in the public mind in UK? It’s common knowledge among anyone who pays a bit of attention to sports over here.
70 home runs instead of 40-50 kind of thing is easily grasped.
Also I’m biased to emphasize this frequency and intensity point because AB farmers — my relatives and my wife’s father for example — they say ‘well we’ve always had extreme weather and we survived it.’ They did tough it out in the 1930’s drought for example.
But my rebuttal is of course, well, what if every 2nd or 3rd year you had crop failure due to drought or extreme rainfalls? Can you afford that? Crop insurance can be purchased that provides significant income supplement but repeated years of crop yield declines result in higher premiums and lower payouts. And farming is barely profitable for many at present.
Of what if the next drought period goes 15 or 20 years in duration?
==============
When you were making the lightbulb vs political footprint argument about the need for collective approach to climate, I wanted to hear you offer some statistic like even if we all improved our personal choices as much as possible, there is still 60% or so of carbon emissions that are due to energy used in commercial infrastructure and industrial uses of energy has to be addressed by government and industry.
I use this in response to the hypocrisy attack, when it’s pointed out that I could personally be doing more. Individual efforts and no attention to political change still leaves a catastrophe down the road because most fossil fuel energy use would still be happening.
Top be less abstract than saying industry and infrastructure, I point out examples like rental housing. Few landlords will ever do efficiency upgrades without gov’t regulation. Everybody gets that one.
============
Overall you come across very coherently. Maybe a tad too fast of a tempo….
Our "leaders" are going to keep making empty promises. It makes them feel good. It gets the activists to act like zombie kittens. If you want to have some self-respect and perhaps make a difference (actual facts may vary), then find a functioning group that cares about your skills and knowledge - what you have, what you want.
One useful group might be www.climateemergencymanchester.net - you can email them on contact@climateemergencymanchester.net
Wed 19 Nov: Energy to Invest, Manchester Cathedral
manchester climate monthly 