Sunday, July 13th, 2008
Sue ran a very successful Susred stand at the Westbury Park Fair on Saturday 11 July. There was lots of interest in what we do, and particularly in home energy efficiency. So well done to the organisers, and particularly thanks to Sue for putting in all that time.
Sunday, July 13th, 2008
We had a truly brilliant talk from Chris Vernon, editor of Oil Drum Europe, on Wednesday 9 July. It gave us a clear and easy-to-follow round-up of the global position on coal, oil, gas, CO2 consequences, and what this implies for all of us. The real take-home message is that all our personal actions and campaigning should be aimed at things which will cause fossil fuels to be left in the ground. Some of the detail covered is as follows;
Saturday, July 12th, 2008
Several of us attended a consultation meeting on 8 july where Skanska’s design team explained the plans for a demolition and rebuild of the western bits of Cotham School. The staff and governors have been keen to ensure that the building design ensures that the school is warm in winter, cool in summer, and with minimal fossil fuel energy needs. Investment now will mean a lower carbon footprint, and better affordability in the long term as oil and gas become more scarce and more expensive. There was a disappointing amount of real detail on these matters, but there was the glimmer of a promise that we might be able to see a sustainability report that is ‘in preparation’.
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
This simple 90 second graphic uses no words or speech which means that it conveys a universal message worldwide
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
The Centre for Sustainable Energy has produced a report Emissions Impossible, charting how we can manage 80% emissions reduction without huddling at home by candlelight. Although the people in the drawings all look rather despondent, its an easy read full of valuable information. One can’t help wondering how long it will be before the secondhand price reaches zero for a Landrover Discovery. Maybe that’s why the adverts for them are getting ever more desperate.
Thursday, June 26th, 2008
Does anyone else feel a sense of unreality when politicians talk about rising prices of energy and food as just temporary blips? A set of 58 slides from the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform paints a stark picture for UK oil and gas, and our balance of trade. Euan Mearns interpretation on Oil Drum Europe is that we face a crisis, which politicians are ignoring and an ill informed public are unaware of.
Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
We had a very positive meeting on Wednesday 18 June, where Simone and Kristin from the Transition Bristol team came and updated us on progress and plans. All of us agreed that the aims of the Transition movement and the aims of Sustainable Redland are in effect identical. The unique gap that Transition Bristol can fill is that it creates a hub through which the growing number of local groups can communicate, learn from one another, share skills, experience, knowledge and resources. Also, there is value in having a central organisation that can, for some issues, achieve things which small local groups cannot. We agreed to ratify at our next AGM the formal adoption of Transition Bristol, within our constitution, as one of the organisations that we work with. In effect this makes us one of the many Transition Neighbourhood Groups.
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008
How many times have you heard it said that ideas about using less energy, emitting less carbon, or introducing rationing are just not realistic? As David Fleming says in this excellent interview “at present we are wandering in a fog of unreality: there is a sense that we shouldn’t really take climate change, peak oil, conservation, etc, too seriously: they are just tedious clichés of no interest to grown-ups who have real lives to live and real mortgages to repay” . Yet as David explains, we’ll get a real dose of reality if we don’t develop a system of energy rationing before crisis hits us. The oil market is a complex system, and when it breaks down it will do so chaotically.
Thursday, June 12th, 2008
The Dept of Transport used to be only about cars and roads, but there is some evidence that they have heard of walking, cycling and carbon emissions. Research carried out for the DfT by the University of the West of England found that although people have now heard of climate change, their understanding is still limited. This isn’t surprising really given the misinformation in most of our newspapers.
Thursday, June 12th, 2008
NASA’s National Snow and Ice Data Centre monitors the rate of melting in the Artic, and it appears to be as bad as last year. It’s hard to see how this is just a great hoax to make us pay more taxes - as some people maintain. Meanwhile petrol prices are causing outrage, but does anyone ask how necessary are all these extra journeys? Knocking a few pence off the price won’t solve our long term energy needs, as Adam Grubb explains in this article in Energy Bulletin. Now that Private Eye has printed its first Peak Oil cartoon it’s definitely time to start planning for life without cheap oil. The cartoon by the way is the child in the back of the car looking at a Peak Oil headline and saying ‘are we there yet Dad’.