Recently in Chris's Forester column Category

Like many of you, I guess, disappointment quickly follows the purchase of supermarket sourced summer fruit picked too early for flavour to have developed. Imported peaches and apricots are often a big let down after promising much; before the inside is properly ripe, rot rapidly sets in on the surface and texture and taste leave much to be desired. But have you tried the Newent apricot yet? (...continue reading ...)

Reduce, Reuse, Repair and Recycle

Recycling has become an important part of central and local governments' response to halting climate change and reducing our carbon footprints. The new coalition government has suggested that to raise the UK's recycling rate (currently about 34% compared with, for example, Germany's 64%) they will be adopting a 'carrot' rather than 'stick' approach. Instead of penalising households who throw too much away, we could be persuaded to improve our recycling rates with the inducement of M&S vouchers, the bigger our recycling boxes, the more vouchers we would get. Notwithstanding the assumption that we might all like M&S vouchers, I have serious misgivings about an approach which seems to encourage yet more consumption and more waste, so I spoke to Roger Garbett, Environmental Services Manager at the District Council for his reaction.  (...read more)

A Cultural Transition Too

 Culture is, among other things, what people do to make sense of their lives, so in a world of confusion and uncertainty, our cultural lives must be vital to our personal and communal wellbeing. So often though, 'culture' has become a consumerist process - something we have to buy into and enjoy in a largely passive way.

Naturally, the Transition movement considers the long-term effects of climate change and peak oil and sees a sustainable future in more localized, participative communities. These views also inform how people will be entertained and how they will shape their own cultural identities.  (...read more ...)

Flight Ban Gave Us an Insight

Air travel is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases so the recent quiet skies brought about by Iceland's volcanic eruption is an opportunity to reflect on how air travel has become an accepted part of many people's lives. The vast numbers of stranded passengers and exotic lists of holiday destinations were indications of the scale of the industry and its passengers' carbon footprints.  (...read more...)

'The Heat is On!' by Chris Wooldridge of Transition Town Newent

Global Warming Threat Can Scare

'The Heat is On!' by Chris Wooldridge of Transition Town Newent

Changing Climate No Conspiracy

I wish I could report that climate change science is bunkum. The recent uproar concerning the University of East Anglia's emails and the IPCC's data has clearly damaged public perception of climate change so I think it's important to stress the overwhelming evidence for man-made climate change. It is continually reaffirmed by independent researchers throughout the world including the British Antarctic Survey, NASA and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who for eight of the past nine years were funded by Bush's sceptical Republican administration.  (read more .....)

'The Heat is On!' by Chris Wooldridge of Transition Town Newent

Back to the Future in Snow

This January's bitter and snowy weather has not been experienced in Gloucestershire in almost 30 years. I am old enough to remember the '81/82 and the '62/63 winters and this time around there was something quite different in the media's treatment of the weather. Yes, they did show tobogganing families and the stunning beauty of a winter landscape but in the main they concentrated on traffic chaos, food shortage and school closures. (...read more)

'The Heat is On!' by Chris Wooldridge of Transition Town Newent

Judge a Shop by its Shelf in Bid to Win Climate War

Why do environmentalists give supermarkets a hard time? Well, much of the reason lies with retailers' bold claims that they are in the fight against climate change while what actually appears on their shelves contradicts this.  ......(more)

‘The Heat is On!’ by Chris Wooldridge of Transition Town Newent

Signing Pledge at Onion Fair

The onion tribe are the perfect Transition vegetables: easy to grow in our temperate climate, they store well and are versatile, tasty, and health-giving. Each September, Newent’s Onion Fair celebrates this fine plant, and by association, its magnificent cousins the leek, shallot and garlic.

Transition Newent took a stall at this year’s Fair and gave visitors the opportunity to pledge reductions in their carbon footprints by backing the global campaign 10:10.  Launched in London this month by film-maker Franny Armstrong, 10:10 is about individuals and organisations pledging a 10% reduction in their carbon footprint in 2010 and marks the beginning of a longer energy descent to meet an 80% reduction by 2050 if we are to avoid catastrophic global warming. See details and sign-up on www.1010uk.org .

We received 60 individual pledges at the Onion Fair ranging from a young student who pledged to walk to school instead of driving her car to an ambitious plan for a business centre with 25 offices heated by biomass.  FoDDC pledged a 25% carbon reduction over five years. Our 60 pledges represent about 100 tons less carbon by next December, a small contribution but 10:10 has so far received pledges from over 17,000 individuals and 600 businesses including Spurs football team, Royal Mail and several NHS trusts. The entire cabinet and Tory front bench have also signed-up.

Nearly all the people I spoke to on Saturday were well on the way with basic energy saving in the house, they recycled and were keen to buy locally-produced food. But as I looked around me on that hot September afternoon in Newent's Church Street, at the single-glazed windows, the un-insulated walls and lofts and the absence of solar panels I recognised the huge steps that will have to be made and the financial assistance required if we are to meet our carbon reduction targets. The energy-descent conversation has just begun.

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