Hi all,
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Coming up this week
Mon 20 Feb, 7.30pm Campaign against Climate Change meeting at the Friends Meeting House, Mount St “to distribute leaflets and discuss further publicity for the fracking meeting; and to plan activities around the Caravan for a Million Climate Jobs in May”
Tues 21 Feb, 2pm to 4pm Community Microgeneration Workshop
Learn all the basics about renewable generation technologies suitable for your community. From wind and solar to biomass and hydro, get the low down on the technology and how it might be harnessed for your benefit. Free workshop for community groups or individuals looking to set up a group.
This workshop is being run by Jonathan Atkinson of Carbon Co-op for MERCi’s Eco Hub project. For more info on the Carbon Co-op see: http://www.carbon.coop/
Tuesday, 21st Feb from 5pm to 6pm – “Climate Science and why it has become irrelevant” Does the Climate science matter anymore? Everyone who wants to deny the reality of climate change has found ways to do so. For those of us in the real (and warming) world, the ever-more dire warnings about the long-term consequences of what we are doing now does not spur us to real action. So what, if not climate science, will persuade and galvanise individuals and organisations? I [Marc Hudson, MCFly co-editor] don’t know, but I have some suspicions I’d like to share, and want to hear other people’s answers! Room 4, University of Manchester Students’ Union, Steve Biko Building, Oxford Road, M13 9PR (Yes, MCFly is plugging events its editors speak at. Bad form)
Weds 22 Feb 4pm, Geography seminar ‘Urban foresight for territorial governance: exploring the European synergy city’: Joe Ravetz (University of Manchester) Hanson Room, Humanities Bridgeford Street
Thurs 23 Feb, 2 to 4pm Save Energy, Save Money
This free workshop will look at how you can save money on your bills by reducing the amount of energy you use. We will look at simple and cheap ways to insulate your home and keep it draft free, and top tips on saving money from using your electrical equipment. You will also get information on where you can get further advice, support and grants. This workshop is being run by the Sustaining Change team for MERCi’s Eco Hub project. For more info on Sustaining Change see: http://www.merci.org.uk
Thursday 23rd February Adrian Ramsey, deputy leader of the National Green Party, will be speaking to Manchester Young Greens and launching the party’s Manchester manifesto for the City Council elections. Friends Meeting House, from 3pmish
Thu 23 Feb Manchester Friends of the Earth Meeting
On the last Thursday of each month, come along to the Green Fish Resource Centre on Oldham Street (next to Mint Lounge) to get stuck into doing actions on each of our campaign areas. Our regular campaign groups meet at 6.30pm for transport and at 7pm for climate change and food. Contact colette@manchesterfoe.org.uk for more information. 46-50 Oldham St, Manchester, M4 1LE, UK
Thurs Feb 23, 8pm Planning meeting for the 2012 Chorlton Big Green festival upstairs at St Clement’s Church. Please come along if you’re interested or contact them here if you want to be involved but can’t make it this time.
Thurs 23 Feb 6-8pm Climate change question time at The Manchester Museum. Your chance to pose questions to experts about climate change & sustainability in a Manchester & global context. With experts from the University of Manchester and other leading research centres and taking place in the Museum’s Living Worlds gallery. You can send your questions in advance to museum@manchester.ac.uk or bring them along on the night.
The panel includes Kevin Anderson, professor of energy and climate change at the University of Manchester and deputy director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research; Jason Kirby, physical geographer from Liverpool John Moores University; Jonathan Gregory, climate scientist from Reading University; Celine Gemond-Duret, of the Centre for Sustainable Development at the University of Central Lancashire and marine physicist Professor John Huthnance.
Price: Book on 0161 275 2648, free, adults
Thurs 23 Feb, 8pm Greenpeace meeting, Ape and Apple Pub (upstairs) John Dalton St (City Centre)
MCFly stories you may have missed
Let’s go to (En)Works
A Local Nature Partnership for Manchester? Maybe…
Lessons we like to believe we’ve learnt this week
Got an event? Publicise, publicise, publicise. Then publicise some more.
Grab the money and run
Manchester Veg People jobs
Free household energy surveys!
Jobs that need doing!
Could someone trawl twitter for groups MCFly could follow?
Could someone audit MCFly to see how much we are writing about people who don’t happen to be white males?
Local and Regional News
Tues 14 Insider reports that “GreenGen has appointed a new director as it seeks to expand the business. The Blackpool-based green energy company has appointed former Spice managing director Chris Lee as director. The company said it plans to expand across the renewable energy sector and wants to become a market leader…. GreenGen’s companies include Farmgen, Local Green Energy and SolarGen Plus. Farmgen is set to roll out its anaerobic digestion technology nationwide in 2012.
The Greater Manchester Climate Change Strategy was launched with a certain amount of fanfare last year. The implementation plan was due to be agreed in March, but that has now been pushed back till the end of June. MCFly will find out more…
Global News
Canadian government gagging scientists? Surely not…
A big “we don’t want to pay the EU’s carbon levy on aviation fuels” meeting is happening in Moscow on Tuesday 21st, with the US, India and China as the lead angry folks. “A discussion paper prepared for the meeting, and seen by the Financial Times, shows the group will consider 11 retaliatory measures against the EU’s move to include all big airlines in its emissions trading system.”
Reading and Watching
Analysis of the state of the solar power industry by Manchester-based folks.
Merrick on violence and Climate Camp – essential reading, IMHO
Merrick again, on the Kyoto Protocol
According to the Monthly Review, Obama is ignoring the worsening climate crisis
Excellent post on the Britsh Cycling Federation and the City Council…
A new survey aims to raise the profile of your views on the environment. Many older people are keen environmental activists. Yet people in later life feel their views on the environment are sidelined. The Greener Wiser Manifesto, written by a taskforce of older people, said they wanted a much greater role in decision making about the environment and issues that affect their communities.
There’s No Tomorrow – 34 minute film about resource depletion and the impossibility of infinite growth
Fever – award-winning film about indigenous peoples and the impacts of climate change
China is building renewable energy capacity faster than anyone, according to an article in Foreign Affairs…
And finally…
Climate change is Alvin chipmunks genetic diversity. Actually, that’s not accurate at all, I just couldn’t resist the Alvin/’alvin pun. See here –
Climate-induced range contraction drives genetic erosion in an alpine mammal
Emily M. Rubidge,James L. Patton,Marisa Lim,A. Cole Burton, Justin S. Brashares& Craig Moritz
Nature Climate Change (2012)
doi:10.1038/nclimate1415Published online 19 February 2012
Increasing documentation of changes in the distribution of species provides evidence of climate change impacts1, yet surprisingly little empirical work has endeavoured to quantify how such recent and rapid changes impact genetic diversity2. Here we compare modern and historical specimens spanning a century to quantify the population genetic effects of a climate-driven elevational range contraction in the alpine chipmunk, Tamias alpinus, in Yosemite National Park, USA. Previous work showed that T. alpinus responded to warming in the park by retracting its lower elevational limit upslope by more than 500 m, whereas the closely related chipmunk T. speciosus remained stable3, 4. Consistent with a reduced and more fragmented range, we found a decline in overall genetic diversity and increased genetic subdivision in T. alpinus. In contrast, there were no significant genetic changes in T. speciosus over the same time period. This study demonstrates genetic erosion accompanying a climate-induced range reduction and points to decreasing size and increasing fragmentation of montane populations as a result of global warming.
manchester climate monthly 