The One Tonners

One Tonners @ Vision 21 Transition Event

2010-03-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

Monday 29th March @ 7.30 pm
Room TC002a, Francis Close Hall Campus, Swindon Road,

University of Gloucestershire

Talk and discussion on carbon reduction and saving energy

You should come if:-
You are interested in practical solutions to saving energy and reducing CO2
You are interested in local solutions to environmental problems
You are part of any community organisation based in the Cheltenham area
You live or work in the Cheltenham area
You run a local business or represent local businesses

COME AND FIND OUT HOW TO BE A ONE TONNER!

PART OF THE VISION 21 TRANSITION NETWORK PROJECT

Coach to Climate March in London - Dec 5th

2009-11-20T04:46:00.000-08:00

There's a local Gloucestershire coach going to the Climate March in London on Saturday 5th December organised by Jonathan Whittaker of '999 Planet in Peril':-

Pick-ups: Gloucester, Cheltenham, Cirencester.

Cost - £12.75, concessions £10.00

Contact: Jonathan Whittaker
01452 615835 (home)
01285 652004 (work)
0797 071 0537 (mobile)

Email: TL4peace@hotmail.com

http://www.999planetinperil.com/

http://www.campaigncc.org/climatemarch2009

2009-08-19T09:32:00.001-07:00

Preparations for the Eco-Premiere from Age of Stupid on Vimeo.

Countdown to Copenhagen - Saturday 17th October - Gloucester

2009-08-03T02:23:00.000-07:00

Multi-NGO and Multi-Faith Event:
Saturday 17th October - 11.30 am - central Gloucester

March and Rally - Countdown to Copenhagen

There will be a peaceful March and Rally with civic dignitaries, city and county councillors, faith leaders and NGO and charity representatives who are all concerned about Climate Change. This March and Rally is to lobby our MP and MEP ahead of the Climate Summit talks in Copenhagen this December and to create greater public awareness of the urgency of Climate Change.

11.30 am - March starts at City Council offices at the Docks in Gloucester - an eco-trike pulling a large model of Big Ben.

12.00 noon - Set off alarm clocks as the clock strikes 12.00n.

12.30 pm - The Human Clock Challenge at Cathedral Close - all marchers will create a clock shape with moving hands to symbolise the countdown to climate catastrophe.

Come and join us!

Age of Stupid film comes to Cheltenham!

2009-05-10T09:28:00.000-07:00

Vision 21 & University Students' Union present

'The Age of Stupid'

Friday 5th June - 5.30 pm - Park Campus,

University of Gloucestershire

Come and see 'The Age of Stupid' at the University of Gloucestershire, Park Campus @ 5.30 pm on Friday 5th June - World Environment Day! Get your tix by clicking on this link to the Students' Union website:

http://www.yourstudentsunion.com/events/index.php?page=event&event_id=212915

Tickets cost £3.50 each to cover the cost of the licence. If you want you can buy tix on the door for £5.00 so it's cheaper if you buy online... hurry there are only 150 tix available! For more information on the film see: http://www.ageofstupid.net/

Vision 21 Water Exhibition

2009-04-19T11:56:00.000-07:00

Aman Iman – Water is Life

Vision 21 has produced an exhibition entitled, ‘Aman Iman’, which is widely translated as ‘water is life’ in Tamashek, the language of the Touareg, nomadic desert clans who understand the importance of water. The exhibition will travel around Gloucestershire as we approach the second anniversary of the flood of July 2007. It will visit towns and villages that were affected by the deluge of water. For details of where to see this exhibition see: www.vision21.org.uk.

The floods showed how vulnerable our industrialized society is to an extreme weather event. The iconic image of Tewkesbury Abbey as an island bought to mind Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s, Rime of the Ancient Mariner – ‘water, water everywhere, but nor any drop to drink’. The poem was written in 1798 and the ‘mariner’ was trapped in the ice in the Antarctic Ocean, until an albatross shows them the way out,… and the mariner kills it. This somehow seems allegorical.

The exhibition also looks at inequality and social justice - today 1.1 billion people lack access to clean water. The UN reports that without action 7 billion people could face water scarcity by 2050. An estimated 2.6 billion people currently do not have water for decent sanitation
Finally we look at renewable energy from our island nation, which could kick start a Green New Deal, providing many needed jobs and ‘keeping the lights on’, without building new coal fired power stations.

The Age of Stupid film...

2009-02-07T10:05:00.000-08:00

Check out information about this film at: www.ageofstupid.net - yes Pete is pointing at YOU - we are the 'stupid' of the title... for venues to see this film at check out below and WATCH this space for details of a Gloucestershire screening organised by Vision 21 = www.vision21.org.uk :-

• Chapter Cinema, Cardiff http://www.chapter.org/cinema/index.html
• Filmhouse, Edinburgh http://www.filmhousecinema.com/
• Eden Court Theatre, Inverness http://www.eden-court.co.uk/
• Glasgow Film Theatre http://www.gft.org.uk/content/
• Watershed, Bristol http://www.watershed.co.uk/
• Queen’s Film Theatre, Belfast http://www.queensfilmtheatre.com/
• Showroom, Sheffield http://www.showroom.org.uk/
• Odeon Panton Street, Leicester Square, London http://www.odeon.co.uk
• Rich Mix, Bethnal Green, London http://www.richmix.org.uk/

National Climate March - Saturday 6th December

2008-11-30T02:01:00.000-08:00

Come and join us in London next Saturday 6th December for the

NATIONAL CLIMATE MARCH!

Climate Safety...

2008-11-02T05:05:00.000-08:00

On Thursday 27th November The Public Interest Research Centre will present the Climate Safety report at Friends Meeting House, Euston, London.

Arctic sea ice melting away faster than anyone had predicted is just one of the accelerating impacts of climate change. The quickening pace of change is telling us that the climate is more sensitive than almost anyone thought.

The ‘Climate Safety’ report gives a clear and simple summary of the latest science, and shows how our current handling of the problem has exposed us to serious and growing risks.

Modelled on the Australian ‘Climate Code Red’ report, ‘Climate Safety’ delivers a clear message that to have any chance of maintaining a safe climate, we must rapidly decarbonise our society, preserve global sinks, and address the problem with an unprecedented degree of seriousness.

Even with a commitment to 80% carbon cuts by 2050, “Climate Safety” warns that our current policy response does not match up to the scale of the challenge. Join us to discuss finding a way to get beyond “politics-as-usual” and achieve a full, emergency response.

Caroline Lucas
George Monbiot
Jeremy Leggett
Kevin Anderson
Tim Helweg-Larsen

To discuss finding a way to go beyond “politics-as-usual” and achieve a full, emergency response.

Earth May Day! Film released - 5 minutes

2008-07-27T10:12:00.000-07:00

Earth May Day! Saturday 10th May

2008-05-11T11:20:00.000-07:00

Earth May Day! Sat. 10th May
Saturday 10th May was the day Gloucester City went into Ecological Debt and started living on the resources of the rest of the world... the UK as a whole went into Ecological Debt on 15th April 2008. Community Leaders from all over Cheltenham gathered together at Francis Close Hall campus to form an Action Plan to tackle global issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss and deforestation helped by representatives from the World Wildlife Fund, New Economics Foundation and the University of Bristol. The day was a great success with participants leaving feeling renewed and inspired to go out and effect change in their local communities. Watch this space for updates on Earth May Day!

Cheltenham Green Party win 7% of local votes!

2008-05-02T04:37:00.001-07:00

1st May local Council elections

Green Party win 7% of votes!

Green Party beat Labour in two wards!

We are now in a state of Planetary Emergency

2008-03-19T03:48:00.000-07:00

Glaciers melting faster:

The world’s glaciers are melting at rates faster than at any time since records began and at any time in the past 5,000 years, according to Professor Haeberli, director of the World Glacier Monitoring Service. Arctic ice melting has now reached a level that the IPCC (Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change) and the Stern Report and other climate scientists didn’t predict would happen until the 2080s. The details are revealed in the latest report from the World Glacier Monitoring Service and will add to growing concern about the rise in sea levels and increased flooding, avalanches and droughts.

Experts have been monitoring 30 glaciers around the world since the 1980s and the most recent figures, for 2006, show the biggest ever 'net loss' of ice. Lester Brown, of the US-based Earth Policy Institute, said the problem would have global ramifications, as farmers in China and India struggled to irrigate their crops. “This is the biggest predictable effect on food security in history as far as I know,” said Lester Brown, which echoes what Vandana Shiva said at Cirencester Home Farm last Friday evening - that within 2 years we will be experiencing world-wide food shortages... time to start that allotment...

Slo-Travel to Munich

2008-03-17T04:31:00.000-07:00

Last week I returned from visiting my childhood friend in Munich on a coach - or rather two coaches: The first was from Cheltenham (see above photo of me on my return!) and the second was a Eurolines coach from London Victoria to Munich via Brussels. The two coaches together took 23 hours each way so included two nights on a coach. The two journeys themselves were more like an adventure than a journey and I was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable they were.

George Monbiot recommends coach travel as having the lowest carbon footprint and this is the reason I chose to visit my friend by coach. Travelling this way meant I added an extra 200 kilograms of carbon (0.2 tonnes of carbon) to my annual carbon allowance of 1 tonne for personal carbon use, as opposed to the extra 600 kilograms of carbon (0.6 tonnes of carbon) I would have used had I flown - so I used a third of the carbon going by coach that I would have used if I had gone by plane.

I asked some of my fellow passengers their reasons for choosing slo-travel and all of them said it was because this option was cheapest. However, for me this was not the cheapest or most convenient option but the best option for the planet for those times when you really do have to travel to another country.

Week of Action against Agrofuels

2008-02-02T10:46:00.000-08:00

Local campaigners staged a protest outside Tesco's petrol station last Saturday 26th January to highlight Tesco's use of biofuel in their petrol because Tesco are the biggest retailer of biofuels in the UK. Tesco also own a 25% stake in Greenergy, who claim to be the biggest supplier of biofuels in the UK. In case any of you have missed the latest Government and media reports on biofuel use, the basic facts are that biofuels are worse for the climate than fossil fuels because they are derived from monoculture crops of palm oil, soya and sugar cane - all grown in the tropics on land that used to be rainforests. Even in Europe, the most efficient crop for biofuels, which is rapeseed oil, has now been shown to have greenhouse gas emissions of up to 70% higher than fossil fuels. Biofuels not only create climate change, they require massive amounts of water, reduce soil quality and are linked to human rights abuses, biodiversity loss and issues over food security.

Biofuel is all about industry and business and making money out of climate change - it is NOT about reducing emissions, so is yet another wrong turn.

We need to rethink our addiction to economic growth before it's too late....

More flooding in Gloucestershire...

2008-01-12T03:24:00.000-08:00

And so it goes on....

Increasingly I find myself not just at odds with the current economic and cultural philosophies of our time, but I am fast realising that all the solutions to the global environmental crisis facing us that are proposed from WITHIN those systems are completely INADEQUATE. We need REAL SOLUTIONS that come from OUTSIDE the current systems and economic philosophies...

Gloucestershire flooded again yesterday...

2007-08-12T01:07:00.000-07:00

'We are armed... only with peer-reviewed science'

Climate Camp -
the birth of Hope

Climate Camp this week was exactly that - the birth of HOPE for the future of humanity and the future of the Planet... hats off to all those amazing people who managed to set up the camp despite injunctions and heavy-handed policing and to those who made the mass day of Action on Sunday 19th / Monday 20th such a success... you are all Climate Heroes.

2007-07-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

Biblical Floods:

When are we going to start building the Ark?

Didn't it feel like the earth was crying yesterday?

2007-07-09T06:11:00.000-07:00

At Last - the Solution - Zerocarbonbritain !

The Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) today released ‘zerocarbonbritain', a blueprint for Britain to reduce its carbon emissions to zero by 2027. The report draws on CAT's 35 years of experience as well as consultations with world-renowned experts in climate science, climate policy and renewable energy technologies. Zerocarbonbritain outlines a framework of policies to drive the transition to a zero carbon economy. It defines a global carbon budget and identifies an equitable portion for Britain.

Paul Allen, CAT Development Director and co-author said, “What we are saying is that we need a huge programme, a bit like the US space project in the 60s. When that was launched it was known to be a huge target, but the driving force to make it work was there. We think that zerocarbonbritain can do that again - it can give us a positive future. It is a political challenge but we had the political willpower to abolish slavery even though lots of people said that would cost the economy too much."

Sir John Houghton, former Co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and former Director General of the UK Met Office said, “The authors of zerocarbonbritain present a time-scale for action that begins now. I commend their imagination (coupled with realism), their integrated view and their sense of urgency, as an inspiration to all who are grappling with the challenge that climate change is bringing to our world.”

Britain could cut carbon emissions to zero in 20 years but only if people accept a virtual end to air travel and stop using fuel-driven cars, a report said. Meat would also need to disappear off many menus and an "armada" of wind turbines built around the coast to achieve the goal, says the new research. Money would meanwhile be overtaken in importance by carbon credits traded by everyone using special smart cards. The radical vision was put forward by researchers and scientists from the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT).

People would be given their own carbon credits called Tradable Energy Quotas (TEQs) and carry them on the environmental equivalent of the London transport Oyster card. Each year the free allocation would decrease as the country moves towards zero carbon, with the effect that the value of the quotas will go up. But every time consumers use fossil fuels, say by filling their cars up with petrol, they would lose these valuable credits, forcing them to choose low carbon alternatives. The resulting market would drive environmental change, providing the economic incentive to produce green products.

Climate Change Bill Consultation

2007-06-04T11:37:00.000-07:00

Did you know the Government is consulting on a CLIMATE CHANGE BILL? Before 12th June you can tell the Government to make the Bill as strong as possible by emailing the letter on Contraction & Convergence at this link:-

http://climatechangenews.org/campaign/climate-change-consultation.html

Contraction & Convergence calls for immediate reductions in our CO2 emissions and a fair and equitable solution to a global issue where developed countries contract their emissions and developing countries converge – eventually we will all live on One Tonne of CO2 a year.

For information on Biofuels and Deforestation see:
http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/ (join the Yahoo Group)

2007-02-04T13:07:00.000-08:00

The One Tonners launch on Friday 2nd February got off to a flying start with over 60 people attending the main presentation on how to calculate your Carbon Footprint. There was also an impressive presentation given on everything you can do to reduce your footprint around the Home and an incisive critique of the current fad for Carbon Offsetting entitled: 'Carbon Offsetting is a CO2N' ! It was a lively event featuring exhibitions, music videos, a library of books and loads of useful leaflets. The second One Tonners on Friday 2nd March was also a success, despite the pouring rain outside! - with over 20 people attending... the third One Tonners on Monday 2nd April at Bethesda Church again had 20 people attending and was an inspiring event... plus on Thursday 5th April Cathy gave a presentation to the North Cheltenham Rotary Club and got the Rotarians enthused about cutting their carbon...

The next One Tonners event is on Saturday 5th May at the One World Festival @ the University of Gloucestershire, Park Campus, Cheltenham at 3.00 pm. Please tell all your friends and colleagues...

This Is Your Low Carbon Action Plan

2007-02-04T04:16:00.000-08:00

FIRST THINGS FIRST:

· Stop flying – flying is now an unsustainable activity;
· Change to a Green Electricity supplier = Green Energy / Good Energy / Ecotricity;
· Fully insulate your home and loft including cavity wall insulation;
· Turn your heating down to 18ºC and only heat occupied rooms;
· Reduce energy consumption, switch off electrical appliances on standby;
· Fit energy saving lightbulbs in the home, lobby your workplace;
· Cut down all unnecessary car trips – walk, cycle, use public transport more: 25% of all car journeys are less than 2 miles; 58% are less than 5 miles.

NEXT STEPS:
· Compost your food waste;
· If your boiler is over 10 years old it could be 25% less efficient than a condensing boiler – replace it with a condensing boiler or Micro-combined heat & power unit;
· When replacing electrical goods buy only the most energy efficient rated ones;
· Recycle everything you possibly can and buy recycled goods in return;
· Save water – take showers not baths / put a brick in your toilet cistern / use a water butt in the garden to collect rainwater for watering the garden.

TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND:
· Stop using supermarkets – get your food from local sources e.g. farmers markets /vegebox schemes / local fruit & veg markets / local butchers;
· Stop shopping for new products in general – buy second-hand instead or recycled;
· Consider doing without a car and car share or join a car club. Consider buying the smallest fuel efficient diesel or hybrid;
· Travel less. Explore the beautiful Cotswolds;
· Grow your own vegetables in your garden or get an allotment;
· Change to an ethical bank and ethical investments
· If you are rich enough consider investing in Microgeneration.

WANT TO DO MORE…?
· Become a Climate Change Campaigner and tell everyone you know about how to live a low carbon lifestyle;
· Write to the Government and your Local Authority so that they know how much you care about the Climate and our future on the planet;
· Write letters to newspapers – local and national – join local groups – join local protests –

make as much noise as you can …

TOGETHER WE CAN BE VERY POWERFUL – JOIN THE CLIMATE MOVEMENT!

To find out what you can do see the web-site links on the top right-hand side of this blog = Campaign against Climate Change web-site / Oxford Students Union Climate Justice web-site / Prophets of Hope & many more...

One Tonners Paint The Town Red !

2007-01-27T10:45:00.000-08:00

One of the ONE TONNERS handing out leaflets on Saturday 27th January in Cheltenham to promote the One Tonners events

Tony Blair's ridiculous comments in the media

2007-01-09T02:55:00.001-08:00

Dear David Miliband,

I am writing to you as a UK citizen who is extremely concerned about climate change, along with a great many other UK and world citizens... unlike Tony Blair! He is a man in denial and trots out the same arguments about flying and the UK's carbon emissions that I would expect from a contestant in Celebrity Big Brother! He is completely out of touch with the reality of the climate science, despite having attended the Hadley conference in 2005. He also made it 100% clear in his interview in today's Guardian that all he has really cared about was getting elected - that is now plain to see. Tony Blair represents a selfish and unsustainable view of life and way of living and the sooner he goes the better for all of us...

Why YOU need to TAKE ACTION NOW!

2006-12-06T10:30:00.001-08:00

2007 is likely to be the hottest year ever in the UK. European ski resorts are experiencing the hottest winters in 1300 years. The global temperature has risen by 0.8 C since the Industrial Revolution and we are already committed to another 0.6 C rise because of all the CO2 we have already put into the atmosphere. 0.8 + 0.6 = 1.4 C.

'Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change' was the title of an Exeter Conference held last Feb. 2005 and attended by scientists and politicians from around the world. This conference decided on a safe threshold of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which should not be exceeded if we are to avoid reaching the dangerous level of +2 C. The safe threshold for CO2 in the atmosphere was 400 parts per million. The present level of CO2 in the atmosphere is currently 380 ppm and this is rising annually by approx. 2 ppm - which gives us less than 10 years to stabilise CO2 at this safe level.

In January 2005 the International Climate Change Taskforce produced a report which described the consequences of raising temperatures above 2 C as "abrupt, accelerated or Runaway Climate Change" - this is when powerful 'positive feedbacks' like the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and the dieback of the Amazon Rainforests could take place and we would no longer be able to influence the warming of the planet which would increase ever more rapidly: 2 C leads to 3 C leads to 4 C and so on. The upper limit predicted for this century is based on 'business as usual' and it is 5.8 C. The last time the global temperature was 5.8 C was 225 million years ago and it triggered the largest of the five mass extinctions in earth's history where 95% of live on earth became extinct. It is not the planet we should be trying to save as the planet will survive, it is all life on earth that we need to save! As more and more positive feedbacks come into play this nightmare scenario is looking ever more likely. But WE STILL HAVE TIME! We have a very small window in which to change the way we live and keep the global temperature rise below 2 C - what else in our lives could be more important than this?