Climate Action resource from TEARFund

 This is an excellent resource from TEARFund

Link to the TEARFund Climate resource

Including:

WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE?

IS IT REALLY AN EMERGENCY?

HEATING UP

EVERY FRACTION OF A DEGREE MATTERS

CLIMATE CHANGE IS A JUSTICE ISSUE

CASE STUDY: ORBISA, A MUM IN ETHIOPIA

HOW CAN WE STOP CLIMATE CHANGE GETTING WORSE?

POSITIVE NEWS

Find the full resource here

December Review

 Burton Joyce Climate action and Biodiversity group

What has the Burton Joyce Climate action and Biodiversity group been up to?

Julia's article in the Parish Magazine for December

August  

A group of us met up with our Member of Parliament, Tom Randall, and Councillor Sam Smith in the beautiful (and Covid-safe) environment of the Grove to ask him if he will support a green and safe recovery. A copy of the Friends of the Earth proposals was given to him to read. This prioritises, amongst other things, people’s health and wellbeing and jobs in the green sector

Friends of the Earth Recovery Plan

We also discussed other areas including reducing plastic waste and also planning.
Tom clearly supported the idea of retaining green belt and maintaining the rural feel of the village. Which leads me on to:

September

We read through the enormous Greater Nottingham strategic Plan which is how the local area makes plans for future housing, business and infrastructure in the area, including Gedling. We made comments such as recommending that new housing is attached to areas which already have public transport, that housing is much better insulated, ensuring wildlife corridors are maintained, improving biodiversity in areas of development e.g. with planting and green spaces. We know that more housing is needed for our growing population, but there are ways of doing it to reduce damage to the environment and make our lives healthier. The consultation is now closed

October

We met with the Parish Council to discuss enhancing our local environment for pollinators.

Did you watch Jimmy’s Bee Rescue on the TV? Bees and other pollinators are amazing creatures on which we rely for our crops to be pollinated but they can’t cross large distances with no flowers. 

Did you know some of our favourite flowers, e.g. begonias, actually have no nectar for our insects? 

Did you know that all the mowing we do makes big flower-free deserts for our insects?

Pollinator numbers are declining but it’s actually very easy to give them a helping hand.

We talked about reducing mowing on the grass verges to allow flowers to develop, using pollinator friendly flowers in village flower beds, e.g. outside the library, and identified some possible areas in the cemetery for flowers to grow. We also discussed revitalising the lovely meadow area in the Grove and seeing if the Parish Council would pledge to make future planting bee/pollinator friendly.

We will hopefully get a chance to discuss these ideas at the next Parish Council meeting.

We also circulated information to Parish Council and our email group about the concerning new reforms of the UK Planning system that the Government is proposing, which aren’t good news for the climate, local communities or local democracy.

UK Planning reforms

Why not write to Tom Randall about it? 

December

Think about shopping locally for some presents and try and ditch the foil and sparkly wrapping paper which can’t be recycled!!

We all wish you a healthy and happy Christmas and New Year.
Best wishes from Burton Joyce Climate action and Biodiversity Group.

PS Please join us!
We’re always looking for new members
The more of us there are, the more we can achieve!!

Email: 
julia_smith24@yahoo.co.uk
philcolbourn@btinternet.com

In Our Garden

Paul's Parish Magazine article 

December 2020

Our wild animals and plants have been losing their natural homes over the years, as woodlands, hedgerows, fields, marshes and ponds have been destroyed to make way for roads, houses, factories etc. There are over a million acres of private gardens in Britain, not to mention the acres of land belonging to schools. Any garden, however small, and whether in the countryside or city, can be made into a nature reserve – land where wildlife finds a suitable home. 

Maybe if we look after the plants, insects, invertebrates, mammals and birds in our own gardens they’ll be able to open our eyes to the nature on our own doorsteps without the need to travel, what a benefit to us all! Not as exciting as elephants perhaps but readily available for us.

Lockdown has been challenging for us all and also for the wildlife as we’ve all been busy disturbing the wildlife in so many ways. This year has been such a strange one giving us time to ponder our actions and lifestyle. We usually have volunteers to help us in our garden through Wwoof (Working Weekends on Organic Farms) but this year it’s not been possible so we have had to ‘do it ourselves’. We’ve had a good year and a good fruit harvest together with salad and vegetables which we’ll be enjoying over the winter and we’ve been looking for ways to make our garden more wildlife friendly.

We know there are still a few hedgehogs in the village and have always wondered whether we get any visiting our garden – we know we get badgers and foxes (we need to be sure to keep our poultry secure) and they can live alongside. We have yet to spot one but have provided a shelter in a corner of our garden just in case. 

As members of the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust we were lucky enough to get a visit from one of their consultants who felt our garden was already very attractive to wildlife and suggested we hold a coffee morning next year to encourage others to take an interest. 

With an old orchard to the rear and hedgerows providing a corridor it seems we are in a good position to be part of a wildlife corridor towards Ploughman’s Wood. We see bats in the garden and apparently our owl box is in a good position – there are tawny owls as we regularly hear them at night. They’re particularly noisy in the autumn when the youngsters are booted out and have to set up their own territory. So now we’ve been given lots of ideas of what else we can do ... there’s nothing like a list to keep us busy!

Life is all about finding a balance – somewhere for us and somewhere for wildlife to flourish. So hopefully our wildlife reserve will help balance out other rather tidy gardens.

As well as giving us all food for thought ...

Paul Smith

What are we doing? A review

 October Review

1.  Julia attended the last Burton Joyce Parish Council meeting & raised the issue of mowing: Could we leave some areas unmown to encourage wildlife? It was suggested she could meet up and walk round the village to see who mows what and when. A date has been proposed for this. Check here for further reports and updates.

This Plantlife document on verge management is very useful.

You can also read about No Mow May here.

 

We have thought about which areas could be targeted for reduced mowing, adding wild flowers or seeding a meadow. 

These are our initial suggestions:

• Area on the far side of the railway line between the Trent Lane railway crossing and the Lee Road crossing used by dog walkers etc. or other areas mown by Severn Trent
• We noted that the verges on the farm road seem to have been mown later this year giving more time for cow parsley etc to blossom
• The flood bank with path on way to Poplars - mown by Severn Trent
• Somewhere inside or just outside Roberts recreation ground
• Bigger area in the Grove?
• Area on the grass verge between Rhubarbs and Roberts rec.
• Area outside library on corner with A612.

We have also considered: 

Current flower beds in village being planted with plants good for pollinators, 

Adding new planters in village, perhaps outside the shops 

Asking if the school would like to get involved.

 

2. Julia also mentioned the proposed new planning laws to the Parish Council. She has forwarded them this Friends of the Earth link to voice our concerns about these laws.

We have since talked about circulating this link to our group mailing list.

3. Julia attended an East Midlands Friends of the Earth (FOE) climate groups meeting. They said well done for keeping our group going as many had folded due to Covid.


4. Julia plans to attend a webinar with FOE about how to get the most out of your group! 


5. Phil is developing this website and posting on our Facebook page and Twitter account.


6. We are very pleased to see the new shop Zest for Life is plastic free!! Bobbie mentioned our group to the people in the shop. We wondered if we could make a poster for the group to put in the shop (and maybe elsewhere, eg library, cafes, etc.?)


7. We discussed writing more articles for the online Parish Mag as there is a new editor.  

Julia, Bobbie, Paul & Phil

 

 

Climate & Biodiversity

Climate & Biodiversity

There was never a more important time than this. Climate warming has begun to run away and the natural world is under threat from land use, fishing, agriculture and industry.

Driving much of this environmental damage are the fossil fuels we have come to rely on for transport and heating. Added to this, international trade & consumption - i.e. buying stuff - are destroying the very ecosystems we depend on to balance and sustain the earth.

The situation is critical. We have to do something.

 

The three demands of Extinction Rebellion are key:

• Tell the Truth
• Act Now
• Involve Everyone

 

There are things we can do. 

 

 

We can work together to make a real difference. 

If you live in Burton Joyce or nearby in the surrounding area, join us and help make the decisions that are going to affect all our lives over the next few years.

You can find us on Facebook and on Twitter