30th July 2025, 2.00pm, Friends Meeting House, Priory Road Chichester
Agenda
- Apologies : Andy Sargent, Anna Glanville- Hearson, Ruth Keeley, Andy Rackham, Polly
- News
- See following links below for the debate on net zero in the House of Commons on 15/7 re Community Energy Schemes and reference to Meadow Blue scheme.
- Also on 15/7 CDC full Council approved the Emergency Climate Action Plan.
- Again on 15/7 – meeting with CDC on Virtual Community Hub creation.
- Feedback from recent Bio-region Meeting and other relevant meetings
- New ice core from Arctic to reveal climate history over last 1.5 million yrs – implications?
- European Forests and carbon capture data.
- Sustainability/Climate Change and Local Action – the Transition Town MovementI
- Introduction – Colin
- Chichester Transition Town Progress – Anna
- Group Discussion
- Presentation by Mike Cockerell – Ideas for a Wider Level of Discussion in Chichester on Climate Change.
- Programme: Dates and ideas or Autumn Meetings
View the Hansard contribution by Jess Brown-Fuller on Tuesday 15 July 2025
View the Hansard contribution by Ed Miliband on Tuesday 15 July 2025
U3A CCG joint with C3G – Notes of the Meeting on 30th July 2025
- Apologies: Andy Sargent; Anna Glanville-Hearson, Andy Rackham, Ruth Keeley, Polly Gaskin
- News
- Noted
- Noted: further CDC publicity to follow
- Noted
- Short discussion about a coalition of the “willing” to increase our visibility/effectiveness in the local area, particularly in the light of local authority reorganisation
- Noted – see presentation on Transition Chichester (Climate Change) site
- Discussion about what UK approach is on sustainable forest management. Debbie to see if information available from her contact within CDC on Tree Management issues and report back.
- The Transition Town Movement and Local Initiatives
- Presentation noted. Anna Glanville-Hearson was unavailable to attend due to helping in a medical emergency so Debbie Carte, a Transition Town Trustee outlined the separate groups working under the CTT umbrella;
- Outreach: Swap Shop/Swap Rail; Parents for the Future; Grow Chichester and its gardens/orchards/allotments and gardening groups; Repair Cafe; Earth Cafe
- Mental Health: -healing group
- Information/Discussion: Climate Change Group and occasional public meetings/events
- Discussion as per 4.1 above and the need to coalesce effort on a number of new initiatives on environment and climate change issues within a broad umbrella group. Transition Town provides a home for both strategic and local interest/action groups on a variety of issues. Does TTC need to think more proactively about its role? Colin to discuss with TTC trustees to understand their thinking on this issue.
- Presentation noted. Anna Glanville-Hearson was unavailable to attend due to helping in a medical emergency so Debbie Carte, a Transition Town Trustee outlined the separate groups working under the CTT umbrella;
- Presentation By Mike Cockerell – Wider Climate Change Issues
- Methane Emissions: Emissions of greenhouse gases are still rising in spite of all the warnings from the IPCC and others. CO2 has historically been the most important greenhouse gas by far but methane seems to be catching up. Different GHGs have different Global Heating Potentials (GHP), CO2’s is 1 & stays in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. Methane decays in the atmosphere & has a GHP of around 120 for the first year. Averaged over 20 years its GHP is 84, and over 100 years it is 27. With the rapidly rising atmospheric temperature and the approach of critical tipping points, minimising overall GWP is essential.
- Methane emissions arise from 3 principal sources: melting of permafrost and frozen methane deposits, by-products & leakage from oil and gas extraction, processing and distribution from agriculture, primarily cattle & rice. The next 20 years are likely to see tipping points occur which cause further temperature rises and further climate breakdown.
- Mike showed tables & graphs of the current levels of CO2 & methane emissions. Traditionally, the 100 year GHP has been used for methane in combining the effects of the two gases but it is surely the 20 year
5. Thinking Globally, Acting Locally.
- Mike mentioned the recent presentation at the Arundel Green Week on the 4 Unavoidable Truths which were Change is inevitable, The future is local, We have to think systematically & Our generation needs to take responsibility.We are working with Tony Whitbread to build on this with a view to a meeting/presentation at the Assembly Rooms in October.
- The future is global and there is nothing we, in our little district can do about it. What we can do is the old chant – Think globally, Act locally. Acting locally will buy us more time to prepare for what the global level will inevitably throw at us, so adaptation on all fronts, biodiversity & nature, regenerative farming that meets the coming food insecurities, preparing coastal defences, etc.
- The public must accept that they cannot just leave the problems to the authorities, and the councils & central government must realise the magnitude & urgency of the challenge and get on with leading & orchestrating the adaptation.
- So what do we do? We do our best to engage the public, business & commerce, authorities & politicians in presentations and discussions that inspire a new collaborative approach before it is too late
- Programme: Dates and Ideas for Meetings
- Weds 10th Sept preferred as date for next meeting. Subsequently, however, room not available so Colin to check other dates or a change of venue. There will have to be a change of venue as the usual Friends meeting room is not available – so please look out for this. Probably likely to be Christchurch Lounge, Old Market Avenue.
- Local Government Changes and opportunity for more collective action by environmental groups/ climate groups to be themes for the Autumn. Note: Tom has asked for consideration of “En- roads” which is an app to consider the policy implications of different measures to emissions and climate breakdown and is willing to do a presentation on this.
- Oct meeting 8th , Nov meeting, 5th i.e. first Wednesday of the month at Friends Meeting House, upstairs.
Presentations loaded onto TTC website : Ice Core; European Forests at Risk; Methane Threat