Dear sir,
This week marks the Great Big Green Week in the UK. Its the UK’s biggest celebration of community action to tackle climate change and protect nature.
It was wonderful to see that Congleton town council promoted this with the Green Fayre in town as well as providing education sessions about heating your home and decarbonisation.
I attended the sessions which were very useful, full of facts yet sadly, extremely startling.
What struck me was the low numbers that attended. I believe if the public were aware of the seriousness of the situation we are in regarding decarbonising our lives, more would certainly have attended.
We are at 414ppm of co2 at present time. This figure has doubled within 30 years, something that has never before occurred in such a short period of time. Therefore it is now at the highest it has ever been in the atmosphere. This spike has happened due to a population boom, industrialisation of the wider world (not only the UK where the industrial revolution was born) and agriculture boom. On the face of it, it may not be an issue, however, when we see the comparison between the co2 level rise and global temperature rises, it is hugely unsettling. We have already achieved 1.2 degrees of global heating (compared to pre-industrial revolution) this sounds insignificant, but on the global scale this is colossal. Then we learnt, we are on a trajectory for a 3 degree or beyond of global heating given the level of government action currently being undertaken. This would be catastrophic.
Everyone has beared witness to the 40 degree temperatures the Uk has experienced this year. All be it brief, we are now aware that this sort of volatile weather is not sustainable for a planet that relies on growing crops to survive. Hugely sobering reality.
All is not lost though, However, it does require us all to work together in decarbonisation and the restoration of nature ie peat bogs, reforestation to draw down co2.
Decarbonising our lives on a large scale is very confronting and until we have leadership that is capable of confronting this I worry immensely. We have seen that our present government are happy to continue the status quo in order to make money for themselves and their donors. I did, however, realise there are things i can do on a personal level.
I have started in my own home. Insulating our homes, in order to cut down on (the now) extremely expensive gas and electricity bills is a must.
I have done the following after learning this from the education session ; 1) 300mm of insulation in our lofts 2) cavity wall insulation installing if your house doesn’t already 3) reflective radiator foil inserts that reflect the heat back into the room 4) draft proofing all rooms, no matter how small the gap, putting draft excluders on to doors can make a huge difference to keep heat in 5) replacing the cushioned seals on doors/windows. These can deteriorate over time, so you can purchase the ‘seal adhesive foam tape’ and replace this easily yourself. 6) turning off appliances at the socket that use electricity even if off ie toasters, coffee machines, tv’s on standby 7) heat the person rather than the room, electric throws run at approx 4p per hour that are useful if sitting, or halogen heaters that are available for about £14 each from home bargains 8) tucking curtains behind radiators, may sound simple but warmth is often lost to the window instead of the room 9) marking on your kettle 2 cups of water and then only boiling the volume of water you actually need. 10) inserting a ‘smart thermostat’ that allows you to closely control your household usage and can reduce usage by 6-7%. These are £100- £150 to buy. 11) insert Air source heat pumps or Ground Source heat pumps, there are £5000 government grants are available for these, you must have a thoroughly insulated home in order to qualify 12) Insert solar panels onto your house
Of course these tips are useful for those that can afford to purchase the items in the first place. This is why The Green Party has called on the Chancellor to address pay inequality and provide real society security, including restoring the £20 uplift to Universal Credit and doubling it to £40 per week. They’ve call for extending emergency fuel payments to all by providing each household with an additional £320 to help them pay for spiralling energy costs. If the government can look after its bankers (as witnessed in its budget) , then it can certainly look after the poorest section of society.
The Green Party are calling for the government to Invest in energy efficiency and energy security, including funding local authorities to better insulate all homes and carry out deep retrofit of 1 million homes a year.
We need to invest in green jobs, including a retraining guarantee for existing oil and gas workers, in order to support these people so we can all transition away from the co2 producing fossil fuels.
The biggest thing I took away from these education sessions is the time is now. The time is not 2040 as our government suggests. We are already in strife!
I have found one government grant that is available of £5000 which is available to low income homes or social housing. ‘Up to £1.5 billion is being made available through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.’
‘Local authorities and social housing providers will be able to submit bids for funding and will deliver upgrades from early next year until March 2025.’ Unfortunately, the date of March 2025 is of no use to anyone now, as we are entering winter. This falls drastically short of where we need to be.
Huge thank you to CTC for putting on the Green week presentations. They were very useful.
Many thanks
Lisa Miller
Intensive care Nurse
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