from Colin Knipe re climate

Hi Tim

I have not been ignoring you, but merely overloaded with emails having been diverted onto other things over the last few months, including an enjoyable holiday.

My views on climate change are still the same:
**  The hyperbole and lurid warnings about climate disaster that were spouted at COP28 verge on the ridiculous and most have no basis in observed facts.  (How is it that corals have thrived on earth for the last 500 million years when the temperatures for most of that time were well higher than today?!  How is it that agricultural production for most if not all staple crops has markedy increased over the last few decades?  In all parts of the world, many more people die of cold than from heat, so surely there would be a net reduction in deaths from some warming.)

**  The earth's climate is slowly getting warmer but natural processes rather than human activities probably exert the greatest influence - for example, El Nino is having a big effect at present.

**  There has been no significant rise in temperatures or even a small decline over recent decades in some parts of the globe, e.g. mainland USA and much of Antarctica;

**  The Earth is a remarkable self-regulating body whose temperatures have remained within a relatively narrow range over the last billion years, for much of the time when atmospheric CO2 concentrations were very much higher than today, so why should we expect a 'tipping point' if the global average temperature rises by, say, 2 degrees above supposed pre-Industrial levels??

**  Phasing out fossil fuels and achieving Net Zero by 2035 or 2050 or 20-anything else is a pipe dream.  Yes, we should seek to cut down on consumption, increase efficiency, and conserve natural resources, but that's what scientists and engineers try to do all the time.  And we will always need some oil, gas and even coal for power generation and especially for the myriad of other applications and derivatives.

**  The financial costs to society of blindly aiming for Net Zero and phasing out fossil fuels over the next two or three decades are unaffordable and crippling.  It would be far more sensible to invest in mitigation measures whilst keeping our economy going (and that of other countries, including poor, developing countries.)

I could go on but won't bore you any more about climate change.

As for local trams and railways, I agree with you that the Metro extensions are a monumental waste of cash and are taking an inordinate time to construct.  I don't know enough about the potential revived and new rail opportunities and how they would stack up economically.

I hope you enjoy the festive season and have a good 2024.
Best regards
Colin

Jonathan Weller on Climate Science

Hi Dad,

Thanks for this. I've read the exchange between you and Colin and would like to add my input when I get time. 

The statement that there is "no clear relationship between atmospheric CO2 concentration and air temperature" contradicts everything I have studied and is basic scientific fact dating back to the 1900 or before.

"However there is no clear relationship between atmospheric CO2 concentration and air temperature.  For most of the last billion years, CO2 concentrations have been in the thousands of parts per million, sometimes tens of thousands, yet the Earth's temperature has fluctuated within a fairly narrow range and has not run away.  The Earth is a remarkably self-regulating body.  The present concentration of 400+ppm is much lower than the average during the past millions of years.  Of course the concentrations were a little lower during the so-called pre-industrial period, at around 260-290ppm.

So if the concentrations were lower in the pre-industrial era how do you account for the Early Interglacial Warm Period about 10,000 years ago, the warm periods during the Egyptian Old Kingdom, and the Roman Warm Period, when the temperatures were higher than today and for the Mediaeval Warm Period when it was at least as warm?  They have to be natural fluctuations.  Also, there is quite strong evidence that atmospheric temperature rises precede, not follow, CO2 rises, as shown for example by analysis of air trapped in Antarctic ice cores going back 650,000 years or more. (my emphasis)  At the end of the last five glacial periods it appears that the rise in CO2 laggged behind temperature by an average of 600-1000 years."

Yes the Earth has been a remarkably self-regulating body... until now. The Earth was a completely different planet millions of years ago when atmospheric CO2 concentrations were of a similar level to now. For example, there was no Antarctic ice sheet and sea level was hundreds of meters higher. The most appropriate reference period historically is the last 2 million years - the Quarternary period. During these 2 million years, Earth shifted from glacial and interglacial periods numerous times as a result of Milanovich Cycles (subtle and regular changes in the Earth's orbit). Other natural events (such as volcanic eruptions and sun spots) also contributed to relatively short periods of changes in Earth's temperature. Furthermore, the last 10,000 years has been the relatively warm and stable Holocene period, whereby humans have benefited from very stable atmospheric conditions while technically still being in an "ice age" (because we still have ice at the poles, for now). Based on Milankovitch Cycles only, we should be going back into a cooler period. The reality is that the opposite is true as a result of human activity, hence many scientists are now saying we are in the Anthropocene - literally a new Geological Era.

The climatic and environmental changes evidence in paleo records during the Quaternary Period demonstrates a very sensitive and responsive Earth system to natural forcings. For example, for all the talk of atmospheric changes, oceanic changes seem to be overlooked and yet have often had a much more significant role in Earth system regulation. Given that planet Earth has quite literally never experienced the rate of emissions from human activity over the last 150 years, we are in unchartered territory and playing a very dangerous game with our home planet. In summary, Earth went through huge climatic and environmental shifts following much smaller changes in CO2 concentrations that we are currently witnessing!

Regarding Colin's opinions about the IPCC reporting process - yes, the final report has needed to be signed off by politicians and has had numerous edits; however, this has historically resulted in a watering down of the science and over cautious message in order to reach consensus, NOT an over alarmist message. It is only the last couple IPCC reports that the science has become so overwhelming and the stakes so high, that the true state of the planet and our future is laid bare. 

I wonder with all his knowledge, has Colin actually read any of the most recent IPCC report(s)? I would be interested to know if Colin has considered the 9 tipping points. One or two of which we have probably already passed (e.g. the collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is now almost certainly inevitable). The release of methane in the Arctic as permafrost melts is also very alarming, among others.

As a disclaimer, I've written the above all very quickly and from memory of my studies for MSc Polar & Alpine Change from 2012. I revised some of my knowledge a couple years ago after reading the summary of the most recent IPCC report relating to the state of the Cryosphere (referring to the various forms of ice on Earth) and keeping up to date with the headline scientific research in the area

Support the fight for freedom in Ukraine OR, freedom from being killed, injured, maimed or suffering from radiation sickness?

Is it really worth all the deaths, maiming, possible nuclear radiation and the flattening of towns and cities to be officially part of NATO and the EU?

The UK is out of the EU but Ukraine wants in - to spite Pariah Putrid.  Yet, our expansion eastwards right up to Russia's border, our wish to dominate as much of the world, for the best of all possible reasons, has gone on for centuries.

Centuries of exploration, of stealing resources and whole peoples for 300 years of slavery.  Colonialism on a massive scale by us Brits.  The scramble for Africa by European empires did not set a good example to Russia.

The welcoming of the former Soviet satellite states into the Western fold has been intensely provocative for Russian nationalists like Putrid who, understandably I think, wanted it stopped.  The Feb 2014 Western Revolution of Dignity was the last straw for Putrid.  Then, eight years of war with no talks, nothing being done to end it, led to the full-scale invasion of Feb 2022.  No efforts to understand, empathise or even to sympathise or, to make concessions - like no more NATO exercises in the former Soviet states; nukes to be taken out of the former USSR states; and no more former Soviet states becoming part of NATO.

Any concessions, any compromise, any restraint by our side was seen as appeasement.  We would be seen as ignominious "cheese-eating surrender monkeys."  How absolutely pathetic as we all go down with the killing of people like my family and me by the truly evil men and women of violence on both/all sides.

Mutual suicide is what it amounts to, I think, like the ecocidal consumption and growth of 250 years from the greedy, unthinking exploitation of finite fossil fuels for all their worth.  Plus, the unfortunate deadly consequence from changing, disastrously, the chemical composition of the atmosphere to change the climates of the world for the worse.

WE CALL ALL THIS FREEDOM - and it really does mean that we all end up dying.  Stupid, foolish humanity finding ourselves outlived by the dinosaurs by many millions of years!

from Operation Noah, 1 June 2023

Researchers say there is now a 66% chance we will pass the 1.5C global warming threshold between now and 2027 due to emissions from human activities and a change in weather patterns expected this summer. If the world passes the limit, scientists stress the breach, while worrying, will likely only be temporary. But breaking the limit even for just one year is a sign that warming is accelerating and not slowing down. Read more.

Wind turbines have generated more electricity than gas for the first time in the UK. In the first three months of this year, a third of the country's electricity came from wind farms, research from Imperial College London has shown. Read more.

Operation Noah Trustee Steph Lake will participate in a panel discussion on fossil fuels and divestment at Bristol Cathedral on 16 June at 7pm. The discussion is one of a series of events the Cathedral will hold as part of a new art installation called ‘Oil Fountain’ by Luke Jerram which highlights society’s reliance on oil and the need to move away from it. Details.

Green energy projects worth billions of pounds are on hold because they cannot plug into the UK's electricity system. Some new solar and wind sites are waiting up to 15 years to be connected because of a lack of capacity in the system, also known as the 'grid'. Read more.

Lea House well; Oak House rewilding opportunity

Dear David and partner

I'm the dad of Becky Willson, your neighbour.  My wife and I live in Halesowen in the Black Country.  I'm a guerrilla gardener, very minor environmentalist and small-time climate activist.

Yesterday, Annie and Hugh showed me their well.  It is very old and is no longer usable but it must have been vital for drinking, washing and cooking for decades.  Reservoirs, aqueducts and supply pipes in the Victorian age revolutionised health, comfort and convenience.  BUT!

"The World Meteorological Office State of the Global Climate report 2022 focuses on key climate indicators – greenhouse gases, temperatures, sea level rise, ocean heat and acidification, sea ice and glaciers. It also highlights the impacts of climate change and extreme weather.

• Drought, floods and heatwaves affect large parts of the world and the costs are rising
• Global mean temperatures for the past 8 years have been the highest on record
• Sea level and ocean heat are at record levels – and this trend will continue for many centuries
• Antarctic sea ice falls to lowest extent on record
• Europe shatters records for glacier melt

"From mountain peaks to ocean depths, climate change continued its advance in 2022. Droughts, floods and heatwaves affected communities on every continent and cost many billions of dollars. Antarctic sea ice fell to its lowest extent on record and the melting of some European glaciers was, literally, off the charts.

"The State of the Global Climate 2022 shows the planetary scale changes on land, in the ocean and in the atmosphere caused by record levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. For global temperature, 2015-2022 were the eight warmest on record despite the cooling impact of a La Niña event for the past three years. Melting of glaciers and sea level rise - which again reached record levels in 2022 - will continue for up to thousands of years."

(https://public.wmo.int/en/our-mandate/climate/wmo-statement-state-of-global-climate)

THEREFORE:

Can Oak House create a pond from the present puddles for somewhere for the excess water from the R Rea to overflow into?  There is a digger I saw yesterday, from Hugh and Annie's home that looks so forlorn and need of some work!

CO2 capturing trees are planted - brilliant but, can more be done, David like pond creation for the benefit of wildlife and biodiversity?

"at Freshwater Habitats Trust, we’re all about the wildlife. And from a flood management perspective, we advocate keeping flood water on land as long as possible rather then sending it quickly downstream (where it would likely just pass on any flooding issues to people downstream)."

https://freshwaterhabitats.org.uk/floods-and-land-management-myths-and-reality/

I'm suggesting a virtuous circle

• • I'm suggesting a virtuous circle by more reward than penalty to educate and appeal to car commuters that they must free up the limited road space for essential business vehicle users, like buses, HGV drivers, district nurses, midwives etc who have to use their vehicles.

  • These drivers must register to have the right to drive in daytime, Mon to Fri, because of their work.

  • The car commuters who do not register are then picked up by CCTV and fined.

  • The money goes to regional Fare-Free Public Transport for all and the phasing out of diesel buses for electric and hydrogen fuel cell buses.

  • Essential vehicles use the nearside and overtaking lane with traffic light priority for them.

  • Car commuters who pay the penalty every day are only allowed to use the overtaking lane.

  • This encourages more people to leave their cars at home and jump on a free bus, train, tram throughout the region.  

  • Thus healthier, safer communities that are doing more to slow the climate crisis/breakdown and resource depletion.

  • A little levelling up for lower incomes who have never had or used a car - they get a faster, free bus, trams, trains service paid for by the wealthier car owners.

  • Social justice in action!

Tim Weller   29 March  2023

to Ian Ward, Ian Courts

Dear Ian of Solihull and Ian of Brum - and copied to the Chief Exec of the CA, Laura and, the Mayor and his Deputy

​Referring to the above, ​I​an ​Ward by virtue of his status as Leader, I was once told of the biggest local authority in W Europe.  Ian Courts as Leader of the highly significant Environment and Energy Board of the CA.  A Combined Authority, with its Chief Exec, whose decisions and power must trump those of the individual, seven constituent council members that make up the Authority.  Is that correct?

The seven individual leaders, I think, must not feel attacked and become defensive if the CA, as the ultimate authority, intervenes and insists on exercising its power in a way the individual council does not like.  Obviously, it is better if all seven of you and, especially you two most powerful Ians, can compromise and come to some mutual agreement.  Yet, you also have to have the agreement of your Board members in the case of Ian Courts and his Cabinet in the case of Ian Ward.

SUGGESTION 1 - committees are talking shops:

Not one decision, after a fair debate and vote, has materialised in a single CA committee I have observed as a member of the public.  Every single one has been an amiable, nice natter of a talking shop.  Similar to what we all like down the pub or in the coffee shop.  I think this needs changing.

SUGGESTION 2 - tell the Conservation Officer:

Ian Ward cannot possibly take offence at the Ian of the Environment and Energy Board asking, for the sake of our precious environment and energy, that the Brum Conservation Officer be instructed to authorise the fitting of self closing mechanisms on the front, north doors (external and internal ideally) of 'The Exchange' at 3 Centenary Square - in order to conserve energy and slow climate catastrophe.

SUGGESTION 3 - challenge the officers:

What I also think needs changing is the tendency of councillors to rubber stamp decisions of the professional officers.  I would like all you elected members, including elected Andy and Bob, to question and challenge what the officers are doing.  This, in the light of the true horror story I have catalogued here after spending 55 years in Brum and the Black Country:​

 One horrible history of truly terrible transport

​​

 36 short statements never corrected or even cha...

​

​SUGGESTION 4 - stop Metro and Sprint extensions to insulate and solar power the homes of the poorest:

​Metro and Sprint are the region's equivalent of HS2 bankrupting Britain.  All three transport modes are very nice to have but calamitous for climate, nature and for our finances.  Redeploy transport staff at 16 Summer Lane to work on insulating and solar powering the homes of the poorest and voiceless.  As a rough rule of thumb, every pound spent needs to be regarded as a pound weight of greenhouse gas emissions.  Therefore, spend in the short term what will postpone, in the long term, climate change and resource depletion.

Resist the paralysis of inertia and have the political will to change - please.  Someone must be the first to say, "We must think again."  Well done for CAZ.  It shows that you can change for the better.

Very best wishes to all of you in getting to grips with your declared climate emergency from June 2019.

The 1977 White House climate memo that should have changed the world

 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/14/1977-us-presidential-memo-predicted-climate-change?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Climate, cost of living, shortages and building a more sociable and humane society

Thanks for this, Katie and Ed.  For the forum, I would like you all to address what I have written here, please.  This is all about climate, cost of living, shortages and building a more sociable and humane society - starting from the bottom, for the most important citizens.

I think it is vital that all WMCA members and officers cancel any further work on tram and Sprint extensions in order for the money to be used to remove all fares from bus, train and tram operations in the West Midlands.  It has been done for me over the last 14 years, since I was 60.  It can easily be afforded for everybody from the hundreds of millions saved from abandoning further Metro, Sprint and HS2 expansion.  High Scam 2 is an unnecessary luxury of only benefit to those who do far too much travelling as it is and, only between three cities and two of their airports, too!

Those targetted for further financial help must be those having to choose between heating their homes or eating nutritious meals.  A massive insulation programme must be targetted at the worst homes occupied by the poorest.  Landlords must be forced to pay, of course.

Solar PV must be encouraged on roofs and not on fertile land that is needed for farming to give food to the local population. 

That brilliant question and my dreadful diatribe!

Hi

You are so good at engaging and, educating me over fracking, that makes me so glad that we met!

Please forward this to John who asked the great question that so completely floored me.  I would love him to know that he put me on the spot.  However, I need to acknowledge that 200 years of developments in climate science does speak volumes in now finally addressing the poisoned chalice that we have all so thirstily drunk from in discovering the very mixed blessings of oil, gas and coal.

It is probably too late for climate but, just because of coming shortages, we need to urgently cut back on their use, as my wife and I are doing, as here.  It means immediately stopping the rest of the totally unnecessary destruction of the 120 Kms Black Country Railway for a forty-year-old shuttle tram extension to bring even more destruction at Merry Hill.  This very foolish expenditure means that - such is our addiction to, and dependency on, finite fossil fuels - every pound we spend means yet more fossil fuels burnt and gone forever.  And, every pound we spend might be seen as a pound in weight of GHG emissions as they continue their alarming rise.

My talking of seven decades of tram, then train destruction was a perfect case example of how we have worsened our climate problems by our stupidity and, secondly, caused even worse air pollution, road traffic and railway congestion in the West Midlands.  Actually, a triple whammy when you add in the waste and shortages of finite resources!

Is this the final word, now on John's question?  But he is welcome to respond, please!

While writing, I do feel that your brilliant humanitarian work must reflect the changing times we have seen this year that has brought or, will bring, poverty and suffering this winter for low income people in Dudley much more than for my income bracket.  But, I know you are aware of that.

Very best wishes

Tim

for Climate Change/Environment Scrutiny Committee on 20 June 2022

BLEAK OUTLOOK AS WE IGNORE THE WARNINGS:

"Code Red for Humanity" from Antonio Guterres, Sec Gen, UN on 9 August 2021

"... the collapse of civilisations, the extinction of much of the natural world and time is running out ..." warnings from Sir David Attenborough

"You are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the Earth belong to us all and the Earth itself to nobody." Rousseau, ‘Discourse on the Origin of Inequality’, 1754

I heard about climate change in about 1980 when I saw a BBC TV 'Tomorrow's World' programme. The main greenhouse gases are CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone and water vapour.

Finite fossil fuels are coal, oil and gas and all give off greenhouse gases that enhance the natural greenhouse effect. The natural greenhouse effect makes life on earth possible. Unfortunately, the burning up in 300 years of our one-off geological inheritance that took 300 m years to form is enhancing that natural greenhouse effect to raise temperatures to make life uninhabitable on earth. This is called human-induced climate change. Hence, we have to urgently and drastically cut all GHG by quickly reducing our use of fossil fuels and, ideally, leaving them in the ground.

We can get out of using oil and gas by spending less, like:

1. Using a self-powered bike or a bus to come to council meetings.
2. Switching off lights when you leave a room - especially in the Council House.
3. Turning down the temperature of the room you sit in and wearing more clothing, instead.
4. Buying less of absolutely everything and making everything last a lot longer.
5. Insulating your council offices and your own homes to the maximum possible.
6. Put in secondary glazing or double/triple glazing.
7. Use your car as little as possible and try walking and cycling and public transport.
8. Immediately, tell your officers to scrap Metro tram extensions that have spoilt and even destroyed railway lines and infrastructure in the Black Country and Brum. And, Five Ways underpass.
9. Put the commuter and regional trains back on the 120 Kms Black Country Railway "of national strategic significance" that has not yet been turned into the over £500 million, 10 Kms Dudley Tram.
10. Bring in FFPT to reward everyone who uses bus, trains and trams, with traffic priority for buses on the inside lane and a stiff financial charges for every vehicle on main roads, within the Outer Ring Road, in the rush hours that are not registered as being essential vehicle users.
11. Move your council offices to more energy efficient buildings like those at the Waterfront and use the railway line!
12. There is still time to cancel the climate-busting concrete and steel, double-track railway/tram viaduct to smother the carbon-absorbing grass, soil and trees/shrubs on Dudley's No 1 premier canal embankment at Merry Hill.

timweller1@gmail.com     0791 380 4363

Nine Action Points

Nine Action Points

These actions were created by W Mids Climate Coalition to lobby the West Mids CA in support of a zero-carbon region by 2030.
 
RETROFIT BUILDINGS. Domestic insulation and heating programs need to be massively accelerated. This is a rapid way to reduce carbon emissions and save households money on their heating and energy bills. The WMCA should immediately publish and implement a comprehensive plan for the retrofitting of housing in the WMCA constituencies with the highest levels of fuel poverty revealed in a new league table from the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, based on Government figures.
FARE FREE PUBLIC TRANSPORT. Transport for West Midlands should follow the lead being given by Swansea, Newport, and Herefordshire by setting up free public transport schemes. A feasibility study into the economic, social, and environmental benefits of FFPT for the West Midlands should start work now. The WMCA should bring the region's buses back into public control, following the example of Greater Manchester, as a step towards FFPT. 
END SUPPORT FOR HS2. Apart from the environmental devastation it is causing, HS2 is vastly expensive. The money should be used instead for big investments in local and regional public transport. The current business model of the HS2 project is to increase economic growth and consumerism, however this will contribute to planetary destruction, and is not something we need more of.
DIVEST THE WEST MIDLANDS PENSION FUND FROM FOSSIL FUEL INVESTMENT. Pension funds investing in fossil fuels are contributing directly to uncontrolled global warming and in support of a sustainable future for all should invest instead in green renewables. 
END THE INCINERATION OF WASTE. The continuation of waste incineration is an environmental crime. Plans should be made immediately to increase recycling (including food waste) and to transition to ecologically sustainable degradation.
CURB AVIATION. The WMCA should encourage its residents to limit the excessive use of environmentally damaging national and international flights (pending the development of zero carbon planes) to one return flight every two or three years. 
TEACH THE CHILDREN. Local authorities within the WMCA area should actively promote proper climate and environmental studies in all schools for all children and young people, appropriate to their age.
PAUSE TRAM DEVELOPMENT. Trams are more accessible than buses and trains for disabled people and prams, but they are also hugely expensive to build and emit a large amount of carbon dioxide from cement and steel in their construction. New growth of this network should be paused, and the money diverted into upgrading the current regional public transport system, including the opening of new routes.
BUILDING A WORKFORCE FOR THE CLIMATE EMERGENCY. The WMCA should use its resources to collaborate with the region’s trade unions, FE colleges, universities, and employers to create and implement a long-term strategy for the creation of green jobs and a just transition for workers in high carbon workplaces as they decline.

The 10th action point from me is:

STOP multi-modal, multi-mixed-up transport of different modes as they are giving to us, according to one email I had from Andy Street, ie HR, LR, VLR, ULR, Sprint and regular buses.  Make every bus and every bus stop as welcoming to every fossil-fuel free, 4-wheel user as trams.  Andy Street's Jan 2020, 20 year, £15 BILLION plan for mainly 150 miles of trams must go to the many who need help with paying their bills.

THE WELLER PLAN FOR CLIMATE ACTION

LET'S GET OUR REGION BACK ON (WAY OFF now) TRACK to postpone climate calamity

UNLEASH OUR POTENTIAL TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST CLIMATE DISASTER

ANDY'S PLAN in black

100,000 good-quality jobs for business as usual to head us in the wrong direction on climate.

Massive progress on our transport plan.  Dudley's 7th railway line destroyed.

Thousands of new homes on brownfield sites.  Passivhaus standard.

Championing the West Midlands every day.  Action on preparing for the worst but hoping for the best.

WELLER'S PLAN

100,000 JOBS for insulating every building, PV panels on every E, W, S, roof.

Massive immoral spending ENDED on trams to replace buses and trains.

Every home must be a mini power station like mine.

Championing radical business action on the climate emergency every day.

WE'VE WON £1.05 BN OF GOVT CASH TO IMPROVE TRANSPORT IN THE WM says Amore railway stations

more bus improvements

more Metro stops

more cycling infrastructure

Weller says  get the stations and trains back on our mothballed and freight only railways - 106 Kms!

Extend Fare-Free Public Transport to EVERYONE.

No more obscene, immoral spending on Metro that makes public transport slower with more changes.

END the disgraceful 22 Kms Black Country Cycle-Walk Mudway shambles.      

Follow my good example out of enlightened self interest!

CUT YOUR EARTHLY CAR MILEAGE TO JOIN THE BILLIONAIRES EXPLORING SPACE - they only travel the distance from Perth to Glasgow, after all (60 miles)!

I am very concerned about the Covid, climate, ecological, nature emergency and am doing this:-

At 73 yrs, I've had a fantastic lifetime of hillwalking all the big hills in the UK and Ireland.  It is well time for me to make a concession, a small prize lost to help win the much grander prize of leaving the state of the planet in a slightly better state, perhaps.

Since 2020 I have resolved to lead by example and to cut my total car mileage by 50% on my 2019 figure of 14,000 miles when I drove to Scotland six times to climb their hills.  In 2020, I travelled only once and drove 6,000 miles.  This year, I have done two trips, car camped on nearly all the nights and, so far have driven only 5,000 miles in my attempt to climb, in my lifetime, every single summit listed in the SMC's 'Munro's Tables'.

Last week, I came back from a fantastic 14 nights, with only two of them in a hotel and visited nine summits.  With my diesel car, driving at 60 to 65 mph on the motorways and dual carriageways, I achieved 85 mpg according to the car computer.  Therefore, my deadly greenhouse gas emissions were really low!

I went on fewer occasions but stayed longer and cut my carbon footprint.  I was cycling from my car base camp to the start of the hill on each of the nine days to take in a 'Graham' hill.  I had a great time in mixed weather and showed to the new generations of walkers what can be done.

In losing car mileage and cutting greenhouse gases, I have explored local/regional countryside and found some most wonderful walks in exploring areas I had never before dreamt of going to.  Again, parking up, cycling, then walking before returning to the bike to get to the car.  All this gained, instead of bombing off into Wales from Halesowen or to some far-flung corner of England to use up our precious finite fossil fuels with their deadly greenhouse gas emissions.

Will others follow my example?  Especially, those of my age in order to leave a planet in a better shape for the youngsters?  BE A GOOD ANCESTOR!

from the Guardian on 29 July 2021

Extreme weather will be the norm and UK is not prepared, scientists warn

Last year was first to be in top 10 for heat, rain and sunshine, as scientists say UK’s mild climate is at an end

Extremes of weather will strike the UK more frequently owing to the climate crisis, scientists said after data showed that last year was one of the warmest, as well as one of the wettest and sunniest, on record.

Last year was the first to figure in the top 10 for heat, rain and hours of sunshine, in records stretching back more than a century, as moderate British weather is rapidly becoming a thing of the past, according to a report from the Met Office and climate scientists.

The extremely sunny start to lockdown in the spring of 2020 followed the wettest February, while a heatwave striking in August combined to make 2020 the third warmest year, the fifth wettest and the eighth sunniest on record, according to the State of the UK Climate 2020, published in the International Journal of Climatology.

Emergency Resolution for LU to consider on 17 July 2021

As internationalists and socialists who are concerned for the future of humanity and, in fact, all of nature, we note:

This week

1. Abnormally and record high temperatures in western N America, with wildfires out of control.
2. Disturbed weather patterns and extreme weather events since Wednesday have killed over a hundred in western Europe, with a similar number missing.
3. Extreme weather events affect those of our number with health issues much more seriously than those who are fully fit.
4. Since 1988, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has consistently warned of such events from the burning of finite fossil fuels that is changing, dangerously the chemical composition of the atmosphere that allows life on earth.
5. Therefore, we appeal to the WMCA to act as though they are taking the climate emergency seriously by now moving to a rapid reduction of fossil fuel use that includes minimising fossil fuel travel and spending and, in every other way minimising our impact on ailing life support systems.

I've kept it short and simple!

Talk and then vote as to whether Mike should send this to Laura Shoaf, Interim Chief Executive of the WMCA?  If not, I'm happy enough to send it as coming from me, only - and from no-one else!

Saying nice warm words; but carrying on regardless with business as usual

Ask the landowner and the walking, cycling, horse riding community to sponsor a footbridge or stile/gate.  Footbridges over 10 metres long should be maintained by Highways and the landowner.  There must be many wealthy landowners with the Bill Gates philanthropic tendency!

Why are the local authorities, regional government and national government doing the exact opposite of what is required to tackle their own self-declared climate emergency?  I have made suggestions to the WMCA, to our councillors and my MP but they just carry on swaying along, drunk on fossil fuels, on the broad road to destruction.  I have set my own fossil fuel budget by slashing my car mileage by 50% on 2019, on walking and cycling for shorter journeys and we spend a little over £1 a day on gas and electricity.  What about the rest of you following our lead and showing what they have to do?  Trains on railway lines instead of everything but the kitchen sink; PV solar on every roof and climate-proofing every building in the land, for a start.

DUDLEY CLLRS LOVE MISSION TO USE TRAMS TO RUN DUDLEY PEOPLE TO MERRY HILL

DUDLEY SHOPPERS TO TAKE TRAMS TO MERRY HILL

I'm so pleased for you that you have your long-awaited (from the 1980s) Metro trams at long last.  But, don't rest on your laurels; there is still very MUCH more to do, my friends!

I quite understand that you must continue the 60-year-old policy of destroying, this time, Dudley's very last and fifth railway, to relegate our town from having back the mainline Castle Hill Railway Station - to piddling little tram stop and test track.  Dudley's New Fame:- the largest town in the UK by population without a railway station.  Yet, the line was successful for 100 years until we all fell in love with cars.  And nearly 50 Kms, already built, are left with nothing!

What is your personal wish for the former mainline railway and existing freight line from Stourbridge Jct to Brierley Hill and, the mothballed, former passenger and freight railway from Wednesbury to Burton on Trent?  Nearly 50 Kms still wasted alongside or, near congested main roads and motorways.  It has every motorway, road and canal crossing already built but you good politicians forgot to finish the job - with, you know what!

What are you doing to respond to your own Council's Climate Emergency motion that you passed last year and passed over this year?

Why did you bring it forward when it does look, so far, as though you have every intention to change nothing?  You now lay yourselves open to the charge of hypocrisy, of course.

Have you ever considered reforming your actions to ones of retrenchment?  Retrenchment to minimise deadly greenhouse gas emissions and to maximise economic growth in insulation, Passivhaus standards in housing, solar PV on every E, W, S roof and small to medium-sized, highly energy-efficient homes for the homeless and badly housed?

Have you ever considered the carrot, the reward of regional Fare-Free Public Transport that old crocks like me have had for 13 years, so far?  This OAP and friends in Brum are championing the same perk for you youngsters!  Campaign with us over this iniquitous inequality and blatant discrimination against the young and middle-aged.  Co-operation and partnership working, please.

Remember, too the major 22 Kms, business and commuter route that is the fine, upstanding, disgraceful Black Country Cycle-Walk Mudway.

And a decent mosque for Dudley town Muslims.  Stop that discrimination and Islamaphobia.

And a cycle-walkway on the other side of Duncan Edwards Way from the tramline.

Am I allowed, please to observe your council Climate Emergency (up and at 'em) All Action Committee?

We have every right to ask for more trees and hedges ...

 ... without fear that it can be turned against us in some way.

CLIMATE EDUCATION to improve the bumpy road for our descendants:

Woodland, as a climate emergency measure, for unused farmland will make it more difficult for it to be turned into concrete, brick or tarmac.

Hedges, to mitigate climate instability, and hedgerow maintenance are vital as we see some neglected and, more fencing and barbed wire taking over.  There are subsidies for landowners to put in hedges.

Point them to:

https://www.gov.uk/countryside-stewardship-grants/planting-new-hedges-bn11

One local landowner has created a new wood.  I will ask, at Illey House Farm and at Illeybrook Farm, if it was one of them or, who it was, in the coming days.  That is setting a brilliant example and shows what can be done.

Please write and/or visit/phone, to ask for woodland and hedgerow creation to your councillors, MP, Metro Mayor Andy Street and, especially, ask our farmers and landowners, like:

FARMERS/LANDOWNERS

1. Philip Bibbey, 472 Bromsgrove Rd, Hunnington, Halesowen B62 0JL  Philip is sympathetic to walkers and helped us with the latest walkers' gate near the R Stour on a permissive footpath over his land.
2. Mr Charles Bibbey, Tack Farm, Uffmoor Lane, Halesowen, West Midlands, England, B62 0NP.  When writing, thank Charles for helping with the new, magnificent footbridge that Roy Burgess and volunteers built a few years ago.
3. Mrs Sue Tudor, Manor Abbey Farm, Manor Way, Halesowen B62 8RJ  Some years ago, Chris Tudor allowed English Heritage to take over guardianship, or the care, of the Abbey and Infirmary that can be viewed from the public right of way.  Thank her for that!
4. Mr John Bibbey, Breach Farm, Bromsgrove Rd, Hunnington, Halesowen B62 0JS  John is also sympathetic to walkers and welcomes caring walkers on our public rights of way.
5. Mrs Lisa Window-Walker, Horsepool Farm, 164 Bromsgrove Rd, Hunnington, Near Halsowen, Worcestershire, B62 0JX.  She told me of problems; I was horrified and expressed my dismay.  But, there is no harm in us all asking for woodland or hedgerow creation and path improvement.
6. Adam Bayliss, Hollies Farm, Bromsgrove Rd, Hunnington, Halesowen B62 0JU  Adam and son, Harry put in two new wooden stiles on the public path that crosses the Halesowen Railway on the near, N side of the old viaduct site at Dowery Dell.  Thank them for that, please.  Much new fencing has gone up.
7. Dan Tate, Hunnington Farm, 143 Bromsgrove Rd, Halesowen B62 0JX  Dan, in welcoming caring walkers, has fenced us in.  However, he did put in a stile, too.  I have asked if he would cut the hedge to allow walkers to continue to use the penned in path over the years.
8. Dove House Fields Farm, Bromsgrove Road, Romsley  B62 0JN  This farm is now "reactivated", I was told by the owner, for fruit and vegetable growing.  Why not for woodland and hedges, too?
9. Goodrest Farm has a public footpath running through it.  I have found them very pleasant and most obliging.  Horses are more in evidence, now but, let us all ask for climate improving woodland and hedges.
10. David Russell is a big landowner at 442 Bromsgrove Road Halesowen B62 0JL.  His land holding includes part of Halesowen Railway that is barred to the public.  Other land of his has sheep.
11. Beech House, Church Hill, Quinton, Birmingham B32 4BG owns the SE part of the railway that is open to the public to adventure walk, at their own risk, from Dowery Dell to the M5 subway right of way.

Only public pressure, with the pen being mightier and more moral than the sword, can work!  I promise to write, myself in the coming days.  But it needs many more than good ol' me!  Some email addresses, here:

 September 2019 A5 flyer

THANKS!  Write, if only to educate, to inform and to express appreciation to our wonderful farmers who grow our food!

National FoE's Climate Action Plan

 What can the mayor do for the planet?

We’re facing a climate emergency, the biggest threat we’ve ever seen to humanity’s existence. With extreme weather raging around the world, including flooding and extreme heat in the UK, acting on solutions in all our communities is essential.

How we build and manage our towns and cities is a crucial part of this, not only in actively reducing the climate impact of our transport and energy, but in showing national government where our priorities are, what can be done, and how we expect them to echo those nationally and internationally.

The Mayor of West Midlands has important powers they can use in ensuring the region is as climate and nature friendly as possible. The good news is, we have a plan for how they can achieve that.

We need the mayor to commit to:

1. Ensuring all infrastructure plans, programmes and investment decisions – including COVID-19 recovery plans – are in line with what’s needed to address the climate and ecological emergency, and in line with the region’s carbon budget and carbon reduction pathway.
2. Ensuring those impacted most by climate breakdown and nature loss are heard and centre-stage in decision-making.
3. Protecting workers and communities through a just transition from a fossil fuel-dependent economy to a low-carbon, nature-rich, circular economy, including delivering over 28,000 new jobs.
4. Introducing policies and measures that ensure new development is net zero carbon and existing homes are brought up to high energy-standards, and addressing fuel poverty.
5. At least doubling public transport use, cycling and walking within the next 10 years, to cut emissions and ensure everyone can breathe clean air.
6. Powering the region with clean, renewable energy, reaping the economic and job opportunities that this brings.
7. Greening the region by increasing tree cover, protecting nature, and eliminating green-space deprivation.
8. Becoming a zero-waste region by 2030 without relying on landfill or incineration, to reduce pressures on nature from resource extraction and pollution.
9. Calling on the local government pension scheme to divest from fossil fuels, to stop profiting from environmental harm.
10. Making the very best of the infrastructure we have, enact the Climate Emergency declarations, defend nature and introduce more inclusive governance.

Ask your mayor to build a fairer, greener future.