Bingo, someone came up to me in the Market Place while I was chatting with Devizes Greens chief, Margaret Green about all random matters of climate change, to offer us both a free vegan chocolate tiffin, and that’s plenty to swing this blogger to pen a decent review in itself!
Though I didn’t need a tiffin to twist my arm, Sustainable Devizes set up an outstanding fair in the Market Place today. I believe it’s the second annual Devizes Sustainable Fair, an amalgamation of all the separate activities various groups of Sustainable Devizes and others engage in; sorry I missed last year’s. For if imagining a handful of environmental campaigners gathering in crocs and tie dye tees to draw some pretty pictures of the planet was your preconception, you’d be sorely wrong.
Many, of all walks of life, gathered to address concerns and present alternatives to make Devizes sustainable and environmentally friendly, under a festive feel, and it was a splendid occasion.
Children were encouraged by Keith Brindle and family of St James to draw pictures of ideas to create a better environment, on transport and the future of plastic usage, a clothes swap whereby you could donate or take whatever you needed, both encompassed the general idea that this was a community based interactive experience, an event free of commercialisation and profiteering. This extended to the general feel of the day; everyone focussed on the same goal in a polite and friendly way.
There was food, soup and so on, free knife-sharpening, a bicycle repair shop, and organisations were welcomed from the Meadow in my Garden community interest company, to Kennet Furniture Refurb, and it was also lovely to meet the community free for all social club Camerados Public Living Room, who aside regular meetings in the Cheese Room on Fridays, seem to set up a living room complete with sofas, coffee tables and lamps wherever they care to, and I love that the most, they even gave me a cup of orange squash the lovely lot!
But what places this firmly on the map, and diverts this from being any old climate change meeting, converting it into a festival feel is the area of benches in which to gather, and the live music too. I’m sorry to have been too late to witness an acoustic jam session, followed by resident musicians Tom Harris and Chrissy Chapman, but I did make a beeline for those boater’s royalty of euphemisms, Devil’s Doorbell. We reviewed the ingenious outpourings of this bonkers skiffle duo upon the launch of a live album recorded at Trowbridge’s Pump in February, and they delighted as much as suspected they would, with Nipper playing his tenor banjo and kazzumpet, while the colourful Jellylegs Johnson strummed her washtub bass, both with a jolly dedication to jazzy tunes of yore.
Had to inquire being Caen Hill Locks were closed and the Doorbell duo had to resort to bus journey here, how everyday folk reacted to taking a washtub and kazzumpet amoung their other gear on the bus! But that’s in a nutshell how this event played off, quirky, hospitable and welcoming, a true reflection on a community spirited goal to better ourselves when it comes to progressing with a greener, environmentally friendly manner, and for this alone you cannot fault it.
Brilliant job, Devizes, for together we are sustainable, least heading this way with gusto.
It’s okay, do I look like, Kenneth Williams?! You don’t have to answer that. This is not Jackanory, I’m not here to tell you a story, other than an ickle trip down memory lane. I am here to announce the rescheduling of a film event by Sustainable Devizes….
Sustainable Devizes inform us that 38.5 million plastic bottles are bought in the UK every day. It makes no sense, plastic takes hundreds of years to break down, and yet we use it to store products that we consume within minutes. I’m guessing most of us are guilty, it’s hard not to be in this day and age. I know I am, and I’ve been reminiscing about when I was knee-high to an elf, being dragged unwillingly along a neighbourhood house, where us kids were expected to entertain ourselves while the mum’s had a Tupperware party.
That’s was the start of it, right there; mums persuaded by a friendly sales rep to ditch their old biscuit tins, because these unbreakable beauties would preserve your food forever! They bought them by the truckload, of all shapes and sizes. Though they were durable little buggers, compared to today’s throwaway abominations, they kept for generations, if slightly moulded.
Now my daughter frowns at me, when I try to justify it all; but as Yazz said, we were the plastic population, bought up with it; we honestly didn’t have a clue, and any dictation that the planet may be at risk would’ve been intuitionally ingrained into us as “hippy rubbish.” Sad, really, isn’t it, and likely propagated by the plastics industry.
The plastic crisis is part of the climate crisis. 99% of plastics are made from fossil fuels. One in every ten barrels of oil is being used to manufacture new plastic. We need to drastically reduce the amount of plastic we produce.
And I know this, I hear you, but changing the habit of a lifetime? I try; I’m recycling like a boss now good enough, eh? But Sustainable Devizes say, “it’s clear that recycling is not enough of a solution either. Only 9% of plastic ever produced globally has actually been recycled. We need to ditch disposable plastic and embrace reusable products wherever possible. We can free where we live from single-use plastic.”
So, I’m glad to see the rescheduling of a film screening at St Andrews Church in Devizes, which was cancelled due to lockdown. It’s free, there’s cake promised, it’s on Wednesday 28th September and it’s about the Story of Plastic. I’m going, hoping it will hammer the final nail in my archaic habits. You can come along too, but you need to book a free ticket online, HERE, just so they know how much to cake to make….in which case perhaps I should book two seats for myself! Hope to see you there.
Of course, without too much a of plug, you can ditch your plastic milk carton as of tomorrow, if you order a gert lush glass bottle of Plank’s new organic range, and it’ll be delivered by a gorgeous bloke with a smile and an electric works vehicle, made in 1981! Send them a message on Facebook, here, shameless promotion over!
A month after Wiltshire Council’s Climate Strategy was criticised by the Wiltshire Climate Alliance for lacking “ambition and commitment to achieving its goal of seeking to make Wiltshire carbon neutral by 2030,” I’m horrified, yet not surprised to see social media pages still maintaining climate change is a hoax, when I thought all was pretty much conclusive, and a majority, aside political opinion, accepted that climate change is real, and is happening.
I was checking out a Facebook page called “Climate Change is a Hoax,” because, for the same reason I occasionally click on the fascist GB News site, I enjoy deliberately annoying myself with the stupidity of far-right illogic! With a laughable forty-one “likes,” it hardly carries much clout, neither many of its shared articles remained live after factchecking algorithms stripped them bare. But one YouTube video by Canadian conspiracy theorists, The Climate Discussion Nexus does give sensible argument against climate change, just when I tarnished them with the same brush as flat-earth theorists.
The content of the video portrays Michael Mann akin to a narcissistic nerdy schoolkid, who assumes his homework is superior to everyone else’s, simply because he did it, and claims other researcher’s papers have been poo-pooed by the IPCC in favour for Mann’s. While I shrug, the United Nations owns the IPCC, and is an intergovernmental body, it’s not completely impossible climate change has been exaggerated for this supposed purpose of “controlling the masses,” or for any other bizarre reasoning they invent, I have to question, what if they are wrong? Furthermore, quotes from the “about” section of the Facebook page such as “don’t let the globalists and socialists destroy our lives,” is so chockful of falsehoods and propaganda I don’t know where to begin. Least not when the majority of the world today seems to politically side on the right, who commonly seem to debunk climate change, and so-called globalists and socialists are not in power anyway. Hence the reason the world spins on its axis and nothing much appears to get done to tackle the issue.
Come in, let’s squabble, oh, apologies, just step over that cataclysmic natural disaster someone left out asking to be tripped over, there’s a good fellow.
So, what if either side of the argument is wrong? If those who believe in climate change are wrong, we’ve been duped and possibly even burdened by a bunch of passive reformist lefties, which sounds far better than previous historic oppressing by purists and conservative philosophies, which always seems to result in bloodthirsty wars. So, we dust ourselves off, mix plastics with household waste again, break out our diesel Chelsea tractors and drive to the abattoir for steak pie.
However, if those who believe climate change is a hoax are wrong, we’ve either caused the extinction of all life on earth, including ourselves, or least ignored the chance to slow or prevent it from happening. Seriously, you have to ask yourself which possible outcome you’d prefer. Personally, I’m thinking being oppressed by lefties, which equates to eating lentils and maybe listening to Buffalo Springfield, then allowing everyone to die in catastrophic disasters, is the better option of the two, but hey, that’s just me.
Therefore, it goes without saying, on a local level, I’m keen to hear what climate change specialists think of our county council’s climate strategy, being they’ve a majority conservative seating, and by my reckoning, seems while not every conservative is a climate change denier, all climate change deniers seem to have a conservative ethos. Suspicious some lurk in Bythesea Road, I asked the Wiltshire Climate Alliance, who formed from a meeting of over twenty interest groups from across Wiltshire a year after the moment Wiltshire Council acknowledged that there was a climate emergency and set themselves a target to make Wiltshire carbon neutral by 2030. Which was in 2019, even though a seminal paper by Swedish scientist, Svante Arrhenius first predicted changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, and noted they could substantially alter the surface temperature through the greenhouse effect, in 1896, you know, these things take time.
Wiltshire Climate Alliance (WCA) welcomes the fact that Wiltshire Council is developing a Climate Strategy but laments its lack of ambition and commitment to achieving its goal of seeking to make Wiltshire carbon neutral by 2030. Bill Jarvis of WCA’s Steering Group described it as, “recognising that major changes are needed but lacking any commitment or timescale for reducing emissions outside of the Council’s own operations,” adding that “there is little sense of the urgency needed for taking action, and a dependency on future plans and policies that may take us in the opposite direction.”
And there was me thinking they didn’t bother trimming the hedgerows of the A361 because of “reforestation,” our minute contribution to a worldwide area the size of China which needs to be restored to forest before it having much effect. The WCA continue, about the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, predicting the world is likely to exceed 2C between the early 2040s and 50s, and while UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, “the alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable,” The WCA extends this locally by saying, “this renewed urgency doesn’t come across in Wiltshire Council’s Strategy, which speaks of ‘exploring’ and ‘investigating’ the kinds of policies and actions that should by now be in place and well underway.”
The Tyndall Centre calculated, in 2019, that “with no change to current emissions Wiltshire would use up all its budget [to 2050] within seven years.” Ergo, I have to agree, if it seems there will be no significant change to policy or action for at least another two years, where is there any sense of urgency? Apply this ludicrous lucidity to a did I leave the kettle on moment, and your house is potentially toast, my friend.
‘Future delivery plans’ are the order of the Council, yet the WCA explain, “stabilising the climate requires rapid, deep and sustained emissions reductions. It is particularly concerning that the Strategy provides no detail of how its objectives will be delivered.”
They worry Wiltshire Council’s decarbonisation objectives will be no more than a ‘wish list’ in the Local Plan, Local Transport Plan and other plans, most of which have completely contrary objectives and will not be in place for at least two years. WCA would like to see the Strategy go further, and recommend a moratorium on implementing climate destructive, high emission plans and policies until such time as detailed carbon reduction delivery plans have been adopted, and it has set out its concerns.
Wiltshire Climate Alliance is keen to continue to support Wiltshire Council and its councillors in taking the urgent action that is now required. “The solutions are clear,” they say, “achievable and a large number are touched on in this document. However, they require political will to make them happen. There is limited need for more evidence gathering, investigations and assessments. But there is an urgent need for more ambition and immediate action in areas in which others are already showing leadership.”
Okay look, I’m no tree hugger, love a bacon butty, and, I’m willing to admit, my presumptions climate change deniers lurk at county hall is a scare story evolved from the content of worldwide keyboard warriors, adamant on spreading myths. But it is exasperating, becoming tiresome, and dreadfully perilous to assume they’ve no influence at any level of politics. Here’s hoping the WCA can urge Wiltshire’s residents and its elected representatives to join in demanding better, as the steering group say, “climate denial must not be replaced by delaying climate action.”
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Yesterday spent wisely, at the wonderful Little Eco; Devizes first zero-waste shop…..
Shopping bags are in the boot, but when I’m on my own I forget. Damn, buy another bag, it’s just one after all. Last supermarket visit I figured no, as I had my daughter’s help; I left her to scan the items at the self-service checkout, and made haste to the car to fetch them. Yeah, double-whammy; I jogged, part way!
I’ll confess I’m guilty, but at least I’m willing to. Rapidly aging, stuck in my ways, yeah; the stereotype Greta scorns at. Yet I don’t care who is warning me, it doesn’t patronise me what age they are. The younger they are the more they’ll have to face the consequences, ergo if you lambast youth for telling you that you need to do more, shame on you. The irony is some take it personally, insecure with guilt and try denial. This current wave of ecological outcry addresses world governments, rather than the individual. Still, personally taking as much action as you can pushes that little bit towards the good.
Here’s a little slice of that good, recently arrived in Devizes. The Little Eco shop is lovely, and as it says, little, but the grand step in the right direction our town needs. Situated in that yard, Wharfside, on Couch Street, I popped into our first zero-waste shop, to meet owner Jeni. A number of customers browsed the delightful array of dispensers, scoop-bins and glass jars. There is also a central feature with organic gifts and accessories.
Few customers had been here before, and bought containers with them. For the rest, glass and recycled tubs and containers are available, along with paper bags. The vessels are tared in, and they’re free to shop, many asking for assistance to dispense items; this innovative process is in the making of becoming normal practise. Even the receipt is an email, if required.
While this store may not be a hypermarket, its quaint surroundings harbour a surprisingly vast array of goods. There’re cleaning liquids, of which I profess to know nothing of such matters, erm, washing-up liquid, and erm, that washing powder and soap stuff! Now, onto the tucker, which I can do; they’ve got organic maple syrup, and there’s pasta, rice, cereals and organic maple syrup, flour, herbs, dried fruit, chocolate, and erm, so much stuff, did I mention the organic maple syrup?
The Little Eco Shop has been open since September; Jeni acknowledged the prospect of little acorns. Perishable goods, I think, will make or break it. Still, the like of this needs to be a supermarket, it needs to be central in town, in every town, and it needs a comprehensive fresh range; veg, bread, milk (yeah, I mentioned that!) But at this early stage, what it really needs is your attention first and foremost.
Aside David Attenborough’s influence, we chatted about supermarkets mostly. I referenced how my Nan would tell of pre-supermarket days, when you took your butter dish to the shop, your salt shaker, and they filled them. Without realising they had the carbon footprint of a beatnik amoeba. It’s only since our thirst for efficient consumer self-service, we’ve accumulated this mountain of waste packaging and terrible throw-away ethos. The final straw for me came a few years ago in a petrol station, upon noticing a single orange wrapped in a hard-plastic container; it’s a bloody orange for crying out loud, nature provided it’s packaging.
The greatest dilemma facing Jeni is the progression of supermarkets towards reducing waste. I have to hand it to McDonalds, taking heed of eight-year-old Jacob Douglas, from Basildon, and a small number of other children, and have banned Happy Meal plastic toys. If they listen to what the future generation tell them, surely so can you. Yet, so can and will the supermarkets given time, and if so, Jeni’s self-built business is at risk, but her ethics have had a profound effect.
“If anybody’s sceptical,” I asked Jeni, “it’s over convenience; could you serve the town as quickly as a supermarket?” Negatively she replied but retorted with the notion it’s the personal feel at Little Eco. Jeni expressed the turning trend in the desire to shop at the butchers and greengrocers, who will greet you at the tingling of the bell. Supermarkets steer away from human contact, but if the change to self-service checkouts can be turned around in such a short space of time, a move towards a doable solution to zero-waste on a mass scale could too, by these clever-clogs, if they so wished.
For now, though, we have this gorgeous and friendly shop, yes, it takes a little longer to shop, but I encourage you to try it out; I’m not accepting freebie banana chips, this is not an advertorial, I don’t spew that baloney on you. Crunch time comes down to price then, as ever, and I think you’d be pleasantly surprised it’s competitive and kept at a minimum. Filled a paper bag with my beloved banana chips and was impressed it was just pence, so got myself another scoop-full!
We wish Jeni and the Little Eco shop all the best of luck with this venture, and in order for it to work, the town must show its support, after all, they’ve got a giant cask of organic maple syrup, if I failed to mention it!
DOCA’s Lantern Buy Back Scheme
Along with The Town Hall and The Healthy Life, Little Eco also has a scheme in conjunction with DOCA, where old lantern lights that you may have stowed away from previous parades can be recycled. It’s a lantern light amnesty! Turn your lights into reception at the Town Hall, The Little Eco Shop and The Healthy Life Company. For every working lantern returned you will receive 50p, no questions asked!
The scheme will be running from 11th November to 14th December 2019.
DOCA state, “We can all play a part in making this years festival events greener, but we need your help to reduce the impact of our events on the environment, returning lanterns is one way of doing this!” More information here.
devizine.com 