Testing, testing

Part of our work and research at the moment is helping communities and business understand some of the questions that they will need to answer in the coming year or two. Such as how does your business or service delivery cope with a $250 / barrel oil price - at which point, food, transport, plastics, construction and many other sectors get squeezed. Why's this important? Read on for interesting information from the Guardian

Alexei Miller, chairman of the Russian energy group Gazprom, raised the stakes further when he reiterated last year's estimates of $250 a barrel. "This forecast has not become reality yet, given that the [credit] crisis gained momentum and exerted a powerful impact on the global energy market. But does this mean that our forecast was unrealistic? Not at all."

The St James’s Palace Memorandum

Prince Charles' time arrived some while ago, when the pleas that he raised were finally recognised to be those of someone wise and insightful, not mad. Such are the mores of change.

At the end of May 2009, the Prince used his considerable convening powers to bring a group of Nobel laureates to St James's Palace to continue a series of discussions that started in 2007 in Potsdam. As at Hay on Earth, the call for action was based on now, with the same recognised goals for reduction that we must achieve:

"Acknowledging the compelling evidence of science we should confine the temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius to avoid unmanageable climate risks. This can only be achieved with a peak of global emissions of all greenhouse gases by 2015 and at least a 50% emission reduction by 2050 on a 1990 baseline. This in turn means that developed countries have to aim for a 25-40% reduction by 2020."

To achieve a global peak of emissions by 2015 means that the UK and other developed countries need to peak around 2012. The start of that year is 700 or so days away, and it's time to get a plan together, NOW.

If you're not already involved in planning for descent of this scale, and want to share learning, then get in touch with the team at EcoSapiens. We're developing the plan now, starting with one small country.

The laureates also called for the need for effective protection of the world's tropical forests, something that each and every one of us can effect through political engagement, meat consumption (to reduce the pressure on land for soya and grazing) and only buying FSC timber. They said "Tropical forests provide the ecosystem services essential for human well-being and poverty alleviation. In addition
deforestation and forest degradation are substantially contributing to climate change and global biodiversity loss at the genetic, species and landscape level. Both locally and globally, protecting boreal and tropical forest cover is an essential tool for mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change. Without a solution to rainforest protection, there is no solution to tackling climate change.

The memorandum is available for download here:

Planning and allotments

Hundreds of people are campaigning to get more space around communities and in urban areas for allotments. In some cases, Local Authority officers and members have stalled or turned down applications in the belief that planning permission is needed for horticulture or market garden style growing. This isn't the case, according to useful information dug out by Pembrokeshire environmental champion, Vicky Moller:

The current planning legislation, the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, and its predecessors indicated that the use of land for agriculture did not comprise development for the purposes of the planning legislation and, consequently, planning permission is not required for thechange of use of any land to use as agriculture.

The definition of agriculture provided by the legislation is as follows:-

"agriculture" includes horticulture, fruit growing, seed growing, dairy farming, the breeding and keeping of livestock (including any creature kept for the production of food, wool, skins or fur, or for the purpose of its use in the farming of land), the use of land as grazing land, meadow land, osier land, market gardens and nursery grounds, and the use of land for woodlands where that use is ancillary to the faring of land for other agricultural purposes, and "agricultural" shall be construed accordingly.

The question of whether the use of land as allotments came within the definition of agriculture was considered by the High Court in the case of Crowborough Parish Council -v- Secretary of State for the Environment and Another (1982) 43 P&CR 229 where it was concluded that the use of land as allotments did fall within the defintion of agriculture and that, consequently, planning permission would not be required for the change of use of any land to use for allotments.

Time to get digging.

Sahara Forest Project

Inspirational architect and leading biomimcry thinker Michael Pawlyn was featured recently in this article in Time Magazine about his work on the Sahara Forest Project, which, if developed to fruition, could provide tens of thousands of tons of fresh water to arid areas of the Sahara.

Michael was one of the participants at last week's Hay on Earth workshops, and we're working together at Schumacher College with the Biomimicry Guild's Dayna Baumeister, which will be both hugely enjoyable and rewarding.

Walking the Talk

It's great when good clients become great friends. Five years ago, Jeff and Karen Loo bought an old farmhouse in Pembrokeshire with plans to convert the barns into eco holiday accommodation. All good projects take time, and in the wild west, often take a little longer. "I'll maybe get to you tomorrow" is strong commitment from a builder round here, and that's part of the charm and frustration.

The wait has been worth it. Asheston Eco Barns are open for bookings, and will provide some of the classiest, greenest accommodation that's available anywhere in the UK. Jeff and Karen have shown commitment and conviction, putting in a wind turbine, ground source heat pumps, underfloor heating, log burners and solar panels to provide low-impact comfort. We'll certainly be using the barns as accommodation for small group retreats and will be recommending to TYF Adventure customers too. Maybe it's time that we had a break from the coast...