Events

New Events

Environmental Events in Pembrokeshire

This is a great video series on You Tube called Climate Denial Crock of the Week, put together by Peter Sinclair, a longtime advocate of environmental awareness and energy alternatives.This video takes the 10-second sound bites used by those who deny climate change is occurring, and intelligently breaks them down one by one.

30 years of the West Wales ECO Centre.

Dear Friends, Supporters and Colleagues it gives me great pleasure to invite you to help us celebrate. I have attached an invitation to an evening event that promises to be entertaining and thought provoking. We have brought together some of

Wales' highest profile environmentalists from all sectors to discuss and analyse the progress that has been made in Wales over the last thirty years towards our goal of a flagship sustainable nation.

There is a link on the invite to the event booking section of the ECO Centre website. Copied here for convenience:

www.ecocentre.org.uk/en/30th-anniversary-event-book-now .

Select the event title and then book your place using the form, and click on the green arrow to confirm. You and I will then receive an email stating that you have booked a place. If you wish to find out more about our last 30 years, please look at the

ECO Centre website, currently carrying a front page about our 30th year and elsewhere our list of achievements in that time.

I very much hope you can attend and look forward to seeing you then.

Jake Hollyfield, Director,West Wales ECO Centre, DDI: 01239 821900, Mob: 07970 227615, www.ecocentre.org.uk

Registered Charity 1059848, Registered Company 3239959

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Community Action for Climate Change Networks in June

Carmarthen 24/6/2010

The third series of highly successful Community Action for Climate Change Network events are currently being organised. Scheduled to take place in June 2010 the network events aim to help strengthen local networks and respond to the skills needs of groups and individuals working around climate change and carbon reduction in Wales.

This time around, the events will take place in Llandudno, Llandinam, Newport and Carmarthen. They are designed to strengthen local links, and will feature focused project development workshops such as Up-scaling your Project and Securing Funding, and open space opportunity to network with others around climate action.

More information: Angharad Dalton adalton@glam.ac.uk

Usha Ladwa Thomas Usha.Ladwa-Thomas@Wales.GSI.Gov.UK

www.walescarbonfootprint.gov.uk

PLEASE PASS ON THIS INFORMATION TO ANYONE YOU FEEL WOULD BE INTERESTED IN ATTENDING ANY OF THESE ACTIVITIES

Rhwydwaith Gweithgaredd Cymunedol ar Newid Hinsawdd

Caerfyrddin 24/6/2010

Mae’r drydedd gyfres o ddigwyddiadau llwyddiannus y Rhwydweithiau Gweithgaredd Cymunedol ar Newid Hinsawdd yn cael eu trefnu ar hyn o bryd. Wedi’u drefnu ar gyfer Mehefin 2010, pwrpas y digwyddiadau rhwydwaith yw helpu cryfhau rhwydweithiau lleol ac ymateb i anghenion sgiliau grwpiau ac unigolion sydd yn gweithio ar newid hinsawdd a lleihau carbon yng Nghymru.

Y tro hon cynhelir y digwyddiadau yn Llandudno, Llandinam, Casnewydd a Chaerfyrddin. Maent wedi llunio er mwyn cryfhau cysylltiadau lleol a byddent yn cynnwys gweithdai datblygu prosiect ar bynciau megis Tyfu eich Prosiect a Sicrhau eich Cronfa, byddent hefyd yn cynnig cyfleoedd ‘man agored’ er mwyn rhwydweithio gyda chyd-weithwyr newid hinsawdd.

Mwy o Wybodaeth: Angharad Dalton adalton@glam.ac.uk

Usha Ladwa Thomas Usha.Ladwa-Thomas@Wales.GSI.Gov.UK

www.walescarbonfootprint.gov.uk

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Annwyl bawb

Please find attached information from WAG re Climate Change Network meetings in June - the event will be in Carmarthen on the 24th June.

If you would like to attend any of these Network events, please complete the attached form below and return it to Angharad Dalton on adalton@glam.ac.uk. Further information including full speaker and workshop details will be available shortly at: www.walescarbonfootprint.gov.uk.

Diolch,

Eurgain Powell

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8th June ‘Old Building and Energy Efficiency’, Bloomfield Centre, Narberth 7pm.

This event is a response to a Member’s request. The focus will be on solid wall construction buildings with Cliff Blundell of ‘The Lime Company of West Wales’, as a key speaker on how to make them more energy efficient. This is particularly timely as the WAG Low Carbon Network which met on May 6th has identified this issue as distinctive to South West Wales and as needing attention (see below). In fact a local lobby group is in the process of drafting a press release to promote Building Regulation for solid wall building in Wales to put before to NAW as powers are devolved in 2012.

Immediately preceding this event will be a short Extraordinary General Meeting for TENP Members to vote on an amendment to the TENP membership criteria. The affect of this amendment, if carried, would clarify that constituted voluntary organisations would be full Members with voting rights. Public sector and private sector organisations and individuals (living or working in Pembrokeshire) would have Associate Members status and no voting rights.

We are developing 2 other events:

‘Pea Pods and I Pods’ : Intergenerational Discussions: This could be a single, or series, of workshops across Pembrokeshire that will facilitate discussions between the younger and older residents. TENP will facilitate and stimulate discussion around issues where older residents can draw on their own experiences to contribute to an appreciation and understanding of such concepts and practices as: self sufficiency, rationing, food waste reduction, caring, etc . The first event will take place in NE Pembrokeshire after the Summer holidays.

‘Localism, the 3rd Sector and Sustainability: taking the model of the high profile and successful Feed in Tariff conference (which TENP ran with the West Wales Eco Centre), TENP are in discussion with PAVS and the SDC (Cardiff) to run a conference which will attract UK experts in local initiatives, community engagement and sustainability. The focus of the conference will be the role of the voluntary sector and communities in developing and delivering local sustainability. This is particularly relevant to discussions on the local Community Plan where community engagement will be the mechanism for developing an action list. It would also be relevant to recent developments in WAG on the crucial role of community engagement as a way of delivering the ‘well being’ component of WAG’s ‘One Wales: One Planet’ Sustainable Development Scheme.

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The St Davids Eco City Group is holding a week of events around St David’s Day, to promote thought, action and to get a wider group of people involved. Details on the flyer

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MCCIP has published a new peer-reviewed briefing note on ‘Ocean uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2)’. This note focuses on the important role that the oceans play as a store of CO2, how exchanges of CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere may be affected by climate change and our efforts to monitor any changes. It is a useful addition to our previous TENP event in early December and can be read here .

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The previous TENP EVENT on 8th December 09 in Narberth, was on The Challenge of Coastal Change with presentations by Richard Ellis, of the National Trust, and Dr S Bevan, of Swansea University.

Members, and staff from CCW, PCF, and WAG were treated to a daunting insight into the prospects for coastal areas of Pembrokeshire.

Richard Ellis is the Head Warden at the National Trust and has been monitoring the coastlines in Pembrokeshire for many years as a third is owned by the National Trust. Richard’s key message is that sea level rise is happening, and has been since the last Ice Age – it has been measured in places for 200 years, and coastal erosion will increase over the coming decades! At Holyhead, for example, the sea level has risen by 20cms since 1930. The UK Government's Climate Impact Programme predicts a sea level rise of 70-90 cms by 2100, possibly higher, with more storms and the resultant flooding.

The fact is that National Trust properties are at risk and decisions have to be made regarding their future (see Coastal Risk Assessment, Phase 2, ‘Shifting Shores’ which identifies ‘hot spots’).

Richard referred to Shoreline Management Plans which are currently being updated and consulted on, although few in the audience were aware of these documents which cover the whole of the Welsh coastline, and none was aware that the consultation is currently taking place! (www.WestofWalesSMP.org, and www.SouthWalescoast.org).

Richard explained that the SMP has 4 options:

- Hold the existing coastline,

- Advance the line,

- Managed retreat

- No active intervention

and that each section of coastline will be allocated a policy option over the following periods , 0-20, 20-50, and 50-100 years.

From this stark introduction Richard then treated the audience to a description and assessment of the prospects for the coastline in 4 different locations in Pembrokeshire.

To summarise:

Abermawr: the rolling barrier beach will be breached,

Abereiddi: the sea defence is part of the problem, more analysis is needed but it is likely that either the sea wall will have to be much bigger and prominent in the landscape or the sea defence should be removed and part of the car park lost.

Stackpole/Botherston Lakes: the sea will invade the lakes by over topping the dam and through percolation of the underlying limestone and the coastline will return to that of the 1850’s. However, as the Lakes are a Special Area of Conservation the National Trust will do all they can to protect the current position to enable the precious freshwater features to survive as long as possible, perhaps by retreating up the system.

Newgale: the coast road, the A487, will have to be redirected inland and the coast and beach allowed to return to its ‘wild’ or natural condition!

The theme that Richard expressed is that ‘man-made’ incursions beyond the natural coastline over the last 150 years are likely to be lost and the coastline will return to its 1850 line by 2100. Attempts to defend the coastline will be difficult, extensive and ‘patchy’. Some homes will have to be abandoned and parts of some communities may have to relocated, eg, Solva, as currently being planned in East Anglia with the local authority buying the properties and leasing them back to the inhabitants. I have no idea whether this is a possibility at Solva – wrong to suggest this – I mentioned it as a smart way that some LA’s were starting to think about this.

How the response to this situation will be planned and managed is not clear. The SMPs are being drawn up by the County Council and being consulted on, however it is not clear which organisation is responsible for flood defences. Certainly, none of the speakers nor the audience could identify the lead body!!.

From this ‘local’ dimension Dr Suzanne Bevan introduced the audience to the ‘global’ trends, particularly the process of glacier ‘ice-melt’ and the likely impact on seal levels. Dr Bevan identified the accelerating trend of sea levels rising by 1.88mm per annum over the last century but by 3.3mm per annum since 1993. Dr Bevan confirmed Richard’s prediction that sea levels would rise by 1m by 2100, perhaps more.

The complexity of measuring seal levels was evident from the fact that sea levels across the planet can vary by 100-200m due to variations in gravity and thermal expansion. The sea is not flat!.

The possible impact of glacier melt was put into perspective. 40 % of seal level rise is due to the thermal expansion of water but the melting of glaciers would have the following impact :

Antarctica= a 61metre rise.

Greenland= a 7metre rise

All Mountain Glaciers= a 7 metre rise.

Currently:

Mountain Glaciers are contributing 0.88mm per annum

Greenland, 0.2mm per annum

Antarctica, 0.2mm per annum.

The real concern is that with climate change the rate of decrease of the Greenland ice sheet is accelerating. Researchers understand the mechanics of the melting process but do not know why, hence making predictions very difficult.

Richards’ powerpoint presentation can be viewed here . Dr Suzanne Bevan’s presentation can be viewed here .