Food nature and consumption strategies to address the Climate and Biodiversity Emergency. Special briefing for councillors and council staff

EVENT SPECIFICALLY FOR COUNCILLORS AND COUNCIL STAFF

Why is a food strategy necessary? How does this link to a nature and rewilding strategy? How important are both these areas in the face of the Climate and Biodiversity Emergency and what should local councils be doing?

What is a food systems approach and how should a council address this including looking at the role of changing production and consumption to help tackle the Climate and Biodiversity Emergency

Councils all over the UK have started work on their Climate Change strategies but how many of these have considered the crucial role of food? Dr Helen Harwatt and panel explain the vital importance of a Climate Crisis food strategy and cover the science behind this.

Carbon dioxide removal and emissions reduction is at the core of any councils net zero strategy but how is this associated with food. What is the potential for carbon capture through using agricultural land differently?

Food, nature and consumption issues are obviously intertwined but how? Our panel of top scientists explain this in detail and move on to discuss connected land management issues and rewilding as well as looking at changes needed to production and consumption.

This briefing session by scientists is for councillors and council staff to help them to identify the most important issues in relation to food and nature. The panel members will also emphasise what needs to go into every council's planning to tackle the Climate and Biodiversity Emergency.

After introductory talks by panel members there will be an extensive opportunity for questions and panel discussion.

The panel members are

Dr Helen Harwatt

Dr Marco Springmann

Professor Andrew Balmford

The moderator will be Ed Gemmell, Managing Director, Scientists Warning Europe

Dr Helen Harwatt is an environmental social scientist, with a focus on food systems shifts and their contribution to climate change mitigation goals. Helen’s current projects focus on assessing the impacts of food systems shifts on a range of issues around environmental sustainability, public health and ethics, to identify pathways toward creating food systems that minimize adverse environmental impacts, maximize public health benefits, and address ethical issue.

Dr. Marco Springmann is a senior researcher in the Centre on Population Approaches for Non-Communicable Disease Prevention in the Nuffield Department of Population Health. Since 2017, he is working on a Wellcome funded project “Livestock, Environment and People” (LEAP). Marco holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Oldenburg (Germany), a MSc in Sustainability from the University of Leeds (UK), and a MS in Physics from Stony Brook University (USA). He is a Junior Research Fellow at Linacre College, and a Honorary Research Associate in the Food Systems Group of the Environmental Change Institute.

Professor Andrew Balmford is Professor of Conservation Science in the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, where his research focuses on how to reconcile biodiversity conservation with meeting human food needs and other land-demanding activities; the costs and benefits of retaining intact ecosystems; and identifying what works in conservation. He collaborates closely with conservation practitioners and with colleagues in other disciplines, including economics and psychology. In his book Wild Hope he argues that cautious, evidence-based optimism is vital in tackling environmental challenges. Andrew helped establish the Student Conference on Conservation Science, the Cambridge Conservation Initiative, and Earth Optimism.

Ed Gemmell, Managing Director Scientists Warning Europe. Ed passionately believes that action to protect the climate is needed now based on the indisputable science. He sees awareness of the three Scientists Warnings and the fact they are signed by tens of thousands of scientists as vital in stimulating that action. After reading the first two warnings Ed sat outside the houses of parliament on 22 July 2019 and read 20,000 of the signatories’ names over the course of 14 hours while streaming live to Facebook. After undertaking his own ecological conversion Ed founded No Disposable Cup Day and Believers Action on Climate Change. He then stood in the 2019 General Election as an independent candidate with only one policy to reverse climate change. As a parish councillor Ed was instrumental in Hazlemere Parish Council making a Climate Emergency Declaration. Ed is a member of Friends of the Earth, a regular speaker, ex-army officer and city lawyer and owner of his own marketing business bringing with him a wide variety of skills to the role of Manging Director for Scientists Warning Europe

Council success stories from the Climate and Biodiversity front line! Don't reinvent the wheel - copy these successful strategies.

EVENT SPECIFICALLY FOR COUNCILLORS AND COUNCIL STAFF

Right across the UK councils are working to follow the science and implement Climate Change strategies.

These plans vary in their ambition as does the subsequent level of action with some councils doing better than others.

Scientists Warning Europe has invited a number of local authorities to showcase their most successful projects. These proactive councils will explain their projects in some detail, why such projects were selected as being necessary, how they planned and launched them and where they have got to so far.

The scientists are sure we are in an emergency and it is hoped that the open sharing of these success stories will spur rapid action from other councils who are invited to simply copy them. Sharing these successful case studies will also help to inspire action from councillors and council staff alike.

After presentation of the case studies there will be plenty of time for questions and discussion amongst the panel

We are very thankful to the following council representatives who will be joining the panel at this event:

Councillor Edwina Hannaford, Cabinet lead Cornwall Council Neighbourhoods Localism and Devolution and Climate Change, Cornwall Council

Councillor Sally Longford, Deputy Leader, Portfolio Holder for Energy, Environment & Democratic Services, Nottingham Council

Councillor Steve Hastings, Cabinet Member for Environment, Heritage and Waste Management, Isle of Wight Council

Councillor Kevin Frea , Cabinet member for Climate Action at Lancaster City Council. He is also the founder of Climate Emergency UK

This event will be moderated by Ed Gemmell the Managing director of Scientists Warning Europe.

Climate and Biodiversity Crisis action briefing by top scientists for councillors and council staff

EVENT SPECIFICALLY FOR COUNCILLORS AND COUNCIL STAFF

Four top scientists come together to provide a high level briefing on the Climate and Biodiversity Crisis specifically for councillors and council staff.

Councils all over the UK have a vital role to play in keeping us safe from the ravages of Climate Change and nature collapse but what actions do they need to take? How urgent is the Climate and Biodiversity Crisis and how quickly do councils need to take action? What is the necessary net zero target to keep our children and grandchildren safe? What do councils need to do to prevent further biodiversity collapse in their area and what are the dangers if this action is not taken fast enough?

This briefing session will provide councillors and council staff with an overview of the science and recommendations from top scientists of where they need to focus, what they need to do and how fast.

If you are a councillor (Metropolitan, Unitary, County, City, District) then this session is for you. It will equip you with the basics on what is happening in relation to Climate Change and Biodiversity collapse and what you can do to help.

If you are a member of staff working for a council then this session will be bring you up to date on the latest science allowing you to better advise your council employer on the current situation and what you need to do locally yo put it right.

The briefing session will start with short presentations from the esteemed panel of scientists covering 1) the Climate Crisis, 2) the Biodiversity Crisis, 3) Energy and 4)Driving Science Led Action at the Council Level. This will be followed by plenty of time for discussion among the panel and questions from attendees.

The panel will be:

• Professor Peter Wadhams

• Professor Dave Goulson

• Professor Chris Rhodes

• Dr Kris de Meyer

• Moderator will be Ed Gemmell, Managing Director of Scientists Warning Europe

An hour-long, interactive and multi-faith event to commemorate what should have been the start of COP26. Cross-party MPs will be in attendance.

Professor William Moomaw, co-author of the World Scientists' Warning of a Climate Emergency will deep dive into why this article, signed by over 11,000 scientists when it was published, is so crucial in driving science led action on the Climate Emergency. He will discuss the six identified stressors in the warning - Nature, Food, Population, Energy, Short Lived Pollutants and Economy - and how specific actions related to these stressors must be taken now and not put off again. He will explain how his personal involvement in this seminal article came about. Finally Professor Moomaw will look at the year ahead and place the six stressors into the context of required action now, on the way to and at COP26.

Professor Moomaw will be joined by Ed Gemmell, Managing Director of Scientists Warning Europe who will look back over the week of talks in the Planet in Crisis series and identify the most important take homes while also looking forward to the COP26.

For fifty years, indigenous voices and movements have signaled the need for humankind to respect and value Mother Earth. As scientists measure the planet and ring alarms over the increasingly predictable horrors of climate change, indigenous seers and visionaries connect as well with central messages from the Mother Earth.

Contributing to the Planet in Crisis series of events, being held to prepare for the critical COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in 2021, the Onaway Trust are pleased to invite José Barreiro to provide an Indigenous perspective on Climate Change.

José Barreiro is visible as an advocate of indigeneity, in a life-long mission to create understanding and application of an indigenous philosophy of localized community, valuing the human-land-nature relationship and the great range of eco-systemic knowledge of Native cultures. With appreciable contributions in his field of vision, Barreiro as writer, journalist, oral historian, as field organizer of major public events, as curator, as activist and scholar, as editor in chief, appears through forty years of social and human rights activism on behalf of Native peoples, from the early 1970s to the present, recognized for his consistency as communicator and advocate. Barreiro is a member of the Taino Nation of the Antilles.

Mark McCaffrey is a lead author of ‘Powers of 10’, a new framework identifying scalable opportunities for rapid climate and sustainability actions at individual and global scales. He draws on data from Project Drawdown’s examination of key interventions to reduce climate impacts, and looks at further powerful strategies to inspire and engage humanity. 

Mark S. McCaffery is founder of ECOS, the UN Climate Change community for education, communication and outreach stakeholders.  Based in Hungary, he has been an environmental activist for many years, establishing a national digital library and (CLEAN), the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network) and authoring a book for teachers entitled Climate Smart & Energy Wise, published in 2014 by Corwin Press. Relocating from North America to Europe to pursue international collaboration, he helped launch the Institute for Sustainable Development Studies in Budapest and in 2016 established ECOS, which focuses on reducing climate risks and maximizing societal and ecosystem resilience through climate education and engagement.

Stuart Scott makes an impassioned plea for Climate Action.

Stuart H. Scott was the original initiator of the Scientists Warning outreach programme that, in Europe, has ultimately resulted in the formation of Scientists Warning Europe and an equivalent group in USA.

Stuart is an American environmentalist and educator known for his creativity in communicating the urgency and severity of the impact of the current ‘growth’ economic system on climate, habitability of Earth, and society.

After earning a Masters of Science in Computer & Information Science, from the University of Florida

After seeing VP Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth, in 2006, he became deeply involved with Gore’s Climate Project.

Principally known for his visibility at UN-sponsored climate negotiations, or COPS and extensive video interviews. Stuart has attended ten of the last thirteen COP’s or Conference of Parties of the United Nations talks. In 2018, Stuart brought Greta Thunberg and her father, Svante Thunberg, to COP-24 in Poland, from which Greta’s unwaveringly clear message to world leaders was amplified and her position cemented as the preeminent spokesperson for youth and future generations.

He sees humanity’s dominant, relentless, money-motivated obsession with ‘making more money’ as directly leading to the climate crisis, since the stability and viability of the ecosphere is constantly degraded and undermined in the pursuit of ‘making money’ by people and the artificial ‘corporate persons’ that have been created and arguably favored by national governments.

His persistence and unwavering focus is on revealing the disastrous flaws in the current Neo-Classical economic system and promoting Ecological Economics (also known as Steady-State-Economics) as alternative models for a sustainable human economy. He prefers to work unfunded due to the ‘editorial bias’ and control that funding brings, either implicitly or explicitly.

Stuart has interviewed Noam Chomksy, Dr. Peter Wadhams, Dahr Jamail, as well as Greta and Svante Thunberg. Relying on volunteer help, he is known for his active use of media, having founded ClimateMatters.TV, ScientistsWarning.TV and most recently FacingFuture.TV.

In spite of his battle with cancer, Stuart continues to be driven by his passion for climate activism and ecological investigation.

The expert panel will address opportunities and thorny issues in converting to action the “nature” recommendations of the Scientists’ Warning paper:  

• Habitat restoration, including coastlines – levering the 2021-2030 UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration as we plan for climate adaptation and a new economy;

• Habitat conservation, especially carbon-rich forests, savannas and grasslands, wetlands, peatlands – calling land transformation in virgin habitats to a halt well before 2030

• What this means for urban settlements, society, and resilient/green economic recovery – densification and diversification of land uses on already transformed land.

• Increasing wildfires - their intersection with biodiversity and ecosystem health, human health and well-being, and the climate.  

 In the World Scientists Warning of a Climate Emergency published on 5 November 2019 the following recommendation for "Nature" was made:

"We must protect and restore Earth’s ecosystems. Phytoplankton, coral reefs, forests, savannas, grasslands, wetlands, peatlands, soils, mangroves, and sea grasses contribute greatly to sequestration of atmospheric CO2. Marine and terrestrial plants, animals, and microorganisms play significant roles in carbon and nutrient cycling and storage. We need to quickly curtail habitat and biodiversity loss (figure 1f–1g), protecting the remaining primary and intact forests, especially those with high carbon stores and other forests with the capacity to rapidly sequester carbon (proforestation), while increasing reforestation and afforestation where appropriate at enormous scales. Although available land may be limiting in places, up to a third of emissions reductions needed by 2030 for the Paris agreement (less than 2°C) could be obtained with these natural climate solutions (Griscom et al. 2017)."

The expert panel includes:

Prof. Phoebe Barnard - biodiversity conservation biologist, climate risk and resilience specialist, global change ecologist, environmental futures analyst and sustainability strategist - Chief Scientific and Policy Officer with the Conservation Biology Institute

Prof. Chris Rapley - Professor of Climate Science at University College London.

Dr Mao Amis - the co-founder and Executive Director of the African Centre for a Green Economy (AfriCGE)

Microbes are often overlooked but crucial to most ecological processes.

I discuss the effects of human driven global change on microbes - especially in respect to soil microbes and their role in agriculture.

Dave Wilkinson has very wide interest in ecology and the environmental sciences.

He taught at Liverpool John Moores University for almost 25 years and is now visiting Professor in Ecology at the University of Lincoln and an honorary research fellow in archaeology at Nottingham University.

His book 'Fundamental processes in ecology; an Earth systems approach, won the British Ecological Societies book award for 2007 and he is currently writing a book on 'Ecology and natural history' for Harper Collins long-running New Naturalist series.

The use of radio wave transmission has grown steadily since the BBC was formed in 1922, but in the last thirty years its proliferation has been exponential, driven by broadcasting, computers and the internet, telecommunications and wireless enabled technology. Now, with the advent of 5G, debate about the impact of man-made electro-magnetic radiation has raged with opinions becoming polarised. The evidence for harm must be properly assessed, and crucial decisions made about the need to safeguard public health, our ecosystems, and the long-term habitability of our planet.

Mike will set out the magnitude of the impact in the use of electro-magnetic frequency fields, the pervasive nature of the technology, the science that now demonstrates severe biological harm, the far-reaching consequences for human and ecological health, without informed consent and the pressure an obsession with wireless connectivity will place upon the world’s energy resources.

Mike Sparrow has had a diverse career in business, including hospitality and facilities services. He has also led a worldwide utilities construction business. Today he is an author, writing novels that centre upon nature, conservation and indigenous history. He campaigns for action on climate change and has a particular interest in raising awareness of the harm caused by anthropogenic electro-magnetic radiation.

Top biologist and insect specialist, Dave Goulson, will cover biodiversity declines generally, then focus in on the huge threat associated with the accompanying insect decline.

He will present evidence of the decline, articulate the consequences and causes, and what we must do to reverse this frightening decline, focussing on urban areas and farmland.

Dave Goulson is Professor of Biology at University of Sussex, specializing in bee ecology. He has published more than 300 scientific articles on the ecology and conservation of bumblebees and other insects.

Brian Czech will provide an overview of steady-state economics, which Czech calls the “macroeconomic arm of ecological economics.” However, Czech will quickly hone in on two of the most controversial topics in ecological economics today: the sustainability of GDP growth and the prospects for avoiding limits to growth with technological progress.

Applying principles of ecology and national income accounting, Czech will argue that GDP has become an outstanding indicator of one thing above all others: namely, environmental destruction. Next, reflecting a deep dive into the origins of technological progress, Czech will defuse the notion that technological progress can reconcile the conflict between economic growth and environmental protection. Czech will conclude with policy proposals for a steady state economy and “steady statesmanship” in international diplomacy.

Brian Czech is the Executive Director of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy — www.steadystate.org — a non-profit organization based in Arlington, Virginia. Czech served in the headquarters of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from 1999-2017 and as a visiting professor in Virginia Tech’s National Capitol Region during most of that period. He is the author of three books, most recently Supply Shock: Economic Growth at the Crossroads and the Steady State Solution. Czech has a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin, an M.S. from the University of Washington, and a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona. Czech’s primary areas of expertise include ecology, economics, and ecological macroeconomics.

Mathis Wackernagel, Ph.D. Global Footprint Network, President

“One planet” is not a metaphor; it is a description. It is not a goal, but rather a recognition of our context. It acknowledges that there is a limited ecological budget our planet makes available. Human demand ("Ecological Footprint") now exceeds what the planet’s ecosystems can renew ("biocapacity") by at least 56%. That’s why August 22 was this year’s Earth Overshoot Day – humanity is using the biosphere so fast that this year, from January 1 to August 22, the demand was as large as the total amount all ecosystems combined can renew in the entire year.

Although the massive overuse of ecological resources still barely carries any financial weight, this overshoot cannot persist. The consequence of continuing down the path of depleting resource stocks and overloading waste sinks (such as the atmosphere with GHG) is that markets will not adjust smoothly, but rather be faced with disruption. But are we resigned to one-planet misery? Or can we choose to design our path to one-planet prosperity, where all thrive within the ecological budget of our planet?
The built environment, including cities, their buildings, roads and energy infrastructure, is an especially powerful lever since the built environment’s legacy endures for decades, even centuries. So is investment in women and encouraging smaller families. The food system is essential and offers opportunities, as does the way we power ourselves.


Mathis Wackernagel, Ph.D. co-created Ecological Footprint accounting and founded Global Footprint Network, a think-tank focused on bringing about an economy in which all can thrive within the means of our one planet. His awards include the 2018 World Sustainability Award, the 2015 IAIA Global Environment Award, and the 2012 Blue Planet Prize.

These are frightening and confusing days. As we have rearranged our daily lives in response to the coronavirus pandemic, other interlocking crises continue to worsen, from biodiversity collapse to food security to climate catastrophe.

Underneath all these, we face a seemingly impossible dilemma – either cease growing, and so collapse the economy on which we all depend, or continue to grow until we overwhelm and destroy the ecosystems on which we all depend.

In these tumultuous times, what does it make sense to do? Is there still a realistic future worth aiming for? And how do we deal with despair?

Shaun Chamberlin quit his job in 2005 to give his full attention to the unfolding crisis, and has learned to live meaningfully in relation to these dark times (for a taste of that realistic future, see: https://www.tikkun.org/the-sequel-life-after-economic-growth)

The 30 minute talk will be followed by 30 minutes of Q&A / open conversation, so bring your deepest concerns, and let's talk it over.

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Shaun Chamberlin was author of the Transition Towns movement's second book, one of the earliest Extinction Rebellion arrestees, executive producer of 2020 film 'The Sequel: What Will Follow Our Troubled Civilisation?' and leads Sterling College's online programme 'Surviving the Future: Conversations for Our Time'.

He is managing director of The Fleming Policy Centre, and has previously served as chair of the Ecological Land Co-operative, a director of the campaigning organisation Global Justice Now, and an advisor to the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change, as well as co-authoring the All Party Parliamentary report in favour of carbon rationing. His website is www.darkoptimism.org

Andy Tunstall, Director, Reading Hydro CBS will be leading this event.

Reading Hydro Community Benefit Society was formed to deliver hydroelectricity on the Thames for the benefit of the local community.

After running two share offerings Reading Hydro was able to finalise the most appropriate technology and design, and to raise the funds required to start building.

Planning Permission was obtained in Summer 2015 from Reading Borough Council.

The Environment Agency granted the licences required to operate a hydro project on Caversham Weir in February 2016.

Final planning approval was given in May 2017 by the Council. Further fundraising has since taken place and the build phase is underway.

Andy Tunstall has a background in oil, water and energy in posts ranging from finance, IT, sales, marketing and strategy. He has recently completed the MSc in Renewable Energy at University of Reading and is also a director of The Green Group UK Ltd. He joins Reading Hydro CBS to help advise on business strategy, partnership development and the all-important share raise to make the idea into reality.

This event highlights the need for businesses and commercial enterprises to follow the science and play their part in tackling the climate emergency. This interactive 60 minute session will give you an overview on how to shape your business and your brand as a force for good, mitigating the effects of climate change and even help to restore the damage. You’ll come away with a list of actionable insights to bake into your business right away.

The first half of this session is hosted by Will Saunders, climate activist and founder of ethical design agency Good Will Studios, and will highlight the current consumer demand for sustainable products and services, and outline some ideas on how to embed a sustainability message into your brand.

The second half, hosted by Tim Brazier, Sustainability Consultant and founder of 1000 Green Businesses, will bring you practical and actionable tips that you can start doing in your business and your life straight away to have a positive impact. We’ll also look at a few key frameworks for making environmental and sustainable decisions in your organisation. And we’ll also see how all this works together to make meaningful change for our planet.

This is not a workshop in how to greenwash! If you’re serious about making some real changes in your organisation and want to learn how to achieve them, this event is for you.

With 50 years of experience working on Arctic ice and related areas Prof Peter Wadhams analyses the threat from the Arctic methane and goes into the methods that can be applied for methane removal

Methane is the most important and powerful short-lived greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. It is 23 times as powerful per molecule as carbon dioxide, but while CO2 has a residence time in the atmosphere of 100,000 years, methane released into the atmosphere is oxidized inside ten years. Why do we worry then? Because there’s a lot of it and the concentration is increasing fast. Already it is responsible for about 30% of global warming. It is produced by many sources, both natural and artificial, including agriculture (flooded rice paddies and digestive processes in domesticated animals), industry (leaks from gas pipelines, leaks from fracking processes) as well as thawing permafrost on land and under the sea.