Climate & Environment Emergency
The Climate’s Changing
We’re all feeling the effects of climate change. There’s the regularly extreme and unseasonal weather, of course. But the climate in our community is changing too. Instead of just wringing our hands about the sharp decline in the numbers of swallows, cuckoos and other birds, moths and other insects, frogs and other amphibians, hares and other mammals – more and more people locally are starting to take action.
And if you’re (rightly) worried about your fuel bill this winter, we’re running an event on Monday 26th September to help you find out how to check where heat is escaping from your home, how to insulate it better and how to reduce your fuel bills in other ways. Check our website for details or email our clerk, Tamsin, to be put on our mailing list.
- Local volunteers are measuring and monitoring water quality in the river and joining working parties to help bring the river banks into good health. [River Char Community Project]
- Local volunteers are getting involved in a project to to map, plant, expand, extend and join up sections of hedgerow around and across Dorset into multiple corridors that promote biodiversity and help wildlife of all sorts. [Great Big Dorset Hedge]
- Local landowners are taking action for improved biodiversity, healthier land and waterways and improved resilience to climate change. [West Dorset Wilding]
- Local landowners, farmers and gardeners are taking action to reduce the amount of chemical pesticides and herbicides that they use. [Char Valley Lifelines]
- Local volunteers are working with water companies to reduce the number of sewage releases into the river and to stop any more plastic biobeads polluting the river and beach. [Lower Char Community Project]
And if you’re (rightly) worried about your fuel bill this winter, we’re running an event on Monday 26th September to help you find out how to check where heat is escaping from your home, how to insulate it better and how to reduce your fuel bills in other ways. Check our website for details or email our clerk, Tamsin, to be put on our mailing list.
Search this websiteFutureLearn offer online courses created by experts from leading universities and organisations. Their 'Climate Change: Solutions' course lets people explore solutions to this global challenge, including mitigation, adaptation and geo-engineering, which can help avoid the most dangerous climate changes.
Dorset Council's Local Plan ConsultationDorset Council's Draft Local Plan 2021
CVPC's response to Dorset Council's Draft Local Plan (for other responses to the Local Plan, visit Dorset Climate Action Network Dorset Council's Climate and Ecological Emergency ConsultationDorset Council's Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy 2020
CVPC's response to Dorset Council's Climate & Ecological Emergency Strategy (for other responses to the Strategy and Action Plan, visit the document archive On the 10th June 2019, Char Valley Parish Council unanimously passed the following motion:
This council acknowledges that there is a worldwide climate and environmental emergency. For some people, this may be obvious. Others may strongly disagree. And others may just feel that they don't know enough. Gathering facts and reliable projections For anyone who wants to know more about the emergency we face, we are gathering a collection of fairly sober and factual reports (from sources like the UN, the IPCC, academic journals, WWF, the RSPB, CNN, The Guardian, The New York Times and the BBC) about the climate emergency, species extinction and environmental degradation. You can see the beginnings of it here. If you have any thoughts about this or any new sites/links/publications to suggest, please let us know. We hope to expand on this, both for this site and for Char Valley Parish Council. See: Climate and Environment Reports Looking at the worst case There are more alarming predictions, also backed by solid science but which are only just beginning to be acknowledged by the UN and national governments. A few of these are collected here. See: Our Planet in Crisis What can we do? As a Parish Council, we do not own council buildings or other properties, nor do we run local transport or manage large budgets. So there is little we can do as a council to reduce carbon emissions. But we have prepared and approved our own Climate Action Plan with 12 key actions we can take as a council to support the local community and to encourage change at County (and even national) level. The Climate Action Plan is explained here. |
The River Char Community Project
Read about the project Read the Full Report commissioned by your Parish Council from Dorset AONB Growing through Climate ChangeImproving food security in and around Bridport. Read the briefing - read the full report.
See the Seeding our Future website. Gardening for Water & WildlifeA short briefing for gardeners and septic tank owners.
Rural Net Zero
See this Rural Net Zero briefing from the Green Party addressing issues specific to the countryside in trying to reduce our carbon footprint.
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