This is the forth in the series of interviews that I had with the wonderful Ayo Sokale. In this, Ayo asks me about ‘Climate Change and Children’. My son was born close to time I started my role as Chair of the RCCP so this is very real for me. It is so important that we create a good future for him, and all of our children. We need to push hard, believe and make it happen…and there is no more time to wait.
Please do check out our new Adaptation Plan. Reading this, you’ll understand a lot about where I am coming from in the interview. It is important to appreciate the risks that we face…and to pick up on the some of the things we can do to get prepared for climate change.
We’re planning for the future of transport in Reading and we want to know what you think.
Transport matters to all of us. It connects us with our workplaces, schools, friends and families. It affects our health, the air we breathe, and the streets where we live. It helps our economy to grow and our town to thrive, and it can make the environment around us clean and friendly or dirty and dangerous.
Future travel in Reading is about more than moving people from A to B. It must be affordable and accessible, improve people’s health and wellbeing, support a growing and inclusive economy, enable a carbon neutral future for Reading and harness the latest technology.
The strategy we develop now will shape our town’s transport network to 2036 and beyond, informing the decisions we take, the funding we secure and the changes we make.
Please click here for the survey which is open until 20th September.
We had a fantastic launch event on the 13th June. This opened the 6 month consultation on the 3rd Reading Climate Change Strategy.
Please do get involved: your ideas, energy and commitment are going to be really important to make a real success of this. You can take part in a number of different ways e.g. by attending meetings, commenting on proposals and encouraging others to also engage in shaping Reading’s future. To get in touch with the various themes, please find the contact details below:
To get involved with these cross-cutting themes, or if you have any general questions or suggestions please contact info@readingcan.org.uk.
Each theme will have one of the action plans that are the backbone of the strategy. For more details about all of the themes, please scroll down.
Water Supply and Flooding:
The current strategic priorities are:
to manage supply of and demand for water
to provide guidance about safe reuse of water
to reduce the expected impact of water shortages on consumers and on wildlife
to reduce the risk of flooding, pollution, and potential damage to homes
to develop an adaptation plan for Reading so we can plan for extreme events associated with the changing climate.
Key questions in meeting these aims are:
What will prevent us from getting the water we need?
How can we engage in practical water efficiency messages, calling people to help build a water efficient town, using and reusing water sustainably?
How can we measure the real impacts of flooding, not only as events, but also the damaging effects to the local economy and the domestic, community, and business lives, and not to forget to the sustainability of the town?
We can then use this to draw together an outline plan for the Town of Reading.
To find out more and get involved email: water@readingcan.org.uk
Transport and mobility:
Transport has a key role to play in tackling climate change. Solutions to the transport and mobility question can also improving air quality and promoting health and wellbeing, whilst enabling economic growth and housing delivery. In addition to the Climate Change Strategy, the Council are in the process of updating the transport strategy for Reading, prioritising the provision of sustainable transport to encourage the use of public transport, walking and cycling as an attractive alternative to the private car.
Key questions in meeting these aims are:
What is it about our way of life that encourages private vehicle ownership and non-low carbon transport infrastructure?
What kind of alternatives can we imagine and how might we influence or bring about these changes?
What technologies and solutions can help reduce the dependency on fossil fuel based transport systems whilst continuing to service our economy and communities?
To find out more and get involved email: transport@readingcan.org.uk
Health:
Climate change and associated air pollution is worsening physical and mental health and negatively affecting food production.
One of the key questions for this theme is:
In what ways might emphasising climate change as a personal and public health issue in Reading encourage people to participate in steps to curb climate change?
To find out more and get involved email: health@readingcan.org.uk
Natural Environment and Green spaces:
The new local plan requires identification and enhancement of wildlife corridors through the town, connecting the existing green spaces and ensuring that new development contributes rather than detracts from these aims. Private gardens and business sites could be part of the solution. Green spaces need enhancement for nature conservation, management of water flows and droughts, assisting in reducing air pollution and urban heating and improving well-being.
One of the key questions for this theme is:
What are the changes needed and how do we get the community to participate?
Maybe one of the most challenging topics that is on the forefront of the Climate Change issue. We all need to find a way to reduce our energy consumption and use renewable energy for the energy we do use. This is closely linked to carbon emissions and solutions to both problems tend to go hand in hand.
Key questions in meeting these aims are:
How can we bring about a reduction in energy demand?
What renewable energy technologies will be best for Reading and how can these be encouraged and installed?
How can buildings reduce energy consumption and are there alternative ways of heating and cooling buildings?
In short: stuff. Every choice we make about what to buy and consume has consequences. Our society has come to rely on a make-use-dispose model of consumption that assumes resources are infinite – both the raw materials and the energy used to manufacture goods. We have come to expect to be able to buy out of season and non-indigenous foods regardless of the water, materials and energy used to grow, package and transport them. In a zero-carbon future, we will need better ways to harness and conserve resources to deliver the quality of life we desire without leaving an unwelcome legacy for future generations.
One of the key questions for this theme is:
How are we able to consume less or in a much more considerate way?
The cross-cutting themes are common across the strategy. They do not have action plans themselves but they are useful lens to look across the 6 main themes. As we launch the strategy, we have identified 4 cross-cutting themes. This number could grow through time.
Education – this theme covers the interaction with schools, colleges and other educational establishments, as well as a general sharing of our “learning about climate change” so we can all make better informed decisions.
Adaptation (Resilience) – this theme captures the need to “Get Reading Ready” for the changes that we expect to happen with the changing climate. Weather patterns are already shifting, and the risks associated with extreme events are increasing. We must prepare for this, and our First Reading Adaptation Plan will help to guide our initial steps.
Business – the business community has a very important role in helping us to deliver our strategy, as well as ensuring that each individual business is switched-on to the twin challenges of getting ready for climate change and cutting our carbon footprint to zero by 2030.
Community – the community of Reading is diverse and complex, with varying levels of engagement and capacity when it comes to climate change. We need to grow the Reading Climate Action Network (ReadingCAN) to make sure we get through to everyone who lives, works and visits this town. We need to help people to make good choices and pick up an optimistic vision of the future for Reading.
It was my great pleasure to be interviewed by Ayo Sokale – one of Caversham’s new Councillors. This is the first in a series of five interviews. In this we talk about our plans for new Reading Climate Change Strategy.
We are writing the new strategy between now and Christmas. Please do get involved – you can find out more here:
The annual UN Climate Conference, COP24 is taking place in Katowice, Poland. It started on the 2nd Dec and will finish on the 14th Dec. 190 countries are meeting at COP24 and must get results on action towards all countries’ Paris Agreement targets.
Teams of students from secondary schools across Reading, representing 15 countries from Fiji to USA, met in the Council Chambers on Wednesday 5th December to carry out their own talks on progress towards the Paris Agreement and try to negotiate raising ambition for more action.
Prof. Paul Williams from University of Reading addressed the children and emphasized the realities of global warming and human interference. Councillor Tony Page, lead member for Strategic Environment, said: “Climate change is a subject which young people rightly feel passionate about. The mock conference was opened by the Mayor of Reading, councillor Debs Edwards and children were asked to exchange ideas to tackle this global problem.
Councillors and Professors at the Summit
What is happening on Climate Change around the world?
On 3rd Dec 2018, Sir David Attenborough said the below at the COP24
“Right now, we are facing a man-made disaster of global scale. Our greatest threat in thousands of years, Climate change. If we don’t take action, the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon.”
The clear messages the students gave for everyone in the Council Chambers were on similar lines too:
the immediacy of the effects of climate change for every country in the world, the effects being especially hard-hitting for vulnerable countries
the complexity of decision-making and contradictions of policy-making, particularly where economic interests based on fossil fuels, and political reticence are taking precedence
the vital part that cooperation between countries can play in increasing momentum by helping to distribute finance, and to learn from great ideas that are already working elsewhere in the world.
School students discussing Climate Change
What can we do locally about Climate Change?
The second part of the conference brought Local Action into sharp focus. The extent of the commitment to climate action by Local Government was strongly conveyed by Cllr Tony Page in his opening words and Chris Beales, Chair of the Reading Climate Change Partnership. He stressed the part that each individual has to play, and what students in particular can do to help galvanise others.
Chris Beales at Reading Schools Climate Change Summit 2018
“…schools are really influential parts of our community, if you pass on what you know about climate change to your fellow students, and teachers…and you all pass on to your friends and families…we can reach a lot of people. And this is such an important issue…we need you to pester, and jump up and down about this until we get it sorted.” – Chris Beales
Sustainability experts from Reading Climate Change Partnership, Reading Council’s Sustainability Team and local organisations provided details of great local initiatives and ways for students to make a difference: from energy use in school, growing food, using green space differently through to signing up to a transport initiative or influencing recycling. Each school went away with at least one idea or ‘pledge’ for what they can do, and ICN will follow to make sure that the tools are in place for going about it.
Our huge thanks go to Reading Borough Council for hosting the event and Reading Climate Change Partnership for its support.
Councillors: The Mayor of Reading Councillor Debs Edwards, Councillor Tony Page, Deputy Leader of the Council
Keynote: Professor Paul D Williams, Professor of Atmospheric Science in the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading, UK http://www.met.reading.ac.uk/~williams/
Workshop contributors: Nature Nurture, Reading Borough Council Sustainability Team, Reading Climate Change Partnership, Reading International Solidarity Centre, Reading 2050, Stuart Singleton-White COnsultant, University of Reading Dept of Environmental Science.
