Climate Emergency Scotland, April 2020

APRIL 2020 | ISSUE 1

CLIMATE EMERGENCY SCOTLAND

IN THE ISSUE

WHAT ARE THE WORLD'S SCIENTISTS SAYING ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE?

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LIVING ON THE EDGE: GREAT BRITAIN GETTING SMALLER AND SMALLER WHAT IS CARBON FOOTPRINT?

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WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE WITHOUT LEAVING HOME?

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An introductory note from Edinburgh's Councillor Wilson In Edinburgh, Scotland's great Capital City, we have set ambitious targets to tackle climate change in the years ahead. Having declared a ‘Climate Emergency' a year ago we have now set our sights on being carbon neutral in a decade. For me however it is not about what you say but what you do. Just two weeks ago I was in Saughton Park looking at the progress of its two ground source heat exchangers and hydro scheme on the weir. The ground source schemes provide 12.5KwH or heat energy each and more than heat the Winter Gardens and other buildings in the park. Watching the natural force of water surging through the Archimedes screw on the weir as it turns out 28KwH (Max 38KwH) is actually a moving experience. Both impressive, one for its invisibility (ground source) and the other for its visibility returning the weir to its original purpose. I played a key role in getting all this started thirteen years ago when we were told that a local authority could not and should not generate its own power. Now we are the first in Scotland to be doing so and I take great pride in this. Having solar PV panels on my house and driving aMAGDALENA hybrid car GRZYMKOWSKA I have always believed we should lead by example and the Local Authority is now doing this.

The park is just one example, but Greenspace Scotland has produced a report (the Parkpower Report) which states that Scottish local authorities have the greatest untapped energy potential from their parks and greenspaces. It goes on to state that ‘Public parks and greenspaces across urban Scotland offer the potential to supply low carbon heat to at least 15% of Scottish households. That's all the households in Glasgow and Dundee combined. This would save the same amount of carbon as 10 years growth from planting 9½ million tree saplings.' This is without including hydro! This is about everybody doing their bit and working together to save the planet. This magazine is part of that.

Donald Wilson BA(Hons) MSc OStJ Councillor for Sighthill/Gorgie Ward Convener of Culture and Communities

The UN IPCC report

What are the world's scientists saying about climate change?

You may have heard about the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report in 2018 or have heard it referred to frequently in any official conversation on the environment. It is often used by the media to hold governments to account for their lack of action in dealing with climate change. But who are the IPCC and what are they reporting?

GLOSSARY Greenhouse effect – Atmospheric gases trap heat from the sun. Using fossil fuels increases the quantity of these gases, making the earth’s temperature rise.

Net Zero – Balancing carbon emissions by removing carbon from the atmosphere or stopping carbon emissions all together.

Ocean acidification – The growing acidity of the Earth’s oceans resulting from an increased concentration of CO2.

Pre-industrial levels – The period before we started using fossil fuels and machinery on a mass scale.

The IPCC is an organisation which assesses the science behind climate change, its potential impacts and the ways in which we can mitigate against it. They gather and review thousands of scientific research papers from around the world to piece together as comprehensive a summary as possible on the state of our climate, before compiling a report to advise policy makers and governments. 2018’s report was one of the most significant yet, with a stark warning that time is running out to limit the damage climate change may cause.

First the bad news from the IPCC. It is undoubtedly heating up.

In fact, it has already warmed up around 1°C above preindustrial levels. While that doesMAGDALENA not sound aGRZYMKOWSKA lot and here in the UK most of us would relish warmer summers, this is the global average, meaning warming has been substantially more elsewhere, with the Arctic experiencing two to three times as much. If our use of fossil fuels is not curtailed, average warming will surpass 3°C within the next few decades, having devastating impacts for life on earth. Land and sea ecosystems are already suffering. While the large-scale bushfires and melting icebergs steal the headlines, there are other dangers less evident that could play havoc with life on earth. Higher levels of CO2 for instance is increasing the acidity of our oceans, killing our corals and potentially wiping out entire species and further threatening delicate ocean ecosystems.

There is a way forward. If we can limit warming to 1.5°C, then we increase life’s chances of adapting and the amount of time available to do so. The IPCC predict that if we can cut our emissions in half by 2030 and reach Net Zero by 2050 then we will be on course. To do that needs change in how we live our lives, most obviously a move away from fossil fuelled energy to renewable sources. The IPCC call for low energy demand, low material consumption, low carbon food and international cooperation in all sectors, notably innovation and investment. A great opportunity to do just that takes place here in Scotland later this year at COP 26, the UN Climate Change conference, where a gathering of governments, experts and international organisations look to tackle the problem.

These changes require political will and a clear strategy, which we must demand of our elected representatives. Pessimism about our climate is easy, but if we want to hand over a world in reasonable health to the next generation, the overall message from the experts is clear: we need positive action at every level of society.

Matthew Gledhill

A youth view

As a teen growing up in the 21st century, where we are running out of time to end global warming, I am overwhelmed with emotion. Humans emissions and activities have caused nearly all of the warming observed since 1950 and knowing this upsets me, as it can be argued climateMAGDALENA change is GRZYMKOWSKA a man-made problem. Humans have done this to such a wonderful planet and we are letting our home fall apart.

Not enough is being done to resolve the issue of climate change. I believe it is vital that not only students but also adults are educated on this matter. I am worried for the future because of climate change, not just for me in my lifetime but for the generations after me. Young people have the most to lose- our futures are on the line.

The youth all across the planet are furious by the lack of action from the government on this issue leading to various school strikes. Though most teens are unable to vote, our voice matters just as much those who can vote – because it us who have now got to deal with the downfall of the climate.

Governments need to prioritise Climate Change or it will become too late.

As a society we need to come together and start understanding how our actions affect what is around us and learn to be more eco friendly. This can be done in so many ways- simple things like using energy more efficiently. I also believe as humans we have a moral responsibility to respect and care for our planet, just as we would to one another. We are running out of time. If we care about the future and our planet, we need to make a change, immediately.

Madiha Choudhury Drummond Community High School S4

Every year, Great Britain is getting smaller and smaller. Research by the University of Glasgow shows that due to the climate change the iconic Dover and Seven Sisters cliffs erode ten times faster than in the last few thousand years. Over half of the 361 kilometres of the Yorkshire and Humber coastline shrinks at an average rate of 1-1.5 metres per year. In some areas, the sea can take up to 20 metres in a year.

Living on the edge MAGDALENA GRZYMKOWSKA

It was a typical rainy English morning when Janet Ellis saw part of her garden had disappeared. Where until recently there was a scrupulously trimmed lawn, now there was a chasm, and waves struck the cliff wall with alarming force.

Janet served in the navy, so the sea was always an important element in her life. And the view from the high shore in Skipsea, a small village in Yorkshire, was breathtaking.

After 28 years living in her cliff-top house, she received a letter from the local council telling her she had to move inland for safety reasons.

“I just can't get up and leave. I have nowhere to go,” she told a BBC1 reporter. Janet demanded compensation from the council, but the councillors weren’t helpful. There was no budget for compensation for residents, but they could support the demolition of the house financially.

As Janet looked at the sea, the expression on her face spoke for herself. She was not going anywhere. She would only check how much garden was left.

A few years later I decided to visit Skipsea and see if Janet's house still stands, but the side road from the village high street is blocked by concrete blocks and red signs screaming “Danger, cliff landslide”. The ragged asphalt line that cut the dry land from the precipice resembled a post-apocalyptic film set.

Off the road to the right, there is an estate of holiday trailers. Mr and Mrs Senior had been coming here for 65 years. They knew all about the erosion, but they didn't expect it to happen so quickly and violently. For all these years, they lost a few dozen meters of land. Including the land where their bungalow stood. Their holiday bungalow was replaced by a trailer, that could be easily moved in the future.

Vanishing village Skipsea, like other towns in a wide belt between Withernsea and Bridlington, lies on a moraine clay. If the glacier didn’t melt down at the end of Pleistocene, this English village probably wouldn't exist. The name "Skipsea" first appeared in the 12th century, but the village became famous in 1950s.

At the beginning of the last century, more and more tourists started coming to the village. In 1951-1952 the Skipsea Sands estate was established, where Yorkshire residents could rent or lease a holiday home with a sea view.

His two daughters were born and raised in a house on the cliff. They are taught not to come too close to the edge. "But it's still a little scary when the earth shakes from the waves," said Darrell.

In 1953 Skipsea was almost destroyed as a side effect of the Cold War. Experts from the Aldermaston laboratory in Berkshire were looking for deserted areas to detonate a prototype nuclear warhead. Skipsea was an attractive testing ground: sparsely populated, and the Royal Air Force had recently closed its military base here, making the land easy to buy. The village was saved from disaster by its reputation as a holiday resort. In the end, tests were carried out in Australia. Later it turned out that if the explosion had occurred in Skipsea, the contamination would have covered a large area of the country and could even have spread to northern Europe.

He believes that cliff erosion is influenced by climate change. But there's no idea how to tackle it. “I wonder what the world will look like when my daughters are my age. Perhaps this place will no longer be on the map,” he wondered.

And yet, the contemporary view of the village is at times reminiscent of dystopian visions of the landscape after the atomic bomb explosion.

The road leading from Skipsea to neighbouring Ulrome, does not exist. Instead, there is a cliff carelessly ‘protected’ by a plastic net. The elegant gate which once led to the Beach Bank Caravan Park looks spooky. Some trailers still have curtains in the windows. Others fell apart like houses made of cards. The washing machine, fridge and ironing board were dragged out of them to be dropped a few metres away and left to rust in the rain mixed with the sea breeze.

Many experts blame climate change for the increasingly rapid coastal erosion. The violent storms and rising sea levels due to the melting of polar ice soften the soil and make it susceptible to crumbling. The Climate Change Committee, an independent body of the British government, warned in October 2018 that this phenomenon will necessitate the construction of new houses and roads on the coast. Experts predict that by the end of the century the sea level may rise by as much as one meter. But it's not just the Yorkshire coastline that's in danger. Research by the University of Glasgow shows that the iconic Dover and Seven Sisters cliffs erode ten times faster than in the last few thousand years.

Strikes of waves On my way to Janet's house I met Darrell Savage. He has a trailer park behind his house.

“On a sunny day, it's unimaginably beautiful here. You can see dolphines here. I watch them through my from my window,” he said.

Four years ago, he lost a lot of his business. A tidal wave destroyed the fence, 65 caravan spots and the cafe on top of the cliff. “I didn't get any compensation. Instead, the municipal office has issued a bill for the demolition of the fence, because it is said to have endangered safety,” complains Darrell.

Erosion does not happen suddenly. It's a longterm process whose final effect, the cliff slip, is the most spectacular stage. During the high tides and violent storms, water mixes with the sand, and small stones hit the front of the cliff, disturbing the structure of the ground. When the tide is combined with a strong wind from the sea and prolonged rainfall, a landslide occurs.

Great Britain's getting smaller Every year, Great Britain is shrinking. Nearly one-third of the coastline of England and Wales is exposed to erosion. The Yorkshire and Humber coastline is considered to be the most sensitive to this, where well over half of the 361 kilometres of coastline is cleared at an average rate of 1-1.5 metres per year. In some areas, the sea can take up to 20 metres in a year. More than 2,000 kilometres of the UK coastline is protected against erosion.

BBC material on the Janet Ellis house reveals that in 2013 the local council allocated £5 million to protect the shores of Bridlington Resort in the north and £250,000 to protect the cliffs in Whiternsea in the south.

There wasn't enough money for Skipsea. There are no breakwaters here, coastal management is limited to a short section of concrete dams to protect the cottages and caravans. For the seven hundred inhabitants, the largest group of whom are 60-80 years old, this simply does not pay off. It is easier to carry them out, and the houses are demolished.

As Janet stressed in her statements, both her house and the houses of her neighbours, which were built in Skipsea 20-30 years ago, were accepted by the council’s planning department. But then their gardens were separated from the cliff by a street (which no longer exists) and a few meters of lawn. It was not expected that the water would go so far at such a fast pace.

“I took it because it was cheap. It only cost £55,000. I couldn't afford any other singlestorey house in the area”, she said.

Shirley is not as persistent as Janet. She was even thinking about securing her part of the cliff with concrete blocks or sandbags at her expense. “But that doesn't solve the problem. If I do, and the rest of the inhabitants don't, I will become a lonely island, because eventually, everyone else will move out,” she noted.

She doesn't go to the garden too often, because the weather is getting worse and worse. When it doesn't rain or blow too hard, she sits on a bench and drinks tea with a view of the sea.

At home on the cliff, Shirley lives with her son Keith and their barking terrier Scooby. “I'm happy here, I assure you,” she added. Asked what she would do when the sea took another piece of her garden, she answered:“I will move the fence closer. What else should I do?”

A home on a cliff When I finally reached Janet's house I found she died a year ago. But the battle with the devastating power of the sea lasts. In December 2017, Shirley Hodgson bought a house with a vanishing garden.

This piece was first published in non/fiction magazine more info:: https;//non-fiction.pl

What is a carbon footprint?

Franciele Sobierai

A carbon footprint is the total amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as a result of an activity, usually transportation, housing and food.

For example, driving to the supermarket burns fuel, and unless you have an electric car, you are using fossil fuels which are the primary source of greenhouse gases. Here are some tips to reduce your carbon footprint:

Fly less Research from The Guardian has shown that one long-haul flight can produce more carbon emissions than the average citizen produces in a year in a number of countries. For example, a long-haul return flight from London to New York produces around 986 kg of CO2 per passenger, more than the annual carbon emissions of citizens in 56 countries.

If you have to fly, use the economy class rather than go by business or first class, in order to share the flight emissions with more people. The International Council on Clean Transportation says that a first class ticket on a long-haul flight emits four times as much as an economy seat on the same plane. And usually, the seats of the first and business class take up more space and tent to end up with more empty seats.

Drive less People are buying fewer cars in the UK and looking for alternative ways of travel. When you drive short distances,

it quickly racks up your carbon output.

Weigh up your options: can you take a bus, tube or tram? Walk? Cycle? When you leave your car at home you help to reduce the air pollution for everybody.

Eat less meat If you dont’t like the idea of taking meat completely out of your diet out try reducing the amount of lamb and beef you eat. These are the animals that produce the majority of methane released into the atmosphere.

Research from Oxford University found that if every family in the UK substitute a red meat-based meal for a plantbased alternative just once a week, the environmental impact would be equivalent to taking 16 million cars off the road. Do you want a better motivation than that?

Buy second-hand clothes Did you know that approximately 1,800 gallons of water is necessary to make one pair of jeans? As you can imagine that is very harmful to the planet. Also, the single-use attitude in the fashion industry is rapidly transformed into one million tonnes of waste a year, and a big part of it is incinerated or thrown into landfill. When you buy used clothes, you are helping to reuse and recycle garments. On a society level, buying second-hand clothing helps to develop a culture of recycling.

Spread the word Finally, remember to share your experiences and ideas to maximise your impact. Whenever you make a switch from something to the green alternative and it feels better, make sure you tell your friends, post on social media, make it count.

Sharing something personal that has made a difference in your life can be even more influential, as we humans are more likely to act if the message comes from people we love and trust.

Images of Change Australian Dust Paints New Zealand Glaciers Dec. 15, 2014 - Nov. 11, 2019

These images show ice and snow in New Zealand's Southern Alps. The color in the 2019 image is likely dust and ash, blown from Australia. This phenomenon is common here (end-of-summer dust layers help glacier researchers by separating annual accumulations of snow) but began unusually early in 2019 because extreme heat and dryness exacerbated soil erosion and wildfires. Dust and ash can nourish algae and similar organisms, which could be contributing a pinkish hue. The relatively dark coating absorbs more of the Sun's energy than pristine snow and ice, which accelerates melting. The 2014 image shows the same area in a more typical year.

Images taken by the Operational Land Imager on Landsat 8. Source: NASA's Earth Observatory

Heat wave turns Europe brown July 19, 2017 - July 24, 2018

The 2018 image shows portions of Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany and Poland after a persistent heat wave turned typically green areas brown. For comparison, the 2017 image shows the same region about a year earlier.

According to the European Space Agency, much of this part of the world turned brown in just a month, during which several countries experienced record high temperatures and low precipitation. The United Kingdom experienced its driest first half of summer (June 1 to July 16) on record.

Images taken by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NOAA-NASA satellite Suomi NPP. Source: NASA Earth Observatory

Things you can do about climate change & environment without leaving home Magdalena Grzymkowska

Social distancing to limit spread of COVID-19 doesn’t have to mean laying on the couch in boredom.

While staying home you can actually help the environmental protection and tackle the climate change!

See our editorial proposals on the next page and share your ideas with us. Most inspiring ideas will be published in the next issue! #actdifferent

Buy less

Save energy Always turn off the lights when you are not using them. Turn down your central heating and put on a jumper.

Turn off TVs and stereos instead of switching them to standby and save up 30% on electricity. Clean the back of your fridge (dusty coils can increas energy consumption by 30%). Use cold water for the washer, and only wash clothes when you have a full load. 90% of the energy used by your washing machine goes into heating the water.

Say "no" to paper towels Use washable rags instead of towels. Use old rags or kitchen to clean up messes around the Save trees and keep paper out landfill.

paper towels house. of the

Limit waste of water Take a brisk shower, not a leisurely bath.

Avoid rinsing before using the dishwasher. If you skip rinsing your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, you can save gallons of water.

Choose your soap wisely Choose your soap wisely. Use a soap bar instead of liquid soap in plastic bottles. Also check out shampoo & conditioner bars as well as toothpaste tablets. Try to also avoid chemicals and opt for natural cleaning products.

Learn new things Find out more about climate change with a myriad of online courses available for free. Use these platforms to meet new people and discuss ideas.

Spend your time productively!

Don’t over-stock food! Everything you don't eat ends up in a landfill site. Did you know that 7.3 million tonnes of food is wasted in the UK every year?

Also drink tap or filtered water, not bottled.

Switch to ethical banking Large banks invest your money in fossil fuels, coal, industrial farming and other things you don’t want to support.

Ethical banking offers consumers a level of control and transparency that they may not be used to with other banks. Many ethical banks encourage environmental sustainability and they may invest money locally or do work in the local community. You may also consider joining a mutual society, such as a building society or or credit union, which are owned by its members, not by the external stakeholders

If you lucky enough to have a garden...

Try to grow your own food and start a compost heap to reduce the waste you send to landfill sites. Coffee granules and eggshells are ideal for composting for instance. Consider planting native trees in your garden. Trees absorb carbon dioxide and provide shade.

Install a rain barrel to collect rainwater.

The water you save can then be used to water all your outdoor plants.

Get involved!

Join a local environmental group and support eco-friendly initiatives! You can do it online by simply following (and sharing!) their social media as well as signing up the petitions and donating.

The Climate Emergency Scotland Group is a voluntary network of individuals who share environmental values. We are a participatory movement which aims to raise awareness of climate change and to influence policymakers to take a stronger stance on climate change.

All who share the values are welcome.

Membership is ÂŁ1 for a year.

Copyright: Climate Emergency Scotland Editorial Team: Matthew Gledhill Franciele Sobierai Magdalena Grzymkowska Lets' stay in touch: Twitter: @CEMScot Facebook: @CEMScot Email: CEMScot@gmail.com www.climateemergencyscotland.co.uk