Natalie Bennett Climate Change Talk

On Tuesday evening, the Plan-It Change Society at the University of Leicester and Leicester Green Party co-hosted an event called Climate change: the world is acting and so can Leicester. The main speaker was Natalie Bennett, ex-leader of the Green Party. She began by talking about the unseasonably nice weather we had been having and how it was indicative of climate change.  She explained that before she got into politics, she came from a scientific background but said that she had discovered that very few politicians came from scientific backgrounds.  This of course makes it difficult to work with them on climate change.

Natalie then gave us a report on the UN climate talks in December.  She talked about the different groups who attended the talks and how this has developed with new groups being represented each year.  Interestingly, she said the fashion industry were represented for the first time in 2018, which is important because they contribute emissions equivalent to the maritime and aviation industry combined.

Natalie said she would talk about the good, the bad and the ugly at the talks. The ‘ugly’ was the way that Poland promoted coal. Schools in Poland still have coal boilers and everyone left the talks with the ‘Katowice cough’ from the pollution.  However, she did have an interesting anecdote. She saw a man shovelling coal into a school’s coal hole and took a photo.  The man waved at her and without speaking any English indicated to her that he didn’t want his picture taken shovelling the coal. She deleted the picture but kept the picture of the coal heap and he was satisfied with that.  Natalie thinks people are becoming ashamed of being associated with the coal and that things will change, even in Poland.  


Natalie then moved onto the ‘bad’.  The farming industry at the talks claimed that they didn’t need to change from using nitrogen-based fertilizers - they would just use less.  But using any nitrogen fertiliser requires enormous energy input to make the fertiliser and they then evaporate and contribute to air pollution. We can’t just use it more efficiently; we have to move to organic. 

Then came the ‘good’. Natalie said that now we understand the science better, we know that we all need to change and we know that we have to do this soon – within 12 years…  She discussed how difficult it is to change society but then she said let’s think about what has changed in the last 12 years.  For example, Twitter is only 12 years old and it is now central to political debate so it is possible to change very quickly.

Natalie then went on to talk about the shipping company, Maersk. At the talks they announced that they were going to be carbon neutral by 2050.  This means that by 2030 they are going to be buying carbon neutral ships.  But these ships don’t exist yet, so this Tmeans in 11 years they are going to design, build and commercially produce them! We may not know what the route of change is yet, but we will have to work it out!  


She ended by talking about Greta Thunberg, the Swedish schoolgirl who has become the voice for the student climate strikers.  Natalie said everyone can make a difference – Greta began at the age of 15 by sitting outside of her school saying politicians need to listen… We as adults need to celebrate and support the youth movement, encourage them and bring them on board.   


Natalie then introduced two student climate strikers from Leicester. Joe said he heard about Greta and her protest but thought he couldn’t do anything himself.  He thought there wasn’t enough time to organise anything but then realised his sister was talking to all of her friends trying to organise a protest and he thought he had better join in.  At the first Leicester student climate strike, they got about 30 students to meet up at the Clock Tower.  They have since had a meeting to talk about their group principles such as peaceful protest and they are now organising another event for March 15^th.

His 13-year-old sister, Amy, then spoke.  She talked about her dream for the future, which mainly was to make sure she had a future!  She wants to say to politicians that you should care too and this message is their top priority.  She ended by saying that adults should understand this isn’t ‘our’ responsibility as kids - this is ‘your’ responsibility as adults.  She said our planet is dying and adults need to sort it out.

Gasland film

On Tuesday evening, the Plan-It Change Society at the University of Leicester and Leicester Green Party co-hosted an event called Climate change: the world is acting and so can Leicester. The main speaker was Natalie Bennett, ex-leader of the Green Party. She began by talking about the unseasonably nice weather we had been having and how it was indicative of climate change.  She explained that before she got into politics, she came from a scientific background but said that she had discovered that very few politicians came from scientific backgrounds.  This of course makes it difficult to work with them on climate change.


Natalie then gave us a report on the UN climate talks in December.  She talked about the different groups who attended the talks and how this has developed with new groups being represented each year.  Interestingly, she said the fashion industry were represented for the first time in 2018, which is important because they contribute emissions equivalent to the maritime and aviation industry combined.


Natalie said she would talk about the good, the bad and the ugly at the talks. The ‘ugly’ was the way that Poland promoted coal. Schools in Poland still have coal boilers and everyone left the talks with the ‘Katowice cough’ from the pollution.  However, she did have an interesting anecdote. She saw a man shovelling coal into a school’s coal hole and took a photo.  The man waved at her and without speaking any English indicated to her that he didn’t want his picture taken shovelling the coal. She deleted the picture but kept the picture of the coal heap and he was satisfied with that.  Natalie thinks people are becoming ashamed of being associated with the coal and that things will change, even in Poland.  


Natalie then moved onto the ‘bad’.  The farming industry at the talks claimed that they didn’t need to change from using nitrogen-based fertilizers - they would just use less.  But using any nitrogen fertiliser requires enormous energy input to make the fertiliser and they then evaporate and contribute to air pollution. We can’t just use it more efficiently; we have to move to organic. 

Then came the ‘good’. Natalie said that now we understand the science better, we know that we all need to change and we know that we have to do this soon – within 12 years…  She discussed how difficult it is to change society but then she said let’s think about what has changed in the last 12 years.  For example, Twitter is only 12 years old and it is now central to political debate so it is possible to change very quickly.

Natalie then went on to talk about the shipping company, Mersk. At the talks they announced that they were going to be carbon neutral by 2050.  This means that by 2030 they are going to be buying carbon neutral ships.  But these ships don’t exist yet, so this means in 11 years they are going to design, build and commercially produce them! We may not know what the route of change is yet, but we will have to work it out!  


She ended by talking about Greta Thunberg, the Swedish schoolgirl who has become the voice for the student climate strikers.  Natalie said everyone can make a difference – Greta began at the age of 15 by sitting outside of her school saying politicians need to listen… We as adults need to celebrate and support the youth movement, encourage them and bring them on board.   


Natalie then introduced two student climate strikers from Leicester. Joe said he heard about Greta and her protest but thought he couldn’t do anything himself.  He thought there wasn’t enough time to organise anything but then realised his sister was talking to all of her friends trying to organise a protest and he thought he had better join in.  At the first Leicester student climate strike, they got about 30 students to meet up at the Clock Tower.  They have since had a meeting to talk about their group principles such as peaceful protest and they are now organising another event for March 15^th.

His 13-year-old sister, Amy, then spoke.  She talked about her dream for the future, which mainly was to make sure she had a future!  She wants to say to politicians that you should care too and this message is their top priority.  She ended by saying that adults should understand this isn’t ‘our’ responsibility as kids - this is ‘your’ responsibility as adults.  She said our planet is dying and adults need to sort it out.

Plastic pollution and the W.I.

A few months ago, we received an email from Kimcote and Walton Women’s Institute, asking if anyone would be able to give them a talk about plastic pollution. Kelly Swann volunteered and she went to visit their group on 7^th February.

Kelly introduced her talk by explaining that her interest in plastic pollution dates back to a holiday in Greece in the 1990s, when she stayed near a nesting site for loggerhead turtles and saw them swimming in the sea. She was captivated and has been interested in these beautiful creatures ever since. So when she heard about turtles dying as a result of plastic pollution, she immediately began to find out more.

Plastic was invented in 1862 but it was not until the Second World War that the industry really began to grow, as plastics were used for everything from military vehicles to radar insulation. After the war, the industry needed new consumers and they turned to the domestic market. Plastic was considered a miracle material at this time because it could be moulded into any shape, was easily mass-produced, it was cheap and it was waterproof. It was also non-biodegradable and we have only recently started to understand what that means for our environment.

Nearly all of the plastic ever created is still in existence and Greenpeace reveal that an estimated 12.7 million tonnes of plastic ends up in our oceans every year, which is a truck load of rubbish every minute. Some of this plastic has collected in the North Pacific Gyre between Alaska and Russia, a floating garbage patch that is twice the size of Texas.

Kelly spent some time explaining the effect that plastic pollution is having on sea life. For example, the National Geographic recently reported that a pilot whale had died in Thailand and was found to have 80 plastic shopping bags in its stomach, effectively causing it to starve to death. Seabirds have also been affected and one study found that 90% have got plastic in their stomachs. Animals often cannot tell the difference between small pieces of plastic and their normal food and so they eat rubbish and feed it to their young by mistake.

Recycling plastic is difficult because there are so many different types that have to be treated separately. In the UK, each local authority has a different recycling scheme, so it can be difficult for people to know what to put in the recycling bin. However, individuals can help by trying to reduce the amount of disposable plastic that they use. Kelly gave some examples of how to do this, including Morsbags, bamboo toothbrushes and solid shampoo bars. Finally, she encouraged everyone not to despair at the size of the problem but to do what they can at home and to join Friends of the Earth to call for changes in legislation!

The meeting ended with tea and biscuits and more informal conversation about what we can all do. Many of the women present had already started to make changes and had their own tips about plastic-free teabags and other items. Thank you to Kimcote and Walton WI for taking an interest in this important issue!

If you're interested in what you can do to reduce your use of plastic, national Friends of the Earth have just launched a #DrasticOnPlastic Timer Challenge.