Christmas Tree Carbon Footprint: Real v Artificial
Your Energy Tariff May Not Be As Green As You Think!
Car Share Pilot Scheme Launched for Tring
TinT Lobbying for Eco Houses and Homes Key Workers Can Afford
Luton Airport Expansion Consultation
British Farmers Are Not the Enemy -- see what Chris Packham said
Tring Climate Event -- Next Steps
TinT’s new all singing all dancing website.
A huge thank you to Ken for producing our new, wonderful website. If you haven't yet visited the new website, why not give yourself a real treat and do so as soon as you've read this Newsletter. You can automatically get updates by going to the homepage at https://www.tringintransition.org.uk/
scrolling down to “Never Miss An Update”, entering your e-mail address, and clicking on “Follow”.
Christmas Trees: Real or Plastic re Carbon Footprint?
This BBC animated short video using data from the Carbon Trust provides the answer, and also discusses options on disposal, which we amplify below.
Tempted to make your own biochar? DON’T! Scroll down the rhs link and read the first FAQ.
So realistically three options:
Living in Tring? Sign up with Tring scouts for collection after Christmas in return for a donation. Trees go for chipping and composting. This is best option to minimise transport carbon footprint.
Don’t have that option? Take tree to garden centre if it offers chipping and bagging for you to mulch/compost.
Take tree to nearest household waste disposal/recycling and put it in the green waste container. (Kerbside green waste collection in Dacorum doesn’t happen December to early Spring)
Your Energy Tariff May Not Be As Green As You Think!
It shows that the “tops” when it comes to genuinely green electricity tariff are Ecotricity and Good Energy. Bulb comes third (and will be cheaper as the “tops” have costs because they use surplus to invest in more renewable installations with the extra staff and costs that needs).
Switching is easy and open to renters as well as householders.
New Pilot Car Share Scheme for Tring
Part of the Tring Station Plan, in which TinT is involved, is a newly launched car share scheme.
What TinT is Doing to Get Eco Houses in Tring (and homes for key workers)
The Cameron Government stopped eco homes becoming the norm back in 2015, when they scrapped the Zero Homes Standard just one year before it was due to come into effect. That was a major retrograde step.
Despite that, TinT has lobbied DBC via our substantive input to the draft Local Plan back in 2017, and we’ll be responding and lobbying when the draft pre-submission plan is produced (fingers crossed in early 2021)
What about LA5? (The Cala Homes development just starting between Aylesbury Road and Icknield Way). We and Tring Town Council lobbied Cala to have solar PV, but were rebuffed. We have been in touch with the developer who owns the land at the east end of Tring (behind Grove Road) to build to eco standard and to include 1 and 2 bed starter homes.
The Government has only fairly recently allowed local authorities, such as DBC, to start building social housing again. Those built by DBC are to Passivhaus standard with solar PV. TinT is lobbying Tring Town Council to try to secure funding for the small area of land it owns which could potentially have housing, for that to be social housing to Passivhaus standard thus minimal energy bills for residents potentially in fuel poverty.
closes 10th January 2020. There may well be push back from some housebuilders on this, which makes the real scorpion sting in the tail of this draft a major worry viz that the draft proposes that local authorities will not be able to insist on better standards of houses eg on energy efficiency, than the national standard. If implemented, that would be a big setback on climate emergency net zero carbon targets.
Luton Airport Proposed Expansion Consultation
The proposed expansion is designed to almost double the number of passengers, which means around double the number of planes coming and going – and a big increase in carbon footprint. (And don’t forget the ongoing proposal for another runway at Heathrow...)
Moreover Easyjet were the only UK based airline not to have a kpi of CO2 per km flown, when I checked UK airlines earlier this year. Lagging a long way behind BA and Ryanair.
Consultation closes 16th December 2019 at 11.59 pm.
Chris Packham, at a packed Desborough Hall last Saturday, in a rapturously received talk (as part of Tring’s first Book Fair), included a plea to work with British farmers, not against them (and Chris is a vegan, an issue that he discussed during Q & A).
Tring Climate Event Next Steps "Inspirational" and Chris Packham on Increasing Biodiversity in Tring
Chris also made the passionate point that we are all responsible for climate change, through how we live our lives and what we eat, giving palm oil as an example – thus we are all responsible for taking action to mitigate global heating.
As I write this piece (Monday 11th November) there’s a meeting ongoing hosted by Tring Town Council to discuss the next steps from the Tring 26th October Climate Event (post meeting note: meeting described as “inspirational”), and from Chris Packham’s answer to the last question on Saturday put by a TinT member “what can each of us do in Tring to improve its biodiversity”
Watch this space ......
And Finally – Speaking of the Tring Climate Event
Tring Town Council were extremely pleased with the Climate Event. Despite horrendously wet weather, and the competing magnet of England knocking seven bells out of the All Blacks, over 300 people braved a drenching to come to the event. As well as some very well attended, and excellent, talks, upstairs was full to capacity with 24 stalls, all bar two being Tring organisations – all showcasing what they are doing to reduce carbon footprint. There was lots of networking amongst stallholders. One of the two non-Tring stalls was Arriva buses who have introduced electric buses to some towns (bus transport for us is a Herts County Council issue).
