Settle 2nd Global Climate Strike

Since the first strike two months ago in September, things have moved rapidly. Extinction Rebellion Events in London in October raised the profile of the environment catastrophe.

The media has become SO much better in reporting the climate events.  

The magnitude of events are increasing exponentially.

My list of changes in the past two months has gotten so long that I have had to put it at the end of this post.

SO: The second Global Climate Strike we have had a Settle, North Yorkshire, UK took place from 1pm-2pm Friday 29th November. (Settle and Giggleswick have about 3,500 people and the surrounding villages about the same.). Neighbouring Skipton 16 miles away had a strike at 9am on this day.

Again we were blessed by sunny weather.

We were joined by Andy Brown (of the Green Party) and Andrew Murday (of the Liberal Democrats).

One lady came with her two young children.

One young lady, a singer, who works in Germany, said how in Berlin there would be thousands of people striking.

One man wanted to strike with us, but for job reasons did not want his face put up on social media, so did not stay

Here are the two carols we sang: They come from the Christian Climate Action Carol Book by Grace Thomas of the Manchester Hub. https://christianclimateaction.org

I wonder when we look back at this "Twelve year's of crisis" carol in three years time whether we will laugh or cry.

We have had scientists warning us many years that these things were going to happen if we did not look after the climate.

They predicted bigger things such as the reversal of the Gulf Stream. That still has not happened. It will make Britain a much colder place if/when it does.

Perhaps when people picked the Ladies Slipper Orchid to extinction (bar one later discovered plant,) 150 years ago, they thought the world was "infinite". Now we know it is not.

Here are the words of the carols.
Twelve years of Crisis:..

Here is just the last verse - the twelfth year:

On the twelfth year of crisis, inaction gave to me,
Eleven wildfires raging,
(sing slowly) No turning back (pause) Ten displaced peoples, Nine glaciers dwindling,
Eight coral die-offs, Seven flood disasters, Six nations starving. Five rising seas.
Four crop failures, Three heatwaves, Two hurricanes And a forest without any trees
------------------------

The second carol is:

We wish for a greener Christmas

We wish for a greener Christmas

We wish for a greener Christmas

We wish for a greener Christmas

And a Low Carbon year

Sad tidings we bring To you and your kin

We wish for a greener Christmas

And a Low Carbon Year

We all want meaningful action We all want meaningful action

We all want meaningful action So bring some out here
We won’t stop until we’ve got some
We won’t stop until we’ve got some
We won’t stop until we’ve got some So bring some out here

We wish for a greener Christmas…

words from https://christianclimateaction.org

For news of Settle Climate emergency events

visit the Facebook page of of Settle Action on Climate Emergency.

Here is a LIST of

Events that have happened since the last climate strike just two months ago: (I just write this because this blog is a sort of diary)

We have burning fires in the forests in Australia. 

We have melting ice sheets. 

"Just down the River Aire" - (The Aire  starts six miles away from Settle), just down the River Aire, (c 80 miles) after it meets the Ouse, where the River Don meets the Ouse there has been drastic flooding, last month, especially in a village called called Fishlake.

We have reports (from non-NE individuals) of the Natural England staff (those that are left) struggling with their work because of lack of staff (due to cutbacks, and people being sent to work for Brexit.)

Reports of increased deforestation on the Amazon.

I went on a lichens "holiday", and learned how lichens on trees in Devon and Cornwall that should show pure air, actually show that there is SO2 in the air.  It is coming from the huge ships.

We are going to have an election on 12 December. We had a hustings with (only) "Environment Questions" for our candidates on 16 November in the Victoria Hall

 and then another Hustings with other questions on 27 November 

We have had sudden promises from all the parties that they will plant millions / billions of trees. - I worry a bit about this - This may wreck lots of good valuable wildlife sites. The landowners will choose to plant on the poorer soils and these are often the only good places left for wild flowers and wildlife. Restoring peat bogs is a much better and more permanent way of storing carbon.

 Yet that is not mentioned.  We have lots of peat bogs in Yorkshire.

Well, That's where we are now.

  

Must go away and practise my carols now so that I don't need to have sheet music to help me in future.

Settle Community Christmas Day Meal 2019

We will be having another meal together this Christmas at St John's Church Hall

If you would like to volunteer I would be REALLY pleased to hear from you early! Plus any suggestions about any changes! We are having a planning meeting on Monday 25 November at 4.30pm.

It is a compromise between making it "Greener" and providing the treat of having the usual Christmas Trimmings that people look forward to

ENjoy looking at pictures from previous years:

Settle Community Christmas Day Meal 2016

Many enjoy Settle Christmas Day Meal 2015 - Pictures

Settle Community Christmas Day meal 2014 - Pictures and videos

Cool Earth Coffee and Christmas Day Community Lunch 2010 at Settle

Living Well - Climate change - Settle - UK - the world- and what you and I can do

The graph below is a VERY QUICK way of finding the Carbon footprint of the main activities in my, and, for most people, your life.  I collected the data by surfing the web two years ago. 

I have printed copies of the leaflet available for people in Settle, and gave them out at the Eco-Hustings on 16 Nov 2019. You can pick up a copy in St John's Church Hall.

The first side shows climate change impact at Settle

You can download the pdf  here and print your own copy.

Fungi at Black Hill, Embsay - Barden Road

Please click here for Settle Community Christmas Day Meal 2019 

Here is the view from Black Hill 
(or Black Park) near Embsay
 - Are we looking at smoke from
bonfire night fireworks kept 
here by the temperature inversion?

6 November: It's the first Wednesday of the Month and the Craven branch of the Mid Yorkshire Fungus Group are out again - this month looking for waxcaps.

Look at that Waxcap over there!!

How are your olefactory skills?
 Smell (and imagination)  plays a big part.

This yellow wax cap is called Hygrocybe quieta and its English name is The Oily Waxcap
It smells of a greasy garage.
It is interesting that its namesake Lactarius quieta also has an oily smell.

Here it is growing in situe - amongst the Common Bent-grass and Springy Turf-moss

Peter spots this (reputedly rare)  "Pink Waxcap" or Ballerina"  - not very pink today but definitely the right shape

Parrot Waxcap

Heath Waxcap

I am delighted to learn the difference between Parrot Waxcap H psittasina (left) and Heath Waxcap   H laeta (right)
(and ashamed that I did not know the real difference before.).
They are both colourful and have slimy caps and stipes, and change colour slightly.
I used to think that Parrot Waxcap  was green at some stage in its life and Heath Waxcap  was orangey all the time.  But as you can see   H. laeta (on the right) can be a bit greenish too.

The difference?

1. If you look at the edge of the gills with a handlens you can see a translucent slimy margin to the gills of H laeta. 
This is not present in H psittasina. 

2. H laeta gills are decurrent. H psittasina gills are only adnate.

Both are supposed to be edible.

This is an interesting earth-tongue - I hope Archie will identify it.

I expect you know what this is

This, they tell me is H. aurantiosplendens.

Here is a youtube clip of us discussing whether it really is H aurantiosplendsens

And this is Cedarwood Waxcap - smells like pencil shavings.  Hygrocybe russociriacea

Peter brings some "perfume" chemicals. Iso E Super is an artificial perfume that smell s a  bit like Hygrocybe russo coriacea

Cordyceps militaris growing out of a dead chrysalis

Let's have a look at these fungi

We  find a Fairy Ring of Blewits

Closer - the Blewits are in the foreground

I also found Snowy Waxcap, Meadow Waxcap and Conical (Blackening Waxcap) and  Honey Waxcap and Scarlet Waxcap - so that makes eleven species of Waxcap.  


We'll be meeting again in a month's time in the first Wednesday of December.

On the 9th of November I will be at Whitby at the Yorkshire Naturalists Union  (YNU) AGM, listening to a talk on Seaweeds by Jane Pottas

Rainforest Fund Coffee Morning Tue 5 Nov 2019 - All welcome

Thank you to all who supported our 2019 Rainforest Fund Coffee Morning at St John's 10am-noon
We made, rounding things off: £125 from the coffee and £45 from the cards - total £170

The picture is a little "atmospheric" due to using the camera
which was very cold straight away in a warm room.

If we can raise £100 that will buy 1 acre of Rainforest in South America through World Land Trust.. (A local Trust run by the local people then manages the land as forest, rather than cutting it down)

How much is 1 acre?
1 acre = Settle Market place incl. Town Hall and Shambles
1 acre = Whitefriars car park plus garage

£100 = The cost of two pairs of trainers - or one pair if you get expensive ones. (How is one acre that cheap?!!)

(Orang utan rainforest in Borneo costs much more
than this)

If we could raise £200 it would be great.

Prayer Flags on the Climate & Species Extinction Emergency

There is a climate emergency.

On the 20th September people in Settle put up Climate Flags in Settle Market Place to mark the Global Climate Strike.. and answering the question "how do you feel about Climate Change (and Species Extinctions.). 

They are now on display in St John's Church Hall. I will be sending most of them to London to be used on the Faith Bridge at Extinction Rebellion from Monday 7th.


On Sunday 22nd at St John's Settle in our Morning Service we had a Christening. In the Service we made prayer flags, with prayers thinking about how the world will be for the baby when he grows up - indeed in 90 years time.

Rev Tim Broughton used the idea with the group he meets at Settle College and they made some more.

On the 20th September people in Settle put up Climate Flags in Settle Market Place to mark the Global Climate Strike.. and answering the question "how do you feel about Climate Change (and Species extinctions.)

On Sunday 22nd at St John's Settle in our Morning Service we had a Christening. In the Service we made prayer flags, with prayers thinking about how the world will be for the baby when he grows up - indeed in 90 years time.

The Craven Herald published the article I sent in

Here are pictures of some of the flags

 

Email me if you would like some higher resolution pictures..

If you are going to make flags yourself I would recommend using a permanent marker pen and having something waterproof to rest on underneath it. Fewer large words make them more readable...

See this website for flag making instructions


This is the text in the Craven Herald

Judith Allinson of Langcliffe writes:

Big Events were held around the world and in Leeds and London on Friday 20 September - so we were pleased that Settle had its very own event too.

I set up a table early in the morning (well 11am) (on the cobbles on the north side of the Market Place beside the closed bank and sign "Edward Elgar often came here")  with the equipment to make flags. Prayer flags - or campaign flags according to text. The flags are just over 20 by 20cm in dimension and made out of cloth of plain colour, mostly obtained from our three charity shops (SCAD, AGEUK and Swimming Pool). People responded to the question "How do you feel about climate Change" by choosing a colour and writing on the flag with a permanent marker.  We pegged them onto string to display them.

A friend of mine is involved with a group called "Christian Climate Action" and will be helping at Extinction Rebellion Events in London in October. One of the bridges they hope to block will by organised by groups from different faiths - called the Faiths Bridge, and they are asking for such "Prayer flags" to be sent there.

At 1pm a group of people arrived for our "official climate strike" time between 1pm and 2pm. (See photo)

I stood on a chair and explained about the flags, and asked individual people to make themselves known.

Sarah Wiltshire stood up and told people about ACE Settle (email acesettleandarea@gmail.com   Action on Climate Emergency Settle and District)

Andy Brown our Green Councillor and Green Parliamentary Candidate stood up and told us about the need for a climate strike, and about all the activity that had been taking place in Skipton earlier that morning. Lots of school children including the Montessori school had been in Skipton, and some children singing and others making speeches.

After the Settle "big crowd" left at 2pm I stayed on with the help of two more people, encouraging more people to write flags. It was really good hearing individual people's ideas as they filled in the flags. One friend arrived who had been at the Leeds Strike earlier that day. She said there were thousands of people there. At 3.45 pm a  few school children wrote flags

The flags are now displayed on the wall in St John's Methodist Church Hall, where over 250 hall weekly users will see them.

         -------------------

On Sunday 22 Sept, our minister Revd Tim Broughton used the idea in the christening service at St Johns Methodist Church, Settle, enabling the congregation with all the guests and children to write down their prayers on them.

It was meaningful that we were promising to look after this baby boy Toby Allen - and thinking what will the world be like for him in 90 years time?

And how can we try and reduce climate change and species loss.

Tim Broughton played a short video fronted by David Attenborough, saying how much quicker climate change is taking place than he had expected. It included a clip of Mike Berners-Lee who had talked to us in this very room in May about points covered in his book "There is no planet B".