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Highbridge
And Burnham In Transition What's here is not
cast in concrete - it's just a start.
Diary Dates
and Events * Links to other local groups
* Highbridge & Burnham in Transition
* Invitations to Dialogue
Diary dates (a
bit short at present, we'll try to keep you posted):
SUDAY 17th AUGUST Green Fair at Mark, starts
11am - this year a Green Fair complements the Mark Moor International
Vehicle Festival
EVERY MONDAY: We are meeting through Green
World Trust in Highbridge every Monday morning, to develop
our Transition Towns initiative. If you want to come but cannot
manage Monday mornings, let us know.
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Why we need Transition
Towns - outline
and full
article
What is Peak Oil - outline
and FAQ-style
article - Peak Oil is coming soon whether
we like it or not. We have a window of opportunity to
handle "energy descent" creatively, if we
plan now.
Read about Climate Change -
outline
and details
- the Hansen report, and other evidence recently emerging,
bring unexpected challenges - will it be greater or
less than IPCC predict?
A Lean Guide to Nuclear Energy
- outline
and material
from the booklet - key neglected scientific
issues that cast serious doubt on its economic viability
and sustainability. |
Highbridge And
Burnham In Transition is an awareness-raising group.
We believe that if people grasped the
true implications of Peak Oil and Climate Change, which are
very local as well as global, they would do everything within
their power to help, changing their attitudes, interests and
lifestyle, and helping to wake everyone up, for the sake of
their children and grandchildren having any real future. We
recognize, however, that this huge paradigm shift may take
time for people to grasp. The more of us that work locally
with this "war effort", the better we can plan for
energy descent in cooperation with government and large organizations,
in ways that are fair to everyone and use our diminishing
resources to enable this change to happen positively and creatively.
Transition Towns recognize the need
to involve the whole community, to cooperate, to
design "win-win" solutions. Locally, this could
apply especially to sea defences and energy production. We
therefore believe it is essential to research and display
the relevant facts from the most uptodate Climate
Science, to enable people to make informed choices,
and to feel free to change what they support, in the light
of updated information - as we have had to do ourselves.
Tidal energy reef between Minehead
and Aberthaw (project: Rupert Armstrong-Evans). This
is something we have been discussing for a while, as we believe
strongly in a project that will not only harvest tidal energy,
but will also provide a line of defence. The Minehead-Aberthaw
line of defence would protect Burnham-on-Sea and the Somerset
levels against sea level rises or storm surges, whereas the
Weston-Cardiff location does not protect the levels and could
in fact make them more vulnerable. The Minehead-Aberthaw "reef"
has several additional strong advantages over other projects:
* As it would rise and fall with the tide,
it is a far lighter construction altogether, and therefore
both cheaper and quicker to construct.
* Harvesting both incoming and outgoing tides, the reef system
works for a far longer period of time each day than the barrage,
thus avoiding the need for massive backup supplies.
* The reef harvests sustainable energy, unlike nuclear power
stations which only have a 30-year working life and would
have huge decommissioning and rebuilding costs - and uranium
resources are finite and likely to "peak" soon.
* Small turbines means speedier construction, more competition,
and far more efficient maintenance.
* The pylons are already in place, close to both Minehead
and Aberthaw.
English Nature, The Environment Agency &
The Countryside Council for Wales issued a joint statement
in which they said that they did not support the building
of the Severn Barrage because it would be difficult to comply
with the requirements of the EU Birds & Habitats Directive.
We are in favour of preserving habitats but we also recognize
that the majority of the creatures adversely affected by the
changes would be able to relocate themselves far more easily
than would the human inhabitants of those areas. The scientific
information (The
Big Melt, etc) is that sea level rise could effectively
destroy these habitats in a relatively short time anyway,
if nothing is done to protect them.
The Government has at its disposal a massive
"Defence" budget, part of which, in our opinion,
should be spent on the defence of the land and properties
of its citizens, since the likelihood of the loss of these
poses a far greater and longer-lasting threat than does the
spectre of the possibility of future war.
Here are "Invitations"
to local groups, both official and grassroots groups,
inviting dialogue and cooperation in the face of the huge
challenges facing us. These challenges require deep, intense,
paradigm-shifting and cooperation, not confrontation or competition,
if we are to have any real future. If we squabble, we will
squander our few precious remaining resources.
An Invitation to oursouthwest.com,
who reported the Government's proposals for more nuclear power
at Hinkley.
An Invitation to Sustainability
South West, that we must, and can, go with Transition
much, much further.
An Invitation to Parents
Concerned About Hinkley and Stop Hinkley,
to find ways to cooperate.
An Invitation to Rising
to the Challenge to urgently reconsider the
sea level rise figures they are using.
An Invitation to the
Green Party to work inclusively and to ratchet-up
education to meet the present urgent situation.
Local groups with
similar interests to Green World Trust:
Contact: Just email
us or phone 01278 783003.
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key page - last updated 24th April 2008
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