Local Challenges - Highbridge & Burnham

EVERY MONDAY Green World Trust meets in Highbridge from about 10.30 am. If you want to come but cannot manage Monday mornings, let us know. After 2009 we are moving. Details to follow.

Contact: email us  or phone 01278 783003. News of local or personal interest. Local related groups. Energy discussions.

We planned to start a local Transition Towns branch for Highbridge & Burnham. Then we became aware of corrupt science underlying the "manmade global warming" - a belief at the core of the Transition Towns movement. We are still concerned over "Peak Oil". We are interested in alternative energy sources, including, harnessing tidal energy. Why Transition Towns - outline and full article What is Peak Oil - outline and FAQ-style article Climate Science - short intro and full primer

Local groups with green / Transition Towns interests:

• Transition Glastonbury: pretty active, it has grown from nothing in a year.
• Transition Bristol: extremely well-organized event at end of last year.
• Sustainable Frome: well-developed group that now includes an "official" Transition department
• South Somerset Climate Action: have produced a report "A Vision for Somerset as a Sustainable Community". This was done in response to the current UK "Local Area Agreements". Despite the name, this is not an unqualified support of alarmist Global Warming propaganda, but a general awareness of limits to resources.
• Wedmore Green Group
• West Somerset Forum 21
• Towards a Sustainable Shapwick (no website of their own, AFAIK)

Tidal energy from the Severn estuary. 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. A Minehead-Aberthaw "reef" has several additional strong advantages over other projects. GALLERY of pictures from Highbridge & area

See our views Tidal Reef and Tidal Barrage Compared
See the Minehead-Aberthaw tidal reef project html - earlier version or current version (new website)
See John Tanner's views on Parrett Estuary Flood Risk Management Strategy

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. However, this problem appears to have been overcome by the RSPB findings with regard to the Severn Tidal Reef project. We are in favour of preserving habitats but we also recognize that most animals (and plants) can relocate themselves far more easily than can people. 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.

News, with local & personal connections

Bees - colonies are dying or disappearing worldwide - threatening sustainable agriculture. Amongst UK beekeepers there is widespread faith in what the Government "should" do regarding research. However, there is little awareness of "backyard" research that can offset the official non-support. A century ago Rudolf Steiner predicted this would happen to bees bred for commercialism, just as he predicted mad cow disease. But now, a few beekeepers are experimenting with "Top Bar" beehives, paying attention to the bees' own needs and signals, and some very interesting positive results are appearing. Visit Barefoot Beekeeper and join the best natural beekeeping forum on the web!

Hinkley Point is targeted by our UK Government to build one of a new generation of nuclear reactors for energy, as a palliative to the coming threat of energy shortage. However, there are doubts and problems, both economic, scientific and social, and a widespread feeling that the Government are taking insufficiently-considered action, flouting crucial advice of scientists regarding high future decommissioning costs, the need to replace power stations every 30 years, the likelihood of curtailment of, and limits to, uranium supplies, and other issues. See local pages.

The UK Government need to practise what they preach. They are urging us to fit low energy bulbs to help conserve energy. Yet all over the country there are roads, office blocks, factories and shops with the lights on all night. And they have approved a plan to allow the number of flights to double over the next 20 years.

Freedom of Information Acts. It seems self-evident that the basic records and science methodology on which the claims of "unprecedented global temperature rise" are based, should be publicly available for checking. Yet they are not. The IPCC use basically two sets of records, GISS records (NASA GISS) and the UK CRU (Climatic Research Unit) records. Prof. Phil Jones of the University of East Anglia is on record as refusing the Australian climatologist Warwick Hughes access to this data saying "Why should I make 25 years' work available to you when all you will do is criticize it?"

Useability of local recycling centres: To assist us with our ongoing research, we would be grateful for your experiences. What things have you found satisfactory/unsatisfactory? Have you been encouraged/discouraged from using them? Any thoughts on how to stop the brilliant FUNCTIONING South Molton recycling scheme being closed down? Please email us.

coming presently...

Hidden effects of the Litigation Culture and the Nanny State

updated 14th November 2009

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