Transcript Climate Change and Welwyn and Hatfield

Solar Bear & Other Stories
Climate Change From The Inside
Pete Hill
Chartered Environmental
Health Practitioner
The Story So Far…..
Welwyn Hatfield
'A Town Designed for Healthy Living‘
Built soon after the First World War, Welwyn
Garden City was the vision of social
reformer and town planning pioneer Sir
Ebenezer Howard.
The name of Hatfield is closely
associated with the history of
British aviation and Hatfield house
Climate Change Risks in The East
The UKCIP09 climate change scenarios indicate that
the Climate change risks we could face in our region
are:
• Hotter, drier summers,
• Milder, wetter winters,
• More frequent extreme high
temperatures,
Feb 2008
• More frequent heavy downpours of
rain,
• Significant decreases in soil moisture
content in summer,
• Sea level rise and increases in storm
surge height,
• Possible higher wind speeds.
Heat wave Summer 2003
After The Polar Bears Who’s Next?
Direct
Heat Waves
Floods and Storms – risks from contamination and stress
Poor Air quality
Increase in Food Borne Illness
Increased Exposure to Ultra Violet Radiation
Indirect
Vector Borne diseases – eg Lymes
Disease, Dengue Fever, Malaria
Climate Migration
Widening Health Inequalities
•Publicly declare within appropriate plans
and strategies the commitment to achieve
a significant reduction of greenhouse
gases from our own authorities operations
especially energy sourcing and use, travel
and transport, waste production and
disposal, and the purchasing of goods and
services.
• Assess the risk associated with Climate
Change and the implications for our
services and our communities of Climate
Change and adapt accordingly.
A Starting
Point
November
2006
KLOE 3.1 Use of Natural Resources
The Big Driver
Audit Rating 1-4
Welwyn Hatfield June 2009 – Level 1
Withdrawn
2010
Welwyn Hatfield March 2010 – Level 3 (pending)
NI 185 – Energy Efficiency
Water Resources
Environmental Risk
Green Travel
Where To Get Involved!
Community Strategy
Welwyn Hatfield
Alliance &
Hertfordshire
Forward
Business Plan
Team Plans
Appraisal Scheme
Other
regional
plans and
strategies
The Borough’s Sustainable
Corporate Strategy
Corporate Priorities are represented by five
Promises focusing on the communities needs
Maintaining and
enhancing a cleaner and
greener environment –
enhancing recycling;
responding to the
challenges of Climate
Change; improving the
street scene and
improving waste
management
Corporate Business Plan 2010-2015
• Maintaining and Enhancing a Cleaner and Greener Environment
– enhancing recycling and
• improving waste management, responding to the challenges of
climate change and improving the
• street scene.
2.2.1 Complete the delivery of all 2010-11 targets set out in
The Council’s Climate Change Strategy Action Plan
Working Internally on Climate Change
• KLOE
3.1 Use of Natural Resources
•Climate Change Group
•National Indicators
•Briefing for Managers on Adaptation / Mitigation
•Including Climate Change in Committee Reports
•Green Day Back To The Future Staff Event
•Green Travel Planning
•Updated Web Page
•Green Guide To Savings
Corporate Climate Change Group
Executive Board
Representatives
from all service
areas.
Director of
Strategy &
Development
Climate
Change Group
Service Teams
Meetings every 6
weeks or more
frequently if
required
Agreed National Indicators
• Agreed on four National Indicators related to Climate Change:
NI185, 186, 187 and 188
• First Reporting Round Complete
NI 185 in Practice!
Need to record car mileage and business
journeys
Records are all paper based
CO2 had to be calculated and input manually
over 2 months!
NI 186 in Practice!
In 2008 the Shredded Wheat Factory in Welwyn
Garden City closed after 76 years
The move resulted in over 200 redundancies
and a cut in our NI186 figures!
Climate Change Strategy & Action Plan
1.Energy Efficiency
2.Water
3.Biodiversity & Open Spaces
4.Planning
5.Waste & Recycling
6.Procurement & Contracted Out Services
7.Transportation
8.Staff & Community Engagement
9.Climate Change & Health
10.Adaptation
Mitigation and target setting
• NI185 – baseline emission for 2007/8 calculated and a target of reducing
CO2 emissions in its operations by 10% by 2013 set in March 2010.
• Having set a baseline robust but achievable targets adopted for reductions
in emissions. This will involve a big cultural change in the organisation
• Mitigation; financial sustainability, intelligent decision making, reducing
reliance on energy consumption, energy security
• Initial steps include preparing a sustainable procurement strategy, Climate
Change Strategy and Action Plan, Green Travel plan, Waste and Recycling
Strategy, walking and cycling strategies.
Green Day Back To The Future
•Over 150 staff attended
•Exhibits on….
•Food Miles
•Energy Efficiency
•Planning and Sustainable Design
•Bugs of the Future
•Wake Up Freak Out
•Back To The Past Food in 1940
•Executive Board in the Future
•Act on CO2 Pledge – 95 signed up!
Team Talk 2025
Remembering The Big
Flood
Plans Underway for next
Senior Citizens
Evacuation
Bumper Year for Council
Garden
Beware Carbon Credit
Fraudsters
The Golden Wind Farm
Awards
A Day in the Life of Moz
Quito
Green Travel Planning
Travel Survey
Mapping Responses
Concentrate on those
within bandings
Better Transport
Information
Low Emission Driving
Approach
Cycle To Work Scheme
Car Share
Green Driving!
• In Hertfordshire few alternatives for certain journeys –
east west links are non existent.
• Local Authorities have Car Loan Schemes most have no
incentive to purchase low emission vehicles.
• Plan to introduce scheme tailored to emission ratings i.e.
100% loan for bandings A-C
• More miles more money?
• Why not less miles more money?
• Can we pay for bikes?
The role of WHBC in working with the
Community on Climate Change
• Community leaders – setting an example
• Influence residents, businesses and voluntary
organisations through partnership (WHA)
• Green stall at town centre events,
Kaleidoscope Festive, new Climate Change
Website, Love food Hate Waste Campaign,
Fuel Poverty,
• Welwyn Hatfield Green Page
Introducing Solar Bear
Councils Climate Change Emblem
Competition for a name launched at Green
Event in WGC gained over 100 entries
The Solar Bear Wall appears at Community
Events
Solar has his own corporate e-mail box
[email protected]
Hoped to develop character in future for
education on Climate Change issues.
Negotiations to give Solar his own Facebook
Page.
The Green Page
Linking Climate Change and Health
• Higher Temperatures lead to poorer air quality
• In the UK there are approximately 1 million COPD
Patients and 5% of the population is affected by asthma.
• In 2003 Heat waves caused 30,000 excess deaths in
Europe
• Emergency admissions cost NHS £11bn per year.
• Local Authorities are perfectly placed to contact the
community.
The rest of this presentation
consists of the thoughts of an
Environmental Health Practitioner
with 25 years + experience not
those of his employer.
Planning
• Inconsistency!
• Not In My Back Yard
• Lack of Teeth – Code for Sustainable
Homes?
• More work on Low Carbon Lifestyles
Budgets!
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£1.7 million cut (approx 12%)
Statutory Services First
Climate Change a Luxury?
Uncertain Science?
Need Short Term Gains not Long Term.
Smart Meters, mandatory? Data charging?
Who’s responsible, who’s ear, how powerful?
Office Recycling a real example!
Climate Change – The New Reality
“If I told the Councillors three of you were doing this
two of you would be down the job centre tomorrow”
“It may come down to asking the public whether
they want meals on wheels or Climate Change.”
Communities of Practice Poll:Do you feel the outcome of the Election
has been good for Climate Change?
48% replied “I’ll tell you when I find out if
I’ve still got a job”
10 years ago we had a lot of the component parts until
budget cuts stripped it away – Will history repeat itself?
Global Climate Change Risk
Assessment
Yes!
Taking Action
Option 1:
GCC is False
Option 2:
GCC is True
Cost
Economic Hardships
Better prepared
No!
Inaction
No significant Given
Loss
our
options
the choices
fall into two
simple
categories
Floods
Famine
Droughts
Economic Hardships
Climate Change Challenges!
•
Political and administrative process (coordinating a large
audience into decision making)
•
Communicating the importance and impacts
– invisibility of causes, distant impacts, lack of immediacy and
direct experience of the impacts, lack of gratification for
taking mitigating actions, disbelief in human's global
influence, complexity and uncertainty,)
•
Influencing people (changing mindsets, cultures,
language barrier)
– the challenging nature of scientific language and the framing
of the issue.
•
Prioritising – easy to overlook distant, long-term, yet
urgent Climate Change mitigation and adaptation
measures
Thank You
Only when the last tree is cut;
only when the last river is polluted;
only when the last fish is caught;
only then will they realise that you
cannot eat money.
Cree Tribe (circa 1860)
Pete Hill
Chartered Environmental
Health Practitioner
Welwyn Hatfield Borough
Council
01707-357404
[email protected]