Tuesday 9 June, 6.30pm Film screening and speaker discussion
In 2019, £2.1 million of taxpayers' money was paid every single day to Drax power station alone, to burn more wood than the UK produces, emitting more CO2 upfront than burning coal. Two-thirds of this wood comes from from the south-eastern US: clear-cutting diverse forests and replacing these, if at all with monoculture plantations.
Filmed in the US, EU and UK, BURNED takes an unwavering look at the accelerating destruction of forests for fuel. Join us for a discussion about the film with filmmakers Lisa Merton and Chris Hardee, Peter Deane from Biofuelwatch and Sam Mason, PCS union.
The film tells the story of how woody biomass has become the fossil fuel industry's latest attempt to greenwash itself as part of the climate solution, and of the people and parties who are both fighting against and promoting its adoption and use. It also explores how government subsidies are propping up the industry. This destructive industry cannot be part of the low-carbon Just Transformation we need.
Register here for a link to join the Zoom webinar at 6.30pm on Tuesday and (separate link) to view the film beforehand whenever suits you.
Tuesday 9 June, 6.30pm Film screening and speaker discussion
In 2019, £2.1 million of taxpayers' money was paid every single day to Drax power station alone, to burn more wood than the UK produces, emitting more CO2 upfront than burning coal. Two-thirds of this wood comes from from the south-eastern US: clear-cutting diverse forests and replacing these, if at all with monoculture plantations.
Filmed in the US, EU and UK, BURNED takes an unwavering look at the accelerating destruction of forests for fuel. Join us for a discussion about the film with filmmakers Lisa Merton and Chris Hardee, Peter Deane from Biofuelwatch and Sam Mason, PCS Union.
The film tells the story of how woody biomass has become the fossil fuel industry's latest attempt to greenwash itself as part of the climate solution, and of the people and parties who are both fighting against and promoting its adoption and use. It also explores how government subsidies are propping up the industry. This destructive industry cannot be part of the low-carbon Just Transformation we need.
Register here for a link to join the Zoom webinar at 6.30pm on Tuesday and (separate link) to view the film beforehand whenever suits you.
Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
John McDonnell MP, former Shadow Chancellor
Asad Rehman, Executive Director, War on Want
Sean Vernell, UCU Further Education Vice Chair
The coronavirus pandemic is not just a public health crisis but one of inequality. The fatal flaws it reveals in our system are the same ones driving the climate and ecological crisis. During this public health crisis we have seen governments suddenly find the financial and political resources to bail out sectors of the economy - on a scale previously derided as impossible to deal with the climate crisis. The choices made now could push us deeper into crisis, worsening inequality globally, creating huge job losses and worsening the climate and ecological crisis through bailing out climate polluters in aviation and fossil fuel industries. Or we could seize this opportunity. In this webinar our speakers will discuss how we can mobilise for a just transformation of society, which has never been more urgent.
Below, a video message from Vanessa Nakate, Ugandan climate strike activist:
Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
John McDonnell MP, former Shadow Chancellor
Asad Rehman, Executive Director, War on Want
Sean Vernell, UCU Further Education Vice Chair
The coronavirus pandemic is not just a public health crisis but one of inequality. The fatal flaws it reveals in our system are the same ones driving the climate and ecological crisis. During this public health crisis we have seen governments suddenly find the financial and political resources to bail out sectors of the economy - on a scale previously derided as impossible to deal with the climate crisis. The choices made now could push us deeper into crisis, worsening inequality globally, creating huge job losses and worsening the climate and ecological crisis through bailing out climate polluters in aviation and fossil fuel industries. Or we could seize this opportunity. In this webinar our speakers will discuss how we can mobilise for a just transformation of society, which has never been more urgent.
Below, a video message from Vanessa Nakate, Ugandan climate strike activist:
Hosted by Campaign against Climate Change trade union group, a series of film screenings will explore the need for radical transformation in society, as exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the climate and ecological crisis which has not gone away. The film showings and discussion will be an opportunity to map what this Just Transformation could look like. We start with The Plan, taking inspiration for today's Just Transformation from visionary manufacturing workers and trade unionists from the 1970s.
‘THE PLAN that came from the bottom up’ is a thought-provoking film on the extraordinary story of Lucas Aerospace engineers. Forty years ago they responded to the threat of redundancy with their own plan of action, developing alternatives to the military products their company made, including wind turbines and hybrid cars.
There will be a Q&A with speakers Steve Sprung, the film’s director, and Danielle Paffard from Green New Deal UK, talking about the forthcoming national Build Back Better campaign.
Discussion will start at 6.30pm, and we'll provide links for you to view the film (either the half hour version or the longer version) before. Register here and we'll email you details for how to join.
Please join us for this discussion when the need for a Just Transformation has never been so urgent.
Hosted by Campaign against Climate Change trade union group, a series of film screenings will explore the need for radical transformation in society, as exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the climate and ecological crisis which has not gone away. The film showings and discussion will be an opportunity to map what this Just Transformation could look like. We start with The Plan, taking inspiration for today's Just Transformation from visionary manufacturing workers and trade unionists from the 1970s.
‘THE PLAN that came from the bottom up’ is a thought-provoking film on the extraordinary story of Lucas Aerospace engineers. Forty years ago they responded to the threat of redundancy with their own plan of action, developing alternatives to the military products their company made, including wind turbines and hybrid cars.
There will be a Q&A with speakers Steve Sprung, the film’s director, and Danielle Paffard from Green New Deal UK, talking about the forthcoming national Build Back Better campaign.
Discussion will start at 6.30pm, and we'll provide links for you to view the film (either the half hour version or the longer version) before. Register here and we'll email you details for how to join.
Please join us for this discussion when the need for a Just Transformation has never been so urgent.
More frequent, intense and unpredictable weather events, such as floods, storms, hurricanes and typhoons have wreaked terrible devastation across the world in recent years. Other natural hazards such as drought and wildfires are causing environmental degradation and change, and helping to drive migration globally.
Last year 23 million people were forced to move due to climate and weather-related disasters: one person every second! The people hit first are the poorest from those countries that have contributed the least to global warming, and have the least resources to protect themselves from the problem.
It is with great sadness that we have taken the decision to postpone the East London Climate Emergency Summit. The scale of the public health crisis around COVID-19 is clear and with that in mind it would not be appropriate to go ahead.
The work that has gone into the conference is testament to a growing climate movement with huge tasks - our so-called leaders are not taking the action we need.
We would like to thank everybody that had planned to attend, agreed to speak, passed motions of support, donated funds and/or time.
The summit has not been cancelled, simply postponed. The date listed is to prevent cancellation. When appropriate, we will seek to reconvene this summit and continue to build the movement that we so clearly need.
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The failure of the UN COP25 talks in Madrid to deliver environmental action on the scale required is a disaster for millions of people. 2019 has demonstrated how global warming is already leading to more extreme weather - floods, hurricanes and, most obviously, fires. Climate change is not a distant possibility - it is real today.
Date/time: Saturday 14th March, arrive from 12.30 for a prompt 1pm start to the main meeting.
Venue: Mill Hill Unitarian Chapel, City Square, Leeds LS1 5EB. This is almost directly opposite Leeds railway station, on the right hand side of City Square as you look upwards away from the station (see https://www.millhillchapel.org/). We will be in the area called the Priestley Room, which is separate from the chapel area and entered by the door at the bottom end of the building (up steps or a ramp).
We strongly recommend not to travel by car unless absolutely necessary, and let us know in advance if you will need a disabled parking space.
The failure of the UN COP25 talks in Madrid to deliver environmental action on the scale required is a disaster for millions of people. 2019 has demonstrated how global warming is already leading to more extreme weather - floods, hurricanes and, most obviously, fires. Climate change is not a distant possibility - it is real today.
2019 has seen the emergence of radical new movements around the environment. The inspirational climate strikes, which have brought out millions of students and workers on protests, as well as the Extinction Rebellion actions are part of this. Environmental demands are also part of the global revolts that have spread from South America across the globe.
But there is also reaction - climate denial from politicians like Bolsonaro and Trump; and now the re-election of Boris Johnson will make winning the radical action we need harder.
The Campaign Against Climate Change; Sheffield Climate Alliance; Sheffield Trades Council; Sheffield Extinction Rebellion and Youth Strike 4 Climate have come together to host this Climate Summit to discuss where we are at and how we can build in 2020. We hope that this event will allow serious discussion about jobs, climate justice, the Green New Deal and future climate strikes.
In November 2020 Britain will host the UN COP26 summit. This meeting will also begin to look at how we can all come together to mobilise for this from Sheffield.
Programme:
10.30 Registration
11:00 Opening plenary - from fires to floods - what's behind the climate crisis?
