Banbury CAG News brings you notification of two locally organised online events both highly relevant to Climate Change action.If you haven’t already registered for one or both, why not do so now?
8th October Clean Air Day webinarMask-wearing has only recently become a routine part of Banbury life, but who doesn’t, now, when going out the door, run through the checklist:money? (tick), keys? (tick), mask? (tick)Elsewhere in the world, though, people have already been wearing masks in public long before the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ve been wearing them as protection against the dangers of breathing polluted air. Although it’s easy to lose sight of this with the very immediate crisis due to COVID-19 that the world is facing, air pollution is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Air pollution walks hand in hand with Climate Change issues: it burdens the health of the citizens, harms the environment, contributes to climate change. Air pollution is the fifth highest cause of death globally, amongst all health risks. More people die from breathing polluted air than from road traffic injuries or from malnutrition. The most recent figures show that exposure to air pollution contributes to around 7 million deaths annually, worldwide, from stroke, heart attack, diabetes, lung cancer and chronic lung disease (800 people an hour; 13 deaths every minute). For many city-dwellers, simply breathing is the health equivalent of being a heavy smoker. As part of this day of action, Oxfordshire Friends of the Earth, OxFoE, are hosting a webinar on the subject of air pollution. It will run from 6.00 to 7.30pm and is your chance to find out more about a range of county-based initiatives that are going on which aim to clean up the County’s air.Reserve your placeOxFoE will also be out and about holding photoshoots at the County’s pollution blackspots – that includes parts of Banbury – and at a number of schools involved in promoting clean air and active travel. Look for the photos on their social media. If you live in the parts of Banbury with high air pollution problems, join in by sending them a local photograph.There is a specially designed poster for the Day: and display it to help bring concerns about air pollution to the attention of a wider audience.On their website is a Clean Air Day quiz to test your knowledge, and downloadable resources.Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
10 October TED Countdown EventBanbury Extinction Rebellion (XR) are hosting an online event on 10th October from 3:30 to 8pm looking at actions we can take to tackle the Climate Emergency and the mass Species Extinctions. Banbury CAG is involved. This is how the event will run: we will kick off by watching short TED talks and videos, and listening to interviews from local people. These presentations will then form the basis for discussions in small Zoom breakout groups where we can consider what we have seen, what it means to us, and how it inspires us to take personal actions. This format builds on the very successful TED Circles that have been taking place every week since lockdown started. There will be plenty of breaks, and some lighter sessions too.The event is part of the global TED Countdown Events that day. The TED global programme will be streamed on YouTube: find out more An emergency is a situation where we need to act fast to prevent disastrous consequences. How fast depends on the nature of the emergency. Climate change is a long-term concept with the emergency happening on the scale of years. The problem with this timescale is that it seems there are always more pressing issues to attend to, issues which apparently need more urgent attention. As a result, action on climate change has repeatedly been pushed aside. That approach must stop: serious problems are now just round the corner, pretty much with us already.It’s key to remember that Government – politicians – on the whole do the things they think the wider population wants. If we want Government to act, we must tell them just that. Tell them they must consider the longer term not just the day to day. Radical measures are required to bring down the carbon emissions and we have to be prepared to live with those measures. We all need to act: government, industry, individuals. Get some ideas of how by signing up for the TED Countdown Event.Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Also to note is the upcoming CAG Oxfordshire “Fresh Thinking” workshop series highlighting community action on climate change. There will be lots of events addressing a wide range of issues.Take a look at the full programme.
Bridge Street Community Garden UpdateA big Thank You to Tooley’s Boatyard who donated a bench for use in the Garden and delivered it. We’re not sure who fixed it in place but thank you to them also!The bench you may recognise as one of those previously set alongside the canal where Lock 29 is located. The building firm McLaren stored them before offering them to Tooley’s: a welcome recycling story.A big Thank You also to the Ladies of Chamberlaine Court who have looked after the raised beds over the last season and kept them so productive.