CREDITON Town Council declared a Climate and Ecological Emergency in July 2019.

The Chair and Mayor, Cllr Liz Brookes-Hocking explains some of the actions the council is taking this month: “We declared the Emergency two years ago.

“It hasn’t gone away and we’re working on it. As world leaders and many others gather for COP 26 in Glasgow, events are happening in Crediton, too.

“The town council is collaborating with other organisations to put on events that will help our community to discuss how climate issues affect us locally.

“We’ve invited several people who work on climate and sustainability issues to come and tell us how they see things right now and what they’re focusing on for the future. They have specialist experience from different fields. Altogether they offer a thought-provoking series of presentations with opportunities for questions and discussion.

“Everyone is invited to participate in these events. You don’t need to come armed with a sound knowledge of the issues already.

“You don’t need to be a signed-up eco-warrior. You just need to be willing to think about all our futures, to listen and consider how we should go forward in our town.

“Here are the details of two free events for Crediton COP 26. You are warmly invited to both because the second one develops issues raised in the first.”

Thursday, November 4, 7pm - Hayward’s School Hall - Climate and Ecological Crisis? – What’s all the fuss about?

David Ramsden MBE is Head of Conservation for the Barn Owl Trust.

Liz continued: “He also does a brilliant talk so if you don’t know what the fuss is about, come and see David’s presentation. If you do know what the fuss is about, bring someone else along who doesn’t and you’ll probably find out more than you expected anyway.

“Like many of us, David read reports on global warming and ecological damage a few years ago. But whereas most of us may have shrugged and hoped that someone else would solve the problem, he decided to do a lot more research.

“The result is a presentation that many people have found illuminating, informative, accurate and understandable. It comes highly recommended.”

Saturday, November 6 - 9.30am to 1pm - Boniface Centre - Crediton COP 26 – A Community Conversation: What should Crediton do?

There will be presentations on:

• Food security, land use and economy

• Transport

• Agriculture and biodiversity.

The speakers are:

Catherine Broomfield, farmer and business developer

Catherine has a background in business and farming, having kept livestock in Devon since 2001. She advocates for native breeds and grass-based systems. More recently she has campaigned for sustainable food and farming and for policy development. She has an MSc in Food Policy and is currently researching how livestock farmers can engage with the non-farming public in a way which is most likely to sustain the “social licence to farm”.

Stewart Barr, Professor of Geography, Exeter

Stewart researches into Environment and Sustainability including how the public engages with current environmental problems.

He looks at how social practices are evolving in the light of “mega-issues” like climate change, and the ways in which consumption-heavy lifestyles could be put in conflict with calls to reduce consumption as a way of averting catastrophic climate change. He explores various practices related to energy use, water, waste and most recently, mobilities. He looks at how social media’s potential for collective action can help to achieve successful behavioural change.

Ewan Woodley, Senior Lecturer in Geography

Ewan’s broad research interests are climate change, natural hazards and public understandings of risk and resilience. He is a member of the Environment and Sustainability research group whose approach covers health and well-being, risk, ethics, place and identity.

He acknowledges that “The communication of climate science is a key challenge for academics”. Current research fields are Transitioning to sustainability, Sustainable places: land and sea, Resilience and climate change.

Cllr Elizabeth Lloyd, Mid Devon District Council

Elizabeth is the Green Party district councillor for Sandford and Creedy. She was the cabinet member holding the portfolio for climate change until March 2021. She will precede the presentations with an outline of initiatives that the district council is taking.

It will help the Town Council with numbers if attendees register for both events via Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.com .

The link to the event is also on the town council website: www.crediton.gov.uk and on its Facebook page. Alternatively, email the town council on: [email protected] . You can still go along even if you haven’t had time to book a ticket.

Messages for Mel Stride MP to take to (the real) COP 26

During October, Sustainable Crediton and the Town Council collected messages from the general public and from our primary schools for our MP Mel Stride. The messages tell him what people are concerned about and what action they want leaders to take at COP 26.