Category Archives: Action on Climate Change

Onwards and Upwards for Climate Campaign

Last September at the Citizens:MK Climate Assembly, the Bishop of Oxford agreed to our request for a meeting to discuss Climate Income (‘the fast and fair way to tackle the climate emergency’) and whether he might use his position in the House of Lords to promote the idea.

He has a very full schedule, so December was the first available date… and then just beforehand, he suffered a nasty bout of Covid. Finally, on 25th April this yea, the meeting took place.

The omens were promising: he had already raised the question of Climate Income in the Lords as a result of the assembly; he had put aside two hours to meet us; and he was bringing two advisors!  All the more reason for the representatives of the campaign team – pictured – to prepare carefully.  We agreed our roles: Catherine would convene, we scripted our contributions, and built a break for 1-2-l conversations into a plan that included reporting back to each other on developments in our climate work since September. We were precise about the two things we would ask for from him.

So what happened?  Lauren presented our first ‘ask’: we wanted to cite him as a supporter of Climate Income and of our campaign, as we took it national through the Citizens network. Would he consent to this?  The reply was immediate – yes indeed, and without the conditions one might have expected (e.g., that statements needed to be cleared through his office in advance).

Then our second ‘ask’: would he invite us to the Lords to a meeting, whether formal or informal, as he thought best, to help increase understanding and support for Climate Income among parliamentarians?

Again he replied positively, though not unconditionally.  Characteristically thoughtful, he said he needed time to consider when and how the meeting could best be ‘anchored’ in the processes of the Lords (and its Climate and Environment committee in particular – of which he is a member).  Then he gave us an important and unexpected bonus  – direct access to his two advisors (both of whom were clearly willing, thoughtful, and very well informed on Parliamentary processes as well as climate issues).

It had been an intense two hours including some lively exchanges around how to bring the need for rising carbon prices into the policy process and public debate.  We left feeling tired but elated – and certainly more powerful. We had strengthened and extended our relationships into the political establishment. We had an important ally for what we see as our next steps – both locally, and working across the Citizens UK network to spread this word and bring other chapters on board, turning it into a national campaign.   All that is needed is lots more hard work! – if you might like to be involved, please get in touch.

Huge win for Citizens:MK Climate Campaign – Bishop of Oxford Steven Croft pitches Carbon Fee and Dividend to House of Lords

The Citizens ACE team (Action on the Climate Emergency) have had a great win this week.  We have been working on getting support for an exciting redistributive approach to carbon pricing called Carbon Fee and Dividend.  In this model a charge is levied on fossil fuels at source, and these “carbon fees” are used to fund a “climate dividend” which is given equally and directly to all adults in the UK.

At a recent event run in honour of Bishop Steven Croft’s visit to Milton Keynes for a series of climate meetings, we pitched him the idea.  The Bishop sits on the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee, and we asked that he might be vocal about the model in that forum.  He promised to look into it, and was clearly impressed by it because on 11th October 2021 he pitched it to the House:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=233438862151709

We hope this will be the start of a powerful relationship with Bishop Steven to work together on a national approach to climate work.

Dialogue Wins As Parliamentary Candidates Pledge Action

On 2nd December, 181 people from 19 diverse community organisations gathered at Church of Christ the Cornerstone to hear MK’s parliamentary candidates introduce themselves and respond to the campaign interests of Citizens:mk alliance.

The event aimed to promote respectful dialogue for more informed voting at the General Election on 12th December. All candidates were invited and co-chairs Kurshida Mirza of Truby’s Garden Tea Room and Neil Hutchinson of MK Academy (pictured above) expressed disappointment that the Conservative Party candidates for MK North and South, held by Conservative MPs since 2010, were unable to attend this Citizens:mk assembly because they were busy elsewhere.

A rap video was played, Planet Water by pupils from Orchard Academy primary school (see lyrics), and some attendees put on Greta Thunberg masks (pictured above) to show solidarity with the children and young people in MK and around the world who are campaigning for action on climate change.

After short welcome speeches from Rev George Mwaura and MK Mayor Sam Crooks (pictured below), the presentations from Citizens:mk’s campaign leaders (pictured below) got underway:

After everyone was asked to have a short one-to-one conversation with someone they didn’t know (pictured below) the six attending parliamentary candidates made their five-minute presentations, each strictly timed by Boyzie Morse of MK Quaker Meeting.

The candidates were asked to respond to the following questions:

  1. why are you standing for election? (one minute)
  2. response to one question selected by Citizens:mk Leadership Group from questions emailed in advance by registered attendees:  If elected, how would you make sure your priority is to Milton Keynes before your party, and how would you ensure the views of local residents aren’t ignored?  (one minute)
  3. response to Citizens:mk Asks below (two minutes).

The asks – If elected, will you…

  1. Attend and contribute to our Annual Assembly
  2. Convene meetings we arrange with local business and other leaders, in support of a local Campaign (one per year)
  3. Call for and support in Parliament measures conducive to our local  campaigns
  4. Meet with our Leadership Team twice a year for one hour, either in MK or Westminster.

These were the candidates and their responses:

  • Alan Francis, The Green Party (MK South) – see video
  • Stephen Fulton, Independent (MK South) – see video
  • Hannah O’Neill, Labour Party (MK South) – see video
  • Aisha Mir, Liberal Democrats (MK North) – see video
  • Charlynne Pullen, Labour Party (MK North) – see video
  • Catherine Rose, The Green Party (MK North) – see video

In the absence of the Conservative candidates, the Leader of the Conservative group on MK Council was given the opportunity to read statements from them (pictured below). He pledged to organise a meeting between any Conservative MP(s) elected and members of Citizens:mk Leadership Group within three months of the election.

Saleyha Ahsan, Liberal Democrat candidate for MK South, sent her apologies for absence due to ill health.

In a group Evaluation immediately after, the event was scored 8 out of 10, with points being dropped for lower than target turnout and insufficient audibility of all speakers. As Headteacher Neil Hutchinson later pointed out, “this would be a very high grade in GCSE or A level!”

Photos by Liam Hyatt. Filming by Chris Valentine.

Refill Poster Competition Winners Announced

Mayor Sam Crooks announced the winners of the Refill Poster Competition at a special event hosted by Central Milton Keynes Library. click here to see winners 

The bit.do/refillposter webpage also provides you with access to the event slides and a PDF documenting the final group reflections about ideas for where we can take the campaign next. These suggestions will be discussed further with the children and other members of Citizens:MK for us to decide together what we prioritise for worthwhile and winnable action over the coming months.

“PLANET WATER” SONG

Here are the rap song lyrics which Orchard Academy pupils have produced and agreed to lead on singing at the Citizens:MK Parliamentary Assembly on 2nd December.

REQUEST FOR FEEDBACK

Please complete this short questionnaire to tell us what you think? (All results will be kept anonymous and no personal data will be shared with any other party.) 

MK School Pupils Plan Action on Climate Change

50 students from 5 schools attended a one-day training in Community Organising for Action on Climate Change.

The focus for the day was a research action on thecentre:mk shopping centre, which welcomes each year 25 million shoppers -and £750m of shoppers’ spending – in the context of MK Council’s lead in pledging to be carbon-neutral by 2030.

School councillors from the following schools attended:  Jubilee Wood Primary, Orchard Primary, St. Monica’s Primary, St. Paul’s Secondary and Southwood  Primary, who hosted the initial training at the start of the day.

Following a welcome from Southwood Headteacher Kate Mathews, the pupils talked in a series of 1-2-1s about their individual and institutions’ actions on climate change, then saw Greta’s video

Three leaders of MK Green Alliance – Kirsty Forshaw ( Research Fellow for DeMontfort University on ‘POWER’ project & Refill Champion for MK ), Craign Broadbent (MK Cycle Forum) and Sharon Ghouila (Green Steps Consulting), presented testimonies on the impact of  single use water bottles, cycling and recycling in/around thecentre:mk shopping centre.

The pupils then moved into three mixed groups to focus on one of the three issues, created SMART research questions and designed a questionnaire for their listening campaign in thecentre:mk:

After a break, students set off for the research action in thecentre:mk, splitting into four zones for thecentremk research), then moving to the Council Chamber in Civic Offices for squash, biscuits and packed lunch.

After lunching and crunching the data

pupils presented their research findings by school group and heard from Cllr Jennifer Marklew, Cabinet Member for Sustainability and Climate Action, about MK Council’s pledge to be carbon-neutral by 2030.

Students then prioritised the issues for action, identifying power holders, and created the following SMART campaign goals:

  • 75% of businesses in thecentre:mk sign up for the Refill scheme by 1st April 2020.
  • At least three new Refill stations are created in big anchor stores (M&S, John Lewis or Intu) by July 2020.
  • Clean and accessible public water fountains are created (up to 8) by July 2020.

Some schools also created goals for action on themselves:

  • Halve food wasted at Jubilee Wood Primary School by July 2020.
  • Reduce plastic water bottle use at Orchard Primary Academy by 85% by Easter 2020.
  • Provide Year 7 pupils at St. Paul’s Catholic School with school-branded water bottles by December 2019.

Pupils then took the five-minute walk to Church of Christ the Cornerstone – the fourth and last institution they visited during the day – to present their campaign goals to members of Citizens:’mk’s Leadership Group.

David Chapman, a member of Cornerstone Church, welcomed the pupils and talked about his own campaign to persuade the church to require its room hirers to complete a short environmental audit.

The pupils presented their campaign goals to eight leaders of Citizens:mk member institutions , including co-chair Kurshida Mirza, and received their formal consent.

In post-event evaluation, pupils gave this internal action – which was intended to create in pupils a positive reaction to opportunities for action on climate change – a score of 8 out of 10.

One pupil said: “I feel proud of what I did today.” Another said: “I’ve never spoken to a group like that before.”

Jo Cayley, Assistant Headteacher of Jubilee Wood Primary School, said: “The children were really inspired by the day. They have come back to school and shared information about the refill scheme and the school’s mission to reduce food waste at lunchtimes!”

Now teachers will meet on 22nd October to plan next schools’ action.

student strike for CLIMATE CHANGE

National 30-minute Student Strike, 20th September 2019

Headteachers, your students may wish to join a national 30-minute strike for action on climate change on Friday 20th September. Below are three ways you can support them (with opportunity for follow-up training here):

  1. Assembly before or after the strike – inform students about likely costs and benefits of different types of action, e.g. strikes, petitions, relational power-building for negotiation with power-holders. Your Citizens:mk Community Organiser and leaders of member institutions can lead an assembly presentation.
  2. Conversations– each student could have a one-to-one conversation with three other students – within or between year groups, indoors or outside – to discuss global warming. They could talk about:
    • Your global warming habits
      • what you do that contributes most to it?
      • what do you do that contributes most to reducing it?
      • what more would you like to do to reduce it?
    • Who has most power to reduce global warming?
      • who are the main power holders?
      • which of these are most accessible to you?
      • what can you do to help him/her/them?
    • Your family and friends
      • what’s the worst habit of someone you know
      • realistically, what could s/he do differently?
      • what would you say to them?
  3. Survey Action – students could collect data to answer some or all of the questions below, and feed the results back to Citizens:mk who will collate the data from all MK schools and produce a report which you can present back to all participants:
    • Why are you taking part in this survey?
      • I care passionately about reducing global warming and feed driven to take action
      • I think it’s important and want to play my part
      • I like getting out of normal lessons
      • I didn’t want to take part, but was forced to.
    • If you think global warming is an importan issue, which power holders do you think have most power to reduce it (rank them 1-8 where 1=most powerful and 8=least powerful)
      • United Nations
      • UK government
      • Milton Keynes Council
      • My neighbourhood
      • My school
      • My family
      • Me
      • Other (please state).

For further information, or to express interest in taking part, contact Tom Bulman, Community Organiser, tel 07962 838685.