Here's a long-term perspective on climate change and its influence on human societies. Consider the fate of the Norse settlement of Greenland, established using European farming systems during the relatively warm period that preceded the Little Ice Age, and that of the neighbouring Inuit, who adapted well to an icy environment.
The Norse settlements on this rather marginal land, really only suited to pastoral farming, fishing and some forestry, and named ‘Greenland’ in a rather optimistic form of Viking marketing, nevertheless survived for about 450 years. However, scientific analysis of sediments shows that from the start the land was degraded by deforestation and soil erosion, so that by the time the climate deteriorated, the Norse inhabitants were already struggling and dependent on imports from Iceland and elsewhere in Europe.
By comparison, the Inuit, who had settled another part of the island, coming north from mainland America, had adapted a lifestyle that was independent of farming and forestry, hunted seals and whales, had little need of wood for building or fuel, and had developed revolutionary boats, based on sealskin stretched over whalebone frames. However, it seems that the Norse had little positive interaction with them, did not seem to copy their technologies and generally regarded themselves as superior, describing the Inuit as ‘Skraelings’ or wretches.
The nub of the story is that the Inuit survived the worst privations of the Little Ice Age, while the Norse did not. The detailed descriptions of archaeological excavations of their final settlements make poignant reading. Likely reasons for their failure to adapt and ultimately to survive are described by Jared Diamond in his book Collapse1.
“There were many innovations that might have improved the material conditions of the Norse, such as importing more iron and fewer luxuries….copying from the Inuit or inventing different boats and different hunting techniques. But those innovations could have threatened the power, prestige and narrow interests of the chiefs. In the tightly controlled interdependent society of Norse Greenland, the chiefs were in a position to prevent others from trying out such innovations.
“Thus Norse society’s structure created a conflict between the short-term interests of those in power, and the long-term interests of the society as a whole. Much of what the chiefs and clergy valued proved eventually harmful to the society……..Ultimately, though, the chiefs found themselves without followers. The last right that they obtained for themselves was the privilege of being the last to starve”.
Are we fated to make the same sort of mistake? Certainly some of Diamond’s observations carry echoes for our present times. A key problem is reluctance to make change or move outside our bubbles of perceived normal and rational behaviour. The Norse, after all, had lived in Greenland for 450 years and the ecological decline triggered by their activities may have been too gradual for them to recognise or for everyone to take seriously. The climate change that finished them off would have been well-nigh impossible for them to predict. By comparison, we’re fortunate that science has identified these threats, giving us the opportunity to take action.
Taking place on the 6th November 2021, the Global Day of Action will see millions coming together from all over the world to demand change from leaders at COP26. We need urgent solutions to combat the nature and climate emergency that affects us, the wildlife and the surrounding landscapes that we all love.
The purpose of the Global Day of Action is to unite all climate activists and groups around a common goal: to demand governments and corporations limit global temperatures to 1.5°C and deliver real and just solutions to the climate crisis. This will be a historic moment in history as we give nature a voice. The walk coincides with the World Climate March (a virtual 1.5km or 2000 step) walk for climate justice, representing the 1.5C or close to global temperature rise limit for global warming as established by the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015. Our leaders must be reminded of their commitment to this legally binding international treaty.
As world leaders gather for the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, Moorlands Climate Action will be staging a walking demonstration around Leek as part of the Global Day of Action. Join residents of the Staffordshire Moorlands on a walking parade in Leek as part of the Global Day of Action on Saturday, November 6th 2021 meeting from 10:30am to design banners (between the Foxlowe Arts Centre and Leek Town Council offices on Stockwell Street) followed by the walk beginning at 11:30am.
Read more: Totally Globally - Global Day of Action - 6th November 2021
“I am on a journey through this world; I see the world as a sacred place and I pass through it with reverence and gratitude, without any desire to possess the world and exploit it for any short-term gain”. Satish Kumar (1)
On Sunday 26th September, we welcomed the wonderful ‘Camino to COP’ walkers into Leek – at the halfway point on their 500-mile journey from London to Glasgow. The Camino Walkers, from XR Faith Bridge, set out on their journey to urge governments to act on the climate emergency and to spread the word along the way about the urgent need to address our climate and ecological emergency.
The effects of climate change are already evident. Natural disasters are more frequent and devastating. These negative impacts are – unjustly – more severely felt by poor people and by poor countries. The Camino Walkers were travelling on foot to Glasgow and to COP 26 asking for Climate Justice and to save the Earth.
COP 26 (or the 26th Conference of the Parties) is the most important global climate change event to take place each year. Leaders from 196 countries meet in Glasgow in November for this major climate conference. This year is crucial because world leaders had agreed to come to Glasgow with definitive plans to keep emissions at a level that would keep global warming to ‘well below 2% and as near to 1.5% as possible’. These are the so-called Paris Targets. Scientists say that cutting emissions drastically this decade is our last chance to come up with plans that can hit those targets and bring climate change under control.
Read more: CAMINO to COP – A 500 Mile Walk for Climate Justice
Individual sign up: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/moorlands-global-day-of-action-registration-193379171307
Group sign up: https://forms.gle/ivkfs39T2cp8r7ib9
Route: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1huIFckbgFziGU4NcQRXZ9oznDBnIX4U_&usp=sharing
Taking place on the 6th November 2021, the Global Day of Action will see millions coming together from all over the world to demand change from leaders at COP26. We need urgent solutions to combat the nature and climate emergency that affects us, the wildlife and the surrounding landscapes that we all love.
The purpose of the Global Day of Action is to unite all climate activists and groups around a common goal: to demand governments and corporations limit global temperatures to 1.5°C and deliver real and just solutions to the climate crisis. This will be a historic moment in history as we give nature a voice. The walk coincides with the World Climate March (a virtual 1.5km or 2000 step) walk for climate justice, representing the 1.5C or close to global temperature rise limit for global warming as established by the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015. Our leaders must be reminded of their commitment to this legally binding international treaty.
As world leaders gather for the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, Moorlands Climate Action will be staging a walking demonstration around Leek as part of the Global Day of Action. Join residents of the Staffordshire Moorlands on a walking parade in Leek as part of the Global Day of Action on Saturday, November 6th 2021 meeting from 10:30am to design banners (between the Foxlowe Arts Centre and Leek Town Council) followed by the walk beginning at 11:30am.
The days are getting shorter and so is the time left until the COP26 summit in Glasgow. That summit is widely regarded as being make-or-break for international efforts to keep the rise in global temperatures below 1.5%. At MCA there is only a limited amount we can do to influence world leaders but we do have targets a little closer to home.
SMDC now has less than two months to deliver a ‘fully costed, measurable and achievable’ plan to get the district to Net Zero. That promise was made over two years ago and previous deadlines have come and gone in a puff of excuses, evasion and doubled-down claims of ‘leadership’. This deadline is so public that this time, surely this time, there can be no more evasion.
There are a few encouraging signs – a professional consultancy has finally been brought in, in the form of Anthesis, and political embarrassment at the lack of action in comparison to sister council High Peak has spurred a few minor potential advances in areas such as electric vehicle charging points.
A mid-ranking officer now explicitly has climate in his portfolio and a dedicated climate change officer is still promised. SMDC’s biodiversity partner, the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, is deftly and admirably riding the political winds to win funding for local projects.
Staffordshire Climate Matters is holding a series of meetings around the county on specific sectors of the climate agenda, the findings of which will be presented to councillors, including those from SMDC, at a conference in October.
But these signs of hope are rarer than a public bus on a Moorlands road. Almost everywhere else, the few plans made public bear the scars of months and years of essential preparatory work undone, or started too late – of policy making as a permanent state of essay crisis.
A widely publicised ‘public consultation’ on SMDC’s plans has now been downgraded to a telephone survey of public attitudes to climate change. These are the sort of things that should be done – are done by other councils – at the start of a process, not weeks before the all-important plan is due to be delivered.
It is impossible to escape the conclusion that caught between the Scylla and Charybdis of two rudderless years and a new deadline as an act of political theatre, SMDC cut and ran on the public consultation. That does not bode well for any hope of a ‘fully costed, measurable and achievable’ plan by the end of October.
There is so much that needs to be done, and so little idea from within SMDC leadership about how to do it. Where are the plans for proper co-operation with the County, where so much of the heavy lifting will need to be done in coming years?
The portfolio holder will now sit on the Joint Waste Management Board, we are told. Great, but what about Energy? What are they going to do, retrofit houses with landfill?
The Centre for Alternative Technology is hosting a series of Innovation Labs for the county’s local authorities. That’s good – as far as it goes. And how far that goes is impossible to find out. There seem to be no citizens involved in the process and if SMDC has any clue what they expect at the end of it they are not letting on.
The Green Infrastructure Project Management Board is another template for future co-operation we are told. Well, MCA is all for those kinds of bodies – we’ve been pushing for similar for years. But where is the presence of anyone with climate in the job title?
Tourism, Farming, Wildlife Management: they are all there, and should be. But where does any action on climate get a look in? Yes, we hear you say, the portfolio holder has climate in his job description. But it’s common knowledge that the grittier, messier, harder bits that go with climate action don’t get much of a look-in these days. And those in-trays tend to be more ‘In’ than ‘Out’.
The last two years have been marked by a relentless focus on the softer, nicer more photogenic aspects of the portfolio – i.e. Nature. At MCA we all love a tree, and we’re quite fond of bees too. But even their most urgent advocates wouldn’t claim that Nature-based solutions can make more than a bit of a difference. The relentless focus on Biodiversity at the expense of Climate has left the plan dangerously unbalanced and threadbare. If God gave humans two legs to walk and they make a choice to use only one, they will end up going round in circles, arriving back almost where they started.
Whatever emerges in a matter of weeks, SMDC won’t be quite back where they started. It will not be that bad. But it looks set to be far, far short of where, with leadership, they could have and should have been.
- Events up to and Including the Great Big Green Weekend
- Pilgrimage Passes through Leek
- RED ALERT at the Great Big Green Week with Moorlands Climate Action
- HuG Festival Review
- SWOT - Moorlands Climate Action
- HûG – Green Arts Festival
- Peak District National Park Authority - Volunteer Rangers Needed
- MCA SWOT
- Parish Assembly
- Demonstration for Support for Climate Action
- Boost for Biodiversity 2021 Grant Scheme
- Introducing Alana Wheat - Our New Communications and Admin Assistant