Moorlands Climate Action were invited to contribute to a wonderful Youth Conference ‘Together for Our Planet’ held in Buxton on the 10^th November.   Transition Buxton, with Education outreach leader Frances Sussex, organised the event to coincide with COP 27.   Transition Buxton used their ‘Together for Our Planet’  National Lottery grant to fund it.

Beforehand, schools in Buxton, High Peak and Leek/Buxton College were sent a PowerPoint presentation, outlining the idea and aims of the ‘Together for our Planet’ Youth Conference, plus an invitation to take part.  Teachers were encouraged to ask students to discuss and decide what questions they wanted answering about climate/environmental topics.  They were also encouraged to list positive actions that they were already doing at school to help the planet.  Students were to bring their questions and actions to share at the conference.

Read more: Celebrating 100+ Young Climate Activists!

In this issue, we celebrate a young climate activist who lives in Leek - Ed Daly.  He not only loves nature but works incessantly to protect and support wildlife.  Before Covid, he was well known for his Leek market stall Ed's Shed, where he sold his own bird feeders, nest boxes and decorations, all out of natural materials and widely popular.  We hope he will be able to return.  In the meantime, here is his article on tree maintenance, a very important issue that's often overlooked in our enthusiasm to get trees into the ground.  Thanks Ed.

3 Ds for Trees

We all know that we need to plant more trees to help in the battle against climate change. But in my short time doing conservation work, planting is only the first step in getting the tree from sapling to maturity. What we need to focus on is that trees need a maintenance plan. 

The 3 Ds for trees are Dead, Diseased and Damaged. If the tree shows signs of any of the 3Ds, you must do something about it swiftly.   

Identifying a dead tree in the summer is relatively easy as it is likely to be devoid of foliage. For example, Ash dieback, is very common in Ash trees and can be identified by lesions on infected bark so urgent action needs to be taken.

A diseased tree may start to die back from the crown known as 'stag heading' as branches will lose the foliage from the crown of the tree.

A damaged tree may be difficult to spot when in full leaf, especially if the tree is covered in ivy as this can mask any damage. This is why foresters are not keen on ivy. It masks damage to the tree and makes calculating the volume of timber in a tree difficult. If the bark on a tree becomes damaged,it can expose it to diseases and to the elements.     

What action should be taken if branches on a tree appear to be dead, diseased or damaged?   

If your tree has a dead, damaged or diseased limb, it is possible to remove these by yourself using loppers or a bow saw depending on the size of the limb and, if it's within easy reach, always wear the appropriate PPE and work within your capabilities. If in doubt, contact a professional, as tree work can be dangerous and if carried out inappropriately it can cause more damage to the tree.

Edward Daly

As part of the very successful Energy Fair that was held recently, Youth Engagement offered children and family activities upstairs in the Rainbow Room.

All the activities were linked to energy in some way, including a simple circuit, wind up torches, electrical ‘buzz’ games, a static electricity experiment, making model houses with tiny solar panels and making windmills and energy superhero colouring sheets. We were also fortunate to have some real solar panels outside on the balcony which we could show to everyone. Most people had never seen them close up before!

During the day we had about a dozen customers, all of whom seemed to enjoy themselves. While they were taking part in the activities we had the opportunity to chat to the children and their parents about energy, climate change and Moorlands Climate Action: raising awareness and maybe recruiting some new members. We gave out one of our Activity Packs to everyone who came.

Read more: Family Activities at the Energy Fair

Peter, who is only ten, has been at 4th Leek Scouts for a few months now.  At one meeting a few weeks ago we were talking about Climate Change and he suddenly said he wished there was a big button we could press to stop it!

Read more: Peter - Young Climate Activist in Leek

Our Youth Engagement group have been busy!  Last year, we completed our main project which was to produce a Climate Activity Pack for Children, Families and Schools. Our pack has now been printed and we have already begun to distribute it to families and children who visit our MCA stall in Leek Market Place. Our MCA Climate Activity Pack is Free and available at all our MCA events this year including the Energy Fair on April 3^rd at the Foxlowe. 

For this year, our Youth Engagement Team is focussing on a major project which aims to introduce ‘Moorlands Wild Week’ to schools. The idea for this project, was first successfully developed in Buxton by Jackie Wragg, Youth Engagement Officer for South West Peak Landscape Partnership.  To find out more about our Climate Activity Pack and how you can get involved in our exiting Moorlands Wild Week project read on!.....

Read more: Climate Activity Pack for Children, Families and Schools

In desperation at the slow progress of world Governments to halt the climate crisis, children and young adults’ voices have become louder and, it seems, they may be being heard at last! This is not just the result of school strikes or demonstrations but by their direct communication with political and business leaders. Now, they are invited to speak to world audiences at international climate events, some resorting to legal means, seeking climate justice for the world and their future.

In September 2020 we highlighted 6 young Portuguese climate activists who, through the global legal action network and youth4climate justice took 33 countries to the Court of Human Rights. This, they argued, was for failing to play their part in averting a climate catastrophe. We now know that the Strasbourg court made this case a priority! Last year, the defence of each of those 33 Governments was passed to the youth-applicant’s legal team to respond to by January 12th 2022. Climate experts are now gathering further supportive evidence. We wish them luck and wait to see what happens.

Read more: Young Climate Activists - Are their voices being heard?