GND Media

After a technical hitch (some say Andrew tried to turn his whole house carbon zero with just a mirror and a kettle), we are back delivering high quality low carbon local environmental news! 

This week we are joined by members from the campaign to save Ryebank Fields, an area of re-wilded land in south Manchester. Julie and Tara talk us through the work that themselves and there comrades have been doing to stop Manchester Metropolitan University from developing the land and destroying the  green field site. We discuss the rare biodiversity in the area, the history of the land and if the arguments for housing stack up against  saving city ecology. 

https://www.saveryebankfields.org/

"Shout outs"

Dave Bishop- chair of Friends of Chorlton Meadows
Youth Strike for Climate Manchester 
@Youthstrikemcr

 research on rewilding to sequester CO2 by Rio de Janeiro University 
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2784-9

Cambridge zero carbon campaign
@ZeroCarbonSoc   

Marion Smith and Pooja Kishinani of Climate Emergency Manchester have developed a students guide to the climate crisis 

https://climateemergencymanchester.net/student-climate-handbook/

@poojakishinani

@GoGoSuperMarion

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City councils don't often get the same attention as the national political movers. Important decisions are still being made though when it comes to our environment and the impact we  have on it. In hopefully the first of 96 interviews with Greater Manchester City Councillors we will delve into the heart of local politics and see what those who sit in power think about the climate emergency,  the repercussions of our actions on the climate and what our elected representatives at a local level think the city can do to save us from environmental collapse. This is an exercise in good faith and activists listening to the problems our representatives face. 

Joining us this week is Sam Wheeler, Labour Councillor for Piccadilly ward. Focusing on his patch, the city centre,  we discuss the history of Manchester council, how to allocate carbon produced across the region and does Manchester need a 7th climate scrutiny committee?



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Get involved with the Retrofit Get-in Project
https://vimeo.com/459003183

The Green New Deal has been around for just over a decade, with it's origins beginning in the U.K. It made it's first big splash in the US with the likes of AOC and Bernie Sanders calling for the fundamental decarbonising of the US economy and economic justice for all citizens. The support for the GND and these candidates doesn't come from wall street but a ever growing grass roots campaign that wants life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to be for all Americans.

This week we are joined by Guido Girgenti from the Sunrise Movement & the Justice Democrats (@guidogir) to discuss how the GND plays in in US politics, How do you organise in such a large nation, how to appeal to young voters and people Bernies age and what work progressives have to do if Joe Biden wins the presidential election.



links
Sunrise Movement
https://www.sunrisemovement.org/

We shine Bright- New book by the Sunrise Movement
https://bookshop.org/books/winning-the-green-new-deal-why-we-must-how-we-can/9781982142438

Gabriel Wienant Chronopolitics
https://nplusonemag.com/issue-37/politics/coronavirus-and-chronopolitics-2/

Swarm wise by Rick Falkvinge
https://falkvinge.net/files/2013/04/Swarmwise-2013-by-Rick-Falkvinge-v1.1-2013Sep01.pdf


Shout out
Jamall Bowman running for New York 16th district
@JamaalBowmanNY

Louie Beckett running the Moston miners community center

Progressive International and Pawel Wargan
@ProgIntl

Manchester Green Summit
@GMGreenCity

 Our retrofit project
https://vimeo.com/459003183

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Apologies for some of a the audio quality, will be back on form next week.

Over August bank holiday and early September Extinction Rebellion lead protests and direct actions in major cities in the U.K with the most news grabbing being the obstruction of printing presses outside Liverpool and London. How has this round of protests influenced the fight against climate breakdown and where is the movement going?

This week we are joined again by XR Manchester member Lizzy and Joel to debrief on the actions. We discuss how are police tactics changing towards XR? How has COVID disrupted their acts of disruption, the realities and impacts of direct action on ourselves  and what the movement needs to do in the future. 


Links 

Reset Paper https://reset-uk.org/

Shout outs
Dianne Abbot
@HackneyAbbott

Greater Manchester Savers
@GMSavers

Palestine action 
@Pal_action

US firefighters tackling the climate wildfires of the west coast
@CAL_FIRE

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As wildfires ravage the U.S west coast it has never been more pertinent  to think about what rising global temperatures are doing to our natural environments. The wild fires in Australia at the beginning of this year  killed nearly 3 billion animals, our choices and the choices of our leaders and governments affect the world around us all. If we are to tackle the climate crisis how do we defend and reinvigorate the natural world? Are we putting too much emphasis on counting carbon instead of the costs on the natural world itself?

This week we are joined by Joshua Styles (@joshual951), from the North West Rare Plants Initiative (NWRPI). We discuss the current state of  flora & fauna protections in the UK, how the slashing of planning regulation is endangering some of our rarest wild life and is planting trees the best solution to our carbon problem?

**Links**
North West Rare Planet Initiative 
http://nwrpi.weebly.com/

plants before Pandas- the guardian documentary on Josh
https://youtu.be/qW_XnT-MjtU

Nick Moles episode on pesticides
https://www.buzzsprout.com/919177/4360112 

**Shout Outs**
Chester Zoo
@chesterzoo

Lancashire Wildlife trust
@Lancswildlife

City of Trees
@CityofTreesMcr

Cladiators 
@McrCladiators

Labour for a green new deal Legend Jill Axford
@JillAxford

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We are back, after a holiday break and with a new theme tune!

climate breakdown unlike other political and socio-economic crises has a tight deadline. If we don't tackle it within the next 10-25 years we're going to be heading to the Mad Max hellscape without the steam punk aesthetic. With a problem that is going to effect every generation and the ones yet to come it's no surprise people of all ages are stepping up to demand leadership on the climate.

This week on the show we are joined by Fridays for Futures' Emma Greenwood to discuss why the young are picking up this gauntlet, how education in the UK needs to be updated to deal with our climate realities and what's in store for the political future of youth movements.

Links
Fridays for Futures
https://fridaysforfuture.org/
Servern Cullis Suzuki's speech at the U.N in 1992
https://youtu.be/JGdS8ts63Ck

shout outs
Youth strike MCR
@Youthstrikemcr
Red Co-op retrofitters
@RedCooperative
If you want to get involved in retrofit jobs, fill out this form
https://forms.gle/xqykPojVCLwA4mqV7

Extinction Rebellion Manchester
@XR_MCR
Global Law Action Network who have taken the youth activists case the EU
@GLAN_LAW

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Last summer Extinction Rebellion made headlines around the world for their civil disobedience actions. Occupying areas of major world cities and demanding that we change course now from this ecologically destructive and economically extractive  system to a regenerative and egalitarian model all based on a democratic citizens assembly. From that we've seen climate emergencies declared all around the global but the substantial work is still to be done.

This week we are joined by Lizzy Haughton and Joel Stone from Extinction Rebellion Mcr to discuss XR's development from last summer, where the movement has fallen down and how it can  evolve to really attain its goals.

Links to the local and UK rebellions this bank holiday weekend
https://xrmcr.org/

Find your local XR group here
https://xrnorth.org/our-region/

Shout outs
Campaign against HS2
@stophs2

Acorn Tenants Union- for there resisting eviction traininng
@AcornManchester

Ground work GM
@GroundworkGM

Kirkstall Valley Farm
@KV_Farm

Climate Emergency Manchester
@ClimateEmergMcr

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When people think of a Green New Deal their head immediately runs towards industrial policy; building solar powered cities, dumping fossil fuels, having sustainable public transport and good Green manual jobs. That's what we need to save the world from itself and we all need to get involved to do so. If that's the case then why are the majority of those industries dominated by Men? When the traditional "breadwinner" heads out to build the Solar farm who's looking after his family? His children, his elderly parents? Are these roles not vital too? Women make up the majority of the work force in care, education, health, unpaid domestic work, where is their GND? Why are men not seen as being the child rearers and carers of the frail?  Why are we only fixating on one part of the economy if we are attempting to save the planet?

Joining us this week to discuss The Feminist Green New Deal is Maeve Cohen. Maeve is the co-author of "Towards a Feminist GND for the UK". Maeve is currently a researcher at The Sustainable Consumption Institute and former director of Rethink Economics. We unpick what a real social justice orientated GND would look like, what is intersectionality and why we should shape the post Covid economy around care.



Links
Feminist GND Paper
https://wbg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Feminist-Green-New-Deal.pdf

Women's environmental Network
https://www.wen.org.uk/

Womens budget group
https://wbg.org.uk/

Maeve's piece in Open Democracy about a feminist GND
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/its-time-to-talk-about-a-feminist-green-new-deal/

Siliva Federici- Caliban and the Witch
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9781570270598?gC=5a105e8b&gclid=Cj0KCQjwvb75BRD1ARIsAP6LcqtoXf9WTXeqWMtIkLDW2AcZv1VmkV9l33Hoy9HE2TqBuG389YrAkvcaArzAEALw_wcB

Adrienne Roberts
@DrAdrienneRob
Towards a Feminist Global Trade Politics
https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/towards-a-feminist-global-trade-politics(1ef21053-eb60-4df5-9d5f-9359447907b8).html

Shout outs
Judith Emanuel of Steady State Manchester


Harrie Larrington -Spencer
@harrielspencer

Rest in Power
Sheila Abdullah

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Public transport is a complex beast in the UK. local transport can be run by a myriad of private firms, public private partnerships, municipally owned businesses, charities, publicly controlled private firms and other quangos. No doubt that public transport is a key pillar when it comes to tackling the climate crisis but which organisation is the most effective at tackling it and how should British democracy interact with it? With smaller vital, yet seemingly unprofitable routes being cut across Manchester we ask; is there a better way? 


This week we are joined by Pascale Robinson (@PascaleRobinson) from Better Buses Greater Manchester (@BetterBusesGM) to discuss what publicly controlled transport is, how it differs from publicly owned transport and how our local democracies should interact with transport providers.

get in contact with the better buses campaign at
[email protected]

Shout Outs

Friends of the earth Manchester
@foemcr

Acorn tenants union
@ACORN_tweets

Guy Standing and his book "plunder of the commons"
https://www.guystanding.com/books

Save Ryebank Fields 
@ryebankfields

Leo murrays "away with all the cars'
https://www.common-wealth.co.uk/reports/away-with-all-cars-redux


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Ironically, there has been a lot of hot air when it comes to institutions and leaders taking on climate change. Promises of carbon neutrality in far off distant dates just kick the can down the road. How can we hold people and places of power to greater account? Are local governments able to take on the climate emergency they themselves declared? Or has the Covid pandemic turning governments back to "business as usual"?

This week on the podcast we are joined By Marion Smith and Calum Mcfarlane from Manchester Climate Monthly (@ClimateEmergMcr) to discuss their recent reports on progress from GMCA since the Climate Emergency declaration, what is getting in the way of substantive change in the city and there vision for a greener Greater Manchester.

 
CEM J10 report
https://climateemergencymanchester.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/J10-Report.pdf

CEMs' petition for a climate scrutiny committee
https://democracy.manchester.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=36&RPID=1929741&HPID=1929741

Core cities report
https://climateemergencymanchester.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Core-Cities-JULY-2020-v1.0.pdf


Shout outs
Mary Heglar Climate justice activist
@MaryHeglar

Jason Hickel 
@jasonhickel

Greater manchester housing action.
@gmhousingaction

Circular city Manchester 
@circularcitymcr

U.K student climate network
@UKSCN1

Peter Kalmus
@climatehuman

Professor Julia Steinberger
@JKSteinberger

is deep adaption flawed science?
https://theecologist.org/2020/jul/15/deep-adaptation-flawed-science


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