Making a bee hotel

Making a bee hotel from Alex Lanchester on Vimeo.

Esk Valley residents working towards a low carbon future

This film is of a presentation by Kate Gilmartin of CO2Sense, a subsidiary of Yorkshire Forward, to local residents of the Esk Valley - a remote area of the North York Moors.

CO2Sense are working with the residents to reduce their energy usage and CO2 footprint and are dedicated to helping both businesses and organisations across the region prepare for the challenges of climate change. This film outlines the findings of a report commissioned by the Esk Valley Energy Group and Danby Village Hall.  The report has been funded by the Department for Energy and Climate Change through the Local Energy Assessment Fund.

The Esk Valley Energy Group are working to reduce the community's contribution to climate change by minimising carbon dioxide emissions. They do this by adopting and promoting responsible and sustainable energy practices, namely energy conservation, energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. Some members of the group have set up Esk Energy (Yorkshire) Limited to install an Archimedes screw-based hydroelectric power turbine on the River Esk at Ruswarp, nr Whitby, North Yorkshire. You can find out more by clicking here. The Esk Valley Community Energy Group have been working with Danby Village Hall to see how they can reduce their carbon footprint and save money by improving the energy efficiency of the village hall.

Warning: this is a long film and presentation but in it's entirety provides a useful insight into the high levels of knowledge and expertise within the group and what can be achieved, by an ambitious community, after several years of dedicated work.



To find out more email or call 01287 669 641

New electric van grants

Last January the UK Government's Dept of Transport announced that its green car grant scheme would be extended to include vans, cutting the cost price of ultra low emission vans by 20% or up to £8, 000.

The Plug-In Grant, launched in 2011, offers grants of 25% towards new green cars and runs until 2015.

Eligibility criteria for the grants are strict: vans must be new, emit less than 75g of CO2 per km, be capable of a range of at least 60 miles between charges and be able to reach speeds of over 50 mph. They must also meet European Type Approval standards.

At present sales of electrical commercial vehicles are much lower than those for electric cars, but more models will be released on to the market in 2012.

The minister for transport, Norman Baker said that the scheme is designed to help individuals and businesses adopt new, cleaner technology:

"It will help to improve local air quality in our cities, reduce carbon emissions and meet government targets. The technology fits well with a large portion of the van market that relies on short urban trips to and from base".

Recycle your old paint

Community RePaint is a network of paint reuse schemes across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It collects leftover, reusable paint from householders and businesses, and redistributes it to those who need paint but cannot afford it. Find out how to recycle your unwanted paint.

What is the Green Deal?

The Green Deal is the new government initiative that is designed to aggregate business and home owners to employ more green technologies in their properties. The idea is simple; install new green technology into your property with no up front costs. You will pay back the costs through your energy bill over a period of time.

This is unlike a conventional loan because if you move out of the property the bill stays with the property where the savings are occurring and not with the bill payer. The “golden rule” of the Green Deal is; the expected financial savings must be equal to or greater than the costs attached to the energy bill.

Key to the government’s thinking is that the building stock in Britain is some of the oldest in Europe and to bring it up to date, it needs to be properly insulated. Once the buildings are properly insulated, occupiers will spend less money on heating them. This is why the government has linked the energy companies to the scheme.

Green Deal for Home Owners The Government is aiming the Green Deal squarely at homeowners and reto fitting as many older type properties as is possible. The biggest winners are going to be the older style properties built prior to the 1920′s. There is a limit of £10,000 for domestic home owners at present.

Homeowners will be able to install the following types of green measures;

•Wall insulation both solid and cavity walls will be covered.
•Loft insulation
•Double glazing
•Door insulation
•Smart meters

The above measures are aimed at reducing demand on your energy, once these have been installed it will cost you less to heat your home thus cutting your energy bill.

The other types of measures that will be covered by the Green Deal are ‘energy in’ measures these will include:
•Solar power, both Thermal and Photo Voltaic panels
•Air and ground source heat pumps
•Biomass boilers

Because these types of technology use less power to heat your water and home, the idea is that you will be cutting your energy bill in the long term.

Each property will have to be rigorously inspected by a Green Deal accredited advisor to see which measures will return the best results. The Green Deal for homes will enable up to 26 million homes to be upgraded over the next 25 years.

Once the assessment has been made of the property the advisor will make suggestions to the home owner of Green Deal providers and Green Deal Plan will be written outlining the work to be carried out. All Green Deal providers and materials will have been through a series of tests to ensure that the homeowner can expect a standard of workmanship and quality regardless of the tradespeople involved. All the work will have a warrantee as well as all the materials used in the installation giving the home owner peace of mind.

Find out more about The Green Deal.

And here are two videos which might prove useful:

Kirkbymoorside 'Give or Take Day' - April 1st

It is often said that one person’s junk is another person’s gold and Kirkby's world famous Give or Take Days are an excellent example. This is the perfect way to give new life to all that clutter in the attic or garage. It also helps reduce the amount of rubbish taken to landfill sites. So simply bring unwanted items (they can accept most things from a pillow case to four poster bed as well as electrical items) and they will find them a new home. You may also find something to take home with you.

For further information contact:

June Emerson: 01751 430907 or John Brown: 01653 600666 extension 486.

Park Authority seeks residents help with heritage project

North York Moors communities are being asked to help to develop a proposal for a project that will raise awareness of the national park's industrial heritage.

The park authority is holding drop-in events to gather information and stories to feed into the proposal which will focus on ironstone mining and railway heritage of the Esk Valley, Rosedale, Grosmont, Goathland, Ingleby Greenhow and Kildale areas.

The project has a working title 'This Exploited Land' and aims to help conserve or restore key historical features and increase awareness and community participation.

The stunning landscape of this part of the National Park was changed dramatically by the extraction, processing and transport of ironstone and there is a wealth of fascinating stories, industrial, ecological and personal, connected to these changes. This Exploited Land (the working title for the proposed new project) will encompass a number of initiatives that will conserve or restore key historical features, increase awareness and community participation in looking after these and the wildlife of the area and also improve skills and provide training for local people.

The discovery of ironstone in 1836 at Grosmont and its subsequent exploitation was the first stage of what developed into a major industry with ironstone from Grosmont and the surrounding areas helping fuel the industrial revolution in the north of England. This coincided with the arrival of the horse-drawn Whitby to Pickering railway designed by George Stephenson which was used to transport the ironstone out to Whitby, then on to Wearside and Tyneside.

The North York Moors has a long imprint of human activity that has shaped the landscape over the years including alum, jet and coal mining. However, the speed and scale of the exploitation of ironstone in the 19th century must surely have been one of the most dramatic transformations as relatively remote farming communities were turned into bustling sites of industry almost overnight. Signs of this industrial heritage are still scattered through the National Park but work is needed to ensure that they are appreciated and will remain here for future generations. We would like people’s ideas about how best to achieve this along with input on which stories we should be shouting about so that more people can discover what a special and unique place this is.

The drop-events will be held from 5pm to 8pm on:

Monday 19 March at Rosedale Reading Room

Tuesday 20 March at St Matthew’s Church, Grosmont

Monday 26 March at Ley Hall, Lealholm

Thursday 29 March at Ingleby Greenhow Village Hall

Monday 2 April at Goathland Village Hall

Wednesday 4 April at Danby Village Hall

In addition to the public consultation events, the National Park Authority is working alongside the North York Moors, Coast & Hills LEADER Programme and a variety of stakeholders with a view to submitting a first stage application to Heritage Lottery Fund in February 2013. If successful, a second stage application would need to be developed and submitted before the Authority finds out if it has secured funding.

Streetbank - a great idea to reduce your carbon footprint

Find out what your neighbours would like to share or give you. Streetbank is already helping thousands of people in the UK share goods and skills with their local community, from tools and camping gear, to pet sitting and IT support. Watch the video below to get a good idea of how it works:
 



Communities that help each other are closer, nicer, and friendlier to live in. Streetbank can help make your neighbourhood a nicer place. The aim is to get people involved in their community, to foster altruism, a generosity of spirit and volunteerism. It is to help local needs to be met by local solutions, reducing poverty by building community.

It also makes sense environmentally. It helps people to reuse things, and for things that are under-used to be used more, and that all helps to reduce consumption.

It also makes sense economically. If there are 100 houses on your road and each of them uses a ladder maybe once a year to clean the guttering, they probably don’t all need their own ladder. One ladder shared between everyone should be enough.

Joining Streetbank is dead easy so why not sign up and get sharing!

Ampleforth Abbey - orchard and cider mill

Apples have been produced at Ampleforth Abbey for well over 100 years in what is England's northernmost commercial orchard. In this short film orchard manager Cameron Smith talks to a tour group in the Cider Mill where Ampleforth Cider, Amber and Cider Brandy are produced, offers tastings in the nearby Windmill Pub and completes his tour in the two hectare orchard where the trees have just been pruned in readiness for the season ahead.

 
The present orchard has more than 2,000 trees and some 40 varieties but, as indicated in the film, they need more apples each year than they can produce themselves. If you have surplus apples consider taking them along to the Abbey in exchange for payment in juice or cash come the autumn.

If you would like to take part in a tour of the orchard and cider mill, and enjoy a tasting and lunch in the lovely Windmill Pub you can make an appointment by calling 01439 766085 or visit their website for fuerther information.

Music on film credit: Apple spell (My Bubba & Mi) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Two more important eco-events taking place

As well as Climate Week (12-18 March), which has already been highlighted on the blog, this month also sees World Water Day & Earth Hour being celebrated. See how you can help create a more sustainable Planet Earth by getting invovled.

World Water Day ~ 22 March

There are 7 billion people to feed on the planet today and another 2 billion are expected to join by 2050. Statistics say that each of us drinks from 2 to 4 litres of water every day, however most of the water we ‘drink’ is embedded in the food we eat – did you know the production of 1 kilo of beef consumes 15,000 litres of water? This World Water Day, spare a thought for those who are less fortunate and start saving water, switch to a more sustainable diet and consume less  water-intensive products.

For more information on food security relating to water, please visit the World Water Day website.

Earth Hour ~ 31 March

The Earth Hour idea is simple – switch off your lights for 1 hour and send a powerful message for action on climate change.  More than 5,200 cities and towns in 135 countries worldwide switched off their lights for Earth Hour last year – and with more and more members committing to Beyond the Hour in a bid to generate an even bigger impact, it could really make a big difference to our future.

Find out how you can get involved!

If your company wants to get involved, find out just how easy it is.

Making Tracks in the North York Moors - Fun walks for children

This volume explores the North York Moors and contains 12 interesting, easy-to-follow short walks created especially for children. 

• Each page is written & illustrated in a format which appeals to children of ages 5-12.
• Designed for children to take the lead, reading the instructions & the child-friendly maps whilst looking for things of interest along the way.
• Each walk is printed in a separate booklet therefore meaning less to carry whilst out & about.
• Also contains an introductory booklet which gives you all the information you need to know about the 12 walks & much more besides.

The fun-packed walks to keep your children entertained are: 

•  Danby
•  Robin Hood's Bay
• Goathland
• Whitby
• Roseberry Topping
• Rievaulx Abbey
• Hutton-le-Hole
• Dalby Forest
• Farndale
• Falling Foss
• Kilburn.

You can order the book here.

Freezing food could save up to 800,000 tons of waste a year

Recent research from Wrap (Waste and Resources Action Programme) has found that an estimated 5,500 whole chickens, 440,000 ready meals and about 1.3 million pots of yoghurts are thrown away needlessly in Britain every day. The average UK family wastes up to £50 worth of perfectly good food a mont and much of it still goes into landfill rather than into council food disposal and composting schemes.

The research has also found that 60% of people believe food has to be frozen on the day it is bought - when in fact food can be safely frozen right up til its 'use by' date.

With the environmental impact of avoidable household food waste at around 17 million tonnes of CO2e, that's the equivalent to the emissions of one in five cars on UK roads! So next time when you open the fridge, if there are items about to go out of date, freeze them and enjoy them at a later date.

Click here for more information on food labelling, storage guidance and food waste and find out what you can recycle at home to minimise waste.

There may not be a drought in Yorkshire yet but...

The average rooftop collects 85,000 litres of rainwater every year, which could be stored & used to water your garden

Yorkshire Water has teamed up with savewater.co.uk to offer customers a wide choice of water butts and water saving products at bargain prices!

Collecting rainwater in a water butt to use on your garden can save litres of treated tap water, helping you lower your water bills if you have a water meter.

So what are you waiting for?

Start saving water today!

Move Your Money Month starts today

This campaign asks people to move their money from the big banks that commit unethical investments, such as financing companies with a poor human rights record, to more local, community-focussed, sustainable and ethical alternatives: credit unions, mutually-owned banks, or banks that have explicit ethical commitments.

Organisers say; “The aim is to reach out to UK citizens, and let them know that there are different ways for their hard-earned cash to be invested. Ways that can help their local community and where moving their money can have tangible effects that can be seen and touched.”

Find out more.