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Thank you for subscribing to this newsletter. This is a place for us to update you on what we are doing at West Devon Borough Council and what things are going on around the borough.
It will tell you what's going on nationally and things that you, our residents and businesses, can do to reduce your carbon footprint and manage your land to improve the environment and its biodiversity.
If you have anything you would like to include in this newsletter, contact our Climate Change Specialist by email here and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Council Updates
Bishopsmead’s green space in Tavistock has gained 26 beautiful birch trees kindly donated by Stone Lane Gardens.
West Devon Borough councillors ably planted the trees at an event on Wednesday 27 April, helped along by Borough Council grounds staff and ParkLife SW.
The planting event saw 26 assorted birch trees, along with one alder, planted in the public area, which runs alongside the Tiddy Brook. The trees will greatly enhance the beauty of the well-used section of the Drake's Trail cycle path, which is part of the National Cycle Network.
Stone Lane Gardens, an RHS Partner Garden, are renowned for their national collections of birch and alder trees, which are the tree species generously donated for planting. As active members of the West Devon Climate Change and Biodiversity Community Forum, they are keen to support the Council’s climate change and biodiversity commitments.
The trees were planted with suitable staking and guards with help from Parklife SW, a social enterprise company that supports community environmental projects. They will include a maintenance programme of follow up watering to ensure their survival.
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SHAKE Climate Change - Deadline 13 May 2022
The SHAKE Climate Change programme is designed to attract entrepreneurs or start-ups that have developed early-stage science or tech-based ideas that can have a significant impact on climate change.
The programme is inviting applications from early-stage ventures with exciting, original, and viable business ideas in agriculture and food production. The aim is to help new businesses develop sustainable solutions to climate change caused by agriculture.
The programme has a total financial budget of £3.5 million. Over its lifespan, 15 successful ventures will each receive up to a total of £140,000, provided as a convertible interest-free loan. They will also receive two years’ high-quality training and mentoring from leading experts in business and science, to help further develop their ventures.
For further information click here: http://www.shakeclimate.org/
Energy Entrepreneurs Fund - Deadline 11 May 2022
Funding of up to £1million is available to UK businesses (particularly small/medium sized) operating in the green energy sector to develop products, technologies & processes in energy efficiency, power generation & storage.
Eligible costs include researchers and technicians (staff support), costs for equipment, building and land, research, other operating expenses and more.
Up to £10million in total is available.
Successful applicants will receive acceleration support. SMEs will need 10% cash match funding to be an eligible applicant .
Click here to find out more.
Tree Production Innovation Fund - Deadline 11 May 2022
This innovation fund is supporting nurseries to increase and diversify the supply of trees available for planting in England.
The government aims to at least treble tree planting rates in England by 2025, contributing to meeting the UK’s overall target of planting 30,000 hectares per year by the end of this Parliament.
The Tree Production Innovation Fund has been designed to encourage the development and adoption of new technologies and ways of working that will enhance the quantity, quality and diversity of tree planting stock available for planting in England.
The following groups are identified as likely potential applicants to the fund:
- private sector nurseries, organisations, and seed suppliers
- public bodies partnered with private sector third party organisations
- research institutes
- universities and colleges
- horticultural and agricultural growers
Projects must address one or more of the following challenges identified through stakeholder engagement as barriers to tree production:
Challenge 1
How can we make better use of available seed and vegetative planting material to maximise the quantity, quality and diversity of trees produced?
Challenge 2
How can we develop growing systems to enhance their efficiency and resilience to change, whilst delivering improved quality and diversity of product? This challenge can include activities to promote biosecurity.
Challenge 3
How can innovative environmentally sustainable weed control solutions be used to reduce reliance on herbicides?
For more information, click here.
Sources of funding for tree planting in Devon
As of publishing this newsletter, there are over 20 different sources of funding for tree planting in Devon.
The Devon Local Nature Partnership manage a list of funding sources which is available here: www.devonlnp.org.uk/our-work/trees-for-devon/sources-of-funding-for-tree-planting-in-devon
No Mow May
When it comes to everyone's gardens, small changes can make a big difference. Research indicates that UK gardens combined amount to a land area of 432,924 ha, roughly five times the size of South Hams in total.
When it comes to providing vital nectar and pollen for bees, butterflies and other insects, every flower counts; your lawn can help provide that feast.
Plantlife’s #NoMowMay campaign doesn’t ask you to do much. In fact, it asks you to not do anything at all!
Just lock up your lawnmower in May and let the wild flowers in your lawn bloom, providing a feast of nectar for our hungry pollinators.
To find out more and take part, click here.
Feel free to send us photos of your gardens in June to show us what's been emerging - we will showcase some of them in the July's newsletter! Email us your garden photos with the title NoMowMay to climatechange@swdevon.gov.uk
No Mow May will then be followed by #30DaysWild between 1 June and 30 June.
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The BIG FIX
The BIG FIX is an annual event led by Devon County Council, and returns after a two year break on Saturday May 14.
Skilled menders, fixers, tinkerers and tailors from all over the country will give their time and expertise for free to help fix items that might have otherwise been thrown away.
You can find a full list of Repair Cafés in Devon by visiting the Recycle Devon website (Repair Cafe – Recycle Devon) and Repair Cafés nationwide through Visit | Repaircafe. There is no booking required, just complete a form about your item on arrival.
For more information, click here.
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May's Webinars
Net Zero Carbon Futures from a Creative Perspective Wednesday 11 May, 16:00 - 18:00
Hear from Dr David Sergeant and Dr Emma Whittaker about a project raising public awareness of the Devon Carbon Plan by empowering local communities to create positive ‘visions’ of a carbon net zero future.
The Net-Zero Visions project unites community groups with creative professionals and net-zero transition experts to produce their vision in creative outputs including animations, illustrations, interactive games and public murals. To register, click here.
Last month the Department for Education launched its strategy for Climate Change and Sustainability. The strategy responds to recommendations for education from the Committee for Climate Change, the Dasgupta Review and the Green Jobs Taskforce report.
It will support the delivery of the UK Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan and Net Zero Strategy. The vision for the strategy is for education to become a leader in sustainability and climate change by delivering four strategic aims:
- Excellence in education and skills for a changing world: preparing all young people for a world impacted by climate change through learning and practical experience.
- Net zero: reducing direct and indirect emissions from education and care buildings, driving innovation to meet legislative targets and providing opportunities for children and young people to engage practically in the transition to net zero.
- Resilience to climate change: adapting our education and care buildings and system to prepare for the effects of climate change.
- A better environment for future generations: enhancing biodiversity, improving air quality and increasing access to, and connection with, nature in and around education and care settings.
The Department for Education is to back a new GCSE in natural history from 2025, giving children a "rigorous understanding of the natural world".
Elsewhere in the strategy, there is a desire for all education settings - including those in Early Years - to have a dedicated "sustainability lead" by 2025, who will also own a climate action plan (to include curricular and extra-curricular activity, procurement, adaptation and decarbonisation plans).
As part of this there will be a provision for carbon literacy training for all sustainability leads in every nursery, school and college by 2025.
To read the strategy in full, click here.
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Air samples from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii provides important data for climate scientists around the world. On Thursday 7th April 2022, NOAA announced that analysis of data from their global sampling network showed that levels of the potent greenhouse gas methane recorded the largest annual increase ever observed in 2021 at 17 parts per billion (ppb), while carbon dioxide continued to increase at historically high rates.
To read about the findings in more detail, click here.
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Researchers from the University of Queensland (UQ) have discovered a way to increase the lifespan of a lithium-ion (li-ion) battery from several hundred charge/ discharge cycles, to more than 1,000. Researchers say the new findings could double the life of high energy density batteries to the point they become viable for use as they no longer degrade within a few hundred cycles.
Potentially most importantly, this new development technique also means the battery will require less precious metals.
The research was outlined in a recent paper in Nature Communications
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