News

Climate Crisis and Food

The Guardian newspaper is running an online live panel session at 7 pm on Monday 22 February 2021. The full title is “How is the climate crisis impacting the global food supply?” The session is described as follows:

How can we ensure we are eating more ethically, and supporting the farmers who are bearing the brunt of the climate crisis?

Our panel will discuss the effects of the climate catastrophe on the lives of farmers, in this livestreamed event supported by the Fairtrade Foundation.

Roughly one fifth of the UK’s fresh food imports come from areas threatened with climate chaos, sourced under conditions which are directly driving deforestation, drought and significant wealth inequality.

Now that we are living through a pandemic, the difficulties faced by farmers in the global south are being exacerbated, with many of them unable to cope with the huge challenges that come from changing weather patterns and demand, which also has a knock-on effect on the future of the food they grow, and on which millions of consumers in the UK depend.

As increasingly extreme and unpredictable weather patterns undermine the livelihoods of farmers, our panel – chaired by Guardian journalist Lucy Siegle, with Professor Emeritus of Food Policy, City University of London Tim Lang, Managing director of Fairtrade banana cooperative Banelino and Chair of CLAC Marike de Peña, and Reparationist Esther Stanford-Xosei, will be asking: how can we choose a fairer future for the people behind our food supply?

This is a free-to-attend event, supported by the Fairtrade Foundation.

The session will last an hour and you can book free tickets on the Guardian web site.

November 2020 Meeting

The November 2020 meeting will be held at 7:30 pm on Wednesday 11 November 2020 using the Blue Jeans conference system. All members and supporters are very welcome. For joining details, please see the post on online meetings.

This meeting will discuss the government’s plans to form one or more unitary authorities in North Yorkshire, doing away with the existing district councils. We will consider our response, which will be taken to an online North Yorkshire Green meeting at 7:30 pm on Thursday 19 November.

For joining details for the meeting on the 19th, please refer to the entry in our calendar. Details will show if you mouse over the entry. All members and supporters welcome.

Online Meetings

Most meetings are currently online using the Zoom conferencing system. Please use the following details to join a meeting.

Regular monthly meetings are held at 7.30 pm on the second Wednesday each month.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88358524311?pwd=Y29XUXAya1lKTi9hY0hadWVHYVpCZz09

Meeting ID: 883 5852 4311
Passcode: 761856
One tap mobile
+443300885830,,88358524311#,,,,761856# United Kingdom +441314601196,,88358524311#,,,,761856# United Kingdom

Dial by phone if you cannot use computer, smartphone or tablet:
0330 088 5830 United Kingdom
Meeting ID: 883 5852 4311
Passcode: 761856
Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kdJDvQ7s1W

If you need advice on joining an online meeting, please call Martin Brampton on 01653 487048 or 07771 787010.

John Laws – new role at Ryedale DC – 4 November 2020

Local member John Laws has kindly agreed to describe his new role at Ryedale District Council. He is dealing with environmental matters, but John will give a fuller description of the role and how he intends to tackle it. All members and guests are welcome to attend this online meeting which will take place at 8 pm on Wednesday 4 November 2020.

The Blue Jeans online conference service will be used for the meeting. You can join the meeting at https://bluejeans.com/595481721 using any of the main browsers on a PC or laptop, or using the BlueJeans app on a smartphone or tablet. You can experiment with Blue Jeans by visiting https://bluejeans.com/111.

If you are unable to use any of those options, then you can join in using any ordinary telephone by calling 0203 695 0613. When asked for an ID, key in the code 595481721 followed by #. You will then be connected to the meeting.

If you need advice on joining this online meeting, please call Martin Brampton on 01653 696210.

October 2020 meeting – online

The October 2020 meeting will be held at 7:30 pm on Wednesday 14 October 2020 using the Blue Jeans conference system.

You can join the meeting at https://bluejeans.com/595481721 using any of the main browsers on a PC or laptop, or using the BlueJeans app on a smartphone or tablet. You can experiment with Blue Jeans by visiting https://bluejeans.com/111.

If you are unable to use any of those options, then you can join in using any ordinary telephone by calling 0203 695 0613. When asked for an ID, key in the code 595481721 followed by #. You will then be connected to the meeting.

If you need advice on joining this online meeting, please call Martin Brampton on 01653 696210.

Service station close to Thirsk

Members at yesterday’s meeting of the consituency party were very concerned by a planning application for a service area close to Thirsk. We encourage members in the Hambleton District to consider opposing this application. Local members, and Thirsk Friends of the Earth have been resisting the application, and the FoE stance was described in the Northern Echo at https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/18630811.proposed-petrol-station-thirsk-contradicts-hambleton-local-plan–says-friends-earth/

There are objections on economic and environmental grounds, and many of them have been lodged with Hambleton Council, the planning authority. You can find an outline of the Thirsk Friends of the Earth concerns on their web site at http://www.thirskfoe.org/bpproposal.

For more detailed information, David Tonge, FoE local group coordinator, has compiled all the relevant documents at https://1drv.ms/u/s!AijEAIPPC7xYqSX8jRtr4HTT-i5f?e=RATkAD. Please look in particular at David’s objections by going into the “Objections” folder and viewing the file “Objection DT-main comments.pdf”. They are also available through the Hambleton planning portal.

Members are encouraged to cooperate with David in opposing the development. He can be contacted at thirskfoe@gmail.com or by phone at 07775 371244.

9 September Annual General Meeting

The Thirsk and Malton Green Party will hold its Annual General Meeting at 7:30 pm on Wednesday 9 September 2020. This will be an online meeting. No form of meeting is ideal at present, but it is felt that an online meeting is the safest and most practical choice, and it is hoped that it will be accessible to as many members as possible.

You can join the meeting at https://bluejeans.com/256469137 using any of the main browsers on a PC or laptop, or using the BlueJeans app on a smartphone or tablet. To try out the meeting system, go to https://bluejeans.com/111 where you can chat with an animated parrot!

If you are unable to use any of those options, then you can still join in using any ordinary telephone by calling 0203 695 0613. When asked for an ID, key in the code 256469137 followed by #. You will then be connected to the meeting.

If you need advice on joining this online meeting, please call Martin Brampton on 01653 696210.