Victoria's Green Matters - 12th November 2015

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury:

It is difficult to realise how our actions can affect other people and other species, often many miles away. Now the effects of global climate change are causing problems for species on our doorstep.

If you have been lucky enough to see at first hand or have only watched its antics on television, you must agree that our little seabird, the puffin, is a joy to watch. So it is very sad to hear that Atlantic puffins have been added to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list of species in danger of becoming extinct. This puts them at the same risk as the African lion and elephant, and in more danger than the humpback whale.

While there has been a crash in Atlantic puffin numbers in Norway, Iceland and the Faroe Islands which together hold 80% of the European population, there have also been significant losses on Fair Isle and Shetland, though numbers are better in other places.

The birds face a long list of threats. Research has shown that puffins are particularly susceptible to changes in sea temperatures and extreme weather conditions which affect their prey species of sand eels, sprats and other small fish. Certain types of net fisheries trap puffins; invasive predators such as rats, cats and mink on islands where they nest have all contributed to this disastrous decline.

It is disturbing to think that many of our familiar wading birds are also considered to be ‘near threatened’.

Victoria Nicholls. Transition Deal.

Transition Dover's first meeting Tuesday 10th Nov

Next week sees the founding meeting of Transition Dover on Tuesday 10th November at the Dover Town Council's offices in Biggin street from 5:30pm to 8pm. 

This very welcome move now means that there are transition groups right around the East Kent Coast from Deal, Dover, Folkestone and Hythe with colleagues also at Faversham, Whitstable, Canterbury, Thanet and Tenterden.

'Transition' is a loose network of hundreds of community based groups around the country and internationally all trying to make their local communities more sustainable and resilient to climate change through the local action of those communities themselves. 

Deal With It looks forward to working with our new colleagues in Dover and wishes them every success with their work for Dover.

Transition Dover are on facebook and can be emailed here 

Victoria's Green Matters - 5th Nov 2015

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury:

We have almost got used to hearing good news about renewable energy projects, the move away from fossil fuels and the possibility of a true global agreement at the climate summit in Paris next month but there is bad news as well.

We have been hearing about the terrible conditions in Indonesia, due to the fires that are burning to clear forests for the cultivation of plantations of palm trees. These fires have emitted more than 600 million tonnes of carbon dioxide between July and 21 September 2015, according to NASA, and could emit more carbon dioxide than Germany does in a year by the time they are extinguished. Indonesia is the fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world but has pledged to the UN to curb emissions by 2030.

The annual burning of forests to ready the land for seed planting has always been a controversial issue because the smoke affects tens of thousands of people in Indonesia and Malaysia, causing respiratory problems and prompting the cancellation of sporting events and the closure of schools.

The fires are also affecting one third of the world’s remaining wild population of orang-utans in Borneo. Several thousand of the fires have penetrated deep into forests and national parks where wild apes and other endangered species, such as the clouded leopard and the hornbill, live.

Peat land forests are naturally resistant to fire but decades of poor management which has drained the peat has made the forests very susceptible to fire.

Victoria Nicholls. Transition Deal.

Victoria's Green Matters - 29th October 2015

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury:

Coral reefs are home to a multitude of different creatures; just 1% of the ocean’s floor is home to 25% of the world’s marine creatures. The loss of this biodiversity would have a devastating impact on the lives of 500 million people around the world who rely on coral reefs for their food and livelihoods.

Recent reports have shown global bleaching of coral reefs is underway, caused by a huge underwater heat-wave, driven by climate change. By the end of this year, 5% of reefs will have died and 38% will have been affected. But this is not all because there is a very strong El Niño, causing world record global temperatures and a vast patch of hot water in the north-western Pacific which gives great concern for 2016. There were two previous global bleaching events which took place in 1998 and 2010 when every major ocean experienced bleaching.

Since the 1980’s the world has lost about half of its coral reefs. It is not just the extremes of temperatures that affect the coral; it is the length of time that the high temperatures remain. Coral can recover if temperatures return to normal but after one month of high temperatures the animals that build the coral reefs will die.

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is already showing signs of bleaching, months before the warm season begins fuelling fears that up to 50% of the reef will be affected.

Strong action on emissions, pollution and overfishing are required to save our coral reefs.

Victoria Nicholls. Transition Deal.