A new group has been set up by SSB to find practical ways of reducing our carbon footprint as individuals and as a community. The group is exploring ways of working differently to reach a wider audience. If you want to be part of the group or just want to be on the mailing list contact Jeremy Sabel  jeremysabel@gmail.com

Following key events including: the publication of the IPCC special report on Climate Change in October 2018, the IPBES report on biodiversity and ecosystem services in May 2019, pressure from the public including the School Strikes for the Climate, Extinction Rebellion protests and David Attenborough’s programme on climate change in April 2019, Parliament voted unanimously to declare an Environment and Climate Emergency on 1^st May this year.

Prompted by SSB, South Brent Parish Council declared an ‘Environment and Climate Emergency’ on 20 May 2019 and will work with Sustainable South Brent’s new ‘Zero Carbon South Brent’ sub-group to pursue further local measures/projects that help to reduce the carbon footprint of the parish. This will move the parish towards the fulfilment of some of the aims in the ‘Parish Plan 2016+’. Refer to the plan on the Parish Council website for more detail, but the overall aims in this respect were that

• “The community will take steps to sustain itself, socially and economically and with opportunities for all who wish to make their lives here. This will include affordable and environmentally friendly homes to enable families and individuals with low to moderate incomes to continue to live and work within South Brent. It is also about our broader impact on the environment, which in turn impacts on us, economically and socially. We will play our part in the global efforts to mitigate climate change and resource scarcity, in ways that are compatible with the need to maintain and improve the quality of life in the community for all. We will therefore include locally produced energy solutions such as hydro, wind and other renewables, encourage more domestic recycling and in so doing strengthening the local community and protecting the long term economic, social and environmental health of the village.” and “Work to assess the Parish’s carbon footprint and identify and incentivise a programme to reduce it to an agreed series of targets compatible with UK goals and the need to achieve sustainability across the community.”

In making this declaration the Parish Council would:

1. Pledge to do whatever is in its power to make South Brent carbon neutral by 2030
2. When making other decisions, including planning decisions, take into account the effect on the progress towards the carbon neutral target and increasing biodiversity
3. Where necessary consider a partial diversion of funds to reinvigorate the actions in the Parish Plan that help achieve the target
4. Place this issue on Council and Committee agendas to agree strategies and action plans
5. Work with other local authorities, neighbouring local councils, appropriate government departments and other organisations to determine, implement and deliver best practice methods to limit Global Warming to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels
6. Regularly review progress, taking action on recommendations to address this emergency
7. Explain and inform people through the Newsletter and the website, about the implications of the emergency, about the measures we are supporting, and actions individuals can take themselves to mitigate the crisis
8. Support the SSB Zero Carbon Group and provide a link Councillor as point of contact