housing

My experience of installing an Air Source Heat Pump

This article comes from Mick Lorkins, CA-WN Steering Group member and founder of Northamptonshire Woodland Community Volunteers. We think it provides exactly the sort of honest and comprehensive information householders need - if you have an experience of making 'green' home improvements that you would like to share,

food & farming

Solar panels trial on polytunnels

CA-WN's Farming Correspondent, Rupert Knowles, shared this article about flexible solar panels on polytunnels being used to power farm equipment, and added some comments of his own on the possibilities of technology for fruit harvesting. Hugh Lowe Farms trials polytunnel solar panelsElectric Berry project powers farm tools and

meeting reports

Report of public meeting 15 May 2025

May’s speaker was Natasha Ginks. Natasha is a qualified Retrofit Co-ordinator with considerable practical experience as well as qualifications in the field of home retrofit. Natasha’s presentation was titled "Where to start with retrofit" - the slides are available to download1 and a recording of the

Carbon Literacy training Summer 2025

Following the great success of our previous Carbon Literacy training courses, we're looking forward to offering the next 4-week course starting in early June. After completing the equivalent of one day's worth of training and committing to carbon-reducing actions, you will be deemed Carbon Literate and

New in CA-WN Exchange for May

This month's CA-WN Exchange highlights the sustainability achievements of West Northamptonshire Council over the past four years1, includes insights from Steering Group member Mick Lorkins2, and features a post about grasses3 along with regular bookshelf,4 podcast5 and recipe6 suggestions. And it's Hedgehog Awareness week7. Local

nature

A Journey Through Grass

Members of CA-WN are involved in a grassland project, which aims to draw attention to the nature recovery potential of areas of grassland from road-side verges to small meadows. As a member of this group I considered it worthwhile to explore the importance of grassland and its relationship to humans.

council

Council Watch May 2025 – End of Term Report

Four years ago, the first West Northamptonshire Council was elected – a unitary authority that replaced four predecessors: Daventry Borough Council, Northampton Borough Council, Northamptonshire County Council and South Northamptonshire District Council. Lots of shoes to fill, and not an easy transition to make. There is now a new group of

recipes

Super Food Salad

The veggie boxes have reached that point in the year when the main thing on the list is brassica of varying sorts, onions, and, thank goodness, carrots.  Whilst we really enjoy carrot salad, and lovely though steamed calabrese and broccoli are served cold in a vinaigrette sauce, it’s good

opinion

Meet the Steering Group - Mick Lorkins

Q1. What is your motivation for being involved with the environmental movement and with CA-WN in particular? I retired in 2023 and have always been keen on environmental issues and wanted to do more.  Before retirement I would always ensure that, as part of my job as a project manager,

bookshelf

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

Paul Murray’s novel, The Bee Sting, which won the inaugural Nero Gold Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker prize, is a critically acclaimed tragicomic saga about an Irish family. It is also a book that, according to its author, cannot and should not ignore the climate crisis. Murray

podcastshelf

Happy Heat Pump Podcast

Our latest contributor to the Meet the Steering Group feature, Mick Lorkins, mentions in his piece that he has installed an Air Source Heat Pump in his home, along with other eco-friendly improvements. Coincidentally I recently became aware of this podcast specifically dedicated to demystifying heat pumps of all kinds.

nature

Hedgehog Awareness Week

The 2025 national campaign to help hedgehogs runs from 4 –10 May. Do you have hedgehogs in your neighbourhood? Hedgehogs play a vital role in controlling insect populations and are an important part of our ecosystem, but they face growing threats from habitat loss and road traffic. What can we

meeting reports

17 April Public Meeting report

This month’s meeting was slightly different to the usual format featuring an external guest speaker. Instead CA-WN’s Chair led an open discussion about climate adaptation risk – what are the risks to the residents and environment of our area from climate change and what should we be doing to

recipes

Simnel Traybake

This delicious fruit cake is traditionally made at Easter Tide.  It is a little fiddly to produce, as it requires several distinct stages but the end result is a wonderfully moist cake with a subtle spicy flavour and a lovely crunchy topping, so it is well worth the effort. The

opinion

popcawn April 2025

CA-WN is not a political group and The CA-WN Exchange is not a political platform. But CA-WN cannot stay silent at election time. Our elected representatives hold all the levers of power essential for delivering on CA-WN’s mission: the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from West Northamptonshire and preparing

podcastshelf

Climate risk and energy transition

We usually publish one book and one podcast recommendation each month on CA-WN Exchange. This month instead of a book, I’m going to suggest reading a short article published on LinkedIn*, and tie that in with two podcasts. The article, ‘Climate, Risk, Insurance: The Future of Capitalism’ is by

opinion

Meet the Steering Group - Harry Mellor

As others in the Steering Group are busy with local election matters it falls to someone with zero personal election interest to introduce themself. Q1. What is your motivation for being involved with the environmental movement and with CA-WN in particular? Simple questions that in my case warrant detailed, lengthy

meeting reports

20 March Public Meeting report

We were lucky enough to have two speakers this month. Alan Ryan and Sarah Parr from the RAIN Northants project, part of WNC’s Flood and Water Management team, spoke to us about the work the project is doing to make our area more resilient to flooding, and about what

local matters

Trees for Welford

CA-WN recently received this email from Hilary Hunt of Trees for Welford (TfW), and it's such a great good news story we wanted to share it. I am pleased to say that we have completed our Feasibility Study project and finalised our Report on the challenge of setting

council

Council Watch April 2025 - new Climate Change and Tree Strategies

This article has been written by Sienna Mahoney, a Journalism student at the University of Northampton. West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) have published aims to lower greenhouse gas emissions in Northampton. In early 2022, the council committed to deliver net zero as an organisation by 2030 and for the wider area

popcawn - March 2025

Wokeness is trouble. Wokeness is bad. It’s gone. It’s gone. So said President Donald J Trump in his 4 March 2025 address to US Congress. Is this the template for leadership that we can expect in West Northamptonshire? Why have words like Woke or acronyms like ULEZ been

business

See the Light - Leading the Way

Green Day released the single “See the Light” in 2009, as the closing track on their album ‘21st Century Breakdown’. As a counterpoint to the album’s depressing but omniscient title there is some good news going on in the heart of Corby, Northamptonshire, where See Limited is showing how

food & farming

The Problem with Methane (CH4)

Addressing methane is important because it accounts for about one third of all the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. In more detail, methane is a powerful greenhouse gas with over 80 times the 20-year warming power of carbon dioxide. However, in the atmosphere it breaks down to

opinion

‘Drill, baby, drill’: a who's who

'Burn, baby, burn', a deliberately incendiary slogan associated with riots in the USA 60 years ago, has been taken up and repurposed. ‘Drill, baby, drill’, ostensibly aimed at reducing dependence upon foreign energy supplies, is yet another populist appeal in support of a distinct worldview whose cheerleader in

bookshelf

Ultra-Processed People: Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn’t Food … and Why Can’t We Stop? By Chris van Tulleken

Chris van Tulleken and his identical twin Xand are familiar faces on our TV screens, especially to children and their parents from the CBBC show Operation Ouch! I was prompted to read this book after watching a documentary made by Chris van Tulleken on the topic of Ultra-processed Food (UPF)