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)

podcastshelf

Feed: Ultra-processed foods, plastics, transport

Our Bookshelf recommendation this month is Ultra Processed People, about ultra processed food (UPF) and how it is affecting us as consumers, in all senses of the word. The equally important relationship of UPF to climate change might not be immediately apparent, though it does feature in the book. This

recipes

Apple and Almond Pie

As the days are getting longer I’m looking through my store cupboard and trying to use up the things I hoarded during the run up to Christmas.  Once past the Spring equinox I know I shall spend far less time in the kitchen, so now’s a good opportunity

opinion

Planetary Boundaries

I am on the mailing list for the Stockholm Resilience Centre.  Back in 2009, The Centre1 and its director, Johan Rockström, coined the expression ‘Planetary Boundaries’.  Seven boundaries were described and three of these were considered to be crossed already.  Since then, the number of boundaries described has increased to

meeting reports

Report of public meeting 20 February 2025

Our guest speaker for February was Niall Toru, senior lawyer at Friends of the Earth, who spoke to us about ‘Climate in the Courts’. Niall’s slides are available to download1. Apologies but due to a technical problem there is no recording of this month’s meeting. This also means

individual impact

Hope - popcawn February 2025

I’ve been mulling over ‘hope’ for a while now, spurred on by the seemingly endless supply of bad news for the climate over recent months. The results of the US election were a low point for me, with the prospect of the unravelling of global climate action. By Christmas

council

Council watch - is the council falling out of love with roads?

My attention was caught recently by an article in the Chronicle & Echo headlined “Several major traffic mitigation schemes in West Northamptonshire scrapped from local transport plan”1. This interested me because I think the council should be spending money on active travel schemes and public transport rather than new

Meet the Steering Group - Jane Wood

Jane is the Chair and Secretary of CA-WN, and joined the group soon after its inception in late 2019. This is the latest in a series of pieces from CA-WN's Steering Group members. What is your motivation for being involved with the environmental movement and with CA-WN in

nature

£110,000 grant unclaimed by West Northamptonshire schools

Eleven local schools have each been offered a £10,000 grant to improve biodiversity within their grounds. CA-WN has been asked to help the nominated schools make the most of this opportunity, which closes in March. The money is being offered as part of the National Education Nature Parks initiative,

bookshelf

On Freedom by Timothy Snyder

It is laziness on my part that draws me to write a book review for Professor Snyder’s latest book rather than do the necessary research to demonstrate how it relates to specific cases in Northamptonshire’s local politics; there are several themes drawn out within the book that could

podcastshelf

In Conservation

It feels good to recommend a podcast with a local focus. The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire (BCN) recently launched their own podcast and a very good one it is too, with high production quality and informative conversations with expert insiders about the state of nature in our

recipes

Baked Mushroom Pâté

This recipe is one I have “tweaked” over the years.  It started out, many years ago, as a list of ingredients I took from a packet of mushroom pâté bought in a well-known store; I treated the ingredients as though I was making a baked pâté de compagne. With the

individual impact Featured

Carbon Literacy training Spring 2025

Following the great success of our first Carbon Literacy training last autumn (with a 100% pass rate!), we're looking forward to offering the next 4-week course starting in late February. After completing the equivalent of one day's worth of training and committing to carbon-reducing actions, you

meeting reports

Report of 16 January 2025 Public Meeting

Our first guest speaker of 2025 is Milly Fyfe, a farmer, social entrepreneur and award-winning communicator based in Yelvertoft. Milly gave us a very insightful overview of food sustainability and security. Milly’s slides can be seen here1, and a recording of the meeting is on YouTube2. There are two

council Featured

Things Can Only Get Better

Wouldn’t it be great if things could only get better. But they won’t if we carry on with ‘Business as usual’. Our headline image is taken from a recent peer-reviewed publication relating air quality (AQ) to public health outcomes1. The left image represents 2019 estimates of PM2.5

food & farming

Transforming Food, Transforming Lives: Join West Northamptonshire’s Sustainable Food Network

This introduction to the work of WNSFN comes from the network's Project Manager, Matt Passchier. Matt has a varied background including working in catering, and currently at the Hope Centre in Northampton. Addressing the climate impacts of our food systems is a key component of climate action -

council

WNC Climate Change Strategy Consultation

West Northamptonshire Council is currently consulting on its draft Climate Change Strategy - the consultation ends on 19 January 2025. CA-WN previously responded to an earlier consultation on the Strategy. Ours was one of just 101 responses, so every response really does make a difference! CA-WN was also invited to

recipes

Cait's Festive Christmas Pie

The time for Christmas menu choices is suddenly here and, digging around in my memory, I discovered this old family favourite.  A friend of mine recommended it when it was my turn to host family Christmas and I needed to feed several vegetarians, myself included. It sounds fiddly to make,