August 2015 Newsletter

A round up of news and views

REWILDING BRITAIN -7.30pm THURSDAY 8TH SEPTEMBER IN ST PETER'S CHURCH - We are holding our AGM between 7 and 7.30pm. Come along and hear about our achievements so far this year. Straight afterwards, at 7.30pm, special guest and Ecologist, Peter Smith will be giving a talk on Re-Wilding and how small changes to the tax system could have positive impacts on our wildlife. Peter is the CEO of the Wildwood Trust in Canterbury: www.wildwoodtrust.org  and has been at the forefront of efforts to reintroduce animals such as the beaver, wild horses, lynx and wolves for ecological restoration, read more here... Entrance is free - there will be a collection to cover expenses, afterwards.

Minal Village Show - This will be held in Minal Village Hall, SN8 2LR on Saturday 10th September, between 1 and 4pm. If you have any veggies, fruits, flowers, arts or crafts to enter, please take them along before 12pm for judging. There will be a special category for the 'best compost', to be judged by Ace Composter, Ros (Milly's Mum) so please bring a sample of your home-made compost along too.  Refreshments provided by Minal WI so the cakes will be tremendous! For more information, go to www.facebook.com/MinalWI or phone Nigel on 07530097150. 

Pollution, Inequality and Climate Change - hear about a policy to solve all three from Judy Hindley & Brian Utton of Citizens' Climate Lobby, at 7:30, Thursday, 22nd September, the Function Room of the Bear, High Street, Marlborough.  Bring your questions and concerns!

PEAT news - Pewsey's bee enthusiasts will be clearing ground next to their bee-keeping site during September and early October to plant and seed wild flowers as forage for the bees and are also hoping to plant some hedging to provide food and habitat for other insects and animals.  Get in touch with Jane 07804 857938 if you would like to help.

Community Supported Agriculture - Jane is also keen to help improve local food security by working with a group of interested people to set up a 'community supported' scheme. This would entail finding a small plot of land to buy or rent, employing a grower, and finding enough people willing to commit to a weekly veg box, probably paying a direct debit each month. Produce could also be earned by working on the land, though there would need to be a balance, as the grower would need to be paid a living wage with the money invested in the scheme. The ethos is of shared benefit, shared risk. The model would be adapted to suit what locals might want. There are working examples of this which we plan to visit, having looked at a couple already.

If anyone is interested in this idea, maybe we could have a small group to discuss further..... Let Jane know via janeluke87@gmail.com

Sea Level Rise - Antarctica has recently shed two new, large icebergs into the Southern Ocean. The bergs are the result of a crack that had been spreading across the Nansen Ice Shelf which covers an area the size of Scotland.

The progression of the crack was visible in a pair of satellite images acquired in December 2013 and 2015. Ryan Walker and Christine Dow, glaciologists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, flew along the crack in late 2015. It was clearly still attached. On April 6, 2016, with southern winter soon to set in, satellite imagery indicated that the cracking ice front was still holding on.

Then on April 7, 2016, in the last days before winter darkness, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite acquired an image showing that two large bergs had broken away.

These floating shelves are important for holding back the flow of ice from the interior of the Antarctic continent to the sea. Ice that sloughs from a floating shelf does not immediately raise sea level. But if the whole shelf breaks away, then glacial ice could flow into the sea unabated and sea levels could then rise. You can read more about this phenomenon here...

Thanks

The Transition Marlborough team