On Friday afternoon local residents demonstrated outside the Greater Manchester Pension Fund’s annual general meeting in Tameside demanding the fund divest its holdings in fossil fuel companies. Organised by Fossil Free Greater Manchester, a coalition of organisations and individuals, the protesters presented remnants from the recent moorland fires on Saddleworth Moor and Winter Hill to […]
Big Oil stains greenwashed away with science festival funding
The Manchester Science Festival 2018 began yesterday with the ‘Electricity: The spark of life’ exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry (MSI), and met with a growing current of fury and opposition to the oil industry funding behind it. Amidst the admirable educational aims of the exhibition, which focuses on the ‘powerful force’ of […]
Salford MP rails against government as fracking begins in Fylde
Salford and Eccles MP, Rebecca Long-Bailey, slated the Tory Government in Parliament on Monday, pointing out “What a terrible irony it is that the first day of Green Great Britain Week is the day that fracking is due to commence…” Today, Vivienne Westwood performed a break dance to Abba’s Dancing Queen on Cuadrilla’s ‘draconian injunction […]
Hulme Community Garden Centre points to brighter future for people and planet
Autumn is for harvesting, and there’s a bountiful crop of events on offer this month for Hulme Community Garden Centre’s Super September – a programme of wellbeing and nature connection events. So far there’s been Radical Herbalism, a day of “digging deep into our elders’ wisdom, interactive sessions exploring spiritual biology and talks exploring mental […]
Carbon Co-op pulls out of Manchester Science Festival in protest at Shell sponsorship
Guest article from the Carbon Co-op. A Greater Manchester based community benefit organisation combating climate change by utilising innovative methods to make homes more energy efficient: The Carbon Co-op announced their withdrawal from the 2018 Manchester Science Festival after the Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) announced that part of the festival would be sponsored […]
Bluedot Festival celebrates sounds, science and sustainability
Manchester University’s Jodrell Bank Observatory, the site of many scientific discoveries which has been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, will once again host the award-winning Bluedot Festival of discovery this weekend. Proceedings kick off in spectacular fashion on Thursday 19 July when the Halle Orchestra perform ‘The Blue Planet in Concert’, a special […]
Creative buying at Lush looks beyond the bottom line to reduce e-waste
Lush looks to implement its ethical approach to buying raw materials for its cosmetics range into technology projects, to avoid producing toxic electronic waste. Where Lush leads others may follow and help reduce the global burden of e-waste, which particularly affects certain African countries such as Ghana, where a lot e-waste is dumped. The interview […]
The Mayor’s Green Summit: a balance sheet
Guest article from Steady State Manchester: I attended the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Green City Summit on 21 March: here is a quick review. The event was, as you’d expect, a mixed bag, with good and bad aspects. It is too soon to make an assessment but here, from a Viable Economy perspective, are the important […]
Greater Manchester councils accused of ‘fuelling the fire’ of climate change
Greater Manchester’s local authority pension fund is ‘Fuelling the Fire’ of global climate change by heavily investing in the fossil fuel industry, claims a consortium of environmental campaigners. Describing the GM fund as being “the dirtiest in the UK” due to the £1.8 billion invested in “climate wrecking companies”, which is over 10% of its […]
Carnival raises spirits at Preston New Road fracking site
A month of rolling protest at Cuadrilla’s hotly disputed fracking site at Preston New Road in Fylde culminated in a Carnival For A Frack Free Future demonstration on Friday 28 July. Amongst the diverse and colourful attractions at the Carnival were a larger-than-life hare, a Mr Blobby impersonator and a world record conga team – […]