Latest updates from BSTA.
BSTA will have a stall and activities at two Sunday street parties in Frizinghall this summer, on May 7th and July 16th. Both will be on Shipley Fields Road from 12 noon to 2.30pm.
Please reply to this email if you can help set up the stall from 11.15 or help between 12 and 2.30. Let’s make the case for more healthy travel. In any case put it in your diary and join the fun. Thank you for your support.
On Valentine’s Day the Welsh Government announced that it will only build new roads when they don’t increase traffic and make climate change worse. A landmark decision that sees Wales leading the way on tackling pollution from transport. Meanwhile in England, you can comment on the government’s plans for its “largest ever” road building programme. Read about it at the Transport Action Network, which provides a template letter for you to edit and respond to the consultation before it ends on June 6th.
Each report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change finds stronger language to urge governments to action, the latest was published on 20th March declaring “a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.”
It is not at all doom and gloom. It draws on earlier reports that make clear the solutions that can reduce carbon emissions by half in the next 7 years to 2030.
One of its summary charts makes it clear that wind and solar energy can reduce carbon emissions much more than any other source. Nuclear power and carbon capture and storage each have just 10% of the potential of wind and solar, and at far higher cost (orange and red).
Switching to energy-efficient vehicles and public transport can cut emissions cheaply and significantly.
This chart comes from the IPCC report AR6-WPIII. There is more interpretation of it in this article by Damian Carrington.
The Bradford-Shipley Travel Alliance has joined an appeal to West Yorkshire Combined Authority to get its activities on track to meet its own reduced carbon emissions target. Individuals can sign up here. There will be a major rally outside the WYCA AGM in Leeds on 22nd June.
The Transport Action Network’s second national grassroots one-day gathering is in London on Saturday 30th September. There will be sessions on buses, rail, air quality, and biodiversity, and training on successful media engagement. If you want to go, BSTA will pay your registration fee and can help with transport costs. See the details here, and reply to this email if you want to go.
Aire Valley Crafters have brightened up Victoria Road in Saltaire.
