William Shepherd

John Papworth e-mailed to let me know that he had read England’s Climate & Energy Politics and concluded that my position was that ‘the current Global Warming scare has no basis in truth and that people with their own agendas are promoting it for their own reasons’…and could he please have a letter for Fourth World Review that ‘in a couple of sentences summarises your conclusions for the general reader and indicates what you think the game is’.

My response was that I was right to start getting worried about the Global Warming Debate a couple of years ago and that it was clear to me two years on that there is something very odd going on…but that I was very uncertain about just what this was. So my current advice to colleagues is to proceed with caution and be very careful with anything they read or write about Climate Change. This was as far as I could go on the record. However the Human Scale Movement has a Climate & Energy agenda which in England stands in stark contrast to Official Government Policy.

The Prime Minister’s Address to the Labour Party Conference two months ago included a section on his government’s Energy Policy. The Times condensed what Blair had to say into 180 words. Here they are. ‘Ten years ago energy wasn’t on the agenda. Ten years ago I parked the issue of nuclear power. Today I believe without it we are going to face an energy crisis and we can’t let that happen. Global warming is the greatest long-term threat to our planet’s environment. Scarce energy resources mean rising prices and will threaten our country’s economy. In 15 years we will go from 86 percent self-sufficient in oil and gas to 80 percent imported. We need therefore the most radical overhaul of energy policy since the war.’ Blair went on to outline his strategic approach.

‘We will increase the amount of energy from renewable sources fivefold; ensure every major business in the country has responsibility for greenhouse gas reduction; treble investment in clean technology including clean coal and make sure every new home is at least 40 percent more energy efficient. We will meet our Kyoto targets by double the amount and we will take the necessary measures step by step to meet one of the most ambitious targets on the environment ever set anywhere in the world - a 60% reduction in emissions by 2050.’

I responded with a 180-word English Energy Policy for a New Century that went like this. ‘Ten years ago it was blindingly obvious that energy self-sufficiency was the right energy policy goal. Ten years ago it was blindingly obvious that nuclear power was a dead-end technology. Nothing has changed. Global warming and the greenhouse effect are fantasy not fact. To imagine Governments can stabilize the Earth’s atmosphere is arrogant beyond belief. Human beings cannot control the climate and must stop meddling with it. There is no energy shortage. The sun takes 45 minutes to provide all the energy we use in one year.’ I went on to outline the barebones of my strategic approach.

‘We will outlaw the use and development of climate weapons immediately. We will withdraw from the Kyoto Treaty immediately. We will decommission all nuclear power stations immediately. We will stop wasting electricity on space heating. We will adopt zero tolerance and polluter pays policies for emission of all substances into the landscape and the atmosphere. We will establish a Lord Lieutenant’s Department with Cabinet status to direct the dismantling of the country’s national piped energy grids. Prince Charles will head the department, negotiate county disconnection dates, issue the money and provide the people.’ I hope the contrasting policies are what get published.

I emailed copies of my response to the Human Scale Movement’s Steering Group…Dr Aidan Rankin, Chris Wright, Anton Pinschof in Europe and Kirkpatrick Sale and Thomas H. Greco in America and mentioned that Tom had suggested I apply for two weeks at the Mesa Refuge…overlooking Tomales Bay in Marin County north of San Francisco in the spring of 2007. This might make sense with a place to write in Tucson for 2-weeks before and in Mexico City for 2-weeks after en route to 2-3 months in Bogotá, Colombia…and if I could find a way to pay for it all.

With dark nights upon us and the shops full of Winter Solstice Cheer…to be politically correct…my Hey Fellow Well Met! greeting is spiced with a daily rundown…not of Shopping Days to Christmas which are of little consequence to Sad Live-Alones without Festive Family Connections…but of Days to Winter Solstice. Hale and hearty I merrily declare: ‘Days Start To Get Longer in 28 Days!’ This goes down better at this time of the year than ‘Nights are Drawing In!’ immediately after Mid-Summer. My official Longest Night occurs on Thursday 21st December to allow a day of rest before my Japanese Rising Sun Celebrations two days later on the Emperor’s Birthday.

Last week I ran an experiment. Results are in. Ten Pound Coins last seven Days. Operant conditions? Warm Weather outside and Coal Stove going inside on two evenings. Some time in the next two weeks my Winter Fuel Allowance drops into my account. A two-pronged Energy Strategy had been devised to greet this happy event. Here it is.

First I will embark upon a couple of trolley runs to Sea Cruisers to fetch four 25kgs sacks of coal. Secondly the electricity meter will be force-fed Pound Coins until it can take no more. Add Fire Lighters from the supermarket and some Kindling Gleaning around the boatyard…and voilà…all set until well into the New Year.

So much for the best laid plans of mice and men. Big lift-out two weeks ago so with a lovely weekend promised up on the bank boats were being worked on…including my new neighbour. Computer, lights, radio and CD-Players do not work off an empty meter but as far as electricity usage is concerned, they can be ignored. My 2 kilowatt-hour fan heater is another matter…Hey Big Spender! But if I use the oil-filled electric heater sparingly then no problem. Wrong! Power tools use electricity and my neighbour plans to work weekends. His boat runs off Vemara’s meter.

We assured each other how laid back we both were about it. We agreed to keep an eye on the situation. And we would not mutter under our breath if we felt short-changed but talk to each other. The last thing either wanted was to record coins in and kilowatt-hours out.

Nonetheless, after briefly believing that I had total control, cooperation came as a bit of a shock. I spent today finding excuses to offer up Ten-Pound Notes at cafés and shops in Rye and Hastings. Never have so many Two-pound Coins and Five-Pound Notes been given as change for a Tenner.

November has turned wild and wet with snow on the hills up north. Not before time. I have yet to find anyone in Rye who remembers a year when the trees lining Whitehall were still in full green leaf on Remembrance Sunday. Perhaps New Labour has stealthily replaced them with Douglas Firs under EU Draft Directive THD01212881790. The good news is that last month, Westminster Road Sweepers picked up only half their normal 40-ton October Leaves Quota.

Sunny days and cool nights should be ideal for boosting the sugar content in leaves so they produce the red-coloured anthocyanins which give Maples their distinctive autumnal look. Why do they bother? One theory is that the red pigment behaves like a sun screen protecting the foliage from intense autumn sunshine while they salvage valuable nutrients from the leaves before finally shedding them.

Tree Tourism is big business in New England. It’s what to do between Labor Day and Thanksgiving. Could there be something here for Blair’s Brassy Britain? Lengthen the Tourist Season by declaring the end of October to be Leaf Week. Then bring on the Yanks for a Leaves & Fawkes Experience…complete with computers predicting daily percentages like the New Englanders. Computers can predict anything so this is for programmers and copy-writers.

The leaves of Lime Trees are a delicate yellow with the light shining through them. Beeches are a tumultuous riot of deep yellow and brilliant orange. Scarlet Oaks from New England have jagged vivid red leaves which after last night’s storm were all over the high street even though there was not a tree in site. Perhaps Henry James had them planted in the garden of Lamb House a hundred years ago so he wouldn’t feel too homesick? This might explain some of the orange-brown leaves with yellow veins mixed in amongst them. Yellow Poplars are big in Vermont and are sometimes called Tulip Trees because in spring both their leaves and flowers are tulip-shaped.

Beneath Horse Chestnut Trees are lots of long stalks. When a tree sheds its leaves the stalks separate and stay put while the leaves get blown away. Why do they do this? If Linnaeus had his way the People of Rye would take Nature Walks every weekend and discuss such matters of an evening under the auspices of the Royal Rye Botanical Society.