The Government has today awarded North Yorkshire County Council £52.6 million in funding to invest in walking and cycling. This comes hot on the heels of a campaign launched by Knaresborough Town Councillor, Hannah Gostlow, calling for improved cycle paths locally to allow for distancing.

Research shows there has been a significant improvement in both air and noise pollution in recent weeks, as well as a 70% increase in the number of people using bicycles.

I glimpsed a national treasure this morning. Fabulously dressed - like all males of his kind - in sensational shades of limoncello yellow, he was singing his little heart out. He was sitting in a hedge, but seemed quite happy to be there. The sight of him made my own heart sing, too.

Flamboyant and colourful he may have been, but he was that rare thing: a national treasure that most people have never heard of, let alone seen. So exotic were his looks, and so rarely are his kind seen these days, you'd be forgiven for assuming that he was an escapee from the bird house at London Zoo, rather than a traditional resident of our countryside. And yet he and his kind - the Yellowhammers, who go by the delightful Latin name Emberiza citronella - have lived amongst us since time immemorial. If the sight of them is shocking and unfamiliar it is because we have pushed them into the margins, and then squeezed those margins to the vanishing point.

Q & A session for Lib Dem Leadership contenders

This will be your first opportunity to compare the platforms and appeal of the likely three contenders for the Leadership of our Party. We would normally like to call this a "Hustings" but it will appear before nominations close, so until the 9^th July, nomination day, we can only refer to them as contenders rather than candidates!

Behind the Scenes...

I thought it may be of interest to look behind the scenes at the psychology of organising an event. This brief article at least partially explains why there is what some may think of as a controversial, or "Hot-Button", topic as one of the first events of our series of green events. The session itself will be about Nuclear Weapons and the idea of ditching our committment to them in order to emerge from the economic effects of the Covid19 lock-down, in ways which may lead us into a more environmentally sound place than we were under the "Old Normal".

We have had a couple of quizes online on Zoom,

and have started a facebook group to inform those interested of other quizes

https://www.facebook.com/groups/gldquiz/

Please join us.

The next Quiz is on Friday 5th June at 19:45 for an 20:00 start

The theme is general knowledge with a bit of Harry Potter mixed in

When I first moved to the UK from Holland almost eighteen years ago, someone told me I had to use the bus lane as a cyclist - I laughed. Then I realised they were serious.

Over the past few weeks, this country has seen a massive increase in cyclists on the roads - young and old, fast and wobbly. With fewer cars around, many - often tentatively - have given cycling a go for the first time. Bike shops are doing a roaring trade.

Photography 2020

You are invited to enter the Photography 2020 Competition. As part of the GLD Green Festival (20th June -5th July) we have decided to run a photography competition for a bit of fun and to allow you to use your photographic and creative skills to share your story and feelings about the environment and green issues.

• Replacing our Nottingham Conference is an online GLD Green Festival entitled:
  "2020 Vision: Intensive Care for Our Planet - a sustainable recovery that works for everyone".
  It will be conducted online from 20th June until 5th July.
  Tim Farron MP is opening it at around noon on Saturday 20th.
  Please scroll down past the headlines for ticket discounts and more about these events.
  https://greenlibdems.org.uk/conference
  
• Please subscribe to our DAILY updates (not monthly)
  https://greenlibdems.org.uk/en/subscribe-by-email
• @GreenLibDems Our Twitter is blossoming under our new volunteer Joseph Dodd.
  Many thanks to Kevin Daws for his years of work building it up. Please follow us and give us your support.
  https://twitter.com/greenlibdems
• GLD Zoom Quizes: Thanks to Jason T Johnson for organising these, the next is at 8pm this Friday 5th June, themed 'Harry Potter'.
• GLD Photography competition https://greenlibdems.org.uk/photos
• 2019/20 Challenge magazines for sale £5 including postage (We have about 500 copies which weren't distributed at the cancelled York 2020 Spring conference). They are excellent unbirthday presents.
• https://greenlibdems.org.uk/challenge2019
• Retrofitting Britain's Housing Stock by Geoff Harvey
  http://grn.lib.dm/a21c6t
• COP26 has been delayed until autumn 2021, but work continues in the sub-committees
  http://blog.felixdodds.net/2020/05/press-release-new-dates-agreed-for.html
• a Zoom Q&A with Andrew Kelly, Lib Dem Greater Manchester Mayoral Candidate was also organised by Jason
• Stop Carbon Offsetting Greenwash by Stewart Reddaway
  http://grn.lib.dm/a71c6w
• Save Our Soil - The Neglected Earth Beneath Our Feet by Veronica-Mae Soar
  http://grn.lib.dm/a01c6b
• World Turtle Day by Diana Catton
  http://grn.lib.dm/a11c51
• Fluffy, Cute and Cuddly… Transforming How We See Bees by Mary Page
  http://grn.lib.dm/a61c45
• Pre-nomination hustings for LibDem Leadership contenders
  http://grn.lib.dm/a31c3S
• Our Air, Our Commitment! - toxic air quality across the Midlands by David McKenzie
  http://grn.lib.dm/a31c3B
• Fossil Fuel based industries, such as airlines, should bear the brunt of emerging from Covid-19 pandemic by Keith Melton and Steve Mason
  http://grn.lib.dm/a91c2d
• Lib Dems say Manchester Airport money must come with green conditions by Sam Al-Hamdani
  http://grn.lib.dm/a21bWj
• Principles of Liberal Democracy 2020 by Michael Meadowcroft
  http://grn.lib.dm/a11c11
• How can we lock in the environmental gains of the Covid-19 Lockdown? by Leon Duveen
  http://grn.lib.dm/a61c02
• Solving the pandemic crisis and climate change go hand in hand by Joe Dodd
  http://grn.lib.dm/a71c01
• Rebalancing Society... by Keith Melton
  http://grn.lib.dm/a21bZ0
• Planet of the Humans film by Michael Moore - Review by Jonathan N Fuller
  "Overall I would say the film is damaging"
  http://grn.lib.dm/a91bWh
• The Times they are a changin'… Part 3 by Keith Melton
  http://grn.lib.dm/a41bTT
• Would John Stuart Mill have been a Green Liberal Democrat? by Joseph Dodd
  http://grn.lib.dm/a71bTR
  GLD Exec and subgroups are at:
  http://grn.lib.dm/p4zL

The current virus has temporarily reduced carbon emissions, but climate change is still important.

Carbon offsetting is used to enable an organisation or person engaged in an activity that emits CO2 (or other Greenhouse Gas (GHG)), such as flying, to pay to support project(s) that reduce emissions so they can claim a neutral net effect on climate change. There is a wide range of such projects on offer commercially, an example being planting trees. The cost in £/ton of CO2 varies very widely, and the control and auditing of the validity of their claims is weak. Naturally, both organisations and people are tempted to opt for the cheapest, so there is pressure on projects to overclaim or be dishonest. An offsetting project must lead to additional GHG reductions over what would have happened anyway; for example, if it is profitable without subsidy (most wind or solar projects are now profitable) or is part of a country's Paris commitment, it is not valid. Double counting is of course dishonest.

Retrofitting Britain's Housing Stock

Britain's housing stock is the worst insulated in Europe and we won't meet our carbon reduction targets unless we do something about that. But we must face the reality that we can't bring our ageing housing stock up to an acceptable standard overnight; not only will it be very costly, but it will take years to accomplish. All the more need then, for policies which promote actively seeking out the opportunities with the highest carbon return on investment. We need to find ways to give the investment return an attractive immediacy and achieve a cultural shift to viewing poorly performing legacy housing stock not a as millstone, but as an exciting opportunity for renewal.