March of the Menie

This March was in support of the Menie residents.

Trump's bullying them continues

• trees planted to block the Milne's views from the escarpment
• Milne's sent a near £3000 bill for a very cheap fence Trump erected round their property without consulting them
• a 5m high bund built in front of the Munro's house
• vegetation stripped in front of and behind the Munro's left as bare sand - you can imagine the effects of the sandstorm in the recent high winds.
• Constant surveillance by Trump's goons

If you would like to know more, please contact Tripping up Trump or come and see the Scottish Premiere of feature length documentary You've been Trumped at the Belmont, Aberdeen, 7pm Friday 17th June

Nature's Fecht for Union Terace Gardens

The craws war chattin ti the doos
Hiv ye heard the affa news
They’re destroyin oor gairdens at Union Terrace
Thae humans are a bliddy menace
The doos said are ye sure yer richt
We ken you craws are nae that bricht
Oh aye we heard it fae a wise aul owl
Fa wis doon the Toon’s Hoose for a prowl
Noo Jenny Wren wis hoppin aroond
Fin she heard the doos kickin up a soond
She flew up high ti see fit’s fit
Fit she heard she didna like ae bit
Oh michty me an gweedness gracious
Fillin in oor gairdens fit are richt precious
The trees and shrubbies far a hop aboot
Wull aa be for the chap nae doot
The tale wis telt ti the snails
They lit oot some affa wails
Iss surely it jist canna be
Destroy the gairdens an we’ll aa dee
Syne the news it reached the bugs
They hid heard it fae the slugs
The Toon’s Hoose wull be oor destination
There ti hae a wee bit infestation
We’ll crawl aa ower the Provost’s chair
An get in yon Sue Bruce’s hair
The wifie’ll hae ti hae a scratch
Serves her richt the silly vratch
The moles they noo heard the chatter
An said we’ll hae a wee bit natter
We can undermine St Nicholas Hoose
So’s the foondations are a bittie loose
Noo the robins war maist pit oot
As roon an roon they did scoot
Iss is news jist affa silly
As they passed it on ti a blue tit billie




The Blue Tits they warna overjoyed
In fact they were fair annoyed
We’ll hae ti flit ti Westburn Park
An that’ll nae be much o a lark
Syne a butterfly it flitted bye
On hearin aa the spik did cry
Fit aboot the bonnie flooers
Far a spent sic happy oors
The squirrels they cam oot o hidin
Fae holes in trees far they wis bidin
They canna chap doon oor hame
Fa thocht up iss silly game
The bees noo they war bummin
Wi frustration they wis hummin
We’ll hiv ti sting aa the bums
O Sir Ian Widd an his chums
The flooers, shrubs an the trees
War duncin wi anger in the breeze
Iss his been oor hame for yonks
Aa ti be trashed by stupid gonks
The aul aul trees hid some inspiration
We’re covered by an order o preservation
Jist aabody bide in oor leafy green tops
Agin the diggers we’ll pull oot aa the stops
Leave us aa aleen is nature’s plea
Nae hairm ti humanity did we ivver dee
Ye humans are jist bliddy feel
As oor gairdens ye try ti steal

Thanks and © Bob Smith 22/5/2010

The Lunatic Fringe

On Wednesday, Aberdeen City Council voted to support the razing (not a misspelling!) of Union Terrace Gardens and the replacement of these with Sir Ian Wood's vision of a City Square.

I think this was a wrong decision for three reasons

1. It has dished Peacock Visual Arts proposals for a new Northern Lights Arts Centre which had secured most of the required funding and would have delivered a £5m/year economic boost to the City as well as making the gardens more accessible and providing handy facilities such as cafe and toilets.
2. No economic case for the City Square has been made.  This makes the proposed funding for the £90m+ that will not be given by Sir Ian Wood - Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) - dubious.  TIF depends on the infrastructure being developed actually delivering tax increases locally - and for central government agreeing that those extra taxes can be used to pay of the local debt.  Neither of these are certain.
3. The gardens themselves are used and loved.   They are a important cultural, historic and enviornmental asset to the City.   55% of the people in the City Square consultation said No to the City Sqaure proposals.  As I have already said "Which bit of No, don't you understand?".  Ian Wood said he would withdraw the offer unless the proposals were supported.   But ASCEF wanted to pursue the issue and the City Council has agreed to this.  

It's hard for councillors to say No to £50m.  I am sure that the P&J and the Evening Express would have told us that councillors voting against City Squre were numpties and a danger to the economy of the north east of Scotland if the vote had gone the other way.  Those against the proposals have been labelled as the Lunatic Fringe.  This blog is called National Disgrace, Scroundrel and Extremist because those are labels that Donald Trump and his accolytes tried to attach to me and I am plainly none of those things.  So I am happy to add Lunatic Fringe to the list - along with the 55% of those who were consulted on City Square who also said No.

People are genuinely angry about this decision and desperate for someone to take a lead in stopping this awful  "development".  I think that the economic case does not exist and the funding mechanism is too dubious.  So the odds are that this willnot happen.  It hasn't happened for 20 years .....

So let's group together as friends of Union Terrace Gardens and do what we can to conserve and improve them. 

Meanwhile, thanks for this video of the Gardens on Saturday 22nd May 2010.

RSPB letter to the future

I've just signed the RSPB's letter to the Future.

In this time of economic turmoil, it's easy to forget our responsibilities towards a sustainable future - but perhaps we also have an opportunity to review our values.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/lettertothefuture

Spatial Planning - a wider view

Thanks to the University of Aberdeen, Queen’s University Belfast and The National University of Ireland – Maynooth for the establishment of the Irish Scottish Forum for Spatial Planning.

There were an impressive range of speakers for the Forum's first meeting on Friday and Saturday - and it well met its goal of "to place formal planning and spatial imagining in broader historical, cultural, and environmental perspective, and to relate this to evolving concepts of the ‘nation’ and identity. "

I look forward to more such meetings.

Thank you!

Re-use bag campaign

I amused two students at a supermarket this afternoon who were employed by the Scottish Government to hand out key-rings, fridge magnet and notepads promoting the carrier bag campaign by refusing the items on the grounds that I'd end up throwing them away and that was not "green". But even bags are a part of the whole so I'm happy to support this campaign ... as part of the wider actions needed (see last post)

We had a super conversation. I introduced myself and we had a good conversation about the environment and politics. I wish them both well for the future.

I finally agreed to accept a fridge magnet. They told me the elephant is called Eric - so welcome to my fridge, Eric.

Latest climate change research

Super article by the Rob Edwards on the latest climate change research and what may happen at
http://www.robedwards.com/2009/03/climate-catastrophe-beckons-unless-world-agrees-pollution-cuts.html

"All the current promises to cut greenhouse gas emissions will still see global temperatures rise by an average of four degrees centigrade by the end of the century, they say. This is hot enough to make most of the world uninhabitable, killing or making refugees of billions of people in Asia, Africa and America."

Do read the full article.

Earth (2) Hour

We went the whole hog and switched off all the power to the house. This left us with two candles and logs burning on our stove.

Delightful - so Earth Hour extended into nearly two.

So why was this so good?

We stopped and talked.

The light levels went to those we know and love when bothying (see www.mountainbothies.org.uk). But more than that, we felt that we had everything important. And talked about a simpler life.

What matters? - Shelter. People. Warmth - physical and emotional.

We hope to "Earth Hour" more often.

Idealistic? Self indulgent when we can and do switch it all back on?

But worth doing to make us think about what we need rather than want. And to reassess what we do really need.

So we'll do our own personal earth hour more than once a year. And think about what we need - and what the cost of that really is.

Earth Hour

Earth Hour is about getting a billion people to switch their lights off to show support for action to tackle climate change. I've just signed up, can you do so too?

This Saturday 29th March. 8.30pm to 9.30pm

Sign up at http://earthhour.wwf.org.uk/

Out and about with the Rangers

I'm always very grateful to the Ranger's Service. They are all amazingly committed individuals who pass on their enthusiasm and expertise to others. So please have a look at their summer programme and get an expert view on our natural environment ... and have some fun!

http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/rangerservice/events/SummerEvents09.pdf

One grey squirrel less

The trap caught a large male grey squirrel today.

While I don't take pleasure from killing any wild thing, this is the wrong species in the wrong place so they have to go. Hopefully he hasn't many "friends" in the woods and we will then have played our part in protecting our native red squirrels.

A question - SNH funding shifts

Originally posted as a comment to another post, I was recently asked

"What are your views on the transfer of SNH funds, intended for Local Authorities, to be shifted directly into the Local Authority Core Settlements with effect from April 09? "

http://www.snh.org.uk/data/boards_and_committees/main_board_papers/2008-Jun24th/SNH%20Funding%20to%20LAs.pdf

I've great respect for Scottish Natural Heritage. They have long been very effective partners for local authorities, and here in Aberdeenshire recently I have been very aware of their contributions

• part funded Rangers
• helping drive forward the Core Path proposals with ALOAF
• and, of course, being a key objector in the Menie PLI.

The paper to the SNH Board correctly identifies the risks - funds once transferred to local authorities are not ring-fenced and therefore there can be no guarantee that spending on SNH priorities will continue. This fear is particularly acute as local authority spending comes under increasing pressure - e.g. Aberdeenshire is expected to need to make £10m of cuts in the 2010/11 budget. And as funding to the Scotland from Westminster comes under pressure as it will do, then the budget settlement to local authorities may get even worse.

The only control is the Single Outcome Agreement between councils and the Scottish Goevrnment http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/about/plans/SingleOutcomeAgreementMASTERJuly2008.pdf and I can see little in there that will ensure that monies will continue to be spent to protect, conserve and enhance the high quality natural heritage that so contributes to Aberdeenshire being regarded as a great place to live, work and visit.

So I am not optimistic .... particularly as those running both local and Scottish government seem to regard the environment as a poor third to the economy and social aspects when discussing sustainability (just where did the phase sustainable economic development come from?).

Energy Controversies

Thanks to the (anonymous) commenter who pointed me to the University of Aberdeen's lecture series Energy Controversies.

http://energycontroversies.abdn.ac.uk/

Just how serious is Climate Change. ... or should that be catastrophe?

It takes a while for politicians to catch up with science. And maybe we are too late to avert climate catastrophe (see http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/12/climate-change-copenhagen-monbiot

Now the Maldives, most of which is just 1.5m above sea level have announced that they plan (that's plan not aim) to be carbon neutral in just 10 years.

OK, they have a great incentive to make progress on this. There is a real risk that their country will no longer exist by the end of the century if the worst predictions come true.

But the cost for the package of low-carbon measures is estimated to be about $110m a year for 10 years. The scheme should pay for itself quite quickly, because the Maldives will no longer need to import oil products for electricity generation, transport and other functions. If the oil price were to rise to $100 per barrel, the payback period would be as short as 11 years. At current prices, it would take roughly twice as long to break even.

President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed said: "Climate change is a global emergency. The world is in danger of going into cardiac arrest, yet we behave as if we've caught a common cold. Today, the Maldives has announced plans to become the world's most eco-friendly country. I can only hope other nations follow suit."

See full story at http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/15/maldives-president-nasheed-carbon-neutral

Grey Squirrels

Tomorrow we get traps to capture the grey squirrels that have arrived in our woods. We are on the border between populations of greys and reds. Ellon has a healthy population of reds. Aberdeen has greys and a £1.3m eradication programme.

"Squirrel pox" isn't harming the greys but is deadly to the reds so the greys must go.

The idea is to use live traps which we will check at least once a day, releasing everything but the greys. It's illegal to release greys once caught.

For more information, please see www.grampiansquirrelgroup.co.uk/