Green New Deal UK - South Yorkshire

27/01/2022

"Hey Dan, what are you gonna do...? "

Earlier this week we joined with several other local campaign groups to support the Better Buses for South Yorkshire action outside the Mayoral office. There was a performance of SYMCA to the tune of YMCA, a performance from and a great collection of banners asking that Dan Jarvis takes back control of public transport in the region.

Use the QR Code scanner on your phone to check out the video which is shown on the front of the . Visit the link in our bio to read the full article!

02/12/2021

New Economics Foundation have just launched the campaign to get the UK's draughty housing stock properly insulated.

Learn more in their action toolkit below:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19F3YHRGCqiUa5aB--B154MdF9N14WgLggqfQwwCCEYA/edit?fbclid=IwAR297JdnXyWfP0miqsG_UnubWUlyFuV_HUN9h0OFyKn2WgXN-5E1g_iFFi0 #?link_id=1&can_id=e23ff026ba256ea1cf903508e5fc9851&source=email-the-campaign-toolkit-is-here&email_referrer=email_1366487&email_subject=the-campaign-toolkit-is-here

Campaign toolkit Contents Why we must win Why we need a Great Homes Upgrade. How we’ll win Our strategy to win, from local to national. The plan Steps you can take in your community. Resources The tools you need to win on this issue. Retrofit FAQs Everything you need to know ab...

18/10/2021

Film screening: the Ants and the Grasshopper 🎞

The Sheffield/S.Yorks Global Climate Justice Summit will kick off on Friday 22nd October with an in person and online screening of the Ants and the Grasshopper by Raj Patel and Zak Piper.

This is the first return of this film to Sheffield following it’s debut at , and as it is not widely available in the UK this is not a chance to be missed to catch this outstanding documentary.

Check out the post from get the booking link for the in person screening at the Quaker meeting house, through this you will also find a link to the online screening - you will be able to rent the film and have the whole weekend to watch from home!

Please see below for the synopsis:

“Anita Chitaya has a gift; she can help bring abundant food from dead soil, she can make men fight for gender equality, and she can end child hunger in her village. Now, to save her home from extreme weather, she faces her greatest challenge: persuading Americans that climate change is real.

Traveling from Malawi to California to the White House, she meets climate sceptics and despairing farmers. Her journey takes her across all the divisions shaping the US, from the rural-urban divide, to schisms of race, class and gender, to the thinking that allows Americans to believe they live on a different planet from everyone else. It will take all her skill and experience to help Americans recognize, and free themselves from, a logic that is already destroying the Earth.”

06/10/2021

If you support Green Jobs as much as Green Jobs Man does, PLEASE sign our petition and share with any Sheffield residents, workers or students to sign before the 22nd October!

We need as many signatures as possible to make a BIG impact when we present it to Sheffield City Council! The same petition was presented 10 years ago and we're still in the same boat, if not worse when you consider the impact that Covid has had on our region.

PLEASE SHARE FAR AND WIDE! 💚💚💚

16/09/2021

Green Jobs Man says...

The link to our online petition is live!

If you live, work or study in Sheffield, you can sign. We're asking Sheffield City Council to put plans in place to create 10,000 good green jobs in the next two years.

The link is in our bio, please share far and wide! 💚💚💚

12/09/2021

Yesterday was the launch of our 10,000 Good Green Jobs petition at an event organised by the Sheffield Climate Campaign Umbrella Group. We also took our shiny new leaflets out onto the streets to show the good people of Sheffield what we are working for!

There were excellent performances from Act Now, including an appearance from our kind of hero- Green Jobs Man🦸!
Bob the Builder also came along and signed our petition and there were speakers from the TUC.

South Yorkshire always seems to be hit hard during times of job cuts and the Covid unemployment crisis is no exception. We need Sheffield City Council to replace the jobs that have been lost with secure, well paid positions that benefit people and the planet👩‍🌾🌍👷‍♂️!

People were also given the chance to tell Boris Johnson what they think is important and soooo many people mentioned job security and fair wages. It just goes to show what we already knew- these things matter to ordinary people!
Stay tuned, we will be launching the online version of the petition shortly! 📝

07/09/2021

It's time for another SCCUG event in the run up to COP!

On Saturday 11th September we will be out with various climate action groups at Sheffield Town Hall from 11.00-1.00.

We'll be launching our petition to call on Sheffield City Council to implement a plan for 10,000 new green jobs in Sheffield, to address the economic and environmental emergency.

Research from earlier this year showed that more than 10,000 good, green jobs could be created in South Yorkshire in the next two years. Not only would this make up for the jobs lost during the pandemic, they could help to safeguard the future of our planet and also our society!

There will also be a performance from the wonderful , you may well have seen them out and about and in the local media recently. There will also be speakers from other local groups.

We would love to see you there! 💚

10/08/2021

The Decarbonisation and Economic Strategy Bill is due to have its second reading when Parliament returns in September. This Bill addresses how the UK can decarbonise in a way that:
👉 ensures action by creating mechanisms for overseeing the delivery of targets, and
👉ensures the support of the British population by providing for the needs of the many people who will have to make radical changes to their working and home lives – prioritising the provision of decent, well-paid, sustainable jobs and the creation of a healthy and supportive as well as sustainable environment.

Following on from the IPCC report yesterday, many of us are left feeling that we must do something. Yesterday we suggested that writing to your MP is one way that you can make a difference.

We at Green New Deal UK South Yorkshire have created a letter template to send to your MPs to ask them to back this Bill. The link is in our bio. Feel free to edit it to make the message more personal to you. We will all be sending this letter to our local MPs and urge you to do the same. Share with your friends, family, intelligent pets and encourage them to do the same!

Remember, as we said yesterday: it's bleak, but not completely hopeless if we all pull together to take action immediately!

01/08/2021

Yesterday we joined SCCUG COP26 Coalition Group out on their streets! It was one of a series of actions aiming to highlight Government's failure to take action and confront the key issues that threaten our planet. Yesterday's theme was transport, and a new petition was launched to demand free bus travel for the two week period in November that COP is taking place.

Better Buses Campaign, Burngreave Clean Air Campaign, Sheffield Climate Alliance, theTUC,
Cycle Sheffield, Green Party Transport Group, SCESY and more.

40% of carbon emissions in South Yorkshire are from transport, most of this comes from private transport. With more reliable, more affordable public transport options, more people would be encouraged to use it.

As with so many issues our planet and society facing, those from low-income households are disproportionately affected by the lack of access to good public transport.

Improving the public transport network by increasing the frequency of services to rural areas could benefit so many people. It would create many green jobs which would not only give people the opportunity to do their bit for society but could also give them well-paid and secure work!

If you're interested in getting involved with this campaign, we would love to hear from you!

20/07/2021

We're back to tell you about what we've achieved so far in 2021 in terms of "Building Political Support"

💚We have gained support from some sympathetic MPs including messages of support from Olivia Blake MP and Clive Betts MP
In support of the campaigns

💚We have engaged in discussions with Sheffield City Region, including written correspondence with Dan Jarvis (Mayor of SCR) and Richard sulley (SCR Net Zero Project Director)

💚We have engaged with local councillors and council candidates in the run up to the local elections, including having some local councillor in attendance at our event

We're in the process of planning our strategy for the rest of the year and we'll be sharing our plans with you once they are all finalised. If you'd like to get involved and help to campaign for a Green New Deal in our local area, give us a shout!

06/07/2021

Following on from our post last week sharing our successes in "Building Public Support", here are some of the successes in terms of "Building and Broadening The Active Movement". Our Hub is split into several working groups with different focuses. Here are some of their successes from the last 6 months:

💚 Our green Jobs, green skills working group have Made connections with TUC, Youth Strike 4 Climate, and other local GND groups, We’ve taken part in the national day of digital action, had an in person action at Sheffield Town Hall, and have recently met with Councillor Paul Turpin, the executive member for inclusive economy, jobs and skills

💚 Our retrofitting working group has got a Significant proportion of councillors signed our statement on retrofitting, committing to GNDSY asks. They organised the Festival of Debate event which discussed in part how retrofitting of Council houses coul be funded. We are also thrilled that Sheffield City Council have agreed to adopt the “Pathways to Zero Carbon” report from Arup.

💚 Our newly-formed renewable energyworking group has  Met with Richard Sulley (SCR’s net zero project director). They put on a Festival of Debate event with speakers from local energy groups and Sheffield city council. They also worked on a video about hydrogen and greenwashing (link in our bio!) and they contributed to an ‘Umbrella Group’ Energy leaflet.

💚 Our nature friendly and just food and farming working group is also engaged in continuing dialogue with Richard Sulley (SCR) . We have influenced GNDUK who have now adopted food as one of their key goals and they have connected GNDUK with the Land Workers Alliance. We have also produced a report about the importance of nature friendly food growing for Sheffield city region, which you can also find in our bio

💚 Our National Nature Service working group is inspired by the 1930s US New Deal and the local recruitment to the  “Conservation Corps” to restore the dust bowl. We have been working with .  We have strong support now from Liz Ballard from SWRT and Olivia Blake MP. Richard Sulley (SCR), seems to think there is mileage in this politically.

02/07/2021

This week, our Hub held a strategy planning meeting. We looked back at some of the things we have achieved in the first half of the year and started making some more plans for the next half.

We split it down into the three goals of local organising for a Green New Deal. Over the next week or so, we thought it would be fun to share our successes from the last 6 months in each of these areas and we'll be starting with "Building Public Support".

We have:
💚 Organised 6 climate hustings events in the run up to the local elections, working together with other local groups. Over 250 people from across Sheffield attended, including many who were not previously aware of the Green New Deal
💚 Put on two events, with key members of Sheffield City Council and Sheffield City Region in attendance, including Kate Josephs and Richard Sulley
💚 Got loads of local press coverage (papers/TV/radio) about the campaign
💚 Spent time talking to the public about why a Green New Deal could benefit them, especially in terms of green jobs
💚 Built an ever-increasing social media following, which has allowed olus to connect with so many local action groups as well as other GND hubs around the country
💚 Started sending a monthly newsletter. Our mailing list has gone up by 70% since January!

We can't wait to see what the next few weeks will bring. We're looking forward to taking part in more national days of action as well as some organised locally. If you have any ideas of what you would like to see from us, leave a comment or drop us a DM!