What we are working on

The items below are solutions from Project Drawdown that translate to our current interests. Project Drawdown has an authoritative overview of viable climate solutions. Both this and a roadmap show which solutions are priorities, which is useful when selecting one to study.

Work in progress

Shifting Diets and Reduced Food Waste: two solutions among the top four in terms of worldwide potential to reduce global warming. What is happening in our community and what can households really do?

Refrigerant Management: a solution with great potential worldwide. For this reason alone we must try to translate it into what a household and a community can do. The UK Parliament’s overview of “reducing F-gas emissions” may help. WHAT WE HAVE FOUND

Regenerative Agriculture => soil carbon storage in gardens and local horticulture. A future Reading and District Food Belt? WHAT WE HAVE FOUND

Afforestation =>  planting schemes to increase tree cover. Identify schemes with local participation or which merit support in the UK or worldwide.

Distributed Energy Storage: electricity storage is all very interesting but there’s a new kid on the block who might change water and space heating for good, and move this solution high up in Drawdown’s list: the Heat Battery. WHAT WE HAVE FOUND

Other solutions that interest us

Rooftop Solar: Reading Community Energy Society. Reading’s solar electricity generation capacity is relatively low compared to neighbouring areas and the UK as a whole. What is holding back Reading’s solar installations? What’s being done about it?

Temperate Forests => tree protection and restoration. What’s going on locally? We have Tree Wardens and a Borough Tree Strategy which is being updated (Oct 2019).

Peatlands => local wetlands. Wetlands store carbon faster than forests. Protect / preserve / restore Kennet Meadows.

Biochar => capturing carbon from dead wood. Biochar itself is a soil amendment, whose uses include treatment of sick trees and regenerative horticulture, especially growing veg. Other uses of dead wood also preserve its carbon in long-lived products. WHAT WE HAVE FOUND