Trade Union
Joined August 2019
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DEFRA is tasked with food security, farming resilience, and supply chain stability.
Yet food security is now a live risk, not a theoretical one. Recent events demonstrate clearly that:
· Energy, fertiliser/supply chains are vulnerable
· Food price/availability risks are real
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· Global instability translates directly into domestic pressure
But the department does not have enough staff to deal with these vital matters. PCS is campaigning for more staff, which is the same thing as saying we are campaigning for food security.
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The Defra's remit is vast, covering 28 organisations and 7 boards. Among other things, the department is responsible for:
· Delivering legally binding environmental targets under the Environment Act 2021
· Ensuring food security, farming resilience, and supply chain stability
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Yet the department is chronically understaffed. But the government is aiming to cut staff even further. Labour are therefore either oblivious to the damage this will cause or they just don't care. PCS does care though, that's why were are campaigning for more staff.
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Defra is a key green department. Yet there is a clear disconnect between the scale of the department’s responsibilities and the level of resourcing available. Staffing has fallen by 15% since March 2024 and is due to fall further under planned cuts.
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At the same time, Defra is being asked to do more. This position is not sustainable. If the government is serious about the environment then we need more staff in Defra. That is what PCS is asking for.
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In a UK first, the entire catchment of the river Wye has been formally recognised as a living ecosystem with intrinsic rights in a charter. This is important, but action is now needed to tackle the pollution that is driving it towards ecological collapse. theguardian.com/environment/…
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Nuclear Power would never have existed without government handouts and ratepayer subsidies: Nuclear Power and Other People’s Money - CounterPunch.org
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It is important to remember that the science around climate change wasn't discovered in the last decade or so, but was understood many, many years ago as you can read here.
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This is so fascinating to me: Those scientists were *so spot on*. You should read the paper, it is eerie how those projections are tracking what we now observe. In 1982.
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UK’s growing green economy worth more than £100bn a year, research finds: theguardian.com/environment/…
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Greatly reducing the cost of public transport, better still to make it free, is important for two reasons. Firstly the more people traveling on public transport, particularly if they switch from travelling by their own car, then the less green house gases.
Zohran Mamdani’s proposal to speed up buses and make them fare-free provoked excitement and debate during his mayoral campaign. But NYC isn't the only place where there's political momentum for better buses: municipalities across the US have been eliminating fares for all riders and making strategic improvements to speed up bus service.
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Also reducing travelling costs helps with the cost of living crisis.
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Trees not only supply increasingly needed shade, but they are beautiful in themselves. Win-win for us all.
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What if I told you one study in Manchester found that shade from street trees reduced surface temperatures by an average of 12°C, and concrete surfaces shaded permanently by a bank of trees were cooled by up to 20°C during a heatwave?
You might not believe me. But it's true…👇
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Back To T Blair. He said "...use what is left of our North Sea oil and gas resources. This is essential for our competitiveness and for taking advantage of AI". There is no connection between AI and oil/gas resources. Also gas/oil are internationally traded.
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North Sea production does not set the price, no matter how much it can be ramped up. Currently the Iran war sets the price. Given that it is internationally traded, then North Sea gas/oil can be sent any where in the world.
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Unless it is reserved for the UK, which a free marketer such as TB would never agree with, then North Sea oil/gas does not add to our energy security. Only renewables does. So Mr Blair is wrong - again!
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Tony Blair has written a long piece on the UK. In that you find "We must prioritise cheaper energy and electrification over net zero and use what is left of our North Sea oil and gas resources. This is essential for our competitiveness and for taking advantage of AI"
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Renewables is the cheapest energy. The reason we have high energy prices is the way the market, which he did not change when PM, generally uses the price of gas to fix the price of electricity. If renewables were allowed to fix the price, then prices would come down.
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Know your rights in soaring temperatures: pcs.org.uk/news-events/news/…
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PCS Workers for Climate Justice retweeted
May 24
UK and Western Europe being brutalized by a "heat dome" fueled by dry African desert air, and "contorted" jet stream.
Climate change is the main culprit causing this nearly-unprecedented heat event, otherwise impossible without fossil fuels.
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