Seventeen years ago, on this day, November 17th, 2009 Manchester City Council Executive agrees to a “climate action” plan.
I could go on for hours about this, but you really don’t want me to. Suffice to say the following.
It’s all “kayfabe”, designed to burnish the credibility of Labour with international investors
The councillors are mostly thick
Those who enable the councillors and the council bureaucracy are lickspittles and/or spivs (this includes the academics, btw).
The civil society organisations and social “movement” organisations are either asleep or useless or – somehow – both.
That’s it, that’s the post.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 387ppm. As of 2025, when this post was published, it is 430ppm. This matters because the more carbon dioxide in the air, the more heat gets trapped. The more heat, the more extreme weather events. You can make it more complicated than that if you want, but really, it’s not. Fwiw, I have a tattoo of the Keeling Curve on my left forearm.
The broader context was Manchester City Council had already had one bout of pretending to care about environmental issues, back in the early 1990s. In 2000 they signed up to the Nottingham Declaration.
The specific context was that there had been failed attempts in 2006 to develop a “climate strategy” and eventually they’d hired a London-based consultant for £50k to write a truly terrible report called “Call to Action”. This provoked citizens (and yes, I was one) to produce a “Call to Real Action” which briefly forced the policymaking process open.
What I think we can learn from this – nasty, lying, venal stupid, sclerotic neoliberal. Just some of the many words that can be used to describe the higher-ups in Manchester Labour Party. And the council bureaucracy too.. Also, really incompetent.
What happened next – the plan was never implemented. The emissions reductions that did happen were from the National Grid, for the most part. Nothing special about Manchester at all. In 2018 Manchester City Council made more bold promises. All broken now, of course.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
Also on this day:
November 17, 1869 – Suez Canal opens – All Our Yesterdays
November 17, 1968 -The Observer covers carbon dioxide pollution… – All Our Yesterdays
November 17, 1968 – UK national newspaper flags carbon dioxide danger…
November 17, 1978 – British Wind Energy Association launches –
November 17, 1980 – International meeting about carbon dioxide build up.
November 17, 1994 – “When consumption is no longer sustainable”… –
November 17, 2018 – XR occupy five bridges in London
November 17, 2023 – two degrees warmer, for the first time… – All Our Yesterdays