Oxford Climate Change Conference

To celebrate World Environment Day, Oxford City Council is organising Oxford’s own climate change conference on Tuesday 5 June in the Town Hall from 2pm until 8pm.

We want to bring people together who live, work and study in Oxford and encourage them to take simple actions that can make a real difference to climate change.

Professor Lord May of Oxford, former chief scientific advisor to the UK Government and past-President of the Royal Society will give the opening address on the global challenge of climate change.

The other speakers will focus on four areas – What is the problem? What can Local Government do? What can you and your neighbours do? And what can business do?

Mark Lynas, activist, leading journalist and author of the acclaimed “High Tide” and “6 degrees: Our future on a hotter planet” will be talking about the global problem during the opening speeches.

Chris West, Director of UK Climate Impacts Programme will then talk about adapting to climate change and what it means for Oxford.

The opening speeches will be followed by a panel discussion and question and answer session with the speakers. The discussion will be lead by Professor Sue Roaf.

This will be followed by a session on what Local Government can do to help stop climate change including speeches by Councillor John Goddard, Leader of Oxford City Council and Philip Sellwood, Chief Executive, Energy Saving Trust. He will be exploring what other things local government can do and specifically Oxford.

The next session will look at what you and your neighbours can do. Chris Goodall, Oxford based author of “How to Live a Low-carbon Life?” and columnist for the Independent on Sunday will be talking about living a low carbon lifestyle in Oxford. Chris Jardine from the Oxford University Environmental Change Institute will talk about reducing household energy demand. Ian Bacon from the Thames Valley regional renewable energy agency will provide advice on renewable energy technologies available on the market that could be installed in a typical Oxford home. George Marshall of the Oxford based Climate Outreach Information Network will describe how he has successfully “eco-refurbished” his home and Mark Lynas will be talking about what communities can do in Oxford and in particular low carbon Wolvercote.

The next session will profile what some local businesses are doing in Oxford to reduce their impact on the environment and help to tackle climate change. Peter Couchman, Group General Manager of Midcounties Co-operative will talk about what they are doing, Rex Knight of Oxford Brookes University will describe how the University, as a large local employer, is approaching climate change and Craig Simmons, Technical Director of Best Foot Forward, will talk about Carbon/Ecological footprinting and how it can assist businesses, organisations and individuals in understanding and reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.

The conference will conclude with a panel discussion and question and answer session formed from a selection of speakers from the programme.

An exhibition will take place between 2pm and 8pm reflecting the themes of the conference featuring sustainable energy installers and advisors, and local carbon reduction projects among a range of other related exhibitors.

There will also be film screenings of the Al Gore film, An Inconvenient Truth at 2pm, 4pm, and 6pm, also in the Town Hall.

If you want to find out what you can do now, please visit the exhibition, which opens at 2pm, and come to the conference, which begins at 4pm. For more information visit http://www.oxfordismyworld.org or telephone Oxford City Council sustainable energy team on 01865 252197.