LAST week, climate campaigners from West Wales joined a peaceful and vibrant three-day protest in Windsor, calling for urgent climate action and democratic reform. The event, dubbed “Upgrade Democracy,” saw strong representation from West Wales activists as they engaged with the public, advocating for the establishment of Citizens’ Assemblies—a form of participatory democracy with origins dating back to Ancient Greece.

Local campaigners Jane Mansfield from Pentrecagal and Philip Hughes from Carmarthen delivered letters to the King, penned by residents of Cardigan, young and old, over the preceding weeks. The letters expressed heartfelt concerns about the escalating climate and nature crises, and the urgent need for effective action. Many of the writers called for the adoption of Citizens’ Assemblies, with some arguing that such measures could help restore faith in the political system.

“So many people have lost faith in our current system,” said Jane. “It’s clear that wealth and power are concentrated in the hands of a few, with powerful business interests corrupting our politics and media, causing delay and denial on the climate crisis while sidelining other important decisions. We urgently need a new approach that prioritises the well-being of young people and future generations. Citizens’ Assemblies could be a crucial step towards breaking the influence of vested interests in a way that is fair for everyone. They could work alongside our current system, providing advice. I encourage everyone to get informed and ask their elected representatives when we can expect to see them in action.”

Following the event, the organisers, Extinction Rebellion, thanked the people of Windsor for their positive engagement with the protest.

THIS weekend (Aug 31), climate campaigners will gather at the first Welsh Climate camp in 15 years. The camp will take place at Kilvey Hill, Swansea. Climate Camp is a movement that organises temporary camps for environmental protesters, in areas threatened by ecocidal developments that increase carbon emissions, but which are organised with the support of the local community.

Kilvey woods is the green lung of Swansea city. It is one of Swansea’s largest urban fringe woodlands and is a designated Site of Importance for Nature Conservation, designated quiet area and open space land. It has the most beautiful footpaths in Swansea city centre, and a walk through the woods will leave your ears ringing with birdsong (birds such as skylark, night jar, linnet, peregrine, redwing, song thrush, fieldfare, raven and whitethroat). The extra noise from proposed 450,000 visitors and light pollution is likely to cause a loss of recently established birdlife and further damage to an area of regenerating landscape. It’s a nature rich site – the rare small blue butterfly, for example, has been recorded here – and a young but established woodland with an existing management plan to slowly return it to native broadleaf trees as the old plantation pines die out. The woodland was planted by the local community, yet now this publicly owned land may be leased to a private company in the face of significant opposition from the local community.

The Welsh Government are spending £4 million to help fund this development despite the fact that it contravenes the National Assembly of Wales Environment Act 2016. This money is also being spent at a time when inflation is high, energy costs are high, and many people are going to food banks. Swansea Council are giving £8 million pounds to this development. They have said that this is a loan that will be repaid without giving any details. Councils elsewhere in the UK who give millions ‘on loan’ to dubious tourist developments often do not get their money back, despite giving guarantees to the public that they will. This is public money and there are better and more responsible things it can be spent on than schemes like this.

Swansea County Council declared a climate and nature emergency in June 2019 and again in November 2021 and have also placed around the city centre planters and information boards to encourage biodiversity and to celebrate and inform people of our natural heritage. Despite this, they are supporting a project that will destroy a woodland area the size of 11 football fields on Kilvey Hill and leave it permanently blighted. That brings Swansea council’s stated claims about climate change and biodiversity into disrepute and means it is questionable whether these aspirations are anything more than empty words.

Climate Camp Cymru will be a space of education with a great number of workshops & skillshare sessions. This includes opportunities to learn from other environmental struggles around the world such as Ende Gelände in Germany and get experience with practical campaigning skills.

A local spokesperson for the Save Kilvey Hill campaign said “Kilvey has magnificent views over Swansea bay and in every other direction you look. It is a quiet and peaceful place where Swansea residents can get away from it all, reconnect with nature, enjoy the views in peace, and de-stress. This will all be destroyed by the buildings, cable cars, steel pylons, concrete ‘Go Kart’ style tracks, restaurants, and so on that are being planned by Skyline and Swansea Council.”

The proposed development will privatise around a third of the publicly accessible land on Kilvey Hill in a central position. It will destroy existing unrecorded paths used on foot and horse for generations. It would be so vast that all areas of the hill around it would be affected by noise pollution, traffic, and air pollution, and be overlooked by 22 cable cars and a 50 metre skyswing. The community roundhouse in a peaceful glade will be directly overlooked by the cable cars. Many community groups use the hill precisely because it is a quiet, natural landscape unspoiled by commercial development.

An individual hosting a workshop at the climate camp added “Wales has had a key role in the emergence of the fossil fuel industry that has become such a massive threat to the very future of civilisation. As books like The Origins of Capitalism by Ellen Meiksins Wood describe, capitalism emerged in the late 1700s in the south of England, and spread from there around the world, pushed in no small part by the British empire. And the rich veins of coal that Wales has were a key source of fuel for this brutal colonial expansion.

With this history in mind, we think that it’s absolutely key that we in Wales also take a leading role in bringing this ecocidal system to an end, and building something more sustainable, more equal in its place”

The camp community and Save Kilvey Hill campaign will join the peaceful demonstration for Palestinian solidarity at the council green on Sunday afternoon, calling on the local council to honour their responsibilities to protect the local environment and the wellbeing of their community, and to draw the links of solidarity with Palestinian communities currently undergoing the devastation of their environment and wellbeing in Gaza and the West Bank.

The UK’s wind energy sector has achieved a significant milestone, reaching a total generation capacity of 30 gigawatts (GW). This landmark was attained following the opening of the Viking Wind Farm on the Shetland Islands, which added 443 megawatts (MW) to the country’s capacity.

The UK’s combined onshore and offshore wind capacity now stands at 30,299MW, according to RenewableUK’s EnergyPulse, the industry’s leading market intelligence service. This capacity is sufficient to meet the annual electricity needs of over 26 million homes and is expected to reduce carbon emissions by more than 35 million tonnes annually.

Wind power has been instrumental in the UK’s shift towards renewable energy, with wind energy accounting for a record 28.1% of the nation’s total electricity generation in 2023. In the same year, renewables provided 46.4% of the UK’s electricity, with wind power contributing over 60% of this total.

The journey to 30GW has been one of steady growth. The UK’s first commercial onshore wind farm in Delabole, Cornwall, began operations in 1991, followed by the first offshore project off Blyth, Northumberland, in 2000. It took until 2005 to reach 1GW of capacity, with growth accelerating in the subsequent years: 5GW was reached in 2010, 10GW in 2013, and 15GW in 2017. The latest milestone, 30GW, marks a doubling of capacity in just seven years.

The Viking Wind Farm, a project 15 years in the making and costing around £1.2 billion, is the largest onshore wind farm to be built in the UK in nearly a decade. With its 103 turbines, it will harness Shetland’s robust wind resources, delivering renewable energy via a 260km High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) subsea cable. Viking is expected to become the UK’s most productive onshore wind farm, generating approximately 1.8 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity annually, enough to power a city the size of Birmingham.

Commenting on the achievement, Ana Musat, RenewableUK’s Executive Director of Policy & Engagement, hailed the milestone as a testament to the industry’s rapid progress. “It took 26 years to install the first 15GW of wind energy in the UK, so to double that to 30GW in just seven years represents a tremendous success for the industry,” she said. Musat emphasised the importance of wind energy in the UK’s transition away from fossil fuels, highlighting research that suggests doubling the UK’s onshore wind capacity by 2030 could boost the economy by £45 billion and create 27,000 jobs.

Stephen Wheeler, Managing Director of SSE Renewables, expressed pride in the Viking Wind Farm’s contribution to the milestone. “As the largest onshore wind farm to be built in the UK in nearly ten years, the completion of the project is a big moment in its own right – and contributing to this milestone for the industry makes it even more special,” Wheeler remarked. He also noted the urgency of further expanding renewable energy to meet the UK’s zero-carbon targets by the end of the decade.

The achievement of 30GW is a significant step towards a cleaner energy future for the UK, but industry leaders warn that continued rapid expansion is essential to achieving the country’s long-term environmental and economic goals.

It is important to note: While the UK has reached an impressive 30GW of installed wind capacity, it’s important to note that actual electricity generation from wind power can vary due to the fluctuating nature of wind. On average, onshore wind farms operate at around 30% of their capacity, while offshore wind farms typically achieve around 40%. This means that at any given moment, the amount of electricity generated can be significantly lower than the total installed capacity. The development of efficient and affordable energy storage solutions will be crucial for maximising the potential of wind power in the UK’s energy mix.