Residents from across the Isle of Man are being invited to find out more about sustainability this evening (26 June).
The Energy and Sustainability Centre is hosting a drop-in event as part of its mission to promote the transition from fossil fuels to green energy.
It's being held at Ballafesson Church Hall, which is on Honna Road in Port Erin, from 4pm to 8pm, with a special presentation at 7pm.
The charity is hopeful it can 'debunk' some myths.
Two of the charity's directors - Adrian Cowin and Ralph Peake - spoke to Manx Radio ahead of tonight's session:
Hi it's Siobhan Fletcher here one of the journalists at Monks Radio and welcome to the latest edition of our newscast. Well today residents from across the Isle of Man are invited to a community drop-in session to find out more about sustainability. Hosted by the Energy and Sustainability Centre, the event is part of their mission to promote the transition from fossil fuels to green energy. They're hoping they can debunk some climate change myths and clarify any questions people may have. Ahead of tonight's meeting, I caught up with two of the charities directors, Adrian Cowen and Ralph Peake to find out more. Okay brilliant, can you both introduce yourselves for me? Ralph Peake, Director of the Energy and Sustainability Centre. He's Elf. Adrian Cowen, Director at the ESC. Perfect, so we're talking today about a community drop-in session. Do you want to tell me a little bit more about it and why people should come out to it? Yes, we've got this event down at the Bala Fessen Church Hall in Port Aron and this is part of a series of events we've had around the island like Roadshow we called and this event we're actually going to have Adrian's going to give a talk at 7pm but before that we'd like just invite people to come in, have a drop-in and have a talk with us, ask some questions, we've got some answers and we'd just like to have a talk. We want to listen to people, we want to really listen to what they think about the climate change about renewable energy, anxieties they may have and we want to try and reduce that fear by giving them some real scientific advice. Do you think that you can then when people come in with any concerns you might be able to clarify the you know the scientific position maybe around it? Yes, I certainly hope so because there's a lot of nonsense out there unfortunately on the internet and social media about various aspects of climate change and impacts even for the little old Isle of Man and if we can fill in those facts with data and debunk some of the myths that are going around then that's useful but as Ralph has already said and I think it's also an opportunity for members of the public to talk to us and actually give us their viewpoints we want to fill in any gaps in our knowledge and if that happens to be from members of the public that's found by us we're there to listen and equally answer questions and look forward to the future on the Isle of Man. And you're saying this is the first thing kind of a series of these events you're hoping then if people bring you maybe concerns or things you haven't thought about you can go away look at them and then maybe at the next one address it you know maybe people who keep coming back? Yes and what the charity has been set up to do is to try and give information to the public and that includes government as well as the public and we've really got a fantastic database of information our other director Dr David Quirk he works at the Danish Technical University so he's right at the heart of all climate and renewable energy things in Europe so we're very fortunate to have Dave there and the information he's got his fingertips on it is absolutely fantastic and it really is relevant to the Isle of Man because then Mark does have a number of islands fair of islands as well as islands in the North Sea and so they do understand the unique problems islands have and it really is a great wealth of knowledge that we've been able to tap into and bring it here the island because we do know and it's been proved that you know it renewable energy is cheaper than fossil fuels and it doesn't have the harmful effects to make our air quality poor from burning fossil fuels all those particles really do damage people and you mentioned David there I mean both both yourselves but people will have heard you on our airwaves before our launch radio but kind of what expertise are you each bringing to the table you know what are your fields of knowledge maybe that people can ask you questions about and and how you know if they come with particularly any particular topics that you guys you know want people to come to you with really? Yes well I was glad to be invited to join the ESC team because there's a wealth of knowledge already scientifically with Dr. Dave Quirk and the business and political knowledge and context we've got with Ralph Peake but I've brought that extra ingredients and that's local knowledge of 40 years of observing and forecasting the weather conditions measuring the data and figuring out well what's changing in our climate what's happening that was different from 40 years ago and I bring that sort of knowledge to the table but also my understanding for the climate change models what the future is going to hold for us what does that look like even on the Isle of Man and the weather impacts how can we mitigate how can we be prepared and be safe and secure going forward and we're talking on a day when the Southern England is having a heatwave and we can't see across the bay so I'm just going to say on the record what happens since you left your job why is the weather gone just go rubbish for us you know the number of people that stopped me in the streets so to speak to say you know it's gone downhill since I left the job last summer and you know what this is this is one aspect of the changing climate around the British Isles and the North Atlantic a warmer atmosphere a warmer ocean you're going to see the atmosphere carrying more moisture that translates into more cloud cover and sometimes more rain it's not good I'm not not a fan of this so then I guess for those who do come for the presentation specifically you know what to install for people okay so the presentation I'm looking forward to a given that's from seven o'clock is a look at the data for the Isle of Man specifically in the context of the wider global picture and then I'll zoom into some key evidence in recent decades for some aspects that have changed and then I'll look at the climate predictions for the next few decades right up to the end of the century finally kind of what then is the charities broader strategy that you want to get across and you know how do these events like this build into that yeah so it's really connecting with the public the scientific knowledge we've got with Dr Dave Quirk and an Adrian Cowan to actually make that available to the public so they can understand it so it's reducing the fear of the future because there's a lot of um distraction and untruths being said about the future when really we're looking forward to a cleaner healthier renewable future with renewable energy that's much safer and cleaner to use so we really do welcome people to come to the Balafessen Church Hall in Port Aran this Wednesday from 4 p.m we have got tea and cake on offer and I've actually managed to get the world boning champion to actually make us a boning as well so just the one boning so please come early do you want a slice of that so we're going to have some tea and cake on and when we need to pop in from four o'clock Adrian will be having his presentation at 7 p.m so we'll be there between four and seven for a drop in Adrian's presentation starts at 7 p.m and we hope to be finished by eight o'clock thank you for making it to the end of the Manxeradian newscast you are obviously someone with exquisite taste may I politely suggest you might want to subscribe to this and a wide range of Manxeradia podcasts at your favorite podcast provider so our best bits will magically appear on your smartphone thank you you (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]
