Transcripts For BBCNEWS Our World 20240713

Warriors who resist persecution. At ten oclock, Lukwesa Burak will be here with a round up of todays news. First our world, which is in northern finland to see how a small town became the most eco friendly town became the most eco friendly town in europe. It is producing ten times more Renewable Energy than it consumes. This Community Project could be an inspiration for us all but the rapid change is not without opposition. As the push to save the planet gets even more urgent, one town has already cut its Carbon Emissions by 80 . We have been not waiting for the world to tackle Climate Change. We want to do it ourselves. Ii, in northern finland, is one of the greenest towns in europe. Powered by 100 Renewable Energy. The towns children already play a role in Energy Saving ways of living. People still hunt and fish as part of their everyday lives. We have a trap there. We hope they are big pikes, but we will see. But could there be a cost to being europes greenest town . This is one of europes most eco friendly places. This small town of 10,000 people in northern finland has cut co2 emissions by 80 . Elsewhere in europe, the average rate of reduction is less than 20 . This woman is leading the green revolution in ii. This is the city with all these fresh ideas for how to really tackle Climate Change. By 2025, ii wants to be the first town in the world to produce zero waste. A goal embraced by all generations. We are heading to the centre of ii. It is houses from the 18th century. The changes started seven years ago. Ii stopped burning fossil fuels and began to build wind farms. Theyve switched to Renewable Energy only. Wind, hydro, solar, and geothermal. We understood in ii, seven years ago, that Climate Change is not coming, Climate Change is here. And we cannot expect the rest of the world to do anything for our sake. We need to try to do our best, and take this into our own hands. They believe the key is early education. This Primary School has 100 children aged 7 12 years old. In all schools across town, older kids mentor younger kids about Climate Change. In our school, we do something very similar. 15 year old kia is one of the mentors. I have come to help the younger children to do the better choices and help the environment. They are doing so well already. Its sofia and ottos job to check if the classrooms have the right temperature and lighting levels. There is going on a big climate crisis. We have to Work Together to stop Climate Change and help the environment. Many of you may think, what can one human do . Well, actually, the small, better choices that we make to switch off the lights, thats probably the easiest thing you can do. When you combine them all together, it really makes a big change. All schools in ii get back 50 of the money they have saved on utility bills. The other 50 goes back to the local authority. These certificates are from the 50 50 project. We have saved lots of money and students can themselves decide the way they use this money. For example, those flats you saw before have been bought with this money. Ii has got only two supermarkets. People make a big effort to eat locally produced food. Hunting and fishing is an important part of everyday life. This man is a retired engineer. He is heading to a river near ii where finlands biggest pike was caught. We hunt moose and we catch fish, and we get also berries in the summer but we are going to take some fish from the lake. We have a trap there, we hope there are big pikes, but we will see. Only little fish maybe 30, a0. But maybe we put it back. Fishing is a matter of luck. We have no luck today. Next to the kovjoki river is one of europes biggest peatlands. Here, people have been burning peat for centuries to generate electricity. But peat can store twice as much carbon as forests, so now they are being restored to fight Climate Change. This man is the landowner. He used to be the chairman of the local electricity company. I do this because i want this peatland to be as it used to be. This is, of course, a very little thing in the global scale, but this is something concrete. I like concrete things. He believes we need everyone in the world to fight Climate Change. It is an investment for the future of our planet, in a very small scale. Its not charity in that way that i do it only to make myself feel good, but i know that if i can contribute to this, maybe other people want to do the same thing. Ii has made headlines around the world for fighting Climate Change, and others want to follow in their footsteps. Leena has been invited to speak at a conference attended by more than 200 politicians, scientists, and youth leaders. I am going to tell about possibilities at the local level. What can cities, municipalities, towns do to tackle Climate Change . The european union, one of the new targets is to open, so why not start here with the forest and peat lands, and make it. A perfect project. Yes, yes. We shall develop something together out of that. That would be great. We can do that. Please welcome our next case. She comes from the place known as the climate hero of europe. So far we have received investment from outside the eu of 190 Million Euros. Purely for the Climate Change actions. Only the Wind Energy Sector is producing taxation of about 1. 5 Million Euros every year for the city budget. We have created at least 80 jobs that we would not have without the Climate Change action that we do. There are delegates from all over the world here. From the british embassy. Wonderful to meet you. I was transfixed. There are 5. 5 Million People living in finland. Theyre responsible for 0. 1 of the worlds co2 emissions. 0k. Like, what we can do and how we can share that. Leena is still convinced their efforts to cut Greenhouse Gases will make a global impact. It is so very easy for us to say that it does not matter what we do, it depends on what china does or what the us does. It is there is no one else. It is us. Yes, we are in an emergency situation. Yes, we need to do a lot. But i am very optimistic. I am a mother of two children and whatever i do, i am sure they will do better. Ii used to rely on oil, wood and hydroelectric power. Now Wind Turbines cover 30 of the towns energy needs. Hydro power accounts for the other two thirds. And the investment in Renewable Energy has paid off. Ii produces ten times more clean energy than it consumes. It sells the Surplus Energy to the grid and generates 2 Million Euros in revenues for the town. And there are more financial benefits. Ii has a strong sense of community and tackling Climate Change seems to bring people together. Hello the town hopes to reach its goal of zero waste in five years time. At this meeting tonight in the northern part of ii, theyre discussing how to help do this. Warm welcome to our home. They laugh our climate week Climate Friendly week. Yes. She speaks finnish. So the village has this new plan, a weekly plan. So, on monday, you exercise. On tuesdays, you only eat veggies, yeah . Yes. On wednesdays. She speaks finnish you collect. You circle what you have and you collect. Yes. Thursdays, you go to the marketplaces and you exchange what you have, like a shared economy idea. And on fridays . She speaks finnish you dont buy anything. Yes, the weekend . They laugh residents seem to be eager to sign up anitas plan to sign up to anitas plan for environmentally friendly living. But the mood changes when they start discussing the second item on tonights agenda. Argh a proposal to build a new wind farm in the forest right next to the village. People are worried that theyll be losing their bond with nature, but there are other issues too. The power from those Wind Turbines is going to the people who live in south finland. Its not going to stay in our area. So we think they should produce it there, closer to people who actually are going to use it. So its like they are going to get all of the benefits and we are going to get everything thats not so good. Its not fair. Its like we pay the bill and they look good, having the green energy. The proposed new wind farm will generate enough electricity for 55,000 homes but the sheer size of the project is causing concern. Anita is setting off in the snow to meet ari, the towns mayor, to explain why her community is so worried. We wont be the winner. We wont be the loser. We want only compromise. They want to build 63 windmills. Oh, what a trip but ari, nice to see you two thirds of the energy ii needs is provided by hydroelectric power stations. But it has a drawback in a town traditionally built on fishing. So this is the fish farm here in ii. There is a lot of small fishes, salmon, trout. A little bit more than 1 million fish are here. Salmon are migratory and make their way up the river to breed. But the dam walls and turbines brought a stop to this. In an effort to bolster the number, the hydro power station is funding a Breeding Programme to compensate for the falling fish stocks. To measure the effectiveness of the Breeding Programme, workers mark the fish by removing their top fin before releasing them into the river. Of course, green or clean energy is very good, but theres also a negative impact. So without this type of actions, there will be no fish any more. Ii has seen a 50 drop in energy use in the last ten years and waste has been cut by 25 . Mum always says that ten minutes is enough. Kiia, the 15 year old climate leader, is using leftoverfood to make pancakes with herfriends. I quite oftenjust look at the fridge and do a meal or some dessert out of leftovers, like, for example, pancakes or pizza. Its important to not always buy new food. Of course, it saves energy and also, the packing materials like plastic. We stopped using plastic straws. We have bamboo straws now. We recycle everything. Were pretty strict. Its not bubbling hard enough yet. Is there enough flour in this . The girls are concerned about Climate Change but theyre hopeful they can have an impact. Im not mad, im just worried about and kinda frustrated about the stage of this planet. If we, like, Work Together and like, believe thats really happening, yeah, i think we can stop it. We just get these big leaders to believe in it, i think everythings pretty much possible. I think its important to eat food thats, like, grown locally and not, like, shipped from other countries, like avocados or bananas. Even in the winter, i go to school by bike. It takes time to get there more than in the autumn or spring because, you know, theres a lot of snow, but i can deal with it. Over the last few years, ii has become a green champion. Its only happened because of the collective effort of the community. And tackling Climate Change brings people together. We are ready yes there we go yes. Its so good to see you every week, we are just gathering together and jumping in the frozen river. Its something that we do together. This is my team, who works for the Climate Change mitigation. We do it every thursday, go together, jump in the freezing river, and then we feel so good. We feel like a newborn baby when weve done that, yeah. It feels so good because it makes you feel alive. Nothing else makes you feel this good you are a part of nature. You are you have all the power in the world. And you do it together thats the thing. For us finns, it is very important to be in the nature. We do find our peace, our soul, in the forest. The most beautiful thing, though, is the collaboration with the schools. The most beautiful thing, though, is the collaboration with the schools. So the children learn that it is possible to make actions for the better of environment and climate, and it is also profitable at the same time. We have been able to cut co2 emissions so much, and i do hope that everybody in the world would find the same will and want to do it, because it is possible. Hello. After a fairly wintry weekend the weather is set to turn milder in the longer range. A more detailed look for the next ten days. This picture was taken saturday afternoon. Quite a bit of snow over the higher ground, of northern england, Northern Ireland, scotland and wales as well. This week things are staying unsettled and blustery at times, but not as windy as it has been through the weekend, and milder too. But for sunday, we are not out of the woods in terms of the strong wind, especially in the south you can see the proximity of the isobars. Low pressure is in charge of the weather to the north of the uk. Showers on sunday rotating around this area of low pressure. Quite a bit of sunshine in store for much of the uk but more showers arriving over western parts of england and wales, and especially western scotland where they will be capable of snow. Further east you are more likely to stay dry for quite a bit of the day after the Early Morning ice risk, especially over northern parts. Through sunday evening, the showers will start to move further east over the uk. You can see lower pressure is in charge and not far away on monday, sitting towards the north west of the uk. We have an approaching weather front coming to the south east. Monday, not as windy as the weekend. Further showers over Northern Ireland and scotland, falling as snow over the higher ground. And we are likely to see this area of rain approaching southern and south eastern parts of england as well. In between these areas, quite a lot of dry weather. Temperatures still a bit below average. Moving through monday night and into tuesday, uncertainty about the development of this system here but it looks like we may see some rain and snow, especially on the northern edge, as it bumps into the colder air, for a time across central, southern and south eastern parts of england. Looks like it will clear away later in the day but keep an eye on the forecast. Some uncertainty about the area of rain. Further north and west on tuesday you are more likely to stay dry. A frosty start. Into the middle of the week, wednesday starting off with High Pressure around. Perhaps some fog and frost first thing. Should be quite a lot of dry weather with light wind and sunshine and sunshine on wednesday before the fog clears away. Later in the day, our attention turns to the west as the next area of low pressure brings strengthening wind and outbreaks of rain to Northern Ireland, perhaps wales and the south west of england. Central and eastern parts having a pretty decent day, i think. This big area of low pressure is moving in from the atlantic. Not in a hurry because it bumps into the High Pressure to the east but i think we will see showery rain moving from west to east through the day on thursday. Some snow over the high ground of scotland in particular. Further south, should wejust rain showers. Youll notice the temperatures, a bit milder. Likely to be into double figures for many areas by thursday. The outlook for friday, saturday, sunday and into monday, plenty of showers in the capital cities. Blustery conditions. Low pressure is anchored out to the north and west. Well see frontal systems working around that area of low pressure, heading across the uk. Some drier and quieter interludes but the temperatures are going to yo yo. Some cooler temperatures with blustery showers, and then milder southerly wind. Temperatures oscillating a bit as we look towards the end the coming week. Bye. This is bbc news. Im Lukwesa Burak. The headlines at 10 the Prime Minister visits voters in tony blairs former constituency in the north east of england, promising to repay the trust of those whod broken the voting habits of generations. Our countrys now embarked on a wonderful adventure. Were going to recover our National Self confidence, our mojo, our self belief. And were going to do things differently and better. Shadow chancellorjohn mcdonnell has confirmed he will not be part of labours next shadow cabinet following the partys crushing election defeat. Well all go now. The new leader will come in place, appoint their shadow cabinet. I wont be part of that shadow cabinet, you know, ive done my bit