Euthanasia is the act of deliberately ending a person’s life to relieve suffering. Assisted suicide is the act of deliberately assisting another person to kill themselves. The English courts have wrestled with challenges to the restrictions on euthanasia and assisted suicide for years, while the government has resisted calls to liberalise the law. Meanwhile, terminally ill people continue to travel overseas to clinics such as Dignitas, to end their lives. Assisted dying raises fundamental questions about respect for individual autonomy, protection of the vulnerable and the role the State should play. This lecture will explain the law and explore arguments for and against liberalisation.
How can we keep our city and our homes cool and green in a heating world?
This webinar will explore the theme of Urban Heat Islands – how and why our urban spaces are becoming hotter than the countryside that surrounds them. What can we do to make our homes, workplaces and communities more resilient to hot weather, and at the same time more pleasant places to dwell?
Heatwaves are increasing, even in Manchester: the results can be overheated and sleep-deprived people, stretched NHS and electricity grids struggling to cope with the demands of air conditioning. Night-time is perhaps the worst, especially for the very old and very young: those least able to regulate their body temperature and for whom heatwaves can be deadly. A 2024 UK parliamentary report has described summer heat as “the silent killer”. Heat stresses us physically and emotionally.
A seemingly easy solution to a hot home or work space might seem to be air con – but this has an energy cost and is part of a vicious circle as we warm the outside space making our neighbours even hotter.
In this webinar we will have input from:
Geoff Levermore, Emeritus Professor of the Built Environment at Manchester University, who has been conducting a study over several years into temperatures in our city – thanks to continuous readings from data logging at points in Central Manchester. Geoff has a fascinating story to tell about the impacts of lockdown, of traffic and of trees.
Thomas Ashfield is a façade meteorologist and climate consultant for a facade engineering consultancy, he is a passionate advocate of care for climate, providing advice for how the external surfaces of buildings can help to provide climate resilience, especially in the face of heating, and reduce energy demands. He will translate some of his experience into advice that can be applied to homes generally.
Meteorology was one of the subjects close to the heart of the early members of the Lit and Phil: John Dalton, polymath, chemist and long-time president of the Lit and Phil, recorded the temperatures outside his central Manchester home three times a day for over twenty years. We have ever more reason to care about those temperatures now!
Reducing your carbon footprint – Consumer Products
How can we make sounder choices about our future consumer purchases?
This online event will begin with a brief introduction about the challenges that our consumer society presents in terms of carbon emissions associated with the production and distribution of the goods “we love to buy” on both a personal and societal level.
This will be followed by a presentation from David Lovell – a regulatory consultant with wide experience in the environmental impact of white goods and lead author of PAS 7770:2024, the new national standard with implications for how products are made, bought, used and disposed. He will address the steps that industries and retailers are taking to be a part of a more circular economy and explore some of the challenges that this change faces.
What are the greenwashing tactics that companies might produce and how can you identify them? What are the best options for consumers who want to reduce the environmental impact of their purchases?
David’s presentation will be followed by questions from the audience, and we encourage you to get involved and take part in the discussion.
Reducing your Carbon Footprint – Effective Carbon Offset
This online seminar will introduce how you can offset your own personal carbon footprint, both ineffectively and effectively.
We’ll begin with an introduction to the carbon offset methods available to the public and their efficacy.
After this introduction, Dr Jan Huckfeldt, will be joining us online from Switzerland as the Chief Commercial Officer of Climeworks, the largest Direct Air Capture (DAC) organisation on the planet. Jan will describe the role that atmospheric CO2 (the largest greenhouse gas contributor to anthropogenic climate change) plays in climate change. He will explain the reality of what this really means, and the science and practice of DAC on the journey to scale the operation to gigatonne capability. There will also be a discussion on the economic challenges that have to be overcome.
Following Jan’s presentation, there will be a Q&A session where you will have the opportunity to ask that burning question you always wanted to know the answer to. Maybe you want to know more about ‘greenwash’? Or better understand the relative scale of the challenge we face to restore atmospheric levels of CO2 to what is considered a safe level. Whatever your interest, you will leave this seminar with an understanding of what you can do in reality to correct excess levels of CO2 that is already present in the atmosphere.
How can we make our cities greener? Andy Burnham on transforming Manchester
**We are extremely sorry to announce that this event has been cancelled as Andy Burnham will now be on an international visit on the 18th January. If you purchased a ticket, your refund will be issued via Eventbrite**
In an era marked by unprecedented urbanisation and environmental challenges, the importance of creating a sustainable future for our cities has never been more pressing. City leaders and citizens are playing pivotal roles in steering the course towards a greener and more sustainable urban landscape.
As cities continue to expand and evolve, their sustainability becomes a critical factor in ensuring the well-being of both current and future generations. The interplay between city leaders, who set policies and make strategic decisions, and citizens, who drive demand and catalyse change, is at the heart of this transformation.
Manchester is no stranger to this challenge. City officials have long recognised the need to address climate change and reduce carbon emissions, with a first Zero Emission plan launched in 2009.
Since then, mayor Andy Burnham has pledged to make the Greater Manchester region carbon neutral by 2038. But the process of implementing some of the changes to realise the pledge has been far from straightforward.
The implementation of the Clean Air Zone (CAZ) has sparked a heated debate, pitting environmental concerns against economic considerations. Advocates stress the urgency of cleaner air for future generations, while critics emphasize the need for a balanced approach that doesn’t undermine economic recovery. It’s undoubtedly a complex issue, and Andy decided to press pause on rolling out CAZ in February 2022. Manchester continues to grapple to find a consensus that effectively addresses both environmental and economic imperatives remains a formidable challenge.
What other plans do Greater Manchester leaders have to transform our city into one of the greenest regions in Europe? And can citizens and leaders work together to make this happen? Join us to explore this complex issue with our special guest Andy Burnham.
Seeing Britain through the eyes of an insider/outlier: in conversation with Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
In this second collaboration with MACFEST, a now internationally recognised Festival, the Manchester Lit & Phil are delighted to host an online conversation with the multi-award-winning journalist and author Professor Yasmin Alibhai Brown FRSL.
Led by our former President, Ian Cameron, the conversation will weave its way through Yasmin’s incredible career – from exile in Uganda, to critically acclaimed scholar and commentator in the UK. Hers is a story worth listening to.
Yasmin will reflect on the many insightful, cutting-edge contributions she has made over the years on a wide range of political, social and cultural issues. And through these reflections, she will speak of the challenges she has had to face, in an often caustic social media environment, particularly as a woman of colour. Her commentary is often delivered with unwavering passion and conviction. And always underscored by a fearless intellectual rigour.
Journeying through a substantial catalogue of successful books and novels, including her latest book Ladies who Punch, Yasmin will illuminate the personal beliefs and values she holds dear: on Feminism, Culture, Art and Activism. And she will offer her personal and nuanced views on matters that continue to demand our attention – including diversity, equality, inclusion, freedom of expression, racism and populism.
In this hard-hitting discussion, Yasmin will be asked questions such as: what is the state of multiculturalism in Britain today? Does she see it as an unqualified success, or in dire need of re-evaluation? And something many of us have been reflecting on in recent years: what does it mean to be British today?
Plastic Ocean
Join us for this online talk, to explore a photographic artist’s response to the worrying state of our oceans today.
Oceans are essential to life on earth. They cover more than 70% of the planet’s surface, regulate the climate, and supply the oxygen we need to survive. But every year, more than 8 million metric tons of plastic enters our oceans, affecting marine environments, biodiversity, over 700 different species, and ultimately human health.
For more than 13 years, artist Mandy Barker has created different series of work to try to engage new audiences with the harmful effects of marine plastic pollution. Captions alongside Mandy’s work detail the ‘ingredients’ of the plastic objects photographed, list brands, or provide descriptions about locations and countries and what was recovered there. The aim is to provide the viewer with a realisation of what exists in our oceans. It is hoped that raising awareness of the scale of plastic pollution that is affecting our oceans, through the passing on of these facts combined with scientific research, will ultimately lead the viewer to want to make change and take action.
Mandy writes:
“Art alone cannot change the world. But by bringing attention to marine plastic pollution in this way, it is hoped my work will help inform, and raise awareness about the overconsumption of plastic and the wider issue of climate change, and in doing so encourage a wider audience to want to do something about it.”
What are you drinking? A look at chemicals in the urban water cycle
When you turn on the tap to get a glass of water, do you think about where that water has come from? Or rather, where it’s been and what treatment processes it has had to go through?
It’s true that chemicals can extend, improve and enrich our health, wellbeing and life experiences. But the rate at which new chemicals are being generated is resulting in widespread contamination of water. Arguably, the impacts of chemicals in our environment represent the third greatest planetary crisis behind climate change and biodiversity loss. And yet they are inextricably linked to both.
Currently, more than 56% of the world’s human population lives in cities. And daily use, release and exposure to chemicals in our environment is an emerging concern.
Leon Barron’s talk will outline how chemicals move in our urban water cycle. From the wastewater we generate, to river pollution, to contamination of our drinking water and their occurrence in both humans and biota. Advances in measurement technology has underpinned much of this, especially the use of mass spectrometry, to fingerprint chemical sources.
Leon will describe the role of wastewater in understanding exposure to chemicals, with respect to continuous release of treated effluents to our rivers, lakes and seas. He will also talk about using the analysis of wastewater generated in cities to understand consumption and exposure patterns to every-day-use chemicals – like pharmaceuticals, personal care products, pesticides, lifestyle chemicals and many others.
He will go on to assess potential solutions to this issue, to ensure that we balance the environmental impacts of chemicals and their immense benefit to society.
If we’re going to survive and thrive in the future, there is no doubt that we will need to look after our water supply.
Great Expectations – at the Royal Exchange Theatre
Come along to the Theatre Group’s visit to ‘Great Expectations’ at the Royal Exchange Theatre.
From the Royal Exchange’s website:
This adaptation of a classic by Tanika Gupta is just pure genius. You’ll get to see the familiar Dickens framework, but it comes with a twist.
All my life they looked down on me, always cursing and abusing. But you, you will be different!
Bengal, 1903. Rumours that the British Empire plans to partition Bengal spread and uncertainty is never far away. For one Indian boy destiny is found on the banks of the River Padma before the Goddess Lakshmi. Here a promise is made. Born out of terror or kindness the choice Pipli makes that night will shape his life forever.
Pooja Ghai directs Tanika Gupta’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. Pipli moves from his home in Rajshahi to the bustling streets of Calcutta. With an open heart he navigates unforgiving darkness and unsettling friendships in his search for a better future. For Pipli, dharma – the right way of living, is never far away.
Lit & Phil members and friends are invited to book their seats directly with the theatre for the 2.30 pm matinee performance on the 20th September.
There will also be a post-theatre meal at Cote Brasserie in Manchester at 5.30 pm. This will be an opportunity to share our views about the play in a relaxed atmosphere.
Please email the organiser, Joanna Lavelle, via the button above if you would like further information or if you would like to join us.
Good to know: There will be an online pre-event discussion led by Dr Manju Bhavnani before the play on Tuesday 12th September at 6.30 pm via BlueJeans and an online post-event discussion on Tuesday 25th September at 6.30pm. Email the organiser via the button above for signing in details.
If you can’t go to the theatre on September 20th, you can still join in the pre-event discussion on September 12th and/or the post event discussion on September 25th.
Engineering enzymes to reduce plastic waste
Plastic waste is a global pollution crisis. Finding effective solutions to tackle PET plastic pollution is crucial for preserving our environment and creating a more sustainable future.
PET plastic, short for polyethylene terephthalate, is a commonly used material in bottles, containers and packaging. Unfortunately, PET plastic waste has become a significant environmental problem. When not properly recycled, PET can persist in the environment for many years, contributing to pollution in our oceans and ecosystems.
Current recycling methods for PET plastic face several challenges. The processes can be energy-intensive and costly. And the quality of recycled PET may not always be on par with virgin plastic, limiting its usability.
In 2016 scientists found an enzyme, a special type of protein, called IsPETase that can break down PET into its original building blocks. This discovery generated a lot of interest in using biological methods to recycle plastics.
But enzymes such as IsPETase are not immediately suitable to be used on a large scale, as they are not robust or efficient enough for industrial use. Whilst enzymes can be engineered to meet these industrial demands, the process is very challenging when working with plastic degrading enzymes.
In this online talk, Dr Elizabeth Bell will describe the development of a high-throughput platform for engineering plastic degrading enzymes using a process called directed evolution. Directed evolution is a mimic of natural evolution but done on a laboratory scale. It focuses on tailoring the specific properties of an enzyme to meet our requirements.
Elizabeth and her team used this platform to create a new variant of IsPETase that can withstand high temperatures and is more effective at breaking down PET. The engineered enzyme can also selectively degrade the PET component of a multi-material plastic that is commonly used for food packaging.
This study demonstrates that laboratory evolution can be used as a powerful tool to engineer enzymes to effectively break down plastics. With further research and development, these engineered enzymes could play a crucial role in reducing plastic waste and promoting a more sustainable future.