Rights and wrongs and animals

Copy of the press release sent out this afternoon by Vote Cruelty Free is below. Kerry McCarthy and I have signed up for respect for animals - so what about the Tory, Lib Dem and English Democrat candidates - will they be signing up too?

A second Bristol East candidate to Vote Cruelty Free, 19th January 2010

Green Party candidate, Glenn Vowles, has pledged his support for Vote Cruelty Free, a new non-partisan coalition of animal protection organisations working to put animals on the political agenda. He is the second candidate in Bristol East to back the coalition, following sitting MP Kerry McCarthy.

The alliance has sent its manifesto to all candidates announced for the next General Election and asked them to show their support for the issues raised. So far more than 170 candidates have pledged their support.

Glenn Vowles said, “I'm for high respect for animals and for the natural world of which people are a part. We should change the way we run our society and economy and the way we live our lives to practice true and genuine respect - in the interest of animals, of the natural world and of people.”

A Vote Cruelty Free spokesperson said, “Animal protection is an issue close to the UK public’s heart but this is often not reflected in current political debate. It is fantastic that Glenn Vowles has shown he believes in animal protection issues as much as his potential future constituents in Bristol East; we are calling on all candidates to follow his lead by pledging their support for Vote Cruelty Free.”

Vote Cruelty Free comprises the BUAV, Compassion in World Farming, IFAW in Action, League Against Cruel Sports and Respect for Animals. It covers a broad range of animal welfare issues including wild and marine animals, animal experimentation, cruel sports, the fur trade and farming.

Vote Cruelty Free is urging all candidates to pledge their support for the initiative. Voters can track candidates who have signed up by visiting the website at www.votecrueltyfree.org.

Two new web resources for biofuels & incineration...

From Jane Stevenson: The new "Action for Sustainable Energy in Bristol" campaign site has background info on the proposed biofuel plant in Bristol, and details of how to object to its planning application:

http://www.acseb.co.uk/

The hearing for the biofuel plant application has been moved to 24 February, so there is still some time to register your objections.

Avonmouth is under seige from a raft of planning applications - 2 biomass power stations, 1 biofuel power plant and 2 incinerators. While both incinerators are planned for Avonmouth, one falls in the Bristol authority area, and the other in South Gloucestershire. Either of them, ON THEIR OWN, would delivery more additional waste capacity in the region, than we need to process our own waste - and that's leaving aside the fact that incineration is grossly inefficient in terms of recovering the maximum amount of energy from our waste. The applications seem designed to bring imported waste into the region, from areas where they haven't got their recycling act together.

Deadlines for objections are now quite tight, and seem to be a bit of a moving target. Current advice is to get your objections registered in January.
http://www.bambi-network.org.uk/pages/youdo.php

Why vote Green? Part Two...

Elected Greens are making a vital difference – impacting well above party size. Voting in another Labour, Lib Dem or Conservative person means the status quo, politics as usual, big party domination or sometimes one party monopoly. Greens improve democracy and accountability. Current electoral law unfortunately makes no provision for Cllrs and MPs to be sacked (recalled) by their voters. Greens standing in Bristol in 2010 have thus decided to do it for themselves and give voters this power where they are elected. As reported in today’s Bristol Evening Post ('Greens will give 'power' to the people') all Bristol’s Green candidates have committed themselves to abiding by a recall system, giving their voters the ability to sack them if enough sign a petition. Green Cllr Charlie Bolton’s motion to Bristol City Council to set up a recall system locally was rejected by the big three parties.


This post is the second of a series giving positive reasons to vote Green in the run up to this years local elections and general election.