Oppose this unsustainable, ungreen biofuel power station plan for Avonmouth

Just joined the Facebook group Stop Bristol's Biofuel Power Station because I'm very strongly opposed to power stations that plan to burn non-recycled and imported biofuels produced with massive social and environmental impacts. I've sent the group's suggested email of objection to the planning application (Ref 09/03235/F) to: development.management@bristol.gov.uk and urge others to send similar messages.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Re: W4B Renewable Energy application for a biofuel power station at Avonmouth Docks, Ref 09/03235/F

I wish to object to W4B’s planning application to build a 50 MW biofuel power station at Avonmouth Docks, which would burn 90,000 tonnes of vegetable oil every year. I am deeply concerned about the impact of biofuels such as palm oil on the climate, on rainforests and other ecosystems and on communities in the global South. In Italy and Germany, a large number of biofuel power stations are already operating and virtually all of them run on palm oil which is by far the cheapest vegetable oil. Jatropha oil, also mentioned in the application, is not available commercially so far, yet already many thousands of people in Tanzania, Ghana and India are losing their land, livelihoods and in some cases their forests to jatropha plantations.

If the power station were run on palm oil only, it would require over 22,000 hectares of plantations – and even more for any other feedstock. According to the UN, palm oil is the main cause of deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia. It is responsible for billions of tonnes of carbon emissions, as forests are destroyed and peatlands converted to plantations. In countries like Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Colombia, growing numbers of indigenous peoples, small farmers and other rural communities are being forced off their land, often through violence.

Bristol City Council must consider the climate and wider sustainability impacts of planning decisions and I believe that this means that the development should be rejected.

I am also concerned about the impacts of the proposed biofuel power station on air quality and thus on the health of the local population, particularly in Avonmouth but potentially also in Hallen Village and Severn Beach Village. Avonmouth is already designated as an Air Quality Management Area, with concerns over PM10 levels. The power station will worsen PM10 levels, as well as those of NOx and PM 2.5, and will add to the pollution from two large biomass power stations in the area for which plans are currently being considered.

*

http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/

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http://sites.google.com/site/foodnotfuelorg/

*

Local news reports on the issue:

http://www.bristol247.com/2009/10/07/biofuel-plant-plan-is-red-rag-to-the-green-bulls/

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http://www.bristol247.com/2009/10/08/biofuel-power-firm-hits-back-at-green-critics/

*

There is also an e-petition opposing the power plant - please sign it!!

http://epetitions.bristol.gov.uk/petition.php?id=302

Free film show at The Thunderbolt: The Power of Community

On Tuesday 13 October, 7.30pm you can come and see the excellent film 'The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil'* for free.

Its being put on at The Thunderbolt, 124 Bath Rd, Totterdown, BS4 3ED, just along the road from the Three Lamps junction, by the South Bristol Greens.

Get along there and meet up with people for change in Bristol!

*

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba's economy went into a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more than half – and food by 80 percent – people were desperate. This film tells of the hardships and struggles as well as the community and creativity of the Cuban people during this difficult time. Cubans share how they transitioned from a highly mechanized, industrial agricultural system to one using organic methods of farming and local, urban gardens. It is an unusual look into the Cuban culture during this economic crisis, which they call "The Special Period." The film opens with a short history of Peak Oil, a term for the time in our history when world oil production will reach its all-time peak and begin to decline forever. Cuba, the only country that has faced such a crisis – the massive reduction of fossil fuels – is an example of options and hope.

http://www.powerofcommunity.org/cm/index.php

Hard facts to show the net benefits of [possibly] having a bit of World Cup football in Bristol: where are they??

Just spent a bit of time trying to spot some credible hard facts that demonstrate that [possibly] having a bit of World Cup football in Bristol for a short period many years hence (along with a new BCFC stadium and associated development in Ashton Vale and a huge Tesco on Ashton Gate...) would give significant net social, economic and environmental benefits. They are very, very hard to come by, though hype, trivia and illusion are very easy to find!!

For me its a case of concrete and long term disbenefits from loss of green belt (plus a big stimulus to further loss of green belt) and impacts on local shopping and environment, compared with benefits that are merely possibilities under certain circumstances - and they are pretty uncertain and transient in nature. Of course little or nothing of what is planned matches the sustainable development all politicians say they are signed up to!!

At the end of yet another story which, completely irrationally, recognises no downsides at all ('Hosting event 'can only be a good thing' ', Post, Oct 6) promoting Bristols bid to be a host city for the World Cup in 2018 was a reference to a You Tube video by Bristol City Council Leader Barbara Janke, so I took a look (see below).



The material on this site http://www.bristol2018.net/ is equally flimsy hype and trivia, which leaves me thinking what it is we are actually supposed to be strongly supporting, apart form the illusion whipped up! I've been told that there are even people around who think the whole World Cup could be staged here!!

Bristol 2018 from Visit Bristol on Vimeo.

Is your MP signed up to cut their carbon emissions by 10% in 2010??

Campaign group 38 Degrees are working to get more MPs signed up to cut their climate changing emissions by 10% in 2010 (I sent a message to my MP on this, at 38 Degrees request, and then realised she had already signed up - should have searched her website more thoroughly!! Well done Kerry McCarthy!). There are many MPs yet to support the 10:10 campaign though - why not make a few enquiries and then send them a message if needed

See http://www.1010uk.org/

Voters are entitled to their MPs views on local issues

On Parliament’s own website it says this, amongst other things, about the role of those elected ‘MPs can help their constituents by advising on problems…, representing the concerns of their constituents…and acting as a figurehead for the local area.’

Bristol South MP Dawn Primarolo has ‘refused to be drawn’ on whether she is for or against plans to build a huge Tesco on BCFCs Ashton Gate ground (‘City faces ‘tough choices’ for housing’, Post October 3). She is not in this instance doing the job for which she is paid a great deal. What is her advice? Where is her leadership? Where is her conviction? Aren't voters entitled to their MPs views on local issues?

No matter which side she came down on I for one would have more time and respect for her as an MP if she took a clear stance. She has steadfastly avoided this, concentrating instead on minimising the impact of the contention on her prospects for re-election – another instance of an MP putting self-interest first.

Today is National Carbon Footprint Day

Take a look at the National Carbon Footprint Day site.

Launched in 2008, with Marcus Brigstock and former London Deputy Mayor Jenny Jones, GLAM as patrons, National Carbon Footprint Day takes place every year on October 2nd, which is Gandhi's birthday. The aim is to make it easy for everyone to remember to calculate their annual carbon and environmental footprints.

This site has two purposes.

To enable people to register for free their annual carbon footprint.

To provide an annual free recording and reminder service on October 2nd every year,for your key carbon footprint measurements

For a full explanation of how it works please go to our “FAQ” page.National Carbon Footprint Day Patron Jenny Jones GLAM says “With the Arctic summer ice now melting over six times faster than predicted only 4 years ago and with the permafrost predicted to melt three times faster than expected barely a year ago, climate change is now truly a climate crisis. It is essential that we all take action urgently”.

Measuring your carbon footprint is the essential first step to taking responsibility to reducing your contribution to the crisis.

Donnachadh McCarthy who founded National Carbon Footprint Day and whose Victorian house in Camberwell became London’s first carbon negative home in 2007, says that actually measuring his annual water and energy carbon footprints, were his biggest motivators to continuously improve his home’s eco-performance.

He launched the world’s first National Carbon Footprint Day to help you monitor and cut your carbon footprint.. The key thing is to start reducing your carbon and environmental footprints now!

No to non-recycled, imported biofuel power station for Avonmouth

Recommended read: Stockwood Pete on the connection between plans for an imported biofuel power station at Avonmouth, the survival of rainforests and seriously threatened species like the Orangutan http://stockwoodpete.blogspot.com/2009/09/avonmouth-and-orang-utans.html

Windmill Hill City Farm: Save Our Farm Appeal

From the appeal organisers: The much-loved Windmill Hill City Farm provides a wide range of valuable services and facilities for the local community. Unfortunately it is facing a financial crisis and is threatened with
closure.

An Appeals Group has been set up to raise at least £50,000 before the end of the year, and since the recent launch of the Save Our Farm campaign, we have raised around £14,000. We have a variety of exciting schemes and events planned to generate funds over the coming months.

We need your help to see us through into next year, to enable us to put in place the long term strategies that will secure the future of the Farm. If you value Windmill Hill City Farm, and are in a position to do so, would you be willing to
pledge £25 to the Save Our Farm Appeal (and complete a gift aid form), if 500 other people will do the same?


You only donate the £25 once the pledge has been successful and 500 other people have signed up. There is a deadline for the pledge to be successful - 31st October 2009, and we hope to have 500 people by then, otherwise all those who have signed up will not need to fulfill their pledge and donate the money.

If we ARE successful, then this fundraising scheme alone will generate £12,500 - a quarter of our appeal target!

So what do you think? Are you in a position to make this pledge? If not, do you know someone else who is?

So how do you do it? It's set up on the Pledge Bank website - the link is: http://www.pledgebank.com/SaveWHCF

Just sign up with your name and email address (only used to tell you when the pledge iscompleted and for us to contact you about the pledge). You can keep track of whether the pledge looks likely to make its target by viewing the signup rate graph.

Even if you can't afford to make the pledge yourself, please support it by circulating this information by email/ word of mouth/ text/ Facebook/around your workplace etc to everyone you know who might be able to help, and please ask them to circulate it to everyone they know too.

I hope you can join me in making the pledge and/or spreading the word...

Many thanks,
Carolyn Hecker
Save Our Farm Fundraising Team

Green on Brown...

Responding to Gordon Brown's Labour conference speech, Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party, said: "Brown talked of Labour's onward march of fairness and justice - but we have a wider gap between rich and poor after 12 years of Labour. Labour has had 12 years to change the voting system, to restore the earnings link to pensions, 12 years to work for nuclear disarmament by axing Trident, to make the Post Office sustainable, and to provide fair wages for working people. And they have not."

"Brown talked of free education and expanded university places, but Labour has been the government to introduce tuition fees and rising student debt."

The Green Party welcomed Brown's aim for 250 000 new green jobs, and up to

10 000 green job placements for youth. But Caroline Lucas said that: "We cannot have a green economy with Labour promises of nuclear power and new coal plants at its core."

Lucas continued: "Unfortunately, Gordon Brown has a track record of grandly announcing projects that led nowhere -- whether it was midnight football, citizens' juries, or a NHS Constitution that ended up having no new enforceable rights."

Lucas also commented on the proposal that 16 and 17 year parents on public support would be sent to a new network of supervised homes: "We strongly object to the idea of forcing all 16 and 17 year-old parents on taxpayer support into a network of supervised homes. It would be a form of paternalistic, 21st-century workhouse. Teen parents flounder, as we've had 12 years of Labour without support for carers, and childcare provision that has been very patchy across the country. We need projects that encourage teen self-esteem and sex education, not punishment after the fact for teen mothers and fathers."

Indigenous Perspectives Conference, Pierian Centre - Monday 12th October: 9.30am–4.30pm

This from Bristol's Pierian Centre: One of Britain's leading adventurers, Benedict Allen, is to open the Indigenous Perspectives Conference on Monday 12th October. Allen is the author of 11 books, but is probably best known for his TV programmes of exploration and endurance. His first-hand experience of indigenous people in jungle, tundra and desert qualifies him to speak with authority and warmth at this one-day conference at the Pierian Centre.

The Indigenous Perspectives Conference brings together representatives of indigenous peoples from all over the world together with campaigners and academics specialising in different aspects of indigenous culture. It celebrates the 2nd anniversary of the U.N’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples – and it is a unique opportunity to hear the indigenous voice in all its variety, and to find out how close to silence and extinction it’s being pushed.

The cultures covered include the Jumma of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the Mapuche of Chile, the Emberá of Panama, West Papua, Tibet, the Kiribati islands of Micronesia, and the Yagan and Kawesqar peoples of Tierra del Fuego. Speakers range from senior academics to individuals who have been jailed and beaten for defending their culture.

Benedict Allen has narrowly escaped death six times; arguably no-one has more experience of living continuously isolated in as many remote environments.

Last seen on our screens in March presenting BBC’s Travellers’ Century, Allen paved the way for the current generation of TV adventurers. As The Sunday Times put it: “Filming whatever actually happens, without all the hidden paraphernalia of a film crew, and whether in danger or lonely or undergoing various exotic rituals, he has effectively taken the viewers’ experience of adventure as far as it can go.”

Allen himself looks back on his earlier journeys over 25 years ago, saying “I belonged to the last generation that might pass through a wilderness for months on end and not encounter a single person of my own culture. It was a privileged time: never in all those years can I remember coming across a single other foreigner, whilst out on a trek.”

The conference falls with heavy irony on Columbus Day (12th October) – and also coincides with the 40th year of Survival International’s invaluable work. If you’re interested in attending please contact us on info@pieriancentre.com or 0117 924 4512.

In addition to plenary sessions reviewing issues like the impact of climate change on indigenous peoples, there will be small-group seminars on the experience of military force , the role of tourism, the impact of historic genocides on surviving peoples, the relationship with the land, sustaining cultural identity in exile, and the tensions between traditional and democratic authority.

The Conference is on Monday 12th October, 9.30am–4.30pm. It takes place at The Pierian Centre, 27 Portland Square, St Pauls, Bristol BS2 8SA. The delegate rate of £45 includes lunch and refreshments – with limited concessionary places at £25 for low income, and £12.50 for students.

In praise of...tap water

Drinking tap water cuts both your bills and your carbon footprint - and more of us should be drinking it wherever we are, including in restaurants, at work and at home! Just look at these killer facts (provided by Wessex Water's website):

*Bottled water costs 500 times more than tap water.

*One in five people are too embarrassed to ask for tap water in a restaurant.

*The average person drinks 37.6 litres of bottled water each year.

*2.7 million tonnes of plastic are used to bottle water each year.

*22 million tonnes of bottled water are transferred from country to country each year.

*Three out of four plastic water bottles are still not recycled.

*Bottled water has a carbon footprint up to 300 times higher than tap water.

More action on climate change from councils - give them power and responsibility

Very happy to support this Friends of the Earth campaign to get the Government to give councils the power and responsibility to do more about climate change. I sent off their suggested email to John Denham MP, the current Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

________________________________________________________________

The UK is committed to achieving CO2 emissions reductions of 34% by 2020. To do so will require radical action by local authorities in their areas.

I support the Government's view that local authorities should have a greater role in tackling climate change.

But I believe that this greater role means that all local authorities should have more responsibility for tackling climate change in their area. At the moment, only a few local authorities are taking real action, and most local authorities are doing very little.

The Government must set the bottom line for councils. There must be a mechanism ensuring a minimum standard of action on climate change for every local authority - so each has short term targets, or local carbon budgets, to reduce the emissions in its area in line with the latest science.

Each council should produce a plan of how to make the emissions cuts, and they should not be achieved through offsetting - either trading between councils and businesses, or buying international carbon credits.

Not acting can no longer be an option for any council if we are to meet the UK's climate targets and avoid dangerous climate change.

Local authorities need more support from national government as well. I support the following proposals:

- A requirement for all local authorities to prepare a plan setting out how they will reduce the carbon emissions in their local area (in line with the Climate Change Act targets and carbon budgets)

- A new regional technical advice body on Climate Change to help provide the information-base for action on climate change at local level.

- Giving councils the flexibilty to use innovative mechanisms for positive climate solutions.

- A strong role for local authorities in coordinating funding streams e.g. more jurisdiction in working with energy suppliers, and for energy suppliers to supply data to local authorities on energy use.

- More community engagement in developing local climate solutions The best councils moving ahead isn't enough. We don't have time for partial measures. According to the IPCC, world emissions have to peak by 2015 to give any chance of avoiding a 2 degree temperature rise. All the latest science suggests even this may be too optimistic.

This is a shared responsibility. All local authorities need to act, not just the minority that are currently seriously prioritising the issue.

Today is Earth Overshoot Day 09 (ecological debt for the rest of the year)

News from the Global Footprinting Network that today is Earth Overshoot Day '09. This means that 'Just like any country, company, or household, nature has a budget – it can only produce so much resources and absorb so much waste each year. The problem is, our demand on nature exceeds its capacity to generate resources and absorb CO2,a condition known as ecological overshoot. We now use a year’s worth of capacity in less than 10 months. Our calculations show that if we continue with business as usual, according to moderate U.N. projections, in less than 25 years humanity will require the regenerative capacity of two planets– a level of demand that is likely to be physically impossible to meet.'

Blog Action Day 15 Otober 09: Climate Change

Just signed up again for Blog Action Day. The more people get involved the better!!

News on rethinking how we assess and measure progress

These two pieces of news, on rethinking GDP (which happens to be the topic I completed my MSc dissertation on in 1998/9) and establishing new eco footprint standards, from the Global Footprint Network could turn out to be very important for our future:

Sarkozy Urges GDP Rethink

Global Footprint Network Comments on Stiglitz Report

During the year and a half since French President Nicolas Sarkozy established the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, it has focused on one challenge: How can we move beyond GDP to broader measures of a nation’s economic, social and environmental well-being?

Global Footprint Network applauds this effort and congratulates the Commission for taking a crucial step toward answering that question through its release of the Stiglitz Report. The report synthesizes the complex field of economic performance and social progress indicators and substantiates the voices of early pioneers like Hazel Henderson and Hermann Daly.
With this report, there is now wide agreement that humanity’s success in the 21st century depends largely on robust navigational tools. The report has built a productive platform for further discussions. However, there is still much work to do. The report points out that there is no consensus yet as to which indicators provide the greatest value, and how they should be applied in guiding public policy.
More >

RESEARCH AND STANDARDS UPDATE

New Footprint Standards Released

Global Footprint Network is pleased to announce the release of the Ecological Footprint Standards 2009. This document builds on the first set of internationally recognized Ecological Footprint Standards, released in 2006, and includes key updates – such as, for the first time, providing guidelines and standards for product and organizational Footprint assessments.

To protect the green belt, or not to protect the green belt...

I totally agree with letter writer Nicola Harold that we must act urgently to save our green spaces (‘Time to save green spaces is running out’, Post, Sept 21 2009). I have to say that the fight for green spaces is not helped by those politicians who, it appears, face in two opposing directions. We need clarity of principle, policy and action but aren't getting it.

I recently asked Lib Dem Councillor Jon Rogers Bristol’s Executive Member for Transport and Sustainability whether large scale development should be be permitted on green belt land around Bristol…He replied, ‘My colleagues and I have campaigned and won in the recent election with a pledge to “fight the loss of Green Belt” and that remains our policy.’

However, Lib Dem leader of Bristol City Council, Barbara Janke has given her wholeheated and active support to the idea of building a new Bristol City football stadium. Where? In the green belt that separates Long Ashton from Bristol!!

So, what happened to fighting the loss of green belt?? They want to have their cake and eat it!

Lament for St Peter's in Knowle? Andy Sheppard plays in call for hospice to stay open

This from the Save Our Hospice group I'm active in (15 Addison Road, Victoria Park, Bristol, BS3 4QH, saveourhospice@hotmail.co.uk):

Press release:

Andy Sheppard plays in call for hospice to stay open

Renowned jazz musician, Andy Sheppard, is supporting the campaigning group urging St Peter’s Hospice not to close their hospice in Knowle. He will accompany members of the local group, Save Our Hospice, when they present a petition to Keith Bonham, MBE, the Chair of the Trustees, at St Peter’s Hospice, Charlton Road, Brentry on Tuesday, 22nd September, at 5.30pm.

Together with many other well-known musicians, Andy Sheppard is very aware of the excellent care provided by the hospice in Knowle, because of his working association and friendship with Heloise Osborne, a long-time producer of jazz concerts, tours and festivals, who died there last November. Nod Knowles, Chief Executive of Bath’s International Music Festival and another close friend and colleague of Heloise Osborne’s said today: “The hospice meant so much to Heloise – it helped her with essential care and effective pain relief and provided friendship and shared understanding with other terminally ill patients in the day centre. Crucially, because it was in South Bristol, she and her loved ones were able to get there without too much difficulty.”

As St Peter’s Hospice have already decided to close the hospice in Knowle, Andy Sheppard will be playing a lament on his saxophone for all the people who may be denied specialist in-patient pain relief and hospice care as a result of this decision. Save Our Hospice invite you to photograph, film and listen to Andy’s playing.

Save Our Hospice has written to all the Trustees urging them to reconsider their decision, and the letter has been tabled for discussion at the Trusteees’ quarterly meeting next Tuesday.

Paula Davis, a member of Save Our Hospice, says: “£300,000 is what is required to repair the Knowle hospice and bring it up to standard. Once gone, it will cost many millions to launch a new hospice in South Bristol and it will probably never be replaced. This is a valuable resource and we really cannot afford to lose 10 hospice beds, especially when the Bristol PCT has set a target of reducing the number of people who die in hospital unnecessarily by 10% each year for the next three years. Where will these people go if they require specialist care? Come on St Peter’s Trustees and Chief Executive! Start an emergency fundraising appeal and we will all support you. It’s easier to keep the Knowle hospice than to start again.”

For further information please ring 07929 897149 or email saveourhospice@hotmail.co.uk to speak to:

Paula Davis
Or
Glenn Vowles
Or
Dr Chris Fox, a GP in south Bristol supporting the campaign

*Online version of our petition to be presented along with our paper version: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/save-our-hospice/

The value of North Street's local shops

Excellent film!! It gives a clear voice to loads of people and makes a clear, strong case. Will people from certain quarters automatically criticise this in the same way they automatically criticise their 'political campaigner' stereotype??

Lord Mayor of Bristol and MPs form giant human clock for Bristol ‘Global Climate Wake Up Call’

MPs and Councillors certainly need to wake up and act on climate issues - along with the rest of us!! This from Oxfam South West:

At 12:18 pm on 21st September, Oxfam South West is hosting the Bristol ‘Global Climate Wake Up Call’ at Arnolfini as part of a global wave, starting from New York, to wake the world up to the urgency of action on climate change.

A giant human clock, formed by the Lord Mayor of Bristol Christopher Davies, local MPs, councillors, Unaiti Jaime of Oxfam Mozambique, and climate change campaigners will ring out at 12:18 to mark the Bristol ‘Wake Up Call’. The call is drawing the worlds’ attention to the 12th month and the 18th day when the vital Copenhagen Climate Change Summit, which opens on 7th December, is scheduled to finish.

“This event is part of a worldwide wake up call which is thrilling in its variety,” says Roger James of Oxfam South West. “A gathering in Ethiopia will beat drums to sound the alarm, monks will chant prayers. People everywhere, from Bristol to Buenos Aires, will sound alarms on their mobile phones, flood their governments with phone calls and make a tremendous noise at 12:18 pm local time to push for action on climate change.”

The images, sounds, and videos from around the globe will be stitched together overnight for presentation to world leaders the next day at the United Nations to press the urgency of securing a fair and safe global climate change deal.

Oxfam South West is teaming up with Arnolfini, which is presenting 100 Days of exhibitions, performances, screenings and debates around issues of climate change to mark the countdown to the Climate Change Summit opening in Copenhagen.

“We are delighted to team with up with Arnolfini to mark the global countdown to the world’s most significant climate change conference in history,” says Roger James.

At the event, Unaiti Jaime, who is the gender equality officer at Oxfam Mozambique, will talk about her experience of climate change and will be celebrating Bristol’s twinning with Beira in Mozambique, as well as Bristol’s leadership in climate change action.

Other guest speakers include the Lord Mayor of Bristol Christopher Davies, Arnolfini director Tom Trevor, and Roger James of Oxfam South West.

ENDS

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact:

Karen Lindsay
Oxfam Media and Campaigns South West
0117 916 6477 / mailto:klindsay@oxfam.org.uk

Notes to editors:

More on the Global Climate Wake Up Call can be found at the following link: http://tcktcktck.org/stories/campaign-stories/its-time-wake-world

Information on Arnolfini’s 100 days can be found here: http://www.arnolfini.org.uk/news

Oxfam works with others to overcome poverty and suffering.

Oxfam GB is a member of Oxfam International and a company limited by guarantee registered in England No. 612172.
Registered office: Oxfam House, John Smith Drive, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 2JY.
A registered charity in England and Wales (no 202918) and Scotland (SCO 039042)

...the crust presented by the life of lies.../A Beautiful Lie

While I was clearing out some paperwork the other day I came across a print out of an email with the quote below from The Power of the Powerless by writer, former dissident and politician Vaclav Havel. Its a great piece of writing that makes me think of how industrial society and our rapidly industrialising world have yet to confront the truth of climate change and act accordingly.

For the crust presented by the life of lies is made of strange stuff. As long as it seals off hermetically the entire society, it appears to be made of stone. But the moment someone breaks through in one place, when one person cries out, 'The emperor is naked!' - when a single person breaks the rules of the game, thus exposing it as a game - everything suddenly appears in another light and the whole crust seems then to be made of a tissue on the point of tearing and disintegrating uncontrollably.

My daughter had the song A Beautiful Lie by 30 Seconds to Mars playing at the time. They seem to go together so I've paired them here. See what you think.

Climate tipping point...

Many thanks to Graham Davey for passing on the link to this excellent animation. The website a page with the full script of the film plus supporting references.

Wake Up, Freak Out - then Get a Grip from Leo Murray on Vimeo.
It turns out that the way we have been calculating the future impacts of climate change up to now has been missing a really important piece of the picture. It seems we are now dangerously close to the tipping point in the world's climate system; this is the point of no return, after which truly catastrophic changes become inevitable

Wake Up, Freak Out - then Get a Grip from Leo Murray on Vimeo.

Caroline Lucas...to become the Green MP for Brighton Pavillion

News from the Greens: Caroline Lucas officially launched her bid last night to become the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, at a special event held at Brighton's
Fabrica Gallery.

Dr Lucas, who is also leader of the Green Party and a Green MEP, used
a speech at the event - hosted by BBC Radio 4's Marcus Brigstocke - to
unveil core Green Party campaigning themes around the economy and
public services.

In a stinging attack on the Government, the speech highlighted
Labour's poor handling of the current economic crisis and its
systematic failure to regulate the activities of banks and other
financial institutions.

Highlighting issues of concern both at a national level and specific
to Brighton and Hove, Dr Lucas also used the speech to reinforce the
Green Party's commitment to building a fairer society and to tackling
a spiralling inequality that sees as many as one in five UK children
living in poverty.

Caroline Lucas said: "In recent years the Green Party has gone from
strength to strength, securing unprecedented victories in both the
European Elections and local by-elections, and now we intend to secure
the first Green seat in Westminster for Brighton Pavilion.

She added: "Greens are about delivering a dynamic economy, and one
that benefits people waiting tables at restaurants in Preston Street,
or those working in Brighton and Hove's unique digital media sector -
not just a handful of people in the Square Mile.

"Greens are also about defending the Royal Sussex hospital as a local,
free-at-the-point-of-delivery public service - so that everyone can
access decent healthcare, and so that we aren't paying extortionate
fees to private shareholders."

She continued: "With the economy and public services in crisis, and
traditional Westminster politics perpetually mired in sleaze, only the
Green Party offers the people of Brighton and Hove - and beyond - a
future built around honest politics and common sense policies."

http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/10-09-2009-Lucas-campaign-launch-for-Brighton-Pavilion.html

Free Eco Team training event, 26 Sept, Bristol

Received the email below today and am passing on the message to those who follow this blog, as promised:

Dear Sir or Madam

Global Action Plan is an environmental charity that delivers tangible environmental, social and financial improvements by working practically and creatively with hundreds of thousands of people from all sections of society. In homes, the workplace, schools and the wider community we help to make the small changes that have a big impact on the things that matter.

Global Action Plan's EcoTeams programme helps households to reduce their impact on the environment and to save money. EcoTeams are groups of 6-8 people who meet once a month for approximately 5 months. At each meeting, EcoTeam participants decide together on the environmental actions that they are able and willing to do at home, and share experiences of the actions they have already taken.

Currently we are running a major national project with the goal to reach a minimum of 20,000 households over the next 2 years. In order to achieve that goal we will be running a free training event in Bristol on the 26th of September 2009.

Please find attached further details concerning this. [*See below]

We would be very happy if you could help spreading the information throughout the community and promoting signing up for the event. Would it be possible for us to post an entry in your Blog?
Kind Regards
Nicole Linke

___________________________________________________________________

*Invitation to become an EcoTeam leader

Come and join the 20,000 households across England taking part in EcoTeams.

We are offering you the opportunity to attend one of our free events and receive training to become an EcoTeam leader. You will learn how to set up your own EcoTeam, how to tackle your environmental footprint and just why it is so important.

EcoTeams are groups of people – neighbours, friends, colleagues – who work together to make positive changes; from minimising the energy they use to cutting down on the stuff they throw away.

With the support of a trained team leader, team members agree their own goals and how to achieve them. At the end of the exercise, they can measure how their actions have benefitted both the environment and their pockets.

A household taking part typically:

· reduces CO2 emissions by 16.6%
· reduces heating energy consumption by 21%
· reduces rubbish by 20%
· reduces water use by 15%
· reduces energy & water bills by £170 a year

We are currently running training events in:

London 5th September 2009

Bristol 26th September 2009

Leeds 7th November 2009

Further venues and dates to be added soon.

Register for an event or join online anywhere in the UK at http://www.ecoteams.org.uk/

Significant stats (3): International Aid $120bn/yr; Revenue lost to developing countries $160bn/yr

That's $40 billion arrears to poor countries due to international tax dodging! Extreme poverty could be tackled with this money!! Join me in the Outlandish Revenue Service and do something about this. Send a letter to Chancellor Alistair Darling with some 'final demands' in it.

Imposed goals or goals that emerge from the community?

I'm off to the Knowle West Futures Conference at The Park in Daventry Rd tomorrow representing the perspective of the Sustainable Knowle group I coordinate (I also have a strong personal interest as I'm from this area and because I'm now lecturing in environmental decision making in addition to my usual environmental science/technology/studies lecturing work). My key hope is that what happens in Knowle West emerges from the work of the community and not due to a set of goals that come from outside, though the signs are not good on this. There is a good deal about the regeneration of Knowle West isues on the council website (here and here especially). The conference organisers say,

'We would like to invite you to take an active part in shaping the future of Knowle West. The Knowle West Futures conference is the first in aseries of events where we from Urban Initiatives, working on behalf of Bristol City Council, need your ideas, knowledge and feedback to make the best possible plan for Knowle West.'

*

It will be a busy day as there is a lot on the agenda and many interrelated issues will arise, including issues of green space use that were not discussed at the local Area Green Space Plan meetings and issues of decision making processes...(Knowle and Windmill Hill wards were discussed at several meetings but we were told by council officers that consideration of Filwood ward would have to wait - so Filwood's green spaces are not being dealt with by the same process as the other two Neighbourhood Partnership wards).

Climate change...after all is only weather (?)

The appropriately named Bob Bull, thinks climate change is just 'hype' (‘Don’t believe all that climate change hype’, Post, September 2). But something that has been repeatedly subject to rigorous scientific investigation in ever more sophisticated ways, scrutinised and debated by all manner of people over decades, surely has to be much, much more than the promotion, advertisement and exaggerated claims that Bob says it is! I guess this is the same Bob Bull that is Bristol spokeman of the Association of British Drivers and that his interest is unduly colouring his ‘interpretation’ of the facts – he refers to ‘political zealots’ taking over but through his own words shows that there are such zealots on all sides of the climate debate!

It could be that Bob does not bother with science and the facts at all. How else could he come up with the phrase ‘…climate change, which after all is only weather.’ ? If he bothered to look it up he’d find that weather is the state of our atmosphere short term whereas climate is a long term view of weather patterns. This is a distinction that is crucially important to understanding climate change. The fact that Bob does not understand this fully explains why he feels able to give the statement ‘temperatures have not risen since 2002’ as good evidence against global warming. If what he said was true it would not be relevant because it’s the long term pattern that we should be concerned with. In any case both the NASA and Met Office websites agree that the ten warmest years since modern records began have all occurred since 1997!!

Not only is Bob wrong in thinking that climate and weather are the same, he is also obviously wrong to say its ‘only weather’ and ‘weather is weather’. The weather and how it changes is crucial to: water supplies, including flooding and droughts; crop yields, including food and timber supplies & food availability to raise animals; health and disease, including aspects like rate of spread and heat stress; energy consumption eg for air conditioning; tourism levels; rates of coastal erosion; occurrence and severity of impact of air pollution such as photochemical smog; and more!!

Finally Bob’s view is that ‘green’ and ‘climate change’ campaigns impoverish the world. However, I’d point out that there few if any governments around the world are genuinely green and tackling climate change – and its very much our persistence with the current greed-based, un-green economic system that has brought both economic booms and busts and serious environmental degradation requiring urgent action!

We need more hospice facilities not fewer!

Pat Simmons letter (‘Its not sentimental, but practical to keep hospice’, Open Lines, Friday August 28) was absolutely spot on – and was also very moving. Wanting to keep a fantastic facility like St Peter’s Hospice open in Knowle is indeed about practicalities not sentiment. As Pat points out the location of St Peter’s enabled easy and fast access for her (it has done for many over the years). We need more of such facilities not fewer. I’m afraid we cannot currently regard health provision in Britain as fully ‘cradle to grave’ - but this is what we need.

Like Pat I’m also very puzzled by the sudden-ness and speed of the decision. It was announced in the media and now we are, very sadly, already close to the point of complete closure. Little or no broad-based consultation was, as far as I am aware, sought or undertaken by those taking the decision at St Peter’s – yet they are funded by public donations and do receive large sums for some of their work from the NHS.

Despite a very well supported petition (http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/save-our-hospice/ ) and public meeting on the matter there is no sign of them changing their minds or even delaying to re-examine their options and talk properly with the wider community and with elected representatives about funding, keeping the Knowle facility open or establishing an alternative locally.

It strange to me that no fundraising campaign was launched. I cannot understand how a building relatively recently refurbished - in the late 1990’s I think – now needs so much spent on it. Was the refurbishment badly done? Has planned maintenance not be properly carried out?

I very strongly support getting away from ever-larger, more centralised institutions. I thought St Peter’s supported this thinking. However, it does not look this way now and South Bristol, lacking in health facilities already, may lose a valuable asset. If it can be established and widely agreed that the Knowle site is too big an annual drain on resources why not invest the considerable income that would result from the sale of the site in a new local facility?

I worry that this may well be a case of ‘you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til its gone’.

Significant stats (2): UK population reached 61.4 million in 2008

...having grown 408,000 in the previous year at a rate of 0.7%. More than two million people have been added to the UK population in the last seven years, and our numbers have increased by more than a fifth since 1950 - in less than a lifetime, in one of the most densely populated countries in the world. At a recent growth rate of 0.6% a year, population would reach 100 million before the end of this century, passing 200 million soon after 2200. The most recent projections exceeded the previous four: on 23 October 2007 2006-based population projections released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed expected population growth of nearly 17 million (more than two Londons) to 77.2 million in 2050, and on 19 November 2008 migration figures for 2007 revealed a near record net inward flow of 237,000 people, pushing up population growth to a staggering 434,554. Although a third* of the public believe population growth to be the most serious threat to the future wellbeing of Britain, no political party has a clear policy to reverse it. Act now. Call for an population policy - stabilisation and gradual decrease by 2050. See Fertility, Migration, OPT Policies, OPT Population policy projections and Briefings and Submissions for population policy alternatives.

(The above from the Optimum Population Trust).

More on the issue:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/baby-boom-drives-british-population-to-record-high-1778384.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6098326/Baby-boom-sees-UK-population-pass-61-million.html

Sustainable Knowle, neighbourhood transition group: origins, plans, hopes, fears…

If not me, then who? If not now, then when? Its been like that with me all through my adult life, thus my involvement in forming and coordinating Sustainable Knowle, a neighbourhood Transition group working for sustainability and improved quality of life in Bristol.

As well as working for Green political change I want to be part of creating moves towards sustainability now. The Transition movement is about working with others to create such change in the local community and so last year I placed this pledge ‘I will start a group called the Campaign for the Achievement of a Sustainable Knowle (CASK) in my area of Bristol but only if 10 other local people will do the same.’ on the PledgeBank website http://www.pledgebank.com/. I gave the pledge a year to gain support but in less than half that time it was successful and Sustainable Knowle was formed.

Sustainable Knowle aims to assess the local area and establish exactly what changes are needed to make it environmentally and socially sustainable. It wants to find effective and practical ways to achieve those changes in the interest of the security, stability and quality of life. These are likely to include: much better cycling and pedestrian provision; protecting, enhancing and if possible increasing open, green, natural spaces; the retention and improvement of locally available facilities, services, and jobs; education for sustainable living; local energy saving and the micro-generation of energy; more local, ethical and organic food availability; home and allotment grown food; higher land, air, water and environmental quality; people taking personal responsibility to be more environmentally-friendly; broad based public participation in community life…

The group made somewhat gradual beginnings in terms of face to face meeting, with a few people meeting informally for coffee initially. Regular meetings are now ongoing though, the group has a website (http://sustainableknowle.blogspot.com/) and is building links. Areas of activity have been and are: input into the council’s green space plans; campaigning to stop a local pub from being turned into a Tesco Express; litter picking; input into council consultations on environmental noise; support for the 20’s Plenty campaign for a default 20mph speed limit….

We have grown from 10 to 16 in number and hope for more publicity and growth. Sustaining activity when we all have family and work commitments has be an ongoing concern for us though – what we do is sensitive to slight changes in the personal circumstances of a relatively small number. We hope that more specific projects will get off the ground and spark others. Resources, physical and financial, are a constraint though – we are short of time compared to the opportunities and to the amount of work to be done!! We each need and want balanced lives but also need and want to work for positive overall green outcomes, both measured and judged. Relative unresponsiveness and the lack of coherent plans on an adequate scale from councils and Government is not helping the transition to sustainability however – people are ahead of the politicians!!

[This article originally appeared, edited slightly, in The Spark magazine earlier this summer]

Why people dont act on climate change

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327185.900-comment-why-people-dont-act-on-climate-change.html?full=true Great article written by George Marshall.

Ask three questions, get zero answers!! A perfect combination of ignorance and dismissiveness!!

I've been investigating the environmental decision making surrounding the introduction of corn starch bags into Bristol's food waste recycling system for a while. Recently I put the three questions below to the Cabinet. I received just one response - and that did not give the information requested!

The figures given by Cllr Hopkins are certainly not carbon footprint figures and I am still looking into what they actually imply. He completely ignores my second question about other environmental impacts (carbon footprints make up less than half the total environmental impact of a product). He also completely ignores my third question which asks about economic as well as environmental assessment. Despite not backing anything he says with anything like full and accurate facts Cllr Hopkins still asserts 'this shows that there will be an overall positive impact to the environment.'!! A perfect combination of ignorance and dismissiveness.

C3. Glenn Vowles to ask Gary Hopkins, Executive Member for Environment and Community Safety

Environmental decision making and corn starch bags

In a debate on Cllr Bolton’s blog I said ‘…the decision on the [corn starch] bags has been taken without full information being sought! This is irrational. Environmental decision making should be put on a firm evidence-based process. This has not been done by any party running the council…’ to which you Cllr Hopkins replied ‘I do not base my judgements on guesses but on evidence’. My subsequent request for data on the total environmental impacts of the corn starch bags in this debate was not replied to and so I doubt that full information has in fact been sought.

Q1. What figures does the council have for the carbon footprint of these corn starch bags, in order to assess whether they more than make up for their carbon cost?

Q2. What figures does the council have for any other environmental costs the corn starch bags may have eg water footprint, land take, biodiversity impacts?

Q3. Can you outline if/how you intend to quantitatively and fully assess the net effects of corn starch bag introduction: on the environment; on the economics of waste management for Bristol?

C3. Reply:
For the plans we have regarding potential roll out of corn starch liners across Bristol, the environmental costs of liner production is summarised as:
- 45t of bags will need to divert 540t - 1125t of organic waste from landfill to make the CO2 equivalent net saving, which will require approximately 3% increase in organic recycling. This is a very realistic estimate.

In summary this shows that there will be an overall positive impact to the environment.

For clarity, this calculation does not take into account the further expected reduction in waste arisings, as previous evidence has shown that when residents start recycling food waste for the first time, they are surprised at the amount they throw away which tends to make them reduce their waste in the future.

Significant stat (1): 16% of 16-24 yr olds not in education, training or employment

Abject Labour Govt failure - official figures show that one in six 16 to 24 yr olds (959,000 people) are NEETs (not in education, employment or training). The numbers of young people not working or in school, college or university have been on the rise for some time and are now at record levels - they are 100,000 higher this year than last year. They may well rise further (and pass the 1 million mark) within months.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/labours-lost-generation-one-in-six-young-people-do-nothing-1773805.html

Support the petition asking the Prime Minister to apologize for the prosecution of Alan Turing for being gay that led to his untimely death

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/turing/ - signed this petition today after seeing a story in The Independent detailing Richard Dawkins call for an apology for Turing. The petition details say...

Alan Turing was the greatest computer scientist ever born in Britain. He laid the foundations of computing, helped break the Nazi Enigma code and told us how to tell whether a machine could think.

He was also gay. He was prosecuted for being gay, chemically castrated as a 'cure', and took his own life, aged 41.

The British Government should apologize to Alan Turing for his treatment and recognize that his work created much of the world we live in and saved us from Nazi Germany. And an apology would recognize the tragic consequences of prejudice that ended this man's life and career.

Bristol Schumacher Conference 2009: From the ashes of the crash - Rebuilding with the new economics

Received this from the Schumacher Society:

Following on from the success of last year's Bristol Schumacher Conference, LESS IS MORE Can We Really Live Better By Consuming Less? chaired byJonathon Porritt, this year we are partnering with the New Economics Foundation (nef) and keeping a similar format - three lectures and 2x four workshops.

The Conference will take place at the Council House on Saturday 17 October 2009 - some details are below.

It is advisable to book in advance as last year was sold out before the day.

We would be most grateful if you could forward this email and attached leaflet to any contacts you think might be interested.

FFI or to book tickets:
www.schumacher.org.uk
Tel 0117 903 1081

We do hope you will join us for an inspiring day of lectures and workshopswith such leading edge speakers on such a timely subject.

Laura Hamilton
Schumacher Society marketing volunteer
-------------------------------
The Schumacher Society
The Create Environment Centre
Smeaton Road
Bristol
BS1 6XN
Tel: 0117 9031081
admin@schumacher.org.uk
www.schumacher.org.uk

******************************
Bristol Schumacher Conference 2009

FROM THE ASHES OF THE CRASH - Rebuilding with the new economics
Saturday 17 October 2009 Council House, Bristol, BS1 5TR

CHAIR Stewart Wallis - nef Executive Director

LECTURES

Dr. Jayati Ghosh - Professor of Economics, New Delhi
THE MARKET THAT FAILED

Andrew Simms - nef Policy Director
THE TERRIBLE FREEDOM BEFORE DUSK

Stacy Mitchell - Researcher with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, USA
A NEW DEAL FOR LOCAL ECONOMIES

WORKSHOPS

a. David Boyle (editor, Radical Economics)
Reinventing money

b.. John Christensen (Tax Justice Network uk)
The attack on democracy: tax havens as the engines of chaos

c. Liz Cox (nef) & Ciaran Mundy (Transition Bristol)
Transition to a low carbon high well being future

d. Nick Robins (HSBC), James Vaccaro (Triodos) & Mark Mansley (Rathbone Greenbank Investments)
Investing in a low carbon economy

Guest Artist Rory McLeod

****************

The Schumacher Society in partnership with nef (new economics foundation)
Sponsors Rathbone Greenbank Investments & Triodos Bank
FFI & tickets
www.schumacher.org.uk
Tel 0117 903 1081

Who supports a new BCFC stadium if funded by selling Ashton Gate to Tesco??

Very, very interesting - and highly convenient - assertion by Bristol City FC Chief Executive Colin Sexstone reported in todays Post. He asserts that there is a 'silent majority' in favour of the proposed new Bristol City stadium funded by selling the Ashton Gate ground to Tesco. There is little or no evidence to support this assertion that I'm aware of. By definition we dont know the
view(s) those who are silent hold !!!

Bearing in mind that there are many people who dont want our green belt built over, good numbers may still support a new stadium for Bristol City - but not at the cost of having a Tesco at Aston Gate!! My supporting evidence? Number who have to date signed the petition against Tesco at Ashton Gate 772 - number who have signed the petition in support of Tesco at Ashton gate 105.

If there is a 'silent majority' in favour of or against anything, anywhere I'd urge them to get as involved as they possibly can, getting together with like-minded people where appropriate -politicians and other decision makers at all levels have been left to get on with things far too much and would benefit greatly from high levels of public scrutiny and participation.

Bristol's green belt: protected? Or disappearing under mass house building, another major road, a new football stadium and an expanded airport?

Many are campaigning for the green belt around Bristol to be protected and to mean something! There are various threats: many, many thousands of houses; the ring road; expanding the airport; building a new footbal stadium...Here's the response I got from Bristol City Council's Lib Dem Cabinet to two questions I recently put:

C2. Glenn Vowles to ask Jon Rogers Executive Member for Transport and Sustainability

Development on green belt land

Q1. Should large scale development be permitted on green belt land around Bristol, whether the development impinges on green belt in whole or part?

C2.Q1 Reply:
The issue of use of Green Belt is a complex one. My colleagues and I have campaigned and won in the recent election with a pledge to “fight the loss of Green Belt” and that remains our policy.

We are also considering the Multi-Area Agreement MAA at the meeting today, and you will see our heavily caveated concerns about the possible imposition of a Regional Spatial Strategy RSS, requiring development with which we would not agree. In particular, the housing targets in the draft RSS from the Secretary of State do not appear to be backed by evidence. These are concerns shared with our neighbouring authorities, and we need to be very mindful that such decisions could be taken out of our control.

We have repeatedly stated that we wish to develop urban sites and brownfield sites and avoid development on Green Belt. All developments need to be of the best sustainable design and infrastructure.

It is also important that the Bristol Development Framework BDF gets approved (which it'll only do if it articulates with the RSS) as without it, we have 12 year old development control policies which say nothing about sustainability.

Officers have asked that I point out that development on the Green Belt is guided by national, regional and local policy. Regional planning guidance sets the framework for Green Belt policy, including the direction of long term development. Government guidance set out in PPG2: Green Belts considers that once the general extent of Green Belt has been approved it should only be altered in exceptional circumstances.

The Council is producing a series of planning documents known as the Bristol Development Framework which will guide development over the next 20 years. The Core Strategy is the first of these documents and it must be in conformity with the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS). The RSS proposes urban extensions within the Green Belt to the south east and south west of Bristol to help meet the housing requirements of the sub region. These proposals include allocations of 1,500 dwellings within the City boundaries as part of the wider extensions. Therefore, the City Council has to plan for these areas in the Core Strategy.

If the requirement for urban extensions remains in the final version of the RSS then the land required to accommodate the urban extensions will be removed from the Green Belt. The specific areas of Green Belt required to accommodate the urban extensions will be identified on the proposals map accompanying the Site Allocations Development Plan Document. The remaining areas will be protected in the Core Strategy Green Belt policy from inappropriate development (as defined in Planning Policy Guidance 2: Green Belts). The acceptability of development within the Green Belt will depend on the use and form of the proposal as assessed in relation to policy.

Sounds very much like a lot of our green belt will be built over and degraded if national and regional govt get their way.

Q2. If development is permitted on green belt land should the developers plans and designs be required to compensate as much as is practically possible for all the environmental impacts they cause eg through maximising the use of green design, green technology and green schemes?

C2.Q2 Reply:
Yes. Where development in the green belt is found to be acceptable in principle, it will be required to meet the standards of the development plan. The emerging policies set out in the Core Strategy will require development to be built to high environmental standards, maximising energy efficiency and contributing to reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Any negative impacts associated with development will require mitigation in accordance with policy requirements.

Its noteworthy that this second answer applies a different - and much lower - standard than the one I refer to in my question. Compensating as much as is practically possible is most certainly not what would result from meeting the standards of the development plan or Core Strategy!!