|
Newsletter
|
| Home
Newsletters |
Contents |
Bath FoE will be represented on the 3rd November Trade Justice Parade in London.
The Trade Justice Movement is a group of organisations - Action Aid, Cafod, Christian Aid, The Fairtrade Foundation, FOE, Intermediate Technology Development Group, Oxfam, People and Planet, Save the Children, Traidcraft and World Development Movement - who are concerned with the negative impact of international trade rules on the poorest people in the world, on the environment, and on democracy.
The Trade Justice Movement is not anti- trade. It wants fairer trade that is conducted more sustainably, with the benefits shared more equally. The importance of local communities around the world must be acknowledged. The power of the WTO needs to be rolled back and the trade system and its rules reviewed.
Terry
Maybe we will get
the new food, farming and countryside policy we need in 2002, and maybe
not. Now is the time to lobby and build up the action so the government
does more not less and acts sooner rather than later on the report that
its Policy Commission on the Future of Food and Farming sets before it
by the end of this year.
The Policy Commission collected views, including FoE HQ's and mine on behalf of Bath FoE, on how this future should shape up on Friday 26 October.
FoE publishes its policy Getting Real about Food and Farming in November and is holding a public debate on the subject at the Thistle Hotel (Devonshire Suite) in Exeter on Wednesday 21 November from 11.30 am to 2.30 pm. If you can go and take part, let your views be heard. If you can't, I am planning to go to this debate, and will air them for you if you send them to me. There will be a large panel of speakers including representatives of the National Farmers Union, Food Standards Agency, Small and Family Farmers Alliance, Sustain and FoE. The debate will be chaired by Samantha Smith, Presenter of BBC South West's Spotlight.
FoE's policy document and its response to the Policy Commission emphasise that:-
Bristling with postcards, we retired to a friendly coffee piazza to complete the envelopes, shovel in the pig feed and stick on the stamps. The next task was to take the bundle to the Post Office and explain that the rattling, crunching sound was just pig swill, that it wasn't white, nor was it powder. In other words it wasn't anthrax! The man behind the counter threw up his hands in horror. By this time his fists were full and his legal obligation to dispatch irredeemable.
We look forward to future action with Bath Greenpeace. Ours is the same agenda: a better future for our planet. The next will be the Stop Esso action on Saturday 1 December.
For more info about Bath Greenpeace contact Kirsti on 01225 319789, or Steve on 0771 443029, or Abbey on 0777 9007067 or email: greenpeacebath@hotmail.com
Susan
Shaping Our Future
represents a comprehensive review of FOE's local campaigning, that will
run until next March. The review will explore a range of issues, from the
emergence of regional and devolved national campaigning, to FOE's staffing,
strategising and internal communications. Balances will be addressed between
local group autonomy and overall organisational direction, between local
and national objectives, between lone campaigning, connectivity and partnerships,
and between local group support and development and other ways of engaging
people in FOE's campaigning. The review is in two stages - gathering information
and having dialogue; then debating options and reaching conclusions.
What are the questions?
1. about local campaigning - how can local campaigning and activism be calalysed and in what ways; how should FOE support and co-ordinate local campaigning; what mutual expectations should there be between Local Groups and National FOE?
2. about regional and sub-national campaigning - how far does FOE need to change to reflect the shifting balance of political power within the UK?
3. about staffing and structures - what staffing and structures could FOE adopt to best support and deliver local , regional and sub-national campaigning; what are the strategic and policymaking roles that should sit with these structures?
4. about campaigning - what is the range of campaigning approaches that will help FOE achieve its organisational objectives; how can FOE best respond to emerging and non-priority campaign issues?
5. about processes and co-ordination within FOE - how can campaign priorities and strategies be set to take into account all relevant perspectives: how far and how should Local Groups take part in developing campaign and organisational strategies; what communication flows are needed for real organisational dialogue?
Local group members are invited to engage in both stages of the review and it is vitally important to the success of the review that as many as possible do so.
Framework are the consultants working with FOE on the review. One of the ways Framework is encouraging local members to engage with the review is to meet with them at regional meetings.
There are two meetings in Bristol on Saturday 17th November in Brunswick Court, Brunswick Square at 11-1pm and at 2-4pm. Lunch will be available between the meetings. Please book in advance with Claudia as they need to know how many to cater for : email claudias@foe.co.uk or phone Claudia on 020 7566 1677
The above is an edited extract from Shaping our future for local campaigning Bulletin Number 1 of 3 produced by Framework. Number 2 will be issued in December and Number 3 in March 2002. Further info available from :- email: shapingourfuture@foe.co.uk website: www.framework.org.uk and Donald Richie, Local Campaigns Director 020 7566 1675 donaldr@foe.co.uk
Terry
Details have yet to be finalised but we will probably target the London Road Esso garage and then take the action to other Esso garages in the city and also the city centre.
Please get in touch with me to take part in what promises to me a major local and national action against the largest company in the world which is in denial about fossil fuel effects on the climate.
Dave Searby 312770
The Committee said that although progress has been made since the last proposals were submitted a year earlier, they still weren't good enough. In particular, the proposals for the new transport interchange still had serious issues to be resolved.
The developers were told to get these sorted out within the next three months, and resubmit the plans. Councillors made a similar resolution a year ago, and they were obviously frustrated that, despite the passage of 12 months, there were still outstanding issues.
One particular frustration was that the proposals for the new transport interchange dont *really* integrate the bus and rail facilities - for example with a single, combined ticket office. The inability of the main bus and rail operators to get together to forge a high quality solution is even more perplexing, given that they are both owned by the same company, First Group!
Bath FoE submitted comments on the proposals. Our main criticisms are:
Climate Change:
David Beasley
The Government has
backed down from producing a walking strategy in case it was seen as too
controversial (anti-car) or too silly' (Monty Python Ministries etc). Instead
there is a guidance note to local authorities saying that they can promote
walking because its not a bad thing really and might be quite good for
the public's health.
Pedestrian issues are already supposed to come first in Bath & North East Somerset where they have top priority as a form of transport.
That is easily said, but how to provide for walking? Most of us do it some of the time, but do we really consider that we are in need of special facilities? There are plenty of times when it can be frustrating because you want to get from A to B but you have to go via C & D because there is a dual carriageway, or river in the way. There may be a pedestrian crossing, but it may be set so that the pedestrian feels like the last priority, not the first.
What to do? B&NES is seeking to find some of the most important routes that people use to get into Bath and to make them pleasant to use. Any feedback on walking routes and problems with them (e.g crossing Churchill Bridge) will be useful in the process. If you can think of some crucial short cut that is well used or a road that is impossible to cross then you can add your thoughts to the map in envolve (in the information resource area ). These thoughts will be fed back to the council before the new year.
Barry
The bad news is that Labour and Conservative councillors again failed to support the Lib Dems in their efforts to remove incineration from the B&NES waste strategy. Labour and Conservative councillors forced through a decision to include incineration as a last resort..
Apparently even the four Labour and the two Concervative Councillors in Keynsham support incineration and it was at Keynsham that the 350,000 tonnes per annum capacity incinerator was planned to be sited under the failed bid by council officers in 1999. Also all the local Conservative Councillors seem happy to ignore their Environment Spokesman's statement in June last year that:- "We will introduce a moratorium on new incinerators until independent British scientific evidence proves they are safe" .
The council will now publish the draft waste strategy for public consultation, with a view to adopting a new waste strategy in Spring 2002.
During consultation sufficient public pressure must be brought to bear to get incineration out of the strategy. If incineration is retained as an option, resources will continue to be diverted from concentrating on Reduce/ Reuse/ Recycle measures into also considering incineration, and the Council will not be fully committed to a sustainable waste policy.
Terry
"Zero waste is a
powerful new concept that enables us to challenge old ways of thinking
and inspires new attitudes and behaviour - the hallmarks of a breakthrough
strategy, comprising an underpinning philosophy, a clear vision, and a
call to action - all based on the notion that we CAN eliminate waste".
Waste appears to be an intractable problem. The more prosperous we become the more goods we demand and the more waste is produced. Goods are no longer designed to last, and disposal costs fall on council taxpayers. Often repair is not possible, too expensive or there is no one capable of doing it.
Individuals usually have the responsibility for disposal, despite having no say in what materials were used in production. Recent moves in Europe to ensure that the 'producer pays' are welcome, but so far they have been too little and too late.
The waste we produce causes damage to our vulnerable environment, uses up the Earth's resources, contributes to global warming and costs vast amounts to get rid of. The policy of trying to manage waste is failing and should be replaced by a policy of elimination - Zero Waste.
Zero Waste, a new, radical concept, is born out of necessity. The old methods of burying or burning waste are no longer acceptable. People and Governments are becoming more and more aware of sustainability, but also of the awful inheritance we will leave to our children through the pollution of earth and air. Holes in the ground are scarce and it is becoming increasingly expensive to fill them. Local residents are more aware of health issues connected with the building of massive incinerators and question the validity of creating voracious monsters with such massive appetites. They require a constant stream of nourishment.
The nearest we can get to a sustainable waste management policy at present, is the three Rs' - Reduce, Re-use, Recycle". Zero Waste is a "whole system" approach and a reduction policy with a long-term aim to eliminate, rather than manage waste. By adopting the goal of Zero Waste all our actions and thinking will be geared to reducing waste by using recycled materials and only virgin' materials that can be repaired/re-used or recycled.
Zero Waste is a popular concept in New Zealand, where twenty-five local authorities and many multi-nationals such as Toyota, Honda and Hewlett Packard are aiming for Zero Waste.
Zero Waste is a long-term goal, like zero emissions, or zero accidents, which will change our thinking. Attitudes will be modified. We will look for ways of reducing waste at source and put in place systems, at all stages, to repair/re-use and recycle.
A Liberal Democrat proposal to Bath and North East Somerset Council's (B&NES) Planning Transport and Environment Committee on 20th September, to move to a Zero Waste strategy, was accepted. Zero Waste will now form the basis of the Council's Waste Strategy.
The Council achieved Beacon Status on the strength of the Council's partnerships, mainly with Avon Friends of the Earth (Avon FoE), a "not for profit company", which provides a weekly kerbside collection scheme to every household in the authority. Avon FoE has recently obtained £250k of landfill tax funding for trials to collect "green" waste (including cooked food kitchen waste) at kerbside.
Recycling rates in B&NES are at present 22% on the Government's measure under Best Value, but 28% if rubble recycling and home composting are included. B&NES has recycling targets, set by government, of 33% by 2003/4, rising to 36% by 2005/6. B&NES is the first authority in Britain to adopt a Zero Waste strategy. The authority will need to set reduction targets as well as recycling targets if it is to make progress towards Zero Waste.
Of course action is needed at all levels - European, National, Regional and Local - to change the way we view waste. It is not enough to pass laws reducing landfill, when the alternative is to destroy resources in another way by burning, thereby polluting the air rather than the soil.
Waste will need to be eliminated all the way down the supply chain and should transform the current waste industry into a value-added resource recovery industry. Already there are signs from Europe that legislation may in future require manufacturers to take responsibility for the entire life cycle of products and their packaging.
Zero waste is an exciting concept, which will challenge councils, central government and Industry to adopt a visionary waste strategy, which is truly sustainable. Local authorities can lead the way in waste elimination, but they must ensure that their strategies reflect the change in attitude engendered by Zero Waste to set an example to government and industry.
Cllr Roger Symonds
(Deputy Leader of Liberal Democrat Group on B&NES, Lib Dem representative
on Local Government Association Waste Executive)