Coventry Coach for RAF Brize Norton Demo

A coach will leave this Saturday at 10am for the Stop the War Coalition demonstration at RAF Brize Norton.

The protest has been called by Bristol Stop the War Coalition, Oxford Stop the War Coalition, Oxford CND, Swindon Stop the War Coalition and CND, and Faringdon Peace Group. It's being supported by the national Stop the War Coalition, CND and the Green Party.

Brize Norton is Britain's biggest military base. It's the transport hub for all British troops going in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan. It's also where soldiers killed or injured on active service are returned to the UK.

The coach from Coventry will leave the Swimming baths at 10am. Tickets will be £7/£4 unwaged. To reserve seats, please email Andy Pettit (apettit@macunlimited.net), or call him on 07732 030231.

For more info, go to: http://www.stopwar.org.uk/BrizeNorton.htm.

As well, George Monbiot had an interesting column this week about the UK's military industrial complex:

In the white paper that the MoD published at the end of 2003, it admits that "there are currently no major conventional military threats to the UK or Nato ... it is now clear that we no longer need to retain a capability against the re-emergence of a direct conventional strategic threat ... [the purpose of the armed forces is to meet] a wider range of expeditionary tasks, at greater range from the UK and with ever-increasing strategic, operational and tactical tempo". It wants to be able to fight either three small foreign wars at the same time or one large one, which "could only conceivably be undertaken alongside the US". In other words, our "defence" capability is now retained for the purpose of offence. Our armed forces no longer exist to protect us. They exist to go abroad and cause trouble.

A report published by the Oxford Research Group this summer argues that our defence policies are self-defeating. They concentrate on the wrong threats and respond to them in a manner which is more likely to exacerbate than to defuse them. The real challenges, it contends, are presented by climate change, competition over resources, the marginalisation of the poor and our own military deployments.

Christmas - Organic Cotton

Keep an eye out for organic cotton products this Christmas.

Cotton crops in India, America and China demand thousands of tonnes of pesticides, which are sprayed on fields from the air. Just one t-shirt takes an estimated 150g of pesticide to cultivate.

Cotton is extremely prone to insect attack and, with over-use of pesticides, it means that insects are building immunity. Growers then need to increase their use of pesticides simply to ensure crop survival.

We can break that cycle if we support growers of organic cotton.

Another option are shirts that are a blend of organic hemp and organic cotton. Using 55% hemp in a t-shirt, instead of 100% cotton, saves more than 100 gallons of water.

David Cameron and Wind Turbines

In a Nov/Dec 2006 issue of the magazine "Green Futures," David Cameron expressed enthusiastic support for decentralised energy:

"We need local generation, with people selling energy back to the grid, and a massive increase in combined heat and power ... the technology is there, the materials are there, prices are coming down ... this really is a whole new exciting world! ... I want every opportunity for green sources of energy to come through."

It's a stark contrast to the delays and bureaucracy referred to in the Coventry Telegraph on Monday.

Which are the real Conservatives ... the ones who have the luxury of rhetoric due to being in Opposition at Westminster ... or the ones in control in local councils who keep barriers in the way of decentralised energy?

Wind Turbines in Coventry

The Telegraph has a two-part story today on wind turbines in Coventry:

part one:

part two:

Keith Baughan ordered a £1500 wind turbine for his house, and to help out, he received a £500 grant from the Low Carbon Buildings Energy Trust. However, he has had to pay £135 for the planning application, then have drawings done of his house, and when a neighbour put in an objection, he was asked to carry out a "full acoustic assessment."

Baughan says:

"That's something I can't do on a wind turbine that I don't actually have. The company themselves are doing an assessment but that will take up to six months. By that time the deadline for the grant (of £500) will have run out."

"I find it ironic that they are more worried about noise pollution than they are about global warming. Every politician shakes their green credentials at you. I can get a grant from the DTI, I can buy a turbine - I just can't put it up! It's been made so difficult and expensive that it's no longer really viable. I'm on the verge of giving up."

David Cameron’s rhetoric will only be credible if Conservative-controlled councils put it into action. Otherwise, people will see through them, and up and down the land, they'll vote for the Green Party.

Citizens like Keith Baughan should be empowered, not deterred. The council should encourage ways of putting wind turbines, combined heat and power units, solar panels or ground-source heat pumps on every 3rd building in Coventry.

A good start would be to make planning applications for renewable energy free of charge.

Anti-Racism Events in Coventry

Warwick University is having its Rise Against Racism week from 27th November until 1st December.

It will include films, talks and workshops, notably:

Wed 29th November -- a talk by David Michael, retired chief superintendent, about his experiences in the police force and the speakers will also draw on the problems within the police force and what needs to be done so that it can change

Thu 30th November -- a workshop on refugee identity, with Laurence Chester, Chair of the National Refugee Integration Forum, and Penny Walker, Coventry Peace House

Fri 1st December -- a talk on fighting the BNP and why they are a threat to society.

There was also the recent "Coventry Love Music Hate Racism" launch party, on the 20th of November:

Caron McKenna, spokesperson for Coventry Love Music Hate Racism said, ‘Far right groups like the BNP are actively trying to undermine the reputation of our city as a place where people from many different backgrounds and cultures work, live and enjoy ourselves together. Two Tone music represented the idea that music can bring black and white people together to enjoy and energise ourselves, and learn that we best solve our problems by working together rather than blaming the first scapegoat that the racists suggest. The Love Music Hate Racism campaign will counter the distortions being spread by some sections of the media, opportunist politicians and the hatemongers of the British National Party. We aim to continue the tradition of Coventry as a city that unites people and that shows the racists the door’.

Table in Bull Yard - Sat Nov 25th

We're going to have an information table tomorrow at Bull Yard from 10am to 1pm. We'll have copies of our autumn newsletter, a petition, and other information about the Green Party and our policies. I think that 300 000 people live in our city, and only 11 000 have had the choice over the last year to vote Green, and we need to have a more public presence to ensure that people are aware that we even exist! Our monthly meetings are the 2nd Tues of the month, so give us a call on 07906 316 726 if you want more information.

Peak Oil and Coventry

I recently wrote to Paul Jennings (Manager, Financial Strategy, Coventry City Council) on a number of matters:

- will the ward forum structure be used for financial/environmental consultation, e.g. if there was a design for a new Whoberley library that was more environmental (costing more now, saving more in the long-term), would that be put to consulation at the community level?
- does the council have an "take it off the shelf" plan to deal with a drastic rise in energy prices, i.e. the onset of peak oil disruption to the global economy
- do they reimburse council staff who use their bike for doing council business?
- would they consider putting department by department, building by building, reports on energy use to the council's relevant scrutiny committee? (scrutiny is where councillors grill other councillors, council staff, over performance/targets)

In a letter dated 17 November, Jennings provided 2 pages of answers, some nuggets:

- "given the very recent introduction of the ward forum structure, it is probably too early for any forthcoming projects to have been considered by such meetings ... I have forwarded a copy of your letter to the office responsible for co-ordinating ward forums"

- "it is fair to say that the council has no off-the-shelf plan specifically designed to tackle a drastic rise in energy costs ... this risk is not one that is currently included within our Risk Register ... we keep the risk register under regular review to ensure that it accurately reflects the risks that we face"

- "the Council's travel reimbursement scheme already allows staff who cycle on Council business to be reimbursed at 20p per mile ... we also have a car pool of 4 cars, two electric, two hybrid, administered through our sustainable transport team ... we are about to commence a pilot car-sharing scheme for staff who operate out of Whitley Depot"

- "feedback from our energy efficiency motivational campaign will be delivered through an officer forum, rather than through our scrutiny process"

I'm shocked at the lack of plan to deal with the possibility of peak oil.

The largest oil field in the world, Ghawar in Saudi Arabia, is now declining by 8% in output year on year. Burgan, in Kuwait, is the 2nd largest, and it had its peak of production in 2004. With increasing demand worldwide, something's gotta give, and the idea that global energy prices will be benign for the next 5 years is foolhardy.

Christmas -- Fair Trade Spices

There is a growing market for fair trade products like chocolate, bananas, and coffee. But, there are so many other products where the fair trade principle applies.

Steenbergs is one way that you can obtain fairtrade vanilla, white and black pepper, cloves and nutmeg for all of your Xmas cooking.

Pepper In India is traditionally grown in smallholdings of 5 hectares. Many growers grow pepper intercropped with coconut, coffee and other spices, so annual production is around 1 tonne of black pepper per family. These small producers face fluctuating pepper prices which have been on a downward trend in recent years – black pepper now is worth less than in 1990. This is a result of pricing pressure, coupled with increased exports from countries like Vietnam, which has grown its share of global trade from 0% to 37% since 1990. Low prices have resulted in lack of investment as growers sell their crop below production cost. We estimate that the cost of sustainable production for black pepper is £1,645 where the market price is £1,115 per tonne. Constant pricing pressure is destroying these fragile rural economies, reducing environmental standards, health and education in parts of Kerala and elsewhere.

Nick Clarke -- Host of WATO -- Dies

I used to work, for 25 months, as a media monitor.

That's fancy language for being poorly paid and getting up at 5am to go to work for 630am to listen to radio and watch TV and type up live news summaries.

Every third week, the rota called for me to listen to Radio 4 (630am to 9am, 12pm to 130pm) and bits and bobs of other Radio 4 programmes (including Farming Today, probably the most underrated news programme in the country).

It was great listening to The World At One. The pips would go off, and Nick Clarke would just jump in, give a perfect 20 second synopsis of the next half-hour, there'd be a news summary for a few minutes, and then it would be the tightest 27 minutes in radio.

He passed away yesterday, cancer. The link is a 45 minute audio diary he kept, beginning with the news that he would have to have his leg amputated.

The Top 100 Green Blogs

Jim Jay (and his Daily Maybe blog) have compiled a list of the top 100 green blogs in the UK.

We should all thank Jim Jay. It was the most important list I'll ever read. It has changed the way I feel; it will change the way I act. It has given me courage that I didn't know I had inside me. I'm one of hundreds of thousands whose life has changed for the better.

We're number 56 ... "number 56 ... with a bullet" doesn't have the same ring to it, but after looking at some in the top 15, notably Transition Culture, it's clear that there is far more ways that I can develop the blog.

Debate on Replacing Trident

An interesting series of letters in the Guardian this morning on replacing/abandoning the Trident nuclear deterrant:

Your article doesn't mention the fifth option the government must consider: to abandon plans for Trident replacement, to take Trident off patrol and confine warheads to an internationally monitored site in the UK. The UK could then credibly lead efforts to strengthen international disarmament negotiations. This would make us all safer, and provide reassurance to those who believe the UK should not be entirely without a nuclear option while other nations have the bomb.
Dr Dominick Jenkins
Greenpeace disarmament campaigner

The real time for a decision on Trident's scrapping or replacement will be under the government's fresh leadership. It can't be rushed through before the Downing Street removal vans arrive.
David Partridge
Co-chair, Clergy Against Nuclear Arms

When, exactly, are we going to have the full and open public debate that the Labour party policy has promised us? If the decision is taken quickly, in parliament and debate stifled by party whips, where is the democracy in that? Or are democratic ideals for export only?
Joy Hurcombe
Worthing, West Sussex

Budget Flights vs The Train - Part III

The House of Commons environmental audit committee has called for an increase in air travel tax to factor in the environmental cost of flying, with the number of aircraft in the world set to double to 25,000 by 2025.

The majority of flights in Europe cover a distance of 310 miles or less. (It's also interesting that half of UK car journeys are 3 miles or less). Trains offer competitive travel times across the continent at a fraction of the cost in emissions caused by aviation. If you're going to the continent for a week, just allow an extra half-day. It's fun to play with the daddy of train websites -- the Deutsche Bahn website. The 1320 departure from Coventry, after a few changes, ends up arriving in Vienna at 0906 the next morning.

Hadley Freeman, in the Guardian, describes going by train from London to Ibiza (train-train-catamaran).

Flying has long lost its veneer of time-saving efficiency in my eyes … [Flying] does not take into account the amount of time you spend schlepping out to the airport on the hilariously named Stansted Express, queuing to check in, hanging around, watching your flight get cancelled, getting to the other end, waiting for your luggage and then getting into town. When I went to Ibiza last summer with some friends for a holiday, I left my flat at 10:30am and did not get to the villa at the other end until 7pm Spanish time.

There is something both literally and metaphorically grounding about travelling down at land level as opposed to being up in the air. You somehow feel more in control of your journey. You keep all your goods on you, giving you a sense of control, and the staff at least make a pretence of giving individual attention. And you know that if anything terrible happens, well, there isn't far to fall.

Knock-knock. "Miss Freeman? Will you come to dinner now?" Oh, well, if you insist. So off we all head to the dining car, which really does have white tablecloths - prompting another squeal. I eat an impressively delicious dinner while watching the French countryside whoosh past and the moon rise.

Climate Change and Mobile Species

Migratory species (e.g. birds and turtles) develop their patterns patterns over thousands of years. Our changes to the global environment through carbon emissions are leading to changes in temperature over an extremely short timescale -- the next 25 to 50 years.

- For turtles, higher temperatures affect the ratio of female to male eggs. Some turtles also become more prone to cancer as the waters warm.
- One-fifth of bird species are threatened by climate-related impacts including rising sea levels, coastal erosion and more vigorous storms that literally blow them off course
- The North Atlantic right whale's food -- plankton -- is disturbed by shifting ocean currents

We're changing the global ecosystem, and it will lead to many species not being able to adapt in time.

We'd be pretty pissed off if whales were making humans extinct. Bush would declare a war on whale terror. You're either with the belugas or against the belugas.

Instead, we just blunder on as a species, convincing ourselves that we have "dominion over the earth", and ruining the globe for everything else.

A Call for a Zero Waste Society

Prof Sir David King, the government's chief scientific adviser, along with the left-centre think-tank, the IPPR, are both calling for a "zero waste" society.

Taxes would be applied to disposable products such as razors and cameras. People would be encouraged buy more lasting products. The study argues that consumers should learn to repair and reuse items rather than throwing them out, as well as recycling more. The think-tank report wants manufacturers to be compelled to design durable products that can be reused rather than throwaway plastic that will need regular, and profitable, replacement. More controversially, it recommends that councils should charge householders for taking away non-recyclable rubbish: Britons throw away more than 300 million tonnes of rubbish every year and recycle less than half of it.

'We have become an increasingly throwaway society, reliant on cheap, disposable and hard to recycle goods,' said Nick Pearce, the think-tank's director. 'Business needs to take greater responsibility for the whole life of a product.'

Everything we buy is, ultimately, made from materials which can be repaired, reused or recycled. In those cases where they cannot, products should be redesigned to fit into such a system.

As of 2001, 40% of local authorities in New Zealand have signed up to zero-waste policies. New Zealand is predicting the creation of 40,000 jobs over 10 years through converting local transfer stations to resource recovery centers, and through the resulting proliferation of reuse and recycling businesses.

Read up on this "citizen's agenda" for zero waste policies.

We need to have widespread distribution of these kinds of lists (of appliance repair, shoe repair, computer donations, lighting repair, places to exchange used furniture, etc).

Films on Cuban Heath Care in Birmingham

On the 15th of December, the Midlands Arts Centre (in Cannon Hill Park, opposite Edgbaston Cricket Ground) will have two documentaries on Cuban health care.

Cuba has the highest life-expectancy in Latin America. In 2002, Cuba had the lowest infant mortality rate in the Americas along with Canada. Preventative medical care, medication for hospitalised patients and diagnostic tests are free. Cuba provides a doctor for every 170 residents and has the second highest doctor to patient ratio in the world after Italy.

This kind of healthcare can be achieved if government makes it a priority.

In 1976, healthcare was enshrined in article 50 of the Cuban constitution: "Everyone has the right to health protection and care. The state guarantees this right by providing free medical and hospital care by means of the installations of the rural medical service network, polyclinics, hospitals, preventative and specialized treatment centers; by providing free dental care; by promoting the health publicity campaigns, health education, regular medical examinations, general vaccinations and other measures to prevent the outbreak of disease. All the population cooperates in these activities and plans through the social and mass organizations."

The two films that MAC will show are:

"Let There Be Light" -- a look at the 200 000 people from Latin America and the Caribbean who hae received free eye operations in a joint Cuban-Venezuelan initiative.

"On the Hillside of the Himalayas," -- a look at Cuba's sending of 2,465 health workers to Pakistan in the wake of the October 2005 earthquake.

Cuba's contribution of 32 new, state-of-the-art hospitals will greatly improve Pakistan’s healthcare system. The departing staff will train local health workers before they leave, and the Cuban government has generously offered 1,000 seats in its universities to Pakistani medical students.

"It is a tremendous effort and incredible story," said Maj-Gen Farooq Ahmed Khan, head of Pakistan’s earthquake emergency unit. "The fact is that they have been here for over five months, day and night with no real relief. They left their loved ones and the work in Cuba, and they have really created a very good impression in Pakistan."

Usmani Ramos, a general practitioner specialising in family healthcare, is part of the Cuban team. He said he is motivated by a basic belief in humanity: "If you help people during natural disasters, in the future, they will help you," he said. "Solidarity is important, because you can help people, you can make friends. And friendship is better than weapons."