Highlights of 2011 part 1

This has been another great year, in which our campaigners have achieved a lot. Here are some of the highlights.

This picture comes from a session where we were making seed bombs for going out and doing a bit of guerilla gardening - getting plants growing in pieces of wasteland.

And here was another piece of guerilla gardening that we did - planting sunflower seeds around Digbeth. Did you see any growing? There were certainly a few, although not as many as we planted, but it was a good social activity, too.

As a group that believes in the political process and engaging with politicians to win arguments on the evidence base we have, it is important that we speak to politicians in person. This year we have been very active at lobbying in person, as well as sending lots of emails, letters and petitions off.

This photo is from the HS2 debate we put on in partnership with Sustainability West Midlands. We had Christian Wolmar and Mike Geddes speaking against, with Jim Steer and Martin Dyer speaking for it creating a sustainable transport system and more jobs. Adrian Goldberg of BBC radio WM did an excellent job of chairing for us on a night when passion ran high amongst the large audience.

This was from Aston University's Go Green week, where we spoke to students about environmental questions around energy and cold homes - getting them to rate their digs and then created a video of it.

This is one of a few videos we've done this year with the help of Mandy Staunton - thanks to her for all the work she's done on that.

We arranged a Green Spring Fair in May at the Prince of Wales in Moseley, where we also held regular Swap Shops in the first half of the year.

A practical way to reduce waste is to try to find people who want the things you no longer do. The Swap Shop was really successful in this, with all kinds of odd bits of wire and cables finding someone who wanted them when otherwise they would just have been in the bottom of a drawer or gone to waste. There were clothes, bags and books, too.

HS2 - select committee findings

Somehow the transport select committee today gave support for the government's High Speed Rail plans, yet with such caveats that you wonder quite how the overall report they provide can come to that conclusion.

Almost everyone accepts that capacity on the rail network needs to be dealt with and that many rail services across the country fall well the below the standards we would like. What is baffling, however, is that whilst saying;

"A high-speed line operating at less than 250mph may offer greater opportunities for mitigation, as well as an opportunity to follow existing transport corridors.

"We are concerned the decision to build a 250mph line prematurely ruled out other route options."

they still gave the HS2 plan support. Why could they not say "We cannot support it at this design speed and until the issues over the country's transport strategy are resolved"?

I was on the radio this morning and spoke after Louise Ellman (chair of the select committee), who was quite clear that there are no environmental benefits of the scheme and that it will not cut carbon. The report says;

"It is not clear that even the Y-network will substantially reduce demand for domestic aviation.

"HS2 should not be promoted as a carbon-reduction scheme."

yet at this time when we desperately need to be cutting CO2 emissions from transport, they still approved it. Why not say "We cannot support it unless it is part of an overall strategy to cut carbon emissions from transport"?

Friends of the Earth are signed up to the Right Lines Charter along with many other environmental NGOs and this report does seem to endorse a lot of what that says about what the plan should do in order to be a good plan for High Speed Rail, yet it doesn't go far enough.

We need a transport system that is fit for a low carbon future of scarce resources and that means a much better plan than currently exists. I'm glad the the select committee have identified so many the flaws in the government's plan, but wish they had gone further with their recommendations and recognised the value in protecting the environment above the rather dubious job-creation claims.

Joe Peacock

Asking Ed Miliband Questions

This afternoon I cycled up the canal from Digbeth to Fort Dunlop where Ed Miliband had come to answer questions from readers of the Birmingham Post and Mail.

Ed spoke first to give his thoughts on phone hacking, responsibility, cuts and jobs, but then it was over to the audience to ask questions in batches of three.

I was expecting more of a business focus to the event, which would fit in with the Birmingham Post's usual agenda, but what we actually got were a lot of questions from people in the voluntary and public sector who are being affected by the cuts. The answers were always very carefully done to use the person's name and address them directly (as is Miliband's style from other appearances I've seen) although there was very little in terms of concrete policies that he could offer on most things and just stuck to fairly general platitudes. I suppose that is about as much as you can expect, as the leader of a political party will not be able to keep updated on every subject in depth.

It took a while for them to come to my question, but I did eventually get to ask him the following:

"What would you do about development which is in direct conflict with achieving the UK's legally binding Climate Change reduction targets and clearly unsustainable, such as the expansion of regional airports, putting a large parkway station for HS2 on greenbelt near the airport and developing car-centred infrastructure along the M42 corridor?"

On airports he was quite good in that he said that Labour had been wrong on Heathrow and that we can't continue expanding aviation without a framework to cut greenhouse gases and suggested emissions couldn't go any higher than now (although that's much too high still). He was very gung-ho on HS2 (it's a symbol of modernity, apparently) and didn't really want to hear the bit about locating stations in the wrong places - he said he wouldn't go into the route. Also, he totally ignored the part about the M42 corridor and the sustainability of where development is located, which was disappointing.

Our lead campaigner on Energy and Climate Change also managed to ask a question on the situation in Africa, where they have the worst droughts for 60 years and the link to that and climate change. He asked why he wasn't taking more of a lead on challenging Cameron's supposed "Greenest Government Ever" when he used to be minister on this issue.

Miliband said that he pushed very hard to ensure that the coalition didn't abandon the climate change committee's recommendations, but couldn't really give any other examples of where he has held them to account (and they really aren't doing very well according to our report). He did also say that he was very concerned about climate change and that "his kids will judge him by how he deals with it", but I'm afraid I didn't find what he said very reassuring, overall.

The other questions I wanted to ask, but didn't have the opportunity to were:

"What measures would you take to help the 20% of Birmingham's households who are in fuel poverty?"

and

"Over a third of households in Birmingham don't have access to a car, yet policy is all designed around car users. Do you think more should be done to help these people?"

I really hope that Labour does step up and hold the government to account over their environmental policies, as we really need the greenest opposition ever at the moment to make sure we don't look back at another lot of missed opportunities and a time when unsustainable development ruined not only the economy, but our climate, too.

Joe Peacock

High Speed slowing down?

Saturday 18 June - Today, I caught up with the HS2 display at New Street station. It was just a young woman and some leaflets. She seemed quite personally sympathetic to my alternative of diverting any investment into the existing rail system, instead. I met a couple from Pelsall in the street, who just wanted their station re-opened. How much of the railway system the Victorians built is still derelict or under-used?

On to the Water Hall, behind the Council House, where a posse of officials, offered their exhibition to a trickle of the public. Someone from Lichfield told me they had 2,000 there - protestors he implied. Again, the junior (female) staff I spoke to seemed quite happy that I was questioning HS2. I got really annoyed with the men from the ministry, as they had no alternative use of £34,000 million for people to compare this with. Isn't the country desperate to pay off our huge national debt and suffering cuts to vital services? What will happen to the costs of HS2, once the system is half-built and the contractors have the government over a barrel?

The officials

• couldn't explain who would pay for HS2, as this 'has yet to be decided',
• were clearly using 'predict and provide' - stretching demand for future inter city travel ever upward,
• admitted that a lot of the 'quickie' trips to London will be new leisure ones, generated by a superfast journey time, so they were left with some 'businessmen' (who work on trains anyway) as the beneficiaries. I suggested the cost should be divided among them and they should be asked if they are willing to pay the billions required.

My conclusions were that HS2 is the wrong kind of capacity in the wrong place and the wrong answer to the wrong question. Investment is needed to make public transport a viable alternative to the car for journeys to work in every part of the country, as we have a huge backlog of local schemes awaiting funding. The officials told me I could tell the government so, in the consultation, which is online and open to all (for 40 days) at http://highspeedrail.dft.gov.uk/

John Newson

Is 1% a majority?

Yesterday Birmingham city council released the results of their consultation on HS2.

On their website they proudly announced that the "Majority of residents on HS2 route back plan". To me that would mean more than half of the people living there have replied and are in favour, but in fact they say that of the respondents "53 per cent fully supported the proposals" and on checking how many respondents there were (600) that means about 300 people. When you consider that nearly 30 000 consultation documents went out and it was available to many more people on the internet, it turns out that this is actually 1% of the number of leaflets that went out and if a number of those responses were from people responding on the website, not from those who received the leaflets, the percentage could be even lower.

How can they justify a claim that the majority of residents on the route back it in this case?

6-lane M42 the alternative! So HS2 does make sense!

The standard of debate around the HS2 plan has been pretty poor and overly sensationalist a lot of the time. Both sides are really avoiding a proper examination of what the UK's transport system is like now and what we should be aiming for over the next 15 years.

What we have been left with is a very polarised battle over one badly designed route that doesn't fit into any kind of integrated transport strategy, seems more intent on linking up airports and promoting speed at any cost rather than dealing with promoting alternatives to the car or plane and is unlikely to be more affordable than the current over-priced rail system.

This is why our points are less likely to hit the headlines, but deserve a lot more attention. They are concerned with the need for a proper strategy to deal with reducing the UK's carbon emissions from transport, as well as a future where there will be a lack of oil, which should be the first step and then High Speed Rail plans fit into that, rather than the other way round.

Lately, the pro-HS2 lobby have been getting more and more active on twitter, jumping on any remotely negative post and accusing people like ourselves as being anti-public transport. The latest one from @AntiAntiHS2 read “@Bham_FOE I despair of FOE NO HS2 4 extra lanes on M40 both sides Wishing and idealism gets U nowhere.” and this is not the first time I have had such responses.

Now this is just so ridiculous. Although there was a stupid suggestion in the Birmingham Post today that the government should spend over a billion pounds buying up the M6 toll and making it free for everyone to use!!! Generally, there is more acceptance now that just building more motorway capacity is not the way forward and has not solved problems, but just caused more over the past 50 years of following such a strategy.

The price of oil is only going one way (up) and electric cars are good for shorter journeys, but not able to take over the burden of transporting people over long distances yet. It would be lunacy of the highest order to be basing a transport strategy on cheap oil and continued use of private motor vehicles now.

If the government is saying there is £2bn a year to spend on transport, we should not be arguing over the cost of HS2 and saying we can't afford to spend the money, we should be arguing for the best possible use of that money to transform our transport system and future-proof it and our economy.

See these articles on our website for more details on our views:

http://birminghamfoe.org.uk/transport-news/is-hs2-the-way-to-create-sustainable-transport-and-jobs

http://birminghamfoe.org.uk/transport-news/should-we-spend-30bn-on-high-speed-rail

and the problems we foresee with HS2 specifically as a rail plan are outlined in the Right Lines charter that FoE is signed up to:

http://www.cpre.org.uk/what-we-do/transport/rail/update/item/1683-a-charter-for-high-speed-rail

So, should we support HS2, just because it's currently the only public transport scheme being proposed for the £2bn a year? No, we should continue our campaigns for the best possible deal for everyone and the highest possible standards of sustainability in the government's transport plans.

Will this lead to more motorways being built or a better transport system to benefit the country and the planet? That's up to the democratic processes of the country, but we'll fight for the latter every step of the way.

Joe Peacock

28th April news round up

Here's my collection of stories from our twitter feed over this week. Putting the last one up on here had some good feedback, so I'll post it again:

Energy & Climate Change

ACTION: http://www.foe.co.uk/what_we_do/nuclear_27386.html

ACTION: http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/press_for_change/energy_bill_30433.html

ACTION: http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/press_for_change/nuclear_loophole_30408.html

Blog: Cameron's Climate Change Act under threat?: UK deregulation drive threatens Cameron's Climate Change Act: http://goo.gl/fb/1626k

RT @scccoalition: Fuel poverty has increased in recent yearshttp://cot.ag/hHGXch Is your MP working to banish #coldtimes ?#energybill

RT @wwwfoecouk: We've blown up a huge white elephant outside Parliament to say no to nuclear power - check it out:http://twitpic.com/4q2s5x

New post on our blog by Soraya about keeping it hot in the bedroom:http://bit.ly/eyrmKM

RT @HallGreenCND: Excellent Candlelit vigil for #Chernobyl, Victoria Square, yesterday. Blog post appearing soon.http://twitpic.com/4pqsn1

RT @carbonbrief: Carbon emissions 'hidden' in imported goods, the Beeb reports on Carbon Trust research http://cot.ag/gh2b9d

RT @foeint: [Blog] Say no to increase in 'safe' levels of radiation for children. http://bit.ly/eSXKI7

Food, Waste and Local Shops

ACTION: http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/biodiversity/press_for_change/rubbish_27135.html

News of our Big Green Spring Fair on 28th May is now up on the website: http://bit.ly/hoEQ7O

RT @buynothingday: Its OK for the free market to work for Tesco, but not for savvy shoppers? http://bbc.in/j3Ecye

RT @LocaliseWM: Just what we need. More CPOs wiping out BVSC & indie shop in Digbeth - for a **** #Tesco. Why can't BCC learn from past: http://s.coop/15ut

RT @wwwfoecouk: Supermarkets still using too much packaging – Govt must aim to halve waste by 2020 http://bit.ly/iLl9bS #talkingrubbish

Missed @res_publica report on localism & high street earlier this month. Good ideas on protecting retail diversity http://bit.ly/jcehWX

If Copenhagen are burning too much plastic, what about us? "Plastic surgery for Copenhagen’s recycling policy" http://bit.ly/iirZIm

RT @TheB44: @Bham_FOE you may like this article about local shops in Kingstanding: http://bit.ly/gwVVSt - Thanks, yes we do.

Transport

ACTION There is a ready-made response to the #HS2 consultation on the @wwwfoecouk website: http://bit.ly/efxFD5 - please use it if you agree.

The end of the age of speed? http://bit.ly/m3TDbD - would be nice for people to slow down and think about sustainability more.

A sign of the times for regional airports, hopefully; Plymouth airport is closing as financially not viable: http://bbc.in/ltShrE

Are any schools in Birmingham taking part in "Free Your Feet" week? http://bit.ly/dRIaBt

RT @RichardHebditch: Campaign for Better Transport press release on today's changes to transport appraisal system:http://bit.ly/gkL5Dk

RT @ptegSupportUnit: Abolition of Cycling England threatens cycling investment http://gu.com/p/2zk8x/tw see www.pteg.net for report & event

RT @BirminghamPress: Are parts of our public transport network a no-go zone? http://bit.ly/dG6m8x #transport #buses #midlandstravel

RT @the_ecologist: How trams could save us from the ‘tyranny of the car’ http://bit.ly/icNKgv

Birmingham Airport reported to the Serious Fraud Office:http://bit.ly/enERmE

£570 000 = a lot to add extra 164 parking spaces? RT @BBCBirmingham: Station near Birmingham gets park and ride revamp: http://bbc.in/gLlGLc

Others

RT @wwwfoecouk: Why we need stronger planning laws and a localism bill that allows local people to have their say http://bit.ly/ivSkHh

RT @peopleandplanet: Bham Anti-Sweatshop training days: learn, live link up with Dominican Republic activists, act.http://bit.ly/h5qMOb

Pleased to see that #donaldtrumpisabellend is trending. Very well deserved after what he says here: http://youtu.be/f6hsm81VXKY

The next social media surgery in central Birmingham is on 10th May:http://bit.ly/kjfxQ8

Please vote yes to AV and then we can all go to the pub to celebrate:http://bit.ly/frvwHn #yestoAV

This seems like a real shame: surely, some of the equipment would have been reusable: http://s.coop/15uh #castlevale #bcc

RT @jonwalker121: Interesting read from @politicalhackuk First fruits of the LEP - the Birmingham Enterprise Zonehttp://is.gd/qCT8oN

RT @LocaliseWM: 'Beyond Con-dem-nation' 24th May, B'ham. Planners Network UK meeting: future of planning & how to deal with it http://s.coop/qxf All welcome

The Week's News Gathered Together 15.04.2011

I send this collection of the things I've tweeted through the week to our campaigners, but thought it might be worth putting it up here too for anyone else who's interested. I hope you find it something of interest here, but please note that this is just a snapshot from what I manage to collect, not guaranteed to be fully comprehensive:

Energy & Climate Change

Excellent to see Good Energy supporting FoE's Energy Bill campaigning: http://bit.ly/hUGJW1

RT @guardianeco: Biodiversity cause still lags behind climate change - despite UN's attempts | Ben Bryanthttp://gu.com/p/2ze4n/tf

RT @TennerFilms: Ha! This made me chuckle :-) RT @UCSUSACARTOON: arguments against #nuclear, #oil, #coal & #wind energyhttp://goo.gl/ueDAM

Messages from Japanese citizens to the world.http://www.foei.org/en/blog #japan #nuclear

RT @wwwfoecouk: Join in the ongoing #nuclear debate live on @TheEconomist website http://econ.st/g9DBjj

RT @ali_mfoe: Kenneth Richer from @wwwfoecouk calls to scrap targets: RT @BBCNews EU's #biofuel targets 'unethical'http://bbc.in/gZrO22

RT @grist: Japan could rebuild faster with renewables, says reporthttp://ow.ly/4z04J

RT @HallGreenCND: Candlelight vigil to remember Chernobyl (or should that be Fukushima?) http://bit.ly/gMeroN 25.4. 8-9.30 pm, Victoria Sq.

There's a guest article from our newsletter about what Aston University are doing to go green: http://bit.ly/ghq8vT

Very strongly argued: RT @guardianeco: How nuclear apologists mislead the world over radiation | Helen Caldicott http://bit.ly/e2Y06M

Local Shops & Food

Good analysis of survey figures here: RT @bfpeas: Our Attitude to Sustainable Food: http://wp.me/p1gLkK-vW #agrichatuk

Our school children need basic food prep lessons.Unless we act NOW the gov will take off curriculum. Hours left onlyhttp://bit.ly/f3auAL

RT @the_ecologist: Milk: why the white stuff leaves a bad taste in the mouth http://bit.ly/hVY2zV

RT @birminghampost: Tesco supermarket plan for Stirchley causes fears among local residents http://tinyurl.com/44eoh4f

RT @Bebirmingham: Green restaurants: it's time to bid for awards!http://bit.ly/g0Xt7a

Good luck to Woodhouse Community Farm in their efforts "to give it sustainable and valuable future": http://bit.ly/f7O7lm

Learn more about guerilla gardening on our website:http://bit.ly/eF2UN3

Tesco Bullies its way into Moseley - article from this month's newsletter up on website: http://bit.ly/ffhGHS

A rather lovely new blog post by Roxanne our campaigns coordinator on #cider-making and tasting the fruits at last:http://bit.ly/hWG1H1

RT @wwwfoecouk: Fossil fuels and meat & dairy farming causing costly nitrogen pollution – new research http://bit.ly/gN9VEQ

Don't think this limited to supermarkets: RT @TEEB4ME: Food from the sky! The future of more sustainable supermarkets?http://bit.ly/eGPJK5

As well as rainforest areas: RT @guardianeco: Crops for animal feed destroying Brazilian savannah, WWF warns http://bit.ly/eefIu5

Transport

RT @wwwfoecouk: EU green fuel tax plans welcomedhttp://goo.gl/fb/xIsCK

“I hope the Govt’s new thinking will encourage others to take a fresh look at their travel habits” http://bit.ly/ex7LM0 - yes, fly less!

"Rising Oil Prices and the Threat to the Aviation Industry" - a new blog post by Danielle: http://bit.ly/ewSqQo

If you thought 400 km/h #HS2 trains were a bad idea, what about a 250 km/h bus? http://bbc.in/h6AFFQ

And another good post on cycling and urgent action needed to protect them from lorries: http://ind.pn/gSQsk0

Good post here on cycling, but despicable comments as usual. Some people have no sense of perspective! http://ind.pn/evcEiu

"Money is being taken from things that benefit everyone ... to benefit big corporations and business travellers": http://bit.ly/fZS9rz

Very odd figures! £2600 for each "working" family in the West Mids - how, when over what period? Need #factcheck: http://bit.ly/f1LzUI#HS2

RT @ENJOQUEEN: Public perceptions of aviation and the environment need to be turned around, says UK CAA chief on ..http://bit.ly/eu9RAW

New blog post by Danielle looking at the topic "Is Dangerous Cycling a Problem in Birmingham?" http://bit.ly/emoW2U

Good to meet @joelycett the other day and chat about buses. He's now got a blog going on his campaign - check it out:http://bit.ly/hti1EN

RT @SaveOurBuses_UK: Philip Hammond has written to tell us some bus cuts are ‘disappointing’. So what is he going to do?http://bit.ly/12Dpi

Wide ranging comment piece in @theeconomist on cycling, including the new law on dangerous cyclists and road space:http://econ.st/fly1Kb

One of many streets where traffic is travelling too fast in Birmingham: http://bit.ly/hkjWZe We need safer streets:http://bit.ly/aF1hjW

Waste
RT @wwwfoecouk: Increase in fortnightly bin collections welcomedhttp://goo.gl/fb/XWedQ #ignorepickles #talkingrubbish

Plastic-Bag Bans Gaining Momentum Around the World http://ow.ly/4vCgN #green #sustainability #zerowaste

Others

@Bham_FOE I'm organising a bike meet this Sunday, anyone welcome & bring a picnic. More info on http://renee.vanbaar.net/?p=194 pls RT?

Thanks for the promo: RT @BirminghamiNS Guerilla sunflower planting with FoE May 1st — http://is.gd/O2S8on

We agree with CBT about Enterprise Zones and ensuring they don't repeat previous mistakes: http://bit.ly/hwhGQM -tell @EricPickles if you do