City of the Future - 1 week to go

One of the most exciting parts of my job is to see a plan come together and an event take place.

Next Tuesday will see our City of the Future public debate on a better economy for Birmingham take place in the Council House, Birmingham. The number of people registered for it has been rising steadily since the web page went live and we are confident of getting to capacity, so please make sure you book your place if you haven't already.
Last year we did a debate on HS2, which went really well and attracted a lot of attention, but that was a very hot, very controversial issue on which passions run very high (and still is). This time, we are hoping to generate some really positive ideas and inspire people on a topic that used to be considered a bit dull and abstract to many, but is now starting to gain more attention - economics.

I've admired the work of the New Economics Foundation for a long time, so am very much looking forward to seeing what three ideas Julia Slay will put forward.

The idea that economic growth is what makes people more prosperous and therefore people's lives better has not been challenged enough in the mainstream media. We are very much looking forward to hearing the argument for a successful economy without growth from Oliver Bettis from the Centre for the Advancement of a Steady State economy.

Dr Helen Borland from Aston Business School has her main research interest in Strategic Business Sustainability, which focuses on how firms can adopt an ecologically sustainable approach to their strategic decision-making, senior management and leadership activities. She will provide the local academic perspective and expertise.

Also, we have David Powell from Friends of the Earth's economics team. His knowledge is integral to how we can campaign on issues such as Feed-in-Tariffs, green investment and the value that is put on the natural environment. He also writes some very readable blog posts on the Friends of the Earth website.

I have also been busy writing articles for local press and blogs on the event. Firstly, was a big piece in the Birmingham Post (whose editor, Alun Thorne is chairing the event for us). Then I wrote a short piece for my local (hyperlocal) blog B31 Voices. I was also asked to contribute a piece for the Chamberlain Files, a new political blog for Birmingham run by former journalists of the Birmingham Post.

Now I have 7 days to wait and see what comes out of this event, but luckily I'm so busy the time should pass very quickly. Bring it on.

Joe Peacock

Places for the Future - let them know what you think.

Next Monday, we won't be having a meeting here at the Warehouse as usual, but will be at the Council House for the Sustainability Forum meeting looking at the Place for the Future planning document.

 You can respond to it online by following this link, but if you want to help give feedback in a room full of other people who are interested in sustainability, you need to register by emailingsustainabilityteam@birmingham.gov.uk

See you there.

Joe Peacock

Sustainability Spring Fair

The council are putting on their annual Spring Fair on March 10th and we'll be there supporting the event as always.

We're not sure why they use quotation marks on the literature around things such as "electric cars" and "organic carrots", or why they used such an odd picture at the top of the second page to illustrate it, but I'm sure these minor details shouldn't detract from an excellent event.
We hope to see lots of people there learning about all the excellent things that are going on around Birmingham. The idea being that they will then be inspired to live more sustainably themselves.
You won't be able to miss it if you're around Victoria Square on March 10th, anyway - see you there.

Joe Peacock

Positive Money is coming to the City of the Future

I am keen for people to grasp what Positive Money is saying; i.e. that banks create almost all of our nation's money supply and that it is a big problem.

Most people seem to think that the government creates our money and that we all deal in it for the things we need for our daily lives. Unfortunately, this is not so.

Almost all the money in circulation apart from the tiny amount that is bank notes and coins is money created by commercial banks when they issue loans. This makes banks the owners of almost all our money and they get to decide where it goes in the economy. They put it into raising the price of houses which hurts people.

Instead, new money should be created in measured amounts, that won't cause inflation, by the Bank of England, as an asset of the nation. Then the Bank of England (I personally think) should give it to the elected government who should spend it on things that help us run a lively export economy and earn our living in the world by doing stuff that actually makes the world better for people; i.e. infrastructure, university and technical education, science, research, product development and power generation research etc.

It is a crucial change that could actually take place to take the power to create money from the banks and give it to public authority i.e. the Bank of England. Then we'd stand a chance of getting on our feet as a nation and having a good influence on the world. There would be good satisfying jobs and a point to getting a good education so as to be useful players in such a great and honourable endeavour.

I'm really glad that Birmingham Friends of the Earth are putting on the "City of the Future" event where ideas like this can be discussed and there will be plenty more on this at our stall on 20th March at the Council House in Birmingham. See you there.


Dick Rogers

City of the Future

Recently we've all been a little miffed about the current economic situation, with a circulating question of:

Can we shift to a healthier economy? If so, what would it look like?

At Birmingham FOE, we are organising an eye-opening event which aims to
capture the current economic debate, discussing what it currently provides for us and identifying the real-life tools which would be required to have a better, more sustainable economy.


I was excited enough about this to volunteer to help organise it.

The Idea:
A panel of four economic experts will each present three ideas that would inspire new hope for young people and their chances
for future employment and a better environment.
…
A second panel of representatives from local  groups, cross-examine the presented cases.
…
Discussion will be opened up to the audience. ← this is your part!

The Date:
Tuesday 20th March 2012 is the time and the place to stop being miffed and start being active!

Pop it in your diaries and I hope to see you there (keep an eye out for details of our amazing panel).

Rachel Tyson

Edit: Registration is now open on our website:  http://www.birminghamfoe.org.uk/other/city-of-the-future

Power To The People? Unlikely.

On Monday 3^rd October, Birmingham City Council/Birmingham Environmental Partnership held a Sustainability Forum at the Council House from 6pm to 8.45pm. The theme of the evening was: “The Future of Our Streets?”. Rather than finding answers or solutions however, we were left asking a number of questions.

Background:

A number of groups turned up by 5.30pm, some of which set up stalls (among those present were Grease Lightening/CSV environment, Localise West Midlands, local allotment plotholders, West Midlands police, the Co-operative Society, Smurfitt Kappa, councillors, Sustainable Moseley); people mingled over soup until around 6.30pm (very nice, thank you BCC); and then we all withdrew to the other side of the room for presentations on waste, renewables, food security and transport.

David Bull from BCC took on transport, Kevin Mitchell talked about the forthcoming Municipal Waste Review and related issues, John Boyle from the WM Co-op covered food security, and Phil Beardmore from Localise WM gave an in-depth presentation on anaerobic digesters.

We then got to discuss these issues and made posters expressing our views and ideas on how to make Birmingham more sustainable. The forum itself was billed as an opportunity to “make a real difference by voicing your views” and this is where I am somewhat unconvinced, despite the many positive things to come out of it.

On the plus side:

+ It certainly was a good opportunity to network. The Council clearly caters for that very well.

+ The speakers themselves were for the most part clear, articulate and informative during their presentations, and certainly provided us with some good anecdotes.

+ Importantly, it was a demonstration of the Council's willingness to engage with, and listen to the ideas of, different groups in society.

On the negative side;

- It would have been nice, however, to have a more diverse, representative picture/take on the current situation and best-fit practices in the presentations. The speakers were either speaking for their department of the council or for other organisations, so it seemed we were talked at, rather than engaged with. Also, they didn't really seem to stick to the topic if there was one (the cooperative may be a good organisation, but we heard very little about food security).

- There wasn't nearly as much time as we would have liked to discuss the issues and even get further information. “Q&;A” with the panel consisted of a couple of minutes of answering 2 questions, most of which were only superficially covered or dodged completely. It was like watching David Beckham in that press conference after the allegations about Rebecca Loos. Except that this perhaps was slightly less glamorous.

- The feedback time (moment to 'make a difference') was less than an hour, regrettably, meaning people didn't have a chance to go into much detail, have a truly meaningful debate, and give considered, innovative, original responses. The responses that were given, were recorded, but we are not sure what will be done with it. I contacted the forum's organiser, Lorraine Cookson, for information about how our input would be used, whether we would get any feedback from the Council and where I could get access to copies of the four presentations given. I have yet to receive a reply, but local organisations such as ours and the others represented last week have a unique perspective on how things are on the ground, what work needs to be done to change people's behaviour and how best to go about doing it. They can give vital insight into how to make Birmingham more sustainable in a real, practical sense; some council decisions and plans, whilst good on paper, might be ineffective, inappropriate or impracticable in reality. Listening to the experiences and suggestions of grassroots organisations brings the Council closer to the real world, so we hope there will be reporting on what they do with the feedback from the forum, or they will struggle to attract people to come along in future.

To sum up then, my suggestions are that there should be some kind of formal record of our input, which is distributed among participants; information should be given to us on specific upcoming projects (and who is involved in them), planning- and decision-making dates and outcomes, and contact details for the main policy-making groups or individuals. That way we can assess the democratic process and monitor progress.

In order for these events not just to be considered talking shops that give the impression that the council is listening to our opinions, they should be more focussed and the aims and methods of achieving these aims be made clearer. Then it would be a really worthwhile exercise, which would hopefully result in a larger audience, too.

>>>>>>>>>>>  THIS IS AN EDITED VERSION OF THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE I WROTE.  The original was edited by Joe Peacock and included comments on Andrew Mitchell.  I cannot say for sure which bits I wrote and what has been changed, but would like the record to show and for people to know that this is not entirely my work and not the original work.
Gergana (4th October 2012)

Weekly compilation 24.06.2011

Here's another of our weekly round-ups of news that relates to our campaigns in some way:

Transport

RT @cyclingmobility: Analysis of highway design from cyclist’s view. Let us know ur thoughts!http://bit.ly/m75Myj

RT @birminghampost: Warwickshire County Council to object to #HS2 plans http://bit.ly/keeqsD

RT @beleben: How #Bickenhill parkway station illustrates the fundamental #flaws in the #HS2 concept http://wp.me/p1j38b-tA #disconnectivity

Surprised Bham only 13th most congested city http://bit.ly/ihojfq -urgently needs investment in public transport, cycling infrastructure etc

World Bank and OECD have recommended removing support for biofuels, yet the aviation industry continues obliviously:http://reut.rs/mJ71Mb

RT @sustrans: Encouraging more people to get on their bikes should be applauded not ridiculed http://bit.ly/jDEJb5 *applauds Wales*

RT @philiploy: NHS looking for community members looking at promotion of walking and cycling http://bit.ly/j1Fj6k by Fri 8 July

RAC has revealed some great news. People starting to think about car use more. Just need to make alternatives easier:http://bbc.in/lwJCGu

RT @sustrans: Sustrans & CTC join other environment & safety groups to fight Govt plans for longer lorries on UK roads:http://bit.ly/kzrqKC

Glad that Stephen Joseph highlighted the problems with parkway stations and #HS2 yesterday - huge problems with plan:http://bit.ly/lJKWUI

Cllrs & planning officers being misled by exaggerated claims that expansion of airports will create lots of extra jobs: http://bit.ly/jofAaf

Flying in the face of the facts - FoE Europe's report on biofuels and the aviation industry: http://bit.ly/liKV6z

Many can't afford holidays this year, almost as bad for the British tourism industry as subsidised cheap flights: http://bit.ly/mvoosP

Waste

Zero waste or zero ambition - has the Waste Review delivered?http://bit.ly/l5LF8B No, but we can still push locally: http://bit.ly/iJPiNo

Energy & Climate Change
RT @wwwfoecouk: Citizens across the world oppose #nuclearpower - new poll http://bit.ly/mINURG #climatechange

@northfieldeco Are you doing anything for Zero Carbon Britain Day? http://bit.ly/mp1VXE

RT @lucianaberger: Every Tory and Lib Dem on the #energybill cttee just voted against the Warm Home and Local Carbon Budget amendments

RT @wwwfoecouk: Please sign the petition for local carbon cuts: http://bit.ly/lKGayC #energybill

RT @guardianeco: Germany's nuclear phase-out will cause UK emissions to fall, report says http://gu.com/p/3v3ma/tf

RT @wwwfoecouk: Cameron must tackle Tory MEPs over climate vote: Tory MEPs revolt over proposed 30% EU emissions cutshttp://goo.gl/fb/RB5tR

Local Shops

RT @traidcraft: Supermarkets try to delay setting up Adjudicator http://bit.ly/lZMsDL

Food

RT @wwwfoecouk: US & Brazil scupper G20 action on #biofuels http://bit.ly/j48peu - despite expert food prices warning: http://bit.ly/mMT7FC

Trial of anti-aphid GM wheat awaits government green light:http://bit.ly/l2R1uF

RT @PigBusiness: New article in local paper ahead of tomorrow's town hall meeting we're hosting with @SoilAssociationhttp://bit.ly/l2IWtV

Others

Embarrassed, at all? RT @businessdeskwm: Friday Funnies: Whitby out of tune with the times! http://ow.ly/1dqsXF

Great comment by Paul de Zylva on govt making "sustainable development" meaninglessness after this planning blog post:http://bit.ly/ioeUwv

Nice of the government to clear up what sustainability is: http://twitpic.com/5c2plx

Blog: Brum-Hilde - street opera comes to Birmingham: Opera singers highlight environment with Save the Diva http://goo.gl/fb/jF36O

Scrutiny Cttee Meeting on sustainability, Friday 9th April

I was invited along to give evidence to the scrutiny committee of Birmingham City Council last week. There was a pre-meeting in the week before, which is kind of like a rehearsal so you understand what to do on the day when it's in public and as it was my first appearance of this kind, I was quite glad of that and also the briefing I got from the helpful staff members - I certainly am not one to dismiss the worth of public servants.

Our work on the core strategy had certainly not gone unnoticed - our 25-page response to the consultation is available in the downloads section on our website - so I produced a summary of this for the committee and was asked to speak in response to what Sandy Taylor (Head of Sustainability and Climate Change) said to the committee in his report.

There is work to congratulate the city council on - their work on Combined Heating and Power (CHP) has been very good in the centre of the city and there was also a report on this, while the Birmingham Energy Savers project is truly pioneering and not only will it have a great effect on the homes concerned, but should also sustain a considerable number of local jobs, too. I saw my role at this meeting partly as one of saying "look what can be done when you show some ambition, so let's have more of it".

The biggest areas of controversy in what I said turned out to be on supporting local shops v supermarkets, the incinerator (which some councillors still believe is green!!) versus other forms of dealing with waste and transport, as these are the areas on which the council is doing worst in terms of sustainability.

After so many defeats in fighting off supermarket planning applications recently, the council had to be challenged on why they talk about boosting local shops, but do nothing to protect or support them. There was some support for this amongst the elected representatives, but Cllr Deirdre Alden took issue with this "idealistic notion" that we can go back to have corner shops within walking distance as most people can't afford to shop there! We're not just talking about corner shops, though, but vibrant local shopping streets with different types of independently owned retailers. People would in fact, find that overall this would be just as affordable and if you take out the need for a car to get there, that's even more money saved. See Tescopoly on food poverty.

The same councillor also challenged me on the incinerator, as she'd had a tour of it and been informed by Veolia that it was in fact very green as it generates electricity. In fact, I informed them that from a climate change perspective, incineration is worse than gas- or coal-fired power stations for generating electricity! I suggested that what we need is a truly ambitious programme of community recycling ventures all over the city, dealing with our resource use to make sure nothing is wasted, creating jobs and stopping the health-damaging emissions from Tyseley.

Cllr Alden also seemed to think that because there are places with no reliable bus service now and because the roads are too dangerous to cycle on (she fell off once and will never cycle again), that we won't be able to get people out of cars. Fortunately there are other people on the council with a better understanding of integrated transport, but unless the most ambitious parts of the city's vision for movement, connected city and cycling strategy are out in place urgently, not only could we suffer more gridlock as recently, but when oil prices rise even further, some people are going to be really stuck!

Are we going to get more ambitious measures from the council to hit their CO2 reduction targets? I really hope so, but it needs to be an ambition that is taken on by the whole cabinet, not just the officers and one or two members.

FoE Localism Bill Meeting at the House of Commons

While we do like to do teleconferencing when possible, there are some times you have to travel to meetings and so two of us went down to the House of Commons on Thursday for a meeting on the Localism Bill. Neither of us were experts on the bill to start with, but were able to use the journey down to London to read up on it using these useful briefings.

We arrived in plenty of time so were able to sit by the Thames enjoying the sunshine and listening to the endless roar of traffic all round us and planes overhead thinking how lucky we are in Birmingham not to have this (for the moment at least).

Going into the Commons was rather like going into an airport (I haven't for a few years, but remember what it was like), although we didn't have to take our shoes off thankfully. Once you're through all the scanners they let you wander about quite freely, though, and we made our way through imposing corridors until we made it to the room where the meeting was to take place.

MP Nic Dakin was hosting the event for us and has also helped introduce some of the amendments we want to see to the bill. We were promised that other MPs would be there, but apart from Gerald Kaufman, who popped in for a while, none of the Birmingham MPs made it along. We had been hoping to speak to Jack Dromey, MP for Erdington, as he has been doing some work on the bill, but neither he nor his PA turned up as they had promised to do.

This was disappointing, but overall the meeting was very interesting and it was great to meet and hear from representatives of other groups who represent local communities and defend their rights in planning decisions all over the country. The Rights and Justice team at FoE really are committed to working on equalities and the things that matter to those whose voices are not usually heard all over the country, yet their work may not be recognised as much as the higher profile campaigners working on climate, food and energy issues.

Detailed notes of the meeting were taken and will be sent round to all attendees soon and can be passed on to MPs and other interested parties, so I'll just make a few comments on what interested me in the course of the discussion.

You would have thought that if a bill is going to give more power to local people to make decisions, that should be good. Unfortunately, with this government things are never that simple as there are many things in it which could be very damaging to local democracy, communities' quality of life and the environment, especially when considered along with the measures announced by the chancellor in the budget, which seem to be a green light for development at any cost.

At the moment, we have some very good guidance on planning decisions in Regional Spatial Strategies, Local Development Frameworks and other pieces of legislation, but the danger is that all this could be thrown out and replaced with much looser guidelines. Originally they were proposing that a neighbourhood plan could be drawn up by a group of as little as 3 people, but this has now been increased to 20. There is still a lack of any guarantee of a right to be heard or any scrutiny over the work of neighbourhood forums/parish councils who will come up with the plans in terms of sustainability, equality or human rights legislation.

There is a lot of dissatisfaction with the current approach to consultation, so we do need to look at what is a better way and draw one up using our experience. This would include ways of protecting the rights of everyone to an oral hearing, looking at the way these things are publicised, ensuring that people can feel that they will make a difference and then see that difference. Sustainable development must be protected and there must be a clear definition of what this is that will be clear to everyone.

You can read more about the localism bill here and if you are concerned about what it will do after reading this, please contact your MP to express your worries, either in writing or by going along to one of their surgeries, which you can look up here. If you want to get involved in the work we do on planning, please get in touch.

Joe Peacock

Scare Stories

I thought I should write a short extra post on the issue of rail from the transport summit. The first half of the summit was all about promoting HS2 with all the speakers giving a big push to it to try to ensure everyone would go away and actively support it.

As has already been reported in the press, Adrian Shooter of Chiltern trains told a story of how there was a collection at the end of a meeting in a village hall where they collected £100 000 in 10 minutes to fight the campaign opposing HS2. I don't know whether this is true or not. I do know that many of the opponents are very well educated and in a lot of cases well connected so this is a different kettle of fish to fighting residents groups over environmental matters.

The campaigners are being very careful to ensure that they focus on more than just the local issues, despite Phillip Hammond's continuing attempts to label them as NIMBYs. They are looking very carefully at the economic arguments, the process of the consultation, the alternatives to the HS2 proposal for improving our transport systems in this country and the environmental arguments.

Nobody really argues that we need to do something to improve our rail services in this country and that if we are to create a modal shift from road to rail, then we will need to spend money on new infrastructure. The argument is whether this is the right way of doing it, whether speed is the key or whether people just want a more comfortable and affordable option. The contradictions in the case for HS2 are huge, as it is sold as green, yet will create more long journeys and take people off more environmental forms of transport, gives a business case that relies on people not working on trains when all the evidence is to the contrary – business people do like to work while travelling. It is neither low cost nor low carbon and the consultation is not giving us a chance to examine other options for improving our transport systems.

Birmingham City Council is so determined to have another big vanity project that they're putting £50 000 in to promoting it at a time when cuts are being made to frontline services all over the city and jobs are being lost in bigger numbers than even HS2's wildest predictions for 15 years time. The fixation with supplying the airport with extra passengers via fast trains to pollute the skies even more can't be worth that, surely.

There is also a contradiction in the words of the council and the actions of London Midland at the moment. There is a stated desire to get more people using local rail services (and councillor Huxtable is very supportive of re-opening stations along several lines in Birmingham that we've been campaigning for) yet they are closing ticket offices at many of the local stations meaning there will be no facilities open there, making them a much less pleasant, safe and accessible place for passengers. My colleague asked councillor Huxtable about this and he did at least confirm that they were speaking to them about this and had been asked to attend a meeting next week.

Let's hope that stations in Birmingham will be maintained for people's comfort and safety on local services, that other local stations are re-opened and that the government doesn't commit huge amounts of money to the wrong type of infrastructure for the benefit of the few who will use it when investment is badly needed all over the country. Let's have a grown up debate over what type of transport system we need to cut the country's environmental impact, wean us off oil and ensure that everyone has access to affordable and reliable public transport when they need it.

Overfishing and the unsustainable use of our oceans

On Monday 28^th February, Nigel Baker, Lead Food Campaigner, led a fascinating discussion on overfishing. He started off by asking each member of the group to look down a list of common fish species and state whether they thought each one was currently overfished. He then compared our answers to recent data from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). Some of the results were a surprise to us, for example Atlantic Cod stocks are apparently not so badly depleted, while some of the results confirmed what we knew, for instance that current fishing methods for tiger prawns are completely unsustainable.

Nigel then went on to draw our attention to a number of alarming facts around current fish stocks:

• 90% of the stocks of large predatory fish are already gone

• globally, fishing fleets are at least two to three times as large as needed to take present day catches of fish and other marine species

• the majority of the UK population depend on only four species of fish – tuna, salmon, cod and haddock

• the dangers associated with overfishing are shown in the example of the 1992 collapse of northern cod fisheries in Newfoundland resulting in at least 40,000 people losing their job and stocks of cod that have never returned

It was also mentioned that the profile of the current debate about overfishing has been raised by the chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall who has recently begun a campaign called the Big Fish Fight. In the series on Channel 4, he finds out that due to the current EU quota system, up to 20,000 tonnes of fish are thrown back dead into the North Sea every week, that is up to half of the catch for each boat is discarded.

It seems that there is reason to hope that the current system may change as the EU Fisheries Commissioner has just set out ideas for ending the practice of discarding fish, as set out in an article on the BBC website on the 1^st March.

One solution to the problem of discard may be to adopt an ecologically friendly policy such as that used in Faroe Islands, an archipelago which has a population of 48,000 people and an economy which is heavily dependent on fishing. According to this more sustainable system, a quota is imposed in days rather than tonnes, and thereby avoids throwing excess fish back into the sea.

The Big Fish Fight programs also explore the problems associated with fishing on a commercial scale which uses techniques which catch all species in an area indiscriminately leading to the problem of by-catch. One example shown in the series is for tuna which is packaged by Tesco as being sourced in environmentally friendly ways, but which is shown to come from fishing boats which regularly catch sharks, tortoises and turtles in their large nets.

The discussion then went on to consider what we can do about this situation. One suggestion is that we should learn to eat a wider variety of fish, for example eating Mackerel, in order to save other species under threat. It was noted that the UK fish and chips industry is a significant driver in the UK's demand for this limited range of fish. Aldo told the group that at least one fish and chip shop in the area has started offering more sustainable fish on the menu since seeing the issue raised on TV, and suggested that we could all make a visit sometime. If you know of any other fish and chip shops locally that do this, please let us know!

One further issue that was raised in the discussion was the rising acidification of our oceans due to climate change, and how this is causing coral reefs to rapidly become bleached and jellyfish populations to increase. Unfortunately there was not time to discuss this topic in full, however eating jellyfish with chips was not felt to be the answer!

FoE has a linked campaigning group called Marinet who are campaigning for reform of the EU Common Fisheries Policy. Please visit their website and support their campaign: http://www.marinet.org.uk/ and next time you eat fish, think about what your choice is doing to the oceans.

Eco Dimension Day

Blog entries seem to be a little scarce of late, so I thought I'd do a quick report on an Eco Dimension Day I went along to on behalf of BFoE last week at Washwood Heath Technology College.

The Eco Dimension Day was the brainchild of Corinne Campbell, and the aim of the day was to raise awareness about environmental issues, such as recycling and sustainability, amongst the 11-13 year olds who attend the school. There were loads of activities lined up for the day, including re-using items to make clothes, cooking demonstrations and workshops, and animation classes. Before I arrived at the school I had no idea in which area Corinne wanted me to help out, and to be honest I was a little apprehensive, mainly as I didn't want to appear to not know my stuff in front of people half my age! After nervously sitting through an assembly (for the first time in about 10 years!), I was last to be assigned a task for the day. Luckily for me the group I was working with were looking at two of my favourite things: environmental issues and Lego. I was helping out a class who were given the difficult task of designing an "Eco Village".

The day kicked off with the students watching a few topical videos to get them thinking about what sort of ideas would need to be incorporated into the village to make it environmentally friendly and sustainable. They were then split into four groups and asked to brainstorm ideas for their village (on a side note, brainstorming these days is referred to as mind mapping, I'm so out of touch!). I was then asked to give a demonstration on renewable energy sources using a clever little model which incorporated wind, solar and hydroelectric power. It was then break time, and an exciting opportunity for me to see inside the staff room! Needless to say, once you're an adult the mysteries of the staff room are slightly less romantic than when I was a child. It in fact resembled the staff room of most places I've worked at, although they were giving out free tea, and by this point I was gasping.

After break, the students had until lunch time to design and make a model village out of Lego using the ideas they'd been discussing all morning. At first, most of the pupils set about making an ultimate village, with little regard for the environment, not believing their luck that they were allowed to play with Lego during school hours! After experiencing similar excitement, I thought I'd best interject and encourage them to think about practical issues, such as energy sources, food, farmland, and transport. Many of the pupils had areas set aside for wind farms and areas to grow fruit and vegetables. They also organised their village so everything was close by to reduce the need to use cars, and had various ideas to encourage cycling. Other ideas were not so green (one village had an enormous block of flats in the centre, possibly a first for a village?!), but the exercise certainly achieved its aim of getting the children to think about the way they live.

Next came lunch. I was unaware, but one of the perks of being a teacher is that you can push to the front of the line for a hot school dinner, so I was straight in with my healthy pizza and chips option to relive my school days further. The rest of the afternoon was taken up with an assembly where the pupils had the opportunity to display and talk about what they had been doing that day. All in all, the day was a huge success, and got everyone, both staff and students, thinking about environmental issues.

I was alarmed at how many of the students got a lift to school, even though some of them lived a mere ten minute walk away. In their defense, if offered a lift to school on a cold morning, I'm sure it's hard to refuse. However, this outlined to me that the onus lies on the parents in educating their children on the importance of being what is frequently termed "eco-friendly". The majority of the students had no idea why making short trips in a car was bad for the environment, and similarly why they should recycle and shouldn't be leaving electrical items on when not in use, to name but three. That's why this day was so important. Children need to be aware that their actions, however small, will make a difference, whether positively or negatively. So hopefully at the very least the pupils involved in the event will think about their actions and their lifestyle, as at the end of the day it will be them who will benefit from a green lifestyle in the future.

One Week (and One Day) To Go!

I thought I'd post just a quick (gentle) reminder to anyone who hasn't contacted their local MP yet regarding next Friday's Sustainable Livestock Bill. For those of you who are unaware of the bill, which calls for the improvement in sustainability of all processes associated with livestock, more information can be found here.

Basically, we need you to get in contact with your MP and get them to commit to attending Parliament on the 12th of November to vote for the bill. There are three ways to do this. Firstly, you can write to your MP. Friends of the Earth have created a draft letter which you can email, post or fax to your MP after entering a few details of your own, and this can be accessed here.

Secondly, you can call your MP. Once again, Friends of the Earth have created a video to guide you through what to say, and that can be seen here.

Finally, you can request a face to face meeting with your local MP, which is a great way to ensure you will speak to them directly (and to use your best powers of persuasion!).

I will be reporting back after next Friday on whether the bill was successful or not, so that leaves a week to get your MP to commit to attending! I'll be keeping my fingers crossed...

Don't forget to Join the Moovement!

Birmingham Jump Two Places in the Sustainable Cities Index

This week the forum for the future released their Sustainable Cities Index. The index, which has been running since 2007, tracks the progress on sustainability of Britain’s 20 largest cities. In 2007/8 Birmingham sat one place from the foot of the table in 19^th place, however, last year it jumped two places to 17^th place. Continuing with these improvements, Birmingham has jumped a further two places to rank in 15^th place this year.

Positions are decided on the measurement of 13 indicators in three broad baskets: Environmental impact, quality of life, and future proofing. Birmingham was awarded its lowest score for quality of life, where it finished 19^th. A high unemployment rate, low level of education and lack of green flag or green pennant awards were the major contributing factors. Other low scoring areas were air quality, household waste and local food.

Improvements could be made in these areas by investment in recycling schemes, which would lower the amount of household waste and create more jobs which would follow with more training and improve education. Currently, Birmingham sends most of its commercial waste to the Tysley incinerator, which has been a long term concern of Birmingham FOE because much of the waste sent here could be recycled. Although the council have alluded to changing the system with a Total Waste Strategy, there are no plans to remove the incinerator but instead plans may include utilising the heat generated.

The Big City Plan put forward by the council contains plans for more allotment spaces, but this is an area which needs a large amount of work. Things are already being done, however, for more information see this article.

Air quality should be a major concern for Birmingham, finishing 17^th in the category. Major improvements could be made with changes toward low carbon transport, something that the council is planning on, ensuring that all Council vehicles will be electric or powered by liquefied gas by 2015. Although this would help in decreasing the air pollution in the city, it wouldn't have much impact on carbon emissions overall, so more work needs to be done to reduce the number of individual single occupancy cars on Birmingham's roads.

However, Birmingham performed best in future proofing climate change, finishing joint 4^th and leaping 15 places. Scoring 21 points of an available 27, on the basis of the Climate Change Action Plan (our response here). Although Birmingham has scored highly for the councils plans, there is still a difference between a plan and action.

Newcastle finished top of this years rankings for the second year running, with forum for the future commending their ambition, “aiming to become a world class hub of science and innovation”. However, key to their success in the rankings was their actions. Birmingham isn't lacking ambition with the Big City Plan and Climate Change Action Plan, and if it can follow through with its plans then major advancements will be seen throughout the categories.

The breakdown of Birmingham's performance in the forum for the future Sustainable Cities Index can be found here.

The Tenby Cottages Community Garden Group

Monday night (October 18^th) saw the first meeting of the Tenby Cottages Community Garden Group, a community group based in Lozells who are planning on turning waste ground into a community growing space. The project was proposed by Friends of the Earth’s Tom Pointon, and has now been taken on by Sarah Royal of CSV Environment, and I was lucky enough to be in attendance for this first meeting.

The idea of the project is to convert an area of waste ground into a community grow site, where local residents can grow their own fruit and vegetables. The area chosen was once home to a set of cottages (the Tenby Cottages, of course), which were knocked down some years ago as part of a redevelopment scheme by the local council. As yet, however, nothing has been proposed for the site by the council, and thus Tom saw the opportunity to create something positive. Up until recently, the site, located just off Poplar Avenue in Lozells, has been the victim of fly tipping. However, work has been conducted in the past few months by CSV Environment, and the site has been flattened and covered in bark chippings ready to be transformed.

A grow site is an area of disused land (often in an area that attracts anti-social behaviour), which has been transformed to become a place where local residents are allocated a grow bed in which to grow their own food. It is different from an allotment because residents do not pay rent on the site, and everything grown must be for personal consumption. Each resident who holds a grow bed there is given a key to the site, so it is secure at all times. Projects such as this already exist across Birmingham, namely the GEML Project (Grow It, Eat It, Move It, Live It) which has had great success in Ladywood, and the Concrete to Coriander Project.

The meeting was largely an introductory session, allowing local residents to come and voice their opinions on the running of the site to Sarah Royal and Cynthia Cupido, who works for Birmingham City Council Housing. The originally proposed plans had 30 grow beds, measuring 1 metre by 2 metres, laid out in a fairly uniform pattern. However, residents seemed to prefer the idea of less beds and more space for benches to make the site more sociable. There was even talk of a barbeque area being built so residents would be able to eat their produce on site! Also on the site there will be composting bins, where locals will be able to bring their organic waste, as well as a shed in which to keep communal tools.

So what’s next? Once the residents have decided on the layout of the site, CSV Environment will get to work on making the raised grow beds for the site. The council will be investigating whether or not they are able to get a water supply to the site, to prevent any inevitable injuries caused by lugging huge tanks of water back and forth from home! It is then up to the residents to organise themselves into a constitution community group. This will give them access to funding which otherwise would not be available, particularly from “Awards for All”. Despite there not being a huge turnout for the first meeting, the residents who did attend were all enthusiastic about the project, and were keen to get more people involved. There was also talk of trying to get the local schools involved. If a local school was allocated one or two beds, the children there would be able to learn how to grow their own food, and the importance of doing so. It would also be beneficial to get local shopkeepers and businesses on board, as well as local councillors, to support the project.

I was very impressed with the enthusiasm of everyone involved at the meeting. Sarah in particular was very passionate about getting the site up and running. I think grow sites are a great way of transforming a local eyesore into something which the community can be proud of and ultimately benefit from. Hopefully everything at the Tenby Cottages site will be ready by March next year, just in time for the new growing season! Keep your eyes peeled for pictures in the coming months as the site starts to take shape.