Conference reflections - biodiversity

One of the sessions I went to at FoE's national conference this year was on "biodiversity in decline", which I felt to be a really important topic that I'd never properly got to grips with. We all know that chopping down rainforest is bad and get the pictures of large mammals thrown at us all the time, but how do we make sure that all the links are there to maintain a biodiverse natural system all over the world, so our eco-systems don't collapse and the land remains fertile enough to support life as we know it?

To start off with we were bombarded with acronyms, as understanding them is part of every bit of campaigning on environmental matters, it seems. Go on then, do you know what TEEB is? How about REDD, NEA or LSC? Once you've learnt the shorthand (or read up on what they are), it does make it easier to talk about these things more quickly, honest.
This is the International Year of Biodiversity, in case you didn't know, and, unfortunately, it's also the year by which the UK had promised to halt biodiversity loss and will acknowledge failure to meet these targets (as mentioned here by the government minister).

So, what did I learn? Well largely that it's an incredibly difficult subject and that no one measure is going to solve this on its own (I guess that's not a shock to anyone, is it?). Is the answer to try and give trees or habitat an economic value in order for them to be offered protection in our market-driven world? That certainly seems to be where a lot of people see salvation for nature, but how can you put a value on something that is so obviously invaluable? Also, in many places land rights are a very tricky subject and laws are not representing the rights of indiginous people sufficiently. However, starting a conversation on how valuable these things are must be a good thing in itself in terms of stimulating more action on protecting and promoting natural habitat.

The Stern report had a huge effect in creating a different view on the value of acting on climate change and although there was some coverage of the report on The Economics of Eco-Systems and Biodiversity (that's the TEEB I mentioned earlier), it hasn't caught on quite as much as some were hoping.

What is most difficult is the whole international financing of protecting forests and focusing purely on deforestation as a carbon emissions issue (that's the REDD I mentioned earlier). Forests are people's homes and trees are worth a lot over a long period of time, both to people and to the planet, which short-term financial models are unable to deal with. Some of the carbon markets seem to benefit the countries that have been deforesting quickest the most by paying them more, whereas the ones which haven't started get less because you're not stopping them from doing it if they're already being good - that makes them think they should start planning to chop it down to get their slice of the cake!

There is a government consultation happening now on the natural environment white paper and everyone should be having a look at that to ensure it's as good as possible. Too much emphasis has been put on protecting small pockets of land in isolation (this is called fragmentation) rather than the whole of the landscape (LSC and NEA both got into this bit). Friends of the Earth are responding to the consultation as are a lot of other environmental NGOs, but it would be good for the responses to come from as wide a range of individuals as possible so that it's not just a few organisations looking at it.

Our campaign on Fixing the Food Chain would help to solve some of the deforestation issues in South America that are caused by factory farms here being reliant on soy feed (often GM) that is grown in that region. Even if we can get the sustainable livestock bill through parliament, there is still much work to do to halt the alarming decline in biodiversity throughout the world on land and in the seas.

Markets and the need for continued economic growth will never show the same concern for the natural environment as people do and from all the things I heard from members of FoE all over the world, what is needed is justice, equity and more of the passion for the environment shown at the peoples' conference in Cochabamba earlier this year. In this country we need to take a lead and show that we can halt the decline in habitat and species loss here, putting in place the kind of policies that can be successfully replicated all over the world.

Joe Peacock

Moseley Folk Festival 2010 - A cow's gotta do ...

Here are some pictures from the folk festival where we were doing a stall to promote our Fix The Food Chain Campaign and getting people to Join the Moovement:

Grow sites in Ladywood update

Brookfield Road Grow Site

We're progressing well with the grow site in Brookfield Road, B18. This is being promoted by the GEML project, Grow It, Eat It, Move It, Live It, which is empowering people across Ladywood to grow and cook their own food.
Plans have been drawn up by one of the residents to use old scaffolding planks (of which we have almost 100, see picture) to make raised planters. These will be a modular system of interlocking one metre square planters which can be joined together to create large beds. This means each plot will be sized according to each persons needs and preferences.
We've formed a management committee to oversee the administration of the site, which has now been cleared and is almost ready to go.
There's also detailed research being done about watering systems, so if anyone out there has any experience of this, please share your knowledge with us.

Another site in Coplow Street, B18, is also well underway, with the residents now reportedly harvesting spinach and lettuces.

I've identified another site in B18 and am awaiting news from the council's housing department, under whose jurisdiction it falls. Formerly garages, its an ideal shape and size with the advantage of being already fenced and gated.

Coplow Street Grow Site

Sustainable travel: a contradiction in terms?

Had an e mail from neighbours of mine, Mark and Julie Jastrzebski (who also happen to be organising a street party in Hockley this week end to which Friends of the Earth are invited). They're very active champions in our corner of Ladywood, driving residents associations and are supporting my efforts to get another parcel of land transformed into a grow site.

They went on holiday to Tenerife this year, diving, and related a lovely story about how the diving school rescued a marine turtle injured by a spear, got it veterinary treatment, nursed it back to health before releasing it back into the sea. The family of turtles now know and trust the diving school owners with the result their divers are able to get up close to these beautiful creatures.

Leo Hickman in his book Final Call, explores the complex and difficult issues of sustainable tourism. Many poor countries depend on revenues from tourists and travellers. For example, animals, instead of being hunted down as a source of food, can become a source of income through sanctuaries, safari parks or game reserves. However, indigenous peoples can be marginalised or thrown off the land to make way for safari parks, as has happened for example in Botswana

On a more positive note, succesive governments of Costa Rica, for example, have had strict policies protecting their environment with the result this tiny central American country is now a top tourist destination boasting considerable bio diversity. However, doesn't flying to enjoy these places cancel out any benefits accrued by careful environmental management? Hickman has a surprising argument, that one of the most environmentally friendly destinations, with a low carbon footprint per inhabitant, is Benidorm.

By staying in tourist hotspots like this one, holidaymakers are lessening their environmental impact through improved economies of scale. That in Southern Spain big villas with swimming pools, golf course complexes with their demands for huge quantities of water (not to mention pesticides and chemicals to keep the grass green) are far more environmentally damaging than the high density beach resorts.

There are no easy answers and Hickman proposes striking a balance – having holidays at home, and, if you do fly, choosing holidays and destinations where you can redress the environmental damage caused by flying.

Heres the e mail Julie sent me with some photographs:

I went to Tenerife this year on holiday with my family, I came across this diving school called RiaansScuba

They do not just look after their customers with kindness and care, they also look after the marine life.

Riaan and Wendy the owners of the school give their customers a net bag when diving and invite them to pick up rubbish while they are diving for a small discount on their bill.

They also look after a family of wild Turtles and treat them when they become sick or injured.

WELL DONE Wendy and Riaan.

If any one reading this article is going to tenerife and wants to dive I recommend to dive with this school and help them to look after the turtles and other marine life.

Ideas for 10:10:10

On Monday our Energy and Climate Change Action group will be meeting at 7.30pm and one of the things they'll be talking about is what we should do on 10:10:10.

Birmingham FoE has been very supportive of the 10:10 campaign and was delighted when Birmingham City Council signed up to it. We put together lists of things people could do to achieve the 10% reduction in their carbon emissions over the year and contacted lots of organisations to encourage them to join, too.

10th October is when 10:10 are hoping to do their biggest day of action ever. The website lists things that people could do here. What do you think we should do in Birmingham?

Please send us any ideas you have or come along to our meeting on Monday to discuss it.

AMOOsing the kids at Cocks Moor

Yesterday a couple of us went along to Cocks Moor Wood leisure centre for Hi There Bee There Goes Green.

As well as talking to people about the serious issue of habitat destruction in South America and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions caused by the feed we give to our livestock in this country, we aimed to entertain the kids a bit and brought along the new masks for them to colour in.

We got a few postcards signed, which will be sent to MPs, encouraging them to support the sustainable livestock bill going through parliament in November, but also had time to play, too.

Who says that a campaigner's job is all boring policy work!

True Costs

Public transport is always being hit by the government when they need to save money and now is no exception, but if we think of the true costs of this over the past century, all those alleged savings from not keeping railways or bus services going would surely be cancelled out if we calculated the what the alternatives have cost the country.

Let's just think of a few things that are attributable to increased car use over walking, cycling or using public transport:

Congestion

It is hard to argue that our roads would be congested without lots of people each driving their own private vehicle. According to CBT, "the total cost of congestion is usually estimated at £20 billion a year".

Road accidents

Whilst some proportion of the accidents on our roads may involved buses, the vast majority are caused by cars. Again from CBT's 2008 report, "Last year there were 260,000 casualties on our roads, including 3,172 fatalities [1]. Using Government figures, the cost to the economy of these accidents was £12 billion."

Road-building

According to the Transport Select Committee, "Government spending on roads has almost doubled in real terms since 1999–2000." In 2005/6 it was £6.6 billion and we know that with all the damage caused by the freezing weather this winter many councils are struggling to keep roads repaired and in decent condition. With fewer cars, we could scrap all new road-building schemes and ensure that those we have suit the needs of buses, cyclists and pedestrians better.

Carbon Emissions

Passenger cars emitted 76.8 million tonnes of CO2 (or 20.9 million tonnes of carbon) in 2007, according to DEFRA. Using Stern’s figure of £190 per tonne of carbon, the carbon caused by these cars cost nearly £4 billion.

Obesity

The modern disease caused by sedentary lifestyles and over-eating costs the NHS £14 billion a year. It would be unfair to blame all of this on car use over more active forms of transport, but promoting walking and cycling could certainly help to fight it and reduce these costs.

In times when we are being told to look for ways of saving money, we should certainly not see spending money on public transport as anything other than a saving to the country as a whole when we see the costs of ever more cars on the road. It looks as if the distances that people are travelling have now peaked and are no longer going to keep on rising exponentially along with economic growth (although whether that will happen is also up for debate). To save money we need to invest in safer roads for cyclists and pedestrians and taking road space away from cars to make public transport work better. The benefits in savings and quality of life for all could be huge.

Let's start with showing how many cars we can take off the road for In Town Without My Car Day 2010.

Joe Peacock

[1] From Transport Statistics Great Britain 2007, published by the Department for Transport, November 2007

Section Eight, Transport Accidents and Casualties: Table 8.1

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/datatablespublications/tsgb/2007edition/sectioneighttransportacciden.pdf