Birmingham Friends of The Earth newsletter - Jun-Jul 2010

What would safer streets in Birmingham look like?

20’s Plenty, Shared Space and how we get there.

Imagine a city where you could walk or cycle to work, the shops, or school, without having to worry about speeding traffic whizzing by. A city where you felt confident letting children play together outside your house because you knew traffic was not speeding around. For one city it is becoming a reality. Could Birmingham be the next city to embrace this new approach to travel and speed, and what might it look like?

Continued on Page 12

Campaigns Digest 3 - Campaigns Digest 5

- Moseley Big Plan

7

- Happily Ever Crafter

8

- Bringing Together Community Value

9

- Appeal for Volunteers

10 - Rapid Transit! By Bus? 12

- Solar Is Hotting Up

15

- Local Carbon Budgets

17 - Food inc, lifting the lid on the food chain 18 -

Warehouse News

19 - Environmental Outreach 20 - Volunteer in the Spotlight 21

- Diary

22

- Membership Form

23 - Contacts

Transport Once again transport has been high up the agenda locally, even if none of the parties put it particularly high up their priority lists in their manifesto pledges.

We are working hard to put together a briefing on the issue of high speed rail and responding to the current plans (although they could of course change with the new government in place). All the parties seem to be in favour of it in principle, though, so we need to ensure that if they are serious about building the line, we get the best deal possible for the environment and the people of Birmingham. Far preferable in the thoughts of our group is dealing with local rail provision, so we continue pushing for that in consultations with transport providers and politicians.

With Heathrow’s third runway now appearing to be destined for the dustbin of history, we have a big challenge in fighting off further expansion at Birmingham International Airport. The campaign we ran on this attracted a lot of attention when the planning application was going through and now we are pushing hard to ensure that state aid is not given by the Council to allow it to go ahead. See the article later for a flavour of the press coverage on this.

The 20’s Plenty Campaign is still going well as you can see from the main article and the great response

2

we had to our drawing competition for primary schools.

Local Shops and Food In order to help understand the needs of farmers and build coalitions with them to help us achieve our campaign goals, the group have been out to a farm near Pershore this month, as well as trying to speak to people at farmers’ markets. The sustainable livestock bill that we’ve been campaigning for over the last year or so may come up in the members’ bills ballot soon if we can keep it at the forefront of MPs’ minds, so we are hopeful of making progress with bringing planet-friendly farming to the UK.

3

Campaigns Digest We have also been building up better links with people who are doing projects to grow more food around the city of Birmingham in allotments and spaces. Our outreach officers have been helping people in more areas to gain access to such projects and the knowledge needed to set them up.

The Happily Ever Crafter Group has been going from strength to strength on the third Monday of each month.

Energy and Climate Change The group have been scrutinising the Council’s Climate Change Action Plan to see how it can be improved in the review stages that will be forthcoming (although as yet it is unclear exactly how this will work and when). It is very encouraging that Birmingham finally has a framework establishing responsibility for action on carbon reduction with members of the executive and not just the climate change officer.

Following the election work will go on to forge relationships with the

4

continued

new councillors and MPs to ensure that stronger commitments are made on ensuring we decrease our reliance on fossil fuels and play our part in reducing carbon emissions in line with the latest science.

Crafting/Recycling The Happily Ever Crafter Group has been going from strength to strength on the third Monday of each month. Some of the items made were also sold at our Green Spring Fair, which was held very successfully at The Prince of Wales in Moseley on 24th April. That was held with the Moseley Swap Shop which happens every fourth Saturday of the month alongside the Farmers’ Market. It has been so successful that there have been offers to take it out into other places. Get in touch if you’d like to help out.

Faith and Climate Change There is a separate article this month detailing the work of our award-winning Faith and Climate Change Project, so please see that for an update.

In the Media - The Runway Saga New Twists and Turns.

After the application for Birmingham International Airport’s (BIA) runway extension was approved, Advantage West Midlands was supposed to be providing £25 million to assist with moving the A45, but this didn’t happen, so now we are trying to ensure that taxpayers’ money is not spent on this when savage spending cuts are expected at Birmingham City Council.

This has generated a lot of press column inches and here’s a taste of it: In an article on the BBC website in November, Mick Laverty, Chief Executive of Advantage West Midlands, said “I won’t pretend it’s easy to get the money into an airport project, these are heavily scrutinised projects and airport investment is scrutinised more than most investment.”

It seems they couldn’t get it passed, so the story switched to Birmingham and Solihull Councils jointly funding it and the scandal became public “The city council’s commitment to diverting the A45 has angered environmentalists, with Friends of the Earth describing the proposal as a ‘highly questionable use of public funds’.” (Birmingham Post, 31 March) After the funding was approved in cabinet (in private without disclosing the evidence used in a private report) we were again quoted in the Birmingham Post dismissing the economic case: “How can we believe

Birmingham Airport, a company whose own estimates range from economic benefits from the runway extension of £500 million to £1 billion and the creation of 21,000 jobs in some interviews, but down to only 2 500 in the most recent one?”

On 15 April an article said that “BIA, Birmingham City Council and regional development agency Advantage West Midlands have been rattled by a reinvigorated Friends of the Earth anti-runway campaign.”

We view this as a compliment on how well we’ve got the issue back up the public agenda, indicating that we’re winning the argument.

An editorial on 23 April in the Birmingham Post bore this out as they described us as part of “the extremist green lobby” and said “The organisation should come clean about its agenda for Birmingham Airport, which it is safe to assume does not simply stop at opposing the runway extension.”

We responded, as did a few others in letters supporting our position, so the debate continues. We are building a bigger alliance now than before after Heathrow’s third runway has been cancelled and the attention for aviation campaigners nationally has switched to regional airports.

Joe Peacock

5

The City Centre Swap Shop The shops and companies here have all come together because they are dedicated to working towards a healthier, more organic city.

So if you want to help make Birmingham a cleaner, greener place to live, or you just want to eat some good vegetarian food, then come to The Warehouse and see what’s going on.

SPROCKET Cycles

Sales, service, repairs, accessories. Bikes also built to your own specifications.

Established over 15 years ago in the Friends of the Earth Building in Birmingham The Warehouse Café has a reputation as a quality provider of vegetarian and vegan food in Birmingham.

“Real people serving real food with local, organic and fair trade leading the way” Guardian Unlimited.

To see the delicious menu go to www.thewarehousecafe.com For bookings and enquires Telephone 0121 633 0261 Email info@thewarehousecafe.com

6

For one Sunday The Moseley Swap Shop branched out, managing to infiltrate the infamous capital of consumerism that is Birmingham Bullring! Set up at the back of C.i.B.* we had a small space, just a couple of tables crammed full of things leftover from the monthly Moseley Swap Shop at the Prince of Wales. At first I was nervous that we would be lost in the vastness of the Bullring but as more and more people turned up bringing donations and taking stuff away I was caught up in just how unique what we are doing is to Birmingham! People who stumbled across us seemed amazed at the concept of freetail but once it was explained they were more than happy to get involved.

The event was organised at short

notice so although I advertised it as much as I could I am sorry if you missed out on it but please do come along to the next Moseley Swap Shop on the fourth Saturday of the month, 12 until 5pm at The Prince of Wales, Moseley! *Our thanks to Created in Birmingham for having us, if you haven’t been they are an amazing shop (in the Bullring) selling work by local artists. They were opposite the Mac shop but are closing for the summer then rumoured to be moving to a bigger store within the Bullring!

Beth Fisher For further information please email Beth Fisher at fisher_woman@live. co.uk

Open Wednesday to Saturday, 10am-4pm 0121 633 0730

• 100% vegetarian and vegan • A Large selection of organic and fairtrade products, most supplied and delivered by a workers co-operative • Vegan owners - no meat or dairy products sold Open Monday to Saturday, 10am-5pm

7

Sustainable Moseley to lead Resident University Study Visit Resident University was conceived to help active citizens to make the most of their skills, to enhance their involvement in paid and unpaid work and to amplify the positive effects that they already have in their communities by sharing them with one another – including in the vital area of sustainability.

So in late July, Sustainable Moseley (SusMo) will be inviting fellow sustainability groups and other interested parties on a Resident University ‘walking bus’ tour of elements of their Green Streets project, which has seen the group work with British Gas to help selected community buildings and homes in Moseley to generate renewable energy and become more energy efficient.

The experiences that SusMo and their partners (including St. Mary’s Church, Hamza Mosque and the MADAHAL allotments) have had during the Green Streets project will help other groups to gain a unique insight into the reality of managing a project like this. SusMo is currently in the middle of an unusual experience for a small community group – working with a large, national partner (British Gas), managing a large budget, and experiencing the issues and pitfalls that are associated with such projects, particularly regarding the planning issues surrounding microgeneration in a conservation zone.

Indeed, the project hit a significant

8

barrier, when planning permission for a photovoltaic array on St. Mary’s Church was refused on conservation grounds.

The group has also demonstrated an ability to approach and influence those with power Not that this is all about the barriers and difficulties – the project has already achieved much in terms of the people it has brought together, who show diversity of view, age and ethnicity.

This links into the important community engagement element of the project, and the behavioural changes associated with living sustainably will be an important part of the study visit. SusMo has form in the area of community engagement, and has been steadily building on it. The group has also demonstrated an ability to approach and influence those with power and will be able to pass on such useful skills to others.

If anyone is interested in getting involved with this initiative, please contact Claire Spencer at claire@ chamberlainforum.org Claire Spencer

Appeal for Volunteers Do you have experience of working with children or young people?

Could you work with a team of other volunteers to produce fun and interesting materials for green lessons to help our ecoambassadors scheme?

We are developing materials for a project that will help all schools throughout Birmingham to reach the highest possible levels in the eco-schools awards. For this, we need educators who can both help design the materials and also potentially go into schools to deliver workshops.

If you feel you have the necessary skills, contact karl@birminghamfoe. org.uk for more details.

9

Zero Waste?

Waste – what is it? It may be a truism to say that waste is simply what gets thrown away, but the make-up of what gets thrown away is often quite revealing.

What makes something waste is not necessarily what it is made of, or what it started out as, but how it is treated; it is people’s perception of stuff, in its simplest form, that determines whether it is waste or not. If an item is put to good use, it is not wasted; whether or not it was originally intended for this purpose. Once an item has been deemed useless by its owner, and it is consigned to the rubbish bin, it becomes waste, obsolete, regardless of how it started out.

The production and deployment of more stuff – as opposed to reusing what already exists – is surely the cause of most waste in the world today. There are many complex reasons behind the unnecessary manufacturing of stuff and these do not have easy answers. They are embedded in the capitalist society we live in, with notions of fashion and novelty reoccurring on a daily basis.

What do we need to do to have zero waste? Is zero waste really a possibility? The ultimate and rather daunting answer is that the idea of zero waste will remain totally unfeasible until we see major changes in attitudes and the entire structure of society.

Mountains of unnecessary goods

10

with built-in obsolescence will continue to be produced until it stops being profitable to do so.

Recycling all your packaging is all well and good but by that stage an enormous amount of energy and resources has already gone into its production. It is, however, one possible route into a more responsible approach to all the excess stuff that is currently clogging up the planet. At least being aware that most things shouldn’t end up in the rubbish bin

What do we need to do to have zero waste? Is zero waste really a possibility?

is one small step on the way to sustainability. Involving people with a positive message and making the task seem achievable is vital to keep a wayward public on board.

Perhaps one large reason why we create so much waste is a lack of information about the processes behind it, and about the alternatives. If people were properly educated on these issues it might help empower them to translate thoughts into action.

After BFOE were visited by a

representative from Birmingham City Council’s waste and recycling team, it became clear how little resources were available for improved investment into research and wider information access. Such things would in all likelihood have little dramatic impact but might at least contribute to a gradual process of behavioural change.

The place to tackle for maximum impact has to be the start of the waste ladder – the production of so much excess stuff. As consumers, in some respect we have ultimate power over this but we are constrained by so many factors and the difficulty of collective action that we often feel completely powerless. I might suggest that this is where strong government has a role to play, by introducing careful legislation addressing the type of materials that are used and putting the onus for disposing of waste onto the manufacturers at the point of origin, thus creating incentives to use less and

build things to be longer-lasting.

At BFOE we run a monthly Swap Shop on the fourth Saturday in Moseley to ensure things get reused as much as possible, as well as a craft group “Happily Every Crafter” on the third Monday that makes recycling fun and creative.

Hopefully, these can be replicated across the city, so more “waste” avoids just being discarded and people see value in it.

Whatever happens it is clear that we are a long way off from zero waste, but however unlikely it seems it is still a desirable goal and hopefully we are taking steps in the right direction to achieve it.

Roxanne Green

Whatever happens it is clear that we are a long way off from zero waste 11

What would safer streets in Birmingham look like? Continued from front page The UK has the second lowest overall number of road related fatalities in the world, just behind the Netherlands.

Not bad, you might think, but it has a very much higher fatality rate for pedestrians, children and those living in deprived areas. We rank seventeenth in figures compiled across the world of child pedestrian fatality rates - falling behind France, Germany and the USA, to name a few. The UK has the poorest record in Western Europe.

It is easy to see why people are hesitant to cycle to work or allow children to cycle to school; encouraging people to adopt sustainable travel must also entail improving safety for users.

Engineering physically calmed zones is expensive, however an alternative scheme that is up and running in Portsmouth and Oxford offers an effective and cheaper alternative.

20’s Plenty Where People Live, is a scheme that aims to make streets safer for people whether walking, cycling or playing by creating a blanket 20mph speed limit on residential streets and non-arterial roads. I recently visited Portsmouth to attend a conference organised by the Cycling Touring Club and high on the agenda was Portsmouth’s authority wide adoption of a 20mph speed limit.

The conference offered an opportunity to analyse a review

12

carried out by the Department for Transport in 2009. It found that there had been a 15% reduction in casualties1. The greatest effect in reducing speeds was on roads that had speed problems: an average drop of 7 mph on roads that previously had average speeds of 24mph or higher. Overall, they found it had resulted in lower levels of noise pollution and a better quality of life. The findings have led to the DfT issuing new guidelines recommending 20mph limits for residential and non-arterial roads across the country. Portsmouth has set the precedence and now other cities have either begun introducing similar schemes or are planning to run pilots. The success

of Portsmouth’s scheme is due in a large part to local community support. Communities have to taken ownership of their streets and the responsibility for driving safely.

The greatest effect in reducing speeds was on roads that had speed problems: an average drop of 7 mph on roads that previously had average speeds of 24mph or higher.

The skeptic may say it won’t work without physical traffic calming measures but, having spent the weekend cycling around as much of Portsmouth as I could, I found the opposite to be true. Drivers, pedestrians and cyclists seem to interact slightly differently at slower speeds; you notice that drivers are making much more eye contact with you as you travel around the city.

Although my iPod Touch does not yet offer a speed camera app, the traffic did seem to be flowing and travelling at the safer speeds that the DfT report had found.

What might slower speeds and safer roads in Birmingham be like?

The scheme would see the majority of roads in Birmingham having set speed limits of 20mph while arterial routes such as the Bristol Road and the Hagley Road would remain at higher speeds. Journey times would not increase by a great deal for those still using cars. Most houses are within a 1/3 of a mile of an arterial route, travelling that distance at 20mph as oppose to 30mph adds just twenty seconds to most journey times2. With a city wide adoption, as opposed to speed zones in certain areas, drivers would know that within residential areas anti-social speeds were not acceptable. Introducing a 20mph speed limit also has the potential to reduce levels of particulate pollution being emitted by vehicles as well as lowering noise levels3.

Ultimately, the introduction of a city wide 20mph speed-limit would encourage a modal shift to other forms of transport, as well as creating a healthier environment in which communities could thrive.

The introduction of slower speeds would also offer the potential to introduce shared spaces, something that is already being proposed in some areas of Birmingham.

Shared Space is an approach to urban design that seeks to remove clutter and barriers between pedestrians, cars and cyclists. The result is areas where road users must navigate around each other

13

What would safer streets in Birmingham look like? Continued from page 13 based along simple principles, such as giving way to vehicles coming from the right. Although it is somewhat counter-intuitive it has led to lower levels of accidents when introduced, forcing drivers to be more alert of pedestrians and other road users. Kensington High Street introduced a shared space/ naked road scheme that illustrates the improvement. In 1999/2000 there were over 150 accidents, 17 of those serious. In 2007/2008, after shared space design was in place, that figure dropped by two thirds to 53 accidents - 11 of them serious. Acocks Green Focus Group have investigated the potential for introducing it to the green island area and Moseley Forum are considering using shared space design principles to improve Moseley Village. Both shared space and 20’s Plenty can make a real difference to road safety and aiding a modal shift to sustainable transport, but to implement requires the council to support the scheme.

Currently Birmingham City Council will only support 20mph speed limits in certain areas

Currently Birmingham City Council will only support 20mph speed limits in certain areas, mostly around schools. Despite over 500 letters being sent to the council, and the change of advice from the DfT approving the introduction of 20mph speed limits on residential and non-arterial routes, there seems to be no interest in exploring this scheme other than in a limited, ineffective zone scheme. The main reason given is that it would not be cost-effective to implement. It does not require the introduction of traffic calming measures, nor does it entail approval from the Secretary of State for Transport.

The cost- estimated at £2.7 million

by Birmingham City Council - is nowhere near the estimated £32 million being earmarked for the widening of the A45 road to Birmingham Airport.

It does not matter that the scheme does not meet with approval from the Council because it is really about the whole Birmingham community. If, as one big community, we demand the same levels of road safety as other cities, and take responsibility for our own speed, then it can become a reality.

[1] http://www.20splentyforus.org.uk/ portsmouth.htm [2] Rod King- 20’s Plenty- How everyone wins- Talk given at Portsmouth CTC Annual Conference 2010.

[3] http://www.guardian.co.uk/ environment/2010/apr/19/ask-leo-20mphspeed-limits-pollution

14

Should we Spend £30bn on High Speed Rail?

Before the election, the previous government put forward its plans for HS2, the high speed rail network that it said will revolutionise the transport system in the UK and lead to lower carbon alternatives being more attractive than flying.

The main parties all seem to be agreeing with the principle of HS2, but there is some disagreement about where and how quickly it will be built. Opposition amongst people who live along the proposed route has been very vociferous, but amongst environmental groups there hasn’t been as much made of the flaws in the plan as expected.

The trouble seems to be that people are starting from the wrong question to get High Speed Rail as the answer.

If the question was “How can we best de-carbonise our transport system?” would the answer be by building HS2?

If the question was “How can we get people about and use the space most efficiently in our largest cities?”, would the answer be by building HS2?

If the question was “How can we invest money in the transport network to benefit the largest possible number of people?” would the answer be by building HS2?

For all these questions, the answer, sadly, would be no.

In terms of low carbon transport, one of the first things we will need to ask is how are these trains going to be powered and where will that power come from. The generation of electricity is usually high in carbon and very wasteful. We don’t generate very much electricity from within the West Midlands and we have a woeful record in delivery of electricity from renewables.

Do we want to become dependent on forms of electricity generation such as nuclear power or new “clean” coal-fired power stations, just to enable us to travel that bit faster to a place we can already travel to, by at least three train options, with a staggering variety of prices?

Friends of the Earth’s briefing on HS2 states: “£2billion would pay for a 10 year phased roll out of ‘Smarter Travel Choices’ schemes across the UK. These schemes use marketing and promotion to cut car journeys by encouraging walking, cycling and public transport use.

The Committee on Climate Change estimates that this would save 2.9MillionTonnes (Mt) of CO2 per year while the line to Birmingham would save a maximum of 0.41Mt (if any at all).”

Transport demand is linked to economic growth by most economists and looking backwards is the easy way to look forwards.

However, there is another way – by back-casting not forecasting. In the former, we say where we want

15

Faith and Climate Change Out and About to be in 20 years time and start moving there from today, with a route map, and measure progress along the way. So, we may say, as the economic strategy states, that we want to move to a low carbon economy. What do we do today to enable that to happen and start that journey now?

We need to use all our existing infrastructure much more efficiently, not just our rail network.

We need to use all our existing infrastructure much more efficiently, not just our rail network.

Car sharing would be one way of creating space on our road network.

There are miles of underused rail tracks across the Midlands, so could we not start to explore renewed rail on these? Indeed, by utilising some of these lines we could create space on other lines such as the West Coast Mainline to enable existing trains to go a bit faster, although not as fast as HS2.

Then, there is the role of ICT and multimedia technology. What

16

will the impact of High Speed Broadband be on the business travel market? If Prince Charles can use a hologram instead of travelling to a conference in Dubai then maybe we should all be thinking of reducing our collective wants to travel.

Transport funding is going to be hit hard. Would this be a project that you would keep when we should really be questioning the need to travel, and conducting a full analysis of our relationship with speed? For many of the reasons stated above, it does seem very hard to justify with such minimal benefits and in such a small country.

Despite the enthusiasm of political and business leaders in Birmingham, we remain very sceptical about whether it will just create another commuter belt for the South East and, overall, could actually make people here worseoff.

There is a very important discussion to be had on how we can transport people around in a world of diminishing resources (and how much). We are yet to be convinced that HS2 provides value for money, or a win for the planet, at a time when we need to take urgent action to preserve a stable climate.

Joe Peacock FoE briefing: http://www.foe.co.uk/ resource/briefings/high_speed_rail. pdf

On 2nd May, the Faith and Climate Change Project took over part of Cannon Hill Park alongside the Friends of the Park for the Family May Day Festival. Despite the chilly weather, the day was a success with people enjoying the stalls and activities our volunteers so kindly provided.

Participating organisations included Northfield EcoCentre, Birmingham & District Allotment Council, Jubilee Debt Campaign, Young People’s Arts Hub, Celebrating Sanctuary and OPAL. One particularly successful aspect was Faith and Climate Change’s wall of peace. People were asked to ‘leaf a thought’ on peace and peace in the park. They were attached to a wall where people could wander through and read at their leisure.

These leaves have since been made into a display for the reception at the Warehouse. If anyone would like to add to it, there is still space to do so, so feel free to pop in and ‘leaf a thought’. Some of the children had a great time playing BFOE’s food chain snakes and ladders game whilst learning interesting facts and information. The kids (young and old) also enjoyed planting seeds at Birmingham and Midland’s Allotment Council’s stall, which they could then take home to watch as they grow.

The team has several other fun days out planned in the coming months.

5th June is World Environment Day and there will be a climate change festival in the city centre with activities planned including an eco-carnival and various marquees.

Our marquee will feature a display/ multimedia area with displays from the six main faith groups of Birmingham on their work to aid the environment and energy efficiency.

We will also include a multi-media element, showing a series of prerecorded interviews with people of faith and their thoughts and messages. There will be a quiet vigil area welcoming all faiths to come forward and offer their thoughts and prayers. Another element of the marquee will be a recycled/ craft area encouraging participants to visualise how faith and climate issues interact. The Muslim Youth Work Foundation has agreed to run some of their ‘Art of Junk’ workshops.

We are also beavering away planning for an eco fair event on 10th July in Solihull’s Mell Square together with the Solihull Faith Forum Eco Group and Solihull Friends of the Earth. It will feature stalls from eco-aware initiatives throughout Solihull and displays from local schools.

For further information or to get involved in any of these initiatives relating to faith and climate change, please contact sean@ faithandclimatechange.org Sean Howitt

17

Birmingham Friends of the Earth

Fundraiser Birmingham has more miles of canals than Venice. This low cost transport network, the equivalent of today’s motorways fuelled the industrial revolution. Most are now quiet back waters, linear arms of the country that penetrate deep into the city.

Never dull, the back drop varies from rural to industrial heritage and then to state of the art development.

We

invite you on

this walk/run with a difference exploring

Britain’s second city from a new perspective.

The route is a 26.2 mile circular walk taking in the Tame Valley Canal, Grand

Union Canal, Cole Valley Way, Stratford Avon Canal, Birmingham & Worcester Canal and Fazeley Canal, finally returning to Alexander Stadium via the Tame Valley Canal. It passes Sarehole Mill (inspiration to Tolkien’s Middle Earth), Gas Street Basin, home of the International Convention Centre award winning Brindley Place development, and under the dark bowels of spaghetti junction. The route involves crossing very few roads, barely a stile and on

probably the least ascent and descent you will do this year!!

2010

annual general meeting 14th June - 7.30

We are due to hold our annual general meeting, which this year is happening on the 14th of June in the meeting room at Birmingham Friends of the Earth’s building on Allison Street.

Everyone is invited, but only shareholders are allowed to vote. If you are interested in becoming a shareholder, then please contact the general manager using the details at the back of this newsletter.

Shares in our not for profit community co-operative cost £1 and each person is entitled to one vote no matter how many shares they have.

We will be reporting on how we have done financially, environmentally and socially throughout 2009 as well as electing our chairperson, treasurer, secretary and management committee.

It is a pretty packed and exhausting night, so we encourage people to bring food and drinks to share.

18

Infant Potty Training and the Environment

My daughter, Rose, was 10 weeks old when she first asked to use the toilet. I had taken her to the park in her pushchair for an autumnal walk with my husband. Suddenly Rose shouted “A!” and started jiggling about, squirming frantically as if she had a sore behind. We rushed home and dashed to the bathroom. To my surprise her nappy was dry. I lifted her up and, cuddling her with her back to me, supporting her legs on one arm, I held her bottom over the loo. A huge wee gushed out.

She raised her little head and grinned at me. “A!” she said again. From then on, that was her signal that she needed to wee. At 16 weeks she added the word “poo” to her vocabulary.

It’s still hard to believe it now.

We had read about elimination communication or “infant potty training”, tried it, and we were amazed to find how well it worked for us.

We were certain that the method would reduce the environmental impacts of our baby’s toileting.

We had very many clean dry days and were able to give up daytime nappies altogether when Rose was 19 months old. But until then we did need some kind of nappy for the times when either Rose or I was distracted or asleep, or just too slow. We tried several types of cloth nappies but had show-stopping problems with all of them, so we

used disposables. It was not until after Rose was out of nappies that we found out we changed her much more often than most parents.

Instead of waiting until the nappy was heavy, we changed it whenever it was wet. In total that meant that we used as many disposable nappies as the average baby, compressed into a shorter time.

We were certain that the method would reduce the environmental impacts of our baby’s toileting.

Since then, we have found some cloth nappies that probably would have been suitable. If we had been using them, the extra wet nappy changes would not have had a significant additional impact. For us, elimination communication certainly did drastically reduce the number of dirty nappies - a benefit both for us and the environment. What I’m intrigued to know now is: how many babies would it work for?

Celia Jones

19

Volunteer Spotlight Joe Peacock interviews Roxanne Green

Campaign Meetings

like the ideal place to get some experience.

Monday Night Meetings – 7:30pm at the Birmingham FoE Warehouse, Allison St Tuesday 1st June – Local Shops & Food Action Group 7th June – General Meeting 14th June – Annual General Meeting 21st June – Happily Ever Crafter and Energy & Climate Change Action Group 28th June – Transport Action Group 5th July – General Meeting 12th July – Speaker meeting - tba 19th July – Happily Ever Crafter and Local Shops & Food Action Group 26th July - Transport and Energy & Climate Change Action Groups

What do you do at BFoE? So far I’ve mostly just helped out where another pair of hands is needed at stalls and things; I’ve been involved in organising the

I’d become increasingly interested in environmental issues so it seemed like the ideal place to get some experience.

How long have you been involved with BFoE? About two years.

How did you first find out about BFoE and what made you decide to get involved?

I had to do a placement as part of my MSc course; my friend Maud runs the Faith & Climate Change project so I knew about the organisation through her. I’d become increasingly interested in environmental issues so it seemed

20

Other Events 5th-7th June – Birmingham Climate Change festival 10th June – 6.15pm BFoE Strategy Meeting 19th June – Billesley Lane Allotments open day 20th June – Woodbrooke open Day 26th June – Moseley swap Shop and Kingfisher Country Park 25th anniversary event 3rd-4th July – Mostly Jazz Festival, Moseley 23rd July – Anchor Organic Beer festival with BFoE organic BBQ 24th July – Moseley Swap Shop

Christmas and Spring fairs and I’m working on the radio show that we’re putting together. I am taking over as campaigns coordinator which will mean keeping an eye on the strategic direction of campaigns.

See Northfield Eco Centre for workshops www.northfieldecocentre.org/

Farmers’ Market

Bearwood: 3rd Saturday of the month 9am-4pm Birmingham University: 4th Wednesday of the month 9am-2pm Harborne: 2nd Saturday of the month 9am-2pm Kings Heath: 1st Saturday of the month 9am-3:30pm Kings Norton: 2nd Saturday of the month 9am-2pm Moseley: 4th Saturday of the month 9am-3pm New Street: 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month 10am-4pm Solihull: 1st Friday of the month 9am-5pm Sutton Coldfield: 2nd Friday of the month 9am-3pm Jewellery Quarter: 3rd Saturday of the month 10am-3pm

What do you think is the most important environmental issue and why?

Climate change - because of the amount of suffering it will cause.

What’s your best green tip/ advice?

Stop buying stuff.

21

21

Become a Supporter...

We are the only organisation in Birmingham that campaigns on Climate Change, Transport, Local Shops, Planning, Waste and Recycling.

You can help us do this in a number of ways; 1.) By taking part in or our campaigns 2.) By joining us 3.) Both Whichever route you decide, you are helping to change your environment for the better. Making sure that those who pollute, monopolise or despoil locally, nationally or internationally are accountable. There are two ways to join us...

Either I wish to become a Golden Supporter with payments by standing order of £2 per month or more.

Or I wish to become an Annual Supporter, paying by standing order / cheque (Please delete as appropriate. Note that standing orders are cheaper for us to process).

Annual supporter fees are a minimum of: • £16 (waged) • £10 (unwaged) • £20 (joint/family)

Please return with standing order or cheque to: Secretary, Friends of the Earth, 54-57 Allison Street, Digbeth, Birmingham B5 5TH.

Contact Details Full name: ..........................................

Address: ............................................ .........................................................

Town:................... Postcode: ...............

Telephone: .........................................

E-mail: ..............................................

Standing Order Form Sort Code (if known): .........................

Your name/ Account name: .................

Your account number: ........................

Bank Name/Address: ......................... .......................................................

Please pay the sum of £ every month/year (delete as appropriate) starting on ____/____/_________

Contact us:

- Education

Chair: Benjamin Mabbett Campaigns Co-ordinators: Mary Horesh & Richard Sagar Campaigns Support Worker: Joe Peacock Environmental Outreach Officers: Karl Whale & Mark Brookes General Manager: Phil Burrows Treasurer: Margaret Lynch Aviation: Joe Peacock Climate Change & Energy: Richard Sagar Multi-faith and Climate Change Project: Rianne ten Veen & Maud Grainger Craft, Recycling and Swap Shop: Beth Fisher Local Shops & Food: Mary Horesh & Nigel Baker Planning: John Hall Transport: Martin Stride Newsletter Editors: Katy Barry Zoe Wright Antonio Roberts Website Editor: Phil Burrows Talks: Joe Peacock and others

- Empowering others to take action

All enquiries and callers welcome.

- Participation and representation through public fora

Find us on page 74 of the B’ham

Friends of the Earth (Birmingham) The Warehouse 54-57 Allison Street Birmingham B5 5TH Tel: (0121) 632 6909 Fax: (0121) 643 3122 E-mail: info@birminghamfoe.org.uk Web: www.birminghamfoe.org.uk

Friends of the Earth is: - The largest international network of environmental groups in the world, represented in 72 countries.

- One of the UK’s leading enviromental pressure groups.

Account no: 50 72 58 30 Sort Code: 08-60-01

- A unique network of campaigning local groups, working in more than 200 communities in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Unity Trust Bank, 9 Brindley Place, 4 Oozells square, Birmingham B1 2HE

- Over 90% of its funds come from its supporters.

This replaces any previous standing order in favour of Friends of the Earth Birmingham.

Birmingham FoE:

To: Friends of the Earth Birmingham Ltd.,

Signature: ...................... Date: .........

Campaigns at a local level to effect environmental change (in ways which feed into national and international policy) through: - Direct action - Lobbying

A-Z, grid ref: 4A

23

Printed on 100% Recycled Paper Using Vegetable Based Inks

Birmingham Friends of the Earth