Birmingham Friends of the Earth Summer/Autumn 2019 Newsletter

Birmingham

friends of the earth Newsletter, 2019

Young People of Birmingham

Clean Air Zone Delayed Page 8

Nurture Nature Event Page 16

Youth Climate Strike Page 21

Contents Campaigns Digest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Clean Air Zone Delayed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Walking and Cycling Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Why Should We Go Car-Free? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Recycling Food Waste: Why not just do it ourselves? . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Nature Nurture Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Young People of Birmingham Stand Up for Nature . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Birmingham Youth Strike for Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Dream Green . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 All Saints Kings Heath Youth Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Small Things Like Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 30 Days Wild 2019 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Eco Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 RHS School Gardener of the Year Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 The Health of the Planet in Birmingham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Diary Dates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Contact Us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Follow us on Twitter @Bham_FOE and Facebook www.facebook.com/birminghamfoe to keep up to date with our latest campaigns news. For more in-depth information on our campaigns take a look at our website www.birminghamfoe.org.uk

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Campaigns Digest

Photo by Libby Harris

By Libby Harris

Hello and welcome to our summer newsletter. What an exciting time we have had at BFoE over the past few months! Our Nurture Nature Day was a success despite the odd rain shower and our new Climate Change Campaign is really starting to take shape. We have some great events planned over the coming months and we hope to see you there!

In this special edition we have articles written by young people, including an articles from: Olivia,

one of the Birmingham Youth Strike For Climate campaigners , the importance of nature written

by Alice (daughter of our very own campaigner Stuart), a report on a family that took part in 30 Days Wild (run by The Wildlife Trust), 2 articles from the Community Environment Trust (CET) in Castle Vale, an interview with the Eco Council from Allens Croft Primary School in Kings Heath and a letter from a young Birmingham resident who is concerned about the health of our planet.

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Air Pollution

sprung into action and have been contacting Birmingham MPs to put pressure on central government to ensure they provide all necessary support to Birmingham City Council.

Find out more about the delay in Martin’s article.

Our air pollution campaign has evolved and will form part of our Climate Change Campaign in which we will be highlighting how emissions from cars is one of the biggest factors driving climate change.

Climate Change

Alongside this, we are keeping a close eye on the development of the Clean Air Zone (CAZ). We were disappointed to learn that the charging CAZ will be delayed until June 2020 at the earliest. On hearing the news, our air pollution volunteers

We were pleased when Birmingham City Council passed the Climate Emergency Motion back in June and we have been working informally with groups from across the city to ensure the council puts a strong, sustainable plan in place.

At the time of writing, our Climate Change Campaign is really kicking off. Our main focus is ensuring that Birmingham City Council delivers on their Climate Emergency Motion.

This is a really exciting time for the campaign and we would welcome new people to get involved.

Nature I’m pleased to say that our Nurture Nature Day at the end of July was a success! Read all about it in Cath’s article.

As part of our work with the Greener Birmingham Coalition, our nature campaigning over the summer has focused on the Big Green Conversation and we have been out and about talking to residents about their vision for Birmingham. The survey came to a close at the end of September.

Our work won’t end there, keep an eye out for a report due out in November and information about our People’s Summit.

Transport We have continued to engage with residents and businesses along the Dudley Road to highlight the negative impacts of the road widening proposals.

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Alongside this we have responded to a number of consultations including The Walking and Cycling Strategy which you can read all about in John’s article.

Waste Our waste campaigners met with Federico who is looking to start up a domestic food waste collection, read all about it in Federico’s article.

How you can get involved We always welcome new people and there are many different ways you can get involved with our campaigns. Whether you have an hour or two to spare or a whole day, please get in touch or come along to any of our weekly Monday meetings (contact and meeting details on the diary page).

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BIRMINGHAM DECLARES CLIMATE EMERGENCY On Tuesday 11th July 2019 Birmingham City Council declared a climate emergency, committing to the following aspirations and actions: >A City and Council that are net zero carbon by 2030 > A just transition to net zero carbon > Formation of a cross sector Climate Emergency Task Force to help the Council move from declaration to action > A review of all planned Housing, Transport, Waste and Energy Investment policies to ensure that they support the just transition to a zero-carbon future for the city.

The climate emergency declaration is a vital and historic statement of intent that Birmingham should be proud of. The City now has the opportunity to take the action that is so urgently needed and model best practise for other local authorities across the UK. The people of Birmingham now need to work hard to hold their councillors to account. These ambitious plans are exactly what is needed, so we must push them to deliver on their commitments.

Birmingham Friends of the Earth will be giving Birmingham residents the opportunity to get involved in a number of different ways. If you are interested, sign up to our mailing list at www.birminghamfoe.og.uk and/or come along to one of our campaign meetings. We meet every Monday, 7.30pm at The Warehouse on Allison Street, Digbeth.

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www.birminghamfoe.org.uk @Bham_foe facebook.com/birminghamfoe

SZ N #} M X_N g#\OX.rXP gX^MNP U P P O R T We are the only organisation in Birmingham that campaigns on Air Quality, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Energy, Transport, Planning, Waste and Recycling.

You can help us to do this in a number of ways: Take part in our campaigns.

Join us as a supporter.

Make a donation.

Or you could receive our email updates and decide what you want to do when you know us a bit better.

Whichever way you get involved, you are helping to make Birmingham green and sustainable!

For donations go to http://localgiving.com/birminghamfoe

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Clean Air Zone Delayed

By Martin Stride

In June 2019, Birmingham City Council announced that its Clean Air Zone, which it had planned to introduce in January 2020, will now be delayed until July 2020 at the very earliest. This is because the vehicle checking software needed to enforce the CAZ (the delivery of which is the responsibility of central government) will not be ready in time. The government was also responsible for delivering the system to collect payments, but it is now considering passing this responsibility onto the city council.

This will potentially add even more delay, making the introduction of the CAZ in July 2020 very optimistic.

The delay will mean that people in Birmingham will be exposed to harmful and illegal levels of NO2 for longer than is necessary which could adversely affect their health.

It is disheartening that central government continues to drag its feet on tackling air pollution, with harmful and illegal levels of NO2

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persisting in scores of towns and cities across the UK. Since 2011, the not for profit environmental lawyers, Client Earth have brought three successful legal challenges against central government’s failure to tackle these illegal levels of NO2. Each time the government has been required to produce new or amended plans to adequately address these illegal levels. It has then passed the buck to the local authorities including Birmingham City Council, requiring them to submit proposals for Clean Air Zones to very challenging deadlines. Now it would appear the government has let us down again by failing to ensure that the necessary systems it had the responsibility of delivering, would be ready in time.

Despite this setback, we trust that Birmingham City Council will continue in its quest to deliver cleaner air for everyone in the city.

While the charging element of the CAZ will be delayed, there are of course the additional measures associated with the Clean Air Zone

which the council has already committed to implement and which it will be able to crack on with. These include improving the alternatives to driving, such as making bus services more reliable by installing more bus priority measures, and continuing to develop safer and more attractive walking and cycling routes. The delay to the charging element of the CAZ will now make the need for these additional measures even more pressing.

Given the urgency of improving air quality in the city, Birmingham Friends of the Earth has written to all Birmingham MPs to ask them to take the government to task over the delay. Specifically we want our MPs to ask the government the following questions:

■

■

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W ill it provide sufficient resources and commitment to ensure that the vehicle checking software will not be delayed any further?

I f the responsibility for delivering the payment collection system is to be passed to the city council, will it provide sufficient support and resources to ensure that this is not delayed. o compensate for its part in T delaying the introduction of the vehicle charging element of the CAZ, will the government now provide additional funding for other clean air measures which could be implemented quickly.

Such measures could include funding for more zero emission taxis, and improvements to cycling and walking routes.

Take Action The government should not be allowed to drag its feet any longer over tackling poor air quality. Please ask your MP to take the government to task over the delay to the CAZ. You can use and adapt this template letter on our website. www.birminghamfoe.org.uk/news-events/news/ clean-air-zone-delayed-template-email-to-your-mp/

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Walking and Cycling Strategy John Newson

Birmingham City Council has a Walking and Cycling Strategy for the next 10 years and Birmingham Friends of the Earth made a written response. Our meeting unpacked what the council is proposing and talked through what we think of its different elements.

We are very much in support of increasing the number of journeys walked and cycled, because they are not only good for individuals, but essential for the city. This is zero carbon transport and the Council has declared a Climate Emergency, moving towards zero carbon by 2030. Fortunately, 25% of daily car journeys are only one mile or less. Bicycles already make millions of trips a year that equate to 14,462 cars a day off Birmingham’s roads, according to ‘Bike Life’ by SUSTRANS. However, currently only 3% of all trips by residents are by bike, so there is a long way to go.

with others. Walking and cycling neighbourhoods could surround train, tram and bus stops for the longer stage of your journey.

Private vehicles should be pushed out of the City Centre.

We want a visible transformation of the places where most people live and spend their time, to break the dominance of the private car, and deliver huge benefits for people and planet.

The question, realistically, is how to get the most walking and cycling for what will be limited funding over the next 10 years. What to do first, and where to do it, to get the maximum effect in “Car City”?

The Strategy contains several blue cycle tracks along arterial roads, the A38, A34 and A45. They will be visible, direct and go to important destinations, such as the city centre for commuting.

The one along the Bristol Road to Birmingham University is already encouraging cycling in that corridor.

However, such routes are expensive, because of all the engineering to protect you from the buses, lorries and junctions with fast traffic.

For the rest of the street network, a mass of small changes are required to make them safer for both pedestrians and cyclists.

Already some neighbourhoods and even High Streets are 20mph, but they need features to make drivers slow down and share Photo by John Newson

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Why Should We Go Car-Free?

Jake Yeates

Cars may be very convenient for millions of people, but they are hugely inconvenient in so many ways.

Of course, the chief reason why we oppose cars is the damage that they cause to the environment: pollutants from car exhausts cause both immediate and long-term damage to the environment (and

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to human and animal health). The emissions from cars cause acid rain, global warming and climate change. As I am sure you are aware, the current fuels on which the vast majority of cars in the world run are finite. Once they are burnt, they can’t be used again. The following harmful chemicals are emitted into the atmosphere when petrol is burned by cars’ engines:

nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and carcinogenic gases. Of course, this has a hugely damaging effect on the health of the planet, the atmosphere and thus human health – and that of all other fauna and flora. Cars also emit particulate matter (which can be deposited on soil and surface water, which can poison the entire food chain) and ozone. Emissions of nitrogen – and sulphur – oxides also cause acid rain. This alters the pH levels of our rivers, streams and lakes, which, (un)naturally, harms/ kills many of the plant and animal species which depend on these natural habitats.

and reduce the frequency of asthma attacks. Levels of cardiovascular and respiratory damage would reduce, enabling more people to live longer, healthier lives.

From a human wellbeing perspective, fewer people using cars means more people walking more (to and from work and/or the bus-stop/train station). This would have a beneficial impact upon human health and also upon local communities. People might actually start valuing their natural surroundings more – and becoming more of a part in their cleaner, greener community. Imagine that!

If the entire world were to go carfree, it is estimated that 4.6 million human lives could be saved, per year. Furthermore, far fewer people would have asthma attacks (from breathing in particulate matter from vehicle exhausts). Levels of groundlevel ozone – which contributes to chronic respiratory diseases – would reduce, further improving human health. Reducing this ozone level would increase agricultural yields and support the structure and function of ecosystems. Also, a reduction in nitrogen oxide levels in the atmosphere would improve the health of people who have asthma – 13

Recycling Food Waste

Why not just do it ourselves?

into the atmosphere. Not only can we heat and power our homes with the biogas, but the resulting organic compost can also be used on our gardens and farms to improve soil health and prevent erosion of our precious topsoil.

Then why don’t we do it? It feels like our lack of a municipal food scraps recycling scheme in Birmingham is not only nonsensical, it’s terrible for the planet. We’ve seen that introducing such a scheme has been derailed by the city council because it would be “too expensive” and that the infrastructure would “go to waste” because it has

By Federico Pettinella from Birmingham Eco

Food waste recycling has a myriad of environmental benefits and can be done in various ways, from the household to the industrial scale.

Anaerobic digestion (the breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen) and composting of food waste can avoid large amounts of greenhouse gases by capturing the methane that would be produced in landfills and using it to replace natural gas. By replacing natural gas with the biogas produced by

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been proven that people who contribute to food scrap recycling collections tend to waste less food once they see how much they produce. So, instead of griping about our purse strings and how our neighbours would waste less food than we budgeted for, let’s just do it ourselves. Birmingham is full of creative and hardworking people that want to make a positive change. We’re building a community of circular economy makers at www.birmingham.eco for the betterment of our city and the planet. Join us to help transform Birmingham into the clean, green city we know it can be.

the natural breakdown of food scraps, like coffee grounds, apple cores, and tea bags, we can heat and power our homes as part of the natural food cycle rather than extracting gases that have been outside of the natural ecosystem for millennia. By diverting our food scraps from the regular bin, we can reduce our city’s carbon footprint.

The UK’s Waste and Resource Action Programme charity (WRAP) estimates that for every 1 tonne of food scraps that are anaerobically digested instead of sent to landfill, we avoid 0.75 tonnes of CO2 going 15

Nurture Nature Event

where you could either make a pine cone hedgehog or a hedgehog home using rubbish. Greenpeace were there to talk about their ocean campaign, there was seed bomb making and we invited people to take part in The Big Green Conversation- Birmingham City Council’s consultation asking people what kind of city they would like to live in.

We also had a collaborative poem writing session, where people were invited to use their sense to compare the nature found in the garden and a plastic lawn! The idea sprang from the increasing popularity of people putting down fake grass instead of real grass or indeed, any natural plants and flowers in their gardens.

Photo by Libby Harris

Cath Palgrave

Undeterred by the slight drizzle, on Saturday 20th July, we held our Nurture Nature event in the Community Garden space. The idea was to get people, who may not normally come along to a Birmingham Friends of the Earth meeting, to come and see not only

what we are about but also to relax and simply spend time in our lovely garden- and hopefully begin to see that nature needs looking after as well as we do. After all, you won’t want to try and save what you don’t know about.

The University of Birmingham brought along hedgehog crafts, Photo by Cath Palgrave

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THE WAREHOUSE

Here is the resulting poem:

Fake Grass vs Wilderness Found Poem I’m very disappointed that people are switching to this: sterile artificial clinical uncomfortable scratchy fake plastic grass leading to fake plastic people? it makes me so angry

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Why not plant plants?

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Special Feature

Young People of Birmingham

irmingham Youth Strike for Climate Olivia Wainwright

On Friday 15th February, I sat down outside Birmingham City Council House for the first time. I was on strike from school, protesting about how little The Government are doing to tackle and even recognise the issue of climate change.

Just a month earlier, I’d never heard of Greta Thunberg or the youth-led climate movement sweeping the globe, and no idea that getting involved would change my life so much for the better. Before Greta, it felt like there was nothing I could do to make a difference. I’d been brought up in an environmentallyconscious family, so I was aware of the problems but not what I could do to make a difference. I recycled, ate a vegetarian diet, tried to be vegan and caught the bus instead of asking my parents for a lift wherever possible, but it never seemed enough…

This all changed when my father excitedly showed me a video of the then-fifteen-year-old Greta

Thunberg speaking at Davos.

Suddenly, I felt like there was something big I could do! I could raise my voice and start speaking to people in power about the need to make the large-scale changes that are irrefutably necessary. Since then I’ve met with and convinced Councillors, MPs, the West Midlands Mayor and an MEP. Having a teenage role-model who is making such a difference is incredibly inspiring, and proves to me that even though I’m still in school, I’m not too young to also make a difference. There is so much that I, and everyone else around my age, can do to make our voices heard. Every single strike is a life-affirming experience, the atmosphere is one of utmost support, passion and love for everyone there, and I am so glad that I am involved.

Join us for the next global strike on 20th September! Watch out for news of other strikes too that you can get involved in.

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ream Green Chloe Johnson

Dream Green is a youth gardening group which was set up last year

by Ben from the Community Environmental Trust. This club has given children from the local area who attend the CET play scheme, the chance to learn and expand their knowledge about gardening and how to protect nature. Over the past year, we have achieved so much. We have created an Edible Forest Garden, planted a huge variety of trees, used the no dig experiment which has been successful, created a brand new greenhouse and much more. It allows children to spend time outside doing things they enjoy and are enthusiastic for. Dream Green is also a club full of fantastic young people who’s passion for gardening is phenomenal. They are extremely hardworking and work hard to make the community garden better for other users such as primary schools in Forest schools or the residents from the local residential home. They work in the rain and in the heat and always work until the job is done.

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We have worked with the Orchard Project to learn about pruning of apples and trees and how to protect them. A group of us from the gardening club, have attended two events held by Cath from the Orchard Project. These events have taught us about pruning, pests and diseases and how to protect trees during the different seasons of the year. Lots of the community who also attended these events were impressed to see the enthusiastic input we had to the event.

When Ben mentioned first starting up Dream Green lots of children jumped at the chance to learn something new. This has now become a hobby for the regular members and we have learnt lots over this year.

Dream Green have also earned the RHS Level 1-5 of school gardening.

This had meant we have won lots of seeds and vouchers, along with certificates to remember the award by. We had a trip to a garden centre to spend our ÂŁ250 voucher to improve our community garden. It was successful!!

Photos by Cath Palgrave

Chloe Johnson is a member of the Dream Green youth gardening club run by the Community Environment Trust (CET) in Castle Vale.

For more information about their activities go to: environmentaltrust.org.uk

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ll Saints Kings Heath Youth Group Elle S.

Over the summer period at All Saints we did a series of weekly events around the theme of Climate Change. We started by creating EcoBricks; stuffing single use plastics into 2 litre bottles. We are going to use them to make stools and furniture for use in the youth project.

We then did two sessions on creating spoken word pieces to enlighten people on the effects that their actions are having on the world. We then shared the poem, reading it out as a group.

We also made a display for the Artrooms KH. We used plastics recovered from litter picks to make flowers and attached them to a frame to make a chandelier. A group of young people went out in the community to do a litter pick and to find hotspots.

We then went to Highbury Park with the Park Rangers to test what we could find in the water and 24

It’s our mission To end carbon emissions Don’t need your permission We have no superstition We need to stop fishing To keep our dreams wishing To save our planet – use less plastic Our ideas are so fantastic The ice caps are melting its drastic The temperature is up and down like elastic To end climate change use less cars We have to save this planet because we can’t live on Mars Or the stars ‘Cause life on earth is hard

Photo by Elle S.

understand the impact of litter on the eco system. We rounded it off with more litter picking.

This series of workshops was to help young people know more about climate change and the effects on the environment – but more importantly: what we can each do to help.

These projects were supported by MoseleyKings Heath Placemakers scheme and Birmingham Open Spaces Forum #InspireWithArtStopLitterInParks

We need to educate the masses About greenhouse gases Tell the lads and lasses In their school classes About climate change Why is the weather so strange?

We need to stop destroying the Earth We need to appreciate its’ worth Its vital that we recycle Why drive a car when you can cycle?

There are lots of ways we can be sustainable If we all work together We can protect the weather Its all obtainable

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mall Things Like Me Alice Minal

As I am growing up I have been taught to share and be nice by adults – but lately I have noticed that they are not doing the same.

I live by a beach. I share the beach with sea birds, creatures, people who live here and tourists. I can see the rubbish, plastic and dirty ropes that people have left there. This is very upsetting because when you think about it you realise how much it all harms our environment.

For Christmas we adopted a turtle for Daddy, he called him Cookie.

Our money goes towards keeping the Cookies in the ocean safe. My teacher told us the amount of plastic we use each year weighs more than 550,000 elephants. I don’t know if that’s true but I find it very worrying. How can the Cookies be safe with all that plastic in there?

Daddy has a sticker about fracking.

I thought it was a new band but he explained to me what it was and I think we need more grown ups to explain to us what’s going to happen with our world.

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Somewhere else I like to share is my garden. At home we grew cabbages, carrots, potatoes and tomatoes – but the rats ate them.

So, we moved them to somewhere the rats couldn’t get them. The next day we looked at them and we realised there were cabbage white butterfly eggs under the leaves. So if the rats don’t get the vegetables the caterpillars will. Mom says that’s ok because we like to share.

Photo by Alice Minal

Days Wild 2019 happening around us. It is always a very enjoyable experience and we finish the month being more aware of nature, by then we just notice it everywhere! Adam and Nelson are happy to share their experience in here.

What is 30 Days Wild?

Photo by Cath Palgrave

Yolanda (Mom), Adam (9 yrs old) and Nelson (8 yrs old)

30 Days Wild is a campaign run by The Wildlife Trusts to encourage people to get in contact with nature during the 30 days of June; this is the 5th year we have joined in.

Although we do spend a lot of time outdoors, it is indeed a challenge to find ways to connect with nature every single day. To do it, some forward planning was needed, we also had to slow down and be more willing to take the time to stop and observe our surroundings. We also did several things spontaneously just letting us being led by nature

A: 30 Days Wild is a month of experimenting and looking at and learning about wildlife.

N: 30 Days Wild is where people go to learn new things about the wild that they didn’t know before.

What did you do during 30 Days Wild?

A: I went to discover about moths and I got an ant formicarium and put some worker ants and got to see how they made tunnels. I also went to feed the ducks and saw little ducklings as they came past. I liked mulching and digging up the leaves at the Highbury Orchard, I felt like an ant worker picking up the dirt.

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has laid a couple of eggs and a couple of nanitics which are the first generation of ants.

N: I would like to carry on feeding the ducks. I want to carry on doing whittling, to make tools, I got a new whittling knife for my birthday and I will make new and better tools.

Do you think other people should do it? Why? A: I think people should do it because they will learn a lot about the wild and how everything works.

Photo by Cath Palgrave

N: I went on a foraging trip with my mom and we saw a giant hogweed plant.

What was your favourite part?

A: When we went to Kings Norton Park and I showed my ant formicarium to people and talked to them about the process of an ant colony.

N: My favourite part was eating cherries in the foraging walk.

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What else would you like to have done?

A: I wanted to have an ant colony with a queen.

N: Go to a community secret garden. Find more nature.

Was there anything you would like to carry on doing after?

A: Yes, I wanted to learn more about ants and what they find for food.

Now I have a queen and she

N: I feel like people should do 30 Days Wild because they will get more experience and will start learning new things that didn’t learn before.

from stopping litter and saving our planet. People can save the planet by using less fossil fuels.

Would you like to add anything else?

A: I think people will enjoy doing 30 Days Wild because you discover new things and get into nature. I felt great after we finished the challenge because I learnt so many new things with my mom and dad.

N: I want to do it every year because I can learn more and more about the outside world.

It is fun.

Hope you enjoyed reading their answers and that you join in the 30 Days Wild challenge next year!

Do you think 30 Days Wild is important? Why? A: Yes, I think is important because it teaches people about nature and opens their eyes to all the hidden things and fantastic living things on this planet.

N: I think is important because you learn more things about the wild then we can help the world,

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co Schools Cath Palgrave

Eco Schools was set up in 1994, as a response to the UN Rio Earth Summit of 1992. It aims to give children and teenagers an environmental voice. Practically, in the UK it is managed by ‘Keep Britain Tidy’ who oversee a set of awards that schools can work towards and show their green credentials. So far, they are over 18,600 schools registered in the UK and I chatted to some pupils from Allens Croft Primary School in Kings Heath (who currently have their bronze award and are working towards their silver) about their Eco Council, where pupils who wanted to be on the council had to write a letter explaining why and there was a school vote.

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CP: What is the Eco

Council?

EC: We are ambassadors to the school, we tell people what is going on and how they can get involved.

CP: Why did you join the

Eco Council?

EC: I like helping the environment, I like plants and trees, I wanted to do something interesting and my friends wanted to be involved too.

We have made friends by being part of it.

CP: What have you

done so far?

EC: We have already gained the bronze award by doing a green audit of the school and persuading (mainly teachers!) to turn off electrical equipment at night, turn off taps and recycle better. We also made a plan to make our school more environmentally friendly.

Photo by Yolanda

We also planted vegetables and then cooked and ate it as part of an after school gardening club (this was the best bit!). Another thing we did was arrange a watering patrol for the trees that the whole school planted so they could survive in the really hot weather.

CP: What success

have you had?

EC: Growing the food was a big success. We also entered the ‘Meal in a Barrow’ competition that was held at Gardener’s World and we came 7th!

CP: What would you like

for the future of the Eco Council?

EC: We would like it to grow, to see more pupils involved, mainly for it to carry on and get bigger!

If you would like more information about Eco Schools, go to: www.eco-schools.org.uk

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HS School Gardener of the Year Award Tyler Wilkes

Eco Schools was set up in 1994, When I found out I was a finalist in the RHS school gardener of the year I was in shock! It was a shock getting through over lots of other children and was a great feeling.

We visited RHS Wisley for the award ceremony, it was a lovely day. I was a bit nervous waiting with the other finalists. When they called my name to go and receive

my engraved trowel and certificate it was a bit scary but it was a great experience and meeting Frances Tophill was wonderful. We also had a tour of RHS Wisley which is a stunning place. Sharing the day with my mom and dad and my friend was lovely and also having Ben there to share day the with was great, knowing without him I would not of been there. Thanks Ben!

Ben is the project assistant of the Community Environment Trust (CET in Castle Vale).

He runs the group that Tyler is part of.

Photo by Cath Palgrave

he Health of the Planet in Birmingham The following article is a letter from Lauren Chapman, a young Birmingham resident who is concerned about the health of the planet. I used to be her teacher—so am very proud of her volunteering to write this letter and her eloquence.

—Cath Palgrave

Dear Miss Palgrave, I am writing to you because I heard that you are a member of green peace (Friends of the Earth—but we both do good work! editor) and so I wanted to give my opinion on the health of the planet in Birmingham.

One of my favourite places to spend my time at is Sarehole Mill and Moseley Bog, but now everytime that I go there, more so than the nature, the sheer amount of plastic litter that lines the banks of the river is disgusting and completely takes away the ‘nature’ element of it. It is everywhere.

Sometimes I go down to the banks of The River Rae, to play on the small, secret, pebble beaches that border our river and find to my horror, complete traffic cones floating dismally along. If a tree is to fall over with its branches resting in the water, hours later you will find bags upon bags worth of litter pollution tangled up in the tree branches, almost certainly killing any river life that we have left in our rivers, with its suffocating plastic bags.

This has to stop.

For more information about CET go to: environmentaltrust.org.uk

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— Lauren Mae Chapman Age: 10

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Diary Dates Campaigns meetings

BFoE events

Mondays 7:30pm

16 December BFoE Christmas Party, The Warehouse Cafe (6:30pm)

11 November Action Meeting – Climate Change Campaign 18 November Action Meeting 25 November Action Meeting 2 December General Meeting 9 December Action Meeting 16 December Christmas Party 23 December No Meeting 30 December No Meeting 6 January General Meeting These all take place at The Warehouse and are open to everyone whether or not you have been before. We have two types of meetings: 1. General meeting: First Monday of the month and involves an update on each of our campaigns 2. Action meeting: Skills share or interactive discussion, or an activity which supports one of our campaigns.

Please email info@birmimghamfoe. org.uk for up to date details.

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Contact Us

Farmers’ markets Kings Heath 1st Saturday of the month 9am–3:30pm Solihull 1st Friday of the month 9am–5pm New Street 1st & 3rd Wednesday of the month 10am–4pm Sutton Coldfield 2nd Friday of the month 9am–3pm Harborne 2nd Saturday of the month 9am–2pm Birmingham University 4th Wednesday of the month 9am–2pm Moseley Last Saturday of the month 9am–3pm

Friends of the Earth (Birmingham) The Warehouse 54-57 Allison Street Birmingham, B5 5TH Tele: (0121) 6326909 Email: info@birminghamfoe.org.uk Web: www.birminghamfoe.org.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/ birminghamfoe Twitter: @Bham_FOE Instagram: birminghamfoe 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 environmental pressure groups.

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

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

Birmingham FoE We campaign at a local level to effect environmental change (in ways which feed into national and international policy) through: • Lobbying • Education • Empowering others to take action • Participation and representation through public fora.

Contacts Campaigns Co-ordinators Molly Luke & Jodie Etheridge Campaigns Support Worker Libby Harris General Manager Richard Bickle Treasurer Margaret Lynch Air Pollution Martin Stride Climate Change & Energy Molly Luke Economic Libby Harris Nature Mark Hawkins Planning Benjamin Mabbett Waste & Recycling John Newsons Newsletter Editor Catherine Palgrave Newsletter Graphic Designer Shannon Lattin Website Editor Libby Harris Talks Libby Harris & others Administration and Facilities Offer Nasreen All enquires and callers welcome

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Volunteer

with Birmingham Friends of the Earth

Many ways to volunteer  C ome along to our Monday campaigns meeting, 7:30pm–9pm at The Warehouse, B55TH  V olunteer with our events team  V olunteer with our daytime office team

No campaigning experience or knowledge of environmental issues is necessary!

Find out about volunteering and our campaigns: Email info@birminghamfoe.org.uk Visit www.birminghamfoe.org/uk Follow us on social media

Birmingham

friends of the earth