Birmingham Friends of The Earth newsletter - Oct-Nov 2009

Birmingham Friends of the Earth, Moseley Forum and Kings Heath Centre Partnership campaigning to re-open our stations

Rail for Birmingham This summer many people have been signing letters in support of Birmingham Friends of the Earth’s (BFOE) campaign to get long-lost rail stations re-instated across South Birmingham.

Birmingham is probably the largest city in Europe without its own local rail network, to compare with the London Underground or Newcastle Metro. In our city, modern trams (also called Metro) have been promised for decades, but there seems to be no space to add a new transport system. An assessment of an underground system found it to be prohibitively expensive. So, Continued on Page 12

3 - Campaigns Digest 4

- Warehouse News

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- Faith and Climate Change

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- Guest Article - Victoria Jubilee Allotments

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- Appeal for Volunteers

10 - Make Waves for Climate Change 12

- Rail for Birmingham

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- Our Challenge to the Power 50

19 - Grumpy Greenie 20 - Volunteer in the Spotlight 21

- Diary

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- Membership Form

23 - Contacts

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Campaigns Digest Transport Local Rail – A gargantuan effort by the transport group resulted in a very detailed response to the West Midlands Rail Development Plan, calling for passenger stations to be opened on a number of lines throughout the city. Also, in a coalition with Moseley Forum and Kings Heath Business leaders we got over a thousand letters signed, which have added to the pressure being applied for the re-opening of our local stations.

In Town Without My Car Day – an inspired campaign was run targeting the Birmingham Post’s Power 50 – people with the most power and influence in the region according to the paper. Letters were sent to all these people challenging them not to use their cars on this day. The response was very positive and, after the media coverage, the council will hopefully organise an event on this day themselves next year.

20’s Plenty for Birmingham – We have around 600 letters calling for default 20mph speed limits to be introduced on all residential roads in Birmingham so far and are getting assistance from local residents groups to acquire more from target areas. There are plans for public events with prominent speakers on the subject and the building of a coalition with other charities and organisations joining our local campaign.

Better Buses for Birmingham

– We are still working hard on this campaign too, talking to people about the quality of bus services, then getting them to sign letters calling for a Statutory Bus Partnership to drive improvements on all services. You can also sign an e-petition and join a Facebook group for this campaign.

Local Shops & Food All over the summer we have been out dressed as cows and chickens getting people to sign postcards to fix the food chain. There is now also the Meat-Free Mondays event in the Warehouse Café and we are hoping to invite MPs along to speak to them there. The campaign is now moving on to the lobbying stage where we are asking MPs to commit to taking the private members bill through the House of Commons next year. Longer term plans are also being made for local food schemes.

Get Serious about CO2 The group have now developed a green manifesto for Birmingham to propose measures for hitting the 60% target for reductions in CO2 emissions by 2026. After speaking to other FoE groups, we are looking to compare ideas and ensure that what we propose is both realistic and ambitious enough to be a good campaign tool. We hope to take it out to the general public and councillors over the autumn.

Stop Climate Chaos Copenhagen

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Campaigns Digest The Wave in London on 5th December is going to be the biggest ever Climate Change demonstration before the crucial talks in Copenhagen. This group will be looking at the best way of selling tickets to go on coaches and ensure our voice is heard – see the article on this for details.

Faith and Climate Change

This award-winning project is now approaching the crucial time when it will find out whether it has won the Big Green Challenge. The judges will be here early in October, so keep your fingers crossed that all the amazing work to raise awareness of the action needed on Climate Change amongst faith communities is recognised.

One of the main things we’ve been wanting to improve to keep up with modern demands is the IT system. We now have a new server installed, so here is a summary of what and how.

Birmingham Friends of the Earth thought we would begin to share our experiences.

To keep you from turning the page immediately, we shall start with the benefits;

Explainers Open Source Software is simply software that can be read, viewed, modified, and distributed, by anyone who desires.

Ubuntu is an Open Source equivalent of Microsoft Windows that markets itself as user friendly.

A Thin Client is a computer that gets the server to do all the work for it. This means you can make lots of old slow computers work like new by passing all the work to a big powerful server.

Open source software is;

Serving Up Savings It is easy to list the reasons for why more people should adopt open source software and thin clients, but it is more difficult to explain the low uptake. So we at

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continued

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Free to purchase. Buying and continually paying to upgrade software is expensive. Open source is free though, and will allow you and your organisation to spend its budget on more

important things; •

Free to customise to your requirements.

and Thin Clients can; •

Reduce carbon emissions.

Custom-made thin clients use 90-98% less power than a normal desktop (see wyse.com or sumotech.com).

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Reduce energy bills. A North of England PCT recently switched 12,500 of its computers to thin clients, reducing electricity bills by £75,000 a year.

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Reduce excess heat - If your office gets as hot as ours in summer you will appreciate smaller computers generating less heat. Just 5 regular computers can generate the same heat as a 1kw bar heater.

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Make old computers work like new - Because the server does all the work, it means you don't need to have a superfast computer on each desk.

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Reduce maintenance - When you press update on the server, it updates all the computers at the same time. This means that less time is required to maintain the computers.

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Proven reliability - Local authorities, banks, property management groups and healthcare trusts have been using thin clients for over 10 years.

So what are the downsides?

This is where it starts to get a bit

more boring and technical. Open Source software is slightly different from Windows software and a small amount of training is needed to get used to it. For example, the open source version of Microsoft Office is called OpenOffice and it has its own file format. When you send your OpenOffice documents to other windows users, they may not be able to open them. If you change one setting (that only takes 30 seconds) then all the documents you create in OpenOffice will be compatible with Windows ones.

So what do you need to get going?

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Agreement from everybody that will be using the system that this is something they 'want to do';

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Retraining carried out by somebody that is experienced in the kind of problems you may face when you go through these changes;

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Advice from a linux expert, or;

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Being prepared to do a lot of research;

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To expect teething problems

This isn't going to be acceptable to everybody, but the more research you do and the more support you are able to get from experts, the easier your transition will be. If you feel that the risks are too great, then try getting just one computer running on Linux Ubuntu or come in and try ours out.

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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

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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

Faith and Climate Change: A year with the Big Green Challenge Over the past year one of Birmingham Friends of the Earth’s projects, Faith and Climate Change, has been a finalist with a national competition, the Big Green Challenge.

This competition has been seeking an innovative project that is sustainable, engages with a community and delivers measurable reductions in carbon. We are one of ten projects around the country that have been working within this remit for the past 12 months. Other Big Green Challenge projects include Greening the Isle of Eigg, Low Carbon West Oxford and Waste Oil Recycling in Prisons.

Faith and Climate Change was launched in 2006 to work with people of faith in Birmingham, supporting responses to the environmental challenges of the day and climate change. Following our initial conference we concentrated on our Faith Ambassadors programme, providing skills and support to passionate individuals dedicated to living sustainably. Over the past year we have expanded our programme to develop the skills base of the project. We have held six training events including energy efficiency, environmental audits of community buildings and small-scale renewable projects. A highlight was in May when we took a group of people to the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales to see energy efficiency and renewable energy in

action.

A few examples of the resulting work have included: churches applying for eco congregation awards and installing insulation in their buildings; and Muslim communities organising street clean-ups and holding events during Islam Awareness Week. We are now working with a Gurdwara who are interested in composting.

As well as skills and training we have held events such as the annual Organic Iftar, where women have come together during Ramadan to share the breaking of the fast with locally sourced and organic produce.

This provides an opportunity to hear about other areas such as the vegan diet and the recent initiative of meat free Mondays.

I believe that climate change is the biggest threat we face. I was once told that, to tackle it as a society, we need to work out a way to reach every individual. I see this project as one way to reach a group of people inspired by their faith to care for creation.

By Maud Grainger

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By Simon Baddeley,

Victoria Jubilee Allotments

In May 2004 Birmingham’s Development Control Committee approved, by one vote, an application to build homes on the Victoria Jubilee Allotments (VJA) next to Handsworth Park – a private site surrendered by a committee cabal keen to profit from development value of their plots. Supported by FoE, people in Handsworth and across the city had campaigned for ten years against this loss of urban farmland. Government guidance discouraged building on allotments, and we presented sound evidence of local demand for plots on the whole site. Disappointment at the committee’s vote was partly allayed by firm promises that the successful applicant would – under a Section 106 Agreement – hand over part of the land to the city to create:

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- 80 new municipal allotments with a gardeners’ meeting room - 3 playing pitches and a cricket square and a sports pavilion with parking In May 2008, at a site meeting attended by councillors, allotments campaigners and people concerned with local sport, Constituency Planning Officer Alan Orr gave assurances that the ‘trigger point’ – number of homes sold – had arrived; that the S106A would be implemented by Persimmon Homes that summer.

Summer passed. In February 2009, the City Council’s allotments team opened a short-listing process in anticipation of allotments being available by this summer.

Applications came in swiftly but, as numbers went over 50%, we heard that undefined problems in the legal arrangements of the land’s acquisition by the city meant

Victoria Jubilee Allotments no allotments this summer and indefinite delay on the rest of the agreement.

Council staff understand and sympathise with local frustration at yet further delay in honouring a contract concluded 5 years ago.

Burdened by recession, the Council has born down heavily on its allotments budget – making cuts, according to the Birmingham Post, of 65%. Front line staff who provide excellent service to plot holders are under great pressure, yet we have a legal agreement in place, at no cost to council taxpayers, to open the largest new allotment site in the UK since WW2. The problem is

demonstrably at the highest level in the city.

Simon Baddeley, Handsworth Allotments Information Group (HAIG) TO GET ON THE SHORT LIST FOR A PLOT ON THE VJA WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE PHONE 0121 303 3038, e-mail: allotments@birmingham.gov.uk or complete a form on-line at: http:// www.birmingham.gov.uk/allotments

Appeal for Volunteers Do you have organisational skills? Would you be interested in putting on a Green Christmas Fayre?

Last year we ran a really successful event in Moseley where local companies came and sold their sustainable, planet-friendly products alongside us and some freecycling (or will that be freegling now?). We’d like to repeat the success of that event, so please get in touch using the details at the back of the newsletter if you’re interested in helping.

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Make Waves for Climate Change On 7th December 2009 COP15 discussions will commence at Copenhagen’s Bella Centre as politicians set about creating a global climate change treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. During the two week long conference, politicians will make historic decisions affecting the future of our planet. In anticipation, Birmingham Friends of the Earth, along with tens of thousands of protesters, will take to the streets of London to perform a Mexican wave along London’s Thames, simulating the dangerous effects of global warming.

The Wave, organised by the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, the UK’s largest organisation dedicated to action on climate change, will emphasise to politicians the need for practical action to cut carbon emissions. We are already experiencing the effects of global warming. Floods, droughts, hurricanes, sea-level rise, and seasonal unpredictability are

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currently having a disastrous impact on the world’s poorest. Today, with an average temperature rise of less than 1 degree C, climate change is responsible for the deaths of more than 300,000 people each year.

It is imperative we send a clear message to politicians emphasising that they must act quickly to reach a sufficient and just agreement.

Climate scientists are agreed: it is vital that the growth in greenhouse gas emissions is not only halted but that in the years 2015 to 2020 a reversal of this previous growth must occur. The stakes could not be higher: if we are to prevent global warming from reaching a 2 degrees C rise (the level the EU defines as ‘dangerous’), the world’s emissions must be cut by 80% when compared with 1990 levels.

A commitment by rich countries to make a 40% cut in CO2 emissions by 2020 Friends of the Earth is urging politicians to reach an agreement that features: •

A commitment by rich countries to make a 40% cut in CO2 emissions by 2020

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Wealthy countries must promise to provide financial support to developing countries so that they may develop in a clean way and so that they may cope with the disastrous effects of climate change such as famines, floods and droughts

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Rich countries should not be allowed to buy any of their reductions abroad

In order to stress public support for fast and efficient action against climate change, Birmingham Friends of the Earth is asking you to join us on 5th December as we flood the streets of London and make a stark statement to our world leaders. We have teamed up with various regional groups, including Oxfam, Islamic Relief, the RSPB and CAFOD, to ensure that as

It is imperative we send a clear message to politicians emphasising that they must act quickly to reach a sufficient and just agreement.

many people as possible have the opportunity to make their voices heard, and are working together to organise coach services going to and from London. This will not only ensure that the demonstration is as environmentally friendly as possible, but it will offer you value for money; return tickets are priced at only £10 waged, £8 unwaged.

Coaches will leave from Digbeth on December 5th at 9.00, returning from London at 16.00.

If you wish to travel with us and demonstrate your support for a safe climate future please let us know as soon as possible by joining the event via the Birmingham Friends of the Earth Facebook page or by calling the Birmingham Friends of the Earth building on (0121) 632 690.

Take Action Join us on the 5th December, tickets available on (0121) 632 6909 or via email: info@ birminghamfoe.org.uk Sign the Friends of the Earth petition demanding that our politicians reach a just agreement on climate change: foe.co.uk/climatetalks/petition.html Further Information: stopclimatechaos.org Friends of the Earth’s demands for Copenhagen are set out at http://www.foe.co.uk/climatetalks/ petition.html

By Rebecca Ratcliffe

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Rail for Birmingham Continued from front page we continue to sit in lines of cars and buses on congested main roads.

Yet, historically, Birmingham was developed as a Railway City, with its Victorian suburbs clustering around their local stations. From the air, you can see an ‘octopus’ of rail lines. Today, half of them are used only for freight or intercity trains. The great exception is the Cross City Line, from Sutton to Longbridge, which was given frequent stations from the 1970s, and is heavily used, with a train every 10 minutes, showing that Brummies really do want to use a local rail system when they have the chance.

At Kings Norton, a line diverges to go through Kings Heath and Moseley, ending at New Street Station - but it has been without stations since 1941. Rail planners call it ‘The Camp Hill Line’, but this seems to act as negative marketing, so we have suggested ‘The South Birmingham Line’ would be a more appropriate name. We estimate there are about 30,000 people living within 10 minutes walk of the four former stations, many of them having to walk every day past a station to get to a bus stop.

They pay the price every day for not having a fast, convenient rail service.

Recently, the public were invited to respond to the consultation on the draft ‘West Midlands Rail Development Plan’, which was

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produced by the West Midlands Regional Rail Forum. Consultation on the Plan, which is for the whole region, was conducted by Centro, our public transport authority.

The consultation seemed a good opportunity to push this scheme up the agenda. The Forum asked which schemes in the Plan people thought should be top priority for government funding, but hardly anyone seemed to be aware of the opportunity.

At Kings Norton, a line diverges to go through Kings Heath and Moseley, ending at New Street Station - but it has been without stations since 1941.

During the summer, BFOE worked with Moseley Forum and Kings Heath Centre Partnership to help people who live or work along the line to demand that it should be a high priority for a new local passenger service. BFOE addressed a public meeting at Queensbridge School in July. The opinions expressed in the meeting bore out previous expressions

of support for having a local rail service. The Kings Heath Centre Partnership helped with printing our posters and standard letters for the public to sign. The letters called for the stations to be re-opened as soon as possible and the suggested start date of 2018 to be brought forward. Kings Heath Business Association helped get the letters into shops and churches. Moseley Business Association and Moseley Forum were similarly helpful.

The Farmers’ Markets let BFOE have space on their community stalls. The Moseley Folk Festival mentioned the campaign in their programme and directed people to our stall. Almost 100% of the people we spoke to wanted to sign and add their own comments. By the end of the consultation, 11 September, over 1,000 signed letters were delivered to Centro.

Unlike a petition, the letters had a space for people’s individual comments. These mentioned both the personal benefits - using the train would be quicker than the bus or car - and the community benefits - demand for road space and parking would be reduced. In addition, businesses would benefit from better access for customers.

Many people also mentioned air pollution and carbon emissions as issues. People asked for the Government to ‘get on with it’ and said they had been waiting too long already.

There was a parallel campaign in

cyber space, sending emails and getting onto websites. In print, the campaign was covered by the Birmingham Mail and B13 magazine, as well as organisations’ own newsletters. This has all been a heroic effort by volunteers, showing what can be done by cooperation between BFOE and other community partners.

Almost 100% of the people we spoke to wanted to sign and add their own comments. By the end of the consultation, 11 September, over 1,000 signed letters were delivered to Centro.

In 2007 BFOE presented Birmingham City Council with 1,500 signed letters and that certainly did help them to adopt the scheme. Now, we are working to get commitment at regional and national level. Following Friends of the Earth’s successful Big Ask

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Rail for Birmingham Continued from page 13 campaign for a Climate Change Act, all government departments will have to prioritise investments that will help meet carbon reduction targets. Oil prices and the recession mean that traffic levels have stopped rising, and in fact are falling, so spending on new roads will be hard to justify. A South Birmingham rail line would be really cost effective because 95% of the line is there and maintained already; the new build element is a new curve at Bordesley to take trains to Moor Street Station and beyond.

Tens of thousands more people would be able to walk to their local station. We also proposed another curve, resurrecting a long standing proposal not yet in the draft

This would mean new stations at The Fort, Castle Vale, Warmley, Sutton Coldfield (Low Level), Streetley, and Aldridge.

Plan, to be built in the Soho area (Benson Road). This would re-open Handsworth Station and allow extra services from Walsall via Bescot to Snow Hill.

BFOE prepared a comprehensive response to the recent consultation, calling for better local train services.

In East Birmingham we backed a Centro proposal for new stations on the under-used line via Minworth through Sutton Coldfield. This would mean new stations at The Fort, Castle Vale, Warmley, Sutton Coldfield (Low Level), Streetley, and Aldridge. A new curve at Bordesley could bring this into Moor Street.

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Our proposals together would utilise three lines that already exist, open 15 new stations, and reproduce the success of the Cross City Line, to give a local rail network fit for a second city. Rail would not just be for getting TO Birmingham, but for getting AROUND Birmingham.

The imminent approach of Peak Oil and with it the end of cheap driving, plus the need to decarbonise transport, mean a

BrumRail system has to be planned for and funded. BFOE Transport Action Group will keep up the pressure on Birmingham City Council, Centro and the Secretary of State for Transport. See you on the train!

Take Action Please sign the following epetitions: 1) on the 10 Downing Street website calling for the South Birmingham Line to be funded (search on Moseley): http://www.

number10.gov.uk/communicate/epetitions 2) on Birmingham City Council’s site: http://epetition.birmingham. public-i.tv/petition.php?id=67 Although Centro’s official consultation period ended on 11th of September, any letters in support for rail re-opening in Birmingham will show useful evidence that the public are behind this programme.

Thank you for your support.

By John Newson

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Our Challenge to the Power 50 Every year we moan about the Council not doing anything about In Town Without My Car Day and then leave it too late to organise a big event.

But leaving your car at home shouldn’t be such a big deal, should it?

Tens of thousands of people in Birmingham travel to work every day without using a car and over 30% of households don’t actually own a car so are reliant on other means of transport to get around.

Council actually put up a message of support for it on their website.

Some people didn’t respond at all and others were unable to do it due to commitments that meant they were elsewhere that day, but only one or two actually said they would be in town with their cars as usual on the day.

So, what happened when Birmingham Friends of the Earth challenged the 50 most powerful and influential people in the region (according to the Birmingham Post) to give up their cars for the day? What did we expect? Polite refusals? To be completely ignored?

For everyone to say yes?

I was not sure what would happen, but I thought that, in the current climate of individuals being seen to take a lead on being greener, it might just work. Even Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and various other extremely unlikely people are taking part in the 10:10 campaign (reducing their carbon emissions by 10% in 2010), so individual action on reducing your environmental impact might just be “the in thing” this year.

Over a two-week period I collected responses, prompted those who didn’t reply, contacted the press and other media about the story and the interest grew and grew to the extent that Birmingham City

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Salma Yaqoob taking part, by Jane Baker, greensnapperphotography.com

If you want to know what the results of this challenge were person by person, then read on.

1. Paul Thandi: NEC Group – No reply, other than acknowledgements from his PA that she had passed on my emails to him.

2. Paul Kehoe: BIA – I was informed by his PA that as he was away on leave until just before it he could not do it.

3. Lord Digby Jones: – I was informed by his PA that he is out of town and not able to participate.

4. David Bintley: Birmingham Royal Ballet – No response received at all.

5. Gary Taylor: Argent Group – Informed us that he cycles at least once a week to work now and will be away on Tuesday,

but will cycle the day before.

6. Neil Rami: Marketing Birmingham – Will also be away on the day, but the rest of his company will be doing it, apparently.

7. Clive Dutton: Birmingham City Council Planning and Regeneration – Said he would certainly do it.

8. Professor David Bailey: Coventry University – Said he would be taking bus and/or train as usual.

9. Andris Nelsons: CBSO conductor – Is in Vienna on the day, so unable to take part.

10. Mike Whiby: Leader of Birmingham City Council – Has “ long-standing commitments on the day in question which make it difficult to honour if he could not use a car”, although he will try to walk between meetings.

11. Christine Braddock: Birmingham Metropolitan College – No response 12. Julie Moore: CEO of local NHS – No response 13. Andrew Mitchell: MP for Sutton Coldfield – Will be in London cycling to work as every day.

14. Glynn Purnell: Celebrity Chef – Unable to do it for “personal reasons”.

15. Paul Tylsley: Deputy Leader of Birmingham City Council – Not in Birmingham on the day.

16. Liam Byrne: MP for Hodge Hill and cabinet member – No response 17. Stephen Hughes: Chief Executive, Birmingham City Council – Will catch a train to the airport, which, unfortunately, is unavoidable to keep commitments.

Always walks to work when in the city.

18. Suzie Norton: Screen West Midlands – Is on maternity leave.

19. Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya: Warwick Manufacturing Group – No response 20. Ravi Kant: Head of Tata – Didn’t attempt to contact him 21. Randy Lerner: CEO, Aston Villa – Not in town on the day. I requested someone else high profile from the club, but got no response.

22. Anthony McCourt: Birmingham Development Company – Walks to work every day.

23. Jason Wouhra: East End Foods – No response

24. Salma Yaqoob: Councillor – Will walk or use public transport instead of car for the day.

25. Stuart Griffiths: CEO, Birmingham Hippodrome – No response 26. Phillip Singleton: City Design, Birmingham City Council – Will take the bus.

27. Professor Nick James: University of Birmingham – Cycles at least once a week and takes the train from Longbridge other days.

28. David Smith: Jaguar-Land Rover - Didn’t attempt to contact him 29. Dr Waldemar Bujalski: University of Birmingham – No response 30. Justice Williams: Inner City Creative Media Group – Unable to contact 31. Clare Edwards: Gigbeth – Works from home most days and says she’ll take public transport if needed on the day.

32. Trevor Foster: Bigwood/Lockton – No response 33. Paul Bassi: Bonde Wolfe – Unable to contact 34. Tom Lawes: The Electric Cinema – No response 35. Andeep Mangel: ICAEW – Unable to contact 36. Paul Bradshaw: BCU – May well be working from home, but doesn’t own a car for environmental reasons, anyway.

37. Helga Henry: Fierce Earth – No response 38. Simon Wales: THSH – Was supportive and often takes the bus to work, but has to take equipment to the NEC for a stall on the day in his car.

39. James Yarker: Stan’s Cafe Director – Always cycles around the city and takes the train when travelling to other towns.

40. Professor Julia King: Vice Chancellor, Aston University – Out of town on the day, but encouraged all staff at Aston to take part and leave their cars at home.

41. Kerry Thomas: Fused Magazine – Very supportive and would have done it if in town, but away on the day.

42. Steve Dyson: Editor, Birmingham Mail – Unable to do it due to meetings and commitments in several parts of the city.

43. Bennie Gray: Custard Factory – No response 44. Mick Laverty: AWM – Unable to contact

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45. Stuart Rogers: Birmingham Rep – Happy to do it and will take the bus 46. Paul Hadley: – Rhubarb Radio – Works from home and says he always takes the train when travelling in and out of Birmingham.

47. Adrian Goldberg: The Stirrer – Will be in London on the day, where he will use public transport for all his journeys. Wishes the same was possible in this area.

48. Jerry Blackett: Birmingham Chamber of Commerce – Will take train and folding bike, as he often does.

49. Ian Austin: MP, Dudley North and regional minister – No response 50. Martin Mullaney: Cabinet member, Birmingham City Council – Will be taking his scooter.

So, what can we see from this?

Well, apart from the lack of responses from 14 people and those who we were unable to contact – about a third in total - I was encouraged by the number of people who are very much aware of the issue and already use other forms of transport on a regular basis.

Almost half of the “power 50” gave us positive responses about their travelling habits and I would suggest that this means a minority of these people take their cars into town every day.

There was also an article about working from home in the press recently and a few of the people said that was a common way for them to work. Perhaps a few more people could have a day working at home each week as a way to cut the need to travel, although there are then issues about the energy efficiency of their homes.

The story was taken up very enthusiastically by the Birmingham local press. The Birmingham Post put a picture of Jerry Blackett (from the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce) with his folding bicycle on the front page and I gave radio interviews about it, too. Councillor

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Salma Yaqoob was happy to be photographed walking her children to school and then going in to work on the bus, but wants to make it clear that it is hard for her to do this every day and she does use her car quite a lot.

What about being without a car every day?

This is, of course, the most important point to be made. It’s all very well doing a one-off attempt, but if we’re going to cut transport emissions and congestion and deal with the related health issues in this city we need to get more people out of cars and onto public transport, bikes or walking as a matter of course. This would enable us all to use the space we have in this city more usefully. We are working hard on campaigns such as “20’s plenty for Birmingham”, “Re-open Our Stations” and “Better Buses for Birmingham” to tackle the issues that prevent people feeling that they can get around the city without using a car.

Future events By next year I sincerely hope that steps will have been made to improve the experience for people using public transport, walking or cycling in the city and that, when the Council launches its own In Town Without Your Car Day events, we’ll see streets filled not with cars, but with people out there talking to one another and enjoying sharing the space together.

Take Action If you want to help us with any of our campaigns related to this topic, please contact us on campaigns@ birminghamfoe.org.uk to find out how.

By Joe Peacock

Grumpy Greenie - Meat Free Mondays Today was the fourth time our Fix the Food Chain display has been defaced, so I’m a grumpy greenie today! You have a perfectly good idea that will make a huge difference to a large number of people and what happens? People who should be on the same side start graffitiing your materials and generally spoiling it.

This also goes for online debates about Meat Free Monday. The concept is that we could do with a little less meat in our diet. With the obesity rate in this country on the up we need to get smarter with our diet and reduce damaging intensive farming. This does not mean that Meat Free Monday leads to a meatfree diet; it is that it is exactly that – one day. It’s not a transition point from being a meat eater to a vegetarian, it’s a choice that on one or two days a week you choose not to eat meat.

However, from the conversations on the web about Meat Free Monday it seems that all the vegetarians and vegans involved in the discussion think everyone should move to a meat-free diet tomorrow. The majority of comments, ranging from the tame to the abusive, are all about that aim. I have retorted that they should create their own campaign called meat free week/ life and leave the argument for Meat Free Monday to continue on a discussion about eating less meat.

Free Monday really got anyone to change their diet. My hope is that it will start a mind shift and that people begin to care more about what they eat and the impact it has on the world around us. It is more realistic to get the whole world to reduce their consumption than get a minority convert, but if anyone does go on to become a vegan or vegetarian then great.

With the obesity rate in this country on the up we need to get smarter with our diet and reduce damaging intensive farming.

Surely, it’s better to get a large number of people to make a small change than to get a small number to make a big change! So, no more scribbling on our displays that the only planet-friendly farming is vegan and the only ethical life is without meat and dairy altogether, please.

It would be interesting to see if Meat

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Volunteer Spotlight Joe Peacock interviews Becky Ratcliffe

How long have you been involved with BFoE? I’ve been volunteering since mid August.

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

I was interested in volunteering, so I found the Birmingham FoE website through Google and came along to a Stop Climate Chaos meeting. It was really interesting because they were just in the planning stages of the campaign, so it was a good one to start with.

What do you do at BFoE? All sorts, really. I’ve been attending meetings with other regional groups involved in the coalition, publicising the campaign and related events by writing articles and putting things on the web. Also, I’ve been helping design ticket stubs and flyers for the coaches down to London for the Wave on 5th December.

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

Climate Change is the biggest thing, which is why the talks in Copenhagen are so vital and we must send a strong message to the politicians before the talks begin. We need everyone to go along on 5th December and take part in the biggest Climate Change demonstration ever.

What’s your best green tip/ advice?

Take small steps every day – I’m registering for the 10:10 project to cut my carbon footprint by 10% and anyone can do it, really.

ANY OLD LIGHTBULBS? - WE ARE COLLECTING THEM AT BFoE! If you or anybody you know is swapping their lightbulbs with energy saving ones, then please could you get them to give us the old ones.

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They will be turned into chandeliers for the lights in reception and put forward as a way of recycling and energy saving.

Phil Burrows (General Manager)

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Campaign Meetings Monday Night Meetings – 7:30pm at the Birmingham FoE Warehouse, Allison St 12 October – Local shops and food Action Group 19 October – Get Serious Action Group 22 October – Strategy Meeting 26 October – Transport and Stop Climate Chaos Action Groups 2 November - General Meeting 9 November - Craft and props making session 16 November – Local Shops & Food and Transport Action Groups 23 November – Discussion meeting on consumerism 30 November - Get Serious and Stop Climate Chaos Action Groups

Other Events

13 October – Vanishing of the Bees Electric cinema 17 October – Food Chain parade 18-25 October - One World Week 4-6 November – Conference “Faith Making a Difference” 17 November - Sustainability forum BMI 6pm 19 November - Climate Justice speaker meeting University of Birmingham 28 November – Buy Nothing Day

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: 17 October

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Aviation:

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

Waste and Resources: Local Shops & Food: Mary Horesh & Nigel Baker Planning: Transport: Martin Stride Newsletter Editors: Katy Barry Joe Peacock Antonio Roberts Website Editor: Phil Burrows Talks: Paul Webb and others

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Birmingham Friends of the Earth