Birmingham Friends of the Earth Newsletter June-July 2013

Birmingham

friends of the earth

newsletter June - July 2013

Let’s Get Moving Birmingham Friends of the Earth is launching a multi-pronged campaign to raise awareness of the dangerous and illegal levels of air pollution in our city and encourage more people to start using active modes of transport. In case you missed it, which was easily done unless you happened across an article in the Birmingham Mail, Guardian or Financial Times last month, the UK Government is failing in its duty to protect the residents of this city from the most harmful effects of air pollution, according to a Supreme Court ruling on May 1st.

Continued on Page 14

contents 3 - campaigns digest 5 - in the media 7 - warehouse news 8 - 2013 annual general meeting 8 - appeal for volunteers 9 - guest article - Food Forest Brum: Perennial food security from the ground up 10 - is this the start of west midlands local rail?

11 - New Street redevelopment and the green wall 13 - become a supporter...

14 - let’s get moving (continued from front page) 17 - Geoff Bainbridge 18 - the big green debate - nuclear power: 20 - bumbling in Balsall Heath 21 - volunteer spotlight 22 - diary 23 - contacts

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campaigns digest Hello and welcome to your latest campaigns digest.

The campaigning season is getting into full swing again, with it now being Spring and slightly less cold.

We have stalls and events aplenty, and there’s lots to be getting stuck into.

attention at the Martineau Gardens Spring Event on 12th May. We have lots more stalls planned over the summer, including five days at BBC Gardeners’ World Live in conjunction with Solihull, Wolverhampton, Redditch and Walsall Friends of the Earth groups.

Energy & Climate Change With the help of our friends and supporters we have continued to lobby Birmingham’s MPs, and we are happy to say that only one has said that he won’t be supporting the amendment to set a decarbonisation target in 2014. Andrew Mitchell, MP for Birmingham Sutton Coldfield, has stuck to the government line that a vague promise to set a target in 2016 is enough.

We also took the time to help Solihull Friends of the Earth. We joined them in Solihull Town Centre to collect petition signatures to put pressure on Solihull Lib Dem MP Lorely Burt to support the decarbonisation target.

The Energy Bill will be returning to Parliament for the report stage on 4th June. This is when MPs will be debating the amendment for a 2030 decarbonisation target. Thanks to everyone who has contacted their MP about this issue!

Biodiversity The Bee Cause, which returned with a bang and a buzz with a stall at the Sustainability Fair at the Botanical Gardens, continued to attract

We’ve also had the opening of the first of our ‘There’s Something Funny in the Honey’ funded projects, the Jubilee Bee Garden in Balsall Heath, attended by Roger Godsiff MP for Hall Green. See the article

by Rebecca Pollard for more on this story.

Transport We had the second of our Away Days in April to plan our new campaign Let’s Get Moving. After much discussion we now have a good idea of where we will be taking the campaign over the next few months. We can’t wait to get started on the campaign, and you can find out more about some of our ideas in Adam McCusker’s article.

The big news in relation to this campaign was that the UK Supreme

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campaigns digest Court has ruled that the UK Government is failing in its legal duty to protect its citizens from harmful levels of air pollution, and stated that the Government could be fined by the European Commission.

It remains to be seen what happens at national and European level because of this, but we’re under no illusion that action also needs to be taken locally to reduce air pollution levels.

Away from Let’s Get Moving, we’ve been busy with a consultation response to the West Midlands Rail Forum. See John Bentley’s article for more details about the Rail Forum and how it could help transform rail travel in the West Midlands.

the UK Supreme Court has ruled that the UK Government is failing in its legal duty to protect its citizens from harmful levels of air pollution city, will be coming to consultation in September. No doubt we’ll be busy with that at that point We learnt last month that the Asda appeal for their new store in Stirchley was rejected. So it looks like we’ll have at least one less supermarket in Stirchley!

Planning On the planning front, we’re waiting for the full version of the Birmingham Development Plan to come out for consultation. Readers may remember our submission in response to the Birmingham Development Plan proposals to build on the Sutton Coldfield greenbelt.

Well, the full Development Plan, the main planning policy for the whole

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Waste As with Planning, we’re also playing a bit of a waiting game with waste.

We’re waiting to see when the Council’s scrutiny committee will again be looking at the Council’s waste strategy after the end of the incinerator contract in 2018.

Julien Pritchard

in the media Getting media coverage is a bit like waiting for buses, you don’t get any for a bit and then four items of news coverage come along in less than a couple of weeks!

First up was a short article in the Birmingham Mail promoting the Bee Garden opening in Balsall Heath on 18th May; while not very long and detailed, it’s still good to get promotion of events in the press beforehand.

Then, a day later, came the announcement from the UK Supreme Court that the UK Government is indeed in breach of laws around air pollution, and that they could be fined by the European Commission. I was quoted in a good sized article in the Birmingham Mail, making the point that there are things that could be done on a local level to combat air pollution, such as making it easier for more people to walk and cycle, in order to reduce air pollution by reducing traffic levels.

The launch of the Car 2 Go scheme

gave me the opportunity to be interviewed on BBC Midlands Today about its environmental benefits and drawbacks. I made the point that such a scheme, where you can rent cars which are just parked on the street, could have real environmental benefits if people give up a car and use this scheme when they need one. However, I also pointed out that if people move from using bikes or travelling on foot, then it would be moving people from a lower to a higher form of carbon transport.

the West Midland’s very own bee species, The Long Horned Bee, is in trouble Finally, with the news that the West Midland’s very own bee species, the Long Horned Bee, is in trouble, I was interviewed early on a Saturday morning on BBC WM on the Mollie Green show. I talked about this particular bee, the problems and reasons for the national decline in bee populations, as well as what people could do to help.

So, all in all a busy media couple of weeks, long may it continue!

Julien Pritchard

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warehouse 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.

Open Monday & Wednesday to Saturday, 10am-5pm 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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0121 633 0730

• 100% vegetarian and vegan; • A large selection of organic and fairtrade products, most supplied and delivered by a workers cooperative; • Vegan owners - no meat or dairy products sold.

Open Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat 11am - 5:30pm, Thurs 10am - 6:30pm, Sun 11am - 3pm.

warehouse news Nothing like a bit of progress to get the taste buds tingling, and my does our progress this month do just that! Those of you who are regular readers, will remember that last issue we announced the new tenants for the Warehouse Cafe.

Well the good news just keeps on coming, as, after a couple of months of renovation, we are proud to announce that the Warehouse Cafe will be opening its doors to the public on Saturday 1st June!

We’re already looking forward to having tasty vegetarian food available just a stone’s throw from our desks. More importantly we can’t wait to have the building being

the busy place it always used to be before the Cafe closed in February.

As a campaigning organisation you can’t underestimate the value of having something like the Warehouse Cafe in your building.

It attracts people to come in who otherwise wouldn’t, and gives you the opportunity to really showcase your organisation and your campaigns.

We know that with Mohini and Robert in charge, we will have an environmentally and socially conscious Cafe. We look forward to working together with the Cafe to promote our campaigns and possibly doing some themed nights and events. Whatever the future holds, we’re just happy to have tasty food on the menu from 1st June. Hope to see you in the Cafe soon!

Philip Burrows

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2013 annual general meeting 17th June We are due to hold our annual general meeting, which this year is happening on 17th June in the meeting room at Birmingham Friends of the Earth’s building on Allison Street, at 7.30pm.

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 finacially, environmentally and socially throughout 2012/13 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.

appeal for volunteers Birmingham Friends of Earth are looking for enthusiastic, outgoing individuals to help us build support and raise awareness for our campaigns, in particular our new local campaign; Let’s Get Moving.

The role will involve staffing stalls, talking to members of the public, helping run BFoE events, and

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generally helping build support for the campaign. Some of the work will be based in our Warehouse office, but also out and about in and around Birmingham.

Contact us at campaigns@ birminghamfoe.org.uk if you’re interested in getting involved.

guest article - Food Forest Brum: Perennial food security from the ground up The Food Forest Brum project is co-ordinated by Spring to Life, a Community Interest Company dedicated to developing personal and community well-being in Birmingham.

The project aims to address these various levels of well-being (and that of the planet) by working with communities all over the city and beyond, to establish permanent (perennial) edible landscapes, including community orchards and forest gardens. By growing food, planting trees and managing productive ecosystems, individuals and communities can connect with nature and become more self-reliant in their food supply. Meanwhile, the planet benefits from the increased numbers of trees and their associated ecosystems.

The project was initially funded by the Big Lottery and the Big Tree Plant, enabling us to provide food trees, shrubs and perennial vegetables free of charge to groups.

These have ranged from community centres, friends of park groups, neighbourhood groups, schools, community gardens, and more.

Through an additional grant from the Ronnie Bowker Trust we are providing relevant training in fruit tree pruning and grafting and forest gardening, also free of charge.

sustainability and resilience. It is better for wildlife and soil life, because once the crop is planted there is no need to dig year upon year. Soil life is preserved, and ecosystems can thrive. Being hardier, perennial plants are also less vulnerable to extreme weather patterns. Fruit and nut trees require especially low maintenance while providing a high yield relative to the area planted.

This year we will commence a project in the grounds of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, to develop a network of edible landscapes. The project aims to encourage healthy eating and promotes links between good food and good health. It will involve people from the hospital (staff, patients and volunteers), as well as the local community.

If you are interested in signing up your project to the Food Forest Brum network, or to get involved in any way, please get in touch with us. We also welcome donations of plants and cuttings which we can distributed to projects across the city.

Email foodforestbrum@gmail.com or phone 07980272940 website: www.springtolife.org Felipe Molina

Perennial food growing not only involves less maintenance, but also contributes significantly to

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Is this the start of West Midlands Local Rail?

A great many people live in Birmingham and the adjoining boroughs. Generally their employment or activity and friends are also within this same area. People need to get about and for people, goods, and services, to be able to reach them. Some people choose to use a car for some trips; the services delivered by car, van and lorry, are many.

The roads are important, but road space is limited and valuable. The whole urban area works because people provide road space by making trips on foot, by bike, public transport or not travelling. These people are helping the situation and as ‘not making trips’ is an unpopular enforced choice, transport provision has to be made.

The right transport choices are crucial, providing transport really should involve a properly informed expert and asking the right questions. This might seem quite obvious, but one transport mode that has recently escaped ‘expert involvement’ and consultation with the potential users is rail.

Historical reasons and political decisions, mean that Network Rail train planners have stepped into a strategic vacuum for the last few years and made the decisions on spending. Some individuals have stepped well outside their competence and have been taking a role, not just in consulting, but in actually drafting the documents.

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The train planner is a skilled individual who can work out, from layout of signals, permitted speed of trains and braking characteristics, how many trains can be fit in. The infrastructure experts can improve the signalling or increase the train speeds. Neither train planners nor experts can work out the way that people make journeys but transport studies can do this. Seeking out the true needs for transport would result in a different set of priorities to help support a local economy.

Perhaps the decisions need to be made more locally. The West Midlands Regional Rail Forum (WMRRF) is a ‘body of stakeholders from throughout the West Midlands with an interest in ensuring the success of our regional rail network’.

The WMRRF is composed of local transport authorities, businesses, the rail industry (train companies and Network Rail), the Rail Freight Group and Passenger Focus.

But this ‘new kid’ WMRRF, with hopefully fresh ideas, set up a consultation on the strategy for rail, which gave the public and other bodies a chance to contribute. It is to be hoped that a strategy can be developed and that the skills of all involved can start to set things right.

In a refreshing change to some documents, the draft strategy thinks about people’s work. In their consultation they define ‘3 main components to rail connectivity: (a) access to the network, (b) journey times, (c) service pattern/

What the report drafters were probably thinking about is the classic “live in the countryside work in the city” journeys. What Birmingham Friends of the Earth could see, is that the lack of Birmingham local stations, makes it difficult to reach jobs in these areas, or to travel from them to jobs that may be just a few miles away but are hard to reach.

frequency’. They then linked this to increases in the available labour market and support to economic activity. It is an interesting exercise to link infrastructure enhancement to financial outcomes, and necessary if a ‘business case’ is to be developed.

We are hopeful that there can be a local voice that has a strategy and that has money to do things. We can put the past mistakes of Railtrack behind us and work together.

The West Midlands region can be a better place to live, work and play with strong local rail network forming part of a sustainable West Midlands.

John Bentley

New Street redevelopment and the Green Wall As a group we’ve often criticised the New Street redevelopment on the grounds of it costing a lot of money and it being a large shopping centre.

With the half-time switchover of the station has come other problems, worse linkage with bus services and criticism that the new bike racks are in the wrong location. However, David Gaussen offers a slightly different perspective, saying it may not all be doom and gloom.

Julien Pritchard On Sunday 28th April, something quite exciting happened in the centre of Birmingham. Yes, really!

Phase 1 of the new station development opened and has

brought about a huge improvement to the experience of visiting New Street station Previously the 2 main entrances were either from Smallbrook Queensway, via the taxi and car drop off area, or via a detour from New Street up the ramp into the Pallisades shopping centre and then down an escalator to the ticket office. It seems that when New Street was re-built in the 1960’s, it was felt that its purpose as a railway station was to encourage people to walk past lots of shops to boost their revenues. It was almost as though the station itself was an afterthought. The architecture was very typical of the 1960s grey concrete style, although no doubt it

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New Street redevelopment and the Green Wall

was seen as bold and original at the time. The past 40 or so years have only made the station look worse and worse.

plants. And - as if in a long awaited answer to cyclist’s prayers - we even have an indoor set of racks for 40 bikes.

Access to the station is now greatly improved. The main entrance is now on Stephenson Street, quite near where the original entrance to the 19th century station used to be. There is now a much larger passenger concourse and many more escalators and lifts to provide access to the platforms below.

There is more and better to come for New Street station in 2015, the second part of the development will be opened: this promises a very large open space for passengers with a high atrium allowing natural light into the concourse. At the same time, the Midland metro will then be running into Stephenson Street.

David Gaussen

However, for me, one of the most uplifting parts of the changes is the new passageway from Smallbrook Queensway down to Stephenson Street. For it is here that someone has delivered a beautiful effect by lining the long wall with green

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Let’s Get Moving continued The problem Air pollution is a UK-wide problem, with the limits for nitrogen dioxide set by the European Commission’s air quality directive having been exceeded in 40 of the 43 zones in the United Kingdom in 20101. This is despite having an enormously negative impact on the everyday lives of city dwellers.

Back in 1978, a joint working party report on lead pollution around Gravelly Hill, raised awareness of the seriously damaging effects of leaded petrol. However, the advent of unleaded petrol has by no means eradicated all of the health effects of air pollution2. Whilst carbon dioxide gets a lot of headlines, ground-level urban air pollution, which includes nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and particulate matter, is often ignored.

These different pollutants cause different but equally damaging health problems. Nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and ozone gases irritate the airways of the lungs, increasing the symptoms of those suffering from lung diseases and may aggravate asthma symptoms.

They also increase susceptibility to viral infections and irritate the mucus membrane of the respiratory system.

Fine particles, usually referred to as PM10 or PM2.5, can be carried deep into the lungs where they can cause inflammation and a worsening of heart and lung diseases3. Long-term

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exposure to fine particles (PM2.5) can trigger atherosclerosis, adverse birth outcomes and childhood respiratory diseases, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO)4.

Carbon monoxide gas prevents the uptake of oxygen by the blood, which can lead to a significant reduction in the supply of oxygen to the heart, particularly in people suffering from heart disease. It slows reflexes, impairs thinking & causes drowsiness. Benzene is a known carcinogen which can cause leukaemia3.

The Government’s own Environmental Audit Committee estimates that outdoor air pollution causes 35,000-50,000 premature deaths per year in the UK5.

Compare this with the 2,000 deaths per year caused by road traffic accidents and you begin to realise what a significant issue urban air pollution is, with exposure to air pollution causing people to die an average of 11.5 years early6.

The Aphekom project, which was the compiled work of 60 scientists working in 25 cities across 12 European countries between 2008 and 2011, showed that living near busy roads could be responsible for some 15-30% of all new cases of asthma in children, and of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and coronary heart disease in adults 65 years of age and older7.

Finally comes the economic costs of this issue, and they’re significant.

It’s been calculated that the societal cost of the health impacts of poor air quality in Birmingham alone is approximately £182 million a year8.

So surely with all this in mind it’s time for somebody to do something?

Solutions The main cause of air pollution in most urban areas is of course fossilfuelled transport. With Birmingham being the UK’s motor-city, which also has some of the lowest levels of cycling and walking in the country, it is unsurprising that we also have some of the highest levels of air pollution. BFoE have decided to tackle the problem of air pollution

in our Let’s Get Moving campaign by encouraging people to use more active transport (which produces no emissions!) and by campaigning for investment that makes it easier for them to make that choice.

It might seem strange to advocate cycling and walking in a city which we say is so polluted. Surely you’re safer in your car than on a bike exposed to the air pollution of the traffic around you? However, this is not necessarily the case, as people sitting in cars in traffic will still breath in pollution. Furthermore, the walker or cyclist can more easily take back routes such as smaller roads or canals, where there will be less air pollution. One also needs to consider that the health benefits of walking and cycling are numerous, so numerous in fact, that they easily outweigh the negative health effects of air pollution.

A study of more than 10,000 people found that those who cycle at least 20 miles a week are half as likely to have heart problems as those who don’t cycle at all9. Cycling strengthens your immune system and can protect against certain kinds of cancers10. Added to this, the benefits of increased physical activity of changing from driving to cycling (3–14 months gained on life) are much greater than the potentially negative effect of increased inhaled air pollution doses (0.8–40 days lost) and the increase in traffic accidents (5–9 days lost)11.

However, we know it will take more

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Let’s Get Moving continued than convincing people of the health benefits of cycling and walking to get the shift to active transport that we need to see to make an impact on air pollution from traffic. That’s why, as well as raising awareness of air pollution and showing how people in Birmingham want to cycle, we will be making the case for the Council to set targets for journeys made by cycling and walking and, most importantly, the funds to make these a reality.

We feel that building more roads and runways is clearly not the answer to the UK and Birmingham’s air pollution problems, mainly because these are the cause of the problem in the first place. We want improvements in cycling infrastructure, so that it is easier for people to make that positive choice to cycle where it is too far to walk.

The Birmingham Mail have just launched their own cycle city campaign and so it’s a great to have them added to the cycling awareness raising12. So look out for Birmingham Friends of the Earth at upcoming events around the city, where you can find out more about air pollution and active transport, and Get On Yer Bike!

Adam McCusker Sources 1 http://www.ft.com/ cms/s/0/7ea982de-b24411e2-a388-00144feabdc0. html#axzz2SEYp7mcn 2 Lead Pollution From Motor Vehicles 1974-1986: A select

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bibliography http://books.google. co.uk/books 3

http://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/

4 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressrelease_IP-13-72_en.htm 5 http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/ news/latest/2012/07/17-Jul-12Significant-reduction-in-pollutionachieved-by-creating-green-walls. aspx 6 http://www.healthyair.org.uk/ why-healthy-air/causes-and-healthimpacts 7 http://www.aphekom. org/c/document_library/get_ file?uuid=5532fafa-921f-4ab1-9ed9c0148f7da36a&groupId=10347 8 BCC and Birmingham Environmental Partnership, 23/03/12, ‘Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan 2012+’ 9 http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/ treatments/healthy_living/fitness/ active_fitness.shtml#cycling 10 http://dsc.discovery.com/ adventure/the-top-7-healthbenefits-of-cycling.html 11 J.Johan de Hartog, H. Boogaard, H.Nijland and G.Hoek, August 2010, ‘Do the Health Benefits of Cycling Outweigh the Risks?’, Environmental Health Perspectives, 18(8), pp.1109-116, published online June 2010 available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/articles/PMC2920084/ 12 http://www.birminghammail. co.uk/all-about/cycling

Geoff Bainbridge

It’s been a long time since this newsletter contained an update on the campaign to save Billesley Lane allotments, under threat from the landlords, Moseley Golf Club. The campaign has been in abeyance, waiting for the Club to see sense and understand, after numerous planning battles, that designated allotment land really is protected in planning law. No sign of seeing sense yet, rather, some very sad news prompts this update.

The leading light behind the allotments campaign (or ‘alittlements’ as he called them after the golf club claimed back some two-thirds of the site despite Council and plot-holders’ efforts) was Geoff Bainbridge. Geoff was also a hugely welcoming person and helped make

the allotment community the special place it is. Diagnosed with cancer in 2011, Geoff died on 16th April. The celebration of his life was packed, with a strong allotments contingent.

He will be greatly missed.

There are people you come across in campaigns who just have that persistent, witty, devious, rallying, fighting spirit that we’re sure is responsible for all unexpected campaign victories. Geoff was one of them. He hasn’t lived to see the victory happen, but we will certainly be trying to keep that “Che Bainbridge” spirit alive in his memory.

All welcome to the allotments’ Open Day on 30th June, and if you do Facebook, please ‘like’ the new Save Billesley Lane Allotments page.

Karen Leach and Chris Crean

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the big green debate: Going Nuclear.

This issue the Big Green Debate goes nuclear, quite literally in fact. Nuclear power is often a contentious one for environmentalists, but not all greenies are opposed. Some see it as far too dangerous, while others argue it could be a solution to our low carbon energy problem. For this debate we’ve brought out the big hitters, with our Campaign Co-ordinators Robert Pass and Roxanne Green taking the floor. Robert will be making the case for nuclear power whilst Roxanne will be arguing against.

Julien Pritchard

for

against

By 2050 electricity demand is set to double as Britain’s population soars to 80 million and much of our transport and heating will have switched to the electricity grid. How can we afford to rule out low-carbon nuclear power?

Nuclear power is expensive; it has been heavily dependent on government subsidies totalling billions of pounds for decades. If renewable energy had had the money poured into it that nuclear has, we would be getting the same amount of energy from renewables as we do from nuclear. When nuclear power stations can no longer be used it costs a lot to shut them down safely, because nuclear power produces waste that is toxic and stays toxic for tens of thousands of years, so it costs a fortune to store. Therefore, producing nuclear waste means getting locked into a prohibitively expensive contract for storage for thousands of years.

75% of the UK’s electricity is currently produced by burning fossil fuels. Around 16% of Britain’s electricity supply is provided by nuclear power. Replacing all of our fossil fuel usage with renewable energy will be hard enough.

Replacing fossil fuels and nuclear power with renewables is, I believe, wildly unrealistic.

Renewables have a low power density, which means you need a lot of them covering a large area. A European/North African super-grid of renewables is required, but the cost would be huge and the energy security implications are worrying.

It’s also worth remembering that all renewables involve the mining,

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Nuclear power is not a clean option. It creates huge amounts of emissions that contribute to climate change; the mining, transporting and processing of uranium uses a lot of energy. It is dangerous too – although there are thorough safety procedures at nuclear

for continued transporting and processing of rare earth minerals. China currently controls 95% of the world’s production of rare earth minerals.

So-called ‘fourth generation’ nuclear power will be massively more efficient than our existing nuclear power stations. Instead of burning just 1% of the uranium, they burn 99% of the uranium. Not only would this produce a tiny fraction of the waste, but it would mean you could re-use the nuclear waste from today’s reactors. This would mean there would be enough existing nuclear fuel to power the country for centuries. It could even be used to deal with the waste from nuclear weapons, turning the problem of nuclear waste into a solution to our carbon energy crisis.

Before Fukushima, nuclear power saved around a quarter of a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year in Japan, equivalent to just under half the UK’s emissions. Point Carbon predict that Germany’s plan to shut down its nuclear power plants will increase their carbon dioxide emissions during the coming decade by around half a billion tons.

We have an almighty fight on our hands to wean ourselves off fossil fuels if we are to avoid runaway global warming. Yes, nuclear is expensive, and not without its safety fears, but it’s a proven low-carbon technology. It would be foolish to dismiss it without considering the consequences of our idealism.

Robert Pass

against continued power stations, all processes get missed some of the time. At British nuclear power stations between 2001 and 2008 there were 1,767 safety breaches. Human error and corner cutting can never be entirely eliminated, and the potential ramifications of a serious safety breach mean that, however unlikely, it is simply not worth the risk.

The real issue that needs to be addressed in energy policy is consumption. We use and waste too much energy, on our homes, in industry, on getting around.

We currently rely on fossil fuels to power our inefficient habits, and this is destroying the planet. These consumption levels cannot continue; there is no way we can continue to waste this much energy; it’s a remarkable, precious commodity and it needs to be used responsibly.

We are at a critical point in energy policy; nuclear power cannot be adapted quickly enough to respond to urgent demands in the climate and developments in technology. If we invest in nuclear now we will be burdened with it in the long term.

There is all sorts of talk about new nuclear technologies but none have yet been proved satisfactorily, and because it is so potentially harmful, testing must be extensive and rigorous. We do not have time to wait. Renewable energy is ready to go, the technology works, we just need some investment and conviction from our parliamentary representatives.

Roxanne Green

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bumbling in Balsall Heath The National Day of Action for the Bee Cause on Saturday the 18th of May saw a wonderful turnout of bee supporters at the Grand Opening of the Jubilee Gardens’ Bee World in Balsall Heath. This was the first project funded by the comedy gig, ‘There’s Something Funny in the Honey’, to be opened, with local MP Roger Godsiff kindly agreeing to do the honours.

speech on the importance of the Bee Cause, highlighting the brilliant recent success of the EU voting to ban Neonicotinoides across Europe.

With the cutting of a bright yellow ribbon by Mr Godsiff the Bee World was declared open! After the Bee World, and all the work of Balsall Heath is Our Planet, was admired, a Bee Walk was conducted by John Newson down the Rea Valley. This outlined the future vision for a bee-friendly wildlife corridor, full of wildflowers, to improve the bee’s habitat connected to the Bee World.

On returning to the Bee World to finish the Bee World Opening event, we were greeted by some actual fluffy, buzzing bumbling bees thoroughly enjoying their new Bee World. The perfect way to end the successful day.

The Jubilee Garden, on Longmore Street, Balsall Heath, is open to the public and are available to visit at any time.

As people started arriving, local folk musicians played songs such as ‘The Dance of the Honey Bee’, creating a buzzing atmosphere. The event began with a warm welcome from John Newson, member of ‘Balsall Heath Is Our Planet’ and Birmingham Friends of the Earth.

Our, Biodiversity Campaigner, Bex Pollard welcomed people on behalf of Birmingham Friends of the Earth and handed over to MP Roger Godsiff. Mr Godsiff then gave a

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Future plans for the Bee Cause for us in 2013 include getting every Birmingham MP to support the Bee Cause, as well as raising the profile of bees and getting loads of signatures by running stalls at several events. Look out for us at an event near you!

If you are interested in getting involved in the Bee Cause please feel free to contact Bex at rebecca@birminghamfoe.org.uk.

Rebecca Pollard

volunteer spotlight Julien Pritchard interviews Michaela Hodges

Recently I’ve had to stop actually coming in to the office because of conflicting time commitments, but I’m still coming to meetings and contributing as much as I can What do you like about working here?

There are lots of great things about volunteering at BFoE, but one of the best things is the dedicated, inspiring and genuinely nice people you work with What have you learnt from volunteering with BFoE? Well for one thing I’ve learnt more about environmental issues! I’ve found BFoE to be very welcoming to people of all levels of knowledge and experience What do you think is the most important environmental issue and why?

Having worked on the research for the new campaign I am biased, but still, I would have to say air pollution. It is seriously damaging to our health; continuing to ignore it is not a realistic option when air pollution is causing around 29,000 early deaths a year

How long have you been involved with BFoE?

What’s your best green tip/ advice?

Since October, so 7 months

Walk more; it’s good for you, helps reduce air pollution, and it is free!

What do you do here?

I started volunteering in the office doing whatever needed doing, then later I became the Communications Officer and was doing research on air pollution for the new campaign.

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diary Campaign Meetings - mondays 7.30pm 3rd June: General Meeting 10th June: Action Meeting - Let’s Get Moving 17th June: AGM 24th June: Action Meeting 1st July: General Meeting 8th July: Action Meeting 15th July: Action Meeting 22th July: Action Meeting 29th July: Action Meeting

Other Events 1st - 8th June: UK Green Film Festival – Midlands Arts Centre 8th June: Chainmakers Event – Cradley Heath 12th-16th June: BBC Gardeners’ World Live – NEC 19th June: Let’s Get Moving Campaign Launch 12th-14th July: Friends of the Earth Basecamp – Hartington Hall Derbyshire See Northfield Eco Centre (www.northfieldecocentre.org) & Birmingham Environment Education Project (www.BirminghamEnvironment.org) for more events and workshops

Farmers’ Markets 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 Stirchley Community Market: Taking a break until March

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contacts Contact us: Friends of the Earth (Birmingham) The Warehouse 54-57 Allison Street Birmingham B5 5TH

Chair: Benjamin Mabbett Campaigns Co-ordinator: Roxanne Green & Robert Pass Campaigns Support Worker: Julien Pritchard

Tel: (0121) 632 6909 Fax: (0121) 643 3122

General Manager: Philip Burrows

E-mail: info@birminghamfoe.org.uk Web: www.birminghamfoe.org.uk

Treasurer: Margaret Lynch

Friends of the Earth is:

Aviation: Adam McCusker

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

- One of the UK’s leading enviromental 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: Campaigns 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

Climate Change & Energy: Jacob Williams Biodiversity: Rebecca Pollard Transport: Adam McCusker Waste & Recycling: John Newson Planning: Benjamin Mabbett Newsletter Editors: Michaela Hodges Steven D Quirke Zoe Wright Website Editor: Philip Burrows Fundraising & Membership Co-ordinator: Shajidur Rahman Stalls & Event Co-ordinator: Samuel Jones Talks: Jacob Williams, Rebecca Pollard & others All enquiries and callers welcome.

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