Birmingham Friends of the Earth newsletter - Summer 2014

Birmingham

friends of the earth

newsletter Summer 2014

save our community garden!

Some of you may not be aware that hidden away behind a fence along Shaw’s Passage, at the back of The Warehouse, Digbeth has a Community Garden!

Some of our older readers may remember there used to be a large, derelict Victorian warehouse on the site, which was finally pulled down due to health and safety fears in the 1980s. The area was then fenced off and forgotten about

by Birmingham City Council. Over time the disused industrial site became overgrown and strewn with litter.

Continued on Page 13

contents 3 - campaigns’ digest 5 - in the media 7 - Birmingham fossil free 9 - big green debate: is clicktivism a valuable form of activism ?

13 - save our community garden! (continued from front page)

16 - cyclists are doing it for themselves!

17 - annual general meeting 18 - let’s get moving on alliance building 19 - volunteer appeal 20 - from Basecamp with love 21 - volunteer spotlight 22 - diary 23 - contacts

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campaigns’ digest Hello and welcome to your latest Campaigns Digest! Hopefully when you read this the weather is still as lovely as it is as I write this! On the subject of weather, the (usually!) improved weather of spring and summer means we’re out and about on stalls more often, and this year has been no exception. We’ve had stalls at events and locations across Birmingham, and we’re going to be at quite a few more yet before the autumn. So look out for us at an event near you!

Nature Since the last issue we’ve been busy submitting our response to the consultation on the Government’s National Pollinator Strategy. For newer readers, the Strategy was the result of campaigning of groups on the Bee Cause around the country and calling for a Bee Action Plan.

When responding to the consultation we used local examples to point out the flaws in the Strategy, such as there not being enough funding, or sufficient rules around new developments in order to protect pollinators.

As well as responding to the consultation, we also contacted Birmingham Sutton Coldfield MP Andrew Mitchell, to ask him to put pressure on the government for a stronger Strategy. We’re happy to say he replied saying he was doing just that! We have just learnt that the launch of the National Pollinator Strategy has been delayed till October, so we will see then how successful our efforts have been.

Energy & Climate Change We’ve been hard at work with other groups planning a Birmingham Fossil Free campaign to push organisations in Birmingham to divest from dirty Fossil Fuels. Keep a look out for this campaign when it launches and read the article by Jacob Williams for more details about the campaign.

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campaigns’ digest (continued from page 3) Elections Some of you may have noticed that there were some elections in May. Although we’ll never endorse a candidate or party, as a political campaigning group we do take a keen interest in the policies of those who stand in elections. We again did a 10 point plan for Birmingham this year, and got in touch with council candidates to see how much they agreed with our ideas.

Transport We’ve been doing lots of stalls for Let’s Get Moving, where we’ve been getting people to sign action cards in support of the campaign. We’ve also been building support amongst other organisations in Birmingham.

See Sawsan’s article on our alliance building work for more information.

Waste We’re still waiting on the publication of the Council’s Scrutiny Inquiry into their waste and resource strategy after 2019. This is due in July, and once this is published it should give us some idea of the council’s thinking on the incinerator after the contract with Veolia ends in 2019.

I’m sure we’ll have plenty to say on the matter once it’s published, and we’ll hopefully have more of an update for you in the next issue.

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As well as Let’s Get Moving, we’ve also been continuing to track the council’s plans for 20mph on residential roads. In April they brought out their initial proposals, which were a little disappointing to say the least, leaving many unclassified roads at 30mph.

We submitted our thoughts, and along with other groups, we met with council officers to outline our concerns. The proposals have shown some improvement (though still not perfect) and are currently out for formal consultation until 4th July. By the time you read this we’ll no doubt have responded to these as well!

Julien Pritchard

in the media Just as we went to press for the last issue we got more media coverage in a week then we often get in a month! It may seem a while ago now, but if you cast your minds back to the start of April, you’ll remember that Birmingham, along with much of the Midlands and the South of the country, was hit by a lot of smog.

I was interviewed about the story live in the studio on a lunchtime edition of BBC Midlands Today, and also appeared with a pre-recorded piece on the evening edition. Over the course of 6 days I also appeared three times on BBC Radio WM, including taking part in a debate with former Top Gear presenter Quentin Wilson, and once on BBC Radio Coventry & Warwickshire.

The appearances may have been numerous but my message was the same: the smog was about more than desert sand, with traffic being a significant contributor, and even once the smog dissipated we have an underlying air pollution problem which we need to tackle with greater investment in public and active transport.

We had some more air pollution interviews a month later, when the World Health Organisation released a report showing the worst cities worldwide for Particulate Matter. This report included, yes you guessed it, Birmingham. I was interviewed on BBC WM and Free Radio about the issue, again making the case for active travel as the solution to poor

air quality. I was particularly pleased about the appearance on Free Radio as it was the first time they have shown interest in an air pollution story, hopefully the first of many!

It wasn’t just about air pollution, as I also appeared on BBC WM on two occasions to talk about everyone’s favourite topic: waste and recycling.

I was also interviewed about the demise of the Car 2 Go scheme.

However I haven’t been the only BFoE campaigner in the media spotlight. Our waste campaigner John Newson was interviewed about the Council charging for Green Waste collections on both BBC WM and BBC Midlands Today. Tom Garrood also appeared on BBC WM talking about Friends of the Earth’s Great British Count and the Bee Cause in general.

So a busy few months in the media, and 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.

0121 633 0730

“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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Vegan essentials, vegan treats, wholefoods & more Opening hours Mon-Sat 10:00 - 19:00 Closed Sundays

Birmingham fossil free

Can Birmingham become Fossil Free? The much lauded international campaign ‘Fossil Free’ aims to get institutions to divest from the fossil fuel industry. The rationale for this is that if it’s wrong to wreck the climate, then it’s wrong to profit from wrecking the climate.

American climate campaigner Bill McKibben spoke at the University of Birmingham at the end of last year as part of a Fossil Free tour. This led to the start of a group in Birmingham with the ambition of getting Birmingham divested.

The idea behind divestment is a very interesting and effective concept.

Pensions are a huge business, which involves huge amounts of money being invested in companies to allow those pensions to grow. A lot of this is often invested in fossil fuel companies as well as arms

companies. Divestment asks for companies to opt out of investing in these companies and look for more sustainable and less morally dubious alternatives. We’re all connected to institutions that claim to be looking out for the public good, from local councils and governments, to universities, public banks and religious institutions.

Many of these institutions, however, continue to support the fossil fuel industry whether we know it or not.

Given that we have to leave 80% of the proven reserves of coal, oil and gas in the ground in order to avoid catastrophic changes to our climate, these institutions have a responsibility to stop supporting an industry whose business model is based on wrecking our future The global and national campaign has being gathering pace at an astounding rate of knots. Many universities in the UK are looking

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over the city and from different organisations, as well as individuals.

Our aim is to encourage as many institutions, businesses and individuals as possible, including Birmingham City Council, to divest.

To show that it is possible to make as much or more by investing in ethical and sustainable practices.

This would deal a massive blow to the big energy companies and could be a huge boost to renewables and other ethical companies.

at divesting, and we’ve started to see faith groups look at it as well.

Further afield, the Mayor of Seattle has recently come out in favour of making Seattle fossil free and many institutions in the US and Australia are following suit.

This brings us back home to Birmingham. A city that was at the heart of the industrial revolution.

Famous for having a black sky due to amount of coal it used. What a great thing it could be for this city to lead a new revolution. Birmingham City Council have lofty ambitions to make Birmingham a leading light for green cities. The Birmingham Green Commission have developed a carbon road map to guide us on this route. This gives us a great opportunity to make them follow through with what they are saying and go further.

A Birmingham Fossil Free campaign is being set up to do just this, bringing people together from

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...Birmingham... was at the heart of the industrial revolution.

What a great thing it could be for this city to lead a new revolution.

If you want to find out more you can visit the global Fossil Free website at: www.gofossilfree.org/uk If you want to be involved in the campaign in Birmingham, or help the place of your work divest, please contact jacob@birminghamfoe.org. uk Jake Williams

the big green debate is clicktivism a valuable form of activism?

After several Big Green Debates about specific environmental issues we’re having a debate about campaign tactics this issue. Zarqa Mahmood and Sawsan Bastawy are debating the merits of online activism, i.e. clicktivism or slacktivism to its detractors. A powerful campaigning tool or so easy to use it’s meaningless? Read on and make up your own mind!

Julien Pritchard

yes

no

The pejorative term ‘slacktivism’ (meaning activism that takes little time, effort, or involvement,) is used to challenge the worth of online activism, and question whether or not it accomplishes anything bar giving people a sense of satisfaction.

Today the internet is streaming with so called ‘clicktivism’, as it is considered to be cost effective, fast and easy to use.

However, this form of online activism should not be regarded as activism, it is merely a slacktivist method activists use for their political means.

The terms clicktivism and slacktivism are oft used interchangeably; and therefore the anti-slacktivist and anti-clicktivist backlash are often indistinguishable. However, clicktivism and slacktivism are, and should be seen as, distinct.

The internet provides a platform for activists to speak. It assembles audiences and creates spaces that are hard to find in the real-world or mainstream media for a message to be shared.

The concept of slacktivism refers to activities that are effortlessly performed. They are considered more effective in making a participant feel good about them self rather than achieving the stated political aims.

Petitions are considered a slacktivist action and have received significant negative press because they require little effort. However, petitions often have phenomenal global effects. It is therefore impetuous and lazy to say all online actions that require

Online petitions are a prime example of slacktivism, as there is little effort put into generating a petition, sending it out via online channels, and it spreading to mass audiences. The idea of it reaching a big audience is phenomenal; however getting signatures via a click is simply lazy and this should not even be considered as real activism.

A recent example of slacktivism is of the ‘no make-up selfie’ to support

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yes (continued) little physical effort are valueless, and worthy of a derogatory term like ‘slacktivism’.

Clicktivism, unlike slacktivism, encompasses all manner of online actions, quick and easy to long-term and labour-intensive. Volunteering your skills online is great for people who want to donate their time and skills to a cause they care about, or to a cause that is geographically distant. The United Nations Online Volunteering Portal is an excellent example of this.

It goes without saying that criticisms of clicktivism and use of the term slacktivisim in a pejorative or derogatory way overwhelmingly originate in the West and/or are directed at Western clicktivism. In some countries, liking or creating a Facebook page is a tremendous display of strength against a dictatorship, particularly when we consider that people are routinely

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no (continued)

activities that are effortlessly performed, but they are considered more effective in making a participant feel good about them self rather than achieving the stated political aims.

Cancer Research. The ‘no make-up selfie’ was a hash-tag trend started by a member of the public, who posted a picture of herself with no make-up on and nominated others to do the same. Soon the trend became viral and the individuals who joined in felt they were doing their bit for the charity. Were they really? After a massive viral spread Cancer Research got involved by suggesting those who took selfies could do something meaningful and donate £3 via text. Soon after, people started to screenshot their donations and it went viral, showing

yes (continued) arrested for Facebook posts and tweets in some countries.

no (continued) the possibilities of people donating merely to make themselves feel good and to look good in front of their peers.

In some countries, liking or creating a Facebook page is a tremendous display of strength against a dictatorship....people are routinely arrested for Facebook posts We can acknowledge that clicktivism has potential problems, and that it can lead to lazy activism, but this does not mean that it does not have value and that it does not constitute real activism. While few would likely claim that clicktivism is the best form of activism, it is certainly a valuable form of activism, and has the potential to challenge real-world campaigns in terms of efficacy and impact. We simply need to develop tools and strategies to make sure that a dangerous culture of ‘slacktivism’ isn’t born as a result.

Sawsan Bastawy

Clicktivists may argue they utilize the internet as a catalyst to promote and arrange events in order to show support for a certain campaign and it can be extremely cost-effective.

However these are just ‘virtual activists’, who fail to recognise that real activism (offline activism) is completely different to the online world. Overall online activism is argued to be clicktivism however, it actually displays pure slacktivism.

Zarqa Mahmood

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become a supporter...

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

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

I wish to become a Golden Supporter with payments by standing order of £10 per month or more.

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

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save our community garden! (continued from front page)

It would have stayed this way had it not been for the efforts of a small band of volunteers in 1998, who decided to tidy the site up and hold a party there to celebrate the 21st anniversary of Birmingham Friends of the Earth. Access was granted by the Council on the back of a gentleman’s agreement and Birmingham Friends of the Earth has used the space ever since.

It has been used as a composting area for both the kitchen and the Warehouse CafĂŠ, a bike storage area for users of the building, a popular nesting site for birds in the heart of the city centre and a social space.

However, following a chat in the pub last year between campaigners, it was agreed that the site had the potential to be so much more. We became inspired by the dream of creating a true Community Garden in the heart of the concrete jungle. A space for local people to grow food, to learn about sustainable crafts and skills, to socialise and to commune with nature: Digbeth Community Garden was born!

A small band of willing volunteers

began organising regular Saturday work days to make the dream a reality. The first job was the major task of tackling the overgrown vegetation – we estimated that the site was at this point 50% buddleia, which was blocking light and crowding out other plants and pathways. However it was decided early on to leave a substantial amount of area to nature, buddleia and all. In the middle of the garden there was a stand of self-set silver birch, (which are perhaps 15 years old), whitebeam, hazel, hawthorn and cherry laurel, which provides a rich habitat for invertebrates, not to mention some of the largest spiders you would ever wish to find in the British Isles!

The group was keen to start growing some fruit and veg, with a desire for the garden to follow the principles of the Permaculture movement.

Permaculture, a name combing agriculture and permanent, is based on the belief that complimentary plant assemblies, working with

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save our community garden! nature to cycle nutrients and rainwater can produce food in a sustainable and non-polluting way.

However, we soon discovered we had a problem - the site as disused industrial land was already polluted with traces of lead, arsenic, copper and zinc!

Nobody wants arsenic in their spuds or a hint of lead in their parsnips so we decided to make use of some of the pallets lying around and create some raised beds for growing food. We were able to source some top soil for free and thus the contamination challenge became a design feature!

Proper paths were made using donated slabs and gravel while a patio for the social area was constructed out of the huge pile of bricks recovered from the original Victorian warehouse. EcoUrbanism is about making cities more sustainable, almost all of the

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(continued from page 13)

materials used in the garden are salvaged or recycled.

In May 2014 volunteers were beginning work on the pond and wetland area, ready for the official opening as a community garden in the summer, when we received a bombshell. We were notified by a local resident that Birmingham City Council were preparing to put the land up for sale and planning permission was being drawn up to build a car park.

Our first thought was, just what Digbeth needs; more car parks!

Our second thought was disbelief and shock. The project has brought people together and forged new friendships; it’s introduced people to Friends of the Earth who would perhaps not relish Monday night meetings but love getting involved in practical hands-on projects; it’s providing much needed green lungs in the city centre; it will also help relieve the Urban Heat island effect in the years to come. Most importantly it promises to be an inspirational community space.

We cannot allow the Council to rob Birmingham of this Community Asset. It would be ironic in the year that Birmingham has been awarded the title of the UK’s first Biophilic1 City if the Council forcibly evicted the only community garden in the heart of the city. A Biophilic City is defined as “cities that contain abundant nature; they are cities that care about, seek to protect, restore and grow this nature, and that strive to foster deep connections and daily contact with the natural world.

Nature is not something optional, but absolutely essential to living a happy, healthy and meaningful life; these cities put nature at the heart of their decision making.�

Birmingham Friends of the Earth is calling on all of our friends and supporters to help get behind us in fighting off this threat. Perhaps you would consider writing to Sir Albert Bore, (the Leader of the Council) or Councillor Lisa Tricket, (Cabinet Member for Green, Smart and Sustainable City) or to the local

paper to voice your objection. You would be most welcome to come along to help out at one of our work days or open days. We are also planning a big party in July so keep your eye on our website, Facebook and Twitter pages for more information.

This situation perfectly illustrates where our society is going wrong; putting profits before planet, cars before trees, greed before community. This is our chance to stand up for our values and be the change that we want to see in the world.

Robert Pass 1) To suggest an instinctive bond between humans and other living systems.

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cyclists are doing it for themselves!

In August 2013, Birmingham City Council started their Cycling Revolution - to make it easier and safer for people to cycle - with £24.3 million from grants and selffunding. As a keen cyclist, who has cycled all over the world yet finds her home town one of the hardest places to cycle, I welcomed this.

So the cancelling of the traffic free and family friendly Sky Ride due to no suitable date being available, left me asking ‘eh’? Was this really the action of a council committed to cycling?

After the initial ranting, I remembered that one way cycling can have a higher profile is in increasing the amount of cyclists. Of course there are concerns, but the more cyclists there are, the more there will be.

This ‘critical mass’ idea led to, well, Critical Mass rides. Starting in San Fransisco in 1992, rides have taken place in over 300 cities worldwide1.

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Mass_(cycling)

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A non-formalised ride, usually on a Friday evening, with cyclists (and other forms of non-motorised transport!) riding through their city together. It isn’t an organisation, more ‘an idea allowing people to reclaim cities by getting together and outnumbering the cars on the road’2. A celebration of bike-ness, it’s a fun alternative to car culture.

Another group getting out and about are the North Birmingham based road riders, the Boldmere Bullets Cycling Collective. Tom Swinbourne, one of the founder members, said the group was set up to create a stronger cycling community in Boldmere and raise the profile and visibility of cycling. It now has over 200 members since starting at the beginning of 2014. Tom would like to encourage other likeminded cyclists to replicate this fresh approach to getting communities on their bikes throughout the city: a group of cyclists getting together for social 2 http://www.urban75.com/Action/critical.html

and harder road rides, as wanted.

So, yes, rant at the council, I have, but do we need them to tell us where and when we can cycle? Or should we do it for ourselves, get on our bikes and go for it?

Critical Mass rides: first Friday of every month, 18.00, Pigeon Park (St. Philip’s Cathedral) Boldmere Bullets: Rides posted on Strava and Facebook. Socials every other Sunday, 7pm. Meet Dubella Lounge, Boldmere Road.

Cath Palgrave https://www.facebook.com/ boldmerebullets http://www.strava.com/clubs/ boldmerebullets

annual general meeting We are due to hold our annual general meeting, which this year is happening on 14th July 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

in addition to being a financial supporter, and each person is entitled to one vote no matter how many shares they have.

We will be reporting on how we have done financially, environmentally and socially throughout 2013/14 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.

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let’s get moving on alliance building In the last two months we’ve gained key supporters for our Let’s Get Moving campaign, including Birmingham Central Mosque, All Saints Church Kings Heath, and Birmingham LGBT. Through the campaign, we’re calling on Birmingham City Council (BCC) to invest in infrastructure that supports active transport as a means of tackling air pollution, and promoting health and well-being among Birmingham residents.

with an ambition towards building a Birmingham Clean Air Alliance.

We’re are talking with several key community and faith groups and hope that Let’s Get Moving will have significant support from across Birmingham by the time we submit our petition for increased investment in active transport to Sir Albert Bore at the end of the summer.

Alliance building is an integral part

The campaign has struck a chord with Birmingham-based faith and community groups who have serious concerns about the quality of the city’s air and the impact this has on the health and well-being of Birmingham’s million-strong population.

These groups were being asked to put their name to the campaign by allowing us to use their names and logos on our campaigns materials so that BCC recognises the diversity and the breadth of the support for the campaign. We’ve asked if groups can put Let’s Get Moving campaign materials in their building’s public spaces. We are also working with these groups on increasing awareness of air pollution and how we can combat it by making sustainable choices in our own lives by arranging workshops or talks for their communities.

We have been in talks with other faith groups, community groups and local neighbourhood forums about air pollution and Let’s Get Moving,

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of BFoE’s work as we try to gain momentum and support for action on air pollution by the council.

By demonstrating that we have a broad base of support from major

faith and community groups across Birmingham, we hope to show BCC that Birmingham expects it to take sufficient long-term measures to tackle the problem.

As regular readers will be aware from previous articles on this issue, air pollution contributed to around 520 premature deaths in Birmingham last year, and is a major contributor to respiratory illness. The UK government is currently being taken to court by the European Commission for illegal levels of Nitrogen Dioxide in Birmingham and 15 other cities across the country.

This is why we’re calling for Birmingham City Council to build on the success of the funding they got from the Cycle City Ambition Grant,

and invest £10 per person per year in cycling and walking for at least 10 years.

With BFoE racking up key supporters including the major faith congregations and Birmingham LGBT, Birmingham City Council will have to acknowledge the call for action on air pollution.

If you are a faith or community group in Birmingham and you’d like to put your name to the campaign for clean air, please get in touch with us at info@birminghamfoe.org.uk or call us on (0121) 632 6909 To find out more, please visit us at birminghamfoe.org.uk or tweet us at @Bham_FOE. Sawsan Bastawy

volunteer appeal Birmingham Friends of the Earth (BFoE) are looking for enthusiastic, outgoing individuals to help us build support and raise awareness for our campaigns, in particular our local campaign: Let’s Get Moving, which aims to tackle the levels of city air pollution by calling for greater investment in active transport such as cycling or walking.

You would be involved in staffing stalls, talking to members of the

public, helping run BFoE events, building relationships with other organisations, as well as generally supporting the campaign from our office.

Some of the work will be based in our office at the Warehouse in Digbeth, but also out and about in and around Birmingham.

If you are interested, please contact Julien Pritchard for more information on 0121 632 6909 or at campaigns@birminghamfoe.org.uk

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from Basecamp with love question ‘what was the most embarrassing moment of your campaign?’ when collecting our certificate.

Somewhere between a festival and a conference is Friends of the Earth’s Basecamp; an annual event gathering local groups from across the country alongside staff members and a wider network of interested parties. From hard-core environmental activists to the eco-curious. Held outside the village of Castleton in the Peak District and with sessions predominantly held in yurts, getting away from it all and connecting with nature was high on the agenda.

Friday night kicked off with the Earthmovers awards ceremony – always a highlight – celebrating personal and group achievements from across the country. I always find it inspiring to hear about the breadth of work that is going on in different local groups, although when talking about our nominated project ‘Citizen Science’, I was stumped for an answer to the

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There was a packed programme of different events and I participated in workshops and discussions about topics such as the general election, strategy and governance, and diversity within the network. I also learnt to shim sham and ate some cheese and wine with the Land, Food and Water Team. Food was a positive theme and one meal was cooked for us by the local Real Junk Food Project entirely from food that would otherwise have been thrown away.

The night-time festivities included a ceilidh and after the bar had closed a potentially hazardous walk through the woods to the campfire. The bar (in a yurt, naturally) was staffed

by Young Friends of the Earth and my elation at discovering they were serving real cider was only matched by my disappointment when it sold out early on the Saturday night.

There was a full programme of events for children as well and the culmination of the weekend was a theatrical extravaganza where a group of solar-powered kids fought off a giant puppet personifying fracking. Being with so many committed people doing amazing things across the country and beyond was rewarding and inspiring, and it all went to show that environmental campaigning can be interesting, it can be varied, and it can be a lot of fun.

Roxanne Green

volunteer spotlight Julien Pritchard interviews Sawsan Bastawy

concerned about the environment and how it affects them than we might think. I’ve also found that younger generations, especially school age children, have a real environmental awareness, and have concerns about things like air quality in their communities and schools.

The key is making sure that this environmental consciousness is not lost.

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

How long have you been volunteering with BfoE? I have been volunteering with BFoE for exactly 2 months (possibly 3 by the time this article goes out!).

What do you do here?

I’m a campaigns assistant and am primarily responsible for alliance building with local faith and community groups. I can also be found tweeting, strategising, and harassing politicians.

What do you like about working here?

I like the range of tasks I’m given every day - each day is completely different to the next. I also have the freedom to use my own initiative and develop my own strategies for how I’ll go about a project.

What have you learned from volunteering with BfoE? I’ve learned that people are far more

Environmental justice is something I’m passionate about. As long as we pollute, destroy, and neglect our environment with impunity, we will continue to consider environmental destruction secondary to human destruction; or worse, as a minor or non-issue. In fact, environmental destruction is harmful to humans and so there needs to be justice both for the environment and for the people affected by its degradation.

This is absolutely necessary if we want to enable a global change in consciousness by people towards their environment; and may form part of the solution to the problem of human-made environmental problems.

What’s your best green tip/ advice?

Start now! Once you’ve started walking more, or driving less, for example, it’s easy to keep it up. It’s much easier to live sustainably than you might think. Also, small changes are worth making!

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diary Campaign Meetings - mondays 7.30pm 7th July: General Meeting 14th July: Annual General Meeting 21st July: Action Meeting - Let’s Get Moving/Warehouse Garden 28th July: Training Meeting Talking to the public 4th Angust: General Meeting 11th August: Action Meeting (TBC) 18th August: Action Meeting (TBC) 25th August: No meeting - Bank Holiday 1st September: General Meeting 8th September: Action Meeting (TBC) 15th September: Action Meeting (TBC) 22nd September: Action Meeting (TBC) 29th September: Action Meeting (TBC)

Other Events 8th July: No TTIP Event - Carrs Lane Church 11th July: Birmingham Friends of the Earth Organic BBQ - Anchor 12th July: No TTIP Day of Action 26th July: Digbeth Community Garden Launch Party (TBC) 14th - 20th August: Reclaim the

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Power Camp 29th - 31st August: Moseley Folk Festival 4th September: Cycle to Work Day 22nd September: In Town Without My Car Day 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

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

Chair: Robert Pass Campaigns Co-ordinators: 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:

Biodiversity: Tom Garrood

- 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:

Climate Change & Energy: Jacob Williams Let’s Get Moving: Shajidur Rahman Planning: Benjamin Mabbett Transport: Adam McCusker Waste & Recycling: John Newson Newsletter Editors: Catherine Palgrave Steven D Quirke Zoe Wright Website Editor: Philip Burrows

- Education

Talks: Speakers available on request.

Please get in touch.

- Empowering others to take action

All enquiries and callers welcome.

- Lobbying

- Participation and representation through public fora

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