Birmingham
friends of the earth Newsletter, Autumn 2017
Heritage
BFOE Shines a Light on its
Inside This Issue
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240,000 Reasons to be Grateful
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Air Pollution Campaign Takes Off!
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Planting Seeds for Future Campaigns
Contents Campaigns Digest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 240,000 Reasons to be Grateful . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 FoE Birmingham Heritage Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 What the Warehouse Means to Me. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 BFOE’s Air Pollution Campaign Takes Off! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Home Sweet Home: Helping Climate Refugees Find Justice . . 14 An Exciting Campaign to Improve Recycling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 The Tree Charter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Planting Seeds for Future Campaigns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Stalls Season. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Digbeth Community Garden Update. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Basecamp 2017 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 What Else is Going on in Birmingham Small Footsteps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Brum Radio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Forest School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Should We be Consuming Fish in the Way We Do? . . . . . . . . . . 31 Volunteer in the Spotlight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Diary Dates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Contact Us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
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Campaigns Digest By Libby Harris
Hello and welcome to our autumn newsletter. We have had an exciting and busy time over the summer with launching our two new campaigns (A Breath of Fresh Air and Climate Refugees) as well as raising investments through our Unlocking The Warehouse community share offer. Take a look at 240,000 reasons to be grateful to find out all about our exciting plans. We have also had to say farewell to Phil Burrows who was our General Manager for 9 years. We all want to say a massive thank you for all your hard work and we wish you all the best for the future. In this issue we will be taking a closer look at our air pollution and climate refugee campaigns along with discovering what else is going on in Birmingham with guest articles from Small Footsteps and Brum Radio. We will also be taking a look at the Birmingham Campaigns Course which we are helping to run.
Photo by BFOE.
Air Pollution We took part in Wheelers Lane Active streets evening on 15 June to highlight National Clean Air Day. It was great to see families playing outside together. There was plenty to do including football, rounders and a bike which makes smoothies! After months of planning we launched our A Breath of Fresh Air campaign during Clean Air week at the end of June. During the week we attend different events including Billesley Lane Allotments Open Day, Moseley Street Festival and CoCo Mad to talk about air quality issues in Birmingham. Take a look at Poppy’s article to find out more. 3
Energy and climate change We launched our new Climate Refugee campaign during Refugee Week (19-25 June) with a film night at The Warehouse. We showed the film, Climate Refugees which highlighted the impacts of climate change on millions of people worldwide. Read Eunice’s article to find out more.
lead waste campaigner, John, has been keeping an eye out for any developments.
Nature We enjoyed taking part in the Great British Bee Count back in June. We spotted various different species of bee including tree bumble bees who had taken over one of our bird boxes. Let us know what bees you have seen.
How you can get involved We always welcome new people and there are many different ways you can get involved with our campaigns. Whether you have an hour or two to spare or a whole day, please get in touch or come along to any of our weekly Monday meetings (contact and meeting details on the diary page).
Our beehives in Digbeth Community Garden are thriving and we have been busy fundraising to buy them. Waste Our Waste Isn’t Rubbish campaign has been quiet while we wait for Birmingham City Council to respond to last year’s public consultation on the Future Waste Strategy for Birmingham. Our
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As part of the Birmingham Campaigns Course, Jodie is working on a new recycling campaign, calling for a deposit return scheme for plastic bottles. Read Jodie’s article for all the details.
Follow us on Twitter (@Bham_FOE) and Facebook (www.facebook. com/birminghamfoe) to keep up to date with our latest campaigns news. For more in-depth information on our campaigns take a look at our website (www.birminghamfoe.org.uk).
240,000 Reasons to be Grateful
Photo by BFOE.
By Roxanne Green
We did it! The community share offer to transform the Warehouse has closed and we have successfully met our target of £240,000. I still can’t believe it! When we were discussing it in February I had no idea whether we would be able to raise what we needed. It was such a leap into the unknown, filled with hard work and risk, that it just didn’t seem possible. The fact that we have now achieved our goal is proof that if we are bold enough to
demand the impossible, the laws of possibility change. We couldn’t have done it without a great number of people. It was a herculean effort and a few individual volunteers in particular moved mountains and sweated blood to get us there. We are extremely grateful that Friends of the Earth England Wales and Northern Ireland are investing £40,000 into the scheme. We received £100,000 of match investment from Co-ops UK without which the business case would simply not have been feasible. 5
The biggest thanks, though, have to go to the 87 individual investors who believed in us enough to be part of our future. We are delighted to welcome so many members into the organisation, old friends and new, the many that gave what they could. The story of the Warehouse has always been more about people than it has bricks and windows. The visionary few that moved in 40 years ago, the many that have steered it through stormy weather, this is a building where people meet, make friends, fall in love and, in our small way, change the world.
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As we enter the next chapter we look forward to realising the dreams we have held for a long time: disabled access to the first floor, exemplary energy efficiency, more space for our tenants to grow and more income to support our campaigning. We stand on the shoulders of 40 years of environmental activism in Birmingham and we now know that we can continue this legacy and do it proud. We are going to have a bigger, bolder future and I can’t wait to see what it’s going to bring. Let’s get to work!
S U P P O R T We are the only organisation in Birmingham that campaigns on Air Quality, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Energy, Transport, Planning, Waste and Recycling.
You can help us to do this in a number of ways: Take part in our campaigns. Join us as a supporter. Make a donation. Or you could receive our email updates and decide what you want to do when you know us a bit better.
Whichever way you get involved, you are helping to make Birmingham green and sustainable!
For donations go to http://localgiving.com/birminghamfoe
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FoE Birmingham Heritage Project By Liz Palmer
As Birmingham Friends of the Earth celebrates 40 years at The Warehouse it has been successful in securing a £10 000 Sharing Heritage grant from Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). Through a mix of oral history recording and archival research, project volunteers will uncover the early history of the organisation and its contribution to the environmental movement together with its impact on the people of Birmingham. Project volunteers will seek out some of the early activists and employees to learn about their role in the heritage of Birmingham’s environmental movement. Use will also be made of the existing archives of BFoE which are safely housed at the Library of Birmingham, and it is hoped that additional early material will be located to add the archive. Volunteers will receive training in archive research skills, oral 8
history recording, film-making and presentation skills. The project will be co-ordinated by Liz Palmer, a local heritage genealogist and researcher, who worked for Friends in the Earth in the mid-1980s selling recycled paper. She will be assisted by Rachel Gillies, a fellow member of the Peoples’ Heritage Co-operative and community filmmaker and they will be supported by a steering group from BFoE including John Newson, Chris Crean and Bernard Parry. So how can you help? Volunteer: We are looking for volunteers to join the project to research the existing archives, undertake oral/video recordings and compile and disseminate the findings via social media, a print publication and an exhibition. Specific skills aren’t necessary as you would receive appropriate training.
Photo by BFOE.
Donate material Do you have photographs of BFoE activities particularly linked to campaigning? Or early campaign materials? Or any minutes of meetings from the 1970s? If so please let us know – if you don’t wish to donate it to the project (for eventual deposit in Library of Birmingham Archives) we could arrange to scan material.
Follow our progress: Blog: https://bfoeheritage40. wordpress.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ BFoEHeritage40 To add your name to our mailing list to be kept up to date with meetings and training dates, or to seek further information about any of the above email us heritage@ birminghamfoe.org.uk 9
What the Warehouse Means to Me By Karen Leach
This is the building I first came to in 1996, sensed something I wanted to be part of, and never really left. The building that gives the Earth’s Birmingham-based friends their permanent home, so everyone knows where to find us.
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This building enables us to meet every week, so we don’t forget what matters between meetings. This building brings us together - as friends, as pub chatters, as activists and sometimes as life partners. This is the building where we can get our letters delivered by cycle courier, have brilliantly
Photos by BFOE.
unexpected conversations while the kettle boils, share lovely meals, get our bikes fixed and go to the city’s best activist meetings. This building has seen the self-led training-up of countless experts in environmental fields, and seeded all manner of green enterprises. Its alumni turn up everywhere. In this building I fell in love over regional planning, environmental justice and Earl Grey. This is the building where I learnt all the diplomacy I don’t always practice, honed my brutal chairing skills, and created a role that has given 8 people a stepping stone to their career.
On this building’s old warehouse floorboards are painted the last 17 years’ campaign slogans, leached through the banner fabric, and are stacked piles of campaign materials no-one can bear to throw out. This building has sent thousands of willing volunteers off to Glastonbury and welcomed them home mud and all. This is the building where people offer each other help when they know things are hard, and is so much more than a building. This building’s Victorian brickwork and holey roof, shelter so much that is brilliant, help so much change to happen, and will soon be stronger, greener and better. 11
BFOE’s Air Pollution Campaign Takes Off! Poppy Buckingham
Over the summer, BFOE launched its Air Pollution Campaign and we’ve been busy. Every year an estimated 40,000 people in the UK die prematurely due to air pollution. For Birmingham, the annual figure is around 891. Air pollution in Birmingham is having a long term impact on our health. Birmingham City Council has to create a Clean Air Zone by 2020. We want this to happen and need it to be as large, effective, clean and sustainable as possible to have the greatest possible impact. So far we’ve: • Been citizen scientists, putting up air testing kits in key locations in Birmingham to measure nitrogen dioxide levels. The EU legal mean annual limit is 40µg/m3. Our snapshot results cover a 2 week period. Some of the locations we tested came back way above this legal limit. For example the result 12
from Bullring Stairway, B5 4BP was 59.98µg/m3 - 50% over the legal limit! • Responded to Birmingham City Council’s consultations on air quality and Clean Air Zone proposals and also to Transport for West Midlands’ Movement for Growth Development Plan consultation, which focused on potential changes to the region’s transport system, including public transport. • Reached out to local primary schools, encouraging them to sign up for Friends of the Earth’s Clean Air Schools Pack. • For National Clean Air Day on 15th June we had campaign stalls at Colmore Row and at an Active Streets event on Wheelers Lane. • To mark Friends of the Earth’s Clean Air Week of Action (24th June until 2nd July) we had campaign stalls at Billesley Lane Allotments, Moseley Street Festival
and CocoMad. We also had a special Monday night meeting where we learned more about air pollution, including how to protect ourselves and our families and what we can do to demand change. Moving forward, we hope to meet with councillors in the Autumn to continue putting pressure on Birmingham City Council to make sure the Clean Air Zone is as large, effective, clean and sustainable as possible.
How to get involved: We are looking to grow the campaign and are always happy to welcome new members. If you would like to learn more about our campaigns, please feel free to contact us (info@birminghamfoe.org.uk) or pop along to weekly meetings.
lllustration designed by Freepik. Photo by BFOE.
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Home Sweet Home
Helping Climate Refugees find Justice By Eunice Abbey
Climate change is the greatest challenge of our time, causing extreme weather events, threat to human health, communities, economy, and national security. It has been predicted that climate change will force millions of people to flee their homes over the coming century. This is due to gradual environmental deterioration such as rising sea levels, desertification, drought, flooding and hurricanes. The International Organisation for Migration indicated that 200 million people from approximately 7.4 billion in the world could be displaced by 2050 due to climate impact. This displacement could be within one’s own country or seeking refuge in another country. Unfortunately, the rights of these people within our societies have been undermined. People seeking refuge due to climate change currently have no support under existing legislation, such as the 14
1951 Geneva Convention to protect those fleeing war and persecution. As part of a national campaign led by Friends of the Earth England Wales and Northern Ireland (EWNI), we launched our Climate Refugee campaign on the 19 June with a film showing during Refugee Week. The Climate Refugee film uncovered the human impact on climate by considering those who are most affected by it. As part of the campaign we are asking people to sign a petition which is calling on governments to recognise climate refugees and support a new legal agreement to guarantee their rights and their fair claim to our shared world. We are also looking to work with groups who are already working on these issues.
Photo courtesy of Friends of the Earth EWNI.
Be part of the campaign • By signing the petition on https://act.foe.co.uk/act/demand-protection-climate-refugees • Be welcoming towards refugees within your communities • Help to improve and protect the environment by reducing your carbon footprint • Join us for our weekly campaign meeting • Email info@birminghamfoe.org.uk if you would like more information and/or would like to get involved with the campaign.
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An Exciting Campaign to Improve Recycling
By Jodie Etheridge
I’m Jodie and I’ve been volunteering with BFoE for two years now. I’m currently doing the Birmingham Campaign Course, a course which trains people on how to organise and carry out a campaign. It aims to turn activists into organisers. After a session on picking an issue to campaign on I chose recycling, as this is an issue I am passionate about. 16
As recycling is a massive area I quickly realised that I needed to focus the campaign on one part of the wider issue of recycling and that the campaign needed to have an achievable goal. This is in keeping with what we have discussed on the course about campaign targets. I decided to focus the campaign on bringing in a deposit return scheme in Birmingham for plastic bottles.
16 million plastic bottles are thrown away in the UK every day! Large numbers of these end up in our oceans which kills our marine life and threatens our ecosystems. Bottle deposit return schemes place a small deposit on plastic bottles which you get back if you return them. Bottles that are returned can then be recycled. The major obstacle to winning this campaign is that beverage industries are against bottle deposit return schemes. Put briefly, this is because such schemes would involve them contributing to the cost of the disposal of plastic bottles. However, a bottle deposit return scheme exists in Scotland and in other countries around the world which shows that this obstacle
can be overcome. For example, the carrier bag charge was introduced successfully and,over time has achieved its aim of reducing the number of carrier bags thrown away. This shows the same is possible for a deposit return scheme on plastic bottles. I hope my campaign will raise awareness of the issue of the massive number of plastic bottles that are thrown away and the environmental effects of this so that I can then work towards implementing a bottle deposit scheme. I am still at the early stages of the campaign so if you have any suggestions or would like to help please do email me on jodie@birminghamfoe.org.uk Photos courtesy of Pixabay.
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The Tree Charter By Adam McCusker
November 6th 2017 marks the 800th anniversary of the Charter of the Forest and to mark it, The Woodland Trust have teamed up with over 70 organisations to launch a Tree Charter for trees, woods and people. The Trust wish for the tree charter to gain its strength from the hundreds of thousands of people who sign it. Protecting trees is more crucial than ever since there are increasing threats, all of them made graver by austerity policies: infrastructure development (particularly if it is poorly designed with corners cut), pollution and climate change, pests and diseases (such as ash dieback), lack of protection in planning policy (the UK has just 2% ancient woodland cover, yet more than 500 ancient woods are under threat), decline in wildlife diversity (60% of species are in decline in the UK), decline in enrolments in forestry careers and awareness of forestry, no replacement of large ancient trees (especially in cities). In fact, not enough trees are being planted 18
to replace those being lost each year. Trees benefit us in so many ways. They provide: clean air, natural flood defences, noise dissipation, improved physical and mental health well-being, cooling for urban areas, pollution absorption, wildlife habitat, recreational spaces, contact with nature and sensory outdoor learning resources. But it is not just about trees as physical elements in the landscape. The charter of the forest was an attempt to put into statute and re-assert ancient rights to common resources which had been eroded by William the conqueror and his successors, complementing the judicial rights granted in the Magna Carta two years previously. The charter provided some economic protections for commoners. It included rights to graze farmed animals, forage, produce charcoal, make fish ponds and mills, and source firewood and peat from ‘forests’ which could include fields and heathlands as well as forested areas. Of course, as with any
advancement or re-affirmation of human rights, this wasn’t just one event in time, but was the result of many years of political struggle by the commoners of these and other lands. The reason the Charter of the Forest is less well known about than the Magna Carta is because many of the principles of the Charter of the Forest represent a greater threat to those in power.
It fundamentally challenges elite concepts of private ownership and control of common resources. Unfortunately, the rights granted or re-asserted in the Charter of the Forest have continued to be chipped away at by royalty and parliament alike, particularly with the enclosures of the commons in the last few centuries. There is a famous protest poem about these injustices:
The law locks up the man or woman Who steals the goose from off the common But lets the greater villain loose Who steals the common from off the goose The law demands that we atone When we take things we do not own But leaves the lords and ladies fine Who take things that are yours and mine The poor and wretched don’t escape If they conspire the law to break This must be so but they endure Those who conspire to make the law The law locks up the man or woman Who steals the goose from off the common And geese will still a common lack Till they go and steal it back Photos courtesy of Pixabay. Illustrations by Freepik.
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a necessity, as otherwise people are unlikely to be fully motivated to protect nature. To best protect trees and the natural world, we must transition to an economic system powered by living nature and not fossil fuels.
The theft of enclosure ultimately provided the early industrialists with both the land to build their factories on and the landless working classes to work in them. A continuing economic separation of people and land is a driving force of our industrialised world and has led to a decline in understanding of the natural world. Directing the economy away from an everyday engagement with living resources has served to devalue nature to the point where being in nature is rarely essential for one’s survival. We are the only species about which this could be said. Engagement with nature should not be seen as just a nice retreat, but 20
But we can make a start on reengaging with nature by signing up to the tree charter, which believes in: Thriving habitats for diverse species; Planting for the future; Celebrating the cultural impact of trees; A thriving forestry sector that delivers for the UK; Better protection for important trees and woods; Enhancing new developments with trees; Understanding and using the natural health benefits of trees; Access to trees for everyone; Addressing threats to woods and trees through good management; Strengthening landscapes with woods and trees. So sign the tree charter at https://treecharter.uk/ and perhaps plant a tree yourself this autumn. Photo courtesy of Pixabay.
Divest WMPF The WMPF, which manages the pensions for all the region's council employees, has significant investment in fossil fuels.These investments expose the pensions to risk. The share prices of the top 5 fossil fuel companies have fallen over the last 5 years.
Tell the WMPF to take this opportunity to contribute to a greener future and move away from fossil fuels by: Sign our petition Write to your local councillor Volunteer
www.birminghamfoe.org.uk/divestwmpf DivestWMPF
@DivestWMPF
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Planting Seeds for Future Campaigns By Elin Stroem
It was a group of tired campaigners that met in the Curzon Building at Birmingham Central University on Saturday morning,10th June. The week that had passed had seen a terrorist attack in London and a General Election, which result showed uncertainty. The uncertain world we live in mirrored the mood in the room we were in. Few of us knew what to expect from this course. Including, will I be able to use the tools from the course to organise and create positive change in the society through campaigning?
I’d like to think so, perhaps a little ambitious, but it is in uncertain times that we need to be able to organise and campaign for a better and fairer world. The first day of the course we discussed active listening, 1 to 1s and told our stories. Stories that were all different and from all over the world. We questioned ourselves about how we had ended up in that room that we were in and what our motivations were. In groups we went on to creating our own little campaigns picking our issue and then adding aims, smart objectives, thinking about our targets, audience and actions needed. I left that day feeling more positive and motivated. The next day we continued by brushing up our negotiating skills through role-play as we tried our hand at negotiating for a detention centre for refugees to close. Then we continued on thinking about power and privilege in the world, as well as the importance of self-care, making sure that we as
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campaigners do not burn out. It was two thought provoking days and if I felt tired at the start of the weekend I definitely felt more energised at the end. At the end of the second day we planted seeds, literally, but we had also got plenty of little seeds planted in our minds about organising campaigns, about who we are and friendship. Illustrations designed by Freepik. Top photo by BFOE. Left photo courtesy of Pixabay.
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Stalls Season By Jodie Etheridge
I’m Jodie, a BFoE volunteer. Myself and another volunteer did a stall on 3rd June at ‘ValeFest’, a student-run charity music festival held at University of Birmingham. This was my first time doing a BFoE stall and it was a great experience. It was really good to know that the students had chosen BFoE as one of the charities to invite and to see this reflected in how interested lots of them were in our campaigns. I enjoyed talking about our work. The conversations I had were mostly about the Bee Cause and the Climate Refugee Campaign launch film night. It was also great to see quite a few people interested in volunteering with us. It felt amazing to have spread and shared my passion outside of the group and to have played a part in trying to expand it. Before the stall I was quite nervous about how it would go and if I would have enough knowledge of the campaigns. Once I was there I quickly relaxed as I realised that 24
the information people wanted about the campaigns wasn’t very in depth. I realised that although I doubted whether I knew what I was talking about nobody else seemed to! If you would like to join our stalls team please email me on jodie@ birminghamfoe.org.uk
Digbeth Community Garden Update
In the garden during May, even though it was a dry month, we managed to get our watering system working. We have also added some more bird feeders to the garden which has attracted all kinds of birds including sparrows, blackbirds and an array of various tits and finches, all of which are definitely making their presence known as you walk around the garden! Photos by BFOE. Illustrations by Freepik.
You can almost forget that you’re in a city centre garden as the sounds and atmosphere take you briefly away from the hustle and bustle of city life the other side of the fence. The tadpoles are rapidly turning into froglets in our pond and there are plenty of them. As well as this the young birds are constantly in and out, taking advantage of the bird feeders. The bees from our 2 hives are as busy as always 25
collecting pollen from our array of flowers and we even have a small nest of tree bumble bees occupying one of our bird boxes The First Friday events during June and July went really well and there is another on the 4th August, so feel free to attend, either to lend a hand or just for a look around and chat.
Keep up to date with the latest developments: Facebook www.facebook.com/ digbethcommunitygarden Twitter @DigbethGarden Website https://digbethcommunity garden.wordpress.com
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Basecamp 2017 By Libby Harris
Basecamp is an annual gathering of activists organised by Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland (EWNI) held in Castleton, Derbyshire. This year we were joined by FoE campaigners from around Europe and I enjoyed getting to know them. I arrived quite late Friday night and celebrated the end of this year’s university exams by joining the rest of the BFoE volunteers for a drink and dance. There is always so much to do that it’s hard to choose which workshops to go to. On the Saturday after catching up with campaigners from around Europe I went to a session about how to tell a good story. I found this session really helpful in brushing up my media skills and I’m hoping to run this session at one of our Monday meetings! After a quick lunch I went to different sessions including a workshop on how to have effective 1-2-1s, a session on
facilitation techniques and finished the day with a workshop on lobbying. The highlight of Basecamp is always the Earthmover awards, which took place on Saturday night. We celebrated the achievements of FoE groups and affiliated groups. I was very proud that The Warehouse received a lifetime achievement award for being the home to many environmental, social justice and community groups over the past 40 years. The BFoE Lockups team were also celebrated for their hard work in raising vital funds for BFoE by running phone charging and secure lockups at festivals. I started Sunday with a nice walk into Castleton and I’m always swept away by the beauty of the area. After a hearty breakfast I
went to my first workshop of the day, ‘Creating a Buzz’. The Bee Cause is a campaign which I’m very passionate about and I had been looking forward to meeting members of FoE’s bee team. Sadly I didn’t get a chance to speak to their bee expert! Next I tried out my acting skills at the Forum Theatre session. In groups we acted out a scenario in which a person was oppressed. In a lot of sessions I went to over the weekend we about spoke the different forms of oppression and this has made me think about the way I interact with other people. My time at Basecamp flew by and before I knew it, it was time for the closing talks and group solidarity photos. Basecamp had once again been inspiring and restorative. Photos by BFOE. Illustrations by Freepik.
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What Else is Going on in Birmingham Small Footsteps
By Shabana Parveen
The Small Footsteps Environmental workshops are a fun and interactive way of helping children to learn about how they can play a part in making the world a cleaner, greener place. The programme consists of a week of indoor and outdoor workshops for children aged 11 to 14 aiming to teach them about the importance of the environment and their shared responsibilities towards it. During the week, the children will take part 28
in workshops about ecology and life cycles, bees, trees, water, food, recycling and energy. They will also be taking part in a reflective walk at a local park and finally will look into how human activity can affect Global Warming and Climate Change. The workshops will consist of 30 young people from different faith backgrounds within Birmingham, taking part in various activities and learning about the different faith perspectives on the environment.
We want to show children that people of faiths and those of no faith can work together with their shared message of protecting the earth and have a greater impact on tackling the environmental issues that affect us all.
Small Footsteps dates 31st July 2017 to 5th August 2017 Location Fircroft College, Bristol Road, Birmingham, B29 6LH Image courtesy of Small Footsteps.
Brum Radio By Dave Massey
Since arriving at The Warehouse in December 2015, Brum Radio has grown to create over 50 hours of original alternative Birmingham radio programming every week across over 30 shows, from arts and culture to soul and jazz. Brum Radio also champions local music artists who are finding their way in the UK and Global music scene. Now into our second year, we are intent on growing our reputation further with more live studio artists, bigger social media content and passionate specialist presenters. We are also building an audio library of local music to play between shows.
Our base here, in Digbeth, at the Warehouse has allowed us to push this even further and as we look into the later part of 2017 we have exciting projects lined up. Find out more about Brum Radio via our website at brumradio.com or download the app from IOS or Android Store. Don’t forget we are always looking for studio assistants to join our team one afternoon or evening a week so please share the word to those passionate about creating great radio content. Email help@ brumradio.com Image courtesy of Brum Radio.
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Forest School By Cath Palgrave
As a primary school teacher, I want the best outcomes for the children in my classes. I feel we should be teaching the whole child and not just how to pass standardised tests that measure a tiny proportion of what they can do. This is why I let the children in my charge use saws and light fires. This isn’t irresponsibility, it’s part of the growing use of Forest School in state education. Forest School is a philosophy, started in Scandinavia based on 6 core principles: 1) It is a long term process of frequent and regular sessions in a natural environment 2) It takes place in a natural wooded environment to support the development of a relationship between learner and the natural world. 3) It promotes the holistic development of all those involved, fostering resilient, confident, independent and creative learners. 30
4) It offers learners the opportunity to take supported risks appropriate to the environment and themselves. 5) It is run by qualified practitioners. 6) It uses a range of learnercentred processes to create a community for development and learning.* So, supported tool use allows children to further develop motor skills, design and fulfil projects (such as building nesting boxes) and overcome frustration when things go wrong. Supported fire use allows children to learn about the usefulness of fire, safety, respect for others and the land and responsibility for clearing up after themselves. In my inner city school, Forest School has shown children how to get into and appreciate nature. It has helped children develop a love of being outside, exploring, discovering and creating. It has led to a group of children, in their free
time, taking it upon themselves to water trees we had planted. It also led to one child just standing in the middle of a circle of trees and say ‘it’s all so beautiful’. This can’t be measured! *Abridged from www. forestschoolassociation.org Photo courtesy of Pixabay.
Should We be Consuming Fish in the Way We Do? By Arran Houston
Most governments encourage people to eat fish for its health benefits. However, promoting increased fish consumption ignores its negative environmental impacts. Unlike the fast decline in meat consumption, due to its environmental impact, fish consumption remains high and at harmful levels. Worse still, despite scientists stating that fishing levels are already too high, they continue to increase fishing targets. For example, 2/3 of European fish stocks are overfished and 85% are below healthy levels.
Fishery problems There are attempts to create sustainable fisheries but this is a difficult task. Firstly, 2-5lbs of fish-food is needed to breed carnivorous fish such as salmon. This is akin to the meat industries resource demand, especially as fish-food is often made of smaller fish. It means more fishing to provide food for fish-farms. Thus, wild stocks are still at risk to provide farmed fish. Secondly, these fish are kept in similar conditions to battery farmed chickens. Because of the close conditions, disease is rife 31
and means chemicals are pumped into the water to fight things such as sea lice. These chemicals can then leak into the ocean, and can be absorbed by farmed fish, wild fish and other species. These chemicals also pollute the surrounding ecosystems, and can be in the fish that reaches your table. Everyone knows about the decline in fish stock, but even when fishing is stopped it is extremely difficult for some species to ever recover; such high levels of fishing are having a permanent effect. Species decline disrupts the ecosystem and can enable outbreaks of ‘pest species’, such as the crown-ofthorns starfish, which is difficult problem to solve. What is worse still, illegal fishing goes unpunished and continues to damage the environment. The losses from illegal fishing amount to £18.4 billion and are a constant force against fish stocks. The lack of Political protection is also evident in the lack of marine reserves, which is at 3.4% of the world oceans, well below the 2020 target.
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Can we recover? Things could be helped with more local fishing, smaller fishing boats and less demand. But, with current EU legislation, small scale fishing boats only make up a tiny amount of the fishing quota, and this is unlikely to change soon. If fish intake and demand is reduced, it is possible that fish could increase in both number and size, but this is unlikely to happen. What you can do is decrease your fish intake, and get the vitamins and benefits of fish, from other sources. Similarly, eating less fish would also result in a diet that creates less greenhouse gas emissions, as the fish market is a high contributor. You could also buy herbivorous fish, as they are not fed caught fish the way carnivorous fish are. The fishing industry is plagued by environmental degradation and crime; so unless you’re certain that the fish is from a sustainable source, it may be best to avoid it.
Volunteer in the Spotlight Stuart Minal How long have you been volunteering with BFOE? Just coming up to the end of my first year. Hopefully the first of many! What do you do at BFOE? My spare time is very limited but I try and fit in wherever I might be of help. I’ve mainly been involved in organising a hustings for the Birmingham Metro Mayor candidates (a joint BFOE/Rail Futures event) and the West Midlands Council Pensions Divestment campaign recently. What do you think is the most important environmental issue? I’m very concerned about air quality at the moment. I’m glad that this is now a mainstream issue in the news. Of course, and unfortunately, it’s had to get to an absolutely critical stage for this to happen. Now that it has been officially recognised as seriously damaging our health and even killing us, we will see in the short term if the new government
Photo by BFOE.
will put the interests of the lives of the general public or the short term business lobbyists first. I’m also concerned about spaces for wildlife, levels of recycling, littering, postBrexit workers’ rights, and Donald Trump (amongst other things!) What’s your best green tip / advice? A few little ones: Organic slug pellets. Teabags and crushed eggshells in compost. Banana skins at the roots of roses. Eat MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) logo certified fish only - there is plenty of choice. Separate paper wrapping from food tins. When campaigning with seemingly little positive results, reinvigorate yourself with some angry politically pointed punk rock. (Or Neil Young if you prefer something more mellow !) 33
Diary Dates Campaigns meetings
Farmers’ markets
7 August 14 August 21 August 28 August 4 September 18 September 21 September 25 September 2 October 9 October 23 October 30 October
Kings Heath 1st Saturday of the month 9am – 3:30pm Solihull 1st Friday of the month 9am – 5pm New Street 1st & 3rd Wednesday of the month 10am – 4pm Sutton Coldfield 2nd Friday of the month 9am – 3pm Harborne 2nd Saturday of the month 9am – 2pm Birmingham University 4th Wednesday of the month 9am – 2pm Moseley Last Saturday of the month 9am – 3pm
Mondays 7:30pm
General Meeting Action Meeting Action Meeting No Meeting, Bank Holiday General Meeting Action Meeting Action Meeting Action Meeting General Meeting Action Meeting Action Meeting Action Meeting
These all take place at The Warehouse and are open to everyone whether or not you have been before. We have two types of meetings: 1. General meeting: First Monday of the month and involves an update on each of our campaigns 2. A ction meeting: Skills share or interactive discussion or an activity which supports one of our campaigns.
Other events 10 September Eco Fest – MAC Birmingham
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Contact Us Friends of the Earth (Birmingham) The Warehouse 54-57 Allison Street Birmingham B5 5TH Tele: (0121) 6326909 Email: info@birminghamfoe.org.uk Web: www.birminghamfoe.org.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/ birminghamfoe Twitter: @Bham_FOE Instagram: birminghamfoe Friends of the Earth is: • The largest international network of environmental groups in the world, represented in 72 countries. • One of the UK’s leading environmental pressure groups. • A unique network of campaigning local groups, working in more than 200 communities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. • Over 90% of its funds come from its supporters. Birmingham FoE: We campaign at a local level to effect environmental change (in ways which feed into national and international policy) through: • Lobbying • Education • Empowering others to take action • Participation and representation through public fora.
Contacts Campaigns Co-ordinators Poppy Buckingham & Molly Luke Campaigns Support Worker Libby Harris General Manager Richard Bickle Treasurer Margaret Lynch Air Pollution Poppy Buckingham Climate Change & Energy Molly Luke & Tim Thorpe Economics Libby Harris Nature Mark Hawkins Planning Benjamin Mabbett Waste & Recycling John Newson Newsletter Editor Catherine Palgrave Newsletter Graphic Designer Shannon Lattin Website Editor Libby Harris Talks Libby Harris & others All enquires and callers welcome
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Help us celebrate our
Heritage
Do you have photographs of BFoE activities particularly linked to campaigning? Or early campaign materials? Or any minutes of meetings from the 1970s? If so please let us know. Contact us at heritage@birminghamfoe.org.uk
Birmingham
friends of the earth