Birmingham
friends of the earth Newsletter, Spring 2018
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Our Plastic Bottle Campaign
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Digbeth Community Garden on Tour
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Warehouse Renovation Update
Contents Campaigns Digest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Population Debate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Our Campaign for a National Deposit Return Scheme on Plastic Bottles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 A Breath of Fresh Air for 2018 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Warehouse Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Digbeth Community Garden on Tour. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Community Orchard Course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Desperately Seeking John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Waste Isn’t Rubbish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Zero Waste Shop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Climate Change Knows No Borders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Stand Up to Racism and Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 COP23 –We are still in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Women and Theatre: Rocking the Wire Theatre Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Volunteer in the Spotlight: Mark Hawkins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Diary Dates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Contact Us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
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Campaigns Digest Photo by BFOE.
By Libby Harris
Happy new year everyone! We are looking forward to the campaigning year ahead of us. After a lot of planning and background research last winter, we started the year by launching our new waste campaign: ‘Don’t Lose Your Bottle!’, and relaunched our Climate Refugee campaign with an exciting art competition. We have a lot to look forward to this year including the completion of the renovations to The Warehouse over the next few months as well as some events, so watch this space! In this issue we will be catching up on our air pollution, climate change and waste campaigns as well as taking a look at the building developments and what our Heritage Project team have dug up from the archives. Also in this issue Roxanne and Poppy look at whether there should be controls to limit population growth. Air Pollution Our air pollution campaigning has continued to grow over the past
few months. We had an interesting meeting with Cllr John Cotton back in December in which we learnt more about Birmingham City Council’s plans for a Clean Air Zone. We are planning to hold an event at the beginning of March, keep an eye out for the details. Find out more about our air pollution campaign in Libby’s article. Energy and Climate Change After a lot of planning we decided to relaunch our Climate Refugee campaign with an art competition. We have a lot of exciting things planned for this year! Take a look at Alice’s article to find out what 2018 has in store for our campaign. Continued on page 4... 3
Continued from page 3... Also in this issue, Elin takes a look at what COP 23 means for the global environment. Nature Whilst the bees have been hibernating, Digbeth Community Garden has gone on tour! Take a look at Jake’s article to find out about the work they are doing with Meena to create a garden at their new centre which is opening soon! BFoE volunteer Cath has been busy undertaking an Orchard course and has written an article about what the course entails. Waste Our waste team have been very busy over the past few months. They put in a response to Birmingham City Council’s procurement plan for their Future Waste Strategy. Take a look at John’s article to find out more. We had a great time last month launching our new bottle recycling campaign which is calling for a national deposit scheme for plastic bottles. Read Jodie’s article for a campaign update.
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How you can get involved A huge thank you to everyone who has supported us over the years and to those who currently donate their time and/or money, we really couldn’t do the work we do without your support. 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). 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) Illustration designed by rocketpixel / Freepik.
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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Population Debate For Population Sustainability By Poppy Buckingham
We are facing (and causing) an environmental crisis. Wild animal populations have plummeted in recent years, global temperatures are rising, our forests are disappearing and the seas are polluted. 10,000 years ago the Earth had to sustain just a few million people. Today, 7 ½ billion people live on this planet. By 2050, that figure is expected to reach 10 billion. This situation is not sustainable and serious discussions about population sustainability need to be had. Please note that when I talk about population sustainability, I mean on the individual level. I am not speaking in favour here of force by law or government. China’s historic one child policy had lasting negative consequences and is not something we should emulate.
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Nor do I speak as someone who dislikes children or from not wanting children myself. Every woman, worldwide, should have access to the information, rights and freedom of choice and medical services to allow them to make their own decision about whether they want to have a family, and then whether or not they want a small or large family. Naturally, planning and what actually happens are not always the same thing. As someone who is married to a twin and who has experienced miscarriage, I know that you can easily find yourself with fewer or more children than expected. Population Matters (www. populationmatters.org) is a charity that today encourages people everywhere to consider not having children. If a child free life is not for you, they urge people to consider adoption first, caring for children
already living and in need of a loving home. If you decide you do want your own biological children, they encourage people to limit their family to one or two children. Not having children is the most environmentally friendly thing a person can do. In an article published in the Guardian last year, Damian Carrington argued that the most effective way to reduce your carbon footprint over your lifetime is to avoid having children. Having one fewer child saves an estimated 58.6 tonnes of CO2-equivalent per year, whilst living car free saves as estimated 2.4 tonnes.
It’s not wrong to have children. However, when family planning, thought and consideration needs to go to whether and why you want children, whether adoption is something you can consider, and then to the size of the family. Illustration designed by Freepik.
Against Control By Roxanne Green
Over-population control is a popular topic for some climate activists because it is basically the only plausible cause of climate change that can be blamed on the poor and not the rich. It is the only issue that doesn’t force us to face up to
our own privileges and address the rampant consumerism and gross inequality that created this catastrophe in the first place. It puts the responsibility onto the very people that are being forced out of their homes by climate change: poor people of colour in the Global South. Continued on page 8... 7
Continued from page 7... Climate change isn’t about population, it’s about consumption. On average, people in the UK have small family sizes but contribute hugely to carbon emissions; far more than, for example, Bangladesh, which is becoming less habitable because of increased flooding. In a world where eight billionaire men own as much wealth as the poorest 3.6 billion people combined it is nonsense to point at population as the cause of this crisis. As climate justice activists we should be calling out this hypocrisy and challenging the obscene levels of inequality in this world. Climate change is a product of an extractivist colonialism going back centuries that has always exploited the people that had least and viewed people of colour as expendable in the quest for greater riches. It is the same attitude that we see today that allows people to die in the Mediterranean and blames the poorest people for the devastation that has been inflicted upon them. We do not have a crisis of population, we have a crisis of
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inequality, and instead of trying to control family size we should be asking how we can share the resources we have in a way that enables everybody to live a good life. There is much on Population Matters’s website that I agree with. Ensuring women universally have sexual and reproductive health and rights is absolutely crucial. It is shameful that over 200 million women do not have access to contraception, and far more are unable to access free, safe abortions. We should be demanding these things urgently because they are right. Whether or not to have children and how many to have should be a choice for the individuals involved and nobody else. When governments or organisations try to control this, we end up with laws such as the UK government’s grotesque rape clause. Climate justice demands that we call out the classist, racist, sexist system that created the climate crisis. It is time we stopped blaming poor people for the problems that rich people created.
Our campaign
for a National Deposit Return Scheme on plastic bottles
Photo by Charles Rondeau
By Jodie Etheridge
For anyone who doesn’t recognise the campaign name, ‘Don’t Lose your Bottle’ it has been changed to distinguish it from a similar campaign by Campaign For Rural England but the aim of our campaign is similar. The change of name was discussed and voted for in one of our Monday night campaigns meetings.
It’s been an exciting few months during which this campaign has really started to take off. The background research is almost done. This includes case studies of how plastic bottle Deposit Return Schemes work in other countries, information and statistics we will need and promotional materials such as leaflets and webpage content. Continued on page 10... 9
Continued from page 9... I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has worked hard on these tasks or any other tasks so far. We have also had the exciting news that two well-known chain supermarkets, Iceland and The Co-Op, have declared that they support the proposal for a plastic bottle Deposit Return Scheme. This has been very encouraging as it shows that the way is being paved for our campaign. We have been planning the launch event for the campaign for 13th January 2018. At time of writing this hasn’t yet happened, look out for news of how it went in later
newsletters. We have planned to have a stall offering supporters and passers-by information on the campaign and asking them to sign a petition in support of a Deposit Return Scheme on plastic bottles. We have also planned a photo stunt opportunity wearing a cardboard costume with plastic bottles on it. This resource will be used at different points in the campaign and then the materials will be recycled or reused. Watch this space for an update on the launch in the next newsletter! In the meantime, if you would like a campaign update or to get involved in the campaign at any time, please email jodie@birminghamfoe.org.uk Updates can be sent as one-offs or you can email Jodie to ask to be added to the group email list for the campaign where regular updates are sent. 2018 looks set to be exciting for this campaign! Thank you again to everyone who has volunteered to help with the campaign so far or supported us with it in any way. We couldn’t do it without you! Onwards and upwards!
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A breath of fresh air for 2018 By Libby Harris
We had a busy 2017 campaigning for better air quality in Birmingham. We did a lot of raising awareness on stalls, replied to consultations, led a Clean Air Conga around the city centre, contacted councillors and ended the year with a meeting with Councillor John Cotton who is a member of the scrutiny Committee for Health, Wellbeing and the Environment. Photo by BfoE
Back in November, we held a pub quiz to raise money to buy air pollution testing kits. We started the year by putting up clean air testing kits around Birmingham, in locations where we think the air quality is poor and in areas where we think the air quality is better. This will enable us to identify factors which are causing the difference in air quality. We are replacing the air test kits after 8 weeks so we can measure the air quality over a longer period of time. Continued on page 12...
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We are planning to hold an event at the beginning of March to raise awareness of the poor air quality in Birmingham and why it is important to have an effective Clean Air Zone. There will be activities for people of all ages to get involved with and we are hoping to have gained lot more petition signatures which is calling on Birmingham City Council to: 1. Implement an enforceable Birmingham wide Clean Air Zone by 2020. 2. Ensure nitrogen dioxide levels meet or remain below EU limits everywhere in Birmingham, all of the time. 3. Make certain that monitoring of all areas in Birmingham is regularly carried out and reported on and this information is publicly available. Continued from page 11... Following the meeting with Cllr Cotton in December, we have decided to take his offer of handing our petition to full council on our behalf. This will ensure we receive a response from the council. At the time of writing we haven’t confirmed when this will be. 12
This year we are hoping to build alliances with many groups and organisations across the city who will support our call for a sustainable, city wide clean air zone. This will strengthen the message that Birmingham needs to tackle it’s illegal levels of air pollution in a sustainable way.
Warehouse Update By Richard Bickle
As visitors to The Warehouse will have seen, work on the building project is advancing at pace. The new main staircase and entrance from Allison Street has been installed, along with the upstairs toilets. Most of the concrete for the new cafe floor in Middle Bay has been poured and there is a lot of behind the scenes work going on with wiring, plumbing and new partition walls.
cafe space. We were pleased to be able to show members, friends and supporters around the work to date during the Christmas party and will continue to keep everyone up to date. Photo by BfoE
Thanks to the help of various volunteers, the old meeting room was tidied in time for the Christmas Party and various items to store moved onto the new mezzanine loft space on the first floor. Some initial painting has been done in the new stairwell and we will be looking for volunteers to help with other decorating tasks in the coming weeks. Just before Christmas the old Natural Healthy Foods shop unit was demolished and work in the new year will concentrate on completing and fitting out the new 13
Warehouse Renovation Floorplan: Groundfloor
Cycle4U
Radio Studio
Lobby
Shop
Warehouse Cafe
Allison Street 14
Lobby Sprocket Cycles
Allison Street 15
Digbeth Community Garden on Tour By Jake Williams
At Digbeth Community Garden we enjoy working with other organisations, charities and gardens, making Birmingham a more inclusive and greener place to be. Recently we were invited to the Meena Centre, who are currently renovating a building in Hockley which will be their HQ. The building will help them provide much needed services for supporting women and children refugees and asylum seekers, continuing the work they had been doing in Calais previously. Taken from their website: “Many of the most vulnerable people who lived in the Calais refugee camp, mainly women and children (as well as single male carers) have ‘made it’ to the UK. Meena wants to ensure that these individuals, many of whom we consider friends, get the support 16
they need throughout the asylum claim & resettlement process. The aim of Meena is to: ‘ identify any issues, offer support and find solutions so that our friends reach the best possible outcomes in their new lives in the UK. We do this by responding to practical needs, connecting asylum seekers/ refugees to the local support networks including advocacy and professional legal advice, and by providing much-needed emotional and psychological support.’ We were invited to work with them as they are interested in creating food growing and sensory garden spaces around the centre that can be used and enjoyed by visitors. From our work at the Digbeth Community Garden and our involvement in other projects we know that access to nature, no matter how small, is vital part of everyone’s well-being. Having the ability to relax tending to a small
garden or just sitting within one can dramatically relieve peoples stress levels and encourage social interactions. We’re very excited to help the Meena centre, alongside some of their friends from the Refugee Community Garden in creating these green spaces and will be working closely with them all over the winter and spring to make it happen. We are looking for anyone who wants to get involved or alternatively could donate any materials (wood, compost, plants) then please get in contact with us at digbethcommunitygarden@ gmail.com.
If gardening is not your thing, then please take a look at what The Meena Centre are doing and if you are interested in volunteering with them, they are always looking for help and are lovely people, so find their details below and pay them a visit. http://meenacentre.org Facebook: The ‘Unofficial’ Women and Children’s Centre meena.volunteers@gmail.com
Illustrations designed by Freepik.
Keep up to date with the latest developments:
Twitter @DigbethGarden
Facebook www.facebook.com/ digbethcommunitygarden
Website https://digbethcommunity garden.wordpress.com
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Community Orchard Course By Cath Palgrave
If you had told me that one of my highlights of 2017 would have been sitting and staring intently at apples trying to ID (identify) them, I would have told you I’d rather get up at 5 AM once a month on a Saturday to get a train to London. However, not only did both of these things happen, but checking out apples along with other members of the Certificate in Community Orchards course (CICO) was indeed one of the best things I did last year. Photos: Carole Wright, Jo Homan
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It all started when my chap woke me up one morning asking if I was interested in doing an orchard course that he had found out about from Garden Organic (formally The Henry Doubleday Research Association). As I am interested in growing food and I love trees, I blearily said ok, although I did point out that I’m really not good at mornings, which is why it makes it all the more surprising that I voluntarily get that ridiculously early train to take part. It must be good! Continued on page 20...
Topics we have looked at include: • Tree planting • Tree ID • Pruning • Pest and disease ID • Planning orchards • Managing orchards • Group decision making • Climate change effects on orchards • Plant physiology 19
Continued from page 19... The course, the first of its kind, run by The Orchard Project, aims to help people not only learn more about orchards and the skills required to start and care for them, but also looks at how to make them real community projects. Although the course doesn’t aim to make us experts, it has given me enough knowledge and confidence to take part in community orchards and maybe even start one (hopefully in Kings Heath). Alongside the course content, the great teaching and the brilliant people I have met on the course, one thing that has amazed me is how many urban orchards there
Illustrations designed by Freepik.
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are. London doesn’t seem like a logical choice for doing an orchard course, but we have been all over the capital and only scratched the surface of the amount of orchards there. It has also opened my eyes to how many orchards there are in Birmingham and prompted me to get involved in them. For more information on future courses and orchards in general look at: www.theorchardproject.org.uk If you would like to get involved in the Kings Heath Orchard get in touch with me: cath@birmnghamfoe.org.uk
Desperately Seeking John!
Photos by Liz Palmer
Liz Palmer
Although the 40th anniversary of BFoE at the Warehouse was the motivating event behind the heritage project, we are of course very interested in what went before. However, for the years prior to 1977 the documentary evidence, within the existing archives held at the Library of Birmingham and lurking in folders at the Warehouse, is exceedingly scant. Nevertheless, with the assistance of personal testimonies and donations of material we are starting to get a
clearer picture of how it really all began. We knew that prior to the move into the Warehouse on 1st April 1977, BFoE activities had been focused at the home of Lynn Roberts in Passey Road, Moseley. There are tales of her house bulging at the seams with waste paper and other recyclables – and concerns over the strength of her ceilings! The house was also the focus for meetings of early campaigners, Continued on page 22... 21
Continued from page 21... and for collective purchasing and sale of wholefoods and recycled paper products including loo rolls. Dave Clare, who many of you will remember from his long stint as Warehouse Manager recalls visiting to purchase recycled paper for his school – and still has an invoice to prove it! Lynn has lived in Australia for many years with her husband Robin but is still in touch with various BFoE members from the early years. She has written an article in collaboration with Val Stevens and Pete Raine which we have published in its entirety on our blog at https://bfoeheritage40. wordpress.com/ In this article she has confirmed that contrary to received knowledge she was not the original founder of BFoE – that honour appears to rest with a New Zealander called John! As Lynn recalls: “I first joined FOE Birmingham in early 1974 when it met in a private house in
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Moseley and was co-ordinated by a New Zealander called – I think – John. There was a groundswell of environmental concern with many people from all walks of life wanting to affect policy and do something either on single issues or more broadly against rising consumerism and its effects. A few months later via meetings in a pub John had decided to move back to his home country and it moved to my house in Passey Road.” So does anyone remember John? I may be a qualified genealogist and used to tracing people so am excited by the challenge; but a few more clues would be helpful! We’ll be starting a social media campaign to try to locate him in the New Year but any suggestions as to his surname or the address in Moseley where the early meetings took place could prove valuable leads. If anyone has any information please email me at: heritage@birminghamfoe.org.uk
Waste Isn’t Rubbish By John Newson
2017 was dominated by the rubbish strike. Bin bags piling up in the streets, rats returning and the recycling going into the incinerator. The resolution of the dispute meant the “redundant” staff to keep their jobs, but to have a new responsibility to help householders to recycle more, because the council is paid for paper and card at the mill, so everyone will benefit. Sounds sensible!
The Birmingham Waste Strategy is moving, but slowly, it having been consulted on in 2016. The officers are writing a Waste Prevention Plan, to move Birmingham towards a target of 70% recycling, from the latest 23% (one of the lowest recycling rates in the UK). Birmingham Friends of the Earth has produced a detailed report on how the collection system can change, to recover more recyclable waste. The key element would be separate collection of food waste,
Photo by BfoE
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as in Wolverhampton, Sandwell and other places, where it is made into biogas, leaving the dry waste to be sorted and recycled. In Birmingham, 48% of rubbish is food waste and another 10% garden waste, therefore most of it already wants to rot, and not burn. The full Council meeting on 9th January 2018 voted on a motion from the Liberal Democrats to put “development of options for a Council-led food waste collection trial” into the future waste plan. This would reduce and recycle the food waste and also allow more dry waste to be recycled, so saving the council money. There is spare capacity at Severn Trent’s anaerobic digester on the edge of the city, it was pointed out. The Conservatives put their suggestion of a mixed garden waste and food waste collection (free), which is the system in Coventry. The Labour amendment was to focus on waste prevention, which seems to mean asking people to waste less food, but continuing to put all the food waste into the general rubbish bins for the foreseeable future. The amendment said they will “monitor 24
To read BFOE’s proposals Go to “The way forward for Birmingham’s waste” at www.birminghamfoe.org.uk Action Please write in support of separate food waste collection from households with your reasons to cabinet member Lisa Trickett lisa. trickett@birmingham.gov.uk
Illustrations designed by Freepik.
technological developments that may result in cost effective community-based food waste recycling in the future.” There was some willingness expressed by the parties to compromise and move to a consensus, so we are somewhat hopeful. If separate waste streams are created, then the city can move away from “disposal”.
Zero Waste Shops By Stuart Minal
Zero waste retail outlets are in fact nothing new. However, you’d have to go back a very long time to find them on our high streets. Under the radar, they are making a concerted effort to become a force to be reckoned with as one seems to be opening or due to open all the time across the country. The idea behind it is to switch the whole system to a circular economy, which aims to keeping things in continuous rotation and out of landfill. This isn’t to be confused with the recycling economy, which delays the journey to landfill. As consumers, we have to demand quality and reusability over quick, cheap and disposable and this starts with changing how we choose to shop. A full zero waste supermarket is due to open in Digbeth in the Spring of this year, and we already have Indigo Wholefoods in Moseley who do household detergent refills and unpackaged fruit and veg, and Purely Vegan in King’s Heath who have a scoop and fill section.
Illustrations designed by macrovector / Freepik.
So what is a Zero Waste Shop? Basically, you bring your own food containers whether glass jars, bags or tupperwares to the shop and help yourself and then pay by weight at the checkout. Typically, such a place will have a strong ethical bent too, with fair trade and organic produce being high on the business’s agenda. Produce varies from shop to shop, but usually beans, grains, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, herbs, spices, flour, sugar teas, coffee beans, laundry liquids and bathroom products are in the mix. Let’s ensure we support these inspiring shopping options and work towards this system as the norm for shopping, as opposed to the exception. 25
Climate Change Knows No Borders
By Alice Grennan
Climate Refugees are people forced to leave their home because of natural disasters or conditions intensified by Climate Change, such as sea level rise or drought. This forced movement happens to 1 person every second and numbers are thought to dramatically increase in the years to come.
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Our mission is to protect the rights of anyone that finds themselves in these circumstances. We are fighting for policies that are both humane and empowering, with the view to providing protection for the people who move. We are also working towards encouraging public acceptance and gaining support for the cause on a local, national and international level.
In order to raise awareness of this issue we have decided to hold an art competition with entries centered around the subject. The date of release is still to be verified but just watch this space (unless by the time you are reading this we have a date)! The competition will be open to all age groups and there will be prizes given for three different age categories. As well as a prize, the winners will get to have their winning pieces placed in various places around Birmingham. So far: • We have met up with a group called Hidden Voices who are also working on the same campaign. Through talking with them we decided it was too big of a challenge to tackle alone. Therefore we decided to create a steering group. This will be a coalition of groups and individuals who will work together towards achieving the same goals, raising awareness and shouting loud enough so that the government take the matter seriously. We are hoping to meet with this group sometime in late February.
• We are currently getting in contact with various organisations and businesses to see if they will display the winning pieces. • We are also working behind the scenes, again making sure everything is perfect, by writing guidelines, petitions, leaflets and posters before releasing the competition to the public. There is still a lot more to do but we are very excited about our plans! If you are interested and want to get involved please email Libby at libby@birminghamfoe.org.uk Photo by Cocoparisienne. Illustration by Freepik.
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Stand up to Racism and Climate Justice By Jake Yeates
At the ‘Stand up to Racism’ conference in Birmingham on Saturday 2nd December the many parallels between racist viewpoints and policies and the causes of climate refugees were discussed. Hundreds of millions of people in Syria, sub-Saharan Africa, Russia and South America are victims of huge racial injustice. Deeply entrenched racist viewpoints result in such people being treated as second-class citizens. Their basic human rights are violated on a daily basis, as climate change forces them to walk further and further for their buckets of polluted water to drink. Their nations’ oil, the burning of which is, of course, one of the main drivers of climate change, is stolen by the “powers that be,” for gross profit. As a result, the rich-poor divide widens and the less powerful become powerless.
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The above enables these corrupt: • Oligarchs (or oilgarchs!) in Russia • Sheikhs in the Middle East, and • The likes of Charles Koch (who has over $40 billion in the) in the US to capitalise to the tune of $billions. This results in increased division between racial groups and nations and the polarisation of the rich and the poor (the greedy and the needy). There is an utter disregard towards racial groups on the frontline of climate change. Indeed, the vested interests in preserving - and exacerbating – the environmental status quo is a huge barrier to climate justice. Levels of social and racial division must be confronted. Societies must come together, campaign and act to combat the corruption and theft of resources, which plague
Photo by BFOE.
our shared Earth. Of course, the key thing is education about these issues. This may inspire others to act in a more positive way, to effect real change for the better. We must reach out to all our broader communities to help more people to learn about these issues. Some would say that Oxfam and other charities help people in crisis to
cope with the effects of climate change, but this is not a solution. The problem needs to be averted before it has a chance to begin: by preventing this racist, crooked practice from destroying global society and the beautiful natural habitats of billions of animals, plants and humans.
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COP23 - We are still in Agreement. Therefore these commitments are not yet in force and developing countries pushed developed countries to ratify as soon as possible.
By Elin Stroem
No one was expecting big decisions at COP (Conference of the Parties) 23 in Bonn in November 2017. Instead, it paved the way for rules that will set the Paris Agreement in motion, the deadline for this rulebook to be finished is 2018. A major talking point during the conference was the pre-2020 commitments, and the fact that too few countries have ratified the Doha Amendment covering the period between the Kyoto Protocol and Paris 30
At COP 23 all eyes were on the US and the fact that the US President announced withdrawal from the Paris Agreement in June, an African civil society group called for US to be barred from the negotiations. And when Syria announced they were ratifying the agreement, US became the only party in the UNFCCC to not support it. Therefore many of us were wondering how the US delegation would act and while it was reported that they held a harder stance in finance and loss and damage talks, much was the same at the negotiating table. The US delegation did however
host a panel promoting coal and nuclear in Bonn, it was disrupted by protestors and this was the US delegation’s only official appearance.
countries Nationally Determined Contributions (mitigation and adaptation measures as well as financial contributions) that are due in 2020.
Noteworthy is the fact that the US had an alternative delegation, called ‘We Are Still In’, a coalition of cities, states and businesses together representing over half the US economy asking for a seat at the negotiators table.
After a couple of years with CO2 emissions plateauing, they are due to peak again in 2017 and a global stock take is welcome. And we are far off the “well below 2 degrees” target set in Paris. See you in Katowice, Poland 2018 for the next round.
In COP 24 in 2018 a global stock take will take place, to see how climate action is progressing. This was initially called the “facilitative process” but changed name under the Fijian presidency to Talanoa dialogue. The information will be used to inform the next round of
Sources https://www.carbonbrief.org/cop23-keyoutcomes-agreed-un-climate-talks-bonn https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/18/ climate/bonn-climate-cop23.html Left: photo by Spielvogel.
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Women and Theatre: Rocking the Wire Theatre review By Molly Luke
Packed into the tiny hexagon theatre at the MAC Birmingham, I had no idea what to expect from the sold out performance of ‘Rocking the Wire’, a theatre production based on the experiences of women from Birmingham at the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. The performance was intimate and interactive from the get go, so despite the minimal set, I really felt I was there rocking the wire fence around the base and breaking in to climb atop a nuclear missile silo in the dead of night. We even learned some Greenham chants and practiced techniques for nonviolent direct action. At the end of the performance there was an open discussion, where the audience were invited to reflect, or share their own Greenham memories. After an emotive production, 32
this facilitated a vital discussion about what it means to celebrate Greenham today, why it is still relevant and what we can take from it. I left the performance with my fire stoked, grateful for this Sunday evening dose of inspiration. Women from all walks of life and all corners of the country came together at Greenham, and I was reminded that whether you’re protesting US cruise missiles or lobbying your council on local issues, ground-up activism works best when we come together and collaborate. After Birmingham Friends of the Earth got a name check for their representation at Greenham, I was also reminded of the incredible local legacy that I am part of as a BFOE volunteer. It is too easy to feel powerless, especially when we feel we are fighting alone. We are far from powerless, especially when we join hands. Illustrations designed by Freepik.
Volunteer in the Spotlight Mark Hawkins How long have you been volunteering with BFOE? I’ve been working with bfoe for around 12 months. What do you do at BFOE? I’m very hands on so I’ve been involved in maintenance around the Warehouse whilst the building work has been going on. I also do a lot of crafts and artwork. The Elan Valley working model I made, was used at a Small Footsteps event to demonstrate where Birminghams water comes from. I will be leading on some of BFoE nature campaigns in the near future. What do you think is the most important environmental issue and why? I would say the most important issues we face right now is air pollution. We have been campaigning hard on this recently and there is plenty more to come!
Photo by BFOE.
Another issue I feel is really important is the decline in the UK’s bee population. We need to look after our bee colonies as they pollinate a huge percentage of the food we eat, not to mention our wild flowers. To help stop the decline we need a total ban on neonic pesticides used on crops. What’s your best green tip/advice? Keep updated with what we (and other environmental groups) do and have planned in the future, come to our Monday meetings, read our newsletters, even come and join our team. Every little thing you do, whether it’s recycling your waste or using a reusable cup for your morning coffee really makes a difference. 33
Diary Dates Campaigns meetings Mondays 7:30pm
12 Feb Action Meeting: Warehouse Vision 19 Feb Action Meeting 26 Feb Action Meeting 5 Mar General Meeting 12 Mar Action Meeting 19 Mar Action Meeting 26 Mar Action Meeting 2 Apr General Meeting 9 Apr Action Meeting 16 Apr Action Meeting 23 Apr Action Meeting 30 Apr Action Meeting Due to our renovations to The Warehouse our weekly meetings will be held at alternative venues please email info@ birmimghamfoe.org.uk for up to date details. Our meetings 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.
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Other events 28 February Climate Action Network,Transport Workshop - John Lewis Community Hub B2 4AU (5pm-7:30pm) 25 March BFoE Pub Quiz - Anchor Pub B5 6ET (7:00pm) 25 April Climate Action Network, Energy and Resources Workshop - John Lewis Community Hub B2 4AU (5pm-7:30pm)
Farmers’ markets Kings Heath 1st Saturday of the month 9am – 3:30pm Solihull 1st Friday of the month 9am – 5pm New Street 1st & 3rd Wednesday of the month 10am – 4pm Sutton Coldfield 2nd Friday of the month 9am – 3pm Harborne 2nd Saturday of the month 9am – 2pm Birmingham University 4th Wednesday of the month 9am – 2pm Moseley Last Saturday of the month 9am – 3pm
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 Economic Libby Harris Nature Mark Hawkins Planning Benjamin Mabbett Waste & Recycling John Newson’s Newsletter Editor Catherine Palgrave Newsletter Graphic Designer Shannon Lattin Website Editor Libby Harris Talks Libby Harris & others Administration and Facilities Offer Nasreen All enquires and callers welcome 35
Help us find John! In conjunction with our 40th anniversary, we’re looking to honour the mysterious original founder of Birmingham Friends of the Earth—though we know very little about him. See page 21 for details. If you have any information, please email Liz Palmer at heritage@birminghamfoe.org.uk Illustrations designed by Freepik.
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