newsletterWinter 2014/2015

We Got Moving!

Continued on Page 13

Well, after a hectic eighteen months at Birmingham Friends of the Earth headquarters and across the city, our big campaign, 'Let's Get Moving', has drawn to a close.

As regular readers may already know, the campaign itself called on Birmingham City Council to tackle Birmingham's dangerous and illegal air pollution by investing £10 per person per year in walking and cycling. This is important in helping cut traffic, the main cause of poor air quality, by making it easier for people to make a positive choice to walk or cycle.

Birmingham friends of the earth

2

contents

3 - campaigns’ digest

5 - in the media

7 - warehouse news

8 - judgement day for UK air quality

10 - poo power

11 - waste not, want not - real junk food project

12 - warehouse merchandise

13 - We Got Moving! (continued from front page)

16 - Lima in Brussels

18 - a strategy launched and a bee garden planted

19 - the problem with TTIP

21 - volunteer spotlight

22 - diary

23 - contacts

Hello and a Happy New Year to all readers of the Birmingham Friends of the Earth newsletter! Hope you enjoy the latest issue of our campaign news and views! If you’re looking to do something a little different in 2015, why not get involved in some of our campaigning? Meeting and contact details are on page 23 of the newsletter. With the group looking at our new campaigns, it’s an exciting time to get stuck in!

Fundraising

As well as the usual campaigns activity, we’ve also been doing some fundraising over the past couple of months. Lots of people had their donations matched by setting up direct debits or giving one-off donations through Localgiving. The match funding has now closed but thank you to everyone who took part. It’s hard to work out exactly, but we’re pretty sure it raised well over £1,000. We also organised a fantastic Pub Quiz, which raised £130 on the night and more importantly was a lot of fun!

Energy & Climate Change

BFoE campaigners took part in the People’s Climate March in Birmingham on 21st September. This was attended by over 100 people and was part of a global mobilisation of hundreds of thousands of people at over 2,600 events in over 160 countries in response to the UN Climate Summit of World Leaders in New York City.

We were also out and about when the Tories came to town, helping staff and volunteers from National Friends of the Earth fend off Mr Frackhead as he tried to drill and frack under the Conservative Party Conference. BFoE campaigners also dressed-up as suns to help lobby the Conference delegates about the merits of solar power for schools as part of the Run on Sun campaign.

In December, our Campaigns Co-ordinator Roxanne Green attended the Young Friends of the Earth Lima in Brussels Conference, organised to coincide with the UN Climate Talks in Peru. See her article for more details of how this went. With the Paris round of these talks coming at the end of the year, you can be sure international climate will be playing a part of our campaigning in 2015!

3

campaigns’ digest

Nature

There have been a few Bee Cause updates on the nature front. Around the time we went to press for the last issue, we planted our bee world in the Digbeth Community Garden. A little over a month after, the Government published the final draft of its National Pollinator Strategy. Check out the article by Christina Nijar for more details on this and more pictures of our Bee World planting.

Transport

Early autumn featured our final stalls for Let’s Get Moving, which culminated in the hand-in of our campaign petition alongside some of our campaign allies. See the main article by Maria Marsden for more details about this and bit of a retrospective on what’s been a fantastic campaign!

On the same day as the campaign hand in, Birmingham City Council published their Birmingham Mobility

Action Plan, now known as “Be Connected”. This outlines the City Council’s vision for transport over the next 20+ years. Despite many positives, there is still some emphasis on tackling congestion by alleviating pinch points through road improvements. With the plan mostly unfunded, we feel the Council should concentrate on sustainable forms of transport, rather than trying to make roads flow better only for them to fill up again!

New Campaigns

With the conclusion of Let’s Get Moving, we’ve got started thinking about our next campaigns. We’re still working things through, but localisation seems to be the recurring theme, with ideas around waste, nature, the local economy and local centres coming to the fore! Look out for more about our new campaigns in the coming months, and we’ll hopefully have more details for you in the next issue! Julien Pritchard

4

campaigns’ digest (continued from page 3)

It’s been slightly quieter on the media front recently, but we still got some coverage of a couple of crucial issues and events.

Firstly, the handover of our Let’s Get Moving petition was covered with short article in the Birmingham Mail on the day itself, with a picture taken in preparation a couple of days earlier. After the handover, we got a longer piece on the Birmingham Post website, including photos and quotes from ourselves, Councillor Trickett and some of our campaign allies.

The launch of the Birmingham Mobility Action Plan, Birmingham Connected, offered another chance for some coverage with a short piece of our reaction in the Birmingham Mail. We gave the plan a cautious welcome, but made clear our concerns about spending any money on road improvements,

In the same edition, we also got coverage of the European Court of Justice ruling that the UK Government was taking insufficient action to protect citizens in Birmingham and 15 other cities from harmful and illegal levels of air pollution, and reiterated our call for Birmingham City Council to do its bit to tackle the issue.

A couple of weeks after this, the House of Commons Environment Audit Committee gave us another chance for some coverage. I was interviewed for Free Radio Birmingham about the EAC’s damning assessment of the

Government’s lack of action on air pollution. I made the point that the solutions were investment in alternative sustainable transport including walking, cycling and public transport.

As usual it wasn’t just me in the media, and our coverage wasn’t just about transport! Our waste campaigner John Newson was interviewed on BBC WM on the subject of food waste collections. He made the point that sending food waste to the incinerator was a waste of a good resource. When told by the presenter that ordinary people would never separate their waste and it could never work, he made the point that neighbouring Sandwell already has a food waste collection. A resident from Sandwell then promptly rang in and said that the food waste collection was no problem at all and it worked fine!

With new campaigns around the corner, we hope to be back in the media again soon!

Friends of the Earth call on city council to invest £100m in cycling – Birmingham Post bit.ly/1zUH2LG Julien Pritchard

5

in the media

6

birminghamfoe

Supp ort Birmingham Friends of the Earth

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:

1) By taking part in our campaigns;

2) By joining us as a supporter;

3) Both.

Whichever route you decide, you are helping to change your environment for the better and making sure that those who pollute, monopolise or despoil locally, nationally, or internationally are held accountable.

What your gift could provide:

£10 To help campaign for cleaner air and a more sustainable transport system.

£10 To help push for more and better recycling in Birmingham.

£10 To help create a community garden in the heart of Digbeth.

7

We’ve recently been successful in gaining some funding for staff to support our reception volunteers and help them get into work. Here, Heather Duffy and Hilary Peacock talk about the project and their motivations in joining the team here at Birmingham Friends of the Earth.

Heather Duffy

My name is Heather, and I’m one of the Reception Volunteer Support workers for the ESF funded Greenshoots Skills For Work project. The main aim of Greenshoots is to inspire a journey, whether this is into work, education or training. Greenshoots is going to provide exciting, creative training designed to build on the skills and confidence of our Volunteer Receptionists.

2015 is going to be a year of growth and innovation for the Birmingham Friends of the Earth reception. We will be providing our Volunteer

Receptionists with valuable experiences that will help them thrive in their next stage of life. We will be introducing new events and projects that the community will be able to contribute to, and follow through our new Greenshoots blog. The beauty of this project is its organic nature; we will be working one on one with our Volunteer Receptionists to discover their aspirations, and provide them with experiences that will help them follow their career dreams.

Hilary Peacock

My husband pointed out a job description for me recently at his old workplace. For a moment I thought that he was thinking about reapplying to work there, when I realised that he was encouraging me to apply! You see, I have had time out raising a family and wanted to get back into the workplace before going back to university next year.

The job was perfect: managing

warehouse news

unemployed reception volunteers at Birmingham Friends of the Earth, an incredibly inspiring place where dedicated local people work extremely hard to raise awareness about the fragility of our mother earth, and how we can all do our bit to care for it. So I applied, and was delighted to be accepted on a job share basis with Heather.

It’s the perfect opportunity for me as I have managed volunteers before in a human rights charity. I’ve also worked in the Fair Trade movement for a number of years. Working here will be a great way to get myself plugged into the issues once again and hopefully inspire my volunteers to do the same. From my

own experience, I also empathise with those who have been out of work for a while. At one time, I was a regular attender at the Monday night campaign meetings - indeed, this is where I met my husband Joe, who was Campaigns Support Worker between 2009 and 2012.

I will be working hard to make sure that this project is a real success and making the most of the resources at my disposal. I am also keen to contribute my, and the volunteers’, ideas on how the Warehouse can attract more supporters and business from ever diverse audiences and increase income. Heather Duffy & Hilary Peacock

8

warehouse news (continued from page 7)

Last month, the European Court of Justice ruled that the UK Government hasn't done enough to protect citizens from the harmful effects of air pollution. The ruling is the result of a long-running case brought by environmental lawyers, Client Earth.

The court ruling allows national courts to take action against governments which are in breach of air quality limits and force them to comply. The ruling also allows individuals to sue the government for the breach of air pollution rates.

The UK is currently in breach of EU limits for nitrogen dioxide in 38 out of 43 air quality zones. 16 of those zones, which include Birmingham, have no plan in place for how or when it will be met. Under the ruling, the UK government could be ordered by national courts to make a plan to reduce the nitrogen dioxide to an acceptable level. Air pollution campaigners have welcomed the long awaited ruling, stating that the government must do more to tackle the problem of air pollution.

At Birmingham Friends of the Earth we feel Birmingham City Council

judgement day for UK air quality

9

also has a responsibility to act to curb harmful emissions across Birmingham. In a bid to tackle the harmful levels of pollution our Let's Get Moving campaigned called for greater investment in the walking and cycling infrastructure from Birmingham City Council. A cast-iron commitment from Birmingham City Council to invest £10 per person per year on walking and cycling for the next 10 years would go a long way in improving the air quality throughout Birmingham.

We hope this damming ruling will force the UK government to take the urgent steps needed to clean up the highly polluted air and help prevent the tens of thousands of the unnecessary premature deaths linked to air pollution. This should also be the wake-up call Birmingham City Council needs to clean up its

'own backyard'! Hopefully this ruling will also have a widespread effect that could see many other European countries taken to court over breaches of EU air quality limits.

Yet no sooner had this ruling been made than new EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was apparently considering scrapping new air quality and waste directives. This was confirmed a few weeks later.

As well as the European Court of Justice, our own MPs were none to impressed with the government's record on air quality, with the publication of a damning report from the Environmental Audit Committee. Hopefully, the government and our council will listen to at least one of these bodies and start to clean up our air! Julien Pritchard & Libby Harris

On Thursday 20th November something new hit the road in the south west: Britain’s very first 40 seat ‘bio-bus’ took to the streets of Bristol, serving the route from Bath to Bristol airport.

The bus runs on biomethane gas created from Bristolians’ very own food waste and sewage. The waste is treated using anaerobic digestion at a local plant run by GENeco, which handles around 75m cubic metres of sewage and 35,000 tonnes of food waste every year from households and industry.

Th anaerobic digestion process involves the breaking down of biodegradable waste, such as food waste and sewage, by microorganisms in an oxygen-free environment creating biogas as a fuel. The fuel produced not only powers the ‘poo bus’ but excess energy is also pumped back into the grid, and is capable of powering 8,500 extra homes. This revolutionary new energy source is renewable, due to an almost unlimited amount of this resource, and produces fewer emissions than diesel engines, so could be part of the future of sustainable transport.

Now anaerobic digestion has come to Birmingham too! In November, Severn Trent Water announced their site at Minworth is using Birmingham’s sewage waste to supply over 4000 homes with biogas. The plant treats sewage from over 2.5m homes in the local area using anaerobic digestion. On the negative side, the Minworth site cannot utilise food waste, however this may in part be the council’s fault for not providing a food waste collection service in the city!

The scheme has allowed Severn Trent Water to save over 1.7 million per annum on its own gas bill, which could potentially translate into a 5% (after inflation) drop in energy bills for the general public, which in the current climate of soaring energy prices is great news. Also, a proposed 300,000 tonnes of carbon will be saved as the energy displaces fossil fuels.

It’s exciting that Birmingham is a part of this industry. Hopefully, we’ll see more anaerobic digestion plants in Birmingham and around the country, which will be a solid contribution to help in the fight against climate change! Maria Marsden

10

poo power

11

I was really looking forward to The Real Junk Food Project coming to our Monday meeting. Food is one of my passions in life. I love cooking and I hate waste!

The main aim of the project is to intercept waste food and turn it into hot and cold meals for those in need on a pay as you feel basis. Money isn't the only way to pay; customers can pay with their time, by volunteering in the cafe or on other projects.

Too much food is thrown away because it has passed its use-by or sell-by date but is still good enough to eat. The Real Junk Food Project are hoping to work with supermarkets, restaurants and other retailers, who throw away food they are unable to sell, and turn it into nutritious food.

We were treated to samples of what waste food could be turned into. The food smelled delicious and looked amazing. I couldn't believe they had created a colourful and tasty buffet from food that would otherwise have ended up in the bin! As soon as I saw the desserts, I knew we were in for a treat. The chocolate and orange mousse was amazing! There were many plates of tasty and nutritious food but one of my favourites was the vegan broccoli quiche.

The Real Junk Food Project currently runs a café at All Saints Church in Small Heath. They are hoping to be able to open pay as you feel

places all over Birmingham. They are open Sundays 12-4, Mondays and Tuesdays 10-4. The menu is varied depending on what food they have rescued. They cater for both vegetarians and meat eaters, or those just wanting a hot drink and slice of cake.

They are looking for volunteers to help with intercepting the food, cooking, serving and washing up. Check out their facebook (www.facebook.com/TRJFPBrum) and twitter (https://twitter.com/TRJFPBrum) to find out more about how you can get involved.·

It's fantastic to see an amazing project that is saving the planet by tackling food waste, and helping those in need at the same time! Libby Harris

waste not, want not - real junk food project

12

Organic, Fair Wear, Artist Designed, Locally Printed T-Shirts

£15All Proceeds Go To Our Community Garden

Our limited edition ‘Green Heart’ T-shirts have been lovingly produced for you by Stanley and Stella and Get a Grip.

Stanley and Stella are specialists in ethically produced garments, using only sustainable and environmentally friendly raw materials.

Stanley and Stella work with the Fair Wear Foundation, an independent non profit organisation that aims to improve labour

conditions for textile and garment workers.

Get-a-Grip are a unique, local screenprinting company that use their Punk Rock DIY ethic to print a wide range of garments. Their

Digbeth based workshop employs a small production team that use traditional screen printing techniques and waterbased inks.

warehouse merchandise

13

We Got Moving! (continued from front page)

It's been a fun campaign packed with varied events and projects. Here are a just a few of the 'Let's Get Moving' highlights from the last 18 months.

We kicked off the campaign in June 2013. We had a couple of interesting stunts outside the Town Hall and on Digbeth High Street wearing dust masks whilst holding up our campaign banner, to emphasise the problem of Birmingham's appalling air quality.

Pedalling for Laughs

One of the most successful events we organised was our fundraising comedy gig at the Glee Club in November 2013. Our compère, Barbara Nice, and five very talented local comedians- James Cook, Joe Sutherland, Stella Graham,

Andy Robinson and Steve Day - all performed on the night with great success.

A particular highlight was Barbara introducing some crowd participation to the famous Queen song 'Bicycle Race.' Our Campaigns Support Worker Julien Pritchard took to the stage to explain all about air pollution and the potential health problems associated with it, making sure the event also highlighted the campaign issues. The event was attended by over 150 people and raised over £1,100 for a small bike infrastructure project – which we're hoping to have some exciting news about very soon!

A big thank you to all the performers and the Glee club itself for helping to make the event successful. Not forgetting our amazing volunteer Sandie Gay who brought it all together and without whom it literally would not have been possible!

Citizen Science

Our Citizen Science project over winter and spring was one of the most rewarding parts of Let's Get Moving. The project involved visiting schools in Birmingham and teaching children all about air pollution, including its causes, negative health effects and which areas, i.e. main roads, may be most affected. Pupils then took part in a fun and practical experiment using diffusion tubes to monitor air pollution over a two week period.

The results showed air pollution was worst along main roads, with areas close to the schools being over or close to legal limits. The results sparked debate in many of the classrooms on potential solutions to the air pollution problem, such as increased walking, cycling and sustainable transport use!

Smog Radio

We got some fantastic media coverage during the campaign, including a great feature in the Birmingham Post and lots of radio interviews. However, nothing compared to the week of smog, when Birmingham, along with the rest of the South and the Midlands, suffered a serious smog episode. Over the course of a week, we were interviewed twice on Midlands Today and four times on local radio stations!

Summer of Stalls

One of the main avenues of campaigning BFoE went down was our packed summer of stalls, where volunteers interacted with the general public, informing them of the local issue of air pollution. Over the summer we reached people from all areas of Birmingham, who passionately agreed with our message to the council: over 2,000 signed our campaign petition.

The stalls team were spreading the word about air quality and building support for Let's Get Moving at some fantastic events throughout the city. Some highlights included two Sustainability Fairs, allotment days, several events at Martineau Gardens, Cotteridge Park's CocoMad Festival, and a regular stall outside Birmingham Cathedral.

Building Allies

Alliance building was also top of the agenda, with several volunteers painstakingly networking with faith and community groups to get them to join BFoE's Clean Air Alliance to show their support for the cleaner air in the local area. Several key supporters such as Birmingham

14

We Got Moving! (continued from page 13)

Cathedral, Birmingham Central Mosque and Birmingham LGBT joined the campaign and we even hosted meetings at many of these organisations to raise awareness of the issue to their members.

Hand-in

The campaign culminated on Thursday the 13th November, as we handed in our 2,000 strong petition to Councillor Lisa Trickett, Cabinet Member for Green, Smart and Sustainable City! The day was a great success with attendance from several allies, many BFoE campaigners and the councillor member herself, Lisa Trickett. This all resulted in press coverage in both the Birmingham Post and the Birmingham Press, which was great news!

Looking forwards

Birmingham City Council's new Mobility Action Plan now contains an aspiration for cycling investment of £10 per person per year. Although this is great, it's not the commitment we'd like to see. So while Let's Get Moving's drawing to a close, rest assured we'll be keeping the pressure on Birmingham City Council to actually deliver this level of cycle funding!

Thank you!

Thanks to all BFoE volunteers who contributed to the campaign in whatever way, large or small. Thanks also to our allies for their support for the campaign and to all those individuals who supported the campaign and signed the Let's Get Moving petition! Maria Marsden

15

If you’re feeling fatigued and disheartened by the general state of the world, as I was in early December, I can thoroughly recommend joining together with fifty young activists from across Europe for a week of inspiration and mobilisation.

‘Lima in Brussels’, organised by Young Friends of the Earth Europe, was a convergence event bringing together young climate campaigners from fifteen or so countries, aimed at following the UN COP20 negotiations in Lima and planning for the year ahead leading up to the significant talks in Paris in December 2015.

I arrived in Brussels expecting vigorous debate, the sharing of experiences and knowledge while brushing up on my understanding of international climate negotiations. All of that was part of the mix, but what I was perhaps less prepared for was the proto-anarcho-communal way in which the event was run. Hats off to the organising team who made real efforts to abide by a radical democratic method of decision-making, using a variety of techniques and hand signals in order to be genuinely inclusive and consensual.

The best example of this was the day spent planning an action from scratch, when we went through an

16

Lima in Brussels

exhausting process involving large discussions, affinity groups, lots of hand signals and even some second-preference voting for a banner slogan. The final result was the formation of a climate carol-singing flash mob, roaming around Brussels singing a modified version of Jingle Bells with lyrics about greenhouse gases, emissions targets and TTIP. It was a huge amount of fun and got some unexpected media coverage, but the more important point was that everyone felt that they had contributed to the process and had a real sense of ownership over the resulting action.

We engaged in a total of seven actions, protesting outside the European Commission and the European Investment Bank, joining in a torch lit human rights march and involving Brussels’s legendary Manneken Pis in a cheeky photo stunt. It was exciting to be so dynamically engaged and I was impressed with our speed in

knocking up a few banners and taking to the streets. Although we did link up a few times with friends in Lima, it was clear early on that the talks would be somewhat lacking in inspiration. The event’s focus was in planning a year of international youth action leading up to next year’s negotiations, and building a strong alliance to stand in solidarity across national borders.

The event was everything you might expect of a large gathering of radical youth with different native languages let loose in an unfamiliar city: chaotic, unpredictable, and at times hugely frustrating. The most apt description on the final day was ‘a beautiful mess’, but despite the unruly nature, it felt genuinely thrilling to be part of such a thriving mass of energy and creativity. With plans well under way to mobilise hundreds of young people to the COP21 talks next year, all I can say is: look out, Paris! Roxanne Green

17

18

a strategy launched and a bee garden planted

As regular readers are aware, Birmingham Friends of the Earth, like many Friends of the Earth local groups, have been contributing to the national Bee Cause campaign with tireless campaigning efforts over the past couple of years.

Although we’ve been doing a little less this year, this didn’t stop us from planting a new Bee World in Digbeth Community Garden during the autumn, on the 27th September as part of the national day of action for the Bee Cause. Hopefully, in the spring we’ll have a lovely wildflower area in the middle of the garden!

Encouraging bees into our green spaces is just one of the ways we

can take action and encourage more biodiversity in the city, but political action is also important to see positive change.

Last month, the government finally launched its bee action plan, or National Pollinator Strategy, after much anticipation. This was following almost three years of campaigning by Friends of the Earth.

The first draft of the strategy appeared patchy and deficient in key areas, where we needed to see more vital change for the population of bees and other pollinators to have a chance of recovering from their depletion.

It targeted honey bees with too little focus on the country’s other bee species. The strategy also seemed to fall short in areas including: reducing the dependence on pesticides, plans for how developers would protect bee habitats, the role of farming in the protection of our bees and the set-up of a national health check of bees and other pollinators.

The final draft includes plans of guidance to local authorities about helping bees, more prominence on the importance of protecting wild flower meadows and reducing the risk of pesticides.

Despite the improvements, the NPS does fall short in two fundamental areas. There is a lack of support for farmers to help save bees within the strategy, and the action taken on pesticides is not adequate enough as

there is no elimination of pesticides which threaten pollinators.

The strategy does highlight the majority of the main problems and is a great achievement towards the future for bees. Having these strategies in place will encourage educated action from everyone, including farmers and businesses. Our collective actions helped make this possible and will continue in the efforts to save our bees.

Bees are incredibly important to our biodiversity, being responsible for pollination in our agriculture as well as being an integral part of the well-being of our natural world. We can celebrate all our efforts and keep campaigning for the future of our bees! Christina Nijar

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is a bit of a mouthful to even say out loud, and transcontinental investment treaties are never the sexiest of topics for campaigning. But the TTIP, currently being negotiated in secret by the EU and the USA, threatens every hard-won piece of environmental legislation in the past hundred years.

This comprehensive free trade agreement has one goal: to remove

regulatory barriers which restrict the potential profits to be made by transnational corporations.

What a transnational corporation sees as a barrier to profit, of course, is what most ordinary people would see as indispensable social standards, such as labour rights, food safety rules (including restrictions on GMOs), regulations on the use of toxic chemicals, digital privacy laws and even new banking safeguards introduced to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis.

19

the problem with TTIP

20

Through a euphemistic commitment to ‘harmonise standards’, the TTIP would ensure a race to the bottom for working conditions and environmental protection.

The ‘Investor-State Dispute Settlement’ mechanism would grant corporations the right to sue governments, if governments make decisions which reduce their profits. This would take place through an international arbitration process that completely bypasses countries’ existing legal systems. This is the same mechanism that tobacco and oil companies have used against legitimate states.

If the treaty comes into force, countries in the global south will come under huge pressure to apply TTIP standards to avoid losing trade from the EU and US. The business lobby are upfront about the fact that they aim to secure “global convergence toward EU-US standards which could then become de facto global standards”. TTIP would make it easier for western companies and governments to push deregulation and neo-liberal economic policies on poorer countries, worsening poverty and inequality.

For the UK, this would mean locking in the privatisation of the NHS, an easier ride for fracking companies, an attack on workers’ rights and declining standards for food safety and consumer rights. A particular concern for those of us involved in the anti-fracking movement is that a major impetus for the deal on both sides of the Atlantic is securing EU market access for US companies involved in fracking.

A huge range of concerned groups have formed an alliance against this assault on our democratic rights. Groups such as War on Want, WDM, Friends of the Earth, trade unions, anti-fracking groups, Occupy activists, NHS campaigners all recognise the threat the TTIP poses and are actively fighting back. Protests and pressure against this corporate power grab are mounting across the EU. Look out for some of them near you and get involved! Roxanne Green

the problem with TTIP (continued from page 19)

Julien Pritchard interviews Libby Harris

How long have you been volunteering with BfoE?

I have been volunteering since June but I enjoy it so much, it feels like I’ve been here longer.

What do you do here?

During the Let’s Get Moving campaign I worked on alliance

building with neighbourhood forums and doing admin work in the office. I also helped on stalls throughout the summer. Now the campaign is over I’m doing research and office work. I’m also on the campaign organiser programme with Friends of the Earth (EWNI) which means I’m going to be co-leading a local campaign which I’m really excited about.

What do you like best here?

I like the people! It’s nice to work alongside like-minded people and where everyone’s opinions and ideas are heard.

What have you learnt from volunteering with BFoE?

With the support of other volunteers I have learnt so much. There are too many things to list as each day brings new tasks and challenges to overcome.

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

I think people are the most important environmental issue. We all need to take a look at the consequences of our actions and re-educate ourselves to live in harmony with the natural world.

What’s your best green tip/advice?

Go exploring and discover the diverse beauty Birmingham has to offer.

21

volunteer spotlight

22

diary

Campaign Meetings - Mondays 7.30pm5th January: General Meeting

12th January: Action Meeting - New Campaign Planning

19th January: Action Meeting - Localisation

26th January: Action Meeting - Election Planning

2nd February: General Meeting

9th February: Training Meeting - Social Media Skill-share

16th February: Action Meeting

23rd Feburary: Action Meeting

2nd March: General Meeting

9th March: Action Meeting

16th March: Action Meeting

23rd March: Action Meeting

30th March: Action Meeting

Other Events21st February: Birmingham Wildlife Festival & Badger March - Centenary Square 10am-4pm

7th March: Sustainability Fair - Botanical Gardens

See Northfield Eco Centre (www.northfieldecocentre.org) for more events and workshops

See Digbeth Community Garden (www.facebook.com/digbethcommunitygarden) for details of Garden Open & Work Days

Farmers’ MarketsBirmingham 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

23

contacts

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

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

E-mail: info@birminghamfoe.org.uk

Web: www.birminghamfoe.org.uk

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 enviromental pressure groups.

- A unique network of campaigning local groups, working in more than 200 communities in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

- Over 90% of its funds come from its supporters.

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

- Lobbying

- Education

- Empowering others to take action

- Participation and representation through public fora

Chair: Robert Pass

Campaigns Co-ordinators: Roxanne Green & Robert Pass

Campaigns Support Worker: Julien Pritchard

General Manager: Philip Burrows

Treasurer: Margaret Lynch

Climate Change & Energy: Jacob Williams

Planning: Ben Mabbett

Transport: Adam McCusker

Waste & Recycling: John Newson

Newsletter Editors: Steven D Quirke Zoe Wright

Website Editor: Philip Burrows

Talks: Speakers available on request. Please get in touch.

All enquiries and callers welcome.