Camden FOE is hosting a public meeting to raise awareness about climate change and to encourage local MPs, Glenda Jackson and Frank Dobson, to back a strong climate change bill.

The bill will be introduced to parliament in November and FOE has concerns that the draft did not include…
- targets that reflected the latest scientific evidence
- the environmental impact of international aviation and shipping
- a requirement for annual reporting

The meeting will take place at Haverstock School, on Haverstock Hill, by Chalk Farm tube, on 13th November from 7.15pm.

Speakers include the 2 local MPs and Carbon Coach, Dave Hampton.

Contact us if you want to find out more.

Camden Friends of the Earth today responded to London Council’s consultation on throw-out shopping bags.

The group supports the introduction of a levy on all throw out shopping bags, whether paper or plastic, together with restrictions on the types of bags that shops can supply.

Bags use finite resources in their manufacture and distribution. Additionally, on disposal, often after only one use, they create litter, add to the UK’s landfill problems, and endanger wildlife on land and in water. While throw out shopping bags form a small percentage of our waste, such a levy will send a strong message to consumers and businesses about the need to reduce our impact on the environment.

Paper bags are not the answer as lifecycle analysis has shown that their environmental impact, although different to plastic bags, is still damaging. The group believes that the answer is a return to reusable bags, and that we should not wait for this legislation to make that change.

On 17th November the group is holding a joint event with Highgate LEAF (Local Environment Action Forum) to help people make bags. javascript:void(0)Material, sewing machines, and lessons will be provided. Please contact camdenfoe@gmail.com for more information.

Last weekend members of Camden FOE joined with Greenpeace, WDM, and the National Trust to ask West London residents for their views on the expansion of Heathrow airport.

As thousands of people gathered at the nearby Climate Camp we wanted to back up their action with evidence of local opinion. A thousand people were questioned, and the results of the poll showed:
- over 95% supported government action to make rail travel a more affordable, easy, and pleasant alternative to air travel within the UK;
- 62% opposed the expansion of Heathrow, with only 24% in favour of the plans (14% were unsure);
- 64% would be willing to holiday more in the UK than abroad to protect their local area from airport expansion, and help combat climate change

Polling was being conducted at locations across West London, including Richmond, Kew, Ealing Broadway, Houslow and Osterley Park: a historic National Trust house, green space and recreational resource for local people., already blighted by aircraft noise and pollution.  Sarah Kramer, MP for Richmond Park was presented with the results at Kew Gardens following polling (pictured). She told us how frustrating it was trying to make her constituents’ opposition heard - BAA won’t even attend a public meeting to hear their concerns.

Steve Huxton, a volunteer for Camden Friends of the Earth, who assisted with carrying out the poll said “The results of this poll show that people are prepared to change their own travel habits in order to protect the environment, preserve green spaces and tackle climate change.  Government policy needs to catch up with public opinion and  abandon plans for expanding aviation, instead focusing on providing viable alternatives for people’s travel needs.”

Learn more about the issues at http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/transport/case_studies/heathrow.html
 

This week sees the theory of peak oil going mainstream with the International Energy Agency’s Medium Term Oil Market Report predicting a global oil “supply crunch” by 2012.

The theory of Peak Oil is that world production will peak and plateau at an undefined point in time and then begin to decline while demand continues to rise. Wars are already being fought over petroleum resources - imagine how much worse it could be if we do not respond to the decline in production with a similar decline in our use.

The IEA, which advises the world’s largest consumers, said this week that the world could face an oil crunch in five years’ time because producers outside the Middle East are unable to increase supplies at the rate demand is growing, meaning consumers will all be depending on the Opec cartel to pump out more from its fields. And there are doubts about the reliability of Opec’s reserves…

This decline in supplies is not necessarily good news for climate change - alternatives such as heavy oil in Canada and biofuel have their own negative impacts on the environment. These 2 challenges need the same response - consume less, but can we show the restraint necessary, or is just human nature.

Read The Last Oil Shock to learn more.

As part of London Sustainability Weeks, Camden Friends of the Earth is hosting a Curry Evening to raise awareness of action on climate change – locally, nationally and internationally – with the opportunity to hear about FoE’s progress from Suzy Edwards, a Friends of the Earth Board Member.

The event will take place at the award-winning Elephant Walk restaurant in West Hampstead from 7.30 pm on 14th June.

Tickets for a three course meal, including the first drink, are on sale for £25 and profits will be used to purchase educational equipment for use by the group at the many events they attend each year.

We approached the restaurant after their enthusiastic participation in last year’s Local Food Festival. The owners are well aware that climate change will hit their country of origin, Sri Lanka, hard and are also taking part in the Camden Green Fair on 3rd June.

Please register your interest by writing to camdenfoe@gmail.com, calling Liz on 07730 30 40 30 or by calling in at the restaurant. We look forward to meeting you!

Camden FoE was out in force for the start of London Sustainability Weeks at Camden Green Fair. It was a beautiful sunny day and we spoke to people from all around London and beyond. Over 300 people signed up to the Big Ask campaign, and we managed to raise some funds for future educational initiatives.

Our guerrilla bags project was featured on BBC Breakfast today, with me (Liz) on the sewing machine in a corner of Television Centre to show how easy it is to create something that does so much good in so little time. Whilst I doubt that I was using green energy for the creation of those 6 bags, the impact that they had is more than worth it. We got a wonderful comment on our previous blog entry abou the bags project, inspiring a textiles teacher to use the idea in her classroom, and 1000s of hits were generated on www.morsbags.com - the site for guerrilla bagging.

Camden FoE has always looked out for ways to engage people on the street in discussions about the environment, but often actions speak louder than words. So, when we wanted to challenge people’s use of plastic bags we wanted to offer a practical solution. We’re concerned about the use of these bags as they kill millions of animals, cause floods, fill the remaining landfill sites and litter cities, countryside and oceans alike.

We’ve been making bags from old material (old dresses, curtains, duvet covers, and a couple of Steve’s shirts) and giving them out on the street to encourage people to give up plastic bags for good. Today we gave out about 40 and got 50 plastic bags in return.

It was shocking to see the amount of plastic given out unnecessarily by shops - Woolworths had provided one shopper with 2 bags - 1 for a bottle of hair product and one for a (plastic-wrapped) birthday card.

Unfortunately we can’t make people never use plastic again, but we will have got people thinking about why they should avoid using them, and everyone we asked agreed that there should be a ban or a tax on bags to help reduce their use.

- In the UK we use an average of 290 bags a year, and 1.2 trillion are used worldwide
- On average we use each bag for about 12 minutes before disposing of them
- Ireland’s 15p PlasTax has resulted in a 90% reduction in use of plastic bags since its introduction in 2002
- In 2002 Bangladesh became the first country to ban plastic bags. A movement against them began in the 1980s in Dhaka, where bags were found to clog drains in the monsoon rains, causing flooding. Since then plastic bags have been banned in countries such as Rwanda, Tanzania and in the UK they’ve been banned from Modbury (Devon).

Supermarkets are saying that they will cut usage, but so far we’ve seen very little meaningful action. It is not enough to have the odd plastic-free day, and bags for life are still made of plastic. In fact, the plastic bag industry are using the harm done by these longer-lasting bags as a way of arguing against the implementation of a tax on plastic bags in the UK. As for promises regarding the introduction of degradable bags - consumers need to be aware that ‘degradable’ bags are not the same as biodegradable. They break down into smaller and smaller pieces which contaminate earth, waterways and oceans.

Some of our happy customers saying ‘No’ to plastic bags

If you want to make your own bag go to www.morsbags.com, even better make one for a friend as well. We were surprised how much we’ve enjoyed this project - working together to make these bags has resulted in some group members learning new skills, a lot of laughs, and some great job satisfaction. But if sewing really isn’t your bag (pun completely intended) you can get really useful bags at www.onyabags.co.uk or something a bit more glamorous at Cheeky Leopard.

The Camden New Journal reported on 10 May of an Eco War breaking out in the borough. We’ve taken the bait and dived in to the melee.

The supposed war concerns plans by the Council’s Sustainability TaskForce to revolutionise energy supply and demand in the borough, by supporting local energy generating stations in housing estates.

But at the same time the Council’s Planning Department has refused a local resident planning permission to put solar panels on his roof, because his house is in a conservation area, where the look of the houses must be maintained at all costs.

Both Camden Friends of the Earth and Camden Greenpeace responded to the CNJ’s article. Here is our letter, with comments about energy efficiency being more important edited out by the CNJ:

IT’S not often we can take heart from war breaking out, and yet here we are in Camden with different groups vying to be the greenest! (Eco War Declared, May 10).
Camden Friends of the Earth supports Councillor Alexis Rowell’s intentions to push Camden into the forefront of green councils. We support what is called de-centralised energy generation. This includes the combined heat and power systems for housing estates that Cllr Rowell mentions.
What we believe is more important, however, is a move away from dependency on other people to supply energy, and a positive move towards each home producing its own energy.
We recognise that there are barriers to changing our energy use habits. Cost is one: solar water heating, solar cells and rooftop wind turbines can be expensive.
But one of the biggest barriers is the planning system. There remains a tension between the policies that protect London’s best architecture, and the more important and urgent need to drastically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.
When we think of the tension between conservation and tackling climate change it is often incumbent on groups like ours to frame the issues non-politically. In this case: do your readers want old, inefficient, but nice looking houses with unadorned, uninsulated roofs greedily using energy, while householders swelter in another summer scorcher, and find that crops have failed again raising prices for staple foods like potato (and coffee for most Londoners), that there is a drought order in place for the fifth year running, and water is being tankered in to London?
Or, do we allow householders to sensitively adapt the look of their houses, even in conservation areas, to fight against this future?
You quote Cllr Rowell’s plans to supply an eco-audit for each of Camden’s homes. This service is already available – the council has been funding it for years.
If you call [0]800 512 012 the North London Energy Efficiency Advice Centre can guide you through the easiest and most cost effective options.
GRAEME MAUGHAN
Co-ordinator, Camden Friends of the Earth

Camden FoE has held it’s first Big Ask pub quiz - raising awareness and funds for the Big Ask campaign

Camden Friends of the Earth has hosted a “Does my Ask look Big in this?” Pub Quiz at the Adelaide Pub, Adelaide Road, NW3 on Monday 16th April. Every entrant received a free low energy lightbulb thanks to the Islington Energy Efficiency Centre and there was a jackpot draw for prizes including wind-up radios, DVDs and an energy efficient desklamp!

8 teams entered, not bad for a Monday night in April, and were tested with green-tinged questions on politics, sport, and celebrities.

We’re now looking for other pub quizzes that we can slot an environmental round into - get in touch if you can help.