20th January 2007

See the latest issue of the Green News Network with links to all the Gloucestershire Green party news items of the last month. 

The Green News Network is free monthly newsletter that provides green news and views from the Gloucestershire Green party so that together we can create a better world.


QUOTES OF THE MONTH
1. GREEN CONDEMNS SOGGY COMPROMISED POLICIES OF OTHER PARTIES
2. SOMALIA, BURMA, IRAQ, LYDNEY AND TRIDENT
3. TACKLING AVIATION AND AIRPORT EXPANSIONS
4. WASTE FAILURES
5. RIGHTS: FAIRFORD COACHES, RAIL CLEANERS, PROSTITUTION AND TRAFFICKING
6. GM: POTATO TRIALS, COUNTY COOKING OILS AND NEW LEGISLATION
7. REACTOR MANAGEMENT SALE AND LOCAL NUCLEAR WASTE PLANS
8. SUPERMARKETS: COMPETITION COMMISSION, BARKER AND M&S
9. RAIL NEWS: CHAOS IN REGION AND QUESTIONS ABOUT PARKWAY
10. NHS: CAMPAIGN FOR WEAVERS CROFT PLUS REASONS FOR CUTS
11. ANGER AT GOVT. & INDUSTRY HIJACK OF EU LEGISLATION
12. OTHER ISSUES: SOLO LIVING, BEGGARS, GREEN POLL RISE, COUNTY FARMS AND AGM
13. NEW ON 'BIG ISSUES' AND BLOGS
14. WEBSITES THAT MIGHT INTEREST
15. NEXT COFFEE HOUSE GATHERING: IMAGE AND IDENTITY

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QUOTES OF THE MONTH

"Always from the child's hand the sword should be removed. I think every nation is an infant."
St Francis of Assisi

"If you traded a gas-guzzling vehicle for a hybrid, the CO2 savings would be slightly more than a ton, but a typical meat-eater generates nearly 1.5 tons more carbon dioxide per person per year than a vegan does. A meat-based diet requires more than 4,200 gallons of water per day, whereas a plant-based diet requires only 300 gallons of water. Twenty vegetarians can be fed on the amount of land needed to feed one person on a meat-based diet."
Carla Bennett, Peta

"Now, in our time, three rivers - anguish for our world, scientific breakthroughs, and ancestral teachings - flow together...We awaken to what we once knew: we are alive in a living Earth, source of all we are and can achieve...we want to name, once again, this world as holy."
Joanna Macy

"First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win."
Mahatma Ghandi

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1. GREEN CONDEMNS SOGGY COMPROMISED POLICIES OF OTHER PARTIES

Environmental policies promoted by the three main parties are "soggy, muddled, and compromised", says the Green Party. European Parliament member Caroline Lucas said there was "a gulf between rhetoric and reality" especially when it came to aviation policy. As the main parties increasingly focus on green issues, she said her party needed to promote a "more up-beat message... with practical solutions".

Caroline Lucas accused the other parties on the BBC Today programme of lacking "political guts and courage" to suggest cutting aviation. Instead, the Labour government has proposed emissions trading schemes that, over 20 years, would only slightly cut expansion from 145% to 138%, she said.
Read more at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6214281.stm

Peter Tatchell - 2007 doesn't have to be a repeat of the failures of 2006. New policies are needed at home and abroad.
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/peter_tatchell/2006/12/wanted_new_policies_for_a_new.html

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2. SOMALIA, BURMA, IRAQ, LYDNEY AND TRIDENT


Stroud Green condemns attacks on Somalia:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1651&Itemid=123

Send a pineapple to Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP - Burma's democracy movement has called for targeted economic sanctions against the regime in Burma, which spends up to half its budget on the military:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1611&Itemid=115

Tony Blair continues to insist that "British troops will remain until the job is done". The "job" being done is now so horrific that even the mainstream media cannot avoid the scale of the catastrophe that the Bush-Blair wars have brought to the people of Iraq. Every week over 1000 Iraqis are dying violent deaths in Baghdad alone. 100,000 people flee the country every month, as security and public services continue to collapse. Clean water and power are scarce for much of the population and hospitals lack even the most basic supplies.

Not content with his disastrous war policies in Iraq and Afghanistan, Tony Blair is now rushing through parliament plans for spending £25 billion on the Trident weapons of mass destruction, a system which in 1983 he called "nuclear madness":
http://www.stopwar.org.uk/_Current/Trident.htm

Trident debate in Highnam:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1657&Itemid=123

Lydney Mayor signs up to Mayors for Peace:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1655&Itemid=124

CND and Stop the War Coalition have called a national demonstration in London on Saturday 24 February 2007, with the slogans NO TRIDENT and TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ. If in London before then try and see Mark Wallinger’s exhibition at Tate Britain (the `old’ Tate Gallery on Millbank, near Pimlico tube). This is Brian Haw’s peace camp that was outside Parliament. The police may have forced him to reduce his display, but the whole huge thing has been re-constructed in one of Britain’s best known art galleries where it will stay for several months. Seen indoors under better conditions, it’s more moving and shocking than any MP could bear unless they defied the government whips in every vote. And today the public were gazing at it in droves whilst the rest of the gallery was almost empty.

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3. TACKLING AVIATION AND AIRPORT EXPANSIONS

Minister should resign over comments about airport expansions:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1646&Itemid=124

Challenge to David Drew re airport expansions:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1663&Itemid=123

Greens welcome David Miliband's suggestion of adopting the Green Party's policy of an individual carbon ration for each of us:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1613&Itemid=116

Blair's Cheltenham-based Sustainability advisor commutes by plane to Scotland each week:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1628&Itemid=115

BIA letter to Greens is a desperate move:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1616&Itemid=115

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4. WASTE FAILURES

Government failing to help local businesses:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1645&Itemid=123

News that the UK dumps more household waste into landfill sites than any other EU state sparked criticism from the Green Party:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1658&Itemid=123

Call for a greener Christmas:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1624&Itemid=115
Plus a Green Christmas Carol:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1626&Itemid=115

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5. RIGHTS: FAIRFORD COACHES, RAIL CLEANERS, PROSTITUTION AND TRAFFICKING

Call for a fair deal for rail cleaners:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1649&Itemid=123

Law Lords rule on Fairford coaches:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1612&Itemid=115

Call for changes to law over prostitution following Suffolk murders:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1614&Itemid=115

Greens condemn Government's lack of action over people trafficking:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1627&Itemid=116

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6. GM: POTATO TRIALS, COUNTY COOKING OILS AND NEW LEGISLATION

UK GM potato trials:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1623&Itemid=116

Green councillors success over raising awareness re GM cooking oils in the County:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1643&Itemid=123

Greens condemn new EU environmental legislation as being too week:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1664&Itemid=123

Greenpeace have just completed a summary of global reaction against genetic engineering in 2006: it provides solid evidence that resistance to genetically engineered crops continues to grow among farmers, consumers and governments. Market reaction to the recent rice contamination scandal was of near epidemic proportions; some countries are banning GM altogether. Romania, for instance, which had 85,000 hectares planted with GM soy in 2005, will drop to zero this year. The most significant demonstration of GM rejection occurred in the aftermath of Bayer's LLRICE601 contamination scandal previously reported in GNN. Rice Producers of California and a major rice mill in the state, Sunwest Foods, have called for a ban on any cultivation of GM rice (including field trials) in California while large sectors of the rice industry, including Ebro Puleva, the world's largest rice processor, committed to being GE-free. Rice traders of two of the largest rice exporting countries, Thailand and Vietnam, have signed an agreement that commits them to being GM-free, capitalizing on new market opportunities that have opened up as a result of the contamination of US rice supplies with Bayer's GE rice. There's more - read the report 'Global reaction against Genetic Engineering in 2006':
http://www.greenpeace.eu/downloads/gmo/GlobalStatusGECrops2006.pdf

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7. REACTOR MANAGEMENT SALE AND LOCAL NUCLEAR WASTE PLANS

Sale of ancient reactors management is not in interests of safety:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1638&Itemid=123

Berkeley nuclear waste plans:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1625&Itemid=115

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8. SUPERMARKETS: COMPETITION COMMISSION, BARKER AND M&S

Call on Competition Commission to restrict growth of Tesco:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1629&Itemid=115

Barker review on planning laws will lead to more out-of-town retailing:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1661&Itemid=123

M&S plans for going Carbon-neutral:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1660&Itemid=123

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9. RAIL NEWS: CHAOS IN REGION AND QUESTIONS ABOUT PARKWAY

First Great Western panic measures will only make the chaos on the trains in the region worse
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1653&Itemid=123

What is Parkway for?
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1652&Itemid=124

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10. NHS: CAMPAIGN FOR WEAVERS CROFT PLUS REASONS FOR CUTS

Campaign re Weavers Croft - latest action:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1640&Itemid=123

Labour MP Parmjit Dhanda claims Tory County councillors aren't supportive of plans to keep local Mental Health services open while Tories claim it is the Government that is to blame. Infact they are both to blame and both will make it worse:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1647&Itemid=124

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11.  ANGER AT GOVT. & INDUSTRY HIJACK OF EU LEGISLATION

The E.U. parliament passed the REACH legislation (Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals) that requires about 30,000 chemicals to be registered with a new agency.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1619&Itemid=116

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12. OTHER ISSUES: SOLO LIVING, BEGGARS, GREEN POLL RISE, COUNTY FARMS AND AGM

Greens question campaign to stop people giving beggars money:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1654&Itemid=124

Nationally Greens push through 5% barrier:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1642&Itemid=123

Stroud District Green party's AGM success with speaker Aonghus Gordon:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1656&Itemid=123
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1644&Itemid=123

Response to Lib Dems over County Farm issue:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1617&Itemid=116

Two Stroud Greens on Solo Living on Radio 4s Costing the Earth:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1633&Itemid=115

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13. NEW ON 'BIG ISSUES' AND BLOGS

- Philip Booth's Blog Ruscombe Green:
http//ruscombegreen.blogspot.com/

Highlights with photos from the last month include:
Blog getting listed on International Centre of Excellence, New Statesman and UP Poli Blogs
Speed dating at High School
Comment on floods - and sustainable solutions
Nailsworth's new Climate Blog
An article on what the Ruscombe Brook Action Group have been doing over the last 2 years
Furniture recycling in Stroud
Computer recycling
CPRE's campaign on landbanking
A new Green Reading list blog
Wifi, plasma screens and dangers
Fat traps
Restoring Randwick campsite
Are Labour really tackling climate change?

- Go to the very wonderful Molly Scott Cato's blog for a Green look at economics:
http://gaianeconomics.blogspot.com/

This months highlights include a fascinating look at money, 'Everything is never enough', the amazing Doreen Massey and capitalist mantras.

- A selection of articles sent in by GNN readers over the last month. Find links to them under Big Issues or use key words in the search engine:

 A land tax is 200 years overdue
 Challenge to Gordon Brown's corporate agenda
 Giant ice island breaks off Arctic shelf
 Emissions trading is a red herring and won't work
 Climate shifts small UK sea life
 Livestock a major threat to environment
 Scottish Shrimps: 17,000-mile round trip
 Peak oil threatens UK food security
 Routine and systematic torture is at the heart of America's war on terror
 Iraq: corporate merceneries out number British troops 6 to 1
Genetically Engineered Fish Proteins in Ice Cream?
 US to eat food from cloned animals
 Conservatives back road building
 The cost of privatisation will haunt us for years to come
 Yangtze dolphin extinct

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14. WEBSITES THAT MIGHT INTEREST

Building a Low-Carbon Future for the Five Valleys: Transition Town Stroud is a process designed to facilitate a local strategy for responding to Peak Oil (& Gas) and Climate Change:
http://transitiontowns.org/Stroud

Israeli occupation: a new grouping including the Green party is taking shape which looks promising because of the combination of faith groups, charities, trade unions and activists - all those who want to see peace in the Holy Land:
http://www.enoughoccupation.org/?lid=13717

Some fascinating data and graphics about earthquakes:
http://www.breathingearth.net/

GreenSpirit is a movement which celebrates all life as deeply connected and sacred. This radical vision brings together the rigour of science, the freedom of creativity, the passion of social action and the wisdom of spiritual traditions of all ages:
http://www.greenspirit.org.uk/

Alliance for Natural Health: new website:
http://www.alliance-natural-health.org

A response from Africa to climate change:
http://stopkillingus.org

Al Gores' website:
http://www.climatecrisis.net/

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15. NEXT COFFEE HOUSE GATHERING: IMAGE AND IDENTITY

Friday 26th January: Image and Identity. Freedom to wear the veil, freedom not to wear the veil? Wearing religious or political symbols? Are dress codes oppressive? Open to anyone - 7.30 and 9.30pm at Star Anise Arts Cafe at the Painswick Inn, Gloucester Street, Stroud.

In a related issue this is what Tony Blair didn't say in his speech on multiculturalism earlier this month:

"When I say things like "belief in democracy, the rule of law, tolerance, respect for this country and its shared heritage is what gives us the right to call ourselves British", I realise I'm insulting you all – as if these values are alien to you, your culture, or to the nations you originate from. When I claim to be supportive of you, for example, by saying "most Muslims are thoroughly law-abiding citizens,, I should ask myself how an average white person would feel to be patronised by such a statement. This week, for example, would I dare to say something so crass as, "Of course, most residents of Ipswich are law-abiding? And when you add in the macho talk about immigration and asylum from me and my ministers, and what I said about Britain "not being taken for a ride" – not to mention our edicts on the religious clothing  we say you shouldn't wear – of course, I now realise, I'm adding to the prejudice you'll face from the rest of society."

See more of Joseph Harker's 'Guardian comment':
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1975743,00.html

Read more about the previous coffee house discussions at:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=606&Itemid=96

Details of other Gloucestershire Green party meetings can be got from John Marjoram on 01453 751189

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More details about the Gloucestershire Green party, how to join and meeting times can be got from John Marjoram on 01453 751189.

GNN has grown out of a Green news service first established on 13th November 2001. To contribute to this news service (or to subscribe or unsubscribe) - contact the editor Philip Booth on  press@glosgreenparty.org.uk