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GNN ISSUE 16: 15-December-2005 |
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GNN - GREEN NEWS NETWORK - ISSUE 16: 15-December-2005
A free monthly newsletter that provides green news and views from the Gloucestershire Green party so that together we can create a better world. The editors would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the very best for the season and coming new year.
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CONTENTS:
1. QUOTES OF THE MONTH
2. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS NOW ON WEBSITE
3. GLOS GREENS WELCOME NEW TORY LEADER
4. NUCLEAR: NEW REPORTS FROM GLOS GREEN AND ADDING OUR VOICE TO THE DEBATE
5. CLIMATE CHANGE: BIGGEST EVER VISIBLE TURN-OUT OF GREEN PARTY AND GREENS PLAN TO SAVE WHITE CHRISTMAS
6. BRISTOL AIRPORT 'WILL CRIPPLE ECONOMY'
7. ECONOMICS: TAX, G8 AND GELDOFF, PRE-BUDGET U-TURN AND CHINA THREATENS GLOS BUSINESSES
8. TRANSPORT: LTP SUBMISSION, GLOS PARKWAY PROPOSAL, A417 AND CONGESTION CHARGE
9. RIGHTS: GAY ASYLUM SEEKERS, CIVIL PARTNERSHIPS, RAPE AND BRITAIN'S GUANTANAMO BAY
10. ANIMAL ISSUES: GLOS GREENS SUBMIT COMMENTS TO EU
11. GM, SUPERMARKETS AND PESTICIDE TESTING ON CHILDREN
12. PENSIONS AND INCAPACITY BENEFIT
13. IRAQ OIL AND WHITE PHOSPHORUS
14. A RADICAL APPROACH: NAKED STREETS SUCCESS
15. THE REST: ECO-FRIENDLY SERVICES, STROUD CINEMA, LICENSING ACT, STROUD SIGN, INCINERATOR WASTE, APPLAUSE OVER LOCAL PLAN AND GLOUCESTER QUAYS DEVELOPMENT
16. NEXT COFFEE HOUSE GATHERING
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1. QUOTES OF THE MONTH
"Climate change needs economic growth to be sustainable in its environmental effects."
Tony Blair's Lord Mayor's Banquet speech (14 Nov. 05)
"If your knees aren't green by the end of the day, you ought to seriously re-examine your life."
Bill Watterson (American Author of the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes, b.1958)
"This planet has -- or rather had -- a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy."
Douglas Adams
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2. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS NOW ON WEBSITE
As you will notice, the format of the GNN has changed to focus on local issues. The international and national news items which would previously have been listed will in the next few days be under a new section, 'Green Issues' on our website. Click on the links below or go to http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php and scroll down to the bottom of the page – the links are listed in the right hand column.
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3. GLOS GREENS WELCOME NEW TORY LEADER
Some background supplied by Labour party: David Cameron is an old Etonian distantly related to the Queen. He was a special adviser to Norman Lamont, standing right behind him on 'Black Wednesday' as Norman was announcing a "turbulent day on the markets", or 15 per cent interest rates to you and me. Mr Cameron has voted against the extra spending on the health service and schools, opposed the Winter Fuel Allowance and voted against increasing maternity leave and pay. He voted in favour of keeping fox hunting and wrote the policies in the recent Tory manifesto to subsidise private health care and private education plus the irresponsible focus on immigration. Currently he is looking at a flat tax which means that nurses and home helps pay the same tax rate as the millionaire.
Glos Greens gave his announcement on being Green a cautious welcome:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=920&Itemid=71
Let's hope our Tory controlled councils will immediately back Mr Cameron's call to reduce CO2 emissions by adopting and implementing the policies necessary to achieve the 60% cut in emissions target - although this is below the Green Party's call for a statuatory 6% annual reduction to achieve the 90% reduction by 2030 - necessary to avoid CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere reaching 400 parts per million. The Green Party would also ensure that 40% of our energy would come from renewable sources by the year 2020. However any improvement on the complacency of the main political parties in addressing the most serious threat to intelligent life on the earth for 65 million years is surely to be welcomed.
Tories are also seeking views on globalisation and global poverty. Give them at:
http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=challenge.detail.page&area=6
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4. NUCLEAR: NEW REPORTS FROM GLOS GREEN AND ADDING OUR VOICE TO THE DEBATE
A very busy month when it comes to nuclear issues:
- We have submitted a report commenting on the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's "Strategy - Draft for Consultation" that looks at the decommissioning and clean up of nuclear sites like Oldbury and Berkeley. This has led to an invite to further consultations in Bristol on 20th January. At the moment we don't have anyone free to go: volunteers?
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=830&Itemid=70
- There is also now a report setting out the arguments about new build and feedback on the successful cafe discussion which this month debated nuclear:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=855&Itemid=72
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=859&Itemid=2
- Katey Nixon, a Gloucester Green party member had a short bit on a radio phone in - and many letters to various Glos press on the subject, particularly trying to clarify position over CO2 emissions and economics of new nuclear power plus the on-going problems at Oldbury. Letters and releases include:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=849&Itemid=70
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=863&Itemid=71
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=864&Itemid=71
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=927&Itemid=71
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=928&Itemid=71
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=930&Itemid=71
- Deadly radioactive fuel will be shipped next year through South West waters on a 19 year old merchant vessel, the Atlantic Osprey that was never designed for the job. Glos Greens claim that it is far too dangerous and a possible target for terrorists. It is planned to send Switzerland a consignment of mixed oxide fuel (MOX), recycled nuclear fuel made from a cocktail of uranium and plutonium, the raw material of nuclear bombs.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=834&Itemid=70
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5. CLIMATE CHANGE: BIGGEST EVER VISIBLE TURN-OUT OF GREEN PARTY AND GREENS PLAN TO SAVE WHITE CHRISTMAS
- Greens from Stroud, Gloucester and Cheltenham joined ten thousand plus in the march in London with over 100,000 marching worldwide - read more and see photos at:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=875&Itemid=2
- The 60m gallon capacity of Buncefield is, based on DTI figures, less than a day's average UK oil consumption. If carbon dioxide emissions formed a big black cloud perhaps we would all be trying to tackle them with a little more vigour.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=922&Itemid=71
- Environmental minister Eliott Morley has admitted that the UK is only on target to cut emissions by 11% by 2010, just over half of the 20% objective. We comment on that:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=921&Itemid=70
- Cllr Ben Francis suggests in his article that climate change maybe "good news" and there is "not much" wrong with the developing ecological disaster (23/11/05). We all like a positive story and more Ospreys and Wolves is great but this dismissal of the effects of climate change is deeply dangerous.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=870&Itemid=71
- Of course wind farms need to be sensitively designed, but many of us do not view them as the intrusion on the landscape that the letter seems to suggest. Indeed some of us find them beautiful and all the more so for their clean, safe contribution to tackling climate change.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=837&Itemid=71
- Greens condemn both the new planning guidelines and the Government Code for Sustainable Building, both published this week by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minster.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=904&Itemid=70
- Plus read our plans to save a white Christmas:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=919&Itemid=70
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6. BRISTOL AIRPORT 'WILL CRIPPLE ECONOMY'
Bristol International Airport plans to double the number of passengers by 2015 (to 9m) and treble by 2030. The Stroud District Green party responded to phase two of their consultation process, which closed on Monday, with a damning report that argues it will be an economic and environmental disaster to much of the South-West including Gloucestershire. Read news release and report:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=925&Itemid=70
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7. ECONOMICS: TAX, G8 AND GELDOFF, PRE-BUDGET U-TURN AND CHINA THREATENS GLOS BUSINESSES
- Why are the main parties so scared to tax the rich? The poorest quintile of the UK population pay a greater proportion of their income as a whole in tax than the richest. This cannot be right. This is compounded by Britain's notably soft approach in dealings with companies which are domiciled in tax havens. Under Labour even the Inland Revenue itself transferred ownership of its buildings to a company registered in Bermuda for tax purposes!
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=866&Itemid=71
- Four months on and what happened to Make Poverty History? Many of us got the impression that Live 8 and the G8 Summit made huge progress. The painful truth is now coming out: Geldof, Blair and Bono let us down.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=842&Itemid=71
- A £3bn property tax giveaway that could have led to the end of affordable housing in Gloucestershire has been halted in it's tracks after a dramatic U-turn by the chancellor. Greens are celebrating the end of a controversial tax break, that would from April next year, have allowed the well-off to put their properties into a Self-Invested Personal Pension (Sipp) effectively tax-free (i).
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=902&Itemid=70
- 'Buy Nothing Day' has been set up by a international loose coalition of environmentalists, churches and peace-activists along with anti-consumerists. It invites people to buy nothing on one day of the year.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=846&Itemid=70
- Massive threat to Gloucestershire 'high-tech' businesses: China is poised to dominate the hi-tech sector of the global economy, according to a new report published by Green Euro-MP and trade expert Caroline Lucas ahead of next week’s World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in Hong Kong. Gloucestershire Greens warn of huge impact on local industries.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=906&Itemid=70
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8. TRANSPORT: LTP SUBMISSION, GLOS PARKWAY PROPOSAL, A417 AND CONGESTION CHARGE
- Greens celebrate news about the superhighway proposals for the A417 south of Gloucester being axed
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=836&Itemid=71
- Congratulations to the Labour group on the County Council for highlighting the Conservatives failure to apply for funding to consider congestion charges, but it is both Tory and Labour policies of encouraging traffic that have led us to near gridlock.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=916&Itemid=71
- The Gloucester Green Party leafletted rail travelers at Gloucester Station about the proposed new rail station - Gloucestershire Parkway - and found massive opposition to the plan from regular rail users. Greens have expressed deep concern that almost everybody they spoke to had not heard of the plans.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=861&Itemid=70
- Gloucestershire Local Transport Plan 2006 – 2011 - Response by the Gloucestershire Green party. Read what we had to say:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=845&Itemid=70
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=844&Itemid=72
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9. RIGHTS: GAY ASYLUM SEEKERS, CIVIL PARTNERSHIPS, RAPE AND BRITAIN'S GUANTANAMO BAY
- The Green Party is urging the country's lesbian, gay and bisexual community to "read the small print" regarding proposed legislation to outlaw discrimination against them in services such as hospitals and hotels. Plus letter re Civil partnerships and discrimination:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=839&Itemid=70
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=924&Itemid=71
- The possible deportation of a local gay Algerian man is another example of the injustice of our asylum laws. If he is deported he will almost certainly face a jail sentence purely because of his sexuality. He is not alone.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=847&Itemid=71
- Following the release of a survey which has shown that approximately one third of people believe that a woman is at least partly responsible for being raped if she behaved in a flirtatious manner or was drunk, the Green party has called for an urgent public awareness campaign to tackle the damaging stereotypes which surround rape.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=853&Itemid=70
- The revelation that four men have been deprived of their liberty for four years in Britain on suspicion of being international terrorists is shocking. It is deeply disturbing to hear that they have not once been questioned by police or security services since being arrested!
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=929&Itemid=71
- Anti-terrorism laws go too far:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=857&Itemid=71
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10. ANIMAL ISSUES: GLOS GREENS SUBMIT COMMENTS TO EU
There is much to be disturbed about when you look closer. Every year for example in the EU 5,000 million broiler chickens are factory farmed in terrible conditions that research has shown leads to huge welfare problems like leg disorders and ammonia burns. This is clearly wrong. Another example is the fact that the trade in live animal exports from the UK for slaughter resumed in October - this unnecessarily cruel practice should not be stopped immediately.
See how we responded and respond yourself before 20th December 2005:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=912&Itemid=70
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11. GM, CINDERFORD TESCO AND PESTICIDE TESTING ON CHILDREN
- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the US has proposed new federal regulation regarding the testing of chemicals and pesticides on human subjects. Philip Booth responded to their consultation process:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=909&Itemid=70
- 60 million demand WTO to drop case re GM
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=926&Itemid=70
- Those who have welcomed the future presence of a large Tesco shop in Cinderford will have to delay their celebrations for at least three years, and it will be much longer before anyone can be sure what effects it is going to have on the town. Those who are responsible for allowing this development are quite likely to have left the scene. The town will have gained a Tesco but probably lost a Co-op, the only supermarket with an ethical policy governing the social and environmental impact of its activities.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=862&Itemid=71
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12. PENSIONS AND INCAPACITY BENEFIT
- Greens welcome the 450-page Turner report which has been three years in the writing and if adopted will lead to cuts in pensioner poverty. Greens urge the Government to give a positive response to calls for a universal citizens pension and the link to earnings. We do need to raise the effective retirement age. This means tackling age discrimination, improving working conditions, not penalising people for breaks in their working life and solving negative effects on the level of occupational pensions if people want to reduce working hours.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=865&Itemid=70
- Incapacity proposals will hit Gloucestershire's poorest hard: Labour cuts benefits to pay for the super rich. David Blunkett, before he was forced to resign again, set out his thinking before the publication of the government's green paper on welfare reform. He proposed tighter conditions on many of the 2.7 million incapacity benefit claimants, as well as on lone parents and insists the way to overcome depression and stress was to stop watching daytime television and get back to work. Greens hope that now he has gone there will be a chance for a rethink.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=833&Itemid=70
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13. IRAQ OIL AND WHITE PHOSPHORUS
- A new report shows that Iraq will lose up to US $194 billion in oil "rip-off". Greens say Iraq's future oil wealth is being handed to US and British multinational oil companies through long-term contracts that will cost Iraq hundreds of billions of dollars. Instead of a new beginning Iraq is being caught in a very old colonial-style trap. This is dangerous and further ammunition for terrorists. We are all losers in an unjust world. Those of us here in Gloucestershire whether we supported this war or not should be demanding the Iraqi people have justice now.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=867&Itemid=70
- The US has reluctantly admitted to using white phosphorus - worse than napalm - as an incendiary weapon in attacks on the city of Fallujah, while the British Government are insisting UK forces used it only as a smokescreen. Greens are demanding an inquiry:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=843&Itemid=70
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14. A RADICAL APPROACH: NAKED STREETS SUCCESS
- The Safer Streets conference at Ebley Mill was initiated by Green Cllr Sarah Lunnon and was a huge success with over 70 people. The easy-read radical 'Better Streets for Stroud District' report is now updated and on our website as well as Stroud District Council's website. It has also received acclaim and support from various people including Cllr. Daniel Moylan, Deputy Leader of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Jenny Jones, London Assembly Member and the London Mayor's Road Safety Ambassador and Professor John Whitelegg, Professor of Sustainable Transport at Liverpool John Moores University. SDC look set to take the ideas forward. Meanwhile a follow up supplementary report is due out soon with more about these ideas:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=831&Itemid=70
- Green streets are 'naked streets' and clearing the clutter in Dursley:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=835&Itemid=70
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=858&Itemid=2
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15. THE REST: ECO-FRIENDLY SERVICES, STROUD CINEMA, LICENSING ACT, STROUD SIGN, INCINERATOR WASTE, APPLAUSE OVER LOCAL PLAN AND GLOUCESTER QUAYS DEVELOPMENT
- Plans for an eco-friendly motorway service station between junctions 12 and 11a of the M5 are opposed by Stroud District Green party.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=848&Itemid=70
- Stroud cinema - Before every political party attempts to take full credit for the new cinema in Stroud it maybe worth knowing exactly where the original initiative for a cinema came from and it certainly wasn’t from established politicians:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=891&Itemid=71
- This Licensing Act is weighted too much in favour of the licensed trade, and against the interests of local communities. Until we manage to get binge drinking under control, increasing the supply of alcohol will have a harmful effect on individuals and communities.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=856&Itemid=71
- Greens have been vocal in their opposition to a huge four metre high illuinated sign that has appeared in the centre of Stroud. The sign, put there by the police flashes three different messages: "CCTV in operation, £80 tickets for disorder and Drinking and Driving kills". The sign has now been removed.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=914&Itemid=70
- The Gloucester Chamber of Trade and Commerce is right that the £200 million Gloucester Quays development will mean a loss of trade for city centre retailers, the closure of stores and further retail decline. The decision to hold a public inquiry is the right one.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=876&Itemid=71
- 183 tonnes of toxic ash will be bound for Wingmoor near Cheltenham every day if plans for a mixed waste incinerator in Newhaven, Sussex go ahead. Greens are campaigning in both Gloucestershire and Sussex to dump that waste plan in its entirety and instead adopt a plan to cut the volume of waste generated. Dove one of the organisations involved in Sussex approach Philip Booth on the Climate change march to thank him for his letter to the Sussex Express.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=841&Itemid=70
- Applause for Greens at Stroud District Council over the Local Plan:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=840&Itemid=70
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16. NEXT COFFEE HOUSE GATHERING
Does science have all the answers? Title and speakers awaiting confirmation. Friday 27th January between 7.30 and 9.30pm at Star Anise Arts Cafe at the Painswick Inn, Gloucester Street, Stroud.
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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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, Katey Nixon on 01452 540276
E-mail: <kateynixon@yahoo.co.uk> or Philip Booth on press@glosgreenparty.org.uk
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