A government report published today says that the government should completely rethink its aviation policy and shelve plans to expand airports - campaigners opposing the expansion of Gloucestershire Airport have given it a big welcome.
Photo: Monday night in the St George Vaults in Cheltenham talking Staverton, waste and nuclear
The report, from the Government’s own green watchdog, the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC), published with the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), has said that the Government must review its policy on expanding the UK’s airports because there is so much controversy and conflict over issues such as the contribution of air travel to climate change and its benefits to the economy. The SDC report concludes that the Government’s 2003 Air Transport White Paper, which backs expansion at local airports such as Staverton, must go back to the drawing board.
Campaigning colleague Neil Marshall from the Concerned residents Against Staverton Expansion (CASE) said: "Though Gloucestershire Airport try to portray their plans as ‘safety measures’ their own business plan makes it clear that more, bigger planes is the aim. The Airport’s scheme is just one stepping stone along their planned route to expansion”
The SDC report ‘Breaking the Holding Pattern’ found that the evidence for airport expansion is heavily flawed over six key areas, in particular:
· accurately calculating the impact on the environment of rising aviation emissions
· the economic benefits of aviation in terms of wealth creation and the impact of tourists both leaving and entering the UK
· how much improvements in aircraft technology can really reduce CO2 emissions from air travel.
Cheltenham Friends of the Earth spokesperson Richard Conibere, who I was with on Monday night talking about the campaign, said: “This report vindicates our arguments that the economic benefits claimed for airport expansion are not based on solid evidence and do not justify the damage to the climate from aviation emissions. At last government advisers are beginning to understand that expanding airports such as Staverton is adding to more money lost as people travel abroad than is brought in by foreign visitors. This growing tourist deficit is taking wealth out of the South West and needs to be included in the debate on airport expansion throughout the region.”
“A report published last week by the World Wildlife Fund also showed that 85% of FTSE-350 companies aim to cut staff flights in the next decade to save both time and money and reduce emissions, and they see videoconferencing as a key tool to enable this – which also slams the argument that business will benefit from more airport expansion. Airlines are constantly promoting new improvements to reduce emissions but refuse to recognise that the sheer growth in numbers of flights cancel out the benefits of any new technology.”
The SDC report said: “While evidence informing these decisions is so widely contested, and the outcomes of important political decisions on addressing aviation’s climate impacts remain uncertain, we believe the risks of decisions in favour of expansion outweigh the possible benefits.”
Notes
1) SDC/IPPR report ‘Breaking the holding pattern’:http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/publications/downloads/Breaking_the_holding_pattern_report.pdf or exec summary http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/publications/downloads/sdc_aviation_exec_summ1.pdf 2) WWF report ‘Travelling light’: www.wwf.org/travellinglight 3) Gloucestershire Airport is just one of many Airports in the South West that are attempting to expand. Other airports are Exeter , Bournemouth, Bristol , Plymouth and Newquay. 4) In answer to the Gloucester City and Cheltenham Borough councils’ Joint Airport Scrutiny Working Group’ report that favours the Airport plans, CASE have produced a comprehensive report against the development. See the ‘Gloucestershire Airport Expansion’ report: http://www.case-online.org.uk/docs/JASWG_Response_001.pdf
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Government report supports Staverton campaigners
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
More on the wonderful Portbury Yew
On 12th Feb this year I ran a blog about the Ancient Yew Group (see it here - scroll down) - it inspired me to look out the Portbury Yew when I was last on my way to visit family. I'd intended to add a follow-up blog with these photos of the yew in the church yard of St Mary the Virgin, just outside Bristol, but a problem with the digital camera meant only last week was I able to extract the photos.....it really is a wonderful wonderful tree....
Let me remind you - in the last blog I quoted from the Daily Telegraph on Saturday 29th December 2007 and an article entitled "Raiders of the lost bark:the last crusade."
I quote James Douglas again: "The truth is that a yew is the oldest living organism any of us is ever likely to see. To illustrate the point, we drop in on the Portbury Yew, in the village churchyard of St Mary the Virgin, just outside Bristol. A man painting the lychgate confides his fears that the old tree “won’t last much longer, because it is completely hollowed out”. But while the inner heartwood may indeed have rotted so thoroughly as to leave a damp, cavern-like inner chamber, it is actually very much alive and thriving. The canopy above is broad, thick and soaring. The knotted and gnarled bark, beneath its dry flakes, has beautiful flat, flowing, multi-coloured strips from shades of orange to grey. If Paul Gauguin ever turned his idiosyncratic art to painting a tree trunk, it would surely have looked something like this.
But most remarkable of all, about 10 feet up within the “cavern”, two fat, trunk-like shoots have burst out from the inner bark and, over countless decades, reached down to implant themselves in the soil. “As the remainder of the outer trunk rots away, these internal roots will grow up as trees themselves within the shell,” explains Hills. “Sometimes, with yews, we cannot be sure whether we are looking at the original tree, or one that started life within a decaying, older stem.”
All this makes the species the subject of endless conjecture about age. The oldest tree in Europe is said to be the Fortingall Yew in Scotland, considered between 3,000 and 5,000 years old. The Portbury Yew has a notice saying it is “thought to be” 2,000 years old. Tim, who is regularly called upon to pronounce on the subject, refuses to speculate. “Since its heartwood decays, it becomes impossible to give an accurate figure. All I usually say is that, with a girth of l6ft, you are probably looking at 500 years, and 700 to 1,000 years or more at 20ft.”
One interesting factor I came across while seeking further info - is that the church at Portbury has a most interesting boiler according to this website here!
Other facts came from this website here - like the Vikings used Yew nails for their longboats, an extract of the yew is used in cancer treatments, yew is great to make longbows - indeed the demand for such weaponry in the Middle Ages led to a decline in the species..... there has been much heated discussion as to why the Yew is so often found in churchyards - some say it is the deep-dark green, almost eerie and shady presence of the tree. Other say because it is the tree of death, due to its poisonous chemistry, or that it was put in churchyards, where it would not be accessible to life-stock to grow wood for the longbows. Christian scholars have associated it with Christ as 'the tree of the cross' or with the theme of resurrection. However, the evidence is now overwhelming that the Yew was the archetype of "The Tree of Life" to people all over Europe eons before Christ was born...
Anyway enough of all this - too late now and work tomorrow...
Purton Hulks: a letter to English Heritage
My letter to English Heritage re the Purton Hulks is below - see also previous items on this blog re Purton here (scroll down) - plus the weekends in June re researching the hulks further look fascinating - I will sadly miss both, but am sure there might be spaces if any folk are really interested. I've also again raised the issue of the hulks with Conservation Officers last week to see if SDC could do more.
Photo: One of Paul's photos of hulks - see rest here
Atten: Lord Bruce Lockhart, Dr Simon Thurley and Peter Beacham
I am sure you will be familiar with this unique site and the vessels, known as the 'Purton Hulks' (i). The 81 vessels form an important record, particularly with respect to the types of craft known to have traded on the River Severn: these include Severn Trows, sailing schooners and several types of lighter and dumb barges. I understand that in 1998 the area was subject to an assessment survey by Dr Toby Parker and a team form Bristol University. This survey, whilst it has formed the basis for more work at the site during future years, was known to be incomplete.
Several individual vessels have been surveyed by NAS volunteers in pursuance of NAS certification, and some have been ‘adopted’ by individuals within the NAS ‘Adopt A Wreck’ initiative. However, Paul Barnett, a local historian with a deep and abiding interest in the site, has adopted the whole site. His detailed examination of extensive archival material has led to individual vessels being re-appraised. In addition Paul leads walks through the site, trying to raise awareness of it. For his work last year (2007) Paul was declared the winner of the prestigious ‘Adopt A Wreck’ Award.
Paul Barnett along with others are planning further study of the hulks next month (ii). However I write to you, urging that you will consider more protection of this site. Already damage has been done to these vessels and indeed over recent weeks further vandalism has occurred.
From local press reports I understand English Heritage are reluctant to help protect this unique site that gives such an interesting historical view of life on the Severn. I would welcome a greater understanding of your view as this seems like just the sort of project that deserves your support. Indeed I read on your website that: "English Heritage exists to protect and promote England's spectacular historic environment and ensure that its past is researched and understood."
I look forward to hearing from you,
Cllr. Philip Booth,
Stroud District councillor for the Randwick, Ruscombe and Whiteshill ward,
Cc: Andy Burnham MP
Notes:
(i) The ‘Purton Hulks’ is the collective name for a large number of vernacular craft of different types that were deliberately hulked on the east bank of the River Severn. This activity took place over a period of years. The last known hulking was in the 1950’s.The intention of all this activity was to stabilise the bank, which was threatened with erosion due to the geological formations present in the area. The erosion process also threatened the Sharpness Ship Canal which parallels the river bank at this point.
(ii) The project will run over two consecutive weekends: 6-8 June, 14-15 June 2008. The first weekend will be used as a ‘training weekend’, giving the local community an opportunity to complete (free of charge) the ‘NAS Introduction to Foreshore and Underwater Archaeology’ qualification. This will involve ‘hands on’ practical training, leading to further development of skills as the project progresses. Training will be delivered by suitably-qualified NAS staff.
Paul Barnett of Friends of Purton on 07833143231.
Aim: To work with Paul Barnett, a local historianand community groups to extend the assessment of the Purton Hulks.
Objectives include:
a. To extend the shoreline assessment survey from the end of the 1998 survey toward the docks at Sharpness.
b. Repeat detailed surveys of hulks previously surveyed to assess ongoing environmental and humanly-caused damage.
c. To commence detailed surveys of hulks not previously surveyed and thought to be under threat.
d. To commence detailed surveys of hulks thought to be of archaeological and historical significance.
e. Provide training to local community volunteers and an opportunity to practice and develop taught skills
f. To involve the local community and generate awareness of the site, its historical significance and fragile nature.
g. With the agreement of British Waterways Association, and a satisfactory ‘Risk Assessment’, commence an ‘in water’ survey of two significant areas:
i. The ‘southern exit’ to the timber ponds.
ii. The lock pound at the Sharpness entrance to the canal.
h. Liaise fully with other interested organisations.
All project activity is to have regard for the ecological sensitivity of the area – there are several ‘Sites of Scientific Interest’ (SSSI), and conservation areas. The whole project area falls within a RAMSAR Zone.
China Green Party calls for help
In Stroud there was a stall last week raising awareness and money for the victims of the Sichuan Earthquake. Here below is a letter from the China Green party calling for donations - the death toll today is reported to be near 40,000 and expected to rise to 50,000 with 5m homeless:
Dear all Greens from the entire world:
On 12 May a major earthquake measuring 7.8 that struck Sichuan Province which is the worst to strike south west China in 30 years. The death toll continues to rise but latest reports put it at more than 11,000, with 25,000 people injured. In Dujiangyan city, a middle school classroom building collapsed and over 50 students were reported to have died. Some 80 per cent of the buildings in Beichuan County are reported to have collapsed.
Now thousands severely affected need urgently assisted to ease their suffer and to overcome the huge disasters. An emergency volunteering group is organized by Chinese Greens. The Commissioner CGP will be in charge of this group to participate the relief action in the affected sites of earthquake. Our group will mainly help injured or homeless women and children, including those of Zang (Tibetan) and Qiang minorities, to ensure they are better treated for quick recovery.
Our greens have donated money in value of over 1200 Euros, but it is far from sufficient. Besides the basic facilities for our green volunteer group, we need also large amount of foods with nutrition, clothes with functions, better toys for kids, proper readings for pupils, and other extra commodities to massive aids especially for the needs of women and children. Meanwhile, we plan to print and spread leaflets of basic knowledge as well as techniques for their relief efforts, as well as to conduct simple trainings for women on how to conquer difficulties and to give small classes to those students lost their schools.
You can help us by donations or coming to us directly as volunteer member of our green group. Any experienced advice and suggestion is also required for an effective action of helping women and children out of the disastrous situation, while any other kinds of help would be also appreciated. The group will call itself “Green Volunteer” that recruit also other volunteers who are not the party member.
Bank: HSBC United Kingdom
Account name: China Green Coalition
Account number: 11419153
Branch: HSBC Beverley Branch
Sort Code：40 10 12
Update on Randwick mast
It is the last couple of days for consultation on the Randwick mast (see earlier blogs by clicking label below) - District Council consultation runs until 22nd - see here. My objection along with others is now on the website.
Photo: map with site of mast
I was pleased to hear that the Cotswolds Conservation Board - a statutory body established in 2004 to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the Cotswolds AONB and to increase the understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of the AONB has also made comments re the mast. These included pointing out what appear to be errors in the application like referring to buildings that are not there. The application also notes “the unique nature of the proposed design to minimise environmental impact”. There appears nothing “unique” about the design of the mast which is described as a “Type A Column” on the plans submitted with the application.
The application also refers to a “Green Belt”, yet there is no designated “Green Belt” in Stroud District Council. The Board call for more work by the applicant to demonstrate compliance with PPS 7 and NE8 and make several other important points. Whiteshill and Ruscombe Parish Council have also put an objection into the District Council.
Gordon Ramsay calls for fines for chefs using out-of-season food
A wee while back the BBC Today Programme examined Gordon Ramsay's deliberately provocative assertion that chefs should be fined for using food that's out of season. Good on him for opening a debate on this.
Cartoon: sent by a friend - the days of cheap oil are over
Professor Lang from the City University’s Centre for Food Policy felt that in essence he was right:
- ".... We have got to push back towards seasonality...production is dropping just at the time when we have got to make the food system work on a more ecological basis....the global food system is going to have to shift..the fuel issue is clearly at the top of it. We're already seeing it in the Big Four commodities; wheat, maize, rice, soya....."
The challenge of securing the world's food supply was the subject of Professor Lang's City University London lecture ‘Food Security: are we sleepwalking into a crisis?’ on 4 March 2008. It examined the clash between our cheap food culture and sustainability. At stake are fundamental questions for our national policy: what is land for, what skills are necessary and where does the public interest lie? The Powerpoint slides provide a dramatic summary.
- "...just at a time when we should be considering how best to increase our production of grain, we in Britain are switching off one main source of it. ...It is clear that the Government has yet to react to the dimensions of the looming world food crisis. It needs to begin a debate with the EU on the whole direction of Europe's agricultural strategy and rethink it from scratch, devising a strategy for sustainable production, then begin to educate the public about the realities ahead. It will mean a change in culture that is a million miles from the Tesco-driven consumerism we have grown lazily used to over the past 20 years. " Read in full
2m exploited Britains
The report 'Hard Work, Hidden Lives', released recently by the TUC's Commission on Vulnerable Employment finds more than two million people in Britain are forced to endure 'intolerably poor working lives' like daily exploitation and abuse from employers. Employment practices which take advantage of vulnerable workers have been found to be commonplace, despite a raft of regulations to protect people from mistreatment. Why is so little being done??
Photo; view of Stroud
Certain industries suffer disproportionately - unsurprisingly they include hotel and catering, hairdressing and beauty and construction and security as being those most at risk. People in these industries are frequently paid below minimum income for the hours they work, as they are often employed on a casual basis and are less likely to be in a trade union.
As Jean Lambert, Green MEP said in response to the report: "There is a clear need for greater inspection to ensure that workers are being given reasonable paid holiday, decent wages and that their work allows them to maintain a healthy work-life balance. When unscrupulous employers provide poorer work conditions they can undercut responsible employers and this leads to lower standards across industry sectors. This must not go on. The legal framework is failing to protect some of those most at risk of exploitation, including young people, foreign workers and agency workers who have no other prospects for employment. Anti-poverty targets will be undermined unless the Government gets to grips with this widespread problem."
At least the Government has done a U-turn on the 10% tax rate - outrageous that they could even consider it - as George Monbiot writes in The Guardian today: "Labour has shifted taxation from the rich to the poor, cutting corporation tax from 33% to 28% and capital gains tax from 40% to 18%, and introducing a new entrepreneurs' relief scheme, taxing the first million of capital gains at just 10%. It tried to raise the income tax paid by the poorest earners from 10% to 20%. Labour has lifted the inheritance tax threshold from £300,000 to £700,000, and maintained the cap on the highest rates of council tax. While vigorously prosecuting benefits cheats, it has allowed tax avoidance, mostly by the very rich, to reach an estimated £41bn. Inequality today is slightly worse than it was when Labour took power in 1997 (the Gini coefficient which measures it has risen from 0.33 to 0.35)."
Tabloids fail us on climate change
Coverage about global warming in UK tabloid newspapers has been significantly divergent from the scientific consensus that humans contribute to climate change. That's according to Max Boykoff and Maria Mansfield of the University of Oxford, UK, who studied newspapers from 2000 to 2006. Not really a surprise - and an issue I have covered before on this blog.
Photos: Standish woods - bluebells are now over but they were as stunning as ever this year - I sadly didn't get out there as much as usual this year
Boykoff told environmentalresearchweb "We hope that this work will encourage tabloid newspapers to reflect further on the accuracy of their reporting on human contributions to climate change, particularly given their high readership in the UK publics. Contrarian comments in a column by Michael Hanlon in the Daily Mail or Jeremy Clarkson in The Sun may be off-the-cuff or playful at times, but they have a tremendous influence on how readership may understand climate change science and policy."
The team found that the Daily Mail was more divergent from the scientific consensus than other tabloid newspapers. There were generally two main influences behind the tabloids' divergence. Boykoff said: "First was reliance on the journalistic norm of balance, where roughly equal attention was placed the view that humans contribute to climate change, and that our contribution is negligible. I had found this journalistic norm as influential in other earlier work on US newspaper and television coverage of anthropogenic climate change. And secondly, almost a third of the divergent coverage was attributed to 'contrarian' views that make claims that humans' role in climate change is negligible."
Tabloids have an important influence on public opinion in the UK as they have average daily circulations as much as ten times higher than many broadsheet newspapers. And readers of tabloids tend to come from different socio-economic backgrounds to broadsheet consumers, typically being more working class.
Many media workers interviewed for the study highlighted the political and economic constraints they face in reporting climate change. Boykoff said: "For example, with little specialist science training it was challenging to cover the intricacies of climate change while they were also covering a broad range of other news 'beats'. There remain few science and environment correspondents in the UK tabloid newspapers, and this has been a challenge for accurate climate change reporting."
Monday, May 19, 2008
Bees: one in three dead - where is the action?
As regular followers of this blog will know I am keen to see more action regarding bees - it is great that Elinor Croxall, the local Green party coordinator, is now planning to put together a meeting later in the year in Stroud - interest has been very strong locally.
I have also had further contact last week with a bee specialist in Australia who is offering to come at his own cost next month to trial his experiments that he believes can prevent Colony Collapse Disorder in hives.
Greens have also been pushing the petition to Government to invest in more money - go here: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/BeeResearch/
Indeed I sent out a long press release today - see here (photo of Green SW lead Euro candidate Ricky Knight with Devon beekeeper):
www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/content/view/2107/2/
It was very interesting while putting the news release together to talk to various Green party members and others who keep bees - interesting and worrying - and as I said in the press release: "....we must see Government action: imagine if one out of every three cows, or one out of every three chickens, were dying. That would raise a lot of alarm."
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Post Offices: Hopes dashed and hopes again
Anyone following closely the Government's plans to close post offices will have found many twists and turns as one minute it looks like Uplands can be saved then the next minute hopes are dashed.
See below for details of lobby on Wednesday
Many will have read that a £75,000 bid to save Uplands post office from closure has been launched by Green-led Stroud Town Council. Let us not forget this is a profitable PO. The council pledged to spend £25,000 a year for the next three years to cover the running costs at Uplands Post Office, earmarked for closure. Councillors are challenging Post Office Ltd to discuss the subsidy plan. And if the subsidy scheme fails Stroud Town Council has said it will consider running its own 'alternative post office'.
Yet we hear that the PO must close anyway as it is too close to the one in Stroud - and is taking too much business from it that the main PO is not wholly viable. This is an outrage if anyone has followed the story - how can you close a profitable PO to close an unpopular and unprofitable one??! Indeed Friday I went in to the main office only to walk out as the queue was almost to the door and a woman at the end said I've already been here over 5 minutes - I really pity the staff having to work in such conditions where the public are constantly being challenged by long waits....
....but again yesterday I hear there might be a glimmer of hope for Uplands and other POs.
Certainly news from Essex - although not sure if it has been in the news yet as I heard it from a campaigner who spoke with their Essex County Council press officer - anyhow it looks like they have cobbled together a legal rescue package for 15 out of their 31 post office shops under threat. The PO have now agreed that this model can be used across the country. We need Gloucestershire County Council to now take this forward and demand an immediate response from Post Office limited.
John Marjoram this last week joined the LGAs conference in London about POs - it was a sell-out with hundreds of delegates from around the country - Simon Burman of PO ltd said 89% of sub-post masters believed working with councils was a way to grow their business. Leeds City Council for example used POs as a way to distribute school uniform vouchers.
Join the lobby
On Wednesday 21st May there will be a lobby at Glos CC at 9am outside Shire Hall, Westgate St, Gloucester. I unfortunately have a meeting at work at that time but urge anyone who can go to go...only one PO in the whole of Glos and Oxfordshire is to be reviewed at present - that's 26 POs in Glos to close. So far Tory-led Glos CC have committed no funding - campaigners believe that £10 to £15,000 per year would save each PO and note the GCC Chief Exec earns £154,000 per year - not really so relevant but they do consider reserve accounts could be used without increasing the Council Tax.
Anyhow perhaps if you can't make the lobby then email Barry Dare, leader of GCC with your views: leader@gloucestershire.gov.uk
Here is my comment sent to him: "I am delighted that GCC has agreed to consider a rescue plan for Glos post offices. I would welcome an update of this, particularly in the light of Essex County Council's success in planning to reopen 15 post offices. I hope very much that you will be able to commit the necessary funds into saving many of our post offices and communities. We want a postal service not a postal business. I hope you can take a lead where our Government has failed."
I've not looked at the funding closely yet but we need to be clear about what we are supporting and why. As I've noted before many village shops could also do with support to prevent them closing - they can also provide an essential local service. We are long overdue a serious look at how we can support communities.
Donkey's: eco-friendly transport in Chalford
I think few people will not have heard of the Chalford Donkey Project (see their blogspot here) - the national media has covered the story several times but this blog has barely given them a mention and after talking yesterday to someone who was a supporter of the project I thought it was time I at least made mention of this local eco-friendly transport option that will no doubt become increasingly widespread as oil prices continue to rise.
Cartoon: from Russ, the Local Scribbler - still makes me smile
Oil prices have doubled since last year and more than quadrupled since 2002. They broke through the $100 a barrel at the beginning of this year and Goldman Sachs are now talking about an average price for the year of $140! Next year will see further rises as Peak Oil takes hold. Click on the label below for more info.
Well for those who missed this media sensation a group of residents of Chalford have initiated a donkey delivery service to help people transport their shopping and other goods to their doorsteps. In the past due to the steep hills of Chalford donkeys were used in the village as late as the 1930's to make deliveries, carrying bread, coal and many other household items to people's doorsteps.
The plan is that the donkey will live at a smallholding on the outskirts of the village and will be looked after by the project co-ordinator. Here is what they write on their blogsite re the donkey: "It will be taken into the village to make deliveries at set times during the week when people can book out the service. A core group of trained donkey handlers will also be on hand to help so that the job of taking the donkey out can be shared. The Chalford Community Stores will play a key role within this project. Many of the deliveries will originate from this shop which is a real hub of the community. It is a really special shop run mainly by volunteers and selling a lot of unusual and organic produce. It is from the community spirit of the shop that the Chalford Donkey Project will grow."
Apparently donkeys really enjoy working and being around people. Both the Donkey Breeds Society and various donkey sanctuaries have come out in support of the Chalford Donkey Project. And the press recently announced the name of the new 11-month-old donkey chosen by the Chalford Donkey Project from about 300 suggestions by villagers and ITV viewers: Chester.
The Project now also has it's second donkey for the new paddock built by volunteers in the village. Anyhow anyone wanting to make a donation to the donkey project or become a donkey handler should contact Anna on anna_usborne@hotmail.com
Also catch the YouTube of the Dancing Donkey in Chalford here.
Water fluoridation and IQ and some mysteries of water
Yesterday started with going to a breakfast celebration of Norwegian National Day - 'syttende mai' (meaning May seventeenth) - my partner is Norwegian and it is a chance to meet with Norwegian family locally - the day dates back to the Constitution signing in 1814 and is about children's parades - a non-military nature to the events...anyhow a huge breakfast that included lots of Norwegian food - a particularly good Jarlsberg and I confess to trying some Norwegian bottled glacial water (800 years old) - apparently sold locally in a supermarket - I don't dare think about the carbon footprint - and note previous comments on bottled water here and here and indeed many other places....
Anyhow from that water I went to the Safe Water Campaign for Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire AGM at the British School in Stroud - there was an excellent talk on the Mysteries of water and a presentation on IQ and fluoride - see my scribbled notes yesterday here and here. I was elected again one of the Officers for that group.
It was also a chance to grab a coffee at Star Anise and I met up with several Post Office campaigners - more of that in blog hopefully later this morning.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Sad loss of a great campaigner on prison reform
I was shocked to read in today's Citizen that prisons' campaigner Pauline Campbell, whose daughter died of a drug overdose in jail, was found dead on Thursday near the entrance to the graveyard where her child was buried. Tragic indeed.
It was also a strange cooincidence that I should be writing the blog entry earlier today about prisons. Indeed Pauline was an inspiration in tirelessly raising the issue of prison conditions - and as Greens have also highlighted locally our prisons still need urgent attention (see here). Here is the comment I left on the Citizen website:
Pauline Campbell tirelessly shed light on the fact that we continue to detain women in a system that cannot keep them safe. The lack of state accountability, and the failure to take action to prevent deaths is shocking. Inquests have continued to expose appalling conditions of incarceration like inadequate healthcare, overuse of force, the use of segregation and isolation for suicidal women, failure to implement suicide prevention guidelines and a lack of staff training. This ongoing abuse of human rights calls for a fundamental rethink of the way women are dealt with by our criminal justice system. As Pauline Campbell highlighted, we urgently need reforms. Her death is a great loss indeed.
The Citizen report: Mrs Campbell who organised two protests outside Eastwood Park Prison, near Wotton-under-Edge - one of which in January 2007 she was arrested for - was described by prison reform groups "inspiring campaigner" and a "human being of indescribable bravery". The 60-year-old, from Whitchurch, Shropshire, was arrested 15 times for protesting outside jails across the country where women inmates had died of apparent suicide. She held 28 demonstrations and was charged five times for her direct action, which included blocking prison vans, but she was never convicted. Mrs Campbell's 18-year-old daughter, Sarah, died of drug overdose at Styal prison, Cheshire, in January 2003, the third of six women to die at the jail in 12 months. A spokeswoman for advice group Inquest, of which Mrs Campbell was a member, confirmed she had died but could not confirm the circumstances.
See Guardian obituary here and Pauline's interview in Community Care here.
Prison treadmills are not an answer to energy problems
I have had some correspondence with the letter writer below regarding his idea to use the prison population of this country to generate electricity.....an idea I do not support - more of that later...
Letter in Western Daily Press 10th May 2008:
Perhaps Cllr Philip Booth, P W Rowsell-Dobson and I should pool a few ideas. Cllr Booth is obviously following an energy economy tack; Mr Rowsell-Dobson is concerned with the redeployment of the under-utilised pool of labour lying idle within our prison system. I am proposing that the prison population could share its talents with the energy industry in a very direct way; by generating electricity manually.
Treadmills came into English jails following a 1779 prison reform Act, which said the prisoners should be given "labour of the hardest and most servile kind".
Sir William Cubitt designed such a treadmill specifically for prisoner power generation, to power the cotton mills. It was like a very wide paddle wheel. Workers held on to a bar and climbed the paddle wheels, like walking upstairs for hours on end. They had to keep lifting their legs; gravity gave them no choice. A shift lasted eight hours of which 40 per cent of that time was spent resting. It was hard graft as it was intended also as punishment.
Today, we are approaching an energy crisis and more options are needed to obviate it. This could be the one we've already tried and forgotten about. If teams of prisoners, shift-working on treadmills 24/7 in humane conditions, could generate enough electricity to enable their own buildings to become self- sufficient, then why not extend the principle?
As recently as 2003, a device was invented to transform energy from children's seesaws, swings and roundabouts into electricity, a partial solution to affordable and sustainable energy. When the oil runs out, the wind ceases to blow and the tide is on the turn, the energy gap needs a base- load to sustain the demand. Does it really have to be a multi-billion pound nuclear reserve when we could, in the time honoured phrase, do it ourselves? Bernard Seward, Bristol
Read more about Cubitt here. The Playwright and author Oscar Wilde was one of the more famous prisoners forced to man the treadmill and Charleston slave owners for a while would rent one to punish the slaves.
It is reported in Bellevue Prison in New York treadmills prisoners produced about 100 watts each, with the energy used to grind grain to make bread for themselves. Apparently according to a Professor who studied it, "they hated it roundly." Of course Cubitt's treadmill may have originally had a productive purpose, but a pound of coal could soon do the work of five men working all day on a treadmill. Now the suggestion from the letter writer is that we should reintroduce the treadmill as a 'green' answer to energy.
Now, of course, people pay good money to do the same thing and call it recreation or fitness - and use up electricity in the process. I am sure those machines could be better designed to use the energy created but that is a different matter....Companies have also apparently produced televisions that children can power by riding stationary bicycles. It would seem that fifteen watts - about enough to power a small light bulb is all that researchers think is possible to pull out of a single human exerciser for any sustained period. Except in extreme cases of highly fit athletes, the limit for stationary bicyclists seems to be in the range of 75 watts to 150 watts.
On the Bellevue Penitentiary treadmill, prisoners climbed on treads protruding from a wheel that was slightly over five feet in diameter and turned three times each minute. If one assumes that a typical prisoner weighed 132 pounds, then the prisoner must have worked at a power of almost 140 watts. Since the normal duty cycle allowed each prisoner to rest one-third of the time, the sustained output would have been a little over 90 watts - sustained, according to the report, for up to ten hours a day. That figure of 90 watts confirms the reported unpleasantness of the task. A similar output was demanded of nineteenth-century Australian convicts, who worked up to twelve hours per day; some said they'd rather hang than work their mill.
Photo: the pedal washing machine?
We can view that 90 watts in yet another context. At best, only about one-fourth of the energy in food emerges as useful mechanical work. Thus, laboring on the treadmill - sustaining 90 watts for ten hours - itself requires more than 3,000 Calories. So Bellevue's inmates worked hard enough and long enough to require double the food intake of a normally active adult male. Even with greater efficiencies of todays technology applied to treadmills this does not make much sense? The energy produced would barely power the prison lighting.
I am told by a correspondent on this issue that the Northleach, Gloucestershire, House of Correction is open as a sort of heritage site. Apparently Sir George Onesiphorus Paul had the building designed on humanitarian lines - compared with what had existed previously. The prisoners were given tedious work to do but care was taken of their health. John Looseley, a Gloucestershire local historian has written a book based on original records regarding this institution. The 'prison doctor' has written notes in the 1820s of the treatment given to the inmates during their stay. This includes details the diet of the prisoners - it was apparently such that they would be able to undertake the expected work such as turning the treadmill without suffering loss of body mass.
Prisons need reforming
We need to start from thinking about what are our prisons for? Punishment clearly has a place but surely we also want crime to be cut? If this is the case then our prisons are desperately in need of reform - see news release here - the Home Office calls for more prisons as our current prisons are bursting - yet our Government's own research shows prison is not the answer.
Despite media reports, crime is in long-term decline. Instead of arguing from the facts, this government's unquenchable thirst for punishment sees them calling for ever longer sentences for more crimes. Indeed we have seen this government introduce 40 plus pieces of law and order legislation and have created over 1000 new crimes - with the longest prison sentences in Europe. There are over 5000 people in prison who with serious mental illnesses who should be in hospital. Our prison population is at an all-time high - and prison doesn't work well: reoffending rates are increasing and successful schemes in prison are not expanded - take for example Transco training gas fitters and guaranteeing them a job or inmates teaching others to read as half of all prisoners are illiterate - these are the types of schemes we need to see more.
The three main parties fight to be toughest on punishing criminals, but what matters most is actually cutting crime.
Home Office research assessing the cost-effectiveness of crime reduction speaks for itself: on average £1,000 spent on 'Hot-spot policing' cuts 1.9 crimes and the same spent on prison reoffending-reduction schemes cuts 2.3 crimes. But £1,000 spent spent on parenting programmes cut 11 crimes and the same spent on Youth Inclusion and Support Panels that offer intensive support to young people cut 15 crimes.
Isn't it time we invested taxpayers money in what really works?
'Restorative justice' in which criminals face their victims in truth and reconciliation sessions and undertake some form of 'pay back' is what we need to see. In UK trials, 90% of victims felt helped by this process, and in Australian studies, violent criminals were 50% less likely to re-offend. Where prison is the only option sentencing should be in keeping with the offence and include rehabilitation. It is pointless spending huge amounts of tax on prosecution and £40,000 a year on imprisonment if you are just going to release people into an even more hopeless world, with fewer prospects than when they were sentenced.
Cluster bombs: 'go slow, aim low'
For some years I have supported campaigns to ban cluster bombs - see for example here a news release from four years ago - as some will know the Oslo Process has been quietly ticking away aiming to ban cluster munitions.... some have described the approach by some key players at the conference as 'go slow, aim low' as they attempt to sabotage plans for any agreement.
Update: See here Monbiot on Cluster bombs and how Labour Government have blocked attempts to ban them.
Some 85 countries have attended, including several that make and use cluster munitions (such as the UK)- but the biggest users, Israel and the US, have not appeared. Israel were responsible for saturating southern Lebanon with bomblets after it was clear that they'd lost their war against Hizballah and they're still killing and maiming nearly two years later.
The UK government, along with Germany, Denmark, France and Holland have been described as the 'foxes in the chickenhouse' by anti-arms trade groups, as they seem to be seeking to water down any resolutions to limit states from continuing to use these dire weapons. Britain, for example, would like the M85 cluster bomb (which they bulk bought from Israel to use against Iraq in 2003) to be exempt as it contains high tech fuses ensuring it detonates on impact (although they didn't work in Lebanon). Additionally, the British say that the CRV-7 Hydra can't be considered a cluster munition because it contains only nine bomblets - the ministry does not consider a weapon with less than ten worthy of labelling a cluster.
Cluster-munitions leave a deadly legacy for years because once dropped, they can scatter many hundreds of unguided bomblets randomly over a wide area - and then many fail to explode. In effect, they turn into landmines. More about the conference opening in Dublin here and sign petition here. Let us hope they can make progress and ban these bombs.
