TTIP - the nightmare being secretly negogiated

There have already been a few blogs on this site about TTIP (the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership).  The Establishment Media, however, remain relatively quiet on the issue as do the politicians, officials and business people negotiating on the issue.

The War On Want definition is a good one:

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a comprehensive free trade and investment treaty currently being negotiated – in secret – between the European Union and the USA. As officials from both sides acknowledge, the main goal of TTIP is to remove regulatory ‘barriers’ which restrict the potential profits to be made by transnational corporations on both sides of the Atlantic. 

Yet these ‘barriers’ are in reality some of our most prized social standards and environmental regulations, such as labour rights, food safety rules (including restrictions on GMOs), regulations on the use of toxic chemicals, digital privacy laws and even new banking safeguards introduced to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis.
 

Trade agreements are hard to get your head around and see how they could impact on you.  It is therefore good to have a few concrete examples.

According to sumofus.org the agreement would mean 'Europe would increase US fossil fuel imports - resulting in more fracking in the US, an increased reliance on fossil fuels in the EU and more climate emissions across the board.'

TTIP would allow fossil fuel companies to sue governments for trying to tackle climate change. Similar rules in other trade deals have allowed Swedish energy company Vattenfall to sue Germany for phasing out nuclear power and replacing it with renewables. In a secret court, the company is demanding a whopping 4.7 billion Euros in compensation.

I have just signed a 38 Degrees petition against TTIP with a view to helping bees. TTIP is great news for Syngenta and the big pesticide companies. But awful news for our bees and the vegetables, flowers and hedgerows they pollinate. At the moment the EU has banned bee-killing pesticides, but under TTIP the pesticide companies could sue Europe for banning their environmentally deadly products.

The EU has already made worrying concessions to the US to facilitate the TTIP deal by dropping plans to regulate hormone-damaging chemicals linked to cancer and male infertility.

Our Green MEP, Molly Scott Cato and other Green MEP's are fighting hard against TTIP.  Molly supported the Day of Action against TTIP on 22nd August.

If the above does not get you angry see this article in the Independent suitably entitled-

'If you're not already terrified about the potential human cost of TTIP, these examples will do it.'

Take action for bees

As we've noted on this blog some insecticide products have been increasingly implicated in the decline of honeybees over the past decade, and there is serious concern that they pose unacceptable risk to wild bees and pollinators. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that of the 100 crop species that provide 90% of food worldwide, 71 are pollinated by bees.

Owen Paterson is ignoring the steps that France, Italy and other European countries are taking to ban these harmful pesticides. The UK government are siding with the powerful pesticide companies, and waiting for more and more tests before making a decision. But by then it it could be too late for our bees....

Just across the border, Pippa Bartolotti, Leader of the Green Party in Wales said, “Bee-keepers and petitioners are anxious to hear how the Secretary of State has not failed in his duty of care to bee protection. By failing to act swiftly, he has allowed the seed crop for this spring to be impregnated with pesticides linked to the weakening of bee colonies, thus prolonging the harm being done. This is beginning to look like negligence.”

I wonder if folk reading this could write to your MP and ask them to contact Owen Paterson as soon as possible and ask him to vote to suspend the use of the pesticides?
http://secure.38degrees.org.uk/bees-emergency

See also Caroline Lucas' Guardian environment blog about the EU vote last week on the pesticides affecting bees: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2013/mar/15/uk-government-opposition-regulation-bees-risk

Govt to Ignore EU Ban on Neonicotinoid Pesticides

Friends of the Earth in the Forest send me a regular newsletter - in the latest issue they write about the governments failure to act to protect bees - an issue this blog has returned to several times - this latest twist, if the government really does ignore the recommendation, does show the complete failure of this government to make any sense.... 

 

Twice in the past 3yrs, the Govt has been asked, on the basis of compelling evidence, to suspend the use of the new generation of neonicotinoid pesticides, until the increasingly worrying evidence that they’re extremely harmful to bees & other pollinating insects has been shown to be unfounded.

1st in 2009, by a coalition of environmental groups led by Buglife, the invertebrate conservation charity; 2nd in 2011 by Labour MP Martin Caton, after America's leading bee scientist had found a harmful link.
 

On each occasion the request was ignored by Defra.  Two wks ago the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recommended neonicotinoid pesticides should be kept away from bees. So now the Independent’s website has that the British Govt is completely free to ignore recommendations from EU safety regulators that controversial nerve-agent pesticides should not be used on crops visited by bees, MPs were told. 
 

Herman Fontier, head of the pesticides division of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), told a Parliamentary Cttee that his organisation’s recommending 2wks ago that neonicotinoid pesticides, widely blamed for bee declines around the world, should be kept away from bees, was merely a risk assessment and it was up to individual EU member states whether or not to act on it. In Britain the Environment Sec, Owen Patterson, has already indicated that the Govt is likely to ignore the recommendation and is opposed to an immediate ban on three neonicotinoids highlighted by the EFSA report.  See

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/Govt-to-ignore-european-ban-on-neonicotinoid-pesticides-8483916.html 

Bumblebee Nest Box designs that work

From George Pilkington's website, 'Nurturing Nature'

I know a couple of people who have been given bumblebee boxes for Christmas presents in an effort to support populations of bumblebees - all good stuff but neither of them had bumblebees take up residence....

Well I was recently sent a link to the website. 'Nurturing Nature' where two years of research shows why some of those boxes are not working and what does work - it is well worth a look to see how boxes can be made to encourage and support bumblebees....including cat flaps and improved bedding...

See: http://nurturing-nature.co.uk/bumblebee-nest-box/

Bee petition

Bee by Russ

As this blog has noted many times Britain's bees are under threat. The British Beekeepers Association has reported a fourth year of unacceptably high colony losses for its members.  The explanations for this vary. As the Ecologist reported, causes for continued decline in bee population have been attritubed to many things: from disease and habitat loss to GM crops, mites and mobile phones.


However there is lots to point to neonicotinoids being harmful - these are synthetic chemicals used as a coating for agricultural seeds and in pot plants. As The Ecologist notes: "These chemicals work by spreading throughout the plant and into the nectar and pollen that the bees eat. Neonics are 7,000 times more toxic than DDT, a chemical pesticide the UK government banned in 1984. Conservationists say that exposure to neonicotinoids, while not killing bees outright, actually weaken them and make them more susceptible to disease. Exposure to pesticides as a cause of bee death may have been underestimated."

Other countries have already taken preventive action by banning the use of neonicotinoids - including in France, Germany, Italy and Slovenia. Please sign the Neals Yard Remedies petition, addressed to Secretary of State for Food, Environment & Rural Affairs Caroline Spelman, asking for a ban of neonicotinoids - this petition will be taken to Downing Street in October. Sign here.

Of course honeybees are only one - there are over 250 other native bees and there is evidence too that they can also be effected.

Bee petition

Avaaz have just launched a campaign regarding pesticides and bees. This is an issue I have covered a few times on this blog. I would urge people to sign this petition.

Photo: Russ pic of bee

As they write: "Multiple scientific studies fault one group of toxic pesticides for their rapid demise, and bee populations have soared in four European countries that have banned these products. But powerful chemical companies are lobbying hard to keep selling this poison. Our best chance to save bees now is to push the US and EU to ban this deadly product -- their action is critical and will have a ripple effect on the rest of the world."

It is estimated that bees every year pollinating plants and crops have an estimated $40bn value - over one third of the food supply in many countries. Pesticides seem to be implicated in at least part of the problem of bees dying - some species are now extinct - some at just 4% of their original numbers - however the picture is very complex.

The Coop have banned 8 pesticides - and beekeepers and scientists in France, Italy, Slovenia and even Germany, where the main manufacturer Bayer is based, already pushing successfully for bans of one of these bee killers. Amazingly a leaked document shows that the US Environmental Protection Agency knew about the pesticide’s dangers, but ignored them. The document says Bayer’s "highly toxic" product is a "major risk concern to non target insects (honey bees)".

Sign the petition here: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/save_the_bees/?vl

Gorilla expert/UN Ambassador leads Coffee House discussion

Friday night saw the Coffee House discussion on Biodiversity with five key speakers - a great evening that this blog post does not do justice - complete with drinks and delicious cakes at Star Anise cafe in Stroud.

Photos of evening

These Coffee House Discussions are every month (not Dec or Aug) sponsored by the Green Party and this was the 50th meeting!! An amazing array of topics that have been covered....but Friday night some of the issues we covered included:

- What is happening to our plants and animals locally?
- Will the proposed sell-off of our forests damage our wildlife?
- How is the Bee Project doing?
- What can be done internationally?
- Can climate change agreements save the rainforests?

Ian Redmond OBE (pictured above in first photo and left) lives locally and was the lead speaker - describing himself as a 'jobbing naturalist' - like his mentor, the late Dr Dian Fossey, his work shifted in 1978 from research to conservation work, after poachers killed Digit – a young silverback in one of the Karisoke study groups – to sell his skull and hands. His books about primate and elephants have been translated into many languages. He works for a whole catalogue of organisations and is the Envoy for the UN Great Apes Survival Partnership and this year was appointed an Ambassador for the UNEP Convention on Migratory Species. See more about apes here.

Ian was able to talk about the recent biodiversity conference in Japan which he attended and the upcoming Cancun conference - while sharing many of the challenges ahead he also shed some optimism and hope - in particular about the development of the controversial REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) programme. A commitment to interim financing for REDD+ and deforestation projects in less-industrialised countries needs to be agreed upon for the future. Ian shared how this could be made workable if indigenous people were included.

This year is the UN Year of Biodiversity. Many scientists believe the earth is undergoing a sixth great extinction event caused by humans. Extinction is natural, but scientists estimate the current pace outstrips the average rate by 100 to 1000%. About a third of assessed species worldwide are threatened with extinction in the wild. This is a serious serious issue.

Dr Simon Pickering (pictured left with chair of teh evening Martin Whiteside), a former Green District councillor with a wealth of biodiversity experience - like at Cotswold Water Park and now with Ecotricity. He was up next with a look at national policies regarding biodiversity and the changing picture - the importance of linking areas of conservation rather than having 'islands' - he also shared some of the local changes that are already occurring due to climate change like more egrets.

Ivi Szaboova-Baxendale of the Stroud Valleys Project (pictured left) was up next with a look at many of their local projects and how they are engaging with different groups of people in the community. In particular speaking about the groups where people with mental health problems come and support conservation work and get enormous benefits from participating.

Last up were the Bee Guardian Foundation - Jessie and Carlo both spoke about the hugely successful year they have had - click on label below for some of those stories. We finished the evening with a bottle of champagne to celebrate their £50,000 win to turn Gloucester into the first Bee Guardian city (see more here).

A great evening. Thanks to all organisers. And better still Ian looks set to return with a film or two in the new year.

Gloucester Bee project won

THE BEES WON! I voted for the project and am delighted it will now go-ahead - the decision was confirmed last night on ITV and the Bees Facebook site was full of congratulation notices - Gloucester Bee Guardians will start in February 2011. They will become the first Bee Guardian City following Stroud being the first Bee Guardian Town - see more about the vote here.

Bee Guardian Foundation: become one now!

The Global Bee Project recently changed it's name to the Bee Guardian Foundation. Their recent newsletter explains why but for those folks who are not members I've added it below - see their website (where you can join) here: www.beeguardianfoundation.org/

Pics: Bee drawing, bee houses made by Woodcraft Folk, bee dancing at Woodcraft Folk, bee houses, bee bottle lid, Russ cartoon and Cleo Mussi mosaic artist bee and bee poem.

As I've noted before this Stroud-based project is just growing and growing - I've posted many times before on this blog about their plans, workshops and success locally from Stroud becoming the first Bee Guardian Town to our project to make 350 beehouses (see here and here - plus make your own here).

Well now comes the chance to make Gloucester City the first Bee Guardian City. The project – Bee Inspired: Gloucester Bee Guardians has been shortlisted by ITV’s Peoples Millions and they are votes away from winning a grant of £50,000 to transform Gloucester into the very first Bee Guardian City.

Tomorrow on the 23rd November a short film about Bee Inspired: Gloucester Bee Guardians and another project will be shown after the ITV 6pm News, the audience will be invited to vote for their favourite project. The project with the most votes will receive a £50,000 grant. More details to come.....People Millions Project Web Page

OK so here's the bit about why they changed their name...

We have changed name

We have recently changed the name of the organisation from the Global Bee Project to the Bee Guardian Foundation. Our reason for doing so is because we understand that the focus of the organisation is about inspiring people to actively protect and conserve all bee species as Bee Guardians.

The Global Bee Project will still exist within the organisation as a network of Bee Guardians around the world. The aim is that, in the future, the Bee Guardian Foundation will be able to fund and set up Bee Guardian Projects around the world, supporting and encouraging bee diversity - this is the Global Bee Project.


Who are BEE GUARDIANS and why do we need them?

BGF has created a new figure in the world – the Bee Guardian

The study of bees is split into two areas:
Apiology, the study of honeybees, whose public representatives are the beekeepers, and
Melittology, the study of all the other 20,000 bee species, for whom there is no public representative observing and looking after them.

As we have seen over the last few years, beekeepers who know their honeybees intimately, have been able to observe subtle as well as dramatic changes in the health of their honeybees. In certain countries they have successfully campaigned to ban paricular agricultural practices that have cause direct harm. Our question is, who is paying attention and looking out for the other bees, the wild bees, the bees that cannot be moved or prevented from flying at times when they may be harmed? Who is able to ring alarm when these other bees are declining in number and even disappearing? Our answer is the Bee Guardian! The bees needs a huge swarm of Bee Guardians to observe and look out for them, to protect their habitats and to provide them with more forage and nesting resources.

There are only so many bee scientists in the world, we all need to get involved, observe and speak up to protect these other bees.

For this reason, because there was no public figure observing these other equally important bee species, we decided to create a global project to launch the Bee Guardian figure. By creating a network of Bee Guardians around the world we hope to educate, inspire and enable everyone to start observing and protecting bee diversity. We want people to be proud of being Bee Guardians and the wonderful thing is that anyone can be one; you do not need to be a scientist, you do not need specialist equipment and expensive tools.

All you need is an interest and desire to understand and observe these fascinating and important creatures. Just by building a simple bee house you provide a safe a secure nesting site for certain bee species to return to year after year.

We are working on building a system so that anyone can become a Bee Guardian - individuals, groups, schools, businesses, towns and cities. (At the moment we are beginning to pilot the first Bee Guardian projects.)

Bee Guardians of all sizes can make a real contribution by paying attention to the bee species that live on the land that they manage. The activities of Bee Guardians not only improves the situation for bees but for all biodiversity.

Hartpury Bee Shelter

Last week I had to be in Staunton and on route I had time to call into Hartpury - never managed to get to see the bee shelter (pictured) until then. Just wanted to share it here.

The shelter was originally in Nailsworth and quite a number of years ago I supported those who tried to get it returned there - sadly not successful but at least it was saved - it has been wonderfully restored. And is now near the Church outside Hartpury....as long ago as 1260, the tenants of Hartpury Manor, which was owned by Gloucester Abbey, paid their rents in honey so it is an appropriate enough setting!

The 'Bee Shelter' measures about 7m long and contains 28 separate boles and 5 lower shelves. The straw skeps would have been housed in the boles which would have afforded the bees shelter. This shelter was built around the mid 1800's by a local stone mason and quarry master called Paul Tuffley. Indeed it was in his garden in Nailsworth which then became part of the local police station - apparently in 1968 volunteers from the Gloucestershire Beekeeping Society rescued the structure. The shelter was dismantled and moved to Hartpury Agricultural College where it was re-erected wrongly - and over the years was badly damaged by the weather.

English Heritage stepped in and put the schedule of 'Listed Buildings at Risk' on it. It was then that the Hartpury Historic Land and Buildings Trust acquired the shelter along with funds from various charities and lottery funding which allowed them to restore and re-erect it the churchyard in 2002 as it would originally have looked.

See more about the bee shelter here and more about bee boles here.

Make an Insect House

What to do during the summer holidays? Well here's a project for children and adults. There are many different ways of making a bug house - basically you can't go wrong but to maximise the number of residents in your new home there are some steps you can take - the RSPB have a good page on how to make insect houses - see here - and the BBC Breathing Places website also has some advice here.

Photos: The Incredible Edible Todmorden is a great project - they have a photo of this first insect tower on their website. Clearly it doesn't have to be this big! The other photos below are of a stack of pallets made into an insect house with old bricks, slate and more for a wildlife garden in the corner of a large allotment site in Exmouth that I visited. However you can also make it in a log like the other photo or indeed pretty well anything.

The holes may be used by solitary bees such as Mason Bees or Leafcutter Bees, which are non aggressive and excellent for pollinating in the garden, helping to increase fruit yields. A durable roof and more solid timber or insulation materials will give excellent insulation for over wintering Ladybirds and Lacewings.

Folk who read this blog regularly will know about my wonderment at the leafcutter bees who took up residence in the beehouse I made - see movie of bee with leaf here, plus How to make a bee house.

Bee Movie in Ruscombe

Well I've talked before about the wonders of leaf cutter bees in my garden - see here their homes made in my homemade bee house - and here how to make a bee house. This film below is a few moments of a bee with leaf they had just cut - but also look at the second photo showing the inside of one of those holes in a log or bamboo..

Amazingly the bee creates a series of individual cells - as many as the space will allow.

Each cell is made from circular disks cut from plant leaves using the bee's mandibles, hence the name "Leafcutter". While the bees do not store honey, females do collect pollen which they store in the cells of their nests. Each cell contains one pollen ball and one egg. The larva develops rapidly, consuming the pollen ball and entering diapause when the pollen is fully consumed. The next spring, the mature larva pupates and completes its development. Once the bee is developed it cuts its way out from the nest. The incubation period is approximately 30 days and requires a constant temperature of greater than 30°C (86°F) - I can't remember which are laid at the back - was it male or female - anyhow the ones at the front hatch first so allowing the others out....just loved watching this bee at work...next time hope to get it making the nest...

Living Churchyards

Updated 8th June 2010

At the Parish Plan morning in Whiteshill last month I learnt more about a national project to create 'Living Churchyards.' I have written on this blog about the threats to our wildlife from a whole range of factors like industrial farming practices, the relentless growth of urban developments and more - see most recently my blog on International Biodiversity Day here. Well here is a project that is trying to create more oasis of wildlife....

Photos: St Pauls Churchyard, Whiteshill - what a wonderful place of wildlife and beauty - so many cowslips and orchids on their way...

Churchyards have become in some ares the only protected eco-systems where remnants of the local flora and fauna can survive. The ‘Living Churchyards’ project has been described as not so much a vision of the dead rising up as the dead providing sanctuary for species whose living space had been cut back.

I understand more than 6,000 British churchyards run their small plots of land as sacred eco-systems – without pesticides, and mowing the grass only once a year – ensuring that birds, reptiles, insects and bats can thrive. In Stroud for example there is a particular scheme with the Global Bee Project to protect an earth bank where solitary bees regularly nest.

I was interested to hear that some local people were looking at how we can enhance still further our local churchyards. Already St Pauls in Whiteshill do a great job but what else could be done? We recently had a meeting of the new allotment association and we had Jessie Jowers from the Global Bee Project share some of her enthusiasm about solitary bees - well I am sure we could do lots more in our churchyards. I am hoping that perhaps the Parish Plan work might lead to a local group that can take forward such ideas - already living in our valley we have a surprisingly huge number of wildlife experts.....but it isn't always the experts we need! Anyone interested do get in touch with me....

See also my previous blogs regarding yew trees in churchyards - in particular the fantastic Portbury Yew here. I also learnt here that a project in 1999 took cuttings from Yew trees that were alive at the time of Christ and planted them for the new Millennium - more than 8,000 were distributed to churches!

Another interesting site with info is Caring for God's Acre which works primarily in Herefordshire, but can provide information that is relevant to locations throughout the UK. Lastly an article here by David manning on living churchyards.

Updated 8th June 2010

I have just heard from The Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) who picked up my link above to their website - here is their comment: "Many people come to our website (www.arcworld.org) after having searched the web for the term “Living Churchyards”, probably because our website is one of the first that appears on Google when this phrase is typed. However the information we have is not as up-to-date as we would like it to be, and does not as yet include links to all of the wonderful activities already being done under the Living Churchyards umbrella. It is a project that ARC is very fond of and that we have supported in the past. We would now like to support it further by creating on our website a brand new page on Living Churchyards that will act as a platform for those seeking to know more; as a hub of information/ contact details/ stories/ links and resources for those who wish to get involved or learn more. To give an example of one enquiry, I recently received a phone call from a photographer asking for a list of Living Churchyards within the UK, so that he could visit them and take photos for a project he was doing. I could not provide him with a detailed answer, and would like to know if such an inventory does exist, and if so where can it be found? If you have any relevant information about Living Churchyards in general and/or more specifically in your area, I would be very grateful if you could contact ARC, so that the new ARC web page can be filled with useful information for those seeking to get inspired by this wonderful project."

International Biodiversity Day

Today is International Biodiversity Day and 2010 is the United Nations' International Year of Biodiversity- see more here.

Photos: Buttercup fields viewed from the top of Ash Lane, Randwick

Natural England recently said that England is becoming a country of 'beauty spots rather than beauty'. Their report earlier this year showed nearly 500 species of animals and plants have become extinct in England as a result of human activity since 1800.

In the first ever audit of England’s lost and declining species, 12 per cent of land mammals, 22 per cent of amphibians and 24 per cent of butterflies were shown to have been lost!! The populations of a further 943 species are at precariously low levels including the northern bluefin tuna, the Natterjack toad and the red squirrel, which Natural England says could become extinct in the next 20-30 years without urgent action.

Biodiversity is not some add on that we can do when the economic situation is good - it is a fundamental indicator of our planet's health. Indeed restoring and supporting our ecosystems is what has been described as "cost-effective investment in this planet’s economic survival". Although while we need to more clearly recognise the value of biodiversity in economic terms that doesn't discount other values.....one example given is the Red Squirrel which is not worth anything in economic terms but is hugely important to us culturally, spiritually and aesthetically.

The intensification of agriculture perhaps plays the largest part in terms of biodiversity loss - in particular the overuse of fertilisers and pesticides, the ploughing of grasslands and the loss of mixed farms. Yet producing more food and protecting biodiversity are not opposed - see the many examples of organic farms that have hugely enhanced local biodiversity.

Other scary facts...

Defra statistics released in April 2009 show a deterioration in levels of breeding seabirds, wintering waterbirds, woodland and grassland habitats; farmland bird populations declined by 13 per cent in England between 1994 and 2007; mammals like dormice have disappeared from 50 per cent of their former habitats and only 140,000 native red squirrels remain.

This year the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) estimated 80 per cent of English and Welsh ponds were in a ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ condition while Pond Conservation estimates 75 per cent of Britain’s rivers fail new European standards on biodiversity. In fact I wrote a letter on thsi a while back to the press - see here letter about no pristine rivers being in the South West.

See also the article The Ecologist "UK wildlife becoming the ‘living dead’" by Laura Edgecumbe-Ansdell and Tom Levitt which was useful in putting together this blog entry.

This blog has covered a number of local projects to improve biodiversity - in particular the exciting plans to make Stroud the first Bee Guardian town and the moves by the local hedgehog hospital to protect hedgehogs. Locally we are having a talk soon about how the Ruscombe Brook can be viewed as a living organism.

Lastly I just acme across this article here about saying 'nature has to be preserved' condemns the poor to poverty - and here about how helping poor and biodiversity are two sides of the same coin.

Randwick, Whiteshill and Ruscombe News from your District Councillor

I've just started delivering my latest news letter - the contents of which are below - apols for delay - I usually try to get it out in January but due to a twisted ankle and the snow it has been delayed. Please also use the 'labels' or the search engine on this blog to find out more about my activities.

Dear Resident,

I feel very fortunate to live in and be part of these lively communities. We have a great village shop, schools, churches, clubs and pubs, plus many wonderful local events like street parties, the Randwick Wap, pancake races, art exhibitions, theatre and more. These all go a long way towards strengthening our communities - something that is close to my heart.

As residents will know, I have nearly completed four years as the local District Councillor. I would be proud to serve a further term and I hope you will consider voting for me this May.

This newsletter gives a taste of some of my recent actions and projects. As I hope it shows, I remain passionate about social and environmental justice and am committed to working with others to achieve the changes we need.

I would like to thank all those who have supported me and the local Green Party for funding this annual newsletter.

Cllr. Philip Booth, Stroud District Councillor for Randwick, Whiteshill and Ruscombe ward

Want to talk to Philip?

Philip would love to hear your views, answer your questions or try to help with local problems. Email Philip on philip.booth2@virgin.net or phone 01453755451 or write to: 2 The Laurels, Bread Street, Ruscombe, Stroud GL66EL.

Some recent successes

Philip has:

• Led a successful campaign to get a bus shelter at Stratford
• Set up the Stroud Valleys Water Forum that is taking a lead in developing an effective flood policy for the District
• Initiated a Countywide scheme for libraries to loan out energy monitors to help people cut their energy use
• Supported residents who have had problems with planning issues
• Helped get a new culvert and grill at Acres Place, Puckshole, to reduce flooding
• Worked with Whiteshill and Ruscombe Parish Council to establish allotments in the area Road
  

Some recent actions by your councillor:

Seeking more accountability at the Council

I have joined other Greens in calling for:

• Councillor expenses to be published fully
• Ending the extra cash paid to councillors who use larger cars
• More openness around decisions to close joint-use sports centres
• The Council to apologise to tenants for the damning report on our Council housing stock (with the exception of two other councillors, all refused to make an apology)

Working for better planning

• I continue to oppose development on the Ruscombe Valley fields and at other key local sites that are currently threatened
• I have been one of four councillors on an extensive inquiry into the planning process which has made key recommendations for improvements

Pressing for transport improvements

• I have helped to gain the '20 is Plenty' traffic calming signs. I oppose County Council measures to remove these.
• I continue to seek other local traffic calming measures (not humps and bumps)
• I continue to work for 20mph speed limits in residential areas to reduce casualties and encourage more walking and cycling
• I want to see a proper bus station in Stroud and improvements to cycle facilities

Protecting our wildlife and environment

• I have been involved in projects locally such as clearing the local brook, supporting the local Hedgehog Hospital and helping develop the Stroud-based Global Bee Project to protect solitary bees
• I have sought improvements to local grit bins and road gullies
• I helped ensure that Severn Trent has taken action on sewage systems locally. This has led to a significant reduction in sewage incidents

Open Homes Success

• I initiated and help organise the hugely popular Eco-renovation Open Homes weekend each September. This involves local homes with renewable energy and energy efficiency measures opening to the public and local renewable energy installers promoting their products

Tackling fuel poverty, energy security and climate change

• I chaired a scrutiny inquiry that has made recommendations for financing energy efficiency and renewable measures
• I am seeking opportunities for the Council to invest and make serious financial returns on investments in renewable energy

Working on your behalf

• Opposing a large incinerator at Javelin Park near Stonehouse or elsewhere in the County
• Actively working to ensure our waste management is more sustainable and cost effective
• Initiated a wood fuel project in local woods
• Raised key issues as Stroud’s representative on the Wessex Water Customer Liaison Panel
• Sought improvements to services at Stratford Park Leisure Centre including measures to improve cleanliness and energy efficiency
• Supported others to successfully oppose large cuts in funding to arts

See last years report here.

'Bee Lines' exhibition

Bee Lines is a new work by Alice Forward: the site09 Darbyshire award winner (*). I was fortunate to go to the preview yesterday afternoon at SVA, 4 John Street, Stroud. Well worth a look in to see...

Photos: from the exhibition - starting with a giant varroa mite!

Exhibition dates: 27th February-14th March: Tuesday-Saturday 10am-3pm, Sunday 11am-1pm - see more details at: www.sva.org.uk

Before saying more about the exhibition I ought to mention Jesse Jowers of the Global Bee Project has a talk about bees with the Stroud Valleys Project this Thursday - phone SVP to see if any places left.

Anyhow here's what the press release says: ‘BEE LINES is a show of new sculpture, drawing and video which, according to the artist “is a series of ongoing explorations around the ambivalences in our relationship with the natural world, and about ideas of territory.” Following a period of fascination by and research into the history and philosophy of map-making, manifesting itself recently in the form of intensely fine pencil rubbings, a more recent interest; mans relationship with the honey bee, has found a place in Forward’s work. The artist cites the migration of plants, empire building, colonisation and the use of both maps and bees as symbolic tools as significant themes within her work.

A new project called BEE-LINE1 will also be launched as part of the exhibition. Two purpose-built beehives will feature and at the end of the exhibition these will be pressed into the making of a ‘Bee Line’ between Stroud and Bristol, helping to promote links between both places as well as highlight the worldwide importance of all pollinators. Documentation of the setting up and fortunes of the hives will take place and can be seen on the BEE LINES website.

I did get a chance to talk to the artist briefly - but was in such a rush that only got a chance to talk about plans for Stroud to become the first Bee Guardian town rather than hear more about the exhibition.

Born and brought up in Johannesburg, South Africa, Alice Forward studied fine art at Hornsey School of Art in London before training in documentary film-making and freelancing for BBC Television, ultimately returning to independent practice. Following further studies, directorships and setting up of initiatives, she won the Darbyshire Award in 2009, before taking part in the AIM Biennale in Marrakech and doing an artist residency at Joya, Andalusia. She is currently based at BV STUDIOS, Bristol.

BEE LINES Associated events

Photo: Poisoned bee by Alice Forward

Sunday 7 March 11am In conversation with Alice Forward and Tom Trevor, director of Arnolfini
Sunday 14 March 11am Talk by Paul Hand, Beekeeper specialist

(*) As the winner of the Site Darbyshire award, Alice Forward was offered an exhibition at Stroud Valleys Artspace (SVA) and the manufacture of new work from Darbyshire Framemakers. Beyond the presentation of a cheque, the award offers a mentoring service from Mark Darbyshire and SVA in the form of a dialogue with the winner, in order to realize work which previously could only have existed at the proposal stage. Darbyshire has quickly established itself as a leading framer and art fabricator,providing creative solutions through a process of collaborative consultation. This belief in creative collaboration has been at the heart of much of Darbyshire's work, and has attracted a range of high-profile clients; artists like Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, commercial galleries such as Gagosian and White Cube, and public museums such as the Serpentine Gallery and the Royal Academy, as well as numerous private collectors including Charles Saatchi.

The Darbyshire Award was awarded to Alice Forward for her piece ‘Gold Label’, shown at the Museum in the Park as part of the exhibition of work by shortlisted artists. Forward transformed a puddle of her own urine on steps outside the museum into gold by drawing around it and laying gold leaf on top. Laden with social and historical references as well those as mark-making, poetry and alchemy, Forward says of the work; “it’s about playing around with ideas of status and prejudice.”

Bloggers unite for bees

Today is bloggers day to draw attention to the bees - see here. As this blog has highlighted bees are vanishing in alarming numbers.

There have been many articles in the past on this blog - here are a few of interest - or click on th label below for all of them. One of the key interests I have has come from talking and working with the Stroud-based Global Bee Project - there interest is all the hundreds of solitary types of bees as opposed to just the honey-bee which most folk focus on. See some of these articles:

Willow Elfins make beehouses

Stroud: the world's first bee Guardian town?

Bee hugs?

www.theglobalbeeproject.com

How to make a bee house

Agri-chemical companies are both breeding and killing bees

Dirty gold win plus pesticides, GM and bees

I've covered gold mining before on this blog (see post Blood Diamond, blood coltan, blood gold) - it is not a good picture - but here is some good news - A landmark ban in Hungary on the use of cyanide in mining looks set to make huge improvements in public health. The change follows a 10 year campaign by the Hungarian Green party along with many other organisations. Now the country's neighbours need to follow her lead...

Along with the nuclear industry, gold mining is one of the world's dirtiest industries that is creating a multi-billion-pound toxic time-bomb. The gold is extracted using cyanide leaching and has already led to vast tracts of the developing world being laid to waste.

See Ecologist article here. See October 2005 Glos Green party news release here with more background info.

The Ecologist also has some other great stories worth a read like:

Was 2009 the year the world turned against GM? See here.

Update on pesticide campaign: UK court refuses to overturn appeal decision despite accusations it was ignoring evidence presented by the long-time pesticide campaigner. Pesticide campaigner Georgina Downs is taking her case against the UK government to the European courts after failing to get a previous victory upheld by the Supreme Court.See here. You can also see more about Georgina's amazing campaign and the extraordinary failures of Government to protect citizens - see here.

Loss of forage biggest long-term threat to bees. Pesticides do not appear to be the main problem in this case although they clearly play a part - see here.

Toothless Tory 'ombudsman' won't solve supermarket problem. It's high time we had a supermarket ombudsman, but it needs to be proactive and powerful, says Caroline Lucas - See here.

Great insect towers

These wonderful insect towers are on the cover of The Garden's July issue which I read in the dentist recently - they formed part of the "Future Nature" garden by Adrian Hallam, Chris Arrowsmith and Nigel Dunnant at the Chelsea flower show - the photo on the cover was by Neil Hepworth - I love them as sculptures in the garden - maybe something to develop more with the local Global Bee Project?

See here some of the previous beehouses local folk have made - and here about how to make them.

Bee photo exhibition

This blog has seen plenty on bees - like last weekend's successful efforts to get 350 beehouses made here in Stroud - see latest here.

Cartoon: from Russ - his take on bees and
Halloween

Well this blog is to advertise the Foto Forum Photography Exhibition in the Sub Rooms - only until Saturday - and the pics below are from the exhibition - one section by Margaret Lister is on bee keeping - worth a visit - also great pics of cheese making and a very moving pic of a dead deer - beautifully portrayed by Carlos Ordonez.

Meanwhile below here are a couple of interesting articles on bees:

Organic beekeeping in the US - from urban rooftops to backyard hives, the world is abuzz with interest in homemade honey. An interview in Grist with the former president of the Vermont Beekeepers Association, Ross Conrad. He’s sold bee stuff and led organic beekeeping workshops throughout North America for many years. See article here about pesticides and more.

Honey is not made toxic in hot water - see here.

Agri-chemical companies are both breeding and killing bees - See here my blog a few days ago on this.