Category Archives: Do something!

Petition to end ecocide at Rio+20 Earth Summit

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I’ve just signed a petition calling on world leaders to to back an international law of Ecocide at the Rio+20 Earth Summit in June this year.

” We call on you to make ecocide the 5th International Crime Against Peace Life on Earth as it is now cannot survive if we continue to treat our environment as we are currently doing. Take this opportunity to back strong measures to make ecocide a crime, to protect humanity and the Earth.”

If you want to sign it, you can find the petition on the Avaaz website.

This is a video explaining how a law against ecocide would work.

Move Your Money to a more ethical bank or financial services company

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The ‘Move Your Money’ campaign is supported by a coalition of groups including Co-operatives UK, Ethical Consumer and the New Economics Foundation.

The campaign encourages people to move their accounts from the big banks to more ethical alternatives. It initially focussed on doing this in the month of March 2012 -but even though March has come and gone, you can still switch your accounts. It’s seems like a bit of a hassle but I’m going to give it a go.

The campaign responds to Ethical Consumer’s banking report. The report finds that UK banking is the “most unethical” business sector in the UK, and that  the ‘Big Five’ banks – Barclays, RBS, Lloyds, Santander and HSBC – are widely involved in corporate malpractice, greenwash and investments in climate changing industries like coal mining, deforestation, and fossil fuel-based energy generation.

“The 85 per cent of the UK’s population that bank with the Big Five banks will be appalled to learn that their money is being used to support a corporate culture that stands accused of everything from tax avoidance to exacerbating global hunger,”according to Rob Harrison, co-author of Ethical Consumer Banking Report.

Where to move your money?

The Report found that the most ethical financial instititutions include:

  • the Co-op Bank,
  • smile.co.uk,
  • the Charity Bank,
  • Ecology Building Society,
  • Triodos Bank,
  • the Coventry, Cumberland, Norwich & Peterborough, Leeds, and Nationwide building societies
  • the credit unions.

 

Ask Councillors and MPs to support a proposal to strengthen the Sustainable Communities Act

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There is quite a lot of discussion going on in the Upper Calder Valley about various proposed new supermarkets.

A proposal to give local councils new powers on planning applications for large developments, could help communities to reach proper democratic decisions in these situations.

Ask Calderdale Council and parish councils and Craig Whitaker MP to support the proposal

Details of the proposal follow. If you think the proposal is a good idea, you might want to ask Calderdale Council, Hebden Royd or Todmorden town councillors, or your parish councillors and your MP  to support the proposal.

1,500 councils in England and several MPs, including the Communities Minister, Greg Clark, support the proposal. But as far as I can see from the list of supporting councils, neither Calderdale Council nor the Upper Calder Valley parish and town councils are among them.

Details of the proposal

The proposal originated in 2011 from Leiston Town Council in Suffolk and the Suffolk Association of Local Councils, as a result of being faced with a massive planning proposal for a supermarket development that was too complicated for Leiston Town Council to assess properly.

They came up with the proposal for the government to strengthen the Sustainable Communities Act, by changing planning guidance in a way that would help locally-elected decision makers. Specifically: the proposal would require applicants of major developments to:

– attend a meeting of the local Town or Parish Council, or of a duly called Town Meeting, to answer questions on the application for development; and

– fund the council or duly called town meeting to commission an independent report on the application and critique of any reports that the applicant has submitted in support of the application for development.

This would help level the planning application playing field, by making sure that the public and their local elected representatives would have the best evidence to base their planning application decision on.

There are more details about the proposal on the Local Works website. Local Works is a a coalition of over 100 community organisations, including Age UK, the Federation of Small Businesses and the Women’s Institute.

Local Works has prepared a downloadable action briefing for MPs (PDF), which contains the full proposal and rationale. 

 

 

 

 

One Million Climate Change Jobs would solve a lot of economic and climate change problems

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Looking for something to do to tackle climate change AND the Coalition government’s recession-making economic policies?

You can sign the online petition asking the government to “give urgent and serious consideration to the recommendations of the One Million Climate Change Jobs Report”, or you can  download a PDF hard copy for people to sign.
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Petition Bayer to stop making pesticides linked to bee population decline

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On the basis of two studies that link bee population decline to a pesticide called neonicotinoid, public attention has turned to Bayer, the main company that makes and sells it. As a result, Bayer has had to put a motion on its Annual General Meeting agenda, that calls for the company to stop producing neonicotinoid.
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Early Day Motion 2428 – Remove subsidies for biomass & bioliquid electricity generation

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This EDM calls on the Government to remove the existing financial incentives for biomass and bioliquid electricity in the Renewables Obligation when the forthcoming review of banding is implemented in April 2013 so that this support can be directed towards other renewable energy sources.

It is sponsored by Caroline Lucas (Green Party) but Craig Whitaker hasn’t supported it. You can email him to ask him to support it, if you think that increasing the use of bio-energy generation for electricity is leading to food shortages, land grabs, large carbon debts and distracting attention from effective ways of reducing climate change.

This is an artist’s impression of the proposed Resource Recovery Facility in Bradford, which includes a household waste incinerator/electricity generation plant. It will run on household waste residues (what’s left over after recycling) from Calderdale and Bradford.

Sign up to Green Energy UK through BEAT!

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BEAT has a longstanding partnership with Green Energy UK to provide 100% electricity from renewable sources. From 1st Feb 2013, BEAT’s arrangement with Green Energy UK is changing. New customers who sign up through BEAT will get the first month of electricity for free. This replaces the previous arrangement, where new customers who signed up through BEAT got a 10% discount on their bills.
Green Energy customers already signed up through BEAT will continue to receive 10% discount – the new offer only applies to new customers.

BEAT receives £25 for each new customer that signs up through BEAT, if new customers are still with Green Energy after 12 months.

For more information speak to Liz Bell at Green Energy UK on:
  • Telephone: 01920 483 431
  • Fax: 01920 484268
Remember to say you want to sign up through BEAT.

Donate to Blackshawhead Chapel retrofit, and Local Giving will double your money

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Blackshawhead Environmental Action Team (BEAT), a charity that supports sustainable living – environmentally, socially and economically, is asking for donations to raise the £1345 that they still need in order for work to ahead on insulating Blackshawhead Chapel meeting rooms, and installing four double glazed windows.

From today (Thursday, 1st March), you can have your donation to BEAT doubled and Gift Aided (an extra 25%). Altogether, BEAT can have up to £2,500 doubled via http://localgiving.com/charity/beat.
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