Rising Up

 This morning I visited the Rising Up camp off Frenchay Park Road, where a group of people are protesting against the destruction of prime agricultural land in order to develop the site for the Metrobus scheme.

The background and history of this campaign can be found on the Rising Up website.  No one is denying the importance of public transport but the Metrobus scheme has been discredited, while the land it threatens is Grade 1-3 Best and Most Versatile soil and home to smallholdings and allotments.  All this takes place in Bristol's year as Green Capital of Europe and the United Nations' Year of the Soils!

Back to the camp which is well organised but, after yesterday's rain, is wet and muddy.  The site is dotted with tents pitched on pallets to keep them dry, a communal kitchen with a fire on which to cook and gather round to eat, and a compost loo.  There are variety of shelters in the trees, including one designed as a birdbox, and protestors take it in turns to sleep up in the branches.

I spent an hour or so looking round the site and chatting to the protestors, asking them why they were there and how they were coping with living in the wild.  They are a diverse bunch of individuals but with a single commitment, to protect this piece of precious land from the developers.  I admire their courage and determination and feel slightly ashamed of my reluctance to join them.  I left them a rucksackful of food and a gingerbread cake by way of compensation.

If you live in or around Bristol and would like to support them in some way they have drawn up a list of  ten things you might like to do.

RPSs

WARNING: Controversial post!

Our newly elected mayor, George Ferguson, has announced the introduction of Residents' Parking Schemes in 7 new areas across the city (including mine).

His decision has sparked a flurry of protests in the press and across the social media sites.

I've taken some time to read the details and, when consulted, will have no hesitation in voting for the proposal.

Our nation has become over dependent on the motor car.  I'm not denying the benefits it brings in terms of personal freedom and independence, nor the lifeline it offers the disabled, the elderly and those who live in remote locations.  However there is a price to pay and we are all (motorists and non motorists alike) paying it.  Our motorways and city centres are rapidly becoming gridlocked, air pollution has reached unacceptable levels, parents do not consider it safe enough to allow their children to play out in the streets, high streets are being deserted in favour of out of town shopping centres, the population is increasingly obese, the temperature of the earth's atmosphere continues to rise and we risk sparking catastrophic changes to the planet's climate systems.

So it seems to me, that a scheme whose aim is to reduce the number of cars on our city's streets, is well worth careful consideration.

As I understand it, it works like this.  Residents pay £30 a year for the right to park their car in their RPS area between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday.  No permit is required by residents to park in the evenings or at weekends.  £30 a year works out at 58 pence per week or 8p per day.  Hardly a king's ransom.  Second cars are charged the slightly higher tariff of £80 a year (£1.54/week, 22p/day).  Third cars are considerably more expensive at £200 a year, but then again, I can't imagine there are many city streets that could accommodate 3-car households.

Each household can apply for 100 visitors' permits a year (the first 50 free of charge and the remainder at £1 per permit).  Given that visitors do not need a permit to park in the evenings or at the weekends, when I assume most visiting takes place, this allowance would enable you to have an average of 2 daytime visitors per week.

All other motorists will be restricted to pay and display bays, where they can park for up to 15 minutes free of charge and £1 per hour thereafter, to the maximum of 3 hours.

There are concessions for businesses, landlords, contractors, blue card holders and people with long term care needs.

The bottom line is that our present system is unsustainable and something has got to be done before  it is too late.  Sacrifices may need to be made but, rather than focus on the negatives I urge the people of Bristol to embrace the positives:

Reverse car dependency
Emptier streets
Shorter journey times
Cleaner air
Safer environment for pedestrians and children
People friendly city centres
Revival of local high streets
Encouragement to walk and cycle
Incentive to public transport providers to increase their routes and lower their fares
Reduction in carbon dioxide emissions

So go for it George.  This is exactly the sort of policy I hoped you would implement when I voted for you.

I would, however, make two suggestions.

I believe that these charges only apply to residents who do not have a driveway.  If the aim of the scheme is to reduce the number of vehicles on the roads then it shouldn't matter where your car is parked.  It's still a car.

Secondly, I'd like to see at least some of the revenue raised used towards providing a more efficient, less expensive public transport system as a credible alternative to the car.

So, if you live in Bristol what do you think of the scheme?  If you live elsewhere, do you have a similar scheme?  How effective has it been in creating a better environment?

The Feeding of the 5000

Every year thousands of tons of perfectly edible food is sent to landfill sites.   We tend to blame supermarkets and the food industry and they do have to take responsibility for food waste caused by packaging errors, out of date promotions, discontinued lines etc.  But half of the food thrown away in the UK comes from our own homes - and more than half of this is food we could have eaten or drunk.

At the same time there are over 4 million people in the UK who cannot afford a healthy diet, including the homeless, the elderly, disadvantaged children, refugees and people suffering from mental illness.

Fareshare aims to marry the two issues and offer a solution by redistributing surplus food to those who need it.  No waste.  Better health.

To illustrate the magnitude of the problem Fareshare Southwest hosted the Feeding of the 5000 on College Green yesterday, when they served a vegetable curry prepared from a ton of donated vegetables.

I volunteered for duty as a steward and was assigned to recycling bin duty, helping diners to dispose of their waste in an environmentally friendly manner.

The sun shone.  Crowds descended.  Queues formed.  Curry was eaten.  Children potato printed.  Bands played.  Cooks demonstrated.  Awareness was raised. 

Less food will be wasted?

I hope so. 

Grazing

This morning I received my eagerly anticipated Graze box. I'd taken advantage of an offer in this Sunday's Observer and ordered myself one free box, to be followed next week by a second for £1.

Graze is a brilliantly conceived scheme which delivers healthy snacks to hungry office workers. Subscribers register and are asked to rate a long list of foods including seeds, nuts, dried fruit, flapjacks, olives, focaccia etc. They then choose a date to have their box delivered directly to their desk. Each cardboard box contains four snacks in individual plastic containers. There is a paper napkin and a pick for the olives. There is also a tiny personally addressed booklet detailing the nutrional details of each snack and another with more general information about the company. Genius!

My first box contained a West country cheddar, red onion and chutney focaccia, green olives in a citrus marinade, a bento mix and an americas nut mix. The focaccia was slightly stodgy but the bento mix was spicy and the americas nut mix crunchy. I haven't tried the olives yet.

Graze boxes are normally priced at £3.29, which is probably not unreasonable given the quality of the products and the impeccable service, but they're too expensive for my budget, so I don't think I'll be ordering any more, or at least not on a regular basis.

There is inevitably packaging involved - a cardboard box secured with two plastic bands, four plastic punnets, a paper napkin, a wooden pick and two booklets - but the claim is that these are either biodegradable, recyclable or recycled. I'll certainly be be able to recycle everything except the plastic bands and the plastic seals on the punnets.

It would, of course, be much cheaper and more environmentally friendly to buy larger quantities of these snacks and carry portions of them in to work in reuseable containers but, given that there will always be a significant proportion of the population who will not do so, and who would otherwise be opting for a chocolate bar or a packet of crisps, I reckon it's a welcome alternative.

Bristol Against Sainsburys Insane Colossal Superstore

Those of you who live in South Bristol probably already know all about this proposal but, for those of you who dont:-

Bristol City Football Club wish to relocate their stadium to a greenbelt site just outside Bristol. To finance this move they need to sell their old ground. Sainsburys have offered them a substantial sum and have submitted a proposal to build a new 9,300 sq m superstore, with an 850 space car park, on the site. This will replace their existing store half a mile down the road.

There is strong opposition to this proposal and I have today submitted my objection online, the text of which I reproduce below.

I would like to submit my objection to the proposal, for the following reasons:

1 The construction of a superstore at Ashton Gate will have a detrimental effect on the local environment.

Sainsburys move from Winterstoke Road to Ashton Gate is being billed as a relocation but is much more than just that. The store will almost double in size, and will increase and expand the range of goods for sale. It will not be the kind of store local residents will pop in to for a pint of milk and a loaf of bread. Shoppers will be drawn from much further afield, and the majority of them will arrive by car. Why else the need for such a vast car park? Winterstoke Road is already congested and will become infinitely more so, while the streets surrounding the store will be used by drivers attempting to avoid the main roads. Increased levels of traffic will lead to increased levels of air pollution in a largely residential area, and along routes used by children walking to school. Tankers delivering petrol, lorries supplying goods and vans servicing the home delivery service will ensure an almost constant stream of traffic throughout the day and beyond. Noise and light pollution will affect those living in close proximity to the store. Granted they experience both from the football stadium, but no more than a couple of nights a week. The superstore will be an almost 24 hour presence.

All this in a city whose council is promoting the 10:10 campaign.

Much is made of the green credentials of the new building but these will be more than outweighed by the increased carbon emissions from the vehicular transport it engenders.

2 The presence of a superstore at Ashton Gate will pose a completely unnecessary and unfair threat to local retail.

Bedminster offers a wide range of stores from supermarkets through high street chains to family run businesses. We already have two large supermarkets (Asda and Sainsburys), several smaller ones (two Tescos, Aldi, Lidl and Iceland) and an extensive range of other food and non-food retailers. We did not need a Tesco superstore, nor do we need a bigger and better Sainsburys. Relocating this new store from the other side of Winterstoke Road to within a couple of hundred yards of North Street will almost certainly have a detrimental effect on local traders. The claim that the move will stimulate local trade is ludicrous. Shoppers arriving by car, parking in the car park, loading their boots with Sainsburys goods and filling their tanks at the petrol station are not going to stop off in North Street on their way home for a pound of mince, a box of matches or a packet of paracetamol. The new Sainsburys superstore is specifically designed to satisfy their every requirement and sales in local high streets areas will fall as a result.

Although some distance removed, Asda may very well be affected and, with it, the shops in East Street. An expansion of this magnitude suggests that Sainsburys will be hoping to attract customers from all over South Bristol, depriving areas such as Knowle, Brislington and Long Ashton of their custom.

This is a disaster, not just for the local traders, who will lose their income and possibly their jobs, but also for sustainable community. Local trading is a far better option than its supermarket equivalent. Goods are more likely to be locally sourced or produced. They are not transported hundreds of miles to and from central distribution centres. They are generally less packaged. They are sold by shopkeepers who know their wares and are able to respond to public demand. They provide continuity, inspire loyalty and offer a personal service that binds the community together.

A greater percentage of every pound spent in local businesses remains in the local community than for every pound spent in a supermarket. To opt for a superstore over local retail at a time when governments, both national and local, should be seeking solutions to an oil dependent society, is very short-sighted. And to choose to demolish a perfectly adequate building in order to build a brand new larger one half a mile down the road, when we are all being urged to reduce our carbon footprints to save the planet, is suicidal.

3 This is not the only, let alone the best, solution to the problem.

I would rather the club remained at Ashton Gate, in the heart of the community that supports it, than chase after illusory fame and fortune. I certainly do not approve of the construction of a stadium on a green field site. However, if the club is determined to move and dispose of its existing ground, then I suggest there are worthier legacies it could leave to Bedminster than a monstrous box straddling a concrete car park.

A mixed development of housing and small businesses would be an ideal alternative. Sainsburys proposes a housing development on the Winterstoke Road site. This is the wrong way round. Houses on the Winterstoke Road ‘island’ will be isolated, cut off from the services of Bedminster by a congested road struggling to cope with its increased load. Ashton Vale residents will lose the only food retailer they have and will now also have to negotiate Winterstoke Road to do their shopping. Meanwhile a new Sainsburys will pose a threat to a thriving high street, where a housing development would benefit from all the services its residents desired.

We are told that Bristol City Football Club cannot fund the move without the price Sainsburys will pay for the Ashton Gate site, but are not reassured that the club have exhausted all other possibilities. I feel we are being emotionally blackmailed by the, as yet unconfirmed, prospect of hosting a couple of World Cup matches. It is much easier to back popular short term projects, especially in the run up to an election. It is much harder, but ultimately more honourable, to take the long view and chose the one that will be of lasting benefit to the community. I am hoping that you will take just such a decision in this matter.

My submission is short on facts and figures, although I have listened to and read a good deal of arguments on both sides. I am relying on your having read and digested these for yourselves. This is my personal submission as someone who has lived and worked and raised two daughters in Bedminster, who loves its thriving community and who fears for its future should Sainsburys be granted permission to build this superstore.

A previous application for a Tesco store was withdrawn on the eve of the planning committee meeting. I wonder what will happen this time.

The Greening of my Diet

In the campaign to reduce my carbon footprint it has been all too easy to pick and chose my targets to suit my lifestyle. As a non car owner and someone who hasn't flown (except for two family emergency short hauls) in almost three years, I am justifiably proud of my relatively low level of emissions. I reduce, reuse and recycle my waste. I buy local and organic. I've even started growing my own veg. However I have thus far, turned a blind eye on the composition of my diet.

Some time ago I was reminded of the significant contribution livestock farming makes to global warming, accounting for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions. These are produced by clearing forested land, making and transporting fertilizers, running farm vehicles and the digestive system of animals.. Transport, on the other hand, 'only' accounts for 13%. The average household would reduce their emissions by more if they halved their consumption of meat than if they halved their car usage.

While I respect the convictions of my vegetarian, and vegan, friends I am not persuaded of the need to give up eating meat altogether. However I am, rather regretfully, coming round to the environmental benefits of eating less of it. I've tried going vegetarian on several occasions with limited success, the chief obstacles being bacon sandwiches and my children. So it will not be easy.

Happily this week is National Vegetarian Week which may kick start me in the right direction.

With toast and marmalade for breakfast and a feta cheese and salad baguette for lunch I've done alright so far. This evening I have been invited to a barbecue (of the indoor variety unless the rain clears) which will prove more of a challenge. I'm taking a Spanish tortilla , but I fear I'll be tempted by the sausages (especially any with sticky burnt skins!). However for the sake of the planet I will resist. Wish me luck.

I've been Grow Zoned!

Yesterday four members of the Grow Zone project descended on our garden and helped us transform it from a rather untidy yard into a potentially productive mini allotment.

The Grow Zone project is part of Earth Abbey, a movement of people helping each other live more in tune with the earth. Half a dozen or so households have taken the challenge to grow at least some of our own food following permaculture principles.

So to get back to our garden. Two of us dug up the tired looking shrubs from the narrow bed outside our front window and replaced them with hardy herbs - a variegated sage, Russian tarragon, bergamot, Moroccan mint and hyssop. We replanted a rosemary bush from a pot in the back garden and finally added two giant sunflower plants which will look magnificent standing proudly against our new sky blue wall. We filled three window boxes with compost from our compost bin. I sowed mixed salad leaves in two of them and will transplant a couple of trailing tomato plants into the third as soon as they are hardy enough.

Meanwhile out at the back the rest of the team uprooted an overgrown rosemary bush in the rockery and removed a couple of the larger rocks to make space for some runner beans to be trained up the back fence and some spinach and rainbow chard which will nestle among the alpines. The rocks were piled up against the raised rockery wall to enable any frogs who leap down into the back yard to find their way back to the pond. Our old rubbish bin and two large containers were planted with the potatoes we've been chitting in our dining room doorway for the past few weeks. A growbag was planted with a miniature squash and two bush courgettes and various other containers with peas and broad beans. A second growbag awaits three bush tomatoes.

The sun shone brightly, tea and conversation flowed freely and when we were done and tidied up we shared a simple of lunch of soup, bread and cheese and chutney, salad and cake (much of it homemade), before heading off home.

I don't know what it was; the sunshine, the friendship, the labour, the food, the fresh air, but my spirits were uplifted and I spent the rest of the day on a high. This morning I came downstairs and felt compelled to go out into the garden to see how it was. It looked lovely.

Bristol Green

Bristol has been shortlisted in the competition to become Europe's first Green Capital in 2010. There were 35 applications and we are one of eight on the shortlist, the others being Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Freiburg, Hamburg, Munster, Oslo and Stockholm. 4 out of 5 Europeans live in cities and towns, which not only pose challenges to our environment but can also be the means of their resolution. This award is in recognition of the contribution that local government makes to achieving a sustainable balance and will be given to the city that:

• Has a consistent record of achieving high environmental standards
• Is committed to ongoing and ambitious goals for further environmental improvement and sustainable development
• Can act as a role model to inspire other cities and promote best practices to all other European cities

I'm really chuffed that Bristol is the only British city to make the shortlist and I wish the Helen Holland and the council well in their efforts to go on and win the award.
According to the council website they have already made progress in the Green Capital Action Plan they launched in 2007 including:

• the expansion of the cycling network, resulting in Bristol being chosen as the UK’s first Cycling City earlier this year, winning £11.4m of government funding with South Gloucestershire Council
• the implementation of two ‘showcase’ bus routes and the expansion of the Park and Ride schemes
• the introduction of a Parks and Green Spaces Strategy, which aims to improve accessibility for all as well as improving the quality of the green space. In recognition of the quality of their work, Bristol Parks this year won the Civic Trust National Green Flag Award for Blaise Castle Estate, the Downs, Queen Square and Trooper’s Hill Nature Reserve
• the formation of the Biodiversity Action Partnership (due to be launched next week), which sets out an ambitious blueprint for the future of Bristol’s wildlife and identifies practical ways to protect and promote local flora and fauna
• the adoption of the West of England Joint Waste Management Strategy, which will deliver significant reductions in the amount of waste being sent to landfill sites, maximise the efficient recovery of resources, and maintain a long-term commitment to increase waste reduction, reuse, recycling and composting
• a planning application submitted for two wind turbines at Avonmouth to supply up to 20% of the council’s energy needs

And I know that there's a lot of hype and that there's much more to be done besides, but Rome wasn't built in a day.
So well done Bristol!

Words Fail Me (... well almost!)

This afternoon I was walking down East Street. A young woman came out of baker's with a sandwich in her hand. As she walked down the road towards me she removed the sandwich from the paper bag it was wrapped in, scrunched it up and dropped it on the pavement. This was quickly followed by the paper napkin. Then she opened the sandwich, and I'm guessing she'd had her 5-a-day at breakfast because she proceeded to remove the slices of cucumber and tomato and drop them one by one to the ground.

It was the casual ease with which she carried out these actions that really struck me - as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

As I said ... words fail me.

Brushing for the Planet

Ever since I read Amost Mrs Average's blog about her wooden toothbrushes I have been worrying about the impact my dental hygiene routine has been having on the planet. I almost certainly don't change my toothbrush as often as is recommended, but when I do it eventually ends up in our local landfill. I use the word 'eventually' advisedly as we keep a supply of old toothbrushes to help in cleaning things with grooves and other inaccessible recesses. Mrs A had discovered wooden toothbrushes and had just ordered one for each member of her family. I wonder how she is getting on with them. I admired the concept but baulked at the price tag of £4.25.

So I continued using my nasty plastic brush until today when I came across the Preserve toothbrush in our local Sainsburys. This brush is made from recycled plastic including yogurt cups from a nearby supplier. It comes with a reusable travel case with ventilation holes. When it's time to replace it you can send the brush and its case back to Preserve to be recycled into plastic lumber for picnic tables, boardwalks and decks. And it only cost £1.99 (although I seem to remember it being on special offer at the moment).

To be fair Mrs A did mention the Preserve brush in her blog but was put off it by the need to ship it back to the States for recycling. Well she need worry no longer because the bush and case can now be returned to an address in Haverhill.

I bought two brushes for the girls for their trip to France. I shall be buying another for myself as soon as my current brush is too worn out to be any longer effective

No Parking

We are being consulted on a Residents' Parking Scheme which, if adopted, would oblige local residents to pay for the privilege of parking within their local parking zone. A permit will cost £40 a year but will be free of charge for the lowest polluting vehicles. A second permit will be subject to availability and will cost £80 a year. A third permit will only be granted in exceptional circumstances and will cost £500! The scheme is designed to prioritise on-street parking spaces for the local population and encourage commuters to use other forms of transport, thereby reducing congestion.

As someone who does not own a car this scheme will have little direct impact on my life. (I will be able to buy £1 temporary permits for any car-driving visitors I may receive.) But I will vote for any measure whose aim is to get people out of their cars and into more sustainable means of transport. If only our local bus service were more attractive and less expensive. Perhaps I shall mention this in my response!

Our Daily Pinta

This afternoon I answered the door to a man from Dairy Crest trying to drum up trade for doorstep milk deliveries. I was able to tell him that we not only use this service but are also very pleased with it.

Our milkman's called John Mills. He delivers a daily pint of semi-skimmed milk and a weekly pint of pink grapefruit juice. The milk costs 54p per pint and the juice 91p per pint. We could buy our milk from our local Tescos where it is considerably cheaper at 42p per pint. However for various reasons we have decided to stick with John. It gives him a job, saves us from having to venture out in the mornings, is fresh, local and flexible and uses electric powered floats and recycled glass bottles instead of plastic cartons. While researching for this post today I discovered that I can amend/cancel my order online and have a sack of compost delivered along with my daily pinta!

Doorstep deliveries have declined dramatically over the last couple of decades. According to DEFRA only 7% of milk is delivered to our doorsteps today, compared to 30% in 1984. 65% of milk is bought from supermarkets and 23% from convenience stores. In order to boost sales milkmen have set up a website (http://www.findmeamilkman.net/) which allows visitors to discover whether their address is covered by a milk round.

The truth is that we do not buy all our milk from John. The girls drink 2-3 pints of full fat milk a day, which we buy in 4 litre cartons from a supermarket. We also have 2 litres delivered by Riverford along with our organic fruit and veg box. We can't(?) afford to spend £2 per day on milk so we compromise. That's life, I guess.

The Greening of Middlesbrough

There was an item on Radio 4 today about a revolutionary experiment in Middlesbrough in which derelict urban spaces have been transformed into fertile vegetable plots. 1,000 residents as well as schools, mental health hospitals, residential care homes and retailers were given seed and advised on how to grow them. The aim was to increase awareness of food miles, improve health and regenerate the city. The gardeners celebrated the end of the project with a communal meal in which 8,000 people shared the food they had grown.

The inspiration came from Havana where, in order to beat the American blockade, locals took over waste land and used it to grow fresh fruit and vegetables. Monty Don visited Cuba for his series Around the World in 80 Gardens and I remember being impressed with the sense of community these urban allotments generated.

Perhaps this is the way forward us city dwellers who have lost touch with where our food comes from and what it means to share with our neighbours?

Railway Path Saved

This afternoon I attended the Save the Railway Path rally on College Green. The more dedicated protesters had cycled or walked in along the path from Fishponds and arrived shortly after I did. We listened to the end of another remarkable performance from the Ambling Band and then heard from a few activists and supporters, including two very well spoken children. It seems that the protesters have forced the council to shelve the plan to run a rapid transit bus route along the railway path. What possessed them to even consider it in the first place beats me. Not living in East Bristol I have never used the path but I understand that it serves a much greater function than its name suggests and is beloved of walkers, children on their way to and from school, families relaxing at the weekend, and a variety of small creatures. Anyway, it's safe - for the moment at any rate.

Earth Hour

I celebrated my Earth Hour by playing Boggle by candlelight with my family and a few friends. How did you spend yours?

Plastic

This week the BBC have been broadcasting reports from Midway Island highlighting the problems caused by plastic waste. Apparently every one of the 2 million albatrosses living on the island contains plastic and about one third of the chicks die from plastic mistakenly fed to them by their parents.

Over the last few years I have been trying to reduce, reuse and recycle my waste and, with the help of my local council's recycling scheme, have had success with paper, cardboard, batteries, glass, cans, aluminium foil, organic waste etc but plastics continue to cause me real problems. There is a plastic bottle recycling centre within walking distance but it only accepts certain types of plastic. This leaves me with a a binful of items destined for the dreaded landfill site.

A link from Bean Sprouts led me to The Rubbish Diet which has inspired me to raise my recycling game and tackle my plastic waste problem head on. And the best way to do this is to stop buying plastic. This is not going to be easy, and in some cases, I suspect, impossible. But if I can achieve a significant reduction then I shall have made progress.

So I have today bought what I hope will be my last pot of yogurt and am making my own following Melanie (Bean Sprouts) Rimmer's recipe. I don't have a kitchen thermometer so I have had to guess what 50 degrees feels like. I will find out whether I got it right when I open the thermos flask tomorrow morning!

CRAGs!

On Thursday evening I went to Broadmead Baptist Church to hear George Monbiot speak on Climate Change - Global Injustice. He spoke very powerfully of the need for 'us' to act 'now' and suggested three things that we might do which, if I remember them correctly, are:

1 take steps to ration our own carbon consumption

2 join with others to tackle climate change in our own community

3 take direct action

I have made a mental note of the date and venue of my local climate action group, but what captured my imagination was the first suggestion. I have, along with many others I know, been trying to cut my own carbon consumption but I have no idea of how effective, if at all, my efforts have been. George's reference to carbon rationing action groups (or CRAGs) prompted me to go looking for them on the internet where I found them at http://www.carbonrationing.org.uk/. It is a fairly complicated process but, given the urgency of the issue, worth considering and I would be very interested in discussing the possibility of forming such a group in the Bedminster/Southville area.

If anyone would like to join in the discussion (in one of our local hostelries, perhaps) please let me know.

Chooseday? Tuesday?

Last week I attended a cafe meeting to discuss an exciting new initiative called Chooseday. The idea is that on one day of the week (Tuesday?) you choose to break with routine and do something different, something that will be good for you and good for the planet. It is suggested that your first choice should be to leave your car at home and walk/cycle/take the bus to work. I think it is a great idea and one that I hope will capture the imagination of the people of Bristol when it is launched later this year. For further information and to register your support log on to http://www.chooseday.org/.

What will you choose to do on Tuesday?

Cut the Carbon March

We have just bid farewell to Dwijen Mallick, one of the Cut the Carbon Marchers, who has spent two nights with me and my family in Bristol and is now en route to Bath. Dwijen works for an independent institute researching and implementing sustainable development in Bangladesh. Having worked in partnership with Christian Aid in Dwijen was invited to be one of the 10 overseas marchers to join the 10 UK marchers in this protest march from Bangor to London, the longest in history. As someone who is increasingly alarmed by the perilous state of our planet I would have loved to have taken part in this march if only I could have spared the 3 months, which I couldn't. So I was glad of the opportunity to be involved, even in this small way. Besides which it gave us the opportunity to make a new friend and talk to someone on the front line of climate change, an experience which has served to increase my determination to reduce my own carbon footprint and to encourage others to do the same. The problem is how to do so without coming across as en eco freak. And yet if we don't do something (anything?) and now ...