Replace Labour MEP Peter Skinner

On TV last week Labour South East MEP Peter Skinner managed to get recycling completely wrong. He was talking about the waste hierarchy, normally its reduce, reuse and recycle. He said it was replace, reuse and recycle. He was speaking at Readings recycling centre at Smallmead, On the panel were two Tories and an interviewer, none of whom responded to correct him on this.

It could have been a mistake, but it may have been a Freudian slip or a cry for help. Perhaps he wants to be replaced himself. I certainly want him to be replaced, any MEP who doesn't know enough to reduce waste but instead thinks it should be replaced should be sacked.

And the pooertunity will come soon, its European Elections on the 4th June 2009



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Holocaust Memorial Day

Today Is Holocaust Memorial Day, its held on 27 January, the anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp at Auschwitz. The word Holocaust is used to describe the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, as part of a program of deliberate extermination planned and executed by the Nazi regime in Germany led by Adolf Hitler. Also murdered were; Roma, Soviets, Poles, the disabled; homosexuals, freemasons, Jehovah's Witnesses and political opponents. To help stigmatise them, Jews had to wear yellow stars, homosexuals were forced to wear pink triangles. Taking into account all the victims of Nazi persecution, the total number of victims would be between nine and 11 million. Around 6 million of the 7 million Jews in Nazi Europe died.

We used to say never again about the holocaust, but since WW2 there has been Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur. The terms 'Rwandan Holocaust' and 'Cambodian Holocaust' are used to refer to the Rwanda genocide of 1994 and the mass killings by the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia respectively. Before this 'African Holocaust' is used to describe the slave trade and the colonization of Africa, also known as the Maafa.

The reasons given for it were an 'international Jewish conspiracy to control the world'. No genocide to date had been based so completely on myths. There were also financial reasons, stealing money from Jews led to some very wealthy and corrupt Nazis.

The persecution and genocide by the Nazis were accomplished in stages. Legislation to remove the Jews from civil society was enacted years before the outbreak of World War II. Concentration camps were established in which inmates were used as slave labour until they died of exhaustion or disease. Where the Third Reich conquered new territory in eastern Europe, specialized units murdered Jews and political opponents in mass shootings. Jews and Roma were crammed into ghettos before being transported hundreds of miles by freight train to extermination camps where, if they survived the journey, the majority of them were killed in gas chambers. Every arm of Nazi Germany's bureaucracy was involved in the logistics of the mass murder, turning the country into what one Holocaust scholar has called "a genocidal state".

Parish churches and the Interior Ministry supplied birth records showing who was Jewish; the Post Office delivered the deportation and denaturalization orders; the Finance Ministry confiscated Jewish property; German firms fired Jewish workers and disenfranchised Jewish stockholders; the universities refused to admit Jews, denied degrees to those already studying, and fired Jewish academics; government transport offices arranged the trains for deportation to the camps; German pharmaceutical companies tested drugs on camp prisoners; companies bid for the contracts to build the crematoria; detailed lists of victims were drawn up using the Dehomag company's punch card machines, producing meticulous records of the killings. As prisoners entered the death camps, they were made to surrender all personal property, which was carefully catalogued and tagged before being sent to Germany.

An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 Jewish partisans actively fought the Nazis and their collaborators in Eastern Europe. The Jewish Brigade, a unit of 5,000 volunteers from the British Mandate of Palestine fought in the British Army. German-speaking volunteers from the Special Interrogation Group performed commando and sabotage operations against the Nazis behind front lines in the Western Desert Campaign.

Europe’s Gypsies were targeted by the Nazis for total destruction. The “Porrajmos” (literally “The Devouring”) is the term used to describe the genocide of Europe’s Roma and Sinti (Gypsy) population by the Nazis. Upwards of 200,000 Gypsies were murdered or died as a result of starvation or disease. Many more were imprisoned, used as forced labour or subject to forced sterilisation and medical experimentation.

More than 1.5 million children from across Europe were murdered under the Nazi regime. The Nazis, obsessed with the notion of creating a 'biologically pure', 'Aryan' society, deliberately targeted Jewish children for destruction, in order to prevent the growth of a new generation of Jews in Europe. About 10,000 mostly Jewish children escaped to Britain via Kindertransport, and were fostered or placed in hostels. The Diary Of Anne Frank tells the story of a young Jewish girl in occupied Holland.

So the world needs to be reminded so not keep repeating the same mistakes. The key lesson we must remember from the Holocaust is that we must never again stand by and let hatred take root. Greens are determined not to forget, and to fight always against prejudice, discrimination and the forces of fascism.

BBC and Sky on Gaza Appeal

Thirteen of Britain's largest charities, who together constitute the Disasters Emergency Committee, have asked broadcasters to air an appeal during primetime today seeking donations for Palestinians affected by the conflict.

The BBC and Sky are refusing to show an appeal. Most of the media and blogs are criticising the BBC on this and ignoring Sky, presumably due to its public subsidy. The decision not to show it does seem odd, they do seem out of touch with public feeling on this. Who is asking them to refrain from showing it? One effect of this though is to give far more coverage to the appeal than it would normally get. I'm not suggesting that they refuse to show more appeals, but in this case this is the effect.

Stop the War is organising a mass return of TV licenses to the BBC for those incensed by the continuing refusal of the BBC to broadcast and emergency appeal for Gaza. They don't appear to be taking any action against sky, perhaps they should suggest burning their boxes or dishes? Channel 4, ITV and Channel 5 are showing the appeal tonight.

Sky's chief executive, John Ryley, maintained that "after very careful consideration, we have concluded that broadcasting an appeal for Gaza at this time is incompatible with our role in providing balanced and objective reporting of this continuing situation ..." He said that Sky felt that "the nature of an appeal is that it sets out to provoke a specific response from the viewer. Sky did not believe that broadcasting the DEC appeal "can be combined with the balance and context that impartial journalism aims to bring to the highly-charged and continuing conflict in Gaza".

The BBC has received more than 11,000 complaints in the wake of its decision not to air the advert, and more than 60 MPs were set to complain in the House of Commons today. BBC boss Mark Thompson has again defended the decision, saying it would jeopardise the BBC's impartiality, and that the BBC could not give the impression it was "backing one side" over the other. He said the DEC had acknowledged from the outset there might be problems airing the appeal on the grounds of impartiality, and it was not the first time the BBC had decided against running an advert on their behalf. He denied his "arm had been twisted" by pro-Israeli lobbyists and said the BBC would continue to cover the humanitarian dimension of a "complicated and deeply contentious story".

Green Party leader Caroline Lucas MEP said the BBC's decision was disgraceful and called for an inquiry. "It is not for the BBC to tell these professional aid agencies how to do their jobs," she said. "Everyone knows the situation in Gaza is dangerous and that the cease-fire is extremely fragile. But aid lorries are getting through. The people of Gaza are desperate for medical supplies, and food, and the DEC works with United Nations' organisations to ensure that this sort of aid reaches the right place. These DEC appeals are worth millions of pounds to the charities and it is absolutely disgraceful that the BBC should refuse to broadcast the appeal."


You can donate here
or
Phone: Call our automated 24 hour credit card hotline 0370 60 60 900
Post: Make cheques payable to DEC Gaza Crisis and post to DEC Gaza Crisis, PO Box 999, London EC3A 3AA or go to any Post Office quoting Freepay number: 1210
You can also download our Gaza Donation by Post form to make your donation payment and send it to PO Box 999, London EC3A 3AA

Support Airplot, Block The Third Runway

I have written to my MP via http://www.writetothem.com, I suggest others do so as well. My letter is below.




On Wednesday there will be a vote in parliament on a third runway at Heathrow. Ahead of this vote we urgently need many Labour MPs to vote with their conscience and say NO to a third runway.

The government is asking all of us to reduce our energy consumption while they build another runway at Heathrow. I think it's hypocrisy.

But 57 Labour MPs signed an Early Day Motion against airport expansion last autumn and now we need those same MPs and others to vote against a third runway in parliament on Wednesday.

This won't be a binding vote, but cross party opposition to the runway will put enormous pressure on the government. It will certainly be a big blow to the government's insane plans to expand Heathrow.

I joined the campaign because I want to stand in the way of airport expansion. There are now more than 30,000 of us and more are joining everyday. This is the first opportunity to show the government we’re not going to let this runway go ahead. But we also need to get a lot more people involved. Once you have emailed the MPs, please pass this email to your friends, family and colleagues and ask them to do the same.

Thank you for joining with me to stop airport expansion, together we will make sure this runway doesn’t go ahead.


Yours sincerely,

Adrian Windisch

NASA Can Help Tackle Climate Change

Now heres an idea, why not change to focus of NASA to tackle climate change. I'm all for scientific research, but were 10 years away from the point of no return on climate change and little is being done to reduce emissions. NASA are a vast, experienced, respected body that could help find some answers. Once we are back on track NASA can return to space exploration.

Some suggestions on wahat they could do from Scientific American
* Develop an integrated, global plan for energy and the environment.
* Open NASA facilities to "green tech" companies.
* Create an energy/environment data center.
* Increasing public participation in green programs.

Climate change cannot be tackled without the participation of the public, and NASA is well-positioned to help connect the public with the exciting research being undertaken on ways to address our energy and climate change problems.

NASA's primary function has been the exploration of the solar system. Along the way, however, it has contributed greatly to our understanding of Earth.

The Scientific American article was written by:
WILLIAM MARSHALL, a scientist at NASA Ames Research Center.
JAMES CLAY MOLTZ, an associate professor at the Naval Postgraduate School.

NASA have already done this.

And James Hansen, NASA scientist and head of the Goddard Institue of Space Studies, says current policies are not working and that the U.S. must lead, not drag its feet on climate change. He says cap-and-trade has not worked to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. does not even have a national policy for cap-and-trade. Hansen is calling for a direct carbon tax on emissions.

Bloggers and Luddites in Reading

The Post has an article about local bloggers, which seems to have been based on a similar article on Tory Cllr Rik Willis. They show who has the best and worst worst web presence. The worst is Reading West MP Martin Salter and Lib Dem Oxford Cllr Patrick Murray who is standing in Reading West

The best is a Tory MP with a big budget (and Riks ex boss) Rob Wilson MP, but Rob White, of the Reading Green Party was awarded Tech Savvy runner-up for "the range and activity of his various pages".

Not mentioned but worth a mention are:
readingroars
This covers most of the Reading Bloggers.
and Jane who has a useful list of weblinks and an interest in Reading Labour politics.

8 Years of Bush In 8 Minutes

Check out this clip.

After months of anticipation we finally get rid of the toxic texan and get President Obama. I hope people aren't too disappointed, hopes have been raised so high he cannot possibly meet them all. At the very least though he will be a fresh start to some abandoned initiatives.

Where Bush ignored World opinion and went his own way, Obama should be building coalitions of willing partners to tackle climate change and peace. I don't expect it to happen overnight though, so I plan to look review his progress after 100 days.

Obamas father comes from Kenya. His Grandfather may have been 'imprisoned and brutally tortured' by the British during the violent struggle for Kenyan independence. Mr Obama refers briefly to his grandfather’s imprisonment in his best-selling memoir, 'Dreams from My Father', but states that his grandfather was “found innocent” and held only for “more than six months”. We will see how this effects the 'special relationship' between the two countries, as will the fact that Bush and Blair were so close to the Bush regime (some would say lapdog like).

Anyway its a historic day, with much promise of interesting days ahead and I wish him luck.

Ceasefire At Last

After three weeks of fighting, more than 1,300 Palestinians killed and thirteen Israeli deaths, both sides have announced a ceasefire. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he wanted troops to leave as quickly as possible, and some have already left. The BBC's Christian Fraser, on the road from Rafah in the south to Gaza City in the north, says the troops are pulling out fast.

Tens of thousands have been made homeless by the bombardment, so much work is needed to rebuild.

United Nations officials had earlier called for an investigation into possible war crimes officials after two children, aged five and seven, were killed when Israeli tank fire hit a UN school where hundreds had taken shelter in Beit Lahiya. Hamas has launched many attacks on Israeli civilians.

Amnesty are calling for a full arms embargo on all parties involved in the Gaza conflict.

There is also a political split between the West Bank and Gaza; for many months Gaza has been run by Hamas, which has done its best to stamp out the influence of Fatah there through arrests and violence. The West Bank has been run by Fatah, which, in turn, has used force in an attempt to crush Hamas.

Sadly Hamas call for death to all Jews, with Iran, call the Holocaust an event planned by Jews.

They are however the democratically elected government of Gaza, so need to be included in peace talks. Thankfully and with help from a less isolationist USA leadership, a coalition of peace may yet be built amongst neighbours.

We have seen seen peace grasped from the grip of war in Northern Ireland and South Africa, it can happen in the Middle East, it just needs enough people to want it to happen.

As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela

I've just read 'As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela' by Mark Thomas. As books by comedians go, its not very funny, but it makes some very good points about the arms trade. Mark spends much of the book pretending to be an arms dealer or a press advisor in order to expose how weapons get sold to tyrants and criminals despite government promises.

It contains some amazing stories about the arms trade, how easy it is to get round the few laws that we have. He set up companies with schoolchildren, and they managed to get an assortment of torture implements. That was also shown on the t.v. a couple of years ago, it was compelling. Amongst the horrible stories of repressive regimes and brave protestors, his humour is sometimes out of place. He can't resist getting a joke in, however inappropriate. In a list of important items he will throw in a joke.

The title is a bit mysterious, you have to read most of the book to find that it relates to an advert for leg irons 'as used on the famous nelson mandela'. The cover picture of mark with a machine gun is also confusing, you would think its a machine gun that was used on Mr Mandela.

He details new labours attempts to make ethical rules, which they then break. The rearming of the Morrocans who invaded Western Sahara is described by Robin Cook as refurbishment, now theres a euphamism. In 1994 Cook in opposition was against the government selling arms to Indonesia. Once in power, he then sold arms to Indonesia.

Britain is the worlds 2nd largest arms exporter. BAE systems seems to be much valued by the government, who protect its interest ahead of any others. The Government subsidises the arms trade £13,000 a job! How much better for some of that money to go to renewable energy or public transport.

Mark pillories the line used by the arms trade that 'if they wernt selling it, somone else would'. Would we allow that as an excuse for drug dealers or burglars?

HMRC customs are the body that investigate and prosecute after illegal arms deals, as of 2006 they hadn't brought a single prosecution against the torture equipent trade, despite the media finding several examples. We spend time and effort going after people without a t.v. license but ignore the arms trade. There are only 6 people employed to tackle this! What a disgrace.

http://www.markthomasinfo.com/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Used-Famous-Nelson-Mandela-Underground/dp/009190921X

ReElect Jean Lambert London Green MEP

In 1999, Jean Lambert was elected as London's first Green Party MEP - and in 2004, she was re-elected with an increased share of the vote. On June 4th 2009, she faces re-election again - but due to EU enlargement, there are less European Parliament seats to go around in the UK, and more votes are needed every time to achieve re-election.

The work of the European Parliament can sometimes feel remote from people's everyday experience - but nothing could be further from the truth. Much of the UK's environmental, social and human rights legislation is now decided at an EU level, and the often unheralded work of our MEPs makes an enormous difference to the shape and impact of those laws. Jean has been tireless in working for social justice, environmental sustainability and peace - as recognised by the fact that she was named
Justice and Human Rights MEP of the year in 2005.

Among other issues, Jean has focused on trade union rights, fairer treatment for asylum seekers, and the abolition of the UK opt-out to the Working Time Directive. She has been a prominent voice in proving that Green issues are not confined to the environment, but are concerned with building a more fair and just society. There is little doubt that she is one of the most progressive voices anywhere in UK politics today.

And now, she needs Your help! To continue her excellent work in Europe, Jean needs to get the message out to millions of Londoners - and she can only do that if progressive voters spread the word, volunteer, and donate to her campaign. She isn't funded by corporations, lobbyists or millionaires - instead, her re-election campaign is relying on the efforts of ordinary Londoners.


Want to help reelect London's Green and most progressive MEP?You can help by:
* doanting to http://tinyurl.com/8rh9qh.
* email reelectjean@hotmail.co.uk to get in touch

The South East Green MP is also looking for reelection, see www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk/

Brown Not Green At Heathrow

Until today Brown has had over a year in power, and he has yet to convince anyone that he takes the environment seriously. Then today he decides to go ahead with a third runway at Heathrow, putting us definitely among the climate criminals. Being Labour they pretend that that any increase in emissions will be stopped in a cunning plan, but they are not counting the emissions needed to build that massive structure, and who believes any of their promises anymore?

Labour politicians in the region have quite a job now to persuade their constituents that they are really against this. Leaving the Labour party would convince me, but instead John McDonnell, the local MP for Heathrow, picked up the mace as a protest. Others will also try and distance themselves, and the other parties will make lots of noise, but do little constructive. The Tories if they win the next election can just get rid of this, but it may take some time before this, and millions will be wasted on feasibility studies and the planning process till then.

You can join Greenpeace in their action to stop the runway with Airplot. Actress Emma Thompson, comedian Alistair McGowan and many others part own a small piece of land within the site of the proposed third runway at Heathrow, and you can be a part of it as well. We now need you to join us - become a beneficial owner of the land and stand with us against aviation expansion.

Sign up for a bit of Airplot and join over 10,000 other Airplot owners to become a part of the opposition that’s going to stop the runway. www.greenpeace.org.uk


If expansion goes ahead Heathrow will become the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions in the whole country. The government's plans to expand airports across the UK will make it impossible for us to meet our commitment to reduce emissions and stop runaway climate change. Sign up on our website to get your own piece of Airplot and help us block the government's plans to build a third runway.

There will be many ways you can get involved in the years it will take to get the runway through the planning process, and we will need your creativity and energy to make sure the runway never gets built. Today we want to flood Downing Street with emails, calls and faxes from Airplot owners – to make sure Gordon Brown know that Heathrow's third runway will never be built, and that supporting it leaves his environmental credentials in tatters. Let's make it clear that this is an election issue, and that we're not going to vote for aviation expansion.

When you've signed up to Airplot, let Gordon know that you have and that you now own a bit of his runway and he's not going to get it back. Email, call or fax No.10:

* Go to www.greenpeace.org.uk/nothirdrunway to email
* Call No.10 switchboard on 020 7930 4433 and ask them to take a message
* You can fax No 10 on 020 7925 0918

It's probably also worth pointing out that you won't vote for a party that supports aviation expansion, and that beating climate change and building more runways are completely incompatible. If we can overload the Prime Minister's fax machine, maybe he'll get the message.

We are not going to let this new runway be built. Sign up today to join the plot, and let Gordon know. If we're serious about tackling climate change, we have to stop airport expansion.

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/uk-government-s-heathrow-expan
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/join-the-plot-to-stop-airport-14012009

footwashing stations

Recently, there's been some controversy about Muslim footwashing stations in various countries. I found those pictured in a motorway service station in France. It doesnt seem particularly controversial, a place for people to wash their feet during a long journey. Why don't we have them here?

Muslims want to have them in order to perform wudu (ritual washing) before prayer, five times a day. They wash their face, hands, hair, and feet. The alternative before they were installed was to wash their feet in public sinks. "When you prepare for prayer, wash your faces, and your hands and arms to the elbows rub your heads with water, and wash your feet to the ankles. Later in the same verse it is said that the worshipper may use sand or earth, a ritual known as tayammum, where water is not available, in a desert for example. (Surah 5.7).

Time For Solar Power

With bank rates falling to 1.5% you can probably get a better return by investing in insulation, greater energy efficiency or renewable energy products such as solar water heating.

Solar water heating systems use heat from the sun to work alongside your conventional water heater. The technology is well developed with a large choice of equipment to suit many applications. For domestic hot water there are three main components.
1. Solar panels or collectors are fitted to your roof. They collect heat from the sun's radiation. There are 2 main types of collector, Flat plate systems or Evacuated tubes.
2. A heat transfer system uses the collected heat to heat water;
3. Hot water cylinder that stores the hot water that is heated during the day and supplies it for use later.

Solar water heating can provide you with about a third of your hot water needs. The average domestic system reduces C02 by around 325kg per year and about £65 a year of your hot water bills, when installed in a gas heated home. Solar water heating can be used in the home or for larger applications, such as swimming pools. For a domestic system you will need 3-4 square metres of southeast to southwest facing roof receiving direct sunlight for the main part of the day.

The typical installation cost for a domestic system is £3,000 - £5,000. Evacuated tube systems are more advanced in design than flat plate, and so tend to be more expensive. Planning permission will probably be required, consult your local authority.


Fig 1. kWh of solar energy received per metre squared per year
(courtesy Solar Trade Association)


For more information please go to energysavingtrust

solartwin

A reference source for environmental products and services. greenbook
ecocentre
LILI Links: energy, insulation, solar_hot_water

Some other links:
greenshop
solarfusion
evacuated solar tubes
solaruk
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Monsanto Movie at RISC

A new movie has dealt yet another severe blow to the credibility of US based Monsanto, one of the biggest chemical companies in the world and the provider of the seed technology for 90 percent of the world’s genetically engineered (GE) crops.

Its being shown at RISCs Global Café - The World According to Monsanto -hosted by Berkshire
Greenpeace - its a Free event.

The documentary directed by independent filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin, paints a grim picture of a company with a long track record of environmental crimes and health scandals. The French documentary, called “The world according to Monsanto” and directed by independent filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin, paints a grim picture of a company with a long track record of environmental crimes and health scandals.

The story starts in the White House, where Monsanto often got its way by exerting disproportionate influence over policymakers via the “revolving door”. One example is Michael Taylor, who worked for Monsanto as an attorney before being appointed as deputy commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1991. While at the FDA, the authority that deals with all US food approvals, Taylor made crucial decisions that led to the approval of GE foods and crops. Then he returned to Monsanto, becoming the company’s vice president for public policy.

That sounds like a policy designed to create a balanced view, clearly we wouldn't want that here. Unfortunately the list of them doing it here is long, it seems most ex ministers go straight to the corporations they used to work with. Tony Blair at the bank JP Morgan and David Blunkett, who pioneered the UK government's ID cards proposals, then took a job with Entrust, a security company which works on Spain's ID cards.

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/monsanto_movie080307

The picture is from the Eden Projectin Cornwall, unfortunately sponsored by some dodgy GM companies.
Monsanto Toxic Legacy
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Images from Sunseed Dec 2008

Almeria 1974, this is the firat in a set of before and after pictures.


Almeria 1987, you can see some of the land by the coast getting covered in plastic greenhouses


Almeria 2004, all the available land is covered, to grow chmically intensive vegetables for the european market. Its bad for the soil, the workers live in terrible conditions, its bad for the environment. But supermarkets get to sell us cheap out of season produce, the real cost of cheap food.


Jeff on the roof


Gardens


Garden Love


Curvey Irrigation


Gardens view


Dryland Terrace


Agave


The Mills