It is great news that the new Bath Community Energy group is launching next week. This is another great initiative that has developed from the local transition movement. As the leader of the Council it is great that I can be there to support the launch.

Council hosts launch event for new initiative with carbon reduction community company

Bath & North East Somerset Council will be hosting a launch event at the Guildhall, Bath on 5th October 2011, 6pm as part of its intended future cooperation with Bath & West Community Energy (BWCE) – a social enterprise run by energy experts and community activists. The new community company supplying free solar energy panels for local schools and community buildings will launch a public share offer at the event to raise £400,000.

By BWCE asking investors to buy shares, they’ll raise money which is then invested into local renewable energy technology – at first solar panels – attracting revenues from energy sales and Government incentives. The recipient of the solar panel receives the electricity generated by their panels for free.

Peter Andrews, Director at BWCE, said, “We are launching this share offer to not only raise further funds to install solar panels on schools and community buildings, but also to involve the local community directly in owning their own electricity generating company. Shares are £1 each and each shareholder will be entitled to vote at Annual General Meetings. We intend to offer around a 7 per cent interest rate on each share, well above the rate of inflation. A portion of any financial surpluses will be reinvested into a Community Fund for further low carbon projects.

“We are delighted to be working with the Council to raise awareness of the social enterprise and to install solar panels on some school roofs in the area. Where possible, we will be sourcing labour and materials locally, making best use of the district’s internationally recognised expertise in green technology.”

The Council intends to enter into a formal co-operation agreement with BWCE. There is the potential for BWCE to install solar electric panels on local schools and work with the Council to help achieve it’s draft Core Strategy renewable electricity targets.

Councillor Paul Crossley (Lib-Dem, Southdown), Leader of Council, said, “Reducing community carbon emissions by 45% by 2026 must be a community-led effort with support from Bath & North East Somerset Council. The BWCE social enterprise sums-up this principle in a nutshell and we look forward to potentially working with them on installing solar panels on our school buildings and meeting the challenge of tackling our local renewable energy targets.

“The prospect of many schools and community buildings paying very little for their energy is tantalising as gas and electricity prices continue to soar. We are also exploring opportunities with BWCE to provide solar energy for some future Council capital projects.”

For more information about the share offer go to: http://www.bwce.coop

The Cabinet is considering the formal co-operation agreement on October 12^th 2011.

The campaign to get the supermarkets and John West to adopt sustainable fishing practices is going well. Morrisons have now changed their policy.

Press release fom Greenpeace

Dear friends,

Brilliant news! Morrisons have announced a new policy on tinned tuna, committing to stop sourcing fish caught with destructive methods. This means that now all major UK supermarkets are moving to 100% sustainably sourced tuna in their own brand tins.

However, John West is the one last dark cloud hovering over our supermarket shelves, stubbornly holding on to catastrophic methods.

If you haven’t already, please email John West now to tell them to change their tuna. And, if you have, please ask five friends to send an email:.

www.greenpeace.org.uk/fishfight

The move by Morrisons follows fast behind promises made by supermarket giants Tesco and Asda, leading brand Princes, plus existing commitments from Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and the Co-op to ditch dangerous fish aggregating devices which kill endangered sharks, rays, turtles, juvenile tuna and other tuna species.

Thanks to your support our mission to clean up the UK’s tuna industry has gone (aherm) swimmingly with rapid progess: it was described by the Independent newspaper today as “one of the most successful environmental campaigns in years”.

Over 41,000 emails have been sent to John West already, asking them to ‘change their tuna’. Plus, now all consumers in the UK have better, less destructive choices when buying tuna tins.

So incredible pressure is now on for John West to switch to sustainable techniques – and match the rest of the UK marketplace.

We’ve had mass exposure of our campaign against damaging fishing practises thanks to Hugh’s Fish Fight TV programme.

Even fisheries minister Richard Benyon pledged support in parliament to tinned tuna companies trying to stop bycatch.

We’re so very close to 100% Fad-free tinned tuna in the UK – with just one brand left to clean up their practises.

So please do keep the pressure on – email John West now:

www.greenpeace.org.uk/fishfight

Thank you,

I have been invited to visit a modern dairy farming unit in Devon on March 24. I am looking forward to the visit to see how the farming is done and learn more about the commercial pressures that farmers are facing. What is clear is that we need farmers and farming and what is not clear is how we farm to produce the food we need at the price we want to pay.

So on the farm visit will be myself, Scott Morrison an  FoE activist and Cate Mack a retired organic farmer.

Defra packaging recycling targets details HERE

The new packaging recycling targets for 2011 and 2012 published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs today (Tuesday 26 October 2010) are a real missed opportunity for the coalition government. They could so easily have put in place a real difference in approach from the lackidasical approach of the last Government. Recycling creates new jobs and means less waste of the Earth’s resources.

The Government has missed the chance to drive forward innovation in plastic packaging design – higher targets would have forced companies to recycle more. For instance why do the manufacturers insist on black plastic which is not so easily recyclable because the machines cannot detect the plastic type due to the colour?

Why are we allowing packaging trays that do not need to be present in the wrapped product?

We should be aiming for ZERO WASTE – and Bath and NE Somerset UA was the first authority in the land to adopt this policy following motions and work by Cllr Roger Symonds and myself.

The targets for packaging are too low and will not challenge the producers enough. The plastic ones in particular could have been tougher.  However it is a start and better than what we had under Labour.

The Conservative dominated Lincolnshire County Council needs to be pursuaded to stop the lunacy of cow factory farming (an idea from USA) before it gets started in the UK. Please sign the 38 Degree petition on this subject and write to Councillors in Lincolnshire objecting to this proposed horror.

Big agricultural companies want to open huge US-style factory farms for cows in the UK. Cows would be kept inside all year and not allowed to graze or eat grass. Animal and environment groups are warning that factory farms of this sort are likely to be bad for climate change, bad for cows, and bad for other farmers. [1]

All the proposals to build these ‘mega-dairies’ are in Lincolnshire. That means Lincolnshire County Council could play a key role in stopping this type of factory farming spreading to the UK.

If we work together, we can make sure Lincolnshire Council feels under pressure from thousands of us to say no.

Please sign the petition to Lincolnshire County Council now:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/no-megadairies

Lincolnshire County Council isn’t often a target for 38 Degrees campaigns. But on this occasion decisions taken in Lincoln could effect the future of farming across the UK. They won’t be used to our kind of people-powered pressure, so we’ve got a great chance to create a real stir and push them to do the right thing.

There are so many reasons why this kind of cow factory farming is a disaster. It relies on huge quantities of imported feed. To grow this feed, rainforest is chopped down, destroying wildlife and increasing climate change. Keeping cows indoors all year round can increase the risk of disease. Industrial milk production also threatens smaller, traditional dairy farms.

We know that campaigning against these cow factory farms can stop them. Local protests have led to two plans for factory farms in Lincolnshire being stalled. But the big agricultural companies will try again soon, and we need to keep building the pressure and make sure people power stops these plans.

Help build a huge petition against the ‘mega-dairies’. Add your name now:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/no-megadairies

Our motion to full Council to try and restrict the growth of this airport was defeated last night by the combined forces of Conservative, Labour and Independent Councillors.

The Liberal Democrats called for a halt to growth and challenged the claimed economic benefits and pointed out that unrestrained growth in flying was damaging to our environment. Not to mention the chaos that is already being caused in our small villages in NE Somerset by the passengers driving to the airport.

However this all fell on deaf ears and the Conservatives – lead by Whitchurch Councillor Peter Edwards – amended our motion to turn it into a peon of praise for airport growth and economic benefit without a care in the world for the environment.