December 2009

 

 

No meeting this month – instead it’s a   Christmas Social                                                                                        At La Siesta Tapas Bar, 11 Bond Street, Ealing W5 Wednesday 16 December from 7.30 pm onwards

 

 

The Wave … and Copenhagen

 

Ealing FoE members were among the crowd of 50,000 who made up the Wave on Saturday 5 December  to demand strong and urgent action on climate change. Representatives of all the member groups of the Stop Climate chaos coalition, mostly dressed in blue and many with blue hands and faces marched from Grosvenor Square to Westminster and surrounded the Houses of Parliament with banners and chanting.

 

See www.stopclimatechaos.org for more information and links to photos and media coverage of the event.

 

At the talks in Copenhagen, Friends of the Earth is calling for

•         Rich countries to fulfil their legal and moral responsibility cut emissions first and fast  - and pledge to cut emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2020 at home without offsetting;
•         The leaders of rich countries to abandon their promotion of carbon trading - an irresponsible and dangerous gamble which will do nothing to protect us from catastrophic climate change;
•         Proposals to be scrapped which would allow rich countries to buy chunks of forest whilst continuing to pump out emissions: an approach which won't solve climate change or halt deforestation.

 

Friends of the Earth International urge you to sign their online petition to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change leaders/Heads of Government – go to www.foe.co.uk

 

 

Arcadia Development

 

As you probably already know, the plans for the development of the Arcadia centre (featuring blocks of up to 26 storeys high) have been rejected by the Secretary of State.  Although acknowledging that the scheme would deliver some benefits, overall he considered that the bulk, massing and certain aspects of the design would be inappropriate in its surroundings. The developers Glenkerrin have until 18 January to appeal against the decision.

 

Ealing FoE, although in favour of high-density developments near a major transport hub, objected to the proposals on several issues, such as no space for bus interchange, and no allowance for no-car households

 

 

 

Christmas gift Idea

 

If you haven’t already got one, why not invest in a battery charger and some rechargeable batteries  - or buy a set to give as a present.

 

 

Ramblers Festival of Winter Walks

Too much Christmas pudding?  Walk it off with the Ramblers. Visit www.ramblers.org.uk for details of walks taking place all over the country between Boxing Day and 3 January.

 

Nearby walks include Richmond and Twickenham circular on Boxing Day (6 miles, start Richmond station 11 am) and Greenford to Northolt on 31 December (3 miles, starting from Greenford Station at 10.50 am).

 

 

Recycling Christmas cards

 

Once again the Woodland Trust will be collecting Christmas cards throughout January. Take them to W H Smith, Marks & Spencers or T K Maxx and help the Trust plant more trees.

 

 

Kew Mutual Improvement Society

 

Talks on a variety of topics on Mondays at 6.00 pm in the Jodrell Laboratory Lecture Theatre, Kew Road (on 65 bus route). Tickets (£2) available at the door. Forthcoming subjects include a talk by the Head Gardener at Down House, (home of Charles Darwin) on 11 January, and Rainforest Restoration in South east Asia on 25 January. Visit http://www.kew.org/kmis  for more information. 

 

 

Prove it!

 

That’s the name of the Science Museum’s project  which presents the evidence on climate change and asks people to respond to the following statement with “count me in” or “count me out”.

 

“I’ve seen the evidence. And I want the government to prove they’re serious about climate change by negotiating a strong, effective fair deal at Copenhagen”.

 

Interestingly, in the Prove It! Gallery at the Museum, a large majority of visitors opted to be counted in, while on the website the result was very different, with many more people counting out.

 

You can still visit Prove It! or take a look at it on the website www.sciencemuseum.org.uk . Next year the Science Museum is launching a new dedicated Climate Change gallery.

 

 

 

 

Next month’s meeting Wednesday 20 January 2010 at 7.45pm

The Rock Room, St John’s Church, Broomfield Place, off Mattock Lane, West Ealing W13 9LB

There will be a speaker from the Climate Camp.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

From Newsletter Editor: Virginia  ( vfassnidge@yahoo.co.uk )