Tonights meeting: Local Food Meal!

The Friends of the Earth Falkirk meeting on Monday, 7.30 Glebe Street Falkirk will be our follow up to the talk by Mike Small on the Fife Diet.

You can see Norman's report on the fife diet talk here.

The Fife Diet have an amazing post on their blog which shows the differences in food consumption in some families around the world. Be prepared for a shock.

Tonight the group will attempt to have a meal of food exclusively from the Forth Valley area- the Falkirk area was seen as too restrictive. Feel free to bring something along. I have looked out how to make mint tea, have eyed up some rhubarb for a sweet, and will provide a starter once I have worked out my options. The discussion will be on the environmental and social impact of food and how to raise the profile of local food production.

On Tuesday the group will have have a stall at a Healthy Living Event at Falkirk Town Hall- 6.30pm to 9.30pm We hope to have a stand looking at the heath benefits associated with cycling, organic food and local food.If anyone is interested in attending and helping out on the stall, even for a short time, do let me or Corrie know.

A new newsletter will be getting produced over the coming month an any articles would be welcomed.

Norman Philip
Local Group Co-ordinator

Food: Where the personal becomes political

Mike Small gave an inspiring talk on Monday on the Fife Diet project. Next Month the group agreed to make a shared meal of a Forth Valley Diet. There will hopefully be soup, salads and a sweet. Lets see what we can do- all welcome:

Corrie Adds:

Just to follow up from Mondays's meeting, Mike Small from the Fife diet has sent me some recipes for Scottish vegetables that are currently in season:

Parsnip Soup & Baked Eggs and Kale

Mini Pasties with Oatmeal Pastry

Rumbledethumps

Vegetables a la Polonaise


He would welcome feedback on any of the recipes if anyone tries them. Just add this to his website http://fifediet.wordpress.com.

I also promised details of the event we have been invited to later in the month. It is for a charity called Braveheart who support people in the Forth Valley area who have heart problems and to this end they hold a yearly event entitled the "Healthy Living Event". This year's event is taking place on Tuesday 27th May from 6.30pm to 9.30pm in Falkirk Town Hall. It aims to bring in local services and support mechanisms to help people live a healthier lifestyle. Last year's event attracted approximately 200 participants and they hope to build on this. We hope to have a stand looking at the heath benefits associated with cycling, organic food and local food.If anyone is interested in attending and helping out on the stall, even for a short time, do let me know.

Lastly another date for your diary is May 12 when the Falkirk Allotment Society is holding an open meeting on at 7.30 in the Christian Centre, Glebe Street, Falkirk

They will have a display of information they have gathered during their research into allotments over the last year. There are growing levels of interest in allotments in Falkirk and they hope you will join them for some refreshments and a chat.

Corrie

The Falkirk Diet???- Event Monday 28th April

The next Friends of the Earth Falkirk Public Event will be a talk by Mike Small on the Fife Diet on Monday 28th April 2008 at The Christian Centre, Glebe Street, Falkirk @ 7.30pm.

The Fife Diet

Mike Small argues that we should eat local produce and save the planet, an idea that has obliged his family - and a growing number of adherents to his cause - to eat meals of local lamb, pork and a great many dishes based on parsnips, beetroots, kale, potatoes, leeks and all the other root vegetables that typify the agricultural output of this wind-swept corner of Scotland. Learn about the pros and cons of sourcing all his food within a 20 mile radius.
"It's part of our experiment to see if we can do it, how long can we do it for, what it costs, and what the health benefits are. We're not saying we've got all the answers. We've got small children, we work, and we're crap at gardening. We are not The Good Life, but it will just be interesting to see if it can be done. It might be that we can't do it and it ends up that we just buy seasonally and more locally.”
Mike Small, The Guardian November 21 2007


What would a Falkirk Diet look like?
What food would we be able to source within a 20 mile radius and could we sustain a healthy diet?

Radio Link

The documentary “The Carbon Connection” features the people of two towns, one in Brazil and one in Scotland, that are intimately linked by a carbon trading project of BP Scotland. This interview features a conversation with one of those people, Norman Philip of Grangemouth, Scotland talking about some of the real outcomes of carbon trading.

Follow the Links below, to hear the interview, and head here to read more details and watch the documentary.
http://www.celsias.com/2008/03/19/the-celsias-show-2-breakin-the-law-breakin-the-law/

The Big Ask: Saturday 7th April

Gordon Brown- Please don't ignore aviation emissions.

Big Ask Climate Change Debate

On Friday 4 April, Friends of the Earth Falkirk welcomed Stuart Hay, head of campaigns at FoE Scotland and Eric Joyce, Falkirk West MP to a debate on climate change to launch the Big Ask day of action the following day.
The event started with a presentation from Stuart on climate change and how we need tough legislation to prevent the situation spiralling out of control in the future.
This was followed by a lively discussion with Mr Joyce. Members of the local group were saddened to hear of his great enthusiasm for nuclear power and how the present government sees nuclear as the only way in which we can fight climate change rather than investing in renewables and a reduction in consumption.
Everyone present agreed that the key to solving emissions problems lies in changing mindsets and education.
The evening ended with the group handing over postcards to Mr Joyce from his constituents asking him to vote in favour of a tough climate change bill.

The Big Ask Falkirk Event- Friday 4th April

As the Climate Change Bill goes through the parliamentary process The Big Ask campaign will continue to demand tough legislation to reduce the impacts of climate change.

An evening of discussion and film on Friday 4th April at The Christian Centre, Glebe Street, Falkirk at 7.30pm.
There will be a screening of sections of the Inconvenient Truth.

Speakers will include:
Eric Joyce MP
and
Stuart Hay
Head of Campaigns
Friends of the Earth Scotland

Meetings on Week Beginning March 31st

Monday evening 7.30pm at The Christian Centre, Glebe Street, Falkirk
The main topic of discussion will be the Big Ask event this coming weekend.

Friday evening (4th April) 7.30pm at The Christian Centre: Film showing for the Big Ask.

Saturday?? Stay tuned for further information.

February FOE Meeting

Monday 26th February 2008 7.30-9.30- Christian Centre

James Curran will give a presentation about his about his new environmentally-aware shop in Glasgow, Entrading, 88 West Regent Street, Glasgow G2 2QZ, on the corner of Hope Street.

www.entrading.co.uk 0141 332 2424

Crew Update (Communities Reducing Excess Waste)

As part of the CREW initiative Corrie Cuthbertson has been involved in a number of forums to try and spread the message of waste minimisation.

As part of a Falkirk Council initiative Corrie has been involved in looking at the possibilities of finding a community to pilot a Plastic Bag Free Zone. This has involved looking at initiatives with examples of good practice and researching the range of alternatives available.

Corrie tried to investigate the possibility of reintroducing reusable glass milk bottles into stores in the Falkirk area. As someone, who still has her milk delivered in a glass bottle to her door, she was surprised to discover that there is currently no capacity in the local dairy market to reintroducing glass milk bottles into local shops.

Falkirk MPs sign up to the BIG ASK campaign

The morning after the Bali UN climate change talks ended without setting strong reduction targets due to pressure from the US negotiators, local campaigners visited Michael Connarty MP to ask for him to support strong reduction targets in the UK climate change bill. On Saturday 14th December 2007 members of Friends of the Earth Falkirk delivered postcards from local constituents asking for a climate change bill strong enough to meet the climate challenge.

The group were delighted that Mr Connarty signed their Big Ask Pledge and agreed to support the Friends of the Earth call for 80% cuts in UK carbon reductions by 2050, annual milestones for reductions and the law strengthened to include the UK’s share of international emissions from aviation and shipping.

Michael showed his ongoing commitment by signing an Early Day Motion (EDM) tabled by Nigel Griffiths in January 2008 on the Climate Change Bill. The EDM welcomes the Bill, but points out the United Nations Development Programmes recent conclusions that the targets are not ambitious enough and that leaving out international aviation and shipping weaken the Bill considerably, and calls for the Bill to be amended.

Eric Joyce MP was also visited by FoE Falkirk as part of the Big Ask campaign and he agreed to sign up to the demands. He offered to come and meet the local FoE group to discuss the issues, but unfortunately this had to be postponed due to his commitments in parliament.

PULP FICTIONS Saturday 2nd February

Secrets of the paper industry exposed (and what we can do about it)
Keynote speaker Mandy Haggith, author of the forthcoming book ‘Paper Trails’, will explain how we can limit the environmental and social costs of an industry that in many parts of the world has cleared ancient forests to make way for industrial plantations, displaced local communities, endangered wildlife, used massive amounts of energy and caused substantial pollution.

Other contributors will outline the state of recycling and waste reduction today in Scotland and how they are currently promoted.

This event is being held at the Christian Centre Glebe St Falkirk

Packaging Action in Falkirk

Some pictures from the Packaging action held at Morrisons supermarket in Falkirk.

Meeting Report Sept 2007 Part 1

The speaker this month was Shaun from Going Carbon Neutral Riverside. GCNR us a grass roots organisation based in teh riverside are of Stirling (right) who are working toward reducing emissions in their community.

Shaun covered the organisations involved and the work done so far in moving forward with the project. The group has been reasonably well funded and their work in producing a feasability study on a biomass district heating scheme is likely to be of value to other similar sized communities. Other work has included looking at improvements to insulation in buildings, promoting existing schemes to fund loft and cavity wall insulation, and the supply of energy saving light bulbs although the choice of free bulbs has limited uptake. Improvement in community lighting in closes has also been examined based on experience in Glasgow. One technical issue which has come up and will resonate in many areas of Sotlnais the difficulty in insulating older stone built homes.

The Going Carbon Neutral Riverside website has details including an excellent energy reduction diary .

PACKAGING ACTION DAY - Saturday 27th October 2007

FED UP WITH THE EXCESS PACKAGING YOU ARE TAKING HOME?

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH SCOTLAND IS HOLDING A PACKAGING ACTION DAY

On Saturday 27th October 2007 at 11am in Morrisons Store, Hope Street, Falkirk.

What is a Packaging Action day?

It is a day when people in the community travel to a local supermarket and present the Manager with what they consider to be excess waste from that supermarket.

What is the purpose of this day?

The purpose of this day is to raise awareness of the issue of excess packaging. We’re aiming to persuade supermarkets to make changes to their use of excessive food packaging and plastic, as well as encouraging them to use environmentally friendly practices.

Who can participate?

Anyone who is fed up with over-packaged goods can take part and it will only take an hour or so of your time!

What do I need to do to participate?

Contact your local Waste Prevention champion
(Corrie Cuthbertson) for more details

Join in and help make a difference!!!

Off to a bad start

Due to other commitments I missed a few stories through the last couple of months.

One interesting article according to edie.net

Brown downgrades climate committee
Source: www.edie.net

Not a promising start from our new leader.

More in the Guardian on the problems with biofuels.

Biofuels switch a mistake, say researchers

And finally some local news which has already been doing the rounds.

£18m waste plant plan for Polmont

Better news than an incinerator although a reduction in waste would be preferable to a technical fix that makes it seem that waste is a solution to another problem. It would be interesting to find our how much of the embodied energy in the waste is actually recovered by this process.

An Inconvenient Truth

There will be a showing of An Inconvenient Truth at Falkirk Town Hall on Tuesday the 26th
of June at 7.30pm.



FOE Falkirk will have a stall and a discussion has been arranged in the lounge after the film.

Cyberactions

A reminder of the cyberactions web page on FOE-Scotland.



Currently there are two actions related to climate change.



Demand a tougher Climate Bill

Write to your MP about the Climate Bill

CATE

CATE (Crap at the environment) is comedian Mark Watson's attempt to tackle environmental issues in his and the lifes of other members. The group and blog on myspace consists of discussion of issues, and the setting of personal challenges. These vary from the quite particular issues like buying no plastic for a week, spending no money for a day to doing something on the World Environment Day (did anyone notice) actions list. Although generally light hearted some of the discussion highlights just how difficult it can be to try and reduce our environmental impact.



CATE on myspace

Meeting - May

Friends of the Earth Falkirk meet on Monday 29th May, 7.30 at the Christian Centre, Falkirk. There will be a introduction to a new Friends of the Earth Scotland project by Rosiaina Browning FoE Scotland’s Waste Prevention Co-ordinator. The CREW tour will be about 'climate-friendly living'. The project will explain to members of the public what steps they can take to live climate friendly lives. At the same time it will explain what the government should be doing to make it easier for people to live greener lifestyles.