TALK TO U3A  29 MAY 2002

 

 

I expect you're wondering why I've invited you all here today. 

I'm especially touched that you've all asked three friends to come along too.

My name's David Oakley-Hill and I'm co-ordinator of Luton Friends of the Earth.

 

Superman said "Two things most people never know is Why am I here and How can I make a difference?" On your chair you'll see a list of some of the things we can all do quite easily to make a difference.

About Luton FOE

Luton is one of 200 FoE local groups in the UK. 
FoE was founded in 1969 in America and 1971 in Britain.  One of the main ways we are effective in looking after the environment and taking action to solve problems is by influencing decision makers.  We are now represented in 68 countries. There are actually more groups now in southern countries than northern ones - so in international forums we can come with a global view and understanding of local circumstances, and argue for fairness.  This is particularly important as 80% of the world's resources are used by the rich northern countries. 

Our founding phrase, which I'm sure you've all heard, and I hope at least some of you apply, is Think Globally, Act Locally.  If you're not sure what this means, or how you can make a difference, I hope you'll have a better idea by the time I leave.

I was asked what I'd like to speak about.  I chose "A healthy environment = healthy people".
So I expect you've realised that I must be "The Doctor".   The world is our Tardis.  I don't know if you've found this, but it seems to be shrinking lately.  Quicker travel, more people, media pictures whizzing across the world.  One of my favourite programmes is Correspondent - both on Radio 4 and TV - which gives you a taste and a little understanding of places and cultures you're never going to visit. 

I believe that between 16 and 25 there should be a call-up.  Not to the forces, but to exchange with and live in foreign countries, so everyone can experience at least 3 months of life in a different culture.  This would give young people a more broad-minded way of understanding our own culture when they return, and do a lot to dispel prejudice, which is usually taught by parents, and based partly on fear of the unknown.  I'm concerned by the materialistic adult lifestyles today which seem for many people to be a vicious circle - Work harder - earn more money - buy more things - keep going!  Happiness is, of course, just around the corner. And we can't keep having more things - we live on a limited planet.

When some people think of Friends of the Earth, they think of hippies and sandals.  Well, that may still be a little true at weekends.  I joined Luton FoE in 1986 and have been Co-ordinator for several years.  I believe strongly in networking and listening to the views and expertise of others to learn, and to achieve results.  And you should never campaign without having done a little research, so you have some idea what you're talking about.  Anyway, for part of my life I find myself acting like a kind of doctor, or at least an adviser. 

 

'Act Locally'.  Well, what's going on?

To try to keep the local environment healthy, Luton FOE campaigns mainly on wildlife and green space, transport, recycling / reuse, and food and health issues.  People ask us for help all the time, and if we can't help, we probably know someone who can.  We maintain contact and exchange info with a wide group of people, but always need more to join in.  We're particularly interested in attracting young people, so If you're interested, let me know afterwards.

 

 

 

 

 

Specific campaign aims  

TO PROTECT GREEN SPACES FOR PEOPLE AND WILDLIFE

 

Many callers ask for help on saving green spaces.  The council generally supports developers, is often a developer itself, and builds on green spaces rather than employment areas, so we have far less recreation space than we need - often too little to support wildlife.  This leads to social problems - people need to breathe healthy air. To walk near trees and open green space daily is wonderfully relaxing, and a change from buildings.

 

At public meetings people are ignored by the council which should represent them. People in Bushmead lost their village green through bad planning. The council wants to move the Baths to Stockwood Park against the majority.  Stopsley unanimously opposes development of Butterfield Green.  The council initially said  "the University needs it", but had to persuade them to support it.  With another University department closing, there's not much danger of  them expanding - but the front page of Luton on Sunday reports that the council has a government grant.  Strange that government policy is not to build on green land.

 

Century Park is a massive 40 hectares of beautiful rolling green fields behind the airport which the council is dying to develop.  Fortunately residents have made such a fuss that the only access would be an expensive tunnel under the airport, and even the airport manager says there's plenty of capacity around existing buildings. There's an attractive bridleway around the edge, for any walkers among you.

 

In March we wrote a 10-page response to the Local Plan.  In letters and at meetings, Luton FoE argues strongly against too much development, and putting it in the wrong places, but too often we are overruled by those with narrow vision focused on money to the exclusion of health, social needs and quality of life.

 

I am Secretary of Manton Area Riverside Management Association, formed in 1997 when the Council bought land between the River Lea and Manton Drive.  Residents want the area as wilderness, not 'green desert'.  We have done litter-picks, saved a hedge, and got bollards and mounds installed to keep out travellers.  We've planted 23 trees, including 2 willow and 2 hornbeam this February which are about 12 feet tall and doing well.  The area was recently designated a County Wildlife Site.   Luton FoE, with Parks Dept, has planted a hundred trees along the river.  We are discussing with County experts how best to protect Luton's mature trees.

 

 

TO IMPROVE PUBLIC TRANSPORT, CYCLING AND WALKING

 

The average time spent by British people in traffic jams every year is eleven days.  Life's too short!

 

Nationally, FoE is calling for a well-funded, publicly accountable, publicly controlled rail system; tackling the link between transport and social exclusion; and fighting specific new road proposals.

 

For three years I chaired Luton's Local Agenda 21 Transport Group, working to develop a more sustainable transport system that would reduce car use.  I built it up to 50 people, and brought together their positive ideas for improving and integrating public transport in a report called  'Sustainable Moves' , which is on the new Luton FoE website.  It was published in a document called 'Building a Sustainable Community in Luton', which Luton BC submitted to the Dept of the Environment.  Sadly, we think Luton Council spends a lot of its money in the wrong way.

 

With other community groups, and South Beds FoE, we campaign to open the rail tracks between Luton and Dunstable for trains or trams, which could be done by 2004, and later extended to Leighton Buzzard, Milton Keynes, and other West Coast Mainline stations.  This would give choice, which is what the vast majority wants, and would attract people out of their cars. A government report states that the council's Translink busway, which wouldn't be open before 2007, would not reduce traffic, and the Advertising Standards Authority found that Luton Council has consistently misled the public about it.  They continued to do so after the announcement.  Arriva cannot run buses efficiently - bus journeys were down 8% last year.   In Croydon, bus routes were moved to meet the new trams, and it has been a great success, getting over a million people out of their cars.

 

Too many young people aren't getting enough.  What am I talking about?  Exercise.  Cycling is healthy , providing it's safe.  Life needs to made easier and safer for cyclists in Luton.  I am on Luton Cycle Forum, which meets this evening.  We have suggested many cycle routes, and asked for more spending on training young cyclists.  Luton has actually been told off by the govt for not spending enough on cycling.

 

I suggested that Luton follow St Albans and start a Walking Bus scheme, which has begun at Bushmead.  The idea is that a crocodile of children is led and tailed by a couple of parents, picking up passengers on the way.  Kids become more aware of their surroundings, and enjoy it, while fewer parents block the road outside the school with their cars.  Common sense really.

 

Efficient and affordable public transport is needed for the rapidly expanding numbers of airport passengers, and the 8000 employees.  I am on Luton Airport's Transport Forum, to try to bring change.

 

I have asked the council again and again to create a simple network of HGV routes in Luton, but nothing ever happens. I have even submitted my own proposed map, which the council has lost.  This includes the banning of lorries over 7.5 tonnes from Stockingstone Road, which I raised again last week with a Councillor who has Environmental responsibility in Luton, heaven help us.

Gordon Brown has allocated  £64 billion for the railways, and set a target of increasing rail passenger miles by 50% and railfreight carried by 80% by 2010.   But apart from trying to put right Railtrack's safety failures, he doesn't seem to be using much of it.  A famous man once said "A politician is a man who stands for what he thinks the voters will fall for".  Blair has misread the public - he seems to be scared of the road lobby, and doesn't appreciate the strength of feeling about the need to invest in better railways.   A new transport select committee report says that the government's 10 year transport plan could actually cause more traffic jams and that ministers are wildly optimistic about the chances of getting private firms to pay for rail improvements.  It fails to tackle the rising costs of public transport, and fails to promote a reduction in car use. It sounds as if a bit of radical thinking is called for. We wait to see if Stephen Byers' successor will be an improvement.

The trouble with having all these train operators is that they have a different agenda from the government.  The regulator apparently has no power over discounted fares.  Peak hour trains are overcrowded, but rather than provide longer trains and platforms, Thameslink prefer to increase fares, not caring if they force people into their cars.  I have handed out leaflets at the station and written to Kelvin Hopkins MP urging that the government and regulator prevent huge fare increases for Network Card users planned for this Sunday, 2 June, which will hit people who can least afford it, and push people onto our overcrowded roads.  Unfortunately the train operators seem determined to go ahead with it.  Senior Railcards aren't affected, but you might want to tell friends and relatives under 60 that if they use a train to go to London at least 4 or 5 times a year after 10am, they should get a Network Card by Saturday, which will give them reductions for 15 months.  It's even worth getting a new one if your existing one has 6 or 9 months to run.  It only costs £6.60 to Kings Cross, Blackfriars, London Bridge or South London stations. With a new card bought after Saturday, it'll cost £10.

 

 

TO MAKE RECYCLING EASIER FOR HOUSEHOLDS AND BUSINESSES

  

Have you seen that speeded up photography of a dead bird rapidly disappearing as invisible little bugs nibble on it and bacteria break it down?  Nothing in Nature is wasted.  

You can't throw things away - there is no away.  Everything goes somewhere. 

 

On the Council's Recycling Sub-committee for 6 years, I encouraged Luton to introduce kerbside recycling.  Twin banks for cans and litter were put in George Street and the Sixth Form college at my suggestion.  I collect a tonne of office paper in a Transit van from businesses and council offices each month for recycling. 

 

Rather than tossing everything in the dustbin, I hope you all use the bottlebanks, textile banks, charity shops, and possibly car boot sales.  85 to 90% of the contents of a dustbin can be reused or recycled.  So far we're only up to about 12% in Luton, which is the average in Britain, but the bottom of the table in Europe, where Austria, Switzerland, Holland and Germany have reached around 50%.  It doesn't help that the average Briton throws out one and half times that of his European neighbour.  And there's virtually no recycling in schools - where's our next generation of recyclers?

 

Next year we'll have a second Tidy Tip Recycling Centre at the other end of town. We'll also get doorstep collection of garden waste. But I am pleased to tell you that you can now put more materials in the green bins at your front door - (who knows what goes in already?)  Well now you can recycle cardboard (cereal packets, boxes) and also plastic food trays, yoghurt pots and margarine tubs.

I have written responses to and influenced Beds Minerals & Waste Strategy   We oppose incineration, which has health effects, wastes resources, and ties local authorities into 25 year contracts which say feed me, feed me!  They discourage recycling.  Burning products containing chlorine such as PVC produces dioxins. These are the most toxic substances known, and there are no safe levels. 

We have to reduce what goes to landfill, particularly organic matter, which produces evil-smelling liquid.  But a respected govt committee has emphasised that we should not move from one bad practice - landfill - to another - incineration, which leaves 50% concentrated toxic ash that needs to be landfilled anyway.  We need to concentrate on reduce, repair, reuse and recycle.  For lots of other reasons why Incinerators are a bad idea, go to the Greenpeace website  and click on the incinerator tour for an animated and educational 5 minutes.  Last week It was great news when the government refused an extension of the Edmonton incinerator in North London on environmental grounds.

However, incineration, like nuclear power, is already heavily subsidised.  Recycling isn't.
There are two big incineration companies operating in the UK, and they are both French.  To make it sound better, incineration is known as Energy from Waste, and is promoted by the Energy from Waste Association. Its website runs something like this (Huh-herm) -  (attempted French accent)

The Energy from Waste Association is thought to be the largest source of rubbish in the UK.  EfW contributes strongly towards greenhouse gas targets. 

Question:  Does EfW discourage recycling?
It is entirely complementary with recycling, providing of course all the recycling depots supply their products for incineration. 

Question:  Surely EfW plants don't make good neighbours?

Modern EfW plants are subject to strict environmental standards designed to reduce emissions to a minimum.  We must learn to tolerate the odd 553 illegal breaches of emission levels every couple of years. EfW power stations are sensitively sized to allow scope for recycling to develop - eg Allington, at 500,000 tonnes, which will incinerate everything in North and West Kent.  

Question:  Are EfW plants a source of dioxins?
Dioxin levels in the environment are falling , but we will build lots of large incinerators to reverse this trend

Question:  What about traffic to and from the plant?
Vehicles are restricted to prescribed routes during normal working hours so the impact is kept as low as reasonably practicable.  During the night, we get them to drive down country lanes to annoy the locals.

In short, The Energy from Waste Association is run by a generation of fossils, emitting methane, who should be landfilled.

 

I'm the Editor of The WasteBook, which is NOT a book, but a web directory which I think of as a 'dating agency' for businesses who have various types of waste they want to recycle.  "Would like to meet friendly organisation who would love to take our waste away for a bit of TLC."  In a hundred different waste categories, we list two thousand organisations who might want that waste to reuse or recycle.  You can find it at www.wastebook.org, and so far it's had 35,000 visitors.  Last week a direct link was put in from the Herts County Council website, so the word is spreading.

 

Businesses should be deciding how to deal more efficiently with what comes in to their premises and what happens to it while it's there, as well as what happens to it afterwards. 

 

It's also important to stop wasting energy - we all heat the sky above our houses.  There are apparently new solar tiles, so in 10-15 years millions of homes and businesses could be energy self-sufficient and even contributing energy to the national grid.  The UK is the best source of wind in Europe. (And this time I wasn't talking about the government!)   But Germany is far ahead of us - they're spending £20bn on offshore wind.  Denmark has 70% of the world market in turbines.  FoE wants 20% of our energy to come from renewable sources by 2010, and no revival in nuclear power.

 

Anyway, back to waste. The first step is to reduce the waste produced in the first place.  Every business can save quite a lot of money - and raw materials - if they do a proper audit.

 

There are hundreds of industrial estates in Bedfordshire alone.  You've probably never thought about this, but what happens in all of them is that each little industrial unit is carrying out its own business and acts like a little island. Lorries from different waste contractors zoom around the country popping in to pick up waste from one unit and go away again.  How daft is that?   So I have this idea - I call it my SLIC idea - Sorting from Local Industrial Centres. 

 

These estates all have owners, and sometimes a management team overseeing activities.  At any one time, at least one unit is vacant - often more.  This could be used as a storehouse for waste materials, which can be gathered and sorted, like different types of timber in a timber yard, by one person working 3 or 4 half days a week.  Once there's a decent quantity of one type, say plastics or metals, this person can use The WasteBook to contact a local contractor who wants these materials for treatment or reuse.  This will save money on skips for all units in the estate, and keep lots of lorries off the roads.

 

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I'm part of a national Zero Waste strategy committee, committed to achieving Zero Waste in Britain by 2020.  Does that seem optimistic?  A Zero Waste target has been adopted by Canberra (by 2010), by Western Australia (by 2020), by New Zealand, by Toronto and by Bath & N.E Somerset.  We want this to be taken up by all councils and businesses in the UK.

Now this is not a new idea - I'm sure one or two of you remember this from the War.

Zero Waste means re-designing products so they last longer, and materials are repaired, reused, recycled, or composted.  Waste must be designed away.

Zero Waste tackles the health problems of Landfills (which produce methane and pollute water tables), and Incinerators (which produce greenhouse gases, and a toxic cocktail of heavy metals, particulates and dioxins). 

Zero Waste lightens the ever growing pressure on the world's forests, soils, and mineral resources by making more with less, and fixing carbon in the soil. 

Doubling the life of a car saves 15 tonnes of materials needed to make a new one.
Recycling paper gives wood fibres six lives rather than one, and major energy savings.
Redesigning production and eliminating waste is stimulating a green industrial revolution.  New materials, new industries, more jobs.  In Germany, recycling already employs more people than telecommunications.  In the US, recycling has overtaken the auto industry in direct jobs.

Councils and companies overseas who are well on their way to zero waste have shown they can recycle and compost 70% or more of their waste streams already, with existing product design.

Our starting point is to create zero waste areas where we live and work
- in our streets and villages, in our scchools and hospitals, and workplaces.
The Government must change the current waste regime which favours disposal over recycling.

A ten point plan will be launched in June to transform Britain's waste economy:

 

 

 

 

 

 

INCREASE ACCESS TO HEALTHIER AND LOCALLY PRODUCED ORGANIC FOOD

 

Our food system is profoundly wrong.  Margaret Beckett says she loves both the environment  and agribusiness and free trade.  Why are our motorways filled with big dangerous lorries?  Live animal exports cause suffering and carry disease.  But it's not necessary.  Britain imports 240,000 tonnes of pork.  We export 195,000 tonnes of pork.  We import 125,000 tonnes of lamb. We export 102,000 tonnes of lamb.  We import 126 million litres of milk.  We export 270 million litres of milk. We import chicken from Thailand and Brazil.  We export chicken to Russia and South Africa.  Over 60% of UK apple orchards have been lost since 1970.  We now import 430,000 tonnes of apples, nearly half from outside the EU. 

 

Thanks to our trawlers which hoover up the seabed, decimating the ecology, EU fishing policy, our stupidity in fish and chips having to be cod, and the UK and most European countries overfishing, we now have to import most of our fish from a long distance.  All this unnecessary extra airfreight causes global warming.  All the extra ships dump pollution in the seas.  Our reliance on monocultures like wheat sprayed with pesticides is making people ill.  Big, grim industrial factory farms taking over small family ones means 500,000 farm jobs lost in the EU each year.  This means fewer country shops, post offices, doctors and schools.  A farmer gets 4p for a loaf of bread, 12p for a pint of milk, and £17 for a year's supply of homegrown vegetables. Tesco alone turns over more than the whole of agriculture.  We must change our systems of production and distribution.

 

I have tried to raise awareness of pesticides, genetic modification and additives in foods, and encouraged people to eat healthily and to buy organic.  Pesticides are designed to kill. They are persistent chemicals  that build up in your body.  They have found their way into farm workers' sperm, caused high birth defects on farms, brain dysfunction, autism, breast cancer.  Pesticides are found in all meat products. People exposed to pesticides in the home and garden are twice as likely to get Parkinsons disease.  Why should you have to wash lettuces, peel apples and top and tail carrots?  In any case, a third of common fruit and vegetables contain pesticide residues which can't be removed by washing or peeling.  If you want to stay healthy, just buy organic.

 

For several years Luton FoE members ran Chiltern Organics, a vegetable box delivery scheme, and two years ago I organised an organic fruit and vegetable stall at the farmers' market in George Street.  It is good to see a range of organic vegetables in the supermarkets. There's an Organic Week from Oct 14-20.

 

Food travels the UK in polluting lorries filling up our roads, so the next stage is to encourage supermarkets to support local producers, and CPRE (that's the Council for Rural England) has asked them to increase their sourcing of local food, such as England's speciality cheeses and local apple varieties, to 5% of all food lines and 5% of sales by 2005, and to clearly label local foods.

 

We should celebrate local producers, although I wish more of them grew organic.  Of course now's the time of year to plant your own produce.  Who grows some of  their own veg? 

This Beds CC booklet 'Made in Beds', lists local food and craft suppliers; and there is a local initiative to encourage community gardens and greater use of allotments.   And - not mentioned in here - you can get free range eggs from Woodside Wildfowl Park.


As someone's bound to ask, yes I'm vegetarian, which is easy in the UK.  I'm only a significant minority of 4 million, so won't make a big deal of this, but evidence shows that our meat-based diet, mainly factory farmed, causes massive groundwater and air pollution, aggravates global hunger, and compromises our health.  Vegetarians don't get salmonella, e-coli, BSE, dioxin or antibiotic overload from animal feeds.

 

Animals are treated cruelly and without respect.  Calves don't taste their mothers' milk - they're taken from their mothers within 24hrs and sold for meat.  Within 60 days the cow's pregnant again. Millions never see daylight and are squashed together on concrete floors, so they have to be pumped with antibiotics, and in the US, with genetically modified bovine growth hormone.  But they still get diseases like mastitis, leaving nasty residues in the milk. Cows are made to produce more than twice what they did 30 years ago, and live about 5 years instead of 25.  They're seen as a milk machine, a food product.  Coca Cola are test marketing milk-based drinks for children - "Cola-nisation" of the dairy industry.  We could feed vastly more people using the same land - it is inefficient in a hungry world to feed vast quantities of water and grain to cattle.  20 billion head of livestock take up a big space on the earth - that's triple the number of people - and their bodily functions add quite a lot to global warming.

 

 

GM FOODS 

Blair claims he's promoting science, not ignorance.  But there is good science and bad science.  All surveys show the majority of citizens in the UK and many other countries do not want genetically modified foods.  People are rightly uncomfortable with a process that couldn't happen in nature, like putting an anti-freeze gene from a fish into sweetcorn.  Companies sell crops with added genes to make them resistant to their own weedkiller, allowing farmers to kill all plants except the crop. 

 

But many birds and insects depend on specific wild plants. The biggest worry is new genes getting out of control in the environment and affecting existing ecosystems - there's been plenty of proof that this already happens - weedkiller resistance spreading to weeds, or death of the lava of the monarch butterfly, for instance.  Even experts don't properly understand soil science.  But GM foods could increase our resistance to antibiotics, or if insufficiently processed, could interfere with the gut flora that operate our digestive systems.  And don't want we want fresh food that's less processed?  

 

Companies like Monsanto and Aventis have lied over and over again. One false claim is that GM crops are needed to feed the world.  The problem is not that there isn't enough food - it's a matter of rich and poor, and the will and ability to share and transport food.  In any case it's monoculture that has caused much of the problem. There are strains of wild rice that provide far more nutrients and better yield.

 

A new report from the EC on potato, maize and oilseed rape, warns that it would be 'virtually impossible' to stop cross-contamination if GM crops are widely planted.  This is common sense - we can't control bees or the wind. Crops can only be certified organic if they contain no trace of GM.  It's worrying enough that GM crops have already been planted in over 500 UK test sites.  Organic farmers fear the risk of their crops being contaminated, is so great that many would be forced out of business.  The Soil Association, said: "GM growing must be banned. We do not believe that GM and organic can co-exist.'

GM crops raise costs:  Farmers would face higher, in some cases unsustainable, production costs if GM crops were grown on a large scale in Europe, according to a secret EU study leaked to Greenpeace.

Yet our Government is planning to change the law to make it more difficult for the public to object to commercial development of GM crops, according to a confidential note leaked to Friends of the Earth.

 

Former supermarket boss Lord Sainsbury, now Blair's Science Minister,  has promoted GM crops and also given £9m to Labour over the past five years.  His shares in a bio-tech firm developing GM foods, rose from £27m to £42m by the end of 2000 - though the stock exchange fell sharply.  Now Tony's government has given a grant worth £1.2m of taxpayers' money to the Sainsbury laboratory which researches GM crops at the John Innes Centre in Norwich.  This lab has been involved in campaigns to discredit researchers who don't support GM.  Has Lord Sainsbury been promoting GM research  to further his business interests?  You decide.

 

OTHER HEALTH ISSUES

 

I attend Luton Health Action Zone meetings, to try to keep up with what's going on, and to promote environmental issues relating to health, including transport.

 

Safer chemicals

Nationally FoE works to help people know how to avoid dodgy chemicals, and to empower people to help change legislation so the chemicals in everyday products are as safe as possible.

 

The Factory Watch campaign exposes polluters, gives communities information and advice to fight to reduce pollution that threatens their health and environment.

 

Is it any wonder we keep discovering new health problems when we have over 300 synthetic chemicals in our bodies, which are passed on in breast milk.  Breast milk is still mainly natural, so vastly superior to powdered milk, and establishes bonding, so it is worrying that only 50% of mothers now breastfeed.

Dioxins and PCBs are two of the most poisonous chemicals known. The government surveyed dioxin and PCB levels in sea fish, farm fish and fish fingers.  It concluded that eating more than one portion of fish per week could be hazardous.

 

Bisphenol-A is a hormone disrupting chemical which leaches out of plastic.  It is found in baby bottles, some toys and food containers, and a major source is the lining of cans of food.  It may cause children to reach puberty earlier and weigh more.  It's probably a good idea not to buy tinned food.  Stick to fresh, frozen and organic.

 

An Express reporter got one single cell of her body fat tested for toxins. Although she was eating a healthy diet, it contained 500 synthetic chemicals, including two which "are deadly and have been banned in Britain for many years".  This toxic cocktail is probably worse than the sum of its parts, some of which can cause cancers, infertility or gender change.  The cell of an Egyptian mummy had none.

 

Sweden has called for a ban on the unnecessary use of antibiotics, which turn up everywhere, from cosmetics and household cleaners to kitchen cutting boards and toothpaste.  Triclosan, the one found in toothpaste, is very persistent and has been found in fish.  Several studies have found that half of male fish are being feminised.  Triclosan inhibits a human enzyme, and is only one of a range of chemicals that could cause us to develop antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

 

Buy products which have as few as possible food additives

In possibly half of the processed foods you buy, you'll see hydrogenated vegetable oil.  It's in everything - burgers, chips, biscuits - even some Linda McCartney and Quorn vegetarian foods.  This is a Transfatty acid, or Transfat for short.  It is a cheap ingredient which means producers can save on the amount of nutritious food they include.  Unfortunately, because it is in so many foods, many people exceed the recommended dose.  In a 1994 TV documentary, several scientists described it as a killer.  But do we see less of it? No, more.  Without legislation, money rules.  Many food additives are highly suspect, and could build up in your system.  The general rule is keep processed food to a minimum, and avoid products with a long list of chemicals.

 

Fluoride

The Council plans to introduce fluoride to school milk in September.  Parents will be allowed the choice, but fluoride can lead to health problems: it's linked with bowel and thyroid problems, and brittle bones.  It accumulates in brain tissue and can damage the central nervous system. 

I believe that schools should teach children to clean their teeth - although never to swallow toothpaste, most of which contains concentrated fluoride.  Schools should reduce sweets and fizzy drinks, and provide healthy, balanced meals, including a variety of organic food.  I was pleased to read that one school had resisted the onslaught of big business in the form of Coke, Pepsi and junkfood machines, and instead had put in an organic food and drink vending machine. 

 

The MMR vaccine

Is Dr Andrew Wakefield a villain or a hero?  Mumps Measles and Rubella are dangerous viruses, capable of long-term infection.  Could combining all three be too much for the  immune system of a one-year old child?  It's against nature - these diseases work in the bloodstream of the whole body, and children would never get them all at once. Viruses can interfere with each other to produce adverse effects. Mumps is dangerous for adults, and rubella for adult females, but there is no need for these vaccines until just before puberty.  Each autistic child means a family with great sadness and ruined lives.  Is there is a connection between the triple jab and autism? 

 

There are now over half a million autistic children in the UK.  In the US, it took 25 years to get to 5000 people with autism in 1994. By 1999 there were another 5000!  I in every 32 children vaccinated in the US now develops autism.  A British minister supporting MMR got a very hard time on a US TV chat show.  Wakefield found the measles virus in 83% of gut samples from children with autism and bowel disorders, but only in 7% of children without.  The theory is that the measles element of MMR may damage the digestive system and bowel, allowing substances from cereals and dairy products to pass through a leaky gut wall into the bloodstream and hence the brain.

 

As usual, it's about money, and driven by companies making the vaccines - the triple sounding SmithKlineBeecham, Merck and Aventis Pasteur  -  there are about 350 current MMR court actions against these companies.  Parents are angry the govt spent £3m to persuade people that MMR is safe.  Market potential of vaccines is huge, and mumps hadn't caught on as a single injection, so sales teams persuaded Health Depts that they'd halve time in vaccination clinics.  In 1997 the Dept suddenly withdrew the single vaccines which gave 15 year protection, in favour of MMR, which needs a second dose as it is less effective.  The IT firm that installed the national NHS computer system had not been told to allow for separate entries for single vaccines.  So there are no national records of children who have had single jabs!  The IT firm could name its price when asked later to correct this, so civil servants probably decided it was cheaper to outlaw the vaccines. 

 

The democratic view is usually the right one - 85% of parents believe the NHS should offer a choice between MMR and 3 separate jabs.

 

 

MOBILE PHONES AND MASTS

The electronic chirping of mobile phones is so widespread that some birds are mimicking the sounds and incorporating them into their mating and territorial songs.

Dr Gerard Hyland, in a report submitted to the European Parliament's Industry, Trade, Research and Energy Committee on 11 July 2001, revealed the industry cover-up of the threat from mobile phone radiation. There is consistent evidence from many countries that the health of some people is adversely affected in various ways when exposed to radiation emitted by mobile phone masts, despite its intensity being well below existing safety limits.

These include headaches, sleep disruption, impairment of short term memory, nose bleeds and an increase in the frequency of seizures in children with epilepsy.   I have been to several local meetings where evidence has been given of readings over the limits, of

There is documented evidence that long-term exposure to microwave radiation from mobile phones and masts does cause serious illness, such as leukaemia and lymphoma, in some people.

Children are at greatest risk for several reasons -

-  absorption of microwaves of the frequency used in mobiles is greatest in an object about the size of a child's head

-  children's thinner skulls mean penetration of the radiation into the brain is greater than in an adult.

-  the still developing nervous system and brain-wave activity in a child (particularly an epileptic) are more vulnerable to the microwave pulses from mobiles than with an adult.

 -  a child's immune system is less robust, so they are less able to cope with health effects from exposure to this radiation.

A report in The Lancet says a 2 minute mobile call can alter a child's brain activity for an hour, so classroom behaviour could be affected if calls were made at breaktime. Doctors fear this could lead to psychiatric problems, aggressive behaviour, lack of concentration, memory loss and inability to learn. The report's author is worried that delicate balances such as immunity to infection could be affected by interference with chemical balances in the brain.

A council has closed a school in Spain where 4 cancer cases have been found. In Dec a local judge ordered that 36 mobile phone masts nearby be turned off and taken down.  We still await planning changes that will allow councils to refuse masts in the UK.

 

 

A few examples of acting globally

 

 

Global warming - Burning fossil fuels is the main cause of global warming - although forest destruction accounts for about 20%.  You may be aware there is a 'Stop Esso' Campaign.  Why Esso? Aren't they all the same?  Well, no they're not.  Thanks to FoE and other environmental groups, Shell and BP pulled out of the Global Climate Coalition, a mainly American big business coalition for whom greed overrides concern for the planet.  Shell and BP diversify - they're not only in oil, they're among the biggest developers of renewable energy.  Esso are a giant company, but they're only in oil, and strongly supported Bush's election.  I was at a day of action at the Esso garage in High St North, Dunstable.  We didn't block the entrance, but we held up posters and explained the problem to people .  One of us wore a grinning George Bush mask and did a slow wave.  In three hours, fewer than 10 vehicles went in, and 3 of those apologised that they only came in because their fuel needle was on empty.  Scores of people tooted, gave us thumbs up signs and shouted encouragement.

 

Don't you just love George Dubya Bush?  "I say things because I believe them".  In April he said: "First, we would not accept a treaty that would not have been ratified, nor a treaty that I thought made sense for the country".  What was he trying to talk about?  Yes, the Kyoto Climate Treaty.

 

In a poll in the Los Angeles Times, 59% oppose Bush pulling out of Kyoto - only 21% support it.

58% believe Bush puts business interests ahead of env protection. 55% oppose oil drilling in the Arctic National wildlife refuge.  A 50% majority say protecting the environment should take priority even when it conflicts with economic growth.  A 58% majority say protecting plants and animals should take priority over personal property rights.  These results show Americans are not all stupid and greedy. 

 

Making Corporates accountable

A key FoE campaign is to stop multinationals from damaging communities and biodiversity in the reckless pursuit of profit.  But Blair is ideologically obsessed with big business as the solution to every problem, when it 's often the main cause.  How wrong can you be?   Foot and Mouth is not a fatal disease.  It was only such a big crisis because the government had closed down local slaughterhouses, then listened to big business instead of to small farmers and to those with experience in other countries.  The Netherlands combined slaughter and vaccination effectively.  In Uruguay they had a big outbreak, but vaccinated, and the problem was quickly contained. 

 

New Labour - the party of business. Corporations were invented to serve us, but they are overthrowing us.   They feed off each other - the UK has seen more takeovers than any other European country, and the death of more small businesses.  To succeed, business has to push government out of the way.  They are seizing powers from government, and using them to distort public life to suit their own ends.  They have convinced the government to make planning regulations easier and quicker for them.  Yet the government doesn't seem concerned that increasingly it is not they who run the country.

 

Meacher's warning does mean the loss of billions of lives doesn't it? We're talking about the loss of human life on an unprecedented scale.  So would it be more appropriate to refer to "Climate Criminals" ?  Should we call for Blair and irresponsible business leaders to stand trial, because it is reasonable to expect that their policies on air transport, road transport or extraction of oil will contribute towards the mass loss of human life?" 

OK, I'm being extreme to emphasise the problem of trying to change attitudes of people in government  - and they all have names - who allow business interests, not democracy, to dictate government policy.  But crimes are being committed - against poor countries, today's children and future generations.  The ice is melting, extinction is accelerating, AIDS and asthma is epidemic, fertility is dropping fast.   Some may say "fewer babies, "jolly good job" - but like the decline of reptiles, it is an indication of something worse.

Asking business to do anything voluntarily doesn't work.  Blair actually asked Britain's 350 leading companies to publish environmental reports of their activities by the end of last year.  How much notice did they take?  23% reported, 7% say they might and the rest aren't planning anything.  But actually to confront big business, and all the institutions it has captured and co-opted, is too much trouble.  Enron showed it's easy for big companies to be corrupt and operate for the sake of a few fat cats at the top. 

 

But the politicians are at odds with the public. A MORI poll found that 92% of the British public believe "multinational companies should meet the highest human health, welfare and environmental standards wherever they operate."  The same number think "governments should protect the environment, employment conditions and health - even when it conflicts with the interest of multinationals".

 

It is of concern that the deregulation of business coincides with the increasing regulation of the citizen.

More freedom for business means reduced freedom for everyone else.

 

Businesses dictate what scientists spend their time on - and businesses want profit, so scientists are not directed to what society actually needs.  The independent scientist is an endangered species.  Kids don't want to be scientists - they do bad things now.  The role of education is not to teach facts without context in order to serve industry - it is to enable citizens to know what's important, what's wrong and what's right - that they cannot spend and consume endlessly, they have to learn to save, to conserve and to care - to live lives that are socially responsible.  Businesses are taking over the world's food supply, marketing trendy clothes made in far eastern sweatshops to ever-younger children, taking over schools, universities, hospitals. 

 

There are strong financial incentives for GPs to prescribe certain drugs which are not the best remedy.  One example - Ulcers can be cured using 2 antibiotics and another drug.  Instead, Zantac is widely prescribed for ulcers.  It relieves the symptoms for a few weeks and they come back, and so do the patients, so it's prescribed again.  Loads of money for the drug company. 

 

We are at a crossroads. Can we claim 'compassion fatigue' when we show no sign of 'consumption fatigue'?  We can choose to continue to promote a global system of unlimited 'free trade' among corporations which are anti-democracy and held together by long and highly vulnerable lines of communication and supply, which will have to be protected by a hugely expensive police force to override the freedom and privacy of citizens across the world.  This 'we can use what we like' philosophy has no regard for the rights of people or wildlife, or the need to conserve the limited resources of our planet.

 

Or we can promote a decentralised world economy, aiming to support local self-sufficiency, which will lead to greater democracy - and fewer asylum seekers. Trade would be based around surpluses after local needs have been met.  Rich governments have been hypocritical for too long - they can no longer promote and participate in a global economy and at the same time act exclusively in their own narrow interest.  They need to stand up against greedy companies and say NO - you can't force poor countries to buy your Terminator seeds which shut off reproduction so the farmers can't save their seeds for next year as they've done for thousands of years.

 

The gravest danger is that we continue as we did before September 11^th.  Enough rhetoric about world debt, arms sales, and protecting the soil, water and air - we need action.  Earth is our only refuge.  Environmental action leads to good, not bad, economy.

 

The 3^rd Earth Summit is coming up in August, in Johannesburg.  The early signs are not good.

Northern governments - the US in particular - are likely to stand in the way of action at the pre-talks in Bali. The Summit may make no progress on some of the most important issues now facing the planet - corporate accountability, trade and economic security, poverty reduction, deforestation, access to water. The lives and futures of millions will be damaged if the Bali talks fail - if the selfishness and short-sightedness of the rich world once again tramples over the needs of the poor and the global environment.

 

The struggle between people and corporations will be the defining battle of this century. I enjoyed Tony Benn's comment yesterday that in years to come the anti-globalisation campaigners will be treated with the same reverence as we have for the Levellers who brought democracy in Cromwell's time.

 

 

Biodiversity

 

Plants are the basis of life on Earth, covering the land surface with a fine skin, absorbing the sun's energy.  They provide food, fuel, clothing, shelter and medicines for vast numbers of people.  They control flooding and they govern the climate.  They provide the ecosystem and habitat for animal life.  Humans have a tendency to be arrogant and to forget that we're animals too.  Not only that, but we share 30,000 genes with many plants. 

 

Profit tramples biodiversity. The environment is the most important thing we have - but we're developing, over-consuming, and spreading invasive species. Two thirds of flowering plants are in danger of extinction in the wild. Many plants and animals can't survive in a captive environment, because they're part of a complex ecosystem, such as in rainforests, which support the greatest biodiversity on earth. 

 

Millions of people depend on wild plants and forests for survival.  A tree is an ecosystem. An oak (point to the one on the table) supports 300 species.  Trees take in carbon dioxide, fix carbon, give out oxygen, suck up minerals, prevent flooding, maintain underground water, check erosion - particularly on slopes, fertilise the soil, shelter crops, transpire water to clouds, forest height promotes rain. Trees give us wood, furniture, paper, fibres, resins, dyes, rubber, fuels, sugar, chemicals, nuts, fruits, beans, buildings, boats, bridges, railways.  

 

Quick question:  (1) You want to buy some plywood or hardwood to build some bookcases and have a choice: £28 for uncertified timber or £33 for wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).  Be honest. Which do you choose?  a) uncertified  b) certified

Is there perhaps a third option?  (buy non-hardwood eg coated chipboard)

 

Quick question (2) Do you think that buying wood and paper products you are contributing to an industry which is a) environmentally & socially responsible?  b) inefficient and greedy? c) funding wars and linked to international terrorism ?  Answer: Both b and c. Numerous examples worldwide show the forest industry to be involved in social conflict, including the funding of wars. In 95 Cambodia's Khmer Rouge received between 10 and 20m US dollars per month from sale of illegally felled logs. Liberia's President Charles Taylor has appropriated hundreds of millions of dollars from Liberian logging. The UN discovered several Liberian logging companies with links to the Al Qaeda network and to illegal arms trafficking to rebels in Sierra Leone.

 

Quick question (3)  Only a fifth of the world's original ancient or natural forests remain, and they are under threat. Which do you think poses the greatest threat to ancient forest worldwide? 

a) conversion to agriculture?  b) industrial logging?  c) mining and road building?                        Answer: b - The World Resources Institute estimates that industrial logging poses the single most important threat to ancient forests, affecting 70% of all forests at risk. 20% are threatened by agriculture and 38% by mining and roads.  This adds up to more than 100, because some forests are affected by more than one threat. 

 

 

The thing that moves me most is extinctions. We have no right to wipe out species that have lived and evolved on the planet for thousands or millions of years longer than us.  560 species are now extinct except in zoos. 

 

A castaway who published a book in 1708 wrote that on Rodriguez Island you could see 2000 giant tortoises in a flock - they gathered in the evening in a shady place, and you could walk 100 paces on their backs.  But the navies and whalers liked their meat, and their pigs ate the eggs.  By 1791, they were all gone.  Today, Lonesome George is the very last individual of another species of giant tortoise. 

 

We need to learn to recognise the intrinsic value of all life, and to work with nature, not wage war against it. There are people campaigning hard for strategies and targets. Keep your fingers crossed that that they persuade governments to adopt them. 

 

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I had previously written letters to Blair to try to stop the Ilisu Dam in SE Turkey, which would have destroyed several historic towns like Hasankief.  There was a campaign success earlier this year when the main British company, Balfour Beatty, pulled out following the collapse of its AGM.

 

Along with a hundred FoE members I bought a share in a company called AMEC.  Not as an investment, but so I could attend their AGM in April.  This is not a small company - there are 1.9bn shares out there somewhere.  They have their fingers in some nasty pies.  They are involved with corrupt Indonesian paper companies who are logging illegally in reserves.

 

Most people were at AMEC's agm to object to their involvement in a different Turkish dam, Yusufeli, which would destroy the local environment, and displace 30,000 people.  These are always big, damaging projects, when a series of small ones would be better for everyone.

 

I spent a month in Belize, in Central America - a country the size of Wales, population 200,000. Much is unspoiled.  There are fabulous Mayan temples.  There's nothing like the sound of a rainforest.  This one is home to the endangered Scarlet Macaw and Belize's national symbol, the Tapir, with its extraordinary prehensile nose.  I've listened to the eerie sound of a howler monkey.  seen a toucan, giant millipede, a blue hummingbird - a jaguar has licked the back of my hand. 

 

AMEC did a 1500 page environmental report for the Canadian company Fortis. They control the power supply in Belize, and want to build a dam that would force Belizeans to pay 4 times what the Canadians pay for electricity. The dam would flood 11 square kilometres of pristine forest and unexcavated Mayan sites. The Belizeans have held big protest rallies - they'd prefer cheaper energy via a Mexican pipeline, and solar power.  There is a website, stopfortis.com. 

 

At the AGM I was able to read out a long statement and 5 questions.  I received unsatisfactory answers, and applause.  (read Q2-5)  All AMEC's resolutions were outvoted. I hope they have learnt the lesson not to involve themselves in unsustainable projects.

 

 

CONCLUSION 

 

Remember the guiding principle - Think Globally, Act Locally.  What we do in Luton has repercussions far and wide - whether we pollute the air and river; how we use public transport and run our airport; where our food comes from; whether people leave here with a good attitude.  No town should have policies that leave the environment a worse place for its children.  I am standing as a member of  Luton Assembly, to represent environmental issues.  If elected, I can continue to have a positive influence to make the council act more responsibly and provide better services which reflect the wishes of Luton's citizens.

 

George Bernard Shaw said "Old men are dangerous - it doesn't matter to them what is going to happen to the world."  Well, I'm sure this doesn't apply to you, or you wouldn't be here.  I hope I've told you one or two things you didn't know, or perhaps I've come at things from a different viewpoint, made you think, and perhaps inspired you to take action of some sort - there a few suggestions on the handout. 

 

Thank you for listening.