Gas Guzzlers in Islington - an update

An update to our earlier story on gas guzzling cars

Following the news that Richmond Council are planning to introduce variable parking rates based upon vehicle emissions, Islington Friends of the Earth put out the following press release:

PRESS RELEASE: Islington FOE demands a £1000 per year parking permit charge for gas guzzlers

Islington Friends of the Earth urges Islington Council to link the cost of residents' on road and estate parking permits to their vehicles' CO2 emissions [1] [2]. The initial top rate charge should be set at £1000 and the charge should be adjusted annually in line with targets to cut CO2 emissions in the borough.

Both Labour and LibDem parties made commitments about maintaining or reducing or parking charges[3] [4]. However, Islington FOE believes that these commitments should be abandoned in light of recent reports and recommendations on climate change. The Stern report due to be published Monday 30th, forecasts economic depression if we fail to tackle climate change seriously.

Islington FOE coordinator, Stephen Taylor said, "Climate Change is real and happening now. Motor vehicles of all types already contribute about a third of all CO2 emissions. Gas guzzling vehicles make the situation worse. Action must be taken now or our children and grandchildren will have to pay for our wasted opportunities today. Drivers of gas guzzling vehicles, like all of us, need to be aware of the consequences of their actions on future generations. If they do not, then they must be made to pay."

Islington FOE coordinator, Stephen Taylor said "The use of gas guzzling cars in an inner London borough such as Islington is abhorent. They are far too big, taking up too much space when they are moving and when they are parked, adding to Islington's congestion. When parked on the road they take up far too much parking space that is already at a premium in London. On the move, their sheer bulk can intimidate other more vulnerable road users."

Islington FOE campaigner, John Ackers said "Many of Islington's educated and affluent residents read about climate change and tipping points every week in the Guardian. Yet they still go out and buy these dreadful vehicles. The council must send a clear message to these residents that these vehicles have no place in Islington."

The story was carried in the Islington Tribune quoting Islington's Labour environment spokesman, James Murray, "In principle it's a good idea just as long as increasing charges for gas guzzlers is a genuine move to improve the environmnet, and not another opportunity by the Lib Dems to make more money." Like Richmond, Islington is a Liberal Democrat controlled council. With both main parties backing such a scheme it can only be a matter of time before variable parking rates are introduced in Islington.

Click here to view the full story

Islington Friends of the Earth at the I Count Rally

Members of Islington Friends of the Earth were amongst the 20,000 that took part in the Campaign against Climate Change march and I Count rally on Saturday 4th November. The events took place just before the latest UN climate change talks in Nairobi and before the Queen's Speech unveiled the government's own plans for a climate change bill to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Anita - Islington FOE's friendly tiger at the rally!

Debbie - fooling around outside the US Embassy before the march

Emirates Stadium recycling pick

On Saturday 28th October, Islington Friends of the Earth, along with Islington Timebank, set out to pick up litter around the new Emirates Stadium whilst Arsenal were playing at home inside.

During the ninety minutes of the game we were able to collect 17.8 kg of glass and plastic bottles, and drinks cans. At the end of the day we delivered our collection to the recycling centre on Caledonian Road.

Our action highlighted two things:
First, the lack of recycling facilities for spectators at the Emirates stadium. All the rubbish the fans threw away would go to landfill or incineration.

Secondly, the dire need for street litter to be recycled. At the moment in Islington whilst there are plenty of litter bins there are very few places in the street for the public to deposit items for recycling. Equally whilst the street cleaners do an excellent job clearing up - at our recycling pick we found ourselves running behind them to keep up - all the stuff they sweep up gets thrown into landfill or incinerated.

Islington council is planning a zero waste strategy. For this to succeed, the Emirates stadium must be required to have recycling facilities and the council needs to ensure that there are facilities to recycle street litter.

For more on our recycling pick, click on the link below to watch a short movie filmed by Islington Friends of the Earth and Timebank member, Kirsty Burns:

Where does Islington's recyclable material go?

In a nutshell Grosvenor Waste. Islington Council and six other North London boroughs manage its waste disposal and recycling activities throgh the North London Waste Authority. In turn the NLWA has contracts with London Waste who handle non recyclable waste and composting and Grosvenor Waste who handle the contents of the green boxes.

The contents of the green boxes is mechanically sorted at the Materials Recyling Facility at Crayford by passing the waste through rotating drums etc. A lot but not all of the recyclable material can be easily extracted. The residual waste has to be landfilled or incinerated. However in some high profile news stories covered by the BBC and the Guardian, some of this waste has turned up in Indonesia and China.

Of course it would be much better to get householders to sort all waste into separate bins and collect separately. And this used to happen in Islington up to a couple of years ago. Contamination of the recycled materials such as the glass is much lower and the glass fetches a better price. The problem is that Inner London boroughs like Islington and Hackney have previously struggled to get their recycling rates up to the same level as the middle class boroughs like Barnet and the argument is that it is better to have an easier system that encourages higher participation. Their is another reason; the UK government is obliged to reach recycling levels determined by the EU. Unfortunately the emphasis is on the weight of waste collected rather than the energy recovered or the quality of the recycled material.

From our point of as residents, the best tip is to avoid packaging materials and when you have to buy packaged items, select items that are wrapped with packaging that Grosvenor Waste can handle. Cardboard, card and paper and good; most plastics are bad because they cannot be distinguished from one another. Compound materials like plastic welded onto cardboard, used in tetrapaks cannot be recycled by Grosvenor Waste; there are alternatives.

Islington Council provides a limited amount of information about their green box scheme. We have asked the Council to set up an email list so that residents can keep in touch with developments about their recycling service. However they do not think this would be worthwhile as many residents do not have internet access would be excluded.

Things do change and do email me if you think any of this is now out of date or wrong.

P.S. The NLWA has set up the North London Recycling Forum which is a network of council officers, and organisations and small businesses offering recycling solutions.

Our M.P.s back Climate Bill but...

Emily Thornberry, M.P. for Islington South, is a sponsor of a Climate Change bill, originally drafted by Friends of the Earth, requires the government to make year on year carbon dioxide emissions reductions totaling 60% by 2050. Emily recently met with David Miliband (Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and Jeremy Corbyn, M.P. for Islington North has also written to the government in strong support of the bill.

After three weeks of party conferences at which climate change has been given top priority, you would think the Government would be feeling the pressure to make things happen. Not at all. Neither of our Labour M.P.s has managed to move our intransigent government a single jot.

Friends of the Earth BigAsk.BigMonth.BigLobby

Getting rid of Gas Guzzling SUVs

Islington has many intelligent, affluent and informed residents. Many of them read about climate change and tipping points everyday in the broadsheet papers. If we were to ask them whether the government should do more about climate change, they would answer with a resounding 'YES'. Yet they still go out and buy these dreadful vehicles. More Londoners choose to buy SUVs than the rest of the country.

We often hear from the Mum that does the school run and takes 5 kids and all their clobber to school each morning. Yes it's very convenient but it's simply not sustainable. Before the vehicles move off the forecourt, an enormous amount of energy has been used to produce the vehicle. The vast majority of the 4x4s that I see on the road only have one person in them.

We have approached local Labour and LibDem parties in Islington and asked them to strongly discourage residents from purchasing of new 4x4s by imposing a punitive annual parking charge on them. Of course, this would not be necessary if the government set the road tax at some reasonable level which they failed to do in the 2006 budget; Drivers to pay [slightly more] for Gas Guzzlers. The kind of person that pays £50,000 for a Landrover isn't going to be deterred by anything less than £1000.

We may be leaning against an open door. Some Labour and LibDem councillors are very sympathetic. A Labour councillor commented that ' not only are they CO2 prolific, they are too big for our little roads and grossly antisocial'.

The IT system used by the council to manage parking permits is already able to administer different charges for different sized vehicles.

There is more to come on this.

Alliance against Urban 4x4s
Livingston wants £25 charge for Chelsea tractors

Carbon Rationing in Islington

I am very keen to start a Carbon Rationing group in Islington or in North London. After doing a quick poll after the cycling group meeting last night, it looks like there might be other takers.

Carbon Rationing and Personal Carbon Allowances is very much in the news at the moment. David Miliband has written a blog entry and Poly Toynbee wrote about it yesterday[1][2]

But it will take several years and a willing electorate for a national scheme to get started. A lot of people think this is a completely nutty idea. I don't. If the government were to adopt this scheme, it would allow them to accurately set CO2 levels at the start of each year simply
by issuing the appropriate number of credits. This would, no doubt be debated very intensely before a general election. Many people say carbon credits are just another tax but taxes do not provide the precise control.

In the meantime, I think we should try it for ourselves. Here is a good
introductory article.

There are lots of ways that a local Carbon Rationing group can work. Each group sets its own rules and does it's own thing. It's not about making or saving money by selling/buying credits to/from someone else. Usually the credits are made very cheap. It is about sharing and
learning. One of the things I am wondering is whether I can or should try to improve the insulation in my flat, either externally or internally or give up and move out. I'd also love to get a PV panel on the roof but I don't own my own roof.

Of course Britain is a small fish on the global scene but I think Britain that should step forward and lead the world on carbon reduction. The Chinese and Indian populations have other pressing
problems right now and we need to try these things out before asking them to embrace them.

This post was written by Andy Ross in the West Midlands who set up the first scheme.

Anyone interested? If I get a few positive email responses, I was thinking of setting up a yahoo group. Then we would get something in the local papers and having an initial meeting. If we kick something off, I am guessing that we'd meet occasionally and compare emissions, experiences and discuss condensing boilers and the like. Gosh, cannot wait! We might want to get some politicians and the odd journo involved as well. You never know, a councillor might sponsor us and let us get free meeting space at the town hall.

Welcome to Islington Friends of the Earth

We are the local group of Friends of the Earth, the largest international network of environmental groups, represented in over 70 countries and one of the leading environmental pressure groups in the UK.

Friends of the Earth inspires solutions to environmental problems which make life better for people. For more information about Friends of the Earth and the work they carry out internationally, please visit www.foe.co.uk

We have been active for over 15 years and have been involved in high profile activities like protests against road building, saving precious trees, and campaigning for more recycling.
By getting involved with us you can play a key role in transforming the environment in our part of London and you can also campaign on important global issues such as climate change and corporate responsibility.

Our campaigns meetings start at 8.00pm on the third Wednesday of each month. Click here to find out the date of our next meeting

Feel free just to turn up but you may wish to tell our co-ordinator, Duncan, in advance so we can look out for you.
Joining Islington Friends of the Earth
By joining Islington Friends of the Earth, you are adding your voice to others campaigning to change how we live our lives to protect our environment locally, nationally and across the world

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