Islington Friends of the Earth

Launch of Home Energy Efficiency Campaign

2010-11-21T21:13:00.002Z

Last Saturday we kicked of the our Home Energy Efficiency campaign with a quick stall on Upper St. We were giving out free energy saving light bulbs between 12 and 1pm. We got the chance to speak to about 40 local residents about energy efficiency in their homes and hear about the kind of problems they have; from the students how wait up uncomfortably hot on November mornings but they can't turn the heating off to the pensioner who spend all day in the same room to try save gas in case she is hit with huge heating bills.

The council has made some big improvements with the Decent Home programme but many of the residents we spoke were (like over a quarter of people in Islington) living in private rented housing.
The average dwelling in the private sector produces 5.15 tonnes of CO2 per year while Islington council homes that figure is 4.0 tonnes. At the same time almost a quarter of households in private rented housing spend at least one pound in every ten pounds of income on fuel bills.

Our campaign will be targeting these houses to help everyone tackle climate change and energy bills. To find out more, or to help out with the campaign, contact Duncan on 07533 488 935 / duncanfoe [at] gmail.com

Join us at our next meeting!

2010-04-11T20:00:00.008+01:00

Our next meeting will take place on WEDNESDAY 20th October 2010

Meeting details
Our meetings start at 8.00pm. Please arrive a little beforehand so we can start on time.

At this month's meeting we will be primiarly to plan the start of our housing campaign before the cold weather kicks in.

If you are new to the group, please contact our coordinator beforehand so we can bring you up to speed about our current campaigns before you arrive.

We meet upstairs in the pool room of the 'Hope and Anchor' pub, 207 Upper Street, N1 1RL. It is a short walk down Upper Street from Highbury and Islington underground station. Buses 4, 19, 30 and 43 stop just up the road [map].

You can contact our co-ordinator Duncan Walker on 07533 488935 or duncanfoe@gmail.com.

So come and find out what we're about, then stay for a drink and a chat!

More about the group How do I join

Water on tap?

2010-04-10T21:18:00.000+01:00

Should restaurants and bars serve water on tap instead of bottled water?

Islington Friends of the Earth are launching a new campaign to highlight the perils of bottled water:

Bottled water is more expensive than tap water
The bottled water industry generates around 33,200 tonnes of CO2 a year
2 gallons of water are used to produce one gallon of bottled water
Only 15% of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles are recycled
PET takes up to 450 years to break down in landfill

For more on why bottled water is bad, click here

We have started our campaign by researching which restaurants and bars on Upper Street serve tap water. The good news is that we discovered that most of them do. We visited over 50 venues and nearly 85% said they served tap water. However only one restuarant - Youngs Chinese restuarant - said they served it automatically. In all the others you would have to ask.

For more on the campaign, visit again soon...

Getting Serious part II

2009-10-13T21:41:00.005+01:00

We presented over 100 Get Serious postcards to the leader of Islington, Cllr Terry Stacy, at the October Council Meeting. Islington Council are already doing a great deal to combat climate change, but there is more that needs to be done. We would like them to pledge to cut CO2 emissions by 40% by 2020, and produce a plan saying how they will do it.

We will be continuing the campaign over the next few months.

Getting Serious about Climate Change

2009-10-13T21:16:00.020+01:00

Last year Friends of the Earth scored a massive success with the Climate Change Law which commits the government to year on year cuts in CO2 emissions. Now the real work begins - actually making those cuts. Our new campaign, Get Serious about CO2, is all about getting local authorities to take action.

Nationally councils can have a big influence on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. They have an annual spend of £10billion, they employ 2 million staff and they provide 3.5 million homes.

Action on climate change will create green jobs, slash energy bills and boost Islington’s economy. Inaction will lead to increased flooding and droughts, rising food prices and continued economic instability across the UK and the rest of the world. It would leave billions of the world’s poorest homeless within our lifetime.

Islington Council is already a bit of a pioneer when it comes to tackling greenhouse gases. They have set up the Climate Change Partnership, working with other organisations committed to cutting CO2, and they have recently joined the 10:10 pledge - to cut CO2 emissions by 10% by the end of 2010.

However, our campaign is calling for them go further and make cuts of 40% by 2020. It's a big ask but we know it is possible. That's why we have been out on the streets asking people to sign up to our Get Serious Campaign.

Islington FOE at the Angel Canal Festival

2009-09-13T21:07:00.002+01:00

Islington Friends of the Earth were enjoying the sunshine and persuading passersby to sign up to the Get Serious Campaign at the Angel Canal Festival in September

Outdoor Heaters removed from Upper Street Bars

2009-08-11T11:19:00.010+01:00

At our prompting, Islington Council has taken planning enforcement action against several Upper Street bars and restaurants who had screwed high power electric heaters to the front wall. Upper Street falls inside a conservation area and these heaters didn't have planning permission (and most likely wouldn't get it).

Five bars have removed their heaters. However one (102 Upper Street) claims that the heaters have been up for 4 years and were able to prove this to the council.

Of course, all outdoor heaters should be banned in the UK. But bar owners will do anything to keep their customers warm. Anyone know of other outside visible heaters on buildings in conservation areas?

Photo gallery of all the bars and their heaters

Greggs introduce the unrecyclable bag

2009-03-09T15:05:00.008Z

Greggs, the high end foods retailer specialising in high salt and high sugar content has introduced a new composite bag made of plastic and paper. It combines all the features of both materials. If you get caught in the rain leaving the shop, you can be sure that although one half of the bag with fall apart in your hand, the other half of the bag will stay intact for hundreds of year, at which time the loaf will be just outside its 'best before date' thanks to the use of modern preservatives.

To the untrained eye and probably to most local authority recycling officers, this bag looks pretty much unrecyclable but Greggs have their best brains looking at this conundrum.

Transition Highbury

2009-03-02T15:08:00.002Z

It hasn't launched yet but there is a steering group of five people: Isabel Carlisle, Antony Melville, Cinzia Sarigu, Roger Wright and Tom Hitchman! Transition Highbury

Large scale Renewable Energy will create many more jobs

2008-10-12T08:33:00.011+01:00

Highbury resident Maryse Jones hands a postcard to Islington North's M.P. Jeremy Corbyn asking him to ensure that the government generates 15% of its energy from renewable sources such as wind power.

The Government has been trying to wriggle out of its EU commitment by proposing that cash spent on renewable energy projects outside of Europe should be counted towards the UK's renewable energy target.

Stephen Taylor from Islington Friends of the Earth (in the middle of the picture) said “Rising energy bills and the threat of climate change means generating green energy from renewable energy such wind, sun, waves and tides makes sense and it will create hundreds of thousands of jobs”.

Islington Friends of the Earth collected postcards from 68 other visitors to the Climate Change and Me event at Highbury Fields school on Saturday Oct 11th.

Islington FOE AGM 2008

2008-09-01T20:32:00.003+01:00

Islington Friends of the Earth held their AGM on 17th July 2008.

Please click on the links below to download the co-ordinator's and treasurer's report.

Islington FOE Coordinator report 2008.pdf
Islington FOE Treasurers Report 2008.pdf

Lighting up Highbury Fields

2008-07-14T14:23:00.006+01:00

The manager of the very popular Oasis cafe on Highbury Field knows about climate change. At least that what he says. Unfortunately he switches on his arrays of 60 watt light bulbs on very hot sunny days and as well as dull overcast days.

Not much of an example to the many kids that visit the cafe who have been told at school that we need cut back on energy use to save the planet.

Update Sept 1st 2008. The Highbury Fields Ranger from the council's Greenspace department has got involved, the lights are off and the carbon footprint of the cafe is very much smaller now.

Bring back the bottle banks

2008-06-22T13:30:00.004+01:00

That seems to be the message from the British Glass Manufacturers' Confederation on June 16th. If we put our bottles in the recycling box for commingled processing, very little of the glass is used to manufacture new bottles, it ends up in the foundations for roads instead. Their press release says:

“The result is that the cullet is not only being colour mixed, it is also being compacted and mixed with the other materials, possibly making the end product less suitable for new containers. The cullet from such activities is not only potentially unsuitable for container manufacture but could also affect fibre applications. The result is it is only suitable for low grade applications such as aggregate from which little or no carbon benefit is derived.”

The British Glass Manufacturers have been to visit the North London Waste Authority and explain this. So says Councillor George Allan, who has just stepped down from the NLWA Committee. He says that the glass in the recycling bins also contaminates the paper making that fairly low value as well.

The EC recycling targets have been a good thing in that recycling rates have been forced up. However, in carbon terms, the old system of sorting everything into different bins ourselves had a lot going for it.

The looming UK energy gap in 2015

2008-06-17T11:59:00.005+01:00

M.P.s Jeremy Corbyn and Emily Thornberry were both at the bike breakfast this morning at the Angel. Both confirmed that they had asked for amendments for the climate change bill to include international aviation and shipping and an 80% (rather than 60%) reduction target by 2050.

But the topic I wanted to discuss with Jeremy was the looming energy gap. It looks as if the government is going to encourage/permit all the ageing nuclear power stations to be replaced. And more significantly, the government has indicated that it wants to significantly increase the amount of nuclear power. As vice chair of CND, Jeremy opposes nuclear power. In any event, little of this will be in place by 2015.

Jeremy thinks that the government has made a prejudiced argument in favour of nuclear power. But I pointed out that the government's view is shared by many others (such as the Royal Society). Jeremy thought that opposition in Parliament to nuclear power has been muted but it would get much stronger going forwards.

I argued that I would prefer to use nuclear power and have a local (UK) nuclear waste problem than to use biofuels, still seen as a solution by many politicians, which takes food from the mouths of the poorest people in the world.

Jeremy thinks that we can manage with far less energy (which I agreed with) and he thought that energy would be rationed by price in 2015. I argued that no government should allow this to happen. He suggested that customers would be given a discount for the first N units and then customers would pay a premium for additional units. I pointed out that that would be unfair to large families. He argues that allocation could be based on the number of individuals per household. I said this was pretty similar to introducing personal carbon allowances which Emily had said a few months ago, was unpopular with many MPs.

Jeremy also mentioned that he'd considered putting solar PV on his roof. But it was too expensive. I pointed out that some individuals had had solar PV installed on their roof funded entirely by the Low Carbon Buildings Programme and Islington Council. He said 'good on the council'.

NO to a third runway at Heathrow

2008-05-31T18:00:00.004+01:00

Islington Friends of the Earth along with some other people created an enormous NO in the middle of this field in Sipson village, which will be tarmaced over if the third runway is built. Special thanks go to Debbie for climbing up a nearby tree to get this photo. She's down on the ground on the left of the next photo.

There is free entry to the next monthly meeting of Islington Friends of the Earth if you can spot the difference between these two photos.

Islington FOE Membership Leaflet

2008-05-17T17:25:00.007+01:00

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.

Joining costs very little - anything between £5 and £10, or we accept offers of time and help as well. Just fill in the relevant bit on the form.

To join, download Islington FOE Membership leaflet and send to our membership secretary (full details on the form).

the North London Eco Park

2008-05-06T17:22:00.004+01:00

Many years ago Islington Friends of the Earth visited the incinerator at Edmonton. In those days the people who ran the incinerator were proud of how much they could burn

These days it is all very different.

On 6th May we re-visited the former fiefdom of Martin Jones (ex boss of North London
Waste) - the scene of our famous foray in 1991.

The Incinerator has now been rebranded the North London Eco Park and the incinerator is only allowed to burn "the residue we can't do anything else with". The I word isn't mentioned though as it's an energy centre and also on the site are ash recycling (for incinerator residue)wood chipping plants, bulky goods recycling and highly confidential waste recycling amongst other stuff.

A motley crew of us were taken on a school bus to see the composting facility. This has been functioning for two years and deals with the green and/or kitchen waste from the 7 boroughs making up North London Waste(Hackney, Camden, Islington, Barnet, Waltham Forest, Enfield and Haringay.)It handles 30,000 tons of waste per year and produces 15,000 tons of compost.

The food and green wastes are mixed together in a giant cement mixer type vehicle and then shredded in a monster shredder. Next they are taken to one of 16 tunnels where the composting takes place: bacteria break down the waste in the presence of moisture and oxygen producing CO2 and water as well as compost. If the waste is landfilled it decays anaerobically and produces methane, a much more potent climate changing gas. It reaches a temperature of 78-80C which kills pathogens and weeds. The whole process takes 12 weeks.

The tunnels are made of a Goretex material which keeps rain out but allows moisture and gases to pass out but keeps the smells in, following odour related complaints in 2006.

The compost we saw at the end had a lot of pine needles in from people's Christmas trees. They give it away to farms (over the last decade 15% of organic matter has been lost from agricultural land) within the M25 if possible and to allotments (hoping to give 4,000 tons to allotments in the 7 boroughs this year), the boroughs' Parks & Gardens and they have compost giveaways where people can come and help themselves.

Things have certainly moved on in the last seventeen years. Once upon a time it was considered okay to dig big holes in the ground and shove our waste in it. Then we thought we could burn it. Now slowly, slowly we have begun to realise that we cannot keep, almost literally, brushing the rubbish under the carpet. We have to deal with it. The transformation of Edmonton Incinerator into the North London Eco Park represents that change in attitude.

Flying blind?

2008-04-20T10:40:00.009+01:00

Duncan plays the Prime Minister trying to ignore the exhortations of Debbie and John.

A climate change bill which excludes emissions from aviation is like going on a diet but eating all the chocolate you like. Or like introducing a drink driving law that excludes whiskey.

Other industries will have to play their part when the climate change bill becomes law. Why should the airline business be let off the hook?

Islington Friends of the Earth, along with FOE groups up and down the country, were out in force to remind Mr Brown that he must take into consideration aviation and shipping emissions in the climate change bill.

One of our members, Duncan, gamely volunteering to be our Gordon Brown for the day, tries to ignore the aeroplane John is launching at him, in the photo used in the Islington Gazette.

Today Newington Green - tomorrow the rest of Islington?

2008-03-30T20:09:00.008+01:00

We are talking plastic bags here.
The pictures show you a few of the bags we saw littering Newington Green. If they were banned, then these kind of images would be a thing of the past.

We have joined forces with local residents of Newington Green to turn the area into a plastic bag free zone. Step one of the campaign kicked off with a survey on 29th March when we discovered that 94% of people questioned would be keen to see Newington Green go plastic bag free.

For more details on the campaign including more on why plastic bags are such a bad thing and how you can get involved, go to http://plasticbagfreenewingtongreen.blogspot.com

Stop Heathrow Expansion Public Meeting 7th February

2008-01-22T21:04:00.000Z

Stop Heathrow Expansion Public Meeting

Thursday 7th February
7.30pm
Highbury Baptist Church
corner of Highbury Place and Baalbec Road N5
opposite Highbury Fields, Highbury

Click here for a map of the location

The campaign to stop the third runway at Heathrow Airport is holding a public meeting on Thursday 7th February in Highbury. It is the only meeting about this issue in North London and your chance to express about the government's misguided scheme to expand Heathrow Airport.

It is recognised that we need to take action now to cut CO2 emissions. After massive lobbying by Friends of the Earth and others the government has introduced a bill to create a legal framework to cut CO2 emissions.

If the third runway is built it will blow a hole in this government's plans to cut dangerous greenhouse gas emissions. Aviation already accounts for 34% of London's CO2 emissions. Expansion of Heathrow and more flights will mean that we will have to cut drastically other emissions such as heating our homes, travelling to work, and many other day to activities such as meet the planned cuts in CO2.

Further action

Find out more...
To find out more about the campaign and how else to get involved, go to http://www.stopheathrowexpansion.com/

Sign the petition...
Click here to sign a petition against the expansion

Respond to the government consultation...
The government is currently consulting on the third runway. If you would like to take part go to http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/open/heathrowconsultation/ The deadline is 27th February.

Come along to the mass rally at Central Hall in Westminster on 25 February

Islington FOE triumph at Ecology Centre Quiz

2007-11-18T18:23:00.001Z

In their spare time some members of Islington FOE just love doing pub quizzes. On Friday 16th November all that extra-curricular activity paid off when we triumphed over several other teams to win the Islington Ecology Centre Quiz.

The quiz included questions on general knowledge, food and drink and Islington. There was also a section on the environment (taken from Nicola Baird's book, Save Cash and Save the Planet). Luckily we didn't embarrass ourselves too much on that bit!

It was a nail-biting finish as it came down to a tie-breaker but in the event we won through.

The event was organised to help raise funds for next year's Gillespie Park Festival

Islington FOE activities this autumn

2007-09-24T22:04:00.001+01:00

We are planning a series of campaigning activities over the coming months:

The Big Ask campaign - we will be out and about putting the message across that the Climate Change Bill needs to be tougher

Recycling picks - following our recycling picks at the Emirates stadium last season we are planning further picks elsewhere in the borough, rescuing rubbish that would otherwise go to landfill

Camapaign Against Climate Change March and Rally - and we will joining many others on the Campaign Against Climate Change March on 8th December

There will also be our regular monthly meetings and no doubt we will organising a Christmas gathering to round off the year's campaigning.

If you would like to get involved in any of these activities, get in touch with our co-ordinator. Email sltaylor001@yahoo.co.uk

Islington FOE at the Canal Festival

2007-09-04T22:33:00.000+01:00

The sun shone for us at the Angel Canal Festival

Jenny, Debbie and Andrew

We were much in demand by local politicians. John chatted to several Liberal Democrat councillors and Stephen found himself in demand to have his photograph taken with...

... Bridget Fox, formerly local councillor and current prospective parliamentary candidate for the Lib Dems in Islington South

and...

Sarah Ludford MEP

All Lib Dems. It's good to see they support the Big Ask campaign.

Another eighty five people came by to sign Big Ask postcards, as well as Sarah and Bridget.

Islington FOE at the Canal and Gillespie Park Festivals

2007-08-28T19:29:00.000+01:00

Islington Friends of the Earth will be running stalls at the Islington Canal Festival and the Gillespie Park Festival on the 2nd and 9th September.

The Climate Change Bill may come before Parliament this autumn so we will be using the opportunity to encourage people to send a message to our local MPs asking for it to be a strong bill that actually cuts greenhouse emissions.

The Canal Festival runs from 11am until 5pm at City Road Basin. Gillespie Park Festival is at the Ecology Centre from 2pm to 6pm.

If you are planning to attend either event do come along and say hello.

AGM 2007

2007-07-21T11:45:00.001+01:00

Our Annual General Meeting took a record breaking fifteen minutes to complete.
There were three items on the Agenda:
Review of the year
Treasurer's report
Election of officers

Click on the links below to see the review of the year and the treasurer's report.

Islington Friends of the Earth has three officers (current occupants in the brackets):
Co-ordinator (Stephen Taylor)
Treasurer (Debbie Haigh)
Membership Secretary (Andrew Fuller)

All the current occupants were re-elected unopposed.

Arguing for Higher Parking Permit Charges at Speakers Corner

2007-06-07T12:17:00.000+01:00

Well Islington Council set up a mock Speakers Corner complete with some Emily Pankhurst lookalikes on Tuesday 5th on Islington Green and Roger Lawson from the Association of British Drivers and I used megapahones to shout at each other. Needless to say the ABD are against higher charges but seemed to drop their previous stand that climate change wasn't happening. Anyway it was all pretty relaxed. Be interesting to see what the local papers make of it. Let's hope more people go out and vote.

The Big Art

2007-04-29T11:30:00.000+01:00

The Big Art exhibition Monday 4th - 17th June 2007

The exhibition opened at 6.30pm on Monday 4th June, with a speech by Martyn Williams, Parliamentary Campaigner for Friends of the Earth. Several councillors attended including Lucy Watt, lead councillor for the environment. Tea and cakes were supplied courtesy of Islington WI.

We would like to thank the N1 Centre for allowing us the space for the exhibition, Islington WI for organising the catering and the children of Islington Arts Factory for creating the works of art.

The exhibition, was run in conjunction with N1 WI (Islington Women's Institute) and Islington Arts Factory, is supporting Friends of the Earth's Big Ask campaign to call for a tougher climate change bill and to raise awareness of the personal responsibility we all must take to reduce our carbon footprint

We welcome the fact that the government has introduced the bill but feel that it needs to be much stronger.

We want to see:
Bigger cuts The Government propose a 60 per cent cut of carbon dioxide by 2050. We need reductions of at least 80 per cent.
Annual targets The Government want five year budgets for CO2. We want shorter targets - to hold the current Parliament to account.
Aviation and shipping International flights and shipping emissions are excluded. We want these included.

For more on the Big Ask campaign, visit http://www.thebigask.com/

Some of the children's artwork

The artwork on display after the hanging

Councillors at the opening

Islington's Draft Core Strategy

2007-04-18T12:36:00.000+01:00

Islington council have recently consulted on their draft Core Strategy. This document will underpin the council's decisions on planning applications so it is crucially important to include measures in new developments that will help cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Islington Friends of the Earth have responded to the consultation exercise. You can view our response, click on the link below.

For more on the Core Strategy consultation process visit Islington Council's website at http://www.islington.gov.uk/Environment/Planning/PlanningPolicy/CoreStrategy/

Recycling at the Emirates Stadium - an update

2007-01-21T22:01:00.000Z

Whilst Manchester United were struggling to retain their lofty position at the top of the Premiership on Sunday afternoon, a gang of us were outside their opponents, Arsenal's ground collecting tin cans discarded by the fans. By half time we had collected 350 drinks cans that would otherwise have gone to landfill or incineration.

This was the third collection we have done this season to highlight the lamentable lack of recycling facilities at Arsenal's new stadium, the Emirates. In October we had collected 18 kilos of tin cans, and glass and plastic bottles. Back in December some 700 drinks cans were collected during the entire match. This is the tip of the iceberg however.

On every occasion we observe Islington council's street cleaners doing a magnificent job collecting rubbish abandoned by the fans on the way to the match. Unfortunately everything they collect will go to landfill or incinerated, adding to the amount of waste the UK throws away.

And recycling saves energy as well. Recycling aluminium cans saves 95% of the energy that would be used to make them out of raw material. The amount of energy to make a glass bottle is 50% less if the source is recycled material. And glass is 100% recyclable. 85% of PET plastic bottles end up in landfill but every single bottle that is recycled saves nearly half a kilogram of carbon emissions.

It is time that Arsenal took its environmental responsibilities seriously. Many of the European clubs they play have recycling facilities for their fans. Other UK clubs from Manchester City to Dartford FC have built new stadiums with environmental sustainability in mind.

Arsenal scored an own goal when they chose to behave like an environmental dinosaur over the building of their new stadium.

Click here to view more photos of our recycling pick

Gas Guzzlers in Islington - an update

2006-11-09T22:55:00.000Z

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

2006-11-04T22:13:00.000Z

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

2006-10-28T18:27:00.000+01:00

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?

2006-10-11T16:12:00.000+01:00

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...

2006-10-03T14:23:00.000+01:00

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

2006-09-30T13:23:00.000+01:00

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

2006-08-10T15:01:00.000+01:00

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

2006-06-30T21:46:00.003+01:00

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

Click to download Islington FOE Membership Leaflet