Environment
Good tidings at Easter
Some good news from the Independent. It's Easter Day and the other Good News appears to have been banished from British television at least. No religion in the schedules apart from the Mozart Requiem and a programme on the history of choral music. The other headline on Good Friday was that I could go and place my bet at the bookies, and then on Saturday the storm about embryology where Gordon Brown plans to put a three line whip on the party to vote for merging human and animal cells. Catholic MPs are put on the spot as their leaders speak out in horror. Just in time I found two of J.S. Bach's Cantatas for the second day of Easter, BWV6 and 66. The opening chorus, including a dialogue between fear (counter tenor) and hope (tenor), was particularly uplifting.
However the news I speak of is of a turbine emerging from the former shipyards of Belfast. It has a number of things to commend it. It speaks of power from tidal energy. Evidently, unknown to us - like the Nubia of ancient times never mentioned in the shadow of Egypt, a scientist has been experimenting with a turbine in the Nile in the Sudan. From the experiment in the river attempts were made to transfer the idea to harness tidal power.
Continue reading "Good tidings at Easter"
Posted by John Tyrrell at 12:27 PM March 23, 2008 | Comments (0)
Tony Blair, our Saviour!
Not content with the long list of jobs and wide range of expertise already on offer, our Hero dons his Superman outfit to save the planet - and don't we need it! He's in charge of a brigade which is going to cut carbon emissions.
His government said it was going to do this, but if I remember rightly it didn't quite turn out as it should have. Same with his appointment as peace envoy for the Middle East it was difficult to see how his CV fitted the job description when he had willfully overseen conflict resulting in untold death and misery. Indeed how did this fit in with his religious pretentions and resulting job as lecturer? Whatever it is you can sure it's going to be lucrative for him. Volunteering's not his game!
Continue reading "Tony Blair, our Saviour!"
Posted by John Tyrrell at 10:24 AM March 14, 2008 | Comments (0)
Dealing with flooding in Southern Africa
A scheme to "harvest" flood water in Malawi is reported in Al Jazeera (6/3/2007). Global warming has meant above average rainfall across Africa with resultant threat to life and livelihood. Deforestation hasn't helped.
The floods have been compared by organisations such as UNICEF to other major disasters, however as with floods a year ago have not received the coverage that might be expected. The report above comes from Al Jazeera which often reports on significant matters ignored by the world's press elsewhere.
Continue reading "Dealing with flooding in Southern Africa"
Posted by John Tyrrell at 9:25 AM March 6, 2008 | Comments (0)
Solar power takes off, but where's the U.K?
Looks like there's a revolution afoot in the technology around solar panels which allows easier production and cuts costs. Where is this taking place? The production company is in California's silicon valley. Is there interest in Europe? Yes, but in Germany where there are already big steps forward in introducing solar power.
John Vidal writing in the Guardian (29/12/2007) describes the scene: " The solar panels produced by a Silicon Valley start-up company, Nanosolar, are radically different from the kind that European consumers are increasingly buying to generate power from their own roofs. Printed like a newspaper directly on to aluminium foil, they are flexible, light and, if you believe the company, expected to make it as cheap to produce electricity from sunlight as from coal."
Continue reading "Solar power takes off, but where's the U.K?"
Posted by John Tyrrell at 11:57 AM December 29, 2007 | Comments (0)
Bali outcome worse than Kyoto
The conclusions about the success or otherwise of Bali are becoming clearer following the happy talk of politicians claiming that a good deal had been stitched up and that the US had compromised.
George Monbiot in the Guardian (17.12.2007) thinks we've moved backwards, while a report the The Independent says we have. The British government is planning a number of coal-fired power stations to meet the UK energy needs which a scientist says will put nails in the planet's coffin.
Continue reading "Bali outcome worse than Kyoto"
Posted by John Tyrrell at 9:35 AM December 17, 2007 | Comments (0)
Climate Change. The reality stated at Bali
The declaration by the former US Vice President, Al Gore, at Bali seems to me to move in the direction of articulating what we're up against. Clearly that's not just the accumulation of carbon, it's about the incomprehension of the likes of George W. Bush.
Well, no it's not incomprehension is it? It's that he and other leaders and opposition parties are all geared up to the capitalist enterprise which demands more and more of the same. Thus we have the "green" British Petroleum going into Canada ready to exploit the environment in bigger and better ways than before. It's a force no presidential candidate we've seen yet is prepared to ignore, nor will any of the major British political parties. All drive the same bus, a ramshackle 20th century banger, spewing out greenhouse gases in all directions as it creaks and groans.
Continue reading "Climate Change. The reality stated at Bali"
Posted by John Tyrrell at 11:04 AM December 15, 2007 | Comments (0)
Profit before environment. Point proven
The news that BP intend to extract oil from Northern Canada illustrates how the treadmill we are on annuls any thoughts of combating climate change. BP is a company that had traded on its green credentials. Now its credibility is in tatters.
Oil not only drives engines, it fuels the economy so that we engage in pernicious wars and call anyone who resists "terrorist". The announcement that UK is to invest in wind farms is totally annulled by BP's intention. The Independent heads this as "The greatest environmental crime in history".
Posted by John Tyrrell at 9:42 AM December 10, 2007 | Comments (0)
A bit of sense has entered the frame
At last I have heard something I can applaud unreservedly from this beleaguered government. Suddenly out of nowhere John Hutton has announced a programme of wind farms sufficient to provide for our domestic heating needs.
The advanced state of climate change that we now know is with us, not at some distant point, has to be tackled with a complete change of thinking. I was beginning to think that those wedded to the present system were quite incapable of doing that. Of course the thinking has to be replicated over and over in what we all do. Good public transport across the UK, not just in th South East where billions are spent against a pittance elsewhere. Opportunities to share personal transport and build vehicles on alternative fuels. Stop the destruction of rain forests. (We hear the area is expanding appropriate for rain forests, but it was said that was a bad sign. Why necessarily?) Solar panels and underground heat exchangers also provide alternatives. Are all our eggs going to be in one basket, even without resort to nuclear fuel?
Continue reading "A bit of sense has entered the frame"
Posted by John Tyrrell at 1:06 PM December 9, 2007 | Comments (0)
Guyana's rain forest
The general feeling about much effort to offset climate change seems "too little, too late" while we continue to extract and burn fossil fuels. In Guyana the leadership is making a request for help in preserving its rain forest. Elsewhere around the globe timber continues to be a huge commercial operation ignoring any consequences.
Good to see that in Australia the population has exercised its collective muscle and mafe clear the widespread dislike of continuing pollution and war supported by the Conservative government. The US has lost an ally, but what is the UK's attitude? At the moment the fight is on to see who can be more Tory with Cameron reclaiming the Thatcherite policies for education by promising more academies. These look suspiciously like the CTCs.
I spent a short time on the Management Committee of the Solihull CTC. I liked the fact that it brought in the International Baccalaureate which includes students doing field work projects in addition to academic work. A level diets of unrelieved study is bad for the young and extremely exclusive. The problem is that many schools will continue to struggle on low funding. The primary school where I'm a governor is in a deprived area of Birmingham, Winson Green, in the shadow of the prison. It has acquired a huge deficit, largely due to long term absences. I know we are not alone. The fact that the academies are able to introduce what their funders want on the curriculum is also hugely dangerous. We have seen some academies in the North East introduce creationism. That's the kind of thinking the Neocons behind Bush display and which Blair seemed to relish.
Continue reading "Guyana's rain forest"
Posted by John Tyrrell at 10:10 PM November 24, 2007 | Comments (0)
The flower growing industry in Kenya
Looks attractive. Jobs for thousands as Kenya develops a huge rose growing industry. The video shows the problem of carbon emission from flights carrying the produce round the world.
The producers say that this is offset by the fact there is no need to heat the greenhouses to bring on the flowers as in Europe. What the report doesn't say is where all the water needed to grow the roses comes from. Other flower growing ventures have illegally diverted water from rivers giving people lower downstream problems. Presumably the industry is not owned by Africans whose labour is used extensively. While the fact that many have access to work, how sustainable is the venture and whose interests does it ultimately serve?
Continue reading "The flower growing industry in Kenya"
Posted by John Tyrrell at 8:45 AM September 10, 2007 | Comments (0)
Washington Post on Cheney continued...
That most lovable of vice-presidents, Dick Cheney, continues to be the focus of the Washington Post (27/6/2007):
"In Oregon, a battleground state that the Bush-Cheney ticket had lost by less than half of 1 percent, drought-stricken farmers and ranchers were about to be cut off from the irrigation water that kept their cropland and pastures green. Federal biologists said the Endangered Species Act left the government no choice: The survival of two imperiled species of fish was at stake.
Law and science seemed to be on the side of the fish. Then the vice president stepped in.
First Cheney looked for a way around the law, aides said. Next he set in motion a process to challenge the science protecting the fish, according to a former Oregon congressman who lobbied for the farmers.
Because of Cheney's intervention, the government reversed itself and let the water flow in time to save the 2002 growing season, declaring that there was no threat to the fish. What followed was the largest fish kill the West had ever seen, with tens of thousands of salmon rotting on the banks of the Klamath River.
Characteristically, Cheney left no tracks. (my emphasis JT)
The Klamath case is one of many in which the vice president took on a decisive role to undercut long-standing environmental regulations for the benefit of business." Source Washington Post 27/6/2007.
Continue reading "Washington Post on Cheney continued..."
Posted by John Tyrrell at 10:49 AM June 27, 2007 | Comments (1)
Handsworth Conversations
3 Minute Wonder grabbed me this week. It featured the work of Vanley Burke, photographer, who has documented the social scene over 40 years. It is now featured in Tate Britain.
Earlier I portrayed Handsworth as an artistic incubator. I have known Vanley for many years and used some of his photographs in schools. They convey an insight into the community in an extraordinary way, and it is just and good that his work should feature nationally and internationally. Vanley remains a modest man attached to the community and alive to social division and exclusion. His work should be known since it offers an education and deep understanding of a dynamic and vibrant society.
Posted by John Tyrrell at 8:02 PM June 21, 2007 | Comments (0)
Green issues are big business
My general pessimism about the will to turn round the move to environmental disaster is tempered by a report about Colombia (Guardian 5/6/2007). Such has been the success to use palm oil as a biofuel that now groups described as right-wing nationalists and (maybe) left wing rebels are driving people from their land to produce this lucrative commodity. Whereas the growing of coca for the drugs market is illicit, this venture is not.
"Surging demand for "green" fuel has prompted rightwing paramilitaries to seize swaths of territory, according to activists and farmers. Thousands of families are believed to have fled a campaign of killing and intimidation, swelling Colombia's population of 3 million displaced people and adding to one of the world's worst refugee crises after Darfur and Congo." Source: Guardian 7/6/2007).
Continue reading "Green issues are big business"
Posted by John Tyrrell at 9:08 AM June 5, 2007 | Comments (0)
A gem on the high street
Imagine Cafe can be found on Harborne High Street in Harborne in Birmingham U.K.. It is a Japanese restaurant and something of a rarity run by local people. As an article in the Birmingham Post on 3rd February 2007 pointed out it is extremely difficult for individual enterprises to continue on the high street given the prohibitive rates charged by the City Council. Long established and traditional businesses have either gone, or are struggling to survive.
Go to high streets in towns and cities up and down the country and you'll find the same chain stores selling the same merchandise. To find a local business selling something different can be a pleasant and exciting experience. This used to be the case in central Brum. I used to spend time in Vincent's in Needless Alley browsing through racks of recordings, many rare and unusual, while a few doors away my wife found a large stock of needle craft materials. While the Bullring Shopping Centre can be proclaimed as a major success for drawing shoppers internationally it does not have local produce apparent. Thankfully the Farmers' Markets still appear in New Street and in Kings Norton.
Some progressive local authorities recognise the importance of keeping local concerns thriving and apply differential charges for this purpose. Birmingham City Council's Tory/Lib-Dem alliance describe themselves as such, but when the idea was run past the leader, Mike Whitby, he just said he would give it some thought. Better be quick Mike before things disappear for good!
Continue reading "A gem on the high street"
Posted by John Tyrrell at 6:18 PM May 28, 2007 | Comments (0)
Canadian diamonds: "There are no clean diamonds".
After talking about what's happening to Africa's wealth I read in the Washington Post (5/3/2007) about a booming diamond industry in northern Canada, once the scene of a gold rush. The article claims it could be the answer to "blood diamonds" resulting from conflict zones. However on reading the article you might see that there are more than superficial similarities. You see land there is owned by Inuit - the earlier settlers on land which they saw taken out of their hands before. Now there is a surge in interest in education. The report goes on to say there are not too many Indians on the boards of the mining companies which form an industry larger than South Africa's
Continue reading "Canadian diamonds: "There are no clean diamonds"."
Posted by John Tyrrell at 10:43 AM March 5, 2007 | Comments (1)
Backing away from sustainability
As Cabinet Member for Transportation in Birmingham from 2003-4 I was challenged to introduce charging for entering the city centre. I resisted because of the poor provision of public transport in Birmingham and the region, not because I am opposed to doing something drastic to combat congestion and pollution. I did support the development of the Midlands Metro, bus lanes, park and ride, cycling routes and any way to improve the quality of transport and the environment. Clearly though a sustainable future requires something much more fundamental than tinkering at the edges. Even so I was branded by the motoring lobby as anti-car. Some of these people are fanatical in their insistence on living for the present, damn the consequences of continued gridlock now and much worse for our children in the future. Anyone who dare support improvement for the public transport system can depend on them for venting their wrath. They must be pleased with the current post holder who succeeded me, "Gridlock" Gregory, who has done is best to put to reverse what was done by the Labour Council and the Passenger Transport Authority. Bus usage continues to decline apace and there are no alternatives while Metro developments are in limbo.
The strong lobby of motorists opposing road charges threatens the agenda to seriously combat the effects of pollution on the climate, which we're are continually told are potentially catastrophic.
Continue reading "Backing away from sustainability"
Posted by John Tyrrell at 9:48 AM February 13, 2007 | Comments (0)
Dumping our Values
Don't get me wrong, I'm British, English with a touch of Irish here and there. While I didn't have any choice in the matter there are many things I enjoy about it. Once again the Government instructs us that we are supposed to feel good about it and need to teach children it's a good thing, never mind where their origins. Jack Straw adds to his (usually bad) ideas having already made it clear what he tnings about Islamic practices. Alan Johnson has now joined the fray. (I had hoped better after he, alone amongst the New Labour bunch, seemed to have been saying something sensible about children in care).
What I didn't enjoy was reading about what happens to the waste we make. There has been news about the power of supermarkets who seem to have a lot of power: over their suppliers, over the high street, over us. What we don't see or know about, one aspect at least is the subject of today's Independent (26.1.2007). Dumping our waste in China.
"Lianjiao, a remote Chinese village in the booming southern province of Guangdong, is a long way for a plastic bag to travel; but it is where almost all British supermarket carrier bags end up. And the foil-lined crisp packets. And the triangular hard plastic packaging for your bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches from a top high-street chain. Because China is rapidly becoming Britain's biggest rubbish dump." (Source Independent 26.1.2007).
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Posted by John Tyrrell at 9:37 AM January 26, 2007 | Comments (0)
Black Patch Park
Black Patch Park is another example of green space up for grabs for development. It is within Sandwell Metropolitan District an the border with Birmingham's Soho Ward. As this name implies it is an area of historic significance including Matthew Boulton's foundry.
The name Black Patch has associations with the travelling community. I am a governor at nearby Foundry School where I also taught. Many children who came there were the children of travellers.
Sandwell Council sees the area ripe for development since the Metro between Wolverhampton and Birmingham runs nearby. The tram line runs along the route of the former railway so at present it is away from the main centre, the Soho and Holyhead Roads, since using the existing infrastructure reduced costs considerably.
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Posted by John Tyrrell at 9:22 AM January 25, 2007 | Comments (0)
Victoria Jubilee Allotments, Handsworth: Update
Simon Baddeley sent me a report of his recent visit to this site for which he and others campaigned to save the allotments. It has links to some excellent photographs, an important addition to local archives.
Dear John
The Evening Mail decided there was a story here and sent a photographer
called Fin round to go with me on to the VJA site. With permission from the
site manager we got access beyond the houses to the green space reserved as
a result of the Section 106A with the developer. See the plan.
I was agreeably surprised to see that the playing field area has already been
levelled off and grassed and looks like a good big area in the heart of
Handsworth well able to support two soccer pitches and a cricket pitch and
the planned sports pavilion. The grass looks green and healthy. The
allotment site is lying fallow all ready to be laid out according to the
detailed plan and slopes gently down towards the park with the houses not
too obtrusive to the east behind a retained hedgerow and built on lowered
ground so that from the allotments you see top windows and roofs. This will
provide security without having houses overhanging the plots or playing
fields. It seems clear to me that a lot of thought has gone into the lay
out of the site and I find the new houses attractive of not adventurous.
They don’t look like ticky tack for a start and they vary in size and style
though in a Victorian and Edwardian vernacular.
The reason I say I was agreeably surprised was that I didn’t expect the
land, currently surrounded by a high steel fence (but accessed with
permission from the site manager), to have been graded out to this extent
already. The playing fields look as if all they need are goal posts, or a
wicket, and the markings on the ground. I realise it’s more complex than
that and there will be issues of access. There must be paths and the
changing facility and no doubt other things like lighting and so on. The
same goes for the allotments. You could actually start a plot there now if
you were allowed, but also there need to be paths, access from park or road
and the promised gardeners store room and some parking spaces. This takes
time but at least the ground is prepared and reserved.
So when does it begin. The area badly needs playing fields and there is
enthusiasm for allotments – in this case – in a really wonderful site. OK
it’s gradually north sloping but I know from past experience how much sun
gets to this area and it’s secured to the west by the railway, to the east
by the new houses and its overlooked from the playing fields and the park
which gives the allotment site itself lovely prospects. There’s loads of
hedgerow and shrubbery on the west and south edges. Please let’s get digging
ASAP – on the largest new allotment site to be made available since WW2 and
its so close to the centre of Birmingham.
Best
Simon
Simon Baddeley
Handsworth Allotments Information Group
Continue reading "Victoria Jubilee Allotments, Handsworth: Update"
Posted by John Tyrrell at 9:36 AM January 24, 2007 | Comments (0)
On the treadmill
They say we need to save the planet. To reverse global warning we cut down on carbon emissions. More people want to fly so more planes are being built and airports expanded.
Here in the Midlands, with Birmingham at the centre of things, a group of people are busily lobbying parliament for a replacement to New Street Station. The new 125 mph service to London Euston is to be expanded, but "meltdown" is expected in 8 or 9 years time.
So there is success in getting people onto trains, but there isn't the infrastructure to cope. The huge cost of the West Coast mainline seems already obsolete. If we want to get to the continent Eurostar starts in London. That need to reach out and joining with other cities: Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow for a start.
In Germant the tragic crash of the magnetic levitation trial reminds us of that technology which I thought was once being developed in the U.K. Hydrogen fuels. Where are they? I saw it being developed in Italy around Venice but it all seems out of view. We are on a treadmill to destruction which we are unable - an unwilling to get off. The problem is that the Haves consume a growing amount which, we're told, will need three planets to sustain. The Havenots want to catch up so China and India are polluting their atmosphere more and more to do so. Instead of jumping to new available technologies they are using those that so damaged the west. Birmingham has lost MG/Rover to China and are building cars to block and pollute their cities.
Continue reading "On the treadmill"
Posted by John Tyrrell at 10:42 AM November 24, 2006 | Comments (0)
Promoting Gridlock in Birmingham
In a presentation at the Transport Summit in March this year (2006), Cllr Len Gregory introduced a taskforce on Congestion in Birmingham. The presentation consisted of just six slides. The final slide entitled "ACTION" merely says "must be value for money". A case of fiddling while Birmingham grinds to a halt. Seems as if the Councillor is a bit short on ideas and is even less inclined to reduce car journeys into Birmingham in case "they migrate to Solihull or Merry Hill". Meanwhile Birmingham Metro has been stopped in its tracks.
The following was published in the Birmingham Post today following an earlier article on congestion:
Continue reading "Promoting Gridlock in Birmingham"
Posted by John Tyrrell at 5:57 PM October 5, 2006 | Comments (0)
Letter to the Birmingham Post on the re-opening of Handsworth Park
Dear Editor.
It was a truly marvellous experience to see Handsworth Park restored to its former glory. The opening was performed by the Lord Mayor supported by some local councllors. But where were the rest, and where were the M.Ps for Handsworth? Handsworth Park was a priority for me when I represented the former Sandwell Ward as a Labour Councillor, but I didn't see one of the Handsworth Wood Councillors.
At the opening of Handsworth Park in the 19th Century a hot air balloon was launched. I was hoping for a similar high-profile affair for its renewal. I am disappointed because Handsworth of all places needs to be celebrated, not kept as a secret treasure. Many notable artists and sports personalities have come from Handsworth and it was celebrated in "Handsworth Revolution", now a classic album from Steel Pulse.
It has been murmered at one point that the Queen would perform the opening ceremony. No offence to Mike Sharpe and otheres present, but it needed someone to draw the crowds. After all the hard work that officers and the Handsworth Park Campaign have put into this, this seemed an anti-climax even. I am not a monarchist, but on this occasion there was a great opportunity to give Handsworth and its great people the recognition it deserves. This was sadly missed. People are pleased to live in and identify with Handsworth because it means a lot. They similarly believe and frequently say that they don't get the best services "because we're Handsworth". Media coverage is frequently negative and associates the area with criminality. On the other hand Sir Edward Boyle, once MP for a constituency called Handsworth, was pleased to take the name as his title when elevated to the House of Lords.
I am proud to live in Handsworth and was delighted to represent a part of it for 9 years. It deserves better.
Yours sincerely,
John Tyrrell
Posted by John Tyrrell at 12:16 PM July 9, 2006 | Comments (0)
Environmental damage in Canada resulting from the U.S. thirst for oil.
The Washington Post reports the far-reaching environmental effects of trying to quench the U.S. thirst for oil. It is happening in Alberta where effects of opening up mines and shifting earth is drining rivers and polluting them at a rate that had not been expected. The report says:
"The digging -- into an area the size of Maryland and Virginia combined -- has proliferated at gold-rush speed, spurred by high oil prices, new technology and an unquenched U.S. thirst for the fuel. The expansion has presented ecological problems that experts thought they would have decades to resolve."
Huge tracts of forest - an antidote to global warming have gone creating a moonscape, and members of communities living by the polluted river are experiencing rare forms of cancer.
The huge operation makes money for Canada and produces a synthetic oil for the U.S., but for the inhabitants of Alberta it is having a devastating effect although consequences will be felt much further afield. Gases emitted will contibute to global warming.
Continue reading "Environmental damage in Canada resulting from the U.S. thirst for oil."
Posted by John Tyrrell at 11:15 AM May 31, 2006 | Comments (0)
Sustainable Urban Development: PRESUD
One of the most rewarding experiences of being a member of Birmingham City Council was the opportunity to become involved with major issues. One of these was the improvement of services through the Best Value initiative (of which more later), the other was to be part of the Birmingham team looking at sustainable development in 9 European cities: The Hague, Malmo, Tampere, Leipzig. Vienna, Venice, Newcastle, Nottingham and Birmingham. This was the PRESUD peer-group assessment project.
My involvement began in 2001 with a training session in an extremely Venice. The venue itself was in the cool environment of a converted warehouse on the Lagoon. The interior had been converted to be like the rigging of a sailing shipm an experience in itself. Our Venetian hosts took us to mostly fish restaurants with an amazing variety of local produce familiar and unfamiliar.
The first review I became involved with was in Leipzig in June 2002. Flying via Munich rather than Frankfurt was quite a long journey. Leipzig airport is quite small some way outside the city. Leipzig is of considerable historical interest, particularly to me with its associations with J.S. Bach and Mendelssohn. As I pointed out at he end of the presentation of our findings, Mendelssohn had association with Birmingham where he performed his works in the Town Hall. My last morning I sat in on a performance of a Telemann choral work. Quite simply stunning.
Sustainability was very much on the minds of the City Council and the surrounding area. There was much activity to create leisure facilities and some of the schemes were on a large scale. There was the use of the former coal quarries to form a lake for water sports and other activities, and a canal was being renewed to join it to a tributory of the Elbe which would open a route to the sea north of Hamburg. We borrowed bicycles to take a look at this project - quite a time since I had ridden! The canal development was one where officers from Birmingham City Council were able to provide the benefit of their experience of renovating the canal system in Birmingham. Bill Clinton visiting the G8 summit in Birmingham during his presidency of the U.S. had enjoyed his stay with a pint of beer in one of the canalside pubs.
The public transport system is well developed, and one of the newly built neighbourhoods was trying to get the extensive tram network into the area. The size of the population would not merit this, however. The exsistence of a car industry in Leipzig brought about a caution which was holding back on progress in sustainability. It was felt that compromises had to be made.
Leipzig was formerly part of Eastern Germany and a large number of people had left following reunification. This meant there were many empty flats and properties. There is a huge complex where Leipzig holds international events such as its Trade Fairs.
The report was welcomed as fair comment on the situation in Leipzig, although we were disappointed at the low turnout in the imposing Council House building. closed the presentation with a vote of thanks for the co-operation we had received with documentation and organisation.
Continue reading "Sustainable Urban Development: PRESUD"
Posted by John Tyrrell at 8:04 PM December 29, 2005 | Comments (0)
Ecocide of the Panjab (Punjab)
Handsworth has a sizable Sikh population from the Indian Panjab. A seminar on environmental issues at the Sikh Community and Youth Service on Soho Road alerted the audience to how the environment of the Panjab is being seriously degraded by inappropriate farming, the use of herbicides, pesticides etc. The image of the Panjab as the "breadbasket of India" is very misleading. While it still supplies a considerable proportion of grain the quality has been damaged through poisonous chemicals. Rice crops have been introduced, but the Panjab is described as "semi-arid" and so thise are using up water resources in an unsustainable way.
Continue reading "Ecocide of the Panjab (Punjab)"
Posted by John Tyrrell at 9:16 PM October 15, 2005 | Comments (0)
Handsworth Park Restoration
Simon Baddeley very generously gives everyone credit for environmental improvements in Handsworth, yet he's the source of knowledge and information which gives us inspiration for moving forward. He has now moved his campaign focus to "Black Patch", an area historically associated with travellers which Sandwell wishes to "develop" because of its proximity to the Metro. He sent this letter about progress in restoring Handsworth Park which I am reproducing here with permission.
HANDSWORTH PARK RESTORATION
This is good news and a lovely thing to behold. I recall my despair as I walked through Handsworth Park in the 1980s and early 90s. Now after years of local campaigning and industrious creative work by council officers supported by councillors with clout and vision, over £7 million has been raised from various sources to remake Handsworth Park. It is a sweet story of local people from all backgrounds infused with helplessness and disappointment coming together to present a picture of local protest at the decline of what had been the "bonniest park" in Birmingham.
It was designed by Richard Vertegans, laid out both sides of a railway line in the 1880 and 1890s as Handsworth Victoria Park - "to be open to the people for ever" (Lord Dartmouth at the opening of the second part of the park). But from the end of the 1970s, with the withdrawal of central government funding for urban parks, Handsworth Park began a long decline which ended when local people said enough is enough after learning of plans to build "on our park". Resistance started with the "Save Handsworth Park Campaign" in 1992 begun and chaired by Dick Pratt who first brought together many different and hitherto separate pressure groups from the area to create what is now the "Handsworth Park Association".
To get an unprecedented before-after view of an urban park going through the largest restoration of any park in the Midlands, unprecedented in Birmingham I seriously recommend going over and having look at Handsworth Park right now. It is a pleasure to see what can done and there may be lessons to be learned for other parks around the city. There is a lot of activity not only in the park but on the adjoining Victoria Jubilee Allotments.
Continue reading "Handsworth Park Restoration"
Posted by John Tyrrell at 5:48 PM March 14, 2005 | Comments (1)
Birmingham and Fair Trade
The City of Birmingham is working towards status as a Fair Trade City. Dal Singh Dhesy of the Sikh Community and Youth Service and I attended a briefing at the Council House this morning (5/3/2005) when the Lord Mayor, Cllr Mike Nangle, unveiled a logo designed by Birmingham school children as part of a competition. There was a slight hitch when the curtain was drawn back to reveal a blank space. Nobody had put the winning drawing in place. A quick search found the design and the winners were photographed receiving prizes for both themselves and their schools.
Continue reading "Birmingham and Fair Trade"
Posted by John Tyrrell at 2:04 PM March 5, 2005 | Comments (0)
