Warm Homes, Good Jobs and Safe Pensions

Would you like warm homes, good jobs and safe pensions? If so please consider signing the Sheffield Climate Alliance petition. See http://www.sheffieldclimatealliance.net/2015/07/sign-our-petition-for-warm-homes-good-jobs-and-safe-pensions/

2012 - 2013 Yearly Review

Clean British Energy Campaign
This has mainly focused on people signing postcards to urge the government to invest in renewables rather than following a ‘Dash for gas’.  If gas fired power stations were built it would mean the UK would not achieve it’s Climate Change targets, it would mean less green jobs and higher fuel bills as gas prices continue to rise.  People were also encouraged to earn a CBE certificate by switching to a power company that invests in renewables such as Ecotricity or Good Energy.  A petition to make Sheffield a Frack-free city was started with Sheffield Climate Alliance.  A photo stunt entitled ‘Green is working’ to promote green jobs was held in October.  A display of photographs featuring Renewable Energy was set up in the Town Hall foyer in December.

‘Energy we can all afford’ public meeting – Clive Betts MP (Labour), Cllr Joe Otten (LibDem) Simon Bowen (FoE) Craig Jackson (SYHA & LiveGreen) and Emma Bridge (Sheffield Renewables) answered questions from the public about the rocketing fuel bills, green jobs and climate change.  The meeting held at The Circle on Rockingham Lane, was organised by Sheffield Friends of the Earth in collaboration with Sheffield Campaign Against Climate Change.  It was held despite heavy snowfall and hope it influences Decarbonisation targets being included in the Energy Bill.

The Bee Cause
In July we held a Bee Breakfast with Meg Munn MP & Cllr Isabel Bowler and were featured on Radio Sheffield by Paulette Edwards.  In September Cllr Jillian Creasy and Cllr Sylvia Anginotti attended a Bee Walk.  There was a petition for a National Bee Action Plan and cards for people to sign.  Free seeds, wildflower posters and booklets made this a very popular campaign.  A bee map where people had marked their bee friendly gardens was displayed in the Town Hall foyer in September.  The group are currently searching for a site to plant a bee meadow in Sheffield.

Make it Better Campaign
Some smart phones contain tin which comes from Bangka Island in Indonesia causing devastation of the environment.  E-mails were sent to Samsung and Apple.


Litter Pick
We conducted our litter pick on Penistone Road on the Jubilee Holiday Tuesday 5th June 2012.  We wore masks of the Royal Family and were featured in the Sheffield Star newspaper.

Free Green Film Festival
As a result of a ‘buy two get one free’ offer at Dogwoof films, we showed ‘The Island President’, a very recently released film, on 30th May 2012.

The latest film festival will take place in the Spring 2013 with four films being shown on successive Wednesdays at the Red Deer pub beginning with Blue Gold on 17th April.

Stalls
We have run 9 stalls at: Environment Week, National Climate Jobs Caravan, the Green Fair, Firth Park Festival, Lowedges Festival, Ecclesfield Gala, Sheffield Food Festival, Riverlution and Peace and Craft Fair

Facebook, Twitter and Website
Sheffield FoE now has an active presence on Facebook and Twitter thanks to John who tweets and posts regularly.  Shaun has radically updated the website so it has a fresh modern feel.

Speakers
Dave Berry from Sheffield Renewables spoke at the September meeting about the share offer.  As a result of this it was decided that Sheffield FoE should buy a share.  Malcolm Lee of Sheffield Forgemasters spoke at the February meeting on the subject of ‘A Manufacturing Perspective on UK & EU Climate Change Policy’

Training
Members have attended various training sessions including the FoE Northern Gathering at Haworth, Local Groups' Conference in London, Planning Masterclass (Richard) and the Bee Prepared Day in Darlington.  There were also more varied local training days such as Planning and Sustainable Housing.

Other Actions

• Gerry attended the ‘Broomhill Air Quality Symposium’ on 21st April 2012.  
• Richard reported on his visit to the Garden Organic AGM at the May meeting.
• Liddy helped out on 15th September on a Greenpeace stall to lobby MPs about the Electricity Market Reform Bill.
• Richard attended the Sheffield Food Conference on 13th September and wrote a short report.
• Maureen wrote in support of Holbrook Biomass plant providing it is locally sourced.
• We opposed the RecyCoal planning application with a draft letter of objection being circulated among members.  Unfortunately this was passed at the January planning meeting. 
• Met with Cllr Jack Scott in October to discuss SCC environmental policy.
• We opposed the widening of the Incinerator’s resource base to as far away as Newark.  A sample bullet pointed letter was circulated among members for them to lodge their objections.
• Maureen’s letter about fracking was featured in January 10th Sheffield Telegraph.
• John talked to Sheffield Rotary Club about Sheffield FoE on 12th February
• Beatrice and John lobbied David Blunkett on 9th March about putting pressure on the government about the Energy Bill

Clean British Energy

We have continued to get postcards signed in support of Clean British Energy. National Friends of the Earth are trying to get Nick Clegg to agree to attend a public meeting in Sheffield about the Energy Bill. People are being urged to contact Nick Clegg to ask him to stand up to George Osborne to invest in renewables and not the ‘Dash for Gas’. If gas fired power stations were built it would mean the UK would not achieve it’s Climate Change targets, it would mean less green jobs and higher fuel bills as gas prices continue to rise.

Clean British Energy

There is to be a photo stunt in Sheffield on 13th October at 10am to promote the Green Economy.  Local green companies are to be invited to attend wearing hard hats.  The idea is to push for the Energy Bill to include measures to decarbonise the energy system by 2030 by promoting green jobs.  The ‘dash for gas’ will only bring higher bills, few jobs and most crucially catastrophic climate change.  Please try to keep the date free and join us in this simple vital action.  Contact Maureen med4u@hotmail.co.uk for more details.

Renewable Energy

Renewable Energy Jobs
The UK has virtually no wind turbine production and what we did have has shut down. 600 jobs have been lost in Newport, Isle of Wight at Vestas who are the largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world. In May members from the local group signed an on-line petition to try saving the jobs and skills.

Sheffield Renewables
Richard from Sheffield Renewables came to talk to us at our July meeting. Richard explained the organisation’s background before detailing some of the renewable projects they are planning to build in Sheffield. The first scheme is to build a water wheel at Kelham Island to power the museum or the local pub. The second option is to build a hydro facility at Jordan’s Dam near Meadowhall. Whilst some funding has been made available, the group is looking for local people to buy shares which will pay a modest annual interest. Sheffield Friends of the Earth will consider investing some of the group’s money into the scheme. What do you think? For more details see their website at www.SheffieldRenewables.org.uk

Green New Deal 2009

Local group members, Maureen and Amyan, attended the Green New Deal conference on Saturday 28th February at St Mary's Church.The conference’s goals were to promote an understanding of the global finance, climate and energy crisis and explore how Sheffield can respond at national, local and community levels.Colin Hines, Co-Director of Finance for the Future and former head of Greenpeace International's Economics Unit was the key note speaker. A number of other presentations were delivered from councillors, university experts, business and religious leaders.
Pictures and audio recordings from the conference can be found on the web site:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/sheffield/2009/03/423467.html

New Economics - Jobs & The Environment

Friends of the Earth and the New Economics Foundation are looking at new ways of addressing economic issues. It is becoming increasingly clear that our current approach to economic development – trying to maximise growth ahead of everything else – is unsustainable and is not delivering what we want in terms of improved quality of life. We need to try to optimise growth, rather than maximise growth, and we need to ensure that growth is sustainable, does not damage the environment, and is targeted at the people who will benefit most – the poorest in society.

One specific issue is job creation. Jobs are often used as a catch-all argument to support developments, such as roads, supermarkets, or airports, that are environmentally damaging. But there are many questions that need to be asked about supposedly job-creating developments:

· What sort of jobs are being created? Are they low paid, short-term jobs?

· How many jobs will be lost in other local businesses? New supermarket developments typically force other local businesses to close, often resulting in  a net loss of jobs.

· Who controls the jobs? New developments are often owned by multinational corporations that have little interest in the well-being of local people.

· Friends of the Earth and the New Economics Foundation are looking for case studies of “job creating” developments that address these issues. Do you know of any local examples? If so, please let us know.