Campaign for Bees

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to spread the word about Friends of the Earth's campaign to help save our bees.. just click here to go and sign a petition to government calling for a ban on the most harmful pesticides to bees, a complete ban on pesticides for bee pollinated crops (with help for farmers) and an urgent call to stop the use of pesticides in parks, to safeguard both our bees and our children's health.

Many thanks for joining in, if you have a minute!

__________

While we're on bees, I just wanted to share two amazing things I found out .. first is that you can help bees by putting some water out in the garden. The second is that they can't see red .. check out this brilliant post on Plantlife which shows how bees see things. I love learning this stuff!

Bee Friendly

Just to share this Soil Association raffle to raise money for bee-friendly farming .. I know you guys are all bee-lovers!!

Learning in Nature

I just wanted to share something I've been getting involved with this last week, having stumbled upon it via a blog, via a blog (as you do!).. its a very new organisation called the Save Childhood Movement and its in its very early embryonic stages and in the throes of working out who it is, what it stands for and what it wants to do.

I was drawn to it after some very surprising and worrying experiences finding out about nursery/pre-school provision and requirements for the little'un, and experiencing a massive amount of pressure from all quarters with regard to these issues. This isn't the place to go into more detail (though you can see my comments on the discussion board if you join up to it!).

However, listed in one of the Eight Core Principles is

"Children need a deep connection with nature, and they should be able to learn from nature and not merely about it."

.. and that comes within the remit of this blog. I know that many of you spend much time and energy outdoors in nature with grandkids and felt that you would be interested, like me, in this campaign.

I think this image from the Aims and Objectives page encapsulates how I feel beautifully.

Parenting styles and choices are deeply emotive and personal, and need to be respected. For this reason, I hesitated to mention these issues here, as Earth and Tree is a gentle blog about pooling resources, experiences and inspiration in honour of Mother Earth. I would always want to remain apolitical, only posting about campaigns directly related to environmental issues like saving woodland, recycling, carbon footprint and sustainable living which I feel the likeminded souls here might appreciate. But, you know, this IS about the Earth and nothing could be more central than ensuring that the littlies have access to, learn from and can be inspired by nature.

Our little'un is currently doing a fantastic Forest Fun course for ages 3 to 5 run by our excellent local SureStart service. He gets to jump in puddles, build dens, go on bug hunts and do all manner of fantastic things .. but its all up to him, he decides and can go exploring about and finding out freely. With a bit of luck, this new outfit will bring together lots of campaigns and organisations working to the same aims under one umbrella and will help support and inform parents who want to access this kind of experience for their children as well as lobbying government and organising folks on the ground to campaign on their local issues.

Clean Energy

I loved this little video clip by Friends of the Earth. Its about challenging the big energy companies who are monopolising the market and their hold over government. These companies have a financial interest in pushing 'dirty' fuels at the expense of small companies and communities producing cleaner energy. If you are interested, you can find out more about the 'Final Demand' campaign and sign a petition requesting the government hold an investigation into the issue.

Solar Power Campaign

Friends of the Earth would like you to help put pressure on David Cameron over the government's intentions with regard to solar power .. you can read the full details here.

Just thought I'd spread the word .. please pop along and sign the letter if you've got a minute!

National Tree Week

Those in the UK might be interested to know about the Tree O'Clock event which is taking place next Saturday, 5th December ... a mass tree-planting exercise! You can either go along to one of the many local planting events or you can pledge to plant a native species tree at home. All the information you need can be found at Breathing Places, which is well worth a visit even if you can't participate in the event.

"To help celebrate National Tree Week, BBC Learning has teamed up with Guinness World Records for Tree O'Clock – a nationwide challenge to plant as many trees as possible within a single hour, uniting the nation in an event which will provide a lasting legacy and an amazing learning opportunity for all ages.

At 11.00am on Saturday 5 December everyone is invited to join in and "do one thing" for nature by simply planting a tree and, in doing so, learn the benefits of plantingthe right tree in the right place.

In a recent survey for The Woodland Trust, 86% of people asked said they would like to see more trees being planted in their local area. And over 70% said if they had a wood within walking distance it would encourage them to exercise."

Recycle for Wildlife

Just wanted to share this request I received today for us all to donate our old mobile phones to FFI who can get a £5 donation for each phone received to put towards their wildlife conservation work..

"Did you know your old mobile phone could help FFI to save gorillas and other endangered wildlife around the world?

FFI is today launching a campaign calling for individuals, companies and schools to send us their old mobile phones. It is designed to coincide with Recycle Week, the official UK campaign to encourage people to recycle more.

For every phone received, FFI will receive about £5. It's a great way to support our vital conservation work without spending a penny."




Full information on where to send your old phone at the
Fauna and Flora International website.

Climate Change Film

Just wanted to pass on this message from Friends of the Earth - those of you in the UK can help campaign for climate change by going along to the cinema and watching a fab film ...



"The Age of Stupid is a new film about the consequences of dangerous climate change that's showing in cinemas around the UK. The makers of the film are also calling for action at the UN Climate talks in Copenhagen.

The more people who go to see the film early on the better the chance of a bigger global release. That will get the message about climate change out to new audiences."





You can find full details, watch clips and get a list of cinemas and times here.

Earth Hour

This Saturday, 28th March, the WWF are organising a 'Switch it off!' campaign to highlight global warming. At 8.30pm local time, people all over the world will be switching off their lights to signal to their governments the urgent need to tackle climate change.. please help to spread the word!



You can sign up to register your support and find resources for making your own blog post and visit the WWF's Earth Hour website for further information .. hope you'll be joining in?

Chicken Out Update

Those of you who read Earth and Tree last year (with their speakers on!) will remember the cacophony of chicken noises which greeted them from the 'Chicken Out' campaign banner we had flying.. this is a campaign in the UK to get the food industry, especially the big supermarkets, to clean up their act on chicken production and welfare and to get consumers to buy free-range rather than intensively-reared birds.

Thought you might like to read this update on how the campaign is going and what is being planned for 2009...



New television programme
Watch out for Chicken, Hugh and Tesco Too which is scheduled to air on Channel 4 on Monday 26th January at 9pm. This is a follow-up film to last year’s Hugh’s Chicken Run series and documents what happened when I became a Tesco shareholder as part of my fight to improve chicken welfare.

Poultry welfare forum
The plan to create a Poultry Welfare Forum which represents all the stakeholders - the farming industry, retailers, restaurants, government, campaign groups and consumers - has come to fruition and, late last year, we managed to hold an initial meeting of key players. Six themes were identified for further discussion. They were:

1. Agreeing an acceptable standard for British poultry welfare
2. Providing clear labeling for consumers on chicken standards
3. Ensuring progress on chicken welfare is not thwarted by lower-welfare imports
4. Achieving a better understanding, both within and outside the industry, of different health and welfare standards
5. Exploring dynamics between welfare and other sustainability issues
6. Stopping price wars so that chicken is not sold at less than production cost

I hope to have an updated report on all these issues in Spring 2009.

Compassion in World Farming
Compassion in World Farming is the leading international farm animal welfare charity, with a 40 year track record of successful campaigning on issues such as battery caged hens and veal crates. Their support has already been crucial to the Chicken Out! campaign and I’m delighted to announced that they will help me take it to the next level. CIWF have been appointed by the new Poultry Welfare Forum (see above) to co-ordinate discussion on the issue of transparency and consumer information. They will also be taking over the day-to-day running of the Chicken Out! website, giving links to the latest welfare news and providing some of the educational materials that many of you have asked about. I will still be providing my regular updates and you’ll next be hearing from me again after the airing of Chicken, Hugh and Tesco Too when we have an exciting online challenge we will be launching after the programme!

Please do check out the website over the next couple of months with much more to come, as we take the campaign ever onwards and upwards. Remember, we couldn’t have achieved all that we have so far without your magnificent support, and we still need it!

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Woodland Appeal

I'm wondering whether anyone in the UK who sees this in time might be able to help - The Woodland Trust are appealing for people to ring up and vote for their project to create a new wood near Colchester, Essex to win lottery funding (see details below).

The phone number to ring is 0871 626 8803 and the call must be before midnight tonight (Wed 26th November).

Many thanks for your help!


****** FROM THE WOODLAND TRUST WEBSITE ******

We need your urgent help. Our appeal to create a new wood at Elmstead Market in Colchester Essex has the chance to win nearly £50,000, as part of the Big Lottery Fund's People's Millions contest - but only if it gets enough telephone votes.

As well as protecting ancient woodland and providing habitat for endangered wildlife, like barn owls, buzzards and water voles, the new wood will provide people with more green spaces - if we can raise enough funds.

If you'd like to help, please call the voting number which will be released during the ITV Anglia East evening news and on the Big Lottery Fund website from 9am until midnight - on Wed 26th November.



Thank you in advance,

Mark Brown
Woodland Trust grants officer

Saving the World

Want to help fight climate change? Install the '350 Challenge' badge on your blog and Brighter Planet will offset 350 pounds of carbon in your name... so what are you waiting for? Earth and Tree is in!



Thanks to Earth and Economy for alerting me to this initiative, and for posting this wonderful list of 50 simple ways to save the world...

Human Rights

This post forms part of the 'Unite for Human Rights' blog event today. Where to begin, what topic to choose? Its so overwhelming.



The issue that springs to mind most quickly for me, of late, is the plight of Tibet and this year's Olympic event in China. And the bigger issue of news blackout and control of the press, generally, which also brings to mind what's happening in Burma at the moment.

A fortnight ago, I walked up the road to my local school and voted in elections for the Mayor of London. My chap didn't win, but my vote was counted and my voice was heard... which is not the case in Zimbabwe.

Yesterday I received a letter from my MP at the House of Commons to whom I had written expressing my concerns about the need to strengthen the climate change bill. It was a standard response, of course, but if everyone sends a letter he will take notice (else he won't get re-elected).

The right to protest, indeed, the right to express an opinion, is something that we in the West take for granted.. while some bloggers run the risk of jail and worse every time they publish a post?

We are complacent about our freedom to vote and protest in this country, and not enough of us get out and do it regularly. When confronted with the enormity of global human rights abuse it feels hard to know how to effect change ... maybe the answer is to make full use of those rights we are so lucky to have!

Visit Amnesty International and take action now.