Biofuel - savvy

Today asked the following question of Cllr Neil Swannick, the Executive Member for Environment at the Council Meeting in the Town Hall:

How will Manchester Council inform residents that whilst Biofuel from waste (vegetable and animal) oils can be sustainable, Biofuels crops (either in this country or the global south) are not sustainable and can produce up to 10 times the emissions of the fuel that they seek to replace?

Neil's first response went into some detail about the current developments in Biofuels and the new legislation due to come out in April. He disputed the figure of "up to 10 times the emissions" and mentioned the Council's use of Biofuels in it's vehicle fleet. He seemed to be saying that the jury was still out on the issue of Biofuels.

For more information on Biofuels see: http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/

This is a really good introduction to the subject:
http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/greenworld08.php

There are more reports at: http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/background.php#general

including "Biofuels : an unfolding disaster", which contains the following quote:

However, fuel suppliers are only required to report
50% of their biofuels in 2008-2009. So Palm Oil,
creating up to 9 times the greenhouse gas emissions
than diesel, may be hidden in the unreported 50%.

In my supplementary question I explained that whilst I currently believe that Ebony Solutions who supply the Council's Biofuel are (reasonably) sustainable and that this was obviously a complicated issue, there are what can be simply described as "bad" Biofuel and "good" Biofuel and I asked if this could be explained within the Council's Environmental Campaigns information.
Before I had finished asking the question, other Labour front benchers were shouting "yes", so they seem keen to get the message out there (actually I think they were just keen to get out of the meeting). Cllr Swannick also stood up and said yes, so I look forward to Council campaign information including Biofuels.
I wonder if I might need to remind them...

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Come back next week to see a write-up of the other 2 questions I asked and my uncontested budget speech!

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day to my Mum and mothers everywhere.

When people ask me how I became an environmentalist, I explain that I think it started with my Mum when we watched Blue Peter together and she got me into recycling milk bottle tops. So thanks goes to my Mum for being an inspiration. She also taught me to care for other people and was a great introduction to that which I now call "random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty.."
I think both of these qualities have given me both the motivation and the empathy for the job of a Green Councillor, where I often find myself acting as "Counsellor" as well as "Councillor".

Cheers Mum and thanks for a lovely lunch and afternoon together today.

Critical Mass was awesome!

Critical Mass on Friday was great! Considering the weather was really windy and wet at times the turnout was amazing. After a varied route around the city centre we cycled through Hulme and then came back into town down the Princess Parkway, with a lap of honour round the roundabout at the end. Lots of friendly pedestrians and even some friendly motorists. Only one or two idiot drivers but overall a good, safe and quite fast ride around the city ending at Cafe Saki in Rusholme for a brilliant Benefit night.
It makes me proud to be a cyclist!

Crap cycle lanes and Critical Mass

Today is a day for bad cycle lanes and good cycling actions.

Greater Manchester Cycle Campaign invitied me to attend a crap cycle lane which I am sad to say is the Hulme Ward. By the Princess Parkway on the junction of Radnor Street is a 3 metre cycle lane that is more of a liability than of any use.
It is useless, unnecessary and puts cyclists and pedestrians in direct conflict.

Vincent Walsh from GMCC presented me with the Crap Cycle Lanes book, which I have been asked to pass on to Manchester City Council's Cycling Officer.
















We had a brief discussion about the transport plans for Manchester and agreed that I should ask for a joint meeting with Council Officers to scrutinise the crap cycle lanes and look forward at the TIF (Transport Innovation Fund) bid to ensure that cycling is placed at the heart of the future transport plans for the city.

The event was covered by both the Manchester Evening News and Channel M, so look out for their coverage too.

And this evening at 6pm it will be time to get on your bike again for the monthly Critical Mass, meeting from 6-630pm for a cycle round the city centre to celebrate the bike and all things cycling.
See the Facebook group for more info, pics etc:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2433939714

Is it in the bag with Brown?

I read today the laudable words of Gordon Brown on the subject of plastic bags.

Gordon Brown has warned retailers he will force them to cut down on plastic bag use if they do not act voluntarily.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7270358.stm

Great Gordon, but why wait? Why does Brtain so often seen as the Dirty Manc of Europe continue to lag behind when countries like Ireland lead the way with their recent ban on plastic bags.
It is inly when legisaltion comes in that a level playing field is created to ensure that all retailers can charge for bags without smaller businesses losing out.
The big chains will benefit from the publicity as they cash in on their Greenwash, only legislation to cover all shops is a fair way to deal with the problem of single-use plastic bags.

And what next for the nations shopping? Paper bags as we see in America?
Let's hop not because recent studies have shown that the production and transportation of paper bags causes more climate change emissions that the single-use plastic bag they seek to replace.
This is one of several environmental conundrums where our elders truly know better, re-usable shopping bags like Granny used to use.

End Manchester to London flights now!

Well done to Greenpeace for their action today highlighting the link between unnecessary domestic flights and dangerous climate change:

Climate campaigners bring peaceful protest to Heathrow

This morning, four of our volunteers have climbed on top of a plane at Heathrow and are wrapping a banner around the tailfin. The plane - one of 32 flights every day between London and Manchester - had just arrived in Heathrow and the passengers had disembarked when four volunteers walked through the double doors at Heathrow Terminal One, crossing an area of tarmac and climbing onto the fuselage of the British Airways flight.

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/climate-campaigners-bring-peaceful-protest-to-heathrow-20080225

All the panel at the Great Aviation Debate in Manchester last November agreed that we should not fly between Manchester and London. That included the Manchester Airport paid "Professor of Sustainable Aviation", MA's Director of Planning, and the Chair of Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce.

The end of Manchester to London flights is inevitable, and the sooner the better.

The Manchester Evening News is a quality newspaper - myth or reality?

Just when you think they couldn't get any worse, the MEN do something that looks good, but just can't be...and it wasn't.
Before I go on, I must say that I am convinced that there are many good journalists at the MEN, however somewhere in the process of reporting the news, something seems to go badly wrong.

I would love to say "Well done" to the MEN for their piece on Climate Change - lovely picture of the earth of the front cover, but when they asked the question in their Climate Change debate - myth or reality, is Climate Change caused by human activity they set the debate back a good few years.
So, well done Evening News objective acheived. Because of course you don't want to tell the truth, to represent the consensus of Scientists, the IPCC, Kyoto, David King, Bali...etc etc

The question now is how bad will it be, how much of the human population of the planet will be wiped out and how many of our sister species will we take with us.

And the second question is what are we going to do about it?

The answer to the first question, based on current predictions is too scary to publish here - I would rather you read the next bit, than get switched off because of the fear.

In the debate the panel were asked for policy ideas for legislation to help. Kevin Anderson from Manchester Uni's Tyndall Centre said:

• Ban all sports cars and 4x4's that do less than 50mpg

• Ban all fridges that are less then A++ rated

• Ban all power stations that do not use combined heat and power to use the heat that currently goes up the chimney
• Emissions caps - either individual or per country.
  

From a Green Party Perspective I'd add:

• the Climate Change Bill should have a target of 90% reductions by 2030, with 8% year on year cuts.
• No airport expansion, phase out domestic flights.
• Renationalise and invest in the rail network.
• Real integrated transport in all towns and cities.
• Ban patio heaters.
• No big business biofuels - the emissions are worse than what they seek to replace.

In this debate progress means insulated houses, community CHP plants, wind turbines and yes, energy effiecient lighbulbs.

Anything else is just human-induced mass suicide.