Greening Newcastle Welcome to issue 3 of the Newsletter of Newcastle Green Deputy Leader visit Adrian Ramsay, Deputy Leader of the Green Party, will be speak- ing at a meeting organised by neighbouring Sunderland Green Party (see below). In the 2010 General Election he secured the second highest Green vote in the country in the South constituency, doubling the party’s vote share to 15%. Adrian is part of the largest group of Green Party Council- lors in the country on Norwich City Council. The Green Party is the second largest party at Norwich City Hall, holding 14 seats, just two behind Labour. Born and brought up in Norwich, Adrian went on to gain a First Class Degree in Politics and Sociology from the University Greenest city? of East Anglia in 2002, where he received an award for his Poli- he Council now trots out on a regular basis as a justifi- tics essays. He later gained a Masters’ Degree. Tcation of its works the accolade it received from Forum Adrian joined the Green Party in 1998 at the age of 16 be- for the Future which described Newcastle as Britain’s greenest cause he felt the other parties were overlooking environmental city. (See http://www.forumforthefuture.org/projects/sustaina- issues and were not tackling poverty and animal cruelty. He still ble-cities09). Certainly the good work that is being done does feels strongly that the Green Party is the only party with strong deserve recognition yet, in reality, only small progress is being and coherent policies on these issues. made. In terms of necessary urgency, given the speed and scale As a prominent councillor and Deputy Leader of the Green of threatening change regarding global (over)warming, peak oil, Party, Adrian is motivated by the need to make a difference on and many other ecological threats, it is very much a matter of these issues at a local and national level. Adrian was first elected too little, too late. All kinds of policies also being pursued by the as a City Councillor in 2003 at the age of 21, gaining 50% of the council that contradict what limited sustainability initiatives it vote. He was re-elected in 2007 with 62% in Norwich’s Nelson has taken. At the same time, equally unsustainable social inequi- Ward. He was elected as the Green Party’s first Deputy Leader ties within the city remain grievously wide. in 2008 and re-elected in 2010. For more information about There is much that is appealing about the city: the Grainger- Adrian’s campaigns and his work as a local councillor please Dobson architectural legacy, the Metro system, cutting edge visit: health facilities, some attractive residential areas, parks like Jes- www.adrianramsay.org.uk mond Dene, the Ouseburn project… Rose-tinted spectacles must of course be discarded when viewing the city’s past. The old Quayside was ugly and badly polluted, especially around the old Thomas Hedley factory (later P&G). Its redevelopment had a number of pluses, even if some of the new architecture is a bit like a Legoland construction, designed by Albert Speer. Local air and water quality is generally much better than, say, 100 years ago. For all the talk of ‘yobbery’ and unsafe streets, it might be remembered that, only 40 years ago, local teen gangs like the ‘Droogs’ swaggered around in search of violent ‘entertainment’. Some of these qualities are rightly spotlighted in the ‘Sustain- able City’ assessment. Yet, overall, the indicators it uses are of limited utility. Sometimes it is a bit like comparing oranges and lemons, with little sense of what must come first for overall well-being and how the different pieces of the jigsaw fit together. Thus there is a category called ‘ecological footprint’ yet this is separated from ‘climate change’, biodiversity’ and ‘air quality’ First anniversary meeting (water is omitted) as if the human impact was something sepa- of Sunderland Green Party rate from these key components of ecological systems. Date: 13.00, Saturday, October 2nd. More seriously, employment is treated as an independent Venue: ‘Revolution’, Low Row, Sunderland variable. Yet some jobs might be very destructive in ecologi- cal terms, even if others may be useful and sustainable. No dis- The main speaker will be Adrian Ramsay (see above), with tinction is made, however. ‘Economy’ is separated from both musical entertainment from local band the Summer Tumblers employment and environment so the opening of a number of plus comedy from John Appleton. highly automated plants making armaments would have boosted Newcastle’s green standing. Such classifications are as meaning- ­ALL WELCOME less as that grotesque picture of the national economy, Gross Domestic Product, counting, as it does, both ‘goods’ and ‘bads’. [It is estimated that, in the USA, each murder increases the GDP by $1 million, so a more murderous Newcastle would be a more economically ‘successful one’!]. So the yardstick of the number of VAT registrations used in the survey to measure business start-ups will include new lapdancing joints, burger bars, casinos, SUV salesrooms, and so forth. The proliferation of ‘value’ stores (Poundstretcher etc) and pawn brokers tend to suggest a decrease in well-being but all signify “economic vibrancy” according to Forum for the Fu- ture’s criteria. In most cases, the categories beg more questions than they answer. So recycling is used as one indicator. But a high score Consumerism reigns supreme on Northumberland St., just based on material collected as a percentage of total waste while, below, unsustainable levels of traffic clog local roads. gives little insight into the actual ecological worth of the activity. If it means an energy-intensive collection system in which col- lected waste is sent long distances for recycling, then it might do more ecological harm than good. Newcastle’s system seems designed to suit the likes of Biffa and Sita rather than make it as easy as possible for local citizens to minimise the waste they generate. The amount of litter strewn all over the city needs no comment here nor does the level of sheer noise. Similarly the criterion of ‘green space’ could cover ster- ile lawns, parks playing fields or wildflower meadows. It says nothing about land use practices on such sites, such as use of synthetic chemicals and cutting regimes. Housing is not given any prominence, so histories like all the unnecessary demolition under the ‘Going for Growth’ programme go ignored as does the bias towards cul-de-sac and often quasi-gated ‘executive housing’ developments. [Anna Minton’s Ground Control (Penguin, 2009) has good sections in Newcastle’s record here.] Education does feature but its assessment is more compli- cated than suggested. For a start, given problems like grade infla- tion, pass rates are no longer a good guide to how schools are actually doing. Allowance must also be made for the fact that many Newcastle schools are sited in comparatively poor areas where broad social factors hinder attainment. In such circum- stances, a school might still be achieving considerable success even if pass rates look comparatively low. Given that one or two of the city’s ‘best’ schools like Gosforth High are seeking to opt out and gain ‘independent’ academy status, it looks as if educational inequalities are set to widen in the locality. In terms of sustainability, any judgement would need to study both the curriculum, exploring the extent to which ecological dimensions inform what is taught, and the environmental im- Newcastle continues to sprawl outwards,most obviously in the case pact of the schools themselves. Given that one Heaton primary of the perhaps ironically named ‘Great Park’ (above) school won several awards for its building – despite the fact it while expansion is still the name of the game at Newcastle airport, is so dark indoors that lighting has to be left on all the time and co-owned by the council & several other local authorities in the area that it seriously overheats – a degree of caution may be neces- sary about some of the claims made for local schools. Forum for the Future takes such a narrow view of sustaina- bilkity that it ignores the fact many new developments like Ken- ton School are funded by the Private Finance Initiative, thereby crippling future generations with unsustainably massive debts. In Jesmond, PFI deals have also created a situation whereby school buildings can no longer be used at night for adult education and the like due to the contracts. In a sustainable society, full use would, of course, be made of buildings to maximise efficient use of resources. On transport, the measure used is the number of minutes it takes per month per person to travel to four key services: food, GP, Further Education and secondary school. This gives little insight into different modes of transportation and their impact. For instance, pedestrains and cyclists are still ill-served The history of Eldon Square epitomises a lot about Newcastle in compared to private drivers, while the on-going march of big su- general. The ‘Venice-of-the-North’ vision (?) of T. Dan Smith created perstores, welcomed by many councillors, will mean the closure the shopping mall as well as several new big roads (the ‘canals’), of more easily accessible local shops. At times, as in the case of while the recent make-over has the aesthetics of a 60s job centre, Percy Street, quite contradictory goals are being pursued, name- with cheap standards of finishing. ly road access to two bus stations and two big multi-storey car parks. While the Metro might boost Newcastle’s overall sustain- ability rating, that would mean little to the west half of the city which, of course, it does not serve. The very high cost of public transport, compared to, say, parking meters, also reflects the unsustainable priorities in traffic management. Nothing has been said so far about leisure. Again it is a pic- ture of unsustainability and inequality. Facilities like public librar- ies and swimming pools have tended to contradict, the odd glossy new building notwithstanding, while expensive private fitness clubs and the like have expanded. City centre pubs have been largely lost to ‘vertical drinking’ where there is so little seating and so much noise that the downing of more and more alcohol becomes the main option. Many people, especially older ones, regard the night-time city centre as hostile territory.

Bootprint A city’s ‘greenness’ might be figuratively captured by imaging what would happen were it to be sealed by some giant belljar. Would its citizen suffocate in the accumulating foul air, drown in their wastes, or die first due to a lack of clean water, food, fuel and other resources? Of course cities are not closed systems in real life. But their overall state and future prospects can be judged by the sustainability of the various inputs on which they depend and on the outputs created by their ‘metabolism’. In both ways, impacts at distant sources and sinks as well as direct ones on their own patch, cities like Newcastle have a massively unsustainable footprint. So the greenness of Newcastle cannot be separated from the impact on far flung farmlands of the food it consumes…of the mines, quarries, open cast sites, oil and gas wells and reser- voirs from which fuels, water, and minerals used in the city are derived… of the ‘tree factories’ whence timber and other wood by-products it uses stem… on the wildlife habitats destroyed or shredded to extend or intensify human production systems. not increases, proper appreciation of the scale and urgency of Nor can it be separated from the impact of all the solid, gase- ‘green redevelopment’ necessary. ous and liquid wastes that flow from Newcastle’s homes, work- Finally it must be noted that the Sustainable Cities Award places, transport systems, schools, hospitals, crematoria, leisure says little about the citizens of the cities it ranks. Like so many facilities, and so forth. Nor the land sterilised under its buildings studies of its kind, it is silent about population levels and local and other infrastructure. carrying capacity as if numbers don’t count. It also says noth- The Council must redirect much more of its research re- ing about values, aspirations and priorities prevalent amongst sources into the field of ecological footprinting (see the pio- the local population. They matter! The Council is not only con- neering work of people like Bill Rees, Mathis Wackernagel and strained by its budget and by central government directions. It Herbert Girardet). In the case of London – contrary to the also cannot get too far ahead of general public opinion. claims that it is the nation’s wealth generator – the ecologi- The state of popular beliefs and lifestyle preferences in the cal footprint of its citizens is roughly 49 million global hectares, city can be judged in many ways. Perhaps the most significant which was 42 times its biocapacity and 293 times its geographi- is how people shop and travel. The crammed shopping trolleys cal area. This is twice the size of the UK, and roughly the same being wheeled to parked cars at Kingston Park and such sites size as Spain. Ecologically London is a wealth devourer. gives a good indication how people are ‘voting’ with their wal- Obviously Newcastle’s footprint is not nearly so great. None lets against long-term collective well-being. It is symptomatic of the less it is excessive – in a country which is in a general state an underlying cultural crisis, the fundamental reason why New- of ecological ‘overshoot’. The ‘footprinting’ approach gives a castle is not a sustainable city. fuller picture than the methodology of the Sustainaiblity City Tourist posters at the airport welcome visitors to a city full, Index. Forum for the Future may reply that it is only meant to they proclaim, of “passionate people”. Well a great many may paint a general picture. The accompanying text claims that the care deeply about, say the future of Newcastle United. Some- award “is intended to encourage healthy competition, stimulat- what fewer, as yet, seem to care as much about the prospects ing discussion and giving citizens the tools to hold their leaders of Earth United. So the real challenge of building a sustainable to account, (and raise) awareness of what it means to be a sus- city remains the same as ever: persuading people that only way tainable city”. That is fair enough at one level but not if it reduce, forward for sustainable and humane living is the green one. Green Coercion! The intensive rearing of chicken and pigs has long been char- acterised by great cruelty in the treatment of the animals as well as heavy dependence on drugs to try and limit (often with decreasing success) the diseases triggered by the conditions on local Labour MP has opposed the proposal to have a ‘meat- ‘factory farms’, with attendant human health risks. Apologists Afree Monday’ at Westminster. Such initiatives are spreading often claim it is a very productive system yet it is only ‘efficient’ (see http://www.supportmfm.org/) but Chi Onwurah (Newcas- in terms of output per farm worker. In reality it is an extremely tle Central) thinks that it would be “coercive”. Furthermore, inefficient use of resources overall, especially animal feedstuffs. she states she is feels “uncomfortable instructing others as It is also a generator of a host of unsustainable side-effects like to what they should eat, especially when they may not have soil degradation and water pollution. Now this system is being the same access to alternative foodstuffs” that she does, even applied more and more to cows in what has been called ‘zero though she claims to support reduced meat consumption. grazing’ (see http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home- Her position is little different in reality from those who com- news/revealed-how-zerograzing-is-set-to-bring-usstyle-factory- plain about a “nanny state” (or ‘Big Brother’) telling people what farming-to-britain-2010107.html). to do and who also denounce “namby pamby” health and safety In reality it is agribusiness or an excellent movie on the issue which, they like to say, has “gone-crazy”. The most extreme even calls ‘Food Inc.’ that is doing all it can to foist such foodstuffs, talk of a threat from “health fascism”, indicting, amongst other aided by massive government subsidies, on consumers (there is things, regulations that coerce those who wish to smoke in lots of good material on http://www.foodincmovie.com/). Fur- public places. The MP might not be Jeremy Clarkson but she is thermore, frms like Monsanto have been extremely coercive, operating on a similar wavelength, putting personal preferences censoring information about their activities as well as bringing before collective well-being (and that of other species). ruinous legal actions against ‘refuseniks’ in the farming com- The Early Day Motion in question (EDM 669), spotlights munity such as farmers who try to save seed. The seemingly some of the key facts. “Meat production”, it states, “is responsi- cheap price of such foodstuffs is only possible because of heavy ble for approximately 18 per cent. of global carbon emissions; subsidy and because the full costs of production, distribution …(with) methane, emitted by cows and pigs, 23 times more and consumption are not reflected in what is charged at the powerful than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas;”. It further supermarket till. notes that current high levels of meat consumption are detri- It is right and proper for governments to steer the nation’s mental to the health of the nation and the public purse, given eating habits down a different path in healthier and more sus- the huge subsidies given to the industry, It proposes that Parlia- tainable directions. After all, it is scarcely ‘coercive’ to try and ment should therefore set an example by supporting meat-free force drivers to use one side of the road, obey traffic lights, Mondays in all cafeterias in the Houses of Parliament. wear seat belts and stay sober while driving. It is for the col- As Newcastle Green Party’s Mike Casselden pointed out in a lective good. Indeed in all sorts of ways, from the teaching of letter to the MP, “meat is a cultural fashion which is very expen- hygiene to children to fire regulations about building design and sive to produce, mostly for the richer societies and the grains occupancy, society imposes certain behaviours on its members. and pulses needed to feed the intensively reared animals are The same is true of product standards. German beer is so good imported from poorer countries at great cost. And it is known because of the ‘coercive’ purity laws there. Weights and meas- that a meat rich diet can be linked to cancers and heart disease.” ures regulations similarly force honest standards on traders. Mike further argued that a vegetarian or at least a low meat diet The encouragement of a less meat-centred diet is a modest would be a “fairer way of sharing out the world’s food supplies step by comparison but it seems too big a one for some Labour and offer a concerted attack on poverty and poor health”. MPs.

A cow’s belches & farts are potent contributors to global warming, though not quite like this.

The health impacts of a A cow’s belches & farts arehigh potent meat contributors diet aren’t all to global warming, thoughthat not good quite either like this. Local musicians Guessmen, The Turing Test, Mammal Club, and many more will be performing at multiple venues across New- castle including the Cluny 2, Nancy’s Bordello, The Tanners, The Ship, The Cumberland Arms, The Free Trade as part of Oxjam, the UK’s biggest music festival. The show on Saturday, the 23rd October, will be raising money for Oxfam’s work fighting pov- erty around the world. The show forms part of Oxjam month of music, which runs through the whole of October. Oxjam is a festival with a differ- ence: thousands of fund-raising music events are put on by ordi- nary people – from large-scale festivals to local sponsored busks – making it the biggest line-up of any music festival in the UK. Headliners Mamacoca, have recently embarked on a na- tionwide UK tour and played at major music festivals in 2010. Guessmen’s release of their highly anticipated studio album de- scribed as “vital and exciting” by radio 6’s Tom Robinson are set to headline the takeover event in the Newcastle. We hope to raise over £4,500 for Oxfam with the help of all you lovely local music people. Wristbands are priced at £7 allowing you access to all the venues on the day and a diverse range of music acts across the city. Wristbands are available at www.wegottickets.com Jennifer Blease who is organising at the event, said: “We’re really excited to be playing our part in making New- castle part of a month-long musical celebration right across the country. Even more importantly, this gig is all about showing that the best in local music can have a global impact too – for example, just £7 could feed a family, and £10 can buy five bags of seeds. So everyone who comes along can rest assured that as well as having a great time, they’ll be helping to change lives around the world too.”

Branch officers Current officers and their contact details are listed below. If you know of any opportunities that the local Party might take up or want to raise any other matters, get in touch with Laurence or one of the other officers. Newsletter news To reduce the number of emails in circulation, please use this newsletter to draw attention to any papers you want to put This branch newsletter is not produced to a regular deadline forward for discussion. Just send your name, email address and since its frequency is determined by events, not least meetings the title of the topic and we’ll try to give it due publicity. we want to publicise. That said, it is hoped to deliver an issue Laurence Ellacott, Branch co-ordinator once a month. In any case, send material as soon as you can! [email protected] Back issues can be obtained directly from the editor or read Andrew Gray, Election Agent on the branch website (http://www.newcastlegreenparty.org/). contact via Laurence above Though it is a vehicle for internal communication, the News- John Pearson, Treasurer letter is also designed as a public face for the local party. So if [email protected] you can forward a copy to anyone who might be interested, Tony Waterston, Literature and Publicity. please do so. Let Laurence know of any contacts as well. We will [email protected] also publish material from non-members if appropriate. Editing Sandy Irvine, Newsletter editor and Policy Response is only done to fit copy to available space. We will also advertise [email protected] longer material if you provide details such as email address and the topic of your paper. If possible, use Word. But the key thing is NOT to format text: no styling, no changes in point size, no indents, no para- graph spacing or other extra leading, no use of tabs, no dou- ble spacing after words and punctuation (computer typesetting 1 2 should always use only single spacing – it is very different to old typewriter practice). The one helpful function to use is a para- graph return to indicate new paragraphs and subheadings. Such simple rules make it a lot easier to do page make-up which is where layout and styling are done. The newsletter is produced using an iMac but PC-based documents can readily be used. Forthcoming events Date Event Organiser Oct. 2nd, Public meeting with Adrian Ramsay Sunderland Green Party 13.00-17.00, Revolution, Low Row, Sunderland and others (including live music!) Oct. 6th Policy Support Newcastle Green Party 19.0 @ British Legion, 3, West Jesmond Ave. Contact Laurence for details. Oct. 9th Green Party stall from 10.30–12.30 Newcastle Green Party 10.30 @ Monument, central Newcastle. Please help! All volunteers will be welcome. Oct. 19th, Economic Growth debate The Great Debate 19.00, @ Gallery North, Northumbria Uni. (featuring Jonathon Porritt) http://www.thegreatdebate.org.uk/ Nov. 4th, Green Leaves Books Plus group Newcastle Green Party 19.30. @ Union Rooms, central Newcastle Theme: best green factual books Nov. 13th ‘Conversation Café’ Soil Association 19.00, @ Singing Kettle café, Clayton St. food and talk with regional and seasonal fayre November 13th & 14th Climate Change/Peak Oil Transition Transition Town full two days @ Trinity Centre, Gosforth intensive training event Contact Frances Hinton @ [email protected] You can find out more about Green Party policies via its national website: http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/ policypointers/index.html Conversation Cafe The Soil Association is organising a discourse with your food course(s). The restaurant meal is aimed to pro- vide local and seasonal food during the consumption of which participants at the different tables discuss a series of questions about agriculture, food processing and diet. During the breaks between courses there will be plenar- ies to hear what responses have been generated. It is being held at the excellent Scrumpy Willow and the Singing Kettle cafe on Clayton Street. The food will be sourced mainly from regional organic growers. It looks like a very pleasant but also educationally produc- tive evening. Contact Mick Marston, the Soil Association Regional De- velopment Officer via mmarston@soilassociation. org or telephone 01207 562317.

Please pass Greening Newcastle to any person or organisation you like, and they can in turn pass it on themselves, provided it is transmitted at all times in its entirety as a pdf file and un- changed. Anyone may quote from it, provided this is in context and Newcastle Green Party is acknowledged as the source. This is the third issue of a regular publication. Please send material for the next Newsletter directly to Sandy Irvine, a.s.a.p. (tel: 0191 2844367 or email [email protected])