Just when you thought all Party Political Broadcasts were the same

 - see the new Green Party Broadcast.

” Morph or Wallace and Gromit meets serious green politics.”

And when you’ve watched it – Customise it and send it to a friend!

Representatives from North Lancashire Green Party recently held discussions with Lancaster and District Trade Union Council on possible common ground. Lancaster & Fleetwood general election candidate Gina Dowding and county councillor Chris Coates met with Union delegates at the january monthly meeting of the Trades council at their offices in Morecambe. Subjects discussed ranged from Green Party economic and job creation policies, through renationalising the railways to local campaigning against school closures.

Gina Said “There was much more common ground between us than I think either of us thought there was going to be. We were all concerned about the impact of possible cuts in public service funding and we discussed ways that we might work together locally.”

The meeting also discussed the TUC research paper – A Green and Fair Future; For a Just Transition to a Low Carbon Economy.  The report produced by the TUC to look into the implications of restructuring the economy for a low carbon future concludes that  ” There are no ‘ ifs’ about the threat of climate change and the challenge it poses to the global community………. Citizens engagement is the key to unlocking rapid transition based on principles of equity and social justice.”

See Just transition at  – www.tuc.org.uk

We all receive scam mailing and most will immediately bin. The serious problem is that the small minority that do get sucked in are unlikely to make a complaint when they finally realise they have been scammed.
Scamnesty will be running from 1 February to 26 February where people are being ased people to take scam mailings they receive to Libraries Citizens Advice or Trading Standards so the extent and range of the mailings being used can be assessed.

The campaigns aim is to gather intelligence on the scams circulating. The more info they  get the greater the chance that the problems can be tackled, either by agencies in the UK or by partner organisations overseas.

Your library will be the nearest drop off point.

Full details of the national campaign can be seen @
www.oft.gov.uk/scamnesty

The Co-operative has launched Plan Bee, a campaign and 10-point plan to help save the bee. Worried about the disappearance of bee colonies in recent years the campaign aims to get research going on the causes of the losses and to get people involved in saving bees.

As part of the Campaign the Dukes Cinema is showing the film The Vanishing of Bees on Thursday 21st of Jan at 6.30pm

The Plan BEE website has suggestions on what people can do to help including:

Local Green Party member and peace activist Ian Chamberlain has spent the new year under virtual house arrest in they Egyptian town of Arish. Ian, who works for the Pomocna Dlon (Helping Hand) project with the Polish community in Morecambe , joined  1,400 volunteers from 42 countries in Egypt on 23rd December en route to Palestine to show solidarity with the  impoverished and isolated Palestinian people.
For more info see the Ian in Gaza Blog

Councillor Coates, who leads the 12 strong Green group on the Council, has served on the City Council for the six years and was elected on to Lancashire County Council in 2005. Chris is a time-served carpenter who now works as a freelance project manager on community based construction projects.

British Energy/EDF intend to put forward Heysham to the government as a possible site for a new reactor by the end of March. If you wish to comment on the proposal you can do this via: www.nuclearpowersiting.decc.gov.uk

Green Cllr Chris Coates who attended the meeting said ” This was a very slick PR exercise – presented as a public consultation. The panel of experts were unable to give assurances that they are taking issues such as sea-level rise seriously. A new reactor at Heysham would be a huge waste of money. Money that would be better spent on reducing electricty demand and energy efficiency measures.”
See here for information on Green Party alternative energy policys.

Dear Editor

The announcement on your front page that Heysham is a step nearer to becoming the site for one of the new generation of nuclear power stations is bad news all round. Firstly it is bad news for the environment, the investment in large scale nuclear plants that will take years to build will hold back investment in tackling climate change.

Secondly it is bad news for Heysham residents who are likely to face a nuclear waste dump by default on their doorstep as the spent fuel is put into storage on site because of the lack of any solution as to what to do with highly radioactive waste and the problems of lack of capacity at Sellafield.

And finally it is bad news for the regeneration of Morecambe, the building of Heysham 1&2 were the final nail in the coffin of Morecambe’s heyday, when construction workers filled the guest houses and forced out the last loyal holiday makers. Just as the town is starting to get back on its feet the last thing that it needs is a short sharp shock from the nuclear industry.

Cllr Chris Coates
Green Group Leader
Lancaster City Council

George Marshall in – Carbon Detox

Dukes Theatre Saturday October 11th 8.30pm

Tickets £5 / £4

George Marshall has created the world;s first stand-up climate change routine. It is hilarious, and really challenged me to change the way I thought.
Roman Krznaric, The Oxford Muse

This show proves that carbon is more addictive than smoking”
Jamie Hartzell- Ethical Property Company

George helped me to see how to be cool over global warming
Nigel Cooper – chaplain to Anglia Ruskin University

Fantastic show. If you are scared this will turn it all around.
Lizzie Gillett, Film producer, McLibel:
Two Worlds Collide.

Green County Councillor Chris Coates a supporter of the Compassion in World Farming campaign against intensive farming welcomed the councils move “The County has followed the lead set by Lancaster City Council who introduced free-range eggs in the districts town hall catering earlier in the year. This is really good news especially if you are a chicken!”

In 2007, more than 573,558 eggs were used by Lancashire school kitchens and other venues supplied by commercial services. These include the Bowland Visitor Centre café at Beacon Fell Country Park, Turton Tower, Lancaster’s Adult College and County Hall itself. These will all now be serving only free-range eggs.