Eco-house - York

Fancy a break in our homely Victorian eco-house?  It supports our green campaigning and lots of charities.  The lamp is made from a plastic milk bottle by a friend.  www.fairfaxcorner.co.uk  .  The house is very cosy - it now has secondary glazing (wooden frames made by local chippy Brian), additional internal walls built by Mike from Driffield, and most furnishings come from charity shops.  Energy is saved through having lots of pots and cutlery so that the dishwasher can be completely filled before running, and  (despite the Tourism inspectors' modernist requirements) we refuse to have an electric drying facility - instead we have washing lines outside in the yard and an airer (or kreel) in the kitchen.  There's solar water heating (backed by gas) and electricity from Good Energy (100% renewable power).  There are recycling bins in the kitchen including a compost bin which can be emptied down the road in the community garden - which is a good place to meet the neighbours as they come to empty theirs!  York's a great place to visit and we do discounts for people who dont bring a car (the house is very central and a short walk from the rail station). 

Flooding on Beverley Westwood, East Yorkshire

More flooding in Beverley late December,  despite the  installation of the new  expensive water tanks 'downstream' of this shot.  Springs could be seen bubbling up just behind me - which I'd never seen there before.

...Mrs Scrooge

...a retrospective shot: small demonstration of reusing cards -squeezed in between the (very inadequate) rubbish bin and a lampost in Beverley's Christmas Fair.  I was challenged by the fair organisers and assured them I wasn't selling anything - in fact I was giving away fudge - and non-consumerist ideas!

Trees and politics

HEYwoods should be helping to warn the wider public of growing ecological problems - and the implications for humanity.  Unfortunately many people don't want to know and/or think it won't affect them personally ('not in my lifetime' they so often say).   However - it is the the duty of local (and national) government to try to inform and educate.

I feel we should not underplay the seriousness of  ash dieback  - because it's just one more symptom of a planetary disease.  Trees are the most visible lungs of the planet, and I feel it's no coincidence that many  tree species around the world are now diseased and succumbing to the increasingly disastrous effects of the activities of our species.  It's  been a love-hate relationship between humanity and trees -  in the ancient past we lived amongst them,  and then we venerated them.  We are healed by their presence and we copy their shapes in our architecture (cf  the columns and vaulting of our cathedrals) ,  but as our numbers and technology increased we began to decimate them  for building and burning, and simply making space and light  for crops, animals and buildings.  Our life spans are so short compared with trees that we fail to see the long term view - and they are unable to explain to us (Tolkein makes this point through the Ents in The Lord of the Rings!)

No wonder green activists are often called 'tree huggers' - trees symbolise the much bigger picture that the green movement tries to make everyone aware of.

In terms of what should be done locally: yes we need urgently to plant trees,  aiming for diversity and resilience as well as use... permaculture in fact.  We also need to educate, because the underlying problem is rampant 'growth' -based politics  which - on a finite planet  - is working to annihilate not only trees but all of us. 

So I would suggest that we start to plan for the creation of a woodland park as a permaculture show-case  (alongside all the other planting which is necessary).  This would be highly appropriate for Hull and East Riding  - not least to increase its tourism 'product' !

best wishes to all for 2013

Shan Oakes

Hull and  East Riding Green Party

Beverley & East Riding Friends of the Earth

Cobblers to the Council!

East Riding Council is threatening the imminent removal of the historic setts (cobblestones) in the market place....so...the message today was Save Our Setts and ....Cobblers to the Council! This was just the first of a list of other important issues to be dealt with.

I spoke with MP Graham Stuart at the end and asked him what the Tory Government does about errant Tory councils like this one... 'surely you're not proud of the way they carry on?' I asked.  He replied that it's democracy - people vote for them....!

School cancels Christmas

Bah Humbug!

The cancellation of Christmas by the Oasis Academy at Nunsthorpe, near Grimsby (in N-E Yorks according to today's Metro!)  says it all about the madness of the current approach to education.   The primary school says  they have to 'raise standards'  before reintroducing music and drama productions because they came bottom of a league table for  English and Maths.  An angry parent renamed the school  'the Scrooge Academy' .

A head teacher who had turned round a London school through music and the arts was outraged. The fact that schools have now reached the stage of  bizarre decisions like this is an indication of the depth of the crisis in education. School governors and heads have bought in to the myths of Gradgrind methods because they are lacking wise leadership from government.  Dickens' ‘Hard Times’ has morphed from being a satire to becoming a text book.  Talking of Dickens, the  UK government should be put through Scrooge’s nightmare experience in ‘A Christmas Carol’…..they need a dose of those ghosts warning against a preoccupation with cash boxes, ledgers and exploiting the workers.  Then they might – just possibly – realise the error of their ways.

The North East Lincs 'academy' may be an oasis from Christmas, but the UK government's approach to education (and society) is now an oasis from humanity and good sense.
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Surely by now people should know the Greens are NOT a one-policy party!

My reply to a comment on the Yorkshire Post site:  Thanks for your reply, Circe, but please check out the Greens' comprehensive manifesto (on website) and you will see it is definitely not a one policy party! ... It's not surprising that people don't realise it, because the media concentrates on the old parties,  and the FPTP system conspires against change.
Green policy has been built up since the 70s by Conference.  The Green Party is actually growing steadily,  and when policies are set out for people to choose (without labelling them) most people choose green policies.
Green policy re NHS is to stop the rampant privatisation and fund it properly (savings from no new Trident, fairer taxation etc) - please see the Party website.
Re Europe: I agree there is a lot wrong with it at present, but there are so many issues which do not respect borders, that Greens believe that states must work together.  The Green Group is a strong force in Europe, working to make Europe democratic, honour subsidiarity, and support the welfare of people and planet instead of corporations. The Greens believe we have to work within Europe but not towards a superstate.  If we are outside, Europe will carry on without us - and get worse, taking us with it.