Friends of the Earth are asking us to take action on trade deals
Donald Trump wants a toxic trade deal with the UK. And UK Trade Secretary Liz Truss is kicking off these dangerous negotiations, despite the pandemic.
A US trade deal could harm nature and the climate, especially if rushed. It could see food on our shelves made using chemicals that are currently banned, or pumped full of unnecessary, harmful antibiotics. It could mean giving US investors the power to influence our environmental standards.
This is a scary time. We’re all worried for friends and family, doing our best to keep one another safe, and relying on our government to do all that’s needed to beat this pandemic.
Now is not the time to focus on this trade deal. The government’s priority right now must be tackling coronavirus. This means calling a formal halt to all planned negotiations until people in the UK and around the world are safe.
Please read the open letter from our co-CEOs, Miriam and Hugh, to Trade Secretary Liz Truss. Ask her to halt the trade negotiations and tell the US that our health and environment come first. Click here to sign the open letter
And here’s an article about it from the Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/coronavirus-trump-trade-talks-brexit-boris-johnson-a9500341.html
Bad news about Heathrow
Heathrow Airport Limited and developers Arora Holdings have just been given permission to appeal against the decision to stop them building a climate-wrecking third runway.
We’ve had a message from Katie de Kauwe at FOE and here are extracts.
“When we won the historic legal case in February we knew this might happen. Both companies quickly applied to appeal so we didn’t take anything for granted.
Our legal team has therefore been busy preparing for this moment. And the good news is that we’re confident that the Supreme Court will agree with us that it was illegal for the government to support a third runway without considering what this meant for meeting the Paris Agreement and the total climate impacts the development could have…..”
You’ll be able to learn more about this case – including this new development – in our How to Save the Planet live talk on 12 May, with our Head of Legal, Will and I. Book your place.
FOE need help with the costs of their legal team
As you probably know, FOE has fought a number of successful cases, not just over Heathrow but also fighting fracking. But money is definitely short and they are asking supporters to donate £15. You can find out more and donate here: https://friendsoftheearth.uk/legal-and-planning/friends-earths-legal-team
A Climate Emergency Resolution for Havant
A really important issue for Havant FOE is that our council is one of only three in the South East which has not signed a Climate Emergency Resolution or come up with an Action Plan. It’s a difficult time to approach them but the climate crisis isn’t going away. We need to get a group together to come up with ideas and get things moving. More on this later but do have a look at FOE’s resources on getting climate action plans together.
https://takeclimateaction.uk/take-action/campaign-guide-you-and-your-council
What does a Green Recovery plan look like?
Long before we’d heard of COVID 19, there were plenty of plans for decarbonising the economy like the (British) Green New Deal and Zero Carbon Britain from the Centre for Alternative Technology
The Green New Deal is a really important plan for reshaping our economy. Find out more here. https://www.greennewdealuk.org/
Watch this short video from Caroline Lucas MP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdytlt5hYjk. This is one of a series of informative videos being put out by the Green Party
Ann Pettifor has written a book The Case for the Green New Deal and there are links to lots of relevant articles on her website: https://www.annpettifor.com/topics/green-new-deal/
The Centre for Alternative Technology has produced an update of its Zero Carbon Britain report and there’s a useful video on their website: https://www.cat.org.uk/info-resources/zero-carbon-britain/
A Green Recovery Now?
There have also been some encouraging articles recently showing how we could begin the post COVID recovery straight away with a range of green initiatives which could begin really fast and give a big boost to the economy. We need to make sure that politicians and people with influence are thinking along these lines.
And here’s an interesting article from the Government’s own advisers
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52547885?fbclid=
Doughnut Economics
Some of us are really enthusiastic about the ideas of Kate Raworth which are underpinning a recovery plan in Amsterdam for example. Kate has linked the Sustainability Goals with the idea of planetary limits to create a new model for thinking about economics. Do have a look at her TED talk and the short videos on her website. https://www.kateraworth.com/doughnut/
Cycling in Havant
The HFOE Zoom meeting recently was all about the problems faced by cyclists around the Borough. We did come up with some positive ideas to work and we’ll share those soon. Do think about joining future HFOE meetings online – its really easy once you’ve tried it!
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