We are still in the midst of yet another harsh cold winter. This is now the third consecutive winter with large snowfall, plummeting temperatures and regular frost and ice.

Everyone was talking about the impact on bird numbers after last year’s hard winter, when a freezing spell of weather between January and February resulted in the fifth coldest winter in 100 years. The RSPB stated that the wren in particular struggled with breeding couples down 11 per cent. That’s a loss of 700,000 pairs! With snow covering the ground where the wren likes to forage, food was difficult to find for one of our smallest garden visitors.

Which brings us back to this winter, when snow started falling as early as November and with at least 2 ½ months of potential baltic weather to come, what will the records show once the snow has finally finished falling and spring eventually arrives? How many more birds will suffer a drop in numbers?

Unlike other animals, birds don’t hibernate. Some birds migrate away from the cold weather, whilst others from even colder climates migrate to the UK. Birds need to continue to feed to ensure that their energy levels remain strong. They will shortly need to re-double their efforts once they start to enter the breeding season where nests have to be built and young broods need to be looked after and fed.

Thankfully the awareness of the British public has been alerted to these issues and nowadays all sorts of bird feeders and seed mixes are available to buy at garden centres or online. People are also happy to encourage insects and other natural foods into their garden with plants and wild areas set aside to encourage wildlife. Birds are excellent pest controllers in the garden, devouring aphids, vine weevils, mosquitoes, midges and gnats. You don’t have to spend lots of money on bird food either. Birds will happily eat household scraps of food, you would normally re-cycle or throw away. Its great to encourage birds into your garden! You never know, if you put up a nest box in your garden, they may even nest and lay eggs to provide a great spring show for you.

With so many different subjects about caring for birds during winter, we have put together a few links that should be of interest below -

Bird Links

 RSPB Advice – Feeding Household Scraps
 RSPB Advice – Building a Bird Table
 Ten Simple Steps to Help Birds In Your Garden
 The Dangers of Fat Balls! 
 How To Build A Bird Table

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

 Take part in the RSPB’s annual birdwatch event and help them keep track of bird populations in the UK. Watch your local garden or local park for an hour and record the highest number of each species seen at one time. The RSPB are particularly keen to find out the impact of last year’s harsh winter on bird populations and whether there is a trend occuring year on year.

 Take part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch
 Identify Birds in Your Garden

Buy Bird Feeders

 Buy a Birdie Bistro Bird Feeder

Animal Days Out is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Here at Myakka we are always looking at ways in which we can help lessen our environmental impact, with that in mind we are supporting Liftshare Week which is running from the 4^th  – 8^th October 2010. This is a great opportunity to cut your carbon footprint and ease the morning congestion by sharing a lift to and from work.  Not only does it help the environment it can also help reduce stress levels and make your journeys more fun.  Here at Myakka we car share whenever possible and have a regular pair of car sharers who share their journey to and from work everyday.

Lift sharing is an easy way of making a big difference to our environment by reducing your carbon footprint and easing congestion. It is also a great opportunity to meet people from your local community as well as a great opportunity to swap local knowledge about events and services.

If you would like more information on how you can find a car share partner, work out how much money you can save as well as the reduction of your carbon footprint simply visit www.liftshare.com for more information.  

Myakka is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

The latest brainwave by Environmentalist Group 10:10 could save the UK 500,000 tonnes of carbon emissions every year and it is so very simple!

In our country, we move the clocks around and in so doing waste valuable daylight in the morning and burn expensive lightbulbs in the evening. 10:10 are proposing a change in the way we do this. A plan called ‘Lighter Later’ suggests that we move our clocks forward by one hour for the whole year. We should then change our clocks as normal in Spring and Autumn. This would equate to GMT +2hours in the Summer and GMT +1 in the Winter, which would give us all valuable daylight hours when we were awake and not at 4.30am when most of us are sleeping. It would also delay the time at which we switch on our electric lights in the winter – sometimes as early as 3.30pm in the afternoon.

So all in all, we would gain more sunlight, reduce our electricity consumption, save money and reduce the carbon emissions!

The 10:10 campaigners are collecting signatures which will be presented to the Prime Minister on June 21^st, the longest day of the year. They already have 10,000 signatures but would love to get 5,000 more in the next few days. To sign up to the campaign follow this link and be a part of the solution!

Gecco Interiors Limited is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

What’s in Your Bucket? – and in the one at Your Kid’s School?

The true cost of cleaning has become apparent after a series of studies carried out by the non profit making organisation The Environmental Working Group.

The new study shows that ordinary school cleaning supplies can expose children to multiple chemicals linked to asthma, cancer and other documented health problems and to hundreds of other air contaminants that have never been tested for safety. Laboratory tests done for EWG found that a typical assortment of cleaning products released 457 distinct chemicals into the air. For example, Some Disinfectant Powder Cleanser, products commonly used in both schools and private homes, released more than 100 air contaminants, including chloroform, benzene and formaldehyde.

You can change that today – just eliminate your chemicals by using the ECO award winning range of products from ENJO – just add cold water and get 6.5 times better results – protecting the environment too.

In addition further studies reveal that “Stay at home” women have a 54% higher incidence of illness due to exposure to common household chemicals. That’s why we’ve developed and refined our range of safe and chemical free products.

ENJO easy to use – Hard to believe!

ENJO UK is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Please sign our urgent petition and spread the word http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Home-ed-families/

The Children Schools and Families Bill (second reading due 11/1/10) reverses the assumption of innocence, places the state, rather than parents as primarily responsible for children, and imposes an incredibly bureaucratic scheme without evidence of either need or benefit. it conflicts with many international human rights laws, and relies on enforced compliance through fear to avoid legal challenges. it attempts to portray an element of choice in a number of clauses, which in effect does not exist since the penalties for exercising these choices effectively exclude the option of Home Education. Although it appears to only relate to Home Education, it will set a dangerous precedent regarding the role of the state in basic parenting decisions, and will have huge consequences for all families regarding rights of access to the family home, and to routinely interview children on their own.

Here’s a poem /card you could send to others too http://www.newsfromnowhere.org.uk/XmasPoem.pdf

And this one’s just for fun! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QjdcdG4mP4

Olive Co-operative Ltd is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

“Irresponsible, lazy, ignorant, insensitive, disrespectful, uninformed and with no purpose”

This is the opinion of people and places – which is a volunteer recruitment organisation! But they’re not talking about young ‘gappers’ here. They’re talking about many of the organisations that recruit these young people for “volunteer” experiences.

people and places’ work has just been recognised by the Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards – the most prestigious and competitive of their kind in the world – winning the best volunteering category for 2009.

Judges Citation: “people and places has exercised leadership in a sector bedevilled by poor practice and established a replicable business model. Committed to reporting transparently on the money that volunteers pay, they ensure that the volunteers meet their full costs and are not a burden on the community; and carefully match the skills of volunteers to the needs of that community without replacing local labour. They have taken the ground breaking step of having their work externally audited and publishing it online. These four principles set not only a practicable standard for operators to aspire to, but offer valuable guidelines for tourists seeking legitimate and socially beneficial volunteering experiences.”

people and places has been working with local communities in Africa, Asia and South America for the last 4 years, matching skilled volunteers to community needs, with the vast majority of volunteers to date having been over 35, with hard skills to offer.

Now the organisation believes this programme can be extended to the GAP market. As a campaigning organisation, it is keen to bring about change in this least responsible sector of the volunteer market.

“There’s much debate about the validity of volunteering by the traditional ‘gapper’ – post school or university,” says Sallie Grayson, programme director at people and places, “but we firmly believe that these young people have real skills to share, and that with good management and planning, they can help to make a real difference in the communities we serve as well as having a meaningful adventure.

“We’ve worked with our local partners and their communities to design volunteer placements specifically for ‘gappers’, adding a younger element to the larger programme. These young people won’t be replacing local employment and will be part of an ongoing programme that is helping vulnerable communities build the future they want for themselves. We started people and places to campaign for integrity in the volunteer travel market and to promote responsible volunteering – we’re proud that our work has been recognised by such prestigious awards, but we’re not using this as an excuse to rest on our laurels! We see this award as an opportunity to raise the bar and challenge others to do the same.”

Well-run volunteer placements provide true social interaction and can develop a profound understanding among people – they can be life-changing experiences for volunteers and local communities.

BUT, all too often, a volunteer trip can be a recipe for disaster – for both parties.

When host communities are vulnerable and eager for assistance, it is a common occurrence for them to be bullied or exploited by volunteer service providers. All too often, a project has little say in the numbers or experience of volunteers who they feel obliged to accept. This lack of consultation can have devastating results – a school may be sent 10 or 12 young volunteers who find themselves hanging around with little to do, other than get in the way of hard pressed local people; gullible (but not guilty) young volunteers may arrive in their projects to discover that their hosts cannot afford to feed them because they cannot afford to feed themselves; volunteers find out that none of their hard earned money has found its way to these hard pressed communities.

There is often equally serious exploitation of young gappers.

“We hear far too many stories from young volunteers of abandonment at airports, last minute changes to completely inappropriate projects, placement in communities where no-one knows anything about them or the fact that they’re coming – until they’re “dropped of” by the local representative (who they can’t contact for the rest of their stay.)

“Inaccurate information is breathtaking and bordering on illegal – descriptions of homestay families who aren’t real but more of a ‘template’ to give a general idea of where these vulnerable young people “may” be staying.”

But how do trusting, well-meaning gappers find themselves in this kind of situation?

All too many volunteer organisations sell a smoke and mirrors promise, using all the buzz words and taking advantage of the fact that they can tell volunteers what they want to hear: “responsible, meaningful, sustainable, ethical, community driven – SAFE!”

people and places has developed a list of questions to ask – and they strongly suggest that all potential volunteers should ask these questions of any organisation they are considering travelling with.

“There are good organisations out there – usually with little or no marketing budget to compete with the presence of ‘the big boys’ – organisations like Blue Ventures, Peru’s Challenge, CREES, Azafady. We want to encourage gappers to find them, and we’ve produced the questions as a helpful tool – we also want gappers to search the chat rooms and forums, read newspaper archives, talk to their friends and families about volunteering.

“And if you’ve had a bad experience, post it on the web or contact us and we’ll post it.

“The bottom line is – do your research – use your head, not your heart!”

For further information

http://www.responsibletourismawards.com/

people and places is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Call Outs to the
Coalition:

1) Calling for all Trade Union
contacts!
 
With the fabulous news that Unison are mobilising their
members and organising a feeder event for the march (see below), we’re working
on getting other Trade Unions on board. We’ll
be at a TUC fringe meeting next week and we’re working
to get Union head offices on board, but we need everybody
help get unionists mobilised on the ground. Can you
help?

• Do you have local groups that can contact their
  local trades council or union
  branches and get them
  involved? 
• Do you have any Trade Union contacts that might be interested in getting
  people to the Wave? If you do, please let us know by e-mailing Tom.Wright@foe.co.uk and
  try to get them mobilising their union branches!

2) Getting
people to The Wave

Coaches – Are your members
mobilising in their local areas? Organising transport is a great way for local
groups to get people in the area involved, and encourage concerned citizens
to take that next step in coming to The Wave with a group of like minded
people! 
 
This
may seem daunting, so here’s our guide on how
to book a coach,
please send it to all your supporters and lets get those coaches coming in with
thousands of people from around the country. 
 
We’re doing our best to collate information on all Wave-related transport on our website, so if you know of
coaches that have been organised, and aren’t on the map, please let us
know!
 

Trains – There are now two
Wave trains bringing people to the Wave! And a ‘How to charter a
train’ guide is on it’s way. If you, or one of
your supporters are interested in chartering a train, just let me
know.
 
There’s a new train planned from the South
West: Starting in Plymouth, it will pass Bristol and Bath and
arrive into Paddington in time for the Wave. Details are still to be confirmed,
but as soon as we know more, it’ll be on the transport map.
 
And from the North,
The Wave
Express, a 500 seat
charter train organised by CAFOD, Christian Aid, Friends of the Earth, Leeds
Justice and Peace Commission, Stop Climate Chaos and TIDAL, will be travelling
from Bradford, Leeds and Doncaster to London King’s
Cross for the Wave. More info
here: http://local.stopclimatechaos.org/2009/the-wave-express/

3) Stewards
needed!
 
Can your supporters be stewards at the Wave? Please send
this stewarding
form out to your supporters, and encourage them to
volunteer. Steward volunteers can send their form straight back to us at: office.intern@stopclimatechaos.org, but even better,
please collate steward forms from your supporters (you’ll need to change
the return e-mail address on the form) and forward them to us with
recommendations on who would be good steward supervisors.
 
Please return steward forms as soon as possible so we can get an idea of
numbers in advance, but no later than 6th
November. There will be steward briefings on Thursday 26 November
and Tuesday 1 December at 6.30pm, as detailed on the form.

4) Getting
The
Wave in supporter publications
 
Have
you all booked promotion for the Wave into your supporter magazines? Cover
stories; articles; adverts; flyer/ poster inserts; photos; call outs for
local mobilisation in supporter magazines and newsletters: they’re all vital for
getting the word out and making sure everyone knows this is the
unmissable climate event.
   

Wave mobilisation
updates:

Unison have exciting plans for
a feeder event. Unison members
will meet at the Unison head office
for a rally before setting off together for the Wave. Watch
this space for more details.   

The Woodland Trust are promoting the Wave in
the way they know best – by dressing up as
trees! Look out for them at the Bentley
Wield Woodfair in Lewes on 18-20th September.
 
 
Let us know what
you’re doing to mobilise for the Wave and I’ll include it in the next Wave
Special. 
I look forward to
hearing your news (fiona@stopclimatechaos.org)!

What
is it?

The
Converging
World presents Climate350, a campaign to raise awareness
of the present day impacts of climate change and to show support for
the CoP15 climate negotiations in Copenhagen this December. Forming
a major element of the campaign, 350 performances will take place in
the streets and venues of Bristol between 7^th
September and 18^th
December2009.

Why
Climate350?

Climate350
is part of an international movement to encourage national delegates
to push for a commitment to limit CO₂
emissions to 350 parts per million (ppm). Currently 450ppm is held to
be a politically appropriate target; scientists say this is
dangerously high.

This
conference will be our last chance to agree internationally on
policies that will help us avoid the worst of climate change. We
need to show our negotiators that people care about the outcome of
this summit and that they expect the final decisions to reflect
scientific guidance. 

Not
many people know about the conference or what “350″ stands for.
Through the performances thousands of people in Bristol will become
aware of this historical global decision and will be able to take
part in ensuring the right outcome.

What
will Performance 350 achieve?

Each
performance will result in evidence of support for Climate350’s
targets; signatures on a petition, photographic records of each event
and an expanded membership of the Climate350 Facebook and Twitter
groups. Members of these groups will receive updates of the
conference and will be able to use the forums to empower the
negotiators to reach for ambitious targets. These records will be
presented to our representatives as evidence of mass support for the
Climate350 campaign.

Where?

Various
Bristol venues are supporting this campaign. So far we have received
confirmation by Arnolfini,
Mr Wolfs, Coexist Canteen, The Grain Barge, East Side Roots and The
Bristol Festival and Millennium Square by At-Bristol. They will all
be hosting performances regularly throughout the campaign.

Check
www.climate350.org
for our program, participating venues and acts!

What
you can do?

Keep
check of our online program and come to the performances to celebrate
the things we’d like to preserve of the world we know. Speak to our
campaign reps to get a better understanding of
Climate350 and sign our petitions. If you would like to perform or
volunteer please send an email to performance@climate350.org
or volunteer@climate350.org
accordingly.

Who
are we?

The
Converging World is a Bristol based charity whose objectives are to
tackle climate change whilst supporting the move towards a just and
sustainable world. After the campaigns finish in December we want
people to continue to engage with us in the transition to a new low
carbon, sustainable and converging world. Visit our website for more
info www.theconvergingworld.org

The UK’s
latest Veggie Lifestyle Magazine Off The Hoof (www.offthehoof.co.uk) has responded
immediately to Croydon’s 999 emergency health call that went out on
recently, by announcing their first ever Eco Veggie Fayre at The Fairfield
Halls Croydon on November 1^st 09

‘The Eco
Veggie Fayres are a brand new concept in family entertainment’, says show
organiser and magazine editor Tim Barford. ‘They are full of Kids
activities, entertainment, films, talks and workshops as well as loads of food
and products – but everything is eco friendly and veggie friendly, with a
fair trade influence too. It’s got to be one of the best ways of finding
out how to improve the health of ourselves, our kids and our planet, whilst
still having a cracking day out. And its excellent value too – only £3
for adults and £1 for Kids!’

The Eco Veggie
Fayres (www.ecoveggiefayre.co.uk
) will be touring several regional venues including Reading
(Dec 19^th 09) and Brighton (March 20^th 2010) before
heading to Bristol
for a 2 day spectacular at the end of May (29th and 30^th 2010). But
event host Tony Bishop – Weston from Off The Hoof, himself a Croydon resident,
is thrilled that the Veggie Fayres are starting in Croydon.

‘Its just
what we need to help focus the local community in bringing through a designated
veggie day in Croydon’ says Tony, ‘a huge get together with a party
spirit. We need to act together to provide healthy and sustainable choices for
the generations to come.’

Croydon has
recently been named London’s
most unhealthy borough and with obesity rates on the rise it’s time to
act – and act now. A number of health experts such as local nutritionist
Yvonne Bishop – Weston, and healthy food producers (including Heather
Mill’s latest acquisition Redwoods) are gathering their resources
together to try and push through a Veggie Day once a week to be adopted by
Croydon Council in an attempt to encourage a lot more fruit and veg consumption
and less intake of meat and dairy throughout the borough.

The Meat Free day idea has already been adopted in Ghent
(Belgium) and is backed worldwide by hi profile celebrities such as Paul
McCartney and Joanna Lumley (www.supportmfm.org). The organisers of the Eco Veggie Fayres
intend to join the push forward the Veggie Day idea to all the councils they
visit, starting with Reading, Brighton and Bristol after their opening campaign
in Croydon.

Are
you taking action to help save the planet? Then enter the Best Green
Campaigner
category now.

 The 4th
Annual
GREEN AWARDS^TM, that recognises creativity in promoting sustainability,
is
calling on individuals to come forward to gain recognition for their
actions
towards a more sustainable world.

Are you a creative,
committed and
resourceful individual who has taken action on an environmental,
ethical or
social issue, communicated your message using your own contacts and
raised
funds with limited resources against all the odds? If so, then you are
a worthy
campaigner and the GREEN
AWARDS^TM wants to hear from you!

For the second year in a
row, the
media and marketing industry’s GREEN
AWARDS^TM is including ‘people power’ in its annual
awards for
environmental, ethical or social campaigns. This year, the Best Green
Campaigner category sponsored by ASDA is being promoted in
conjunction with the Big Issue Magazine, which will receive all the
entry fees
for this category to continue its good work helping the homeless.

A shortlist of Campaigners
will be
notified by 14th October by email and invited to the awards ceremony in
London
on November 18th held at the LSO in Old Street. The winner, announced
at the
event, will receive a  trophy, a photo accepting the award, GREEN AWARDS^TM
publicity to further support their campaign and invaluable exposure to
more
than 360 influential individuals involved in green issues, including
organisations such as the United Nations Environment Programme and WWF.

The GREEN AWARDS^TM
in its 4th year is known
for setting the standard in green communications and sets out to award
companies or individuals that communicate green and ethical values
without the
‘Greenwash’. The organisers hope the Best Green Campaigner category
will
demonstrate that it’s possible to make a big impact with very little
budget.

At last year’s Awards,
Battery
Recycling UK from Cornwall walked away with the Best Green Campaigner
Award for
their campaign to improve the inadequate provision of battery recycling
facilities by installing collection tubes in local post offices. The
scheme has
now been rolled out across two counties and has received local
government
backing.

Mark David Hatwood,
Managing Director
of Battery Recycling UK commented: “Being a Green Award^TM winner
has added a huge
amount of kudos to my scheme, enabling me to spread the initiative
throughout
the UK. The knowledge that the CoBRA scheme (Community Battery
Recycling
Alliance) has been scrutinised and awarded on its merit by an
independent
panel, has enabled other councils to have confidence in considering
this cost
effective, community led scheme for themselves.”

Do You Qualify For a Green
Award?

Any individual or
non-commercial group
with fewer than 4 paid staff that has set a goal or campaign target,
has set
about achieving it and can explain what they were able to achieve in
the
process is eligible for a GREEN
AWARD^TM.

Campaigns can be as local
as your
street, school, college or company or may involve a town, city, borough
or even
a national campaign. The Best Green Campaigner of the Year Award will
be the
individual who is judged to have been the most creative in getting
results for
their chosen issue, regardless of the size of the campaign or the
budget.

To apply for the awards
simply visit www.greenawards.co.uk to
download a
form. The closing date for entries will be Friday 25th September.