One must seriously wonder these days, as democratic values quickly erode in this country. One would assume that the Labour-led council serves the interests of the constituents who helped them into this influential position in the first place. That’s naïve though, as witnessed on the 19th of October, the date for the Planning Committee meeting in Ealing Town Hall.
Not only was the public misled in believing that this is a meeting that can be attended by the public, but also that over 260 objections to the proposed development of Twyford Abbey would be taken into account by the Planning Committee. Well, you’ve been had in both cases. It appears that the Council is fully aware of its unpopular development proposals in recent years – so what better way than position loads of security on the Town Hall steps? Is that with the intent to intimidate, or is the Council really afraid of the public it is meant to serve?
Wishing to oppose various ill-thought-out developments in Ealing borough we encountered three different residents’ groups who wanted to attend the meeting – only to be kept at bay by security long enough to then tell us that there’s no more space on the public viewing gallery for “us”. The seats were already taken by the developers’ representatives. Apparently, they knew how to circumvent security whilst the disillusioned public waited for nearly an hour outside with the promise to be allowed in at 7pm for the meeting start.
Ealing Green Party members and supporters protesting outside Ealing Council
There’s an English proverb “good things come to those who wait”, well, not in this case. Only a handful of ‘the public’ was finally admitted to the meeting after the voices of discontent grew louder on the steps once we’ve learnt that ‘the suits’ filled the ranks.
Sure, it’s a lot more pleasant for the Planning Committee to encounter the pleasantries of a viewing gallery that nods in agreement with every illusive statement made, than inviting the upset public that burst the bubble of their inflated sense of “doing something good for the community”. That, however, is not what participative democracy looks like.
With over 260 objections and only 6 in favour for the proposed development of Twyford Abbey, every rational person would seriously reconsider. Not so the Planning Committee. The Twyford Abbey site, located in Hanger Hill ward, is in public ownership on Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) and is awarded the same protection status as the Metropolitan Green Belt. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and London Plan policy G3 affords the strongest possible protection level to MOL/ Metropolitan Green Belt land to prevent urban sprawl. Paragraph 137 of the NPPF states “the government attaches great importance to Green Belts” – so why doesn’t the developer and by extension the Council? If this fact doesn’t sway the Planning Committee, maybe the fact that this land is also declared a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINCs) with a blanket Tree Protection Order (TPO) will. The land is home to over 172 young, middle-age, and mature trees, tree groups, and hedgerows and constitutes a vital habitat as one of the last remaining green spaces in the already heavily overdeveloped area s in an area that is lacking in open green space.
Not being accessible to the public for several decades now, nature did what it’s supposed to do – it took over. The Ecological Impact Assessment (EcIA) from May 2021 confirms that several plant and animal species protected under Habitats Regulations 2010 are found on these grounds, and that those habitats for wildlife will be destroyed and lost, including death/injury of bats with high habitat value. That would consequently oblige the developer and the council need to seek a European Protected Species Mitigation (EPSM) licence. After already blissfully ignoring the protection status of MOL/ Metropolitan Green Belt land, SINC, and blanket TPO – what are the odds of that happening? “Ignorance is bliss” at least for the ill-informed Planning Committee that seems unaware of any of this.
Adding insult to injury, the proposed development would entail the removal of 157 individual trees and the removal and partial removal of 15 tree groups. The EcIA clearly states that planning permission should be refused for development resulting in the loss or deterioration of irreplaceable habitats including aged or veteran trees and ancient woodland, as planning authorities should aim to conserve and enhance biodiversity. It found that priority habitat, protected under The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006, short the NERC Act, in form of broad-leaved woodland is present and that the proposed development will result in the loss of it. Under the NERC Act, all public bodies to have regard to biodiversity conservation, commonly referred to as the ‘biodiversity duty’. Where is Ealing Council’s ‘biodiversity duty’ and the duty to its constituents to warrant and safeguard sustainable development, in line with not only national frameworks, Acts, Regulations, and Policies but also with its own Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy (CEES)?
On their own website, Ealing Council boasts “In 2021 we published our ambitious climate and ecological emergency strategy, setting out how we will work towards making Ealing carbon neutral by 2030.” “How so?” I ask, if none of the Planning Committee documents even refer to or consider the CEES when assessing planning applications? What is the worth of a strategy that’s not embedded into the core procedures and processes of one of the highest impact activities in the borough, namely development and construction? How likely will these 2021 CEES considerations be followed, and the Council be held accountable for? I guess you know the answer to that one…
The London Assembly are meeting on the 15th November, to email your representative a email about this with the key points please use this link
The Ealing Green Party has reviewed the Ealing Council Climate Emergency Strategy and highlights five areas with specific recommendations for improvement.
Along with improving targets in energy, food systems, transport, waste and green spaces the Ealing Green Party feel that education, communication and engagement must underpin all efforts to address the challenges we face as communities across Ealing, London and worldwide.
Why did I choose the Green Party? What I would like to tell you is that I have always been a devoted environmentalist and so it was a no brainer. However, growing up in a small town in Oxford, I wasn’t really aware of issues further away than my garden or then my local area at least. From leaving school, I had to make the decision for which university degree I would like to pursue. Having been okay at maths and science, alongside being sporty, the two options I thought were sports science or marine biology, with the latter just because it seemed interesting. I went with marine biology because I thought most people do sports science and it wouldn’t be new, plus, learning about the oceans seemed fascinating!
This was the first time I’d started to think about the bigger
picture regarding our planet, and I personally felt a bit clueless. Luckily my
course helped slightly, but I still felt like there was so much more to learn. After
university I travelled, which I understand isn’t the best environmentally,
however, it did allow me to witness some horrible truths that you normally only
hear about in the news. From the mass bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef to
spending a couple of months in South East Asia without seeing a single blue sky
because of mass crop burning. It wasn’t all awful though, I did get to witness
just how beautiful this planet can be, which led me to enrol in an environmental
postgrad, with the hope of pursuing a career that will hopefully benefit the
planet.
Throughout this little journey I noticed the impacts we are having on the climate have started to become increasingly commonplace. I also started to personally try and minimise my own impact: changing my diet, cycling as a means of transport and using more sustainable products. Additionally, I was fortunate enough to get an environmental job within the engineering sector.
Even though all of this is helpful I felt like I could be doing more, and though there are already plenty of people changing their habits to better our environment, things don’t seem to be changing as fast as they could, which is frustrating.
This final realisation is what brought me to the Green Party! Things aren’t happening fast enough; the political discussion needs to be changed. Of course, we still need to focus on all of the aspects to improve our society, but I believe we can do this in an environmentally friendly way. We have the technology and the innovation to find solutions whilst also benefiting our climate. The only thing I feel that is standing in the way is politics. The sooner we change the conversation, the better, and I feel the Green Party is the place to do this. I am very positive about the impact we can have on the world; the failures of the past are there for us to learn from.
This is the
slogan that Rupert Read opens with, after a minute of silence.
Silence is a
powerful way to start a public “talk”. I’m impressed. More so, when see that
every person who came along to listen to Rupert’s insights of the current state
of affairs regarding climate change joins the moment of silence. Pause and
silence to reflect and grieve, and as a gesture of respect towards the climate
change induced habitat and species loss that we perpetually live through for
past decades.
The tone for
the session is set. It is not going to be another one of these delusory talks
that’s aiming to wrap the listener in the warm blanket of comfort, confirming
“that everything will just be fine” and they can go home after the event and
just carry on as usual. Au contraire! Despite the initial moment of silence I
feel that this talk is going to be provocative and feisty. I like that! No
skirting around the issue, no customary British Politeness – just straight
forward inconvenient truths. So this talk is going to be to my liking. I can
already tell after the first five minutes.
Rupert
skilfully engages the auditorium, connecting them emotionally to the topic of
climate change, which still is an abstract issue to the vast majority of
inhabitants of this planet. “Those who are younger than 40/50….”, “those who
have children….”, “those who worry about money or retirement funds….” – the
last one is probably designed to catch the remainders of the auditorium who
hadn’t already identified with the aforementioned two groups. Clever. Now every
person identifies to a degree with what is about to come. They are now ready to
take in the crude facts about disastrous failings in addressing climate change
as global society.
The 2015 Paris Agreement being great but
… far from achievable, because:
the current emission reduction
targets are not nearly ambitious enough to stay within the agreed 2℃, let alone
1.5℃ global warming
nations pulling out of previous
commitments to reduce CO2 emissions or knowingly or unknowingly
completely missing their targets,
every nation on earth is still is
seeking to grow their economy the “old fashioned way”, based on fossil fuels
villains like Trump, Bolsonaro and
similar despicable political representatives were voted into office,
the aviation and shipping sector,
amongst the fastest growing sectors in the world, are excluded from the Paris
Agreement
nobody adequately considers the time lag, i.e., the delay between
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) being released into the atmosphere and their respective
warming effect. This time lag has profound negative consequences for humanity. It
is currently estimated that the full heating potential of CO2 released into the
atmosphere now will take effect in approximately 40 years from now. That means that our average
temperatures during the last decade are a result of what we were thoughtlessly
putting into the air in the 1970’s!
public media still giving air-time to
“climate change deniers”, thereby impeding any constructive debates,
lack of acknowledging the consensus
of the global scientific community, warning policy makers about the impending
climate breakdown with incalculable chain reactions and feed-back cycles that
will lock us into a death spiral when losing the entire Arctic and Antarctic
ice cap, the Amazon rainforest, and all coral reefs …
The list
goes on and on. These uncomfortable truths, dished out by Rupert, come thick
and fast now, and I can see some frowning faces, growing concern, and in some
cases shock. Good!
Because we
are facing an immediate existential crisis. We are, obliviously, living in the
midst of the 6th mass extinction period. It’s the first time in earth history
that a mass extinction event is brought upon by a living species. That is us,
humans. The time to bubble wrap the truth is over.
By now, I
assume, many in the audience are starting to wonder if there is going to be way
out of this described disaster, out of the death spiral; if there is anything
we, humanity as a whole or individuals, can do to stop society ceasing to
exist. Will Rupert offer some solutions?
The answer is yes; but before he does, he shares
three potential scenarios of future life on this planet with us. Like from a
menu. A menu that is very short though, with only three options to choose from.
Similar to a restaurant menu the cheapest option is not the best; it’s actually
one that most of us want to avoid.
In Rupert’s presentation that is Option one: Terminal Collapse. Terminal Collapse of society, and all of
earth’s systems. It does not sound very appetising, does it?
Option two sounds only marginally better.
It is the Collapse of society,
followed by a successor society that can recover from the collapse.
Wow – I’ll have some of that!
…Says nobody – at that stage…
But, looking at the past decade or more of political and societal
inactions, the question that arises is valid: What is our appetite, as
human society, for option three?
Option three:
total transformation! This option is by far the most attractive, without a doubt, but it
the most “costly”. Or shall I better say, it is the option that requires
the greatest sacrifices?
Why? It requires the most profound, radical, and unprecedented changes in
human history. It requires us to tear up the entirety of our rulebooks
aimed to trust in the political and economical system as we know it.
Like in a five-star restaurant, we are facing the dilemma of wanting the most appealing and highest priced option, but probably we are not willing to pay for it. This said, the chances of attaining this total societal transformation though are not great. We may need to make peace with the fact that despite all efforts, large or small, we will only be able to achieve Option two. Coming back to what we, humanity as a whole or individuals, can do to stop society ceasing to exist, Rupert shares a list of ten things with us that evening. It is not said that this list is enough, but it is a necessary starting point without which we cannot even aspire to any better future scenario than Option two.
Here the ten takeaways for a potential survival
Some personal things we need to do:
1. Wake up! Wake up from the dream that our current society will go on, or better, stagger on, and somehow the situation will magically transform.
2. Feel! We are not exclusively rational beings. We are, in fact, through and through feeling beings. So – feel angry, frustrated, sad, outraged, fearful, hopeless, terrified, and acknowledge all these feelings. Don’t suppress them as they are key to building a consciousness of what is actually happening. We have to allow ourselves to let these facts land in our conscious mind before we can take actions.
Some practical things we need to do:
3. Lifestyle change If we want people to join us in our movement to fight climate change we need to show some leadership by flying less, eating less meat, reducing our energy consumption, thinking about how many children we will have, if any. We need to demonstrate our integrity and congruence, and commitment to the cause through actions, not only words. Leading by example. That is the most powerful way to mobilise the masses, and the impact of “the one” can be amplified to the impact of “the many”.
4. Build community Learn how to create model communities, growing food, generating renewable power, teaching and acquiring new skills to the benefit community, etc. These skills will be pivotal in determining our ability to rebuild the successor society, mentioned in Option two.
Some Policy changes we need:
5. Transformative adaptation Redirect the focus from mitigation only measures to mitigation and adaptation measures. We have to be more visionary and be more forward thinking to adapt to the challenges of climate changes, including considerations of worsening effects from time lags in the carbon cycle.
6. Deep adaptation We have to prepare for probability (or the certainty?) that our society is bound to collapse and that Option three will not occur. In order for a successor society to be able to re-emerge after the collapse, we need to provide whoever comes after us with the goods to do so. That includes, inter alia, building climate resilient seed banks for future generations to grow crops, radically phasing out nuclear power because safe operations, such as cooling the reactor core, can no longer be warranted once society collapses. We need a complete overhaul of the way we think, an absolute change of our collective consciousness.
How to implement Policy changes:
7.Change through conventional means If we want to pave a way for radical political changes we need re-learn that our voice matters, and purposefully use our civic voice in future elections. New need a new green surge. Become involved in electoral politics, get involved in May 2019 and in the 2020 elections, lobby! Will this be enough? Probably not. Is it necessary? Absolutely!
8. Rebel! We need to do all the conventional things but since this is not enough, we need to embrace civil rebellion alongside conventional means. Don’t accept legitimacy of the political system any more. Our social contract is broken, with the current political system sending us and our children to death and collapse. We need to consider all means of non-violent rebellion against any legitimate target to fundamentally change society. If we will manage to implement all of the above and this action, then maybe just maybe, we are preparing our children for Option three. For certain, it will slow down rate of deterioration. Rebellion takes more though than joining a Facebook group, liking a post, retweeting and other “2D actions”. It means to actually rebel. Strike, demonstrate, join climate activist groups, and actively engage in non-violent Civil Disobedience.
More things we need to do:
9.Talk We need to talk about Climate Change. One to one. One to many. Any form of dialogue and exchange is needed to spread awareness and awaken consciousness. It is not enough to listen to lecture and go home. In depth discussion in connection with actions 1. and 2. are essential to move towards a potential future that is not a total collapse of society. There is no alternative. No Planet B.
10. Pause…. Despite the topical urgency, we cannot allow ourselves to rush into doing things without feeling, talking, and assessing how to most effectively become part of the solution. This last point actually reminded me of Thomas L. Friedman’s wise words in his book Thank you for being late. Borrowing his words and slightly paraphrasing, I cannot think of a better way to emphasise the importance of humans to pause when facing an existential crisis. “Opting to pause and reflect, rather than panic or withdraw, is a necessity. It is not a luxury or a distraction – it is a way to increase the odds that we’ll better understand, and engage productively with, the world around us. When we press the pause button on a machine, it stops. But when we press the pause button on human beings they start. Start to reflect, start to rethink assumptions, start to reimagine what is possible and, most importantly, start to reconnect with most deeply held beliefs. Once we’ve done that, we can begin to reimagine a better path.”
After these ten action points, we are coming to the end of this educational and insightful talk, and Rupert concludes with the same slogan he started with “Your money of your life?” Like at the beginning of the talk, everybody agrees that every halfway intelligent person will choose their life, and give up the their money. Throughout the talk though we heard convincing evidence that we fail to grasp this surprisingly simple concept as a collective society. Time and time again over the past forty years we have chosen monetary interests over life. It makes one wonder, how comes we get it so wrong at global scale? There is no way that anybody can pay their way out of this. There is nowhere to hide, no other planet. Moreover, once society collapses money will become irrelevant, and it will only be worthless electronic numbers in a bank account.
In this unprecedented time, facing a terrible reality, we do need hope. But the one thing we need more than hope is action. There is no hope without us taking actions. But once we start taking actions, hope is everywhere.
Author Ina Ballik
Disclosure statement Ina Ballik does not work for, owns shares in, or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article.
It’s been an intense Autumn for the Green Party and environmentalists in general. An Autumn in which the existential threat that faces all of us has come more sharply into focus than ever. But also an Autumn that has seen us dare to hope like never before. It is a season that has given us dark glimpses of the future, but has also seen us march in numbers not seen in years as we protested against Brexit chaos. And a season in which, finally, an open rebellion has been declared against the establishment, and its suicidal “Business As Usual” policies.
And finally, as we approach the season of goodwill, perhaps we have reason to wish each other a “Green Christmas”!
Apocalypse Soon?
The Autumn began with a special report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). And, as I’m sure you will now be aware, the situation has never been more critical. We have, as a planet, 12 years in which to drastically cut our current emissions in an effort to avoid a global temperature rise of 1.5 degrees or more above pre-industrial levels. Even if we stop at this increase we risk devastating heatwaves, superstorms and floods that make islands in the Pacific disappear beneath the waves.
One thing is certain, the Climate Crisis will get worse from here, and it is a sad fact that global carbon emissions increased in 2017 and are set to increase again in 2018.
Hope Dies, Action Begins!
It is with the above, and with other such dramatic statements of intent, that the Extinction Rebellion (XR for short) set about their mission.
The mission began in earnest at the end of October, with a stirring call to action outside the Houses of Parliament. The highway next to Parliament was blocked for 3 hours during this protest, causing several people to be arrested, and this set the pattern for the month that followed. The highlight of this month of action was Rebellion Day on 17th November, which saw 6,000 people from around the country descend upon London.
On this day five of the main bridges in the city (Westminster, Waterloo, Blackfriars, Lambeth and Southwark) were blocked by a motley crew of rebels from all age groups, races and faiths (or lack thereof); united in the cause of trying to jolt this government from its state of denial towards this crisis we are in. At the end of Rebellion Day nearly a hundred people had been arrested.
Green Rebellion
Of all the political parties, XR was embraced most of all by the Green Party. None violent Direct Action is actually part of the ethos of the Greens, because when the establishment is no longer protecting the common good, then the laws and regulations that it has declared become part of the trappings of authority and power that must be challenged by the people.
So far such notables as Caroline Lucas, Jonathan Bartley, Molly Scott Cato, Jenny Jones and Rupert Read have pledged support to XR. And the Ealing Green Party have played their part, up to and including adding to the arrest figures! This is not a course of action that any of us has taken lightly, but we acknowledge that “Business As Usual” has ended, and that the time has come to make a fundamental analysis of this culture of economic growth at all costs.
We know this current system is not good for the planet or its animals; we know this system increases inequality, poverty, homelessness and depression in its people. Is it time to find another way?
The Green Party says yes!
And with policies that include democratic reform and the introduction of a Universal Basic Income, we are already setting forth ideas for what this new world might look like.
Fighting for a People’s Vote
Of course, part of our immediate future is still heading towards withdrawal from the European Union.
But before this drastic step is taken, should the people not be consulted on what this Brexit might look like, and should they not have the choice of ending this course if we think the risk we are taking is too great?
And so on 20th October, we joined over 600,000 people on the biggest protest march seen in Britain since the days of the Iraq War.
This is an issue that is developing by the hour; but we must do all we can to make the People’s Vote a reality, and, if the worst comes to the worst, then we must fight to get the Greenest Brexit we can get. It is probable that this will never be over.
Climate Emergency
Finally, as December begins, two bits of fantastic news!
First, with the prompting of Green representatives Caroline Russell and Siân Berry, on 6th December the Greater London Assembly voted to recommend that Mayor Sadiq Khan should agree that we are in a state of climate emergency!
Does this mean that London will finally get true protection for green spaces, traffic reduction, more protected cycle lanes and drastic action on renewable energy that it desperately needs? As yet this is unclear – but at the least, it has to be a shot in the arm for these campaigns.
Don’t forget to sign the petition to Ealing Council. Time to divest your pensions from fossil fuels!
Second, what does all this mean for the membership of the Green Party, including the Ealing Greens?
It means it’s going up!
The new Green surge has begun!
We look forward to seeing you along at one of our new look monthly meetings on the first Thursday of every month.
Compared to some of the comrades who will be taking this action alongside me, I won’t be going that long without food (2 ½ – 3 days). But it should still be an interesting experience.
We are doing this for two reasons: firstly, we wish to highlight the madness and short termism of a government that wants to build an unnecessary 3rd runway at Heathrow. This expansion will bring negligible economic benefits to the country as a whole (as has been confirmed by the government’s own economic studies on the subject).
So the benefits will be little – however the impact on an already strained environment will be great. Air pollution, noise pollution and traffic congestion, already considerable in London, will be further proliferated.
But the greatest price we will pay for this vanity project is the acceleration effect towards catastrophic climate change that this will have. Aviation is one of the biggest contributors towards an atmosphere already heaving with human generated CO2.
And here we have a government that pays lip service to climate action while favouring the car industry and pushing fracking (even being prepared to override democracy) at the expense of clean, renewable energy sources.
We need to make a stand, now.
3 Line Whip
Jeremy Corbyn, if he is serious about climate action as he claims he is, needs to impose a 3 line whip on his Labour MP’s to vote AGAINST this disastrous expansion.
That’s why we’ll be sitting outside Labour Party HQ (105 Victoria St, Westminster, London SW1E 6QT) every day from Saturday 9th June: to put pressure on Mr Corbyn to do exactly this.
I will be with them on Saturday 9th between Midday and 4PM, then on Sunday 10th and Monday 11th June between 8AM and 1PM.
And then my hardier comrades will continue the hunger strike into the week.
Why not come and say hello to us, and lend us your support?
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