Fairtrade Southwest

This summer Bath Fairtrade Network have compiled a wholesale coffee suppliers pack for local cafe's and restaurants. I have scoured the internet and found some of the best suppliers, with the most competetive prices and the widest range.

The pack has already been distributed to many cafe's in central Bath in the hope that it will encourage them to switch to Fairtrade or at least have a Fairtrade option. However, distributing the packs is very time consuming so if you know of any business, cafe, restaurant or pub that do not have Fairtrade or would find the guide useful then please feel free to download a copy and pass it on!

The supplier guide makes it easy for businesses to source Fairtrade so the more we get out there the better!

Hi All,

Attached is an update from the meeting tonight. Key points include:

• Fairtrade Event at St Saviours this Thursday
  
• South West Fairtrade Day in Exeter on October 4th we are all invited to
  
• An update on the Cafe Conversion Campaign
  
• Plans to increase group numbers
  
• Ideas for future events
  
• Bath Sainbury's Local coffee campaign
  
• Next meeting dates!

Happy reading, and see you next time (October 20th, 7.30, Kaposvar Rooms, Bath Guildhall)!

The South West Fairtrade day is an opportunity For all those across the South
West region to share their ideas and Best practice. iF you are already working as
part of a Fairtrade town or would like to work towards Fairtrade status, or are an
interested individual, there will be something to take away from this event.
Hannah Reed From the Fairtrade Foundation will be giving a presentation on the
Fairtrade towns movement and there will be talks about Fairtrade schools,
workplaces and directories. We will have small working groups to discuss different issues.
This event is free and food and drink will be provided at break and lunchtime.
Faragher Jones is sponsoring the event and refreshments will be donated by
B&NES council. Travel expenses cannot unfortunately be paid for.

Empire and Commonwealth Museum, Bristol
(next to Temple Meads Station)

For more info or to register please contact steve@greenbath.org

Grab some coffee with other Fairtrade supporters at the Quaker Meeting House. Guest speaker and more details TBA.

Fairtrade Directory launch event: Bradford on Avon reception

7.00-10.00 p.m.

St. Margaret's Hall

A reception by the Mayor and Town Council for Chamber of Commerce members and other supporters. A screening of Black Gold will follow the reception. Fairtrade Directories will be available for attendees to take and distribute themselves.

St Saviours Church, Larkhall. £3.50.

Only one in four people in the world get to eat a proper lunch. To highlight this, Lyndsey Wright has organised this unusual event. Turn up on the day and pay £3.50 for lunch, but only one person in four will actually get the cooked, three course lunch, the rest will get some bread and cheese. And the opportunity to top-up their lunch by buying more.

Book your ticket from Lyndsey
Further details: Lyndsey Wright 01225 331402, simon_wright@btinternet.com
 

Guildhall

As part of the Bath Literature Festival Harriet Lamb, the founder and president of the Fairtrade Foundation will be talking about her book in the Guildhall.

The Bath Literature Festival runs from 23 February until 2 March 2008. Full details can be found online at www.bathlitfest.org.uk and tickets are available from the box office on 01225 463362.

Tickets, £6 (£4)

St Michaels Church Without, Broad Street

All are welcome to the launch of the 2008 Bath & North East Somerset Fairtrade Directory. Come and meet Harriet Lamb CBE, founder and president of the Fairtrade Foundation and Martha Gonzalez, a Nicaraguan Coffee producer and enjoy a free cup of Fairtrade tea or coffee and a slice of cake. There will be a collection for the church.

Further details: Steve Faragher 01225319799, steve@greenbath.org

Here's a flyer with all the events and contact details

Folk House, Park Street

 
Bristol Link with Nicaragua (BLINC) and Bristol Action for Southern Africa are hosting a food and film event to
celebrate International womens Day For more information contact info@blinc.org.uk

 City Church of St Stephens

 Confirmed speakers include Roger James, Campaigner at Oxfam South West and Jenny Foster, Coordinator of the Bristol Fairtrade Network. For more information contact Canon Tim Higgins on 0117 929 4984 or city.canon@bristol-cathedral.co.uk

Broadmead Baptist Church 

The 'African Voices and Global Justice' conference, organised by African Initiatives in collaboration with Africans in One, will be an exciting combination of speakers, films, presentations and workshops for the African diaspora and those interested in African ideas and alternatives. For more information contact africanvoices@african-initiatives.org.uk

Fairtrade Fortnight kicks off in true creative style with the opening of the Fairtrade Art Exhibition. Created by children in schools in Easton and St. Paul's with the help of a local artist, the Fairtrade Art Wall will be displayed at the Create Centre during Fairtrade Fortnight, with the official opening by the Lord Mayor.

I wanted to make you aware that we have a coffee shop opening on Keynsham
High Street on 3rd March. We are one of very few companies in the area
that support fair-trade 100%, and all of our products are ethicaly and
sustainably sourced wherever possible. We have made a huge effort to
ensure that we open during fair-trade fortnight, so i would like as many
people to know as possible. We will be having a presence from the local
paper and also our local fair-trade group as well.
Kind regards

Lucy

Hello - this is the very first Bath Green Digest which is being sent out to all subscribers to all groups on greenbath.org. This may mean you get it more than once if you're subscribed to several groups. If you want to recieve it in the future you'll need to go to greenbath.org and subscribe to the Bath Green News group. email steve@greenbath.org if you need any help doing this. If you don't you won't see this weekly newsletter again!

By Gideon Kibblewhite

LATE GREAT WESTERN
Commuters along First Great Western’s major train lines have decided to hold Britain’s second fare strike today in protest against the train company’s high fares and poor service. You know what to do – don't pay… More on the campaign at www.moretrainlessstrain.co.uk

SEEDY
Bath Organic Group's annual Seed Swap & Cake Fest will be held on Sunday 2nd February 2005 from 3–5 pm at Envolve in Green Park Station. Bring those seeds from last year to swap…

IN TRANSITION
Bath has began the exciting journey to becoming a 'Transition City'. Started by a bunch of students in Kinsale, West Cork, the Transition Towns movement is all about empowering everyone to prepare for the twin challenges of climate change and post-'Peak Oil', when oil is scarce and expensive. The movement now has a rapidly growing network of villages, towns and cities where local communities are now leading the move to post-'Peak Oil' adjustment from below with integrated practical and imaginative activities and campaigns.
Transition Bath started in the autumn of last year and now local action groups are springing up across the city. Activists in Larkhall, for instance, have already set up a "Larkhall Save the World" group. If you want to set up a group or get involved, visit transitionbath.co.uk and follow the link. For more inspiration, visit Transition Bristol to see what Transition groups there are up to. We'll be back with lots more on Transition Bath soon.

LIES UNFOLD
Japanese paper giants Nippon and Oji are in hot water for misleading customers about the amount of recycled material in their products. Nippon paper claiming to be 100 per cent recycled has turned out to contain only 60 per cent recycled stock, while Oji envelopes billed as containing 50 per cent recycled materials have been revealed to contain as little as five per cent. Oops. Nippon president Masatomo Nakamura is now set to resign over the issue. And it's fair enough that Nakamura should go – he clearly isn't cut out for the job.

POWERLESS TO PREVENT IT
Work at Bath's recycling depot in Keynsham was temporarily disrupted this week after thieves broke in and stole vehicle keys and a number of mobile phones. Well it's recycling of a sort.

HEROES DO ZERO
Which brings us a reminder that B&NES Council's second Zero Waste Week, during which you're challenged to recycle everything you possibly can, starts on February 26. To register and get your information pack, call Council Connect on 01225 39 40 41 or email councilconnect@bathnes.gov.uk…

FIT OR BUS
The Bristol end of the Bristol to Bath Railway Path, the hugely popular thirteen-mile, fume-free "liner park" for walkers and cyclists, is being threatened by plans for a 'rapid transit bus route'. The idea has been mooted before, but this time councillors seem really up for developing Emersons Green to Ashton Vale section – despite the fact that national cycle path builders Sustrans recently won £50million in lottery funding to **improve** the network. Concerned folk are invited to a public meeting about the matter on Tuesday 5th February at 7.30 at the Cornubia public house, Temple Street, Bristol. On a happier note, the Bath end of the path is set to be extended into the city centre as part of a £50 million investment plan by the Department of Transport to improve bus services. If all goes well, we will soon be seeing flash new bus shelters with "real-time" London Underground-style information displays. Hurrah! We think…

BARRAGE BALLOONS
The Government has just launched a two-year feasibility study of a Severn Barrage. The headline issues surrounding a barrage remain the same after years of argument. The £15 billion project could generate up to five per cent of Britain's electricity needs, yet it would destroy an estuary that supports some 65,000 birds in winter. However, the emergence of new "tidal lagoon" systems could mean that the whole idea of a barrage has become something of a red herring (or salmon, rather, in the case of the Severn). Supporters of tidal lagoons – which feasibility study will indeed also look at – argue that they are cheaper than barrages, cause less local environmental disruption and can actually generate more energy. For an introduction to the technology, try this article and these interesting letters in the **Guardian**. Click here to find out how the South Koreans are already way ahead of the game…

UP IN SMOKE
B&Q are to discontinue patio heaters, the gas guzzling contraptions former energy minister Malcolm Wickes branded "environmental obscenities". Good news for the planet; bad news for smokers if the campaign against the things reaches pubs. The way forward is clear: some kind of coat should be sold with tobacco.

DEBT AND TAXES
If you feel angered every time you hear someone from the Western world lecture developing countries about climate change, well, next time your ire will be fuelled by a devastatingly powerful statistic. It turns out that that the environmental damage caused to developing nations by the world's richest countries amounts to $1.8 trillion – more than the entire third world debt. Would you believe it, we owe **them**! Click here for the full and actually very sobering story.

NOT PROPER CHARLIE
No one could accuse Prince Charles of double standards this week when he decided not to jet to the recent World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. He put in an appearance all right, and even made a speech – via hologram… Delegates, at sustainability city in Abu Dhabi to hear about the world's first in the desert, were addressed by a life-sized moving image of His Royal Highness that was recorded at Clarence House last November and transferred into a 3D image. When he was done he simply said he his goodbyes and disappeared. He probably wishes his mother would perform a similar vanishing act…

GREEN BATH?
According to a glorious understatement in the Bath Chronicle, the city's pollution troubles apparently "stem from the build up of noxious traffic emissions caused by the steady stream of slow-moving vehicles along its major routes". Really? Bath environmentalist Karl Jaeger, co-founder of Our Future Planet, reckoned that a great deal of noxious fumes emanated from the Guildhall when councillors met to discuss the problem. Mr Jaeger said: "I think they have failed to address the issue. They are shifting the responsibility on to waiting for money from the Government." Meanwhile, BBC1's Politic's Show recently sent Future Publishing's Biker Radar editor Tony Farrelly out on an hour's trip through Bath's pollution blackspots on his bicycle. When he got back he was found to have inhaled a fag's worth of lung-bashing nitrogen dioxide. At least **he** has coughed up then.

WHEN IRISH EYES ARE STINGING
Warnings of the threat of rising sea levels to Ireland's Giant's Causeway have come just as the latest edition of **Lonely Planet** travel guide paints a picture of an Emerald Isle that is not so very emerald at all. Claiming that “everyone has a car” and that the country’s carbon footprint is “more than double the global average”, the recently published 8th edition says: “Ireland’s forty shades of green don’t, it seems, include the all-important eco-green”. More positively, the guide does also include a "Greendex", an index of attractions, tours, restaurants and accommodation run along sustainable lines.

BEFRIEND A LAMB
The tremendous Bath City Farm is appealing to people to join their Friends of the Farm membership scheme. The farm relies completely on donations and grants to keep it going, so get you hands in your pockets for this great facility. Membership for a year costs a mere £8 for individuals and a bargain basement £12 for groups or families. Click bathcityfarm.org.uk for more details.

ELEMENTARY
Well done to Batheaston C of E Primary School for winning a £5,000 grant from the National College for School Leadership for its "SPACE" sustainability project. One of only 56 winners in a countrywide competition, the school not only had to submit details of its current eco projects but also come up with ideas for sharing its experiences with other schools. Among other things the kids there have been growing their own vegetables and looking after animals.

UTTER KITE
The ultra-efficient Germans have pulled off the environmentally friendly leap of the new millennium! Of have they? Check out the BBC's footage
of the revolutionary 'revolutionary' new 'kite' cargo ship, MS Beluga SkySails. It could be us, but isn't that a sail?

TA TA
If you’ve got any news that you think should appear in the Green Digest, just let us know. Email gideon@faragherjones.com

The Green Digest would not be possible without the financial support of Bath & North East Somerset and Faragher Jones publishers. So cheers to them

From the council...

Please make every effort to attend this one as we have lots of planning to do for Fairtrade Fortnight.

We have exciting news on that count - Harriet Lamb, head of the Fairtrade Foundation will be in Bath on the 27th February and is ours for the morning, and we also have confirmed space for fairtrade stalls in the abbey courtyard on March 1st and 8th. So we'll need to discuss how best to use Harriet and go over details of the fairtrade market we want.

The UK''s first ethical trade show

 FRIDAY 09 MAY:

10am Opening of Eithical Expo by Dawn Primoloro, Minister of State for Public Health and Amanda Parr, presenter Points West 

10:30am Cookery School by Bordeaux Quay

11:30am Cookery School by Bordeaux Quay

1pm Ethical Investments by Triodos

2pm Social Enterprise Mark by RISE

3pm Ethical Travel by Real Gap

4pm Ethical Beauty by Body Shop

5pm Ethical Beauty by Body Shop

_______________________________ 

SATURDAY 10 MAY: 

10am Paper Bag Game for all the family by Christian Aid

11am Can Fashion Really Be Ethical? by Oxfam

12pm Matching Good Food to Ethical Wine with Barry Haughton

2pm Air miles vs Fairtrade - how do we make the right choice? by Fairtrade Foundation, in conjunction with Bristol Festival of Ideas

3:30 Living the Good Life debate with Harriet Lamb and Andrew Simms

5:30 Fashion show by Oxfam