Keeping Our Homes Warm in a Low CO2 World

For the last TEU Handprints Social, we invited people to join in with a discussion about keeping carbon emissions low in our homes. We had speakers do pecha-kucha presentations about their relevant interests or academic specialisms then opened the floor to questions and held a whole group discussion about points that had come up.

Speakers at this event were Councillor Maggie Chapman, Dr. Claire Haggett, Sion Lanini, Ben Miller and David Somervell. Councillor Chapman spoke about the Warm Scotland campaign focusing on steps the government could take to improve energy efficiency in homes such as grants and awareness campaigns. Dr. Haggett spoke about some Human Geography research she has done about microgeneration of energy in Newcastle, bringing up the importance of engagement with the technologies that can help us. Sion Lanini gave a short presentation about the Big Green Makeover, TEU’s ongoing project to help students in private residences green their homes, and Ben Miller spoke about the Big Switch, the inter-halls energy saving competition at Pollock Halls, the catered University residences. David Somervell also gave a presentation about Edinburgh University’s own CHP plants and how they cut carbon emissions in the University’s energy supply.

The format of pecha-kucha presentation, where each speaker is limited to 4 minutes each made the presentations accessible and encouraged greater engagement in group discussion.The breadth of the presentations allowed for a more general discussion of home energy use and allowed scope for discussion of the University level, the places where students live and spend their time.

Workers Rights means Liberation not just for workers but for all groups! A sentiment shared by The Workers’ Rights Consortium, which states it is against all forms of discrimination; gender, race, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, nationality, political opinion, or social or ethnic origin.

Why women’s day??? well studies show that women are amongst the three most vulnerable groups in the work place along with ethnic minorities and foreign born. Not mention 90% of the workers in sweatshops are women.

And there are some outstanding abuses of women’s rights goings such as companies requiring pregnancy tests upon applying for employment, forcing workers to take contraceptives, paying women less, demoting or firing for maternity leave.

The worker rights consortium pushes this code of conduct regarding women’ rights

“Women’s Rights:

1. Women workers will receive equal remuneration, including benefits, equal treatment, equal evaluation of the quality of their work, and equal opportunity to fill all positions as male workers.

1. Pregnancy tests will not be a condition of employment, nor will they be demanded of employees.
2. Workers who take maternity leave will not face dismissal nor threat of dismissal, loss of seniority or deduction of wages, and will be able to return to their former employment at the same rate of pay and benefits.
3. Workers will not be forced or pressured to use contraception.
4. Workers will not be exposed to hazards, including glues and solvents, that may endanger their safety, including their reproductive health.
5. Licensees shall provide appropriate services and accommodation to women workers in connection with pregnancy.

The Workers Rights Consortium protects and aids women’s liberation movements. Take a look at the story of these five women who formed Bangladesh’s first non-politically-aligned, women-led, trade union and where imprisoned for it. http://www.workersrights.org/freports/Sunman.asp

Yes the Workers Rights Consortium is not perfect; it doesn’t give a direct voice to Women activists… however compared other models, which take funding from the companies causing the abuse, who don’t always act on complaints, it’s certainly a positive step. If you had been pressured into an abortion by your employer would you go an organisation you didn’t trust to be on your side? The Workers Rights Consortium Fosters close ties to independent labour organizations and its independence puts it in a position to win the trust of all groups in a community.

Birmingham People and Planet has teamed up with Women’s Rights activists on campus to fight for equal rights in the supply chain, on March the 8^th international Women’s day. We delivered our massive petition, which was symbolically written on T-shirts, to the Vice chancellor to protect women and women’s rights in our supply chain.

Only this rather bad photo unfortunately….

Whilst a People & Planeter in UCL, I was always rather oblivious to the way that People & Planet was run nationally. Partially this was because I didn’t really know much about the network (we had just started a group the year that I joined) and partially it was because the idea of taking part in a national decision-making group was rather daunting. Luckily, in my final year, I decided to take a little of a risk and ended up going along to the Forum in Manchester.

Forum is a strange place. It brings all of the key people and planet individuals across the network together to discuss key issues. Overall, you end up having massive discussions, debates and decisions over the future of People & Planet and students involved. It’s a fantastic opportunity to learn how campaigns work, how they are managed and how you can really build and develop your own strategy.

Too many times in university, we organise our campaigns without strategy and without order. We play the campaign by ear rather than by trying to meet deadlines. The fact is we need to put the too together and we need to do that at a national and local level. It is so much easier to influence Oxford if you say ‘well, Cambridge/UCL is doing it, and we have the opportunity to beat them too it’ or if you show how the particular changes can be implemented within a given time and resource framework. This method also shuts up the nay-sayers in the university who may say that they do not have time/money/resources to deal with these challenges.

The Forum is the place to be if you want to create effective change, now and in the future. It is the place to be to take on a campaign and make it suitable for your university. It is also the place to be if you want to have a great party and be challenged by a very relevant quiz.

If you want to take campaigning further, go to this year’s Forum - this weekend (19 - 21 March) in Camden, London. There are going to be MASSIVE decisions made, so make sure you’re there!

Book online for FREE here: http://peopleandplanet.org/forum/10

Like most eighteen year olds I am waiting for my A-level exam results. There is so much anticipation and worry of waiting for exam results, but the most worrying thing is not if I have done enough, well maybe part of it, but it is the exam grade boundaries because the labour government are trying to cut down on people gaining A/B’s because A-level’s have become ‘too easy’. Tell that to any student “Your grade A or B is not worth as much because it is so easy to get that grade.” Yeah right. How much effort and tears are put into A-levels hoping you get the grade? In any case A-levels are getting more difficult. (more…)

Who doesn’t enjoy music? If your one to listen to Radio 1 or a hardcore delver of the vinyl dustbins, we all have favourite bands, artists and musicians who we love to listen to, to go see, to buy merchandise of and wear. Music is much part of our culture as it is any other, it creates social groups, friendships can be grown and broken by music, it can evoke memories good and bad and lastly music is one of the artistic mediums that can be used to show how social and political viewpoints are shaping the world. Music allows us to party and shout our deepest desires all in the same song. But at what cost? (more…)

There is no doubt that power is held in the hands of the few rather than the many; it is also beyond doubt that this power is largely held by large corporations fuelling their wealth and power at the expense of those poorer. Yet as a lowly campaigner who wishes to seek international justice, there can either seem to be no way in which to pull these companies into ethical rein, or there can be too many. Since I seem to have stumbled across the latter, I thought I might make a little comparison between those that I can think of:

1. Fairtrade  (Bottom-Up)
2. Worker Rights Consortium (Top-Down)
3. The Forest Trust (Cleaning the System)
4. RBS and Ditch Dirty Development  (Legal & Financial Pressure)

(more…)

Here is the link of the news: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8551122.stm

Actually it was two adults, who were parents of a South Korean baby!

The parents (father: 41 years old, mother: 25 years old) lost their jobs earlier and were then addicted to an online game on raising a virtual baby, while their real baby was dead by prolonged malnutrition! (more…)

Everyday that I go college, there would always be that 1 person who would be moaning about EMA, and how they didnt get their £30 this week or just becuase they havent recieved it for so long! I think its ridiculous the amount of benefits that the goverment give out… Especially as going to further education (college) is already free for students to go to.. so exactly what is the need for EMA…?

Its not soo much the fact that the goverment are giving benefits, but mainly becuase its just that divide that they are creating between social classes…. Our parents have to earn a maximum of £18,000 to recieve £30 a week.. which is a wopping amount of £120 a month for going into further education! I myself ain’t able to recieve EMA, which is exaclty why it angers me about the unfairness of this system produced by the goverment and mostly as it is probably and most definetly coming from tax payers income those who go out and work non-stop are those giving a large sum of £30 a week to students who are at an advantage for recieveing free education in the 1st place!

What exactly is the point of ema? Instead of it actually being used for “educational maintence allowance” its being used for personal maintence suchas phone credit, clothes , music and their weekend/night social lifes? Is this what it intended to do… How can I and others in my situation with successful working parents go to college, and learn the same thing get EMA? Its unfair.. but mostly large sum of money going out to millions of students around the UK studying further education…

Those who recieve EMA , may say this is a blog due to jealousy, but really think how if the system changed over and only those with high income working parents got money and divided students due to what their parents earn? The basis of recieveing EMA is stupid why should it be done to parents income.. what if you don’t get pocket money or cash from your parents… how come you still aint eligiable for recieving EMA…Its fustrating and discreatly creating a major divide within society.

As part of 10:10 week at Edinburgh University, Transition Edinburgh University collaborated with the University of Edinburgh and the World Development Movement Scotland to put on a panel discussion entitled ‘The Role of Civil Society after Copenhagen’. It was definitely a valid question to bring up. (more…)

Getting your University signed up to the Workers’ Rights Consortium is a issue that can unite students across campus, from all backgrounds and all groups, as Deborah Bazeley a second year Political Science student, women’s rights activist and women’s association member said at the protest “I have never seen such a diverse range of people come together on one issue in a fight against discrimination”, The Workers’ Rights Consortium is not just about ending sweatshops and child labour  it protects against all forms of discrimination against workers; gender, race, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, nationality, political opinion, or social or ethnic origin and encourages and protects via solidarity, liberation movements.

For example the workers’ rights consortium recently successfully intervened on behalf of 5 women from Bangladesh ,who formed the countries first women led trade union, when they were fired for doing so.

In the weeks preceding the action people and planet members toured around all groups on campus building up momentum, there is no substitute for getting out there and talking, FB events only do so much!

Letters to Vice chancellor where written by all the liberation groups; the women’s association, disabled students association, LGBTQ association, Black and ethnic minorities association, letters were written by human rights groups like the UNA, by religious groups like the Jewish society and Islamic society and by sports groups who are the major consumers of garments on campus.

Tamour Khan who is doing engineering masters at the University of Birmingham and a committee member of Birmingham university Islamic society said “that students are increasingly focusing their efforts in campaigning for a just human rights solution to some of the most destitute and depressing circumstances”.

Getting about, talking to groups, winning them over, letting them win over their membership and then getting them to actively deal with the issue by getting them to write a letter to the university really engages them and their membership. Which transfers to base of support on campus that can is worth 1000 people on a facebook group, it’s an odd thing to have heard students you have never met talking about the protest and getting their friends to support the workers’ rights consortium, but after all  “the strength of a movement is its long tail“.

On Tuesday the 2nd of march representatives from 10 student groups went and delivered letters, as a delegation to the vice chancellor (pictures hopefully up soon), on Wednesday march 3rd a diverse group of students railed naked on campus in support of the Workers’ Rights Consortium, in the evening on march 3rd the guilds president in a meeting with the vice chancellor expressed the students unions support and urged him to sign the university up and delivered him pictures of the naked action.

Already more action is planed; to keep up momentum for campaign, women’s rights activists on campus are preparing a petition of T-shirts to hand him on international women’s day and, after all women make up 90% of sweatshop labour, other groups have more in the pipeline.

keep checkin back, I’m collecting e- copies of the letters written by the student groups to post up on buy right resource page, try and get your groups to write similar letters.

Meanwhile check out the photos of the naked army, who braved the wintery march cold for workers rights.

check out the guys on the right, behind our massive “naked” petition which was signed by students from all the different groups taking part.