October Meeting

Items we talked about at our recent meeting.
Age of Stupid It is hoped the film will be shown in Middlesbrough, Redcar, Hartlepool, Stockton & Darlington. We are looking to put on a screening of this film in the last week of November.

Renewables Dawn is writing a report and when completed will send out to all. Dawn will pass on the original questions asked by the group to Steve to see if he can give us the answers.

Market Success Thanks to all who helped, we got a total of 151 Fix the Food Chain post cards, 50 signatures for the market on how they recycle, 20 Get Serious cards and book sales total £10.00. Mary, Kendra, Lou and James presented all the Food Chain cards to Alan Milburn. A photographer from the Northern Echo was there and it appeared in this week’s paper and can be seen on the Northern Echo blog.

Market Stall This Saturday 17th from 9.30 – 4.00 for the Get Serious campaign. Help is required to run the stall please can you contact Kendra to let her know if you can make it.

Allotment The day of the launch was very well attended and the mayor Jim Ruck planted a plum tree which had been donated by Robin Blair. After the successful launch of the site at Lingfield Point we had our first steering group meeting at the Dolphin centre which 7 of us attended. The charge for the site was set at £5 subscription and £1 per bag. We are continuing to look for local companies to come on board in support of the scheme.

Get Serious A letter that is being sent to Ada Burns, the letter explains why we are running the Get Serious campaign and how we make help the council reduce their CO2 emissions. Alan has also written 4 questions which we will ask at the next full council meeting.

Any Other Business We plan to have a revisit to the Wades recycling plant in the New Year to see how they are doing now it is up and running. We now have a copy of Sustainable Energy Without Hot Air by David JC MacKay, if you wish to borrow the book please contact Mary.

Report of our meeting with Darlington MP Alan Milburn

On Thursday 8th October, members of Darlington Friends of the Earth led by group co-ordinator Kendra Ullyart met with the town’s MP Alan Milburn to get his support for the Fix the Food-chain campaign. Like many people we have spoken to during this campaign, Mr Milburn was struck by the statistic from the UN Food and Agriculture Association that “the meat and dairy industry produces more climate-changing emissions than every plane, train and car on the planet - 18% of the global total.” A photographer from the Northern Echo was present to capture the moment when postcards signed by Darlington residents were given to Mr Milburn, who expressed an interest in planet-friendly farming and ways of making the shift to a low-carbon economy. Friends of the Earth literature on the Get Serious on C02 campaign was also presented to Mr Milburn, who agreed to convey our message on planet-friendly farming to the Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Food festival Stall

On the stall at the Food Festival last weekend we managed to collect over 150 postcards for our Food Chain campaign and 16 postcards for the Get Serious campaign. A great achievement despite the weather and location in the indoor market. Thanks to all who helped out and of course those that signed our cards.

Darlington Food Festival

The group have got a stall at the market this weekend Friday 2nd and Saturday 3rd October. The group is using the Food Chain campaign as the main focus for the stall. The Stall is located in the Indoor Market. There is also a comments sheet for Darlington Markets green credentials and asking people for any suggestions to improve their goals.

Allotment Group

An event at Lingfield Point was held on 19th September for people interested in the new Gro- Zone. The Mayor of Darlington planted a Plum tree to commemorate the start of this exciting project. People were able to sign up and were given the opportunity to join a steering group, which held its first meeting yesterday. The Allotments group have also secured some funding for the project which is fantastic. The project will encourage local community interaction and give people the opportunity to grow their own food.