South Hams Friends of the Earth

Hello everyone,

Welcome to SHFoE'S March newsletter.

AGM Report: A group of us gathered in the Guildhall Totnes to hear FoE's Roger Higman talk

on climate change and biodiversity. There'll be a report on our website soon.
Ian Blackwell was elected Treasurer, Kate Wilson Coordinator and on the committee are Ella

Dangerfield, Steve Melia and Malcolm Baldwin. If you would like to be more involved, please

let us know.

Membership: Membership fees are now due unless you joined SHFoE at Satish Kumar's talk last

September in which case you have until Feb 2010. Membership is still only £5.00 a year and

we value your support. Please send your money with your name, and contact details to Ian

Blackwell, 1 Kistor Gardens, Castle Street, Totnes TQ9 5QW

The Age of Stupid: this is a film which is being shown at a limited number of cinemas

around the country from March 20th, but which is being premiered for one night only on

MARCH 15th in many cinemas including Exeter Picturehouse and Plymouth Vue. Starring Pete

Postlethwite the film's set in the devastated world of 2055 and looks back at "archive"

footage from 2007 - a time when climate change could have beeen averted.

Incinerator: There are plans to site a waste incinerator in the South Hams - Lee mIll has

been mentioned as well as Wrangaton. Incinerators emit huge amounts of CO2, produce toxic

ash which has to go to landfill, release dioxins and other pollutants into the air, destroy

valuable resources and damage prospects for recycling as Councils need to fill

incinerators. Look out for more information on this damaging prospect.

Fossil Fools Day - April 1st 2009: The aim is to "pull a prank that packs a punch" in order

to speed up the end of the fossil fuel empire, and start the beginning of a more just and

sustainable world. In Totnes Old King Coal will be charged with climate crimes and will be

marched from the Plains leaving at 12 noon to the Civic square for trial. More information

will follow.

Local Development PLan Documents (DPDs): South Hams District Council will soon produce DPDs

for Totnes and Dartington, Kingsbridge, Ivybridge, Dartmouth and the Rural Areas. The DPDs

will focus on allocating sites for Housing and Employment Land. There was a lot of work

done on the Totnes and Dartington DPD last year, but this DPD has been shelved and so we

need to submit more responses. Anyone in Totnes and /or Dartington who submitted a

response to the DPD will need to resubmit that response. If any members in Dartmouth,

Kingsbridge or Ivybridge are interested in producing an FoE response to the DPDs for those

towns, please contact Kate.

Sobering thought: Did you know that producing meat and dairy is leading to more climate

changing emissions than all the planes trains and cars on the planet? Animals in factory

farms are being pumped full of imported soy crops creating demand for huge soya plantations

that are wiping out forests and communities. FoE's food chain campaign aims to raise

awareness of the environmental and social impacts of meat and dairy production. More

information on this campaign will follow.