Bristol based charity, Frank Water, has this week launched a competition as part of its campaign to encourage us to refill and reuse, rather than keep on buying, those plastic bottles.

Bottled water has a carbon footprint 300 times higher than tap water, and accounts for thousands of tonnes of waste every year. Mathew Mellor, Volunteer Campaign coordinator, said: ‘We need to encourage people to refill and reduce their reliance on bottled water. The Victorians created the drinking fountains as a civic amenity to provide fresh drinking water. There’s still a need. Ideally we’d like to see water freely available for refill in shops, parks and public spaces.’

The ‘Turn Me On’ campaign aims to highlight the fact that most of our public drinking fountains are out of action, and will be petitioning the local council and water companies to restore them. Take a photo of a fountain in need of restoration and you could win a year’s supply of water (aka a refill bottle). Download the campaign logo from http://refill.ning.com to include in your photo and if you’re the lucky winner it will be used to promote the campaign.

Mathew has also set up an e-petition on Bristol City council’s website calling on the council to bring back drinking fountains. ‘The biggest petition so far has 10,206 signatures. That may be hard to beat but lets try!’ he said.

The Refill Campaign website encourages active involvement from those of us who want to see people refill rather than buy single-use disposable bottles. It suggests various ways to get involved – from simply buying a refill bottle, to lobbying for better access to drinking water or even adopting a fountain.

full article.

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Monday 22nd February 2010, 7.45pm at the Cube Cinema, Stokes Croft, Bristol. Entry £3/£4 (but nobody refused entry for a lack of funds.)

Following the inability of the so called global leaders to agree on any substantial agreement on climate change at the Copenhagen Summit we have ask ‘What Now?’ for the fight against climate change. Despite the failure of the of our leaders to agree on any concrete solutions, globally the worlds people (particularly those in developing countries) are proposing realistic solutions to address the problems of climate change, rejecting the paradigm of economic growth as the only way. Unfortunately these people have little strength globally and are at the mercy of the developed world. Also with people attending the COP15 to protest against the inequalities of the impact of climate change, being deported and locked up shows that dissent and criticism are not welcome by those in power who seem to want to push the planet into the abyss. Bristol Indymedia presents short films about the COP15 and discussions on what this means for the climate change movement and the global population as the real implications of global warming begin to be felt over the coming years.

Cube Cinema, Dove Street South, Bristol 22nd February 7.45pm / £4 or £3 (but nobody refused for lack of funds). http://microplex.cubecinema.com/cubewebsite/directions.html

Related Links:
Cop15 Climate Conference: System Change, Not Climate Change
http://www.indymedia.org/pt/2009/11/931754.shtml

COP15 Interview with Cristian Dominguez (Bolivian Secretary of Environment & United Confederation of Bolivian Campesino Workers and member of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change)
http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/691449

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Nuclear and Biofuels Come Under Fire as Energy Solutions

As Bristol freezes under a blanket of snow, we Bristolians will be reaching for the dial to up the heating - but we also need to consider where the energy of the future will come from in the face of the issues of Peak Oil and Climate Change... Robert Palgrave of Biofuelwatch writes: W4B is planning power stations in Avonmouth and Portland. Each will consume tens of thousands of tonnes of palm oil a year to produce so-called renewable electricity. Councils decide in January whether the power stations get permission. W4B is saying that it will use Jatropha oil instead of Palm oil once there are adequate supplies. It claims that Jatropha can be grown on marginal land and with little water. The truth from India is that Jatropha is not a miracle biomass crop - it does not give the promised yields, and small farmers are being bullied / conned into growing it, impacting on their ability to grow much-needed food. Full article.

Jim Duffy of Stop Hinkley writes: Top environmentalist Professor Tom Burke CBE is giving a boost to Stop Hinkley's campaign to oppose Hinkley C by speaking at a public meeting together with Greenpeace's Ben Ayliffe. Later Jonathon Porritt will also speak in Taunton: 'Nuclear Power: Do we need it?' Prof Tom Burke CBE & Ben Ayliffe, Head of Greenpeace nuclear team, Town Hall, High Street, Bridgwater, Wednesday 6th January 2010 7.30pm.

Biofuels - the truth about Jatropha and W4B's power stations | Biofuelwatch.org.uk | Top environmentalists boost campaign | http://www.stophinkley.org |

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Free all the climate justice Prisoners in Copenhagen! Stop police states and repressive capitalist summits!

A call for simultaneous actions everywhere on WEDNESDAY 16th December.

Many Bristolians are among those protesting on the streets of Copenhagen and being subject to preventative detentions designed to intimidate and scare people away from protesting in solidarity with the global south for a tough and binding reduction on greenhouse gas emissions. With the leader of the G77 block of developing nations yesterday said 'It has become clear that the Danish presidency - in the most undemocratic fashion - is advancing the interests of the developed countries at the expense of the balance of obligations between developed and developing countries," as talks came to a temporary halt.

During the 'Global Day of Action' in Copenhagen on Saturday - where up to 100,000 climate justice activists were protesting against the failing UN climate summit - Danish police indiscriminately made a mass arrests of 968 activists. They have expressed severe physical discomfort and have no access to water, medical attention or toilet facilities. Many are reported to have urinated themselves while detained on the ground. The next day, during the “Hit the Production” demo on Sunday. Without any provocation, the police charged violently at the crowd and began more than 250 arrests, forcing people to sit on the ground in 2 degree temperatures while cuffed. The scenes seem to be an exact repetition of the human rights violations from the day before. A video of some of these events is below.

In Copenhagen, the 16th will be the day for a mass action at the Summit itself! Our goal is to disrupt the sessions and open a space inside the UN area to hold a People's Assembly. The assembly will give a voice to those who are not being heard, it will be an opportunity to change the agenda, to discuss the real solutions. After 15 years of negotiations and no real solutions to the climate crisis, we say enough! No more markets based solutions, no to corporate greed and short term politics deciding our future! No to colonialism and the land-grabs taking place in local and indigenous communities!

JOIN US AND TAKE ACTION ANYWHERE YOU ARE TO RECLAIM POWER OVER OUR OWN FUTURE! Call for international solidarity! Take actions simultaneously! Protest against unjust arrests, police violence and capitalist summit.
More information on the 16th action: http://www.climate-justice-action.org/mobilization/recl...tice/ If you know about a solidarity action taking place, please let the CJA media team know! media@climate-justice-action.org

For the latest news on events in Copenhagen, go to: Indymedia Denmark the Danish indymedia website iCop15.org, a site that gathers feeds, tweets, images and more covering the fight for climate justice and Climate IMC the climate indymedia.

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