*First man to circumnavigate the globe by muscle power

A British man kayaked, pedaled, walked, swam and
skated to become the first person to circumnavigate the
globe by human muscle alone.

Jason Lewis, 40, shunned motor and sail to travel 45,505
miles in a quest that ended last week when he pulled his
pedal boat across the Meridian line at the Royal Observ-
atory in Greenwich.

The epic journey took him 13 years, two months, 23 days and
11 hours.

Lewis capsized in two oceans, was chased by a crocodile in
Australia, had two bouts of malaria, surgery for two hernias
and nearly died of blood poisoning 1,300 miles off Hawaii.

He also suffered acute altitude sickness in the Himalayas,
broke both legs when he was hit by a car in Colorado and was
arrested as a spy in Egypt.

*GORE and UN panel win NOBEL prize

From BBC online:

Climate change campaigner Al Gore and the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have been jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The committee cited "their efforts to build up and disseminate knowledge about man-made climate change".

Mr Gore, 59, said he was "deeply honoured" while IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri said he was "overwhelmed". Mr Gore was behind a blockbuster film on climate change while the IPCC is the top authority on global warming.

Announcing the award, the Norwegian Nobel Committee praised the recipients' efforts to "lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract [climate] change".

It said it wanted to bring the "increased danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states" posed by climate change into sharper focus. The committee highlighted the series of scientific reports issued over the last two decades by the IPCC, which comprises more than 2,000 leading climate change scientists. The reports had "created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming". Mr Gore was praised as "probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted", through his lectures, films and books. 'Overwhelmed' Speaking in Washington, Mr Gore said he was honoured.

"This award is even more meaningful because I have the honour of sharing it" with the IPCC, he said - "whose members have worked tirelessly and selflessly for many years". He said he would donate his half of the $1.5m prize money to the Alliance for Climate Protection, reported the news agency Reuters. "I can't believe it, overwhelmed, stunned," IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri told reporters and co-workers after receiving the news on the phone at his office in Delhi. He later told a cheering crowd of co-workers and journalists outside his office in New Delhi he hoped the award would bring a "greater awareness and a sense of urgency" to the fight against global warming. A massive amount of work goes on behind the scenes at the IPCC, says the BBC's environment correspondent Richard Black, involving hundreds of scientists working to collate and evaluate the work of thousands more. In a sense, he says, this is an award for those usually unsung scientists too.

Mr Gore made a failed bid for the US presidency in 2000, after serving as vice-president under Bill Clinton. Since then he has emerged as a leading climate campaigner - winning an Oscar for his 2006 film An Inconvenient Truth, an unlikely box-office hit.

The IPCC, established in 1988, is tasked with providing policymakers with neutral summaries of the latest expertise on climate change.

The Nobel committee closely guards the names of nominees, but this year speculation was high that the recipient would be linked to climate change campaigns.

*Straw bale auction rooms nearing completion

As an auctioneer and a Green Party activist, I am delighted to post this report from Green Building Magazine.


Straw bale auction rooms nearing completion.

The main structure of the largest straw bale building in the UK is nearing completion near Stansted airport. Pioneers of straw bale building in the UK, amazonails of Todmorden, West Yorkshire, are now completing the straw bale walls of the 1,100 sq m (11,800 sq ft) auction room and offices.

The design, with straw bales infilling a timber frame, is an advance on conventional timber-frame buildings and is quicker to build. Workers from amazonails will have spent three weeks camping at the site building the straw bale walls when the main structure is completed this coming weekend, the cedar shingle roof being supported above the building on timber uprights while the walls were filled in.

The construction process has also been used for training future straw bale constructors, this following an amazonails tradition in which people wanting to build their own straw bale home learn while they build, under instruction from experts from amazonails.

The building will provide new auction rooms and offices for Sworders Fine Art and Antique Auctioneers, of Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex. The building as a whole was designed by Robert Ward-Booth FRICS, a partner in G E Sworder & Sons. It incorporates solar heating, a bio-fuel boiler and water is harvested from the roof.

Barbara Jones, Executive Director of amazonails says: “This building demonstrates the amazing potential of straw bale buildings. They not only offer the possibility of exciting, eco-friendly homes; working commercial buildings can also benefit from the advantages of this kind of building while helping to lessen the consequences of climate change. The thermal efficiency of straw bale walls means that long term running costs can be much lower than other types of building and the dependence on fossil fuels can be reduced”.

This new commercial building should help dispel many myths about building with straw when done correctly. There are no problems with obtaining planning permission; such buildings are at least as fire safe as conventional buildings; and they will endure as long as any well-maintained building using bricks and mortar.

Furthermore, the heat insulation properties of straw bale walls are twice as good as the best alternative materials on the market.
The building is due to be structurally complete in October and it will be fitted out and occupied in the first quarter of next year.

*Benefit claimants need firmer safeguards,not tougher sanctions

"Benefit claimants need firmer safeguards,not tougher sanctions" by Alan Wheatley.

David Cameron says that tougher benefit rules will help make the economy fairer. He says that jobseekers who turn down suitable offers of work should lose benefit.

This panders to the tabloid exaggerated stories of abuses by benefit claimants. Do the tabloids ever report the dismal performance of Jobcentre Plus (JCP) call centres? Last year, JCP was criticised in Parliament for leaving 44% of incoming calls for the tax year 2004/2005 unattended; that was over twenty million calls. Only 5% of calls to the help line for Disability Living Allowance and Incapacity Benefit were answered!

That state of affairs has been exacerbated by JCP's insistence that
those making fresh claims for benefit must apply over the telephone. I am really glad that when I started part-time cover-duties as a social care worker in 2005, I 'kept my claim fresh' by signing on each fortnight and submitting part-time earnings forms.

JCP, however, was so inefficient that I was left waiting more than two months on two occasions for Jobseekers Allowance top-up to my meager part-time earnings. The second of those occasions was after I resigned from the strain of JCP-inefficiencies and from lack of in-service training and other such circumstances; there was a 'sting in the tail' to my receipt of £500, mainly made up of annual leave accruals. In the time while I was waiting for Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) to resume, Housing Benefits (HB) were told that I was no longer entitled to JSA and therefore not automatically entitled to HB. A telephone contact I had with HB at the Town Hall was not logged, and so in the months I was waiting for JSA to be resumed, the Council almost closed my HB file,
believing I had not responded to their earlier communication.

Regarding those who gave up benefits in going into paid work, the tax credits debacle led many families to be dependent on British Red Cross food parcels and help from other famine relief charities.

Further, I quote the following statistic:


Insecure at Work

* Half of the men and
* A third of the women

making a new claim for JSA were last claiming the benefit less than six months ago. (These proportions are similar to a decade ago.)

Alan Wheatley
GPEW Disability Spokesperson

PS: The WEEKLY 'earnings disregard' on Jobseekers Allowance is now LESS than an hour of paid work on the statutory minimum wage. That 'earnings disregard' has remained at £5 since 1988!

Notes

JCP call centre inefficiencies and other 'performance indicators' are noted at www.communitycare.co.uk


Insecure at work http://www.poverty.org.uk/33/index.shtml?2

*Green Party party - this Sunday

Please pass on this invitation:

GREEN PARTY PARTY ! THIS SUNDAY 14TH OCTOBER

3PM til 9PM !
£7/9

live music acts , comedy compere and quiet room.

Come on ! You can't complain ! There's something for everyone to enjoy.

. Bring friends and family!

@
JAMM
261 BRIXTON ROAD
SW9 6LH
( Brixton and Oval Tube Stn)

DROP by during the DAY ,
or DANCE
drink , debate all day
while we raise funds and relax.

*WINDSCALE ANNIVERSARY

Today is the 50th anniversary of the Windscale fire on October 10th 1957.Green Party Principal Speaker Dr.Derek Wall has warned that nuclear power was still a dangerous option.

"The first serious nuclear accident happened in 1957: a reactor fire at Windscale (now called Sellafield),three years after the first nuclear power station was opened.

"Since then, there have been more than six serious nuclear accidents - three in the UK - Douneray, Chapelcross and THORP, two in Japan - Monju and Tokaimura, and one in the USA - Three Mile Island.

"The Windscale anniversary is a sobering reminder that nuclear power creates horrific dangers for humanity and the natural environment.

The fire spread radidation across Britain, provoking an emergency
where milk was thrown away. It was so horrifying, like an event from a science fiction movie. The very name Windscale was changed to Sellafield as a public relations move to make nuclear power more acceptable. The radioactive path to the future is one we must reject.

"But, despite the inherent dangers of this kind of energy, the UK
government are still hell-bent on bringing in a new round of nuclear power stations.

"Not only is this incredibly dangerous, it's also hugely expensive.

"Moreover, it's entirely unnecessary. The UK is better placed than
anyone else in Europe to utilise renewable energy - a clean, cheap
and cutting-edge technology. A source of power that doesn't cost lives.

"The full effects of the Windscale fire, or any of the other serious nuclear accidents over the past 50 years, may never be fully known - parts of the UK are still contaminated by the fallout from Chernobyl.

"But they should be remembered when deciding on the future of energy policy in the UK - it's time we said no to nuclear power."

*Americans Consider Global Warming An Urgent Threat: Poll

Nearly half of Americans now believe that global warming is either already having dangerous impacts on people around the world or will in the next 10 years.

A surprising 40 percent of respondents say a presidential candidate's position on global warming will be either extremely important (16 percent) or very important (24 percent) when casting their ballots. These results indicate a sea change in public opinion.

*Climate of change for supporters of GM crops

Letter to The Guardian by Michael Meacher:

So the biotech industry is having another try. Having been defeated comprehensively in 2004 after the GM field-scale trials I set up, they have the gall to suggest(like the nuclear industry)that climate change might provide the way back in. Your report says an unnamed "senior government source" claims the tide will turn because, allegedly, GM crops are higher-yield and hardier to
help feed the world's increasing population and will help provide biofuels to limit climate change. These claims are bunkum.


The most authoritative study on crop yields - by Charles Benbrook, an independent US scientist - found that over a five-year period yields actually fell and pesticide use increased to deal with superweeds. The real answer to feeding a growing world population, in addition to more widespread family planning, is reversing the gross maldistribution of land in developing countries, phasing out the US and EU agricultural subsidies that wreck the market for
developing-world farmers, and ending the rich countries' discriminatory trade policies. Any role for GM is, by comparison, piffling.

The claim that GM will assist production of biofuels is equally mischievous. If it did this (which is unlikely),it would actually diminish the world's
food supply,given the competition for land. If government officials were genuinely concerned about combating climate change, they wouldn't be making Monsanto's case to raise biotech's profits by cornering the world's food supply;they would be increasing the use of renewable energy, not expanding airports,and signing up industry to much tighter annual CO2 reductions.

Michael Meacher MP
Former environment minister

*WHAT CAN HAPPEN WHEN YOU QUESTION 'LEADERS'

Florida Student Andrew Meyer Tazered - Footage Not Seen on TV

U of F student Andrew Meyer is tazed by police after being escorted away from the microphone at a campus forum.


http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=9094

It's after the insurance ad on the clip. Look at it until the end.

*AUCTION at Green Party Conference.

The Green Party Annual Conference takes place from to-morrow Sept. 13th until Sunday next at The Cornerstone building of Liverpool Hope University, at Haigh Street, Liverpool L3 8QB.

I am conducting a fundraising auction for our GLA election campaign.

The event takes place on Friday evening at 8pm.


Here are a few of the items for sale:

1) Have your housekeeping done by Darren Johnson, London Assembly Member.

2) Tea for three and a tour of the House of Lords plus seats for a debate. Donated by Lord Beaumont.

3) Tony Benn's pipe - autographed by him.

4) An original ballot paper from the first free elections in South Africa, 1994, features Nelson Mandela etc.

5) Self portrait sketch and autograph by David Baddiel.

6) A genuine ROMAN COIN of the Emperor Constantius 11 (337-361 a.d.)

I am now accepting bids on the above. Please ring me on 07961 44 1722 or reply to this e-mail up to Wednesday night.

*Blogging goes Green – Blog Action Day.

Last week saw the launch of Blog Action Day, an international initiative aiming to unite thousands of blogging voices and have them talk about one specific issue on one specific day – with the aim being to further global awareness of that issue and so contribute to bringing about positive change.

The inaugural Blog Action Day is scheduled for October 15th 2007, and the issue that its organisers are asking bloggers from around the world to focus on is the environment.

As well as dedicating that day’s posts to reporting on issues relating to the environment, bloggers who make money from their sites are also being asked to donate the day’s earnings to environmental charities.

Add your voice to this innovative global initiative by adding your blog. As of to-day there are 4,597 blogs signed up.

http://blogactionday.org/

*Plastic bags.

The Scottish Executive recently calculated that the oil used to manufacture eight plastic carrier bags would power an average car for a kilometre.

*PHILANTHROPY GATES-STYLE

The world's biggest philanthropic foundation is reaping huge profits investing in companies responsible for causing the problems it tries to solve. Its grant-giving is also doing more harm than good in undermining health and agricultural systems, distorting national and global priorities, and preventing the necessary paradigm change that could help secure the future of the planet, says an article for ISIS at
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/PhilanthropyGatesStyle.php

The Los Angeles Times reports: "... the Gates Foundation has holdings in many companies that have failed tests of social responsibility because of environmental lapses, employment discrimination, disregard for worker rights, or unethical practices." The Gates Foundation has spent at least US$75 million on biotech projects so far, many of which appear to involve genetic engineering. These include not only GM crops but GM mosquitoes, which are supposedly designed to fight malaria and dengue fever but which are an unproven approach.
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8157

*“WE ONLY WANT THE EARTH”

Song by James Connolly, Scots/Irish Socialist.
Executed by the British Army in 1916.

We only want the Earth.

Some men, faint hearted, ever seek
Our programme to retouch
And will insist, whene’er they speak
That we demand too much
‘Tis passing strange, yet I declare
Such statements give me mirth,
For our demands most moderate are
We only want THE EARTH

“Be moderate,” the trimmers cry,
Who dread the tyrants’ thunder.
“You ask too much, and people fly
From you aghast in wonder.”
‘Tis passing strange, for I declare
Such statements give me mirth,
For our demands most moderate are:
We only want THE EARTH.

Our masters all – a godly crew,
Whose hearts throb for the poor –
Their sympathies assure us too,
If our demands were fewer.
Most generous souls! But please observe,
What they enjoy from birth
Is all we ever had the nerve
To ask: that is, THE EARTH.

The “labour fakir,” full of guile,
Base doctrine ever preaches,
And while he bleeds the rank and file
Tame moderation teaches.
Yet, in this despite, we’ll see the day
When, with sword in its girth,
Labour shall march in war array
To seize it’s own, THE EARTH.

For labour long, with sighs and tears,
To it’s oppressors knelt,
But never yet, to aught save fears,
Did heart of tyrant melt.
We need not kneel, our cause no dearth
Of loyal soldiers needs,
And our victorious rallying cry
Shall be WE WANT THE EARTH.

“No revolutionary movement is complete without its poetical expression”
James Connolly.