Thursday 16 February 2012

Job losses in Yorkshire - letter to Yorkshire Post



Iwrite further to your article, ‘ Recession fears grow with wave of job cuts inregion’ (8th Feb).  The loss of bank jobs is, of course, very sad for the employees concerned, but unsurprising in the currentclimate of takeovers and megacorporate rule.   Ethical banks, on theother hand,  such as Triodos,  the Cooperative  Bank  andthe Ecology Building Society in Baildon are doing very well.  More andmore people are looking for ‘good’ banking.  Perhaps redundant bank staffcould consider starting up or supporting  the growth of local creditunions which will deal transparently and fairly with local people’smoney. 
Localauthority cuts are due to misguided government policy which  results incuts to services for the most vulnerable, as well as a reduction in taxreceipts and spending – a lose lose situation.
 Regardinga traditional firm such as Oakworth,   no doubt they make good qualityproducts which could be used to improve energy efficiency , such as double andsecondary glazing.  A shame that they were trading with one major customerrather than lots of smaller clients.  All these job losses boil down tothe need to start rebuilding relationships in communities instead of allowingourselves to be run by  corporates and multinationals.  
Nowthe Bank of England has announced a new batch of quantitative easing (£50bn orso),  and the Green New Deal Group  is calling for such cash to beinjected into a programme of green investment to support badly needed renewableenergy and energy efficiency projects. Rather than handing the money over tothe banks, who then sit on it and refuse to lend, green QE would put money intothe wider economy - creating thousands of new jobs, improving energy securityand tackling climate change at the same time.

Shan Oakes
Green Party (Hulland East Riding)

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Turbines versus oil wells on the Wolds


I 've been asked by BBC Radio Humberside to discuss theissue of wind turbines – again  (we Greens get a little bit annoyed whenwe are asked only about environmental issues when we have the full range ofeconomic and social policies).  Anyway, to get to the point -  EastYorks Council (ERYC) is wanting to make the Wolds an area of outstandingnatural beauty (AONB) in order to stop wind farm applications there.  Ifind this incredible.  Not that I don’t think the Wolds are beautifulbecause I do.  It’s the fact that ERYC doesn’t want wind turbines, butthey don’t mind oil drilling!  They have agreed to let a Canadian oil firmstart exploratory drilling near Walkington!   It’s ironic becausewind turbines harness free clean energy, and polls tell us that most peopleapprove of them and  like how they look, whereas  oil is a fossilfuel (carbon laid down millions of years ago) which produces CO2 when burned,which  is responsible for  climate change  - which is killing150,000 people a year (World Health Organisation).  How crazy isthat?  Or don’t they/we mind because the people dying are a long way away?