Big Blether 5
5th-7th May 2006

Big Blether 5 is set for Friday 5th to Sunday 7th of May 2006 in the South West of Scotland.

The Big Blether is a conference and meeting place for activists with ideas, enthusiasm
and information.

Topics so far confirmed include:

• Preparing for the Climate Change Camp
• Pixie Pictures
• Discussing climate change issues
• Camcorder Guerillas
• Spiritual activism and creative campaigning
• Faslane 365
• Direct action at the military gateway
• Ecofootprints
• Hydro walk and tour
• Woodland crafts
• Crafts demonstration
• Biodiesel
• Deep ecology
• Permaculture
• Guided eco walk around the grounds ofLaurieston Hall
• Yoga
• No Borders – ‘Direct action - defending families from dawn raids’ and ‘Lawchanges’
• Walk and talk around the walled vegetable garden and greenhouses

Please note that this list is liable to change!

Booking a place
Entry includes full board and camping space, as well as access to BB5: please don't
come set to self cater: we'll be asking for a donation of £25-£55* per adult on the door
(suggested reductions for kids: 0-1 nil; 1-4, £7; 5-11, £13; 12-16, £19*). Gate opens at
2pm on Friday 5th of May 2006. This includes all your vegan/veggie meals and snacks
from our hosts Laurieston Hall, though most accommodation will be in our own tents…
*If you cannot afford this much please get in touch as we may be able to provide a little
assistance to a few people, but only if you let us know in advance.
Please note: This is a non-profit event: organisers and facilitators are paying their own
way and any money left over will go into the next Blether.
Places are limited to 180 people, so to avoid disappointment please try to book in
advance. It is important for Laurieston Hall to know of numbers in advance to make
sure there’s enough food. There will, however, be some spaces left for first-come, first
served on the gate. Email book@bigblether.org.uk to start the dialogue. Payment can be
made by cheque to: ‘Scottish Environmental Association’.

Kids
There will be no organised kids programme but yoga for kids, activism for kids and their
inclusion in workshops will happen if there’s demand on a parent-carer self-organising
basis. Football, hide and seek, and hopefully volleyball for EVERYONE, not just kids, will
be programmed in for sure though!

Workshops
Despite this small piece of prescription, the Big Blether is not run by a handful for the
many, but is the creation of everyone who comes. If you feel you'd like to join,
facilitate, inform or lead discussion on any of the above or related topics, please get in
touch by e-mailing eleanor@bigblether.org.uk. The programme will evolve during the
weekend though; you can take the risk of just coming along…

Beds
A few indoor beds are also available at an extra £5 for each night. There is space for
wheel-chair users too, but please get in touch well in advance to book it or even just
express interest. book@bigblether.org.uk.

Musical Instruments
Please bring your drums, whistles, noisemakers (and band!). We’re hoping for an
impromptu céilidh and drumming round the fire. (noise will be restricted after 10 on Fri
and after 12 on Saturday, though there will be an indoor space for gentler noise making
into the wee hours).

Transport

Report: Anti-GM Global Day of Action
A BEACON OF HOPE AND RESISTANCE FOR A GM-FREE DEVON

On Saturday 8th April at sunset on a hill in Dartington, anti-GM campaigners lit a beacon to symbolize the public's continued rejection of GMOs in food and farming. Everyone now understands that if GM crops were to be grown routinely in the UK they would contaminate all non-GM crops and their wild relatives, whether it be with genes for herbicide resistance, sterility or pest resistance.

It was one of 32 beacons lit simultaneously on high ground across the country, including one in every SW county, as part of this major national event. It will also be a celebration of resistance, and recognition of the wonderful GM-free food that we are still able to grow and buy in Devon.

No GM crops were grown in the UK in 2005 for the first time since 1993, but more are planned from 2008. The threat to the very existence of biodynamic, organic and non-GM agriculture is in the balance. The issue of growing GM crops alongside biodynamic, organic and conventional crops - 'co-existence' -, and the EU's allowable level of 0.9% GM contamination of non-GM food and seed, was discussed at the highest level in Vienna on 4-6th April 2006. However, a recent WTO ruling declared Europe's precautionary approach to this technology an illegal 'barrier to trade', and fear of further legal action meant the talks were inconclusive.

Instead of resolving the key issue of preventing widespread contamination from GM crops, Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel reconfirmed the unelected Commission?s position not to set EU rules that would protect consumers and European farmers from contamination, and continued to deny the right of regions to establish themselves as GMO-free zones. Meanwhile, Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas admitted to the failures of the European Food Safety Authority in evaluating the long-term risks of GM foods and crops.

"After only a couple of years there are verified reports of contamination of up to 12% in non-GM crops in Spain, and on a larger scale in the USA, Canada and Mexico. But if the democratic procedures for opposing GM crops are banned in Europe, as they have been in Michigan, then the public will have to take their own action to enforce their GM-free zones." said Charlotte Oliver "The freedom of choice of all of Europe's citizens and farmers will be taken away if genetically modified crops are allowed to be grown on a large scale. The Republic of Ireland is fighting desperately to keep its GM-free status in the face of planned trials of GM potatoes by BASF. The economic implications for farmers are huge, so we intend to support their stand by collecting signatures for their 'GM Free Ireland Petition' and sending potato-print cards to John Sheridan, the Chairman of the National Potato Committee, which people can sign on the Totnes Genetic Group's stall in the market next Friday morning 10am-12pm."

This initiative is supported by the GM Freeze, GM Free Cymru & Friends of the Earth to highlight opposition and raise public awareness at every level to this threat to a GM-free Britain. It is a reminder to the UK government, US government, the EU, the biotech companies and the food/feed industry that the UK wants to be a GM-free country in a GM-free Europe.

Contact on Sunday: Charlotte 07980-022547 Contact on Monday, Tuesday Robert 01803-868523

NOTES TO EDITORS
1) A list of beacons by county is available from Pete Riley at pete@gmfreeze.org.

2) Impossible Coexistence: Seven years of GMOs have contaminated organic and conventional maize: an examination of the cases of Catalonia and Aragon, is available for downloading at:
http://www.

Boreal Bird Conservation Conference
September 2006, Cambridge

The BirdLife Forest Task Force, Taiga Rescue Network and Forest Movement Europe will soon be holding a joint conference with the twin themes of boreal bird conservation as well as the use of boreal forests for paper production.

It will be held at Clare College, Cambridge. Please see below for the draft programme - please comment iif you wish, changes are still possible. Please note that we are now lacking a speaker for the lecture on the morning of the 11th at 11.30: "Boreal Birds in Eurasia - adapting or declining?" If you can suggest suitable speakers, I would be glad to hear from you.

Details on how to register will be forthcoming in April.

Draft Programme for Boreal Forest Conference

NOTE: Lecture times include discussion
Public Sessions
September 10
Evening Reception at Clare College Gardens

September 11
09.00 - 11.00 Open Sessions, Law Centre, Cambridge University
1st session Opening of symposium, keynote speakers, e.g
* Jared Diamond
* David Attenborough

Suggested themes for Diamond / Attenborough
a) Boreal forests: current conservation status and trends
b) How Much is Enough: a vision for boreal forest conservation – and how to get there

11.00 - 11.30 BREAK / COFFEE

11.30 - 13.30 2nd SESSION
11.30 - 12.30 a) Boreal birds, Eurasia: adapting or declining? – Eurasia (Speaker: Open)
12.30 – 13.30 b) Boreal birds, N America: holding out today, gone tomorrow? (Propose Dr Russ Greenberg, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Centre)

13.30 - 14.45 LUNCH

14.45 - 16.30 3rd SESSION

Concurrent sessions: Intro lecture from chair giving facts followed by longer discussion

a) Paper consumption: does old growth boreal forest still figure in paper fibres? Are plantations the solution? (Chair: ?)
b) Boreal birds as forest health indicators: what they do and don’t tell us (Propose Dr Andrzej Bobiec, BirdLife International Forest Task Force)

16.30 - 17.00 BREAK / COFFEE

17.00 - 18.30 4th SESSION
Panel "Paper Industry Perspectives, Finding solutions to Conservation Issues – success and failures". To start with short overview from Panel Chair, who also introduces the panel.
Chair: open. Panel: suggest Greenpeace Canda, Rep. from FSC HQ (Bonn), from, UPM Kymmene or other paper major, BirdLife International HQ, , (others.. ?, at least one more major US Conservation/Research organisation would be desirable)

19.30 DINNER

September 12 TIMES AS FOR SEPT. 11TH ABOVE
Open Sessions, Law Centre, Cambridge University
09.00-11.00 1st session Keynote addresses, e.g.
* David King, UK Chief Government Scientist
* Ian Newton, Ornithologist and Chairman of RSPB
Topics for these gentlemen? For King propose “Procurement policies as a means to further forest conservation – new ways forward” For Ian Newton propose “Monitoring
biodiversity”
<>11.00 – 11.30 BREAK / COFFEE
11.30-13.30 2nd SESSION
11.30 – 12.30 How much boreal forest must we protect? (Propose Kathy Wilkinson, Canadian Boreal Initiative)
12.30 – 13.30 Estimating bird populations breeding in the boreal (Propose Pete Blancher & Jeff Wells)

<>13.30 – 14.45 LUNCH 14.45-16.30 3rd SESSION
Concurrent sessions: Intro lecture fro