News: Community, environment, regeneration

24.05.2004 Low-income neighbourhoods suffer from a lack of clean air and open spaces, and are disproportionately close to industrial sites, while children living in deprived areas are five times more likely than other children to be killed by a car, according to a new report from the Institute for Public Policy Research. The think-tank is calling on the government to do more to tackle environmental problems that blight the lives of Britain's poorest communities.

24.05.2004 Scottish political parties who fail to put the environment firmly on the agenda in June's European election could "fail to pick up the votes" from the hundreds of thousands of Scots who consider the environment to be an important political issue. The stark warning to politicians comes in a new opinion poll published on 24 May by the everyone campaign - a coalition of Scotland's leading environment groups.

21.05.2004 Scotland needs to start planning its future energy needs now and "not just sit around until the lights go out" a major conference, in Edinburgh, will hear on 21 May. Friends of the Earth Scotland is gathering key players in industry - including those in the fields of coal, oil, gas, renewables, energy efficiency and even nuclear - government and communities to discuss Scotland's long-term energy needs.

17.05.2004 A new report published jointly by Greenpeace and the farmers' campaigning group FARM shows that dairy industry can immediately go GM-free, with no cost to the consumer or the farmer, and switch to a feed regime based on crops grown on-farm and regionally in the UK.

14.05.2004 People around the country, and across Europe, are being urged to target candidates standing in June's European Elections to ask them to pledge to support tougher chemical legislation, via a new multi-lingual web site, hosted by Friends of the Earth.

10.05.2004 Greenpeace members protested outside 22 London Sainsbury's stores on 8 May after it was revealed the supermarket's own brand milk comes from cows fed on a GM diet.

06.05.2004 A report by a powerful Committee of MPs has criticised the government for ignoring its concerns on GM crops. The report concluded that, "the public at large are very concerned about issues relating to GM and will regard the government's failure to engage with the Committee on this matter as a sign of weakness."

05.05.2004 Residents of Greengairs and neighbouring villages in Scotland are today making a last minute plea to avert the construction of yet another waste dump on their doorstep.