Over the second weekend in July, "Living in the City" saw a whole series of events taking place to draw attention to environmental issues in Manchester. Professionals joined community and environmental groups to take part in a conference looking at building sustainable communities which Michael Meacher attended, workshops on ecological footprints, sustainable consumption and footprint pledges (see right) went down well with passersby. There was also a Green Fair in St Ann's Square that saw lots of groups providing information to the public on their work, including Manchester Friends of the Earth, Red Rose Forest, Eco-friendly Transport, Campaign for a Hydrogen Economy and Mersey Basin Trust. The whole event finished with a procession from St Francis to Manchester Cathedral where a local school performed their "Must we go to war?" piece.
This year's organisers will combine next year's event with "Garden of Delights" on World Environment Day (5 June) and a conference to provide an opportunity for community groups to influence decision makers. Anyone who wants to get involved should contact the Environment Network (info@manchesterenvironment.net)
One of the stalls at the event was Manchester World Development Movement who commented
Fighting for justice against the World Trade Organisation and the International Monetary Fund is like a bungee jump: however hard you try they just pull you back to where you were! At the Green Fair, WDM challenged shoppers to discover what it is like fighting the power of the WTO and IMF by trying to see how far they could reach before the bungee pulled them back again (see left). WDM also collected signatures on their petition for Debt Cancellation and votes for Trade Justice. Nationally, the Trade Justice Movement is trying to collect a million votes for trade justice by the G8 in 2005, which means they have to collect 30,000 votes from Greater Manchester!
Dave Pearce, WDM (0161 428 9929, wdm-manchester@jdc-web.org.uk)
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