Greener Kingston

"Plastic: where do you think it goes?" events, November 2010

Press release 2, November 2010: Local MP and record-breaking Pacific rower launch campaign to make London Olympics plastic-bag-free

PHOTOCALL: Thursday 4th November, 9.00 am, Richmond Green, London*

Local MP Zac Goldsmith and record-breaking ocean rower, writer and environmental campaigner Roz Savage will launch a campaign to make the 2012 Olympics plastic-bag-free at two events this month in Richmond and Kingston. The duo will unveil banners and bags, soon to be seen across London, declaring “London – shouldn’t we be plastic-bag-free?” at two evenings of short films and discussion: "Plastic: where do you think it goes?" at the American International University in Richmond at 7.30pm on Thursday 4th  November and Kingston University at 7.00pm on Thursday 11th November.

Roz saw first-hand where much of our plastic waste ends up on her latest – 8,000 mile – Pacific row, where she skirted the North Pacific Garbage Patch. This is an area of marine plastic pollution roughly twice the size of Texas, containing around 3.5 million tons of rubbish, including millions of plastic bags that kill animals and contaminate our food supply. Zac Goldsmith will be able to report on what Government can do about it.

Zac and Roz are backing the Greener Upon Thames campaign to rid London of plastic bags, which is also supported by schools, more than 500 shops and thousands of London residents. Greener Upon Thames is now calling on the Government to rid the Olympic Park and the capital of polluting plastic bags for the duration of the games, to break the bag habits of millions of Londoners and as a symbol to the world. Greener Upon Thames campaigners fear that the Olympics could prompt the production of hundreds of thousands of promotional plastic bags, which would be carried around the world, creating a global problem, and shaming the British capital. 

NOTES FOR EDITORS

* Journalists and photographers should rendezvous at Austin’s Café, for an 0900 prompt start, or ring Nicole Pound  on 07765 106108 or email nicole@greeneruponthames.org for interview requests.   

Members of the press also welcome at the Richmond event on Thursday 4 November, 7:30 – 9:30pm, at The American University, Richmond Campus, Taylor Library Building, Queen’s Road, TW10 6JP
and/or the Kingston event on Thursday, 11th November, 7.00pm - 9.00pm, at Kingston University, Penrhyn Road campus, KT1 2EE.

The November events, organised by Greener Upon Thames with help from the American University, Richmond, and the Sustainability Hub of Kingston University, will include talks and some entertaining and thought-provoking short films. Numbers are limited, so please book places for the Richmond event with mike@greeneruponthames.org, or for the Kingston event with info@greenerkingston.org.uk. 

For further information or comment contact Greener Upon Thames trustee Nicole Pound, at nicole@greeneruponthames.org or 07765 106 108. Or see www.greeneruponthames.org or www.greenerkingston.org.uk for more about the local anti-plastic-waste campaign.

The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games could fail short of its environmental aims, the London Assembly's Environment Committee has warned. See http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=18891&channel=0&title=Assembly+warning+on+environmental+aims+of+2012+Games+

Roz Savage has now rowed solo across much of the planet: she is the first woman to have rowed across the  Pacific, adding to her 2005 solo crossing of the Atlantic. In 2011 she will be setting off to row the Indian Ocean before rowing the North Atlantic to return to the UK. Roz combines her epic adventures (she is one of the Top 20 Great British Adventurers) with raising  awareness of the top environmental challenges facing the world today:  marine plastic  pollution, climate change, and habitat destruction. She is a United Nations Climate Hero, a trained presenter for the Climate Project, and an Athlete  Ambassador for 350.org. Her Pacific row was a project of the Blue Frontier Campaign and she is an Ambassador for the BLUE Project. Her inspirational book, Rowing the Atlantic: Lessons Learned on the Open Ocean, came out in 2009.See http://www.rozsavage.com/ for more about Roz and her record-breaking journeys.

Richmond Park MP Zac Goldsmith is a former editor of The Ecologist magazine and author of The Constant Economy (2009), which looks at some key environmental problems and  provides a programme for action. In 2005 he was invited to oversee the Conservative Party’s Quality of Life Policy Group,  which helped develop the  party’s policies on issues ranging from  transport, housing and energy to food,  farming and the countryside.  Zac supports Greener Upon Thames, the Richmond and Kingston anti-plastic-bag campaign which is organising these  two  events, with help from the American International University and Kingston University's Sustainability Hub.

Press release 1: October 2010: RECORD-BREAKING OCEAN ROWER COMES TO RICHMOND AND KINGSTON

For further information about the schools event contact Jean Loveland on 07833 693 776 or Carol Hegedus at carole@greeneruponthames.org.


MORE ON "Plastic: where do you think it goes?"

Print off an invitation for the Richmond event on November 4th here or the Kingston event on November 11th here.