Did you know…

• In the UK, the use of tampons, pads and applicators generates more than 200,000 tonnes of waste per year
• An average woman throws away an astonishing 125 to 150kg of tampons, pads and applicators in her lifetime
• The problem is getting worse, with increased marketing and use of disposable pantyliners and feminine hygiene wipes

Half the world’s population has periods, but how often do we challenge the assumptions behind the products marketed to us? Why are we still manufacturing disposable sanitary products containing plastics that will take hundreds of years to break down? What links women cotton pickers in developing countries to our choice of product in the shops?

Women’s Environmental Network has campaigned for over 20 years to draw attention to the health and environmental impacts of our consumer choices. This March we’re launching an updated fact-sheet on sanitary protection and the environment.  “Seeing Red” is a four-page briefing exploring the links between sanitary products and health, waste, advertising, and chemicals.

WEN  believes that women deserve access to the best and safest options for our bodies and the environment. Our updated briefing hopes to reignite the conversation and get women thinking about their full range of choices, including the sustainable alternatives, such as washable pads and menstrual cups.

What you can do

• Download Seeing Red (pdf)
• Download Seeing Red (pdf – printable version)
• Download Seeing Red references (pdf)
• Get in touch to order hard copies of the briefing for your organisation, event, project or school, or consider printing your own (this would help us!)
• Hold an event to raise awareness. For example, you could organise a film screening and discussion, a ‘red foods’ themed dinner party, or a workshop to share stories and perceptions of menstruation. If you’re a crafty type, then consider holding a washable pad sewing soiree, using our online template (pdf)
• Contact manufacturers of sanitary products to demand clearer information on their contents and sourcing
• Donate to WEN, or support us by joining us! WEN relies on the support of women who care about the issues we do. Our work on sanitary protection is currently unfunded. Your support will allow us to continue our research and outreach, respond to enquiries, and requests for talks and workshops.

Interested in eating healthier? Growing your own vegetables, salads, herbs or fruits in Tower Hamlets, or want to get started?

Bring the family for a free one-day networking event for food growers and gardeners in Tower Hamlets!

When: Thursday 26 April 2012, 10.30am – 3.00pm

Where: The Centre, Maha Building, Merchant Street, Bow Road/Mile End, London E3 4PZ

Free: Entry, lunch, workshops, goody bags, seed swap*, food growing sessions, interactive stalls, gardening Q&A, and wild food foraging walk.

*Please bring spare seeds to share/exchange if you have them!

For more information or to reserve a place contact the WEN Local Food Team:

Email: food@wen.org.uk, Tel: 0207 481 9004 (Mon-Thurs).

WEN is the local lead organisation for Capital Growth in Tower Hamlets and is coordinating the Tower Hamlets Food Growing Network.

This event is in partnership with Local Food, East End Homes, Tower Hamlets Homes, Capital Growth, and NHS East London and the City.

Download a full flyer here (pdf)

When: Tuesday 6 March 2012, 10:30am – 2:3opm.

Where: St Hilda’s East Community Centre, 18 Club Row, London, E2 7EY.
Nearest tube station: Shoreditch High Street.

Cost: Free entry and free lunch!

We’re joining forces with our neighbours, St Hilda’s East, to offer a free day of inspiration to celebrate International Women’s Day.
Join us for the relaunch of St Hilda’s Food Co-op and pick up some heritage seeds from Tower Hamlets Community Seed Library.
There will be free education and training advice, enterprise skills workshops, and if that all gets too much, there will also be free massage and other therapies on hand!

To book your place please email spiceitup@wen.org.uk or call us on 0207 481 9004

Download a flyer (pdf)

Bring the family for a free day of inspiration and inspiration.

Where:  Calders Wharf Community Centre, Island Gardens, Saunders Ness Road, Isle of Dogs, E14 3EA (2 minute walk from Island Garden DLR station).

When:  Thursday 16th February 2012, 10:00am – 3:00pm

Free:  Entry, lunch, workshops, goody bags and seed swap*

*Please bring spare seeds to share/exchange if you have them!

Fore more information or to reserve a place contact the WEN Local Food Team: food@wen.org.uk, Tel: 0207 481 9004 (Mon-Thu)

WEN is the local lead organisation for Capital Growth in Tower Hamlets and is coordinating the Tower Hamlets Food Growing Network

Download a full flyer (pdf)

Do you want to grow your own herbs, salads, fruits and vegetables?

Women in Tower Hamlets are invited to join WEN’s exciting ‘Spice It Up‘ programme taking place from Monday 23rd January 2012, 9.30-3pm, at St Hilda’s East Community Centre, near Shoreditch High Street Station, east London. Further courses will be taking place from March. Participants will receive:

• Four days free training (22 hours) in organic food growing skills, including an induction to Women’s Environmental Network, and visits to local gardening projects.
• A certificate of achievement, and a reference for future employers or training schemes once you have completed the programme.
• An opportunity to volunteer at local community gardens to put your new skills into practice.
• A free food growing starter kit, including hand trowel and hand fork, seeds, gardening gloves, potting compost, and a container/window  box.
• Free lunch at the training sessions, and travel expenses for attendance of the training sessions/placements.
• Childcare can be provided or reasonable expenses reimbursed if arranged before hand. Call 020 7481 9004 or email: Kate Metcalf at spiceitup@wen.org.uk

Training sessions will take place on the following dates:

Monday 23rd January
Tuesday 24th January
Wednesday 25th January
Thursday 26th January

You don’t need to have experience of food growing to join the programme:the only requirements are an interest in food growing, and regular attendance at the training sessions and your volunteer placements.

Participants must contact WEN before hand to arrange booking as spaces are limited: Call the Local Food Team on 020 7481 9004 or complete the booking form and email to spiceitup@wen.org.uk.  booking form (doc)

‘Fuel poverty is affecting me. I’m a single mum of a 7 month-old daughter. My monthly payments have increased from £30 to £54 and I’m sure they will be increased further as I need the heating on more often than I used to. I am going to apply to a local charity for a grant to help with fuel payments. The other big issue for me is food costs, especially since I started weaning my baby. When my maternity pay ends soon, I have no idea how I am going to survive financially, no matter how careful I am with my budget.’

‘Fuel price increases are affecting me directly, in terms of home heating and electricity use, but also indirectly through the rising costs of other utilities and services, food and transport.We need wider establishment of the facts, through popular media, and through joining forces with other lobby groups who have articulated on the same or related issues. Ensuring the voices of those who are affected the greatest are heard clearly and inclusively.’

‘All homes need good insulation which should be provided by government!’

‘My partner and I certainly have noticed the rise in costs but we are fortunate to both be in full time work and have no childcare responsibilites so will not have to go without heating or anything like that. I know my Mum has been concerned about her rising bills recently too. I do feel it must be an issue for people who are supporting families, especially if they are on their own, or for women living alone, particularly those who cannot work, cannot find work or are retired.’

Keep your comments coming, either through the comments box below or by emailing foodnetwork@wen.org.uk. Fuel poverty is both an environmental and social justice issue, with the majority of those affected by it (spending 10 per cent of household income on fuel) being older single households or lone parent households – which tend to be female-headed. WEN wants to know:

Are increasing fuel bills beginning to affect you and other women you know?What measures do you think would help?

Would you be in favour of WEN running a campaign on this issue?

Would it even be something you or your local group could get behind?

WEN’s Gender and Climate Change Report published last year already touched on this issue, making the link between fuel poverty, increasing fuel prices and climate change. More and better fuel-efficiency measures will help avoid catastrophic climate change as well as protect the health of a growing proportion of the British public. Let us know what you think by adding your comments below or by emailing foodnetwork@wen.org.uk

WEN is currently scoping its new campaign strategy and we really want your input. Could you spare three minutes of your time to respond to the email address below?  One of the key issues we believe to be affecting women now is the issue of fuel poverty. This is both an environmental and social justice issue, with the majority of those affected by fuel poverty (spending 10 per cent of household income on fuel) being older single households or lone parent households – which tend to be female-headed. WEN wants to know:

Are increasing fuel bills beginning to affect you and other women you know?

What measures do you think would help?

Would you be in favour of WEN running a campaign on this issue?

Would it even be something you or your local group could get behind?

WEN’s Gender and Climate Change Report published last year already touched on this issue, making the link between fuel poverty, increasing fuel prices and climate change. More and better fuel-efficiency measures will help avoid catastrophic climate change as well as protect the health of a growing proportion of the British public. Let us know what you think by emailing foodnetwork@wen.org.uk

‘This is Rubbish’ Forum & Feast event to be held on 5th November.

Working in collaboration with The Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) in Wales, ‘This is Rubbish’ are hosting a solutions led symposium on food waste.  WEN’s work overlaps considerably, and there are many links in what we both set out to achieve through community projects and a love of food.   Working on the ground with communities to promote how important food is and how much goes to waste by holding feasts across the UK, this promises to be a very worthwhile event.

The event will take an in-depth look at the causes and solutions of food waste with a range of experts including Dr Andy Rees, Head of Waste Strategy, Welsh Assembly Government; Dr Adrian Morley, Research Associate at Business Relationship, Accountability, Sustainability and Society (BRASS); Emma Marsh, Head of WRAP’s Love Food Hate Waste campaign; and Professor Martin Caraher, Reader in food and health policy at the dept of Health Management and Food Policy at City University.

The forum is an engaging program of panel discussions, workshops, complimentary lunch, film screenings and exhibition (9.30am – 6.30pm), and will be followed by an exceptional evening Feast: a three course sumptuous supper made from food that would otherwise be wasted, served at a candle lit table and accompanied by troubadour folk band Bard (7.00 – 10pm). 

Booking: Places are limited and advance booking is necessary. Book tickets and access full information via www.thisisrubbish.org.uk

To help address this, the UK Food Group will hold a strategy day to look specifically at food sovereignty in more detail, and as part of this will run a seminar specifically on gender. It seems likely that small scale women producers in the UK face some of the same problems as those in the developing world – exclusion from decision making, lack of access to (quality) land and lack of security of tenure. Ancedotally, WEN’s work with urban women growers has shown this, but more needs to be done to pull together existing research on the issues facing women producers in the developing world, and also those in the UK.

Where: St Hilda’s East Community Centre 18 Club Row, E2 7EY

When: October 13, 10.30am – 3.00pm

 Refreshments will be provided.  The day will include hands-on workshops based on:

• growing non-UK and exotic vegetables
• planning new food growing spaces
• stimulating discussions about who controls the food supply in the UK, and do communities and individuals have enough of a say, or any say at all?

 As well as:

• The launch of a new seed exchange
• St Hilda’s East co-op will launch, and local growers are welcome to bring locally grown food to sell
• A Compost clinic will be on hand to answer all your composting questions – it’s really not that difficult with a few pointers from the experts

Click here for details (pdf)