Activists target golf courses for wasting water
Keith Parkins | 08.04.2006 12:09 | Ecology | Free Spaces | Social Struggles
Eco-warriors having successfully trashed GM crops, are now turning their attentions to the profligate waste of natural resources by golf courses.
Golf courses are being told to cut their use of water, return part of their courses to wildlife, else direct action will be taken. One golf course has already experienced direct action.
'Experience has shown that many companies are unwilling to respond to reasonable requests without some form of coercion. This is why we felt compelled to make an example of Lansdown Golf Club. This course was visited last night and suffered extensive damage. Until those conditions are met your course also runs the risk of experiencing, or re-experiencing, such visits.' -- eco-warriors
'Most urban residents support strong environmental policies, but wealthy interest groups and corrupt officials often skew local political decisions'. -- Molly O’Meara
'... high quality public pedestrian space in general and parks in particular are evidence of a true democracy at work. ... Parks and public space are also important to a democratic society because they are the only places where people meet as equal ... In a city, parks are as essential to the physical and emotional health of a city as the water supply.' -- Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogotá
The Rotten Borough of Rushmoor is proposing to spend £170,000 of local taxpayers money to install drainage and irrigation works on a municipal golf course. The question is: will eco-warriors take direct action against the Southwood Golf Course?
Golf courses in the West Country around Bath have been warned: that if they don't cut their water usage and return 10% of their course to wildlife, direct action will be taken against them.
These warnings came after one course, which had failed to heed the warnings, found part of its course had been dug up overnight.
As Ben Hoyle and Patrick Foster wrote in The Times (6 April 2006):
'They roamed the fairways in the dark, almost certainly broke the dress code and definitely flouted course etiquette by digging up the greens.'
The southeast is suffering its worst drought in a century. Everyone has been urged to conserve water, domestic users are subject to a hosepipe ban, effective from 1 April 2006, but golf courses feel they can get away with continuing to waste water.
Not content to waste water, the Rotten Borough of Rushmoor is to spend £170,000 of taxpayers money to benefit the privileged few.
Southwood Golf Course has been built on a flood plain. Flowing through the golf course is Cove Brook. The brook rises in nearby hills, passes through Farnborough Airport, through the golf course, through Cove (part of Farnborough in northeast Hampshire) and on to join the River Blackwater over the county border at Frimley in Surrey.
Clearance of trees on the surrounding hills, drainage works on the airfield, have rendered the golf course unusable over the winter months.
The Council wishes to push this water down into Cove, an area already highlighted by the Environment Agency as at high risk of flooding.
The irrigation system currently installed is knackered. The council wishes to replace it with a new sprinkler system, the most inefficient use of water possible, cf drip irrigation.
The golf course should not have been created on the flood plain. Either it should be accepted that it will be out of use some days of the year, or returned to the local community as a park.
What we ares seeing in Rushmoor is an appalling waste of taxpayers money on the privileged few, a squandering of natural resources.
The area, if restored to nature, would be wet heath woodland and bog with areas of heath grassland, and during heavy winter rains, a temporary lake.
Contrast the disconnected thinking, lack of vision and policies for the privileged few with Curitiba, a provincial city in Brazil.
Curitiba had suffered flooding, canalisation of the rivers made the situation worse. Low-lying areas prone to flooding were turned into parks, rivers and waterways were turned into linear parks. The city now has 52 square metres of park per capita, more than New York, more than any other city worldwide, four times the UN recommendations.
When it rains, the parks become a little waterlogged around the margins, the ducks float a few feet higher.
The parks in Curitiba, unlike golf courses for the privileged few, are available for everyone to use.
A histrionic opinion piece in The Telegraph by Tom Utley compared activists calling for golf courses not to waste water with terrorists and their direct action with the Canary Wharf bombing campaign by the IRA.
No doubt his belligerent words went down well with his sozzled readers holed up in the club house at the 19th hole.
Unlike domestic users, who across southeast England are subject to a hosepipe ban effective from 1 April 2006, golf courses have been exempted from the restrictions
Ref
Lester R Brown, Plan B 2.0, Norton, 2006
James Burleigh, Protesters target golf courses over 'wasted' water, The Telegraph, 6 April 2006
Eco-group threatens golf club, Swindon Evening Advertiser, 7 April 2006
Ben Hoyle and Patrick Foster, Eco-warriors attack golf courses in bid to cut water waste, The Times, 6 April 2006
Keith Parkins, Curitiba - Designing a sustainable city, April 2006
http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/curitiba.htm
Keith Parkins, Curitiba – Designing a sustainable city, Indymedia UK, 5 April 2006
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/04/337682.html
Keith Parkins, Council increases risk of flooding, Indymedia UK, 7 April 2006
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/04/337799.html
Jen Rivett, Council funds golf course irrigation, Farnborough News, 31 March 2006
Tom Utley, Eco-terrorists are indulging in class warfare by another name, The Telegraph, 7 April 2006
'Most urban residents support strong environmental policies, but wealthy interest groups and corrupt officials often skew local political decisions'. -- Molly O’Meara
'... high quality public pedestrian space in general and parks in particular are evidence of a true democracy at work. ... Parks and public space are also important to a democratic society because they are the only places where people meet as equal ... In a city, parks are as essential to the physical and emotional health of a city as the water supply.' -- Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogotá
The Rotten Borough of Rushmoor is proposing to spend £170,000 of local taxpayers money to install drainage and irrigation works on a municipal golf course. The question is: will eco-warriors take direct action against the Southwood Golf Course?
Golf courses in the West Country around Bath have been warned: that if they don't cut their water usage and return 10% of their course to wildlife, direct action will be taken against them.
These warnings came after one course, which had failed to heed the warnings, found part of its course had been dug up overnight.
As Ben Hoyle and Patrick Foster wrote in The Times (6 April 2006):
'They roamed the fairways in the dark, almost certainly broke the dress code and definitely flouted course etiquette by digging up the greens.'
The southeast is suffering its worst drought in a century. Everyone has been urged to conserve water, domestic users are subject to a hosepipe ban, effective from 1 April 2006, but golf courses feel they can get away with continuing to waste water.
Not content to waste water, the Rotten Borough of Rushmoor is to spend £170,000 of taxpayers money to benefit the privileged few.
Southwood Golf Course has been built on a flood plain. Flowing through the golf course is Cove Brook. The brook rises in nearby hills, passes through Farnborough Airport, through the golf course, through Cove (part of Farnborough in northeast Hampshire) and on to join the River Blackwater over the county border at Frimley in Surrey.
Clearance of trees on the surrounding hills, drainage works on the airfield, have rendered the golf course unusable over the winter months.
The Council wishes to push this water down into Cove, an area already highlighted by the Environment Agency as at high risk of flooding.
The irrigation system currently installed is knackered. The council wishes to replace it with a new sprinkler system, the most inefficient use of water possible, cf drip irrigation.
The golf course should not have been created on the flood plain. Either it should be accepted that it will be out of use some days of the year, or returned to the local community as a park.
What we ares seeing in Rushmoor is an appalling waste of taxpayers money on the privileged few, a squandering of natural resources.
The area, if restored to nature, would be wet heath woodland and bog with areas of heath grassland, and during heavy winter rains, a temporary lake.
Contrast the disconnected thinking, lack of vision and policies for the privileged few with Curitiba, a provincial city in Brazil.
Curitiba had suffered flooding, canalisation of the rivers made the situation worse. Low-lying areas prone to flooding were turned into parks, rivers and waterways were turned into linear parks. The city now has 52 square metres of park per capita, more than New York, more than any other city worldwide, four times the UN recommendations.
When it rains, the parks become a little waterlogged around the margins, the ducks float a few feet higher.
The parks in Curitiba, unlike golf courses for the privileged few, are available for everyone to use.
A histrionic opinion piece in The Telegraph by Tom Utley compared activists calling for golf courses not to waste water with terrorists and their direct action with the Canary Wharf bombing campaign by the IRA.
No doubt his belligerent words went down well with his sozzled readers holed up in the club house at the 19th hole.
Unlike domestic users, who across southeast England are subject to a hosepipe ban effective from 1 April 2006, golf courses have been exempted from the restrictions
Ref
Lester R Brown, Plan B 2.0, Norton, 2006
James Burleigh, Protesters target golf courses over 'wasted' water, The Telegraph, 6 April 2006
Eco-group threatens golf club, Swindon Evening Advertiser, 7 April 2006
Ben Hoyle and Patrick Foster, Eco-warriors attack golf courses in bid to cut water waste, The Times, 6 April 2006
Keith Parkins, Curitiba - Designing a sustainable city, April 2006
http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/curitiba.htm Keith Parkins, Curitiba – Designing a sustainable city, Indymedia UK, 5 April 2006
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/04/337682.html Keith Parkins, Council increases risk of flooding, Indymedia UK, 7 April 2006
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/04/337799.html Jen Rivett, Council funds golf course irrigation, Farnborough News, 31 March 2006
Tom Utley, Eco-terrorists are indulging in class warfare by another name, The Telegraph, 7 April 2006
Keith Parkins
Comments
Hide the following 6 comments
Four
08.04.2006 14:17
Donald Trump recently promised to build a posh new golf course in Scotland - but only if a nearby windfarm project was abandoned. Would you use a 9-iron or a putter to smash in his skull in first time he plays there, or is a shotgun in a golf bag the simplest option ?
Historia Regum Britanniae / wikipedia : Bassianus, King of Britain, aka Caracalla, Roman Emperor was assasinated by his guard on this day in 217 common era - he'd previously lost Roman Britain to insurrection. Here's hoping.
caddie
STOP AND THINK
09.04.2006 11:23
You are not ECO warriors you are follish muppets helping the rich captalists of the planet rashen and deny a freedom to the people, one that falls from the sky !.
Stop helping the RICH become richer please
ERM EXCUSE ME
don't stop thinking though
09.04.2006 16:23
Water is two elements but I'm guessing you mean like earth, wind and fire. The total water supply of the world is 1.400.000.000 km3. I've no idea whether there was as much water 100 million years ago, I wish someone could explain that to me but it is an irrelevance. By 2025 Tearfund estimates two out of every three people will be short of water. People are dying for the lack of clean water today. It's an issue you should be concerned about.
-You are not ECO warriors you are follish muppets helping the rich captalists of the planet rashen and deny a freedom to the people, one that falls from the sky !.
By hitting golf courses ? Nobody is suggesting poisoning the water supplies. Keith's original post seems intended to draw awareness to the over-consumption by the rich that leads to rationing to the poor. Quite mild, but justified and positive, definitely Eco-warrior. My post was simply suggesting we water the golf courses with the blood of the super-rich global vandals like Trump, more warrior than eco. What are you are suggesting ?
-Stop helping the RICH become richer please
By hitting golf courses ? How exactly does that enrich them ?
caddie
Water
10.04.2006 17:55
Apparently, water is leaking out of our system into the galaxy, but "very slowly" according to one scientist I asked - ie not enough to make a difference. I am carrying on asking, but I think the problem, apart from distribution, is pollution - from pesticides, toxic metals, toxic waste, etc etc etc. How clean is your nearest stream?
a
Water shortages
13.04.2006 15:12
Strictly speaking this is true. The water cycle is a closed loop, apart from insignificant amounts lost through disassociation into constituent parts H2O and that lost to space, but that does not mean there are no water shortages.
We are consuming more and more water, whilst at the same time our sources are shrinking.
If we take water out of a river, then there is less to flow downstream, take too much, and the river no longer reaches the sea.
Worldwide, rivers are drying up, water tables are falling, lakes are shrinking, glaciers are melting.
We are running out of water.
keith
Homepage:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/04/338215.html
Disappointed
10.07.2006 11:34
In the spirit of probity and honesty (not that it seems greatly in evidence in anything here) I will declare my competing interests. I play golf. I am a medical student (before any of you get on your high horses, I come from a family where the total income is about £23k with both parents working, and until the late 1990s it was much less than that; my income is less than £4k a year at the moment but I worked hard and saved hard in a gap year at a local authority (not Rushmoor) and it has seen me through my education). I have worked for Rushmoor Borough Council but not in relation to the golf course, nor do I automatically think they are always right in the way that Keith Parkin always seems to presume they are wrong.
I have a previous degree in history but I don't need any training in balanced arguments, bias and evidence to see what a wholly spurious source these pages are. As a socialist I'm sad to be associated with people who misrepresent the truth and distort evidence. I find above nothing better than base propaganda, which is a shame when the truth, presented honestly, is more than enough to argue good causes.
Jason