1. Circular

For the preparation of the 2nd international Environmental Counsel 2011

To all supporting organizations, interested persons and people willing to join us in the 2^nd international Environmental Counsel!

Dear friends and supporters,

We are in the final stages of the preparations for the 2^nd international Environmental Counsel. As well as to those supporting organizations in Germany and internationally which have already responded to the call of the Environmental counsel, this letter also goes to numerous further environmental organizations which we would like to have actively involved with us at the 2^nd Environmental Counsel. At the same time, we are asking for people to pro-actively take up our joint issue of coordination and cooperation in the environmental movement and its international networking.

Our website has made enormous progress, already answers a lot of questions and is available in an international format (English, Spanish, French, German), many thanks for that go to our webmaster Gerrit Krause and the translators!

The coordinating and preparatory group of the Environmental Counsel met on 30 July 2011. Herewith we announce the most important information, requests and open questions with our hope that a great initiative will develop on this basis to make the 2^nd international Environmental Counsel a success! We are grateful for your demands, stimulus, proposals and critics and explicitly ask for them! We also ask everybody who has their own website to set a link to www.umweltratschlag.de.

Meanwhile we have a pretty wide range of signatories, but it is not enough! The winning over of new supporters, who will be continuously updated on our website, is the grassroots level work of all supporting organizations as well as the practical preparation of the counsel! The central message to all is: Now is the time for all supporting organizations and individuals to be active at grassroots level in the run-up to the Environmental Counsel!

1. Venue, time and program of the Environmental Counsel

The Environmental Counsel will take place on 2 days in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Saturday 8 October and Sunday 9 October 2011. The opening panel session, the international cultural event on Saturday and the final panel session on Sunday will take place in the “Kultursaal Horster Mitte” (Cultural Hall in the center of Horst, part of Gelsenkirchen.) All forums and workshops, environmental market, lunch, evening buffet and environmental café will take place in theschool in Horst which is nearby (5 minutes on foot). Admission will be on Saturday at 9 am., opening at 10 am.

After a short welcome we will start with the introduction of the international participants, short reports and a broad discussion should follow. These short reports should give an overview about status, progress, problems and proposals for networking and perspectives of the environmental movement in a short, condensed form from as many sections of the environmental movement as possible. Pleasetell us if you want to give a short report, and encourage other significant organizations, who don't yet know about the Environmental Counsel, to also write a report and tell us about it.

The afternoon will focus on the forums and workshops covering the whole range of the environmental movement. The idea is to hold a workshop specifically aboutthe issue of cooperation and coordination in the environmental movement / solving the organizational question of the environmental movement without regard for affiliations. We ask all supporting organizations to tell us if they agree with this and we would like to know who would be ready to prepare such a workshop.

Saturday will also be the day of the environmental market in the multi-purpose-hall of the school where the environmental café will also take place. After the evening buffet we will go back to the cultural hall for the international cultural event. A final panel session is planned on Sunday which still has to be drafted more precisely. The perspective and practical clarification of coordination and cooperation of the environmental movement and building of mass organizations and their international connection will be the main focus. We need to consider the best way of presenting the workshop results without taking up too much time, so that there is plenty of time for the real necessary discussion regarding the networking of the environmental movement. We would be pleased to hear of any suggestions as to how to present the workshop results. The counsel will end Sunday afternoon with a final statement and the resolution for a 3^rd Environmental Counsel and the election of a coordinating group.

2. Flyer with call and poster

The invitation flyer with updated call and theposter are going to be printed this week and can be ordered immediately ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ). Prices: Flyer 10 Cent, Poster 20 Cent + postage and packing. They can also be downloaded via the website. We need the larger supporting organizations to tell us soon how many posters and flyers they want to take.

3. Forumsand workshops

You can follow on the website which subjects are planned and which forums are already registered and filled. We have 15 rooms = 30 workshops. 9 have already been registered on the following subjects:

• “Biogas/geothermal energy/combined heat and power station” (biogas initiative Odenwald with Prof. Scheffer),
• “Ocean ecosystems under pressure – perspectives for their protection” (S. Moldzio),
• “Stuttgart 21 is everywhere” (P. Vescovi),
• “Bad air in Mettingen – only a harmless stink?” (F. Harsch),
• “Risks to health of mobile communication and practicable proposals for their avoidance” (G. Krause),
• “Municipal mobile telephony concepts” (P. Hensinger),
• “Casting waste gases and environmental pollution” (Prof. Frentzel-Beyme),
• “Preservation of natural livelihood of humanity instead of ‘green-washing’” (Siemens study group),
• “Public participation and public will in our democracy” (Prof. Richter and Prof. Buchner asked).

We think that the following subjects still have to be represented to make the counsel a success:

• movement against nuclear power plants,
• closed-loop economy/regenerative energy/future of the energy sector,
• fracking/CCS,
• international environmental movement/networking of the environmental movement/social perspectives.

As far as possible we would prefer to have only one forum per subject, so please start the networking now and contact other groups in advance and plan the workshops together, so avoiding lots on the same theme! We still need groups and individuals to organize so that all important issues are actually included and presented by people with knowledge and expertise. A broad spectrum of the environmental movement as well as workers and unions, women's and youth movements, should take an active part in the planning of the program. The relative deadline to register a forum is 31 August 2011, then the program flyer will be created and printed and put on the website (please order now, delivery first week of September). Announcements received later can only be published on the website or won't be able to take place if all available class rooms of the school are already booked.

4. Environmental market

The environmental market will concentrate on the Saturday. We ask all supporting organizations and individuals to have an info-stand at the market; the invitation is also broadly extended to businesses, which are genuinely active in the sector of environmental protection. The charge for the stand will be 10 € for organizations, 30 € for commercial exhibitors, though the charge for small businesses can also be agreed flexibly.

5. Registration and payment

Registration please under This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. via e-mail or in written form to the office of the Citizens‘ Movement for Cryogenic Recycling, Closed-loop Economy and Climate Protection: Bürgerbewegung für Kryo-Recycling, Kreislaufwirtschaft und Klimaschutz, Schmalhorststraße 1c, 45899 Gelsenkirchen, Germany

Prices: solidarity price (2 days): 25 euro, full wage earner for 2 days: 20 euro, others for 2 days: 6 euro / full wage earner for 1 day: 6 euro, others for 1 day: 4 euro. Only evening event: 2 euro (this ticket is not available in advance).

Payment to: Thomas Barth, particulars of the bank account: account no. 300 511 401
bank code 430 601 29 (Volksbank Bochum) keyword: Teilnahme Umweltratschlag

6. International participants

Here we get to a very burning question where we urgently need your support.

First we ask for more organizations to volunteer as host for the international participants; to attract more international participants; to give a personal invitation to those participants needing a visa, and to organize the necessary insurances and certificates regarding the travel documents. The inviting organizations will receive help from the Environmental Counsel like e.g. an invitation letter from the Environmental Counsel which they can fill in for their guest. We need to be properly informed about all international participants for the program draft and the preparation of translation.

The rule applies that one organization or group has to take over the whole responsibility for an international participant includingperhaps the financing of all or part of the travel expenses. Fund raising and sponsorship is needed for this. In case of any problems please contact the coordinating group!

The following organizations have taken on the responsibility for the following international participants, or are planning to do so:

• 2 activists of Canto Vivo/Peru, P. De Marco/Rachel Carson Institute Pittsburg/USA,
• Participant from Bolivia: Citizens‘ Movement for Cryogenic Recycling, Closed-loop Economy and Climate Protection, executive committee.
• Participant from Indonesia (movement against destruction of the rain forest for palm oil plantation): preparatory group Environmental Counsel Berlin together with Solidarity International, group Berlin
• Participant from thePhilippines: Militant Women’s Council
• Participant from Japan/anti nuclear power plant movement: regional group Ruhr of Citizens‘ Movement for Cryogenic Recycling, Closed-loop Economy and Climate Protection
• Participant from Chernobyl and Fessenheim/France: regional group south of Citizens‘ Movement for Cryogenic Recycling, Closed-loop Economy and Climate Protection

For the following international participants who are definitely willing to come and for whom we want to make this possible, we are searching for a group/organization to take over the responsibility at short notice:

Jésus Alemancia is a leading representative of Moviemento Democaratico Popular in Panama and a respected leader of the indigenous movement opposing gold mining.

Alejandro Salinas Santelices, chair of the NGO El Canelo in Chile. He writes: “El Canelo has been active in Chile since 25 years. We always had the end in view to early advance the struggles against poverty, for renewable energies, organic agriculture, public participation and sustainable development. Therefore we set great store on promoting the role and strengthening the local social persons involved so that they can appear as the central figures of the changing processes. Thus our best allies have become the peasant organizations, the native inhabitants and the trade unions along nearly the whole country during this period.”

We strongly encourage organizations and groups to contact other organizations, to persuade them to attend the Environmental Counsel and to invite international participants to join in! In addition to the two participants above we are also currently looking for solutions to interested persons from Togo and Turkey.

7. Translation for the international participants

Due to the vocabulary and structure, the Environmental Counsel puts the highest demands on the translation work. Mainly simultaneous interpreters of a good level will be needed, in addition consecutive interpreters in the forums and workshops and also in the evening and perhaps also with the general well-being of our international guests. We also should mobilize specialists for this. Students of natural science and employees at the universities mainly talk in the English technical terminology and could be filled with enthusiasm for the subjects of the counsel.

Solidarity International will hold a training weekend on 1 and 2 October 2011 for the preparation where the Environmental Counsel will be introduced, one can become familiar with the technical vocabulary and train using the simultaneous translation facility. We also call on everybody to take the initiative and find lots of new interpreters and translators willing to be volunteers.

8. Next preparatory meeting

The executive committee of the Citizens‘ Movement for Cryogenic Recycling, Closed-loop Economy and Climate Protection will focus directly on the preparation of the Environmental Counsel during its next meeting on Saturday, 3 September, Arbeiterbildungszentrum (workers’ education center) Gelsenkirchen-Horst, Germany. It proposes to then hold a joint preparatory meeting with the coordinating group of the Environmental Counsel and with everybody who is actively involved in the preparation and implementation.

We as coordinating group approve of this sensible suggestion, and so a separate 3^rd national preparatory meeting will be omitted. The invitation with exact information will be published via the website and circular.

9. Practical preparation, teams and logistic of the Environmental Counsel

The central office and finance teams are already at work and consist mainly of members of the coordinating group. Reinforcement, however, is highly welcome!

In the appendix you will find a list of tasks, each task needs to be coordinated by a group or organization, and we are thinking not only of environmental organizations, but also of local political groups, migrant organizations, youth leagues, women organizations, Monday demonstrations, union groups, party groups etc. We therefore ask you to tell us soon, which group or organization will take on which task!

With kind regards

Dr.med. Günther Bittel, Duisburg (for the coordinating group Environmental Counsel)

Task list for the Environmental Counsel