Archived press release

Teesside Bucket Brigade Launches

29 September 2003

Residents on Teesside are to launch England's first ever "bucket brigade" on Thursday 2nd October [1], joining a growing international group of communities fighting pollution with their own air sampling device.

The IMPACT group, formed by residents living on Teesside and supported by Friends of the Earth, is launching the scheme at a public meeting on the 2nd October, where guest speaker Denny Larson, Californian community campaigner, will share his experiences with bucket brigades around the world.

Bucket Brigades now exist in Texas, Louisiana, South Africa, and the Philippines, where communities have adopted a low-tech and affordable method for sampling air quality using a specially adapted plastic "bucket" [2]. Larson, who works for the Californian Communities for a Better Environment Group, has supported communities around the world to use the method to increase the enforcement of environmental laws.

IMPACT, set up to make Teesside a better, healthier place to live, sprang from a Friends of the Earth community-based initiative looking at the links between living close to industry and poor health, poverty and environmental degradation. The group is working independently of industry and local authorities to provide a platform and a resource for local people concerned by the impacts of industry.

Members of IMPACT will take part in a training day on using the bucket sampling method on Friday 5th October.

Friends of the Earth community development worker Carole Zagrovic said:

"This is an exciting opportunity for people here in Teesside. Many people living around here worry about the pollution from the local factories, but it is very difficult for us to find out what is in the air we breathe. By using these special buckets, we will be able to take our own air samples and find out for ourselves. It gives people a real chance to take action and campaign to improve the environment where they live."

Helen Brunton from IMPACT said:

"In Teesside we like to call a spade a spade, but when it comes to buckets, this bucket is nothing less than an opportunity for us Smoggies to take back our air."

Notes

[1] Members of the press are invited to attend the meeting which takes place at 7pm on Thursday 2nd October at Mannion Park Club, Trunk Road, Grangetown, Teesside.

[2] For more information about the Bucket Brigades see www.bucketbrigade.net

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust