Looks like Canada is going to abandon plans to meet the kyoto agreement. Is anyone going to meet this target or is everyone just going to pull out?
I know that Kyoto’s got lots of problems with the way it’s set up, but it’s a very important starting point to making the necessary changes to the world’s environment.
It’s good to see that Coca Cola are doing their bit for the environment. The government has given them £145,000 to develop eco-friendly plastic bottles. But they already have a scheme that reduces waste in operation in Germany. In Germany fizzy drinks come in hard plastic bottles, which when returned to shops, the customer gets a small amount of money back and the bottles are returned to Coke who sterilise them and refill them. Why don’t we adopt this scheme?
This will show all those who are sceptical of wind power. For those of who aren’t privledged enough to be able to read The Economist there’s some interesting information about wind on this page.
This wind turbine basically turns conventional turbines on their side, increasing efficiency by up to 20%. Hopefully this will be coming to a field or house near you soon….
We’re pretty keen on microgeneration here at Vox Polis so it’s pleasing to see the Tories lending it their backing. David Cameron’s arrival has bought a change in policy focus including taking a look at environmental and energy issues. While you might expect the Tories to be keen on nuclear (big construction contracts = good for the economy) when you start bandying around words like decentralization microgeneration starts to make more sense as a Conservative policy.
Microgeneration is also a good way to appear green without having to back the more unpopular choice of windfarms. The recent rejection of a major new windfarm at Whinash in Cumbria as a result local objections goes to show how difficult large scale renewable schemes can be to implement in practice, at least without serious government backing (which in my opinion the Whinash scheme didn’t have). Interestingly the government don’t seem to have factored in local issues into their nuclear equations. The idea that people will reject a few windmills but will roll over for a 1000 acre nuclear plant seems a little strange to me unless of course the government has a private preference for nuclear and intends to push through planning permissions when the time comes?
Of course whether the encouraging talk will turn into manifesto commitments to subsidise purchases of generation equipment is the real question that has to be asked of the Tories. An answer to that is unlikely before the policy review committees start to come back in a couple of years.
Thanks to DogPatch for spotting the original article.
The other day when hunger struck me after a long hard graft in the office I gave into the final biggest temptation that exists in the post super size world. I eat at Maccy D’s. But I didn’t just have a Big Mac. No I decided to gorge myself on a whole meal. Unfortunately they didn’t serve supersize anymore so I had to make do with a large one instead.
What struck me as I sat devouring this unnutritional, calorific meal, apart from the nauseous smell and rather chewy meat, was the amount of packing there is. Before I could photograph the table that had now become a (not so little) landfill site, the efficient staff cleared it away. It seems the staff have less to do now that fewer of us are willing to eat this cardboard food, where more often than not the packaging looks more edible than what’s inside.
The amount of packaging in a normal McDonald’s meal looks something like this. If we work on the basis that McDonald’s servers around 35 million customers a day, that’s a hell of a lot of packaging. Of course it’s not just McDonalds…how many of us have had similar stories to these folks?
Further to our coverage of the plaudits Michael Crichton has been receiving for his “journalistic” abilities the International Herald Tribune are reporting on a meeting between Crichton and President Bush in 2005. Bush requested the meeting after reading (having read to him?) Crichton’s global warming denial fantasy State of Fear. Apparently the delusional pair were in “near total agreement”. I can only wonder what effect Jurassic Park will have.
The GM Truths page has now been updated. Lesson 3 discusses the EU’s regulatory framework governing GE crops.
This written question is interesting- its another example of how good we are at recycling:
Mr. Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of batteries were recycled in each European Union country in the last year for which figures are available.
Mr. Bradshaw: Information on percentage of batteries recycled in European Union countries is not readily available for all battery chemistries. Member states have not been required to provide this in the past. However, officials are in the process of acquiring this data.
Portable battery (small consumer type batteries—used in phones, clocks, watches, cameras) collection rates are available for 2002 for the following countries:
Collection rate as percentage of sales in 2002
Austria- 44
Belgium- 59
France- 16
Germany- 39
Netherlands- 32
Sweden- 55
Spain- 14
And how many does the UK recycle?
UK- 0.5
A little room for improvement you could say.
An old copper once told me this story. A group of robbers would hit clothes stores at least once a month. They would break in and steal all the clothes that were hanging on the rack, load them into a van and drive off before the police could arrive. The police tried everything; alarm systems, cameras, surveillance, but each time the robbers would manage to get away before the police arrived. Then one day a young policeman came up with the idea of turning all the clothes racks in the shops round the other way, so when the robbers came in they couldn’t just grab them off the rack. Sure enough the robbers broke into the store, and went to grab the clothes but found they wouldn’t move, and so they had to remove each one from the clothes hanger. This took so long that the police had time to arrive and they were all arrested.
The moral of this story is not that the criminal will always be caught (untrue), or crime doesn’t pay (true) but that often it is the simplest solution that works. It is the same for our battle over climate change. Government is constantly talking about new technologies, such as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) as solutions to the global warming problems. But it is the simplest solutions which will in the end yield the most results. Government plans revolve around supply issues; how to make energy production more efficient and less damaging to the environment. But the demand side is as important. We could make some very simply changes to our homes that would certainly help. First of all we need to place the electricity meter in the kitchen. This would make it much easier for people to see the amount of electricity consumed by leaving the lights on or by using the computer. Secondly we need to switch off all those devices that suck up electricity even when their not being used; the televisions and stereos that are left on standby. Of course if you have the money then double glazing and insulation are also good.
Local councils should follow the example of Canterbury City Council who only pick up rubbish every fortnight; the other week is for recycling. The amount of rubbish picked up fortnightly is restricted to one wheelie bin. This forces people to recycle, or be left with piles of slowly rotting rubbish.
Many of us complain about the government’s inaction on climate change; that time is running out and not enough is being done. But there is so much we can do at home or in our local communities.