I’m on the subject of fortnightly rubbish collections again. I am concerned that rats are going to be crawling out of every crook and crevice and nibbling on the pieces of rubbish that have been left decaying for two weeks. Rubbish collected every two weeks, means only 26 collections per year. Meanwhile noxious gases will be consuming the streets and the government will wonder why more people are developing asthma and launch a perfunctory study into the issue.
You are stalking tag 'Green News'
May 29th, 2007
Have a rant about the rubbish
May 28th, 2007
One water boss wins greatest Brit award
I just thought I’d give a bit of cred to the One water co. whose boss, Duncan Goose, was voted the winner in the Campaigner category at the first ever ITV Greatest Living Britons 2007 ceremony
last week. TV viewers of the ceremony also voted the Queen as the Great Living Briton, which I think is quite charming, to use a royal phrase. Duncan Goose on the other hand is the king of campaigns, literally giving up his day job to start Global Ethics, which culminated in One water. It’s the non-profit brand which donates all proceeds to providing clean drinking water in Africa. I just thought we ought to know that all those who have bought a bottle have contributed to providing clean, safe drinking water for at least 77,500 people. Within three years of the product’s launch 31 water PlayPumps™ have been funded. This year sales are expected to top £1 million — allowing a PlayPump to be built every fortnight. Wow! Nice to know that Brits celebrate good people as well as the famous.
May 28th, 2007
Raising a fairtrade million
A fairtrade frenzy to raise one million euros in just 90 days is the personal challenge of Julian Jones. Owner of Caffe Society, a fairtrade shop on the Isle of Wight, he plans to donate half the money to charities supporting people in the developing world and spend the rest on a new eco-friendly store on the Island. Mr Jones has been promised 50,000 euros through companies sponsoring advertising space on his website, www.millioneurosin90days.com, where he keeps a live countdown clock and progress report. Alas! There are only 40 days and six hours to go.
May 25th, 2007
Fortnightly rubbish collections cause concern: Dispatches
Did anyone watch the Channel 4 Dispatches programme last night about fortnightly rubbish collections? I was already opposed to the idea and that just completely confirmed my suspicions. Dispatches set out to investigate whether the nation’s grievances about fortnightly collections are justified. Their aim was to discover whether a reduction in service is essential to increase recycling rates, as the government claims, or if it is likely to cause health concerns.
May 25th, 2007
Renewable energy boom for UK farmers?
This week UK farmer’s role in the production of renewable energy was given a high profile boost with the release of an ‘Energy White Paper’, which has been hailed as the most fundamental review of the UK’s energy policy yet. The document outlines how the government plan to deal with our future energy needs, and it highlights the crucial role our farmers will have in the production of bio-fuel crops and small-scale biomass heat and power production.
May 24th, 2007
Government to encourage fines and rewards system for rubbish
The environment secretary, David Miliband announced today that he is introducing a host of measures that he hopes will bring our recycling and waste management up to European standards. He is pledging that the UK will recycle 50% of its waste by 2020. The primary method he appears to be using to achieve this is to allow local councils to ‘fine’ households that do not recycle and ‘reward’ those that do. Of course there are other measures to go with this policy, such as allowing people to opt out of undirected junk mail, and a 25% reduction in the environmental impact of plastic bags in the next year and a half. Sounds good in theory, but how it will work in practise remains to be seen. The real cause of the problem seems to have been ignored.
May 23rd, 2007
Yay or Nay: Is nuclear is the way forward?
According to our government, nuclear power is the way forward for our future energy requirements. The supporters of nuclear power say it is far more environmentally friendly than many other forms of electricity generating methods. Nuclear power is cleaner, produces less carbon emissions and will eliminate our need to import energy, so the theory goes. Unfortunately, the whole picture may not be as rosy as the nuclear power supporters would have us believe. There are drawbacks to nuclear power that need to be taken into consideration.
May 22nd, 2007
CO2 levels rising faster then expected
In another gloomy report today we are being told that the CO2 emissions over the period 2000-2004 were higher than the UN worst-case scenario. According to this research, the rise over the first four years of this century is 3.1% per year, which compared to the average of 1.1% per year in the 1990’s, is a big step in the wrong direction.
May 22nd, 2007
The China Smog
In China a government survey has attributed a dramatic increase in cancer cases to air and water pollution, plus the use of pesticides and additives. Spiralling economic growth is having a detrimental effect on the health of the nation.
May 22nd, 2007
Renewable energy versus the environment
There is a strong argument for introducing more renewable energy into the UK. Unfortunately some of these renewable energy projects will damage the local landscape and its wildlife. There is a big push by our government, notably by The Environment Secretary, David Miliband, Welsh Secretary Peter Hain and Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling to make Britain the first country to derive most of its energy from the tides. One such project being promoted at the moment is to build a 10 mile barrage across the Severn estuary. This £14 billion project is being pushed a consortium of six companies called the Severn Tidal Power Group. It all sounds good, getting electricity from the tides, no carbon emissions, but…
