Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Big Green

Some of Britain's leading industrialists are calling on the Government to give their industries concrete targets for reducing CO2 emmissions.

The letter has been arranged through the Prince of Wales Business and Environment programme. The business leaders say they are very concerned about the prospect of dangerous climate change and support the government's target of reducing CO2 emissions by 60% by 2050.

They regret that industry and government are currently caught in a Catch 22. Governments are nervous of clamping down on climate change emissions for fear of a backlash from business.

via treehugger

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Sunday, May 29, 2005

But I want that one....

Moral dilemma time. Yesterday I was working out what I wanted from my next mobile phone (fewer minutes- I'm currently only using 40 of the 200 free minutes I pay for every month- better data rates and lots of cheap texts). Secondary in importance was which phone I wanted to do all these things with. Sadly, according to ethiscore, SonyEricsson, whose products I've liked since having a 6210, come out second from bottom in the ratings. Sharp, the maker of my current phone, come in joint second, but I'm less than impressed with the software that comes with it and my preferred supplier doesn't issue them anyway. Sagem is also joint second, but their phones are shit

I guess there's always Nokia.

via hippyshopper

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Thursday, May 26, 2005

Green Chemistry Magazine

An affiliate link, and only for those with deep pockets or professional interest-

Today, with growing awareness in industry, academia and the general public of the need for sustainable development, the international chemistry community is under increasing pressure to change current working practices and to find greener alternatives.

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Make a date

Manchester's Critical Mass does have a website. No Mass tomorrow, but June's is meeting up with the G8bike ride.

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We're going to need a bigger bike

I've carried some impressive loads on my bikes over the years. Panniers were the most effective things I ever fitted and I kind of miss them on my current bikes. However, I think I'd like the set up sold by Xtracycle even more. the Free Radical extends the wheelbase of a bike and allows loads to be carried around and above th erear wheel. This lowers the centre of gravity and increases the capacity.

via Treehugger

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Getting away from it all

responsibletravel.com is an on-line travel agent launched in 2001 for travellers who want more real and authentic holidays that also benefit the environment and local people. We market carefully pre-screened holidays from over 270 leading worldwide tourism brands and businesses. We do not act as a middleman - you can use the site to contact the experts who run the trips and hotels directly to make a booking

Thanks to Jo

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Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Death and taxes

Could the UK be heading toward a Carbon Tax? The Royal Society certainly thinks we should be. Start investing in Green tech now, just in case.

via Worldchanging

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Monday, May 23, 2005

Buy Green

Green Moves specialise in selling eco houses. At present they only serve the South of England, if you absolutely must live down there.

via hippyshopper

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Saturday, May 21, 2005

Rules of the road

A woman's guide to cycling.

Local governments tell feeble lies

All local councils claim to want to encourage cycling. They read in a book somewhere that this is what you ought to say once you ascend into local office, like, "I've lived in this community all my life, and have a real commitment to the area." To this end, they put out measly leaflets telling you pig-obvious things like, "Avoid getting trapped between two articulated lorries." If you didn't know that, you'd already be dead.

The truth is, they hate cyclists with a passion. That's the only way you can possibly explain all the things they do to endanger us, like inventing giant buses that bend in the middle, and laughingly encouraging us on to cycle paths so badly maintained they look like a trap set by Wile E Coyote. When you hear anything from any official on this matter, never forget they lie. They lie, they lie, they lie. It's even possible that Steven Norris is lying about the helmets.

.....

A social observation

The kind of person who routinely prefixes "cyclist" with "kamikaze" is exactly the kind of person who prefixes "asylum seeker" with "bogus"

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Friday, May 20, 2005

Nappy ever after

Leo Hickman, who has practical experience of nappies having spent a year "elbow deep in excrement" picks apart yesterday's report about disposable nappies.

The fact is that, to my eyes at least, this report is full of holes. Why are its findings based on an assumption that washable aficionados use 47 nappies, whereas we had easily got by on 20? Why did the Environment Agency survey 2,000 parents using disposable nappies compared with just 117 using washables, meaning that (taking into account the weighting towards those using older-style nappies which use more cloth), many of the assumptions are based on the habits of just 32 people? Why does the report include the energy used to iron nappies? Who on earth irons their nappies? Why was it assumed that people environmentally conscious enough to be using washable nappies would automatically want to tumble dry them?

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Thursday, May 19, 2005

Little polluters

The Environmental Agency has reviewed the relative ecological impact of disposable and washable nappies and found that, when water and energy used in washing has been factored in, they're equally as damaging. However larger, colder washes could reduce the environmental impact of reusable nappies.

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Cool Roof

Obviously not of much use here in the UK, reflective roof tiles could be a boon nearer the equator when it comes to saving on air conditioning costs.

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Dirty Old Town

Calcutta is India's most polluted city, with nearly 50% of its residents suffering some form of respiratory problem. As a first, major step toward cleaning up the local authorities have passed a law requiring cars built before 1990 be taken off the road or convert to cleaner fuel. An earlier law ordering cars made before 1975 off the road was overthrown when owners challenged it.

via Sepia Mutiny

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Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Think Local

City Life had an article in its last issue about local activist groups.

I used to be a regular at Critical Masses. Nowadays my involvement tends to be slapping myself on the forehead on the last Saturday of every month in a Homer-ish D'oh! kind of a way. There isn't a CM website listed in the article but ridemanchester, a collective dedicated to resurrecting abandoned bikes is mentioned.

Other links from the article-
Do Summat
Northern Arts Tactical Offensive
Indymedia
UHC

And one of my own-
Manchester Environmental Resource Centre initiative (MERCi)

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EtOH

The US Patent Office's 5,000,000th patent is for a strain of E.Coli that can convert biomass to ethanol at 90-95% efficiency. Treehugger examines the pros and cons of industrialising this technology.

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Car Free

Car Free City USA

CarFree City, USA's goal is to provide Americans with an alternative: carfree cities. By creating new neighborhoods and cities or redeveloping existing areas on a scale that is for people and not cars, yields a host of personal, community and global benefits. It's an ambitious task, but not mere wishful thinking. It doesn't require futuristic technologies, just common sense and a willingness to try something new. And it's no more expensive than traditional development. The pages of this website describe how carfree districts work and the benefits and challenges of creating them. We hope that you will join with us in creating the first carfree city in the United States of America.

via Treehugger

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Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Nuclear Poll

52% of those questioned in a Newsnight poll said they don't think nuclear is the answer to the UK's energy problems. 57% said the renewable sources were the best bet. You could argue that nuclear has a future as a way of cutting down on CO2, but with that level of antipathy it's going to take so much longer to build the things that they'll be pointless.

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Too much of a good thing?

Can too much sustainable development be dangerous? Yes, according to this opinion piece. However, Brian Gongol's argument would only make sense if we were all 'back to the land' hippies so it's a pretty obvious straw man argument. The average proponent of sustainable development is more in touch with comparative advantage than Mr Gongol thinks.

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Camden

Another event I'm unlikely to get to because it's in London- the Camden Green Fair & Bikefest 2005.

via hippyshopper

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