Browsing: Climate Change

With the schools starting up again this week and September well and truly under way, it’s time for us all to start thinking about Autumn. For those amongst us who love Autumnal colours and the crunch of fallen leaves this is all very well, but what about the rest of us who need to stock up our memories of summer for the dark days to come…?

Image via Flickr: Anataman

The BBC tells us that this August has been the gloomiest on record since UK records began, which makes it the least summery summer for at least 242 years – there hasn’t been an August with less sunbathing on the cards since the reign of George III – if not earlier!

If this kind of news doesn’t lead to thoughts about thoughts about climate change then I don’t know what will. DEFRA describes climate change as the ‘greatest environmental challenge facing the world today”, and although we don’t appear to be seeing the direct effects of global warming in the mercury of our thermometers, with Arctic ice melt becoming an increasingly serious issue, there are other problems in the offing.

So it’s time to for everyone to start taking notice of their carbon footprint: buy eco-friendly, use energy efficient gadgets and pay carbon offsets if and when you can.

Newcastle Green Gathering is back, bigger, better and, erm, greener than ever! It aims to raise awareness of environmental issues and living ethically by providing a creative and educational environmental at an arts and music based event.

There’s a Kids Area and Healing Zone as well as a plethora of local and national bands performing – ensuring there’s something for everone to be entertained by. As well as this there will be a whole host of stalls and pitches around the site in Exhibition Park inspiring the ethical consumer and green living enthusiast in all of us.

 As the official site says;

‘The festival will be taking place in Exhibition Park, Newcastle Upon Tyne on the 30th & 31st August. Featuring 5 stages of local and national music, arts, community groups, alternative therapies, stalls, food, drink (please note – no alcohol to be brought onto the site – drinks available through event bars) and much more. All dedicated to making sure that everyone in the city and beyond can make small but practical steps to change the environment we live in for the better; and have a great time while learning a bit as well.’

For more information check out the Green Gathering website

Photo: BBC

In this current climate of the credit crunch, with fears of a looming recession, and with bills on the increase, it’s easy to see why people have taken to monitoring the amount of energy they use with a view to reducing what they can.

There are various makes and models on the market at the minute, claiming that they can show you all those silent but deadly energy guzzlers, and suggesting that they will help you cut your energy use and electricity bills.

So here are my Armchair Activist Top 5 Energy Monitors – one for every budget!

Read the rest of Armchair Activist: #5 – Energy Monitors on a Budget . . . »

 Image via www.olympic.org

It would be hard not to have noticed that the greatest show on earth commences this week. That’s right – it’s the Olympic Games 2008.

China was awarded the games back in July 2001, but during the intervening seven years many questions were asked on the suitability of the choice, and whether Beijing would get themselves organised in time. However, with only hours to go til showdown, they seem to have pulled the proverbial cat out of the bag (and dog off the menu!). The city has been transformed, with new architecture and various bilingual facilities.

You can check out the official Beijing 2008 website for the full run-down of events, however if your Chinese is about as hot as mine, you’ll probably find the more general Olympic Games site of more use!

More on the Olympics after the jump…

Read the rest of Olympic Fever »

My gran used to have a saying (don’t think she made it up, I’ve heard loads of people use it since) that went something like “Learn to crawl before you try to walk!” Normally, this would be rolled out when I had tried to do something, and been pretty rubbish at it. I was reminded of this when I recently sat down to read There’s A Hippo In My Cistern, a great new book from former lads mag journo Pete May.

At the beginning of the book Pete is very open about the lifestyle he used to lead – he would fly everywhere he could, cared little for conservation, and was obsessed with consumerism and the latest toys and gadgets. In essence he was living the life most twenty-something blokes would kill for. This all changes, however, when he meets eco-warrior Nicola, and the course of true love, as another saying goes, never runs smooth.

The central point of the book, though, is that despite all the warnings of our planet killing ways, few of us make any major changes to our lifestyle. There could be many reasons for this, from laziness, to comfort, to unwillingness, but I feel the crucial issue is apathy. People don’t think that anything they do individually will make any difference, and therefore don’t start trying. In the book, May finds that adjusting to a more ethical lifestyle is much more difficult than it appears, but by taking small steps, he eventually transforms his life, and turns away from his consumerist, eco-sinner past. We could all follow his example, and start small. Energy saving lightbulbs, for example, can use around 75% less energy than regular ones. That’s 75% less carbon and 75% less money spent on lighting your house, and 75% more happiness in the world (approx!). That’s just one small step, which really is no effort at all, and does wonders for your eco-karma. You know it makes sense.

I’ll end this post with another saying of my gran’s (and, of course, some Chinese bloke) “The longest journey starts with the smallest step.” Why not take that step today, and see where your journey takes you? More small steps to come.

Well now, the second of these Armchair Activist posts is brought to you to inspire you to green up your day job or your workplace. According to an article on longer working hours in Britain on the BBC website, the average working week for Brits is approx 37 hours a week. Therefore, even if you are the most socially responsible and eco-friendly individual outside of work, those 148 hours a month spent in the office or on company business could be severely denting your green credentials.

So here are a few tips on how to claw back those ethical points and encourage your colleagues and bosses to do the same!

1. Office supplies: There is a plethora of green alternatives to your average staplers, pens, paper, pads etc on the  market these days. You can now purchase stapleless staplers, FSC certified pens, recycled paper and a great range of recycled and reused pads. So, don’t add to the deforestation plight or landfill-overflow; go for sustainable stationary today!

2. Go paperless: Another alternative to office stationary is to make your office a paper free zone. Replace that mountain of Post-It notes you’re buried under with an organised reminder system on your computer. Email instead of passing notes on, back up data on DVD’s, USB sticks and other digital media rather than printing out and filing endless reams of paper! If all else fails, at least recycle the paper you have to use.

Find out more tips here . . .

Read the rest of Armchair Activist: #2 »

                                                                        Photo via Sky News
You can’t help but have noticed that the Tall Ships Festival has been wowing spectators at Liverpool Docks the past week. The 60 vessels are now set to embark on the first leg of a five week race, taking in Northern Ireland, Norway and Holland along the way. The superb picture above got me thinking about the ships in conjunction with more modern uses for wind power. The wind has been powering ships for as long as the sun has warmed the sea, and the first recorded use of a rudimentary windmill was in the 1st Century AD when it was used to power an organ!

Nowadays, with Climate Change being high on political agendas as well as in peoples’ personal consciousness, wind power is seen as a green, eco-friendly alternative to fossil fuels and nuclear power. It uses no fuel, produces no carbon emissions and according to the BBC Weather Centre, the UK’s position in the world makes it a great place to utilise wind power. According to the British Wind Energy Association there is now legislation meaning that by 2010, 10% of the UK’s renewable energy must come from wind power, so keep your eyes peeled for a turbine near you.

It’s not just wind turbines, though, that can cut emissions and give us greener power, there is now a vast array of devices that harness the power of wind to power a range of devices and applications. Ethical Superstore has some fantastically innovative wind-powered chargers which can be used to power your mobile phone, mp3 player and camera among other things. Then there was the wind powered chargers available at Glastonbury this year, and recently, a new wind turbine design has not only won a sustainability award, but has been called the “affordable personal wind turbine suited to the urban environment”! Perfect for family homes and small shops!

So, next time you’re out shopping and your hair is blown all over the place, or you’re at the coast and the wind blows your fish and chips away, just think of all the ways in which you could be harnessing that power and making the most out of a green, clean, free energy source that we are all lucky to have access to just about every day!

After last week’s hypermiling post, I decided to look into other ways of cutting down on the amount you spend (and burn) at the petrol pump. Hypermiling, after all, can get you a long way, but eventually you need to stop off for fuel, and in the vast majority of cases that means money, pollution and a continuation of the endless fuel consumption cycle which everyone is so concerned about right now. There is, however, an alternative, and it needn’t be as pricey as you think.

It may seem too good to be true, but it is perfectly feasible to give up your gas-guzzling car, and still get around town quickly, easily, and without resorting to stuffing your head into the unwashed armpit of a fellow commuter on the morning train. The number of electric vehicles in on the increase, and this is only set to continue as people realise the benefits that are to be gained by going electric. Until now, however, vehicles such as the Toyota Prius(approx. £13,000 and up) and the Vectrix scooter(around £7,000) could be seen to be a little out of most people’s price range. However, there is now an alternative which may just make going electric a much more appealing option.

The Ego StreetScoota, despite its ridiculous name, is a fully electric moped which rocks in at a frankly amazing £999.95… yes, you read that right – a fully functional scooter which will never need a visit to your local petrol station, all for about the same price as a years worth of travelling on the London Underground. If that’s not reason enough to get one, I don’t know what is.

According to the manufacturers, the Scoota can reach a top speed of 30mph, has a range of around 40miles, and costs a teeny, tiny, frankly measly 8p to charge fully… all with the added benefit of not having to pay road tax, getting cheap insurance (normally around £100-£200), and receiving free parking in most cities. I can’t actually think of a reason not to buy one.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-hiE_tz37s[/youtube]

Check out the Busycle!

Pretty awesome mode of transport.

Just think how much fun we’d have if we replaced all our public transport with these!

Perhaps Boris should replace his bendy buses with lots of Busycles! Cleaner, greener and the streets of London might be a lot less meaner too if everyone had to work together to get around!

http://www.busycle.com/

We’ve just got wind of a great research project being undertaken by Ryan Cunningham, an MSc media researcher at the LSE. It was posted on the New Consumer website; he’s looking into how people receive and respond to information about energy efficiency and their views on terms such as ‘ethical’, ‘green’, and ‘sustainability’. 

I’ve taken the survey myself and it really makes you think of how and where you find out about green issues and the researcher gives you a chance to receive a final copy of the report.

Take it yourself at http://www.questionpro.com/akira/TakeSurvey?id=988583and let us know what you think.