Canvass Your MP - Now!

Posted by: Vicky

Canvass Your MP is all about tackling climate change and was masterminded by a group of bloggers (including our very own Asi, a Green Guys Global editor) who came up with this great idea just last week.

The campaign aims to inspire members of the public to engage with their local MP and encourage them to support a new target of 80% cuts in CO2 emissions, strengthening the Climate Change Bill.

Well that’s a very brief explanation anyway. You can find out more at the website www.canvassyourmp.com which was created & built by Jez (also a Green Guys editor) here at Make Hay Ethical E-media.

Asi’s posts over at Green Guys Global tell you much more about the beginnings of the campaign, the thinking behind it, how it works and most importantly how you can get involved. Visit Green Guys Global and keep up to date.

Keep checking back at www.canvassyourmp.com for campaign updates and progress.

Filed under Climate change, Green Guys Global, Media | Comment (1)

are we fighting for something bigger than the environment?

Posted by: Henriette

I have been reading a lot lately ( I also owe you wonderful readers a review of John Grants “green marketing manifesto”)But I want to raise another matter today.It seems like we’re in the fight for something bigger than “just” the environment. Apparently it looks like we are the generation who is going to take on the biggest battle. We have 4 global crisis’ going on in the world today. 1. the enviromental crisis2. the food crisis3. the oil crisis4. the financial crisisTo me it might not be a coincidence that all these crisis’ are coming at the same time. I think what the world needs now is “something” that can guide us through this all the way - and I don’t think that the leaders of every nation in the world is going to be capable of agreement. In the danish newspaper information there has been a couple of articles lately describing the crisis in the overall global system. It was called “the end of a supercyclus” and argues that the russian economist Nikolai Kondratiev, probably was right after all. that after 50-60 years of growth - the system needs to reinvent itself. So is there a new depression coming like in the 30s ? - could be….  On the other hand you have a more participatory environment ever ! - existing on the internet. I am sure that we all are going to have a huge impact on this when everything comes to everything. People that does something instead of just watching TV. In my eyes the future looks bright - but exciting ! - and I think this is a test that all humans needs to get together and actually act upon as a whole. I am not frightened but I think that 2008 is going to be a year of dramatic changes - in everybody’s lifes… 

Filed under Climate change, Denmark | Comment (0)

Climate Change Charity Art Auction

Posted by: Vicky

For all green art enthusiasts, this is the event for you!

A charity art auction, ‘Art Aid: Embrace‘ will be taking place on Saturday 21st June to raise money to support poor communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America adapt to climate change.

The work of around 50 artists from the East Midlands will be displayed in the View from the Top gallery in Nottingham from Wednesday 18th June until the reception and auction on Saturday 21st June.

The many artworks available are:
Painting and Drawing
Mixed Media
Original Printmaking
Ceramics and Sculpture
Photography
Signed Print

So there’s something for all art lovers out there!

If you’d like an evening of culture, treat yourself to a beautiful piece of art and help raise money for those affected by climate change then pop along to the website www.art-aid.org to find out more.

Filed under Climate change, Art, Events, Nottingham, UK | Comment (0)

Guest Editor: Ellie La Trobe-Bateman - The future of the Carbon Offset

Posted by: Guest Editor

Currently carbon offsetting is justified by three main factors that have obvious uncertainties around them;

1) Guilt –Individuals or businesses may feel guilty about continuing to pollute. It is an emotion though, and difficult to predict.

2) Taking action on Climate Change - The evidence that offsetting can help combat climate change is reliant on the carbon footprint estimates and project compensation estimates being accurate. Estimates can never be accurate as they are built on a set of assumptions. There are assumptions for the amount of carbon produced as well as for the amount that it has been reduced.

3) A business requirement – part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) objectives - this is likely to be short lived. Businesses are fickle; and as quickly as it arose it could be dismissed.

In addition there has been a large amount of off-putting press regarding offsetting projects that have either been having negative impacts to the local community or environments or failing to make their claimed carbon reductions. The ‘Which’ report (1) on carbon offsetting noted the great deal of variation in the market and the confusion present for consumers. This confusion and wariness that currently exists makes the future of carbon offsetting unpredictable.

The Future
Carbon offsetting organisations need to show all that they are credible, and are running worthwhile projects that would otherwise not be able to go ahead (i.e. are additional) and are reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The future of carbon offsetting is not in the development of standards to ensure that a project reduces an exact amount of carbon dioxide. It is impossible to get to that level of accuracy for any project regardless of the verification standard used; there are too many unknowns; too many assumptions have to be made. What is needed is a standard for projects that reduce carbon emissions, by doing more than this, for example by helping communities in other ways that would not receive finance any other way.

Take fuel efficient or renewable energy stove programmes in developing countries as an example of such a community benefiting project. Each stove with help to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1 – 3 tonnes per year that they are in use, it will also reduce the household’s income spent on fuel wood, improve the household’s health by reducing smoke and burns incidents, reduce local deforestation, enhance biodiversity, and increase time available to women and children for other activities. This programme helps communities to develop and reduce their dependence / future dependence on fossil fuels. The potential is huge, but the funding is not available to enable such programmes to assist the poorest. Carbon finance could be such a way.

Knowing the exact amount of carbon dioxide reduce by a stove programme is a challenge and dependent on making extrapolations from a sample of the population. It could be suggested that it would be better to measure project effectiveness by simply counting the number of stoves distributed, since this is a directly verifiable measure. It would also be more cost effective, and time efficient. This is not only applicable to stove projects, but many other energy efficient and renewable energy community projects too,

Carbon Offsetting should no longer be seen as a way to enable businesses and individuals to pollute; but should be a way of empowering them to help other communities reduce carbon, and be kept connected to that project that they are funding. There is a future to offsetting, but it may need to take a slight change in direction to retain integrity and to reduce the confusion for everyone.

(1) Source: Which.com, (2008)

Ellie La Trobe-Bateman is the Managing Director of Blue Ventures Carbon Offset (BVCO), a not for profit carbon offset organisation. BVCO is a small organisation that has been in operation since 2007. They have recently launched a ‘sponsor a stove’ campaign; promoting compensating your carbon footprint. Ellie’s background is in Environmental Change and Management – taking the MSC from Oxford University, and has an ongoing involvement in environmental consultancy.

Filed under Guest editor, Climate change, Power & Energy | Comment (0)

Event - Turning up the HEAT

Posted by: Vicky

Can big business really save the planet?

Turning up the HEAT is a series of free interactive and virtual debates on climate change and corporate power organised by the World Development Movement.

You can turn up in person to the events in London (8th May), Cardiff (10th May) and Manchester (13th May) or you can watch and participate online - by watching the live webcasts and pre-recorded videos both before and after the events.

Panel speakers include: Rt. Hon Brian Wilson Flying Matters; Caroline Lucas MEP Green Party; Ricardo Navarro CESTA, El Salvador and many more.

For more information and to register please go to: www.wdm.org.uk/heat

Information provided by Rachel Tavernor

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Guest Editor: Trish Smith - Tips for an Eco-Friendly Move

Posted by: Vicky

Moving on and off campus after a stressful semester is never fun. The idea of lugging tons of boxes, spending hours cleaning your old dorm or apartment and driving miles away from school with a jam-packed car, only to do it all again next semester, is more than enough to make the average student cringe.

Not only is it not fun to move, but it’s also very harmful to the environment. You accumulate excess waste from throwing out old possessions and packing boxes, and you release carbon dioxide into the air making several trips in your car to get everything home.

If you practice living green there are several steps that you can take to make your moving experience less stressful and more eco-friendly.

Give to a Good Cause
College students acquire more stuff in their tiny living space than most average people do in a lifetime, and when it’s time to move it takes triple the effort just to get everything packed! Here are some green ways to lighten the load:

• Donate – You can donate any items that you don’t use to a thrift store such as Goodwill Industries or the Salvation Army, who will sell your items to raise money for good causes. You reduce your carbon footprint because many of these places pick up your items from your front door.
• Sell – You can sell your stuff online through such sites as eBay and Craigslist. By doing this you not only get some extra money, but you also get to reduce paper waste because everything is done online. You can also have a yard sale (if you live in a house), which also saves you from spending gas money and driving to a new location.
• Recycle - Don’t forget that many items you may want to throw away, including old notebooks, metal tins and computers, can be recycled.

Post-Consumer Packing
Cardboard boxes are the standard way to pack up your items. Even though they are recyclable, an even better way to reduce your paper waste is to use an eco-friendly recycled container.

The people at Earth Friendly Moving created the RecoPack, which is a series of stackable moving containers made from plastic containers that were salvaged from U.S. landfills. You can rent them for $1 a week, and the Earth Friendly team will drop them off and pick them up for you!

Get a Helping Hand
If you need help moving you can always hire a moving company. I don’t mean the kind of company that releases tons of greenhouse gases in the air with their huge tractor-trailer trucks, but an eco-friendly moving company. A company like Go Green Moving uses biofuel to power its trucks and earth-friendly moving pads made from recycled cotton.

A Green Clean is a Great Clean
Once everything is packed up and shipped out, you still have one more thing to do: you get to clean up the messy spills and dirty corners. The best way to do this is to use eco-friendly cleaning products that are made of all-natural and organic ingredients. These are safe to use because they don’t release any toxic fumes and won’t irritate your skin. Some great places to get these products are Heather’s Natural & Organic Cleaning Products and Simple Green.

Moving may not be a fun experience, but it can be a green experience that will help you reduce your carbon footprint and save the environment’s natural resources. It just takes a little time and effort!

About the Author:
Trish Smith is a copywriter for Green Student U, a blog-style site that introduces today’s students to a wide variety of global environmental issues by recognizing college campus green initiatives and personal success stories, as well as how the world is being shaped by environmental reform.

Filed under Guest editor, Climate change, Pollution, Education, Recycling | Comment (0)

Guest Editor: Callie Lister ‘Be Gordon Brown for the day’

Posted by: Guest Editor

Attention all East Midlands (UK) based GGG readers!  

You are cordially invited to an East Midlands Day of Action on the Climate Change Bill outside East Midlands Airport on Saturday April 12^th from 1.30 until 3 p.m.  

What’s it all about?  

Since Friends of the Earth launched the Big Ask campaign in June 2005 we’ve made amazing progress towards securing binding climate change legislation in Britain. The Government has introduced a Climate Change Bill which will become law in 2008. However the Bill they propose is not strong enough to realise the carbon dioxide emission cuts that are needed to ensure global emissions are kept below dangerous levels.  

 For this reason Friends of the Earth are now campaigning to see 3 key amendments in the Bill: 

·         An increase in the overall target for 2050 to 80 per cent CO₂ reductions;

·         The inclusion of the UK’s share of international aviation and shipping emissions;

·         The adoption of annual targets rather than 5 year budgets.   

What are the aims? 

We need to highlight the need for ALL emissions to be included in the Climate Change Bill and show how Gordon Brown and his government are wilfully ignoring the impact of international aviation emissions.  We need to generate as much local media coverage as possible. MPs carefully monitor the local press and coverage and it really does influence the decisions they make. With an impending vote on the Climate Change Bill this coverage could make all the difference.  

What’s the Plan? 

We’d like to get as many people as possible posing outside the airport wearing Gordon Brown masks with their hands over their eyes, as the planes fly overhead. The image is intended to show how Gordon Brown is wilfully ignoring international aviation.  We have already received support from Members of Parliament across the region and David Taylor MP for North West Leicestershire will also be joining us on the day.   

How do I get involved?  

We will provide all the masks and props for the day but we need you to register your attendance by contacting callie.lister@foe.co.uk or calling 0115 9506 926, this will allow us to alert the press in advance as to how many Gordon Browns they can expect outside the airport! If you can please wear a dark suit and tie for an even better Gordon Brown effect!   

You can find information about public transport to the airport by clicking here.  

We will meet by the airport sign outside the front of the airport at 1.30 p.m. (please be very careful if you are crossing the roads near the airport as they are very busy and the traffic travels incredibly fast). If you need to contact us on the day for any reason you can call 07831 648 171 – but please do register your attendance in advance.  

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any queries,  

Thank you   

Callie Lister

Friends of the Earth Regional Campaigns Co-ordinator

East Midlands Region

Filed under Guest editor, East Midlands, Climate change, Politics, Events, Transport | Comment (0)

Guest Editor: Trish Smith - How to Control Your College Trash

Posted by: Guest Editor

It’s not hard to see why college students are notorious for accumulating tons of trash both in and out of their dorm rooms. There wasn’t a week that went by when I was in college that I didn’t see fast-food containers, packets of ketchup, empty paper towel rolls, soda cans, half-empty bags of Doritos, plastic CD wrappers or Chinese take-out containers lying in random piles in someone’s room.

It not only proves that college students will take anything for free from the cafeteria, but they’ll also spend money on things that they don’t even need! And the more junk that they take or buy, the more trash that will accumulate. That’s exactly why a proper waste management and recycling program needs to be implemented on campuses across the nation.

Now it may seem cliché, but the old “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” term can be applied to waste management and garbage removal practices in your very dorm room. If you follow these easy tips then you can have a waste-free dorm that is sure to impress and influence others around you.

Reduce…

• Your lunch trash by using a washable bag or lunchbox instead of paper or plastic bags (Check out my post on How to Green Your Lunch)
• Post-it note or scrap paper piles by writing reminders on a wipe board
• Paper use by printing on both sides of the paper or sending documents through email
• The items you take from the dining hall or fast-food restaurants (if you don’t need 12 packets of sugar or 10 tubs of barbeque sauce, don’t get it!)
• Printer ink cartridge consumption by proofreading and spell-checking papers before you print them out
• Unnecessary trash by buying items with little or no packaging
• The germs in your room by using environmentally-safe cleaning products
• The amount of money you spend (and receipts you accumulate) by borrowing items whenever possible!

Reuse…

• A bandanna or washable napkin instead of paper towels
• Food boxes and plastic containers to store personal items
• A thermal mug when you go out to get coffee
• Plastic silverware in your dorm room by washing it after every use
• Plastic grocery bags for lunch if you don’t have a washable lunchbox
• Binders, computer disks, file folders and notebooks
• Handkerchiefs instead of tissues
• Cloth rags to clean up spills rather than using paper towels

Recycle…

• #1 and #2 plastic items
• Cardboard boxes
• Magazines and newspapers
• Aluminum cans
• Glass bottles
• Cell phones
• Computers
• Ink cartridges
• White and color paper
• Batteries

It really isn’t hard to follow proper waste management and recycling practices. All college students have some sort of unique routine, whether it’s drinking a cup of coffee every morning before class or playing guitar before they go to bed, so if you make eco-friendly waste management your routine, you’ll actually be doing something good for you, your neighbors and the entire campus!

About the Author:
Trish Smith is a copywriter for Green Student U, a blog-style site that introduces today’s students to a wide variety of global environmental issues by recognizing college campus green initiatives and personal success stories, as well as how the world is being shaped by environmental reform.

Filed under Guest editor, Climate change, Education, Recycling | Comments (2)

Quench Your Thirst and Save the Planet

Posted by: Kate

E.on is delighted to announce the discovery of a new form of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).

Burning coal to generate electricity produces Carbon Dioxide (CO2), a green house gas that contributes to climate change. However by capturing the CO2 before it is released into the atmosphere and piping it through natural spring water we at E.on are able to create carbonated drinking water that is bottled and sold in Italian restaurants under the brand name evE.on

Although a simple solution, the implications are huge. With over a hundred years worth of coal deposits left and with massive growth in energy demand CCS will allow E.on to continue to burn coal for decades to come. evE.on’s Chief Executive Taton Rebfluw says, “climate change had turned coal into a dirty word, but carbonated drinking water could be the silver bullet we have been looking for” a quick sip of evE.on bottled water and he continues “the water tastes great and drinkers have the added bonus of helping combat climate change – the more water they drink, the more CO2 they store, and the more coal can be used to generate electricity, this really is symbiosis at its very best”.

evE.on is available now in restaurants and cafes. Please drink responsibly and refrain from burping or breathing the CO2 back into the atmosphere otherwise you may be responsible for causing climate change.

Find out more or to order online visit www.ev-eon.com

Filed under Climate change | Comments (2)

Book Review: Do good lives have to cost the earth?

Posted by: Anna-Lisa

Have you ever considered whether good lives have to cost the earth? Well a diverse group of people have considered the question and their answers were documented in a book (with the question as the title) edited by Andrew Simms and Jo Smith.

Before I started reading the book I already had an answer to the question myself and that is No. It has always been my belief and my experience (even as a child) that a good / happy life does not have to cost the earth. To me the simple / free pleasure are always the best for example:

* Just peacefully being with my loved ones

* Volunteering my time to help people and also the planet

*Breathing the fresh air of the countryside

*The taste of freshly picked organic food from my garden

*The beautiful sound of bird song

*Walking along the beach with my fiancé  

As you may have gathered from some of my posts I always aim to consume as little as possible in life as it is my belief and the book also supports this that…. 

“people who consume above their fair and sustainable source of the Earth’s resources is no more likely to be satisfied with life than someone who is living within our collective environmental means”  

(Quote within book and sourced from the European (un)Happy Planet Index, 2007) 

The book has some interesting contributors all of whom have focussed on different areas of what makes a good life. Below you will find my favourite quotes from all of the featured contributors:  

Tom Hodgkinson (Editor of the Idler): “Good lives are cheap, cheerful and will save the planet to boot” 

David Boyle (Author): “Victorian economists calculated that the average English peasant in 1485 needed to work fifteen weeks a year to earn the money the needed to survive. In 1564, it was forty weeks. Now of course it is questionable whether we can manage to afford a reasonable life in
Britain without two salaries all the year round” 

David Goldblatt (Author) “Step forward motor sports: Seriously, guys, yes you in the fast cars, peak oil is here or near. What are your great-grandchildren going to think a hundred years from now when they look back and see you spunking up the last precious drops of gasoline”  

Phillip Pullman (Author) “Environmentalists need to know something about basic story telling in order to make their words effective” 

A.C Grayling (Philosopher) “The environment has suffered in pursuit of wealth”  

Oliver James (Author) “We talk of needing these things (i-pods/cars etc), but really we only want them” 

John Bird (Creator of the Big Issue) “What we need today is to keep monopolies out of our life. Whenever we have a monopoly, whether public or private, you have the limitation of choice.” 

Adair Turner (Vice Chairman at Merrill Launch Europe) “Population stabilization will be crucial to our long term success in dealing with climate change and other global environmental impacts” 

Dame Anita Roddick (Founder of the Body Shop) “Providing for these vital human needs requires another kind of economy altogether, which emphasizes beauty, community and creativity”   

Ann Pettifor (of Advocacy International Ltd) “We live in a global community that worships the god ‘Money’” 

 

 Larry Elliott (Financial Journalist)  “The idea of personal thrift has gone out of the window, to be replaced by a culture in which it is not just permissible but commonplace – acceptable even – to live beyond our means” 

Colin Tudge (Author) “The people who get to be in charge are the people who like power and the people who like power are not necessarily on the side of humanity”  

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (Writer, broadcaster, campaigner) “Buy local food and almost by definition your buying seasonal produce with a low environmental impact” 

Rosie Boycott (Writer and Broadcaster) “How you live is just as important as what you say. We argued (the feminist movement) that by changing the way in which we lived, we would in time influence the larger world around us. Now, I believe that sentiment is back” 

Kevin McCloud (of Grand Designs) “I think that human beings are of our own environment, we are the problem but we are also the solution: the cause and the cure of our own environment” 

Wayne Hemingway (Creator of Red or Dead and the Land of Lost Content) “We cant change the fact that new things stimulate us. But if we are really to achieve sustainability, then durability is incredibly important” 

Stephen Bayley (Design Correspondent of the Observer) “Man is homo faber, a divine monkey who makes tools. While saving the planet it is a priority no one should ignore, its important to remember that since we stepped out of the primeval glop on to the dry shore and started the journey that ended with reality TV, the world has been constructed by us” 

Nic Marks (Founder of the Centre of Well-Being at nef) “The language of well being doesn’t rely on an economic model that assumes that more consumption is always better” 

David Cameron (Conservative party MP) “The greatest responsibility in the fight to save our planet lies with the Government, which must give a lead on the issue and set the right framework”  

Hilary Benn (Labour party MP) “Transforming our economy, our cities, our way of life and cherishing our countryside and wildlife is something that we have to do”  

Caroline Lucas (Green Party MEP) “Whether good lives are defined as happy lives or lives of well being, the bottom line is that living a good life and sage guarding the climate are not only simply compatible, they are inextricably connected and mutually dependent” 

As you can see the book really does have a wide range of contributors, each providing their own insight in to whether good lives have to cost the earth.  I found the book an excellent read as it provided different perspectives on the green movement, I highly recommend it - however to be green and frugal get a copy from the library, a friend or second hand.

If you have already read the book what did you think? If not what are your thoughts about the featured quotations? And a question for everyone ‘do you think that goods lives have to cost the earth’? 

Let’s all discuss…. 

Filed under Business, Climate change, Sustainability, Politics, Media, Love & Relationships | Comments (4)