For those of you who like to get out and about the the Aberdeenshire Council Ranger Service organise a number of events throughout the year which are designed for you to learn more about your environment, the unique countryside and to have fun at the same time. Some also give you the chance to put something back into the countryised for us all to enjoy. The majority of events are free to attend and walk are graded to help you decided if your up to it.

Up and Coming Events Include:

Reduce, Reuse and Rejuvenate! Sunday 8th April, 14:00 – 17:00 Sunday 8th April 2007, 14:00 – 17:00 Walk along the sustainable Easter trail and assess your carbon footprint!

Save our Amphibians and Reptiles Saturday 14th April, 10:00 – 21:00 The Herpetological Conservation Trust is launching the National Amphibian and Reptile Recording Scheme (NARRS) in 2007. Come along to our training workshops and get genned up to take part in two major new surveys of Amphibians and reptiles.

Beach Clean and Fun Day Saturday 14th April, 14:00 Run in conjunction with the Buchan Countryside Group, why not come along and get involved in National Spring Clean month by helping to remove and record the rubbish from your local beach.

Loch Muick – Lochnager Distillery Walk Sunday 22nd April, 08:30 – 16:30 This is a low level walk across extensive heather moorland around Loch Muick. It has good views of the surrounding hills, such as Coyles of Muick and Lochnagar. Finish it off wirth a dram at the Lochnagar Distillery.

Drystone Dyking Weekend Saturday 28th April and Sunday 29th April, 10:00 -16:00 This weekend course led by local expert James Watt gives an introduction to this ancient craft of Drystane Dyking.

The Hidden Wood Saturday 28th April 2007, 14:00 – 16:00 Find out how the wood is managed and what it has to offer.

Fine Fare Sunday 29th April 2007, 13:30 – 16:00 A rewarding 7-mile walk up the Hill of Fare, which affords good views over Deeside and Donside on a clear day. Discover the natural and cultural history of the area with the opportunity to discuss access rights and responsibilities en route.

Looking after the Moss Sunday 29th April, 14:00 – 17:00 As part of the Scottish Outdoor Access Festival a clean up of Portlethen Moss will take place.

Other events can be found on the Ranger homepage.

The Creative Waste Exchange will be open next Saturday (3rd March) from 10am – 2pm.

A 4 hour back to basics sewing class, from 10am – 2pm, where you can learn how to thread a sewing machine and then progress to hemming and inserting zips. The class is £30 for community members (£40 for members)

A crafty card class, from 11am – 12noon, where you can find out how to make individual greetings cards from materials at the Exchange and your home. The class is £5 for community members.

If you are interested in either of the classes please give me a call or email to book a place.

Gillian Marr, Creative Waste Exchange Manager
Aberdeen Forward, Unit 7, Wellheads Road, Farburn Industrial Estate, Dyce, Aberdeen AB21 7HG

In a follow up to my recent entry – Scotland’s Global Footprint, some of the results of the pilot project have been released.

The North-east Scotland Global Footprint Reduction Report will be unveiled at a special event in Ellon on 2nd February, which is being held to mark the completion of detailed research into the region’s effect on the environment and will show the effect that human activity in the North-east is having on the fragile global environment.

Data has been collected on energy use, transport, buildings, food habits, waste management and water use – and sent to the Stockholm Environment Institute’s centre, an independent, international research institute specialising in sustainable development and environment in York, which has now provided a detailed picture of the North-east’s environmental “footprint”.

Its scientists have calculated that if everyone in the world were to live the North-east lifestyle we would need three Planet Earths to sustain the global population. The SEI has also worked out that people in both Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire are consuming more resources than the Scottish average.

The average Scot would need 5.37 hectares of land and sea to provide enough energy, food, water and materials to sustain his or her lifestyle.The average Aberdeenshire resident, however, would need 5.64 hectares and the average Aberdonian 5.8 hectares – an area bigger than the whole of the city’s Victoria Park.

If the Earth’s resources were spread evenly among the world’s population, each person would have just 1.8 hectares each to sustain them.

The research data is now being developed into a computer software programme, which will be used to influence the decision-making of Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Councils. In future, all policies and strategies will be “footprinted” to give councillors and officers a clear understanding of their environmental implications.

The main contributors to the North-east’s Global Footprint are: energy use – Aberdeen City 20%, Aberdeenshire 19%; food and drink – Aberdeen City 19%, Aberdeenshire 20%; transport – Aberdeen City 13%; Aberdeenshire 14%.

The research has already shown that the North-east footprint could be substantially reduced by:

• making a big push on energy efficiency for existing homes and other buildings;
• ensuring new construction is to the highest environmental standards and with efficient heating;
• investing in alternative, sustainable energy sources to power homes, industry and transport;
• developing a new travel culture by providing more affordable, accessible public transport;
• creating communities where workplaces and shopping are nearby, to cut the need for travel.

The North-east and North Lanarkshire pilot projects are the precursors to an overall Scotland Global Footprint Project, which will be launched by the rest of the country’s 32 local authorities at the end of February and managed by WWF Scotland.

Full article

The Scottish Executive has, for a number of years, run the Do a Little Change a Lot campaign.

Offering advice on energy efficiency in your home, work place, school, neighbourhood,  garden and transport.

Helping Scotland’s environment could be easier than you think.

Scotland’s Global Footprint is a partnership between WWF Scotland, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and North Lanarkshire Councils for a three year project which is due to end in trunning to June 2007 will:

• Measure the footprint of each local authority area
• Develop a software tool for policy-making
• Develop a strategy and projects to reduce the footprint
• Produce education materials for schools to measure a whole school footprint

The project explores some of the top examples of sustainable living and working and ‘footprint’ different policy options for each area. What will achieve the greatest footprint reduction – an increase in recycling rates, or improved energy efficiency? What can the council do to achieve change? Where is the biggest bang for the buck? The footprint analysis will be based on the most up to date local data available, providing the best analysis of environmental impact to date.

The North East Global Footprint Project

The North East global footprint project is a partnership between Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council and WWF Scotland to investigate how much nature we are consuming compared with what is available. Both Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire councils have made a commitment towards evidence based policy decisions by adopting the global footprint tool. Officers within both councils have worked collaboratively to develop future scenarios in built environment/energy and transport and these have been footprinted to illustrate the benefits of global footprint in assessing future policy decisions.The North East global footprint project is a partnership between Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council and WWF Scotland to investigate how much nature we are consuming compared with what is available. Both Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire councils have made a commitment towards evidence based policy decisions by adopting the global footprint tool. Officers within both councils have worked collaboratively to develop future scenarios in built environment/energy and transport and these have been footprinted to illustrate the benefits of global footprint in assessing future policy decisions.The project has developed relationships with external organisations and communities. The project is currently involved with Aberdeen Forward Ltd REAL food project, which looks to promote and improve the access to local produced foods. Two communities within Aberdeenshire are about to use global footprint to help reduce their impact on the environment and become more sustainable.

The project is now producing the North East’s global footprint reduction strategy, which looks to incorporate global footprinting into policy and strategy decisions expected in February 2007.

Based in Findhorn in the North East of Scotland Trees for Life is aiming to “restore a wild forest, which is there for its own sake, as a home for wildlife and to fulfil the ecological functions necessary for the wellbeing of the land itself. “

Today just 1% of the original Caledonian Forest of Scotland remains and thanks to overgrazing and deforrestation is fragmented and is struggling to regenerate naturally. It is Scotland’s equivalent of the rainforest needs our help.

At Trees for Life you can help by:

• Buying a Tree for £15
• Volunteering to help out at one of their work weeks.
• Or paying an annual subscription and become a member – reiecieveing a thrice-yearly newsletter, Caledonia Wild, including a species profile and a Trees for Life sticker. The woodland Trust also run a similar scheme where you can dedicate a tree or plot of woodland.

Global Trees is another company encourage us to plant trees.

The core aims of the non-profit company are to:explain global warming in plain English;allow people to calculate their carbon footprint and help reduce carbon emissions.

and reverse global warming by allowing individuals and organisations to plant trees.

Alternatively you can calculate your carbonemmissions at The Carbon Trust or buy trees from the Woodlands Trust.

Remember a Tree is for Life not just for Christmas

Tesco secured planning permission to erect a mini-wind farm at its St Rollox superstore in the north of Glasgow. It believes three turbines, 60ft high, will create enough energy to power the store. St Rollox will become the second store in Scotland powered entirely by renewable energy.

They have also unvailed plans to open its flagship environmental store in Wick, the first of its kind not only in Scotland but in the UK. The store will be built from approximately 33% recycled material, 33% recyclable material and 33% sustainable material.

Tesco is the UK’s leading retail with stores sprouting up across the country and Environmentalists are less unimpressed, claiming an energy-devourer like Tesco would need to have wind turbines at every one of its stores to make a difference. Tesco now controls 30% of the grocery market in the UK. Some belive the success of supermarkets is partly based on trading practices that are having serious consequences for suppliers, farmers and workers worldwide, local shops and the environment.

In Inverness there are so many stores that it has been dubbed Tesco Town by the press and a campaign has been launched to block any further stores being given the go ahead. In a bid to combat the dominance of supermarkets Friends of the earth have launched a campaign encouraging people to shop locally and successfully pursuaded the Office of Fair Trading to propose an investigation into the negative effects of big supermarket expansion. See websites Tescopoly.org and Asdawatch.org for further deatils on the dominance of supermarkets.