Archive for November, 2009

The forested peatlands of the tropics store vast amounts of carbon. Forest fires convert this into the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Scientists have now quantified these emissions and shown that peatland fires contribute significantly to global warming.
Sourced from EarthWire Climate, click here to visit

The forested peatlands of the tropics store vast amounts of carbon. Forest fires convert this into the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Scientists have now quantified these emissions and shown that peatland fires contribute significantly to global warming.
Sourced from EarthWire Climate, click here to visit

Climate change will hit Africa – a continent that has contributed virtually nothing to bring it about – first and hardest.
Sourced from EarthWire Climate, click here to visit

Gordon Brown warned of a worldwide “climate emergency” last night as he unveiled a £13.4bn global fund to help poor countries cope with the effects of global warming.
Sourced from EarthWire Climate, click here to visit

Global carbon markets may well have been hailed as the savior of the planet by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but in many ways they are doing more harm than good, according to new evidence.
Sourced from EarthWire Climate, click here to visit

Send your message in a climate care package.Put your face on a climate care package for Copenhagen We will make sure the best slogans get seen — Greenpeace style — at the Climate summit in December.
Sourced from Greenpeace Action RSS, click here to visit

Indonesia should crack down on deforestation, not our climate defenders!
Sourced from Greenpeace Action RSS, click here to visit

ScienceDaily (Nov. 26, 2009) — Intervals of regional warmth and cold in the past are linked to the El Niño phenomenon and the so-called “North Atlantic Oscillation” in the Northern hemisphere’s jet stream, according to a team of climate scientists …
Sourced from EarthWire Climate, click here to visit

Ten days before the UN climate conference opens in Copenhagen, EU officials welcomed emissions pledges by China and the US’as a crucial step towards an agreement, but stressed that the?commitments had to match the developed world’s?”common target”?of keeping global warming?below 2?C.
Sourced from EarthWire Climate, click here to visit

Hi! Sorry about the lack of posts over the last few days – we’re in Madrid at a technical conference/holiday — I had hoped to update from the airport on Wednesday and from here yesterday but the internet didn’t allow it. Naughty internet.

Most people here rave about the Prado and the tapas but because I’m a recycling nerd, I’ve been spotting the numerous recycling bins around the place, and raving to my travel buddies about how the glass drinks bottles seem to be collected regularly from bars by the supplier for direct cleaning/reuse rather than the more labour intensive generic glass recycling. !Excelente!

So anyway, suitcases. When I was packing our bags on Tuesday night, I found one of our wheelie suitcase is now 50% less wheelie – one of the wheels must have broken off on a previous trip/during our house move. If we can find another wheel around the right size, we’ll probably try to fix it because otherwise the suitcase is perfectly fine but what else can we do with it now it’s a bit annoying for travelling?

I’ve seen pretty, old clam-shell suitcases uses to make pet beds and we’re actually looking out for an old trunk/hat box to use as a wood basket near our new woodburning stove – but the one that’s broken is of the generic modern type, which might look retro and interesting in fifty years time but now if we use it for anything on display, it’ll just look like we’ve not unpacked from a trip. The cats are magnetically drawn to half-packed suitcases though so I doubt they’d complain.

Other suggestions?

I guess a related question is what do you do with suitcases when you’re not travelling? Do you and your friends/family reduce the amount needed by sharing? Are there any places that rent out suitcases to stop everyone having to buy and store their own? Do you use them for other storage around the home? Or do they sit empty in a far-away cupboard?

(Normal service should resume from Tuesday. )

Sourced from How can I recycle this?, click here to visit