Archive for April, 2010

The ice cover in the Arctic has decreased dramatically in recent years. Norwegian researchers have discovered that changes in air circulation patterns create winds that push away the ice. The changed wind direction pushes large ice masses away from the Arctic and down along the eastern coast of Gree
Sourced from EarthWire Climate, click here to visit

The ice cover in the Arctic has decreased dramatically in recent years. Norwegian researchers have discovered that changes in air circulation patterns create winds that push away the ice. The changed wind direction pushes large ice masses away from the Arctic and down along the eastern coast of Gree
Sourced from EarthWire Climate, click here to visit

Bacteria in the ocean can harvest light energy from sunlight to promote survival thanks to a unique photoprotein, according to research by a team of scientists in Sweden and Spain.
Sourced from EarthWire Climate, click here to visit

Bacteria in the ocean can harvest light energy from sunlight to promote survival thanks to a unique photoprotein, according to research by a team of scientists in Sweden and Spain.
Sourced from EarthWire Climate, click here to visit

I know I said the other day that I try to keep politics out of this blog but I’ve struggled to find side-by-side comparisons of each party’s environmental policies so I thought I’d put this together here.

Personally, I’m a member of the Green Party but I can’t vote for them here as they’re only running candidates in certain areas to focus their attention – if you’re in a similar position and green issues are your hot political button too, hopefully this will help you identify the best alternative.

(In alphabetical order)

Conservatives

• We will reduce carbon emissions in line with our international commitments.
• We will promote small- and large-scale low carbon energy production, including nuclear, wind, clean coal and biogas.
• We will safeguard our energy security by ensuring there is sufficient spare capacity in the energy system.
• We will safeguard our energy security by ensuring there is sufficient spare capacity in the energy system.
• We will protect and improve the UK’s natural environment, and pioneer new schemes to improve conservation.
• We will push for reform of the Common Agricultural and Fisheries Policies to promote sustainable farming and fishing. We will promote high animal welfare standards and ensure that government procures locally-produced food wherever possible.
• We will work towards a zero-waste society via a Responsibility Deal on waste – a voluntary arrangement among producers to cut back on the production of waste and improve its disposal.

Green Party

• Use the £45 billion investment plan to kick-start a green industrial revolution so that low and zero-carbon sectors of the economy are the new platform for prosperity.
• Transform the energy production landscape by supporting renewable sources, including wind and micro-solar generation.
• A massive investment in renewable sources to support development of both large-scale wind and tidal generation and domestic micro-generation – together these measures would create 80,000 jobs in the first year.
• Reduce emissions from aviation by ending the £10 billion subsidy of the aviation industry.
• Retrofit homes, schools and hospitals with energy efficiency measures.
• Reduce waste by making waste reduction, re-use and recycling easier.
• Improve public transport and rail to cut emissions from vehicles.

Labour

• Achieve around 40 per cent low-carbon electricity by 2020 and create 400,000 new green jobs by 2015.
• Make greener living easier and fairer through ‘pay as you save’ home energy insulation, energy-bill discounts for pensioners and requiring landlords to properly insulate rented homes.
• Move towards a ‘zero waste’ Britain, banning recyclable and biodegradable materials from landfill.
• Link together new protected areas of habitat; maintain the Green Belt; increase forest and woodland areas.
• Ensure fairness for food producers through EU reform and a Supermarkets Ombudsman; and support post offices, shops and pubs in rural communities.

Liberal Democrats

• We will require energy companies to simplify the complicated tangle of different tariffs, requiring them to charge families less for a basic amount of energy used, to encourage responsible use.
• We will prioritise achieving a global agreement providing leadership for an international framework that will enable each country to manage a transition to a low-carbon economy.
• We will also introduce a fair social tariff system for disadvantaged families.
• We will immediately raise the requirements of Building Regulations to ensure that all new homes are energy efficient and use ‘Green Loans’ to encourage people to invest in home energy efficiency and micro-renewables.
• We will help developing countries to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
• We oppose construction of further nuclear power stations.
• We will invest now in the green technologies of the future delivering hundreds of thousands of new and better jobs in the years to come.
• We will drive a massive programme of investment in renewable energy sources such as wind, wave and solar. We will also transform the National Grid into a smart decentralised grid which will respond dynamically to the changing patterns of energy demand.

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

I know I said the other day that I try to keep politics out of this blog but I’ve struggled to find side-by-side comparisons of each party’s environmental policies so I thought I’d put this together here.

Personally, I’m a member of the Green Party but I can’t vote for them here as they’re only running candidates in certain areas to focus their attention – if you’re in a similar position and green issues are your hot political button too, hopefully this will help you identify the best alternative.

(In alphabetical order)

Conservatives

• We will reduce carbon emissions in line with our international commitments.
• We will promote small- and large-scale low carbon energy production, including nuclear, wind, clean coal and biogas.
• We will safeguard our energy security by ensuring there is sufficient spare capacity in the energy system.
• We will safeguard our energy security by ensuring there is sufficient spare capacity in the energy system.
• We will protect and improve the UK’s natural environment, and pioneer new schemes to improve conservation.
• We will push for reform of the Common Agricultural and Fisheries Policies to promote sustainable farming and fishing. We will promote high animal welfare standards and ensure that government procures locally-produced food wherever possible.
• We will work towards a zero-waste society via a Responsibility Deal on waste – a voluntary arrangement among producers to cut back on the production of waste and improve its disposal.

Green Party

• Use the £45 billion investment plan to kick-start a green industrial revolution so that low and zero-carbon sectors of the economy are the new platform for prosperity.
• Transform the energy production landscape by supporting renewable sources, including wind and micro-solar generation.
• A massive investment in renewable sources to support development of both large-scale wind and tidal generation and domestic micro-generation – together these measures would create 80,000 jobs in the first year.
• Reduce emissions from aviation by ending the £10 billion subsidy of the aviation industry.
• Retrofit homes, schools and hospitals with energy efficiency measures.
• Reduce waste by making waste reduction, re-use and recycling easier.
• Improve public transport and rail to cut emissions from vehicles.

Labour

• Achieve around 40 per cent low-carbon electricity by 2020 and create 400,000 new green jobs by 2015.
• Make greener living easier and fairer through ‘pay as you save’ home energy insulation, energy-bill discounts for pensioners and requiring landlords to properly insulate rented homes.
• Move towards a ‘zero waste’ Britain, banning recyclable and biodegradable materials from landfill.
• Link together new protected areas of habitat; maintain the Green Belt; increase forest and woodland areas.
• Ensure fairness for food producers through EU reform and a Supermarkets Ombudsman; and support post offices, shops and pubs in rural communities.

Liberal Democrats

• We will require energy companies to simplify the complicated tangle of different tariffs, requiring them to charge families less for a basic amount of energy used, to encourage responsible use.
• We will prioritise achieving a global agreement providing leadership for an international framework that will enable each country to manage a transition to a low-carbon economy.
• We will also introduce a fair social tariff system for disadvantaged families.
• We will immediately raise the requirements of Building Regulations to ensure that all new homes are energy efficient and use ‘Green Loans’ to encourage people to invest in home energy efficiency and micro-renewables.
• We will help developing countries to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
• We oppose construction of further nuclear power stations.
• We will invest now in the green technologies of the future delivering hundreds of thousands of new and better jobs in the years to come.
• We will drive a massive programme of investment in renewable energy sources such as wind, wave and solar. We will also transform the National Grid into a smart decentralised grid which will respond dynamically to the changing patterns of energy demand.

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

So after the chicken killing on Friday night, we spent Saturday playing with pig guts. It was an unusual weekend.

We were playing with hog parts because we were on a sausage making course at Old Sleningford Farm in North Yorkshire. It was a very interesting and fun course in a lovely location – I’d heartily recommend it to any sausage fans or just people wanting to try a new skill. Rachel & Martin, who run the course, are lovely – keeping us delightfully fed and watered the whole time we were mincing meat then squishing it into “casings”.

Rachel & Martin recently moved to using “ready spooled” casings for their sausages – they cost a little more but save a whole lot of time because they come “spooled” on narrow plastic tubes rather than in loose hanks (imagine how knotted hanks of yarn can get, how awkward it is to unravel them sometimes; now imagine that with pig guts instead of yarn). At one point during our group making 25kg of sausages, there were a number of the spools on the table – and Martin wondered aloud how they could be reused or recycled. Like a pork spattered recycling superhero, I suggested that I might know a friendly internet community who could come up with some ideas…

They’re about 30cm (1ft) and the hog casing ones are just over 1cm (half an inch) in diameter. I realise, like with chicken feathers, these aren’t something everyone will have to reuse/recycle – but any suggestions?

I guess suggestions of particularly relevance to small scale sausage producers/smallholders/foodies would be best as they’re the ones most likely to have the tubes in the first place.

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

So after the chicken killing on Friday night, we spent Saturday playing with pig guts. It was an unusual weekend.

We were playing with hog parts because we were on a sausage making course at Old Sleningford Farm in North Yorkshire. It was a very interesting and fun course in a lovely location – I’d heartily recommend it to any sausage fans or just people wanting to try a new skill. Rachel & Martin, who run the course, are lovely – keeping us delightfully fed and watered the whole time we were mincing meat then squishing it into “casings”.

Rachel & Martin recently moved to using “ready spooled” casings for their sausages – they cost a little more but save a whole lot of time because they come “spooled” on narrow plastic tubes rather than in loose hanks (imagine how knotted hanks of yarn can get, how awkward it is to unravel them sometimes; now imagine that with pig guts instead of yarn). At one point during our group making 25kg of sausages, there were a number of the spools on the table – and Martin wondered aloud how they could be reused or recycled. Like a pork spattered recycling superhero, I suggested that I might know a friendly internet community who could come up with some ideas…

They’re about 30cm (1ft) and the hog casing ones are just over 1cm (half an inch) in diameter. I realise, like with chicken feathers, these aren’t something everyone will have to reuse/recycle – but any suggestions?

I guess suggestions of particularly relevance to small scale sausage producers/smallholders/foodies would be best as they’re the ones most likely to have the tubes in the first place.

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

A new species of moth which has markings that make it look like a bird dropping, protecting it from predators, has been discovered in Devon.
Sourced from EarthWire Climate, click here to visit

A new species of moth which has markings that make it look like a bird dropping, protecting it from predators, has been discovered in Devon.
Sourced from EarthWire Climate, click here to visit