Despite the fact that there has not been one peer-reviewed scientific article published that argues against climate change, despite that fact that 2006 was the hottest year on record, despite all the other tell-tale signs and global acceptance that climate change is upon us and that we need to address it, US car-maker Chrysler comes out with this…

“Quasi-hysterical Europeans” and their “Chicken Little” attitudes to global warming. Continue Reading »

With the recent bad press that the UK government got over ‘loosing’ foreign national prisioners that should have been deported after serving their sentence, it may therefore come as little surprise that they seem to know very little about the activities of some agri businesses and cloned animals.

Today, the Daily Mail (whilst using pretty scare-mongering language) reported on the birth of a ’super cow’. Whilst not a clone herself, the calf called ‘Dundee Paradise’ is the daughter of a clone, her mother was created in the U.S. using cells from the ear of a champion dairy Holstein.

Dundee Paradise herself began life in an IVF lab. She was flown to the UK in a batch of five frozen embryos, implanted in a surrogate mother and successfully delivered at a Midlands farm on December 2. Continue Reading »

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2110651.ece
Review of the year: Global warming - Our worst fears are exceeded by reality
By Steve Connor, The Independent, 29 Dec 2006

“… 2006 will be remembered by climatologists as the year in which the potential scale of global warming came into focus. And the problem can be summarised in one word: feedback. …”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1971636,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=18
This year will be Britain’s warmest since records began
Ian Sample, science correspondent, The Guardian, Thu Dec 14, 2006

“… The record year has astounded scientists. “What’s phenomenal about this year is that some of these months have broken records by incredible amounts. This year it was 0.8C warmer in autumn and 0.5C warmer between April and October than the previous warmest years. Normally these records are broken by around one tenth of a degree or so,” said Prof Jones [director of the climatic research unit at the University of East Anglia.] …”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2499663,00.html
Experts warn North Pole will be ‘ice free’ by 2040
Lewis Smith, Environment Reporter, The Times, Dec 11, 2006

“Ice is melting so fast in the Arctic that the North Pole will be in the open sea in 30 years, according to a team of leading climatologists.”

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2116874.ece
‘If we fail to act, we will end up with a different planet’
Steve Connor, Science Editor, The Independent, 01 Jan 2007

One of the world’s leading experts on climate change has warned that the Earth is being turned into a “different planet” because of the continuing increase in man-made emissions of greenhouse gases.

“Make hay whilst the sun shines” is an old saying. Maybe I could change it to “Make solar electricity whilst the sun shines and use wind turbines when it’s windy”, but what about when it’s neither sunny nor windy?

We will be faced (or rather our governments will), with some choices about energy production for the population in the not too distant future. Unless some new technology comes along that generates bountiful energy with no nasty side effects, we are faced some stark choices.

Renewables (wind, solar, wave) etc certainly need additional investment and commitment from governments so they can be producing an even greater percentage of power to the national grid than they currently do (and relatively, the cost of electricity generation using these ways will become cheaper as they are more widely adopted and the cost – both in materials and to the environment, of the other ways increases). In some parts of the UK hydro-electric is a clean source (although not necessarily if excessive land has been lost due to damming rivers), so the rest comes back to oil, coal, gas and nuclear. Continue Reading »

“Spiralseed and OrganicLea cordially invite you to the launch of ‘EARTH WRITINGS’ by Graham Burnett,

Sat 13 Jan 2007
4pm onwards

The Hornbeam Centre, 458 Hoe Street, Walthamstow London E17
(near the Bakers Arms - 5 minutes walk from Walthamstow Central BR)

This event will be preceded at 2pm by a talk ‘Introduction to Permaculture’ by Mark Warner of ‘Naturewise’ All welcome! Please feel free to pass this message onto anybody who might be interested.

www.spiralseed.co.uk/earthwritings

–
Graham Burnett: Integrated Design for Local Environmental Resources”

Meat and milk from cloned animals is safe for human consumption, the US food regulator said in a draft ruling.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ruled that cloned cattle, pigs and goats produced food “as safe as the food we eat every day”.

The recommendation, coming after a five-year study, is a major step towards allowing food from animals onto US supermarket shelves.

A public consultation period will take place before final approval is given. Opponents say a majority of US consumers are against animal cloning. Continue Reading »

The humble cow pat could become the latest weapon in the fight against global warming. An agricultural college is using methane from the muck produced by its dairy herd to power its working farm.

The dairy cows at Walford and North Shropshire College are housed for eight months a year and their dung is collected and pumped into a digester.

There it is converted into methane and used to power a generator. This produces enough energy to run the farm. Continue Reading »