Improving agricultural practices key
22 March 2007, Rome — As the number-one user of water worldwide, the agriculture sector must be in the lead in addressing the rising global demand for water and its potential drain on the earth’s natural resources, FAO said today on the occasion of World Water Day.
Agriculture accounts for about 70 percent of all freshwater withdrawn from lakes, waterways and aquifers around the world. The figure is closer to 95 percent in several developing countries, where roughly three-quarters of the world’s irrigated farmlands are located.
However, food is water. It takes 1 000 to 2 000 litres of water to produce one kilogram of wheat and 13 000 to 15 000 litres to produce the same quantity of grain-fed beef. Without water, we cannot produce; and without it, we simply cannot eat. Continue Reading »
Passengers queuing for BA’s first domestic flight between Gatwick and Newquay are being offered an upgrade with a difference today: the chance to exchange their plane tickets for climate-friendly train tickets.
BA’s new domestic route, opened today, isn’t just irresponsible given what we know about climate change - it’s also completely unnecessary. If you take into account the time and cost of travel to airports and checking in, travelling by plane works out to be more expensive than train, only a little quicker and ten times more damaging to the climate.
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Rivers on every continent are drying out, threatening severe water shortages, according to a new WWF report.
The report, World’s Top Rivers at Risk, released ahead of World Water Day (22 March), lists the top ten rivers that are fast dying as a result of climate change, pollution and dams.
“All the rivers in the report symbolize the current freshwater crisis, which we have been signalling for years,” says WWF Global Freshwater Programme Director Jamie Pittock.
“Poor planning and inadequate protection of natural areas mean we can no longer assume that water will flow forever. Like the climate change crisis, which now has the attention of business and government, we want leaders to take notice of the emergency facing freshwater now not later.”
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From NFU Online.
In the same week the Carbon Reduction Label is launched to help supermarkets reduce the distance their products travel, Somerfield highlights how consumers themselves can reduce their carbon footprint.
Local Life, a report conducted by the Future Foundation, reveals the average shopper with a car travels 2.4 miles each week more than they need to in order to buy the basics such as bread and milk.
According to the report, the extra ‘shopping miles’ emit 972.3 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide which is the equivalent of over half a million transatlantic flights.
The report highlights the fact that 50% of shoppers pass a local grocer or supermarket in their daily routine and could do their ‘top up’ shopping on any of these days, rather than making the extra journeys.
It also reports that 67% of shoppers have a grocer within walking distance of their homes meaning the car could be left at home.
Pete Williams, head of press and PR at Somerfield said: “We are constantly looking at ways to reduce the distance from ‘farm to fork’ and shrink our carbon footprint. However, to reach our goals, we really need our customers to contribute. Be it leaving the car at home from time to time or remembering to bring back their plastic carrier bags, even the most occasional of shoppers can make a positive difference.”
A couple of weeks ago, you may have seen the Channel 4 documentary, ‘The Great Global Warming Swindle’. This well made documentary was packed with credible scientists from all over the world who argued that climate change is a result of solar flare activity and has nothing at all to do with CO2 levels or emissions.
Like most of the public, I am not a scientist and cannot argue against the science they put forward. Indeed, for a moment, I found myself getting dragged in by their arguments and wondering whether I had got it all wrong?
A few days later, I read that the producer of the programme had made another documentary a few years ago (nothing to do with global warming) but had used evidence later found to be incorrect - I thought something was wrong here. Sadly, both my parents and parents-in-law watched the programme and were pretty much taken in by it - they now believe that global warming is not a man-made phenomenon.
George Monbiot was quick to pull the Channel 4 programme to pieces to expose the bad data and false science used to draw the conclusions. Here is George’s article: Continue Reading »
UK retailer Marks and Spencer are upping the ante and promoting their green agenda by labelling foods that have been air freighted into the UK.
The new scheme which comes into effect from today has been brought in due to customer concerns as to the origins and transport methods of ‘fresh’ foods. The new symbol will appear on over 20 different foods, but as the programme rolls out, over 150 will eventually be covered.
Marks and Spencer plans to be ‘carbon neutral’ in 5 years and is investing £200 million in their ‘eco-plan’.
Source: TreeHugger & New Consumer.
As any good ‘greeny’ knows, you should always switch electrical appliances off when they are not in use and never leave things on standby because they are still consuming electricity (which is either just plain wasteful at best or carbon polluting at worst).
Computers, on the other hand can be a bit of a dilemma. As someone who has worked in IT for a long time, I can remember years ago, service engineers commenting that some pieces of IT kit lasted longer if they were always left switched on (switching off and on causes cooling and heating cycles which can apparently lead to problems, although that might just be an old wives tale!). It’s not always convenient to ’shut down’ your PC when it can take an age to start up again, but help may be at hand to put right something that Microsoft should have done years ago.
Local Cooling is a free application that you download onto your PC running under Windows XP that automatically optimizes your PC’s power consumption by using a more effective power save mode. You will be able to see your electricity savings in real-time translated to more environmental terms such as how many trees and (US) gallons of oil you have saved. Continue Reading »
An audit of the government’s planned carbon cuts shows they will achieve only half of what it claims.
By George Monbiot. Published in the Guardian 5th March 2007.
“Our audit reveals that the government’s assessment of its own policies is wildly optimistic. Instead of a 29-31% cut by 2020, it is currently on course to deliver a reduction of between 12% and 17%. At this rate the UK won’t meet its 2020 milestone until 2050. This result suggests that the government’s claim to be “leading the world on tackling climate change” is simply another product of the Downing Street spin machine. Its carbon-cutting policies are a sham.”
A wonderful piece of positive news:
IHT article: Trees and crops reclaim desert in Niger
“GUIDAN BAKOYE, Niger: In this dust-choked region, long seen as an increasingly barren wasteland decaying into desert, millions of trees are flourishing, thanks in part to poor farmers whose simple methods cost little or nothing at all.”
“It really requires the effort of the whole community,” said Larwanou. “If farmers don’t take action themselves and the community doesn’t support it, farmer-managed regeneration cannot work.”
Camden Council, in conjunction with Transport for London, Clear Zones and the City of Westminster are holding a seminar with exhibition and vehicle display on 22nd March 2007.
The aim is help people get the ‘low down on low emission vehicles in London’ and discover practical solutions that help people save money on their transport costs and demonstrate a responsible environmental policy.
Organisers are suggesting that people could save up to £8000* per year by switching to a low-emission vehicle. Continue Reading »