“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”

“A mile of new motorway costs £30m - more than twice that with private finance - and causes increased traffic and greenhouse gas emissions. Yet Labour is set on a monster road building programme.”

Guardian article: Roads to ruin

Petition on PM’s Web site

AirportWatch are running a Rethink! campaign, calling for the UK Department for Transport (DfT) to rethink its Aviation White Paper, which planned for massive expansion of aviation. More than 4000 people have emailed the Transport Minister, currentlyDouglas Alexander, through the Rethink! website (http://www.rethink.airportwatch.org.uk/sletter.php) .

The DfT is planning to publish its Progress Report on the White Paper on Thu 14 Dec.

Of course, there is an alternative… ‘Don’t fly unless it is absolutely necessary’ (unless you are a bird, in which case, carry on as normal!)

A £34m investment aimed at developing greener aircraft has been confirmed for the Airbus factory in Flintshire.

The UK government will provide £17m towards the Integrated Wing programme at the plant in Broughton.

Trade and Industry secretary Alistair Darling, First Minister Rhodri Morgan and the chief executive of Airbus Louis Gallois are visiting the plant.

Mr Darling said the research project meant Britain was “leading the drive for greener aerospace technology”.

The factory employs about 7,000 people making wings, including for the world’s largest airliner, the A380.

Mr Darling explained why the UK government was backing the project, calling British excellence in aerospace design, development and delivery “world renowned”.

Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/6166897.stm

The mainstream news is reporting that the UK Government, through Environment Secretary David Milliband, are considering personal carbon rationing. The BBC story reports “An annual allowance would be allocated, with [a carbon credit] card being swiped on various items such as travel, energy or food. … people who used less than their allowance could sell any surplus to those who wanted more.”

This kind of carbon rationing scheme was set out in detail by Mayer Hillman in his 2004 book How to Save the Planet - he calls carbon rationing ‘a gift horse’ which will improve our quality of life. The Green Party was the first to adopt carbon rationing as official policy (under the title ‘tradable quotas’). But the Green Party has signed up to the Contract and Converge framework - personal carbon quotas are just one possible element in putting C&C into practice.

Do our elected representatives have the political will to bring in effective climate change emissions controls? (Can they acknowledge past mistakes, and give credit where due?)

From BBC News website: Britain will not be able to meet its goals on climate change without curbing the demand for air travel, according to an Oxford University report.

The government is targeting a 60% cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.

But the report authors say the UK is becoming “air dependent” and government policies on increasing air travel contradict that stated aim.

The government said it wanted aviation included in the next round of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

Carbon dioxide emissions from aviation doubled during the 1990s while those from the rest of the economy fell. Continue Reading »

As a car, I have always found the Smart fortwo appealing, although I would have thought such a small car would get even more miles per gallon than it actually does.

Smart have just announced that they have developed an all-electric version, called the Smart EV. Initially available only to corporate users who buy their electricity through renewable sources (hence in operation, the Smart EV will not contribute to greenhouse gas emissions), Smart have said they hope to make it generally available later.

Continue Reading »