Posts

Showing posts from August, 2011

Quietly does it...

Just quietly slipping into your feed again after a short break. No fanfare. No big announcements. No grand plans. Just this, after an extended hiatus, followed by a planned "grand" return that fizzled out before beginning.  It's just like another corporation quietly dropping their net zero ambitions, expecting nobody to notice.  Why now? If you haven't been living under a rock the last few months (and I'd be slightly envious if you have) you will be well aware of the climate related news.  We have seen tumbling temperature records already this summer. Highest May and June temperatures in the UK, record temperatures across much of Europe and parts of North America.  Events for the US semiquincentennial celebrations were cancelled in DC due to extreme heat and New York City had established cooling centres for vulnerable people. The UK has had three heatwaves already by mid-July. Wildfires are widespread with multiple fatalities in Spain and hundreds of thousands eva...
Read more

The Beacon

Image
Ben Lomond, 974m, 3194ft Beinn Laomainn, "The Beacon Hill" Sitting on the peak of Ben Lomond at 974m above sea level [1]  it is difficult to imagine how climate change will affect this, the most southerly Munro [2] , and the surrounding landscape. The rock beneath me has hardly changed for thousands of years. That does not mean that it has never changed nor ever will by both natural processes and, increasingly, human activity. The Islands of south Loch Lomond, from the summit of Ben Lomond The name comes from the gaelic word for "beacon" but the origins of this name are lost in the mists of time. Perhaps fires were once lit on its summit, linking it with a network of similar beacons throughout Celtic Britain, or it may simply be due to its prominence, visible over large areas of the lowlands - a symbol of what lies beyond.
Read more

Where less packaging is more...

Image
Do you take milk? We do. And we recently came across a new way to buy it and to save the environment. No more plastic bottles or Tetra-Paks...
Read more

The Age of Plastic

Image
This is why we need to reduce the amount of plastic we use and then to recycle ALL our waste plastic, not just the limited few .
Read more

Why can't we recycle more?

Image
I began writing this a couple of weeks ago, about Glasgow City Council's inability to implement a half decent recycling scheme but didn't quite get around to finishing and posting it.  Since then, there have been signs of improvement, which I'll come on to after outlining the situation in the recent past. HISTORICAL SITUATION Glasgow likes to think of itself as the ‘Dear Green Place’ but it is unfortunately far from Green. Although the city is being promoted as a hub for renewable energy with both Scottish Power and Scottish & Southern Energy locating their renewable energy divisions in the city, the city recycles less than 16% of domestic waste. An assessment of the UKs twenty largest cities,shown below, ranked Glasgow as the 19th most sustainable city overall and 20th in terms of recycling, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that is last place.  With the UK being one of the poorest nations in Europe at recycling, the comparison is grim.
Read more