Ecorazzi reports that Prince Charles is building an eco-house on the England-Wales border. Will this be a wedding present for Prince William and Kate Middleton? The Sunday Mirror seems to think so. Apparently the young couple have been to visit… Read More »The house that Charles built (or is building)
The New York Times reports on a cutting-edge London architecture firm who have come up with a genius plan to harvest free green electricity from human footsteps: The average human being generates about eight watts of energy with each step,… Read More »Energy harvesting floors
Prince Charles continues to make changes to his lifestyle, making him the greenest royal in the UK. The prince will replace carbon-heavy private jets and helicopters with scheduled flights and train services. Next week, he will take delivery of Jaguar… Read More »Prince Charles greens up his act
This is the sort of news story I’d like to be seeing more of… The BBC reports that a McDonald’s restaurant in Devon is closing because it’s can’t compete with the local Tavistock farmers’ market. “It just goes to show… Read More »I’m lovin’ it
High profile experts debate climate change, posted by Ben Nickell, GreenSteps Ltd.
Billed as ‘Climate change and the environment – your questions answered’, Ben Nickell, GreenSteps Ltd’s Managing Director, was eager to discover how a debate could live up to such an ambitious title.
A lively debate on climate change took place at the Royal Geographical Society on Thursday 30th November; featuring Professor David Bellamy OBE, Greg Barker MP (Shadow Environment Minister), Peter Mather (UK CEO of BP), Professor Mark Maslin and BBC Newsnight’s ‘ethical man’ Justin Rowlatt. I attended the event to find out how the panel of experts tackled the types of questions posed by an informed and inquisitive audience.
Whilst an evening such as this was only ever going to scratch the surface of the subject matter, a number of valuable conclusions appeared to be reached. These can be summed up as follows: Yes, climate change is a serious physical and economic issue for the UK; yes, the weight of scientific evidence indicates that climate change is happening now; yes, we should all be doing something about it and we can each make a difference; no, it is not a fruitless exercise to reduce our own CO2 emissions in the light of the industrialisation of China and India; no, raising green taxes is not the best incentive to persuade people to ‘go green’; yes, the UK has an opportunity to lead the way in green technology and eco-living; and whether you agree or disagree about the extent of global warming and climate change, the positive impacts of adopting a ‘greener’ lifestyle are beneficial to individuals, communities and nations and are therefore worth adopting anyway. Read on to discover how and why these conclusions were reached.
Ten-year old Kyle Counts has at least 39 toxic chemicals in his body. His sixteen-year old sister Kimbra has at least 37. And their parents have no less than 47 each.
The Counts family are part of a Star-Telegram research project testing for man-made chemicals found in homes and offices in members of the Tarrant County population. The study revealed that each one of the 12 test subjects was found to have traces of dozens of potentially harmful chemicals in their blood. The chemicals they are testing for include flame retardants in many car seat cushions and computer wires, pesticides in fruits and vegetables, and coatings often found in microwave popcorn bags and fast-food packaging, and stain-resistant fibres in carpets.
Get some fairtrade Christmas cheer and get £5 off when you shop at the Ethical Superstore, an ideal place to pick up fairtrade Christmas presents. Last day for Guaranteed Christmas delivery is 18th December. Use discount code X5WFF at the… Read More »£5 off at the Ethical Superstore
The initial cost of installing solar power can make the technology prohibitive for some, so it’s very exciting to see what US corporation Citizenrē is doing for those who would like to install solar panels on their homes, but can’t afford the big outlay. The REnU 25-year fixed rate residential solar electric system rental program is the first to allow homeowners in forty US states to choose green energy while eliminating the large upfront investment costs and premiums over power purchased from electric utilities. The REnU program appears to offer the most attractive terms in the solar industry in the US.
Citizenrē manufactures, pays for, installs, permits, owns, maintains, and operates the solar photovoltaic system installation. All homeowners are required to do is to pay for the electricity generated from these panels, at a fixed rate that is at or below their current electricity price, for up to twenty-five years.
Ethan Miller writes an inspiring article for Yes Magazine entitled: Independence from the Corporate Global Economy. In it, he confirms that we don’t have to depend on big corporations to survive, we can take back the economy and create community. Ethan highlights the alternatives available to us:
Suppose we try a different story: instead of defining the economy as a market system, let’s define it as the diverse array of activities by which humans generate livelihoods in relation to each other and to the Earth. Extending far beyond the workings of the capitalist market, economic activity includes all of the ways we sustain and support ourselves, our families, and our communities. Peeling away the dominant economic story of competition and accumulation, we see that other economies are alive below the surface, nourishing us like roots. These are not the economies of the stock-brokers and the economists. They are the economies of mutual care and cooperation—community economies, local economies.
Many are familiar to us, though rarely acknowledged. They include:
Household Economies—meeting our needs with our own skills and work: raising children, offering advice or comfort, teaching life skills, cooking, cleaning, building, balancing the checkbook, fixing the car, growing food and medicine, raising animals. Much of this work has been rendered invisible or devalued as “women’s work.”
Read More »Livelihood, freedom & community through co-operation