Bournemouth, UK, is often mocked by many of the British for the average age of its citizens. In short, a seaside resort where many go to die. Jack Dee once quipped that the shop windows are all fitted with bi-focals to allow passers-by to ascertain what lies within.
But the citizens, it seems, are having the last laugh as it has been reported this week that the town is to be the first in the UK to make use of the sewer system in a whole new way.
The world today is full of those who promise to be greener, promise to do more for the environment, promise to make the world a better place. But empty promises mean as much to us as an empty jar of peanut butter does to me; nothing! So it is gratifying to see that Europe is picking up the gauntlet of creating a cleaner place for us to live.
Conservationists in Kenya are opposing a multi-million dollar biofuels project citing threats to bird life abundant in a riverine delta area. The 50,000 acre sugar cane project was meant to provide raw cane for a giant sugar milling company too but it is believed its vision was more for biofuel than food.
But another team of UK environmentalists recently commissioned a report that highlighted a possible loss of livelihood for local peasant farmers, chemical pollution and interference with the ecology in turn threatening tourism and wildlife in the area.
The miller, however, has not publicly responded to these concerns and may as well go ahead with the plans, earlier also opposed by local political leaders. Instead of sweet smell of sugar, the miller, Mumias Sugar (which has no functional website!), also smells a whiff of politics in the air.
The following ten stories, organized by region, made international headlines from April 27 to May 4 for their impact on the environment and society. For more stories that changed the world, see our archive, here.
Canada has proven once again that it is way ahead of the rest of world with its progressive government. Ontario has banned the use and sale of lawn and garden pesticides for homeowners. Quebec instituted a similar ban on 20 some pesticide products back in 2006.
The new ban is set to take effect by spring of 2009. Home Depot has already agreed to stop selling the pesticides by the end of 2008! This is a huge victory for anti-toxic supporters all over the continent. If only someone in the United States government could take such affirmative action we could all be spared. Ontario will basically phase out some 80 different chemicals and over 300 products that contain them.
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Earlier this week I wrote a particularly winging post, complaining about lack of UK government action on tackling climate change and arguing that many governments merely see green issues as an excuse to raise tax revenues.
Today I would like to look at a situation where the reverse is true, visiting the Germany eco-town of Freiburg .
At first glance, those Germans may appear to have limited green credentials. Fearful of potential impact on their high performance car industry, Germany has lobbied aggressively in recent months to delay new EU legislation aimed at improving vehicle fuel economy. Germany is also home to six of Europe’s ten most polluting power stations and has been keeping quiet about plans to build 24 additional coal powered plants.
However, in terms of concrete and practical actions aimed at making a real difference to the environment, this nation of passionate recyclers, high speed railway builders, and renewable energy nuts appear to be way out in front.
By many standards the UK Government is among the eco leaders of the world, with a clear commitment to make significant cuts in greenhouse emissions, numerous tax incentives for green behaviour, and longer term ambitions to reduce CO2 output by up to 80%.
However, actions speak louder than words, particularly the words of politicians.
When the British Government announced their most recent budget earlier this year, there was much applause from green groups after chancellor Alistair Darling announced almost draconian increases in taxation on gas guzzling cars.
But how effective are these taxes? Do we have a clear set of policies that are making a real difference, or is there some truth in accusations that governments are using a green agenda to raise additional tax revenue?
Following, organized by region, are the top international environmental news for during the week of April 20 - 27. See an archive of top international environmental news here.
It’s been almost four years since the project was launched, and of the nine households who have tried organic farming, only four are still at it. The others decided it just wasn’t worth it. Organic farming requires much more labor, the yield can be half or less of that of conventional farming, and besides, hardly anyone in Chengdu is eating organic. Our stock broker-turned-farmer estimates their customer base to be only 0.01% of Chengdu’s population.
Anlong farmer Gao Shengjian believes there’s a link between the use of pesticides and fertilizers on farms and the growing incidences of various diseases among the rural population.
Source: Crossroads China. Vote for this article in social media: StumbleUpon.
China only has enough coal for 12 days of consumption, three days less than a month ago, state media reported Wednesday, sounding the alarm bells over the nation’s most important source of energy.
Britain is not known for good weather. In fact, to be honest, the weather is lousy, and at certain times of the year only the most foolish Englishman ventures out without an umbrella.
For this reason, solar power has long been discounted in favour of wind on this blustery island where one’s neighbours are likely to raise a few eyebrows should one be so eccentric as to cover the roof in solar panels.
This was certainly on the mind of Ashley Seager when he laid out the princely sum of £8,500 ($16,900) in 2007 for the installation of a 3 kilowatt solar power generation system for his South London home. However, one year later and despite a year of weather that has been poor even by British standards, Ashley’s investment is beginning to pay dividends having generated 92% of the Seager household’s annual electricity requirement.
In the midst of the global food crisis, biofuels have been named as a probable culprit in driving the cost of food high up out of the reach of the world’s poor. New laws have just come into force in the United Kingdom requiring that all petrol and diesel be at least 2.5 per cent biofuel.
That target is expected to increase to five per cent by 2010 as part of efforts to make transport fuels more environmentally friendly. United States has just surpassed Brazil as the world’s largest producer of ethanol fuel.
The increased demand for biofuels from the world’s richer nations is being partly blamed for the skyrocketing food prices. Farmland that was once used to grow crops to feed people is now growing fuel for cars.
Here are (some of) the world’s biggest biofuel plants, including those in the pipeline, by production:
Following are the top international environmental news for during the week of April 13 - 20. See an archive of top international environmental news here.
Asia
Two “Extinct” Species Discovered
First there was Swinshoe’s softshell turtle, and then the Javan Elephant. Is this more commonplace than we might believe?
Frankly, no. Despite the occasional hubbub over an animal science has lost track of– say, the Coelacanth– we’ve witnessed something extraordinary. Swinshoe’s turtle was previously believed to be extinct in the wild, with only three remaining in captivity, and therefore every one of these 300-pound turtles is a critical find.
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