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I know, I know – the film is three years old now and it’s shameful that I’ve not seen it til now. I missed it at the cinema and only got round to watching it last night courtesy of LoveFilm.

It’s basically a glorified slideshow, by former US vice-president Al Gore, which means it doesn’t have much in the way of cinematography. But the message he gives about climate change is convincing and powerful… Continue reading

The biggest green news this week has been the government’s new Low Carbon Transition Plan, revealed on Wednesday. Key points include that, by 2020:

• more than 1.2 million people will have green jobs
• 7 million homes will have had green makeovers
• 40% of electricity will be from renewable sources, nuclear or clean coal
• gas imported will be halved
• cars will emit 40% less carbon than they do now
• carbon emissions are to be reduced by 34%

I did ‘Meat Free Monday’ again this Monday (and Tuesday in fact). I wrote about it last Monday and how the idea, supported by Macca et al, has its critics.

I’ve since found an interesting article on Treehugger relating specifically to beef, which says eating beef could actually slow climate change.

Humans produce more methane than cows, the writer maintains, and the grass they graze on sequesters carbon:

“Cattle must be saying, “Stop pointing fingers!  You single-stomached humans are contributing more methane emissions than… Continue reading

Did you see Vivienne Westwood’s interview with Jonathan Ross on Friday night? I thought she got the message about climate change across pretty well.

She was draped in seven metres of fabric, fixed with a belt, in line with her ‘DIY’ fashion ethos – using what you have lying around instead of buying lots and lots of disposable clothing. Jonathan said surely she’s doing herself out of business by discouraging buying new clothes.

She said if… Continue reading

Today was officially Green Britain Day – part of a Team Green Britain campaign to make the country greener before the Olympics in 2012.

Energy giant EDF Energy is behind the campaign, and there’s been major controversy because the green Union Jack logo they’ve used is very similar to the one of Ecotricity, a renewable energy supplier. Ecotricity is trying to sue EDF for what it claims is a misleading of consumers.

EDF describes itself as Europe’s “lowest carbon-producing energy company”… Continue reading

The ‘Meat Free Mondays’ campaign was in the news again recently, as Paul McCartney gave it his backing.

I think it’s a really great campaign – something everyone can achieve with little effort – and I have gone meat-free again today.

The difference that reducing meat consumption can make is staggering. The main factor is deforestation in Brazil for grazing. The Food and Agriculture Council of the United Nations said in 2006 that livestock’s contribution to gaseous emissions and climate change “currently amounts… Continue reading

I thought it was about time I calculated my carbon footprint. I have some factors which work in my favour. I don’t have a car, and I take the bus or even jog to work. I also try to be careful with turning appliances off, and our TV is so old-school I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s powered by some kind of dynamo instead of electricity.

There’s a massive range of carbon calculating websites and companies - some are in it for the money and some are not-for-proft… Continue reading

I love this round-up of cool environmental ads on Treehugger, which include Fiat’s panda/crash-test-dummy ad, and Surfer’s Against Sewage’s ‘No butts on the beach‘ campaign.

For comedy value, the ‘You Are My Sunshine’ ad by Greenpeace is pretty cool but I find the WWF video from Finland, in which polar bears are homeless in a busy city, the most disturbing… Continue reading | 1 Comment

I’ve been fascinated by a feature on fridge and freezer efficiency in the latest issue of Ethical Consumer magazine. Apparently they’ve generally become much more efficient over the last 15 years, but this is pretty much negated by the fact that

A) we’re all now buying giant super-fridges which could chill enough fish for the feeding of the 5,000 and…..

B) we now keep our homes so overly warm inside that fridge-freezers have to work doubly hard… Continue reading