The Green Village News for July, 2009
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
Charity Christian Aid is looking to put together a team of 50 cyclists of all levels of cycling ability to take part in a bike ride from London setting off on 9th December 2009. The group will arrive in Copenhagen in time for the start of the Climate Change Summit to join the thousands of climate protesters hoping to get their voices heard for decisive action to be taken in the fight against climate change.
The 140 mile journey will take place between 9th and 16th December with participants covering between 25 and 60 miles per day. The journey will take the cyclists through the English countryside to Harwich where the party will board a ferry. Following this, the route will continue through the Danish Islands until the riders reach Copenhagen itself. They will then get the opportunity to spend two days enjoying the city before returning to the UK.
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Tags: christian aid, climate change, copenhagen, cycling, cyclists, protest, rally
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Environmental Impact, Green Leisure and Tourism, Green Living, Green Planet, Transport and Travel | 1 Comment
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
Research undertaken by Natural England, CEH (the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology) and Bournemouth University has revealed that Britain’s woodlands are losing their biodiversity in findings published online in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
A number of factors have been identified as contributing factors to the reduction in diversity of species. The researchers compared the results of surveys that were undertaken in the 1930s across 7000 sites in Dorset to their findings after revisiting 86 of the sites originally surveyed and found that the diversity of species of plants found within those woodlands were significantly less so than in the original data set. The overall number of species has remained the same, however the individuality of different areas of woodland has been particularly affected.
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Tags: biodiversity, britain, fertilisers, native species, natural england, research, trees, uk, woodlands
Posted in Conservation and Wildlife, Food and Farming, Green Planet | No Comments
Sunday, July 26th, 2009
Flagship green event, The Big Green Gathering was threatened with High Court injunction proceedings if they were unable to satisfy a number of concerns that Mendip District Council had. In a statement released today, Directors of The Big Green Gathering have been forced to cancel the 2009 festival, surrendering their license for the event.
The much loved and well attended family friendly green festival, which attracts around 20,000 visitors, caters for most tastes and covers many aspects of sustainability and environmental concerns. Activities on site would have included arts and crafts fields, a healing area where people can try alternative therapies and treatments, a children’s area and campaigns fields, as well as providing a range of eating and entertainment experiences for those attending, including music presented in tents powered by renewable energy.
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Tags: council, green event, green festival, mendip district council, the big green gathering
Posted in Events and Courses, Green Family, Green Leisure and Tourism, Green Living | 11 Comments
Saturday, July 25th, 2009
Swindon is set to be the location of the UK’s next eco housing development if the plans submitted by presenter of the self-build TV show Grand Designs are approved. The proposal is for a development of sustainable housing, which would be called ‘The Triangle’ to be built on a brownfield site, made up of 2.5 storey terraces which would provide 42 homes.
The properties would include a range of energy efficiency boosting features designed to reduce their energy consumption of water demand, which in turn will reduce the home’s carbon footprints and running costs. These features include rainwater harvesting systems, tertiary glazing and environmentally friendly roofing, with plans to future-proof the properties to enable future fittings of solar PV and solar thermal panels at a later date.
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Tags: eco, eco development, eco homes, energy efficient housing, greensquare, hab, kevin mccloud, low carbon living, swindon, westlea housing
Posted in Eco Home, Environmental Impact, Green Living, Green Planet, Sustainable Development | No Comments
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis has announced government plans to improve the green credentials of the UK’s transport networks. Through the introduction of a number of new ambitious schemes, it is hoped that the carbon emissions caused by transportation within the UK can be significantly reduced.
Transport is currently responsible for causing 21% of the UK’s total carbon emissions, and as a result, Lord Adonis has identified this as a key area for helping Britain meet its targets for cutting emissions by 80% by 2050. The government will achieve this by investing in public transport, such as improving train services and further electrification of the rail network, investing in low carbon vehicles and, something which Adonis says is close to his own heart, ensuring a greater provision of bicycle storage facilities at railway stations to encourage greater transport integration through a promise of £5 million worth of investment.
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Tags: andrew adonis, buses, carbon emissions, climate change, eco-driving, green transport, greenhouse gases, low emissions, pollution, public transport, trains
Posted in Environmental Impact, Environmental Politics, Green Planet, Transport and Travel | No Comments
Monday, July 20th, 2009
With the current economic climate putting restraints on the amount of money people have available to spend on a holiday, staycationing is becoming a popular solution to the family holiday on the cheap. Holidaying in the UK doesn’t only save cash. It can also help you reduce your carbon footprint and save the planet one holiday at a time.
One of the big environmental bonuses of staycationing is the reduced impact from the method of transport you can use to get to your destination. As many people have recently tended to holiday abroad, the form of transport of choice has been by air. Plane travel is one of the biggest contributors to an individual’s carbon footprint, so by reducing the amount of people flying to their holiday destinations, the country’s collective carbon emissions can be significantly reduced.
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Tags: air miles, air travel, carbon emissions, carbon footprint, staycation, staycationing, uk holiday
Posted in Green Family, Green Leisure and Tourism, Green Living | No Comments
Sunday, July 19th, 2009
Back in February Gordon Brown threatened supermarkets that unless they took action to reduce the amount of carrier bags given away, currently 1 billion bags every year of which many are shipped off to landfill after a single use, the government would pass legislation forcing supermarkets to act.
The threat paid off, as carrier bag usage has been reduced by 48% across the UK in May 2009 compared to the amount of bags used in May 2006, meaning a reduction of 420 million fewer carrier bags in total. However with a target of 50% set by British Retail Consortium members, the Welsh Assembly, Scottish Parliament, Northern Ireland Department of the Environment and Defra in 2008, this is still 2% short of their original aim.
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Tags: bag for life, brc, carrier bags, plastic bags, pollution, supermarkets
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Environmental Impact, Ethical shopping, Green Family, Green Living, Green Planet, Recycling and Waste | No Comments
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
The day after the release of the DECC White Paper announcing the government’s intention to invest more in wind power, committing to a target of 30% of the country’s energy to be generated through renewable energy sources by 2020 and promising the creation of jobs in the environment sector, environmental campaigners Friends of the Earth have called for the government to safeguard the jobs we already have.
Vestas Blades wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight, home to 600 jobs, is due to close in July, and FOE have joined forces with trade union ‘Unite’ and are calling on people to show their support for the UK’s only wind turbine manufacturers by sending letters to Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, asking him to act to save the UK’s wind industry.
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Tags: friends of the earth, green jobs, lord mandelson, vestas blades, wind energy, wind turbine factory, wind turbines
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Energy and Resources, Environmental Politics, Green Planet | No Comments
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
Film director Guy Ritchie has submitted proposals to make Ashcombe House in Wiltshire “more self-sufficient”. 40 year old Ritchie received the home as part of the settlement following his split with Queen of pop Madonna and is looking to put plans into place that will make the 18th Century estate, worth £9 million, a greener, more sustainable place to live.
The plans submitted to Wiltshire County Council include proposals to reinstate vegetable gardens in the partially walled garden located between the staff building and the rear entrance to the House, and to build three large greenhouses, costing £250,000. The glasshouses will be specifically designed to ‘carefully match the style and colour mix of the house’.
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Tags: ashcombe house, Eco Home, greenhouses, guy ritchie, Self-Sufficiency, vegetables, woodchip boiler
Posted in Eco Home, Green Living, Grow Your Own, Self-Sufficiency | No Comments
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
Supermarket chain Asda have announced the launch of a new range of low carbon beef as part of their latest efforts to reduce their store’s environmental impact and increase their green credentials. The addition of the new product range comes as part of a programme the company has introduced in order to calculate the carbon footprint of the meat on its shelves.
The range of beef is sourced from bull calves born into dairy herds that would usually either be exported or shot at birth due to their low value to dairy farmers. Asda source the meat from British dairy farmers who raise the calves to 9-11 months old. Compared to standard beef that is usually slaughtered at 24 months old, Asda claim their low carbon beef has a carbon footprint that is up to a third less than other beef.
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Tags: asda, beef, calf, dairy cows, imported meat, supermarket
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Ethical shopping, Food and Farming, Green Family, Green Living, Green Planet | 2 Comments
