I wonder how much money has been spent by successive governments trying bring about ‘quick-fix’ behavioural change? A lot I imagine. The just published Behaviour Change report by the House Of Lords Science and Technology Sub-Committee, suggests that ‘nudges’ alone won’t work “… changing the behaviour of a population is likely to take time, perhaps a generation or more, and politicians usually look for quick win solutions.”
The same is true on reducing carbon emissions. We can’t rely solely on individuals to sufficiently change their behaviour in order to reverse the impact of climate change. A combination of incentives and regulation, whether we like it or not is needed – look at how reducing the tax on energy efficient cars has stimulated their sale or how ‘feed-in-tariffs’ have suddenly made a lot more people ‘interested’ in solar power. We need ‘nudges’ but the other stuff has to go along in tandem.
The choice of going to University is becoming an expensive option, with the new fee system leaving many young people seriously considering whether it’s worth the investment, exacerbated by a very shaky job market. There is one business sector that’s booming – the renewables arm of building services engineering (heating, plumbing, air conditioning, refrigeration and electrics) – with legally binding carbon reduction targets and government funding streams driving forward alternatives to fossil fuels for Britain’s homes and businesses.
Should I give up on growing hostas? The thing is, I like them, but so do slugs and snails! I don’t like using slug pellets because of the consequences of the nasty chemicals, so my hosta’s look good for a while and then end up chewed and tattered. I have tried lots of things – crushed egg shells around the base, coffee grounds, copper coins, Vaseline around pots, and picking the blighters off by hand. We have quite a few blackbirds and thrushes who visit, but no hedgehogs to act as natural predators. Any suggestions welcome! Organic gardening offers lots of challenges, but I’m not prepared to introduce lots of chemicals into the garden, or to spend hours watering stuff.
Having spent the weekend accompanying a friend on her challenge of walking Wainwrights 190 mile coast to coast route. (I walked a mere 14 miles!), I was struck by several things, – firstly what a fantastic achievement it is for her, after recovering from breast cancer, and, secondly, what a vital role walkers and cyclists have in supporting the rural economy. Many B&B’s are supported, throughout the year, by a steady stream of ‘one nighters’ on a mission! My friend used a combination of hostels and B&B, and local pubs and, when in civilisation, the local shops. And when her backpack, got too much – the services of a local luggage courier service. Toursim is vital to our national parks, but getting the balance right and keeping these unique places ‘special’, capable of meeting our competing demands is a real challenge. Taking a holiday in the UK has so much to offer and it helps our economy too. And my friend raised over £1000 for the charity Maggies, which provides support for people affected by cancer, their families, carers and friends to empower people to live with, through and beyond cancer.
Who knows if Einstein really said: ‘No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more man.’ If he did, he didn’t specify just honey bees, did he? While it is right to be concerned about the decline of the honey bee, the effects of pesticides on them and the spread of strange sounding diseases and parasites such the varroa mite, we need to look out for the wild bee too. Having recently met the enthusiastic team behind the Bee Guardian Foundation, I’m staggered to learn that there are over 20,000 species of bee around the world, 250 of which can be found in the UK. Solitary or social these bees go about their work not causing any fuss. Bees are responsible for pollinating around 80 per cent of our main crops. So whilst a old Albert, or whoever is was, might have been over dramatic in his/her prediction, it’s true to say that the world would be a very different place without these important pollinators. As the Bee Guardian Foundation says “Without bees many fruits and vegetables would become scarce and prohibitively expensive, or not available at all.” And it’s not just the stuff we eat, bees pollinate flowers and plants supporting other organisms, we rely on plants for biodiversity.
Mason bees (do they have a strange handshake?), leaf-cutter bees, carpenter bees, sweat bees (mm nice!), mining bees (I imagine they wear hard hats), and of course the humble bumble bee all have vital roles to play in the environment. The bumble bee also has it’s own champion in the Bumble Bee Conservation Trust , set up to stem their decline. And the Help Save our Bees campaign is working to do just that. We need to do what we can to safeguard all our bees; simple things like making your garden bee friendly – wildlife gardening, even window boxes and tubs can be planted to attract bees, making bee houses – simply sticking up bits of wood with drilled holes they can nest in, avoid using pesticides, and tell others how important wild bees are.
What about wasps? – sorry, I can’t bring myself to champion these.
We’d noticed that during the past couple of years our turbines have been spinning a lot less due to a change in wind direction – from a South Westerly to a North Easterly. So it’s disappointing, but not surprising to have it confirmed by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) annual Energy Statistics, that the amount of energy created from on-shore wind turbines dropped by 7.7 per cent in 2010. That’s despite a 14 per cent growth in the number of turbines last year, so the decline per turbine in actually much greater.
According to DECC’s figures the average output from Britain’s 275 onshore wind farms fell to the lowest level on record, due to a drop in wind speeds. The report said: “Ten months of 2010 saw lower wind speeds than the ten-year average.”
So how can we keep the lights on? December 7 last year, must have been a cold day because we saw the demand for electricity at its fourth highest level recorded, and wind farms produced only 0.4 per cent of the power needed by the country. This opens up the argument for opponents of wind farms, claiming that if the government relies too heavily on this sector, we will see power cuts. So is it inevitable that nuclear got to be part of the nation’s future energy mix? Can’t we come up with something else? And we can still do more to reduce our energy consumption, all the things we’ve heard before…. Putting on an extra jumper, insulating our homes better, buying energy efficient appliances. But we’ve still got to find a safer solution to our energy needs, as, no matter how windy it gets, on-shore wind turbines can only generate a small amount of energy. Let’s hope it’s a long hot summer for all those people who’ve invested in solar PV panels!
I’m always nervous when a low-energy light bulb blows. You wouldn’t think this happens very often given their supposed lifespan, but it does, and I have a boxful waiting to be recycled. Why should I be nervous? Well, low-energy light bulbs contain a small amount of mercury giving them their energy-saving properties. So I worry that one will break. And, whilst this may not be harmful on its own, if large quantities of these bulbs end up going to landfill they could be damaging to the environment.
But research by the Lighting Industry Federation, the recycling scheme Recolight and others, showed that I am quite alone in my concern with 8 out of 10 consumers unaware that low-energy light bulbs MUST be recycled.
Only 18 per cent of those surveyed were aware that low-energy light bulbs need to be recycled through specialised recycling facilities. Alarmingly, when asked what they thought they would do when their old low-energy light bulbs reached end-of-life, 69 per cent said they would throw them away in the normal household rubbish.
And with the research showing that there are approximately 133 million low-energy light bulbs currently in use in homes across the UK. That could add up to a lot of mercury. As Recolight Chief Executive Nigel Harvey explains; “In the next three to five years we expect large quantities of low-energy light bulbs to start reaching end-of-life. It is essential that we raise awareness now of the importance of recycling these bulbs so that they don’t end up in landfill.”
“We are working with retailers and local authorities to provide more facilities for consumers to recycle their old bulbs, therefore making it easier for people to do so and helping to raise awareness of the issue. We have also set up a community recycling initiative to enable recycling champions to set up recycling facilities in convenient community locations, using our specially designed collection container.”
So to help promote the need to recycle a colourful animation was created by Sam Duggan, illustrating how people can help increase recycling rates of low-energy light bulbs in their community by becoming a CoBRA volunteer.
CoBRA was set up to create volunteer ‘recycling champions’ up and down the country who help take responsibility for collecting used low-energy light bulbs for recycling in their local area. These ‘Champions’ take on responsibility for collecting the used light bulbs in specially designed collection containers which can be placed in community locations of their choice. The waste light bulbs will then be taken to a central collection facility by the volunteers, ready for collection and lead to responsible recycling. So think twice before you chuck the next bulb to blow in the bin.
The Port of Tyne has welcomed the world’s most energy efficient car carrier, bringing 60 Nissan LEAFS ready for their UK sales launch on March 1st. The carrier, the City of St Petersburg, has an aerodynamic bow, which reduces wind resistance by 50% and saves 2,500 tons of CO2 emissions per year.
Nissan is focusing on reducing CO2 emission across the board, so as well as manufacturing electric and environmentally friendly vehicles, they are working at reducing CO2 emissions during the production, transportation and sales processes.
A major step in reducing CO2 emissions will be in 2013 when LEAF production begins at Nissan’s Sunderland plant, until then they will continue to be imported from Japan for distribution to 25 UK Nissan EV dealerships.
Q: Is there any truth that temperature rose during the three day no fly policy after 9/11 and that vapour trails cause cooling?
A: Yes, in the day time at least. Because the skies were almost entirely free of contrails more energy from the sun was able to reach the earth’s surface, rather than being reflected back towards space by the contrails. This was used by some to argue that air travel actually helped to cool the planet through the reflection of sunlight by contrails. However, this overlooks what happened at night. With no contrails the infrared (heat) energy emitted from the earth’s surface is able to escape much more easily and so the surface is able to cool to a much greater degree. When there are contrails these act like strips of blanket – trapping the radiated heat and keeping the surface temperatures higher. So, when both day and night time temperatures are considered, contrails have a net warming effect on our planet, even before we consider the greenhouse gas emissions that they represent. An interesting recommendation made recently was to restrict night time air travel, and so confine the formation of contrails to the day time – where they have less of a positive climate-forcing effect. For more detailed information see this paper from the European Geophysical Union.
Given the scale of the problem that we face, it is all too easy to feel powerless. How, without running for political office, can we as individuals make any difference? Surely, cutting greenhouse emissions to the extent required is the job of our governments, industry and big business. The truth though, is that the real power to tackle climate change lies not with Prime Ministers, Presidents or Chief Executives. It is in the hands of the homeowners and the car drivers, the holidaymakers and the shoppers of the world, that the destiny of our planet’s climate truly rests. Continue reading →
