Ways to save our Environment

[Clevercat]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5311196.stm

Article taken from BBCone news online, talking of the spread of disease due to climate change.

[Clevercat]

Panaroma now on BBC1.....  How to live 'green'......... the presenter and his family are living without any creature comforts for a year. No car, no tumble dryer... education on recycling, and composting....  18% of all green house gases are created by Farms..... ie, in cows manure... so they cut out all meats and dairy.  Light bulbs are changed, weight is lost, cholestrol is dropping... the carbon footprints from this family have been reduced by 20% of their original output. and within the home their energy saved was 37%.

Comments?

[Alg]

Blimey.Disease now.
Is there nothing they won't blame on us.
I'm really looking forward to watching "The great global warming swindle" on Thursday night.
But until then............
Everybody..................


CC That programme advocated going back to Victorian times. What a load of old tosh.
Cutting out meat because farms produce a lot of greenhouse gases.
I reckon clothes factories contribute too. Did they walk about naked?
I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllllly can't take to soap dodging tree huggers.
We're all supposed to do the same to save the planet. The proles'll have to cut back on everything their masters tell them to.
"Carbon footprint"..........my a**e

[Clevercat]

 

Forgot to mention that the man who was educating the presenter on composting was proudly anouncing that he composts his own 'waste' if you get my drift, and that he had found a dead cat on the road that he was also composting too

[Alg]

I don't suppose any of the Immigrants now in the country have been responsible for the resurgence albeit a small one of tuberculosis in England.
I also know that African countries have a terribly high percentage of people infected with AIDS and I'm sure our Govt made certain immigrants were tested for infectious diseases upon their arrival.
I'm sorry if that upsets people but surely when there is a possibility of causing death then Political Correctness should be put to one side.

[Ettie]

Supermarket giant Tesco has said all its carrier bags will be degradable from September.
The bags break down in as little as 60 days

Mine lasted about 10 minutes, must be a record!
I was carrying it on a bike ride with the kids. (Tiddler on the back of the trailer bike and Lauren on her scooter).
Had to do a hasty repair job for the journey home before it emptied itself.

[rant]
If the Govt is serious about energy saving, the environment, and sanity, please somebody invent ONE remote control, (using one set of batteries) that operates all of the six million boxes under the TV (plus the TV) and ONE unit which allows you to easily turn off the TV, plus said boxes from standby (without having to spend 10-15 minutes reprogramming it all the next time you want the TV on again).
[/rant over]  

[Clevercat]

Penalties for companies that break an EU directive banning excessive packaging should be made tougher, the Local Government Association has said.
Councils say the EU rule has too many loopholes and the maximum fine of £5,000 is not a big enough deterrent.

The Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment says trading standards are right to encourage firms to cut packaging rather than going to court.

About 5m tonnes of annual household rubbish is used in packaging.

It makes up almost one-fifth of all household refuse.

There have been just four successful prosecutions since the UK adopted the EU law eight years ago.

'Toothless tiger'

They include a butcher whose pre-packed meat was wrapped in two polystyrene trays and an office supplies firm that used large boxes to send very small items.

Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, Chairman of the Local Government Association, said the law against excessive packaging is a "toothless tiger".

"The fact that there have only been four successful prosecutions in the UK demonstrates the law simply isn't working," he said.

He added: "Local authority trading standards services find their hands tied by regulations which allow retailers to defend excessive packaging claiming it is what the customer wants or that it is required for the purposes of marketing."
BBC ONE NEWS

[Clevercat]

 - World leaders meeting in Germany have agreed to pursue "substantial" cuts in greenhouse gases, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday.

Group of Eight (G8) powers failed to overcome U.S. resistance to committing to specific numerical targets to curb global warming but did refer to the goal of some countries of cutting emissions by 50 percent by 2050.

"In terms of targets, we agreed on clear language ... that recognises that (rises in) CO2 emissions must first be stopped and then followed by substantial reductions," Merkel told reporters at the G8 summit in the Baltic coast resort of Heiligendamm.

The summit text confirmed that the world's leading industrialised nations would act to stem the rise in global warming gases, followed by "substantial" reductions, the most serious commitment to action on the issue by the United States, the world's largest global warmer.

Washington had resisted attempts by Merkel to set a firm goal for cuts needed to combat a warming of the earth's surface that scientists say risks swelling sea levels and causing more droughts and floods.

But she secured a partial victory by securing an inclusion of the target in the text.

The European Union believes 50 percent cuts are needed to ensure that global temperatures do not rise more than 2 Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, a threshold it says will trigger "dangerous" changes in the climate system.

Merkel is hosting three days of talks at a Baltic coast resort with counterparts from Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

Environmentalists condemned the G8's failure to agree on specific, binding goals.

"Agreeing on a numerical target is a significant first step, and not taking that first step is going to condemn us to a lot of pain and suffering in terms of the impacts of climate change," said Neil Adger of Britain's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.

RUSSIA TENSION

G8 leaders are tackling other threats to global stability, including increased tension between the United States and Russia which some have said heralded the start of a new Cold War.

U.S. President George W. Bush sought to calm tensions with Moscow ahead of a highly anticipated face-to-face meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin at the summit.

"I repeat Russia's not a threat, they're not a military threat, they're not something that we ought to be hyperventilating about," Bush said. "What we ought to be doing is figuring out ways to work together."

Security remains tight around the summit venue, a luxury hotel in the small seaside town of Heiligendamm.

On Thursday morning police power boats chased down several smaller Greenpeace craft trying to break through the security cordon, ramming one and dumping its occupants into the Baltic.

At a morning session focused on economic issues, Merkel sat between Bush and Putin, who have exchanged public barbs on U.S. missile shield plans in the run-up to the summit.

The two presidents, smiling and looking relaxed, have not met face-to-face since before Putin launched a verbal attack on the Bush administration in February, accusing it of trying to force its will on the world and become its "single master".

Bush said he would reiterate to Putin his proposal to have Russia send generals and scientists to the United States to reassure them on his plans to put a radar system in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in Poland.

Washington says the shield is intended as a defence against "rogue" states like Iran and North Korea and has urged Russia to cooperate. Moscow, which suspects it could be outfitted with attack missiles or used for spying, has rejected the overtures.

The missile shield is not the only issue dividing Russia, the United States and fellow G8 members Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan.

Other topics include aid to Africa and foreign policy issues ranging from Iran to Kosovo.

[bloke]

50% by 2050 won't be nearly enough, especially by the time all the Western governments pretend they're doing it when they're not really.

[Clevercat]

About 700 cyclists in various states of undress have cycled through central London in another leg of the World Naked Bike Ride.
The naked cyclists - and others with strategically-placed body paint, sticky tape or bum bags - were highlighting the damage caused by car dependency.

They were also promoting the environmental benefits of cycling.

Earlier on Saturday, more than 200 naked cyclists rode through Brighton and Hove in East Sussex.

The World Naked Bike Ride is now in its fourth year with more than 60 cities participating in 2007.

The London leg began at Hyde Park and finished in Wellington Arch, a route of about six miles.

 
Some cyclists covered themselves in body paint

Martin Ireland was one of those taking part in the ride.

He said: "We are seeing an increasing number of stories of melting ice caps and Antarctica crumbling away and no government is doing anything serious about this.

"They are paying lip service to the problem so people have been taking to their bikes, unclothing, to express their feelings about it."

Duncan Blinkhorn, 45, one of the organisers of the seven-mile Brighton ride, said: "This is a fun if outrageous way to make the serious point that we should not have to tolerate roads, cities and a planet dominated by the brutishness of cars that routinely foul the air we all breathe.

"Bikes and naked bodies harm nobody. Car fumes... are driving us all to climate chaos."

BBC News 24

[John Bunt]

 and I went and got a pucture


Vote for Bunt

[Ettie]

Trouble is, the eco extremists with their 'dark ages existence' theory make it harder to get a clear sensible message across.

Technology helped to get us into this mess, and I think that it will be essential in getting us out of it.  Unfortunately, as a lot of people are in 'panic mode' any new ideas are instantly dismissed as too little, too late.  With so many invested interests in oil, any alternatives have been overlooked for some time.

We have had floods, ice ages etc before, man made or not we still need to survive the next one.  It looks like space technology might be our only long term answer so we can hopefully sit out the next apocolypse.

[John Bunt]

Now theres an interesting Topic. Well Ive got a Galaxy, a Mars and a Milkyway, a starburst, we will soon be playing Moonopoly.


 Vote for Bunt

[Clevercat]

Anyone here tend to buy organic? Or are you not convinced?

SALES of organic food have broken through the £1billion-a-year barrier for the first time.

So many people are taking to the chemical-free produce that it's leading to shortages, a new report shows.

Experts warn: "Sales have now experienced a dramatic slowdown - mainly caused by severe supply shortages."

In the last year more than 20million households bought organic - 1.6million for the first time.

But not all parts of the country are taking up the trend.

Nearly half of organic food is bought in London and the South of England.

Most people are likely to buy organic diary products, fruit and vegetables. But fresh meat, fish and poultry are becoming popular too.

[Clevercat]

These beautiful creatures are heading for extinction. 

Gorillas, orangutans, and corals are among the plants and animals which are sliding closer to extinction.

The Red List of Threatened Species for 2007 names habitat loss, hunting and climate change among the causes.

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has identified more than 16,000 species threatened with extinction, while prospects have brightened for only one.

The IUCN says there is a lack of political will to tackle the global erosion of nature.

Governments have pledged to stem the loss of species by 2010; but it does not appear to be happening.

   
The rate of biodiversity loss is increasing
Julia Marton-Lefevre
"This year's Red List shows that the invaluable efforts made so far to protect species are not enough," said the organisation's director-general, Julia Marton-Lefevre.

"The rate of biodiversity loss is increasing, and we need to act now to significantly reduce it and stave off this global extinction crisis."

One in three amphibians, one in four mammals, one in eight birds and 70% of plants so far assessed are believed to be at risk of extinction, with human alteration of their habitat the single biggest cause.

Critical list

The tone of this year's Red List is depressingly familiar. Of 41,415 species assessed, 16,306 are threatened with extinction to a greater or lesser degree.

   
RED LIST DEFINITIONS
Extinct - Surveys suggest last known individual has died
Critically Endangered - Extreme high risk of extinction - this some Critically Endangered species are also tagged Possibly Extinct
Endangered - Species at very high risk of extinction
Vulnerable - Species at high risk of extinction
Near Threatened - May soon move into above categories
Least Concern - Species is widespread and abundant
Data Deficient - not enough data to assess
The main changes from previous assessments include some of the natural world's iconic animals, such as the western lowland gorilla, which moves from the Endangered to the Critically Endangered category.

Numbers have declined by more than 60% over the last 20-25 years.

Forest clearance has allowed hunters access to previously inaccessible areas; and the Ebola virus has followed, wiping out one-third of the total gorilla population in protected areas, and up to 95% in some regions.

Ebola has moved through the western lowland gorilla's rangelands in western central Africa from the southwest to the northeast. If it continues its march, it will reach all the remaining populations within a decade.

The Sumatran orangutan was already Critically Endangered before this assessment, with numbers having fallen by 80% in the last 75 years.

But IUCN has identified new threats to the 7,300 individuals that remain. Forests are being cleared for palm oil plantations, and habitat is being split up by the building of new roads.

   
Governments know they are going to fail to reach that target
Jean-Christophe Vie
In Borneo, home to the second orangutan species, palm oil plantations have expanded 10-fold in a decade, and now take up 27,000 sq km of the island. Illegal logging reduces habitat still further, while another threat comes from hunting for food and the illegal international pet trade.

So fragmented have some parts of the Bornean forest become that some isolated orangutan populations now number less than 50 individuals, which IUCN notes are "apparently not viable in the long term".

Straight to zero

The great apes are perhaps the most charismatic creatures on this year's Red List, but the fact they are in trouble has been known for some years. Perhaps more surprising are some of the new additions.

"This is the first time we've assessed corals, and it's a bit worrying because some of them moved straight from being not assessed to being possibly extinct," said Jean-Christophe Vie, deputy head of IUCN's species programme.

Galapagos coral. Image: Cleveland P Hickman Jr
The first formal assessment of corals shows many are at risk
"We know that some species were there in years gone by, but now when we do the assessment they are not there. And corals are like the trees in the forest; they build the ecosystem for fish and other animals."

IUCN is now embarking on a complete assessment of coral species, and expects to find that about 30% to 40% are threatened.

The most glaring example of a waterborne creature failed by conservation efforts is probably the baiji, the Yangtze river dolphin, which is categorised as Critically Endangered, Possibly Extinct.

This freshwater species appears to have failed in its bid for survival against the destructive tides of fishing, shipping, pollution, and habitat change in its one native river. Chinese media reported a possible sighting earlier this year, but the IUCN is not convinced; with no confirmed evidence of a living baiji since 2002, they believe its time on Earth may well be over.

If so, it will have become a largely accidental victim of the various forces of human development. Not so the spectacular Banggai cardinalfish; a single decade of hunting for the aquarium trade has brought numbers down by an astonishing 90%.

   
Baiji. Image: Stephen Leatherwood

Last rites for river dolphin
Many African vultures are new entrants on this year's list. But birds provide the only notable success, with the colourful Mauritius echo parakeet making it back from Critically Endangered to Endangered.

Intensive conservation work has brought numbers up from about 50 to above 300.

But the gharial, a crocodilian found in the major rivers of India and Nepal, provides a cautionary tale of what can happen when conservation money and effort dry up.

A decade ago, a programme of re-introduction to the wild brought the adult population up from about 180 to nearer 430. Deemed a success, the programme was stopped; numbers are again hovering around 180, and the gharial finds itself once more on the Critically Endangered list.

Climate of distraction

IUCN says that it is not too late for many of these species; that they can be brought back from the brink.

It is something that the world's governments have committed to, vowing in the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity "to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level".

   
Female and infant mountain gorilla (Image: WildlifeDirect)

Conservation is not enough
"Governments know they are going to fail to reach that target," said Jean-Christophe Vie, "and not just in terms of a few species - the failure is really massive.

"We know that it is possible to reverse the trend, but the causes are so huge and massive and global, and there is still a lack of attention to the crisis that biodiversity faces."

Many in the environmental movement argue that too much money and attention has gone on climate change, with other issues such as biodiversity, clean water and desertification ignored at the political level.

IUCN's assessment is that climate change is important for many Red List species; but it is not the only threat, and not the most important threat.

There are conflicts between addressing the various issues, with biofuels perhaps being the obvious example. Useful they may turn out to be in reducing greenhouse gas emissions; but many conservationists are seriously concerned that the vast swathes of monoculture they will bring spell dire consequences for creatures such as the orangutan.

BBC