February 16, 2006
Scotland recycles 25 percent
According to the Friends of the Earth, Scotland now recycles 25% of its waste - better than it was, but not very impressive by international standards.
In East Lothian we achieved 30% in the third quarter of 2005. Here in Haddington, tins, glass and paper can be recycled via Tesco supermarket dumps in the centre of the town. However, as far as I know, there is no way to recycle plastics or (hazardous) batteries. (Edinburgh is similar, except I’ve never seen paper dumps there.)
When we lived in the Stirling District area (38% recycling rate), the council had a blue box collection scheme. This was good though in practice they rejected a lot of plastic that didn’t suit them. I don’t know whether there are any public composting schemes in Scotland for people who don’t have gardens.
By comparison, San Francisco committed itself to a ‘zero waste’ policy in 2002 and has now achieved a recycling rate of 67%, on course for 75% by 2010. They have a three container system dividing the rubbish into a green bin (food and garden waste which is composted), a black bin (general rubbish), and a blue bin (plastic, glass, and paper which are separated and processed by machine).
www.foe-scotland.org.uk/press/pr20060203.html
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/documentary_archive/4499218.stm
Posted by Simon Holledge at 07:30 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 20, 2005
Delete! in Vienna
Neubaugasse in Vienna
Photo: Rainer Dempf
Imagine the city with all the advertizing and signs removed! That’s what they are doing right now in one street in Vienna. The project is called Delete!
Christoph Steinbrener and Rainer Dempf are covering every sign and advert in Vienna’s Neubaugasse with yellow plastic/paper. It started on 6 June and will last until 20 June.
Maybe someone should invite them to the Edinburgh Festival? I rather like the idea of Princes Street with all the signs covered up in dark blue.
Neubaugasse
Photo: Rainer Dempf
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:26 AM | Comments (2)
June 11, 2005
Future Forests
Future Forests is a company dedicated to climate protection. They have made it their business to provide information about the carbon dioxide emissions we cause, as individuals and as companies, and suggest ways in which we can reduce and ‘neutralize’ those emissions through technology and (more usually) tree planting.
From their website, you can estimate your emissions and take appropriate action. For example, I am told that if I drive 12,000 miles a year in a 1.4 litre car this will produce 3.36 tonnes of CO2 a year, which can be offset by planting five trees. (If I wish I can buy the trees online and choose where they will be planted. Two of the locations are in Scotland.)
You can also check flight emissions. If I fly from Edinburgh, via Amsterdam, to Tokyo return, my emissions will be 2.2 tonnes of CO2, which can be offset by either three trees (or by buying three energy-saving light bulbs for a third world community). (These calculations are offered in association with the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management (ECCM), now part of the larger ESD group, and based on official DEFRA figures.)
Although simply switching your electricity to a green supplier is probably a simpler and more effective first step in taking responsibility for your impact on the environment, the ideas put forward by Future Forests are well worth considering.
www.futureforests.com/calculators/flightcalculatorshop.asp
www.defra.gov.uk/environment/envrp/gas/05.htm
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:01 AM | TrackBack
March 18, 2005
Saving the rainforests
The Indonesian government have been asking for assistance in preventing illegal cutting and export of wood from their rainforests.
“The problem cannot be attacked from within the country, but from the market side. What we are asking from developed countries is twofold. One is to stop buying illegal timber from producer countries. The second is to help us in bringing back the systems in our country in such a way that the market and the law enforcement can be back to normal.” Agus Setyarso (Indonesian forestry expert at the Department for International Development) [I fell off my chair when I read they had an Indonesian forestry expert!]
Supported by Hilary Benn, the plan is to ask importing countries to insist on certification showing that wood has come from legal sources. If such a system could work for Indonesia, it might also be applied elsewhere.
www.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,13369,1438522,00.html?gusrc=rss
www.dfid.gov.uk/news/files/illegal-logging-g8.asp
UPDATE 19 March 2005
Hilary Benn has succeeded in getting an agreement from the G8 meeting on controls to stop illegal logging.
www.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,13369,1441359,00.html?gusrc=rss
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:00 AM | TrackBack
March 06, 2005
Local food is 'greener'
Environmental thinking is becoming more sophisticated as shown by these BBC and New Scientist reports on a paper in the journal Food Policy (published by Elsevier - not freely available on the net).
This suggests that we should consume local food (produced within 20 kilometres of where we live. Local food is ‘greener’ than organic food that has come from a distance, because of the environmental cost of road transport.
The problem with this is of course that our shops seldom provide information about where exactly in Britain the produce comes from. It certainly would be welcome.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4312591.stm
www.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg18524895.400
Posted by Simon Holledge at 11:27 PM | TrackBack
January 26, 2005
British pollution
According to a report being presented tomorrow at the World Economic Forum in Davos, our environmental performance is amongst the worst. Britain is criticized for ‘land degradation’, air pollution, and exporting pollution to other countries.
The 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) by Yale and Columbia universities is a broadly-based assessment measuring 21 types of pollution and related problems. Under their ranking, Britain is number 66 out of 146 countries. In Europe, it is number 16 out of 22.
It would be interesting to know more about how ‘land degradation’ is defined, and how it affects Scotland.
www.guardian.co.uk/waste/story/0,12188,1397838,00.html?gusrc=rss
Posted by Simon Holledge at 02:13 PM | TrackBack
January 18, 2005
Marine heritage
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) are concerned about the decline in the marine environment around Scotland’s coasts due to pollution, fishing and invasive non-native species.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4181981.stm
www.guardian.co.uk/fish/story/0,7369,1392599,00.html?gusrc=rss
www.wwf.org.uk/news/scotland/n_0000001439.asp
Posted by Simon Holledge at 10:54 PM | TrackBack
January 09, 2005
Recycling batteries?
Portable, consumer batteries, the type we use in cameras, clocks, mobile phones or whatever are classed as hazardous waste. We are supposed to recycle them, but how do you that in Scotland?
A few weeks ago I bought some new camera batteries in Boots In Edinburgh and asked if they would dispose of the old ones for me. They readily agreed and I asked them what they would do with them. “Oh, we put them in the rubbish!” was the answer! We also tried leaving batteries in our Stirling Council recycling box - but they wouldn’t collect them.
I am not sure about other countries, but in Japan electrical goods shops have designated battery recycling bins.
Posted by Simon Holledge at 05:40 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
October 21, 2004
TV-B-Gone
Someone has invented a small remote device for discreetly turning off televisions in public places. It flashes out a series of codes until it finds one that switches off the set. A special European model is apparently available.
www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,65392,00.html?tw=wnstorypage_prev2
Posted by Simon Holledge at 01:07 AM | TrackBack
October 13, 2004
Mobile phone jamming coming to France
Mobile phone jamming in public areas was legalized in France in December. In future, a concert hall or a cinema will be able to black out all calls during performances. Technical standards are now being worked out and jamming will probably be introduced next summer.
Jamming is illegal in the States, but it is being tested in Japan. In Britain the focus has been on controlling mobile phone use on trains and the London Underground. Maybe now is the time to follow France and allow public venues to jam at their discretion?
www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,51273,00.html
www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,18733-2,00.html?tw=wnstorypage_next1
www.wired.com/news/gizmos/0,1452,65378,00.html/wn_ascii
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:15 PM
September 20, 2004
Nova Scotia Genuine Progress Index (GPI)
An organization in Canada called GPI Atlantic has created a Genuine Progress Index (GPI),
This is “an alternative to the practice of equating progress with economic growth alone. The GPI links the economy with social and environmental variables to create a more comprehensive and accurate measurement tool. The GPI accounts for the value of human, social, and natural capital, in addition to standard measures of produced capital, and assigns value to assets like population health, educational attainment, community safety, voluntary work, and environmental quality. The Nova Scotia GPI consists of 22 social, economic and environmental components.”
GPI Atlantic have published some 50 reports on the economic costs of such things as tobacco, obesity, and crime. Of particular interest is an assessment of the ‘true’ cost of recycling. Nova Scotia is a world leader in this field, recycling about half of all its rubbish.
www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,64900,00.html?tw=wnstorypage_prev2
Posted by Simon Holledge at 11:32 PM
September 05, 2004
PCB cleanup
A Stanford team is testing a new method of removing PCB contamination from the San Francisco seashore using activated carbon mixed into the top layer of sediment. The team hopes the PCBs will bind to the carbon, making them less likely to accumulate in clams, fish and other wildlife. Relevant to Scotland?
www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,64832,00.html/wn_ascii
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:46 PM
August 22, 2004
From Ben Ledi to carbon sequestration
Last weekend we climbed Ben Ledi, a hill with great views, in the Trossachs. The slopes belong to the Forestry Commission Scotland's Queen Elizabeth Park and are forested to a height of about 300 to 400 metres (above sea level) largely with conifers, presumably Sitka Spruce. They are apparently still planting blocks of single species and 'clear cutting' large swathes across the hillsides when the trees mature.
According to Reforesting Scotland reforestingscotland.gn.apc.org/ 98 percent of Scotland's native woodland has been lost. Plans to restore it seem to be limited, the largest project that I know of is the Woodland Trust's Glen Finglas www.glen-finglas.info/ involving about 4,000 hectares.
Emphasis elsewhere seems to be on protecting the native species forests that still exist, including remnants of the ancient Caledonian forest in places like Glen Affric and Rothiemurchus www.rothiemurchus.net/ . These areas are extraordinary - the most beautiful woodlands I have seen outside the tropics - but they are limited in extent. In May we were in Glen Affric and adjacent Glen Cannich, and found the latter almost entirely bare of trees.
Curiously, the pro-native woodland groups like Reforesting Scotland and the Woodland Trust, while stressing ecology, bio-diversity and (quite properly) tourism, do not mention carbon sequestration.
Climate change is probably our greatest (political and any other) challenge. We may still have an imperfect knowledge of the processes involved, but global warming is accelerating alarmingly and we have to act. Reducing emissions is important, but so is removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, either by sinking it in the oceans, or by pumping it underground, or by absorbing it into the terrestrial biosphere, the land.
The denuded hills (not to mention the disused coal mines and emptying oil fields) of Scotland are of international significance. Are there any other places in Europe with such large areas of non-urban, non-agricultural, reforestable land?
Does the SNP have a policy on reforestation? I searched the SNP website and could not find one mention of carbon sequestration.
Disclaimer: All this is well outside my areas of expertise and I welcome corrections and comments!
Posted by Simon Holledge at 10:00 AM