Columns & Opinion
As cities, towns and islands across the UK phase out plastic bags, Gareth Kane asks if this is the start of something bigger.
Today is recycling day chez Kane, but when I went to the big box of carrier bags under the sink to protect the newspapers from the rain, the cupboard was bare. Cue mad dash around the house trying to prise bags from all their favourite illicit hidey-holes before the big blue truck arrived (there are few more depressing feelings than having to bring your recycling back in again). Maybe, I thought as I pounded the stairs for the fifth time, the plastic bag is truly an endangered species.
The refusal of the UK Government to put an Irish-style tax on single use carrier bags has long been a complaint of the environmental movement, but, according to the Guardian, citizens across the country are taking matters into their own hands. The Devonshire town of Modbury was famously the first to phase out carriers with a voluntary agreement among shopkeepers, followed by the 'bag ladies' of Hebden Bridge. Now everyone from London to the smallest hamlet seem to be getting in on the act. Mull, Arran and Guernsey are racing to be the first plastic bag-free island in the world.
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Yay or Nay
We first mentioned it back in February, but the debate on whether a ban should be placed on imported organic food hit the headlines again yesterday with Trade Minister - Gareth Thomas - saying it would be "disastrous" for thousands of farmers. He was speaking at a London seminar organised to discuss the proposed removal of Soil Association certification on organic food which was been flown in. This follows growing concern from consumers about the impact it has on climate change. The options up for discussion are no action, labelling, or the phasing in of a ban. The idea of an outright ban has also been criticised by the International Trade Centre - a UN and WTO agency- as it would financially affect farmers and exporters in third world countries.
[via The Guardian]
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Columns & Opinion
Given that stand-by switches and plastic bags are responsible for a very small part of our carbon footprint, Gareth Kane considers whether eco-living hints are worth the paper they're written on.
There's been an interesting debate in the Guardian this week about all the little hints and tips the media gives out whenever climate change is discussed. George Marshall, director of projects at the Climate Outreach and Information Network, derides the hints and tips brigade for understating the scale of change required ("unplug your phone charger and save the planet"). The Grauniad's own Bibi van Der Zee reposts that "these actions don't acheive [sic - it is the Guardian after all] much themselves: isn't the effect of taking them what we should be after?"
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Columns & Opinion
With the Lib Dems and Tories publishing radical green policies, Gareth Kane wonders whether Gordon might pull something out of the bag.
If you're a political trainspotter, then September is your month with all three main political parties holding their annual jamborees around the country. This year has added frisson with continuing speculation on whether Gordon Brown will call a snap General Election this autumn, maybe even as Dave Cameron is addressing the Tory party faithful.
From an eco- point of view this year is going to be more interesting than most with the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives slugging it out for the green-ish vote. The Lib Dems will be debating their proposals to go carbon neutral by 2050 and the Tories publishing plans to ban standby switches and cutting stamp duty on energy efficient homes. This is do-or-die stuff - the Tories need beat the Lib Dems in the South to beat Labour across the country. The green agenda is a traditional Lib Dem fortress, so they'll be determined to beat off the blue/green threat.
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Columns & Opinion
With continuing debate over whether on-line shopping is good or bad for the environment, Gareth Kane tries to make some sense of conflicting evidence and opinions.
This month, the ENDS report is accusing the Interactive Media in Retail Group of 'dodgy green claims' for claiming that online buying reduces the environmental impact of shopping without being able to supply supporting evidence. It looks as if Internet shopping looks like another area where the "is it or isn't it good for the environment" debate will rage ad infinitum (cf carbon offsetting, biofuels, real nappies etc, etc).
In his book Heat
, uber-green George Monbiot holds up internet shopping as a potential climate saviour, calculating from DTI data that every delivery van will take three private cars off the roads. But a recent Times article reckons this might not be happening in practice, with the increase in emissions from vans exceeding the reduction in emissions from cars.
The answer to this difference in opinion may come from internet marketing expert Graham Jones who was told unofficially that a whopping 80% of home deliveries fail. This leads to a constant flow of delivery vans trying to catch customers in, failing and taking the parcel back to the depot, taking it out again etc. I'm sure you have plenty anecdotal evidence of your own for this, so I won't bore you with my own tales of frustration (although getting my White Stripes tickets off Ticketmaster was a particular ordeal - they're tickets, post'em!).
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Columns & Opinion
Following reports that most of us exaggerate our commitment to the environment, Gareth Kane asks if when it’s OK to sex up your green performance.
There has been much press coverage of the Norwich Union survey last week which suggested that 9 out of 10 of us tell ‘little green lies’ to exaggerate our commitment to the environment, compared with just 50% of us actually willing to change our lifestyles. To be honest I think we should treat this survey as the classic silly season ‘advertorial’ research it undoubtedly is, but it does shed some light on the difference between talking the talk and walking the walk.
Despite it being pretty much their full time job, politicians keep forgetting the need to back up words with action. When David Cameron took over the helm of the Tories he not only suffered from the jibes about his ‘shoe chauffeur’ following his cycle to work, but also had tabloid journalists literally muck raking – going through his bins to check what sort of nappies his kids used (‘eco-friendly’ disposables for the record). Tony Blair tried to grab the global climate change leadership role, despite the enormous carbon footprint of his three long haul holidays a year. Gordon Brown must have been taking note as he swapped his usual New England jaunt for the rather Older England of Dorset as soon as he took power this summer.
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Columns & Opinion
As the Government tries to squirm its way out of its renewables targets, Gareth Kane asks, if Latvia can do it, why can't we?
The Guardian has a big splash on the UK's renewables target today - and how it is likely to be missed by a mile. It appears that we're heading for 5% renewables by 2020, compared to the 20% European target that Tony Blair signed up to just this spring. This is not a big surprise as the Government has repeatedly signed up for headline grabbing commitments without a tangible plan to deliver them. And what has been brought forward has lacked oomph.
For example, the Low Carbon Buildings Programme provides subsidies for micro renewables and is meant to help you, the punter, get your hands on your own renewable energy. Unfortunately the scheme has been afflicted with all sorts of procedural problems and starved of cash. When I bought my solar hot water system at the start of this year, I didn't bother with the scheme as my preferred installer wasn't registered and at that time the grants were running out on the first day of every month. Grants were suddenly stopped in the Spring to sort these issues out. They have restarted but the total amount in the pot is still just 2.5% of the cash found recently to widen a section of the M6. And climate change is a priority?
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As cities, towns and islands across the UK phase out plastic bags, Gareth Kane asks if this is the start of something bigger.
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