The floods we've seen this week in the UK are on nothing like the scale of disasters like Hurricane Katrina and other catastrophic weather events that are happening more often worldwide, but being used to a mild climate, it's shaken many people into asking some serious questions about climate change.
Last night between 9 and 10pm, Lights out London saw several landmarks, institutions and individuals switch out their lights and other non-essential appliances for an hour, in a symbolic stance against climate change. Iconic London landmarks like the Houses of Parliament and Piccadilly Circus's huge advertising hoardings were plunged into an eerie darkness, and even the Queen joined in, ensuring that Buckingham Palace was as darks is it was during the blitz.
The campaign appears to have been a big success, as an estimated 2 million light bulbs went out around the capital, saving roughly 750 MWh of electricity in just one hour – enough to run 3,000 televisions for a year. Many others, around the country and worldwide also showed solidarity by taking part, despite a warning from the National Grid not to try and stage nationwide blackouts for fear of causing a power outage with the surge resulting from too many appliances being switched back on at once. But did Hippyshoppers let the side down? Let me know if you swtitched off last night in our poll!
Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth went head-to-head with the UK's pilots this week, with the result for most of us being a great deal of confusion about whether or not we can help the environment by choosing not to fly where possible.
As someone who's just booked a train journey to Spain - a journey I intend to document here - this is a subject very close to my heart. I was shocked by the difference in cost, finding that rail travel is many times more expensive than the flying option than one would imagine. It seems to me that without a financial incentive to travel by train, and now a lot of counter arguments that confuse the argument further, not many travellers are likely to make the switch. So in the midst of all the disagreement, I'd really like to know what you think:
Imagine for a moment you're in your local store in the fruit aisle, and wanting to buy a bunch of bananas. There are two options: fairtrade or organic. They are the same price. Which are you most inclined to go for? It's a hypothetical question that rarely happens in reality, but the results could reveal some interesting truths about our shopping habits.
Carbon offsetting has received a lot of criticism recently as a convenient excuse for jet-setters to go on polluting the planet, but a sizeable contingent still swear by it as a realistic means of making our lifestyles greener. It really seems the jury's out on this one, so what do you think?
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Last night between 9 and 10pm, 
Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth went head-to-head with the UK's pilots this week, with the result for most of us being a great deal of confusion about whether or not we can help the environment by choosing not to fly where possible. 
