Pete Smith @ April 21, 2008 # One Comment
Photo: zappers Plastic’s been getting a pretty bad press for quite a while now. Bloggers like my erstwhile colleague Matt over at The Coffee House (‘The Dead Zone – plastic fcuktastic‘) have been covering the problem comprehensively, and quite right too. There can’t be too many people left who aren’t at least aware that plastic [...]
Pete Smith @ March 28, 2008 # 2 Comments
This is the first of an occasional series in which Change Alley looks at the state of environmental debate at the grassroots. No deep analysis here, local opinion will be allowed to speak for itself for the most part, although it may prove hard to resist the odd comment or two in passing. The Western [...]
Pete Smith @ February 5, 2008 # No Comment Yet
It’s funny how words’ meanings can change over time. I was browsing idly through our bookshelves the other day, when I came across an interesting little volume called ‘The Survivalists’. Nothing to do with Jerry Ahern‘s interminable macho saga, Patrick Rivers’ 1975 book is a serious review of the ‘alternative’ environmental movement in the mid [...]
Pete Smith @ January 21, 2008 # 3 Comments
Tonight, The History Channel broadcasts a two-hour documentary special ‘Life After People’. The program speculates: “What would happen to planet earth if the human race were to suddenly disappear forever? Would ecosystems thrive? What remnants of our industrialized world would survive?” A mix of science fiction and science fact, using expert testimony from a range [...]
Pete Smith @ January 13, 2008 # 7 Comments
Channel 4′s food season ‘Big Food Fight’ is about to start its second week. I’ve deliberately avoided most of the programs so far, because I know a lot of this stuff already and frankly I just get upset by yet more gory details about factory farming. Great bloke though Hugh Fearlessly-Eatsitall seems to be, I [...]
Pete Smith @ January 9, 2008 # No Comment Yet
If you’re one of those people who’s prone to lightbulb moments, when a bright idea pops into your head when you least expect it, your time has come. NESTA, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, has launched the Big Green Challenge, a nationwide competition to come up with innovative ways of reducing [...]
Pete Smith @ January 6, 2008 # 3 Comments
A flyer in my weekend paper announces that Londoners are to be offered the chance to exchange two traditional light bulbs for two free energy efficient bulbs. From 11th-13th January, take your nasty old incandescent bulb along to any branch of B&Q and trade it in for a lovely new long-lasting, energy-efficient compact fluorescent lightbulb [...]
Pete Smith @ December 24, 2007 # No Comment Yet
Wherever you look, you’ll read something about “How To Have A Greener Christmas”. Helpful suggestions such as reducing packaging, buying locally and using low energy tree lights are really just the usual anti-climate change propaganda dressed up with a sprig of holly and some tinsel. Valid though these seasonal hints and tips may be, they’re [...]
Pete Smith @ November 28, 2007 # No Comment Yet
The environmental propaganda machine continues to rumble forward on ‘The Archers’, BBC Radio 4′s venerable soap opera and green information channel. Tuesday’s episode featured an earnest discussion of anaerobic digesters on farms, turning animal muck into methane and generating electricity for sale back to the grid. According to jet-setting career agriculturist Debbie Aldridge, calling home [...]
Pete Smith @ November 26, 2007 # 2 Comments
Photo: ‘Kivalina Sunrise’ by Vision Aerie An island in a moonlit sea. A thin sliver of sand 6 miles long, under pressure from rising seas and erosion. A place with no future, named in an IPCC report as an example of the costs of relocating coastal communities. An indigenous community of 400 who desperately want [...]
