If you’re looking for some rare good news, even if it’s only small and symbolic, before the climate change talks in Durban this week, I’ll offer you this. I stood outside a Tesco Extra hypermarket in Swansea last weekend while on a visit to Wales, waiting for my wife to do some quick shopping. After… Continue reading
Browsing Category Environment Blog
Fuel price crisis. Do you actually need that second car?
BBC Radio 5’s drivetime programme this morning lead on the e-petition to the government calling on the duty on petrol and diesel to be pegged. However, there was no discussion on several key issues. One of the interviewees in the “Vox pop” slot said it cost her about £100 to fill her car, which she… Continue reading →
Seattle building bids to be greenest in world
Not too far in the future we will look back at a certain building which was the first to successfully address, in its vision, construction and operation, one of the imperatives of the 21st-century. It would be so unambiguously planet-friendly that when we see it we will know at once that this is the model,… Continue reading →
Regions go it alone as Govt dithers on green growth
With the government rowing back on green growth – Chancellor George Osborne’s speech to the 2011 Conservative party conference, when he voiced his scepticism abaout green industries‘ ability to boost economic recovery – does it make more sense to look for sustainability progress in our cities and regions? This, after all, is what is… Continue reading →
Time to bin the plastic bag – Wales shows a lead
Is Britain turning into the land of the ban? And shouldn’t we applaud? Admittedly only quite modest things being stopped so far. We’re not moving towards (heaven forbid) banning the bomb, or outlawing Co2, or even the burka. However these small prohibitions do represent interesting initiatives for an essentially liberal and tolerant society. The next… Continue reading →
Greece embraces solar power – could Turkey follow?
It was easy to describe the weather on our recent break in Turkey. The sun shone powerfully throughout the day, every day, without a break, for two weeks. Friends and family who just endured a particularly grim August in the UK gave me a pained look and quickly change the subject. A first-time visitor to… Continue reading →