Eco groups say they are ‘recycling’ empty buildings to save the planet. Welcome to the new face of recycling – squatting with a purpose.
This is a craze which is rapidly spreading all over the country, vacant buildings and unused land are being ‘rescued’ by squatters and turned into ecologically sustainable communities.
An example of this is The Spike in south London, an old Dept of Transport building; it was transformed by eco warriors and artists from a crack den into a community centre, with a well-being clinic and yoga classes. Another community have set up at Kew Bridge; it has 15 full-time residents who live on produce or food found on ‘skip-runs’; sound systems, drink and drugs are banned as they alienate people.
Although these groups attract the stereotypical squatter they are also joined by graduates, activists and young professionals. As a result they are well informed on their rights and manage to research their next locations via tip-offs on Google Earth. The groups are insistent that they only ever intend to make use of the property or land while it is vacant and not prevent any development projects.
Is this an acceptable way to beat the housing crisis and/or the credit crunch?
Following recent media coverage, many of us are now aware that the bee population is diminishing at an alarming rate.
We need our bees! The pollination of our plants is a crucial part of our environment, without this service UK agriculture will undoubtedly suffer. In fact there is a figure that represents the financial worth of these insects – £12.4 billion a year!
The cause of the problem is a nicotine based pesticide called neonicotinoid. It is seed/soil based chemical, it is coated rather than sprayed and does indeed serve its purpose. However, once the bees, when going about their daily business, come into contact with it the problems start.
Neonicotinoid does not actually kill the bees, which is why its use is justified, it stresses them to such a degree that it effects their reproduction and so eventually their colonies start collapse.
Although this synthetic pesticide is not targeted at the bee, its ongoing damage is apparent. Should that not be enough reason to start looking for an alternative?
The Northeast Passage has been notorious amongst seafarers over the centuries. For 500 years this perilous sea-lane has proven impassable due to its heavy ice floes, even taking the lives of some those who were brave enough to attempt it.
Two German cargo ships; MV Beluga Fraternity and MV Beluga Foresight are the first merchant vessels to successfully cross this gruelling stretch of water. It has taken them two months to complete, setting off from Ulsan, South Korea, via the Northeast Passage to Siberia and finally on to their destination of Rotterdam.
This previously impassable course has now become possible due to an unprecedented ice-melt. Scientists report that the Arctic Ocean ice cap has been shrinking to unexpected levels in recent summers, because of global warming, opening up many passages that were ice-choked in earlier times.
In July, new NASA satellite measurements showed that sea ice in the Arctic was not just shrinking, but thinning dramatically. The Arctic is turning into a blue ocean.
Climate change activists, such as: Camp for Climate Action, Plane Stupid, Climate Rush, Rising Tide and others have joined forces and as the result of an on-line public vote, have organised a mega pubic get together to close one of the UK’s biggest coal fired power stations: E.ON’s Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottingham
In the run up to Copenhagen, there is a mounting feeling of tension, which is spilling over into impressive calls for action. Growing numbers of people are feeling that it’s time to take action into their own hands as they become increasingly frustrated not to mention embarrassed by the extreme level of foot dragging going on in the UK over climate change – namely by the government and leading corporations.
The Great Climate Swoop openly recognizes the vital role coal has played in our nation’s past, however now it is time to take responsibility for our future. Burning coal is now the biggest single source of carbon emissions in the UK.
Although Drax is Europe’s biggest coal power station, and the UK’s largest source of carbon emissions, with a nod to the reality TV voting systems, the power station selected by thousands of interested parties for ‘Direct Action’ is Ratcliffe-on-Soar – the UK’s 3rd largest source of carbon emissions, with plans to build a controversial new coal plant at Kingsnorth.
The ‘Great Climate Swoop’ is planned for 17th and 18th October and will operate on the same basis as the G20 camp, which was deemed massively successful due to the fact that the protestors managed to set up camp completely avoiding police surveillance!
Our population is increasing and our death rate decreasing, can the country cope? Britain’s birth-rate is an environmental disaster waiting to happen, warns The Optimum Population Trust. They believe that the government should follow the lead of China and Iran and encourage families to restrict themselves to two children or less.
‘Each new UK birth, through the inevitable resource consumption and pollution that UK affluence generates, is responsible for about 160 times as much climate-related environmental damage as a new birth in Ethiopia, or 35 times as much as a new birth in Bangladesh,’ says the report. ‘A voluntary stop-at-two guideline should be adopted for couples in the UK who want to adopt greener lifestyles. It would aim to set an example.’
It is an undenialable truth that the UK population has quadrupled since the 1970’s, and growth at this rate is going have a huge impact on housing, energy and power supplies, reservoirs, schools, hospitals, transport, shops, waste disposal, prisons – the waste and emissions from these being potentially catastrophic!
Human rights, freedom of choice, democracy – has anyone the right to dictate the size of our families? But what is a sustainable level and at what point if any, should population growth stop or be controlled due to environmental factors?
Billionaire, eco-warrior David de Rothschild has built a catamaran out of re-used plastic and re-cycled waste. He plans to sail ‘Plastiki’ from San Francisco to Sydney via the ‘Great Garbage Patch’.
The purpose of his journey, scheduled for late summer, is to highlight the floating plastic of the North Pacific Gyre; the enormous ‘garbage patch’ caught up in the swirling currents of the Pacific Ocean and which is now believed to have grown to the size of France or Texas. This pollution is now devastating populations of seabirds and fish that live in the area.
“The plastic water bottle epitomises everything about this throwaway, disposable society,” says de Rothschild, who originally trained to be a showjumper and who has trekked to both the north and south poles. However, he added that he is not aiming to demonise plastic, but is trying to show its alternative uses, as well as focusing global attention on the dangers posed to the ecology in regions such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
During his trip, which is being sponsored by The International Watch Company and Hewlett-Packard, de Rothschild will collect water samples and post blogs, photographs and video clips of the area, in an attempt to publicise the perils of plastic pollution.
Thursday 20th August 2009 saw Bournemouth and Poole attempt a ‘Fantastic Fireworks’ event to break the world record for setting off the largest number of fireworks simultaneously. At 9.30pm off the coast of Sandbanks 110,000 fireworks were ignited in less than 60 seconds. The record was indeed broken, but the display proved to be a bitter disappointment for the crowds as they one huge explosion was over in seconds and the beauty and spectacle was completely lost.
To make matters worse it now appears that the environmental effects of the event have been considerably detrimental as hundreds of rockets, comprising of plastic pellets and wooden sticks, continue to wash ashore.
The organisers had implied that the pellets would be made of biodegradable cardboard, but in fact they were plastic. Conservationists at Hengistbury Head picked up 600 of these pellets in one hour! At least the ones that wash ashore can be collected and disposed of; unfortunately the others will have floated out to sea posing a risk to marine life.
Plastic waste has always caused a problem on UK beaches as it never completely degrades and research has shown that small marine animals ingest tiny pieces of plastic and these toxins are passed up the food chain.
All of this has to beg the question: ‘was it really worth it?’
Vestas is considered to be number 1 in modern energy, with 20% of market share and more than 38,000 wind turbines worldwide. So why did our government allow the closure of Vestas in the Isle of Wight, our only UK turbine manufacturer? What happened to their ‘green promise’ that supported the installation of 10,000 wind turbines in the UK by 2020?
To add insult to injury the government managed to find £340m to bail out Airbus, the company who likes to promote itself as an ‘environmentally benign organisation’. Currently Airbus are advertising their plan to cut fuel emissions by 2%.
2% in a rapidly growing industry, about to be responsible for potentially catastrophic fuel emissions is of what use exactly? In addition to this and very interestingly, Airbus’s Chief Executive claimed a government bail-out was not necessary and what was actually required was a ‘functioning financial system’ to be set in place.
This is brilliant! Finally an environmental grassroots movement that gets everyone involved, engaged and empowered to actually do something, no matter how small, to effect climate change and make a difference. Finally a reasonable time scale, not some distant date 10:10 and finally, some Action!
It’s a shame that the people are having to lead the government by the nose on an issue as critical as climate change, especially when they are supposed to have our best interests at heart, but perhaps I am being naive. Ken Livingstone phrased it neatly when he reflected that many of the Labour party “are afraid of losing a Daily Mail reader in Chipping Sodbury.”
10:10 is all about individuals and institutions making a difference by making a personal vow to cut carbon emissions by 10% in 2010, be it turning down the heating, eating less mass produced meat, using the car less and the bike more, whatever it takes. I personally take my hat off to Franny Armstrong and everyone involved in getting this campaign off the ground.
Join up now and add your voice to the thousands calling for change!
