So you thought golfing was all about the great outdoors and getting back to nature? Well, apparently in the past, the management of golf courses has been environmentally questionable, with many using harsh chemical pesticides and disregarding the areas’ natural inhabitants.
Now, with the support of the RSPB the ‘roughs’ i.e. less cultivated areas, are now back to being a haven for wildlife. In Britain alone, there are more than 140,000 hectares of rough and out-of-bounds areas on golf courses, this is indisputability a huge area to abuse.
Now European Union laws prevent the use of damaging pesticides and encourage the green-keepers to use environmentally-friendly chemicals instead. As a result many courses are now enjoying an increase in wildlife. Crane Valley in Dorset for example, works with Natural England to ensure it remains a natural habitat for wildlife and is now benefitting from the presence of two sets of nesting buzzards. Another club, the prestigious Remedy Oak, also in Dorset, has recently reported an upturn in the quantity and variety of birds on its courses.
Wasn’t it Mark Twain who said ‘Golf, is a good walk spoiled’? – well, maybe not so any more…
The Japanese have invented an intriguing new ‘eco toy’ designed to save a vast quantity of water each hour, day, week, year and so forth.
They have designed something called the ‘Eco-Princess’ line, which provides keyrings and other accessories that make the sound of a flushing loo! Bewildered? Let me explain.
If you have ever visited Japan you will know, well if you are a woman that is, that the gentile women-folk of Nippon do not like to be overheard when going to the loo in public, so it is their habit to flush the loo, during and then again, after. This obviously is a huge waste of water. Some upmarket establishments have installed a little device on the walls of the loo which you can press and it plays a flushing sound! So now, joy of joys the less well-healed can bring along their own.
So, if you are stuck for the ideal Christmas present for the woman who has everything, here is the answer!
Every year we produce a staggering amount of waste at Christmas, it is estimated that for every tonne of waste produced in our homes, five tonnes has been produced in the manufacturing process and ten tonnes at the point where the raw material was extracted. With a little thought, care and effort we can cut that down.
Here are a few ideas:
• Avoid presents and food that is over packaged
• Buy drinks in large recyclable containers – one large bottle results in less waste than a lot of small ones and is generally more economical
• Use recyclable bags or reuse plastic bags when shopping
• Avoid using plastic or paper plates when entertaining
• Buy durable gifts so they don’t end up as discarded rubbish
• Buy recycled products such as; glass, tableware, photo frames and ornaments
• Consider buying presents that are environmentally friendly or produced in a sustainable way
• Choose hardy decorations that won’t break, so can be used year in, year out
• Wish friends and family ‘Happy Christmas’ electronically rather than sending cards
• Use recyclable wrapping paper
• After Christmas recycle cards, paper and your tree – municipal sites generally use old trees for chipping and compost, but probably best to check first.
The UN Climate Change Conference was always going to be controversial and yesterdays disturbances have certainly come as no surprise. With news of demonstrators arrested and cars set on fire we can be forgiven for thinking things of already gotten out of hand. However, when reports confirm that one man was hurt by a stone and another injured by a firework you can’t help feeling that there’s more damage done on an average Friday night out. Therefore, nearly 1,000 arrests under contentious anti-hooligan laws seem somewhat excessive.
With tens of thousands of peaceful demonstrators flooding into Copenhagen, it can clearly only be a highly impassioned, more violent minority who are causing the trouble. Obviously this can’t be helping, but then people do feel incredibly strongly on this issue and with so much riding on Copenhagen it’s understandable that frustration levels are risings.
There seems to be mixed reactions to yesterday’s events with many people feeling that all the fuss in the news is purely a distraction from the real issues. There is also a school of thought that far more harmful to the climate struggle than the demonstrators, are secret closed door negotiations and the false hope the conference is giving, especially given the high profile delegates, without any actual definitive action agreed upon as yet. The conference continues until next Friday 18th December.
Is it only me, or is it massively suspicious that this week, of all weeks we hear that the validity of 160 years worth of Met Office temperature data is under question?
Apparently, we are led to believe, that this controversy was started due to leaked emails. It appears that it will take 3 years for the re-examination of the findings, so only by 2012 will the information have any perceivable credibility. The Met Office database is one of three main sources used by the UN to analyze climate change and was to be the foundation of the talks in Copenhagen this week
The timing plays straight into the hands of countries such as America and Australia, who are concerned that unrealistic CO2 emission cuts will be introduced at the summit.
What could be more environmentally friendly than renting a Christmas tree? Yes, I know just leaving it in its natural habitat and buying a recyclable fake one! But many of us insist on sticking with tradition and having a real tree over the festive period.
Well, if that sounds like you, Christmas Tree Man could be the answer to your prayers. The tree of your choice is delivered to your door (oh, joy!) in its own pot, where it will stay over the holidays. When you have finished with it, it will be collected (even deeper joy!) and returned to its rightful place in the ground.
If you are a real stickler for tradition, you can even have your own tree labelled and reserved for your use every year, that is until, it gets too big for your home.
With the Copenhagen Summit kicking off today, it has been reported that many people do not accept that global warming exists and that if it does, that we have no part in it.
Hard to believe I know, especially when the evidence is so clear – greenhouse gasses cause climate change, Fact. As the ice melts in parts of Antarctica, sea levels are anticipated to rise by 1.4 m by the end of the century, which could be disastrous for many countries. Climate change is a very real phenomenon; as greenhouse gasses go up, so the temperature increases.
And yet, there are still non-believers! Following a recent opinion poll, it seems members of the public feel the following: that the science is too confusing, that it doesn’t affect them personally; that there is no urgency and it is not an important priority. Some even view it as a costly over-reaction.
What also appears to be a major factor in the public not facing the hard reality of global warming is that the message is frequently conveyed by politicians, which immediately gives rise to scepticism. So, why after all the eye wash we are fed by politicians, is this the one thing we choose to question? Somebody please answer me that!
It’s taken 30 years, but now it would seem that the English otter is making a comeback! Agricultural pesticides were responsible for their diminishing numbers, but there have been sightings in various parts of the country, particularly in Dorset, with all of the county’s rivers housing otter colonies.
Between the 1950’s and 1980’s agricultural pesticides leaked into the rivers and streams blinding the otters and damaging their immune systems. In addition to this, the chemicals also poisoned the fish the mammals fed on.
Thankfully, due to the combination of conservationists, farmers and water companies, the otter’s luck has changed. There is now a 15m protection zone between agricultural land and the waterways, where the farmers cannot spray pesticides. Consequently, the rivers have improved dramatically, plants grow again, insects flourish and this creates a healthy ecological state for everything else to grow and develop.
With healthier waterways, a ban on otter hunting and the pesticide exclusion zone, the otters are now happily regaining their original habitats. However, there is one disgruntled party; the fishermen – they claim the mammals are stealing their fish and therefore threatening their livelihood. Well, probably true, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time!
