Green Options

Gordon Brown has recently announced plans that made even Greenpeace perform a ripple of applause.
£100bn investment (200bn USD) in renewable energy has been proposed meaning that thousands of wind turbines will be built.
The prime minister has described these plans as his “green revolution” and suggested it is to be the country’s largest energy initiative since nuclear power.

The phone went the other day. Nice chap at the other end – a press contact. And he thanked me for the coverage I’d given this story in the past. Very rare in this game.
It turns out that Lyme Bay – just an hour’s drive from here has had the victory we’d all hoped for.
One of the UK’s finest marine wildlife sites is set to be protected from damaging scallop-dredging, thanks to the introduction of a 60sq mile exclusion zone.
Paul Gompertz, Devon Wildlife Trust’s director, said: “This is one small step for marine but one giant leap for marine-kind. It finally acknowledges that our seas need vital life-support systems like Lyme Bay reefs.
“It’s taken 18 years, hundreds of thousands of fundraised pounds, the energy and dedication of many people - and a host of setbacks and heartache along the way. But it has all been worth it - to see a new day dawn for the future of marine conservation in this country. The Government is to be congratulated on a bold step. Now we need to see the exclusions enforced.”

Note: this article is part of this week’s EcoWorldly cycling series: Cycling and its importance in countries around the world.
Slimy
Actions speak louder than words. I can write no more scathing an attack on the leader of the opposition than he can achieve merely by being him. So it was that the man who instinctively knows where the camera is cycled to work whilst his chauffer followed just out of site driving a pair of shoes.
Fatuous, slimy, ultimately laughable. A joy to read. Silly boy.
So, now we’ve got that out of the way, let’s ponder on cycling here in the UK.

I’m quite the dreadful snob when it comes to the consumption of alcohol. Whereas the less intellectual types may sit on verandas, sipping red wine, discussing Voltaire, I’m indoors, crate of cheap lager at my side, football on the telly.

Whereas they may swill the grape juice, inhale the aroma and swoon over the subtleties cascading o’er the taste buds, I’m already on my third can and the match yet to start.

But my, how I jolted when I came across a story suggesting that English vineyards may, in decades to come, suffer because our summers are set to become too hot.

I found it interesting – in a report published by the BBC – that the scientist who originally coined the phrase “global warming” is backing a radical solution to stem further damage to the planet caused by CO2.

Speaking at the Hay Literary Festival in Powys, Wales, Wallace Broecker suggests the way forward must surely lie with the construction of millions of “carbon scrubbers.”

These carbon scrubbers would be giant artificial trees that would pull CO2 from the atmosphere via a specially designed plastic and the gas would either be liquefied under pressure to be pumped underground or converted to mineral.

It’s a very basic question.

What is a green option?

A green option is a solution that prevents the emission of CO2 into the Earth’s atmosphere until carbon levels are back to something approaching pre-Industrial Revolution levels.

A less selfish approach to life, one that turns the Tragedy of the Commons on its head, a solution that thinks about the future, a solution that respects the global community of humans and all other species and the very basic right to life.

A solution that [...]

I remember vividly the sight of my dad running for cover, making slow groaning sounds, thrashing wildly at the air like some madman from a B-movie.

I was a mere toddler, blanket in one hand, thumb in mouth (think Linus) - wondering what all the fuss was about.

It was dusk and the bats were out, darting this way and that, catching insects as the summer’s sun slid from view, leaving that beautiful blue light before darkness descends.

I shrugged in an awfully precocious manner, looked at mummy, then turned my eyes back to the bats.

And today, Defra (the UK’s Department for Environment, Food And Rural Affairs) have announced that bats are to be used to help measure the biodiversity of the UK.

SAS flies slower to save fuel and lower carbon emissions.
Well, when I read this headline, conflicting views sprang to mind.

Firstly of course, being an Englishman with no sense of irony, I immediately leapt to my feet and saluted my queen and her armed forces.

Then I faltered slightly, and thought, if a crack team of SAS marines were being air dropped into some war-torn despotic state, surely, speed is of the essence, to ensure that the paras can be in and out again with time for a cup of tea a mere hours later.

Bournemouth, UK, is often mocked by many of the British for the average age of its citizens. In short, a seaside resort where many go to die. Jack Dee once quipped that the shop windows are all fitted with bi-focals to allow passers-by to ascertain what lies within.

But the citizens, it seems, are having the last laugh as it has been reported this week that the town is to be the first in the UK to make use of the sewer system in a whole new way.

The strength of nature is something never to be forgotten. I watch this clip, the only distraction apes talking, diesel engines revving.

I know now why I write for Green Options. Hope and the lessening of fumes, just nature being nature.

All is resolved. Hierarchy restored. Me the observer of something more. Something to be treasured.