Green Options

I apologise profusely for having brought that advert to an international audience, but I had to. It’s cathartic to share.

I shudder at the voice-over to such an extent that I need to lie down in a darkened room afterwards and gnaw at my knuckles. Hideous snobbery. What were the creatives thinking?

But to M&S. Or Marks and Spencer, to give them their full title, a clothing and food store from here in the UK who in an announcement to the press state:

“Marks & Spencer is to roll-out a 5p charge for food carrier bags in all of its UK stores from the beginning of May to encourage customers to reduce the number of bags they use and to raise money for environmental projects.”

In a secret report,President Bush has been warned that rioting, nuclear war, rising seas that will sink costal cities are just a few of the calamities the will befall earth in 20 years if global warming continues.The Observer says it has obtained a copy of the report, which was commissioned by Pentagon defense adviser Andrew Marshall.

The report, according to Jeremy Symons, a former EPA employee, was suppressed for four months by the White House. President Bush has been under increasing pressure to pay some attention to the apparent growing evidence that global warming is an almost immediate threat to humanity.

Here are some of the dire predictions in the report:

• Millions of lives will be lost in wars and natural disasters.
• Major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas.
• Britain’s climate will become “Siberian”.
• “Abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies”.
• “The threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism”
• “Warfare would define human life”
• Widespread flooding of coastal areas of the United States would create a major upheaval for millions.

Not a very pleasant look at the future.

This is the third and final segment of our interview with Robert Loux, Director of the agency for Nuclear Projects in Nevada.

In our previous podcasts, Yucca Mountain: The Nevada Case Podcast, Part One, Mr. Loux talked about his agency, it’s mission and why the state is so critical of the DOE and it’s practices.

In the second presentation, Yucca Mountain: The Nevada Cast Podcast, Part Two, he talks about the regulatory process and unsuitability of the mountain as a long-term repository for high-level nuclear waste.

Facebook can drive me bonkers at times.

As many commentators have remarked, how can one possibly benefit from being bought a virtual drink? An empty gesture.

No empty gestures on this page though.

Stop Global Warming

Picture courtesy of Flickr here.

A much needed boost to city landscapes here in the UK.

And perhaps boots up the backsides of local authorities who thought citizens such as me were unaware of what was going on.

And beginning to disappear.

I don’t personally think that a city environment is a natural environment for an ape species. I don’t think any of us do.

We adapt. But we still need to see greenery.

Paul Hawken"Something earth-changing is afoot among civil society, a significant social movement is eluding the radar of mainstream culture." That's the uplifting and optimistic prelude to comments made by environmentalist and author Paul Hawken in his new book Blessed Unrest, and in an article for Orion Magazine. I was inspired by his thoughts, and wanted to share them.