World's first round-the-clock solar power plant (Gemasolar - a 15 megawatt solar power tower plant in Spain)

Eventually the plant will be able to supply 24hrs of uninterrupted production per day on most summer days, providing a higher annual capacity factor than most baseload plants such as nuclear power plants.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/picture/2011/aug/19/gemasolar-parabolic-power-plant-spain

http://www.torresolenergy.com/TORRESOL/NewsTS/gemasolar-solar-power-plant-reaches-24-hours-of-uninterrupted-production

Some interesting links / resources on obtaining changes to green behaviour

http://greenlivingblog.org.uk/2011/08/02/top-10-green-behaviour-change-resources/

GENI : Global Energy Network Institute

Interesting organisation promoting the interconnection of electric power networks between nations and continents (with accent on renewable energies).
http://www.geni.org/index.html

Also another great site on Environment,Ecology, Nature, Habitat, Gaia, Permaculture... (great links and ressources).
http://www.environment.gen.tr

Is the global economy a Ponzi (pyramid) scheme?

Great article comparing the global economy to a pyramid scheme - whereby people become richer in a very unsustainable manner by depleting natural resources and destabilising the climate and ecosystems :
http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2009/03/08/203784/ponzi-scheme-madoff-friedman-natural-capital-renewable-resources/


See also :
http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/06/08/240372/tom-friedman-the-great-disruption/
a discussion / review of the book "The Great Disruption" by Paul Gilding



Will have to get round to reading it.

Garbage Warrior

Will have to try and see this film sometime :
http://www.garbagewarrior.com/
Anyone else seen it yet ?

More info on the earthship initiative (which dates back about 40 years) :
http://earthship.com/

You can also rent an existing one for a few days.
E.g. in France : http://web.me.com/gilliantrott/Site/Welcome.html

Ebook readers more environmentally friendly than paper books ?

Are ebook readers (such as Kindle, Sony e-reader...) more environmentally friendly than paper books ?
Apparently yes, according to a CleanTech life-cycle analysis report which indicates that, on average, the carbon emitted in the lifecycle of a Kindle is fully offset after the first year of use.
http://cleantech.com/news/4867/cleantech-group-finds-positive-envi
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10320334-54.html
http://gigaom.com/cleantech/why-the-kindle-is-good-for-the-planet/

The corruption is inherent in the system : Senate votes against eliminating $ 21 billion in taxpayer handouts for BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil,and Shell

Americans, your senators are not representing your interests, but those of big oil multinationals.

A Center for American Progress Action Fund analysis found that:

Each senator who voted for Big Oil [on May 17] received on average more than four times as much [money from oil interests] as those who voted to end the subsidies.

Despite the fact that around 3/4 of the population are against such subsidies (a recent Wall Street Journal poll found that 74 percent of voters support erasing oil company tax breaks).

See full article here : http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/lnawTU5lsjE/

Amazon vs other online bookshops

Amazon has the advantage of being cheap and reliable, but perhaps not the most ethical of companies...
http://www.word-power.co.uk/viewPlatform.php?id=580
This independent Scottish book shop - http://www.word-power.co.uk/ - has some interesting articles too :
http://www.word-power.co.uk/viewPlatform.php?id=583

I also sometime use :
http://www.pickabook.co.uk/ (free UK delivery for orders over £15)
or
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/?a_aid=ajcairns (UK) or http://www.bookdepository.com/?a_aid=ajjcairns (US) (free worldwide delivery to over 90 countries)
or ebay for 2nd hand books.

From a sustainable development point of view, your local library is the best bet. (Plus lending to / borrowing from friends).

Should we pay an EU carbon tax ?

The European Commission has proposed a carbon tax for 2013 (which certain EU member states such as Britain, Ireland, Luxembourg, Germany are set to veto) :
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-environment/britain-set-veto-eu-carbon-tax-plans-news-504022

It would require member states to tax fuel (for transport and heating) at a minimum of 20 euros / tonne (about 0.015 euros / litre of petrol).
It's a step in the right direction but international aviation and shipping are excluded.
Also this is the stick method, what about the carrot ? 

The idea of carbon quotas or being rewarded for using less fuel would be more effective (apparently in Germany individuals who reduce their gas-consumption below a  certain level can sell this amount on a carbon-trading market - based on Kyoto principles). See further explanation on : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_carbon_trading 


There is a carbon-credit-card experiment currently going on in Norfolk Island (Australia) : 
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/energy-smart/islanders-lead-world-on-personal-carbon-test-scheme-20101026-172ea.html
http://www.abeldanger.net/2010/10/oxford-university-experiment-personal.html

What do you think, should individuals pay a carbon tax / have a carbon-quota ?

CO2 reduction plan

Apparently big CO2 reductions can be made just by eating more vegetarian or majority-vegetable meals and less meat / fish.

See full report / action plan here : https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B8KxBZate_mAYTQ1MzYzZmYtOWI4Zi00Y2JmLWI3MDgtMTkzMzk4MTZjMGE5&hl=en&authkey=COScu40H

ADEME carbon calculator (Bilan Carbone)

Another carbon calculator (very well done by ADEME - in french) : http://www.coachcarbone.org/
Here are my results (individual and household) :

Pour en savoir plus, cliquez ici.

Great quotes from "Palestinian Walks" by Raja Shehadeh

Here are some great quotes from "Palestinian Walks" by Raja Shehadeh :

(describing Israel's attitude in colonising Palestine)
"Some noble objectives have to be realized whatever the human or environmental cost."

(on a more optimistic note, hoping in the long term that the situation in Palestine / Israel will improve, nature and it's beauty will eventually prevail)
"In 'Carmel Point' the poet Robinson Jeffers asks whether nature cares when 'the spoiler has come' and answers:

Not faintly. It has all time. It knows the people are a tide
That swells and in time will ebb, and all
Their works dissolve. Meanwhile the image of the pristine beauty
Lives in the very grain of the granite,
Safe as the endless ocean that climbs our cliff.-As for us:
We must uncenter our minds from ourselves;
We must unhumanize our views a little, and become confident
As the rock and ocean that we were made from."

The full poem is as follows :

'Carmel Point' by Robinson Jeffers

The extraordinary patience of things!
This beautiful place defaced with a crop of surburban houses-
How beautiful when we first beheld it,
Unbroken field of poppy and lupin walled with clean cliffs;
No intrusion but two or three horses pasturing,
Or a few milch cows rubbing their flanks on the outcrop rockheads-
Now the spoiler has come: does it care?
Not faintly. It has all time. It knows the people are a tide
That swells and in time will ebb, and all
Their works dissolve. Meanwhile the image of the pristine beauty
Lives in the very grain of the granite,
Safe as the endless ocean that climbs our cliff.-As for us:
We must uncenter our minds from ourselves;
We must unhumanize our views a little, and become confident
As the rock and ocean that we were made from. 

"Palestinian Walks" by Raja Shehadeh

Just finished reading "Palestinian Walks" by Raja Shehadeh - very good insight into Israel's practise of colonising more and more of Palestine and the devastating human and environmental effects.

Buy it or borrow it !


Shehadeh's brave and dignified resistance is both informative and moving. Can be compared to another great environmental and political activist - Ken Saro-Wiwa (executed in 1995 for his support of the Ogoni people and his powerful, pacific resistance to the corrupt Nigerian regime and global oil companies such as Shell).

10 steps to a low-carbon family and other resources

10 steps to a low-carbon family : http://downloads.1010uk.org/101010docs/10steps-mumsnet-final-hyperlinked.pdf

More carbon-reduction resources :
http://www.1010global.org/101010/resources
Carbon calculators :
http://www.1010global.org/uk/people/carboncalculator
http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx
My results using the latter calculator :

Your Footprint	Country Average	World Target

Your Carbon Footprint:

House	0.43 tonnes of CO2
Flights	1.07 tonnes of CO2
Car	0.15 tonnes of CO2
Motorbike	0.00 tonnes of CO2
Bus & Rail	0.30 tonnes of CO2
Secondary	2.65 tonnes of CO2

Total = 4.60 tonnes of CO2

To offset some or all of your carbon footprint, tick the sections you would like to offset in the list above, and click the Offset Now button.

Total To Offset = 4.60 tonnes of CO2

Offset Now

Your footprint is 4.60 tonnes per year The average footprint for people in France is 6.20 tonnes The average for the industrial nations is about 11 tonnes The average worldwide carbon footprint is about 4 tonnes The worldwide target to combat climate change is 2 tonnes

If you're using a public computer, or want to try again, you can [clear your carbon footprint data] For ideas on how to reduce your carbon footprint, see the CO2 Reduction section of our website. Why not sign up for our newsletter to keep informed of other ways you can reduce your carbon footprint?

Global Reporting Initiative

http://www.globalreporting.org/Home

A multi-lingual network-based organization that has pioneered the world’s most widely used sustainability reporting framework (notably indicators and protocols).
More thorough description on their site :
http://www.globalreporting.org/AboutGRI/WhatIsGRI/

Welcome !!

Welcome to my new blog.
Will be discussing various topics to do with sustainable development.

Read, comment and enjoy !