by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Again and again we are bombarded in “green” publications, whether online or paper, especially the vegetarian and vegan leaning ones, with the message that we all should stop using and wearing leather.
In most cases those that say this talk with a view of stopping animals killed for their hides and advocate the use of a leather substitute.
The problem with the latter, unless for clothing and wallets and such made from cork, is that the leather substitute material is, in the main, oil derived plastic material. This is definitely not better for the environment.
They also tend to show the public videos of animals supposedly being skinned alive for the fur and skin trade. I am not denying that this happens for it does with the seal hunts in Canada and this is something that should not be, leather per se, whether from cows or pigs, or whatever, comes from very dead animals that are killed for meat. So why not make use of the skin, as man has done for millennia?
The practices of some in the fur and skin trade have gained a lot of media coverage to the point that wearing of fur as a fashion statement is generally frowned upon these days.
Most leather does in fact come from animals that have been humanely slaughtered in abattoirs, in professional slaughterhouses, and they are, in fact, meat animals, and the use of the hide is, theoretically, secondary. This is the case, definitely, as regards to cow hides, and pig's leather. Most leather that is being used for leather goods of any kind is, in fact, cow hide.
What else would we do with the hide of an animal that has been slaughtered for meat, other than making it into leather.
The saddest thing, however, in my view, is when leather goods, especially I am thinking here about bags and belts, are thrown into the trash for one reason or another, often a reason that could be solved with a little bit of repair. Then again, repair is such a thing in our modern world.
Leather and environmental issues
Even if that is the case, and the term "humane" when it comes to slaughter is subject to a lot of controversy, what about the other environmental impacts from our desire for leather?
Leather's chemical cocktail
As leather is basically just skin, the base component (rawhide) is fully biodegradable. Without some form of treatment, known as tanning, it would simply fall apart.
Back in the old, old days, smoke was often used to cure leather as were vegetable tannins, salt, urine and animal faeces or animal brains - it was a rather smelly and messy affair, so most tanneries were situated outside towns.
While this tanning was smelly and messy, it was still, theoretically, all done with natural materials. Run off from such activities was not without its problems, though, either.
Nowadays, however, things are much different.
These days, this is how most tanning proceeds: First the hides are first prepared by by curing them with salt. But that has always been so. Salt has always been used in the tanning process. The the hides are then soaked in clean water to remove the salt.
After the hides are treated with one or more of the following as part of the de-hairing process:
* Sodium sulfide
* Sodium hydroxide
* Sodium hydrosulfite
* Arsenic sulfide
* Calcium hydrosulfide
* Dimethyl amine
* Sodium sulphydrate
Once the hair is removed, the hides are then treated with a mixture salt and sulphuric acid if mineral tanning is to be done. So Coca Cola could be a great tanning agent, I guess, considering that its main ingredient is sulphuric acid.
The hides are soaked in water once again and biocides such as pentachlorophenol may be used to prevent bacterial growth.
Tanning can be performed, and usually this is via mineral methods that uses chromium in the form of basic chromium sulfate
Modern tanning is still a messy and smelly affair with a ton of extra energy, water and toxic chemicals thrown in. The process is so toxic that many old tannery sites cannot be used for agriculture. Tanneries not only often poison the land they are situated on, but also the waterways into which they discharge effluent.
Given all that, many people are left wondering if modern leather tanning processes are just as environmentally damaging as some of the plastics we use in clothing and furnishings such as polyester and nylon, and to some degree this may be so. But, then again, it does not have to be. Vegetable tanned leather is possible as is leather that is tanned in the very old ways. But that could be somewhat more expensive – at least to start with.
Leather, properly looked after and cared for can last for decades and more than than even.
There are alternatives to leather but...
While you could just turn your back on leather altogether, so many of those alternatives are petro-chemical based and/or are incredibly environmentally destructive and use very energy intensive processes.
The other problem with the alternatives to leather, such as pleather, which is just a slang term for synthetic leather made out of plastic, aside of the associated impacts, is that synthetic leather just does not last. The only other option as far as shoes and boots are concerned, in my opinion, is latex rubber. They last a bit longer than most of those synthetic leather ones and rubber is a natural material. But who would want to wear rubber shoes and boot all day every day?
I, for one, will not change from leather, and in the main no animal is just bred for the leather. Those that claim that talk trash.
© 2009
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Leather and the environment
Cycling and walking need a woman’s touch
Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity, is looking for more women to support walking and cycling across the UK.
There are around 600 women volunteering for Sustrans, donating a total of 32,500 hours of time every year. But, for every female volunteer there are three male volunteers, and Sustrans is keen to help women redress the balance.
Katie Aartse-Tuyn, Sustrans’ Volunteer Coordinator, said: ‘We are fortunate to have the help of a great team of volunteers, and are always ready to welcome new people to the team – men and women alike.
‘But, we’re particularly keen to encourage more involvement from women. They are vital role models to help us get the message out there that active, environmentally-friendly methods of travel are for everyone, and what better time to make a pledge to help than National Volunteers’ Week?’
Sustrans has a mix of volunteer roles to suit everyone. One of the most popular is the ranger role, helping to maintain local sections of the National Cycle Network, which now covers 12,000 miles across the UK.
Michele Taborn has been a Volunteer Ranger for Sustrans in north Devon for the last six years. She said: ‘I’m always surprised when I go to ranger meetings and there are far more men than women. Being a Volunteer Ranger is the ultimate in multi-tasking – it allows people to combine getting fit, socialising and making a real difference to the local environment. Plus it’s one of the few leisure activities you can do that doesn’t much!’
Lynne Clark, a Volunteer Ranger for Sustrans on Route 66 of the National Cycle Network in York agrees: ‘Being a Volunteer Ranger is a truly unique experience and really helps you appreciate the outdoor highlights of your local area.’
Other volunteer roles at Sustrans include fundraising - whether by holding a sponsored event, hosting coffee mornings or placing collection boxes in local shops and cafes – representing Sustrans at local events, helping out in one of the Sustrans offices or promoting cycling in schools.
Katie Aartse-Tuyn continued: ‘There really is something to suit everyone, no matter how much or little time people can offer us. Our advice for women is to take the plunge and give it a go - you’ll have the chance to make new friends, get more active and know that you’re making a positive difference.’
Women are currently under-represented in cycling. A BMRB survey commissioned by Sustrans this spring revealed that 79 per cent of women in Britain never get on a bike despite 49 per cent having access to a bike. Sustrans is hoping to change that in 2009, with a year of activities to get more women cycling, including a brand new website www.bikebelles.org.uk
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Climate Change – Possible New Ice Age
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
NASA scientists and climatologists have suggsted that the sun is at its quietest for more than a hundred years and that this might mean that the world is headed for a new mini ice age which will be at least as severe as that during the middle of the 19th century.
Climatologists and those studying the activity of the sun – or the present lack of such activity – suggest that it could even get as bad with this little ice age that we might be headed for as during the little ice again of the 15th/16th century when ice fairs were held on the Thames in London.
It would appear that in all our Global Warming/Climate Change -supposedly caused by the activities of human beings and cows passing wind – the sun, sunspots and solar flares and all that were totally omitted and conveniently not considered and only the other day the claims were made that the sun has nothing to do with the fact that our climate is changing.
The scientists that have been looking at the issue of the sun activity have drawn their conclusions from the events in past history and are not screaming “the sky is falling in from man's activities”.
While, and I shall reiterate this again, I am not saying that the climate is not changing – so much is, to some degree, obvious – and I am also not saying that we must not do all the “green” things that we have begun doing, rather the opposite, I am saying that we must look at history as to climate change for the world's climate, large and small, has always been changing and will always been changing. At times this will not be for the benefit of man, I am afraid to say, and man will have to learn to adapt to it and man has done so many times before. Nature will do so too.
The Old Farmers' Almanac is also predicting the onset of a new little ice again to begin in the next five to ten years, give or take a little, and the Almanac has got a rather brilliant record as to long-range weather and climate predictions. Maybe we should heed such things a little at least.
The problem, if I may say it like that, is that we have now two sets of scientists that have rather conflicting views, aside from that set that do not even see any global warming or climate change.
From where I am standing it sure appears as if Mother Earth is throwing a climate wobbly and we may be headed for some or the other event and, as I have stated before, I am doubtful that anything we mere mortals can do will make any difference, as to stopping or reversing climate change. While human activity sure has not helped as far as all the pollution and emissions are concerned it is highly unlikely that man's activities have, in fact triggered this.
If the Almanac and those scientists at NASA are to be believed, and I see no reason why one should not, then things could be rather bleak indeed, and not just because of snow and ice.
However, mankind, that is we, will just have to learn to live with it, and adapt. Trying to stop acts of Nature is rather a futile attempt on this level.
Too much effort is being spent on trying to stem the tide with biofuels and such like rather than to really and drastically, if it has to do with our emissions and such, to curtail those.
Our landfills are worse than any animal husbandry and all other problems combines for they leak all methane gas, and in many gases this gas, which is reckoned to be many times worse a greenhouse gas than CO2, is, in fact, just vented from the rubbish tips and not even flared off, let alone harvested for use.
What we, as ordinary people, will have to understand is that all the stories as to climate change caused by this or that are but theories dressed up by those whose jobs are involved there as fact. Most scientific stuff are not facts but theories and we see this again and again when it comes to archeology.
Remember the fact that Cro-Magnon Man and Neanderthals could not have possibly been on Earth at the same time. It was always claimed that Neanderthals were gone when the Cro-Magnon Man arrived. Finding of some years ago, however, have now shown that in fact the novel “Clan of the Cave Bear” could have been correct and both those early humans existed together for some time and that there is the possibility even that those two intermarried. Oops! So much for the infallibility of science. No more infallible than the Pope.
The same appear to be the case as to Global Warming, now called Climate Change.
OK, but now serious: either way we need to adapt to the changes while changing our lifestyle altogether to one once again in tune with Nature and our Planet. Mother Earth is in control and She may have a cold and a fever.
We need to seriously change our ways or we are doomed and not simply because the Earth is either going to overheat or get too cold; we will simply poison everything and kill ourselves or we will kill the fertility of the Earth in such a way that future generation will simply die because of what we have done in the time of the industrial era to the Planet.
Most of the food carries so many pesticide and other residues, such as heavy metals and others, that are simply lodged in soil and water; even, it would appear, organic foods can be thus affected, and we cannot continue the way we are and have been going. We need to do a serious about turn and we must do that now, not tomorrow or the day after.
© 2009
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Farnham Common Junior win national bike race
94,000 bike journeys completed as Farnham Common Junior win national bike race around the world
Farnham Common Junior beat 122 schools in the Sustrans virtual bike race around the world, to win the first prize of £1000. Throughout March, pupils, parents and teachers from 123 schools across Britain have taken to their bikes in a bid to complete and win the 46,000 mile virtual race around the world. The race was organized by Bike It officers from the sustainable transport charity, Sustrans. Bike It is one of the UK's leading projects that encourages children and young people to choose two wheels instead of four for the journey to school.
Over the course of the 4 week race, pupils completed a staggering 94,000 bike journeys to school, with Farnham Common Junior winning the national competition by completing the race in just 2 weeks. The virtual race was inspired by cycling adventurer Alastair Humphreys who spent four years cycling 46,000 miles around the world.
Bike It Officer at Farnham Common Junior, Clare Robinson said: "The virtual race around the world has been a massive success this year. It is great that so many schools have taken part. The children have loved every minute of it and they have seen how easy it is to cycle to school. I would like to congratulate all the schools that took part, it has been a truly magnificent effort and hope future virtual races will be even bigger.
"It is vital that we give young people in communities across the country the opportunity to travel in ways, which are healthy, sustainable and fun. Cycling to school has so many benefits for pupils such as improved health, confidence and concentration as well as the obvious benefits for the environment in which they will grow up in."
The Bike It project works with over 400 schools and 89,000 children and young people across England and Wales. It works directly with pupils, parents and staff to help them overcome whatever it is that is preventing them from cycling to school - by organizing cycle training, helping to install new bike sheds, contributing to classroom work and providing information about safe routes to schools. Participating schools across England have seen levels of cycling treble within a year- bucking the trend in declining numbers of children cycling to school.
Bike It is a nationwide scheme, managed by sustainable transport charity Sustrans. Nationally the project is funded by Cycling England, and the cycle industry through the Bike Hub, locally Bike It is supported by the Big Lottery Fund and Slough Borough Council and Buckinghamshire Borough Council.
Staff, parents and teachers who are interested in promoting cycling and walking in their school are encouraged to call the Sustrans School Travel Team on 0117 915 0100 for free information and advice.
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Give us a lift!
What is the worst things that could happen if you'd give someone a lift?
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Why am I saying and writing this? Because I would like to help raise awareness of National Liftshare Day in the UK, which happens to be on June 9.
Not that I – personally – ever have to make that choice as giving someone a lift on a bicycle is not an easy option, aside from the fact that it is, theoretically, against the law. I am someone, on the other hand, who would not mind being able to get a lift of someone at times, on a longer distance, for instance.
On your own in a car you can listen to the music you want, get on the road without having to wait for someone, be silent without feeling awkward, sing as loud as you like – so the opportunity cost to you of giving a lift is exactly that you cannot do these things – or, at least, not without some embarrassment.
Those “costs” would, however, seem to be rather flimsy penalties suffered in return for giving a lift.
And looking at it from other side of the fence - i.e. the cost of not giving someone a lift - we have one more – or several if it is a multi-person lift – car n the road, greater carbon emissions, more traffic... maybe even the loss of some profit in the form of a greater-than-the-actual-cost contribution towards the fuel!
Giving the lift, it seems, has by far the lower opportunity cost.
Much more recently than any economics lessons at school I have learned another economic term - something called "positive externalities". Positive externalities happen when a transaction takes place and other profitable or good things occur as a result. An example could be that a bee keeper keeps bees to produce honey - the positive externalities are that bees through their activity of gathering nectar to make the honey pollinate all the flowers and crops in the surrounding area. The beekeeper's reason (reason is the important bit to distinguish) is to profit from the honey, as a result, it seems, everyone around him gets a favor too. Applied to whether one does or doesn't give someone else a lift - there are many externalities that feel pretty positive to me.
Let's say, for the sake of argument, that your reason for giving someone a lift is in pursuit of a contribution towards your fuel costs. One of the positive by-products is that I will keep another car off the road. This in turn will reduce carbon emissions and reduce traffic. This in turn will have a slightly less negative effect on the environment and hopefully the stress levels of some of my fellow drivers. All of which sound pretty positive to me. I think we can safely assume two things - one, that the cost of not giving someone a lift produces the opposite effects - i.e. negative externalities - and two, the concept of positive externalities has risen to third place (at least for now) in my personal chart of favorite economic theories.
Which brings me neatly on to another favorite economic theory - that we live in a state of "imperfect information". Since we do not know everything all of the time there is a kind of drag placed on the efficiency of all exchange – and that drag means that the plight of all people trying to do "business" is simply to "add value" which is nearly always done by simply improving or directing the flow of information. So how does that relate to lift-sharing? Well, if we all knew who wanted to go where all of the time! it would be very easy to match up who should be giving lifts to whom. But we don't know - and very often we don't even know what our closest neighbors are doing and when the opportunities to double up on a trip might be possible. It would be fair to conclude that all we have to do then to create lift share opportunities is improve our flow of information and act on the back of it.
Between now and the 9th of June, if you are interested in taking part in National Liftshare Day, find out whom you could offer a useful lift to and then actually do it.
What is the worst that could happen?
As I said before, I am a cyclist and do not drive a motorcar and most of the journeys that I make are by bike or, when it is too far, by public transport such as bus, metro or train. I would love to – at times – be able to get to places may be for less that what the railroad services may want to charge me and could do with a lift in a car by someone going that way. OK, getting back would be nice too. So, hence, I think Liftshare is a great idea.
© 2009
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Don’t throw it out! Repair it instead!
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Sewing is not just for pros. Virtually anyone can pick up a needle and thread and stitch life into worn out items; even children can be capable of this. In our family we learned to do this from a very early age. Just watch those fingers...
Nowadays though we very much live in a culture of new, and that regardless of whether we are talking cell phones or a pair of jeans with a hole in the knee. If something is worn out we are supposed to replace it with a shiny new one, instead of getting it repaired or even repairing it ourselves. Sometimes it feels like folks consider mending and repairing almost quaint when it’s just as easy to hit up a big box store for a replacement.
It does not have to be that way! A needle and thread are your weapons against waste! Let’s arm up and get mending!
On the other hand, in this current recession-cum-depression we are being told by the powers that be that being frugal and such is actually doing the economy harm and it might be that soon frugal folks will be thrown into the same pot with terrorists, and maybe we should be careful talking about weapons in the context of needle and thread, therefore.
The problem with many items though, such as cell phone, computer printers, etc., is that they have obsolescence designed into them on purpose. When ti would cost of GBP 100 to have a GBP 30 printer repaired then there is something not right.
May electrical and electronic items are even constructed thus that no one can actually open the things and repair them. This is a ludicrous state of affairs but this is the way we have been going in the last decades. We must reverse this pronto or we are going to be in deep, deep trouble.
But let us get back to the sewing bit here...
Patch it Up
For smaller rips and tears, you can try mending the hole without a patch. If the hole is a little bigger, though, you’ll probably want to cover it up. Whether you opt to make your own patch out of scrap fabric or buy a pre-made one, patching is an easy way to give a worn pair of jeans or a jacket a new life. In fact patching has become fashionable again and you actually buy jackets with patches on them on the elbows. So, go an patch up that old pair of jeans or that old jacket.
Darn It
If it’s a sock or woven blanket that’s developed a hole, it’s time to get darning. Darning socks, however, is a skill but one worth learning. I must admit though that I still have lots of learning to do in that department.
If you do not know how to darn the Internet is full of instructions and tutorials of how to do it and in some places it is suggested that instead of using a completely matching thread for the darning work to, in fact, use contrasting ones to show off the darned bits.
The Little Things
Mishaps like a ripped seam or missing button are quick fixes. Very quick fixes indeed. A bit like fixing a puncture in a bicycle tire rather than throwing it away and still there are people who do the latter because of a flat tire. Putting in a new zip is a bit of a different story.
Seams are just as easy nearly as replacing a button. To fix a tear that’s at a seam, thread your needle and tie a knot in the opposite end. Just like when you’re darning, you’ll want to start just above the tear to strengthen the fabric a little. Start from the “wrong” side of the fabric, and sew tiny stitches to sort of pull the two pieces of fabric together. You’ll want to sew from just above the tear to just below, then double back. Once you get back to where you started, just tie the loose end of thread to the tail of the knotted end, trim, and voila! It’s like that little rip never happened. This fix works for pretty much any torn seam from your favorite skirt to a chair cushion or pillowcase.
When I was a kid our clothes had patches all over the place, more or less, and often of different materials and colors even. It did not bother us and nor did it bother any of the other children.
In the same league as darning and patching and repairing clothes is drying them on the clothesline rather than using energy in a dryer.
Fair enough there are some places where the weather is not always conducive to drying clothes outside as it rains at times or other problems but... I have seen the drying rooms in apartment blocks in places such as Germany, often in the roof space and that works nicely, thanks. It should be possible to create something like that for ourselves, should it not, such as a drying porch in the yard or such.
Forward into the past is the only way to go in many such things. No, I am not intending to give up computers and all that and neither am I going to ask that of anyone else but there are many things that we are doing today that are so wasteful and stupid, to a degree, that we should take a look at the way our parents and grandparents did certain things. It is not only the Planet that will be grateful for us using such older ways but also our pocketbooks.
© 2009
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Hot green collar jobs - Bike Mechanics
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
As predicted here the bicycle mechanic is making a comeback and this is rather good to see too. Too many bikes end up thrown – or at least did before the recession hit – because people have no idea of even how to fix a flat tire.
It could be said that in many place Bike Mechanics are becoming the new Doctors in that it is extremely hard to get an appointment with one to get one's bike fixed.
Bicycles are suddenly the in form of transport for many and we are seeing more and more people cycling to work. Most, however, lack the basic skills to fix anything on the bike. Some even lack the skill, it would seem, to clean and oil it.
Hence bike mechanics are stretched to their limits as there are also many poor old bikes being put back into action that have not seen the outside of a garage for many, many years.
In Toronto in Canada the trade association and the Learning Enrichment Foundation are doing something about it now, and have launched the The Bicycle Assembly and Maintenance Program to train out-of-work youths to fix and assemble bikes.
It would be good to see programs like that put in place also in other countries, such as Britain, for instance.
It is estimated that many who leave the training courses proposed will walk right into a job as there are about 50 to 100 openings for bike mechanics each year in the Greater Toronto Area.
It is an eight week program with hands-on training, taking place in bike shops, though, as someone commented "Its a bike. It doesn't take 8 weeks to figure out how to fix a bike."
Such comments, however, show how few people actually understand what it takes to fix a bicycle properly. It is not JUST a bike. I wonder how many have ever done more than repair a puncture who say things like that.
It does take time to teach out-of-work kids how to do handle a job, and you cannot put a bike together in a hurry or learn how to do it properly so that it is true and safe in a rush. It takes time to learn how to do things right.
Most of those that were enrolled were referred by community organizations and schools, but anyone can sign up. Several more course are scheduled.
The first week is an orientation to make sure all of the 10 to 15 participants are serious; then comes the hands-on training.
The students, most between the ages of 18 and 25, will learn the basics such as fixing flats and brakes, and assembling new models – chores that are "bread and butter for stores", so we are told.
May one suggest that other skills are taught too, such as the replacing of crackshafts and crankshaft bearings, adjusting gears, especially the Shimano kind which can, to be honest, a bit of a handful, and do need so knowledge as to how to do it properly.
In addition to that there are many other jobs at bicycles that require more than just a few minutes of watching someone do it. Replacing the rear wheel cassette, for instance, is one of those jobs.
Let's hope we get more bike mechanics via good training courses for the young unemployed – and not just the young ones – so that we can get cycled repaired rather than dumped at the recycling centers for no more a problem than a flat tire.
© 2009
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Small Wind, The Way Forward!
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Small wind wind turbines that, primarily, create 12 volt direct current to be, where needed, inverted to so-called mains voltage, e.g. 240V AC in the UK, 220V AC in Europe and 117V AC in the United States, in my opinion, is the way forward for many homes.
While this is especially true for properties in the more rural settings and (very) detached homes, though it can also, I am sure, be used elsewhere and not just in rural areas settings and such like.
Nowadays with most of our appliances in fact running a low direct current voltage of 12 volts or even below there is therefore no need, theoretically, to still have the 240V AC current that is the standard supply in British homes or the 220V AC in Europe, etc.
Low voltage lighting, especially of he LED kind, is a possibility for sure and this all could so much reduce our energy consumption, as would be low voltage halogen lighting, for instance.
In some places and homes a hybrid system, maybe, would be what might be called for and what could be used in that some appliances such as electric hobs, kettles and such are on mains voltage and most do not function well on low ones. In this case a home might have two different ring mains; one for low voltage from the renewable sources, and one for the mains voltage. The latter would mean purchasing still some electricity from the grid.
This is hardly rocket science and I am sure that this could benefit the user and the environment. I am, however, equally sure that it will be an uphill struggle for the established lobbies will fight this tooth and nail.
The problems we are still being faced with in this is that, the UK, for example, despite supposedly meant to allow wind and solar power installation, most councils create artificial barriers in their planning rules, often using the aesthetics as an excuse for denying people the right – as it is now supposed to be – to put up (small) wind turbines and/or solar voltaics and solar water heating on their homes, and such.
Rather narrow minded this is but such is the problem with most local councils and county councils, the average age of whose councilors seems to be about 65+ and who are people who are stuck in a micro politics time warp.
Generating any substantial AC voltage and amperage, especially in the 220/240V AC category, small turbines would no longer be that small and would also need a substantial wind speed and they need to be much more expensive that those that just do the 12V DC. However, as long as storage batteries, if in an ordinary house or smallholding or such, are big enough (as regards amperage) then inverting to mains voltage is feasible for some appliances.
Small wind is possible and should become standard with a lighting and small appliance circuit in 12V DC in the home and another one for mains voltage, from the grid or generator.
I am not a wind energy technician so I am just speaking my own thoughts here, some of which, as in ideas, are in use in other places and countries already. We tend to lag behind in Britain and the USA in such matters often. In the US, however, there was wind generating of electricity around in this small scale use already many years ago though it got dropped again in many cases.
Also I am not an electrician or an electrical technician but I am sure that it all could be made too work and that with little effort even if we would but be really serious about it. As far as our governments are concerned I doubt that really.
So, in lieu of them doing anything about it is is down to individuals, community and business to do it.
© 2009
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The Campaign for Clean Forests
by Michael Smith (Veshengro), RFA, EcoFor
Years ago, when I started working in forestry as a boy, and well before that time already, all woodlands and forests had a what could be described as “clean forest” policy in that no excessive debris was allowed to be left laying about.
Logging organizations and especially forestry agencies have begun asking for a return of this and to this policy, and this not before time either.
Environmentalists, misguided with no knowledge of silviculture, demanded that tops and other debris from logging operations be left in situ and even branches that were of supposedly no other use were stacked up, in a haphazard fashion more often than not, as so-called “habitat piles”. No one cared, though, in that particular quarter, despite protestations by professional foresters, that this was going to be a disaster waiting to happen in the form of a fire hazard and also a tree health hazard. The worms, fungi and other creepy-crawlies were much more important to them.
We are now reaping the fruits of what they have sown in the form of out of control wild fires and especially diseased forests.
In the days of the “clean forest” practice there was at least as much, if not way more, wildlife in woods and forests that there is today and that includes invertebrates and fungi, for instance.
If we are looking at the practice currently in use of leaving forests debris in the woods “for the wildlife” in the context of Global Warming/Climate Change then this is really is a bad thing. For not only does the decaying wood release CO2, the very CO2 the wood sequestrated from the atmosphere during its growth, but the process of decay also releases methane gas. Methane gas, however, is regarded to be a greenhouse gas many, many times more powerful and dangerous than carbon dioxide (CO2). That alone should make a good advocate to change this stupid practice of leaving wood to decay on the forest for and for the return to a “clean forests” policy.
The very same wood that is, still presently, left behind in the woods as “habitat piles” could, carbon neutral, be used to heat homes or even to fuel power stations, especially those of the “combined heat & power” (CHP) kind.
It would appear that the British Forestry Commission and other professional bodies are finally catching on to what on the ground professional foresters have been saying ever since this silly practice started and are not beginning to promote a return to the “clean forest” policy. This 180degree turnaround is certainly not before time.
Too much voice and clout has been given in the last decades to amateur experts and so-called environmentalists that seem to have an issue with professional forestry and professional woodland management.
Proper commercial professional forestry practice is not the enemy of the environment, as perceived, it would appear, by the afore mentioned environmentalists; it is more the opposite rather. True professional forestry is a steward of the woods and forest for sustainability. It is, after all, the foresters trade and bread and butter, his livelihood.
But there will always be some that think that they, even though they have neither the training nor the experience, know best.
This is much akin to those that go to places such as Yellowstone National Park and think they can walk up to Grizzlies just because of what they saw of “Ben” in “Grizzly Adams”. They then find out to their peril that Grizzly is not a cuddly teddy but a rather dangerous creature.
The fast and furious spread of many of the wild fires and forest fires in the USA and also elsewhere is, to a great degree, attributable to those bits of forest debris being left “for the wildlife” acting as a so-called “fire ladder” giving a ground fire access to the tree tops and thus allowing for such a fire to jump and to “explode”.
Instead of accepting that the quick spread of those fires in recent years is due to the forestry practice of littering the forest floor with debris which they have instigated those selfsame environmentalists claim that the rapid spread of such fires is all a sign and result of man-made Climate Change. Give me a break. The real truth is, obviously, way too inconvenient a one to accept.
In the days of the “clean forest” policy and practice there was no less wildlife – the opposite in fact – and fires did not go as ferociously out of control as they do nowadays; at least not in properly managed woods and forests.
Such a shame that those who basically caused all those problems vehemently refuse to acknowledge this fact.
It is the same “you must leave every stick in case some bug lives under it, that is, to a great extent and degree responsible for the fatal spread of wildfires in Australia.
Aside from the “fire ladder” issue there is the issue of those “habitat piles” being a hazard to the health of the trees in the woods and forests. The rotting piles harbor all kinds of pathogens that are detrimental and even fatal to trees.
So, let's clean up our forests and woodlands once again and also the Bush.
© 2009
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Irish communities have been urged to live more sustainably
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Greening communities was top of the agenda at a conference aimed at encouraging Irish families to be greener.
The conference, jointly hosted by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Environment, Heritage & Local Government and An Taisce, was funded under the National Waste Prevention Programme.
Called “Greening Irish Communities” the event was for a broad range of people from the public, private and voluntary sectors attended to explore how to set ambitious targets for 'greening', and how public, private, voluntary, social and cultural organisations can make a positive contribution in this area and can work together towards such a common goal.
Mary Kelly, director general of the environmental protection agency, said: “Our vision is to develop a network of organisations and individuals which will work together to integrate initiatives such as green schools, green homes, green hotels, green businesses, tidy towns, and transition towns into every Irish community, big or small.
“Participants today debated how a national certification programme for green communities in Ireland might work.
“I firmly believe that the result of these activities will include real and measurable reductions in environmental impact such as reduced waste production, reduced energy consumption and a reduced carbon footprint for Ireland.”
This same urging should and must also become reality in Britain in the same way as indicated in what Mary Kelly said in her statement.
There is much talk, far too much talk, in Britain, and many other countries too, as to greening our communities, our cities, towns and villages, and businesses and government, but way too little actual action.
When it comes to small wind, for instance, and other renewable energy on a smaller scale, as in households and such, the government – especially local – generally thrown, in Britain, a spanner in the works.
If we are really serious, as a country, as those that are supposed to lead, as to going “green” we must take a leaf out of the books of other countries in the European Union, for instance, such as Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. But this does not seem to work in the UK for whenever one suggests any ideas from over there, so to speak, to government ministers the answer, nigh on invariably, is “this will not work in Britain”.
In other countries the waster that cannot be recycled is burned in CHP plants and no one objects, really, as people understand that this is the best for the environment and at the same time it frees them from the use of fossil fuels.
When, however, such plants are suggested in Britain the NIMBYs appear immediately, aided and abetted by the likes of Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace or the Green Party, and take a vociferous stand against any such developments and they do not happen.
We just cannot go on like this and we must have those alternative sources.
Similar problems are encountered when people want to install small wind turbines, solar panel, whether for electricity or hot water, when local authorities refuse those to be put up because such installations would spoil the look of the area or a building, and such.
Our Planet is more important, one should think, than whether a small wind turbine might “spoil the look” of a listed building or the looks of a Cotswold village or such.
© 2009
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