Calling ‘cleantech’ start-ups to the Low Carbon Start Up Fest in Bath

Opportunity for cleantech start-ups to present to investors

Bath , UK - Cleantech start-ups are gathering at the Low Carbon Start Up Fest in Bath on Friday 14th May to present to potential investors, partners, and fellow entrepreneurs. Companies presenting so far include: Adfina, Carbon Voyage, New Earth Energy, Xsilon and Zenex.

Simon Bond, director of the event, said: “The challenge of climate change has unleashed a wave of high-growth potential technology start-ups looking to address new ways of generating sustainable energy and exploit better ways to make energy go further. The Low Carbon Start-Up Fest is an exciting opportunity to showcase ventures from this sector each looking to raise between £250k and £5m in the next 12 months.”

Companies interested in presenting at the Low Carbon Start-Up Fest can apply by completing a short Expression of Interest form available form www.lowcarbonsouthwest.co.uk. There is no fee for companies selected to present and they will also benefit from free of charge publicity in the Low Carbon Technologies Report and Low Carbon South West YouTube Channel

Low Carbon Start-up Fest is on Friday 14 May 2010 and is supported by Greenbang.com, Cambridge Wireless and the Bristol Environmental Technology & Services network. Registration and coffee from 9am Presentations from 9.30am to 12.30pm, followed by lunch and networking. Delegate places can also be booked via www.lowcarbonsouthwest.co.uk

The Low Carbon South West network has been established by the University of Bath to build an active community in this sector and establish impactful links between companies and universities. Low Carbon South West makes it easier for companies, entrepreneurs, investors and researchers to meet and exchange ideas and opportunities.

Source: NeonDrum

Full Disclosure Statement: The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW received no compensation for any component of this article.

Big Box waste! What can we do about it?

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

H&M and Wal-Mart have begun – claiming though that it is not policy and pigs fly – to destroy usable garments before trashing them, presumably so that people do not go and dumpster dive for the free clothes, in the same way as big food chains pour bleach on perfectly edible baked goods that they are throwing into the dumpsters at the end of the day.

A little digging revealed that at least the latter is a pretty common practice. But why would retailers go to such lengths to destroy irregulars and day old food?

The most common justification seems to be curbing liability for, according to an article on TampaBay.com:

“Stores have good reason to discourage Dumpster divers: If you get hurt while scavenging, the store could be in a lot more trouble than you. In 1992, two 9-year-old boys died from exposure to toxic chemicals after playing in the trash bin at Durex Industries plant in Tampa. A Durex executive pleaded guilty to a charge of storing waste illegally and had to pay each boy’s family $400,000.”

While that might explain the practice to some extent, liability is no “good reason” at all. In Britain we have been told that the practice with the bleach on baked goods is to discourage people taking the sandwiches and such and if they happen to get ill from them suing the company.

Again a very shallow excuse for if I happen to take a sandwich out of a dumpster on the day they were thrown out and I would get ill from it then there should be a ;lot of customers from the store that too will be ill; the food then would have been bad even while it was still being sold.

The excuse with regards to possible litigation is a fake.

Why do they not donate the clothing or food to charitable organizations that need it? That would not only help keep divers out, but it would divert those resources to folks who really need them. Stores could even brag on their donations. The crazy PR payoff seems like it would be more than worth the effort of coordinating with a local Salvation Army or food bank.

It is not like this food that is being thrown away into the dumpsters is rotten. The same TampaBay.com article mentioned earlier quotes a grocery store spokesman:

“If you’re smart – and they sound like they’re smart – you can use our own standards against us,” says Sweetbay spokesman Steve Smith. “Food safety is No. 1 at any retailer. Because of that, we will always put expiration dates that are before when the product actually would expire. You are always going to give yourself some padding.”

This means that, in the main, the food in the dumpster is probably safer than some of it that you may have in your larder.

The only conclusion one can come to is that these businesses rather throw away these goods because it is easier than donating them and destroying them so no one can get them for free.

The thing that gets me is the mentality that it is OK to waste food and clothing in this way, when a store or chain does this but when we waste things that way we get yelled at by the government. There is absolutely no good reason to waste food when folks are hungry or destroy garments when people are cold.

All of this is very much a harsh reminder that we live in a total throw-away society and one with double standards at that. The ordinary citizen gets yelled at and preached at when he is wasting food or what-have-you but then stores destroy perfectly good food and other goods.

When I was a child the local grocers, greengrocers, bakers and others would give away stuff at the end of the day and such, and the same with market traders, the fruit- and the vegetable merchants. Today that is, in fact, against the law in Britain. You can, however, gather then from the waste storage before the dustmen arrive and take them. They are not allowed to give the stuff to you, though. Crazy? I think so.

I have also been told by someone who used to be a manager at a large electrical goods chain that any item that has a damaged box, however, slightly, has to be thrown out into the dumpster and destroyed, regardless whether this is a $3,000 TV or a $30 radio.

So, what can we do, as concerned customers?

Maybe next time you are at a grocery or clothing store that you frequent, you could try politely asking a manager how they handle their waste. If stores see that their customers care about this sort of thing, they might think twice before dousing that trash bag in bleach. The trick here, maybe, is to ask in a way that does not come off as being preachy, just concerned. Framing the question like, “I have a crazy question for you…” might be a way to go.

Whether it is going to make a difference is a different sstory and question but maybe the wallet can do the talking.

I have come across a stupid policy at some places before when I wanted to buy a coffee machine. The machine I wanted was there on display but I was told as they had no more in the stock room that was it; they did not have any. So I said: “But I am happy to buy the display one...” and was told that they could not do that as it had been out of the box and hence there was no guarantee that everything was with it. Duh? Then sell it to me at half-price and I won't come and complain if the manual is missing or such. But, no... They rather throw it out and destroy it.

We must somehow find ways to change this attitude...

© 2010

Real Bread Maker Week

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

As reader will have gathered by now it is Real Bread Maker Week from May 1 to May 9, 2010 (which is a little more than a week, I guess) and I, certainly, are participating in that I am putting my bread machine to good use.

If you have a bread machine sitting around at home I encourage you to get it out and use it to make your own bread. You will not regret it.

Having to admit that I bought a bread machine only recently from Lidl, the discount store, for less than thirty GBP, I am more than glad that I did and am certainly not regretting it one bit.

It is a little bit of a learning curve to get the mix of the ingredients right, such as the amount of water to the amount of flour and all that but I am getting it down to a fine art by now.

While, theoretically, you should be able to walk away from it and leave the machine to do it entirely on its own I do like to make sure that, after the final mixing after the first final raising circle and before the final one, that the dough is leveled out in the tin. This is to ensure a good shaped loaf.

May years ago I used to make bread entirely by hand but when one does not have the time and space either then a bread machine is the best alternative and one that works brilliantly and – and this is important – much cheaper and with much less energy usage than could ever be done in an oven.

In fact, while writing this article a loaf of bread is in production and in the final stages of being finished.

May people tend to claim that such bread – made in such a machine – does not keep well but I must say that I am keeping loaves successfully for about a week using a bread bin and food keeper bags from Lakeland.

So, don't let your bread machine gather dust and make some real bread for you and your family.

Real Bread Maker Week may only last till May 9 this year but that does not mean that you should stop after that time and, for some reason, I am sure that once you got the hang of making bread in that way you will not want to and you will not want to go back to the bread from the supermarkets.

All breads, other than homemade ones, will contain a variety of flour improver of one kind or the other and preservatives, many of which may not be too healthy for us.

So let's hear it for real bread and the Real Bread Maker Week.

© 2010

Reinventing the glass bottle

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

When you think that you have seen it all as regards to fleecing the “green” consumer and the environmentally conscious along comes this; a range of glass water bottles which sell for from US$18-US$22. Am I crazy or is it everyone else?

The new Metro line of glass water bottles from “Be Truly You” are, so the company, designed to help folks “fall in love with their tap… all over again.” And they continue to state that the glass bottles are 100% recyclable and fit right into a regular sized cup holder. Every glass bottle is 100% recyclable and, as will all glass containers, infinitely.

Unlike plastic, glass does not lose quality in the recycling process, and that is why I could quite happily go along, and in fact do, with using a good solid glass bottle in which to carry my tap water for drinking, instead of buying bottled water, when the bottle finally has to go to the recycling center. However, I do find the prices just a little more than extortionate.

This even more so seeing that anyone with but an ounce of sense and can repurpose a Snapple lemonade glass bottle or a glass Ketchup bottle for the same use. I do! Those bottles come for free with the product and why waste them.

Even the fact that the founders of the company, “Be Truly You”,Heather McDowell and Ann Caiola, are donating $1 from each Metro bottle sold to the UNICEF Tap Project, cannot in any way justify the prices quoted for those bottles sold by that company.

With all the rip offs going on under the “green products and services” umbrella it is not surprising that so many people of the lower income brackets think that they cannot possibly go “green”.

That belief of those people, however, is not correct and going “green” should not be something that should cost you lots; on the contrary, it should be able to save you money.

You do not have to buy into the green consumerism, and you do not have to either in order to do your part for Mother Earth.

The truth is that we are replacing one side of consumerism with another and this was never the idea, I am sure.

When it comes, for instance, to the idea of such water bottles from glass there is no need – none whatsoever – to spend 18 bucks of more on one when, as I have said, you can simply repurpose and upcycle a Snapple lemonade bottle or a Ketchup bottle to do exactly the same, and that for basically zero dollars.

It is time, I think, that we all woke up to the truth that there are people out there who would like to take us to the cleaners. And it is also time that we stood up and refused to be fleeced.

I am well aware of the fact that there are things that we cannot make ourselves and cannot make through repurposing, upcycling and such, I do feel that the finger must be pointed though when there is someone who is jumping on the green bandwagon with but the thought of making lots of money out of such simple things such as these.

So, before you go out and buy such a bottle think as to whether you cannot repurpose one that you have.

You want a label that proudly states the fact that you are using tap water? The create one on the computer using free clipart and word processor, and stick it to the bottle, or be creative and paint it on. But don't spend nearly twenty buck on one.

Copyright © Michael Smith 2010

Let us build a new society

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

We need a new kind of society; a society where people matter and also Mother Earth.

But, this new kind of society must be a society that is based on voluntarity and not on government degree. Government decree and enforcement will not and cannot achieve anything on that level. It has been tried and failed miserably. Other means might, however, work.

With the economic system of the world nigh in tatters we should reevaluate our way of life, especially those of us in the developed world, and look at establishing a new society to be copied around the globe and a new economic system where people and the environment count first and foremost and come before profits. For both the sake of the Planet and of the people we need a new society, one that is less exploitative, one where people and Mother Nature are being considered first and foremost.

Often it is said that we need to have a revolution to get a new society and that we should and must abandon mass production for this and many other points of modern life. I really do not, entirely, see why this has to be thus.

Often those that live in squatter communities and such like think that the entire society can be reorganized like that but can it?

Squatter- and similar -communities and the modern day monastic societies, whether religious or not, are a more or less close-knit operation that does, sadly, no longer exist in the greater society.

However, I do think that a new society can be built, one that respects all.

The generosity and mutual aid that can be found, in most cases, i n squatter communities and other such, once did, in fact, to a great extent, exist in the greater society too and that not just in the extended family and clan.

In the days gone by everyone knew their neighbors, whether in the countryside or in town, and they all, in general, looked out for one another.

In villages it would have been rare, for instance, to find that a family would be allowed to starve and children to go hungry while the neighbors ate. But today we have become so insular, all of us, in the main that this no longer happens. Then again, you no longer dare to care for your neighbor's children just so as not to be branded something.

However, in order, to once again extend such a system to the greater society will mean that real personal bonds must be formed between members, especially if we would hope to have decent behavior without the use of police and laws.

It must be said that today, sadly, relationships based on trust and generosity rarely ever extend beyond the small circle of our close friends and family, and maybe some mutual aid associations that we may belong to.

The sense on community that exists in alternative communities is largely absent in general society.

Even amongst the Romani People, the Gypsy People, the People to which I ethnically belong, where people, clan and family was once everything and no one wanted today things are much the same as in the outside world and the same attitudes of “I am alright Jack, so f*** you” prevail and that, sadly, even amongst clans. This is a great shame really but has much to do that clans have been forcibly split up and such.

However, it could be brought back if all but wanted but it definitely can be recreated in small groups for starters.

The question is as to whether mutual aid and free exchange of skills and goods could be expanded from a small scale, as presently, to actually replace capitalism and the state and that is where I have my doubts, at least for the moment.

It can be done, I should think, in so-called Transition Towns and -Communities. Whether it can be done on a larger scale is what remains the question.

First “prosperity” squeezed out the need to rely on neighbors and the small shopkeeper who recognizes you – and that was a nice time – and have been replaced by anonymous, even though they do wear name tags – supermarket- and other sales assistants who do not know you, in most cases, and who also don't really care. Now we have self-service checkouts and we live automates lives and fear those around us.

Banks prefer you to use their ATMs for everything and charge you now even in many cases if you use their counter service, even if you happen to bank at that branch.

We do no longer, at least not in the apartment complexes and streets in towns and cities, and even in the suburbs, know the names of our neighbors and hardly even exchange the time of day with them.

We have no idea what they are good at or what skills I have that they might find useful.

Can we change this? We certainly must try and hopefully succeed for we will never have any such change if we do not try and we must begin now.

We may have to rediscover not just the old ways and implement them. We must, if it is regards to governing, use ways of people who have, or at least once had, a functioning internal system of mutual aid and a system of policing their own. A good example would be the old way that the Gypsy lived, in extended families and clans and governed themselves, and if we all lived in small societies of that kind, then larger society too could work.

What I am trying to say with the above is that if we returned to live in small self-governed groups, such as the extended families and clans of the Romani People are, or, better, were, and those groups then linked together, this could create a larger society of a new kind that could work.

While I am saying a “society of a new kind” it really is a return to something old, very old indeed, and we can find such societies back in the very old days everywhere and, yes, they did work.

Many of the often called “primitive” societies could, in fact, be the model of a new society of ours on a worldwide level. Starting in our own localities might be a beginning though or by starting communities where such can be done.

From there it then, hopefully, would spread around the country and then further.

While this all may sound extremely Utopian it is my belief, and that, I gather, of many others, that unless we do find a new approach to doing things we may not be able to survive as free beings.

Just some food for thought and maybe something we could all think about and come up with some ideas.

© 2010

Increase producer responsibility

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) is calling for a revision of the current waste strategy to focus on resource efficiency and waste minimization through increased producer responsibility.

Whilst an increasing amount of municipal waste has been diverted from landfill and recycled, the UK continues to generate 430 million tonnes of waste per year, and a great deal of this still goes to landfill.

However, recycling is only part of an environmentally sustainable solution. The Chartered Institution believes we need to build on existing achievements by assigning more of the costs of managing downstream waste to the producer; clarifying the role of waste recycling in terms of the waste hierarchy; and incentivizing small and medium sized enterprises to improve their waste management practices.

CIWEM’s Director of Policy, Justin Taberham, said that despite its efforts, the UK is currently lagging behind many other European States in this area and that improvements must be made to the system to further promote minimization of the production of waste, supported by a circular flow of resources and materials designed to facilitate reuse and recycling wherever possible. One can, I am sure, but agree with that.

In continental Europe much more emphasis is placed on manufacturers to reduce waste in the first place, and let's face it; most waste is packaging, unnecessary packaging often, as most products are, in fact, severely over-packaged.

CIWEM’s waste management work is taken forward by a panel of experts with a focus on international waste policy and legislation, contaminated land, waste minimisation, resource issues, energy use and new technologies. Both CIWEM’s Manifesto and Waste Management Policy Position Statement call for resource efficiency and waste minimisation through increased producer responsibility. To find out more, go to www.ciwem.org/policy

Some of these issues will be discussed at the CIWEM seminar sessions being held at Futuresource 2010. Speakers include Dr Stephen Wise, who will talk about the practical requirements for successfully developing AD plants to treat both municipal and commercial organic waste. CIWEM is proud to support Futuresource 2010, an event which provides a platform for highlighting water issues in waste management and offers opportunities for integration between different sectors, something which CIWEM encourages fully.

The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management ( CIWEM ) is an independent professional body and a registered charity, advancing the science and practice of water and environmental management for a clean, green and sustainable world.

Futuresource is a joint event from the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) and the Environmental Services Association (ESA) for the environment and sustainability industry. Now into its second year, Futuresource is located at the ExCeL Centre in London's Docklands and will take place from 15th -17th June 2010.

Dr Stephen Wise is a member of CIWEM’s Waste Management Panel and Head of Organic Waste Development at Shanks Waste Management.

© 2010

Top 10 Things to see at Grand Designs Live, London 2010

For the sixth year running, Grand Designs Live, the UK’s most successful homes, interiors, build and design event, is coming to London with more features and exciting homes, building innovation and interior design than ever before, running for 9 days from the 1^st-9^th May 2010 at London’s ExCeL.

With today’s economic climate continuing to affect property sales, more emphasis is being put on improving and updating our existing properties at affordable prices. In addition to this, worries over our ever increasing energy consumption, have spurred on consumers to look for new ways to improve our homes while remaining mindful of our carbon footprint. By making our homes more energy efficient, not only are we saving the environment but also saving money!

Grand Designs Live London offers the perfect solution to all of your home improvement needs for any project big or small. Whether you’re looking to build a property, add some extra living space to your home, retrofit and future proof your home saving you money on your domestic energy bills, or even revamp a tired looking room, Grand Designs Live has it all.

Based on the hugely successful Channel 4 TV series – presented by design guru Kevin McCloud – Grand Designs Live London is split into seven sections, creating an exciting array of grand ideas in each of them. The separate sections include Grand Interiors, Grand Build, Grand Technology, Grand Gardens, Grand Food, Grand Kitchens & Bathrooms and the spectacular Grand Village with its Live Eco builds and range of self build innovations and expert advice.

There are so many things to see at this year’s show, Grand Designs Live London is full of the UK’s biggest and best brands offering a one stop shop, to assist you with every aspect of your home.

Follow our guide to the ‘Must See’ things to do at Grand Designs Live, London 2010.

1. Grand Designs ‘Expert Advice Centre’ sponsored by VELUX

The Grand Designs Expert Advice Centre sponsored by VELUX will be the place for visitors to get free, invaluable one-to-one advice from experts in every field from architecture to project management. Visitors can take their plans along to the show and gain FREE advice from our resident experts, who are on hand to advise on your project’s requirements. You'll find RIBA chartered architects, Grand Designs Magazine Experts, Mary Riley (Finance), Peter Caplehorn (Architecture and project management), Roger Estop (Planning and Urban Design) and Graham Davies (Project Manager) as well as the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologist (CIAT) if your project needs that technical expertise.

Book your FREE 30 minute consultation with one of our experts before you get your project underway.

1. GRAND VILLIAGE sponsored by first direct

Back by popular demand, the spectacular Grand Village sponsored by first direct allows visitors to explore a series of new eco build dwellings, that demonstrate the ways in which architects and designers are pushing the boundaries of design and construction to create and build the most advanced, energy efficient homes of the future.

The Village will host some of the most innovative and ground-breaking eco builds, including the Pilotis, a low impact, upcyled and architecturally aware project, based on the Forest School project at Elleray Prep School in Windermere, in the Lake District. In addition the modular CUB Home, launched earlier this year will also unveil their latest model within the Village.

All boasting the utilization of healthy and sustainable materials, systems and finishes that will allow visitors to experience a full functional eco-house, in the heart of ExCeL.

1. House of the Future presented by Philips

The House of the Future sponsored by Philips will showcase the latest and most ingenious home entertainment, great lighting ideas to compliment personal style and improve the mood and wellbeing in your home, and the best innovative gadgets and domestic technology around. This amazing hub of entertainment will see a home set-up with Lounge, Kitchen, Dining Room, Bedroom, Bathroom and Garden, featuring product launches by Philips, OVEI, AM01, Hi Interiors, Electrolux and Aqualisa. With a variety of products from remote control showers, multimedia beds, touch screen ovens, and the latest in brand new OLED technology from Philips, and also the debut of WiPower set to revolutionise the way we use electricity by freeing devices from requiring cables, therefore allowing all devices and products to be charged and powered cable-free.

Embrace your inner gadget-geek through the inventions of today and tomorrow, that will lead to domestic bliss within your home in the future.

1. Kevin McCloud’s ‘Green Heroes’

Kevin McCloud, the familiar face of Grand Designs, will curate a new feature at Grand Designs Live in May; a showcase of ten truly innovative eco ideas, with the title “Kevin’s Green Heroes”. Kevin McCloud has personally chosen ten products or inventions that he feels deserve wider recognition. Some of these left-field ideas may not have hit the high street yet, some are on already on a high street somewhere you and I might never visit. We’re hoping that Grand Designs Live will give them some wider exposure and raise awareness of the environmental issues that prompted their invention. All of the products will reflect Grand Designs Live’s wider message of environmental friendliness and sustainability.

1. Best of British- The Gallery Rooms

This years’ Grand Interiors feature is all about celebrating great British Design. Whether it be from new designers of our time or traditional designers, that have made Britain known for fabulous creations, our three NEW Gallery Rooms, will explore how Britain is becoming a ‘hot spot’ for leading interior design, through a selection of three stylish room sets, that represent what makes being British fun, exciting and unique!

There will be three stunning rooms to see including; A room sets designed by Squint Ltd (headed by furnishings designer Lisa Whatmough), featuring fantastic couture furnishings that have been transformed from boring old pieces to unique and vibrant interior furnishings. The second room set will be created by New British Design, a new company that helps young British designers manufacture their products. The final room set will be inspired by the great Dame of British fashion - Vivienne Westwood, with a a boudoir themed room will feature some of the best fashion inspired furnishings and products.

1. The Cuprinol Tea Party

The Cuprinol Garden Tea Party will be situated in GRAND Gardens where you will be able to enjoy a ‘high tea’ in a quintessentially English garden setting. Our team of dedicated waiting staff will serve you a selection of delicious tea time treats. From scones, cream & jam, to dainty finger sandwiches and of course the essential afternoon cup of tea!

1. Live Kitchen Experience sponsored by Miele

Some of London’s top chefs will be joining us at Grand Designs Live offering kitchen inspiration and cooking advice, with some of the sleekest kitchen technologies around including; Mark Poynton and John Burton-Race, Martin Blunos, Nancy Lam, Jun Tanaka (The Pearl), Tim Hughes (Caprice Holdings), Andrew Turner (Wiltons) will be doing live cooking demonstrations.

In addition, Miele will also be providing Kitchen Inspiration - where visitors will get a unique opportunity to interact and experience Miele appliances.

1. Grand Build sponsored by VELUX

With climate change and new building technologies constantly hitting the headlines everyday, the time of change is upon us. The Grand Build Hall sponsored by VELUX is here to enlighten visitors and show them firsthand the latest eco building materials and new technologies. With demonstrations on ways to reduce energy and water usage, the Grand Build area will show visitors how easily eco lifestyles can be created, therefore changing the impact of people’s day to day lives on the environment.

1. ‘How To’ Theatres

For those visitors after a more intimate setting, the two ‘How To’ Theatres – ‘How To’ BUILD Theatre sponsored by Bosch, and the ‘How To’ DESIGN Theatre, offer a stage for key industry speakers to give informative presentations on a vast amount of interior related subjects. Targeted at both consumer and professional audiences alike, the theatre will host a mixture of industry experts and celebrities delivering consumer friendly advice and practical demonstrations on home building, interior design and more!

1. The Bee Garden

Ever fancied your hand at bee keeping? With the rising popularity of urban bee keeping Grand Designs Live London has teamed up with the British Beekeeping Association to offer visitors a chance to learn from experts the process of bee keeping in your own gardens! Experts from the British Beekeeping Association will be offering their professional advice and seminars daily. With LIVE beekeeping occurring over the entire length of the show, visitors will be empowered to take action in their own gardens and save our British bees!

There will be hundreds of products to buy from the latest furnishings, innovative technology and bespoke designer accessories to suit all styles and budgets - there’s something for everyone. Plus don’t miss the Grand Designs Bursary, where you can find unique stylish contemporary furnishings from a host of up and coming young designers.

Grand Designs Live, London runs from Saturday 1^st – Sunday 9^th May, 20010, at London’s ExCel Centre. Book tickets now and save £5* through www.granddesignlive.com, or call the 24 hour box office on 0844 581 00771 + kids go free.

Full Disclosure Statement: The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW received no compensation for any component of this article.

More than a third of farmers hit by climate change

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Nigh on 40% of all farm businesses in Britain are being affected by climate change, according to a survey of UK farmers.

Carried out by “Farming Futures”, a collaboration between farming organizations, DEFRA and sustainable development charity “Forum for the Future”, the survey found 60% of farmers think climate change will influence their business over the next decade.

A third of farmers are already adapting to the impacts of global warming, while almost half are acting to reduce emissions and to lessen the effects of climate change, the survey states.

While farmers think climate change will bring some threats such as floods and droughts, most also think it will bring opportunities, such as prospects for growing alternative crops in a warmer climate, it adds.

I would hate to burst their balloon but personally I am not, as yet, convinced that that is going to happen and be a course of action, nor should it have to be.

Of those farmers already making changes to their business, 26% are managing water more efficiently, 16% are changing crop practices and 11% are growing different crops.

One of the most significant impacts of climate change will be on water availability. Hotter, drier summers and the pressures of a growing population mean that growers are going to have to produce more crop per drop.

Water conservation will be a necessary part of it and maybe some of the water used on farms should come from rainwater harvesting.

On the other hand, if farms actually would, once again, become smaller and farms the size they used to be could be allowed to flourish much of that irrigation problem would be dispersed with, as much water is lost in current irrigation of the huge fields.

Almost half of those surveyed believe farming could be part of the climate change solution and are already acting to reduce emissions. The majority of these (47%) are improving energy efficiency, with 15% producing their own energy, 15% increasing fuel efficiencies and 10% improving manure management.

In order to meet the government target to reduce emissions from farming by 11% by 2020, the priorities of which include reducing fuel use with more efficient machinery, opting for alternative energy sources and reducing fertilizer use, 82% of those questioned agreed farmers should work together to help reduce emissions. Ideas included co-operatives to share machinery, erect bio-digesters or wind farms and making best use of manure and fertilizers.

A different practice in farming, especially in the arable sector, must also be considered, namely one of low- or no tillage. Plowing the ground releases soil carbons as CO2 which would be much better left in the soil and that not just so those carbons don't get into the atmosphere.

Carbon loss in soil actually decreases the soil's fertility and no amount of artificial fertilizers can ever bring that back. In fact, petrol-chemicals-based fertilizers do not benefit the soil at all.

All we are seeing, however, is bigger farms, bigger plows and more and more application of chemicals, destroying the soil and the rest of the environment all along and all in the name of profit.

Copyright © Michael Smith 2010

Changing from a robber economy to one where Mother Earth matters

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

E.F. Schumacher had subtitled his now ionic book “Small is Beautiful” with “A study of economics as if people mattered” and it is just such an economy that we have to establish for the good of the Mother Earth and all Her children, human and non-human.

The present (capitalist) global economic system is harmful to both humankind and Mother Earth, as it is highly exploitative. Humans are seen, used and exploited as resources in the same was as natural resources of the Planet.

That people are no more than resources to those running the global economy and even government departments, local and national, can be seen from the renaming of the personnel departments to human resources departments, for instance. Human resources... why not say slaves straight away.

Once upon a time, not so long ago even, employees, workers, were seen as personnel of an enterprise; today just as human resources, and they are being exploited in the same way as the resources of the Planet, the gifts of Mother Earth.

The way the global economy, fueled to a great degree by the greed of developed nations, robs the Earth of its riches and uses those up without any thought and consideration for the future and future generations, it can therefore be but linked to one of robber barons.

The huge conglomerates steal not only the gifts of the Earth, nay, they steal our children's and grand-children's very future.

The global economy of today is nothing but a ponzi scheme of monumental proportions, robbing Peter – it is not even borrowing – in order to pay Paul, while killing everything.

We have ruined farmland and made it infertile through the use of agro-chemicals that were supposed to make things better, we have over fished the oceans to such an extent that by 2050 the oceans could be devoid of life, at least of edible fish, and most of those fish that have been caught in the sea since around 1900 have not even been used to feed people. Most of the fish ever caught have been processed into things other than food for humans. They became fertilizer, many of them.

We have destroyed the health of most farmland, arable and other, because the way we, predominately, do farm today.

Today almost everything is a mono culture with no rest permitted for the land whatsoever; it has to be productive. However, it is not.

Year in, year out the same crops are grown on the same plots and more and more fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides and other agro-chemicals are needed in order too produce anything.

The soil of most farms is sick to dead but could be brought back to vitality and health with the proper farming methods that have been proven to work for centuries.

But... that would mean somewhat lower yields, if organic methods, as they must, would be employed and the agri-business, the agri-industy, can not possible accept that. Instead they rather destroy eco-systems, pollute air, water, and soil,, and, in the process and end Mother Earth and all Her children.

We must, however, return to a sustainable farming as well as a sustainable economy in general.

In order to reap ever bigger profits companies relocate manufacturing and even call centers to developing countries where they can pay slave wages and where regulations as regards to workers and the environment are hundred times or more even lower than say in the European Union, the USA or Canada.

We ship our waste in the form of recyclables – but also as waste proper – half ways around the world to be, in the case of recyclables, reprocessed their, such as in China, or, in the case of waste per se, to be landfilled there, mostly in Third World countries.

Both because legislations and regulations are so much more lax – it at all existent – in those countries compared to those in the EU, USA, etc.

A few recycling reprocessors do exist in Britain, for instance, that take recyclables and make new stuff from them but only a mere handful or two.

The entire global economy of ours is, basically, based upon the exploitation of natural resources and of people, to maximize the profit of a few.

While no one should begrudge entrepreneurs a decent return of their ventures, business, the world over, must rethink how it acts and works.

Aside from the fact that our entire economy, more or less, with a few exceptions, is based on (the use of) fossil fuel – a finite resource – as far as energy, for one, is concerned, other aspects too are unsustainable and the current banking system is but one of them.

The world needs too rethink it economy and how we do business.

Copyright © Michael Smith 2010

Everyone Can be a herO – Book Review

Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Everyone Can be a herO

Published and printed in U.K. by Inside Outsider Publications at Telfs, Hendon Wood Lane, London N.W.7.4HT.
The book is printed on recycled paper and the covers are made from re-used cardboard and recycled or re-used paper, some glue and a piece of string.
ISBN 978-0-9556679-09.

This a school library book from the future, on loan from Pangaea and due to be renewed or returned on 30th October 2040.

There has already been a nuclear accident and there aren't too many resources left either.

People have to grow food wherever they can.

It's the summer holidays, however, and four teenagers would like to spend it helping on the family allotments, making music with their friends and generally lolling around.

The trouble is that, although the people are trying to build a better future, does the government have a different agenda?

Where are the nuclear trains going?

Why do they only run at night and where are they stopping?

What are they unloading? Why will no-one talk about it and where have the good guys gone?
It's up to the teenagers to find out.

Armed with little else than solid-wheeled bicycles, cameras and some memory sticks, they travel through a different, greener England, organically farmed and self-sufficient.

What they find, and how they tell people, changes the future of the country.

This is a real good book and also one that give you a really good feeling and can be highly recommended.

Instead of a doom and gloom story we are, in this book, presented with one of hope and optimism of how things could get real after an incident.

Let us just hope that this book finds its way into the hands of many young people who might just get inspired to act. We need youngsters to emulate the young heroes in the book as that is, I think, the Planet's only hope.

Politicians, the professional ones, cannot be trusted with the Earth's future, so much is sure; and neither can corporations.

A completely new society is needed in the way of how the people live in “Everyone Can be a herO”, and maybe a lot better still even. But, would they let us?

The one thing that I really liked was a the mention of the use of herbs, wild and cultivated, for food and especially for medicinal uses, and also the mention of companion planting for growing food.

I have just one issue and that is the mention, unfathomable to me, of alternators being used in conjunction with solar voltaic cells. As far as I see solar cells they can directly be used to charge a bank of batteries and would not require an alternator. Feeding current into the national grid would require, though an inverter, an up-converter, while the batteries would be charged with DC.

The latter would be something with which to generate 12V DC using a small windmill, for example.

This book, in my opinion, is a great story and it is a real page turner. Who cares that it is self-published and here and there could do with a little editing. I have enjoyed every minute reading “Everyone Can be a herO” and just wonder as to whether a sequel could be considered.

The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW is happy to endorse this book.

Copyright © 2010 Michael Smith

Full Disclosure Statement: The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW received no compensation for any component of this book review.