Fight Climate Change

The European Union have announced ambitious plans to lead the fight on climate change. It was some regard as Tony Blair’s last chance to leave office with some degree of positivity, the aim of the plans are to lead the rest of the world into taking up the challenge of climate change.

The BBC outline the proposals and offers an explanation on each element of the plan. The main aim of The EU is to obtain a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. At the same improvements in energy efficiency, use of renewable energy and use of biofuels are proposed.

An interesting part of the proposal is “The EU has yet to decide how to share out the burden of meeting the 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions – some countries will have to do more, while some do less”. Obviously the countries with the highest CO2 emissions, and that includes The Top 5 (in order) – Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain and The Netherlands, will be responsible for the bulk of the reduction.

How those countries will bring about their share of CO2 reduction, and whether they’ll be political wranglings over who has how much to reduce remains to be seen. The proposals by The EU are, as ever, a step in the right direction, but the big countries, and especially The UK, now need to start doing.

For example, Wind Power already provides 20% of Denmark’s electricity – if Mr Blair wants to be remembere as a PM who led the fight on climate change, then he needs to start pushing the UK forward as a leader for new technologies, not a country left behind and telling everyone else what to do.

Look out for The Great Global Warming Swindle that will be on Channel 4 at 9pm on March 8th. It’s described as a film that “brings together the arguments of leading scientists who disagree with the prevailing consensus that a ‘greenhouse effect’ of carbon dioxide released by human activity is the cause of rising global temperatures.”

With IPCC Scientists recently concluding that man is to blame for CO2 rises it will be interesting to see the evidence provided by this group of scientists who argue “that increased CO2 levels are actually a result of temperature rises, not their cause” and that global warming is an “effect of the sun’s radiation on the atmosphere”.

Last night (5th March) Panorama showed a documentary entitled ‘Go Green or Else’. Newsnight journalist Justin Rowlatt was challenged to go green for a year – this involved cutting his family’s carbon footprint and essentially living more ethically. The programme reported on his efforts and how changes he and his family made could help reduce CO2 emission.

The programme was interesting, but there was little to explain why anyone should (or would) want to reduce their carbon footprint. Rowlatt installed energy saving bulbs, started composting, improved insulation and even did away with the family car. His trip to Jamaica to demonstrate carbon offsetting was perhaps a little extreme.

The most interesting parts of the programme though was sadly swept over. Firstly when his house was assessed for energy loss, Rowlatt was told that loft insulation and window insulation would not be economical (window costs would not pay for themselves for up to 80 years).

The second item regarded the use of small wind turbine (the type you can buy from B&Q). Rowlatt was offered the opportunity to trial the turbine pending planning permission. After getting permission, the firm offering the free trial backed out 3 days before installation with little explanation – other than the turbine is only good for some houses and Rowlatt’s wasn’t one of them!

Over the 12 month period, Rowlatt did reduce his carbon footprint by almost a third and to help you has provided his Top Tips online. There’s nothing particularly earth shattering in the list but includes composting, eating less meat, eating more veg, taking less holidays and be energy efficient. One way Rowlatt did this was by using the Electrisave Electricity Monitor.

This is a wireless electricity usage monitor which shows you how much electricity you use at home, how much it costs you, and how much harmful C02 emissions you are contributing (compare prices)! It costs around £70, but it could help reduce your energy bills by finding wasteful appliances (alternatively you could just switch everything off, including the PC and TV on standby and switch all your bulbs to energy efficient ones).

The Solio Ipod Solar Charger is a great way for Ipod users to recharge their players and do their bit for the environment too. Solio is the most powerful and only rechargeable battery system with its own integrated solar-blade technology on the market. It is a bit pricey though and you may want to compare prices before buying (we found it cheaper at John Lewis).

The Solio Solar Charger is available in white, black and silver and currently on sale at Advanced MP3 Players, Firebox and John Lewis.

The Solio Ipod Solar Charger is compatible with with iPod Mini, all iPod 3G and 4G, iPod Photo, iPod Video and the iPod Nano. It can also be used to charge other portable electronics including mobiles and games consoles. By charging your Ipod with the Solio you can extend your battery life for up to 9-12 hours.

If you’re worried about carbon footprints and how the Solio fights climate change then according to their website “Solio generates free and clean energy right out of the box. Solio has been made Carbon Neutral by planting trees in protected bio-diverse forests”.

Recycling is one of the ways that everyone can help the environment. According to Envirofone over 100 million mobiles are thrown away each year in Europe alone – but your mobile phone could earn you a few pounds, help charity and end up being recycled. Mobile phones often contain valuable materials and components that can be re-used. They sometimes also contain highly toxic chemicals including cadmium so it’s important that these are recycled and don’t end up in the environment via landfill.

By sending in your old mobile phone to Envirofone it will either end up being sold on in other countries, especially those where there are poor landline telecoms, or properly disposed of and recycled.

You can choose to receive cash or argos vouchers for your mobile. To find out how much you would receive, just enter your mobile model number at Envirofone. There are conditions regarding the quality of your mobile that you intend to send in – including it must be working! If you’re happy with the price offered, you need to register and instruct Envirofone how you wish to be paid. They’ll then send you a pre-paid envelope so that you can send in the phone, and finally you’ll get your payment. Payment takes between 4 and 20 days after receipt of the mobile.

Charity and corporate partners are welcome to use envirofone to support their causes.