Archive for climate change

Earth Hour 2010 hailed as a success

March 28, 2010 · Filed under carbon footprint, climate change, CO2 emissions, going green · Tagged , , , , , ,

As you should know last night was the night for the 2010 Earth Hour. Today WWF hailed it as a global success as the world went (partially) dark for an hour.  Ethical and Green did it’s part by reading a book by candlelight and switching off all the electricity in the house.

In total, all seven continents, 125 countries, and more than 4,000 cities and towns took part in the event, which asked people to sign up and switch off their lights for one hour, to show that they care about tackling climate change.
In the UK there was far more celebrity backing for this event compared with last year. The Queen and PM got involved alongside celebs such as Ben Fogel, Stephen Merchant, Colin Firth and Tom Jones. It appears that going green is on everyone’s agenda this year. Let’s hope that this encourages more people to go green in 2010.
WWF have loads of information about Earth Hour on their website. Check out this link.  Every year it seems that the event is growing in popularity, not just in one country but around the world.  This is great for the environment.

Of course helping the environment shouldn’t have ended at 9.30pm yesterday.  There are so many things we can do on a daily basis to help cut our CO2 emissions and reduce our carbon footprint.

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Obama to blame for failure at Copenhagen?

January 4, 2010 · Filed under climate change, CO2 emissions · Tagged , , ,

Just when the talks at the Copenhagen seemed to be on track for at least some form of agreement the American President turns up.  In what should have been the Americans arriving to help cement the agreements on CO2 levels Obama managed to enrage the Chinese envoy.

In a thinly veiled attack on the Eastern powers Barrak Obama single handedly stopped the summit.  Having thought that Obama represented hope after George Bush’s ignorance on climate change it appears that this was not the case.  Yet again America puts the world’s health on the line.  Copenhagen was a chance to make significant steps towards cutting CO2 emissions.  Other countries appeared to be willing to compromise and negotiate for the good of the planet.  Regrettably this was not to be…..

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Earth Day 2009

April 21, 2009 · Filed under Carbon Dioxide emissions, climate change, CO2 emissions · Tagged , , ,

The 22nd April sees the return of Earth Day.  So a year on and Ethical and Green ask if there have been any big changes since last Earth Day?  We think there have.  Over the last year environmental issues have been headline news and on the front pages of newspapers, compared to small articles previously.

America has a new President who spoke of environmental and green issues in his inauguration speech.  It is now common place for Governments to have policies on the environment alongside the economy, health and education.  This is progress indeed!  Just today climate change made the news with the UK government still opting for coal fuel but pumping emissions under the sea!  Interesting….Possibly not the best idea in the world but at least climate change and reducing CO2 emissions are on the government’s mind.

On a smaller level it seems that people at home are taking advantage of loft insulation schemes, buying environmentally friendly light bulbs and recycling.  People are more clued in to buying low Co2 emission or green cars and other electrical items.  All in all this is great news for the environment.

 

If you want to check out some ideas for Earth Day 2009 take a look at this website.  Become believe that this Earth Day page (http://www.become.com/resource-center/earth-day.html) will offer readers the power to find; natural cosmetics, resource conserving appliances and tips on how they can do their part to reduce waste for the environment.   Check it out!  Happy Earth Day!

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Google- harmful to the environment?

January 12, 2009 · Filed under Carbon Dioxide emissions, carbon footprint, climate change, CO2 emissions · Tagged , , ,

Google is a company that has ethical and green credentials- or so we thought!  Recent research by Alex Wissner-Gross, a Harvard University physicist has shown that using Google can actually harm the environment.

Google likes to pride itself at being at the forefront of green computing.  There are tools on Google that allow you to calculate your carbon footprint and it is a supporter of Earth Day that highlights environmental issues.  (Interestingly though you will be hard pressed to find figures on the size of its carbon footprint or energy consumption.)  So how can a company that is going green actually be harmful to the environment?

The problem lies in the way Google works. Using a search engine generates CO2 emissions because the search request goes to more than one server that can be thousands of miles apart.  Google have servers in the US, Europe, Japan and China.  It has been estimated that the number of internet searches in a day is around 200 million.  Can you imagine the electricity consumption and greenhouse gases that this releases?  It’s estimated that the global IT industry has a carbon footprint similar to that of the airline industry.  That is to say that the IT industry could account for as much as 2% of global CO2 emissions.

 

Google’s response?  They feel that they are amongst the most energy efficient search engine out there.  However in order to get the fastest search you have to offset the fact that this releases more CO2 emissions.  Perhaps the most interesting statistic comes from John Buckley of www.carbonfootprint.com.  They feel that doing a Google search can emit anywhere between 1 and 10g of CO2 depending on whether or not the computer had to be switched on.  Others have put this figure at 7g to 10g.

 

So are we going to stop using Google for our searches?  Ethical and Green doubt it very much.  The figures show that using search engines in general cause an increase in CO2 emissions.  This is not going to change until companies such as Google look into their processes to make them more energy efficient.  Google is committed to reducing its carbon footprint and therefore you can expect their searches to be the most efficient out there.

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Second runway for Stansted Airport

December 9, 2008 · Filed under Carbon Dioxide emissions, climate change, CO2 emissions · Tagged , , , , , ,

Yesterday 50 protesters broke through the perimeter fences of Stansted Airport and causing flights to be cancelled and generally causing chaos.  The protesters were making a stand against the government go ahead for a second runway at Stansted Airport.  BAA want to increase passenger numbers from 25 million to 35 million and to increase flights from 241,000 to 264,000 a year.

 

The protesters were members of the climate action group Plane Stupid.  Their website showed that the protest was aimed to bring attention to the CO2 emissions from the aviation industry.  However, whilst they managed to create massive media attention in the UK it seems that their message may have been somewhat lost in the panic over the security breach at Stansted Airport.  The media and public have been outraged at how easy it was for 50 protesters to break into the airport.  Security officials for BAA pointed out that the protesters did not make it to the runway.  They were also quick to point out that the runway is about 2000 acres in size making it difficult to protect in it’s entirety.  

 

Passengers who were due to fly out of Stansted on 8th December were advised that their flights had either been severely delayed or cancelled.  Most of the flights affected were Ryanair flights causing relations between the budget airline and BAA to become rather stretched.  Passengers were angered and not at all impressed by Plane Stupid’s protest.  Rather than highlighting the environmental issues with the aviation industry the protest angered most people.  Those involved now face criminal proceedings.

 

On the plus side some media reports have highlighted the climate change issues surrounding the aviation industry.  Ed Miliband, the UK’s Energy Secretary told the Guardian newspaper that world leaders need to act on climate change amid fears of economic repercussions.  He said that there needs to be a ‘mass movement’ along the lines of the Make Poverty History campaign.

Matthew Knowles from the Society of British Aerospace Companies condemned the protesters saying that they were ignoring the changes that the aviation industry is making for climate change.  He quoted that although flights have increased by 50% the noise disturbance around Stansted Airport has decreased and aircrafts are 70% more fuel efficient.  Further cuts are due to made by 2050.

 

So, it would appear that rather than promoting the topic of climate change in a positive manner than protesters with their illegal protest have in fact angered the public and people within the aviation industry.  This adds weight to the stereotype that people who care about the environment aren’t law abiding citizens and have a general disregard for the people whose lives they affect by their actions.  The other side of the coin is that they might just have highlighted a massive security issue at Stansted Airport……

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