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As oil prices soar, crofters return to the old ways and get their heat from peat
Severin Carrell, The Guardian
The soaring price of fuel is leading cash-conscious crofters in the Outer Hebrides to revive the ancient tradition of cutting peat to fire their kitchen stoves and central heating. Over the past few months the steep surge in the price of oil, now routinely used by residents on islands such as Lewis, has led to a rush in orders for traditional, hand-made peat cutters and peat-cutting permits.
Some crofters are re-installing peat-burning stoves alongside oil-burning stoves and combi-boilers, or even using them as a replacement heating source.
(5 May 2008)
Rain or shine, the answer to climate change can be found on your roof
Hannah Fletcher, Times (UK)
… As the dual consequences of climate change – flooding and drought – manifest themselves with alarming regularity, and with water bills set to increase by about 6 per cent this year, homeowners, businesses and local and national authorities are looking to their roofs to manage water and cut costs.
As a result, Britain is experiencing one of the biggest booms in Europe in the “green roof” and rainwaterharvesting industries. Sales of rainwater-harvesting systems have more than doubled every year for the past four years. An industry worth about £500,000 in 2004 has now grown to more than £10 million.
The number of green roof companies has increased fivefold in as many years. Where fewer than 10,000 square metres of sedum blanket were laid annually, that figure is now approaching 100,000.
“We’re rapidly running out of water in Britain,” said Roger Budgeons, director of Rainharvesting Systems. “Water supplies are under severe stress, and people are more aware of the issue.”
(3 May 2008)
Tread lightly: Switch off your tumble dryer
Carolyn Fry, Guardian
According to National Statistics, almost 60% of households now own a tumble dryer. That means more than 14m households are using electricity to dry clothes, when they could save that energy by hanging them outside.
An average drying-machine cycle uses just over 4kWh of energy and produces around 1.8kg CO2. If all households with a tumble dryer dried one load of washing outside each week, instead of by machine, they would save over a million tonnes of CO2 in a year.
Carolyn Fry has an environmental journalism background, previously editing Geographical, the magazine of the Royal Geographical Society
(2 May 2008)
Latest in a series by Carolyn Fry.
Streatham’s famous housemates top YouTube poll
Cara Lee, Your Local Guardian
The YouTube site set up by three Streatham housemates charting their mission to go self-sufficient is one of the 10 most popular sites created by Londoners.
A recent poll commissioned by YouTube showed the Giving It A Go site, run by the Ellora Road housemates, has received over 12,500 hits.
Colin Munro, 29 and brothers Simeon, 25, and Jon Lumgair, 27, started “vlogging”, or video blogging, last May when they vowed to grow as much of their own food as possible in their small garden. They kept three chickens, which were named by viewers, and grew runner beans, tomatoes, strawberries and herbs.
“I had the idea to start doing this after watching programmes like River Cottage with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall which encourage people to grow their own vegetables,” said Colin, who runs a video production company with Jon and Simeon.
“But they always have massive gardens in the country. I thought lots of people would think their gardens were too small to grow anything so I thought I would give it a try and see what I could do.
“It’s been an education because we’re not experts and have thrown ourselves in the deep end.”
Just a couple of weeks after the housemates posted their first video a hundred people had already watched it. Interested viewers made several comments, offering the friends tips on how to grow things and pointing out their mistakes.
One family from America even decided to keep their own chickens after seeing the videos.
“We ate as much as we could from the food we grew,” said Colin. “It’s very satisfying eating stuff you have grown yourself. The eggs tasted much better from our organic chickens than they do from shops.
(8 January 2008)
The site is youtube.com/givingitago .
Green tax revolt: Britons ‘will not foot bill to save planet’
Colin Brown, UK Independent
More than seven in 10 voters insist that they would not be willing to pay higher taxes in order to fund projects to combat climate change, according to a new poll.
The survey also reveals that most Britons believe “green” taxes on 4x4s, plastic bags and other consumer goods have been imposed to raise cash rather than change our behaviour, while two-thirds of Britons think the entire green agenda has been hijacked as a ploy to increase taxes.
The findings make depressing reading for green campaigners, who have spent recent months urging the Government to take far more radical action to reduce Britain’s carbon footprint.
(2 May 2008)
