Archive for June, 2011
The Sun Will Slow Down Global Warming: Ironic Isn’t It?
Posted by Gareth Eynon in Climate Change on June 27, 2011
Well, that’s it then; we’re saved. Apparently the sun is decreasing in activity, which means we can forget all about the dangers of climate change and global warming. In fact, if the evidence is correct, we may actually need to increase CO2 emissions, just to stop us all from freezing.
The story of a renewed ice age is nothing new; we have been told this is coming for years now. This particular warning is born of the fact that our sun is about to enter a period of decreased activity; the harbinger of this being an observation by the US National Solar Observatory (NSO) that there has been a reduction in the number of sunspots. The last time this happened was the Maunder Minimum between 1645 and 1715 and it famously resulted in the River Thames freezing over.
Put in very brief terms these sunspots (not to be confused with the ever-popular sunny spots) are an indicator of solar activity and when they drop, the energy from the sun drops. The trouble we are seeing now is that “when sunspot numbers drop at the end of each 11-year cycle, solar storms die down and all becomes much calmer. This “solar minimum” doesn’t last long. Within a year, the spots and storms begin to build towards a new crescendo, the next solar maximum. What’s special about this latest dip is that the sun is having trouble starting the next solar cycle“.
So then, we’re all doomed: No sun equals no heat, no crops, no daytime TV and no holidays. Yes I’m exaggerating and this isn’t really the case. What is expected to happen is simply a reduction in the amount of solar energy available to us; the inhabitants of planet Earth.
Of course the global media has been all over this story, claiming an end to global warming and the start of a very long winter. I have to say, I can’t blame them. They are simply going on information from the Global Warming Policy Foundation who are warning of major implications for the Earth’s climate. What self-respecting journalist wouldn’t jump all over that? Much as it galls me to say, the Daily Mail actually didn’t sensationalise it as much as they usually do (they must be feeling a little off-colour), but Fox News didn’t disappoint.
There are two problems with the media getting hold of a story like this: The first is that they are only listening to the scientists who corroborate the story they want to hear. There are many scientists out there who don’t actually believe this will have that much of an impact.
The second, and more concerning, problem is that if people believe climate change is no longer a danger, we could be in real trouble. It may be easy to think that one little piece of scientific evidence can’t have that much of an effect, but look at how far the MMR scandal set back vaccinations in this country. Because of this one story being accepted by the media and fed to parents around the country, we witnessed a rise in diseases previously thought to be under control. Proof of this lies in the fact that we have just experienced our worst measles outbreak in 13 years.
I’m not saying that this news is enough to bring the fight against climate change to a screeching halt, but the public are wavering. After climategate, a toothless Copenhagen conference and the coldest winter for years, people are begin to look at the dangers of climate change with a scary degree of sceptisim.
It is widely believed that this data regarding the sun is correct. However, it is also accepted that its impact will be minimal. To put things into context; the Earth’s average tempetature is predicted to rise by between 2ºC and 4ºC . The expected cooling effect of this solar inactivity is about 0.3ºC. Not quite an ice age then.
Now I should really have a pop here at the climate change denialists who have, naturally, jumped all over this as proof that global warming will never happen. However, I have chosen to remain silent because, first of all, my beef is with those denialists who claim global warming is a hoax, and second, no matter what they may claim; they never saw this coming. Even Dr. Frank Hill, associate director of the NSO’s Solar Synoptic Network admitted “this is highly unusual and unexpected”. So, if the science and conclusions behind this are correct, then great. Let’s accept this bit of breathing space offered to us and use it to get our energy consumption issues sorted out once and for all.
If you are still worried about the science behind this, then watch this video; it should cheer you up a little: irrefutable evidence presented by one on today’s leading scientific minds, it is not, but it does explain the story in real laymen’s terms. For something with a bit more credibility, watch this…
If, like me, you are concerned about climate change and on voicing this concern you are fully expecting your friends, colleagues and the average Joe in the street to give you both barrels of “what a load of rubbish, the decreasing sunspots will stop global warming dead”, well just sit them down calmly and explain in easy to understand terms that what they may have read in the sensationalist press is a load of nonsense; we are still in trouble and we still have to change our ways.
GR
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Photo courtesy of Michal Marcol
Hung Out To Dry: Ceiling Mounted Airers
Posted by Gareth Eynon in Products and Tips on June 26, 2011
Laundry. It’s something we all have to do, something we never want to do and something that leaves a stubborn stain on our household energy consumption. We are always being told about the steps we can take to reduce energy consumption when washing our clothes, but what about drying them?
This post – the first of The Green Review’s actual reviews – is going to look at ceiling mounted airers, explaining what they are and why we should use them. They are not needed by everybody, but if you fit the criteria of a homeowner who could benefit from one (like me), then they’re invaluable.
What is a ceiling mounted airer?
At the risk of sounding patronising, a ceiling mounted airer is a clothes airer that goes on … yes you guessed it … the ceiling. It is effectively a number of lathes/rungs that are attached to the ceiling via a pulley system. You hang your clothes on the lathes and then just hoist the airer up to the ceiling.
I was completely unaware of this product until I visited my father-in-law in France, where apparently everybody has one. Living in a small property myself I was instantly convinced to buy one of these and I am now passing on my admiration for the product to you.
I live in a small home and I was sick of constantly tripping over clotheshorses that were placed in un-strategic locations around the house. During the winter – when the outside clothesline is unusable (and being the proud father of two messy daughters) it felt that there was never a time when some clothes didn’t needed drying.
And this blog is related to the environment because?
Ok, I was just getting to that. Now I know that I’m not the only person raising a family in a small house or a flat. I also know that without sufficient room to dry clothes, they end up either in the way, over the radiators or in the tumble dryer. It doesn’t take a huge brain to realise that drying clothes over radiators will suck up the majority of heat emitted and require said radiators to be turned up, consequently increasing energy bills and carbon emissions.
A tumble dryer also pushes up energy bills and emissions, typically emitting 159kg of CO2 per year and costing £37.00 to run(based on 148 4.7kg cycles). If the purchase of a ceiling mounted airer can alleviate these, then great.
The advantages
First and foremost, the best thing about a ceiling mounted airer is that it gets the washing OUT OF THE WAY. Admittedly you can still see the washing as it’s above your head, but you are no longer tripping over it, stubbing your toe, fighting to get at a cupboard, stopping your two-year-old robbing the clothes, or … you get the picture.
The next advantage is that during the winter with the (uncovered) central heating on, the ceiling has a lovely circulation of warm air running around it, which dries the clothes nice and quickly.
Finally – and this one they don’t mention on the sales websites – it’s good for your back. On the majority of normal clothes stands there are a number of rungs that work their way up from the bottom to the top. When hanging and collecting clothes from the bottom few rungs that are near the floor, one has to bend down, causing strain on the lower back. With a ceiling airer, it is possible to adjust the loading level so that when you are placing clothes on it, all the lathes are at belly height, thus making it much more comfortable to work with.
So there; you not only save carbon emissions, energy and cash; you save vertebrae as well.
Things to consider
- You need very little room to mount one, mine is in a little entrance passage to the back garden – but do bear in mind access to the airer. You can get at them from underneath, but it’s far more convenient to go at them from the side.
- When you measure the space for the airer, remember that it has to attach to joists. Find the joists you are going to use first, then measure out from there. Don’t simply measure the area and think, “right that’s it, I’ve got room”.
- You can use a stud/joist finder to make sure you have appropriately situated ceiling joists
- Watch out for light fittings and other such cables that could burn down your house or kill you should you catch them with the drill; again a joist finder will help with this.
- RE the above: if you are not a very good DIYer, get someone who is competent to help you. This can be a tricky job for a beginner.
- There are various styles of airer to choose from. You can buy a more modern looking contraption, right through to an oldVictorian style airer, which looks great in a period kitchen
- They cost any where from £30 to £70 depending on size. Always go for the biggest you can as you can get more washing on it – obviously.
In summary then…
If you are one of those people who, like me, have very little space to dry clothes and don’t want to try and bleach out the dirty stain of a tumble drier’s carbon footprint; then you really should look into a ceiling mounted airer. They’re great product and come highly recommended by myself. Buy one. That’s it.
Photo courtesy of Cast In Style
Antibiotic Resistance: Will We Never Learn?
Posted by Gareth Eynon in Agriculture on June 20, 2011
It has been reported this week that even in the face of rising antibiotic resistance among livestock, meat farmers have increased the use of these drugs by up to eight times over the last decade.
Well that’s hardly surprising – I hear you utter – surely that’s because livestock production has also increased over the same period? Wrong. Livestock production has actually fallen during this time: down 27% for pigs, 11% for poultry and 10% for cattle.
Ok so what? We’re only on the brink of yet another agricultural disaster, are we not? Nothing much else is going to affect us, the public, more than perhaps a rise in the price of meat, right? Oh, if only it were that simple…
The danger here comes from the fact that the animals we eat are routinely filled to the eyeballs with antibiotics (among other things). Consequently, the bacteria are comparing notes, attending drugs resistance training camps and then sticking two fingers up at us and singing “come and ‘ave a go if you think your ‘ard enough!” Meanwhile, as this resistance grows we are steadily running out of options.
The other concerning issue is that it’s not just the animals who are affected. As we eat the meat, drink the milk and scramble the eggs from these creatures, we too ingest remnants of the antibiotics, allowing the Great Antibiotic Resistance movement to continue within our bodies too.
Some of the bugs to develop antibiotic resistance include: E.coli – the recent German outbreak was from an antibiotic-resistant strain, which although from bean sprouts this time, killed nearly 40 people and highlighted the dangers of this bacteria. MRSA – only last month a new form of MRSA was found in milk. Neisseria gonorrhoeae – in 2010 the gonorrhoea bacteria became resistant to cephalosporin; the last effective drug in the treatment of this STD. Non-resistant, but less effective drugs now have to be used.
Why is this happening?
The trouble here is that farmers have corralled themselves into a vicious circle; as the animals receive bigger and bigger does of antibiotics, they lose the natural ability to fight off disease, so they then require even more drugs and so on and so on.
The pressures put on farmers by the supermarkets to drive down the cost of meat has led to more animals being stored in ever-increasingly cramped conditions – perfect for breeding disease. Also, let’s not forget that drug companies are making huge profits off the sale of these antibiotics so they promote them to the farmers as being essential.
Of course we can’t lay all the blame at the feet of the supermarkets and the drug companies – much as I’d like to. We, the consumers, are also partly responsible: our demand for cheap meat is driving the supermarkets and the only people they will listen to, the only ones who can make them change their ways are us; their customers.
What can we do about this problem?
If you are worried about antibiotics in your meat – as you should be – then the are a number of actions you can take:
- Buy less meat. Get more creative with your cooking and take the pressure off our meat farmers.
- Don’t buy cheap meat – it tastes horrible, it will no doubt be stuffed full of more rubbish than usual and the animal will probably have lived a life of suffering.
- Buy organic meat and support this industry. Yes it’s more expensive, but what price do you put on, say, not losing a member of your family to E.coli?
- Go vegetarian. I’m not, but it has long been recognised that a vegetarian diet is better for you and the planet.
- Make yourself heard. Protest against the current practices by lobbying your MP or having a pop at the supermarkets. There are many imaginative ways to take action here.
On the subject of eating vegetarian; it’s probably worth remembering that this alone will not protect you. Even level 1 vegans (those who don’t eat anything that casts a shadow) are not safe from the fallout of this. Everybody gets sick at sometime in his or her life and most people will have benefited from taking antibiotics.
If we keep going down our current path we will eventually run out of effective antibiotics and find ourselves resorting to Terrible Tudor and Vile Victorian cures for what were once easily curable diseases; all for nothing more than cheap meat. Crazy.
Of course there’s a place for antibiotics in farming. I would never advocate letting these animals suffer if disease were to break out, or likewise watching a farmer lose his business as his livestock perishes. But please people, can’t we actually wait until the disease does breakout, then treat it. Imagine if I were to give my two young girls a dose of Calpol every morning with their Cornflakes, just in case they feel ill later in the day. Bloody madness.
GR
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Photos courtesy of graur razvan ionut and think4photo
Beware: These Images Are Banned
Posted by Gareth Eynon in Climate Change on June 15, 2011
I sincerely hope that by bringing you this post I am not going to get into any trouble. I say this because, first, I am reproducing somebody else’s work without consent. Second, this work has been banned by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA).
I am referring to Act on CO2’s climate change adverts that were banned last year. I looked at them again the other day and had a right good giggle. Therefore, at the risk of infringing advertising law, I thought I would bring you these highly sensitive and extremely contentious banned adverts.
Just before we proceed: Because I haven’t asked the Act On CO2 campaign (i.e. the government) for their permission to use these images, I think I should at least aim to appease their lawyers by pointing you in the direction of their website… their facebook page… and their twitter account. Hope that’s ok guys.
PLEASE NOTE: The following images have been censored as overblown, exaggerated and downright silly. Read on only if you have the stomach for it…
Dodgy stuff eh? Here’s some more…
And my personal favourite…
The stated reasons from the ASA for banning these were because “the claims about the possible advent of strange weather and flooding in the UK, and associated imagery, were exaggerated, distressing and misleading”. Oh yes, very distressing; I’d better not show the kids.
They say these adverts were banned for over-exaggerating climate change; fair enough, that’s their prerogative. But I wonder why other adverts that over-hype and blatently lie about the effects of their product still allowed. For example: it’s quite obvious to most people that just because you spray on a little bit of Lynx deodorant, girls are not going to throw themselves at your feet (I know, I’ve tried). Drinking Red Bull will not give you wings. Or perhaps you’ve sat there waiting for hours on end for your Citroen C4 to transform into a robot and do a funky little boogie in the car park; it’s not gonna happen.
In all these cases, it’s the message and that counts and how this message is conveyed is given a large amount of artistic licence, yes? So then, even under the agreement that these adverts’ claims on climate change aren’t proven, should there not have been some allowance for a little imagination and humour? Enough said.
Finally then, I would like to sign off with Act On CO2′s poignant message: It’s Our Children Who Will Pay The Price.
GR
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Thanks to What’s Up With That for the original images, which can be found here, here and here.
MPs call for inquiry into shale gas drilling after earthquakes
Posted by Gareth Eynon in Shale Gas on June 10, 2011
Seeing as I have previously written a few blogs on this issue, I thought I’d reblog this article on shale gas drilling that appeared in the Independent on Wednesday (but I only got round to reading today).
Ministers were facing growing pressure last night to investigate the safety and environmental impacts of drilling for shale gas after fears that it could have triggered two small earthquakes in Lancashire.
Critics say the released gas can contaminate local water supplies and that seismic activity could be linked with the technique. They also argue that prospecting for shale gas – which is banned in France, as well as New York and Pennsylvania states – leaves a far worse carbon footprint than conventional gas drilling. (Nigel Morris, Deputy Political Editor, Independent)
If you want to read the rest of the article please click here.
It’s good to see that the opposition to this energy source is mounting and that it is now reaching the ears of those that really matter; namely our MPs.
Yes I’d love humanity to find the Holy Grail of clean, cheap energy supply; but this is not it. Contrary to what others may say.
Dare I say we are actually winning this contest?
GR
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Energy Related Carbon Emissions Are Up: Or Is That Made Up?
Posted by Gareth Eynon in Climate Change Denial on June 10, 2011
So, the International Energy Agency has told us that energy related carbon emissions reached an all time high last year. Not really surprising, but is this going to make a jot of difference to some of the nonsense being emitted by climate change denialists? I doubt it.
After the recession afforded the Earth a little breathing space in 2008 and 2009, we are now back to our old ways and pumping huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Energy sector emissions in 2010 reached a staggering 30.6 gigatonnes, or, put another way: 30,600,000,000 kilograms.
Please don’t get me wrong. I don’t have anything against climate change denialists per se; and I honestly think that there needs to be a counter balance within this debate. What does frustrate me, however, is the notion that climate change has been conjured up by those in power to hike up taxes and inflict any number of horrible schemes upon us – the innocent public. Let’s be realistic here people; they’ll raise taxes anyway.
I can fully appreciate the uncertainty inherent in climate science: unforeseen feedback loops, oceanic thermal currents and the unpredictability of global weather patterns. I mean the BBC weather people almost always get it wrong over the 5 day forecast; let alone the next century. (And if you can’t trust the BBC, then who can you trust?)
Because of this uncertainty and the gradual, almost imperceptible nature of climate change, it is very easy for us humans to wonder if this is for real and if we should really believe the hype.
Well, lets ask ourselves: what’s actually at stake? Anything that’s really important to us?
Off the top of my head I would say:
- Global food and pharmaceutical production (we kind of need food, and drugs are pretty handy too)
- Potential mass migration (the UK seems to struggle with just a few plumbers from Poland)
- Life in the oceans (no more fish fingers, dagnammit)
- Many of the Earth’s plant and animal species (us included)
- The whole space and time continuum (well, maybe I made that one up).
So that’s just a tiny part of the list, but I think some of the stuff above is pretty important. Don’t you?
When it comes to denial, it’s like I said: many, many, many of the climate scientists’ predictions are not set in stone and may never happen (hopefully). However, there are some things that science seems pretty certain about:
- CO2 is a greenhouse gas. Fact.
- Greenhouse gases are partially responsible for maintaining Earth at a nice cosy (average) temperature. Fact.
- We have just pumped record levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. Fact.
To me this looks like the climate scientists may be onto something when they tell us that putting extra CO2 into the system may have some dodgy results for all of us.
Now, if we take these scientific certainties versus the high stakes, we come up with the chance – I repeat; the chance – that our climate will be adversely effected. In light of this, would it not be wise to be a little bit cautious? Just a tad? You know: curb the emissions, find alternatives to power our lives, change some of our destructive behaviour: that kind of thing.
I admit that there are people out there who would have us all living back in the Measly Middle Ages, but I’m not one of them and I certainly don’t want that. However, when people are shouting, and posting and blogging and digging and tweeting about how climate change is a hoax, perhaps they wouldn’t mind easing off a touch and looking at the certainties; there are a scary amount of them.
So there it is; another blog having a pop at the denialists (I still don’t know if that’s a real word). But, in my defence, these guys are always doing a little “I told you so” dance when a piece of hard scientific evidence backs up their argument. I am now doing the same; so there.
Energy related emissions are at a record high. Isn’t it time even the sceptics try to do something about this?
GR
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Photos courtesy of Julia Pivovarova and Lostbear
Fracking Hell!!!
Posted by Gareth Eynon in Shale Gas on June 5, 2011
If you were in Blackpool on Wednesday, you may have felt a little tremor as the North’s very own pleasure city suffered its second earthquake in 2 months.
The cause of these earthquakes has been blamed on the extraction of shale gas, highlighting yet another reason why we shouldn’t be pursuing this new ‘wonder-energy’.
It was reported that the quake, which measured 1.5, hit last Wednesday (June 1st), but didn’t do much more than shake an old couple sat in deck chairs and cause some sticks of rock to wobble off their shelves. The prior shake was on the 2nd of April and chalked up a stronger magnitude of 2.2; still way below those quakes in Japan.
The finger of responsibility has been pointed quite earnestly at a shale gas drilling operation situated a few miles from Blackpool. Cuadrilla, the company extracting the gas obviously denies any link between these earthquakes and its operation to pump millions of gallons water and rock dissolving chemicals underground to break apart the gas-containing rocks.
(I’m sorry, but Cuadrilla? Really? The name sounds like a Japanese movie monster)
Now, in the name of fairness and objective blogging I feel it’s only right to mention that the affected area does sit on the Midlands Microcraton. This a very small fault line running along the UK’s west coast that is prone to suffer small tremors now and again. So it could be argued that the quakes may not actually be related to the drilling. Nonetheless, there are plenty of those in the know – the British Geological Society for instance – who believe the two are connected.
Not that I wish any more earthquakes on the good people of Blackpool, but hopefully this news will add credence to the argument of those of us who oppose this new dash for gas.
Shale gas extraction, which uses a process known as fracking, is no stranger to controversy. By breaking apart, or fracking, the shale rock it is possible to get at the methane (natural gas) trapped inside, seal it up in huge containers and flog it at an exuberant price to the energy companies.
Because it’s a gas with lower carbon emissions than coal or oil, it is seen as being eco-friendly, even though the drilling process is massively destructive. I have already written on this issue so I won’t go into too much detail here. Suffice it to say; shale gas is not the answer to our prayers, and may turn out to be the stuff of nightmares; especially if you live in Blackpool.
GR
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Photo courtesy of hmproudlove
