Archive for the ‘England’ Category

In his first major speech since being appointed as energy and climate change secretary last month, Davey told a conference hosted by the Green Alliance think tank that the tough economic environment would not derail the government’s plans to build a vibrant low-carbon economy

He stressed there will be no major shifts in the government’s green policy plans, reiterating that the coalition is fully committed to meeting its renewable energy targets and driving rapid growth across the low-carbon economy. Read the rest of this entry »

Start-up aims to have more than 40 anaerobic digestion plants generating 100MW of electricity across the UK in five years’ time

Just4theplanet has always been so proud of Prince Charles’ valiant efforts in pushing forward the environmental agenda

Now the Prince of Wales’ estate, financier Jacob Rothschild, and supermarket giant Sainsbury’s are among a number of investors to back a company looking to develop a UK network of over 40 anaerobic digestion (AD) plants.

Start-up Tamar Energy has raised £65m to build the plants, which it estimates will generate 100MW of electricity from organic waste over the next five years. The biogas produced from the process can also be injected into the gas grid. Read the rest of this entry »

The world’s biggest offshore wind farm was officially opened today after record-fast construction in the middle of the Irish Sea.

The 102 turbines of the two connected Walney wind farms cover an area of 73 square-kilometres and were formally connected to the National Grid in a ceremony today.

With a capacity of 367.2MW, the huge project can provide low-carbon, green electricity to 320,000 homes. The generating capacity of each turbine, supplied by Siemens Wind Power, is 3.6MW, and the rotor diameter of the turbines is 107m for Walney 1 and 120m for Walney 2, with a maximum height of 150m from sea level to blade tip. Read the rest of this entry »

By: Andy Gryce, Population Matters

Pointing out the similarities (and differences) between slavery and the use of fossil fuels can help us engage with climate change in a new way, says Jean-François Mouhot, visiting researcher at Georgetown University, USA.

In 2005, while teaching history at a French university, I was struck by the general disbelief among students that rational and sensitive human beings could ever hold others in bondage. Slavery was so obviously evil that slave-holders could only have been barbarians. My students could not entertain the idea that some slave-owners could have been genuinely blind to the harm they were doing. At the same time, I was reading a book on climate change Read the rest of this entry »

First evidence of physical harm of propeller noise on the mammals

Shipping noise causes chronic stress to whales, scientists have shown for the first time, after using the halt in marine traffic after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to conduct a unique experiment.

The effect on whales of propeller noise, military sonar and explosions set off in the search for oil and gas is highly controversial. Environmental campaigners claim the noise interferes with the singing of whales, or even kills the animals, and are currently suing the US government over the navy’s use of sonar. Read the rest of this entry »

Liberal Democrat MP Ed Davey has been confirmed as the new secretary of state for energy and climate change, after Chris Huhne stepped down from the post to fight criminal charges

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg today announced that Davey would take up the cabinet role, moving from his current position as minister for employment relations, consumer and postal affairs in the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS).
Clegg said the MP for Kingston and Surbiton would be the “right man for the job”, maintaining Davey had a “lifelong commitment to environmental and green issues” and that he had shown a formidable grasp of government policy”. Read the rest of this entry »

Not all diet plans are nutritious and safe. U.S. News rankings rate each diet’s healthiness

There are some very successful diets on the market - but weight lost doesn’t always equal health gained. That new diet that took inches off your waistline could be harming your health if it locks out or severely restricts entire food groups, like carbs, or relies on supplements with little scientific backing, or clamps down on calories to an extreme.

“People are so desperate to lose weight that it’s really weight loss at any cost,” says Madelyn Fernstrom, founding director of the UPMC-University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Weight Management Center and author of The Real You Diet. And when that desperation sets in, says Fernstrom, “normal thinking goes out the window.” Who cares if the forbidden-foods list is longer than War and Peace? Pounds are coming off. You’re happy. But your body might not be. Read the rest of this entry »

With the surge in New Age belief systems and more people than ever turning to psychics and spiritual mediums – in this article we examine the role of more traditional approaches to spirituality.

Religion may be defined as a system of belief and ethical orientation which are premised on an understanding of human beings as other – or more than their purely physical identities.  Religion  and  its rituals – acts of prayer, meditation and celebration awake or reinforce a personal and communal sense of our connection to Ultimate Truth.

In various and complex ways religion has been both an agent of environmental domination and paradoxically repositories of ecological wisdom. Read the rest of this entry »