Transition Island Blog

Plastic waste dumped in the oceans could be a devastating long-term pollution threat to the food chain.

Studies suggest billions of microscopic plastic fragments drifting underwater are concentrating toxins like DDT.

Marine biologist at Plymouth University have investigated how plastic degrades in the water and how tiny marine organisms, such as barnacles and sand-hoppers, respond.

concentrated toxins 

Dr Richard Thompson said “We know that plastics in the marine environment will accumulate and concentrate toxic chemicals from the surrounding seawater and you can get concentrations several thousand times greater than in the surrounding water on the surface of the plastic.

“Now there’s the potential for those chemicals to be released to those marine organisms if they then eat the plastic.”

Research on stretches of shoreline has shown that, at the microscopic level, plastic pollution is far worse than feared.

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Osborne Middle school  has received a new award as the first Climate Champion School.

First in the World!

Today (Friday 4/4/08) Dame Ellen MacArthur presented this Award, which sprang from inspiration in local company Vestas, the world’s leading supplier of wind power solutions. They are challenging schools to achieve three targets.

Firstly, to install sustainable energy equipment. Osborne Middle got a PhotoVoltaic (PV) panel via a grant from Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream, matched with the same from the Low Carbon Buildings programme.

Second, they raised enough funds to install a PV panel on the roof of a school in India. That school is in a village which has no electricity at all. The PV electricity will give them lighting this year, and then power computers next year.

Third, they have jointly developed (with Vestas) a lesson on Climate Change and Sustainability, which will be presented at both schools.

and more!

Also nice about this is that whole thing helps the FairTrade Agreement that Ben and Jerrys have with their workforce in the Vanilla plantation in India. And more, the PV cells were installed by a local Island company Engenius.

opinion

Vav Simon, leader of Transition Island said “I am amazed that the Island is so forward-thinking about these things. This is a great initiative, and it is wonderful that an Island school has got the first Award. Also, it is very pleasing that the new Climate Change and Sustainability lesson plan was developed here.”

action

Get your school involved!

HRH Prince Charles meet senior hospital managers to discuss hospital food.

Examining links between environmental issues, including climate change, and human health were his concerns.

Climate change is likely to place increasing demand on the NHS.

The National Audit Office estimated in 2003 that obesity costs the NHS at least £500m a year - and the wider economy more than £2bn a year in lost productivity. In fact, we may be following the USA in the weight obesity places - it may threaten the future of NHS.

About £500m is spent on hospital food in England each year - about 60p for each meal. But poor-quality food in hospitals means that 13million meals are thrown away every year, at a cost of £2.65 each.

 go organic

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The government is urging those who receive Pension Credit to apply for grants to help insulate their homes against the cold and rising fuel bills.

Minister for Pensions Reform Mike O’Brien said that with rising fuel prices it was more important than ever for people to properly insulate their homes and cut down on fuel usage.

a third lost

“As much as £1 in every £3 spent on heating bills is wasted in poorly insulated homes,” the minister said.

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An Open Food Co-op is a partnership of people who like locally-sourced, high quality food and deliberately build a sustainable supply-and-communications network.

It builds on what is there now: existing producer’s co-ops, farms and farmers’ markets, processors (bakers, cheesemakers, etc), distributors, shops, box schemes, regional support groups.

It adds new local food clubs.

It adds food-related social events.

It links them with an innovative communication & information management system.

This idea comes from Gary Alexander, author of eGaia, Growing a peaceful, sustainable Earth through communications.

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A political party has started acting on Peak Oil.
AT LAST!

What will they do?

Not much - they are not in power, nor are they likely to be for the foreseeable future.

It’s the British National Party.

BUT AT LEAST THEY HAVE A DISCUSSION GROUP.

All the same…

The Times recommends we follow the Transition Towns model.

Do it ourselves.

Work at a community level rather than a political level.

Talk to neighbours, friends and workmates.

Quicker? Probably!

Action:
Get the Transition Handbook.

Between   8pm-9pm on 29 March, millions of people around the world will take part in Earth Hour 2008

This is a WWF initiative asking people to turn their lights off for one hour.

It started with a question:
how could WWF inspire people to take action on climate change?

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Two public meetings are avalable for Isle of Wight people to find out more about the Eco-Isle vision for a sustainable future.

The Isle of Wight Council has organised a free Conference on March 26 to explain their Sustainable Community Strategy.

It will set out their vision for 2020 and plans for how a low carbon community will be achieved. The Strategy is the product of the Island Strategic Partnership, a multi-agency team of representatives from the public, business, voluntary and community sectors.

The morning will allow a variety of speakers to present relevant ideas from international competition, the Eden Project, Sustainable Energy Ireland, University Innovations and the new green design champion commission.

There is also an afternoon session for operations and business managers who would like to get practical advice about reducing the carbon footprint of their business. For more information about the content of this session, please call Pippa Howlett on 01983 823 693 or 07807 159 635.

A bigger event provided for the residents of the island is organised for the end of may, called the Big Green Picnic.

This will be held on Church Litten Park in Newport town centre on May 24 and 25.

Low carbon and sustainable lifestyles will be highlighted by the following features and activities that will be present throughout the whole weekend:

• Bicycle racks
• Discounted buses to Newport
• Electric Vehicle Exhibition including - Prius, Smart, Electric scooters, Segway
• Library exhibitions inside
• Council Tent - including - composting, solar car heats, future of eco-island exhibition plus… to be confirmed
• Quay Arts Tent - including - Straw bale housing, footprint pledge project
• Making bags - Ventbag - with our exhibit on banning plastic bags and our jute bags to buy…
• Making Bunting
• Mobile phone recycle unit
• Cinema tent - Green videos etc
• Health and Beauty Area
• Bandstand - Local talent and performers - from Green Storytelling to local bands
• Refreshments (WI and FM to be confirmed - more details later)
• Island Waste
• Games
• Workshops…

and much more still to be confirmed!!    

From The County Press

The Island’s first bio-diesel company has appealed for businesses to recycle used cooking oil to convert to green fuel.

Wight Made Bio-Diesel plans to increase production to up to 1500 litres a week, after a successful pilot project.

At around 10p a litre cheaper than normal diesel, there is no shortage of demand, accord­ing to company founders Joan Martin and Chris Sprackling.

Committed to the Island, they only use cooking oil that can be recy­cled as opposed to oil specially produced for bio-diesel. “We want it to stay on the Island. Some companies will collect waste oil but then it has to be transported off the Island to be convert­ed.”

So not only do they help the Island’s economy, they also reduce the transport miles involved.

Action:
Help them with your old cooking oil, contact on wmbd(at)hotmail(dot)co(dot)uk

U.S. investors have filed a record 54 shareholder resolutions, asking companies act to reduce risks of climate change on the bottom line.

The number of resolutions was nearly double the amount filed in 2006.

Investors clearly feel that companies in every industry, especially energy sectors, should be acting now to assess and reduce climate change risks.

Shareholder resolutions on climate are most often voted down. But they do raise awareness of potential business impacts of emissions of gases scientists blame for warming the planet.

Fourteen of the 54 resolutions were withdrawn by investors after the companies agreed to disclose potential impacts from emerging climate regulations and strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

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