Transition Island Blog

Integrated health means bringing together mainstream medical science with the best of complementary therapies so that patients can benefit from both - and have more say in their treatment at the same time. (The Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health)

* For 65% of the patients, their doctors reported a significant improvement in health;

* Half the GPs said they had been able to reduce prescribed medication and the same number that their patients needed less frequent referral to hospital;

* Four out of ten patients reported an improvement in symptoms, 81% said their general health and well-being had improved and 55% said they had been able to reduce their use of pain killers.

Read more…

less cost NHS 

“We are infinitely complex beings - mind, body and spirit - that cannot just be reduced to mechanical functioning. Healthcare should, and must, attend appropriately to all three aspects.” 

“Humans are capable of a unique trick, creating realities by first imagining them, by experiencing them in their minds. 

…As soon as we sense the possibility of a more desirable world, we begin behaving differently, as though that world is starting to come into existence, as though, in our mind’s eye, we are already there.  The dream becomes an invisible force which pulls us forward.  By this process it begins to come true.  The act of imagining somehow makes it real… 

And what is possible in art becomes thinkable in life”.  

Brian Eno.

There is so much bad news that it is all too easy to become a gloom-merchant.

But some dedicated searching can lead to progress and a real potential to change the environment. Here’s a few possibilities…

Solar cooling system

A Spanish research team has produced an air-conditioning system that uses green energy sources.

Powered by using solar and residual heat, it also reduces greenhouse gas emissions in its cooling system by combining the use of a lithium bromide solution, which does not damage the ozone layer or increase the greenhouse effect. Read more…

Active focus solar panels

New York engineers have redesigned photovoltaic panels to include concentric circles that focus the sun’s rays on miniaturized modules.

The panels automatically sense sunlight and turn towards it, helping to make these high-tech solar cells more efficient. The key breakthrough is the miniaturized concentrator solar cell, which uses a lens with concentric grooves to focus collected light. Only the size of a postage stamp, the cell is much more efficient in collecting and reusing solar energy. Read more…

Carbon sink method workable

Adding lime to seawater increases alkalinity, boosting seawater’s ability to absorb CO₂ from air and reducing the tendency to release it back again. While the process of making lime generates CO₂, adding the lime to seawater absorbs almost twice as much CO₂ so the overall process is therefore ‘carbon negative’.

The idea has been bandied about for years was thought unworkable because of the expense of obtaining lime from limestone and the amount of CO₂ released in the process. But it could be efficient in regions that have a combination of low-cost ’stranded’ energy considered too remote to be economically viable to exploit — like flared natural gas or solar energy in deserts — and that are rich in limestone, making it feasible for calcination to take place on site.

Shell is so impressed with the new approach that it is funding an investigation into its economic feasibility. Read more…

Algae capture carbon doxide

Ohio University engineers have designed a simple, sustainable and natural carbon sequestration solution using algae. a photo bioreactor that uses photosynthesis to grow algae, passing CO₂ over large membranes, placed vertically to save space. The CO₂ produced by the algae is recycled as it dissolves into the surrounding water.

The algae can be harvested and made into biodiesel fuel and feed for animals. A reactor with 1.25 million square meters of algae screens could be up and running by 2010. Read more…

opinion

It’s true there’s many a slip twix cup and lip - research is some distance (and time) (and money) away from industrial production. But where there’s a will there’s a way!

Good and bad news came in around the UK energy situation. 

Problems in the area are not going to go away. Here we have a selection: political, economic, local opinion and habitat impact.

uncompetitive supplies

Allan Asher, the chief executive of Energywatch, has told MPs that power companies have it too easy. There is next to no market competition.

It is indisputable that competition in a market of six major players is unlikely to be as fierce as it would be with 20. As a result, he said, the difference between them is “just a few pence a week”.

hot air

Villagers in part of south Leicestershire are protesting at proposals to build a wind farm. They would be equivalent to eleven 40-storey buildings.

Members of the protest group claim the plan will damage the environment.

nuclear expansion

The UK government confirmed in January that it was in the country’s long-term interest that nuclear power should play a role in providing Britain with clean, secure and affordable energy.

(more…)

About one million litres of water will soon be saved by Southern Water on the Island every day.

The County Press says this is enough to fill 10,000 baths.

A £7 million investment in new state-of-the-art recycling equipment, which takes water out of sludge, will improve supplies in the south of the Island.

The project at the Sandown works is part of £700 million of environmental improvements being carried out for Southern Water throughout Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Island between 2005 and 2010.

The water company said its new equipment, which is nearing completion, will take 90 per cent of the water from a thin sludge that previously went to waste.

new machinery

The new machinery takes water used in backwashing the normal filters, slows it down and adds clarifying chemicals that bind together the solids in the sludge so that it falls out of the flow. This clarified water can then be sent back to the beginning of the filtration process and can end up as clean water.

(more…)

Around 10,000 people took part in the recent Walk the Wight in aid of Newport’s Earl Mountbatten Hospice.

The full walk across the Island is 26.5 miles between Bembridge and Alum Bay. There is a newly-introduced eight-mile Flat Walk along the cycle path from Sandown to Newport, approximately half the distance. (Photo from County Press)

Walk the WIght was created during the early Spring days of 1991 by two old friends who loved walking, and started walking for charity. It has become the largest annual fund raising event on the Island. 

perfect conditions

Early morning cloud and drizzle were replaced by glorious sunshine as participants walked, ran, stilt-walked, hobbled and limped their way across the Island.

Hospice fundraiser Karen Eeles said: “After last year’s torrential rain, who would have thought we’d get so many people? The atmosphere was fantastic.”

growing event

Before Sunday, 8,275 walkers had registered to walk either the and organisers have estimated that more than 1,000 more registered on the day. Local people of all ages and abilities joined in, and lots of youngsters - and dogs - also took part..

Fundraisers are hoping the total raised will exceed last year’s figure of £230,000.

This is a growing event, having raised £200,000 in 2006 and £217,000 in 2007. Walker numbers have also risen, with over 5,000 last year having grown to an estimated 10,000 this year.

individuals help

So often, the question “But what can I do?” comes up when we’re faced with environmental problems - even those we want to contribute to solving.

‘Walk the Wight’ is a great example of what can be achieved by individuals who work together as a team.

Action:
Volunteer!

Camden residents’ conscientiously sorted doorstep recycling boxes are simply rebundled and sent abroad.

Every item of paper placed in Camden’s recycling bins is sent to Malaysia, Indonesia, India or China. All of the borough’s waste plastic goes to China.

This is according to figures released to the New Journal this week under Freedom of Information rules. The council is locked into a seven-year, £16 million a year contract with waste company Veolia.

But it is the council’s cost-cutting policy of lumping all types of waste together, that requires the ‘contaminated’ recycling can only be processed abroad.

(more…)

Biofuels have had many warnings.

One of the original problems with biodiesel was clogging up filters. This was because it cleans the residue left behind by the mineral diesel out of the fuel lines, which then collects in the filter. Which is why all fuel lines have filters - to stop unwanted solids going into the combustion chamber.

So the answer was to change the filter, usually only necessary once.

new problems

Now, a new warning has emerged. It’s not just the vehicle engine dirt that gets cleaned out. It’s also the grot in the garage’s storage tank.

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As predicted, the Government U-turn on Real Time Displays.

Jonathon Porritt, Chair of the Sustainable Development Commision, gives his views on the recent decision by BERR (Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) not to give the go-ahead to a plan which would have seen power companies providing every home with a free device able to display electricity use in real-time.

We supported this energy efficiency method that can help householders save between 8 and 16% of their electricity bills.

See the Channel 4 news item.

opinion:
Such a shame!

Global warming is disrupting wildlife and the environment on every continent.

According to an unprecedented study published in the high-credibility journal Nature, climate change is already affecting the world’s ecosystems to a large extent.

This comes from a team of experts, including members of the UN’s intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) from America, Europe, Australia and China, and is based on published reports dating back to 1970.

human doings

At least 90% of environmental damage and disruption around the world could be explained by rising temperatures driven by human activity.

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