2nd May 2008
The result sets Councillor Adrian Ramsay on course to win Charles Clarke’s Norwich South seat, becoming one of the first Green MPs elected to Westminster.
Finishing the night with an increased number of City Council seats from 10 to 13, Norwich Green Party has leapfrogged the Liberal Democrats to become the official opposition on Norwich City Hall, just 2 seats away from the ruling Labour Party.
At the same time, the Greens have beaten Labour on local election vote share across the Norwich South Parliamentary constituency by approximately 2000 votes. For the first time, the Norwich Greens also won more votes than Labour across the entire city.
This historic election sees the Norwich Greens become the most powerful Green Group of councillors in the country. The result also sets Nelson Ward Green Party Councillor Adrian Ramsay on course to win Charles Clarke’s Norwich South seat, becoming one of the first Green MPs elected to Westminster.
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A new craze has taken off - competing against the car to get the highest MPG (miles-per-gallon) possible.
The aim is to maximise fuel economy against the backdrop of increasing fuel costs.
It’s said to be the automotive equivalent of skateboarding.
As a sport, it is more like golf than football - the battle is against engine inefficiency, aerodynamic drag, rolling friction through the tyres, power-to-weight ratios, and kinetic energy lost to braking.
Having started in America, this sport is spreading. As part of the American Dream, the right to drive is almost synonymous with low-cost mileage. The biggest perceived cost is the motor-car itself, a reflection of success. But a counter-cultural movement took off, aiming to double the MPG of any car, inverting the meaning of success. 
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More than seven in ten voters are not willing to pay higher taxes to fight climate change.
The online survey also reveals that most Britons believe “green” taxes on 4×4s, plastic bags and other consumer goods have been imposed to raise cash rather than change our behaviour.
Two-thirds of Britons think the entire green agenda has been hijacked as a ploy to increase taxes.
Only a few days ago, we reported The Labour Government’s addiction to “spin” has created the most profound disillusionment. This has resulted in the “disgust and alienation of voters who now tell opinion pollsters that they scarcely believe a word that any government spokesman utters.”
The UK is committed to reducing carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2050. This target will be impossible to reach without popular support.
eco-fatigue
We seem to moving from charity fatigue to eco-fatigue.
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Big cats protected in Kenya’s Maasai Mara game reserve are threatened by a fall in tourism.
Tourists have stayed away mainly because of the violence which followed last year’s disputed election.
But in time, rising fuel costs will reduce holiday flights, and income from richer countries will drop, leaving many endangered species with less protection.
Loss of compensation schemes could force local people to kill lions and leopards in order to protect livestock. There are also risks from locals hunting protected animals for meat as the food crisis worsens.
taking flight?
With cheap flights, international travel is in a boom era. But things are changing.
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PERMANENT PUBLICATIONS (www.permaculture.co.uk)
a UK publisher producing practical books, magazines and websites which enable people to reduce their carbon footprint and live more sustainable lifestyles, has won a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2008, in the Sustainable Development category.
The Press Release continues:
The Queen’s Award panel, endorsed by the Prime Minister’s office, have honoured Permanent Publications because of its ‘continuous achievement’ and ‘unfettered commitment to progressing sustainability’ internationally.
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While action on Climate Change appears to be moving ahead, action on Peak Oil appears to be desperately slow.
Peak Oil is upon us - we now have 10% rises in the price of crude oil every month.
Burning fossil fuels contributes to Climate Change.
Back in February, we reported that the UK & USA have the lowest level of people saying that they are personally making a significant effort to reduce their carbon output.
WHY?
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Conservationists in Kenya demanded on Monday that the government ban the pesticide carbofuran after five hippos died and four lions were paralyzed.
Rangers in the sprawling Maasai Mara game reserve found traces of the granular pesticide, which is used to kill insects in food crops, in the hippos’ bodies and in areas where they grazed. The sick lions had been feeding on the hippo carcases.
cheap, toxic, indiscriminate
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Organically grown foods generally hold more nutrition value than conventionally grown foods, according to a study co-authored by three researchers at Washington State University.
According to the study, organic plant-based foods contain higher levels of eight of 11 nutrients studied, including significantly greater concentrations of the health-promoting polyphenols and antioxidants.
The study, co-authored by professor Neal Davies of the WSU College of Pharmacy, horticulture professor Preston Andrews and Jaime Yanez, Davies’ graduate student, is the first in-depth review of the published scientific literature on the nutritional benefits of organic food completed since 2003, Andrews said.
“Where there were overall combined results, there was a bigger difference more frequently in favor of organic foods,” Andrews said.
The study concluded that organically grown plant-based foods are on average 25 percent more nutrient dense, thus delivering more essential nutrients per serving or calorie consumed.
Read more at Organic Agriculture …
INVITATION to a free lunchtime talk on climate change, ponds and carbon storage 6 May 2008.
In recently published work, Professor John Downing from Iowa State University says that across the globe, ponds ‘may bury 4 times as much carbon as the world’s oceans.’
‘The world’s farm ponds alone may bury more organic carbon than the oceans and 33% as much as the world’s rivers deliver to the sea.’
To find out how ponds take up the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and the implications for climate change, you are invited …
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California Plans to Use Citizens as Guinea Pigs: Why Every U.S. Resident Should Care
Taken from an American Blog
Beginning this summer, airplanes will fly 500-800 feet over California, spraying hundreds of thousands of California residents with untested pesticide called CheckMate.
The State’s Department of Food and Agriculture is initiating the largest aerial pesticide spray in the history of the United States because it’s afraid the light brown apple moth will take over our plants.
And why should anyone who lives outside of California care? One simple reason: we are the nation’s guinea pigs. The USDA recently announced plans to survey all 50 U.S. states to see if the light brown apple moth can be found anywhere else. If they do…
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opinion:
I don’t know the facts of this case.
I do know this sort of protest is an expression of outrage from ordinary people about politics and big business behaving in scandalous ways. And I’m sure Californians are not the only Guinea Pigs in the world!
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