Transition Island Blog

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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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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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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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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Transition Island will be at the Robin Hill Garden Show 26 & 27 April.

You can find out how green is your garden?

Report from Sue Lupton, Isle of Wight County Press

Visitors to the show are invited to visit a straw-bale house to learn from the experts how they can make their homes and gardens greener.

Dave and Vav Simon, of Aldermoor Earthworks, and a team of environmentally minded volunteers are creating a demonstration that is designed to inspire people to try green techniques at home.

Aldermoor Earthworks runs weekend workshops on country skills, ecological issues and green topics. Dave and Vav active campaigners on ecological issues and leading lights in Transition Island, a group that encourages people to take action on problems like climate change

Dave said: “In the past two years, show has been mainly about flowers and the organisers approached us because they wanted to extend it by encouraging people to ask `How green is my garden?’

“They invited us to do something about energy efficiency in the house and garden. What we want to do is to demonstrate how you can build a shed or lean-to with straw bales. You can collect water off it in water butts - that is called rain water harvesting. You can use the harvested water in the garden or to flush the toilet.

“We will also show how you can use water from the kitchen sink for watering the garden. People think that detergents will be a problem but plants are survivors, used to filtering out impurities.

“We wanted to demonstrate principles that might get people thinking, so they go home and try out some of the systems.

“This project fits in with the whole Eco-Island movement, which also ties in with what Transition Island is trying to do. Climate change is a long-term problem, while peak oil (the rising price of oil) is likely to affect us all in a matter of years. We believe there is a lot people can do themselves, but the problem is we are all addicted to the easy life. It is not easy to do without modern conveniences.

“We want people to understand these issues and apply them to their own homes and gardens. It is about getting people talking and thinking and doing, rather than waiting for the government to take the initiative.”

Sir David Attenborough is nearing the end of his sweeping natural history television career. He is fearful of what the future holds for the Earth and its inhabitants.

His ‘Life on Earth’ series has been seen by hundreds of millions of people over 30 years. He has long been highlighting in his programmes the damage that human beings are doing to the planet - every series ends with a comment on this.

“The plain, simple, overwhelming fact of the matter is that since I started making programs, there are three times as many people on the Earth,” he said.

getting worse

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High-altitude bands of fast winds that drive the paths of storms and other weather systems are now shifting - possibly in response to global warming.

The Jet Stream is a fast moving ribbon of air high up in the atmosphere (not to be confused with the Gulf Stream, an ocean current in the Atlantic).

These ribbons are only a few miles wide at a height above 20,000 feet (3 to 4 miles) and can have wind speeds of 300 to 400mph!

shoved about

Their position is not static: they twist and turn, changing route every day within a known band. However, research at the Carnegie Institution has found that between 1979 and 2001 (a 23-year span) the jet streams in both hemispheres have shifted toward the poles. They have both have risen in altitude, too. The jet stream in the northern hemisphere has also weakened.

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The biggest prize in history is now waiting for an inventor.

A prize of $25 million for anyone who can come up with a system for removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere was launched on Friday 8/2/08, by Richard Branson.

The head of Virgin Group said at the launch in London, UK, that the prize was not for removing emissions from power plants before they reach the atmosphere and storing them deep underground - an existing technology known as carbon capture and sequestration.

Instead, the brief is to devise a system to remove a “significant amount” of greenhouse gases [ ] from the atmosphere…

Read more in the New Scientist…

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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