The environment Movement

The environment movement
The 'environment movement' in its widest sense (simply in terms of people who care about the environment), never really spells out what its vision of the future is, what it is trying to achieve, what a change to a sustainable world would look like. Part of the problem is that many people never really seem to be able to get their thinking above a war mentality - we live in a sort of constant state of siege, where concepts of 'doom' always seem to be upon us. In this situation, can it be surprising that no-one ever stops to say, well hold on for a moment, what kind of world do we want, can we work together to create? We need to be much more rigorous and determined about asking what it would mean to incorporate new ways of interacting with the natural environment into all our thinking, education and then into all our decision making. So, for example, we create opportunities for all school children to go outdoors and learn in outdoor classrooms, and make the commitment to ensure that these spaces are available at a close enough distance to all schools; similarly, spaces are created close enough to hospitals to act as natural healing spaces (benefits of green, plants and the associated wildlife you would get from native planting on health is proven - not just a little grassy park, green spaces with planting of species to attract and provide habitat for native wildlife...); all food production, energy, textile and other non-food crop production is done in a way that takes ecological processes and wildlife into account, that all transport, energy production is decentralised to people see where their energy comes from and see the wildlife benefits of this on their doorstep...and so on, in every sector you can think of. If knowledge and thinking on wildlife and ecological processes were integrated into absolutely every sector of society, the result would be that our surroundings and day-to-day living processes would develop / evolve alongside, and INTO, functioning ecosystems. Such ecosystems would not only be resilient and adapt to environmental change which in various forms / scales happens constantly, but also, the increase in natural habitat, soil etc... would sequester carbon, buffer air, water and against extremes of climate, thereby protecting human society from larger-scale environmental change. The ecosystem approach isn't something that can be created and imposed along previous lines where we decide what the policy output should look like, and then deliver it - rather it would be something that would evolve and emerge naturally as a result of positive collaboration and new innovative projects between all the sectors, as mentioned above.


Luckily, not everyone is so hopeless. At the new National Trust headquarters in Swindon, the entire building has gone green. Photovoltaic cells on the roof provide 30% of the building's energy, movement and lux-sensitive lights vary with the strength of light outside, and the whole building is self-cooling. Even the carpets have been woven with wool from the National Trust's own herd of sheep in the Lake District.

Re: Ethical Capitalism
I'd like to see a UK visionary company like this American company that has the perfect business model for installing domestic or business renewable energy. It's an Energy Services Company (ESCo) model, that goes two steps further than either WindSave's model or the Woking Council model, in taking ALL the hassle out of having a renewable electricity supply for your building, while guaranteeing a price for 25 years that's competitive with brown electricity. Here's the blurb on their web site: Citizene's REnU program packages solar power for you in a simple and smart way. Plainly put, the Citizenr Corporation pays for, installs, owns and operates the solar installation. You don’t have to worry about maintaining the equipment or any of the other concerns that come with making an investment into solar power. All you are required to do is pay for the electricity generated from these panels, at a fixed rate that is at or below your current electricity price, for up to twenty-five years. Well. Small print aside, I'd buy that. Who wouldn't? A no risk, no hassle, service arrangement. I hope this business model can work (I assume they've crunched their figures) and that we'll soon see some British companies try and roll a similar offer out. http://renu.citizenre.com/index.php?c=1170233887
Comments: David Milliband’s blog


Methane Emission
The results of investigation of the rate at which methane is being released in Siberia revealed levels of discharge that were five times higher than previous estimates. The results, echoed by studies at 100 other sites in the north Siberia region, are alarming because methane is far more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide and is therefore potentially much more dangerous to the planet. Scientists have calculated that methane has a global warming potential that is 23 times that of carbon dioxide. This means that a kilogram of methane warms the planet's atmosphere 23 times as much as the same amount of carbon dioxide.
In addition to the methane built up, it is also known that vast amounts of carbon dioxide are locked in the planet's frozen zones. In total, it is estimated there could be as much as 450 billion tonnes of methane and carbon dioxide trapped in the world's permafrost.

Not just a wasteland
· Covering 10 million square kilometres, if Siberia were to secede from Russia it would be the world's largest country.
· Few people live there - only three people to every square kilometre -but it is rich in minerals, including gold and diamonds.
· The 9,295km Trans-Siberian Railway is the world's longest railway, running from Moscow to Vladivostok.
Source: Robin McKie and Nick Christian, Observer, 10 Sept. 2006