Welcome to green-pepper.org.uk an Environmental News blog.
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People often don’t realise that a funeral is an event that has an impact on the environment. However, now funerals which are environmentally friendly are being set up and it is possible to organise one of these before you die. This is also something that will help your relative save money as it is a more affordable option than a traditional funeral. Green funerals are thought to be becoming more and more popular as the price of funerals continues to increase. There are many elements of the green funeral, such as purchasing a biodegradable coffin. These coffins of become increasingly popular over the last few years and there are becoming a wider variety of them available. There are now carbon rebalancing coffins, woodland conservation, and coffins that are capable of protecting the rainforest. Money has recently been made available to green funeral companies through the Green Trust Fund, which is a body that invests money in ethical businesses. By purchasing a funeral ahead of time, you will avoid some of the hassle associated with your funeral that your family would have to face. Paying for your funeral in advance also means that there will be no extra costs when you die as the price will be fixed at the time you purchase the funeral service. Barry Floyd is from a green funeral company and he has commented, “The funeral is a very important event as it allows people the opportunity to say goodbye to their loved ones. People are becoming more environmentally conscious and if you want to say goodbye in an ethical way, then it would be a good idea to go for a green funeral.” It is well understood that our environment is under greater pressure than it has been at any other point in history. If we want to make sure that we have a healthy environment for generations to come to live in it is important that all people take action today. At one end of the spectrum, it is very important that governments take all the necessary steps to make it possible for us to protect the environment. Right at the other end of the spectrum are people in their homes, making sure that they take all the steps necessary in order to reduce their carbon footprint and the amount of rubbish they are sending to landfill. In the middle of these two groups is one of the biggest contributors towards damaging the environment, businesses. Businesses are something that people, especially those not involved with business, often forget is contributing towards damaging the environment. It is important that people realise that business and the environment are two things that can go together, and it is possible to have environmentally friendly businesses, in almost every sector. This new video from Eco-innovation, shows that it is not necessary for business and the environment to be constantly fighting with each other. Instead, it shows that when they work together it is best and more is achieved. The video shows two men in a dance of competition, one is clearly designed to represent the environment, and the other is clearly representing business. While they start off competing, in the end they are working together. A new video that has been released and sponsored by the European Commission shows how, by working together, countries can achieve a more environmentally friendly energy solution in Europe. The video highlights how all the technology is available and it is just a case of people coming together to make that technology work for them and their countries. The video highlights the importance not just of the environmental side of things, but also how important it is that that energy is efficient and affordable. The video does not ignore the business side of the equation, that is all too often forgotten by environmental advocacy groups. The video displays all of this by representing the power situation in Europe as a sort of board game, similar to Monopoly. It also shows, however, that in order for a good solution to become possible, all of the players must work together, rather than against each other. The video shows how it is important that non-environmentally friendly ways of producing power work together with more green options. This video is put together in a very graphically pleasing way, and the idea of using a board game to represent the environmental situation in Europe is very clever. It simplifies the situation down into a way that everyone can understand and this means that the video will reach as wider audience as possible. It is a video will turn people on to the idea of energy providers working together in Europe in order to provide the continent with a greener future and a healthier environment. The government might be changing their plans for the ownership of the National Nature Reserves. They have said that they might not be going to be changing the ownership of the body as they were going to do before. There are over 220 National Nature Reserves across the country and they are regarded as some of the most valued and famous forestry reserves in the country. These forests can be found all over the country and Natural England, is responsible for managing about 70 percent of them. Natural England is also the adviser to the government on environmental matters and they were together exploring the ideas of changes to these reserves. The government were initially considering disposing of them but after a revolt it seems as if the government are going to be changing their mind. The opposition to the selling off of these forests so they would no longer be owned by the public was met with a huge amount of opposition from the public. It is thought that this opposition is one of the reasons why the government have changed their mind on the matter. The Labour Party were also putting pressure on the government as they felt this was an opportunity to take a knock at the coalition government. However, there have also been Liberal Democrat and Tory MPs who have gone against their party’s recommendations. The government has said that many of the opinions that were being made are based on inaccurate information that people made assumptions about before the report was ever published. However, the report has now been published and it has been 10 days since it was made available and it doesn’t seem as if the opposition is backing down. The government are currently going through a consultation process and will be making a decision in the near future. The government will be having to take public opinion into the matter if they want to avoid political fallout. This week Peterborough has been very busy with a forest protection programme which has seen them plant over 3000 trees. This planting has been organised in association with the council and is run by the green group, PECT. They are also going to be organising an Environment Capital Conference, which is going to take place next February. This conference is going to be an opportunity for people in the area who have been involved in environmental projects, to look back over the impact that they have made since their inception. Because of projects like this, Peterborough is becoming quickly known as then environmental innovator and it is setting best practice systems for the rest of the country. Industry experts agree that the area provides an example for the rest of the UK in how to become greener. Guest speakers at the event are going to deliver speeches which are designed to be entertaining as well as thought-provoking. Professor Montgomery, he, from the University College London, is going to be delivering a speech at the event about sustainability. He is a world recognised expert in this field and his speech should be a real highlight of the event. Many people have been involved in projects in Peterborough and they will also be looking forward to hearing what he has to say about these projects and their successes. It is a long way until February next year, but the schedule for looking back at all the projects that have taken place is already looking rather busy. This is not a bad thing in any way, but rather it is a testament to the amount of success that Peterborough has had on becoming an environmental leader. By next February even more items are going to be added to the agenda insuring Peterborough further cements its reputation. When you consider the entire mass of the Earth as a whole, 99.9 percent of it is above 100 Celsius in temperature. Essentially what this means is that below the crust of the Earth is enough energy to provide all of the energy needs that the Earth could want. This is an extraordinary opportunity for creating clean energy and it is something that the UK government needs to start investing more money in exploring. Interestingly, geothermal energy is something that works in a very similar way to nuclear energy. With geothermal energy, a large borehole is dug, into which water is passed, this borehole goes deep into the ground where it can take advantage of heat that is there because of radioactive decay in the mantle of the Earth. Therefore both nuclear and geothermal energy take advantage of radiation. Geothermal energy is something that is capable of providing power all day and it is a completely sustainable and clean form of energy. In addition to this, it produces almost no carbon and the plants are very small and so do not take up a great deal of space, which could potentially disturb people who live near them. The water that is in the power plant is in an enclosed loop, so the same water is reused over and over again. This means that there is minimal environmental impact. Unfortunately, investment for this power is difficult right now because there is a high financial risk of doing so. There is no licencing system for the power, so you could do all of the resurgent finding a good location for geothermal energy, and then someone could simply set up a power station right next door to yours, without having to pay anything for the research. The government needs to change its attitudes on this before the UK can start taking serious advantage of this energy source. Coal mining is an industry that has been dying in the UK for a very long time, but unfortunately the government is in something of a tight spot. It is difficult for them to close down the industry completely because the workers would simply be put on the dole. However, the industry is uneconomical and not really needed any more. A think tank from the right side of the political spectrum, has recently said that coal mining should be exempt from carbon taxes. This is obviously a statement that most people are not going to agree with, as coal mining is an activity that provides a fuel that is in no way good for the environment. There are currently 6000 people employed in the coal industry in the UK and what is clear is that it is not acceptable for the government to still be subsidising their jobs. Politicians still seem to think that it is possible for the UK, with its tiny coal industry, to be competing with mega-producers such as China and Poland. The real solution is not to subsidise these people, but to retrain them in an industry that has a future in the UK, sustainable, clean energy. Unfortunately, the idea for clean coal in the UK is not exactly clear. The government previously made a proposal that would mean a coal power station would be constructed with a carbon capture facility to reduce carbon emissions. However, this plan has recently been cancelled because it is much too expensive. The government has to meet strict emissions targets that have been set by the European Union, and if it continues in protecting the jobs of coal miners, then it is going to be very difficult to meet these targets. Not to mention the fact that it is very expensive to subsidise this industry. The government have recently started a subsidised funding scheme which is going to offer nearly £900 million in order to improve clean heating in the country. While this might seem like a lot of money at first, in reality this isn’t a great amount to invest in the sustainability of heating systems in the UK. Most people don’t realise that around 50 percent of carbon emissions in the UK are produced by heating systems and so if the government wants to meet the climate change targets that they have set out, then they are going to need to focus more effort in this area. It is estimated that the scheme is going to mean that the amount of power needed for heating is going to be reduced significantly, an amount equivalent to about 20 gas power stations. The scheme is not going to start being used for households until October this year, and despite the fact that it isn’t a great amount of money, it is still something that is going to make a real difference. There are many elements to the government’s plan for reducing the amount of carbon emissions in the UK. As well as improving the heating situation, the government have also said they are going to be cutting down on the amount of carbon dioxide they emit themselves. They have also said that they are going to be investing in an electric car infrastructure across the UK. The government is doing a lot of talk about this right now, and this money is one of the first actions they have actually taken. Many people will just hope that they will stick to their promises and deliver on all of the green energy solutions they have promised over the last couple of years and during the election campaigns previously. The debate over the relative hazards of global warming and nuclear disaster continues, at levels from objective philosophical observation to raging paranoia. There is simply no easy answer to the question. The destructive power of a nuclear explosion is horrific and immediate, while the ultimate long-range effects are still unknown. Global warming is a gradual process, not the dramatic explosion and split-second destruction that makes instant headlines around the world. Weighing the risks from nuclear power in all its forms and those from the effects of climate change is based on so many different factors that it is literally mind-boggling. Climate change is going on; sea levels are rising, the ice caps are melting, entire ecosystems are struggling for survival. A lot of expensive real estate, not to mention the livelihoods and lives of some of the world’s least affluent people, is at ever-increasing risk of flood and storm damage. Arguably the most important question is whether the political consciousness of the world can look beyond short-term profit and loss and invest the necessary resources in developing sustainable energy sources. Wind, water and solar power are already viable alternatives but only for a small fraction of the world’s total energy needs. Both nuclear and and petroleum power have the backing of industrial giants with virtually unlimited funds, partly because they have the political (read ‘financial’) clout to influence the allocation of government subsidies and other considerations. Sustainable power sources get a lot less support, for a variety of often questionable reasons. One simple fact, impossible to refute, is that ‘natural’ petroleum is a finite source. When we use it all up, there won’t be any more. Another fact is that the human population is growing not declining; the need for power can only grow with it. Even disregarding pollution of the environment (which we cannot afford to do) sustainable energy sources that don’t pollute, blow up or melt down would seem be nothing more than self-preservation and common sense. |
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