UK Pet Forums Forum banner

Climate Change.

76K views 1K replies 49 participants last post by  Elles 
#1 · (Edited)
#2 ·
#5 ·
I planted four baby cob nut trees in two local parks last autumn . I have a cob nut tree that I planted in my garden in 2000 to mark the new century. it came form the kennels where I worked. the squirrel buries the nuts and they grow , so rather than mow them down , I' ve started to replant them and hope to do some each year in different places.

Heres one I planted earlier ! I hope they all survive.

 
#7 ·
I think this is a great move forward
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-38571240
"Charles Hendry will publish his independent report into the viability of the renewable energy technology later, recommending the UK builds the lagoon to capture energy from the sea.
The Swansea Bay project would involve 16 turbines along a breakwater but is seen as only the start - a prototype for much larger lagoons".

By Roger Harrabin, BBC environment analyst
"There are two big questions over lagoons: Will they harm wildlife and can they be built cheaply enough? There's no evidence yet on wildlife but most environment groups seem willing to see one trial lagoon built, then make an assessment."

Worth a small experiment I think. Also, once trialed and costed, there are many natural lagoons around the coast :)
 
#8 ·
It's very interesting when looking at these new schemes to establish whether they really are viable methods of power generation taking into account the cost, the impact on the environment to build and the impact on the environment once completed.

This one would be a massive construction project which in itself would leave an equally massive carbon footprint. Hopefully, if it will produce electricity for a hundred years or more and the turbines don't kill too much (if any) sealife it will be a really positive addition to our power generation.
 
#9 · (Edited)
.................
Fantastic news about green renewables powering so much of our energy - this is in spite of the government, not because of it. Switching over to green renewables is the only chance we have of mitigating catastrophic runaway climate change, Good news about the lagoon, but if this government was serious about climate change they would never have opened the countryside up to the filthy fracking industry. They would never have trashed the renewables industry & they would not be intent on selling of our Green Investment Bank to an asset stripper. https://www.theguardian.com/environ...ent-bank-theresa-may-macquarie-caroline-lucas

 
  • Like
Reactions: leashedForLife
#11 ·
Meanwhile... sales of plastic laws rise up (and seem to be very popular with dog owners according to PF). One company has registered a 220% year-on-year increase in trade of the lawns.

Mathew Frith, director of conservation at the London Wildlife Trust, said: "You are using fossil fuels to make it, so there is a carbon impact there, you have to remove a significant amount of soil to lay it so you are reducing the direct and indirect porosity of the soil, you are removing habitat which a wide range of species are dependent on and at the end of its life this is a non-biodegradable product which ultimately goes back into landfill. So yes we are concerned at its proliferation."

Research in 2011 by the London Wildlife Trust revealed that 3,000 hectares (12 sq miles) of garden vegetation had been lost over eight years in the UK - which amounts to more than two Hyde Parks a year. Much, if not all, of this loss was down to decking, concreting over gardens, and the use of artificial grass.
 
#13 ·
  • Like
Reactions: leashedForLife
#15 ·
I'll let Bill Mckibben answer that -

Bill McKibben ‏@billmckibben 17h17 hours ago

Trump today: 'environmentalism is out of control.'

Scientists: 'climate system is out of control.'

One or the other is right, I wonder which.


Trump is about to restart the Keystone XL & the Dakota access pipelines Samuel :(
 
  • Like
Reactions: leashedForLife
#16 ·
  • Like
Reactions: leashedForLife
#18 ·
DT on here has them :) My roof isn't facing an ideal direction, but I still want them. When we can afford to buy our own panels, we intend to do it. My energy supplier is ecotricity though, its a green energy company which doesn't cost us much more than our old provider. And I've recently found out our old provider like all our major energy companies I believe, has vested interests in the fracking industry:mad:.
 
  • Like
Reactions: leashedForLife
#19 ·
Our weather is definitely getting more weird than I ever remember! Snow seems more likely March-April these days than xmas like it used to.....and when have we ever had 15 days of darkness in UK?

http://medusafacts.org/breaking-new...erience-15-days-of-darkness-in-february-2017/

Not sure whether it will affect everywhere at once or how dark it will stay? I know some countries do experience months of darkness,but they don't tend to be inhabited by millions of people! .knowing Britain, everything will grind to an halt like it does if it snows heavy! ...while us dedicated dog walkers will still be trying to get our dogs out for exercise over the pitch black fields.lol! :D
 
#20 ·
I reckon it is going to get a whole lot hotter:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-...nforests-quickly-gone-100-years-deforestation

Sea levels will rise:
http://www.ecowatch.com/sea-level-rise-inevitable-2195929828.html

Reason why Trump and co can get away with denying it - they will be the last affected. Fig 11 shows the effect on individual countries.
https://www.sei-international.org/p...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

9 things that a person can do
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcm...you-can-do-about-climate-change/#75797fd06672

Doesn't seem enough really :(
 
#22 ·
I reckon it is going to get a whole lot hotter:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-...nforests-quickly-gone-100-years-deforestation

Sea levels will rise:
http://www.ecowatch.com/sea-level-rise-inevitable-2195929828.html

Reason why Trump and co can get away with denying it - they will be the last affected. Fig 11 shows the effect on individual countries.
https://www.sei-international.org/p...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

9 things that a person can do
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcm...you-can-do-about-climate-change/#75797fd06672

Doesn't seem enough really :(
How does dairy affect climate control??? ..just cos it comes from animals like meat?
 
#25 ·
This is possibly the most dangerous graph on the planet.

C02 concentrations just keep going up & up.

Green Rectangle Slope Plot Line
 
  • Like
Reactions: leashedForLife
#26 ·
  • Like
Reactions: leashedForLife
#27 · (Edited)
I hope there is truth in this report. :)

Stay positive.

'Never mind Trump, the global clean energy transition is racing forward'

"What damage can a Trump administration do to this analysis? According to a
PWC report this month, the impact they can have on global greenhouse emissions will be "pretty small", if others hold course. With the trends I have chronicled in 2016, and the declaration by all governments in Marrakech in November that the Paris process is "irreversible", a holding of course seems a more than a reasonable assumption."

"My conclusion, as the new year begins, is that the global energy transition is progressing faster than many people think, and is probably irreversible. Trump's prospects of resurrecting coal, and giving the oil and gas industry the expansionist dream ticket most of it wants, are very low."
 
#31 ·
I hope there is truth in this report. :)

Stay positive.

'Never mind Trump, the global clean energy transition is racing forward'

"What damage can a Trump administration do to this analysis? According to a
PWC report this month, the impact they can have on global greenhouse emissions will be "pretty small", if others hold course. With the trends I have chronicled in 2016, and the declaration by all governments in Marrakech in November that the Paris process is "irreversible", a holding of course seems a more than a reasonable assumption."

"My conclusion, as the new year begins, is that the global energy transition is progressing faster than many people think, and is probably irreversible. Trump's prospects of resurrecting coal, and giving the oil and gas industry the expansionist dream ticket most of it wants, are very low."
Its important not to lose hope, but its hard to be positive when two of the key players are going backwards at a time we must urgently move forwards. We know we must stay below 2C pre-industrial temperatures if we have any hope of mitigating the worst affects of climate change, we're already over half way there. To keep below the 2C tipping point means leaving 80% of all known fossil fuel reserves in the ground - our government is going all out for fracked gas, the official policy of the Trump administration is climate denial. We no longer have strong leadership needed & we have only a short window of opportunity before it is too late.

Just saw this today .

http://www.paneuropeannetworks.com/energy/report-wood-energy-a-disaster-for-climate-change/
According to a new study, the use of wood pellets to generate low-carbon electricity is a flawed policy that is speeding up, not slowing down, climate warming.

The study, conducted by the international affairs think tank Chatham House, suggests that wood is not carbon neutral and the emissions from pellets are higher than those of coal.

The reported added that subsidies for biomass should be immediately reviewed.

Energy from trees has become a critical part of the renewable supply in many countries.

While much discussion has focused on wind and solar power, across Europe the biggest source of green energy is biomass.

EU governments, under pressure to meet carbon-cutting targets, have been encouraging electricity producers to use more of this form of energy by providing substantial subsidies for biomass burning.

However this new assessment suggests that this policy is deeply flawed when it comes to cutting CO2.

Duncan Brack, the independent environmental policy analyst who wrote the report, said: "The fact that forests have grown over the previous 20 or 100 years means they are storing large amounts of carbon, you can't pretend it doesn't make an impact on the atmosphere if you cut them down and burn them.

"You could fix them in wood products or in furniture or you could burn them, but the impact on the climate is very different."

David Carr, general counsel of the Southern Environmental Law Centre (SELC) in the US, added: "This report confirms once again that cutting down trees and burning them as wood pellets in power plants is a disaster for climate policy, not a solution."
One of the most prominent critical thinkers of our time, George Monbiot, has been highlighting the madness of biofuels for years - https://www.theguardian.com/environ...10/bristol-biofuels-plant-planning-permission

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/biofuels-green-dream-or-climate-change-nightmare-20070509

This 'energy from waste' (efw) facility called Greatmoor has recently been built a few miles from me. Having just moved in to the area and been to the recycling centre a few times taking old things for disposal - they take things like old mattresses, sofas and old carpets and burn them to make energy.

They do a good job of seperating metals, wood, cardboard etc. for recycling too. Things are definitely getting better. I remember up until maybe the mid 90's it would all have just gone to landfill.
Things are actually getting worse. Its largely thanks to the EU we have recycling. We're already starting to go backwards in this country, just last week this story broke about the government cutting recycling targets after lobbying by the plastics industry - http://energydesk.greenpeace.org/20...ng-targets-quietly-reduced-industry-pressure/

The article concludes -

Brexit fears

The move to leave the EU may leave the door open to a further watering down of targets.

Before the Brexit referendum, the UK would have been party to the EU's Circular Economy Package which has yet to be implemented. The directive will implement a common EU target for recycling 75% of packaging waste by 2030.

But with the UK leaving the EU, there will be little to stop the UK government slashing its own recycling targets further.

These findings come just a few weeks after Energydesk revealed that Coca Cola and other plastic producers have been blocking a deposit return scheme for plastic bottles in Scotland.

Samantha Harding from the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: "The plastic lobbyists are frantically trying to shore up a sinking ship. People have woken up to the ridiculousness of using an indestructible product for single-use packaging. They see through the traditional status quo that allows producers to make what they like and to hell with the consequences
 
  • Like
Reactions: leashedForLife
#28 ·
#29 ·
Just saw this today .

http://www.paneuropeannetworks.com/energy/report-wood-energy-a-disaster-for-climate-change/
According to a new study, the use of wood pellets to generate low-carbon electricity is a flawed policy that is speeding up, not slowing down, climate warming.

The study, conducted by the international affairs think tank Chatham House, suggests that wood is not carbon neutral and the emissions from pellets are higher than those of coal.

The reported added that subsidies for biomass should be immediately reviewed.

Energy from trees has become a critical part of the renewable supply in many countries.

While much discussion has focused on wind and solar power, across Europe the biggest source of green energy is biomass.

EU governments, under pressure to meet carbon-cutting targets, have been encouraging electricity producers to use more of this form of energy by providing substantial subsidies for biomass burning.

However this new assessment suggests that this policy is deeply flawed when it comes to cutting CO2.

Duncan Brack, the independent environmental policy analyst who wrote the report, said: "The fact that forests have grown over the previous 20 or 100 years means they are storing large amounts of carbon, you can't pretend it doesn't make an impact on the atmosphere if you cut them down and burn them.

"You could fix them in wood products or in furniture or you could burn them, but the impact on the climate is very different."

David Carr, general counsel of the Southern Environmental Law Centre (SELC) in the US, added: "This report confirms once again that cutting down trees and burning them as wood pellets in power plants is a disaster for climate policy, not a solution."
 
#30 ·
This 'energy from waste' (efw) facility called Greatmoor has recently been built a few miles from me. Having just moved in to the area and been to the recycling centre a few times taking old things for disposal - they take things like old mattresses, sofas and old carpets and burn them to make energy.

They do a good job of seperating metals, wood, cardboard etc. for recycling too. Things are definitely getting better. I remember up until maybe the mid 90's it would all have just gone to landfill.
 
#32 · (Edited)
They do a good job of seperating metals, wood, cardboard etc. for recycling too. Things are definitely getting better. I remember up until maybe the mid 90's it would all have just gone to landfill.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2004/sep/20/environment.china

@samuelsmiles : I've read and heard a few times that they really don't do much with the items to be recycled and that much was sent to India and stored as there is no room to store it here. They don't buy it from us, I believe we pay them to take it...here's an article which suggests China also gets a load. I realise this article is a few years old, but when you think how strict some councils are about what you can and can't put in which colour bag or box, then it transpires it's all bunged into a huge warehouse at the other side of the world (using God alone knows how much fuel to get it there as there's tons of the stuff) you wonder if there is any point. :confused:
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top