Comments for Martin's Rants

Comment on Climate Camp 2008 by marguerite manteau-rao

marguerite manteau-rao — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:52:48 +0000

Thanks for your post, Martin. And Ami, thanks for the links also. I feel so inspired. For me Climate Camp 2008 represents a much needed shift away from negative protesting, to positive demonstration of positive alternatives. I call it the new wave of environmentalism. The time has come to dwell on solutions.

http://lamarguerite.wordpress.com/2008/08/10/new-wave-of-environmental-activism-at-climate-camp-2008/

Comment on Climate Camp 2008 by Martin

Martin — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 18:38:08 +0000

Thanks for posting this Ami - there is also some good stuff on YouTube - search for “Climate Camp” or go here: http://www.youtube.com/user/climatelife

Comment on Climate Camp 2008 by Ami Marsden

Ami Marsden — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 14:53:39 +0000

Thought I’d share some insightful and eye-opening videos I’ve just found from the Climate Camp which won’t be shown on mainstream media. These are all fab films from the Climate Camp TV studio http://visionon.tv

http://blip.tv/file/get/Undercurrents-LegalObserversBlockedByPolice135.mp4

http://blip.tv/file/get/Undercurrents-LocalActivistsSupportClimateCamp192.mp4

http://blip.tv/file/get/Undercurrents-ClimateCampProtestIgnoresPoliceStopSearch856.mp4

http://blip.tv/file/get/Undercurrents-ArthurScargillOnTheRightToProtest461.mp4

http://blip.tv/file/get/Undercurrents-WhatDidThePoliceTakeFromYOU160.mp4

Comment on Cob Cottage at Cae Mabon by Josh

Josh — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:45:27 +0000

Hi, interesting post. natural building also includes hemp and lime… two very good materials which are pretty eco friendly (especially when compared to cement)
Lime actually absorbs c02 when it is setting !
Look here http://hemplime.blogspot.com/ for lots more about this.

Comment on Reasons to go organic by James Daniels

James Daniels — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:07:08 +0000

I couldn’t agree more - lets escape the “dog eat dog” world. Buying Organic shows you care.OK, so organic clothing does cost more but then paying a fair wage and buying organic cotton is 30% more expensive. However if everybody buys eco clothes then the price will soon come down.
nb: If you want something fancy, an evening dress, or just a gorgeous summer dress you should check out the discounted eco dresses at Green-uk.co.uk.There is currently a discount of 20% available on all the organic and ethical dresses at Green-uk.co.uk (worldwide delivery). This includes dresses from designers Ciel, Mumo, Alchem1st and Beaumont organics + loads more…hurry though, as the discount is only valid until the 13th July. These dresses are totally unique and guaranteed to be either totally organic, ethically manufactured and definitely eco-friendly.

Comment on B&Q - Credit where it’s due by Martin

Martin — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:10:39 +0000

The last time I looked, they did have some of these, but you would need to check yourself. You should contact B&Q for further information on their products and confirm prices. I got the information in the article from a leaflet at B&Q. You get get in contact via their website http://www.diy.com

Comment on B&Q - Credit where it’s due by Jlidi

Jlidi — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:49:38 +0000

Dear Mr Martin,
I permit myself to contact you concerning hemp loft board panel. Do B&Q still selling this product? If yes at which prices and is it possible to send information about the product? Otherwise is it possible to tell me the reasons why they stopp selling such green product. I know they were selling it few months ago at a price of 10£.
Looking forward to a quick reply.
Cordially

Comment on Food miles don’t feed climate change - meat does by Ed Milton

Ed Milton — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:16:30 +0000

Brian’s comments ring some truth but they don’t address the whole issue. It’s true that one of the biggest problems would be to get a population (or large chunk of it) to voluntarily change their diet but this doesn’t change the fact that animals are inefficient protein convertors and that the farming/food industry is the biggest sector regarding carbon emissions.

The worst is beef - it is generally accepted that it takes around 10kg of plant protein to create 1kg of beef protein, and then there’s the amount of water used to grow the crops to feed to the cattle and used in the slaughtering process etc. Other animals fare a little better but it is clear that eating directly off the land (rather than eating an animal) is a more efficient way of using land resources and therefore lowering one’s carbon footprint.

There has been a plethora of scientific papers and reports published over the last year or so, starting with the UNFAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organistion) report ‘Livestocks Long Shadow’ which detailed the massive environmental degradation caused through livestock farming and how the current trend in developing nations to more meat and milk is creating big problems. The UN FAO report stops short of actually saying that people should consider vegetarian diets, but that is clearly the implication.

Eating local meat may seem like a better option, but again, the reality may not be so cut and dried. More than 70% of Europe’s animal feed is imported from outside the EU (think the of food miles, think of forests that have been cut down to grow the food etc) - whilst people may think that most cattle are pasture fed from lush grass, increasingly this is not the case.

There are loads of supporting facts and figures about the environmental impact of global meat production which would horrify many people, but there isn’t room or time here to express them all.

We live in a global society and we have to think globally about food if we are to be able to feed the world. This means people in the west will have to re-address their own impact and diet in order to help people across the world.

The European Commission said: “Europe’s agriculture is capable of feeding Europe’s people but not of feeding Europe’s animals.”

Time to seriously rethink food.

Comment on Food miles don’t feed climate change - meat does by Brian

Brian — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:42:11 +0000

I have to say that I found the argument a little hard to follow. Trying to confuse the issue by getting in digs about eating meat don’t really help - the majority (UK at least) still eat meat and probably have little intention of changing that.

Surely the problem lies in the over-bureaucratic control of cattle and the rules governing local slaughter etc. Surely it must be better for all of us to eat local produce whether that is red meat, poultry, dairy or vegetable, the report does mention that but doesn’t take into account the ludicrous transportation of cattle to slaughter when comparing food miles.

Switching to a fully seasonal and local diet would reduce emissions even further, again this isn’t even mentioned…

Cheers
Brian

Comment on Ford’s wrong TH!NKing by Martin’s Rants » Launch of the new Think City in the UK

Martin’s Rants » Launch of the new Think City in the UK — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:50:21 +0000

[...] final development of the ‘Mark II’ version, Ford pulled the plug on the company - see earlier post for more. However, new investors were found and the Think City 2 is now in [...]