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Peter and Shirley from the Bulmer Foundation. Hi, we’ve just started writing an article in the Hereford Times called ‘Cutting it a Different Way’, look out for it on the letters page. We’d like to have a conversation about ‘sustainable development’ in Herefordshire and find out what it actually means to people. If how we are, as individuals and as a society, is damaging the environment that supports us, then what can we do to change it? We want to explore these issues, and for you to tell us what you think.
Posted at 2:35pm Friday 29th February 2008
Wake Up to Oil
The infrastructure of our society is based on the use of oil. From the food we eat and the clothes on our backs to the financial system which drives our economy. Every loaf of bread, t-shirt and pound coin we have has been touched by oil. Plastics, fertilisers, pharmaceuticals and many cosmetics are made from it.
Posted at 3:05pm Friday 30th November 2007
In our Own Back Yard
I’m a bit confused. The new climate change bill was outlined earlier this month in the Queens speech. As a result we now have a legally binding target to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2050.
Posted at 4:52pm Tuesday 6th November 2007
What Extinction ?
Humanity is poised to bequeath a ravaged planet to future generations, the United Nations warned last week. Their Global Environment Outlook report, compiled by 390 experts over two decades, concluded that humans are responsible for the worst spate of extinctions for 65 million years – which is when we lost the dinosaurs.
Posted at 2:21pm Thursday 11th October 2007
Vote for the Cycle Path
The bicycle is the most efficient means of transport we have. It is also health promoting and free from carbon emissions and noise pollution.
Posted at 1:41pm Tuesday 9th October 2007
Human Energy Efficiency
I was in my garden at the weekend, doing the Autumn tidying up. After a day of chopping back, weeding and grass cutting my compost heap had doubled in size. I know I should turn it, but it takes so much energy.
Posted at 1:40pm Tuesday 9th October 2007
Harvest Home
The Autumn equinox, September 23rd, is when night and day are of equal length and the nights begin to draw in. It is the end of summer. For thousands of years it has been the time to celebrate the harvest. Since pre-Christian times people have given thanks for the fruits of nature, and the Christian feast of St Michael on September 29th signifies the harvest being safely gathered in.
Posted at 1:36pm Tuesday 9th October 2007
In Praise of Slow
I’m feeling slightly unhinged after a weekend in London. I’d forgotten just how manic the place is.It was such a relief to come back to Herefordshire.
Posted at 11:03am Friday 14th September 2007
Every Pound Counts
John Bird is famous for having founded the Big Issue magazine and his latest venture, the Wedge Card, is very interesting. It is a way to get discounts and special offers from local shops and independent businesses. The plan is to re-vitalise local communities by offering an affinity scheme to customers using local shops and services in Central London. It is a loyalty card for using local businesses. www.wedgecard.co.uk
Posted at 3:49pm Monday 10th September 2007
Posted at 3:44pm Friday 13th July 2007
Posted at 1:53pm Wednesday 4th July 2007
Let's Appreciate
At an event I was involved in this week one of the delegates made and impassioned plea to those assembled to pause and appreciate Herefordshire’s indigenous talent. At the time we were talking about establishing a Multiversity for Herefordshire – a locally distinctive form of higher education that has sustainable development principles at its heart.
Posted at 12:11pm Friday 22nd June 2007
Look before you leap
The ‘Precautionary Principle’ is a well established scientific principle. It is a response to uncertainty, particularly in the face of risks to health or the environment. In general, it involves acting to avoid serious or irreversible potential harm.There may be no evidence to suggest there will be harm, but there may also be no evidence to suggest that there will not be.
Posted at 12:29pm Thursday 7th June 2007
Food Future
With increasing frequency we are being urged to re-connect with the source of our food, and gain a better understanding of how it is produced. Experts from different areas are agreed it will bring many benefits, such as: helping to tackle obesity ; linking farmers directly to their customers; and encouraging more environmental awareness.
Posted at 12:20pm Thursday 7th June 2007
World Environment Day
Every year the United Nations marks the World Environment Day on 5 June. It is celebrated in over a hundred countries and aims to raise awareness about environmental issues and inspire people to take action. Each year, one country is selected to host the main international events. This year it is Norway and the theme is ‘Melting Ice – A Hot Topic’.
Posted at 12:30pm Tuesday 15th May 2007
Life Without Oil
Close your eyes and imagine life without oil. Impossible? Well, according to permaculture guru Rob Hopkins we are on the threshold of ‘peak oil’- the point at which the maximum amount of oil that can be extracted globally is reached.
Posted at 12:23pm Tuesday 15th May 2007
Change The Programme
Sally Lawrence’s letter on the letters page two weeks ago, about being automatically given plastic bags even when she didn’t want them, got me thinking about habits. Habits are things we do when we’re not consciously thinking. They are like the default setting on a computer, the setting which it automatically returns to when it’s not given any other instruction.
Posted at 3:29pm Monday 30th April 2007
My Walk to Work
On Monday I decided to walk to work. My work-place, the Bulmer Foundation, is based in the heart of Bulmer’s cider plant in Hereford – my home is in Allensmore. It took an hour and a quarter – not exactly a hike but certainly more than a stroll.
Posted at 4:17pm Friday 20th April 2007
Do you like hospital food
The NHS spends 500 million a year on food and catering services. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, said “let food be thy medicine and medicine thy food” so you would imagine that food in hospital would be an important part of the overall healthcare provision. I’m afraid that, in most cases, it’s not.
Posted at 4:27pm Friday 16th March 2007
Water, water everywhere
If we are to believe what the scientific community are saying about climate change, floods and droughts in Herefordshire will become more frequent and more extreme in the not too distant future. Recent unusually heavy rains gave us a glimpse of things to come. We saw damage to property and vehicles, long transport delays and significant difficulties for business and service providers. And, according to current predictions, we aint seen nothing yet.
Posted at 12:17pm Thursday 8th March 2007
Who's to blame?
I picked up an interesting snippet from a book I’m reading called ‘A Journey in Ladakh’. The author overheard a conversation in a bar in which a question was asked : ’If a Ladakhi woman gets ripped off, paying too much for a poor quality shawl in the market, who’s fault is it ?’ The answer was unanimously ‘the purchaser, she should have known better, and been shrewder’. If you asked the same question here, I wonder what the response would be.
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