Green Futures Articles

Initiatives, action, solutions - it may never add up to a hill of beans until all that effort comes together in a coherent pattern. Peter Malaise of Ecover focuses on some fundamentals.

When environmentalists get fired up to take action on an issue, all too often their efforts sink without trace, drowned out by the turmoil of everyday life. And even when a new initiative does hit the headlines, it may just disappear again from one day to the next.

Which is a shame. Discouraging, too, for those who made the effort to raise the issue in the first place. Worst of all, perhaps, it leaves Joe Public shrugging his shoulders, concluding once again that ‘the greens’ just can’t get a grip on reality.

The co-operative principle in action has produced some healthy results for the fledgling Phone Co-op. Its latest results show a trebling of business over the past year to £640,000. The business has made enough profit to pay a first dividend to the 362 members, whose share capital helped finance its expansion without recourse to external borrowing. “The Phone Co-op’s rapid growth (it now has some 3,000 customers) has given us critical mass, which is enabling us to obtain highly competitive rates from carriers”, said chief executive Vivian Woodell.

The Phone Co-op is also setting out its stall as environmentally responsible by monitoring its carbon emissions and taking steps to offset them. “We calculate that 46 tonnes of CO 2 were generated in 2000 by our customers’ calls and that this will rise to over 70 tonnes this year,” Woodell says. This will now be offset through Climate Care, a not-for-profit operation run by the Carbon Storage Trust, which invests both in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects and in reforestation to absorb CO 2 emissions.

With temperatures dropping to - 68 Fahrenheit and winds reaching 155mph, Aberdeen's wind chill factor didn't seem so bad. Wind power is to be tested in one of the most challenging climates on Earth - Antarctica. Australian government scientists are to spend US$1 million on several giant turbines, each generating 280 kW of power, for use on Mawson Base where the average annual wind speed is 27mph. “In terms of annual wind that is probably the best in the world,” said Australian Antarctic Division spokesman Peter Magill. “If it works, wind power could replace diesel fuel (which always carries the risk of a spill), reduce greenhouse gases and produce cost savings.” Some Australian and US Antarctic bases already have small wind turbines, used simply to recharge batteries. Fears that larger windmills could not survive the destructive Antarctic winds, which can reach 155mph, were allayed after two windmill turbines survived a cyclone in India three years ago. German company Enercon is now modifying its windmill design to withstand extremes of cold.

Here’s a short cut for local authorities keen on walking to school. Four London boroughs, who have been running a campaign in partnership since 1996, have put a package of useful material on disk. It contains advice, leaflets, posters and stickers, and certificates for participants. Instead of starting from scratch on their own campaigns, other councils can simply buy into what Hounslow, Kingston, Richmond and Sutton have already done.

james.parker@rbk.kingston.gov.uk