Lively interview on BBC Today Radio, Thursday, 2 August 2012:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9742000/9742259.stm
A fee of 5p introduced in Wales in October 2011 has resulted in a significant reduction (up to 90%) of plastic bags handed out by some supermarket chains. Scotland is currently holding a consultation on the issue – why, when it looks like a no-brainer?
Maybe we should adopt Judith Holder's idea not just of charging a levy of £1 per bag, to make people remember to bring their own bags. She also feels that shoppers might be encouraged if supermarkets created a fast check-out lane for people with their own shopping bags.
We urgently need to reduce the amount of plastic stuff in our lives, much of which ends up in the oceans, where it has a devastating impact on the wildlife.
Here's a must-read article on this:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2096142/Sperm-whales-How-plastic-bags-poisoning-planets-greatest-predators.html
Sunday 5 August 2012
Monday 27 February 2012
Devastation: John Fairfax Rowed A Different Ocean
I cannot but re-post yesterday's message from Roz Savage, Ocean Rower:
"John Fairfax, who died on 8th February in Henderson, Nevada, was the first person to row solo across an ocean.
In 1969 he spent 180 days alone at sea to row across the Atlantic from
the Canaries to Florida. In 1971/2 he rowed across the Pacific with his
girlfriend, Sylvia Cook.
"A colourful character never at a loss for a quotable soundbite,
Fairfax was a precocious adventurer. At 13 he left his mother, then
living in Argentina, to “live like Tarzan” in the jungle. He spent time
with local peasants, foraged for food, and hunted jaguar and ocelot for
skins which he sold in Buenos Aires. Subsequent adventures saw him drive
from New York to San Francisco, ride a bike from San Francisco to
Guatemala, hitchhike to Panama, and make his first million by smuggling
contraband with pirates. And all this by the age of 25.
After making his way back to Argentina on horseback he tried to figure out what to do with his next quarter-century. As a child he had read about the 1896 crossing of the Atlantic in a rowboat by Harbo and Samuelson (fantastic book about this voyage), and it had captured his imagination. Now he stumbled across a report about the recent 1966 crossing of the Atlantic by Ridgway and Blyth. The record for the first solo crossing was up for grabs.
"Less than twenty hours after launching from the Canaries in 1969 he was wondering what had possessed him to believe that this was a good idea. But a cigar and a steaming cup of tea laced with brandy apparently gave him renewed motivation, and 180 days later he successfully arrived on Hollywood Beach in Florida, and went on to row the Pacific with Sylvia Cook 2 years later.
I feel a certain amount of empathy with John Fairfax. I, too, have rowed solo across oceans. I, too, have frequently found it “a miserable journey”, as he described his Pacific crossing. I, too, have felt the boredom and frustration of the crossing, and the euphoria of arrival.
"However, in one key regard, Fairfax and I have had profoundly
different ocean experiences. When he was rowing the oceans forty years
ago, shark populations were around five times what they are now.
Shark-finning, by-catch, and the demolition of the ocean food pyramid
have devastated populations of sharks and other apex predators. Fairfax happily describes how he lassoed and killed a dusky shark. Now he would be lucky to see one.
Forty years ago we had no notion of climate change or ocean acidification, although the process was already underway. Two-thirds of the world’s coral reef systems are now damaged, with ten percent being degraded beyond recovery thanks to coastal development, destructive fishing practices, pollution, and mining, as well as rising acidity.
"The Atlantic that John Fairfax rowed across still had a thriving cod fishing industry. By 1992, Northern Cod biomass had dropped to one percent of its previous levels, and the Canadian government was forced to declare a moratorium on Atlantic fisheries.
The first container ship launched just over a decade before Fairfax’s voyage, in 1956. Today there are over 50,000 container ships plying the world’s oceans, transporting everything from cars to kiwifruit. It has been estimated that one container ship pollutes as much as 50 million cars due to their enormous weight and the low quality of their fuel, contributing up to 30 percent of the nitrogen oxide that leads to acid rain.
"When John Fairfax rowed across the Pacific with Sylvia Cook, the
plastics industry was still in its infancy. Now there are an estimated
3.5 million tons of plastic floating in the North Pacific Gyre, just one
of five oceanic gyres
around the world where plastic pollution accumulates, leaching toxic
chemicals such as BPA into seawater and killing marine life.
"It was concern over our unsustainable use of the world’s resources – oceanic and otherwise – that first led me to take up my oars for the cause. In just fifty years we have devastated the blue two-thirds of our planet. Let’s protect our oceans and give them a chance to recover, not just for the sake of future adventurers, but for all our sakes."
John Fairfax
After making his way back to Argentina on horseback he tried to figure out what to do with his next quarter-century. As a child he had read about the 1896 crossing of the Atlantic in a rowboat by Harbo and Samuelson (fantastic book about this voyage), and it had captured his imagination. Now he stumbled across a report about the recent 1966 crossing of the Atlantic by Ridgway and Blyth. The record for the first solo crossing was up for grabs.
"Less than twenty hours after launching from the Canaries in 1969 he was wondering what had possessed him to believe that this was a good idea. But a cigar and a steaming cup of tea laced with brandy apparently gave him renewed motivation, and 180 days later he successfully arrived on Hollywood Beach in Florida, and went on to row the Pacific with Sylvia Cook 2 years later.
I feel a certain amount of empathy with John Fairfax. I, too, have rowed solo across oceans. I, too, have frequently found it “a miserable journey”, as he described his Pacific crossing. I, too, have felt the boredom and frustration of the crossing, and the euphoria of arrival.
Shark populations devastated by 80%
Forty years ago we had no notion of climate change or ocean acidification, although the process was already underway. Two-thirds of the world’s coral reef systems are now damaged, with ten percent being degraded beyond recovery thanks to coastal development, destructive fishing practices, pollution, and mining, as well as rising acidity.
"The Atlantic that John Fairfax rowed across still had a thriving cod fishing industry. By 1992, Northern Cod biomass had dropped to one percent of its previous levels, and the Canadian government was forced to declare a moratorium on Atlantic fisheries.
The first container ship launched just over a decade before Fairfax’s voyage, in 1956. Today there are over 50,000 container ships plying the world’s oceans, transporting everything from cars to kiwifruit. It has been estimated that one container ship pollutes as much as 50 million cars due to their enormous weight and the low quality of their fuel, contributing up to 30 percent of the nitrogen oxide that leads to acid rain.
Plastic bags at sea
"It was concern over our unsustainable use of the world’s resources – oceanic and otherwise – that first led me to take up my oars for the cause. In just fifty years we have devastated the blue two-thirds of our planet. Let’s protect our oceans and give them a chance to recover, not just for the sake of future adventurers, but for all our sakes."
Wednesday 25 January 2012
We didn't have that "green" thing back then...
I can't resist re-posting this ... thanks to Jenny Macdonald, thanks to Marion Power ... (both on facebook):
Think on this:
At the supermarket checkout recently, the young cashier suggested I should bring my own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. I apologised and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."
The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."
She was right
about one thing -- our generation didn't have the green thing in
“our” day. So what did we have back then?
After some reflection and soul-searching on "our" day, here's what I remembered we did have:
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the shop. The shop sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles repeatedly. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building.
We walked to the grocery shop and didn't climb into a 300HP vehicle every time we had to go two-hundred yards. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby's nappies because we didn't have the throw-away kind.
We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 3 kilowatts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our day.
Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that young lady is right. We didn't have the green thing back in our day.
Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of Argyll. And a local electrician would repair it when it stopped working. We didn't bin it and buy a new one.
In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the post, we used wadded-up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the grass. We used a push mower that ran on human power.
We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to the gym to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right. We didn't have the green thing back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.
We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the bus, and kids rode their pushbikes to school or walked, instead of turning their parents into a 24-hour taxi service.
We had one electrical socket in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest chippie.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?
Feel free to post this on so another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smarty-pants young person can add to this... ;)
Thank you!
For some great ideas about recycling and reducing litter, see here: http://www.grab.org.uk/
and why we should bother to recycle, here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/may/24/greenpolitics.localgovernment
==> we're fast running out of landfill sites, for example, not to mention the waste of resources unless valuable materials are recycled.
Think on this:
At the supermarket checkout recently, the young cashier suggested I should bring my own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. I apologised and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."
The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."
After some reflection and soul-searching on "our" day, here's what I remembered we did have:
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the shop. The shop sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles repeatedly. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building.
We walked to the grocery shop and didn't climb into a 300HP vehicle every time we had to go two-hundred yards. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby's nappies because we didn't have the throw-away kind.
We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 3 kilowatts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our day.
Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that young lady is right. We didn't have the green thing back in our day.
Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of Argyll. And a local electrician would repair it when it stopped working. We didn't bin it and buy a new one.
In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the post, we used wadded-up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the grass. We used a push mower that ran on human power.
We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to the gym to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right. We didn't have the green thing back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.
We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the bus, and kids rode their pushbikes to school or walked, instead of turning their parents into a 24-hour taxi service.
We had one electrical socket in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest chippie.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?
Feel free to post this on so another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smarty-pants young person can add to this... ;)
Thank you!
For some great ideas about recycling and reducing litter, see here: http://www.grab.org.uk/
and why we should bother to recycle, here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/may/24/greenpolitics.localgovernment
==> we're fast running out of landfill sites, for example, not to mention the waste of resources unless valuable materials are recycled.
Monday 23 January 2012
Oban shores full of rubbish after the storms
Following the first big storm of 2012 to hit Oban,
I ventured out along the Esplanade. This is what I found.
Do let's try to keep packaging – and plastics – to an absolute minimum.
I ventured out along the Esplanade. This is what I found.
Do let's try to keep packaging – and plastics – to an absolute minimum.
Wednesday 11 January 2012
Bio-Plastics -- Bio?? -- Plastics?? Questions and answers
Questions and Answers on BioBags from London BIO Packaging:
* Some retailers are confused with the term bio-plastic, as it refers to a type of plastic, which in fact it is not. Is the term protected and only used for compostable, biodegradable vegetable-based starch?
The name ‘bio-plastic’ can be a little confusing! The plastic in the title just refers to the fact that it shares many similar properties with traditional oil-based plastics. Be careful as there is a lot of misleading information and ‘branding’ on the market place. Some plastics claim to be ‘bio-plastics’ and ‘biodegradable’ when they actually still contain oil-based compounds and may degrade but are only broken down into smaller oil-based plastic pieces.
The name ‘bio-plastic’ can be a little confusing! The plastic in the title just refers to the fact that it shares many similar properties with traditional oil-based plastics. Be careful as there is a lot of misleading information and ‘branding’ on the market place. Some plastics claim to be ‘bio-plastics’ and ‘biodegradable’ when they actually still contain oil-based compounds and may degrade but are only broken down into smaller oil-based plastic pieces.
Bio-plastics, such as those used in most of our products, are produced from organic matter and therefore break down/biodegrade back into complete organic matter. There are certain standards you can look out for when sourcing certified compostable plastic products such as EN13432 or ASTM D6400 (however some of the aforementioned oil-based plastics are also certified). Bio-plastics which conform to these standards must break down to a certain particle size within a specified amount of time under commercial composting conditions.
* Is the vegetable starch used for the alternative bags a byproduct or are the plants grown and harvested for the purpose of making the bags?
The starch used in the bio-shopper carrier bags is non genetically-modified starch and is a byproduct of the agricultural industry.
* How long is the shelf life of the bags -- according to one shopkeeper we contacted, the bags start decomposing while still in stock (within a few months). Could a shopkeeper place an order for say 10.000 bags and then get them delivered in 3 or 4 separate deliveries to avoid such a problem (should it exist)?
As long as the bags are stored in a cool, dry place then the shelf life of the bags is guaranteed for 12 months. If your retailers have any concerns we can certainly take bulk orders and then deliver the bags over several deliveries.
I don’t see any reason why the half pint cups would not be suitable for a dairy company. The cups should not biodegrade with yoghurt in them – only when placed under the necessary composting conditions. All of our packaging items are Food Grade Safe.
* The number 7 designation for plastic on the bottom of the cups confuses retailers as it is known for the
various combinations of the aforementioned plastics or from unique plastic formulations not commonly used. Usually imprinted with a number 7 or nothing at all, these plastics are the most difficult to recycle and, as such, are seldom collected or recycled. More ambitious consumers can feel free to return such items to the product manufacturers to avoid contributing to the local waste stream, and instead put the burden on the makers to recycle or dispose of the items properly.
From your website we gather that in fact compostable and biodegradable vegetable starch products are given the same number as the plastics mentioned above. Is that correct?
The number 7 designation is one of the groups which forms the Plastic Identification Code – PIC. This indicates the polymer type to help recycling companies when separating different plastics for recycling. Group number 7 is generally used for all ‘other’ plastics which don’t fall into the preceding 6 groups.
various combinations of the aforementioned plastics or from unique plastic formulations not commonly used. Usually imprinted with a number 7 or nothing at all, these plastics are the most difficult to recycle and, as such, are seldom collected or recycled. More ambitious consumers can feel free to return such items to the product manufacturers to avoid contributing to the local waste stream, and instead put the burden on the makers to recycle or dispose of the items properly.
From your website we gather that in fact compostable and biodegradable vegetable starch products are given the same number as the plastics mentioned above. Is that correct?
The number 7 designation is one of the groups which forms the Plastic Identification Code – PIC. This indicates the polymer type to help recycling companies when separating different plastics for recycling. Group number 7 is generally used for all ‘other’ plastics which don’t fall into the preceding 6 groups.
Currently the infrastructure to support the recycling of bio-plastics does not exist in the UK. However, as with any new and developing industry, it is only through growth and increasing pressure on government that changes can be made so that more suitable infrastructure can be established – either by introducing the capacity to recycle bio-plastics or by increasing the number of industrial composting facilities.
All we can say is thank you to London BIO Packaging for this information, and Let's put the pressure on to make sure these recycling facilities are soon put into place.
Honour where honour is due...
Hello again
It is a pleasure to see more and more shops in Oban making the move away from handing plastic carrier bags out to customers unasked and for free.
It is a pleasure to see more and more shops in Oban making the move away from handing plastic carrier bags out to customers unasked and for free.
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