He added that the energy industry is going to need two hundred billion pounds worth of investment and that mainland Britain could face the serious problem of power shortages in the years ahead.

The final report by Ofgem has revealed that the competitive energy market could fail to deliver secure, sustainable supplies in the coming decade.

Warnings have also been made that there may be a large number of consumers that may not be able to afford the energy prices that may rise substantially as a result of the crisis.

There is a concern in the industry that the energy companies will not commit to the two hundred billion pounds that is needed by 2020 without stronger incentives and this will therefore have a knock- on effect on prices for consumers.

Some solutions that Ofgem offered were setting a minimum carbon price to encourage investment in “green” technology as well as encouraging suppliers to demonstrate how they would cope with threats to supply.

Councillor Karen Hamilton, part of the Liberal Democrat party at Perry Barr, said:

“The government should be doing more to secure our energy supplies.

Many of my constituents are concerned about the cost of electricity and gas especially after the very low temperatures that we had in January.

The government really needs to a lot more to tackle fuel poverty.”

Pupils are encouraged to wear a green item of clothing to school and to walk or cycle from their houses! Maths lessons will be used to calculate the students’ carbon footprint and in geography they will attempt to design a sustainable city.

 ‘‘The response from schools to the Green day project has been extraordinary.  There is clearly a huge appetite for practical ideas which help young people make the connections between climate change and the buildings and places around us.” (Matt Bell, CABE’s Director of education.)

Schools in Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and Nottingham are taking part in Green Day in association with CABE and more than thirty schools alone in Birmingham will be taking part.

More news regarding eco-schools is that by 2020 the Government wants every single school in the UK to be a sustainable school. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF)  launched their Sustainable Schools Framework in 2006, the Secretary of State for Education, MP Alan Johnson set out challenging and long-term aspirations for schools to learn about sustainable development and practices into everyday school life.

Eco-Schools is an international programme that teaches schools how to be eco-friendly by providing a framework to help introduce these principles and ideas into school life. Eco-Schools is one of five environmental education programmes run internationally. It is now really easy for different schools to communicate with each other worldwide or alternatively find instructions on how to register your school. The programme is free and deals with all schools, primary, secondary, nursery orother more specific schools.

www.eco-schools.net

Below is a link to a map demonstrating how eco-friendly different primary schools across Birmingham are:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=118405666246221803490.00046b9740a17d3625a99&ll=52.467305,-1.914368&spn=0.153521,0.307617&z=12

Residents of Birmingham will be pleased to know that despite being renowned for many things we might not be so proud of, ‘brummies’ are not so bad at recycling!

Surely our capital city should be setting a good example, but in fact recycling rates in London are among the lowest in the UK. Whilst the city’s appetite for cycling appears to be on the increase apparently there is a serious lack of recycling bins in the residential areas of London and the provision of recycling bins for mixed plastics is particularly poor.

“While Londoners’ facilities for recycling at home have improved greatly over recent years, it can be a real headache finding decent recycling facilities when you’re out and about – whether on the Tube, out shopping or at a football match.” (Darren Johnson, deputy chair of the London Assembly environment committee)

“London is a very fast-paced city, and I think people would welcome being able to recycle ‘on the go’.” (The Mayor)

The report, published by the London Assembly’s environment committee, says that if all of London’s plastic currently sent to landfill and incinerated was recycled, it would save around 1.2million tonnes of CO2 per year which would amount to £44 million pounds on cost!

So recycling “On the go” is perhaps something all fast-paced cities can do to prevent people’s fast-paced lifestyle getting the better of their greener side.

“People will soon find it easier to recycle when they’re out and about. ‘Recycle on the Go’ is a new drive to put accessible recycling bins in public places, developed by Defra, Recycle Now and Encams (Keep Britain Tidy).It’s already started, with The Royal Parks rolling out a recycling bin pilot in Hyde Park over the next three months. A good practice guide and a code of practice will help those responsible for public places to make recycling easy and accessible.” (Joan Ruddock, Waste and Recycling Minister Defra UK)

“Green jobs represent mankind’s best chance to escape the need to burn fossil fuels to power ourselves with electricity.” (Donald Pennington AC Associated Content)

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1748776/green_jobs_will_they_solve_work_search.html?cat=3

So how do you go about finding a green job? One way to become more familiar with green jobs in your area is to get involved with the green way of life! Attend local environmental social events so you meet more green people! There are loads of environmental events in Birmingham such as ‘Birmingham Friends of the Earth’ who meet monthly at The Rainbow Warehouse Digbeth. The website has details on how you can get involved and become part of this association.

http://www.birminghamfoe.org.uk/the-news/Get-Involved/index.php

The green job market has been described as “swelling amid the recession.” (Michael Szabo Reuters UK).There are said to be jobs in renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainability and social responsibility sectors.

“The green job market has proven resilient despite the recession and we have seen a steady increase in jobs being created.” (Andy Cartland, Managing Director at Acre)

http://www.acre-resources.co.uk/

Ghent, Belgium’s second largest municipality has announced a weekly ‘veggie day’ where residents of Ghent will banish meat from their diets for one day every week in an effort to reduce the city’s carbon emissions.

Even Council officials will be served vegetarian meals one day every week and are encouraging the rest of the town and its visitors to do the same. Plans to introduce the weekly veggie day into the city’s schools are currently being discussed.

Producing meat has a far greater environmental impact than growing the equivalent amount of vegetarian foodstuffs, both in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption. The town has stated that this is just one of the many ways they plan to reduce carbon emissions, and it is thought that this is the first town in Europe to take such a step!

If our love of meat may be increasing our carbon emissions then maybe its time Birmingham took a step to get veggie!

 If you are more carnivorous than you would like to admit then take it one step at a time and go to the next Birmingham Vegetarian and Vegan Society and learn more about why becoming a vegetarian could be good for you and your environment. Meetings cost two pounds to attend and are every week at The Church Centre, Carrs Lane opposite Moor Street Station. Anyone can attend and the next meeting takes place on Tuesday 26^th May.

 Another way to have a few more healthy and environmentally friendly days is to try some of Birmingham’s great vegetarian restaurants:

 The Warehouse Café, Digbeth and Manic Organic Café, Kings Heath both are both vegetarian restaurants with creative healthy and organic dishes. If you love curry Jyoti on the Startford Road is a great vegetarian curry house!

 “It is really nice to see such an authentic operation happening in the middle of nowhere in Birmingham. You should check it out for a wicked curry.” (Jamie Oliver) ]]> http://www.birminghamrecycled.co.uk/recycling/go-veggie-and-help-the-environment/feed 1 http://www.birminghamrecycled.co.uk/conservation/eco-town-protestors http://www.birminghamrecycled.co.uk/conservation/eco-town-protestors#comments Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:44:08 +0000 Chloe Botting http://www.birminghamrecycled.co.uk/?p=617 Campaigners against the Warwickshire eco-town will be heading to court for the second time. BARD- Better Accessible Responsible Development Campaign-are opposing the prospect of a development in middle Quinton.

The new home development will contain 6000 homes as part of the Government’s pledge to increase UK housing, but some people believe the location is not appropriate.
“The information provided by the Government on eco-towns has been confused, flawed and inadequate, thereby making it impossible for ordinary members of the public to engage in serious consultation. It is regrettable that we now rely on the court appeal for us to be given an opportunity to consult on the principle and criteria for new environmentally friendly affordable settlements.”

(David Bliss -Head of BARD)

www.bardcampaign.com

Campaigners claim the eco-town consultation process is flawed due to its complete lack of communication with residents. The Department for Communities and Local Government have now extended the consultation period and residents and objectors have until the end of April to respond if they wish.

www.communities.gov.uk

There are eleven potential schemes in total including the development in Quinton.

http://bit.ly/pbSNO

for consultation on proposal.

This project is part of the native mammal reintroduction and the project is being run by the Scottish Wildlife Trust and Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS).

Each little beaver family consists of a male, a female and anything up to three yearlings.

Project manager for the Scottish Beaver Trial Simon Jones said:

“Beavers are native to Britain but were hunted to extinction over 400 years ago.” Beavers hold the potential to create new wetland habitats which, in turn, increases the appeal to other native species. We are excited to get the trial under way and really see what benefits beavers can bring to Scotland.”

Iain Valentine, head of animals, conservation & education for RZSS spoke more about capturing the beavers.

“The capture of the beaver families was a complicated process because we wanted to ensure that existing beaver families, which included yearlings and kits, were captured together. Luckily beavers are territorial so families can be tracked within the areas they inhabit.”

This means none of the beaver families have been separated and they are also being tracked and said to be in excellent health!

New research shows that one in six people are concerned about the amount of alcohol they consume based on the number of bottles they recycle, and this is what the new drink aware campaign is about.

Drinking at home is on the increase, with a quarter of women and a third of women drinking more than the government guidelines recommend, and for this reason the Drinkaware programme was recently brought to Birmingham back in November, with Drinkaware Boxercise gym stations in New Street Station, encouraging you to try and burn off all the alcohol you has consumed the night before.

Drinkaware does not ask you to stop drinking completely, it just encourages people to think more carefully about how much they drink by looking at what is in their recycling bin. The website even has a virtual recycling bin where users can add up the number of units they had the night before, as well as tips and tools on how to easily reduce your alcohol intake.

The idea is called the sustainable clothing action plan and it kicked off at London Fashion Week with a selection of eco fashion. The UK’s sustainability minister Lord Philip Hunt launched the scheme as a way of making fashion less damaging to the environment. According to the minister the UK’s textile and clothing sector produces around 3.1million tonnes of C02 a year and 1.5 million tonnes of unwanted clothing that end up as landfill.

High Street retailers Marks and Spencer and Tesco have already signed up to taking part in the project:

Retailers such as Primark are often accused of using chemicals, fertilisers and worst of all child labour. This is why it is important that other retailers join Marks and Spencer and Tesco in helping our fashion industry to become more eco friendly.

“We want to make sure that when clothing is retailed people have information so they know where it comes from, how its been produced, is it sustainable, and when people give up their clothing when they no longer want to wear it rather than throw it away in the bin it is recycled or used by other people.” (Lord Philip Hunt)