Good Germans Groove For the Planet

UK Government will fight on to reduce FITs

The UK government has confirmed it is to appeal against the Court of Appeal ruling that its decision to cut solar feed-in tariff (FITs) before the end of a consultation period was unlawful. The appeal will now go to the Supreme Court. The Court of Appeal has now upheld the High Court’s ruling, denying the government a right to appeal and instigating procedures that would prevent the rushing through of similar changes in future. “The Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court ruling on FITs albeit on different grounds. We disagree and are seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court,” Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne explained in a statement. He said the government has to protect the budget for FITs for all renewable technologies, which would come under pressure if another gold rush started as the tariff levels returns to 43.3p.

AIF STRUCTURAL AND CROWD SAFETY CONFERENCE

Following the tragic festival stage collapses in the USA, Canada and Belgium that shocked the world last summer, the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) will host a Structural and Crowd Safety Conference at London’s Southbank Centre on Friday 3rd Febraury.

The interactive workshop in the morning, run by evactuation specialist Tony Ball, will provide applicable and up-to-date training on dealing with an emergency evacuation and encompassing issues including health & safety. Delegates that attend the workshop as well as the afternoon sessions will receive a Certificate of Attendance.

The morning session is ticketed and there are very limited places, book early to avoid disappointment. There is a discount for AIF Members & Students.

BUY TICKETS HERE

The afternoon sessions are made up of a number of presentations and panels with dedicated Q&A intervals and are free for industry to attend. In order to safeguard against reoccurring tragedies key industry figures and specialists will be exploring the standard practise that needs to go into sourcing and constructing temporary structures and consideration of the very real effect of climate change on outdoor events. Discussions opening up to the floor will concentrare on the nuts and bolts of how to ensure the temporary structures at your outdoor event are safe and how to prepare for and manage crowd evacuation and movements in response to an emergency.

The afternoon sessions are free to attend, but you MUST BOOK IN ADVANCE due to capacity restrictions.

SECURE A PLACE HERE

SCHEDULE

11:00 -11:30 MORNING REGISTRATION

11:30 – 13:00 WORKSHOP
Tony Ball, Show And Event Security / International Centre for Crowd Management and Safety Studies – Interactive Workshop.

13.00 – 14.00 LUNCH BREAK (Cafeteria and local cafes. Not included in ticket price)

13:30 – 14:00 AFTERNOON REGISTRATION

14:00 – 14:15 PRESENTATION
Rudi Enos, Senior Designer of Special Structures Lab

14:15 – 14:30 PRESENTATION
Insurance – a key issue for events

14:30 – 15:00 PRESENTATION
Chris Kemp, Bucks New Uni / ICCMSS – European Response to Climate Issues

15:00 – 15:15 SHORT BREAK

15:15 – 16:30 PANEL / Q&A
Structural Safety and Outdoor Events

Andy Lenthall (PSA) Moderator
Andy Yates (Webb and Yates Engineers)
Richard Bryan (Spring Music Ltd / Bearded Theory Festival)
Roger Barrat (STAR Events Group)
Simon James (TESS)

16:30 – 16:45 SHORT BREAK w refreshments

16:45 – 18:15 PANEL / Q&A
Emergency Planning for Crowd Safety

Chris Kemp (Bucks New Uni / ICCMSS)
Jim King (Loudsound / AEG)
Paul Cook (Live Nation)
Simon James (TESS)

18:00 – 18:15 Extended Q&A time

18:15 – 18:30 CONCLUSION & ACTION POINTS
Rudi Enos, Senior Designer of Special Structures Lab

Obama looks to a greener future

President Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday was a mixed bag of news for the environment, and a lot of his speech focussed on the US economy  making some far ranging comments on the United States, its economy and not least the need to  try balance the interests of America’s ultra-rich and the rest of the public, trying to present an election-year choice between continued leadership and an economy “built to last” and what he called irresponsible policies of the past that caused an economic collapse saying “I will not go back to the days when Wall Street was allowed to play by its own set of rules”. In one passage, delivered to a joint sitting of the Senate and the House of Congress, President Obama said the defining issue of the present time was how to keep alive the promise of America as a land of opportunity. “No challenge is more urgent.  No debate is more important. We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by. Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules”. In light of the revelations of the low tax rate paid by Mitt Romney, the multi-millionaire leading Republican presidential candidate, Obama cited the example of Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who admitted last year that he paid lower tax rates than his secretary, Mr Obama called on Washington to “stop subsidising millionaires” and rescind a trillion dollars of tax breaks for the wealthiest 2 per cent.

When it came to energy and the environment, President Obama said

“Nowhere is the promise of innovation greater than in American-made energy. Over the last three years, we’ve opened millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration, and tonight, I’m directing my Administration to open more than 75 percent of our potential offshore oil and gas resources. Right now, American oil production is the highest that it’s been in eight years. That’s right – eight years. Not only that – last year, we relied less on foreign oil than in any of the past sixteen years. But with only 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves, oil isn’t enough. This country needs an all-out, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy – a strategy that’s cleaner, cheaper, and full of new jobs.

We have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly one hundred years, and my Administration will take every possible action to safely develop this energy. Experts believe this will support more than 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade. And I’m requiring all companies that drill for gas on public lands to disclose the chemicals they use. America will develop this resource without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk.

The development of natural gas will create jobs and power trucks and factories that are cleaner and cheaper, proving that we don’t have to choose between our environment and our economy. And by the way, it was public research dollars, over the course of thirty years, that helped develop the technologies to extract all this natural gas out of shale rock – reminding us that Government support is critical in helping businesses get new energy ideas off the ground.”

But President Obama had some more positive news for the environment, saying

“What’s true for natural gas is true for clean energy. In three years, our partnership with the private sector has already positioned America to be the world’s leading manufacturer of high-tech batteries. Because of federal investments, renewable energy use has nearly doubled. And thousands of Americans have jobs because of it.

Our experience with shale gas shows us that the payoffs on these public investments don’t always come right away. Some technologies don’t pan out; some companies fail. But I will not walk away from the promise of clean energy. I will not walk away from workers like Bryan. I will not cede the wind or solar or battery industry to China or Germany because we refuse to make the same commitment here. We have subsidized oil companies for a century. That’s long enough. It’s time to end the taxpayer giveaways to an industry that’s rarely been more profitable, and double-down on a clean energy industry that’s never been more promising. Pass clean energy tax credits and create these jobs.

We can also spur energy innovation with new incentives. The differences in this chamber may be too deep right now to pass a comprehensive plan to fight climate change. But there’s no reason why Congress shouldn’t at least set a clean energy standard that creates a market for innovation. So far, you haven’t acted. Well tonight, I will. I’m directing my Administration to allow the development of clean energy on enough public land to power three million homes. And I’m proud to announce that the Department of Defense, the world’s largest consumer of energy, will make one of the largest commitments to clean energy in history – with the Navy purchasing enough capacity to power a quarter of a million homes a year.

Of course, the easiest way to save money is to waste less energy. So here’s another proposal: Help manufacturers eliminate energy waste in their factories and give businesses incentives to upgrade their buildings. Their energy bills will be $100 billion lower over the next decade, and America will have less pollution, more manufacturing, and more jobs for construction workers who need them. Send me a bill that creates these jobs.”

See more at http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-01-24/state-of-the-union-transcript/52780694/1

Green Music Initiative announce new plans

7 February – green music event – BarCamp in Hamburg

On  Tuesday  the  7th February 2012  BarCamp will be held from  11.00 – 20.00  in the  House of Culture III & 70  in Hamburg, the first green music event, discussing sustainability and environmental protection in the music and event industry.

The agency Zuendwerke initiative and  the Green Music Initiative are invir=ting club owners, promoters and festival organizers, consultants and political representatives to this event: . The  BarCamp  is  open-ended  design and encourages the participants for active participation in  the conference. The aim is to  exchange ideas and information  about green music events:  model projects  will be presented and the  network  between the participants is to be established.

We are all looking fir through innovative approaches to emission reduction and and resource efficiency. New ideas and projects from the kusic industry can spread i nto other sectors and music is the perfect medium to positively influence the zeitgeist.

SAVE THE DATE:

Tues 07.02.2012 / KULTURHAUS III & 70 / SHOULDER LEAF 73 / HAMBURG
applications from the BarCamp, session proposals, and project and corporate presentations immediately
at:  gme@zuendwerke.de

GME BarCamp on Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/events/341153632569082/

Links: 

www.zuendwerke.de / projects

Second Live 2020 – study

The study Live 2020, the questions about sustainability and future viability of the live entertainment sectoris still online.  The more responses we get from various stakeholders, the better.  The starting point is a  5 minute online survey and applicants from all parts of the live entertainment sector are welcome to participate. The resuklts will be presented  in March 2012.

Click here for the questionnaire 

7. Februar – GreenMusicEvent – BarCamp in Hamburg

Am Dienstag den 07. Februar 2012 findet von 11 bis 20 Uhr im Kulturhaus III&70 in Hamburg das erste GreenMusicEvent BarCamp statt und thematisiert damit Nachhaltigkeit und Umweltschutz in der Musik- und Eventbranche.

Die InitiativAgentur Zuendwerke und die Green Music Initiative bringen zu diesem Zweck Clubbetreiber, Veranstalter und Festivalorganisatoren mit Dienstleistern, Beratern und politischen Vertretern zusammen. Das BarCamp ist ergebnisoffen gestaltet und animiert die Teilnehmer zuraktiven Mitgestaltung der Konferenz. Ziel ist der Ideen- und Informationsaustausch zum Thema GreenMusicEvents: Modellprojekte werden vorgestellt und das Netzwerk zwischen den Teilnehmern soll aufgebaut werden.

Der Klimawandel als große Herausforderung des 21. Jahrhunderts verlangt nach Pilotprojekten abseits der ausschließlich politischen Arena, die durch innovative Ansätze Emissionen reduzieren und zur Ressourceneffizienz beitragen.
Neue Konzepte und Projekte lassen eine Strahlkraft auf andere gesellschaftliche Teilbereiche entstehen, in denen diese Themen bislang noch eher fremd sind.
Musik ist hierfür ein perfektes Medium, das es schaffen kann den Zeitgeist positiv zu beeinflussen.

SAVE THE DATE:
Di. 07.02.2012 / KULTURHAUS III&70 / SCHULTERBLATT 73 / HAMBURG
Anmeldungen zum BarCamp, Session-Vorschläge und Projekt- und Firmenpräsentationen ab sofort
unter: gme@zuendwerke.de

GME BarCamp auf Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/341153632569082/

Links:
www.zuendwerke.de/projekte

2. Live 2020 – Studie

Die Studie Live2020, die Fragen zum Thema Nachhaltigkeit und Zukunftsfähigkeit im Live-Entertainment-Sektor beleuchtet, ist weiterhin online. Je mehr Antworten wir von verschiedenen Akteuren bekommen, umso besser.
Ausgangspunkt hierfür ist eine 5 minütige Online-Umfrage, die sich an Vertreter aller Teilbereiche des Live-Entertainments richtet und zu deren Teilnahme wir dich hiermit herzlich einladen möchten. Die Ergebnisse werden im März 2012 präsentiert.

Hier gehts zum Fragebogen

http://www.thema1.de

Climate Week March 12th-18th

Last chance to enter Climate Week Awards - deadline 30 January The deadline for entering the Climate Week Awards 2012 is 30 January. The awards celebrate outstanding efforts to combat climate change in fourteen categories ranging from community groups and young people, to business and the public sector. The awards are free to enter, and judged by an eminent panel of judges including Bianca Jagger, the former CEO of Greenpeace International, Paul Gilding, and the government’s chief climate scientist, Sir Robert Watson. Details on how to enter are here. If you have questions, emailawards@climateweek.com or call 0203 397 2601. Please forward this email to everyone you know who may be interested in Climate Week.

Register your Climate Week events and activites There are just seven weeks until Climate Week (12-18 March), when thousands of organisations across Britain promote positive steps to help combat climate change. Last year there were over 3,000 events attended by half a million people. This year is expected to be even bigger – will your organisation be part of Britain’s biggest climate change campaign? Whatever you are planning, please tell us what you are doing by registering your activity on the Climate Week website.This takes just two minutes. If you register your activity on our online map: Your activity will inspire others to run their own Climate Week activities – catalysing an even broader social movement for change. Your activity will encourage others to act during the rest of the year – creating a shared vision of a low carbon Britain. Your activity will be seen by journalists, professionals in your sector, and the public – helping you gain profile and recognition. Your activity could be big or small, open to everyone or just for your organisation, a physical event or something online. Climate Week is all about showcasing real, practical actions and starting discussions about what might be possible. We can only do this by publicising everyone’s events and activities. Please tell us what you are planning! Register at www.climateweek.com/run-an-event/register-an-event/. Contact the Climate Week team on 0203 397 2601 or atinfo@climateweek.com For ideas about what kind of activity to run, visit our Ideas Bank.

ANOTHER PLANET

Glyndebourne Productions have installed a wind turbine at the famous opera site, despite protests from local people who say that the sound of the turbine may affect performances. The Glyndebourne  turbine is supported by opera fan Sir David Attenborough who said that any noise issues were ‘trivial’ when compared to health and pollution issues from fossil fuels, and that the turbine was ‘elegant’ and ‘in harmony with nature’.  The Company said that 90% of the electricity required to run the opera house will now come from  renewable energy.

BP may pay out up to $25 billion to settle actions brought by the US authorities, local businesses and its own workers arising from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. It is thought BP is keen to avoid a court action, scheduled to start on February 27th in New Orleans. BP has already spent $15 billion cleaning up after the massive spill and has paid $10 billion into a Gulf compensation scheme. analysts say if BP lost the court case its potential liability could be up to $69 billion.

Meat production is one of the major contributors to global environmental degradation especially deforestation, water scarcity and loss of bio-diversity – as well as on fifth of the World’s greenhouse gas emissions – so its interesting to see that a Dutch scientist says he is close to producing laboratory grown meat – or ‘cultured’ meat.  It sounds like science fiction but Mark Post from Maastricht University claims he will be able to produce a cultured burger by the end of the year. PETA, the animal welfare group, have a separate $1 million prize available until 30th June 2012 for the first scientist to provide cultured chicken that can be grown in quantity and cannot be distinguished from real chicken. Post hopes celebrity chef Jamie Oliver will cook his first commercially produced burger.

Oil and gas company Cuadrilla felt the wrath of furious local residents at a public meeting to discuss its proposed plans to drill test for shale gas in the South East of the UK. During the meeting, held in West Sussex on January 11,, Cuadrilla’s chief executive Mark Miller met with about 200 local residents and anti-fracking protestors to discuss plans for fracking work in the area.

New Research aims to look at the local options in power grids to reduce peaks and dips associated with renewable energy and cut fossil fuel use. Work by Australia’s Queensland University of Technology (QUT) will aim to overcome one of the ‘main hurdles’ to increased use of wind and solar energy. QUT’s chairman in power engineering, Professor Gerard Ledwich, said because renewable generation ‘was not predictable’ other power sources had to be used to supplement it but says he hopes to develop storage and demand management systems to make sure renewably generated power can be better stored during low usage times for use in peak periods.

The European economy could save €72bn a year if member states implemented EU waste legislation in full, according to a European Commission (EC) study. Such a move would also increase the annual turnover of the EU waste management and recycling sector by €42bn and create over 400,000 jobs by 2020.

Luxury London hotel The Langham is looking to raise recycling levels from 35% to 75% over the next 12 months and make significant cost savings in the process. The five-star hotel has appointed waste management company SWR to manage all of its waste. This will involve greater source-segregation with the installation of new bins, a cardboard baler, a bin press and a glass crushing machine.

Uncertainty continues to dog the solar industry as the Government drags the fights over subsidy cuts back to court. The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is going back to London’s High Court to appeal the right, won by campaigners to have a judicial review over cuts to the Feed-In Tariff scheme (FITs). The court ruled last year the cuts, implemented durig a consultative phase, were ‘illegal’ . Ministers have made one minor concession saying that householders who installed panels after the 12th December will continue to  get the full Feed In Tariff, but only until March 2nd, when it will halve.

Boosting plastics recycling in the UK will be a “key focus” for 2012 as the sector continues to develop PET and HDPE bottles recycling technologies.  That is according to resource and recovery specialist Keith Freegard, who predicts further investment in technology and equipment capable of extracting a wider range of materials from mixed plastics collections.  And Reducing water use by 20% by 2020, compared with a 2007 baseline, in the production chain is the second key area flagged up in the British Soft Drinks Association’s (BSDA) Sustainability.

Budget airline Ryanair will add a small charge to every passenger’s costs after claiming new European emission cutting rules were ‘loony’.  The Irish based airline is furious over the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), which makes large organisations monitor and report emissions. No problem for me as I don’t and won’t ever use Ryanair if I can help it as I find most of their charges stark raving mad. And train’s are much nicer anyway.

Edie.net reports that Apple has extended its reuse and recycling programme to the UK, France and Germany in the form of a customer cashback scheme for old devices.  The service has been operating out in the US for some time, but hit European shores last week. The scheme, which is being managed by Dataserv, also accepts certain non-Apple products such as desktop computers. Under the scheme, customers can hand back their used iPads, iPhones and Macs – but not iPods.

ANOTHER PLANET

It seems a number of recent murders in France are not linked to underworld crime such as drugs, gambling and prostitution as first supposed by French Police – but are connected to a multi-billion Euro fraud targeting VAT discrepancies on permits used in the EU’s Carbon Emission Trading Scheme. The European Police Agency, Europol, have estimated that the frauds have cost the EU E5 billion. Last year a German court in Frankfurt sentenced six men to jail sentences for their part in a E300 million fraud.

New research from two doctoral students at  Columbia University hopes to. shed some light on the slow take up of electric cars.  Researchers Garrett Fitzgerald and Rob van Haaren looked at the assumption that range anxiety is one of the main barriers to the electrification of the U.S. car fleet, the pair used a 2011 Acenture survey that showed that US drivers think they need a range of 272 miles in order to consider purchasing an electric car as their next vehicle. That’s in sharp contrast to our actual driving needs and habits which actually showed that 10% of individual car trips are under a mile, 95% of trips are under 30 miles, and 99% of all trips are under 70 miles: Urban households’ trips averaged 8.5 miles, while rural households’ trips averaged 12.1 miles. Car commuting distances were found to average just around 12.6 miles nationally, with 95% below 40 miles and 99% shorter than 60 miles – which means that an electric vehicle currently could handle the vast majority of the individual trips Americans make with no problem, especially if a recharge was available at the other end for the small amount of journeys between 30 and 70 miles. With many American households owning at least two cars it seems possible for a majority of households to have an EV as their second gas vehicle. But why do Americans crave so much range? Fitzgerald and van Haaren speculate that it’s a ‘freedom and comfort’ standard that Americans are particularly imbued with. In addition, globally consumers seem to still feel unsure that they know enough about EVs to buy one. To help change American’s knowledge base about EVs, Fitzgerald and van Haaren are planning to use  using only solar power to charge an electric vehicle as they cross the the USA giving lectures on EV technology. They will drag a trailer that can hold 7 kWp of flexible solar panels and batteries for extra juice.

Employees could save businesses and public bodies £500m and cut 2m tonnes of C02 through ‘empowerment’ according to the Carbon Trust.  The Trust has  launched an online tool to help organisations, and says engaging employees in cutting energy use, paper waste and travel could save small business more than 15% in energy costs.

The United States has, for the first time, moved “to impose catch limits for every species it manages, from Alaskan pollock to Caribbean queen conch”. That means each of the 528 commercially fished species that the U.S. oversees will have distinct catch limits that prohibit overfishing and protect stocks that are rapidly being depleted.

Welsh environment minister John Griffiths has identified food waste as a key driver in exceeding a 50% recycling target in 2012 as he urged people in Wales to recycle more. According to the minister, recycling rates in Wales have risen from just 7% in 2000 – 2001 to a peak of 48% between April to June 2011 – making recycling rates in Wales the highest in the UK. However, he warned that there was still a “long way to go” to meet the Welsh Government’s target of 70% recycling by 2025, adding that increased food waste recycling was needed.

Shanks has opened the first of two mechanical biological treatment (MBT) plants in North Cumbria as part of a 25-year £700m waste disposal contract with Cumbria County Council.  The facility based at Hespin Wood in Carlisle has opened three months ahead of schedule and aims to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill by 80%. The second plant is currently under construction in Barrow and is expected to be operational by April 2013. Edie.net reports that the County Council deals with around 250,000 tonnes of household waste per annum. Each MBT plant has the capacity to process 75,000 tonnes a year, enabling up to 150,000 tonnes of waste to be processed through the facilities.

The NSW Court of Appeal has rejected implied limits in CO2 emissions case saying that Environment Protection Licence conditions will not be easily implied, and in any event must be consistent with the statutory licensing regime under which the licence was created and it seems Environment Protection Licence-holders now have more certainty about what their licence conditions are. In the case,  Peter Gray and Naomi Hodgson, two members of the climate change action Rising Tide, claimed that the Environment Protection Licence (EPL) issued to the Bayswater Power Station’s operator, Macquarie Generation, is subject to implied statutory restrictions that limit permissible CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere and restrict coal consumption at the Power Station. The NSW Court of Appeal summarily struck out the action, unanimously holding that the imposition of such implied conditions or limitations was incompatible with the existing statutory regime for EPLs. Macquarie Generation v Hodgson [2011] NSWCA 424;

The UK’s National Grid is paying millions of pounds to wind farms – to STOP producing clean energy. It seems National Grid cannot cope with the excess of electricity on windy days and last year spent £25 million turning off wind power, equating to 149,983 mega-watt hours or 1.49% of the total energy produced from wind.

The biggest wave energy facility in the world has been given the go-ahead for a site of the North East coast of Scotland in a project jointly funded by a French company Alstom and Scotland’s SSE. The generating machines (the AWS III) will be 45 metre wide giant ‘doughnuts’ and will begin operating in 2016 and the wave array will be fully operational by 2020. The rubber machines expand and contract as they are hit by waves creating pressurised air that drives turbines in ducts.

Image:  www.freefoto.com

European Border Breakers Out!

More from EuroSonic in Groningen where the European Border Breakers Awards were handed out in a ceremony hosted by Jools Holland and filmed for Dutch TV and a number of other EBU countres. The Awards go to new or emerging European artists or groups who have had success in reaching audiences outside their own country with their first internationally-released album. The public could also vote for their overall winner, and the Public Choice Award went to Belgian act Selah Sue. The final list of winners of EBBAs  is:

Elektro Guzzi (Austria)
Selah Sue (Belgium)
Agnes Obel (Denmark)
Ben l’Oncle Soul (France)
Boy (Germany)
James Vincent McMorrow (Ireland)
Afrojack (Netherlands)
Alexandra Stan (Romania)
Swedish House Mafia (Sweden)
Anna Calvi (UK)

Anna Calvi said ”I am really honoured to have won this award. My father is Italian, my mother grew up in Switzerland. I don’t just feel English, I feel very European and it’s been really important for me that the record has done well in Europe as a whole”. Ireland’s James Vincent McMorrow who performed two songs at the Border Breakers Awards ceremony said “This is fantastic. I was here at Eurosonic last year and it was here where it all began. From then on it led to incredible things and this award means a lot to me”.

European Festival Awards 2011 announced

Coldplay - headliners of the year in 2011

The best European festivals, artists and promoters of 2011 were revealed last night at a sold out ceremony, featuring performances from James Vincent McMorrow, Selah Sue and Dog is Dead. Taking place at Groningen’s De Oosterport in The Netherlands, the third edition attracted over 350,000 public votes and had more than 200 festivals taking part from 32 different countries. The final winners, decided by a combination of public vote and industry juries, are:

Best Major European Festival – Sziget Festival (Hungary)

Best Medium-Sized European Festival – Off Festival (Poland)
Best Small European Festival – Haldern Pop (Germany)
Best New European Festival – Extrema Outdoor (Belgium)
Best Indoor Festival – I Love Techno (Belgium)
Best European Festival Line-Up – Rock Werchter (Belgium)
YOUROPE Green ‘N’ Clean Festival Of The Year – Melt! (Germany)
Artist’s Favourite European Festival – Southside / Hurricane (Germany)
Best Newcomer association with Eurosonic Noorderslag – James Blake
Best Headliner – Coldplay
Festival Anthem of the Year -  Coldplay ‘Viva La Vida’
Virtual Festivals Europe presents Promoter Of The Year – FKP Scorpio (Germany)
YOUROPE Lifetime Achievement Award – Michael Eavis, Glastonbury (UK)

Fruzsina Szep from Sziget festival made an impromptu offer to all of the guests at the Awards after receiving the Best Major Festival award , inviting everyone to join her in a drink of Palinka: “We were very much hoping to win this award and it really means a lot to us because 2012 will be the 20th edition of our festival.”

On receiving his lifetime achievement award Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis said: “42 years ago I started something on my farm towards the end of the flower power era in the 60’s and we had less than a thousand people and now we have 150,000 people registered to buy a ticket for 2013.  Thank you very much to everyone and thanks to all the people who have been involved in our show and thanks to all the people who buy tickets every year. I hope there are a few more years to go yet, another 10 years maybe.” James Drury, MD of Festival Awards Ltd, which organises the Awards said: “The further growth of the European festival awards and another record-breaking event highlights just how important festivals are to people across the continent. It’s testament to the hard work and passion of everyone involved with festivals that they continue to be so popular. With Glastonbury being the inspiration for so many festivals, I was especially delighted to welcome Michael Eavis to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. He has been seminal in the success of the festival scene in the world.” Christof Huber, General Secretary YOUROPE added “Michael Eavis is an icon in the European festival scene and in my view, Glastonbury is the mother of all European festivals. He is just the right person to get the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Festival Awards Europe.

GO Group plans a busy year

With three panels at this week’s EUROSONIC NORDERSLAG Conference in the Netherland, GO Group (Green Operations Europe), co-initiated by Bucks New University, GreenEvents Conference, Green Music Initiative and Yourope (the European festival association) is moving forward in 2012 with more projects related to sustainability in the festival and event business. GO are happy to announce the first confirmed dates and our online-home and social media sites:

-  New web and social media-URLs

-  GO Group hosts three panels on event sustainability at Eurosonic Noorderslag

-  GreenEvents promoter Holger Jan Schmidt to present the green festivals award at the EFA

-  2nd GO Group Workshop at Gödör Club, Budapest, Hungary on April 23/24 2012

-  GO Group will be part of the 3rd GreenEvents Europe Conference at Wissenschaftszentrum, Bonn, Germany on November 5/6 2012

The new contact details for web, Facebook and Twitter are

www.go-group.org

www.facebook.com/gogroupeurope

www.twitter.com/gogroupeurope

1) 2nd GO Group Workshop for Sustainable Festivals & Events in Budapest | 23-24 April 2012

GO Group goes east with its second international workshop. After the successful debut in Amsterdam in May 2011 with 35 international participants, Green Operations Europe heads to Budapest for a second edition on event sustainability with great presentations, information and best practise exchange. In four intense sessions taking pace over two days, the GO Group workshops will cover major issues for sustainable event management such as international green standards, green issues communication, waste or mobility management. The workshops will feature speakers from festivals and science alike. Find out more on www.go-group.org soon.

GO Group meetings are open to stakeholders interested in actively pushing the sustainability and green agenda. Therefore everybody – you, your sustainability manager, your production managers – are invited to take part in the discussion. Participation fee for the 2nd GO Group workshop will be 200 € (plus VAT). There is a special offer for Yourope members (25% deduction for max two participants per Yourope-festival). Registrations will be available at the Bucks New University online shop shortly.

The workshop will be kindly co-hosted by Gödör Club (Erzsébet tér, 1051 Budapest, Hungary).

About Gödör Club – Cultural Centre on Erzsébet square

Gödör Club has been set up as a community space and a meeting point for artists. Within a short span of time the Club has become one of the defining art venues and community spots in Budapest. Now, it is a popular meeting point, a café, a civil agora, arts venue – all in the city centre, open from early afternoon until dawn. In 2010, they launched an environmental programme, GreenGödör.

www.store.bucks.ac.uk

www.godorklub.hu

2) GO Group at 3rd GreenEvents Europe Conference at Wissenschaftszentrum, Bonn, Germany on November 5/6 2012

The 3rd international GreenEvents Europe Conference in Bonn will take place on November 5 and 6. 2012. After the huge success of the second edition with more than 100 German and international guests joining to discuss sustainability and environmental protection at (major) events, the conference aims to grow even more. For the third time members of the international live music industry and related suppliers, scientists and initiatives will come together in Bonn to discuss sustainability and environmental protection within major events. The aim is bringing together experts and practitioners and stimulate exchange between participants.

The GO Group and Yourope will support the conference content wise and by hosting various sessions.

Find more information at: www.green-events-germany.eu

 

Deauville welcomes green films!

The Deauville Green Awards, the first international festival of corporate films on sustainability development and ecology will be hosted in Deauville between the 11th and 12th April 2012.

To discover more go to www.deauvillegreenawards.com

 or contact  contact@deauvillegreenawards.com

ANOTHER PLANET

The Royal Navy could be barred from using sonar in certain circumstances  because of planned clarifications in the international laws on protected species. Sonar has been blamed for mass strandings of whales and dolphins and the the potentially disorientation of deep diving mammals, amongst other things. EU rules prohibit the the deliberate disturbance of protected species. Experts say that naval commanders already voluntarily turn of sonar if they know cetaceans are in the area. The new guidance could also effect gas and oil exploration where high intensity sound is used to search for fossil fuels.

Rick Santorum, who is currently 2nd in the Republican’s presidential candidate race, having gathered a 21% share, is a man prone to speaking his mind. And what a mind it is: Contraception for example is “not okay” as it is “a licence to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be”. The (allegedly) deeply religious Santorum also thinks that Europeans “are  people who are not reproducing at any rate to sustain a population” and on climate change “drill everywhere … there’s no such thing as global warming”.  I pity his kids.

Businesses in Scotland have called for the country to seize the opportunity to make 2012 the year of wind power it was announced. Top companies in the country have also backed a new label promoting products and services made using wind power – called WINDMADE – which is also supported by the WWF in Scotland. And one of the UK’s ‘big six’ energy companies has seen the result of building large onshore wind farms – it has topped the 1GW mark for the first time. The company said that ‘good progress’ at its sites in Clyde, Griffin and Gordonbush in Scotland as well as Slieve Kirk in Northern Ireland meant more than 300MW of onshore capacity has been commissioned by SSE in the first nine months of this financial year.

Measures to improve air quality in the capital have come into force. The New initiatives, stemming from the Mayor’s Air Quality Strategy and controlled by Transport for London (TfL), are aimed at deterring some of the oldest and most polluting vehicles from driving into London through changes to the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) and reforms to taxi licensing standards.  According to TfL leading health organisations including Asthma UK, the British Lung Foundation and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy have voiced their support for the changes.

UK Government figures have revealed billions of pounds and thousands of jobs have been created by the business of renewable energy. The figures don’t address possible job losses from cuts to renewable power, such as with the Feed-In Tariff (FITs) changes, and were published as an update on progress to source 15% of the UK power from renewables. Energy |Secretary Chris Huhne, said the latest research from the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) shows that so far this financial year, companies have announced plans for almost £2.5billion worth of investment in renewable energy projects in the UK, with the potential to create almost 12,000 jobs across the country.

The airline and aviation industry has joined the European Carbon Trading Scheme (ETS) meaning that all carriers using EU airspace must pay for the carbon the emit. And many airlines including Lufthansa, BA and Emirates have said that they will pass the new cost on to customers with Lufthansa saying the ETS will cost them $108 annually. Under trading scheme rules, airlines will be given permits for up to 85% of their emissions but must buy permits to cover the rest. If an airline could reduce fuel use below the permits it was originally allocated it could sell any surplus to less efficient airlines. For each tonne emitted without a matching permit airlines will be fined E100. Whilst this gives a financial incentive to promote furl efficiency, airline bosses say the high cost of fuel was already a big driver! A challenge to the law by US airlines failed before the European Court of Justice who said the ETS scheme did not violate international law. China has also objected and is putting financial pressure on the EU by blocking orders for new aircraft for China from Europe and said it would not pay for permits. Virgin, Easyjet and Ryanair have all objected to the rising cost of environmental taxes.

Search engine giant Google has put $94m into four solar photovoltaic (PV) projects currently under construction in California near Sacramento. The new projects bring Google’s investment in renewables up to more than $915m.

The Genuine Solutions Group says it has diverted 600 tonnes of waste from landfill in the last year, recovering and reprocessing more than 7 million mobile accessories. Last year the company won the Queen’s Award for International Trade and is busy supplying used and recondition mobiles to customers in more than 30 countries, many in the third world.

Nike, Adidas, Puma and other global brands have joined forces to develop a roadmap to completely eliminate the release of toxic chemicals from their supply chains by 2020. As part of the plan, the group – which also includes C&A, H&M and Li Ning – will conduct pilot projects between 2011 and 2013 to better understand scope of use and discharge of hazardous chemicals.  The roadmap also sets out a number of specific commitments and timelines to reach the 2020 goal. These include initiating an inventory of all chemicals used in clothing and shoe manufacturing by the end of 2012, disclosing the results of all pilots and studies undertaken, and reporting publicly on progress achieved.

Thousands of tonnes of ‘extra’ waste electrical and electronic equipment, WEEE , is finding its way back into the recycling market in the UK according to the latest modelling research The study, compiled by WRAP, indicates that over 50% of WEE is being reprocessed or reused – as opposed to the 37% officially recorded through approved authorised treatment facilities. However, this figure could increase significantly if more items were channelled through the right routes to start with.

Edie.net’s environmental ‘ROUND UP OF 2011’ is a good read – you can find it here http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?src=nl&id=21567

Euronsonic 2012 gets the green agenda

EuroSonic Nooderslag is now one of Europe’s most important music conferences and is joined to a massive European live music showcase which is all held in Groningen the Netherlands from Wednesday 11^th to Saturday 14^th January 2012. The whole show kicks off this year on Wednesday 11^th January at 18.00 with the European Border Breakers Awards (hosted by Jools Holland and live on NTR TV in the Netherlands) and then at 20.00 its time for the European Festival Awards – and the special recipient this year is Michael  Eavis, organiser of the Glastonbury Festival who wins the Lifetime Achievement Award.

There are two key green panels this year in the conference programme organised by GO Europe and the first looks at communicating the “green” message and the second looks at the different international standards that can be used by green events: There are quite a few other panels at the conference which might be of interest to our readers and we have highlighted some below. Highlights of the live showcases include James Vincent McMorrow (IE), Anna Calvi (UK), Elektro Guzzi (AT), Boy (D) and Selah Sue (BE) along with many many other performers including The Medics, Animal Kids, Death Letters, Lilian Hak, Blaudzun,  Baskerville, Effi, Haas, Krystl, Bombay Show Pig, LeMaitre, We Are Evergreen, Wolfendale, The Cyborgs, Pinkunoizu, Lucy Rose, Tove Stryke and Reptile Youth.

Some of the Conference panels:

Thursday 15.00 – 16.00  ACTS OF GOD – ISSUES FROM WEATHER AT FESTIVALS: With Sabine Funk (Rheinkultur/IBIT, D),  Henrik Neilsen (Roskilde Festival, DK), Gary Latham (DF Concerts, UK) and moderated by Professor Chris Kemp (Buckinghamshire New University ,UK)

Thursday 16.30 – 17.30 NEW EURPOEAN UNION SUPPORT FOR THE CULTURAL AND CREATIVE SECTORS with Ann Branch from the EU Commission, moderated by Willem van Zeeland (VPRO, NL)

Friday 12.30-13.30 LESS TOURS, LESS TICKETS? With Rob Chalice (Coda UK), Charlie Presberg (Pollstar, UK),  Eric van Eerdenberg (MOJO, NL), Sebastien Vuignier (Paleo Festival, CH), Stephan Thanscheidt, FKP Scorpio, D) and moderated by Allan McGowan (UK).

Friday 13.30-14.30 GREEN FESTIVAL COMMUNICATION with  Julia Gudzent (Melt! Festival D) and Carlijn Lindmulder, ID&T, NL) moderated by Holger  Jan Schmidt (Rheinkultur/Green Events Germany, D)

Friday 15.00 – 16.00  THE DEBATE ABOUT DISCOUNTING TICKETS  with Stewart McKie (UK) and Will Page (PRS for Music, UK) and moderated by Greg Parmley (UK)

Saturday  12.30 – 13.30 GREEN INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS IN EVENT MANAGEMENT WITH Rachael Saunders (Sustainable Events, UK)  and moderated by Jacob Bilabel (Green Music Initiative, D)

http://conference.eurosonic-noorderslag.nl/en/home/

ANOTHER PLANET

The UK Government has lost a legal challenge in the High Court over plans to reduce the ‘Feed-in Tariff’ (FIT) for home generated electricity after the court ruled it was wrong to scrap the promised financial returns before a pre-announced consultation period had come to a close. The UK Government hopes to save £700 by 2014-2015. Green energy campaigners have criticised the Government for putting thousands of jobs at risk.   The National Trust has now announced that it is putting twelve of its planned fourteen solar panel projects on hold on its buildings as the rate is slashed from 42p per kwh to just 20p. The National Trust chairman Simon Jenkins said the cut was a ‘blow’ to our plans’ and that several proposed schemes for green energy were no longer viable. And the UK Government is wrong to cut the Feed-In Tariff  in the way it did but bad practice in the solar industry needs addressing, according to a new report.  The Consumer Focus report Keeping FIT is published on the day the subsidies are cut by about 50%. While the report finds many problems with the way the Government has cut FITs it also voices concerns about ‘misleading’ sales practices, a ‘lack’ of information from some solar panel installers and raises issues about the difficulties it found in registering and payment process for the tariff itself. However Solar energy in the UK will continue to be a “viable financial venture for investors”, according to one of the largest international manufacturers of solar modules, which unveiled investment plans. Phono Solar, which produces monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon solar modules for the international market, said it will continue to invest in the UK market and is confident of its future, despite the planned cuts to Feed-in Tariffs (FITs).

A legally binding deal was signed at COP17 after concerns by major emitters India, China and the US were eased. The deal has been hailed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as a ‘breakthrough on the future’ of the international emissions and backed by the UK’s government. But the limited agreement only goes some way to address concerns and UK Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said that a legally binding deal on global emissions cannot be achieved by the European Union alone. And International condemnation then followed when Canadian Government announced a  decision to pull out of Kyoto in the wake of COP17. The Canadians crushed the small glimmer of optimism that came out of COP17 talks as the country moved to protest its large fossil fuel reserves. The decision shows while the United Nations backed climate talks can produce legally binding deals there’s little they can do if a country’s government decides it will simply pull out.

Edie.net reports that the South African Government has pledged to back an increase in wind power as its Department of Energy announced the winning bids from the first round of tenders for renewable energy projects. Announced at COP17, the South African’s said they plan to install 630MW of wind projects and a similar quantity of solar PV. According to the Department for Energy a further 2200MW of renewable projects will be announced over the coming two years.

The Environment Agency (EA) plans to crack down on illegal waste sites with a new environmental crime taskforce. The taskforce, which will target sites in England and Wales, has received £5m funding for the next two years. The EA has identified some 600 active illegal waste sites and estimates that over 300 of them are within 50m of schools, homes or sensitive environmental sites. The team, which includes former police detectives, will work closely with enforcement partners to gather intelligence and act quickly to close any sites that are operating illegally. The taskforce will be supported by Environment Agency funding for the first two years.

Recycling can benefit the economy in several ways by providing raw materials, creating jobs and encouraging business opportunities, according to a new study from the European Environment Agency (EEA) which examined the economic benefits of recycling in the context of building a green economy and found that the sector can help meet the material demands of economic production by preventing the environmental impacts associated with extracting and refining virgin materials. The study also found that revenues from recycling are substantial and growing fast. From 2004 to 2008 the turnover of seven main categories of recyclables almost doubled to more than 60bn euros in the EU.

Product reuse will grow in importance as the issue of resource security becomes more critical, according to WRAP’s chief executive Liz Goodwin. Speaking at a Green Alliance/CBI conference in London today, Goodwin said that by pursuing opportunities for reuse, the UK could reduce its reliance on raw materials, including rare earths, by as much as 20% by 2020.  WRAP estimates that around 600m tonnes of products and material enter the UK economy each year, with only around 115m tonnes being recycled. “Rare earth metals account for just 1,600 tonnes of this flow, but they are found everywhere – from vehicles, TVs, computers and ceramics, fuels, energy generation, and pharmaceuticals,” Goodwin told delegates. More than £220m could be generated from almost a quarter of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) thrown out each year, according to a report from WRAP and WRAP has also announced a £500,000 fund to encourage best practice in commercial food waste. The money, which will be issued over the next three years, will be used to support demonstration projects in England whereby collected food waste is recovered either through anaerobic digestion or in-vessel composting.

Clothing industry leaders Marks and Spencer and Levi Strauss back plans for more sustainable cotton in the traditionally chemical and water intensive industry. The businesses were talking for the first time in London of their support for the Better Cotton Initiative. The drive, which began two years ago, aims to make sure cotton is grown sustainably and its farmers are paid a fair price.

McDonald’s has pledged to tackle litter in Glasgow by lending its support to a scheme which is encouraging businesses to sign up to a major clean-up campaign. The initiative – National Spring Clean 2012 – is being headed up by environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful and will run for two months, between April and May 2012.

Thames Water has been hit with a huge fine after it allowed sewage to leak and kill up to 22,000 fish. The company, the largest water and wastewater business in the UK, has been fined and ordered to pay costs totalling £61,049 following the damage to two rural brooks in Hampshire and Berkshire.  The firm has already pleaded guilty to causing sewage sludge to enter the Silchester Brook, in Hampshire and the Foudry Brook, in Berkshire, in July 2010 and asked for a breach of its condition to discharge treated effluent to be taken into consideration. In Manchester a doll’s house, giant Guinness hat and wrestling DVD have been some of the more unusual objects collected from the city’s waterways as part of a clean-up project. The most common objects it found are shopping trolleys, footballs, lorry tyres, metal fences and traffic cones, with Lucozade bottles featuring as the most littered item.

Big Six’ energy giant E.ON has unveiled plans for a 73 turbine 219MW array in the north of England. The Humber Gateway project will be built 8km off the East Yorkshire coast, just north of the mouth of the river Humber. Further works at the site will begin in March, after E.ON announced the plans last week, with construction of the onshore substation the plan is to complete the scheme in spring 2015. The project aims to create up to 1,000 jobs during construction and a further 30 roles to operate and maintain the wind farm when it is operational.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has unveiled three energy roadmaps to 2050 focusing on the benefits of the country moving to a smart-grid. The plans, which focus on increasing energy from wind, are designed to meet more of the country’s energy needs, in particular for heat and transport.

Edie.net reports that the Mayor of London Boris Johnson is calling on Londoners to recycle their Christmas waste in a bid to save the capital £2.7m. According to waste group Recycle for London (RFL), backed by the mayor and WRAP, over the festive period Londoners will generate an extra 29,000 tonnes of household waste – using enough wrapping paper to stretch around the equator, while about one million Christmas trees will decorate London’s homes.

Eavis plans poo power

Glastonbury festival organiser Michael Eavis has announced that he plans to run the next edition of the iconic festival on waste from his farm and wind power. Eavis plans to install a bio-digester at Worthy Farm in partnership with a neighbouring farm – and animal waste including cow dung as well as waste food and other organic material will be used to produce gas which can be converted into sustainable power and also harvest the wind with turbines.  The Festival boss is quoted as saying this in Bloomberg “The big thing is the bio-digester that we’re looking at to turn the cow manure into energy… We’re planning a bio-digester at the moment. We’re joining the two farms together and building a big one with the farm next door so we’ll get a lot of electric from that, which will be day and night. It’s very good stuff, fossil- free electricity.” Eavis also said that he is planning a 10-kilowatt wind turbine at the site in a bid to make the festival the greenest ever. Back In 1994 the festival first had a wind turbine beside the main stage. Eavis has already installed 1,100 solar photovoltaic modules on the roofs off his cow barns producing electricity for 40 homes.. The Bloomberg article also reveals that the festival uses tractors running on 100 per cent biodiesel, solar showers and composting toilets.

The next Glastonbury festival will be in 2013 after a year off to rest Worthy Farm.

More here http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-19/glastonbury-plans-to-use-cow-manure-wind-to-power-music-festival-in-u-k-.html

Neville launches Sustainability in Sport

In sport, England’s most capped right back, footballer Gary Neville, has joined up with Dale Vince, renewable energy boss of Ecotricity and chair of England’s most sustainable football club, Forest Green, to launch Sustainability in Sport. The pair say that sustainability in sport is a big issue and that sport and sporting events have a big impact on the environment and that “Sustainability in Sport is an organisation created and run by a group of people with a passion for sport, community and the environment. Our primary objective is to support the continuing growth of sport within UK communities, whilst reducing the associated environmental impacts”. Forest Green already has 180 solar panels on its grandstand roof and has plans for an organic pitch.

www.sustainabilityinsport.com

Merry Christmas

Christmas lights in Keswick 2011

For all of our friends, readers, musicians, event organisers, students, crew and  festival goers – in fact to anyone who celebrates Christmas – can we wish you a very very merry festive season 2011.

And to everyone of whatever their religion, creed, beliefs or code, can we wish you a happy and healthy 2012.

“Live long and prosper”. 

Phot0 (c) Ben Challis 2011

Ben and Will get the wood

Following on from a similar announcement from Plan B, who is going on a tour of the UK’s forests next year, Will Young has confirmed that he too will be performing in various areas of British woodland as part the Forestry Commission’s annual live music initiative saying “The forest gigs have a great reputation for their atmosphere so I’m really looking forward to performing my songs in such unique settings”.

Will Young:

15 Jun: Nottingham, Sherwood Pines Forest
16 JunL Suffolk, Thetford Forest
22 Jun: Gloucestershire, Westonbird Arboretum
23 Jun: Bedgebury Pinetum & Forest
29 Jun: Yorkshire, Dalby Forest
30 Jun: Staffordshire, Cannock Chase Forest
6 Jul: Cheshire, Delamere Forest

Plan B is appearing as follows:

15th June Thetford Forest, Nr Brandon, Suffolk.
16th June Sherwood Pines Forest, Nr Edwinstowe, Notts.
22nd June Bedgebury Pinetum & Forest, Nr Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
23rd June Westonbirt Arboretum, Nr Tetbury, Glos.
29th June Cannock Chase Forest, Nr Rugeley, Staffs.
30th June Dalby Forest, Nr Pickering, North Yorks.
7th July Delamere Forest, Delamere, Cheshire.

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/music

ANOTHER PLANET?

The UK’s government is facing a unprecedented attack from environmental and wildlife groups and countryside campaigners over its ‘stunning disregard’ for the environment. At the heart of the attack by groups including the RSPB, Greenpeace, The Green Party and the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England is George Osbourne’s recent Autumn Budget statement introducing tax support for energy intensive energies as well as cuts to solar energy subsidies and moves to change planning laws.  The Government had promised to be the “greenest ever” but is now considered “the most environmentally destructive government to hold power this country” by opponents including the Green Party.  Labour claimed that the Conservative party were undergoing ‘retoxification’ after being elected. The leader of the Green Party Caroline Lucas has slammed the Government’s Autumn Statement as “dangerously colour blind on the green economy” and for providing a “cash boost for big polluters” and a “bias towards big business” and WWF head of public affairs Margaret Ounsley said: “It’s deeply disappointing to see this government continuting to see environmental protection as a burden and rewarding high carbon infrastructure. This is a myopic, short term strategy.

In a move described by the company as ‘off-season spring cleaning’, Google has announced on its blog that it is scrapping its ‘Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal’ initiative as part of an ongoing rationalisation process, now in its third round, which has seen projects which “haven’t had the impact we’d hoped for” shut down.  The initiative launched four years ago, aimed to produce one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that was cheaper than coal. Speaking at the time, Google co-founder Larry Page said: “We have gained expertise in designing and building large-scale, energy-intensive facilities by building efficient data centres,” said Larry Page, Google co-founder. We want to apply the same creativity and innovation to the challenge of generating renewable electricity at globally significant scale, and produce it cheaper than from coal.”

Bah humbug! Businesses are being urged rethink the increasing financial burden and carbon intensity of lighting as costs soar to illuminate Christmas shopping. New research by the Carbon Trust claims there’s £700m to be saved and 4.4m tonnes of CO2 to be cut every year by rethinking the way approach shops and high streets approach lighting.

And more new research by the Carbon Trust claims that the Government’s goal of cutting carbon emissions by 25% from its central estate by 2015 is “realistic and achievable”. Figures from the Trust’s latest study into public sector carbon targets have revealed that public sector carbon targets have almost doubled in the past five years from 16% to 28%.  As a result, the Trust is calling on the Government to extent its 25% carbon target across the whole public sector.
Police swooped on a group of protesters who attempted to blockade the offices of a UK Government building. The protesters blocked the door of the Department for Transport (DfT) building in central London.  Activists from campaigning group Greenpeace, using chains, plywood boards and cars blockaded entrances, with the aim of stopping any deal that would see petrol refined from tar sands oil being sold at UK petrol pumps.

Ireland will pay a further 10m euros towards fighting climate change in the developing world.  Minister for the environment, Phil Hogan, has proposed adding the funding to this year’s fast start finance commitment. The drive aims to help the least developed countries tackle the effects of climate change.

Edie.net reports that an American consortium has begun injecting CO2 into the first test storage project in the country. The Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium (MGSC) has begun work, today (November 28), on the site more than a mile beneath the state of Illinois.  The work is led by the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS), part of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois.  The CO2 is being captured from the fermentation process used to produce ethanol at Archer Daniels Midland Company’s (ADM) corn processing complex.

A replica of London’s iconic Marble Arch has been built from litter collected from the streets of Westminster – notably Oxford Street, Regent’s Street and Bond Street in one day – a total of 120 bags. Artist Miguel Romo, who has 10 years of producing art projects involving recycling and reclaimed objects, built the mini arch, where it will remain on public view for 10 days. Westminster City Council, with the help of partners the New West End Company and Veolia, commissioned the piece to launch its ‘Your Streets’ Campaign to make people more responsible and aware for their own litter.

Over a third of Scottish councils are recycling over 50% of the household waste they collect, as the national average rate hits 43.6%, according to figures from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

Pub chain Wetherspoon’s has teamed up with Biffa to run a food waste recycling trial in a bid to reduce its waste and boost environmental performance. The pilot is being operated at 28 Wetherspoon’s sites for an initial trial period. Much of the food waste collected from these sites will be taken to Biffa’s anaerobic digestion (AD) plant in Poplars, West Midlands.  The waste contractor already collects glass for recycling and general waste for the chain throughout the country. 

Soft drinks manufacturer Britvic has launched its first on-the-go national recycling pilot in conjunction with Recoup, at the Ankerside Shopping Centre in Tamworth, which aims to encourage shoppers to reduce the amount of waste they throw away.

United Utilities has been fined £27,000 and ordered to pay £1,702 in costs after raw sewage overflowed into watercourses near Keswick, Lake District on two occasions. The company pleaded guilty to both charges at Workington Magistrates Court for the incidents which took place between December 26 2010 and start of January 8 2011, after a member of the public reported that raw sewage was overflowing from the Portinscale pumping station. An investigation by the Environment Agency (EA) found evidence that sewage effluent had discharged from the station on two separate occasions, entering a field and a ditch along the site’s boundary which drains into a Beck and causing pollution to watercourses in the area.  EA officers concluded that the incident was caused after pumps intended to pump sewage to Keswick Waste Water Treatment Works stopped working.

An international hydropower project to review the effectiveness of hydroelectric plants in Africa and Europe has been completed by a Scottish Water engineer. The project,  ’Harnessing Hydropower In Africa & Europe: Environmental Observations of Hydropower Plants’ conducted by environmental engineer Claire Chapman, aimed to find out about the environmental impact of modern hydropower sites, with a view to applying similar schemes in Scotland.

New Zealand is to start recycling the rubble generated from the Christchurch earthquakes in what is thought to be one of the biggest aggregate recovery projects in the Southern Hemisphere.

A new £7m water recycling facility is set to turn Londoner’s wastewater into non-drinkable water for flushing toilets and irrigating gardens at the London 2012 Olympic Park. The Old Ford water recycling plant was officially opened by secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs Caroline Spelman with the aim of helping the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) exceed a 40% water-efficiency target for the site.

The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has awarded conservation charity the Woodland Trust £60,000 to help it increase awareness of the role trees play in managing water and flood management

And finally, former Beatle Sir Ringo Starr has designed a boot in a bid to raise money for WaterAid through a charity auction on ebay. The limited-edition boot, which will only come in Ringo’s own show size – a men’s size eight – went on sale on ebay at a starting bid of $250 a pair.  The auction is part of the ‘Canvas that Cares ‘initiative, set up by clothing and shoe brand Timberland, which aims to raise funds for non-profit organisations through the sale of custom-designed, limited edition Earthkeepers footwear.

 

Durban conference reaches last minute climate change compromise

Representatives of the World’s nations have managed to cobble together  something out of the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, which was aiming to replace the existing Kyoto Agreement on greenhouse gas emissions with something the whole world, including the three big polluters India, China and the USA, would sign up to.  Europe and a coalition of 120 countries had been making progress towards a new treaty but talks stalled, and eventually the conferences was extended by an additional 24 hours giving exhausted delegates, including the UK’s Climate Secretary Chris Huhne and the EU Climate Change Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, a chance to reach a compromise agreement. What the warming World is left with is an agreement to set a framework to begin to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from 2020 and a fund of $60 billion to help poorer developing nations cope with climate change. As Mohamed Aslam, chief negotiator for the Maldives pointed out, their islands are at real risk from flooding if sea levels continue to rise which will ultimately destroy their nation. With that in mind, a group of delegates from small island states and Africa protested inside the conference hall calling for ‘Climate Justice’. The march was stopped.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the set of decisions, saying they represent a significant agreement that will define how the international community will address climate change in the coming years highlighting that the Durban Platform will include the launch of a protocol or legal instrument that would apply to all members, a second commitment period for the existing Kyoto Protocol and the launch of the Green Climate Fund. In a statement Mr. Ban said the new accord is “essential for stimulating greater action and for raising the level of ambition and the mobilization of resources to respond to the challenges of climate change.” Mr. Ban also welcomed the agreement to establish a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, stating it will “increase certainty for the carbon market and provide additional incentives for new investments in technology and the infrastructure necessary to fight climate change.”

ANOTHER PLANET?

“How Green is your Stadium?“: There was an interesting article under this heading in the Metro pointing out that Ajax’s stadium has ‘ carbon neutral ‘Sweet Seats’ made in Brazil from sugar cane ethanol and that Wembley uses all its waste to generate power.  But  its ‘Lowly, non league Dartford FC [who] have perhaps become English football’s eco pioneers, with a £6.5 million stadium described as Britain’s greenest. Solar panels power most of the ground’s hot water and under-floor heating while its roof is turf covered” with organisers saying  that they ‘”hope that we will take ‘sustainability’ into consideration if we ever do construct a new stadium- it makes economic sense if nothing else.” One blogger adds “We all know how windy it can get at Holker Street, a few turbines would be very productive and with the support of Dong Energy could be installed at low cost. Our location, near to the coast and Ormsgill reservoir, also makes Holker Street one of the best grounds for bird watching with low flying wildfowl and cormorants often distracting me from the football. If a new stand roof were to be covered in insect supporting wild flowers it could bring in more bird life too (there is one such roof that even supports skylarks)”.

Denmark is aiming to become fully sustainable on self generated energy by 2050 moving completely away from oil and coal to wind power and electricity generated form biomass. Danish government proposals have called for generating just over half of its electricity from wind turbines by 2020 and all of its energy from renewable sources in 2050. The government’s proposal called for coal-fired power plants and oil-fired heating to be phased out by 2030. Coal energy would be replaced by biomass.

The UK’s oldest green NGO, Environmental Protection UK, is closing after cuts to local authority budgets severely reduced its income. Formed as the Coal Smoke Abatement Society the EPUK analyses air quality and more recently on contaminated land. Ten people at the Brighton based agency will lose their jobs

Canada’s shameful oil tar sands mining is being supported by the United Kingdom the Guardian has revealed. It seems that Canada oil tar sands, the World’s second largest reserve of fossil fuels after Saudi Arabia’s oil, are of great interest to the UK who have set up a consulate in Alberta to ‘support British commercial interests’ and have agreed to lobby at Brussels.  Mining oil tar is hugely costly in terms of greenhouse gases emitted in the extraction process and with widespread environmental damage.

The UN Environment Programme has said that wood is not the sustainable fuel we all think it is, and is a major contributor to climate change. Wood fires, along with diesel vehicles, are the two biggest contributors to climate change in developing countries as both produce black carbon soot – also a major contributor to poor health. Modern wood burning stoves which burn pellets usually have particle catching technology and modern diesel cars are much less polluting – but more expensive. In fact in the UK an interesting letter in the Times newspaper explains that the UK Government’s subsidy of biomass for energy projects is distorting the market in wood.Alistair Kerr, Director General of the Wood Panel Industries Federation said that subsidising wood burning was bad for the taxpayer – and for the environment – and for British companies that manufacture products from wood and is “destroying the UK’s forest industries”.

Latest figures from the Met Office confirm climate change scientist’s predictions that temperatures across the World are continuing to rise. As the UN meets in Durban in South Africa to discuss the worlds response climate change, the average global temperatures for the first 10 moths of 2011 were 14.36C, 0.36C above the long term average. This is actually cooler than 2010, explained by the weather phenomenon La Nina which brings cooler water to the surface of the Pacific Ocean. Phil Jones, director of Research at UEA, said that the the figures provided ‘overwhelming’ evidence of climate change. In parts of Russia temperatures were more than 4C above average, Many southern European countries including Spain have had their hottest year for 140 years as have many in South America. In Durban only the EU and a number of small countries severely affected by climate change are pushing for a new ‘Kyoto’ style deal. Kyoto expires in 2012.

A biomass project originally due to be completed this year has doubled in cost to £120m it was revealed today. In 2008 E.ON was given the green light to build a £60M plant on the site of a former coal-fired power station outside Sheffield called Blackburn Meadows. The plant was originally targeted as 25MW and was meant to go into operation this year.

The Isle of Wight aims to become a net green energy exporter to the rest of the UK and Europe by capitalising on its renewable power capabilities At a launch event today (November 15) at the House of Commons in central London business leaders from the island and around the world laid out a vision for an ‘Eco-Island’.  According to Eco Island Partnership founder and chief executive, David Green, the Isle of Wight can not only become energy self-sufficient but also be an energy exporter.

Edie.net reports that One of the UK’s largest solar businesses has revealed it is behind a second legal challenge on cuts to Feed-In Tariffs (FITs). Earlier FRIENDS OF THE EARTH  had said that it was taking legal action over proposed cuts to FITs level, which are due to come in on December 12 before the consultation finishes two weeks later on December 23.  At that time the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) confirmed it had received ‘two letters indicating an intention to start legal proceedings’.

Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman has called the waste sector a “bright star of economic growth”, saying it was one of the few industries predicted to grow against the backdrop of a challenging economic climate. Speaking at WRAP’s annual conference in London, Spelman told delegates the sector was forecast to grow between 3-5% per annum over the coming years.  She said: “I constantly see people coming to me with new opportunities for materials that have previously been discarded or buried in the ground. Good resource management will help rebalance the economy and put it on a more sustainable footing.”

Coca-Cola has announced it is planning to recycle all clear plastic waste collected at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games into 80 million new coke bottles.

Rheinkultur cancelled – permanently

The organisers of Rheinkultur, Germany’s biggest admission-free festival, and a big supporter of green events, have said that they have cancelled the 2012 30th anniversary edition and will now stop the festival permanently. Giving reasons, organisers Sabine Funk and Holger Schmidt  said that the admission free concept required a lot of idealism and volunteer work from the organisers that doesn’t now fit with the responsibility and risk involved. They also said that the financial base of the Festival was always fragile and the organisers felt that there was a lack of support from the city of Bonn and that the Festival’s influence, image and benefit for the city always has been underestimated by politicians and city government. The differences in support and subsidisation of entertainment and established culture were one of the main frustrations for the organising  team who pointed to the fact that Rhinkultur, attended in 2011 by 160,000 visitors, was just 80,000€ , whereas the 2011 Beethoven Festival with a capacity of approx 60,000 visitors was awarded  1,6 Million€. But organisers also said that reasons also included the fact that they recently had deal with a small but significant anti social element who were often aggressive and drunk. RhEINKULTUR closes with a “balanced financial state” having reduced debts from 2010 meaning that organisers can stop the festival “without doing any harm to anybody”

www.rheinkultur.com

ANOTHER PLANET

The UN’s weather agency has reported that CO2 levels in the atmosphere reached record levels in 2010. Concentrations of CO2 increased by 2.3 parts per million between 2009 and 2010, more than the average annual rise in the entire last decade. Methane levels are also rising along with Nitrous Oxide levels, as are HFCs brought in to replace CFCs, banned because of their damaging effect on the ozone layer. Carbon levels have risen by 39% since the beginning of the industrial era to a new high of 389 ppm according to the World Meteorological Organisation.

The International Energy Agency has said that a global investment drive in clean energy is required within 5 years otherwise new power plants, cars, buildings and factories risk tipping the planet into catastrophic climate change. But the Agency’s chief economist Fatih Birol said that there seemed little appetite for governments to tackle the issue as global economic problems took priority. The Agency says that without firm action by 2017, locked in CO2 emissions will cause global temperature rises of at least 2C.

Here’s a good idea: The Liter of Light project installs £1 bulbs powered by water and sunlight for homes in poorer countries. The sun’s rays are harnessed by the bottle bulb – designed by students at the Massachusetts Institute of  Technology and first used in the Philippines – and create a 50W glow in the room below. They are useful, cheap, safe, and over 10,000 have been installed so far.

John Cridland, Director general of the CBI said this about Government plans to cut subsidies for home generated solar energy (Feed In Tarifffs): “Moving the goalposts doesn’t just destroy projects and jobs. It creates a mood of uncertainty that puts off investors.

The case for man made golbal warming is more compelling than ever after scientists at the Climate Research Unit and the University of East Anglia undertook a major re-analysis of global climate records including data from hundreds of new  Russian weather stations – most over the last 40 years but some going back to the 19th century.

Delegates from 193 countries will meet at the 17th UN Climate Change Conference at the end of November and early December  looking for a ‘pathway’ to lower carbon emissions, a fund to help poorer countries deal with climate change and protection against deforestation. Most smaller nations effected by climate change believe that the bigger i western nations have given up on green as they fight to protect their economies.

The UK will soon see the launch of the World’s first wine bottle – made out of paper. With the UK set to run out of landfill space in seven (7) years the bottle’s makers claim it is compostable and decomposes in weeks – and much lighter than glass bottles – costing less carbon to produce and transport.  The paper bottle will have an inner sleeve similar to wine boxes to protect the wine. Manufacturer Greenbottle already produce a paper milk bottles.

Is it Spring? Is it Autumn? Is it Summer. With people sunbathing on Brighton beach in mid-November in the UK, who knows – certainly not nature.  And now scientists are worried that plants and animals are getting seriously confused by our odd weather with strawberries fruiting, frogs mating, tomatoes ripening and butterflies flitting around. “Autumn has been a bit weird” said a spokesperson for the Woodland Trust!

Our Award winners pick up their green ‘flags’ !

Luke,  Helen and Claire from A Greener Festival, Matt, Max and Steve from Robertson Taylor, and festival organisers from Cambridge Folk Festival, Greenbelt, Hadra Trance Festival, Festibelly, T-in-the-Park, Wood, The Isle of Wight Festival and Shambala, pick up their ‘flag’ awards at the UK Festival Conference 2011 at the Forum, London. Good times!

Shambala won the overall UK ‘Greener Festival Award’ at the UK Festival Awards that evening at the Camden Roundhouse – and Chris from Shambala is kneeling down holding that Award. Well done to them!

The Greener Festival Awards are generously supported by

Our eco-friendly and recycled tent award  ’Flags’ were designed by Helen and printed by http://www.idressmyself.co.uk/

UK Festival Awards 2011 – the winners

The results of the UK Festival Awards 2011 have just been announced – with Glastonbury, Bestival and Secret Garden Party all picking up the big prizes. Glastonbury took the award for Best Major Festival at a packed London Roundhouse while Secret Garden Party and End of the Road were crowned best medium and small festival respectively. Bestival was the Fans’ Favourite and Croatia’s Outlook won the award for Best Overseas Festival. Ed Sheeran picked up the award for Best Breakthrough Act and Paolo Nutini’s set at Latitude was named Headline Performance of the Year.

And those winners in full are:

Best New Festival in association with Access All Areas: Wilderness

Best Metropolitan Festival: Tramlines

Best Dance Event in association with Peppermint: Creamfields

Best Overseas Festival: Outlook (Croatia)

Best Family Festival in association with Showsec: Beautiful Days

Best Breakthrough Artist: Ed Sheeran

Line-Up of the Year in association with XL Video: Sonisphere

Headline Performance of the Year in association with Jagermeister: Paolo Nutini – Latitude

Anthem of the Summer: Chase and Status – Blind Faith

Agent of the Year in association with IQ: Steve Strange

Promoter of the Year in association with Virtual Festivals: Secret Productions

Best Small Festival in association with Doodson: End of the Road

Best Medium-Sized Festival: Secret Garden Party

Best Major Festival in association with The Ticket Factory: Glastonbury

Fans’ Favourite Festival: Bestival

The Lifetime Achievement Award: Steve Heap, Mrs Casey Music / Towersey Village Festival

The following awards were presented at the Festival Conference:

The Grass Roots Festival Award in association with ID&C: Y-Not Festival

Concession of the Year: The Beat Hotel

The Greener Festival Award in association with Robertson Taylor and agreenerfestival.com: Shambala

Best Toilets in association with Shewee: Y-Not Festival

Best Sponsor Activation in association with Field Marketing and Brand Experience: Capitalize – Bacardi

The Extra-Festival Activity Award in association with Music Week: Bearded Kitten

Outstanding Contribution to Festival Production in association with TPi: The Event Safety Shop

Research findings show energy consumed by UK festival sector could power ten thousand homes

New research conducted this summer by creative industry greening experts Julie’s Bicycle, the University of Sussex and the Power Providers Forum (an informal network of power suppliers and festival promoters) maps out the uptake of biodiesel and renewable power across the UK festival sector, providing recommendations for increasing demand towards a low carbon future for the creative industries.

The Research took place in the context of intensified focus on the environment and climate change, following tragic events at festivals, including event cancellation due to flash floods, infrastructural damage (such as stages collapsing) and injuries to punters which arose during bad weather. These occurrences are not new to 2011, but the volume of instances this year has made extreme weather an increasingly urgent consideration for festival insurance policies, and the industry is beginning to engage with what changes might be necessary.

The research findings show that UK music festivals consume about 12 million litres of diesel per year, generating an estimated 48,000MWh of electricity and 31,600t CO₂e emissions. This energy use is the equivalent of powering 10,000 homes for a year; a significant statistic which is due to the inefficiency of diesel generators, which usually run at an average of only 40% fuel efficiency and therefore use much more energy to power equipment compared to the national grid.

Waste vegetable oil (WVO) biodiesel is currently meeting 3-6% of this festival power supply demand, and on-site renewable energy – solar powered battery, temporary wind or pedal power – is meeting just ~0.026%. Current capacity of renewables is 0.1% (91kW) of demand. The uptake of renewable power is currently dominated by a small number of committed festivals, and festivals certified Industry Green (IG) use an average of 12% WVO biodiesel and renewable energy. IG is the environmental certification for creative businesses, developed by Julie’s Bicycle. Bearing this in mind, it is possible that, despite being more expensive than diesel, the increase in demand anticipated by renewable energy suppliers is happening.

The recommendations identified by the research partners are designed to help drive uptake of these alternative power sources at festivals. They include:

• Festivals understanding and reducing their energy demand, including better planning and rationalising of generators, and using more energy efficient kit for PA and lighting;
• Tour bus operations significantly reducing energy demand;

• Increasing the supply of WVO biodiesel through better information;
• Energy suppliers providing better information about the power and entertainment output provided by diesel, biodiesel and renewable installations to increase confidence and promote forward planning.

The Power Providers Forum Steering Group, which includes Julie’s Bicycle, Kambe Events Ltd./Shambala Festival, A Greener Festival, AIF, Firefly Solar and Glastonbury Festival, are now developing a programme to increase the use of WVO biodiesel and renewable energy at festivals based on these recommendations. Alison Tickell, Director of Julie’s Bicycle, said “Mapping power supply across UK festivals was identified by the Power Provider’s Forum as the first joint step towards building a sustainable festival sector. This research reveals the scale of opportunity, the strength of commitment and the missed tricks. Our second step will be to focus on a small number of joint actions to make the difference.”  Chris Johnson, Director of Shambala Festival and Kambe Events Ltd., said “We’re very encouraged by the commitment from promoters and the industry to the Green Festival Forum so far. We believe it will be a hotbed for innovation and contribute a great deal to sustainability in the festival sector. Watch this space!”

Julie’s Bicycle has also developed the Green Suppliers Database, a platform for suppliers to share information and increase awareness of their business available at:

www.juliesbicycle.com/resources/jb-green-database

From Tent Trash to a Winning Idea!

The morning after a festival of fun can sometimes feel like a little sad. Disappointed that a fun weekend has flown by so quickly and not looking forward to the reality of going home. But I am never more sad than when I leave a campsite with a temporary town’s worth of abandoned belongings and tents scattered and sprawling across the countryside. I am appalled and disgusted by the waste that is left at some festival campsites. It’s not a new problem, it is a UK problem and it’s been happening for years. A study by Virtual Festivals in 2009 showed that more than 1 in 5 people have left their tent at a festival. A very small percentage of tents, camping equipment, fancy dress and personal items are salvaged by other festival-goers and community groups. But the majority of discarded tents are left for the festival to dispose of and transport off site, lots with their contents still inside while their thoughtless owners have a light journey home abandoning their belongings to be someone else’s problem.

This has become everyone’s problem. Staff and volunteers spend weeks dismantling them, festivals have to remove and dispose of them, at the cost of the festival and ultimately at the cost of audiences. An estimated 25% of campsite waste to landfill comprises of abandoned tents. The facts are shocking.

It’s a waste on every level, the carbon produced to make the tent, the fuel used to transport it, the energy needed to sell it and the money spent to buy it… then to immediately dispose of materials that can’t be recycled and are not reused only to be transported and left in landfill is nonsense.

So, when t comes to your tent,  PLEASE TAKE IT HOME!

So when Amie G and I were at the lovely Malmo festival doing their green audit, and in full flow, one of the brainstorming ideas we had for this years’ GREENER FESTIVAL AWARDS Trophy for all of our winning festivals  it seemed like a good opportunity to use these materials that would otherwise go to landfill to create our award and highlight the problem. Fuelled by the enthusiasm that Amie injects into everything we work on, the team agreed, Amie went home and I took on the challenge.

Bestival organiser, Duncan agreed that we could salvage materials from the site, Aylin and the green team dismantled and transported the broken tents across the site and Claire agreed that when she left the site Dexter (her van) would transport and store them until we knew what the next stage might be. After having a chat with Kate at ‘With In Tent’ I realised that this was not going to as easy as giving an expert the materials and waiting for the postman. Someone needed to collect the tents, empty the tents, select and cut the usable material, clean the material, dry the material, print on the material, design the award and sew the materials. Oh and it needed to be freestanding and printed with 100% non-toxic water-based inks in a month.

That said, it is done and I am rather relieved and excited to present our awards on Tuesday. The AGF team and I are enormously grateful for generously giving skills, time, energy, fuel, advise, permission, resources and support. What a team. and here we are – our beautiful new awards!

So it’s a BIG Thank you to:

Beth and Peter at I Dress Myself:  After visiting a few printers locally to have a chat and research how to print on to tents I discovered that printing in non-toxic water based inks is a bit of a foreign language to most printers. I took the advise of as many ‘eco’ printers as I could find on the internet (which is not as many as I thought). Beth from I Dress Myself emailed me back and said they loved the project. Peter tested the inks would not fall to dust and ensured our design could work and be printed within a week.

Larisa Tilaks. With 50 years experience Larisa has made hats for royalty, spent nights sewing sequins and pearls into wedding dresses she’s designed, cut and sewn from rough sketches. Larisa is a special lady with fabric in her blood. The awards would not have survived this stage of sewing, talc and perseverance if I had naively learned to use a sewing machine.

Andy Tilling. Friend and fellow Womble, Andy can turn other people’s rubbish into great things, he makes buildings out of salvaged materials, grows masses of lovely fruit and veg, fixes things and lives at the bottom of my road. What better place to salvage some wood and use his skills.

Aylin Mcnamara, Claire O’Neill and Duncan Turner, without you there would have been no materials.

And finally Charley Flemming, Claire Oddy and Alex Emanuel for documenting the project on film and your creativity.  Watch out for new short film soon with our special thanks to The Isle of Wight Festival and Eco Action Partnership for their help with that film and for Bestival and Glastonbury for their support.

You are all legends! Thank you.

www.bestival.net
www.idressmyself.co.uk
www.thedaywe.com

Posted by HELEN

Eavis sails with the Rainbow Warrior III

Glastonbury festival organiser Michael Eavis has been on the bridge of Greenpeace’s new Rainbow Warrior III – on the first test run up the Thames in London. Eavis, once upon a time a merchant seaman before taking over the running of Worthy Farm, was joined by daughter Emily and her son George, Michael’s grandson, born just before this year’s festival. The boat will now undergo sea trials.

This is the third Rainbow Warrior– the first, notoriously, was sunk in New Zealand in 1985 by French commandos to prevent it hampering nuclear tests in a Polynesian atoll. The second has just been retired to Bangladesh, where it serves as a hospital ship. Rainbow Warrior III is bigger, greener and, for the first time, purpose built, which the organisation says will showcase green shipbuilding technologies. The huge A-frame mast system can carry considerably more sails than a conventional mast on a vessel of this size, meaning that the ship will travel, as far as possible, under wind power. The ship has 1200 Square metres of sail. The new ship will have both diesel and electric engines but these are expected to be in use for less than 10% of its time at sea and the aim is to drastically reduce emissions and to burn far less fuel and the main propulsion will be by wind. Systems to recycle the engine’s heat and waste “grey” water, and a hull designed to minimise friction in the water, add to its green credentials.

The Good, the Bad & the Queen, featuring Greenpeace supporters Damon Albarn and Paul Simonon, formerly of the Clash, gave a performance on-board for Greenpeace.

See the video here  http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/nov/10/greenpeace-launches-rainbow-warrior-glastonbury and pictures and a video here http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/news/rainbow-warrior-photos

Picture: Greenpeace

ANOTHER PLANET

The so called ‘Greenest’ Olympics ever seem to becoming distinctly non green as the weeks go by and 2012 approaches. Two new stories surfaced this week, firstly that the operators of London Luton Airport would be building (or rather extending) a road to allow VIP guests swift car access to the M1 motorway to London. The airport’s Spanish owner Abertis is spending £4 million on road widening at a bottle-neck where queues of traffic stretch for up to half a mile on busy summer mornings. also in the news, the 2012 Games organiser, LOCOG, has said that it would be picking up the London Congestion Charge bill for the fleet of 4000 BMW cars available to VIPs, competitors, sponsors, media and officials. Officials and thers will also have priority use over 100 miles of roads linking sports venues and hotels. The £10 daily Congestion Charge is meant to deter car use in central London. LOCOG will pay the C-charge bills with a ‘Fleet Auto-pay Account’. Still, the Olympics won an ‘green’ award – see below!

Unusual weather conditions are set to return, wreaking havoc across the World as an evolving La Nina - the body of cold water on the Pacific – affects weather around the globe. La Nina refers to the cooler than average cool water in the Pacific which  leads to higher than average rainfall in South East Asia, North & East Australia and the Western side of North and South America. Conversely the Southern US and Mexico states lack rain and there is a higher risk of cyclones, and countries such as Argentina and Brazil on the Atlantic coast face dryer conditions. It is expected that the weather changes will have a profound effect in food prices as crops such as corn, soya beans, wheat, sugar onions and coffee suffer from both heavy rain in some areas and dry conditions in others. Heavy rain in South East Asia and Australia may also effect commodities such as palm oil and rubber and the mining of  coal and tin. Other climate change scientists believe that ‘Arctic Oscillation’ – unpredictable pressure changes in the Arctic – can also produce strong shifts in climate patterns.

Energy giant EDF has been found guilty of spying on environmental campaigners Greenpeace by a French Court. Judge Isabelle Prévost-Desprez, sentenced three men, including two EDF employees to prison terms. Judge Prévost-Desprez also fined the French state-owned business 1.5m euros and ordered it to pay half a million euros in damages to Greenpeace. EDF executive Pierre-Paul François was sentenced to three years imprisonment, with 30 months suspended. A second EDF executive  Pascal Durieux, received the same sentence, with two years suspended and a 10,000 euro fine for commissioning the spying operation. The judge also handed down a guilty verdict in the case of Thierry Lorho, the head of Kargus, a company employed by EDF to hack into the computers of Greenpeace.  Lorho was sentenced to three years in jail with a further two years suspended as and a 4,000 euro fine.

The UK’s first CRC league tables have now been published and Edie.net reports that simple energy saving or regulating measures could have seen some of the 800 organisations making up the foot of the CRC league table improve their position. Astonishingly it appears nearly 40% of organisations on the 2106 strong list, which includes major public bodies like the Home Office, have no voluntary half-hourly meters or energy performance accreditation. While DECC is one of the top 25 performers the CRC’s own department, the Environment Agency, only manage to rank at 275 and only achieved a 62.5% early action metric. .Across the whole CRC league table the Ministry of Defence is the highest emitter and will need to spend around £21m on allowances this year to cover its emissions.

http://crc.environment-agency.gov.uk/pplt/web/plt/public/2010-11/CRCPerformanceLeagueTable20102011

One of the UK’s largest green energy producers Ecotricity has relaunched its ecobond renewable investment scheme. The drive, which was launched at the weekend, is a repeat of ecobond one, launched in October last year, which was oversubscribed by 50%.  Its new scheme called ecobond two is also seeking £10m and aims to ‘bypass’ the banks and allow people to share in the benefits of the green energy revolution ‘without needing to stick anything on their roof’.  The scheme offers fixed and will have an initial four-year term paying an annual rate of interest of 6%, however that rises to 6.5% for Ecotricity customers.

Cuts to the UK’s Feed In Tariffs may face a legal challenge after  solar industry leaders gave an impassioned defence of the sector following at Edie’s Sustainable Leaders Forum.   Solar Trade Association chairman, Howard Johns, denied the sector had been over subsidised and said he was losing business as he’d been forced to scrap contracts he had in place due to the changes.  Mr Johns says members of the solar industry will also lobby MPs on November 22 at the House of Parliament over this week’s announcement of a consultation into cutting the rates of Feed-In Tariffs (FITs).

Manchester United Football Club has reduced material consumption across its business by nearly 20% over the past eight years by working closely with its supply chain, achieving cost savings of £500,000.

Commuters in London will soon be able to travel using a greater range of zero emission vehicles as the UK’s first network of hydrogen fuelling stations prepares to open. As part of the Hydrogen Transport for European Cities (HyTEC) scheme, 15 hydrogen-powered black-cabs and five hydrogen-powered Suzuki Bergmann scooters will take to the streets of London, with the aim of reducing carbon emissions in the capital.

70% of people in Wales are in favour of the country introducing a minimum 5p charge on single-use carrier bags new research by Cardiff University shows.  The scheme has resulted in a 95% drop in use. And Ireland has launched a nationwide initiative to encourage more battery recycling following a survey that found 90% of Irish people were aware that irresponsible disposal of batteries may have negative environmental consequences.

The Environment Agency (EA) has launched a full investigation into how raw sewage leaked into a seven mile stretch of a tributary of the River Thames on November 1^st. An estimated 3,000 fish including mature pike, eel and perch have been killed so far.

The UK’s Secretary of State for energy and climate change, Chris Huhne, has unveiled the University of Salford’s (UoS) centre for energy and public policy.  The Joule House centre, has been part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund to help the university develop its portfolio of business support activity.

Using advanced wastewater treatment facilities to treat food waste through anaerobic digestion (AD) is the best environmental option, according to a new study. The Report from PE International examined the impact of various food waste disposal systems. It found that food scraps put into a sink-based disposal unit and sent to wastewater treatment plants resulted in lower global warming potential than landfill, incineration and centralised composting.  According to the study, commissioned by US company InSinkErator, if 30,000 households switched from sending food waste to landfill to a waste disposal unit instead, the reduction in global warming potential would be the equivalent of eliminating nearly 2,100 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

And a farm-based anaerobic digestion (AD) plant will use cattle dung and grass silage to power homes and businesses in Northern Ireland  The Greenhill Dairy Farm Biogas farm near Ardstraw claims to be the first plant in Northern Ireland in 20 years to provide sustainable heat and power in this way. The waste from 600 cows on the 700 acre site will help fuel the plant to produce 430 kWh – enough to supply 430 homes with electricity.

And finally, the Edie Awards for Environmental Excellence 2011 Winners have been announced

Carbon Reduction – First UK Bus
Renewable Energy – Marks and Spencer
Green Corporate Initiative – Marks and Spencer
Green Retail Initiative – Sainsbury’s
Public Sector Initiative – North West Fire and Rescue Sustainability Network
Sustainable Transport – Transport for London’s Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme
Sustainable Construction – Olympic Delivery Authority
Water and Wastewater – Microbial Solutions Microcycle Technology
Waste and Resource Management – Coca Cola Enterprises
Climate Change and Renewables – SKM Enviros
Water and Wastewater – SKM Enviros
Waste and Resource Management – Amec
Impact Assessment and Planning – URS Scott Wilson
Due Diligence – ENVIRON
Corporate Sustainability – ERM
Contaminated Land – SKM Enviros
Environmental – Amec

more at http://www.edie.net/

Our favourite summer photos!

 Ben has just come back from Green Events Europe which was held in Bonn on November 2nd and 3rd, and we were asked to provide some photos from some of the most inspiring and innovative summer festivals.  They were pinned up on some brillant display boards along with some great images from other festivals like Malmo and Ilosasrirock – So here they are – and many thanks to our two festival environmental auditors, Penny (Glastonbury, Open Air in the Czech Republic and We Love Green in Paris) and Helen (Wood and Camp Bestival) for these great pictures. Enjoy!

Glastonbury thanks the green travellers – nice compost loos too!

Glastonbury bike park

The Glastonbury Solar Cinema (above)

Open Air CZ recycling bins

Trams at Open Air CZ

Above (Czech) and below (France) – who needs bottled water??

We Love Green in France

We Love Green – solar powered stage

We Love Green France

Compost toilets – We Love Green

Solar Stage – We Love Green

The Solar Stage at Wood

Compost loos at Wood

…and finally, the kids loos at Camp Bestival

A Lot Meant To Happen in 2011

Two years ago I was allocated one tenth of a small field just outside the town where I live which was overgrown with weeds, waterlogged (at the time – there had been floods!) and a complete mess. A local environmental group were instrumental in getting the Town Council to find more space for allotments (as there was a long long waiting list for the only available site) and they succeeded. So in October 2009 a field was found and rented and after a winter spent clearing the field, ploughing (thanks to a very kind farmer), laying drains, rotavating, digging and taking out vast quantities of rocks and rubbish (the field was rocky anyway and used to dump waste material from the nearby bypass) it’s amazing what a lot of hard work, wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow full of horse manure, home made compost and quite a lot of rain can achieve! 2010 was a planting year really – spuds to break up the soil and putting in plants things like raspberry bushes, strawberry plants and rhubarb. And lots of weeding. Lots and lots of weeding. And just a few things to nibble on!

But now it Is all paying off and my allotment is now (in its second year) finally providing more than enough vegetables and fruits – and as ever – the Autumn was give away time! I don’t use any pesticides or weedkillers and try and I grow everything organically – and here’s a tip – its amazing what you can find on Freecycle – the old scaffolding plants for my raised beds, a roll of chicken wire for my compost bins and a vanful of sand to improve the soli were all free! And my builder friend Darren helped me go skip raiding (with permission!) for old wooden flagstone crates which make perfect compost bins (and suggested the pun for the headline here)! He gets paid in veggies!

And its been just great to have home grown courgettes, cabbages, lettuces, rhubarb, potatoes and runner beans all available fresh daily – although now all gone along with the the last of the peas and broad beans. Still to go – celery, chard, pumpkins and more cabbages and NEXT year some lovely looking asparagus, which sadly I can’t touch this year as I need to wait whilst the root system strengthens. Also on the menu – if you leave courgettes for too long they basically turn into marrows! Now sadly gone (and eaten!) are the strawberries and gooseberries, with just a few rasberries left now this year – but with newly planted blackberry bushes looking like they will be productive too! I even put in some sunflowers I was given (thanks Jo!) which ended up as enourmous great things and buzzing with bumble bees – and now feeding the birds

It all went a bit Pete Tong when I was embroiled in Glastonbury this year (I came back to more weeds!) but its been amazing to see the transformation of a field into allotment gardens – and not without problems I have to admit – but its been great to reap the harvest!

GREEN EVENTS EUROPE – WHAT A SHOW!

Marie (Roskilde Festival), Ben (Glastonbury/A Greener Festival), Jacob (Green Music Initiative), Niklas (Way Out Waste), Holder (Rhinekultur / Green Events) and Alfredos (Boom Festival)

Delegates from across Europe spent two days in the lovely city of Bonn debating, learning, discussing, networking and having some fun too at the fabulous  Green Events Europe conference.  A predominantly festival based event in 2010, the conference had been widened in 2011 to cover all live events and attracted attendees, speakers and panellists from Portugal, The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Germany and the UK. Topics covered included a waste management workshop, a review of climate change science, an investigation and practical debate on carbon footprinting a live event, presentations on green camping and green catering, presentations on stakeholder communication,  an explanation of ISO 20121, two technical forums, a panel on creating a green campaign and a lively debate on ‘how can any event be green’ . On top of this there were  visits to a waste sorting centre and a ‘waste to energy’ plant in Bonn – and a gala dinner for delegates in Bonn!

This year’s Green Events Europe conference has put the music industry’s green efforts at the heart of the move to a sustainable future. With an amazing collection of high profile and expert speakers and panellists, and informed delegates from across Europe, Green Events Europe offered real practical advice on moving to a lower carbon future. Climate change is effecting all of us, and the live events industry is not immune to this – we have already had two serious weather related tragedies in 2011 in the USA and Belgium, and we now all need to work together to adopt environmentally friendly practices. Green Events Europe was the place to learn and exchange ideas on green events in the autumn of 2011.

46 FESTIVALS WIN OUR COVETED AWARD

46 festivals across the UK, Europe, Australia and North America have been awarded our prestigious Greener Festival Award for their green efforts in reducing their environmental impact 2011.

To achieve the Award, each festival must complete a detailed 53 part questionnaire, submit relevant information such as a carbon footprint, traffic plans and waste and recycling management schemes, and then have an independent environmental audited to complete the Awards scheme.  We are extremely pleased with the results which took place against “very difficult financial pressures in some parts of the festivals sector” and “challenging summer weather” in both hemispheres.  Ben Challis, Co-founder of A Greener Festival said “one highlight was the real reduction in car use at many festivals as people swapped to coaches, trains, shared cars or even cycled. A downside was the thousands and thousands of tents and other perfectly reusable camping equipment left behind at festivals in the UK – “what a mess and what a waste”.  The Awards scheme is sponsored by Robertson Taylor who specialise in insurance for live events and the music industry.

The winners of the Greener Festival Award 2011 are:

Outstanding

Croissant Neuf Summer Party (England)

Falls Festival, Lorne, Victoria (Australia)

Falls Festival, Marion Bay, Tasmania (Australia)

Isle of Wight Festival (England)

Lightning in a Bottle (USA)

Oya Festival (Norway)

Peats Ridge (Australia)

Shambala (England)

Sunrise Celebration (England)

We Love Green (France)

Wood (England)

Woodford Festival (Australia)

Highly commended

Bestival (England)

Bonnaroo (USA)

Co-operative Cambridge Folk Festival (England)

Glastonbury Festival (England)

Grassroots (Jersey)

Lollapalooza (USA)

Malmo Festival (Sweden)

Island Vibe (Australia)

SOS 4:8 (Spain)

 

Commended

Austin City Limits (USA)

Calgary Folk Music Festival (Canada)

East Coast Bluesfest (Australia)

Festibelly (England)

Heineken Dia de la Musica (Spain)

Ilosaaririock (Finland)

Hadra Trance Festival (France)

The Open Air Festival (Czech Republic)

Rock for People (Czech Republic)

San Sebastián Quincena Musical (Spain)

Sonisphere (England)

Splendour Festival (England)

Splendour in the Grass (Australia)

Summer Sundae Weekender (England)

T-in-the-Park (Scotland)

Waveform (England)

Welcome to the Future (Netherlands)

WomAdelaide (Australia)

Improving

Camp Bestival (England)

Download (England)

Greenbelt Festival (England)

Hard Rock Calling (England)

Lounge on the Farm (England)

Radio 1 Big Weekend (England)

Wireless (England)

Helen Wright, the Greener Festival Awards Director said  “This has been another amazing and inspiring year for the Greener Festival Awards and I would like to thank everyone who has contributed – from our own dedicated environmental volunteers to green waste teams, traders, event organisers, production teams, interns, sustainability managers, audiences …. the list is endless. Events that have chosen to adopt a commitment to reduce their own and their audience’s environmental impact are setting a high standard, and a green festival is one that many festival goers now expect. Creative initiatives, individual dedication and organisational commitment are making real a difference in the battle to succeed with the environmental challenges posed by promoting an event. The Greener Festival Awards are now in their fifth year and the results this year demonstrate the measurable progress that our participating festivals have made by embarking on this journey. Amazing! Thank you.”

Steven Howell, Sales & Marketing Director of Awards scheme sponsors Robertson Taylor said “We are delighted to continue to support A Greener Festival and the amazing work they do with the UK festival industry.  We have negotiated insurance premium discounts for any festivals that adhere to the initiatives suggested by A Greener Festival and each year more and more festival organisers are benefiting from this, thereby saving money at the same time as helping to save the environment. Congratulations to all those organisers achieving the Greener Festival Award this year and especially to the overall winner – we look forward to partying with you at the UK Festival Awards 2011. “

The overall winner of the UK’s Greener Festival Award 2011 will be announced at the UK Festival Awards gala ceremony at the London Camden Roundhouse on Tuesday 15^th November 2011 along with a host of other awards for the UK’s best and favourite festivals. James Drury, Managing Director of the UK Festival Awards said “Festivals can have an important impact on people’s opinions, and it’s inspiring to see how many lead by example on green issues. Recognising the hard work of festivals in making their events more environmentally-friendly is an important part of the UK Festival Awards and I’m excited to find out who’s won!”

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE WINNERS! 

ANOTHER PLANET

A new study from climate scientists and funded by climate change sceptics has shown that global warming IS happening. The Tea Party nutters will be rather annoyed by this but there again their philosophy of ignoring energy security and relying on oil from outside of the USA always looked bonkers despite global warming. What’s wrong with sustainable power??? Anyway, I digress, climate sceptics had been concerned that moving climate stations close to urban centres had skewed results in favour of finding global warming, but the study Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project (BEST) from rural climate recordings showed that Earth’s temperature had risen by 0.9C. The study was part funded by oil billionaire Charles Koch.

A shake up in the financial incentives available for solar power in the UK may take the shine off solar panels – and may well have a negative effect on land based wind farms too. But off-shore wind and tidal projects will benefit from the changes. RenbewableUK said that the 10% drop in subsidies for solar and on-shore wind would mean a significant fall in the number of wind turbines planned around the country. And whilst the government says that it remains committed to green, the UK’s only Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project has ground to a halt after four years of publicly funded work. The CCS Consortium, made up of ScottishPower, National Grid and Shell, has been scrapped after the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) decided against going ahead with the construction phase of the test scheme.  The project, based in Longannet in Scotland, was the only one remaining in the DECC funded competition to produce a commercially viable CCS project.

A very good leader in the Observer newspaper on the 23rd October says that Now is not the time to renege on green pledges: “Climate change urgently demands that we overcome cultural, social, political and economic barriers to act together to cushion its impact. That requires strong leadership and long-term vision ….. it is unfortunate that domestically, even as the climate change sceptics receive a drubbing, the coalition appears to be travelling away from the proactive and bold measures that are required. At the Conservative party conference last month, the chancellor, George Osborne, boasted that he had insisted on an opt-out clause for carbon reduction targets ….. and last week a £1bn carbon capture and storage demonstration scheme was cancelled. A further dulling of the coalition’s green sheen has come with the announcement that subsidies for households to install solar panels are to be drastically reduced. Discussions are taking place about how far to cut the small-scale “feed-in tariff” which pays households and companies for energy produced. This could mean a fall from the current level of up to 43p per kilowatt hour to as little as 9p per kWh, a move that will offer almost no incentive to adopt a different style of living.” More at

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/23/observer-editorial-coalition-climate-change?newsfeed=true

New research from the Carbon Trust says that turning down heating by one degree could save businesses and public sector organisations £35 million each year.

The 2°C Challenge Communique, calling on governments around the world to take action to “secure a low carbon-emission economy that is more resilient, more efficient and less vulnerable to global shock” has been published. The communiqué is published ahead of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Durban in December, had 192 signatories at the time of writing this story, up from 185 at the point of publication. They include Anglian Water Group, Thames Water, Wessex Water, EDF, BP, Shell, National Grid and Bord Na Mona.

Wales has built a new heavy duty road bridge made of 100% recycled plastic in what is being claimed as a European first.  The 90-foot Thermoplastic bridge, which is suitable for heavy goods vehicles, is made up of 50 tonnes of waste plastic and spans the River Tweed at Easter Dawyck in Peeblesshire, which forms part of the historic John Buchan Way. It was built off-site and assembled in just four days by a team from Glendinning Groundworks and 10 Field Squadron Royal Engineers. Being made from plastic, it requires no painting or regular maintenance.

IKEA has trialled a new reuse initiative with the Furniture Reuse Network (FRN) on hard-to-dispose-of products, including sofas, mattresses and kitchen appliances. Under the scheme, customers decide if they would like to have their old furniture taken away when they have their new furniture delivered from IKEA. The retailer will then make a like-for-like exchange.

The University of Brighton has appointed DS Smith Recycling to introduce separate food and wood waste collections across its Sussex campus to increase recycling levels. The Waste is generated across the University’s 30 sites – including faculty buildings, halls of residence and student union bars used by 23,000 students and 2,600 staff – and will be dealt with in the majority a a recycling facility in Croydon.  DS Smith Recycling has been targeted to improve the university’s 25% recycling rate with a number of initiatives and training sessions. As well as separate food waste collections and segregating wood waste produced by the architecture and rrt departments, used cooking oil will be recycled. More specific and occasional waste streams will be collected on an ad hoc basis including WEEE, hazardous and confidential waste

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond announced an £18m boost for marine renewables on the same day it was announced he is to be the recipient of an international climate change award. The investment will be used to establish a wave and tidal commercialisation fund to help develop Scotland’s first commercial wave and tidal power arrays. It forms part of the £35m provided to enterprise agencies by the Scottish Government over the next three years to directly support the marine and tidal industry including planned projects in the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters. Speaking yesterday, Mr Salmond said: “I am delighted to announce an £18m commercialisation fund which will help developers to unleash the power of Scotland’s seas, as part of our biggest financial commitment to date of £35m for this sector. Mr Salmond had been selected as the recipient of the third South Australia International Climate Change Award. Previous recipients are former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2009 and Quebec Premier Jean Charest in 2010.

WaterAid has marked 30 years of bringing clean water, sanitation and hygiene education to the world’s poorest countries at its Annual Supporters’ Meeting in London. Speaking at the event to celebrate the water charity’s 30th anniversary, WaterAid chief executive Barbara Frost said the charity had “an awful lot to celebrate”, but added that “there is an awful lot still to do because of the scale of the problem out there”. However, Ms Frost added that it was “remarkable” that despite the economic downturn WaterAid has continued to increase its donations by raising £50.8m in 2010-2011 – up from £43.8m in 2008-2009. WaterAid has attributed its growth to support from well-known figures and organizations such as the Prince of Wales, the Glastonbury Festival, Ofwat and several of the UK’s water companies.

Green Music News

AEG is planning to build a ‘carbon neutral’ stadium in Los Angeles. The $1.2 billion venue in Farmers Field, close to AEG’s Staples Center, which AEG say will be the most environmentally friendly and sustainable stadium in the World and AEG CEO Tim Leiweke said that the company had “focussed during the last four years on working with some of the most respected environmental organisations in the country to create a blueprint for the stadium”. Former President Bill Clinton praised AEG for their “mission to marry design, innovation, social responsibility and community engagement, resulting in a measurable impact for future generations”.

Festival Loo, the specialist in environmental sanitation at events, is launching a new liquid waste treatment plant for the 2012 season. The new plant uses bacteria which can eat up to 225,000 litres of human waste from toilets, showers and catering every 24 hours. The unit, which is bio-diesel powered, reduces waste to a 5% sludge that can be used to fertilise farm fields, and 95% water that can be discharged into local water courses. The unit substantially reduces waste management costs and waste haulage costs.

Event organisers are being warned to make sure they are prepared for the ban on organic waste going to landfill in the UK within the next two years. Kevin Brewer, from Grundon Waste Management, interviewed in AAA, comments “the biggest issue from a collection point of view is contamination of the waste stream with food. There is a need to educate the public when they dispose of it” warning the organisers will have to work hard to separate organic waste from recyclables and other waste.

Folkert Koopmans, boss at European promoters FKP Scorpio, has said that in 2012 the Southside Festival will provide free public transport across Germany within the price of the ticket saying that the company already had trialled the scheme at Chiemsee Summer Reggae Festival and that they planned to roll the concept our accross all of FKP Scorpio’s festivals in Germany.

Don’t forget to register for  GREEN EVENTS EUROPE - November 2 and 3 in Bonn: www.green-events-europe.eu

Cloud cuckoo travel?

Tiago Barras, an architect from New York, has come up with what looks like a very eco-friendly alternative to planes for air travel – floating across the world on a ‘cloud’. Barros entered a competition in the US focussing on the future of high-speed railways, and submitted his ‘Passing Cloud’ idea, which he explains thus:

‘The Passing Cloud is an innovative and environmentally friendly method of transportation that doesn’t require expensive steel tracks or concrete highways. It is made of a series of spherical balloons that form the shape of a cloud. Its inner stainless steel structure is covered with heavy weight tensile nylon fabric. During the journey, It moves according to prevailing winds speed and direction at the time of travel. Since it moves with the wind, no wind is ever felt during the trip, offering the passengers a full “floating sensation”.’

Would-be passengers climb to the top of the ‘cloud’ by way of a giant ladder, and would disembark the same way, with no guarantee of destination or arrival time, according to news.com.au. Wow! And double Wow!

Image: Tiago Barras

ANOTHER PLANET

North American East Coast after 100M water rise from global warming

Parisian leaders  have wheeled out the first of the city’s blue, bubble-shaped cars  in what aims to be one of the largest self-service electric car schemes. The Guardian reports that anyone with a driving licence will be able to pick up one of the four-seater electric “Bluecars” for short journeys around Paris, dropping it off at any battery point. The Autolib service follows the French capital’s success with Velib, the self-service bike scheme. The €235m (£202m) project is the brainchild of the city’s Socialist mayor, Bertrand Delanoë, to deal with traffic, pollution and the nightmare of parking. He hopes it will cement the city’s reputation for innovative new green transport. More than half of Parisians do not own a car.

UK Feed-In Tariffs (FITs) have been too successful and future reviews will be ‘crucial’ to its future success.  That is the conclusion of the Renewable Energy Association’s (REA) technical director Stuart Pocock, speaking at the Energy Solutions exhibition London Olympia. In his speech, Mr Pocock outlined the role of FITs in the promotion of sustainable energy in the UK, while also comparing the UK’s progression in renewable energy with the rest of Europe. However the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has warned that the multi-million pound domestic solar panel business could be the next big consumer misselling scandal. With over 150,000 homes installing panels each year, OFT is concerned by rogue traders and cowboy installers who are using hard sell tactics and misleading information about the benefits of Feed In Tariffs with vulnerable consumers.

An attempt to disrupt the first flight by a UK airline to be powered by biofuels ended with three naked protesters being arrested.  The Thomson Airway’s flight was hailed by the industry and government as a huge leap forward for sustainable aviation. But a string of environmental groups, including Plane Stupid who were behind the stunt, have attacked the scheme’s green credentials. Three activists from the group mingled with passengers before the launch at Birmingham airport, before stripping off their clothes to reveal slogans criticising the trial.

Npower has launched what it claims is Britain’s first energy tariff, designed to support the uptake of electric vehicles (EV) by offering owners cheaper charging rates. The ‘juice-e’ is a certified green energy tariff will provide electric car owners with off-peak electricity charges when charging their EV overnight and will be available across Britain to anyone who has a charging point at home. In addition, for every unit of electricity used by a juice-e customer npower has said it will put back an equivalent amount into the grid from renewable energy sources.

Eco-manufacturer Remarkable has extended its retail contract with the Eden Project by stocking a larger range of products in-store featuring its re-launched packaging range, made from recycled drinks bottles and card.  Remarkable has been stocking its recycled products in the gift shop since the attraction first opened. Items include pencils made from recycled CD cases, pencil cases and mouse mats made from recycled tyres, and geometry sets made from biodegradable corn starch.  Eden Project Gift Shop buyer, Tammy Barclay said that sourcing attractive products that are recycled or made from natural and sustainable products are high on her agenda, and described the Remarkable brand as “a perfect fit” for the Eden Project.

A pioneering £1.2m green skills training initiative has launched in an effort to tackle critical knowledge gaps in the renewables industry and boost the UK’s low carbon economy. Set up by energy trade association RenewableUK in partnership with the Government, the Renewables Training Network (RTN) aims to provide training in the UK’s renewable energy industry, helping to create more than 77,5000 new jobs in the wind, wave and tidal industries and supply chain within the next ten years.  Funding for the scheme has been provided by businesses in the renewables sector, with £600,000 being collectively provided in support of the project.

New research allows scientists to predict how much future pollution can be removed from the atmosphere by trees.  The work, by scientists at the University of Southampton, claims to show for the first time how much pollution could be removed from energy intensive industries in the future. Focusing particularly on London’s trees the work, which is due to be published in next month’s Landscape and Urban Planning journal, also shows how trees improve air quality by filtering out pollution particulates, which can be damaging to human health.  According to the research urban trees in the Greater London Authority (GLA) area take out somewhere between 850 and 2000 tonnes of particulate pollution (PM10) from the air every year. The research found that the targeting of tree planting in the most polluted areas of the GLA area and particularly the use of a mixture of trees, including evergreens such as pines and evergreen oak, would have the greatest benefit to future air quality in terms of PM10 removal.

High-density housing is not an insurmountable barrier to Londoners recycling more of their waste, according to a report released by the London Assembly. The Waste not, want not study says that while high-density housing does affect recycling performance, it does not prevent a borough from being able to recycle more. Rather, it points to lack of storage space and difficulty in transporting materials to collection points as being the main problems. Although the capital has improved recycling performance in recent years, most boroughs fail to meet the average rates achieved across the UK. Recycling rates also vary widely across London with some boroughs achieving rates of more than 40% while others fall below the 2007 target of 20%. And a new report from the Green Alliance says that the UK must place greater emphasis on recovering and recycling materials, and also improve resource efficiency and the durability of consumer products. The long-awaited Report Reinventing the Wheel: a circular economy for resource security  examines the advantages and disadvantages of using pricing to improve the circulation of three crucial major resources – metals, phosphorous and water.  The Green Alliance is calling for a more circular use of these resources in the economy, which it argues would avoid some of the damaging, environmental impacts of extracting them as well as avoid the negative impacts of generating waste.

Famous Grouse scotch whisky is set to be sold in lighter packaging weighing only 340g – a 14% weight reduction previously not thought possible in the production of premium spirit bottles.  The  prototype, developed by Edrington, hails a technical first for the bottling industry and will be tested in a selection of Scottish supermarkets this autumn.  Edrington’s director of technical services, Mike Rose, said: “We set out to prove that it was possible to produce a glass bottle under 400g which still supports premium features like engraving and embossing and can cope with the speed of our production line, which runs at up to 600 bottles per minute. However, Edie.net reports that Highland Distillers, which produces The Famous Grouse and The Macallan whiskies,  has been fined £15,000 after pleading guilty to failing to comply with the conditions of its water use licence following a diesel spill into a nearby watercourse.  The spill, which resulted in the discharge of 4,000 litres of diesel fuel from the Highland Park Distillery in Kirkwall into an unnamed tributary of the Crantit Canal, was found to breach conditions in the licence and cause environmental damage.

Electrical retailers and distributors can save hundreds of pounds a year by taking advantage of a new free WEEE collection scheme, set up by kitchen appliance manufacturer Amica.  Amica is offering electrical retailers and distributors a free collection and disposal service for electrical products, and will also collect any associated packaging for recycling.  Under the arrangement, retailers will no longer be required to be members of The Distributors Take Back Service or pay fees to the organisation, which can represent a saving of around £500 a year.

Edie.net reports that the Environment Agency (EA) has developed a new water quality testing service in a bid to improve the standard and efficiency of water monitoring in England and Wales.  The National Water Quality Instrumentation Service (NWQIS) is expected to help the EA meet its water quality monitoring requirements for groundwater and surface waters under the European Water Framework Directive (WFD).  A wide range of instrumentation is currently used by EA officers, however the upgraded system will allow it to centralise its equipment and reduce the variety of instruments used, providing greater uniformity of monitors and measurement units.

AIF summer survey needs you!

For the past three years the Association of Independent Festivals have been conducting research into audience activity, experience and spending habits at independent festivals within the UK. This research tracks trends and highlights the importance of our thriving independent festival scene ensuring it can grow from strength to strength. The results also benefit independent festivals by providing quantifiable evidence of their significance to local and regional economies as well as tourism.

By filling out the survey not only will you be supporting your favourite independent festivals but you will be in with a chance of winning 2 tickets to the festival you choose to complete the survey for. Bring on next summer!

To fill out the survey and be entered into the prize draw please click here:https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/AIFAudienceSurveySummer2011

Green Events Europe – should YOU be there?

Green Events Europe promises to be the most important pan-European conference looking at the live events sector in 2011. Following on from last year’s successful debut, the Bonn based conference features a host of experienced and leading figures in the sustainability movement, and will cover a range of important practical topics looking at sustainability and environmental good practice at events.

You can find out more and register at  www.green-events-europe.eu

Robertson Taylor support ultimate Green Award!

Once again our friends at Festival Insurance specialists, Robertson Taylor, are proud to announce their support the UK Festival Awards, taking place this year on Tuesday 15^th November in Camden’s legendary Roundhouse. And even better news -  RT are sponsoring the overall UK winner of the Greener Festival Award. RT have been a key supporter of A Greener Festival for four years now and also continue to support and promote greener festivals by providing discounts on insurance premiums for festival organisers who implement green initiatives.

We look forward to celebrating with everyone there – good luck to the nominees!!!!

Following last year’s sold-out events, the UK Festival Awards and Conference return on 15 November to bring the festival industry together for a day of networking, learning and to celebrate the achievements of the past year.

The Awards show takes place at London’s legendary Roundhouse, where guests will enjoy a drinks reception, gourmet three-course meal with wine and the always-talked-about after party. Taking place earlier on the same day, the UK Festival Conference will feature six vital business sessions covering topics including how to deal with extreme weather, what effect the Olympics will have on festival sponsorship, social media sales, and a keynote speech by Melvin Benn. It will also see the presentation of the Greener Festival Award in association with Robertson Taylor.

For more information, see www.festivalawards.com or www.festivalconference.com

If you haven’t got your ticket yet, then please click on www.festivalawards.com/tickets/

For more information on Robertson Taylor please click on www.robertson-taylor.com

Gibson – is it the wood? Is it the trees?

As we previously reported, Gibson, the famous guitar maker, is facing a criminal investigation in the USA over that claims it broke environmental laws  on importing wood. On August 28th, federal agents seized shipments of Indian rosewood from Gibson’s Nashville and Memphis grounds with US Authorities claiming that Gibson had violated the terms of the US Lacey Act. The law requires that imports to the US comply with laws in the country of origin.

This was the second time that Gibson was raided since the law took effect 2008. The first raid was about wood imported from Madagascar. Rosewood, specially Brazilian rosewood is regarded by some guitarists “holy grail”. It is effectively unavailable as it is officially an endangered species. Wood from Madagascar has been banned amid pressure from environmental groups. Although available in India, it is only under certain conditions.

The wood is used for fingerboards with  a strip running along the neck of the guitar. Rosewood is touted by serious guitar players as the best material for this purpose.

In a somewhat bizarre move, Gibson chief, Henry Juskiewicz, turned to the Tea Party for support (!!!!) claiming that this raid was an example of “unacceptable over-reach” of the US federal government:  Juskiewicz  even appeared on stage in Nashville and was introduced as the “the man who stood up to the federal government”.

Perhaps more sensibly, on the  Gibson website a statement  says  “The Federal Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. has suggested that the use of wood from India that is not finished by Indian workers is illegal, not because of U.S. law, but because it is the Justice Department’s interpretation of a law in India (simply) because if the same wood from the same tree was finished by Indian workers, the material would be legal.  This action was taken without the support and consent of the government in India.”

Read more: http://technorati.com/lifestyle/article/music-is-killing-the-rain-forest/#ixzz1aeYzbRyW

Green Gadgets are Go!

The US Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)  has launched a new website designed to help tech-savvy consumers be more environmentally friendly. The new site, GreenerGadgets.org, addresses the lifecycle of electronics products, with tips on how to buy green, live green and recycle electronics responsibly. It also features an energy use calculator, which illustrates what consumers’ usage costs them on their energy bill on a monthly and yearly basis, as well as an electronics recycling locator. Walter Alcorn, the CEA’s vice president of environmental affairs and industry sustainability said “We created GreenerGadgets.org so that consumers can understand how better to use their electronics products in eco-friendly ways”.

http://www.greenergadgets.org

FESTIVAL HARVEST LINE UP OUT!

We are delighted to be able to announce the line up and sleeve design for Festival Harvest 2011  – our new CD with eleven new bands for 2011 – all packed in recycled card by DMS to reduce the CD’s carbon footprint and promote a lower carbon future. CD packaging (in particular plastic jewel cases) can contribute up to 90% of a CD’s carbon footprint – so simply swapping to card packaging makes a big big difference.

The bands on the CD were all chosen because they are simply some of the best emerging talent from around the festivals in 2011 – the ‘cream of the crop’ – and the new CD will be launched at the UK Festivals Conference on November 15^th November at the Forum in Kentish Town, London. The cover artwork was designed by the lovely Kareena Zerefos and the full line up is this:

Twin Brother Lungs   

My First Tooth Orchards  

Empty Headz From Before 

Related to Merv BBC2  

J-Treole Skydive  

Fallen Trees Black Eagle   

Freddie & The Fair Stone Youth Got A Little Soul   

Kamal  Arafa & The Moonlight Band Grey  

London Afrobeat Collective Lagos Junction  

Louise & The Pins Beauty Strange  

Akayzia Sleepwalking    

A big thank you to all the bands and songwriters who have donated a track to the album – and a big thank you to Disc Manufacturing Services who sponsored this CD and are specialists in lower carbon CDs and DVDs. You can find out more at  http://www.discmanufacturingservices.com/. DMS also teamed up with legendary British yachtsman Pete Goss MBE to encourage people to PACK IT IN – and move away from plastic packaging which is a major environmental threat to our oceans and marine wildlife. Since 2008 DMS has had a strong focus on reducing its carbon footprint and reducing the amount of plastic used in music packaging. DMS was one of the first companies to proceed with the IG mark from Julies Bicycle and has a full range of low carbon packaging for music, in particular for CD and DVD based releases.

More on the UK Festivals Conference at http://www.festivalconference.com/

You can order an advance copy of Festival Harvest 2011 by sending a cheque for £7.99 payable to ‘A Greener Festuval Ltd’ to 8 Henley Prior, Collier Street, London N1 9JU. Please make sure to enclose your name and address! The price includes P&P.  Please do! ALL proceeds will go to A Greener Festival.

Eco-lites up the Pilton Party!

The annual Pilton Party, held in September at Worthy Farm as a big “thank you”  from the Glastonbury Festival to crew, staff, supporters, suppliers and local residents, was lit for the first time by  the amazing ‘ecolitrs’ – which Glastonbury say will become Festival standard issue next year. You can see the lights in the Mandy Briggs film from the Party here which featured headliners Plan B along with The Treetop Flyers (who won the Glastonbury Emerging Talent competition), Hot Rats and Magnus Puto.

20 Ecolite lighting towers were deployed at the Party but the Festival itself  currently has 175 lighting towers to illuminate car parks, camp sites and surrounding roads for the 5 day event using more than 16,000 litres of fuel. The Ecolite is approximately 75% more efficient than a traditional 1,000W lighting tower and will be equipped with dusk to dawn auto switching meaning that the lights will switch themselves on when it starts to get dark and turn themselves off again when it starts to get light. In addition to these savings the Ecolite can be run from another generator (using only 600W) or can be connected together running up to four additional slave lights from one unit.

In total it is calculated that by switching all 175 towers to Ecolite, Glastonbury would reduce their CO2 emissions by more than 63 tonnes. It would also mean that no refuelling would be required throughout the festival due to the 170 hour run time from a single tank cutting labour costs, additional transport costs and emissions.

Another benefit that has attracted Glastonbury to the Ecolite is the quite running generator that operates at only 83-86dBa LWA depending on specification, making it the quietest lighting tower in the world. Light pollution is also reduced by focusing the light through a patented prismatic lens meaning 80% of the light generated is focused on the desired area.

PHOTO BY JASON BRYANT.

Mandy Briggs’s short film is here http://vimeo.com/29678275

And more on Ecolites here http://www.youngmangroup.com/lighting-towers/

Coldplay top headliners poll

Coldplay have been voted the best festival headliner of 2011, in an online poll conducted by BBC 6 Music. The band – who headlined Glastonbury and T In The Park – topped the survey with 22.7% of votes cast, breakfast show host Shaun Keaveny announced. US rock band The National came in second with 14.2%, while Muse were third with 13.9%. Coldplay’s drummer Will Champion told 6 Music playing festivals gave the band “a chance to win people over” and added ”But there’s also a strong possibility that people have already made their mind up about you,” he added, “and no matter how well you play they’re not going to be happy about it.”

Picture of Coldplay at Glastonbury 2011 by Denis O’Regan

(C) 2011

ANOTHER PLANET

Greg Clark,the minister at the centre of the row over plans to  radically reform the UK’s planning laws (admittedly rather bureaucratic at the moment) with a new default position of (basically) “anything goes” (I might be exaggerating,  but maybe not) is to speak at a the Conservative party conference to back the reforms – at an event sponsored by Taylor Wimpey – one of the UK’s biggest house builders! Six environmental bodies have joined forces to issue a letter to Clarke, conveying their concern over the government’s current planning reform proposals. In the letter, the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, Royal Meteorological Society, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, Institution of Environmental Sciences, Arboricultural Association and Institute of Fisheries Management, challenge the government’s draft national planning policy framework (NPPF), warning that “the proposals, as they presently stand, are draconian in the extreme”. The groups continue to question the government’s planning guidance, which they say removes many safeguards established over generations, arguing this will leave the planning system ill-equipped to consider a range of strategic-level threats facing society, including climate change.

There have been riots at a Chinese factory that produces solar panels after locals complained that the factory was highly polluting and that toxic discharges have killed large numbers of fish. Residents in Haining in the Zhejiang province say that there had been police brutality in the efforts to silence their complaints. Cheng Hingming, deputy head of the Haining environmental protection bureau said that the factory, owned by Jinko  Solar Holding,  had failed to meet pollution standards despite official warnings.

The price of wood in the UK is rising dramatically as firms rush to generate power from biomass (wood, grass, food waste) – pushing the price up from £30 per tonne to near £50.  The UK government wants biomass generation to replace coal and gas generation.

Wales is introducing a country wide 5p levy for all ‘one use’ plastic shopping bags. A similar levy in Eire radically reduced the amount of bags used (and wasted). Most plastic bags are not biodegradable and take 500-1000 years to decompose.

Google is investing $75 million in supporting 3000 residential solar electrical systems across the USA.  Google is teaming up with Clean Power to offer finance that local installers can access for home owners. Its the latest in a string of investments aimed at reducing the environmental impact of Google. Google will own the panels that are installed  and receive the benefit of federal and state renewable energy subsidies.

The UK is facing its warmest September and October for 100 years with temperatures is Gravesend, Kent, on Friday the 30th September hitting 28.2C and temperatures in London expecting  to pass 30C. Horticulturalists have said that some plants which had begun to shed leaves for Autumn are now producing new growth and even flowers, and a farmer in Cambridgeshire has said that he now has a second crop of strawberries.

Police in the Brazillian Amazon say that they have arrested two suspects in connection with the murder of two rainforest activists who were shot in May. Jose Claudio Ribeiro de Silva and his wife Maria do Espirito Santo were killed on the 24th May – they were vocal in their opposition to illegal logging in the Amazon. The two suspects were arrested during a dawn raid in the jungle.

A Energy from Waste (EfW) plant transforming pig waste into power has been backed by the financial muscle of Google. The search engine giant, which invests in offset projects as part of its bid for carbon neutrality, has backed the new scheme designed by Duke University and Duke Energy.  Built on a pig farm in North Carolina in the United States the scheme turns animal waste into electricity, it also creates carbon offset credits for the energy company while the farm benefits from free electricity.

A major new competition has launched in a bid to encourage the development of carbon reduction technologies, with a grant fund of up to £4.5M available. The investment has been made by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) as part of its ongoing scheme to build its portfolio of technologies to help reduce CO2 emissions. The competition, which opens on 1 November 2011, will focus on innovative demonstration projects and aims to build on the success of its 2009 feasibility competition.  The final deadline for applications is 13 December 2011. For more information please visit: http://www.innovateuk.org/

Vehicles could be powered by orange peel waste in the future if a novel research project about to get underway proves fruitful. Researchers from the University of York will examine the potential of extracting biomass-derived chemicals, materials and fuels from the skin of oranges, using safe and sustainable chemistry.

Edie.net reports that a test centre for a building company has not only become energy self-sufficient but has in fact generated more than a 60% in surplus.  In only its first year of operation the Euro 3.5M centre for Wicona’s facade products, in Bellenberg, Germany, has shown outstanding energy results.  The centre, which provides in-house testing facilities for new products and project-specific facade solutions, features roof-mounted photovoltaic (PV) panels which generate more than enough power for heating, lighting and operating the entire building.

Costs for installing solar in the USA have dropped by 27% in the past year and a half, according to new research. The research found installing photovoltaic (PV) systems in the United States fell ‘substantially’ in 2010 and into the first half of 2011. The drop was revealed in the latest edition of the annual PV cost tracking report by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

The NEC complex in Birmingham is aiming to reach zero waste to landfill by June 2014, following the success of recent on-site recycling initiatives. The complex, which spans a 611 acre site, includes the 20 exhibition halls inside the NEC centre and also the LG Arena. Together both venues attract around three million visitors a year. The complex as a whole is currently recycling 42% of its waste and aims to be recycling 50% by the end of 2013. In February 2009, this figure stood at 0%!.

Edie.net reports that Roger Sparling, the owner of the Devon Hayedown waste recycling business has been ordered to pay £6,302 in fines and costs for illegally disposing  waste on Bonfire Night in 2010 in Tavistock.  A member of the public reported a large fire at the waste site and the flames and large amount of black acrid smoke made the person suspect plastic or rubber was being burnt.  Environment agency officers visited the site and spoke to Sparling, who claimed the bonfire was a traditional November 5th celebration for his staff and family. Sparling runs a waste transfer station that adjoins an old landfill which is used to store waste materials awaiting recycling.

MPs on the Energy and Climate Change Committee are looking into the case for consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reporting in the UK. The committee, chaired by Tim Yeo, is looking into allegations that UK emissions are only “falling” because they are recorded on a production basis.  Production-based emissions reporting only looks at emissions produced physically within a particular territory. However, if the more thorough consumption-based accounting method was used it is, according to the committee ‘very likely’ UK emissions would be up.

BBC’s The One Show Lucy Siegle spoke about society’s relationship with waste in a keynote speech at Birmingham’s RWM exhibition, saying that there was still a lot of work to do around public perception and consumer responsibility. Siegle, a well known environmental champion and Observer newspaper journalist, said there was “so much mileage in waste” but that the industry needed to promote itself better to the wider world if it wanted to encourage people to see the value in viewing it as a resource saying “We all generate waste but are very bad at owning up to it. People view waste as a hassle, it annoys them … but consumers have a responsibility for what they buy and how they drive the market”. At the same event Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) called for the packaging waste recovery note (PRN) system to be strengthened to encourage greater levels of recycling and investment in reprocessing infrastructure. CCE’s commercial recycling manager, Nick Brown, told delegates: “I think the existing PRN system could be used as a much greater tool for good … it needs to be strengthened to act as a driver for change.”

Young people in the UK are deserting the car – the percentage of 17-20 year olds with a current driving licence fell from 48% in the early 1990s to just 35% last year. Road traffic figures for cars and taxis have also begun to fall from a peak in 2007. Motoring groups put the overall decline down to rising petrol; costs and the recession although some commentators ay that modern teenagers are not as interested in cars, preferring digital gadgets such as iPads, MP3 players and laptops. There are also different ways of ‘owning’ a car now, including shared ownership models, short term rental schemes  and initiatuves such as Streetcar, Zipcar and Whipcar, in some areas better public transport (especially national rail) and an increasing use of car pooling and car-sharing for journeys.

Ireland relies heavily on imported plastic recyclate for its raw materials, recycling less than a third of the plastic waste it generates, according to a new government study.  The Irish recycled plastic waste arisings study by rx3 found that while Irish manufacturers have a need and demand for recyclable plastics as raw materials, in 2009 less than a third of the 482,366 tonnes of plastic waste generated was collected for recycling. The report, the first of its kind to be compiled on the island of Ireland, found that plastics makes up 14% of total household and commercial waste produced.

Householders will now be able to recycle their used cooking oil which will be refined and fed back into the National Grid in a novel scheme introduced across Merseyside. Collection tanks have been fitted at the region’s 14 household waste recycling centres where the oil can be deposited. Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority (MWDA) and its contractor Veolia have teamed up with Living Fuels to implement the scheme. Living Fuels will collect the waste oil and refine it to produce a bio-liquid. This in turn will power engines to supply renewable electricity to the Grid.

Scottish and Southern Energy has confirmed it is looking to abandon plans to build a nuclear power plant in the UK. A SSE spokesman confirmed it is planning on pulling out of a consortium, which includes Iberdrola and GDF Suez, by selling its 25% stake – although said it may become involved again in the future.

Revenue of more than £50m this year has kept  photovoltaic (PV) designer and installer Solarcentury at the top of a renewable business league.   The London-based firm it been listed as the fastest growing private renewable energy company in the UK, for the second consecutive year, by the Sunday Times Tech Track 100.

NHS trusts and other healthcare providers need to start source-segregating their waste better if they are maximise recycling outputs. Historically the healthcare sector has been poor at recycling, with some NHS trusts estimated to be only achieving rates of 15-20% across their organisations. Procurement methods are thought to be partly responsible for this, with many hospitals managing their waste streams separately and not securing the best deal as a result.

SuperGroup, the owner of clothing brand Superdry, has started compacting its waste as part of a campaign to improve recycling operations at its distribution centre. As part of the works, materials are compacted using a baling press before being stored at its distribution site ready for bulk collection. This is in contrast to the company’s previous method of recycling which saw packing being deposited into a number of wheeled bins and collected loose on a daily basis – a system which created no financial benefit. According to SuperGroup, it now benefits from a financial rebate for the material collected and offsets some of its packaging compliance costs through the generation of packaging waste recovery notes from its own recyclable packaging.

Wales is now recycling or composting 48% of its municipal waste, showing an upward national trend.  The latest figures are for April – June 2011, an increase of four percentage points on the same period in 2010. The amount of residual household waste produced per person in Wales is also continuing to fall, from 70kg per person a year ago to 62kg.

Edie.net reports that a fifth of senior IT decision makers in the UK are not confident that all of their company’s redundant computer equipment is being diverted from landfill, according to new research. Despite the landfilling of e-waste being an illegal practice, the survey found that only 65% of respondents were ‘confident’ or ‘very confident’ that of all their unwanted IT equipment was not being disposed of in this way.

Bucks gets the Carbon Trust Award

Panellists at the 2011 Green Events conference at Bucks

Bucks New University has achieved the Carbon Trust Standard in recognition of measuring, managing and reducing its carbon emissions. From the AGF team, Helen, Claire, Luke and Amie are all graduates of Bucks and  Ben is still a visiting professor. Whats more, BNU head of Programmes Teresa Moore leads on our green research, has placed Bucks at the heart of the new GO Europe initiative and also arranged for BNU to  co-host this year’s Green Events and Innovations conference. So good for Bucks!

The University achieved a five per cent reduction in carbon footprint for the 2010-11 academic year, based on the average footprint for the previous two years. In the qualitative part of the audit Bucks scored 69 per cent, giving BNU a comfortable pass. It is great recognition for Buck’s achievements to date and demonstrates BNU’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions year on year.  .

Bucks is well on its way to achieving its target to reduce CO₂ emissions by 50 per cent by 2020 (based on a baseline of 2005 emissions. The Carbon Trust Standard requires participant to keep reducing carbon emissions and to recertify every two years. So Bucks will have to continue the great work to date and keep reducing BNU’s impact on the environment.

Congratulations to Ian Hunter and the Estates team at Bucks

Silent Climate Parade Berlin – two days to go!

The Green Music Initiative are hosting a very special event in Berlin – and the the countdown is on … its only 2 days to the Silent Climate Parade! Contribute, demonstrate, silently,  quietly, and with (almost) zero carbon emissions!

Each of the 1,500 participants will have a silent disco – each with their own wireless headset  – dancing a quiet parade through Berlin on international climate action day. And more volunteers are needed! The music they dance to will come from DJ’s with the parade including Dirty Disco Youth and Sven Dohse [Bar25] who will travelling by electric car – all the way! Finally there will be a short closing rally which will held on Breitscheidplatz. if you are interested – this is video fron 2010 http://vimeo.com/15711201

Its all on the  24 September 2011 at 12:00 clock - meet at Breitscheidplatz, near the Memorial Church!

More information can be found at:

http://www.betterplace.org/de/projects/7681-silent-climate-parade

http://climateparade.de

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=122680554494761

The Greener Festival Awards 2001 – an update

Our 2011 Awards scheme is drawing to a close and we have received  a record number of entries and reviewed and audited some fantastic festivals this year. There really have been some brilliant events – green, clean, caring and sharing, and doing more and more to promote awareness about climate change and the need to adopt sustainable lifestyles and protect the environment.

To be honest, there have been just a few which were less than fantastic, but almost all of the entrants were attempting to do something to reduce their environmental impact and many were going an awful lot further in the fight against climate change, waste and pollution. Overall our environmental auditors have visited more than 50 events this year have sent
back some glowing reports. We hope to be able to announce the final Awards in October and the Awards will be given in four categories: Improving; Commended; Highly Commended; Outstanding. An overall UK winner will be announced at the UK Festival Awards on Tuesday the 15th of November 2011 at the Roundhouse in Camden, London.

We now have festivals in Australia, Europe, The UK and the USA taking part in the Greener Festival Awards scheme and we have seen yet another year of innovations, excellence and environmental good practice in the festivals sector at the many and varied festivals who take part in our Awards scheme.

Solar stage at We Love Green, Paris

We have seen a significant increase in the number of European festivals taking part – in particular with a big increase Spain, with some events such as SOS 4:8 in Murcia taking part for a second year but we had four other festivals such as the Dia de la Musica Heineken in Madrid and the San Sebastian Festival all entering for the first time. Helen was very impressed with Dia de la Musica saying the cohesive co-operation between production and the sustainability teams and the internal communications system delivers the green message to staff and suppliers alike. Penny came back from Paris with a glowing report on We Love Greenwhich looks like a super event, and Luke said he was more than pleased with his and Kareena’s audit of theOyafestivalen in Norway which already holds the ‘Outstanding’ award from 2010. Equally pleased were Helen and Amie G with their audit of the massive city based Malmofestivalen in Sweden and they were inspired by the complete ban of bottled water and provision of tap water at temporary sites throughout the city and subtle approach to conveying their environmental and lifestyle message to city audience through art and interactive activities including a sustainable fashion show, cardboard street stage, redesign your jeans workshop and a toy swap.

Elsewhere in mainland Europe we audited Rock for People and the Open Air Festival in the Czech Republic, both previous winners, a new entry from Ilosaarirock in Joensuu Finland, Welcome to the Future in the Netherlands and also Hadra in France, another previous winner of the Award.

In the USA, Bonnaroo entered the Awards scheme for the fith time along
with Lightning in a Bottle who entered for the second time – and this year we
had new entries from Austin City Limits festival and Lolapalooza. Our Awards co-ordinator in the USA, Lee, is stepping down this year and we have to say a massive ‘thank you’ to him for all of his support over the last two years.

Compost toilets at the Glastonbury Festival

In the UK Shambala, Croissant Neuf Summer Party, The Sunrise Celebration and Wood Festival are all extraordinary beacons of environmental good practice and great new ideas. Of the bigger festivals, Penny was mightily impressed by Glastonbury’s Green Traveller initiative which actually reduced the number of cars driving to the site (hooray!) and Luke was delighted with The Isle of Wight festival’s year on year improvements and green initiatives. As well as Wood which Helen said was as beautiful and wholesome as ever, she was at Camp Bestival and was impressed by the clean site and provision for children – including green activities and kids compost toilets!

Also in the UK we had some new entries from the Radio 1 Big Weekend in Carlisle, our first BBC entry, the Greenbelt festival at Cheltenham Racecourse and Festibelly in the New Forest, alongside entries from stalwarts of the scheme and previous winners such as The Cambridge Folk Festival. Leicester’s Summer Sundae Weekender, Lounge on the Farm, Grassroots in Jersey, Waveform, Bestival, T-in-the-Park andSplendour in Nottingham.

Recycling at Peats Ridge 2011

The Awards in Australia have already been announced and the winners of the 2011 Greener Festival Award down under are Bluesfest (Commended), Falls Festival (on two sites – Outstanding), Peats Ridge Festival (Outstanding), Woodford Folk Festival (Outstanding), Splendour in the Grass (Commended), Island Vibe (Highly Commended) and WOMADelaide (Commended). Well done to all, and our special thanks to Amie G who organises the Awards scheme in Oz.

At the end of the year we will have our first ever South American entry with Universo Parallelo in Brazil. This is great news and a new continent for us! On that note, Claire is off to Colombia at the end of this month to give a talk in Medellin at a Circulart 2011 conference focusing on green initiatives in the arts, and cultural strategies to promote sustainable events, at the invitation of the Colombian Department of Culture and the City of Medellin (www.circulart2011.com).

Its been a great year for festivals, albeit one that has been hampered by the global economic recession which affected festivals around the World, and some dramatic weather that has caused the recent tragedies at the Indiana state Fair in the USA and Pukklepop in Belgium. The role of festivals and music in promoting sustainable lifestyles and fighting climate change cannot be underestimated. So thanks to all of our participating festivals – and to conferences and events who have invited us to share or vision – this year we visited and spoke at gatherings in Germany, France, the UK, Germany, Belgium, Finland, Hungary, Malaysia and Columbia spreading the word on environmentally friendly events.

Watch out for the full Awards results in October.

Photos: ‘Solar Stage’ at We Love Green, Paris and ‘Compost Loos’ at Glastonbury, Somerset by Penny Mellor. ‘Kids Loos’ at Camp Bestival, Dorset  by Helen Wright and ‘Recycling ‘ at Peats Ridge, New South Wales by Amie Green .

The Greener Festival Awards scheme is supported and sponsored by Robertson Taylor, insurance brokers.

UK Festival Awards 2011 – voting opens

The UK Festival Awards have opened up voting for the five categories that will be chosen by festival goers at the launch of the Awards in London and the categories are: Headline Performances Of The Year, Anthem Of The Summer, Best Breakthrough Artist, plus Best Overseas Festival and Fan’s Favourite Festival. All five awards will be presented at the Camden Roundhouse on 15 November, alongside other ‘best festival’ categories which will be chosen  by a panel of judges, whilst other gongs such as  Agent Of The Year, Concession Of The Year and  our own Greener Festival Award  - will be judged by separate panels.  www.festivalawards.com

Julie’s Bicycle Launches UK-wide Better Batteries Campaign

Better Batteries: encouraging the music and theatre industries to recharge and recycle batteries for environmental benefits and cash savings

Julie’s Bicycle launched its new UK-wide Better Batteries campaign (on Tuesday 13^th September) at PLASA 2011. The campaign aims to bring together the music and theatre industries in a drive to switch over to rechargeable battery systems, particularly for portable sound equipment, and increase the rate of recycling for both disposable and rechargeable batteries. Focused on venues and individual productions the campaign is backed by scientific research and case studies from commercial theatre productions which prove the reliability of the technology, environmental benefits and cash savings available.

Broadway theatre productions already using rechargeable batteries have made significant financial savings, after being encouraged to use rechargeable battery systems by a highly successful Broadway Green Alliance campaign. The production of WICKED on Broadway has been using nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) rechargeable batteries since October 2008 and, since then, has made savings of over $4,300 (£2,600) per year, replacing a turnover of 15,808 disposable batteries per year (38 per show) to a tiny 76 rechargeable batteries per year. The West End production of WICKED at the Apollo Victoria Theatre followed suit in June 2011 and this week they will break even on the purchase of their rechargeable battery system, 15 weeks after they began using it. So far they’ve saved purchasing over 2,500 batteries, equivalent to more than £500.

The environmental benefits associated with using rechargeable batteries and recycling after use include less pressure on natural resources, less pollution from the manufacturing process, less waste created and less carbon emissions resulting from transport and distribution, due to a decrease in the quantity of products being manufactured. Research by UNIROSS (2007) has supported this by showing that throughout their life cycle rechargeable batteries have 32 times less impact on the environment than disposable batteries.

Better Batteries also aims to increase battery recycling rates in the UK, in line with government regulation. In 2009 only 10% of batteries were recycled in the UK and in February 2010 regulation was put in place requiring this to increase to 18% in 2011, and 45% by 2016. Recycling batteries is crucial to reuse finite natural resources and prevent the release of harmful chemicals such as lead, mercury or cadmium.

Organisations, companies and individuals can sign up to Better Batteries via the campaign website, where information and advice to assist them switch to recharging and recycling their batteries is freely available:

www.BetterBatteries.info

Go Europe announces green panels at Eurosonic 2012

Green Operations Europe, the independent, pan-European cross music industry initiative to inspire greener and smarter businesses will be hosting three green panels at Eurosonic Noorderslag 2012 , and with one panel on each day of the conference and the topics covered will include energy efficiency, mobility management and communicating green issues.

You can find out more about the Eurosonic  Noorderslag 2012 conference (11^th – 14^th January 2012) and European new talent showcase at   http://conference.eurosonic-noorderslag.nl/en/home/

ANOTHER PLANET?

Julie Davenport, CEO and founder of Good Energy, has said it is the first renewable energy supplier in the UK to source a third of its power from solar. The company has previously only generated 1% of its power from solar with its primary focus on wind power and whilst its fuel mix is still led by wind at more than half of its overall power source (54%), solar has not jumped to a third of the energy (33%), with the rest made up of sustainable bio-generation (8%) and the rest from small-scale hydro (5%).

Scientists in the US have warned Nasa that the amount of so-called space junk orbiting Earth is at tipping point. A report by the National Research Council says the debris could cause fatal leaks in spaceships or destroy valuable satellites. It calls for international regulations to limit the junk and more research into the possible use of launching large magnetic nets or giant umbrellas. The debris includes clouds of minuscule fragments, old boosters and satellites.

London Mayor Boris Johnson has announced a £100 million scheme to promote energy efficiency in public buildings such as schools, hospitals and libraries who will  be able to apply for flexible finance to pay for energy saving measures such as efficient lighting systems, ventilation and boiler upgrades, smart meters and solar panels.

Brits waste £1 BILLION a year by not insulating their homes. Wow! And a third of the public cant even be bothered to recycle – even though 95% of people think recycling is important, according to new research.  A poll of 2,000 people by packing manufacturer Tetra Pak revealed that 40% of respondents don’t recycle everyday, with more than half of respondents sometimes binning recyclable waste.  It found common reasons for not recycling included being in a rush or running late (34%), while 32% admitted that sometimes they can’t be bothered.  The UK will face crippling EU fines and landfill taxes if it doesn’t improve its waste management and reduce waste going to landfill. And those taxes an fines won’t be going away – a European-wide landfill ban could cut 78 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, according to a new report from the European Environment Agency.

Many in the recycling business say that Defra needs to implement a mandatory code of practice for materials recycling facilities (MRFs) to ensure a level playing field and to protect responsible operators who could be put at competitive risk by those that refuse to sign up to a voluntary code.

Electronics giant Sony has revealed a range of low carbon and waste cutting technology at a IFA trade show in Berlin. The Japanese firm showcased its low energy television made from recycled plastics (the Bravia 22EX310) and the new energy efficient Sony BDP-S185 blu-ray disc player. The recycling material used in the new TV is made from 99% used DVDs and TV optical sheets giving it the ‘highest proportion’ of recycled material of any plastic in the world, according to Sony. The new blu-ray disc player uses “47% less power” than the company’s older models, and is about a third narrower than similar products therefore cutting shipping related carbon emissions by 40%.

Arctic sea ice is melting at the fastest rate for 40 years and the speed of change is twice as fast as it was in 1972 when the firsts atellite recordings weere taken – and if the trend continues the Polar region could be unfrozen in just 30 years time.  Floating Artic ice melts and re-freezes annually but scientists are alarmed at the increase in melt – and the loss of reflectiveness – as ice reflects more solar energy than water, as the ice melts there is a vicious circle of increased warming and ice volumes are now ‘plunging” with one scientist saying “the stunning loss of Artic sea ice is yet another wake up call that climate change is here now and is having devastating effects”.

Andy Pag rescued a bus from a scrap heap, restored in Dorset, completed a round-the-world journey – powered by waste vegetable oil – AND picked up a new partner on the way! Pag, 36, of Croydon, London, began his journey in September 2009 in the 22 year old salvaged schoool bus  he restored in Fontmell Magna, Dorset using reclaimed materials. The bus travelled 30,000km (18,600 miles) and passed through 25 countries before returning to the UK with Pag and US journalist Christina Ammon, also 36, from Oregon in the US, who Pag met Indonesia after she contacted him in Nepal when she interviewed him. In 2007 Mr Pag drove a chocolate powered lorry to Timbuktu, using biodiesel made
from factory-waste cocoa butter.

GREEN EVENTS EUROPE

The 2nd GreenEvents Europe Conference is taking place in Bonn on Nov 2nd and 3rd 2011. After a successful premier in 2010 we are looking forward to welcome international guests, exclusive speakers and experts in the field of “sustainable and environmentally firendly events” at the Wissenschaftszentrum in Bonn. Speakers include Jacob Bilabel (Green Music Initiative), Ben Challis (A Greener Festival/ Glastonbury Festival), Marie A. Rogvi (Roskilde Festival), Niklas Lundell (Way Out West) or Franz-August Emde (Bundesamt für Naturschutz) andFrank Klingenstein (freelancing expert at BMU). GreenEvents Europe offers top level input – without losing touch to the practical use. Excursions to interesting institutions related to the recycling and energy economy will organised for delegates at the conference - more details and the conference prgramme here http://www.green-events-germany.eu

REGISTRATION: ONLINE   

http://www.green-events-germany.eu/Registration.greenevents.0.html?&L=1

Registration fee is 200 € plus VAT for the conferece with discounts for GO Europe participants and YOUROPE members

Plus you can find special ACCOMODATION offers and information on the Event RAIL Ticket of DB (German rail, with 1st class travel for 99€ from all over Germany) online

Hotel: http://www.green-events-germany.eu/Hotel_Travel.16.0.html?&L=1

Bahn: http://www.green-events-germany.eu/DB_Offer_Rail.18.0.html?&L=1

Confirmed Speakers: (alphabethical order, more tbc)

Arne Cierjacks (Eco Controlling, GER, Host)
Artur Mendes (Boom Festival, POR, Speaker) 
Ben Challis (A Greener Festival, UK, Speaker)
Carlijn Lindemulder (ID&T, NED, Speaker)

Frank Klingenstein (freelancing expert and BMU, GER, Lecturer)

Franz-August Emde (German Federal Agency For Nature Conservation, GER, Speaker)

Friederike Behr (Eco Controlling, GER, host)
Holger Jan Schmidt (GreenEvents, GER, Host)
Ina Kahle (FKP Scorpio, Hurricane Festival et al., GER, Speaker)
Jacob Bilabel (Green Music Initiative, GER, Host)

Lucile Barras (Green Music Initiative, Host)

Marie A. Rogvi (Roskilde Festival, DK, Speaker)

Martin Hellmann (CO2OL, GER, host)
Michael Schmidt (Solarworld, GER, speaker) 
Micke Lindquist (Sustainableevent & Hultsfred Festival et al., SWE, Speaker)
Niklas Lundell (Way Out West, SWE, Speaker)
Sabine Funk (Sounds For Nature & GreenEvents, GER, speaker)
Teresa Moore (Bucks University, UK, Host)

Stop the dolphin slaughter

Is it OK to kill dolphins and pilot whales because the International Whaling Commission  says they are “small” cetaceans and so not protected by whaling bans? NO!!!!!!

Here’s some photos of the protest organised  by London Against Cetacean Slaughter  outside the Japanese Embassy on the 1^st September as part of a global demonstration which saw co-ordinated events in other European cities and in New Zealand, Australia and the US as part of a movement that recognises that more needs to be done to protect our oceans and marine life.

Ric O’Barry’s seminal documentary “The Cove” brought the yearly dolphin capture and slaughter in Taiji, Japan to a wider and horrified audience – but the slaughter it still continues. On the 1st September the new season started in Japan. The capture and slaughter in Taiji is particularly brutal with painful lingering deaths from spiking for the 20,000 dolphins who are not “lucky” enough to be selected as specimens to be sold to dolphinariums round the World. The saying “dolphins are dying to entertain you” is sadly true. The slaughtered dolphins enter the food chain as “whale meat”. Campaigners are also highlighting the slaughter of pilot whales in the North Sea by Faroe Island whalers in what they call “the Grind”

Taiji - the bloody cover

Dolphins and whales are apex predators and are a critical part of the ecosystem, which in many parts of the world are now showing signs of serious environmental damage and a number of species are listed as endangered and  we need to ensure that these barbaric practices are stopped as we seek to establish a more sustainable marine ecosystems and protect the oceans.

www.thecovemovie.com
www.savejapandolphins.org
www.facebook.com/pages/London-against-cetacean-slaughter

This blog from an article sent to us by Paul R. Photos: London Against Cetacean Slaughter and SaveJapanDolphins.org.

Japanese Embassy, London, 1st September 2011

Sustainable water management

Stew Denny has just written a great new article  for us titled “Sustainable water management for music festivals – The Basics” and this up on the Information pages at www.agreenerfestival.com (under water – obviously!). The pages come from Stew’s final year dissertation at Bucks New University and for those of you who want some handy tips, this is what Stew advises:

- Plan your water use! Its an important part of planning for outdoor events.

- Categorise your water – is it clear, blue, grey or black water? You need to know.

- Make sure you know what the law says – and always respect public health and safety

- Know your event, know your audience and get a weather forecast – hot weather means increased demand!

- Make sure your environmental policy and sustainability aims are known to everyone involved in the event – and let the audience know too!

 - Dont use twist taps which can be left running – used closed taps (taps you have to push down) or other water saving taps and devices such as nipples for hand washing.

- Check for leaks and have constant water pressure on-site.

- Avoid bottled water! Giving out one free bottle of water on entry and having water available on site is far far better.

- Hand santisers can save on water use – but make sure the soap is biodegradable and non-polluting

- If you have showers, fit 2 minute timers. Its a festival, not a spa break - this cuts down queues too!

- Flushing loos are wasteful – but grey water can be used (but take expert advice on this).

- Compost toilets are usually GREAT and have a usable end product.

- Manage grey water – but beware of legislation and the limits on uses.

- Can you harvest and treat rainwater? You then get blue water – its a higher grade than grey water, has more uses and is more environmentally friendly.

See more at http://www.agreenerfestival.com/blog/?p=2692 and on the Information pages here http://www.agreenerfestival.com/water.html

ANOTHER PLANET

Every household in Britain paid out an estimated £120 on utility bills as a result of the rather useless European carbon trading initiative  (the Times has found) and energy companies such as Scottish Power, EDF Energy and Centrica, the owner of British Gas, have pocketed about £9 billion in free windfall profits by manipulating the carbon trading scheme. The European Union emissions scheme — the world’s first carbon-trading initiative – requires heavy polluters, such as factories and coal power plants, to hold permits for each tonne of carbon they emit but it always seemed a deeply flawed scheme, drawn up by bureaucrats against mixed messages of policies. The extra costs have come when energy prices are at a record high, but, according to the climate change group Sandbag, the total carbon emissions saved by the scheme are roughly equivalent to every person in Europe replacing two old incandescent lightbulbs with energy-efficient alternatives, costing about £3 each.

A wind farm developer’s plan for a unique apprenticeship scheme have moved a step closer after Fife council gave an initial thumbs up to a development.  In what it claims is a UK first a collaboration between Adam Smith College and Carbon Free Earlseat the business will create six renewable energy apprenticeships each year.  The new was announced after officials at Fife Council recommended approval for Carbon Free’s plans for nine turbines generating more than 20MW of power.

The Uk government’s planning minister, Greg Clark, has agreed to meet environmental and countryside groups who are horrified about planned reforms to planning laws which would remove environmental controls to allow for more development – or ‘economic growth at any cost’. Groups such as the National Trust , RSPB and the Campaign to Protect Rural England  have been vocal in opposing government plans. Clark says he will discuss details with the groups but will not make any ‘U-turns’.

Britain’s increasingly weird weather (2011 – hot fine spring, wet summer, early autumn) in making it increasingly hard for meteorologists to predict what will be happening weather wise.

Scientific journals are being urged to take greater care in accepting articles on climate change and meteorology after accusations that some academics and scientists who deny climate change are bypassing the acedemic peer review system and chosing less specialist ‘off-topic’ magazine to ensure publication.

Cycling adds almost £3bn to the UK economy as well as cutting emissions and pollution, according to a new report from the London School of Economics (LSE) which says that almost a quarter of the British population are now cyclists and the industry is experiencing a huge boom. LSE’s academic Dr Alexander Grous says cycling is worth a staggering £2.9bn after he calculated a ‘gross cycling product’ by taking into account factors including bicycle manufacturing, cycle and accessory retail and cycle related employment. The research claims 208
million cycle journeys were made in 2010 meaning there were 1.3M more cyclists bringing the total UK cycle population to 13M.

EDF Energy is working with ParalympicsGB to provide a new standard for sustainability in the London 2012 Paralympic pre-games training camp taking place this month. The training camp for athletes will be taking place until 28 August at the University of Bath, to mark the ‘one-year-to-go’ for the Paralympic Games which start on 29 August 2012.  As a sustainability partner of London 2012, EDF used last year’s training event to create a pilot to create more sustainable training camps. The information collected is now being used by the Council for Responsible Sport (CRS) to create a new sustainability accreditation for sporting events.

Edie.net reports that  SITA UK has hooked up one of its landfill sites near Heathrow Airport to the SITA could potentially generate around 55MWh of electricity every week at the HollowayLane site from landfill gas to power local homes and businesses.  The project is the latest development by SITA’s energy recovery division, which was set up last year to manage the company’s current energy recovery operations, power production, landfill gas operations and energy related technologies.

PUMA and parent company PPR Group has announced the results of the economic valuation of its environmental impact through its operations. It puts the value of the impact of water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions alone at Euro 94.4 million.  The results revealed that the largest impacts come from the production of raw materials such as cotton and leather.  The company valued the impact of greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption involved in this part of the supply chain at Euro 41.4 million.  The valuation comes as part of the company’s new method of analysing and auditing its environmental impact throughout its core business and supply chain operations.

Half of all adults in Great Britain clearly understand messages about recycling their waste, but are confused and ill informed when it comes to lowering their energy use. An Ipsos MORI survey, conducted for INCPEN, found that when asked to choose up to three options from a list of things that people can do to help improve the environment, over half (52%) chose ‘recycle bottles, cans, paper and other materials’, the highest number of responses. By contrast, just 15% of respondents chose ‘turn down the home heating’ and only 22% chose ‘make fewer car journeys’ and ‘use public transport’. Men were also significantly more likely (18%) than women (13%) to choose ‘turn down home heating’.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage restaurants have been rated the most sustainable in the UK, thanks in part to its waste reduction initiatives. The River Cottage chain was awarded the accolade by the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA), with waste management scoring top marks on its star rating system. The chain now recycles all its waste including food and waste oil, which is turned into biofuel which is then used by the local community college. Food preparation waste is turned into compost that is then used to grow vegetables and customers are offered ‘doggy’ bags to take home unfinished food to further limit waste.

Orbiting solar energy plants could be providing energy for homes within 10 years  Scientists plant to put satellites covered with solar panels into orbit where energy can be captured five times more efficiently than on the ground and for 24 hours a day. Energy is sent back to earth as laser or microwave beams.  But Space Based Solar Power still faces a
number of hurdles, not least the cost of the proposals.  And a Swedish firm, Minesto, has developed a new type of marine power based on an underwater kite that drives a marine turbine – harnessing the sea’s tidal power. Minesto has raised E4 million from private investors and E1 million from Governments to develop the project.

Barclays claims a third of the UK’s estimated 200,000 farmers (37%) will invest in renewable energy as it launches a new £100M fund to bankroll potential projects.  The funding, which has been planned with support from organisations including the influential National Farmers Union (NFU), is aimed at helping farmers install all renewable technologies with Barclays including projected feed-in-tariffs (FITs) when assessing each loan

Edie.net reports that scientists have made a breakthrough by finding a bacterial strain which can produce butanol from old paper – opening the way for a new energy source from waste. The team from Tulane University in New Orleans, in the US, have the dubbed the bacteria ‘TU-103′ and have been testing it using old copies of a local paper from the city. 

Photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing is worth almost $2bn to the US solar industry and accounts for 99% of exports, according to new figures.  Both China and Germany were the biggest importers on American sourced PV components with the US to China market worth more than $240M alone, according to the figures which are for 2010. 

Questions have been raised In Scotland over whether companies are doing enough in relation to their producer responsibility obligations. The report says that producers of packaging, electronic equipment and vehicles could play a more effective role in the responsible management of these items at the end of their lifecycle.  The Scottish Government is now exploring the feasibility of setting Scotland-specific packaging recovery targets to drive up recycling rates on a local level, as well as introducing deposit return schemes for drinks packaging. 

Edie.net reports that the quality of waste legislation has been called into question as new research indicates certain policies are too complex, making them difficult to access, understand and apply.  The report, published jointly by the UK Environmental Law Association and King’s College London, has found that there is a perceived lack of understanding in practice about key legislative concepts.  These include the definition of waste and what constitutes ‘equivalent’ amounts of electronic waste under the WEEE regulations. Differences in policy approaches between England and Wales are also causing problems in waste regulation, such as cross-border market barriers.  

Wastewater recycling produces more greenhouse gases than traditional water treatment processes but is still worth continuing, research has concluded. The study found wastewater recycling plants emit around three times more nitrous oxide than traditional water treatments because of the high levels of denitrifying bacteria present. Despite the production of nitrous oxide, the report concluded that wastewater recycling is still a good idea and proposed that recycled wastewater should be used to supplement drinking water supplies. 

A coffin, a sailing boat, and giant polystyrene snowman are just some of the wacky items people have dropped off at Surrey County Council’s community recycling centres. Other notable items included two van loads of stamps, a grand piano, a caravan and diving equipment including an oxygen tank, wetsuit and fins. The news comes as the council announced it had reached a 50% household waste recycling rate for the county – with the aim of 70% by 2014

Free Morgan

So, when you are the Dutch Government and you take in an injured Orca whale AND you should be subject to laws that say animals should be returned to the wild, why do you then listen to a selected group of ‘experts’ who think that actually it would be in the whale’s best interest to keep her in captivity and send her to a marine attraction in Loro Parque in Tenerife? Especially when lots of other experts disagree.

Morgan is a lone female orca discovered off the northwestern coast of the Netherlands, in June 2010.  The Netherlands Government issued a permit for Morgan to be captured and temporarily transferred for rehabilitation to the Dolfinarium Harderwijk, who have looked after her. Currently the Dolfinaruim Harderwijk has said that that they wish to ship Morgan to captive marine mammal facility as Morgan is not a suitable candidate for release into the wild. She has (allegedly) got too used to humans and captivity! Errrm, she WAS in the wild!

The Free Morgan Group, composed of independent international marine experts, have come to logger-heads over what will happen to Morgan. The Group includes Orcalab, Orca Network, Orca Research Trust, Centre for Whale Research and Project SeaWolf as well as conservation and animal welfare groups including the Cetacean Society International, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society and the International Marine Mammal Project of Earth. They have their own very detailed plan of how Morgan could be returned to the wild to ensure her best chance of survival – and freedom – and have now hired a Dutch lawyer to ask the Dutch Government to block the Dolfinarium’s plans and take a look at the reports they have collected from over 40 leading scientists and marine experts who say Morgan could be returned to the wild in time. More at Orca Coalitie http://www.orcacoalition.org/  .

Could it be that this is all actually about business and that Orcas are black and white gold for aquariums and marine entertainment facilities?  These attractions need whales and dolphins and they need breeding stock. Its easy to use ‘education’ and ‘scientific research as a basis for capturing orcas and dolphins but the fact is these are intelligent, social and free roaming animals who live in the wild. Not tanks. If the captive industry establishes the precedent of “rescuing” an orca, and then claiming that she cannot be returned to the wild, the real risk is that there will be many more captures of “sick” cetaceans. On the 3rd August, A judge in the Netherlands temporarily suspended the CITES export license previously issued by the Dutch government, questioned the commercial nature of the Dolpinariums decision, and instructed the Dutch Ministry to fully review the options. The judge also asked for Morgan to be moved to a bigger tank. Subsequently the Dutch minister visited the dolfinarium and also met with member of the Free Morgan group. A further court hearing is scheduled for the 9th September.

So today the Dolfinarium Harderwijk and the Dutch government have a clear choice. They can either “set an ugly precedent by using rehabilitation as an excuse to imprison a free orca, or they can be environmental heroes by saving both Morgan’s life and her freedom. The choice is clear”.

Please let both the government of the Netherlands and the Dolfinarium know that you want Morgan to be set free. You can write to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation and the Dolfinarium to demand Morgan’s release at:

Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation
Attn.: Minister Henk Bleker and Dienst Regelingen, Mr R.C.W. Aigner
Postbus 20401
2500 CM   The Hague
The Netherlands

Or send a fax (faster, given the urgency!) to +31.70.3786127

Photo of Morgan in her tank from http://theorcaproject.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/morgan-in-her-pool6.jpg

And more at http://www.freemorgan.com/why-morgan-should-be-free and here at http://www.wdcs.org/news.php?select=1008 and a rather sad video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Am6pZAannM

Firefly Solar News

Firefly Solar have been commissioned by British Gas to design and build a unique solar powered promotional unit from a re-used shipping container. The Solar Space is a stand-alone power system which demonstrates the set up and capabilities of grid connected solar installations for the home. The Solar Space, designed to create conversations about low carbon initiatives, will feature as part of a series of brand experience events, aimed at communicating and showcasing the possibilities and uses of solar power in the domestic environment. British Gas representatives will be on hand at the Solar Space to promote and communicate a range of low carbon, energy efficient services offered by British Gas.

Pyxis Products Now Available: Firefly have also announced that Pyxis products are now available – Pyxis is an ultra-compact, lightweight portable solar generator which is easily lifted and movable by hand, requiring one person only. This makes Pyxis one of the most adaptable and practical options of generator within the Firefly range. As with all Firefly Solar generators, Pyxis is silent-running and emission free. Pyxis is available for both hire and purchase, offering an accessible and presentable green power solution for your event or business through the use of cutting edge technology. Pyxis Solar Generators, available in either 0.5kVA or 0.275kVA power output options, offer a clean, green, sustainable energy solution. Pyxis is housed in a robust and durable case, with easy lift handles. A stackable additional battery storage box is also available, enabling the generator to run for extended periods of time. Pyxis Portable Solar Generators offer:

• Temporary Stand Alone Power for small events, exhibitions and market stalls
• Silent running and emission-free source of power
• Permanent Stand Alone Power for rural locations
• Recharge available via Firefly’s Kinectrics and FoldArray ranges along with wind turbine.  For further technical information and prices, please visit:www.fireflysolar.co.uk/products/solar/pyxis/0.5kva  or
www.fireflysolar.co.uk/products/solar/pyxis/0.275kva

Firefly Solar now offer a range of packaged grid-tie installations, from 0.5KWp right up to 4Kwp – the maximum for domestic single phase installations. Each system can be installed in a matter of days and is fully guaranteed for a minimum of 5 years. Firefly are able to install grid tie systems that will lower your carbon footprint and present a clear return on financial investments. Under the British Government’s “Feed-in Tariff Scheme” (FITs) for micro generation, it is now possible to generate a healthy income by installing solar PV modules on your roof. Firefly have created three, grid connected kits for domestic solar powered grid tie solutions, using the best quality components from trusted manufacturers. All of these kits can be installed by the Firefly installation team in less than 3 days. Your system will then be tested and commissioned so that you can enjoy the benefits of free electricity alongside a healthy return on your investment. For more information on solar installations for the home and how the feed in tariff works, click www.fireflysolar.co.uk/services/on-grid . Alternatively please contact us on 01273 617006 and our team will be happy to offer advice, quotes and further information on how a domestic solar install could work for you.

The Kinectrics Playground is a fun and exciting new range of equipment which converts kinetic energy into electricity. As well as incorporating the PedGen pedal power generators the playground also includes three new innovative designs in people powered technology; the TeedleGen seesaw, WhirlyGen roundabout and HamGen, a human size hamster wheel. These products offer an engaging and interactive way of generating electricity which is both educational and entertaining. Using the Firefly YouWatt meter participants and onlookers are able to observe on screen their own movements being transformed into electricity which can be used to charge low voltage equipment such as phones and cameras or to charge battery banks. The Kinectrics Playground makes its debut this weekend at Electric Picnic Festival, Ireland.
Find out more about Firefly’s range of Kinectrics equipment at: http://www.fireflysolar.co.uk/products/kinectrics

Busy Busy at Germany’s Green Music Initiative

Our friends at the Green Music Initiative in Germany have had a busy summer and sent us an update of what they have been up to – and some future plans – and we thought we could share this with you.

First of all GMI hosted a special dinner a the Melt! Festival and you can see two short videos about a greener Melt! and the green Melt! dinner here  http://www.greenmusicinitiative.de/2011/08/klimaschutz-auf-dem-melt-festival/ and here http://www.greenmusicinitiative.de/2011/07/highlightfilm-green-melt-dinner-2011/

GMI have also been interviewing artists at festivals which as they say can “can lead to funny answers (Even more when you ask about Climate Change…)” and you can catch up with Harry McVeigh (White Lies) | JD Samson (Men, Le Tigre) | Monarchy | Nicolas Jaar | Architecture in Helsinki | FM Belfast | Gary Barber (Is Tropical) | Junip (José González) | Retro Stefson | Everything Everything | Little Dragon | Miss Kittin | We Have Band | Âme | Bodi Bill | King Kong Kicks | M.A.N.D.Y. | Alec Empire | Apparat Band | Housemeister | Kiki here http://www.greenmusicinitiative.de/2011/08/melt-artist-interviews-2011/

Don’t forget the Berlin Music Week: From September 7th to 11th Berlin Music Week will take place again with Popkomm Business Fair, Alltogether Now conference, Berlin Festival, XBerg Club, What’s Up Mitte, Kulturbrauerei, New Music Awards and many more events to move and groove lovely Berlin – and GMI are an official partner for the Berkin Music Week  http://www.berlin-music-week.de/en/home

And finally GMI will be involved again with Green Events Europe which will take place in Bonn on November 2nd and 3rd 2011 hosted by our friends from the RhineKultur festival. And A Greener Festival will be there too! More at http://www.green-events-germany.eu/ (German)  and http://www.green-events-germany.eu/index.php?&L=1 (English)

Gibson faces ebony investigation in US

Guitar maker Gibson is the target of a federal investigation in the United States of America over allegations that endangered tropical hardwoods have been used to make guitars. The company strongly denies the claims. The authorities say they may charge Gibson with illegally importing ebony from India but Gibson’s Chief executive, Henry Juskiewicz, said “we will fight aggressively to prove our innocence”.  In 2009 guitars and pallets of wood were seized at Gibson according to the Times newpaper.

Another guitar maker, C F Martin and Sons have described the difficulty in getting musicians to switch to instruments mad from sustainable materials.  Numerous countries have laws that prevent the use of endangered plants and timber.

New book on green events launches

A new textbook covering the exciting new world of sustainable meetings, conferences, exhibitions, festivals and events has been written by Sam Goldblatt and features interviews with over 50 industry leaders around the world in order to put together a global perspective on sustainable practices for the events and entertainment industries. And not only does The Complete Guide to Greener Meetings and Events feature over 30 fabulous full-colour photos, it is printed with ink containing soy content on paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and is bound with 85% pre-consumer recycled fibre! You can buy the book here http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Greener-Meetings-Events-Management/dp/0470640103 and find out more at http://greenerevents.wordpress.com/ and on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greener-Meetings-and-Events/139448716124158

A LOT MEANT TO HAPPEN!

Beans to the left, rhubarb to the right!

Two years ago I was allocated one tenth of a field just outside the town where I live which was overgrown with weeds, waterlogged (at the time – there had been floods!) and a complete mess. A local environmental  group were really instrumental in getting the Town Council to find more space for allotments (as there was a long long waiting list for the only available  ite) and they succeeded. So in October 2009 a field was found and rented and after a winter spent clearing the field, ploughing (thanks to a very kind farmer), laying drains, rotavating, digging and taking out vast quantities of rocks and rubbish (the field was rocky anyway and used to dump waste material from the nearby bypass) it’s amazing what a lot of hard work, wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow full of horse manure, home made compost and quite a lot of rain can achieve! 2010 was a planting year really – spuds to break up the soil and putting in plants things like raspberry bushes, strawberry plants and rhubarb. And lots of weeding.  Lots and lots of weeding. And just a few things to nibble on!

But now it Is all paying off and my allotment is now (in its second year) finally providing more than enough vegetables and fruits – and as ever – its give away time! I don’t use any pesticides or weedkillers and try and I grow everything organically – and here’s a tip – its amazing what you can find on Freecycle – the old scaffolding plants for my raised beds, a roll of chicken wire for my compost bins and a vanfull of sand to improve the soli were all free! And my builder friend Darren (guitarist with The Grip) helped me go skip raiding (with permission!) for old wooden flagstone crates which make perfect compost bins (and suggested the pun for the headline here)! He gets paid in veggies for his voluntary work!

And now its just great to have home grown courgettes, cabbages, lettuces, rhubarb, potatoes and runner beans all available fresh daily –  along with the last of the peas and  broad
beans where the crop is just ending now. Still to go – onions, celery, chard, pumpkins and more cabbages and NEXT year some lovely looking asparagus, which sadly I can’t touch this year as I need to wait whilst the root system strengthens. Also on the menu –  if you leave courgettes for too long they basically turn into marrows! Now sadly gone (and eaten!) are the strawberries and gooseberries, with just a few rasberries left now this year – but with newly planted blackberry bushes looking like they will be productive too! I even put in some sunflowers I was given (thanks Jo!) which are now enormous and buzzing with bumble bees.

Its been amazing to see the transformation of a field into allotment gardens – and not without problems I have to admit – but now its great to reap the harvest!

ANOTHER PLANET

Important wildlife habitats for seabirds such as puffins  and razorbills will be put at risk if oil drilling is allowed of the UK coast according to the RSPB.  The RSPB is concerned that the latest round of oil and gas exploration could lead to drilling just a few miles of the UK’s coast.

IKEA, the world’s largest furniture retailer, has installed 39,000 solar panels on the rooftops of its UK stores as part of its goal to derive all of its energy from renewable sources.  While  the Swedish retailer has not set a deadline for using 100% renewable energy, it could reach 80% of its target by 2015.

Military land across the United States is to be opened up for private investors to install renewable energy infrastructure.  The US army said it would be seeking private investors to back ‘large scale’ renewable energy projects on its land to increase energy security, save money, generate revenues, meet federal targets and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Durham University Solar Car students will be setting off on a sun-powered adventure this autumn when they take part in the World Solar Challenge. Using nothing but solar power, the DUSC team will travel 1,864 miles (3,000km) from Darwin in the north of Australia to Adelaide in the south.

Edie.net reports that whilst algae may be a good future source of energy. the environmental issues it causes could mean it’ll never be used on a large scale. New research from the New University of Virginia in the US found that algae-based fuels could produce ‘high’ energy outputs with minimal land  use, but their production could also come with ‘significant environmental burdens’.

The UK’s Environment Agency has cut its carbon emissions by almost a fifth since 2006-7, including reducing its office waste by 18% and sending 66% less to landfill.  New figures in
the agency’s first internal environment management update show that during the past five years, the organisation has also reduced its mileage by 33%, clamped down on building energy consumption by 15% and reduced mains water use by 18%. The agency measures its environmental performance in five key areas, with ambitious 2015 targets set for each. One of these is to reduce CO2 emissions by 33% by 2015 from 2006-7 levels.

News comes to us from Sam Goldblatt that his new book,  The Complete Guide to Greener Meetings and Events will be available in print this September. You can find out more here on his blog: http://greenerevents.wordpress.com/ and on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greener-Meetings-and-Events/139448716124158

US based Sustainable Waves and Kleege Industries have partnered to build the largest solar powered hybrid stage in the USA. The stage is a Stageline SL250 integrating a 4.83-ilowatt (4830 watts) solar array, which supplies sunlight to (2) 800 amp batteries totaling 1600 amps of storage. The array powers (4) Outback Systems Inverters pumping 120 amps of power at 120 Volts. The stage also houses a 10 KW bio-diesel generator equipped with an auto start feature making this stage 100% self-contained.  www.sustainablewaves.com

Five dead in Pukklepop tragedy

At least five people have died and many more injured at the 60,000 capacity Pukklepop Festival in Belgium after a storm swept through the popular open-air music festival in the town of Hasselt, 50 miles east of Brussels. The storm hit the site in the late afternoon on Thursday 18th August. Concertgoers described scenes of panic as the sky darkened, the winds whipped, rain poured, hailstones nearly half an inch across pelted the crowds, and concert structures buckled. The worst affected area was the Chateau Stage which collapsed as the Smith Westerns began their set.  Lead singer Cullen Omori  told Pitchfork: “We had just finished the first song of our set at Pukkelpop when the stage/tent started shaking. We simply thought it was a storm passing through. I made a comment about Cheap Trick, and we were about to play the next one, when our tour manager yelled at me to run off the stage. Right then the tress collapsed one foot in front of Max. At this point we thought only the stage broke, not the tent. Amid the chaos it was hard to tell exactly what had happened, but after the rescue teams started coming in it became clear that there were severe injuries and we are now being told there are reports of multiple deaths. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families who lost loved ones in today’s tragedy”.

Hugo Simons, Hasselt’s head of emergency medical planning, told VRT radio that three people had died, 11 had been severely injured and 60 had sustained light injuries as a result of the storm and the numbers have since moved upwards. Ambulances ferried the seriously injured to nearby hospitals. Some of those lightly injured were being treated at a local sports complex. More than 20 ambulances were dispatched to the festival ground. Dutch NOS television reporter Rick Hoogkamp, who was attending the concert Thursday, said several tents collapsed. An AP reporter saw concession stands blown down and a large food tent spread across the ground. Initially only the remainder of Thursday’s shows, including Foo Fighters’ headline performance, were cancelled, but as the death toll rose and the extent of the damage became clearer, organisers decided to call off the whole event and Chokri Mahassine, the organiser of the festival who is a MEP initially said, “We have for now put the festival on hold until we understand the situation completely” Then confirmed the event’s cancellation saying “Pukkelpop is in deep mourning. We truly sympathise with the families and friends of the victims. Words are not enough. We have struggled with the [initial] decision to continue the festival. Therefore we have decided to cancel Pukkelpop 2011. What has happened is very exceptional and could not have been predicted. We are deeply moved by all the spontaneous support the festival goers and the organisation have received … We ask everyone to understand that this decision was extremely difficult to make”. The news follows on from the disaster at the Indiana State Fair in the US on Saturday when a storm hit just before country stars Sugarland were due to perform on the event’s Hoosier Lottery Grandstand stage killing five and injuring dozens more, and a stage collapse during a storm whilst Cheap Trick were onstage at the Ottawa Bluesfest in July

Video here http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2011/aug/19/belgium-pukkelpop-festival-stormsand here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14582448

Sunrise Off Grid – turn off, switch on!

ANOTHER PLANET

John Vidal has written a scathing damnation of activities of international oil companies in the Niger Delta in Nigeria in the Observer (07.08.11), naming and shaming Shell for polluting what was once a beautiful and productive environment.  You can read more about the destruction of the Ogoni region in “Deep in the delta, the perfect village that died from a tide of oil pollution”  here  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/06/shell-oil-spills-niger-delta-pollution . News is also breaking that Shell appear to have a leaking oil platform in the North Sea. The Gannet Alpha platform is 112 miles east of Aberdeen. The company did not say how much oil had been spilt.

Torrential rains and floods in North Korea have destroyed at least 4,700 homes in the South Hwanghae province with more than 28,000 people affected according to the Red Cross.

A new film by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, updating British viewers on his Fish Fight against barmy EU fishing policies – and unsustainable overfishing . Its a great campaign and there is a thoughtful article in the Guardian by George Monbiot “EU and fish quotas: who will protect these fish from our feeding frenzy” saying “the EU tells Iceland and the Faroes to stop their fishing frenzy of mackerel, but only because it wants to plunder the stock itself …. more at  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/08/eu-fishing-quotas-feeding-frenzy .

British designers hope to have a fully electric and partly solar powered ferry operational by late 2012. Southampton based BMT Nigel Gee has won the order for the design of a £25M all electric 150 passenger ferry for the Chinese market. 

Edie.net reports that Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium has announced it is the first stadia in the UK to achieve BS 8901.  It comes less than one year after the stadium decided to improve its sustainability credentials in line with the British Standard.  The stadium now boosts a host of environmental features with a palletised pitch system, with rainwater harvesting below the grass beds,  Infra-red controls fitted to the urinals also stop unnecessary flushing, meters monitor energy and water consumption, new LED lighting and light controls as well as alternative methods of water heating mean boilers can be shut down in summer.  The stadium also promotes public transport on event days. 

Abandoned dogs are going to be kept warmer in a more environmental way after a wood pellet heating system was built at their Dogs Trust home in Shropshire. The kennels will have its heating and hot water powered by a wood pellet boiler. Other new improvements include wall insulation, triple glazing, rainwater harvesting and recycling and solar PV panels on the roof. 

Dragons Den businessman Peter Jones has been criticized after deeming solar energy ‘unaffordable’ on the popular BBC programme. All the other Dragons were impressed and Ploughcroft Solar secured an investment of £100,000 for a 25% equity share in the business from two Dragons, Deborah Meaden and Theo Paphitis

Extra support is being offered to local authorities in Wales by the Welsh Assembly to help them meet ambitious waste and recycling targets. Wales has statutory targets for municipal recycling. The first target is 52% in 2012-13, increasing to 58% by 2015-16, 64% by 2019-20 and 70% by 2019-20. 

Amrik Johal, 53, of Slough has been ordered to ordered to repay more than £800,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act (2002) and given a two year community sentence after pleading guilty to five charges of causing controlled waste to be kept contrary to Section 33 of the Environment Protection Act 1990 for running the illegal waste dump on his land at Colnbrook Bypass, Colnbrook, Slough. 

Organic Recycling has announced it is planning develop a ‘super waste’ site in Crowland, Lincolnshire, with the capability to treat over 100 different types of waste. The facilities will include anaerobic digestion (AD) plant and biomass boiler, an in-vessel composting facility, a dry recycling transfer station, a water treatment plant, with further concrete areas for windrow composting and a dry recycling facility. 

Plastic bottles left on the London Underground are going to be reprocessed back into food packaging in a recycling drive. Brewer Corrs Moslon have said that they will target  waste and carbon emissions from their four UK plants, hoping to divert all production waste from landfill by 2012.

New Research from LG Refrigeration shows that more than half of UK households chuck away at least 10% of the food they buy – and 20% of us waste more than 25%.  Turn these percentages into cash and you get five billion pounds heading for the bin. Yes, the UK wastes £5 BILLION in food every year. The most wasteful by region are the Northern Irish (30.75%) while the Welsh are seen as the most careful (wasting just 11.63%). Most of all this wasted food will not be going into council food disposal or composting programmes; the rotting food will be heading for landfill sites – another a cost not included here.

Hummer have  launched a ‘green’ car  - the new electric MEV Hummer HX. However, the car only has 60-100 mile driving range and only seats two,  And it isn’t four wheel drive.  But wth a top speed of 45-50mph, you wont be risking to many speeding fines!

 

Truck money woes, Secret Garden Party security fiasco

Our friends at the Truck Festival are looking for a solution to their money woes after dissapointing sales at this year’s event in Oxfordshire. We have great admiration for the Truck and Wood team here, and their green efforts have been brilliant – and we just hope this fabulous event can survive. You can read more here http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/yourtown/oxford/9179370.Truck_Festival_in_fight_for_survival/. Organiser Robin Bennett said “Things are still a little unclear, but the situation is not looking good. Our revenue has not been adequate to cover the cost of this year’s event and we have been left with a major hole. We are a small family business and we cannot sustain that kind of loss, and are now reaching out to find a method of dealing with it”. Explaining the situation, he added ”We didn’t have enough full-price ticket holders, and bar and food spending, which we hoped would make a contribution to profits, wasn’t high … The market this year is dire. There are just too many festivals”. Truck is urgently looking for investors.

We were sent this link to a fairly apallinging short film by Charlie Veitch about an incident involving some of the security staff at Secret Garden Party on July 24th. Its worth a watch. Whilst we don’t know the background to how the whole incident started, and clearly the footage has been edited, when I mentioned the incident to one of the Greener Festival team who was at SGP, they did say that whilst it was a great event, they themselves had a run in with one female member of the security staff which was highly unpleasant. As this film says – “this footage is both distressing and depressing”.  It is to us, but make your own mind up at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF8MLPDAsUs. We hope the Police, the Security Industry Authority and especially the organisers of SGP take a look too!

If you are interested in what festival fans (well Guardian readers here) think about greener festivals, take a look at this interesting discussion forum on on the Guardian’s website – it meanders a bit and flows here and there - but it is remarkably polite and well expressed for a internet discussion (!) and covers a whole host of issues festival goers and festival organiers face when trying to be ‘green’ -  you can see more here  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/21/music-festivals-glastonbury-green-environment#post-area

Saddle up for Berlin on August 20th

Eavis calls for sky lantern ban

Following on  from the BBC Countryfile investigation into the damage and injury that can be caused to the countryside by Chinese Lanterns, The BBC One show on Tuesday 2^nd August highlighted the ever growing problem with Chinese or ‘sky’ lanterns, the paper lanterns that fly into the night sky when lit. The One Show looked at fire damage to cars from rogue lanterns, the real risk of houses fires – and even personal injury to both adults and children from molten wax.

The Civil Aviation Authority has asked the public  not to use sky lanterns near airports. The Coastguard have had said they have had hundreds of false emergency calls are caused by sky lanterns. The NFU wants a total ban on Sky lanterns, saying they cause damage to farmland, the countryside and to grazing animals and the Chief Fire Officers Association says that there should be a Government review and a ban should be looked  at – saying that safety issues outweigh other considerations. Glastonbury  organiser Michael Eavis has banned sky lanterns  at the Festivals (although they are still snaked in) but Michael says that there is a real risk of tents catching fire – and cattle have already been  fatally injured . Michaels says that they should be banned as they are a “real real menace”

There are safer Sky Orbs with solid fuel cells and flame retardant paper, and following instructions will improve safety, but  in Germany and Australia sky lanterns have been banned and many like Michael Eavis want a total ban, NOW.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0134hbr/The_One_Show_02_08_2011/

ANOTHER PLANET

British household energy use increased by 18% between 1970 and 2009, according to new statistics. Information, revealed by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), show domestic energy consumption increased from 37 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 1970 to 44 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2009.  The statistics, published in the latest chapter of the Social Trends, also show in 2008, 5.6% of all electricity consumption in the UK was from renewable resources. 

A Green event! edie.net had exclusive access a festival aimed at gathering like-minded environmentalists together, The Little Green Gathering, which took place earlier this month. You can read more at http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?src=nl&id=20452

Firefly Solar have recently finished a commission that saw them team up with Timberland on their Earthkeeper power camp tour. Firefly were asked to design the electrical system for the bespoke ‘log rollers’ and also modified a number of the supplied smoothie bikes to include Firefly’s Kinetric PedGen systems. The power generated was stored in Firefly’s Cygnus solar generator for use when required.  The Earthkeeper power camp is an interactive consumer experience that educates people on Timberland’s environmental commitments by offering hot drinks and smoothies that are made using the energy supplied by the log rollers and Kinetrics devices.  Users at Cornbury and more recently at Camp Bestival were either asked to roll the log roller for six minutes or pedal on the modified bikes for the same amount of time in exchange for a cup of tea or a cool fruit smoothie.

And more from Firefly – as result of Firefly’s sustainability consultation Lovebox Festival have been awarded 2* status out of 3 in Julie’s Bicycles Industry Green (IG) certification scheme for their 2010 event.  Lovebox was one of only two major UK festivals to achieve the 2* rating.  The policies Firefly introduced helped the festival to lower its carbon footprint by 38%. This rating was achieved by integrating renewable power sources, encouraging public transport, increasing recycling, reducing waste to landfill and introducing a sustainable procurement policy. Firefly are also providing Coca-Cola Enterprises with 6 of its Cygnus generators to power the company’s Event Recycling programme at outdoor events in Great Britain and France. Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) piloted its Event Recycling programme during 2010 with the objective to motivate festival goers to make recycling a daily habit. The Programme recovered over 18 tonnes of recyclate (PET and cans) and reached an audience in excess of half a million people attending eight festivals during the summer of 2010.

Renewable energy pioneers, Good Energy Group, will provide international clothing retailer SuperGroup with 100% renewable electricity to over 70 of SuperGroup’s UK shops, warehouses and offices.  Under the new contract, SuperGroup – owner of Cult clothing stores and the Superdry brand – will also benefit from GEG equipment and software to facilitate better energy management across the organisation. 

Pub chain  JD Wetherspoons, which runs almost 800 pubs, has increased like for like sales of 2.2% for against the same period last year and working with emissions reductions experts, Carbon Statement, the chain has also managed to reduce its energy costs by an average of 7% per pub – not bad considering  the chain has also began opening at 7am, with sales of coffees and cooked breakfasts filling the tills and adding to energy bills. 

Edie.net reports that the deteriorating quality of plastic collected for recycling is costing local authorities £10M each year, owing to a reduction in the sale value of the material. Leading plastics recycler. ECO Plastics is concerned that local authority spending cuts could further reduce the quality of recycling collections and that, ultimately, councils could face a yearly bill of £20M to landfill the poorest quality materials which cannot be recycled. 

Plastic bag use in the UK is UP! New figures released by WRAP show a total of 6.4 billion single-use bags were used by supermarket customers across the UK in 2010.  Overall plastic bag use increased by 5% compared to 2009 when 6.1 billion bags were used.  

A community group in Skye are now the proud owners of almost 4.5million square metres of forest, after a successful bid to purchase the land from the government.   Sleat Community Trust first announced plans to purchase Tolmore Forest in 2009 following the Forestry Commission’s confirmation that the plot was to be sold and raised £330,000 for the deal.

ØYA will go ahead

After the terrible terrible tragedy in Norway, the organisers of Øya Festival have confirmed that the Oslo event will go ahead.

Festival director Claes Olsen told CMU Daily “The last few days have been heavy and unreal. Our thoughts go out to everyone who has lost someone or in some other way has been affected by the tragedy in the centre of Oslo and at Utøya. We send our condolences and compassion to the people who are struggling right now. These are times for mourning and reflection, and we know that many will now have to use all their time and energy on working through what has happened”. He continued: “In the midst of all this, we find it important that our city and its citizens shall not be broken by what happened this weekend. Organisers of concerts and events in Oslo have jointly agreed that this shall not stop us. The police, the government and the general audience have expressed a strong wish that Oslo resumes some kind of normality as soon as possible. Together with the population of Oslo and visitors from abroad we wish to take our city back”.  Finally, he said: “We hope that our events can help ease the sadness and also be good meeting places in the days and weeks to come. We wish to take Oslo back by once again filling it with the great variety of cultural activities this city is known for and also by spreading a clear message that our population wants to take care of each other”.

The Festival will take place from 9th to the 13th Aug, and headliners include Kanye West, Pulp, Fleet Foxes, The Jayhawks, Janelle Monae, Lykke Li, Aphex Twin, Kvelertak and Warpaint. Oya was a winner of the ‘Outstanding’ Greener Festival Award in 2010, Yourope’s Green n Clean award and was the overall winner for the Greenest Festival in Europe at the 2010 European Festival Awards.  More information on Oya at oyafestivalen.com/pages/eng/.

ANOTHER PLANET

The Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, has made a $50 million gift to the green campaign that aims to eradicate coal fired generators. The donation, to the Sierra Club, promises to transform the ‘Beyond Coal’ campaign. The USA currently relies on dirty and polluting coal for nearly half of its electricity, and the campaign aims to reduce this to 30% by 2020, shutting down the oldest inefficient coal fired power stations and stopping the hugely destructive  practice of mountain top mining.

In 2007 Equador said that it would leave a fifth of its oil reserves untouched for the health of the planet and to protect the stunning Yasuni National Park – a rainforest of extraordinary biodiversity – if the international communuty stumped up $350 billion (half the value pof the oil). Not much has happened and npt much money has bee stumped up! Now the Yasuni-ITT Trust Fund, administerd by thge UN, was opened up for private donations. China and Spain have paid in $100,000 and $1 million respectively and Ital have cancelled $35 million of Equador’s debt – but of the fund doesn’t reach $100m by December, Equador says it will swap to Plan B – and drill for oil.

Amy Winehouse has did aged just 27. The singer songwriter was found dead at her Camden flat by police. Amy, who has long battled alcohol and drugs, had last been seen with her goddaughter Dionne Bromfield at London’s iTunes Festival. Amongst many tributes, Mark Ronson, who produced Winehouse’s epic Back to Black said “she was my musical soulmate and like a sister to me. This is one of the saddest days of my life”.

On a personal note, we must also say goodbye to Willie Robertson. Willie was the ‘Robertson’ in Robertson Taylor, music industry insurance brokers, and the main sponsors of the Greener Festival Award for the last three years. Willie has died after a short battle with cancer aged 67.  He really was a legend in the music industry and a really really decent person. He will be much missed and our condolences to his son Max, who the Greener Festival team work with, his wife Angie, daughters Saran and Sami, and all of his family and friends.

A new report from Eunomia says that the amount of food waste in the UK available to anaerobic digestion (AD) developers and investors represents a “major opportunity” for the sector if it can be captured.  The Report suggests there is 6.5M tonnes a year of food waste which is already source-segregated at a regional level across the municipal, commercial and industrial sectors.  Of the 8M tonnes a year of food waste available across all sectors in the UK, Eunomia’s says that 2.2M is from household sources, 5.2M from commercial outlets and 0.6M from industrial sites

US environmental lobby group, the Environmental Working Group (EWG), has released a study measuring the environmental impact of meat and dairy products, which includes  the pesticides and fertilizer used to grow animal feed all the way through the grazing, animal raising, processing, transportation, cooking and the disposal of unused food.  Lamb is the worst offender, producing the greatest environmental impact and greenhouse gasses. Its production generates 39.3 kg (86.4 lbs) of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) for each kilo eaten.  Beef (the overall worst offender because of the volume of production) had the second-highest emissions, generating 27.1 kilos (59.6 lbs) of(CO2e) per kilo consumed, more than twice the emissions of pork, nearly four times that of chicken and more than 13 times that of vegetable proteins such as beans, lentils and tofu. Meat, eggs and dairy products that are certified organic, humane and/or grass-fed were found generally the least environmentally damaging.  More at http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?src=nl&id=20418

RSA announce Camp Bestival speakers

The RSA have announced three speakers for Camp Bestival  2011 , Rob da Banks fabulous family friendly festival.  Author, ‘freegan’ and  environmental activist Tristram Stuart, writer and communities expert Harry Hemming and Idler founder Tom Hodgkinson will each be speaking – and topics being covered include how to best use our resorces, how to eliminate waste, how to cooperate and work together and how to be more capable and self reliant. Camp Bestival runs from Friday 29th July to  Sunday 31st July at Lulworth Castle in Dorset.

• Friday 29th July, 10.30am Tristram Stuart on Being Less Wasteful
• Saturday 30th July, 10.30am Henry Hemming on Being More Cooperative
• Saturday 31st July, 10.30am Tom Hodgkinson on Being More Capable

More about the RSA at www.thersa.org

More on Camp Bestival at http://www.campbestival.net/

ANOTHER PLANET

Tens of thousands of jobs could be created in the next decade through investment in the UK’s wind and marine energy sectors. According to a new joint report, by RenewableUK and Energy & Utility Skills, up to 115,000 full time jobs could be created but this will require vast investment by both business and Government to create the infrastructure.

Birmingham City Council is to announce this week it has made huge progress on its carbon cutting drive.  The council, in partnership with 33 Birmingham based organizations has exceeded carbon cutting targets.  A full report is due before the council’s Climate Change and Sustainability Cabinet Committee, which is expected to show a cut of 155,059 tonnes of CO2, beating its target of 130,000 tonnes for 2010 to 2011.

Antarctica is the coldest most desolate place on Earth and is buried beneath a two mile thick ice cap – but it used to be a tropical paradise for 100 million years –  and only got cold in fairly recently (well in geological  terms anyway). This is because fifty five million years ago there were 1000 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere – compared to 390 ppm now. Mind you, the 390 ppm  is rapid;y growing (up from 280ppm before the industrial revolution) so we’re warming up again – although this time it’s man made and much much quicker than previous changes..  When the CO2 count gets to 500 ppm, the ice caps will fully melt and we will have a ‘hot, drowned World’.

A redundant tin mine has been brought into the modern era by being transformed into what is claimed to be the UK’s largest ever solar farm.  The farm, which claims to be the first in the south west of England, boasts 5,680 solar panels and is called the Wheal Jane solar farm.  This week the site, covering a 7.2 acre plot in Truro, Cornwall, was connected to the grid in by UK-based solar developer Lightsource Renewable Energy (LRE).  Capable of generating up to 1.4 MW farm, which according to LRE, would make it the biggest in the UK to date.

Carbon budgets are at risk from a plethora of permits in the market, according to energy minister Chris Huhne. New research has revealed an estimated 1.9 billion tonne oversupply by 2020 of carbon permits in European Union Emissions Trading System (ETS).  According to the Sandbag Climate Campaign 77% of installations covered by ETS currently have a surplus of carbon permits.

Sutton United Football Club is going green for the start of the new season by becoming the first football team in the world to measure and reduce its carbon emissions according to a recognised standard.  After being promoted to the Blue Square Bet South League (Conference South) last season, Sutton United is looking to up its game both on and off the pitch by becoming Planet Positive certified. The certification will assess the electricity and gas consumption at the club’s ground.  To kick things off, Sutton United will aim to reduce its impact on the environment through a simple behaviour change plan. Players and staff will be encouraged to adopt greener lifestyles that benefit the environment and the club.

MELT! Festival Ties Up With Q-Cells for a Solar Powered Future

Germany’s Green Music initiative have been busy looking at renewable energies for the music and entertainment industries and now, together with Q-Cells, the Ferropolis site operators and the Melt! Festival in Germany they have launched  Ferro Solar, a photovoltaic system on the roofs of buildings in the famous ‘City of Iron’  which has accumulated enough carbon-neutral solar power to power  the Melt! Festival and to power the Splash Festival. The Green Music Initiative’s aim is to assist in an industry-wide energy transition process with the organizations in the festival and live music industry by developing innovative approaches to power generation and storage.

Q-Cells solar have provided panels on the roofs of Ferropolis site, a previous centre for heavy industry, which in turn provides the MELT! Festival with clean solar electricity. Q-Cells, Ferropolis GmbH, MELT! GmbH and the Green Music Initiative are aiming to create green approaches for the music industry. Q-Cells AG is one of the world’s leading photovoltaic providers and has installed a four-part solar system with a total capacity of 210 kilowatts peak (kWp) on the roofs of the ‘Iron City’ of Ferropolis. Ferropolis GmbH has also set up a new scheme with the Martin-Luther-University Halle / Wittenberg FERROLab to provide new educational opportunities for students interested in environmental sustainability and green power technology.

Thomas Franks, head of marketing at Q-Cells said ” This ground-breaking solar project is of great importance for the region of Central Germany” adding “The solar panels on the roofs of Ferropolis demonstrates our capabilities as a provider of solar solutions. With the  co-operation of the MELT! Festival, and also with the partnership with the current German football champions Borussia Dortmund have brought solar power to a much wider audience.

Thies Schroeder, managing director of Ferropolis GmbH said “The investment underpins the successful transformation of Ferropolis – the symbol of the lignite energy, solar ferro – and provides the festival site with new and renewable energy supply”.

A total of 2,000 Q. SMART thin film solar modules from Q-Cells will produce 189 000 kWh per year. That’s two and a half more energy than a festival in the size of the MELT! consumed. Translated into CO2 emissions, this represents a saving of 166.77 thousand kilograms of CO2 per year and underscores the claim of Ferropolis operating company to make their site sustainable.

The Green Music Initiative serves as a national platform to promote a climate-friendly music and entertainment industry.  During MELT! (14^th to 17^thJuly) the Festival and the GMI hosted a special ”Green MELT! Dinner” focusing is on the exchange of innovative ideas among representatives from music, science, media, politics, non-governmental organizations and industry with a goal  to facilitate the involvement of all relevant social actors on a common path towards a climate friendly future as soon as practicable.

“We are especially proud of the cooperation between the Ferropolis GmbH and Q-Cells, which has installed in the framework of the solar panels on the roofs of Ferropolis,” says Jacob Bilabel, founder of the Green Music Initiative. “The power produced here over the years from solar power can be calculated to power both the MELT! and the Splash! Festival. This shows that energy autonomy is possible “

www.q-cells.de

http://www.ferropolis.de

http://www.greenmusicinitiative.de/

Green Talent is just the job

 

 

 

 

Green Talent taps into people power  – and it’s a social media initiative to shake up traditional career advice model

 

Green Talent, started in 2010 by the Eden Project, Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and RSPB, is excited to launch a new careers service to help bring young people and businesses together in a gaming arena.

 

The initiative takes an informal learning environment and uses social media to help inform young people about the world of employment and sustainable business.

 

Harnessing the skills of everyone

As people participate within the Green Talent forums, they earn points for helping others and get rewarded for their time. In doing so, the community draws on the knowledge and experiences of others to help guide people in a completely open and friendly way.

 

As well as the informal forums where young people and business can engage openly, the Green Talent web community provides a valuable learning resource for teachers and businesses.

 

Sim Stewart, co-founder and Managing Director of Cofacio, who collaborated on the development of the site, said: “We are delighted to work with Green Talent on this new initiative. Informal learning is a growing concept within education and development, and we are proud to be able to work on a new community-driven project that truly harnesses the knowledge of young people today.”

 

Jobs in the low carbon and sustainable sectors are on the increase and Green Talent aims to bring people together to share ideas and experiences and provide valuable mentoring and advice for young people.

 

Gaynor Coley, the Eden’s Project Managing Director, said: “The next phase of Green Talent sees us taking this important partnership with RSPB and Kew forward to create the opportunity for young people to see how they can bring their relationship with the environment to the workplace and create a better future for all”.

 

How the Green Talent project works:

 

1. Join the forum

Individuals set up a mini profile and tell the forum what they need help with.

 

2. Provide answers

Everyone’s an expert in something, so the forum encourages people to share their experiences to help others.

 

3. Find a mentor

People can browse the mentor map and look at profiles to find people who may be able to offer career help and support in a chosen field.

 

4. Support projects

As people take part and spend time in the forum they earn points that they can then donate to support a good cause.

 

 

To find out more or to sign up visit: www.greentalent.org

Glastonbury cans it!

The Glastonbury Festival have revealed that over 2 tonnes of drinks cans from the Festival were sent to Perrys recycling centre in Marston Magna in Somerset after this year’s festival, picked up by the Festivals dedicated team of litter pickers who clean the site by hand.

Glastonbury also announced that their ‘Green Traveller’ scheme was a real success in 2011, with car parking and car numbers being reduced for the first time. Car numbers were down by 4,600 vehicles. Green Travellers who came by bike or public transport were given their own camping area and discount vouchers for on-site facilities.

Glastonbury also said that despite a blisteringly hot final day, water use on site at the festival was down in 2011 as well. The Festival installed its own reservoirs last year and also swapped sewage disposal to a local farm, saving tankers having to bring drinking water on site and take human waste off site to a sewage plant near the coast.

ANOTHER PLANET

European community MEPs have blocked moves to reduce the continents emissions by 30% against 1990 levels by 2020. Elsewhere UK MPs are set to scrutinise the primary trading method designed to reduce Europe’s emissions. The European Union’s
Emission Trading Systems (EU ETS) will be the subject of an intensive investigation by the Energy and Climate Change Committee, chaired by Tim Yeo MP.

Vast tracts of land are being sized in Kenya and converted to farmland for biofuels for the West. Farmers in the Tana Delta have been forced from their land and unique wetlands, habitats and hundreds of rare species of birds are under ever increasing threat from commercial farmers who are producing crops including water thirsty sugar cane and jatropha to meet demand in the West.

British Gas has been fined £1 million after providing misleading information about the amount of renewable energy it is using

A Herefordshire farm will power its chicken production through Anaerobic
Digestion (AD) from next month. The Great Ynys Farm will use the waste from
chickens to generate a new income stream as a renewable energy generator. And a Devonshire dairy has opened an anaerobic digestion facility to help fuel the
production of its clotted cream, ice cream crème fraiche and yoghurt products.
The £3.4M AD facility at Langage Farm, Plymouth, will process up to 12,000
tonnes of household food waste, together with on-farm dairy wastes.

Scotland has fallen behind England and Wales on its national recycling performance as it failed to meet a key target to recycle 40% of household waste by the end of 2010. Government figures show that by the end of 2010, only half of Scotland’s 32 local authorities had achieved the 40% figure. The country’s overall recycling and composting rate of 37.8% is below that of Wales (40.5%) and England (39.7%).

A landfill ban on waste wood may have little effect according to new research
that suggests that 74% of the waste wood stream is already being recovered. The
Government is looking at banning waste wood from landfill under its Waste
Review, but the UK Waste Wood Market report says such restrictions may only
result in limited additional resources.

As UN talks fail to cut carbon emissions, big businesses and entrepreneurs are
striving to find lucractive ‘techno-fixes’ to combat global warming. To be
honest, my gut feeling is that it will all go horribly wrong – it always does
when we mess with nature – but you can make your own mind up after reading this interesting article that looks at geo-engineering and covers seeding the oceans with algae, growing artificial trees, firing silver iodide into clouds to precipitate rain and , genetically engineering paler crops, blasting sulphate based
aerosols into the stratosphere and covering deserts with white plastic – all to
reflectt sunlight. The article is in the Observer newspaper (10th July) by John
Vidal and can be found at http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jul/10/geo-engineering-weather-manipulation

Italy, one of Europe’s most popular holiday destinations, is losing its beaches at a frightening rate. New reports say that rising sea levels and a reduced flow of
sediment from river bank erosion caused by hydro-electric dams blocking Italy’s rivers means that many beaches are now under threat. The Tiber used to send 400,000 cubic metres of sand a year into the Mediterranean 25 yerars ago – its just 80,000 cubic metres now and recent storms have reduced beaches at resorts such as Capocotta and Ostia to a shadow of what they were.

Edie Award nominees announced

The shortlist for the Edie Awards for Environmental Excellence 2011 have been announced.  The entries were discussed and considered by Edie’s judging panel at the Environment Agency’s headquarters in London, overseen by Environment Agency Chairman, Lord Chris Smith. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on November 3rd at the Hurlingham Club in Fulham. 

Carbon Reduction 
DHL Supply Chain/ JD Wetherspoon 
ENWORKS 
First UK Bus 
Hewlett Packard Int. SARL 
PIL Membranes Ltd 
Sony 
Whitbread 

Green Corporate Initiative 
Amey 
Marks and Spencer 
OfficeTeam 
Sonae Sierra 
Telecity Group 

Green Retail Initiative 
Alumet Systems (UK) Ltd 
Countrystyle Group 
Sainsbury’s 
Tesco Energy 

Public Sector Initiative 
Breckland Council 
Dublin Fire Brigade 
Manchester Fire and Rescue Service 
Vital Earth 
Zero Waste Scotland 

Renewable Energy 
Clearfleau Ltd 
CNG Services Limited 
Green Energy Centre 
Kingspan Renewables (Aeromax Plus Air Source Heat Pump)
LowC Communities Ltd 
Marks & Spencer 

Sustainable Construction 
Asda 
Land Securities 
MVBJV 
Olympic Delivery Authority 
Plastic Surgeon 
WCR Ltd 
Whitbread 

Sustainable Transport 
Brakes Group 
CNG Services Limited 
DHL Supply Chain (Rank Hovis) 
Natural England 
Office Depot 
Transport for London 

Waste & Resource Management 
Coca-Cola Enterprises 
Land Securities 
May Gurney Ltd 
Punch Taverns 
Sapphire 
TerraCycle UK 
The Royal Mint 

Water & Wastewater 
Microbial Solutions Ltd 
National Laboratory Service 
Olympic Delivery Authority 
SCFI 
Wessex Water 
WPL Limited

Go Europe!

Go Europe, the new pan-European music industry green initiative has held a successful conference in Amsterdam, hosted by Welcome to the Future promoters ID&T (May 23rd and 24th). The new group, set up by Yourope (the European festivals organisation), Bucks New University, The German Green Music Initiative and the Green Events Conference, welcomed 35 festival and event promoters to the Netherlands to focus on energy related issues and communicating environmental messages to the audience and The Go Europe group, which AGreenerFestival actively supports,  has formalised its main aims which are to:

- identify international best practice in sustainable innovations for the music industry

- build a curriculum for training in sustainable events best practice for live events

- aggregate, communicate and share collective knowledge

- build links between different industry sectors across Europe to enable the exchange of information

The next Go Europe event will be the GreenEvents Europe gathering in Bonn, Germany on November 2nd and 3rd 2011. See more at http://www.green-events-germany.eu/ (in German) and http://www.green-events-germany.eu/index.php?&L=1 (in English).

Festivals smash 10:10!

The 10:10 campaign and music industry greening specialists Julie’s Bicycle have persuaded the organisers of some of the biggest and best events of the festival season to set out on a mission to reduce their emissions by 10% every year. The first major music festival of the summer, the Isle of Wight(IoW), reported savings of 22% from 2009’s event. Initiatives included boosting generators with biodiesel and solar arrays, and a comprehensive carbon audit (including ticketholder travel surveys). IoW’s sustainability programme has been planned and implemented by Eco Action Partnership over the past four years. Juliet Ross-Kelly from Eco Action Partnership, said “It has been a real challenge to tackle such a big events carbon footprint and of course we have had to learn a lot on the job with a few bits of trial and error along the way but thanks to campaigns such as 10:10 we have really focused our efforts and  have seen some great measurable results”.

Lovebox, one of London’s landmark summer events, smashed the 10% target. Replacing diesel generators with solar arrays, hydrogen fuel cells, vegetable oil and even bicycle power organisers we able to reduce emissions from onsite energy use by a whopping 38% in 2010, despite almost doubling ticket sales. Andy Mead, director at Firefly Solar and Lovebox’s head of sustainability, said “Lovebox made great progress last year making significant reductions. In 2011 we hope to make further reductions by building on last year’s success.”

A number of festivals calculated their emissions in 2010, implementing reduction strategies in the 2011 season. Festival Republic, set baseline carbon figures for four of their leading festivals in 2010; the greatest rock shows on the planet; the Reading & Leeds Festival, the critically applauded Latitude in Suffolk, and The Big Chill set in the beautiful rolling hills of Herefordshire. 2011 will see Festival Republic launch a range of innovative strategies tailored to each event – such as switching to cleaner sources of energy, initiatives to reduce water use, landfill waste, and increase recycling.

Greener Festival Award winner T in the Park, Scotland’s biggest festival, is aiming to reduce waste to landfill by 50% and diesel usage by 10% through increasing biodiesel use and improving energy efficiencies. And sometimes the best things come in small packages and Lounge on the Farm, the smallest of the 10:10 festivals, is no exception. Only six years old, Lounge on the Farm have already won two awards for sustainability including the Greener Festival Award and another Greener Festival Award winner Bestival, the last big bash of the summer, went all out for 10:10 last year with a 10:10 stand providing festival-goers with solar and bicycle phone charging. 2011 looks set to be another bumper year for Bestival
who hope to reach their 10% reduction through energy conservation and waste reduction.

“Music festivals are a staple of the British summer time – come rain or shine! Lovebox and Isle of Wight have proved that you can put on an amazing show AND cut carbon at the same time – smashing the10% target they set themselves in 2010. We can’t wait to see the savings the other festivals clock up this year” said Angela Bryant, 10:10’s executive director. “The challenge of reducing impacts while growing the business is being tackled head on by this group of festivals, it’s not always comfortable to put the green brand to the test. This group of festivals are doing it for real” said Alison Tickell, director of Julie’s Bicycle

U2 recycle 360

U2, who pleased the crowds on a rain sodden day at Glastonbury last Friday,  have announced that they are going to ‘recycle’ their massive 360° tour stage set. The band’s Tour Director Craig Evans told Billboard: “It’s certainly our intention to see these things recycled into permanent and usable ventures. It represents too great an engineering feat to just use for the tour and put away in a warehouse somewhere.We are now in discussions to send them into different places around the world and have them installed as permanent venues. Some major events have shown interest in these, from four different continents – and we haven’t even really put the word out yet” adding ”They’re something you can put up on a waterfront and become an instant skyline icon. We know that the inquiries will keep coming in. Having been part of the biggest tour of all time, they’re pretty well tried and tested. They can carry weights no other structure can consider, and since they’re already developed and designed you can probably complete [a venue] in a one-month period instead of a two-year build period”.

in April 2011 U2′s 360° tour overtook the Rolling Stones’ Bigger Bang tour as the highest grossing tour of all time, making £341m with 20 gigs to go.

If you want to support the work of Greenpeace, Oxfam and WaterAid you can download three exclusive live tracks from the three Pyramid Stage headliners at Glastonbury 2011 - U2′s I Will Follow, Coldplay’s In My Place and Beyonce’s Irreplaceable until the end of July on iTunes – see more at http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/news/download-u2-beyonce-and-coldplay-performances-on-itunes-raising-funds-for-glastonburys-charities

Photo: Denis O’Regan at Glastonbury 2011

Blablacar gets into gear

A new travel website has been launched in the UK for people looking to share road trips – and its called BlablaCar. It saves drivers and passengers money, reduces CO2 emissions and is generally a sociable way of travelling so a real winner!  As thousands of people head off to festivals in the UK with space for more people left in their car or van, the amount of wasted energy and money which could be saved is “phenomenal” says Blablacar.

Blablacar has already had big success in Europe (over a million people have shared more than five million trips and saved up to 200,000 tonnes of CO2) and you can check out the website  www.blablacar.com (it’s free to sign up!).  Its easy to understand why – and it extends beyond just festivals. With petrol prices continuing to soar to all time highs, drivers can now share their travel costs by inviting passengers to join them, saving significant costs on each journey. The new site is provided by a French company, Comuto, and the service is known as Covoiturage.fr in France. It  has been a real success amongst drivers and passengers alike who are often frustrated at disruptions to air and rail transport and hard hit by increasing petrol prices and rising public transport costs – or who fancy doing something a bit more green.  The site, founded in 2006, is growing by over 50,000 users per month, not only saving €100m since 2009 but also over 200,000 tons of CO2 – hooray and hooray again!

To use the service, drivers post details of their trip and a suggested price, typically a proportionate contribution. Potential passengers searching for a specific trip then choose whether or not this fits with what they want to pay. There is lots of sensible advice on the site to make sure things go smoothly.

Blablacar say that they have demonstrated the significant cost savings for both drivers and passengers who headed to this years already legendary Glastonbury Festival.

• When travelling from London, drivers could save 64 percent of the overall cost (equivalent to 31.5 pints of beer/cider, 25 burgers or 264 toilet rolls)
• Passengers travelling from London could save 29 percent on the cost of a train ticket (equivalent to 4.25 pints of beer/cider, 3.4 burgers or 36 toilet rolls)
• When travelling from Manchester, drivers could save 74 percent of the overall cost (equivalent to 46.5 pints of beer/cider, 37.2 burgers or 391.5 toilet rolls)
• Passengers travelling from Manchester could save 45 percent on the cost of a train ticket (equivalent to 12.7 pints of beer/cider, 10.2 burgers or 107.5 toilet rolls

Sources:

Festival ticket pricing see  http://www.festivalbusiness.co.uk/2011/06/ticket-prices-rise-dramatically-since.html

Petrol price increases see  http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/fuel/index.html

Car occupancy:  from Department For Transport statistics 2009 / Rail fare increases see  : http://www.atoc.org

Beer/cider prices – avg. £4 per pint, burger – avg. £5 each, toilet roll £1.90 for 4 (from Tesco prices)

Car running costs from  http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/running_costs/petrol2011.pdf

Cheapest rail fares from  www.nationalrail.co.uk 14 June 2011.

So check out Blablacar! www.blablacar.com

EUROPE’S FIRST GREEN MOBILITY GUIDE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS LAUNCHES

Julie’s Bicycle and On the Move have launched a new green guide to environmentally sustainable mobility for touring performing arts companies and venues. Authored by creative industries environmental experts Julie’s Bicycle, and commissioned by On the Move, the online resource for cultural mobility in Europe, the Green Mobility Guide offers practical recommendations for professionals across the performing arts, case studies and resources, including the Julie’s Bicycle “IG tool” for tracking carbon emissions while on tour.  The Green Mobility Guide is now available for download from the Julie’s Bicycle and On the Move websites at the links below:

http://www.juliesbicycle.com/resources/green-guides/green-mobility-guide
http://on-the-move.org/news/article/14222/europes-first-green-mobility-guide-for-the

Alison Tickell, Director of Julies Bicycle said, “Over the last five years sustainability issues have, at last, been recognised as significant and of relevance to the cultural sector. Sustainability touches all aspects of our creative sectors. It stimulates carbon as well as financial savings, communicates a positive brand to audiences and artists, pre-empts regulatory demands and builds resilience into our future business models. This piece of work is an attempt to address the core problem – moving productions contingent on travel and transportation – as sustainably as possible. The performing arts are characterised by creativity, resourcefulness and innovation. This guide hopes to galvanise these qualities and inspire greater ambition so that, together, the arts can play a pivotal role in our future.”  Martina Marti, President of On the Move said, “We at On the Move strongly believe in the importance of mobility as a way to grow – not economically but in our capacity as human beings, broadening our horizons, seeing how others do things. But we have to ask ourselves: Is promoting mobility still responsible in our day and age, with pollution and global warming becoming possibly the biggest threats to humankind in history? How does my mobility today influence our world of tomorrow? The Green Mobility Guide shows that once again artists also come up with creative solutions to address this issue: many of them have already found new ways to create artistic work while taking a caring stance on the environment. OTM is happy to have teamed up with Julie’s Bicycle to produce this guide as an inspiration but also as a practical tool helping artists and cultural professionals to take responsible decisions while still enjoying all the benefits of mobility.”

Another Planet

The UK Government is now so seriously concered about the lack of rain in Southern and Eastern England it has held a crisis meeting with farmers  – with farmers warning Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman that crop production in the affected regios would be down 15% even if normal rainfall resumed. However a more alarming figure was that if the dry spell continues, yields will be down 50% and livestock farmers are struggling to feed their animals. Some parts of the country have had just 5mm of rain since the end of February and soli mosture levels are the lowest for 50 years. Food prices are expected to rise and drought warnings have been issued in at least five counties accross the Midlands and East Anglia.

The UK’s hot spring could be due to the shrinking Arctic ice cap – which has led to a block of high pressure sitting over Britain. Weather experts admit that they are still trying to work out why Britain’s weather is changing, but one possibilty is that global warming (due to greenhouse gas emissions) has led to both the ice cap shrinkage and a shift in the jet stream – although different models show different results.

Waste Connect have an interesting article on Eco-festivals RECYCLING ROCKS here  http://www.wasteconnect.co.uk/page.aspx?ID=2197c32e-cb45-49a3-9fb8-41a24b650548 and that features Green Gathering, Download, Big Tent, Criossant Neuf Summer Party, Glastonbury and Shambala and they link through to the Metro at http://www.metro.co.uk/news/167987-an-a-z-of-the-perfect-eco-festival with our very own A-Z for a green festival.

Solar power developers in the UK are going to take the Government to court for slashing subsidies for larger solar projects – by removing the higher than market price ‘feed in tariff’ for solar electricity – to protect small generating projects. Mark Shorrock, CEO of Low Carbon Solar said “if the Government issues a tariff and you have two years to develop a project, the Government can’t change the rules half way through that process”.  

Greenpeace have been ordered to stop oil protests in the Arctic against Cairn Oil. The UK company has obtained a injunction from a court in Amsterdam that, if breached, would cost Greenpeace E50,000 each day, capped at E1 million. Scottish based Cairn says it loses $4 million for each day lost to disputes on its oil drilling rig off Greenland.  Greenpace cannot go within 500  metres of rigs.

Sustainable Events Alliance

The Sustainable Event Alliance (SEA) is an association and professional guild at the intersection of sustainability and event management. Its vision is to unite event professionals and work together towards increased attention to and knowledge of sustainability in event management. SEA’s mission is to:

1. Provide a knowledge bank for events practitioners through the SEA website.

2. Offer a portal for networking and discussion around sustainable event management.

3. Communicate and create a commonality of best practice in sustainable event management across all industry sectors and the supply chain.

4. Accredit event sustainability professionals – managers, consultants, auditors, trainers and sector specialists – setting knowledge benchmarks for competency and expertise.

4. To spread the desire to reduce impacts of event’s production.

5. To open up opportunities for innovation of sustainable production solutions within the industry.

www.sustainable-event-alliance.org

Greenpeace faces massive fines for Arctic protest

Greenpeace could be fined up to E2 million (£1.7 million) each and every day if it disrupts oil drilling in the Arctic. The UK’s Cairn Energy has filed the papers with a Dutch court saying that Greenpeaces’s protest activities at the company’s Leiv Eiriksson drilling platform are causing delays and costs of at leat £2.5 million per day. Greenpeace’s protest ship Esperanza is registered in Amsterdam.  Greenpeace want to rid the Arctic of potentially polluting oil explorers and says of Cairn “we’ll challenge them and their lawyers every step of the way. The stakes are high here,  the Arctic is the frontline of climate change”.  Cairn denies that it is trying the bankrupt Greenpeace. Despite the legal action, on Saturday (4th June) it appears that Greenpeace launched five small boats from the Esperanza, bypassing navy protection, and 18 activists climbed onto the 53,000 ton rig. Greepeace say that fter eight hours, all 18 activists were. arrested.

More at http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/02/cairn-greenpeace-arctic-drilling-protest

Updates and the image are from  www.greenpeace.org

Experience a (green) trip to Glastonbury

Luke writes – If you’re lucky enough to be heading down to Glastonbury this year, why not do what I’m doing and take the most environmentally sustainable option available?  Our friends at ‘Big Green Coach’ pledge to plant two trees for every coach they take to any festival in the UK – it was therefore an easy and obvious choice that I would turn to them to get me down to Glastonbury whilst being as green as possible.

As if that wasn’t enough, they are also the cheapest option I’ve seen anywhere too (at just £41 return from Hatton Cross, London).

Amazingly, they do still have some tickets available leaving London on both Wednesday & Thursday (returning Monday)…

Go to: www.biggreencoach.co.uk/glastonbury for more details and booking.

Glastonbury launch Green Traders Awards 2011

Glastonbury has announced that they are running Festival’s own Green Traders Awards for the sixth time, with the prestigious gongs awarded by Glastonbury, Greenpeace,The Soil Association, The Fairtrade Foundation and Nationwide Caterers Association(NCASS) to the traders who do the most to help make Glastonbury greener, fairer and more sustainable.

Greenpeace volunteers proactively cover the Festival site interviewing traders, quizzing them about everything from how they arrived on site to what their stall was made of,  how much of their stock was Fairtrade, organic or recycled, and any other ethical criteria used to reduce their impact on the environment.

You can see more at
http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/news/green-trader-awards-return-for-2011

ANOTHER PLANET

The UK has been accused of caving in to pressure from Canada by stalling on a proposed Europe wide ban to ban products such as petrol and diesel that come from mining Canada’s tar sands – a process the WWF says is worse for ecology than the Gulf oil spill.  It seems UK coalition ministers are refusing to back other EU countries that want the sands specifically named in a new fuel quality directive.

Oxfam says that a ‘broken’ food system will aggravate worldwide hunger with food prices doubling in the next 20 years, pushing millions of the World poorest people into hunger. Oxfams new report “Growing for a Better Future: Food Justice in a Resource-Constrained World” (what a terrible title!) says that scramble for food and land are pushing up prices and natural disasters brought on by climate change were also forcing prices higher. Commenting that the system is pretty much ‘bust’, Oxfams points to the negative role commodity speculation plays and also says that farmers should not be given incentives to plant bio-fuel in place of food crops.

“Support windfarms – it would be less controversial to argue for blackouts” says George Monbiot in the Guardian (31/05/11)  “Why do those who oppose wind power insist on spoiling their case with gibberish? In his column on Friday, Simon Jenkins claimed that onshore windfarms were being planned “with no concern for cost”. But the only reason for building them is a concern for cost. If it weren’t for this issue, they would be the last option governments would choose – God knows they cause enough trouble.” Read more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/30/wind-farms-less-controversial-blackouts

Steve Bolze, the Chief Executive of General Electric has said that cheap gas will curb the growth of energy projects saying that this means that more gas fired power generation plants will be built than solar or wind in the next 10-20 years. If the drive for gas continues the International Energy Agency says that the world will miss its targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Germany is planning to shut ALL of its nuclear reactors by 2022 in response the Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster. Germany will become the only major industrial economy nuclear free for decades. Nuclear currently accounts for 23% of Germany’s power.

Cate Blanchett has found herself at the centre of a row in Australia after appearing in an TV advert calling on  Australians to support a carbon tax. Conservative opposition leader Tony Abbott lambasted the advert, funded by environmental groups, saying that “people who are worth $53 million have a right to be heard, but their voice should not be heard ahead of the ordinary working people of this country”. That, is seriously, from a politician in the twenty first century!!!!!  Blanchett is artistic director of the Sydney Theatre Company and is striving to green the Theatre which has installed solar panels that provide up to 70% of its power.

Greenpeace has clashed with the Danish navy after protesters boarded a British owned oil exploration vessel about 90 miles off Greenland’s coast. The protestors occupied a survival pod they attached to the drilling ship Leiv Eiriksson. The Danish navy says that there is a 500m exclusion zone around the test drilling site. Greenpeace has accused the Greenland and Danish governments and Cairn Energy of threatening the fragile Arctic marine environment with another potential oil spill. Greenland has issued 20 exploratory drilling licences and insists that its safety standards are the most robust of any country.

Scientists in the UK say that world class research into future sources of clean green energy are being threatened – by a green tax. The complaint is over the unexpected impact of the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme and one laboratory, the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy faces a £400,000 bill  this year- which it says is perverse as it is researching the production of ‘zero carbon  energy’. Scientific bodies are trying to persuade ministers to exempt research institutions from the carbon levy.

A new report from consultancy WYG on behalf of Biffa Municipal claims co-mingled collections for household waste result in the most improved recycling rates and cost savings for councils. The findings have been disputed by the Campaign for Real Recycling. The research claims that councils can boost household recycling rates and cut costs by adopting alternate weekly collections of co-mingled dry recyclables and waste from wheeled bins and according to the report, a  review of kerbside recycling collection schemes in the UK in 2009/10 found that most of the top 30 councils in the kerbside dry recycling league table for 2009-10, took the co-mingled AWC approach. According to the study, of the top 30 councils,  23 collected 75% or more of their dry recyclables co-mingled, 23 collected recycling each fortnight, 21 collected refuse fortnightly, over half collected both refuse and recycling fortnightly, and the vast majority used wheeled bins.

The world’s first hi-tech landfill mining project has been given the go-ahead in Belgium where gasification and plasma technology will be combined to extract materials and energy from buried waste.

Centrica, the parent company of household gas supplier British Gas, has carried out its threat not to reopen one of the UK’s largest gas fields following the Government’s decision to raise taxes on production. The energy firm said South Morecambe, the largest of three production areas that make up the offshore Liverpool Morecambe Bay gas field, would stay shut following routine maintenance work because the higher levy. Morecambe Bay supplies 6% of domestic gas. No job losses are planned.

Forecasters believe that a heatwave that could last until July will leave some parts of the UK even hotter than north Africa and the Mediterranean. Forecasters predict that temperatures will stay above 21C in June and July – and could even hit  32C. It looks likely that rainfall will continue to be below average in the second half of June in the South of England, which is good news for Glastonbury and Wimbledon but bad news for farmers and consumers, as food prices will increase as a result. The hottest summer on record was 1976.

The European Investment Bank has banned all further investments in Glencore’s mining projects after allegations of tax avoidance and environmental damage, The allegations are linked to the company’s copper mines in Zambia. Glencore has denied the charges but has admitted exceeding sulpher dioxide output limits.

Northhumbrian Water is going to use reed beds to water and sewage sludge to power its energy hungry facilities in a move to become the greenest utility company  in the United Kingdom. The company already uses anaerobic digestion to breakdown human waste and produce gas that can in turn be used to produce electricity. The company plans to build the World’s largest constructed reed bed in Essex to provide cheaper and more ecologically friendly water treatment.

GoCarShare launches

A new online community called goCarShare.comhas been set up – it aims to encourage car driving festival-goers fill as many seats in their vehicle as possible. The site has been launched with the backing of a number of festivals including Sonisphere and The Glade.  The site allows festival-goers with cars with empty seats can find extra passengers, while those looking for transport can find drivers with capacity. The key to the new site are links into Facebook, meaning that drivers can check out prospective passengers, and vice versa, giving both parties some reassurance about travelling to a festival together. Drivers and passengers will also be able to rate each other once they have travelled together and goCarShare.com offers tips on what extra passengers should contribute towards the driver’s costs with organisers saying “We built goCarShare around Facebook so that users can see if they share friends with other users, they can even see if they like similar bands to other users. We made the process super quick and made it simple for passengers and drivers to contact each other. As well as this, there is a big emphasis on fun, on meeting new people and making new friends”.

Among the festivals supporting the scheme that promotes both greener travel and potential savings, are Sonisphere, Wakestock, Reading and Leeds Festivals, The Big Chill, Glade, Latitude and the Secret Garden Party with a numbert of festivals offering entry into a draw to upgrade to VIP tickets for anyone who car shares.

WORST C02 EMISSIONS MEANS GLOBAL WARMING WILL ACCELERATE

Greenhouse gas emissions increased by a record amount last year, to the highest carbon output in history, putting hopes of holding global warming to safe levels all but out of reach, according to unpublished estimates from the International Energy Agency.

The shock rise means the goal of preventing a temperature rise of more than  2 degrees Celsius – which scientists say is the threshold for potentially “dangerous climate change” – is likely to be just “a nice Utopia”, according to Fatih Birol chief economist of the IEA. It also shows the most serious global recession for 80 years has had only a minimal effect on emissions, contrary to some predictions.

Last year, a record 30.6 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide poured into the atmosphere, mainly from burning fossil fuel – a rise of 1.6Gt on 2009, according to estimates from the IEA regarded as the gold standard for emissions data.

“I am very worried. This is the worst news on emissions,” Birol told the Guardian. “It is becoming extremely challenging to remain below  2 degrees. The prospect is getting bleaker. That is what the numbers say.”

More on this frightening news at http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/may/29/carbon-emissions-nuclearpower

ENVIRONMENTAL CERTIFICATION FOR FESTIVALS THROUGH INDUSTRY GREEN

14 UK festivals including Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds, Lovebox, Isle of Wight, Latitude, T in the Park and others, have been certified through the Julie’s Bicycle Industry Green (IG) scheme, and several of them achieved impressive carbon emission reductions with the support of the scheme in 2010. If your festival wants to join our growing community of IG festivals – all sharing best practice, exploring opportunities for renewable energy supplies, driving down audience travel impacts, and working across the board to reduce their environmental impacts – let us know!

Industry Green is a simple certification scheme specifically tailored to the creative industries that enables festivals to reduce their environmental impacts and demonstrate leadership on climate change action. Following the straightforward guidelines and criteria set out in the Industry Green documentation gives you the knowledge and confidence to make informed decisions that make good sense for your business and for the environment.

The certification scheme is based on four principles of environmental good practice: commitment, measurement, reduction of impacts and disclosure. With carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction at its heart the certification  gathers evidence over a 12 month period covering impacts associated with energy, water, waste and travel alongside company commitment, improvement and communication. Industry Green is an industry-endorsed brand, and the certification is externally assessed by the Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University and verified by an independent Expert Advisory Group.

Successful participants are awarded the IG mark, which enables participants to communicate their achievement to staff, suppliers, consumers and audiences. “IG-ed” companies represent a community of creative industry leaders that are setting the standard for environmentally responsible business practices.

For more information please visit: www.juliesbicycle.com/industry-green or contact info@juliesbicycle.com

The Premises win the Julies Bicycle Green Business Award

The Premises Studio in North London have won the first Julies Bicycle Green Business Award at the Music Week Awards at the Roundhouse in London on the 24th May. The Premises were nomineated alongsid Koko Camden, The Sage Gateshead, Firefly Solar, Wood Festival and the NEC Birmingham. With photovoltaic solar panels on its roof, The Premises main studio is designed to be energy efficient and runs exclusively on solar energy and the Premises have used their innovative scheme to work with artistes such as The Klaxons, Razorlite and Lily Allen to actively promote self generated solar power.  Other winners from the live sector were Concorde2 (Brighton) as Best Venue, SJM Concerts as Best Live Promotions Team and T-in-the-Park won Best Festival.

ANOTHER PLANET

Go bananas for biofuel! Banana farmers in the West Indies are finding new outlets for their crops – including for biofuels. The crop, which is St Lucia’s second biggest export, are mostly farmed by small growers who find it hard to compete with bigger producers in Latin America. Now they can sell their crop to local producers who turned it into ethanol – and with 1500 tonnes of bananas wasted on this one island each year, which also has to import 90% of its oil.

A new coalition of energy providers and technology giants are working to develop a ‘smart grid’ in the UK – to deal with both varying power generation and variances in power consumption. At the end of the Royal Wedding the UK suffered an enormous power use surge as people went into their kitchens and switched on kettles and ovens, and new forms of power generation such as wind, marine and solar are less predictable than fossil fuel generators – meaning that a smart grid can smooth out supply and demand. As the UK and other countries have to increase the amount of electricity they generate from sustainable sources this will become increasingly important. The smart grid will be able to store power to meet peaks in demand and communicate with households to encourage appliances to be used outside of peak times – communicating with ‘smart meters’ in homes. South Korea is investing over £120 billion on a ‘smart city’ that is expected to run entirely on renewable energy.

Whilst gardens can provide food, relaxation and a habitat for wildlife, and can cool cities, UK gardeners will soon be soaking up 9% of the UK’s water – and as water becomes an increasingly scarce resource scientists are warning that UK gardeners need to rethink their gardening habits, moving away from thirsty plants such as ‘subtropical’ bedding that requires a lot of water, to more drought proof plants such as Mediterranean species and desert species. Leicester University economist Paul Herrington found that in 1961 the average
household used 85 litres of water per person per day – by the mid 1970s this had grown to 121 litres per day, and 1% was used for gardening – now Herrington estimates that we will each use 166 litres per day (7.5% on gardening) and estimate that by 2021 that will be 178 litres and 16 litres (9%) will be used for gardening.

And England and Wales are having their driest spring for 100 years – with extreme dryness in the South and East of England and the West Midlands. The conditions are severely stunting crop growth – with rainfall down 61% against norms.  It is the third driest spring since 1766 with just 74mm of rain falling.

Britain’s hill farmers should be paid to become ‘stewards’ of the countryside according to a new government report on the future of farming. The idea is one of the key findings in the National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA) which will be published by DEFRA, the environment and farming department next month, recognising that Britain’s hills, moorlands and mountains are vital for recreation, biodiversity and water supplies. The NEA aims to put a monetary value on ‘services’ provided by our rural environment and ecosystems – and eventually these values would form the basis of an agricultural subsidy system.

Speaking on the first day of the Sustainabilitylive! event at Birmingham, RDC’s head of sustainability, Gary Griffiths said that up to 10,000 jobs could be created in the reuse sector for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) once organisations start adopting the new PAS 141 standard.

The waste sector looks set to be one of the early beneficiaries of the Green Investment Bank (GIB), along with offshore wind and non-domestic energy efficiency. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg revealed that these three areas were “possible early priorities” for the GIB and speaking at the Climate Change Capital in London morning on the 23rd May he also announced that investments would be able to be made from April 2012, and that the Government was looking at the potential for using the GIB to help deliver the first stages of the Green Deal.  Britain will need to spend an estimated £450 million over the next 15 years to meet carbon reduction commitments according to accountants Ernst & Young. The new Green bank will initially have £3 billion per annum to invest, with the expectation that this will attract a further £15 in private investments.  Along with waste, the Bank will focus on renewable power. But Business Secretary Vince Cable left the door open for investment in other areas that could include trains, nuclear power and flood defences.

An electric motorcycle has set a new UK record at the Santa Pod Raceway in Northamptonshire. Edie.net reports that the bike, designed by Phil Edwards, won the standing start quarter-mile run in the Alternative Energy Racing event with a time of 14.1245 seconds, beating the previous record of 14.99 seconds. The rider, racer Rob Moon, reached speeds of 96.5 mph in the race – another record.

Former England and Manchester United defender Gary Neville has teamed up with a green energy company Ecotricity with the aim to make sport more sustainable and spread the green message. The new initiative ‘Sustainability In Sport’ was unveiled at Old Trafford before Mr Neville’s testimonial game against Italian giants Juventus. All the electricity used during the game was matched by electricity generated by green energy firm Ecotricity’s 52 windmills across the UK, to effectively make it a ‘wind-powered’ game.

A senior policy advisor for Department of Energy and Climate Change in the UK ECC has admitted the road to the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) has been a ‘painful’ one. Speaking at Sustainabilitylive! in Birmingham’s NEC, Hannah Greig of DECC gave an update on the progress of the CRC. Greig admitted the numerous changes to emission cutting system were ‘painful’, but added “It would be worth it in the end.”

China is reportedly looking at cold fusion to provide cheap, clean, limitless and safe power with a Chinese scientist giving a paper on the technology and an up and coming UN conference.  Currently coal provides 70% of China’s power with hydroelectricity contributing 20%. China is also building 26 new nuclear reactors.

Two campaigners against illegal logging in Brazil have been brutally murdered. Jose Claudio Ribeiro (‘Ze’) de Silva and his wife Maria do Espirito Santo were left shot dead and mutilated in the rainforests  they called their home. The couple had been actively campaigning against loggers, blockading roads and stopping lorries and had received death threats.  The Catholic Pastoral Land Commission said that more than 1,150 rural workers, environmentalists, judges and priests had been killed since the death of environmental activist Chico Mendes in 1988, and less than 10% of cases ended up in court.

Former BBC Radio 1 and now Smooth DJ Mark Goodier (weekdays on Smooth, 10.00 – 13,00) says that his eco-car saves him £10,000 per annum. Mark, who also runs radio production company Wise Buddah, drives a Nissan Leaf  and he was the first in the UK to drive the car off a forecourt and estimates that he saves 310,000 every year on fuel, parking and congestion charges. Mark started with elcctric cars in 2000 and says ‘They basically need no servicing  they don’t break down” and the car does 100 miles for a £2 charge which takes six hours overnight – and Mark told the Sunday Times that he uses his home’s solar power to make the process even greener – in fact as Mark says with Feed In Tariffs he is effectively being  ’paid to drive’.

Good Wood

Not so deep in the Oxfordshire countryside under the soaring gaze of the Red Kites is a gem of creativity and sustainability. Wood Festival claims to be the  ‘folkier, younger, cleaner, greener and mysteriously beardier brother’ of Truck Festival. What Wood does achieve is a celebration of music and nature. Four stages showcase music, poetry, discussion and workshops.

The festival is a safe environment for young families. It almost feels like a village fete with packs of new young friends playing on tractor inner tubes, bubbles floating across the arena and the entire morning program tailored for keeping young minds and bodies active.

Wood workshops ranged from traditional skills such as thatching to lessons in nature, music and dancing. I didn’t imagine for one moment that Isla (aged 2) and I would be participating in a harp workshop or witnessing the creation of fantastic whistles made from vegetables. The ladies in compost corner provided gardening and compost advice while my neighbour made his own rolling pin on a pedal powered lathe and his daughter made a beautiful copper bracelet. The greatest thing about all of the workshops and demonstrations was that everyone was welcome to give it a go and be involved.

Powered almost entirely by solar, pedal and wood burners there is no buzz of generators, there is a calm and relaxed feeling around the spotlessly clean site. A contentious and well-informed audience are tidy, considerate and pro-active in helping the waste management team at More-bins minimise waste and strive to exceed its 85% recycled figure from 2010. Local suppliers provide organic, Fairtrade and ethical goods. Inevents (who also produce the bigger Truck Festival)  and Brazier Park collaborate effectively to ensure that the event has a minimal impact to the beautiful estate and surroundings. Permanent compost toilets provide the estate with compost, grey water goes back into the park irrigation system and the park community work tirelessly with the
organisers to provide meals and food for thought around the site. Everyone from
the moment you arrive and greeted by friendly security has a positive attitude
and thankfully this rubbed off on the weather too.

Is Wood a ‘folkier, younger, cleaner, greener and mysteriously beardier
brother’? Definitely!

Review by Helen Wright

www.woodfestival.com
www.more-bins.co.uk
www.braziers.org.uk

and more at http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/truck/wood2011/review-overview.shtml

GREAT BIG GREEN IDEAS – THE WINNERS!

We had a massive number of entries for GREAT BIG GREEN IDEAS 2011 and some really interesting ideas – which we really hope festival organisers will take notice of. There were quite a few ‘threads’ running though the ideas, particularly ideas promoting green travel and ideas reducing waste on festival sites.

a number of entries were very keen on promoting alternatives to the car – in particular we liked Peter Nolan’s idea of giving green travelers real advantages in ditching the car – by allowing them early entry to the festival site and first pick of camping sites and Stephen Nicholls suggested that festival goers that travel to the festival by bicycle get a percentage taken off their ticket. Alan Hughes suggested that ‘combined coach and festival tickets’ should always go on sale before the ‘ordinary’ tickets go on sale so festival goers who want to use coaches get to get their tickets and coach tickets first. Something that we have already suggested to festival organisers – and the suggestion received a very positive response. Thanks Alan, Peter and Stephen.

A number of people also commented on the waste associated with disposable plates and cutlery – even if it is recyclable. Water bottles left lying around festivals were a real worry for lots of the entries including Gemma Watt, and Joel Ross suggested that festival goers should be encouraged to take their own plates up to the food stalls at festivals and as an incentive, they could get money off their meal. We are going to look into the practicality of this (and hygiene issues) with a couple of event organisers and see if this works.

Ben Harris said its “Time to kick some butts” and Ben’s idea is aimed at tackling the lesser known problems of cigarette litter, suggesting purpose made cigarette bins with bright coloured signs stating the facts that butts really do pollute and also giving away small portable ashtrays with programmes and lanyards, along with adverts would make a cheap and easy to implement campaign to reduce this “pain in the butt”! Thanks Ben and we can report that Ashcan already make a portable ashtray and some people use old 35mm film tubs as their own version. See http://www.ashcan.co.uk/

And Sally Eccleston pointed out that disposable nappies make up a large percentage of domestic landfill waste and that this may be true at certain festivals as well and Sally’s idea is to provide a nappy exchange – and used nappies could be washed on site or taken to local launderettes, ready to be taken on and reused at the next festival, and the next and the next… How many thousands of disposable nappies would this save from landfill? There was an organisation doing this called Blooming Bottoms but we haven’t heard from them recently. Its a great idea – we hope it comes to fruition!

Caroline Stringer suggested recyclable camping chairs (they exist – we have seen some made of card!) and suggested a tent hire scheme at festivals, with a deposit that can be returned once the tent has been returned in a good condition, as well as welly hire at festivals to prevents wellys being dumped, provides option for them to be reused or recycled.

Sarah Needham had a good idea (although one that would take quite some organising). Sarah’s idea is to have “a shop selling items from celebrities at the event e.g. a signed picture or a guitar but the payment method is in plastic bottles for example or another recyclable item” Sarah pointed out that this is a good way to promote recycling and get high profile names to put there backing behind it saying “it will appeal to younger people who are probably less aware of environmental issues and therefore can be a good education tool to them.”

All excellent ideas and it was hard to choose - but now its time to get to the winners

A well thought out solution to the problem with water bottles – and our FIRST PRIZE – goes to Ruth Hardy who said “There should be more standpipes or kiosks for festival goers to reuse their plastic water bottles with fresh drinking water for a minimal charge. Mountains of empty used plastic water bottles last year filled the waste drums (which needed tractors to come and empty them) or were chucked on the ground (which needed clearing up).” And its such a good idea we’re glad to say that Frank Water have teamed up with festival water provider Water Mills to provide a service just like this – see http://www.frankwater.com/2011/02/freefill-launches-at-the-event-production-show/

Also a number of people in including Heather Macdonald and Claire Pascoe commented on the thousands plastic and paper cups, cans and bottles thrown away at festivals and suggested that reusable cups were the future. We agree that either souvenir cups or a deposit system works and Festivals like Cambridge FolkFestival and Latitude already have reusable cups and Sonisphere is one of many festivals who have a deposit system.

Claire suggested the ‘Glastocup’ for Glastonbury that hangs on a lanyard but our SECOND PRIZE goes to Jacinta Elliott who said “As a visitor to the festival I am always astonished at the amount of plastic bottles, glasses and food containers that are left lying around. My idea is to supply everyone with their own pint size plastic cup which can be in funky colours and designs, each cup will have a hole to attach to the lanyard when not in use and every drink sold can be at a reduced rate if “Glasto Goblet” is used. It will be great if the Glasto Goblets could be made from re-cycled plastic. I also think that there should be a drinking water station and these Glasto Goblets can also be used for water station top ups maybe for a small charge to Water Aid. A great idea Jacinta – and a GREAT NAME!

And our THIRD PRIZE goes to Ally who said “Make all festivals“Clothes optional” adding “think how much water would be saved NOT washing all those sweaty clothes, how much pollution it would cut down on by NOT using washing machines, and also how much money it would save people having not to buy extra clothes for festivals”. We love it Ally!

All three prize winners will receive a goodie bag crammed full of festival goodies – CDs, DVDs, T-shirts and other stuff and our friends and the BIG GREEN COACH COMPANY will offer our first and second prize winners, Ruth and Jacinta, a pair of return coach travel tickets to any festival they are sending coaches too in the UK (its a long list but includes Sonisphere, V, Bestival, Hop Farm, End of the Road, Creamfields and Kendal Calling! For more see http://www.biggreencoach.co.uk/

Massive thanks to www.virtualfestivals.com and Big Green Coach, the music travel company, and THANK YOU to everyone who entered. And here’s to your ideas getting festivals greener!

An Independent take on green festivals

There is a  really nice article on the Independent website which looks at what we do and profiles two festivals – the Isle of Wight in the UK and Lightning in a Bottle in the USA – with details of some of their 2011 green innovations. Its well worth a quick read at http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/isle-of-wight-lightning-in-a-bottle–green-initiatives-at-summer-festivals-2287987.html