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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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!

LET THE TRAIN TAKE THE STRAIN

Raileasy, The Glastonbury Festival’s official rail partner, has two tickets to give away in a competition for entry to the sold out Festival. RailEasy are also offering some ecclusive rail travel packages to the Festival including a free coach shuttle from Cranmore station to the Festival site. Raileasy’s exclusive train service  offers Festival goers the opportunity to travel on the Glastonbury Express from London and from Preston, Bolton, Manchester, Crewe and Stoke-on-Trent and you can find out more at http://glastonbury.raileasy.co.uk/

You can also book on to the regular rail services that run to Castle Carey – again a free shuttle operates to the Festival site and to Bristol stations where a coach services operates which can be paid for on the day. For more on winning tickets and regular services see  http://new.raileasy.co.uk/offers-and-things-to-do/things-to-do/glastonbury-festival-2011/glastonbury-festival-2011

AUSTRALIAN GREENER FESTIVAL AWARD WINNERS CONFIRMED

Bluesfest, Australia 2011

The fourth A Greener Festival awards season in Australia has come to a close and seven festivals have ‘made the grade’ and have been awarded the coveted Greener Festival Award. Amie Green, the Awards co-ordinator in Australia said this “our many and varied festivals have put in immense hard work, often excelling in creating initiatives which are slowly becoming the standard for festivals which have care about the environment, such as on-site composting and pro-active land protection. These standards often have long term benefits, particularly to events who own their own permanent sites. Standards are generally rising with some exciting trends becoming apparent such as patrons reacting positively to voluntarily offsetting the carbon produced from their travel when purchasing tickets as well as the use of sustainably sourced bio-diesel becoming commonplace as an energy source”.

Amie explains that is becoming obvious that festivals serve as a two-way conduit  between music lovers and festival organisers, which can result in well thought out environmental initiatives from organisers based on valuable feedback from festival goers, and festivals can also play an important role in promoting environmentally sound principals both on-site and when fans are back in the comfort of their own home.

Amie was keen to thank her small crew of environmental auditors who assess festivals for the Award and whose work encourages measurements such as greenhouse gas emissions and recycling statistics to be recorded onsite. This helps festivals with year on year improvements as well as allowing A Greener Festival to aggregate and analyse the data and compare it with festivals from around the world, eventually setting environmental benchmarks for the events industry – and seeing how Australia measures up to its competitors around the globe. With Australian businesses becoming aware of the likelihood of a more carbon-based economy, these festivals are benefiting from early indicators of where they will sit in the market.

In a global recession we are proud of every festival who took part in the 2010/2011 Awards scheme. Its not unusual to see a backslide when money becomes tight or locations are changed. Amie says “Every single festival that gains this award has made a massive effort to green their event, and having worked for many years in the event industry I can say wholeheartedly that anything implemented over and above council or local regulatory requirements takes real determination and passion. Every award winner has shown themselves to be a leader in their field.

And the winners are:

Bluesfest  – Commended

Falls Festival  – Outstanding

Peats Ridge Festival – Outstanding

Woodford Folk Festival  - Outstanding

Splendour in the Grass – Commended

Island Vibe – Highly Commended

WomAdelaide – Commended

Treetop Flyers top Glastonbury Emerging Talent 2011

Treetop Flyers celebrate their win with Michael Eavis

Five piece London based folk rock/country blues outfit Treetop Flyers have won the prestigious Glastonbury Festival Emerging Talent Competition 2011 in a hard fought battle that saw them secure a main stage slot at the 2011 Festival. Other finalists were Emily & The Woods, J-Treole, My First Tooth, My Tiger My Timing, Tristram, Twin Brother and Louise & The Pins. The two day finals event also saw performances from four ‘judges selections’ who were Subsource, L.A.C, Kamal Arafa & the Moonlight Band and Freddie Dickson. Promoter Michael Eavis promised that a number of the runner up bands would get bookings on different stages accross the Festival and A Greener Festival have promised that some of the bands – and there were some GREAT bands this year – would appear on their 2011 ‘Festivals Harvest’ CD which is sponsored by DMS.

Glastonbury’s emerging talent competition attracted more than 7,500 entries and the initial long list was made by a team of 40 music bloggers who listened to every entry. The event was streamed live on www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk (there are some photos there too) and judges on the night included agent Angus Baskerville, Glastonbury Acoustic Stage booker and agent Paul Charles, Glastonbury Dance Village programmer Malcolm Haynes, West Holts Stage programmer Steve Symons, Glastonbury Music Booking co-ordinator Nick Dewey, Guardian journalist Chris Salmon, BBC Radio producer Phillipa Aylott and Festival organisers Emily Eavis and Michael Eavis. More at http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/news/treetop-flyers-win-etc-2011

Green Glasto travellers to be treated like royalty!

Glastonbury 2011 has already annnounced U2, Coldplay and Beyonce as Pyramid Stage headliners for an amazing weekend of fun  - and this from from www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk :

As one of the world’s largest outdoor gatherings, Glastonbury Festival is totally committed to reducing carbon emissions – and to raising awareness of what can be done to help combat climate change. As part of that message, the Festival wants to reward people for choosing to come to Somerset by public transport or by bicycle. So, this year, for the first time, we have put together a Glastonbury Festival Green Traveller package which we hope will provide an extra incentive for you and your friends to “go Green”.

Ticket holders who arrive at the Festival by public transport or bicycle will be given a Green Traveller lanyard, offering:
 
- Vouchers for discounts on main meals
- Solar showers, solely provided for Green Travellers
- Access to compost toilets
- Discount on a Festival T-shirt

Over 50 per cent of Glastonbury Festival’s CO2 total emissions come from how “you” the Festival goer make your way to the site. We understand that public transport can be expensive and we are working on trying to keep the prices fair.

And yes, we know that getting on a train or bus isn’t necessarily as easy as jumping in a car parked outside your house. But once you have decided to head for your bike, the bus stop or the train station, we’ll do our best to make Festival life a little bit easier for you – from the moment you’re dropped right by the gate!

Glastonbury will be posting more information on the Green Traveller scheme (and how it will work) soon…

so more at www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk

Another Planet

Global warming causes big freeze? It seems that global warming is set to make Britain’s winters to be far colder – just like they have been for the last two years with temperatures in Britain far far below what they have been in ercent history. Dr Simon Boxhall from the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton has said that melting ice in the Arctic Ocean over the last four years means that the  ice cover is at its sma;lest area since records began and this creates a high pressure system that sends freezing weather south to the United Kingdom. Brrrrrrrrrr!

Julie’s Bicycle and Music Week have announced the launch of the Julies Bicycle Green Business Award in recognition of environmental achievements made by companies working in the UK music industry.  This is the first award of its kind and is open to any company operating within the UK music industry. The presentation will be made at The Music Week Awards, taking place at The Roundhouse in London on 24th May 2011.  If your company has introduced successful green initiatives in 2010, you can enter and full details on how to be considered for the award can be found at the official Music Week website at www.musicweekawards.com/enter or alternatively please get in touch with Julie’s Bicycle at info@juliesbicycle.com . The Application fee is £30.

Mediterranean fish such as anchovies and sardines are migrating into the North Sea and could be caught of the coast of Scotland within the decade according to Jan-Gunnar Winther, director of the Norweigian Polar Institute. Warming oceans are causing noticeable shifts in fish populations he told the Arctic Frontiers conference in Tromso, Norway.

I’ve just lined my new food caddy with a corn starch liner for the first time as Islington introduces food waste recycling – almost all food waste will now diverted from landfill and will be recycled back into compost. Food waste is  30% of the average household’s waste – so this is a bog step forward - and it all looks lovely ! www.islington.gov.uk/recycling .

The RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch has shown that there are some exotic visitors to Britain’s gardens as birds such as the rarely seen waxwing and the redwing thrush look for food in urban areas, many driven to the UK by harsh winter conditions in Russia and North Eastern Europe. See www.rspb.org.uk .

A Suffolk based inventor believes he has afound a solution to the tens of millions of plastic milk bottles that end up in landfill every year – a paper based bottle which was inspired by a papier-mache balloon  made Martin Myerscough’s son – although it does have a thin plastic lining. The GreenBottle will be trialled by Asda in East Anglia.

Broadcaster Melvin Bragg (aka Lord Bragg) has joined the growing number of voices alarmed by the coalition government’s plans to sell of the UK’s wppdlands – in particular in the Lake District where he was born. He told reporters in the North West that “we need more of the Lake District in public hands, not less”. Forests at risk include Grizdale, Whinlatter and Ennerdale. See more at www.savelakelandsforests.org.uk .

Cheap, green and nutritious – is there a diet that can save the planet? The Observer reports on the World Wildlif fund has come up with a new diet that shifts consumers away from processed food and meat – increasingly blamed for obsesity, diabetes and heart disease . Meat is one of the key environmental issues – in the US alone 70% of land is given over to growing animal feeds along with asssociated water resource and pollution issues, and vast areas of rainforest are being cleared to satisfy our meet needs. In the UK we eat an average of 79Kg of meat each year – the new Livewell diet reduces this to 10Kg a year. See more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/30/livewell-plate-diet-nutrition 

The annual get together of ‘World leaders’ in Davos, Switzerland, you know, the politcians, the business leaders, the bankers, seem to have come to the conclusion that the banker bashing must now stop, that politicians and bankers weren’t really to blame, and they all need to be left alone to work out how to work on a clever new economic recovery. meanwhile …. not too much has been heard about clever solutions to climate change …..