http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/getFeed.kickAction?mediaType=BLOG&quantity=25&as=51250 New blogs from RobLyons on Click4Carbon Wed, 16 Jun 2010 09:59:27 GMT Wed, 16 Jun 2010 09:59:27 GMT bobcarbon@click4carbon.com (BobCarbon) bobcarbon@click4carbon.com (BobCarbon) KickApps Feed Builder 2010-06-16T09:59:27Z 23 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/searchEverything.kickAction?as=51250&sortType=recent 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Food-for-Thought/BLOG/2399203/51250.html Whilst I don't subscribe to Vegetarian or Vegan dogmas (after all this world wouldn't have the societies it has without us meat eaters) there is some not so surprising evidence to show some benefits in the Eco world for a few changes in how we live. On a personal note you might be interested to know there's some payoffs for your health. Compared to meat eaters, vegetarians have lower rates of diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers, and obesity. On an environmental note though, did you know livestock accounts for 18% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions and 8% of water use - and a meatless diet is 50% more effective at cutting CO2 than switching from a standard car to a hybrid. No prizes for guessing where some of those emissions come from directly. As I said I don't subscribe to giving up meat all together, but you could try for a happy medium - go meatless at least once a week for a substantial effect on environmental and health benefits. Eating a sustainably raised beef burger might be better for the environment, but occasionally NOT having that burger you crave for can be even better. If only we could get the USA to reduce the standard size of a meal (be it burger or steak). That would be an interesting project. Whilst I don't subscribe to Vegetarian or Vegan dogmas (after all this world wouldn't have the societies it has without us meat eaters) there is some not so surprising evidence to show some benefits in the Eco world for a few changes in how we live. On a personal note you might be interested to know there's some payoffs for your health. Compared to meat eaters, vegetarians have lower rates of diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers, and obesity. On an environmental note though, did you know livestock accounts for 18% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions and 8% of water use - and a meatless diet is 50% more effective at cutting CO2 than switching from a standard car to a hybrid. No prizes for guessing where some of those emissions come from directly. As I said I don't subscribe to giving up meat all together, but you could try for a happy medium - go meatless at least once a week for a substantial effect on environmental and health benefits. Eating a sustainably raised beef burger might be better for the environment, but occasionally NOT having that burger you crave for can be even better. If only we could get the USA to reduce the standard size of a meal (be it burger or steak). That would be an interesting project. Wed, 16 Jun 2010 09:59:27 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Food-for-Thought/BLOG/2399203/51250.html RobLyons 2010-06-16T09:59:27Z Environmental Click4Carbon Whilst I don't subscribe to Vegetarian or Vegan dogmas (after all this world wouldn't have the societies it has without us meat eaters) there is some not so surprising evidence to show some benefits in the Eco world for a few changes in how we live. On a personal note you might be interested to know there's some payoffs for your health. Compared to meat eaters, vegetarians have lower rates of diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers, and obesity. On an environmental note though, did you know livestock accounts for 18% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions and 8% of water use - and a meatless diet is 50% more effective at cutting CO2 than switching from a standard car to a hybrid. No prizes for guessing where some of those emissions come from directly. As I said I don't subscribe to giving up meat all together, but you could try for a happy medium - go meatless at least once a week for a substantial effect on environmental and health benefits. Eating a sustainably raised beef burger might be better for the environment, but occasionally NOT having that burger you crave for can be even better. If only we could get the USA to reduce the standard size of a meal (be it burger or steak). That would be an interesting project. beef, burger, eating meat, environmental, meat, sustainable meat nonadult false Food for Thought text blog beef,burger,eating meat,environmental,meat,sustainable meat 44 0 0.0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false NONE 0 Environmental 0 2399203 3475948 Member 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Chickens-a-year-on/BLOG/2386101/51250.html Well... if anyone remembers we got some chickens last year, and purchased a thing called an Eglu which is nicknamed a chicken caravan by many of our friends. Its plastic and easy to clean. It also has wheels so if you have a large enough garden you can move it round so that when the chickens are in the run they don't destroy the patch of grass too severely. All good in theory, but with 6 chickens at the time and a small garden, we found out within days there was no way of stopping the chucks from devouring everything and turning the ground into a barron mud heap! So why did we bother... and more's the point why are we still going at it!? Simple.... the eggs are wonderful and in most people's opinion better even than the free range eggs you can buy from the shop. They all develop their own personality, and in my opinion watching their interactions is much better than playing a computer game like the Simms. They'll be friendly with you (especially if you have food) and they'll even let you pick them up when they're used to it. We started with 6 chickens but unfortunately over last year we lost two of them through natural causes. I response was to add another 6 making a total of 10! But recently again, we're lost two more, so we're left with 8 chucks now. Getting real about it, I have had to dispatch two of them myself out of being humane. Here's the reality check: They poo everywhere, eat everything edible, and desttroy anything that's not. Where we used to have a lawn, I had to ring-fence them in and they turned it into a field of mud. If you've got a garden you're proud of I wouldn't recommend you let them have free range of all of it. Mucking them out is not the nicest of jobs, but with the Eglu being plastic its a much easier job... and you can hose the whole thing down every so often. That said, we're really glad we did it. With 8 chickens now, we're averaging about 7 eggs a day. OF course we can't eat all of them, so our neighbours and friends gladly help in that part of the process in return for a small donation towards their food. We're lucky we work from home, so we can keep an eye on them at all times, but they're quite happy to run around on their own as long as you can lock them in at night and let them out again in the morning... oh and obviously the odd treat to keep them happy with you! So all in all, if you're considering chickens we'd recommend it to everyone, and with them being more eco-friendly than most its a bonus! Well... if anyone remembers we got some chickens last year, and purchased a thing called an Eglu which is nicknamed a chicken caravan by many of our friends. Its plastic and easy to clean. It also has wheels so if you have a large enough garden you can move it round so that when the chickens are in the run they don't destroy the patch of grass too severely. All good in theory, but with 6 chickens at the time and a small garden, we found out within days there was no way of stopping the chucks from devouring everything and turning the ground into a barron mud heap! So why did we bother... and more's the point why are we still going at it!? Simple.... the eggs are wonderful and in most people's opinion better even than the free range eggs you can buy from the shop. They all develop their own personality, and in my opinion watching their interactions is much better than playing a computer game like the Simms. They'll be friendly with you (especially if you have food) and they'll even let you pick them up when they're used to it. We started with 6 chickens but unfortunately over last year we lost two of them through natural causes. I response was to add another 6 making a total of 10! But recently again, we're lost two more, so we're left with 8 chucks now. Getting real about it, I have had to dispatch two of them myself out of being humane. Here's the reality check: They poo everywhere, eat everything edible, and desttroy anything that's not. Where we used to have a lawn, I had to ring-fence them in and they turned it into a field of mud. If you've got a garden you're proud of I wouldn't recommend you let them have free range of all of it. Mucking them out is not the nicest of jobs, but with the Eglu being plastic its a much easier job... and you can hose the whole thing down every so often. That said, we're really glad we did it. With 8 chickens now, we're averaging about 7 eggs a day. OF course we can't eat all of them, so our neighbours and friends gladly help in that part of the process in return for a small donation towards their food. We're lucky we work from home, so we can keep an eye on them at all times, but they're quite happy to run around on their own as long as you can lock them in at night and let them out again in the morning... oh and obviously the odd treat to keep them happy with you! So all in all, if you're considering chickens we'd recommend it to everyone, and with them being more eco-friendly than most its a bonus! Wed, 09 Jun 2010 09:50:51 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Chickens-a-year-on/BLOG/2386101/51250.html RobLyons 2010-06-09T09:50:51Z Just for Fun Click4Carbon Well... if anyone remembers we got some chickens last year, and purchased a thing called an Eglu which is nicknamed a chicken caravan by many of our friends. Its plastic and easy to clean. It also has wheels so if you have a large enough garden you can move it round so that when the chickens are in the run they don't destroy the patch of grass too severely. All good in theory, but with 6 chickens at the time and a small garden, we found out within days there was no way of stopping the chucks from devouring everything and turning the ground into a barron mud heap! So why did we bother... and more's the point why are we still going at it!? Simple.... the eggs are wonderful and in most people's opinion better even than the free range eggs you can buy from the shop. They all develop their own personality, and in my opinion watching their interactions is much better than playing a computer game like the Simms. They'll be friendly with you (especially if you have food) and they'll even let you pick them up when they're used to it. We started with 6 chickens but unfortunately over last year we lost two of them through natural causes. I response was to add another 6 making a total of 10! But recently again, we're lost two more, so we're left with 8 chucks now. Getting real about it, I have had to dispatch two of them myself out of being humane. Here's the reality check: They poo everywhere, eat everything edible, and desttroy anything that's not. Where we used to have a lawn, I had to ring-fence them in and they turned it into a field of mud. If you've got a garden you're proud of I wouldn't recommend you let them have free range of all of it. Mucking them out is not the nicest of jobs, but with the Eglu being plastic its a much easier job... and you can hose the whole thing down every so often. That said, we're really glad we did it. With 8 chickens now, we're averaging about 7 eggs a day. OF course we can't eat all of them, so our neighbours and friends gladly help in that part of the process in return for a small donation towards their food. We're lucky we work from home, so we can keep an eye on them at all times, but they're quite happy to run around on their own as long as you can lock them in at night and let them out again in the morning... oh and obviously the odd treat to keep them happy with you! So all in all, if you're considering chickens we'd recommend it to everyone, and with them being more eco-friendly than most its a bonus! chickens, eggs, eglu, just for fun nonadult false Chickens a year on text blog chickens,eggs,eglu,just for fun 61 0 0.0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false United Kingdom NONE 1 Just for Fun 0 2386101 3475948 Member 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Volcano-in-Iceland/BLOG/2311374/51250.html Maybe not a direct issue with being eco friendly, but what happend with the Volcano in Iceland (Eyjafjallajokull) proves a point about how dependent on mother nature we are. We all know the obviously direct effects on air flights through europe, but there's plenty of economic knock-on effects where for example, business bound by delivery agreements are going to get penalised for not delivering on time. And I'm sure we've only just touched the tip of the economic iceberg on that one. BUT then there's the awe inspiring side of what actually goes on when a volcano erupts. I'm in two minds about wanting to be there at the moment, but someone put a load of pictures together and even made it a screensaver.You won't believe how incredibly these pictures are, and they're even asking for more images if you have them. http://yourownscreensaver.com/screensavers/free-screensavers/alternative/257-volcanic-events Oh... and I'm impressed if you can pronounce "Eyjafjallajokull" as I'm still having problems with Reykjavik. Maybe not a direct issue with being eco friendly, but what happend with the Volcano in Iceland (Eyjafjallajokull) proves a point about how dependent on mother nature we are. We all know the obviously direct effects on air flights through europe, but there's plenty of economic knock-on effects where for example, business bound by delivery agreements are going to get penalised for not delivering on time. And I'm sure we've only just touched the tip of the economic iceberg on that one. BUT then there's the awe inspiring side of what actually goes on when a volcano erupts. I'm in two minds about wanting to be there at the moment, but someone put a load of pictures together and even made it a screensaver.You won't believe how incredibly these pictures are, and they're even asking for more images if you have them. http://yourownscreensaver.com/screensavers/free-screensavers/alternative/257-volcanic-events Oh... and I'm impressed if you can pronounce "Eyjafjallajokull" as I'm still having problems with Reykjavik. Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:23:10 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Volcano-in-Iceland/BLOG/2311374/51250.html RobLyons 2010-04-23T16:23:10Z Just for Fun Click4Carbon Maybe not a direct issue with being eco friendly, but what happend with the Volcano in Iceland (Eyjafjallajokull) proves a point about how dependent on mother nature we are. We all know the obviously direct effects on air flights through europe, but there's plenty of economic knock-on effects where for example, business bound by delivery agreements are going to get penalised for not delivering on time. And I'm sure we've only just touched the tip of the economic iceberg on that one. BUT then there's the awe inspiring side of what actually goes on when a volcano erupts. I'm in two minds about wanting to be there at the moment, but someone put a load of pictures together and even made it a screensaver.You won't believe how incredibly these pictures are, and they're even asking for more images if you have them. http://yourownscreensaver.com/screensavers/free-screensavers/alternative/257-volcanic-events Oh... and I'm impressed if you can pronounce "Eyjafjallajokull" as I'm still having problems with Reykjavik. eyjafjallajokull, iceland, just for fun, screensaver, volcano nonadult false Volcano in Iceland text blog eyjafjallajokull,iceland,just for fun,screensaver,volcano 71 0 0.0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false United Kingdom NONE 0 Just for Fun 0 2311374 3475948 Member 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Eco-home/BLOG/484771/51250.html Whilst surfing the net (as you do) I came across this site, which I thought was "quite good!"   http://www.simondale.net/house/index.htm   Whilst surfing the net (as you do) I came across this site, which I thought was "quite good!"   http://www.simondale.net/house/index.htm   Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:07:07 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Eco-home/BLOG/484771/51250.html RobLyons 2009-07-30T09:07:07Z Environmental Click4Carbon Whilst surfing the net (as you do) I came across this site, which I thought was "quite good!"   http://www.simondale.net/house/index.htm   architect, build, eco, environmental, home, woodland nonadult false Eco home...? text blog architect,build,eco,environmental,home,woodland 256 0 0.0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false NONE 0 Environmental 0 484771 3475948 Member 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Chickens-Day-32/BLOG/335799/51250.html Well its day 32 of chickens and they're happily plodding around making a mess of everything. We finally lost our cool about letting them roam the whole yard. Our poor dog no longer had anywhere to lie in the sun (while we've got some this year) without being in chicken doo doo. So... off I went down to the shop and got some chicken wire. We cordoned off 2/3 of the grass so they can happily make a mess of that area, and I spent 2 hours with a power jet hosing down the decking and pavings. Poor dog now has a bit of grass and all the walkways to himself, so he's cheered up a bit. The eggs are still wonderful and people are now asking if they can buy a few off us weekly. We've has a small problem over the last couple of days with two of the chickens (Korma and PAsty) suffering from (we think) being egg bound. I checked them this morning and they're looking a lot more perky but I don't think its over yet. Anyone with any ideas to help them please let me know. There's plenty of stuff on the internet about it, but not so much about helping them. Well its day 32 of chickens and they're happily plodding around making a mess of everything. We finally lost our cool about letting them roam the whole yard. Our poor dog no longer had anywhere to lie in the sun (while we've got some this year) without being in chicken doo doo. So... off I went down to the shop and got some chicken wire. We cordoned off 2/3 of the grass so they can happily make a mess of that area, and I spent 2 hours with a power jet hosing down the decking and pavings. Poor dog now has a bit of grass and all the walkways to himself, so he's cheered up a bit. The eggs are still wonderful and people are now asking if they can buy a few off us weekly. We've has a small problem over the last couple of days with two of the chickens (Korma and PAsty) suffering from (we think) being egg bound. I checked them this morning and they're looking a lot more perky but I don't think its over yet. Anyone with any ideas to help them please let me know. There's plenty of stuff on the internet about it, but not so much about helping them. Fri, 05 Jun 2009 06:12:07 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Chickens-Day-32/BLOG/335799/51250.html RobLyons 2009-06-05T06:12:07Z Environmental Click4Carbon Well its day 32 of chickens and they're happily plodding around making a mess of everything. We finally lost our cool about letting them roam the whole yard. Our poor dog no longer had anywhere to lie in the sun (while we've got some this year) without being in chicken doo doo. So... off I went down to the shop and got some chicken wire. We cordoned off 2/3 of the grass so they can happily make a mess of that area, and I spent 2 hours with a power jet hosing down the decking and pavings. Poor dog now has a bit of grass and all the walkways to himself, so he's cheered up a bit. The eggs are still wonderful and people are now asking if they can buy a few off us weekly. We've has a small problem over the last couple of days with two of the chickens (Korma and PAsty) suffering from (we think) being egg bound. I checked them this morning and they're looking a lot more perky but I don't think its over yet. Anyone with any ideas to help them please let me know. There's plenty of stuff on the internet about it, but not so much about helping them. chickens, eggs, eglu, environmental nonadult false Chickens - Day 32 text blog chickens,eggs,eglu,environmental 304 0 0.0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false NONE 2 Environmental 0 335799 3475948 Member 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Chickens-Day-16/BLOG/283286/51250.html Well, we've had them for a while now.. yep... 16 days. They're great, but we have had to spend some money on the extra little things, like plastic sealable tubs for the food pellets, and making sure our pressure hose was working properly to shift the "fertiliser" off the walking areas. Thy've settled in now too. We can just open the Eglu door in the moing and let them alone til dusk. They then naturally want to go huddle up in the sleeping area and they keep quiet too. A word of warning to anyone thinking about getting some... they seem to wander around aimlessly, eating anything and with their rear orifice seemingly permanently open. Yep... there's s**t everywhere.What grass we had is slowly turning into marsh land, though I reckon we could probably grow anything we wanted in the soil this summer. We don't let this put a dampener on things though. The eggs are lovely, and all our neighbors so far have been over the moon with the sample eggs we've given them.We've had a letter of thanks addressed to us AND the chickens from one neighbor; and another has bropped some newspaper clippings about chickens round to us. Two of them have already offered to look after them if we go away too! An omlet tonight I think! [image] Well, we've had them for a while now.. yep... 16 days. They're great, but we have had to spend some money on the extra little things, like plastic sealable tubs for the food pellets, and making sure our pressure hose was working properly to shift the "fertiliser" off the walking areas. Thy've settled in now too. We can just open the Eglu door in the moing and let them alone til dusk. They then naturally want to go huddle up in the sleeping area and they keep quiet too. A word of warning to anyone thinking about getting some... they seem to wander around aimlessly, eating anything and with their rear orifice seemingly permanently open. Yep... there's s**t everywhere.What grass we had is slowly turning into marsh land, though I reckon we could probably grow anything we wanted in the soil this summer. We don't let this put a dampener on things though. The eggs are lovely, and all our neighbors so far have been over the moon with the sample eggs we've given them.We've had a letter of thanks addressed to us AND the chickens from one neighbor; and another has bropped some newspaper clippings about chickens round to us. Two of them have already offered to look after them if we go away too! An omlet tonight I think! [image] Wed, 20 May 2009 07:46:55 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Chickens-Day-16/BLOG/283286/51250.html RobLyons 2009-05-20T07:46:55Z Environmental Click4Carbon Well, we've had them for a while now.. yep... 16 days. They're great, but we have had to spend some money on the extra little things, like plastic sealable tubs for the food pellets, and making sure our pressure hose was working properly to shift the "fertiliser" off the walking areas. Thy've settled in now too. We can just open the Eglu door in the moing and let them alone til dusk. They then naturally want to go huddle up in the sleeping area and they keep quiet too. A word of warning to anyone thinking about getting some... they seem to wander around aimlessly, eating anything and with their rear orifice seemingly permanently open. Yep... there's s**t everywhere.What grass we had is slowly turning into marsh land, though I reckon we could probably grow anything we wanted in the soil this summer. We don't let this put a dampener on things though. The eggs are lovely, and all our neighbors so far have been over the moon with the sample eggs we've given them.We've had a letter of thanks addressed to us AND the chickens from one neighbor; and another has bropped some newspaper clippings about chickens round to us. Two of them have already offered to look after them if we go away too! An omlet tonight I think! [image] chicken, egg, eglu, environmental, freerange nonadult false Chickens - Day 16 text blog chicken,egg,eglu,environmental,freerange 281 0 0.0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false NONE 0 Environmental 0 283286 3475948 Member 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Chickens-Day-3/BLOG/271596/51250.html A little bit late on posting, but its worth the wait. lol.Well, I spent about 2 hours levelling a piece of ground at the back of our garden so we could give this Eglu chicken roost a more permanent home. Wasn't sure if it would fit at first. Our garden is a little on the small side.After 2 hours of sweat and toil, digging through tree roots to do it, I finally managed to get what looks like a reasonably level piece of ground, and we wheeled the eglu into it. Trust me...that's the most back breaking work I've done in a very long while, and I'm still acheing all over.Reading up on it, we went and got some wood bark chips and filled the ground with it.While we were doing all this we actually let the chickens out for 5 minutes.... the problem was they loved it so much we spend 10 minutes trying to round them back up and into the Eglu run. They do tell you not to let the chickens out for 5 days so that they know where home is and don't just dawdle off. I say dawdle rather than "run off" because they're so thick they just wouldn't know.[image] [image]So, here's a pretty pic of the now permanent Eglu: We got another 5 eggs today! they're a bit small, but hey, they're only small chickens. They made enough noise trying to get them out so I think they're glad they're pretty small.We've given a few away already.... and people want more!Eventually we'll put a price on them so that it covers the costs. A little bit late on posting, but its worth the wait. lol.Well, I spent about 2 hours levelling a piece of ground at the back of our garden so we could give this Eglu chicken roost a more permanent home. Wasn't sure if it would fit at first. Our garden is a little on the small side.After 2 hours of sweat and toil, digging through tree roots to do it, I finally managed to get what looks like a reasonably level piece of ground, and we wheeled the eglu into it. Trust me...that's the most back breaking work I've done in a very long while, and I'm still acheing all over.Reading up on it, we went and got some wood bark chips and filled the ground with it.While we were doing all this we actually let the chickens out for 5 minutes.... the problem was they loved it so much we spend 10 minutes trying to round them back up and into the Eglu run. They do tell you not to let the chickens out for 5 days so that they know where home is and don't just dawdle off. I say dawdle rather than "run off" because they're so thick they just wouldn't know.[image] [image]So, here's a pretty pic of the now permanent Eglu: We got another 5 eggs today! they're a bit small, but hey, they're only small chickens. They made enough noise trying to get them out so I think they're glad they're pretty small.We've given a few away already.... and people want more!Eventually we'll put a price on them so that it covers the costs. Fri, 08 May 2009 14:16:03 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Chickens-Day-3/BLOG/271596/51250.html RobLyons 2009-05-08T14:16:03Z Environmental Click4Carbon A little bit late on posting, but its worth the wait. lol.Well, I spent about 2 hours levelling a piece of ground at the back of our garden so we could give this Eglu chicken roost a more permanent home. Wasn't sure if it would fit at first. Our garden is a little on the small side.After 2 hours of sweat and toil, digging through tree roots to do it, I finally managed to get what looks like a reasonably level piece of ground, and we wheeled the eglu into it. Trust me...that's the most back breaking work I've done in a very long while, and I'm still acheing all over.Reading up on it, we went and got some wood bark chips and filled the ground with it.While we were doing all this we actually let the chickens out for 5 minutes.... the problem was they loved it so much we spend 10 minutes trying to round them back up and into the Eglu run. They do tell you not to let the chickens out for 5 days so that they know where home is and don't just dawdle off. I say dawdle rather than "run off" because they're so thick they just wouldn't know.[image] [image]So, here's a pretty pic of the now permanent Eglu: We got another 5 eggs today! they're a bit small, but hey, they're only small chickens. They made enough noise trying to get them out so I think they're glad they're pretty small.We've given a few away already.... and people want more!Eventually we'll put a price on them so that it covers the costs. chicken, eggs, eglu, environmental, free range nonadult false Chickens - Day 3 text blog chicken,eggs,eglu,environmental,free range 259 0 0.0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false NONE 0 Environmental 0 271596 3475948 Member 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Chickens-Day-2/BLOG/269180/51250.html Yes!Well...last night, I had to man-handle the daft birds into the Eglu but they were pretty happy with that after sitting dumbly in the closest corner to the light eminating from the house. Allegedly as dusk comes they're meant to naturally pop themselves into the Eglue, but as a suggestion I put a torch in there to help them on their way.....but NO!...they're just too thick.So this morning at 6:30 I opened the door and believe it or not they understood to come out all on their very own.They were clucking quite enthusiastically by 9am and by 10am I had a peek in at the roosting area and quess what!!!!!!!!! All that clucking was from the hard work of extricating eggs![image]We got 5 this morning... but they didn't last long as we had a friend round and by 11:30 they were being globbled down by us in the form of fried egg butties![image]They were absolutely yummy and didn't taste a bit like little chicklets!!! I suppose what I can't believe is exactly how clean they were for me to pick them out! Yes!Well...last night, I had to man-handle the daft birds into the Eglu but they were pretty happy with that after sitting dumbly in the closest corner to the light eminating from the house. Allegedly as dusk comes they're meant to naturally pop themselves into the Eglue, but as a suggestion I put a torch in there to help them on their way.....but NO!...they're just too thick.So this morning at 6:30 I opened the door and believe it or not they understood to come out all on their very own.They were clucking quite enthusiastically by 9am and by 10am I had a peek in at the roosting area and quess what!!!!!!!!! All that clucking was from the hard work of extricating eggs![image]We got 5 this morning... but they didn't last long as we had a friend round and by 11:30 they were being globbled down by us in the form of fried egg butties![image]They were absolutely yummy and didn't taste a bit like little chicklets!!! I suppose what I can't believe is exactly how clean they were for me to pick them out! Wed, 06 May 2009 15:42:13 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Chickens-Day-2/BLOG/269180/51250.html RobLyons 2009-05-06T15:42:13Z Environmental Click4Carbon Yes!Well...last night, I had to man-handle the daft birds into the Eglu but they were pretty happy with that after sitting dumbly in the closest corner to the light eminating from the house. Allegedly as dusk comes they're meant to naturally pop themselves into the Eglue, but as a suggestion I put a torch in there to help them on their way.....but NO!...they're just too thick.So this morning at 6:30 I opened the door and believe it or not they understood to come out all on their very own.They were clucking quite enthusiastically by 9am and by 10am I had a peek in at the roosting area and quess what!!!!!!!!! All that clucking was from the hard work of extricating eggs![image]We got 5 this morning... but they didn't last long as we had a friend round and by 11:30 they were being globbled down by us in the form of fried egg butties![image]They were absolutely yummy and didn't taste a bit like little chicklets!!! I suppose what I can't believe is exactly how clean they were for me to pick them out! chickens, eggs, eglu, environmental, free range nonadult false Chickens - Day 2 text blog chickens,eggs,eglu,environmental,free range 280 10 3.0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false NONE 1 Environmental 0 269180 3475948 Member 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Chickens-Day-1/BLOG/267869/51250.html Well...they're here! We've got 6 clucking chickens, and even the dog is excited, but being very sensible. Took 1 hour to build and put them in. We clipped their wings (one side only) and we're keeping them in the Eglu for a few days til they get used to their new home. Then... we'll see what happens when we open the door. They guy said they were already laying, which is great as we were expecting it to be a few weeks yet. We will see if we get anything by tomorrow. Yuo never know. We've not named them yet... but we will, although they're NOT pets... no point in making yourself feel guilty by eating the egs or them dying or shown the oven. Until my next blog, here's a few snaps of them on the right: [image][image][image][image] Well...they're here! We've got 6 clucking chickens, and even the dog is excited, but being very sensible. Took 1 hour to build and put them in. We clipped their wings (one side only) and we're keeping them in the Eglu for a few days til they get used to their new home. Then... we'll see what happens when we open the door. They guy said they were already laying, which is great as we were expecting it to be a few weeks yet. We will see if we get anything by tomorrow. Yuo never know. We've not named them yet... but we will, although they're NOT pets... no point in making yourself feel guilty by eating the egs or them dying or shown the oven. Until my next blog, here's a few snaps of them on the right: [image][image][image][image] Tue, 05 May 2009 16:34:57 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Chickens-Day-1/BLOG/267869/51250.html RobLyons 2009-05-05T16:34:57Z Environmental Click4Carbon Well...they're here! We've got 6 clucking chickens, and even the dog is excited, but being very sensible. Took 1 hour to build and put them in. We clipped their wings (one side only) and we're keeping them in the Eglu for a few days til they get used to their new home. Then... we'll see what happens when we open the door. They guy said they were already laying, which is great as we were expecting it to be a few weeks yet. We will see if we get anything by tomorrow. Yuo never know. We've not named them yet... but we will, although they're NOT pets... no point in making yourself feel guilty by eating the egs or them dying or shown the oven. Until my next blog, here's a few snaps of them on the right: [image][image][image][image] chickens, eggs, eglu, environmental, free range nonadult false Chickens - Day 1 text blog chickens,eggs,eglu,environmental,free range 293 10 5.0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false NONE 3 Environmental 0 267869 3475948 Member 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Chickens/BLOG/240729/51250.html   Well, believe it or not, me and my partner have decided to invest in some chickens. What for? Simple...Eggs. What I decided was to start keeping a blog to let you know of the trials and tribulations of doing this from a person who willing to give it a go but has no idea what is in store.We only have a small garden, and frankly its only just big enough to swing a cat (or our dog) in. We're not going on a self-sufficiency crusade, but if this blog helps sway anyone out there to get the courage to do this, then I've done my job. First things first.... we needed housing for them. We considered trying to build a chicken coop, but as we seem to spend longer and longer working at the computer these days, we thought we'd cheat and buy something in. We're also not the "Smiths vs Jones" type either, but on this occasion we found something that made a pretty cool and trendy statement and even become a feature in the garden. The product is called an Eglu Cube. Its made of plastic and comes with a chicken run of a couple of metres. And here's a picture  of it:[image]So, where are we now? We ordered the Eglu Cube along with 6 chickens. The company, if you're interested is Omlet, and can be found by Omlet Eglu Cube. Here's the crunch.... the one we bought just cost us in the region of £600. So this is as much of a lifestyle choice as it is an economic decision. It will take us a while to recoup (pardon the pun) the monies invested by accumulating and even selling the eggs. But before you lose interest due to the pricing rememer this: We got 6 chickens a raft load of accessories A delivery guy who is going to install, the Eglu Cube and show us how to clip the wings so the chickens don't fly over to nextdoor too often. Our delivery date is 5th May 2009 so we are waiting in anticipation on our new fine feathered friends. Hopefully in the next few weeks and months I'll have plenty to say on the trials and tribulations of a chicken farmer (Is there a technical term for someone that does that?). So please keep coming back, and give me your thoughts too.   Well, believe it or not, me and my partner have decided to invest in some chickens. What for? Simple...Eggs. What I decided was to start keeping a blog to let you know of the trials and tribulations of doing this from a person who willing to give it a go but has no idea what is in store.We only have a small garden, and frankly its only just big enough to swing a cat (or our dog) in. We're not going on a self-sufficiency crusade, but if this blog helps sway anyone out there to get the courage to do this, then I've done my job. First things first.... we needed housing for them. We considered trying to build a chicken coop, but as we seem to spend longer and longer working at the computer these days, we thought we'd cheat and buy something in. We're also not the "Smiths vs Jones" type either, but on this occasion we found something that made a pretty cool and trendy statement and even become a feature in the garden. The product is called an Eglu Cube. Its made of plastic and comes with a chicken run of a couple of metres. And here's a picture  of it:[image]So, where are we now? We ordered the Eglu Cube along with 6 chickens. The company, if you're interested is Omlet, and can be found by Omlet Eglu Cube. Here's the crunch.... the one we bought just cost us in the region of £600. So this is as much of a lifestyle choice as it is an economic decision. It will take us a while to recoup (pardon the pun) the monies invested by accumulating and even selling the eggs. But before you lose interest due to the pricing rememer this: We got 6 chickens a raft load of accessories A delivery guy who is going to install, the Eglu Cube and show us how to clip the wings so the chickens don't fly over to nextdoor too often. Our delivery date is 5th May 2009 so we are waiting in anticipation on our new fine feathered friends. Hopefully in the next few weeks and months I'll have plenty to say on the trials and tribulations of a chicken farmer (Is there a technical term for someone that does that?). So please keep coming back, and give me your thoughts too. Mon, 13 Apr 2009 08:37:24 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Chickens/BLOG/240729/51250.html RobLyons 2009-04-13T08:37:24Z Environmental Click4Carbon   Well, believe it or not, me and my partner have decided to invest in some chickens. What for? Simple...Eggs. What I decided was to start keeping a blog to let you know of the trials and tribulations of doing this from a person who willing to give it a go but has no idea what is in store.We only have a small garden, and frankly its only just big enough to swing a cat (or our dog) in. We're not going on a self-sufficiency crusade, but if this blog helps sway anyone out there to get the courage to do this, then I've done my job. First things first.... we needed housing for them. We considered trying to build a chicken coop, but as we seem to spend longer and longer working at the computer these days, we thought we'd cheat and buy something in. We're also not the "Smiths vs Jones" type either, but on this occasion we found something that made a pretty cool and trendy statement and even become a feature in the garden. The product is called an Eglu Cube. Its made of plastic and comes with a chicken run of a couple of metres. And here's a picture  of it:[image]So, where are we now? We ordered the Eglu Cube along with 6 chickens. The company, if you're interested is Omlet, and can be found by Omlet Eglu Cube. Here's the crunch.... the one we bought just cost us in the region of £600. So this is as much of a lifestyle choice as it is an economic decision. It will take us a while to recoup (pardon the pun) the monies invested by accumulating and even selling the eggs. But before you lose interest due to the pricing rememer this: We got 6 chickens a raft load of accessories A delivery guy who is going to install, the Eglu Cube and show us how to clip the wings so the chickens don't fly over to nextdoor too often. Our delivery date is 5th May 2009 so we are waiting in anticipation on our new fine feathered friends. Hopefully in the next few weeks and months I'll have plenty to say on the trials and tribulations of a chicken farmer (Is there a technical term for someone that does that?). So please keep coming back, and give me your thoughts too. chickens, coop, eggs, eglu cube, environmental, omlet nonadult false Chickens text blog chickens,coop,eggs,eglu cube,environmental,omlet 387 20 4.0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false United Kingdom NONE 0 Environmental 0 240729 3475948 Member 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Meals-on-Wings/BLOG/171419/51250.html Well, the reality is a lot of us still take flights for business or holiday reasons. Its easy to say we shouldn't, but its a reality and this post isn't about the moralities of flying. However, there are times when you just have to observe, accept, and even laugh.A letter was recently received by the Virgin Atlantic customer complaints team and is currently being hailed on news blogs as possibly the funniest customer complaint letter ever. The Virgin Atlantic press office have confirmed they received the letter and that Richard Branson himself called the author to thank him for the feedback.  Rumour has it the complainant has been asked by Richard Branson to be on a food tasting panel for the food they serve on Virgin Atlantic Flights.Here's the letter: Dear Mr Branson REF: Mumbai to Heathrow 7th December 2008 I love the Virgin brand, I really do which is why I continue to use it despite a series of unfortunate incidents over the last few years. This latest incident takes the biscuit. Ironically, by the end of the flight I would have gladly paid over a thousand rupees for a single biscuit following the culinary journey of hell I was subjected to at the hands of your corporation. Look at this Richard. Just look at it:[image] I imagine the same questions are racing through your brilliant mind as were racing through mine on that fateful day. What is this? Why have I been given it? What have I done to deserve this? And, which one is the starter, which one is the desert? You don't get to a position like yours Richard with anything less than a generous sprinkling of observational power so I KNOW you will have spotted the tomato next to the two yellow shafts of sponge on the left. Yes, it's next to the sponge shaft without the green paste. That's got to be the clue hasn't it. No sane person would serve a desert with a tomato would they. Well answer me this Richard, what sort of animal would serve a desert with peas in: [image] I know it looks like a baaji but it's in custard Richard, custard. It must be the pudding. Well you'll be fascinated to hear that it wasn't custard. It was a sour gel with a clear oil on top. It's only redeeming feature was that it managed to be so alien to my palette that it took away the taste of the curry emanating from our miscellaneous central cuboid of beige matter. Perhaps the meal on the left might be the desert after all. Anyway, this is all irrelevant at the moment. I was raised strictly but neatly by my parents and if they knew I had started desert before the main course, a sponge shaft would be the least of my worries. So lets peel back the tin-foil on the main dish and see what's on offer. I'll try and explain how this felt. Imagine being a twelve year old boy Richard. Now imagine it's Christmas morning and you're sat their with your final present to open. It's a big one, and you know what it is. It's that Goodmans stereo you picked out the catalogue and wrote to Santa about. Only you open the present and it's not in there. It's your hamster Richard. It's your hamster in the box and it's not breathing. That's how I felt when I peeled back the foil and saw this: [image] Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking it's more of that Baaji custard. I admit I thought the same too, but no. It's mustard Richard. MUSTARD. More mustard than any man could consume in a month. On the left we have a piece of broccoli and some peppers in a brown glue-like oil and on the right the chef had prepared some mashed potato. The potato masher had obviously broken and so it was decided the next best thing would be to pass the potatoes through the digestive tract of a bird. Once it was regurgitated it was clearly then blended and mixed with a bit of mustard. Everybody likes a bit of mustard Richard. By now I was actually starting to feel a little hypoglycaemic. I needed a sugar hit. Luckily there was a small cookie provided. It had caught my eye earlier due to it's baffling presentation:  [image] It appears to be in an evidence bag from the scene of a crime. A CRIME AGAINST BLOODY COOKING. Either that or some sort of back-street underground cookie, purchased off a gun-toting maniac high on his own supply of yeast. You certainly wouldn't want to be caught carrying one of these through customs. Imagine biting into a piece of brass Richard. That would be softer on the teeth than the specimen above. I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was relax but obviously I had to sit with that mess in front of me for half an hour. I swear the sponge shafts moved at one point. Once cleared, I decided to relax with a bit of your world-famous onboard entertainment. I switched it on:  [image] I apologise for the quality of the photo, it's just it was incredibly hard to capture Boris Johnson's face through the flickering white lines running up and down the screen. Perhaps it would be better on another channel:  [image] Is that Ray Liotta? A question I found myself asking over and over again throughout the gruelling half-hour I attempted to watch the film like this. After that I switched off. I'd had enough. I was the hungriest I'd been in my adult life and I had a splitting headache from squinting at a crackling screen. My only option was to simply stare at the seat in front and wait for either food, or sleep. Neither came for an incredibly long time. But when it did it surpassed my wildest expectations:  [image] Yes! It's another crime-scene cookie. Only this time you dunk it in the white stuff. Richard.... What is that white stuff? It looked like it was going to be yoghurt. It finally dawned on me what it was after staring at it. It was a mixture between the Baaji custard and the Mustard sauce. It reminded me of my first week at university. I had overheard that you could make a drink by mixing vodka and refreshers. I lied to my new friends and told them I'd done it loads of times. When I attempted to make the drink in a big bowl it formed a cheese Richard, a cheese. That cheese looked a lot like your baaji-mustard. So that was that Richard. I didn't eat a bloody thing. My only question is: How can you live like this? I can't imagine what dinner round your house is like, it must be like something out of a nature documentary. As I said at the start I love your brand, I really do. It's just a shame such a simple thing could bring it crashing to it's knees and begging for sustenance. Yours Sincererly... Well, the reality is a lot of us still take flights for business or holiday reasons. Its easy to say we shouldn't, but its a reality and this post isn't about the moralities of flying. However, there are times when you just have to observe, accept, and even laugh.A letter was recently received by the Virgin Atlantic customer complaints team and is currently being hailed on news blogs as possibly the funniest customer complaint letter ever. The Virgin Atlantic press office have confirmed they received the letter and that Richard Branson himself called the author to thank him for the feedback.  Rumour has it the complainant has been asked by Richard Branson to be on a food tasting panel for the food they serve on Virgin Atlantic Flights.Here's the letter: Dear Mr Branson REF: Mumbai to Heathrow 7th December 2008 I love the Virgin brand, I really do which is why I continue to use it despite a series of unfortunate incidents over the last few years. This latest incident takes the biscuit. Ironically, by the end of the flight I would have gladly paid over a thousand rupees for a single biscuit following the culinary journey of hell I was subjected to at the hands of your corporation. Look at this Richard. Just look at it:[image] I imagine the same questions are racing through your brilliant mind as were racing through mine on that fateful day. What is this? Why have I been given it? What have I done to deserve this? And, which one is the starter, which one is the desert? You don't get to a position like yours Richard with anything less than a generous sprinkling of observational power so I KNOW you will have spotted the tomato next to the two yellow shafts of sponge on the left. Yes, it's next to the sponge shaft without the green paste. That's got to be the clue hasn't it. No sane person would serve a desert with a tomato would they. Well answer me this Richard, what sort of animal would serve a desert with peas in: [image] I know it looks like a baaji but it's in custard Richard, custard. It must be the pudding. Well you'll be fascinated to hear that it wasn't custard. It was a sour gel with a clear oil on top. It's only redeeming feature was that it managed to be so alien to my palette that it took away the taste of the curry emanating from our miscellaneous central cuboid of beige matter. Perhaps the meal on the left might be the desert after all. Anyway, this is all irrelevant at the moment. I was raised strictly but neatly by my parents and if they knew I had started desert before the main course, a sponge shaft would be the least of my worries. So lets peel back the tin-foil on the main dish and see what's on offer. I'll try and explain how this felt. Imagine being a twelve year old boy Richard. Now imagine it's Christmas morning and you're sat their with your final present to open. It's a big one, and you know what it is. It's that Goodmans stereo you picked out the catalogue and wrote to Santa about. Only you open the present and it's not in there. It's your hamster Richard. It's your hamster in the box and it's not breathing. That's how I felt when I peeled back the foil and saw this: [image] Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking it's more of that Baaji custard. I admit I thought the same too, but no. It's mustard Richard. MUSTARD. More mustard than any man could consume in a month. On the left we have a piece of broccoli and some peppers in a brown glue-like oil and on the right the chef had prepared some mashed potato. The potato masher had obviously broken and so it was decided the next best thing would be to pass the potatoes through the digestive tract of a bird. Once it was regurgitated it was clearly then blended and mixed with a bit of mustard. Everybody likes a bit of mustard Richard. By now I was actually starting to feel a little hypoglycaemic. I needed a sugar hit. Luckily there was a small cookie provided. It had caught my eye earlier due to it's baffling presentation:  [image] It appears to be in an evidence bag from the scene of a crime. A CRIME AGAINST BLOODY COOKING. Either that or some sort of back-street underground cookie, purchased off a gun-toting maniac high on his own supply of yeast. You certainly wouldn't want to be caught carrying one of these through customs. Imagine biting into a piece of brass Richard. That would be softer on the teeth than the specimen above. I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was relax but obviously I had to sit with that mess in front of me for half an hour. I swear the sponge shafts moved at one point. Once cleared, I decided to relax with a bit of your world-famous onboard entertainment. I switched it on:  [image] I apologise for the quality of the photo, it's just it was incredibly hard to capture Boris Johnson's face through the flickering white lines running up and down the screen. Perhaps it would be better on another channel:  [image] Is that Ray Liotta? A question I found myself asking over and over again throughout the gruelling half-hour I attempted to watch the film like this. After that I switched off. I'd had enough. I was the hungriest I'd been in my adult life and I had a splitting headache from squinting at a crackling screen. My only option was to simply stare at the seat in front and wait for either food, or sleep. Neither came for an incredibly long time. But when it did it surpassed my wildest expectations:  [image] Yes! It's another crime-scene cookie. Only this time you dunk it in the white stuff. Richard.... What is that white stuff? It looked like it was going to be yoghurt. It finally dawned on me what it was after staring at it. It was a mixture between the Baaji custard and the Mustard sauce. It reminded me of my first week at university. I had overheard that you could make a drink by mixing vodka and refreshers. I lied to my new friends and told them I'd done it loads of times. When I attempted to make the drink in a big bowl it formed a cheese Richard, a cheese. That cheese looked a lot like your baaji-mustard. So that was that Richard. I didn't eat a bloody thing. My only question is: How can you live like this? I can't imagine what dinner round your house is like, it must be like something out of a nature documentary. As I said at the start I love your brand, I really do. It's just a shame such a simple thing could bring it crashing to it's knees and begging for sustenance. Yours Sincererly... Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:49:04 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Meals-on-Wings/BLOG/171419/51250.html RobLyons 2009-01-29T14:49:04Z Just for Fun Click4Carbon Well, the reality is a lot of us still take flights for business or holiday reasons. Its easy to say we shouldn't, but its a reality and this post isn't about the moralities of flying. However, there are times when you just have to observe, accept, and even laugh.A letter was recently received by the Virgin Atlantic customer complaints team and is currently being hailed on news blogs as possibly the funniest customer complaint letter ever. The Virgin Atlantic press office have confirmed they received the letter and that Richard Branson himself called the author to thank him for the feedback.  Rumour has it the complainant has been asked by Richard Branson to be on a food tasting panel for the food they serve on Virgin Atlantic Flights.Here's the letter: Dear Mr Branson REF: Mumbai to Heathrow 7th December 2008 I love the Virgin brand, I really do which is why I continue to use it despite a series of unfortunate incidents over the last few years. This latest incident takes the biscuit. Ironically, by the end of the flight I would have gladly paid over a thousand rupees for a single biscuit following the culinary journey of hell I was subjected to at the hands of your corporation. Look at this Richard. Just look at it:[image] I imagine the same questions are racing through your brilliant mind as were racing through mine on that fateful day. What is this? Why have I been given it? What have I done to deserve this? And, which one is the starter, which one is the desert? You don't get to a position like yours Richard with anything less than a generous sprinkling of observational power so I KNOW you will have spotted the tomato next to the two yellow shafts of sponge on the left. Yes, it's next to the sponge shaft without the green paste. That's got to be the clue hasn't it. No sane person would serve a desert with a tomato would they. Well answer me this Richard, what sort of animal would serve a desert with peas in: [image] I know it looks like a baaji but it's in custard Richard, custard. It must be the pudding. Well you'll be fascinated to hear that it wasn't custard. It was a sour gel with a clear oil on top. It's only redeeming feature was that it managed to be so alien to my palette that it took away the taste of the curry emanating from our miscellaneous central cuboid of beige matter. Perhaps the meal on the left might be the desert after all. Anyway, this is all irrelevant at the moment. I was raised strictly but neatly by my parents and if they knew I had started desert before the main course, a sponge shaft would be the least of my worries. So lets peel back the tin-foil on the main dish and see what's on offer. I'll try and explain how this felt. Imagine being a twelve year old boy Richard. Now imagine it's Christmas morning and you're sat their with your final present to open. It's a big one, and you know what it is. It's that Goodmans stereo you picked out the catalogue and wrote to Santa about. Only you open the present and it's not in there. It's your hamster Richard. It's your hamster in the box and it's not breathing. That's how I felt when I peeled back the foil and saw this: [image] Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking it's more of that Baaji custard. I admit I thought the same too, but no. It's mustard Richard. MUSTARD. More mustard than any man could consume in a month. On the left we have a piece of broccoli and some peppers in a brown glue-like oil and on the right the chef had prepared some mashed potato. The potato masher had obviously broken and so it was decided the next best thing would be to pass the potatoes through the digestive tract of a bird. Once it was regurgitated it was clearly then blended and mixed with a bit of mustard. Everybody likes a bit of mustard Richard. By now I was actually starting to feel a little hypoglycaemic. I needed a sugar hit. Luckily there was a small cookie provided. It had caught my eye earlier due to it's baffling presentation:  [image] It appears to be in an evidence bag from the scene of a crime. A CRIME AGAINST BLOODY COOKING. Either that or some sort of back-street underground cookie, purchased off a gun-toting maniac high on his own supply of yeast. You certainly wouldn't want to be caught carrying one of these through customs. Imagine biting into a piece of brass Richard. That would be softer on the teeth than the specimen above. I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was relax but obviously I had to sit with that mess in front of me for half an hour. I swear the sponge shafts moved at one point. Once cleared, I decided to relax with a bit of your world-famous onboard entertainment. I switched it on:  [image] I apologise for the quality of the photo, it's just it was incredibly hard to capture Boris Johnson's face through the flickering white lines running up and down the screen. Perhaps it would be better on another channel:  [image] Is that Ray Liotta? A question I found myself asking over and over again throughout the gruelling half-hour I attempted to watch the film like this. After that I switched off. I'd had enough. I was the hungriest I'd been in my adult life and I had a splitting headache from squinting at a crackling screen. My only option was to simply stare at the seat in front and wait for either food, or sleep. Neither came for an incredibly long time. But when it did it surpassed my wildest expectations:  [image] Yes! It's another crime-scene cookie. Only this time you dunk it in the white stuff. Richard.... What is that white stuff? It looked like it was going to be yoghurt. It finally dawned on me what it was after staring at it. It was a mixture between the Baaji custard and the Mustard sauce. It reminded me of my first week at university. I had overheard that you could make a drink by mixing vodka and refreshers. I lied to my new friends and told them I'd done it loads of times. When I attempted to make the drink in a big bowl it formed a cheese Richard, a cheese. That cheese looked a lot like your baaji-mustard. So that was that Richard. I didn't eat a bloody thing. My only question is: How can you live like this? I can't imagine what dinner round your house is like, it must be like something out of a nature documentary. As I said at the start I love your brand, I really do. It's just a shame such a simple thing could bring it crashing to it's knees and begging for sustenance. Yours Sincererly... atlantic, boris johnson, complaint, food, just for fun, plane, ray liotta, virgin nonadult false Meals on Wings text blog atlantic,boris johnson,complaint,food,just for fun,plane,ray liotta,virgin 392 10 3.0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false NONE 0 Just for Fun 0 171419 3475948 Member 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_The-cost-of-Searching-the-Web/BLOG/162365/51250.html You might have seen this artice (courtesy of the BBC) recently, but it is a good reminder that there is a worth to using Click4Carbon as your primary search engine, and a little reminder about maybe switching your PC off when you're not using it. Now we do of course use search systems (google included) to provide you results, but you do know you're helping towards offsetting the cost of searches by using us: 'Carbon cost' of Google revealed Two search requests on the internet website Google produce "as much carbon dioxide as boiling a kettle", according to a Harvard University academic. US physicist Alex Wissner-Gross claims that a typical Google search on a desktop computer produces about 7g CO2. However, these figures were disputed by Google, who say a typical search produced only 0.2g of carbon dioxide. A recent study by American research firm Gartner suggested that IT now causes two percent of global emissions. Dr Wissner-Gross's study claims that two Google searches on a desktop computer produces 14g of CO2, which is the roughly the equivalent of boiling an electric kettle. Carbon emissions The Harvard academic argues that these carbon emissions stem from the electricity used by the computer terminal and by the power consumed by the large data centres operated by Google around the world. [image] [image] If you want to supply really great and fast result, then that's going to take extra energy [image] Dr Alex Wissner-Gross Although the American search engine is renowned for returning fast results, Dr Wissner-Gross says it can only do so because it uses several data banks at the same time. Speaking to the BBC, he said a combination of clients, networks, servers and people's home computers all added up to a lot of energy usage. "Google isn't any worse than any other data centre operator. If you want to supply really great and fast result, then that's going to take extra energy to do so," he said. Dr Wissner-Gross said he was working on a website called co2stats.com which helps companies identify "energy inefficient" aspects of their websites. In a statement on its official blog, Google said that Dr Wissner-Gross' figures were "many times too high." The firm said that a typical search returned a result in less than 0.2 seconds and that the search itself only used its servers for a few thousandths of a second. This, said Google, amounted to 0.0003 kWh of energy per search - equivalent to 0.2g of CO2. "We've made great strides to reduce the energy used by our data centres, but we still want clean and affordable sources of electricity for the power that we do use," said Google in its statement. "In 2007, we co-founded the Climate Savers Computing Initiative. This non-profit consortium is committed to cutting the energy consumed by computers in half by 2010 and so reducing global CO2 emissions by 54 million tons per year. That's a lot of kettles." To read the original article follow this link to the BBC You might have seen this artice (courtesy of the BBC) recently, but it is a good reminder that there is a worth to using Click4Carbon as your primary search engine, and a little reminder about maybe switching your PC off when you're not using it. Now we do of course use search systems (google included) to provide you results, but you do know you're helping towards offsetting the cost of searches by using us: 'Carbon cost' of Google revealed Two search requests on the internet website Google produce "as much carbon dioxide as boiling a kettle", according to a Harvard University academic. US physicist Alex Wissner-Gross claims that a typical Google search on a desktop computer produces about 7g CO2. However, these figures were disputed by Google, who say a typical search produced only 0.2g of carbon dioxide. A recent study by American research firm Gartner suggested that IT now causes two percent of global emissions. Dr Wissner-Gross's study claims that two Google searches on a desktop computer produces 14g of CO2, which is the roughly the equivalent of boiling an electric kettle. Carbon emissions The Harvard academic argues that these carbon emissions stem from the electricity used by the computer terminal and by the power consumed by the large data centres operated by Google around the world. [image] [image] If you want to supply really great and fast result, then that's going to take extra energy [image] Dr Alex Wissner-Gross Although the American search engine is renowned for returning fast results, Dr Wissner-Gross says it can only do so because it uses several data banks at the same time. Speaking to the BBC, he said a combination of clients, networks, servers and people's home computers all added up to a lot of energy usage. "Google isn't any worse than any other data centre operator. If you want to supply really great and fast result, then that's going to take extra energy to do so," he said. Dr Wissner-Gross said he was working on a website called co2stats.com which helps companies identify "energy inefficient" aspects of their websites. In a statement on its official blog, Google said that Dr Wissner-Gross' figures were "many times too high." The firm said that a typical search returned a result in less than 0.2 seconds and that the search itself only used its servers for a few thousandths of a second. This, said Google, amounted to 0.0003 kWh of energy per search - equivalent to 0.2g of CO2. "We've made great strides to reduce the energy used by our data centres, but we still want clean and affordable sources of electricity for the power that we do use," said Google in its statement. "In 2007, we co-founded the Climate Savers Computing Initiative. This non-profit consortium is committed to cutting the energy consumed by computers in half by 2010 and so reducing global CO2 emissions by 54 million tons per year. That's a lot of kettles." To read the original article follow this link to the BBC Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:20:39 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_The-cost-of-Searching-the-Web/BLOG/162365/51250.html RobLyons 2009-01-13T10:20:39Z Click4Carbon You might have seen this artice (courtesy of the BBC) recently, but it is a good reminder that there is a worth to using Click4Carbon as your primary search engine, and a little reminder about maybe switching your PC off when you're not using it. Now we do of course use search systems (google included) to provide you results, but you do know you're helping towards offsetting the cost of searches by using us: 'Carbon cost' of Google revealed Two search requests on the internet website Google produce "as much carbon dioxide as boiling a kettle", according to a Harvard University academic. US physicist Alex Wissner-Gross claims that a typical Google search on a desktop computer produces about 7g CO2. However, these figures were disputed by Google, who say a typical search produced only 0.2g of carbon dioxide. A recent study by American research firm Gartner suggested that IT now causes two percent of global emissions. Dr Wissner-Gross's study claims that two Google searches on a desktop computer produces 14g of CO2, which is the roughly the equivalent of boiling an electric kettle. Carbon emissions The Harvard academic argues that these carbon emissions stem from the electricity used by the computer terminal and by the power consumed by the large data centres operated by Google around the world. [image] [image] If you want to supply really great and fast result, then that's going to take extra energy [image] Dr Alex Wissner-Gross Although the American search engine is renowned for returning fast results, Dr Wissner-Gross says it can only do so because it uses several data banks at the same time. Speaking to the BBC, he said a combination of clients, networks, servers and people's home computers all added up to a lot of energy usage. "Google isn't any worse than any other data centre operator. If you want to supply really great and fast result, then that's going to take extra energy to do so," he said. Dr Wissner-Gross said he was working on a website called co2stats.com which helps companies identify "energy inefficient" aspects of their websites. In a statement on its official blog, Google said that Dr Wissner-Gross' figures were "many times too high." The firm said that a typical search returned a result in less than 0.2 seconds and that the search itself only used its servers for a few thousandths of a second. This, said Google, amounted to 0.0003 kWh of energy per search - equivalent to 0.2g of CO2. "We've made great strides to reduce the energy used by our data centres, but we still want clean and affordable sources of electricity for the power that we do use," said Google in its statement. "In 2007, we co-founded the Climate Savers Computing Initiative. This non-profit consortium is committed to cutting the energy consumed by computers in half by 2010 and so reducing global CO2 emissions by 54 million tons per year. That's a lot of kettles." To read the original article follow this link to the BBC cost, google, offset, search nonadult false The cost of Searching the Web text blog cost,google,offset,search 391 10 4.0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false NONE 0 0 162365 3475948 Member 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_An-insight-into-ourselves/BLOG/156049/51250.html What is Click4Carbon all about? Well... we know the general idea is to help make money to change the environment without having to go too far out of our way. And it is about sharing thoughts and ideas to better the environment. My sister sent me an email with one of those thought provoking insights. I have a habit of scanning through many of these types of email that everyone sends around, and then deciding either to junk, read, keep, or even send on to others. This time I read and decided it was one of those that contained an idea that we can all use in more than one way: firstly to better understand yourself and improve (I'm always trying!); secondly, when you realise what it is saying, you might feel refreshed, regenerated, and more motivated to things you set your mind to.... and this includes helping yourself to help the environment (and hopefully Click4Carbon).   So... here it is: Carrots, Eggs, & Coffee!!! A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee...You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.   A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up; she was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.   Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.  In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, ' Tell me what you see.'   'Carrots, eggs, and coffee,' she replied.   Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.   Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, 'What does it mean, mother?'   Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.  'Which are you?' she asked her daughter. 'When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?   Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?   Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?   Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?  May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.   The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.   When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.  Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.  So.... the big question is..... what are you going to do next.Keep up the good work and use our sponsored results to keep things moving. What is Click4Carbon all about? Well... we know the general idea is to help make money to change the environment without having to go too far out of our way. And it is about sharing thoughts and ideas to better the environment. My sister sent me an email with one of those thought provoking insights. I have a habit of scanning through many of these types of email that everyone sends around, and then deciding either to junk, read, keep, or even send on to others. This time I read and decided it was one of those that contained an idea that we can all use in more than one way: firstly to better understand yourself and improve (I'm always trying!); secondly, when you realise what it is saying, you might feel refreshed, regenerated, and more motivated to things you set your mind to.... and this includes helping yourself to help the environment (and hopefully Click4Carbon).   So... here it is: Carrots, Eggs, & Coffee!!! A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee...You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.   A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up; she was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.   Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.  In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, ' Tell me what you see.'   'Carrots, eggs, and coffee,' she replied.   Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.   Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, 'What does it mean, mother?'   Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.  'Which are you?' she asked her daughter. 'When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?   Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?   Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?   Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?  May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.   The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.   When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.  Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.  So.... the big question is..... what are you going to do next.Keep up the good work and use our sponsored results to keep things moving. Tue, 30 Dec 2008 11:10:33 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_An-insight-into-ourselves/BLOG/156049/51250.html RobLyons 2008-12-30T11:10:33Z Environmental Click4Carbon What is Click4Carbon all about? Well... we know the general idea is to help make money to change the environment without having to go too far out of our way. And it is about sharing thoughts and ideas to better the environment. My sister sent me an email with one of those thought provoking insights. I have a habit of scanning through many of these types of email that everyone sends around, and then deciding either to junk, read, keep, or even send on to others. This time I read and decided it was one of those that contained an idea that we can all use in more than one way: firstly to better understand yourself and improve (I'm always trying!); secondly, when you realise what it is saying, you might feel refreshed, regenerated, and more motivated to things you set your mind to.... and this includes helping yourself to help the environment (and hopefully Click4Carbon).   So... here it is: Carrots, Eggs, & Coffee!!! A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee...You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.   A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up; she was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.   Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.  In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, ' Tell me what you see.'   'Carrots, eggs, and coffee,' she replied.   Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.   Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, 'What does it mean, mother?'   Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.  'Which are you?' she asked her daughter. 'When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?   Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?   Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?   Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?  May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.   The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.   When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.  Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.  So.... the big question is..... what are you going to do next.Keep up the good work and use our sponsored results to keep things moving. carrot, coffee, egg, environmental, inight, motivated nonadult false An insight into ourselves text blog carrot,coffee,egg,environmental,inight,motivated 322 0 0.0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false NONE 0 Environmental 0 156049 3475948 Member 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Packaging/BLOG/137729/51250.html My better half popped out to the local shop today, and whilst there decided to opt for a (lazy) bag of dumpling mix as we were having a stew.When we looked at it... you wouldn't believe the packet was made from no less than 7 mixed plastics! Now I'm no expert but I can't see how, if they're mixed together, this packet will ever by recyclable.The guilt I suppose is with us, since we can easliy check what the packaging is made of, but I am a little disappointed since it is a home brand of the COOP chain (uk). And they are normally very environmentally aware.I suppose we should be thankfull that it wasn't wrapped in a cardboard box, wrapped in another layer of plastic as you see so often these days. In fact last sunday, when I picked up a small cardboard packet of chicken stuffing, I found there was yet another packet inside it. This was a bigger nown brand name, but again... the contents could have simply been the paper-based sachet inside with very little reduction in presentation.These big companies do seem to be a little slow on the uptake of simple packaging reductions.I would be interested if anyone knows if mixed plastivs are seperatable without using a rediculous amount of energy.Please let us know. My better half popped out to the local shop today, and whilst there decided to opt for a (lazy) bag of dumpling mix as we were having a stew.When we looked at it... you wouldn't believe the packet was made from no less than 7 mixed plastics! Now I'm no expert but I can't see how, if they're mixed together, this packet will ever by recyclable.The guilt I suppose is with us, since we can easliy check what the packaging is made of, but I am a little disappointed since it is a home brand of the COOP chain (uk). And they are normally very environmentally aware.I suppose we should be thankfull that it wasn't wrapped in a cardboard box, wrapped in another layer of plastic as you see so often these days. In fact last sunday, when I picked up a small cardboard packet of chicken stuffing, I found there was yet another packet inside it. This was a bigger nown brand name, but again... the contents could have simply been the paper-based sachet inside with very little reduction in presentation.These big companies do seem to be a little slow on the uptake of simple packaging reductions.I would be interested if anyone knows if mixed plastivs are seperatable without using a rediculous amount of energy.Please let us know. Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:39:14 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Packaging/BLOG/137729/51250.html RobLyons 2008-11-11T16:39:14Z Environmental Click4Carbon My better half popped out to the local shop today, and whilst there decided to opt for a (lazy) bag of dumpling mix as we were having a stew.When we looked at it... you wouldn't believe the packet was made from no less than 7 mixed plastics! Now I'm no expert but I can't see how, if they're mixed together, this packet will ever by recyclable.The guilt I suppose is with us, since we can easliy check what the packaging is made of, but I am a little disappointed since it is a home brand of the COOP chain (uk). And they are normally very environmentally aware.I suppose we should be thankfull that it wasn't wrapped in a cardboard box, wrapped in another layer of plastic as you see so often these days. In fact last sunday, when I picked up a small cardboard packet of chicken stuffing, I found there was yet another packet inside it. This was a bigger nown brand name, but again... the contents could have simply been the paper-based sachet inside with very little reduction in presentation.These big companies do seem to be a little slow on the uptake of simple packaging reductions.I would be interested if anyone knows if mixed plastivs are seperatable without using a rediculous amount of energy.Please let us know. environmental, packets, presentation, recycling, sachets nonadult false Packaging text blog environmental,packets,presentation,recycling,sachets 340 10 5.0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false United Kingdom NONE 0 Environmental 0 137729 3475948 Member 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_The-Credit-Crunch-and-Us/BLOG/131946/51250.html A friend of mine was chatting to me (over a pint of beer of course) and voicing his opinion that people's priorities are changing because of the global credit-crunch. He said that people will start to find that the priorities as to how they spend their money will drown out the likes of being ECO-friendly in order to give priority to putting food on the table, worrying about their job security, and keeping a roof over their heads. This was almost an absolute stance on how the world is changing right now.The problem is..... he's right. Or so it would initially look.BUT what I pointed out is that here on Click4Carbon we're NOT trying to make people change their lifestyle overnight, or start investing their own monies in being environmentally content. What we're doing here is giving people the same tools they are likely to use regardless of the credit crunch. People still use the internet to search. People still buy stuff online. People still look to have a weekend away somewhere.Granted, what people are searching for might be changing.... the 42" LCD TV might be on hold until next year, but people buy things every day on the internet. People are always looking for information , and people are always searching for a bargain, even if it is just for a new nail file.Christmas is going to be hard for a lot of people this year, but do you think they're going to buy nothing? OF course they do.... but its more likely to be a cut down version of what they'd ideally like, or an interim solution of what they need.So in retort to my friend I ask everyone to keep on using Click4Carbon.com as their primary search engine. Advertisers might not be happy to spend quite as much on their advertising at the moment, but that doesn't mean they're stopping advertising. We can all keep the flag flying for a greener world without being frightend of the cost or changing our lives.[image] A friend of mine was chatting to me (over a pint of beer of course) and voicing his opinion that people's priorities are changing because of the global credit-crunch. He said that people will start to find that the priorities as to how they spend their money will drown out the likes of being ECO-friendly in order to give priority to putting food on the table, worrying about their job security, and keeping a roof over their heads. This was almost an absolute stance on how the world is changing right now.The problem is..... he's right. Or so it would initially look.BUT what I pointed out is that here on Click4Carbon we're NOT trying to make people change their lifestyle overnight, or start investing their own monies in being environmentally content. What we're doing here is giving people the same tools they are likely to use regardless of the credit crunch. People still use the internet to search. People still buy stuff online. People still look to have a weekend away somewhere.Granted, what people are searching for might be changing.... the 42" LCD TV might be on hold until next year, but people buy things every day on the internet. People are always looking for information , and people are always searching for a bargain, even if it is just for a new nail file.Christmas is going to be hard for a lot of people this year, but do you think they're going to buy nothing? OF course they do.... but its more likely to be a cut down version of what they'd ideally like, or an interim solution of what they need.So in retort to my friend I ask everyone to keep on using Click4Carbon.com as their primary search engine. Advertisers might not be happy to spend quite as much on their advertising at the moment, but that doesn't mean they're stopping advertising. We can all keep the flag flying for a greener world without being frightend of the cost or changing our lives.[image] Sat, 01 Nov 2008 08:00:16 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_The-Credit-Crunch-and-Us/BLOG/131946/51250.html RobLyons 2008-11-01T08:00:16Z Click4Carbon A friend of mine was chatting to me (over a pint of beer of course) and voicing his opinion that people's priorities are changing because of the global credit-crunch. He said that people will start to find that the priorities as to how they spend their money will drown out the likes of being ECO-friendly in order to give priority to putting food on the table, worrying about their job security, and keeping a roof over their heads. This was almost an absolute stance on how the world is changing right now.The problem is..... he's right. Or so it would initially look.BUT what I pointed out is that here on Click4Carbon we're NOT trying to make people change their lifestyle overnight, or start investing their own monies in being environmentally content. What we're doing here is giving people the same tools they are likely to use regardless of the credit crunch. People still use the internet to search. People still buy stuff online. People still look to have a weekend away somewhere.Granted, what people are searching for might be changing.... the 42" LCD TV might be on hold until next year, but people buy things every day on the internet. People are always looking for information , and people are always searching for a bargain, even if it is just for a new nail file.Christmas is going to be hard for a lot of people this year, but do you think they're going to buy nothing? OF course they do.... but its more likely to be a cut down version of what they'd ideally like, or an interim solution of what they need.So in retort to my friend I ask everyone to keep on using Click4Carbon.com as their primary search engine. Advertisers might not be happy to spend quite as much on their advertising at the moment, but that doesn't mean they're stopping advertising. We can all keep the flag flying for a greener world without being frightend of the cost or changing our lives.[image] nonadult false The Credit Crunch and Us text blog 403 20 5.0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false NONE 1 1 131946 3475948 Member 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Efficient-Computers/BLOG/118117/51250.html Did you know, the newest computers on the market are also the greenest computers on the market as more manufacturers decided to go with the inescapable trend of being greener.And frankly they're doing it because it must be good business. Why? because more and more of us ordinary people are demanding it, and putting a green badge on anything is starting to give these companies a marketing edge. Yes - there is more pressure coming from the world powers to push the green agenda, but lets face it....big businesses make changes either because it is a legal requirement....or because they can sell more. My personal opinion is that the latter is becoming more of a financial gain to them and that sort of thing makes a big business react faster.What they're doing?The products are using even less energy. If all the old computers in the United States were replaced with new Energy Star-qualified ones, it would be the equivalent of taking more than 2.7 mil cars off the road over the computers' lifetimes.Manufacturers are using recycled plastic in computers and packaging, and making sure components are easily recyclable when they become obsolete. Recycling old machines has also become big business world wide.Companies are phasing out more and more chemicals like the human toxins arsenic and mercury, found in typical PC screens. While this might become a long term legal compliance, it already has an effect on the ability to recycle.What you can be doing?Next time you're up to buy a new computer, consider the environment. It might be that you compare two desktops and go for the most efficient, or it might be that buying a laptop is a better choice overall. The Laptop also allows you to be more portable in your own life of course. Personally, since moving to a laptop, I'd never go back.And don't forget.... having a computer and using it are different. How you use that computer (or rather what you do with it when you're not using it) is important. Have a look at our ECOInfo page for a few hints and tips. Did you know, the newest computers on the market are also the greenest computers on the market as more manufacturers decided to go with the inescapable trend of being greener.And frankly they're doing it because it must be good business. Why? because more and more of us ordinary people are demanding it, and putting a green badge on anything is starting to give these companies a marketing edge. Yes - there is more pressure coming from the world powers to push the green agenda, but lets face it....big businesses make changes either because it is a legal requirement....or because they can sell more. My personal opinion is that the latter is becoming more of a financial gain to them and that sort of thing makes a big business react faster.What they're doing?The products are using even less energy. If all the old computers in the United States were replaced with new Energy Star-qualified ones, it would be the equivalent of taking more than 2.7 mil cars off the road over the computers' lifetimes.Manufacturers are using recycled plastic in computers and packaging, and making sure components are easily recyclable when they become obsolete. Recycling old machines has also become big business world wide.Companies are phasing out more and more chemicals like the human toxins arsenic and mercury, found in typical PC screens. While this might become a long term legal compliance, it already has an effect on the ability to recycle.What you can be doing?Next time you're up to buy a new computer, consider the environment. It might be that you compare two desktops and go for the most efficient, or it might be that buying a laptop is a better choice overall. The Laptop also allows you to be more portable in your own life of course. Personally, since moving to a laptop, I'd never go back.And don't forget.... having a computer and using it are different. How you use that computer (or rather what you do with it when you're not using it) is important. Have a look at our ECOInfo page for a few hints and tips. Sun, 12 Oct 2008 10:12:20 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Efficient-Computers/BLOG/118117/51250.html RobLyons 2008-10-12T10:12:20Z Environmental Click4Carbon Did you know, the newest computers on the market are also the greenest computers on the market as more manufacturers decided to go with the inescapable trend of being greener.And frankly they're doing it because it must be good business. Why? because more and more of us ordinary people are demanding it, and putting a green badge on anything is starting to give these companies a marketing edge. Yes - there is more pressure coming from the world powers to push the green agenda, but lets face it....big businesses make changes either because it is a legal requirement....or because they can sell more. My personal opinion is that the latter is becoming more of a financial gain to them and that sort of thing makes a big business react faster.What they're doing?The products are using even less energy. If all the old computers in the United States were replaced with new Energy Star-qualified ones, it would be the equivalent of taking more than 2.7 mil cars off the road over the computers' lifetimes.Manufacturers are using recycled plastic in computers and packaging, and making sure components are easily recyclable when they become obsolete. Recycling old machines has also become big business world wide.Companies are phasing out more and more chemicals like the human toxins arsenic and mercury, found in typical PC screens. While this might become a long term legal compliance, it already has an effect on the ability to recycle.What you can be doing?Next time you're up to buy a new computer, consider the environment. It might be that you compare two desktops and go for the most efficient, or it might be that buying a laptop is a better choice overall. The Laptop also allows you to be more portable in your own life of course. Personally, since moving to a laptop, I'd never go back.And don't forget.... having a computer and using it are different. How you use that computer (or rather what you do with it when you're not using it) is important. Have a look at our ECOInfo page for a few hints and tips. computers, efficient, energy star, environmental, laptop, recycle, toxin nonadult false Efficient Computers? text blog computers,efficient,energy star,environmental,laptop,recycle,toxin 382 31 3.3871 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false NONE 0 Environmental 0 118117 3475948 Member 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Composting/BLOG/117694/51250.html Most of us do little in the way of forward thinking for compost. If you compost your organic waste, you can use the soil for your garden or houseplants. In the UK more than 35% of recycleable waste is compostable. Stopping this having to be carted around and then wasted by throwing into a landfill is better for the environment all round.What's the BenefitsA household can keep 500 lb of perfectly biodegradable kitchen and garden waste out of landfills every year (and most stuff doesn't decompose in landfills). Composting recycles nutrients in your scraps, producing soil that's like a gourmet dinner for your plants.New in-kitchen compost gadgets make composting easy and isolate the stink, so your house won't smell like a barn. Some cities even offer curbside bin pickup.  [image] Most of us do little in the way of forward thinking for compost. If you compost your organic waste, you can use the soil for your garden or houseplants. In the UK more than 35% of recycleable waste is compostable. Stopping this having to be carted around and then wasted by throwing into a landfill is better for the environment all round.What's the BenefitsA household can keep 500 lb of perfectly biodegradable kitchen and garden waste out of landfills every year (and most stuff doesn't decompose in landfills). Composting recycles nutrients in your scraps, producing soil that's like a gourmet dinner for your plants.New in-kitchen compost gadgets make composting easy and isolate the stink, so your house won't smell like a barn. Some cities even offer curbside bin pickup.  [image] Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:21:43 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Composting/BLOG/117694/51250.html RobLyons 2008-10-11T09:21:43Z Environmental Click4Carbon Most of us do little in the way of forward thinking for compost. If you compost your organic waste, you can use the soil for your garden or houseplants. In the UK more than 35% of recycleable waste is compostable. Stopping this having to be carted around and then wasted by throwing into a landfill is better for the environment all round.What's the BenefitsA household can keep 500 lb of perfectly biodegradable kitchen and garden waste out of landfills every year (and most stuff doesn't decompose in landfills). Composting recycles nutrients in your scraps, producing soil that's like a gourmet dinner for your plants.New in-kitchen compost gadgets make composting easy and isolate the stink, so your house won't smell like a barn. Some cities even offer curbside bin pickup.  [image] environmental nonadult false Composting text blog environmental 282 10 3.0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false NONE 0 Environmental 0 117694 3475948 Member 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Greener-Office-Living/BLOG/116940/51250.html Of course you could start up a rainforest rally in the office kitchen, force everyone to wear 2nd hand clothes, or you could just pop the Top 10 Easiest Ways to Green Your Office on the notice board. If nothing else, it'll be something new to talk about in the office, and it will get people thinking.Simple tips like recycling ink cartridges and setting computers to hibernate are easy enough for even your most stubborn of colleagues.Office buildings account for 28% of commercial energy demand, but the Department of Energy says that with just a few easy changes we can reduce office energy use by 10%. You can also save paper and plastics and all those things we tend to be frivolous with round the office. The net effect is your company will be saving money and have a more health looking "green" profile.Why not mention this and our website to the boss, and see if you can get the corporate paradigm to shift just a little into a greener way of work life.Better still, if your company has a website, get those at the top to endorse themselves and us by adding our logo and searchbox to it. Every little bit helps toward reforestation without you having to change the office world.So, have a look at these links before you go any further:Top 10 tips to help your officeAdding our logoAdding our search box Of course you could start up a rainforest rally in the office kitchen, force everyone to wear 2nd hand clothes, or you could just pop the Top 10 Easiest Ways to Green Your Office on the notice board. If nothing else, it'll be something new to talk about in the office, and it will get people thinking.Simple tips like recycling ink cartridges and setting computers to hibernate are easy enough for even your most stubborn of colleagues.Office buildings account for 28% of commercial energy demand, but the Department of Energy says that with just a few easy changes we can reduce office energy use by 10%. You can also save paper and plastics and all those things we tend to be frivolous with round the office. The net effect is your company will be saving money and have a more health looking "green" profile.Why not mention this and our website to the boss, and see if you can get the corporate paradigm to shift just a little into a greener way of work life.Better still, if your company has a website, get those at the top to endorse themselves and us by adding our logo and searchbox to it. Every little bit helps toward reforestation without you having to change the office world.So, have a look at these links before you go any further:Top 10 tips to help your officeAdding our logoAdding our search box Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:08:43 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Greener-Office-Living/BLOG/116940/51250.html RobLyons 2008-10-10T09:08:43Z Environmental Click4Carbon Of course you could start up a rainforest rally in the office kitchen, force everyone to wear 2nd hand clothes, or you could just pop the Top 10 Easiest Ways to Green Your Office on the notice board. If nothing else, it'll be something new to talk about in the office, and it will get people thinking.Simple tips like recycling ink cartridges and setting computers to hibernate are easy enough for even your most stubborn of colleagues.Office buildings account for 28% of commercial energy demand, but the Department of Energy says that with just a few easy changes we can reduce office energy use by 10%. You can also save paper and plastics and all those things we tend to be frivolous with round the office. The net effect is your company will be saving money and have a more health looking "green" profile.Why not mention this and our website to the boss, and see if you can get the corporate paradigm to shift just a little into a greener way of work life.Better still, if your company has a website, get those at the top to endorse themselves and us by adding our logo and searchbox to it. Every little bit helps toward reforestation without you having to change the office world.So, have a look at these links before you go any further:Top 10 tips to help your officeAdding our logoAdding our search box environmental, office, saving nonadult false Greener Office Living... text blog environmental,office,saving 295 11 5.0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false NONE 1 Environmental 0 116940 3475948 Member 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Is-it-more-environmentally-friendly-to-hand-wash-dishes-or-to-use-a-dishwasher/BLOG/116193/51250.html There's been a stigma attached to having a dishwasher for as long as I can remember. In fact it used to be a status symbol, and bordered on snobbery by having one. The underlying issue might well have been a slight hint of jealousy as I have yet to find anyone who loves doing the washing up at the end of a meal, or a long day's work.Here's one argument for having one:Dishwashers are the way to go if you comply with two simple criteria. “Run a dishwasher only when it’s full, and don’t rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.” So says John Morril of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, who also advises not using the dry cycle. The water used in most dishwashers is hot enough, he says, to evaporate quickly if the door is left open after the wash and rinse cycles are complete.Dishwashers More Efficient Than Hand WashingScientists at the University of Bonn [pdf] in Germany who studied the issue found that the dishwasher uses only half the energy, one-sixth of the water, and less soap than hand-washing an identical set of dirty dishes. Even the most sparing and careful washers could not beat the modern dishwasher. The study also found that dishwashers excelled in cleanliness over hand washing.Most dishwashers manufactured since 1994 use seven to 10 gallons of water per cycle, while older machines use eight to 15 gallons. Newer designs have also improved dishwasher efficiency immensely. Hot water can now be heated in the dishwasher itself, not in the household hot water heater, where heat gets lost in transit. Dishwashers also heat only as much water as needed. A standard 24-inch-wide household dishwasher is designed to hold eight place settings, but some newer models will wash the same amount of dishes inside an 18-inch frame, using less water in the process. If you have an older, less-efficient machine, the Council recommends hand washing for the smaller jobs and saving the dishwasher for the dinner party’s aftermath.Energy-efficient Dishwashers Save MoneyNew dishwashers that meet strict energy and water-saving efficiency standards can qualify for an Energy Star label from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Besides being more efficient and getting the dishes cleaner, qualifying newer models will save the average household about $25 per year in energy costs.Like John Morril, the EPA recommends always running your dishwasher with a full load and avoiding the inefficient heat-dry, rinse-hold and pre-rinse features found on many recent models. Most of the appliance’s energy used goes to heat the water, and most models use just as much water for smaller loads as for larger ones. And propping the door open after the final rinse is quite adequate for drying the dishes when the washing is done. There's been a stigma attached to having a dishwasher for as long as I can remember. In fact it used to be a status symbol, and bordered on snobbery by having one. The underlying issue might well have been a slight hint of jealousy as I have yet to find anyone who loves doing the washing up at the end of a meal, or a long day's work.Here's one argument for having one:Dishwashers are the way to go if you comply with two simple criteria. “Run a dishwasher only when it’s full, and don’t rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.” So says John Morril of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, who also advises not using the dry cycle. The water used in most dishwashers is hot enough, he says, to evaporate quickly if the door is left open after the wash and rinse cycles are complete.Dishwashers More Efficient Than Hand WashingScientists at the University of Bonn [pdf] in Germany who studied the issue found that the dishwasher uses only half the energy, one-sixth of the water, and less soap than hand-washing an identical set of dirty dishes. Even the most sparing and careful washers could not beat the modern dishwasher. The study also found that dishwashers excelled in cleanliness over hand washing.Most dishwashers manufactured since 1994 use seven to 10 gallons of water per cycle, while older machines use eight to 15 gallons. Newer designs have also improved dishwasher efficiency immensely. Hot water can now be heated in the dishwasher itself, not in the household hot water heater, where heat gets lost in transit. Dishwashers also heat only as much water as needed. A standard 24-inch-wide household dishwasher is designed to hold eight place settings, but some newer models will wash the same amount of dishes inside an 18-inch frame, using less water in the process. If you have an older, less-efficient machine, the Council recommends hand washing for the smaller jobs and saving the dishwasher for the dinner party’s aftermath.Energy-efficient Dishwashers Save MoneyNew dishwashers that meet strict energy and water-saving efficiency standards can qualify for an Energy Star label from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Besides being more efficient and getting the dishes cleaner, qualifying newer models will save the average household about $25 per year in energy costs.Like John Morril, the EPA recommends always running your dishwasher with a full load and avoiding the inefficient heat-dry, rinse-hold and pre-rinse features found on many recent models. Most of the appliance’s energy used goes to heat the water, and most models use just as much water for smaller loads as for larger ones. And propping the door open after the final rinse is quite adequate for drying the dishes when the washing is done. Thu, 09 Oct 2008 05:12:07 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Is-it-more-environmentally-friendly-to-hand-wash-dishes-or-to-use-a-dishwasher/BLOG/116193/51250.html RobLyons 2008-10-09T05:12:07Z Click4Carbon There's been a stigma attached to having a dishwasher for as long as I can remember. In fact it used to be a status symbol, and bordered on snobbery by having one. The underlying issue might well have been a slight hint of jealousy as I have yet to find anyone who loves doing the washing up at the end of a meal, or a long day's work.Here's one argument for having one:Dishwashers are the way to go if you comply with two simple criteria. “Run a dishwasher only when it’s full, and don’t rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.” So says John Morril of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, who also advises not using the dry cycle. The water used in most dishwashers is hot enough, he says, to evaporate quickly if the door is left open after the wash and rinse cycles are complete.Dishwashers More Efficient Than Hand WashingScientists at the University of Bonn [pdf] in Germany who studied the issue found that the dishwasher uses only half the energy, one-sixth of the water, and less soap than hand-washing an identical set of dirty dishes. Even the most sparing and careful washers could not beat the modern dishwasher. The study also found that dishwashers excelled in cleanliness over hand washing.Most dishwashers manufactured since 1994 use seven to 10 gallons of water per cycle, while older machines use eight to 15 gallons. Newer designs have also improved dishwasher efficiency immensely. Hot water can now be heated in the dishwasher itself, not in the household hot water heater, where heat gets lost in transit. Dishwashers also heat only as much water as needed. A standard 24-inch-wide household dishwasher is designed to hold eight place settings, but some newer models will wash the same amount of dishes inside an 18-inch frame, using less water in the process. If you have an older, less-efficient machine, the Council recommends hand washing for the smaller jobs and saving the dishwasher for the dinner party’s aftermath.Energy-efficient Dishwashers Save MoneyNew dishwashers that meet strict energy and water-saving efficiency standards can qualify for an Energy Star label from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Besides being more efficient and getting the dishes cleaner, qualifying newer models will save the average household about $25 per year in energy costs.Like John Morril, the EPA recommends always running your dishwasher with a full load and avoiding the inefficient heat-dry, rinse-hold and pre-rinse features found on many recent models. Most of the appliance’s energy used goes to heat the water, and most models use just as much water for smaller loads as for larger ones. And propping the door open after the final rinse is quite adequate for drying the dishes when the washing is done. dishwasher, efficiency, less water nonadult false Is it more environmentally friendly to hand-wash dishes or to use a dishwasher? text blog dishwasher,efficiency,less water 1620 10 3.0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false NONE 0 0 116193 3475948 Member 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_60-second-guide-to-Transition-towns/BLOG/115486/51250.html With problems of food and energy security on the rise, the transition towns movement is rapidly spreading beyond its grassrootsThe “transition town” movement has been growing in popularity around the UK since the first one was set up in Totnes, South Devon, in September 2006. The founder of the movement, Rob Hopkins, sought to empower people to find positive community solutions to prepare themselves for a “post-oil” society.What is a transition town?There is no technical definition of a transition town. It all starts off when members of a community come together to respond to the challenges of climate change and oil dependency.The main argument is that we will have soon reached the threshold of peak oil– the point at which half the world’s oil reserves have been used up. After that, production goes into irreversible and rapid decline, so oil rationing will have to take place. The movement's founder, Rob Hopkins, says that as our main source of energy starts running out, the only rational response is to plan “energy descent”. The aim is to make communities self-sustaining and to encourage people to spend their money locally in response to climate change and rising oil prices. This can even include towns introducing their own currency, so the money can only be spent in local shops. The community also focuses on sustainability through renewable energy, allotments, farming and supporting local businesses.How did it start?The idea of transition towns came from Rob Hopkins, a permaculture teacher and peak oil activist, who created the Transition Culture website.Hopkins helped to develop a plan for a post-peak community in Kinsale, Ireland (see related links for the report). He and his students came up with an “energy descent plan”, which, upon completion was endorsed by the local authorities.Returning to the UK, Hopkins started something similar in Totnes, Devon, which became the UK’s first transition initiative. The town has gone as far as introducing its own currency with notes that can only be spent in local shops.Because the currency is only accepted at local businesses it is designed to encourage people to buy locally produced goods and services. And by helping to give a boost to local producers, the scheme cuts down on food miles. In addition, the Totnes transition town organisation offers people advice at “oil vulnerability auditing workshops” on how their businesses can reduce their reliance on oil.How to create a transition townThe first step to create a transition initiative is to get everybody on side. You need to involve as much of the community as you can to get it started, so all sections and age groups are represented.The community then goes through a comprehensive process of raising awareness around peak oil, climate change and how to find sustainable ways of living. This means supporting existing groups in the community, encouraging local government to consider climate change and peak oil, and connecting with other transition initiatives.The community forms groups to look at key areas, such as food, energy, transport, health, economics and livelihoods. They kick off projects aimed at building people's understanding of carbon issues and engaging the community.The end result should be an “energy descent action plan”, run by the community over a 15 to 20 year timescale. The transition towns network has produced a handbook to offer communities the tools to start the process. This includes the twelve key steps to establishing a transition town (see box-out below).So what’s not to like?The handbook acknowledges possible barriers and objections to the idea of transition towns, such as funding, corporate opposition and apathetic communities. Transition communities can stall because they don’t have the right mindset or a suitable group of people, or they don’t really understand how much of a challenge the process is.The 12 steps that appear on Transitionculture.org1. Set up a steering group and design its demise from the outset.2. Raise awareness of the potential effects of peak oil and climate change.3. Lay the foundations, and network with existing groups and activists.4. Organise a “great unleashing”, a memorable event to mark the project’s coming of age.5. Form working groups to focus on specific aspects such as food and waste.6. Use open space technology for meetings.7. Develop visible practical manifestations of the project.8. Facilitate the “great reskilling”.9. Build a bridge to local government.10. “Honour the elders” and learn important local history from them.11. Let it go where it wants to go.12. Create an “energy descent plan”.Critics argue that something like carbon rationing can only come from the government. They also argue that institutions such as local authorities, large organisations and businesses will never change.Tackling the challenges of peak oil, climate change and radical decarbonisation cannot be done at a local level, critics say.Critics also argue that transition groups do not tackle political change. To be as accessible as possible, the groups do not support campaigns, but instead develop a model that forms around what many different people have in common.The local currency idea has been attacked, too, because it can be redeemed back into sterling any time a person or business-owner wishes. At this point it could be siphoned out of the community to global institutions, which defeats the whole idea of keeping more profit generating locally.Will transition towns work?No-one knows – they are a social experiment on a significant scale. But this community-based response to peak oil and climate change seems to be catching on fast.There is a great deal that can be done to tackle carbon emissions at a local level in terms of redesign of neighbourhoods. Also, transition initiatives can develop a local momentum for things like carbon rationing.There are now more than 40 transition initiatives up and running, not only in towns but also in cities, villages and entire islands. More than 500 communities worldwide are taking steps to join the transition network.Thanks to Ruth Harwood at BBC Green With problems of food and energy security on the rise, the transition towns movement is rapidly spreading beyond its grassrootsThe “transition town” movement has been growing in popularity around the UK since the first one was set up in Totnes, South Devon, in September 2006. The founder of the movement, Rob Hopkins, sought to empower people to find positive community solutions to prepare themselves for a “post-oil” society.What is a transition town?There is no technical definition of a transition town. It all starts off when members of a community come together to respond to the challenges of climate change and oil dependency.The main argument is that we will have soon reached the threshold of peak oil– the point at which half the world’s oil reserves have been used up. After that, production goes into irreversible and rapid decline, so oil rationing will have to take place. The movement's founder, Rob Hopkins, says that as our main source of energy starts running out, the only rational response is to plan “energy descent”. The aim is to make communities self-sustaining and to encourage people to spend their money locally in response to climate change and rising oil prices. This can even include towns introducing their own currency, so the money can only be spent in local shops. The community also focuses on sustainability through renewable energy, allotments, farming and supporting local businesses.How did it start?The idea of transition towns came from Rob Hopkins, a permaculture teacher and peak oil activist, who created the Transition Culture website.Hopkins helped to develop a plan for a post-peak community in Kinsale, Ireland (see related links for the report). He and his students came up with an “energy descent plan”, which, upon completion was endorsed by the local authorities.Returning to the UK, Hopkins started something similar in Totnes, Devon, which became the UK’s first transition initiative. The town has gone as far as introducing its own currency with notes that can only be spent in local shops.Because the currency is only accepted at local businesses it is designed to encourage people to buy locally produced goods and services. And by helping to give a boost to local producers, the scheme cuts down on food miles. In addition, the Totnes transition town organisation offers people advice at “oil vulnerability auditing workshops” on how their businesses can reduce their reliance on oil.How to create a transition townThe first step to create a transition initiative is to get everybody on side. You need to involve as much of the community as you can to get it started, so all sections and age groups are represented.The community then goes through a comprehensive process of raising awareness around peak oil, climate change and how to find sustainable ways of living. This means supporting existing groups in the community, encouraging local government to consider climate change and peak oil, and connecting with other transition initiatives.The community forms groups to look at key areas, such as food, energy, transport, health, economics and livelihoods. They kick off projects aimed at building people's understanding of carbon issues and engaging the community.The end result should be an “energy descent action plan”, run by the community over a 15 to 20 year timescale. The transition towns network has produced a handbook to offer communities the tools to start the process. This includes the twelve key steps to establishing a transition town (see box-out below).So what’s not to like?The handbook acknowledges possible barriers and objections to the idea of transition towns, such as funding, corporate opposition and apathetic communities. Transition communities can stall because they don’t have the right mindset or a suitable group of people, or they don’t really understand how much of a challenge the process is.The 12 steps that appear on Transitionculture.org1. Set up a steering group and design its demise from the outset.2. Raise awareness of the potential effects of peak oil and climate change.3. Lay the foundations, and network with existing groups and activists.4. Organise a “great unleashing”, a memorable event to mark the project’s coming of age.5. Form working groups to focus on specific aspects such as food and waste.6. Use open space technology for meetings.7. Develop visible practical manifestations of the project.8. Facilitate the “great reskilling”.9. Build a bridge to local government.10. “Honour the elders” and learn important local history from them.11. Let it go where it wants to go.12. Create an “energy descent plan”.Critics argue that something like carbon rationing can only come from the government. They also argue that institutions such as local authorities, large organisations and businesses will never change.Tackling the challenges of peak oil, climate change and radical decarbonisation cannot be done at a local level, critics say.Critics also argue that transition groups do not tackle political change. To be as accessible as possible, the groups do not support campaigns, but instead develop a model that forms around what many different people have in common.The local currency idea has been attacked, too, because it can be redeemed back into sterling any time a person or business-owner wishes. At this point it could be siphoned out of the community to global institutions, which defeats the whole idea of keeping more profit generating locally.Will transition towns work?No-one knows – they are a social experiment on a significant scale. But this community-based response to peak oil and climate change seems to be catching on fast.There is a great deal that can be done to tackle carbon emissions at a local level in terms of redesign of neighbourhoods. Also, transition initiatives can develop a local momentum for things like carbon rationing.There are now more than 40 transition initiatives up and running, not only in towns but also in cities, villages and entire islands. More than 500 communities worldwide are taking steps to join the transition network.Thanks to Ruth Harwood at BBC Green Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:46:58 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_60-second-guide-to-Transition-towns/BLOG/115486/51250.html RobLyons 2008-10-08T10:46:58Z Click4Carbon With problems of food and energy security on the rise, the transition towns movement is rapidly spreading beyond its grassrootsThe “transition town” movement has been growing in popularity around the UK since the first one was set up in Totnes, South Devon, in September 2006. The founder of the movement, Rob Hopkins, sought to empower people to find positive community solutions to prepare themselves for a “post-oil” society.What is a transition town?There is no technical definition of a transition town. It all starts off when members of a community come together to respond to the challenges of climate change and oil dependency.The main argument is that we will have soon reached the threshold of peak oil– the point at which half the world’s oil reserves have been used up. After that, production goes into irreversible and rapid decline, so oil rationing will have to take place. The movement's founder, Rob Hopkins, says that as our main source of energy starts running out, the only rational response is to plan “energy descent”. The aim is to make communities self-sustaining and to encourage people to spend their money locally in response to climate change and rising oil prices. This can even include towns introducing their own currency, so the money can only be spent in local shops. The community also focuses on sustainability through renewable energy, allotments, farming and supporting local businesses.How did it start?The idea of transition towns came from Rob Hopkins, a permaculture teacher and peak oil activist, who created the Transition Culture website.Hopkins helped to develop a plan for a post-peak community in Kinsale, Ireland (see related links for the report). He and his students came up with an “energy descent plan”, which, upon completion was endorsed by the local authorities.Returning to the UK, Hopkins started something similar in Totnes, Devon, which became the UK’s first transition initiative. The town has gone as far as introducing its own currency with notes that can only be spent in local shops.Because the currency is only accepted at local businesses it is designed to encourage people to buy locally produced goods and services. And by helping to give a boost to local producers, the scheme cuts down on food miles. In addition, the Totnes transition town organisation offers people advice at “oil vulnerability auditing workshops” on how their businesses can reduce their reliance on oil.How to create a transition townThe first step to create a transition initiative is to get everybody on side. You need to involve as much of the community as you can to get it started, so all sections and age groups are represented.The community then goes through a comprehensive process of raising awareness around peak oil, climate change and how to find sustainable ways of living. This means supporting existing groups in the community, encouraging local government to consider climate change and peak oil, and connecting with other transition initiatives.The community forms groups to look at key areas, such as food, energy, transport, health, economics and livelihoods. They kick off projects aimed at building people's understanding of carbon issues and engaging the community.The end result should be an “energy descent action plan”, run by the community over a 15 to 20 year timescale. The transition towns network has produced a handbook to offer communities the tools to start the process. This includes the twelve key steps to establishing a transition town (see box-out below).So what’s not to like?The handbook acknowledges possible barriers and objections to the idea of transition towns, such as funding, corporate opposition and apathetic communities. Transition communities can stall because they don’t have the right mindset or a suitable group of people, or they don’t really understand how much of a challenge the process is.The 12 steps that appear on Transitionculture.org1. Set up a steering group and design its demise from the outset.2. Raise awareness of the potential effects of peak oil and climate change.3. Lay the foundations, and network with existing groups and activists.4. Organise a “great unleashing”, a memorable event to mark the project’s coming of age.5. Form working groups to focus on specific aspects such as food and waste.6. Use open space technology for meetings.7. Develop visible practical manifestations of the project.8. Facilitate the “great reskilling”.9. Build a bridge to local government.10. “Honour the elders” and learn important local history from them.11. Let it go where it wants to go.12. Create an “energy descent plan”.Critics argue that something like carbon rationing can only come from the government. They also argue that institutions such as local authorities, large organisations and businesses will never change.Tackling the challenges of peak oil, climate change and radical decarbonisation cannot be done at a local level, critics say.Critics also argue that transition groups do not tackle political change. To be as accessible as possible, the groups do not support campaigns, but instead develop a model that forms around what many different people have in common.The local currency idea has been attacked, too, because it can be redeemed back into sterling any time a person or business-owner wishes. At this point it could be siphoned out of the community to global institutions, which defeats the whole idea of keeping more profit generating locally.Will transition towns work?No-one knows – they are a social experiment on a significant scale. But this community-based response to peak oil and climate change seems to be catching on fast.There is a great deal that can be done to tackle carbon emissions at a local level in terms of redesign of neighbourhoods. Also, transition initiatives can develop a local momentum for things like carbon rationing.There are now more than 40 transition initiatives up and running, not only in towns but also in cities, villages and entire islands. More than 500 communities worldwide are taking steps to join the transition network.Thanks to Ruth Harwood at BBC Green nonadult false 60 second guide to Transition towns text blog 217 10 3.0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false NONE 0 0 115486 3475948 Member 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Clean-up-coal-/BLOG/111240/51250.html The Environment Agency has told the government that all new coal-fired power stations must be built with carbon capture and storage technology (CCS). Lord Chris Smith, chairman of the Environment Agency, said that plants like that proposed at Kingsnorth in Kent without CCS would “lock the UK into using high carbon technology for decades to come [which is] not an environmentally sustainable way of generating power.”The comments were made as part of the Environment Agency’s official response to the government’s consultation on CCS. They also urged faster progress in proving that the technology was commercially viable.Greenpeace climate campaigner Jim Footner supports the Environment Agency’s recommendations. "This is a clear rebuke to business secretary John Hutton and his plans for a conventional, coal fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent,” he told the Guardian.The current Kingsnorth power station is due to close in 2015. If the prime minister approves E.ON’s bid, it will replace it with two new coal plans, which it claims will be built with "carbon capture readiness".But the Environment Agency says that this is not a sufficient guarantee for the government to approve the power plant. Lord Smith says that before banking on new coal the government needs to, "ensure that coal-fired power stations are part of a solution to the challenges of climate change, not a problem,” reports BBC News.Thanks to BBC Green for reference. The Environment Agency has told the government that all new coal-fired power stations must be built with carbon capture and storage technology (CCS). Lord Chris Smith, chairman of the Environment Agency, said that plants like that proposed at Kingsnorth in Kent without CCS would “lock the UK into using high carbon technology for decades to come [which is] not an environmentally sustainable way of generating power.”The comments were made as part of the Environment Agency’s official response to the government’s consultation on CCS. They also urged faster progress in proving that the technology was commercially viable.Greenpeace climate campaigner Jim Footner supports the Environment Agency’s recommendations. "This is a clear rebuke to business secretary John Hutton and his plans for a conventional, coal fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent,” he told the Guardian.The current Kingsnorth power station is due to close in 2015. If the prime minister approves E.ON’s bid, it will replace it with two new coal plans, which it claims will be built with "carbon capture readiness".But the Environment Agency says that this is not a sufficient guarantee for the government to approve the power plant. Lord Smith says that before banking on new coal the government needs to, "ensure that coal-fired power stations are part of a solution to the challenges of climate change, not a problem,” reports BBC News.Thanks to BBC Green for reference. Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:01:05 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Clean-up-coal-/BLOG/111240/51250.html RobLyons 2008-10-01T12:01:05Z Click4Carbon The Environment Agency has told the government that all new coal-fired power stations must be built with carbon capture and storage technology (CCS). Lord Chris Smith, chairman of the Environment Agency, said that plants like that proposed at Kingsnorth in Kent without CCS would “lock the UK into using high carbon technology for decades to come [which is] not an environmentally sustainable way of generating power.”The comments were made as part of the Environment Agency’s official response to the government’s consultation on CCS. They also urged faster progress in proving that the technology was commercially viable.Greenpeace climate campaigner Jim Footner supports the Environment Agency’s recommendations. "This is a clear rebuke to business secretary John Hutton and his plans for a conventional, coal fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent,” he told the Guardian.The current Kingsnorth power station is due to close in 2015. If the prime minister approves E.ON’s bid, it will replace it with two new coal plans, which it claims will be built with "carbon capture readiness".But the Environment Agency says that this is not a sufficient guarantee for the government to approve the power plant. Lord Smith says that before banking on new coal the government needs to, "ensure that coal-fired power stations are part of a solution to the challenges of climate change, not a problem,” reports BBC News.Thanks to BBC Green for reference. capture and storage, coal nonadult false Clean up coal text blog capture and storage,coal 245 1 2.0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false NONE 0 0 111240 3475948 Member 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_About-Additionality/BLOG/109097/51250.html As I was browsing the web, I came across a word that I thought was just made up. Well.... It was, but for good reason. The english language is a wonderful thing and I doubt it existed 20 years ago. In fact I don't know if it is in the OED. I'm no expert but being English, I sometimes giggle when a word is "developed" (usually by the U.S.) by giving an '..al', or '..ing,' or better still an '..ization' at the end of an existing word.Regardless of this I bothered to find out what it was all about. It turns out to be a little bit of common sense, but one of those that makes a (energy efficient) light switch on at the back of your brain when it is written down infront of you.Although the definition relates more to governmental levels of Carbon Emissions, the principle is just as good for us on an individual level.  So... next time you choose to offset your carbon footprint directly or indirectly, pay close attention to the projects it relates to.What is additionality?When you offset a flight (or anything else, for that matter), you are giving money to a company, which invests it in projects designed to reduce future emissions or remove CO2 from the air. But what if those reductions would have been made anyway, regardless of your contribution? For offsetting to be truly effective, these cuts need to be “additional” to anything that would have happened in the normal course of events.In other words, “is an offset additional?” means “would the project that created this offset have happened without revenues from offset purchases?”“Business as usual” improvements, are non-additional and their corresponding pollution reduction cannot be sold as a bona fide offset.How does additionality work?Take an offsetting project that involves distributing low-energy light bulbs in a developing country, thereby reducing future energy consumption. The carbon savings would only be “additional” if most of the recipients wouldn’t have acquired low-energy bulbs by some other means, such as a local government drive to reduce pressure on the electricity grid.If that happened, the bulbs distributed by the offset company would stop being additional, since the energy savings would have happened even if the offset project didn’t.Another example, if offsets are claimed from the collection and destruction of methane at a landfill, what otherwise would have happened to that methane? If the methane would have been collected and destroyed anyway (whether because it is required by law or is standard business practice), then buying those methane reductions will not result in “additional” environmental benefit.The problem with additionality is that it can be almost impossible to prove with absolute certainly. After all, no one can be completely sure what will happen in the future or what would have happened if a project had never existed.GuaranteesPartly because of the difficulty of ensuring additionality, many offset providers guarantee their emissions savings. This way, if something happens to make one offset project “non-additional” (such as the government giving out low-energy light bulbs), then the provider promises to make up the loss via another project.As the offset market grows, some companies have enough capital to invest in projects speculatively: they fund an offset project and then sell the carbon savings once the cuts have actually been made. This avoids the difficultly of predicting the future.The Clean Development MechanismThe concept of additionality has its roots in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the carbon-trading system built into the Kyoto Protocol. The CDM allows developed countries to pay for carbon cuts in developing countries instead of making more expensive emissions reductions at home.For example, a rich country struggling with its Kyoto targets might fund a hydroelectric station overseas. For this or any other project to be approved under the rules of the CDM, the carbon savings must be shown to be additional. In other words, it can’t be a scheme that might have been run anyway.What about Click4CarbonClick4Carbon is dedicated to developing projects which directly impact on the environment. We're not trying to sell any Carbon Credits, and therefore in principle we're investing in Additionality. As I was browsing the web, I came across a word that I thought was just made up. Well.... It was, but for good reason. The english language is a wonderful thing and I doubt it existed 20 years ago. In fact I don't know if it is in the OED. I'm no expert but being English, I sometimes giggle when a word is "developed" (usually by the U.S.) by giving an '..al', or '..ing,' or better still an '..ization' at the end of an existing word.Regardless of this I bothered to find out what it was all about. It turns out to be a little bit of common sense, but one of those that makes a (energy efficient) light switch on at the back of your brain when it is written down infront of you.Although the definition relates more to governmental levels of Carbon Emissions, the principle is just as good for us on an individual level.  So... next time you choose to offset your carbon footprint directly or indirectly, pay close attention to the projects it relates to.What is additionality?When you offset a flight (or anything else, for that matter), you are giving money to a company, which invests it in projects designed to reduce future emissions or remove CO2 from the air. But what if those reductions would have been made anyway, regardless of your contribution? For offsetting to be truly effective, these cuts need to be “additional” to anything that would have happened in the normal course of events.In other words, “is an offset additional?” means “would the project that created this offset have happened without revenues from offset purchases?”“Business as usual” improvements, are non-additional and their corresponding pollution reduction cannot be sold as a bona fide offset.How does additionality work?Take an offsetting project that involves distributing low-energy light bulbs in a developing country, thereby reducing future energy consumption. The carbon savings would only be “additional” if most of the recipients wouldn’t have acquired low-energy bulbs by some other means, such as a local government drive to reduce pressure on the electricity grid.If that happened, the bulbs distributed by the offset company would stop being additional, since the energy savings would have happened even if the offset project didn’t.Another example, if offsets are claimed from the collection and destruction of methane at a landfill, what otherwise would have happened to that methane? If the methane would have been collected and destroyed anyway (whether because it is required by law or is standard business practice), then buying those methane reductions will not result in “additional” environmental benefit.The problem with additionality is that it can be almost impossible to prove with absolute certainly. After all, no one can be completely sure what will happen in the future or what would have happened if a project had never existed.GuaranteesPartly because of the difficulty of ensuring additionality, many offset providers guarantee their emissions savings. This way, if something happens to make one offset project “non-additional” (such as the government giving out low-energy light bulbs), then the provider promises to make up the loss via another project.As the offset market grows, some companies have enough capital to invest in projects speculatively: they fund an offset project and then sell the carbon savings once the cuts have actually been made. This avoids the difficultly of predicting the future.The Clean Development MechanismThe concept of additionality has its roots in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the carbon-trading system built into the Kyoto Protocol. The CDM allows developed countries to pay for carbon cuts in developing countries instead of making more expensive emissions reductions at home.For example, a rich country struggling with its Kyoto targets might fund a hydroelectric station overseas. For this or any other project to be approved under the rules of the CDM, the carbon savings must be shown to be additional. In other words, it can’t be a scheme that might have been run anyway.What about Click4CarbonClick4Carbon is dedicated to developing projects which directly impact on the environment. We're not trying to sell any Carbon Credits, and therefore in principle we're investing in Additionality. Sun, 28 Sep 2008 09:14:04 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_About-Additionality/BLOG/109097/51250.html RobLyons 2008-09-28T09:14:04Z Click4Carbon As I was browsing the web, I came across a word that I thought was just made up. Well.... It was, but for good reason. The english language is a wonderful thing and I doubt it existed 20 years ago. In fact I don't know if it is in the OED. I'm no expert but being English, I sometimes giggle when a word is "developed" (usually by the U.S.) by giving an '..al', or '..ing,' or better still an '..ization' at the end of an existing word.Regardless of this I bothered to find out what it was all about. It turns out to be a little bit of common sense, but one of those that makes a (energy efficient) light switch on at the back of your brain when it is written down infront of you.Although the definition relates more to governmental levels of Carbon Emissions, the principle is just as good for us on an individual level.  So... next time you choose to offset your carbon footprint directly or indirectly, pay close attention to the projects it relates to.What is additionality?When you offset a flight (or anything else, for that matter), you are giving money to a company, which invests it in projects designed to reduce future emissions or remove CO2 from the air. But what if those reductions would have been made anyway, regardless of your contribution? For offsetting to be truly effective, these cuts need to be “additional” to anything that would have happened in the normal course of events.In other words, “is an offset additional?” means “would the project that created this offset have happened without revenues from offset purchases?”“Business as usual” improvements, are non-additional and their corresponding pollution reduction cannot be sold as a bona fide offset.How does additionality work?Take an offsetting project that involves distributing low-energy light bulbs in a developing country, thereby reducing future energy consumption. The carbon savings would only be “additional” if most of the recipients wouldn’t have acquired low-energy bulbs by some other means, such as a local government drive to reduce pressure on the electricity grid.If that happened, the bulbs distributed by the offset company would stop being additional, since the energy savings would have happened even if the offset project didn’t.Another example, if offsets are claimed from the collection and destruction of methane at a landfill, what otherwise would have happened to that methane? If the methane would have been collected and destroyed anyway (whether because it is required by law or is standard business practice), then buying those methane reductions will not result in “additional” environmental benefit.The problem with additionality is that it can be almost impossible to prove with absolute certainly. After all, no one can be completely sure what will happen in the future or what would have happened if a project had never existed.GuaranteesPartly because of the difficulty of ensuring additionality, many offset providers guarantee their emissions savings. This way, if something happens to make one offset project “non-additional” (such as the government giving out low-energy light bulbs), then the provider promises to make up the loss via another project.As the offset market grows, some companies have enough capital to invest in projects speculatively: they fund an offset project and then sell the carbon savings once the cuts have actually been made. This avoids the difficultly of predicting the future.The Clean Development MechanismThe concept of additionality has its roots in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the carbon-trading system built into the Kyoto Protocol. The CDM allows developed countries to pay for carbon cuts in developing countries instead of making more expensive emissions reductions at home.For example, a rich country struggling with its Kyoto targets might fund a hydroelectric station overseas. For this or any other project to be approved under the rules of the CDM, the carbon savings must be shown to be additional. In other words, it can’t be a scheme that might have been run anyway.What about Click4CarbonClick4Carbon is dedicated to developing projects which directly impact on the environment. We're not trying to sell any Carbon Credits, and therefore in principle we're investing in Additionality. additionality, carbon credits nonadult false About 'Additionality' text blog additionality,carbon credits 315 1 3.0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false NONE 0 0 109097 3475948 Member 0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Another-reason-to-complain/BLOG/102857/51250.html Its taken me a while, but finally, I've founds somewhere I can sit and complain about everything and anything that gets on my nerves. Well...I'll try to keep things relevant to being ECO friendly of course. So, I thought I'd start this one off by describing the state of recycling in Leicester(UK). The council for Leicester for many years now has contracted out doorstep recycling. In the first years I thought it was great, and simple. Everyone was delivered a set of 2 or 3 green bin bags which were properly detailed as to what you could put in them. The set of what could be put in them was fantastic, with ONE exception.... glass. That one was easily reasoned: There's plenty of recycling bins for glass all over the UK, and having glass shattering in binliners that (likely) were sorted by hand was going to be a danger. So...I had no problem with it. If you looked down our street on collection day everyone was filling at least one if not two or three bin bags every week! Unfortunately, after a few years, the people who had the contract (sorry I can't remember their name) lost it to Biffa. Now most people in the UK at least knew the name Biffa, and I thought they would have a good profile etc. No doubt they undercut the previous company, and it was alleged that the previous company was either too expensive, had a backlog, or was just not good enough for the job. It wasn't an issue until Biffa delivered what I can only describe as a child's small toy tub. It looked as if it was made out of recycled plastic (I hope so). They even had a pretty piece of netting to put over the top (a bit like your granny's hair net) so that when you put it out for collection things didn't blow away. Then....I read the label...... there was pretty much NOTHING you could put into this tub apart from GLASS! No magazines, no cans, no cardboard, not even envelopes! Pretty much the only things you could put in was glass, and VERY SPECIFC types of plastic. We're stuck with it now and I find it seriously annoying. Now when you look down the street, probably half the houses will put their recycling tub out for collection, and rarely do you see them filled. Even when you do, you can almost guarantee in our case that a few items have been left in the tub as "not recyclable". The main problem is that even if the original company couldn't recycle everything we put into the bin bags, at least everyone felt they were doing their bit for the environment. The council and Biffa have hammered that optimistic feeling out of people and now I at least don't feel that I'm doing enough to help the environment. The big irony is that even the local borougs have different (and some better) options when it comes to recycling. I also know for a fact that in the north of the country where a friend lives they have THREE wheely bins. They use two for recycling and one for normal waste. Granted they live in the country and don't get the bins emptied for 2 weeks at a time, but at least they acknowledge there's more to recycle than we do here. Come on Leicester City Council and Biffa! get your finger out and do more than just let us consume and fill a hole full of rubbish which no doubt isn't on Leicester City's doorstep. Stop making it someone elses problem and help us help you! Its taken me a while, but finally, I've founds somewhere I can sit and complain about everything and anything that gets on my nerves. Well...I'll try to keep things relevant to being ECO friendly of course. So, I thought I'd start this one off by describing the state of recycling in Leicester(UK). The council for Leicester for many years now has contracted out doorstep recycling. In the first years I thought it was great, and simple. Everyone was delivered a set of 2 or 3 green bin bags which were properly detailed as to what you could put in them. The set of what could be put in them was fantastic, with ONE exception.... glass. That one was easily reasoned: There's plenty of recycling bins for glass all over the UK, and having glass shattering in binliners that (likely) were sorted by hand was going to be a danger. So...I had no problem with it. If you looked down our street on collection day everyone was filling at least one if not two or three bin bags every week! Unfortunately, after a few years, the people who had the contract (sorry I can't remember their name) lost it to Biffa. Now most people in the UK at least knew the name Biffa, and I thought they would have a good profile etc. No doubt they undercut the previous company, and it was alleged that the previous company was either too expensive, had a backlog, or was just not good enough for the job. It wasn't an issue until Biffa delivered what I can only describe as a child's small toy tub. It looked as if it was made out of recycled plastic (I hope so). They even had a pretty piece of netting to put over the top (a bit like your granny's hair net) so that when you put it out for collection things didn't blow away. Then....I read the label...... there was pretty much NOTHING you could put into this tub apart from GLASS! No magazines, no cans, no cardboard, not even envelopes! Pretty much the only things you could put in was glass, and VERY SPECIFC types of plastic. We're stuck with it now and I find it seriously annoying. Now when you look down the street, probably half the houses will put their recycling tub out for collection, and rarely do you see them filled. Even when you do, you can almost guarantee in our case that a few items have been left in the tub as "not recyclable". The main problem is that even if the original company couldn't recycle everything we put into the bin bags, at least everyone felt they were doing their bit for the environment. The council and Biffa have hammered that optimistic feeling out of people and now I at least don't feel that I'm doing enough to help the environment. The big irony is that even the local borougs have different (and some better) options when it comes to recycling. I also know for a fact that in the north of the country where a friend lives they have THREE wheely bins. They use two for recycling and one for normal waste. Granted they live in the country and don't get the bins emptied for 2 weeks at a time, but at least they acknowledge there's more to recycle than we do here. Come on Leicester City Council and Biffa! get your finger out and do more than just let us consume and fill a hole full of rubbish which no doubt isn't on Leicester City's doorstep. Stop making it someone elses problem and help us help you! Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:08:08 GMT http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/_Another-reason-to-complain/BLOG/102857/51250.html RobLyons 2008-09-17T07:08:08Z Click4Carbon Its taken me a while, but finally, I've founds somewhere I can sit and complain about everything and anything that gets on my nerves. Well...I'll try to keep things relevant to being ECO friendly of course. So, I thought I'd start this one off by describing the state of recycling in Leicester(UK). The council for Leicester for many years now has contracted out doorstep recycling. In the first years I thought it was great, and simple. Everyone was delivered a set of 2 or 3 green bin bags which were properly detailed as to what you could put in them. The set of what could be put in them was fantastic, with ONE exception.... glass. That one was easily reasoned: There's plenty of recycling bins for glass all over the UK, and having glass shattering in binliners that (likely) were sorted by hand was going to be a danger. So...I had no problem with it. If you looked down our street on collection day everyone was filling at least one if not two or three bin bags every week! Unfortunately, after a few years, the people who had the contract (sorry I can't remember their name) lost it to Biffa. Now most people in the UK at least knew the name Biffa, and I thought they would have a good profile etc. No doubt they undercut the previous company, and it was alleged that the previous company was either too expensive, had a backlog, or was just not good enough for the job. It wasn't an issue until Biffa delivered what I can only describe as a child's small toy tub. It looked as if it was made out of recycled plastic (I hope so). They even had a pretty piece of netting to put over the top (a bit like your granny's hair net) so that when you put it out for collection things didn't blow away. Then....I read the label...... there was pretty much NOTHING you could put into this tub apart from GLASS! No magazines, no cans, no cardboard, not even envelopes! Pretty much the only things you could put in was glass, and VERY SPECIFC types of plastic. We're stuck with it now and I find it seriously annoying. Now when you look down the street, probably half the houses will put their recycling tub out for collection, and rarely do you see them filled. Even when you do, you can almost guarantee in our case that a few items have been left in the tub as "not recyclable". The main problem is that even if the original company couldn't recycle everything we put into the bin bags, at least everyone felt they were doing their bit for the environment. The council and Biffa have hammered that optimistic feeling out of people and now I at least don't feel that I'm doing enough to help the environment. The big irony is that even the local borougs have different (and some better) options when it comes to recycling. I also know for a fact that in the north of the country where a friend lives they have THREE wheely bins. They use two for recycling and one for normal waste. Granted they live in the country and don't get the bins emptied for 2 weeks at a time, but at least they acknowledge there's more to recycle than we do here. Come on Leicester City Council and Biffa! get your finger out and do more than just let us consume and fill a hole full of rubbish which no doubt isn't on Leicester City's doorstep. Stop making it someone elses problem and help us help you! nonadult false Another reason to complain text blog 299 0 0.0 http://ecommunity.click4carbon.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=3475948&as=51250 http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/51250/photos/PHOTO_1755173_51250_3475948_ap_160X120.jpg false Leicester NONE 1 0 102857 3475948 Member 0