Friday, September 14, 2007

PAUSE

Things are mighty busy right now. So much so that ShoppingFix has taken a back seat.

We've hit the pause button so I'll post here on a less regualr basis. In the mean time there are several events to look out for.

1. Council elections - Wellington's carbon neutral aspirations will be fleshed out when post election committees are established in November. ShoppingFix is on the story board.

2. Carbon trading - The Govt/NZX "TZ1" carbon trading platform will be outlined in the next month. So too will a bunch of other Govt. "led" sustainability initiatives.

3. Music - The 2007 SuperSession gig is being jointly hosted by SurfAid and the Wellington Free Ambulance. Book the date: November 10th.

4. Work/Travel - My new(ish) job takes me to Fiji, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh over the next 2 months. I'll offset it somehow. Mark my words.

Catch you soon...

Thursday, September 13, 2007

THINK BIG?

I read this article in the Guardian Weekly on the bus home tonight.

In it is a truly amazing stat. No, not that China builds two coal fired power plants a week; but that Drax, the huge Yorkshire coal fired plant, produces more CO2 than 103 other nations combined.

Someone else in the authors office essentially asked the same question today: can each of our recycling and energy saving measures really "save the planet"? The answer is of course yes, but with the clean coal myth being espoused left right and centre, the big wins need to be chased harder than ever.

If confronted with "carbon capture and storage" tell him he's dreaming. Add your weight to ditching Marsden B for good, or to saving Happy Valley. Support projects like West Wind.

It's still worth pulling your mobile charger out of the wall though.

Image credit: the simple folk at New Zealand Mineral Industry Assn. From a cute little section titled "How are coal mines rehabilitated?"