Environment News – Check Your Toilet Paper! Clever Invention / Gorgeous Dogs
Some bite-sized pieces of news from the environment this week.
10 July, 2019
News snippets
Tesco, Britain’s largest supermarket chain, is reducing food waste from bread by turning unsold baguettes and batons from its in-store bakeries into new products such as olive crostini and bread pudding. Bread has a short shelf life and so it’s a big waste problem, but Tesco believe they can fully halve their waste by doing this.
P.S. If you want to know what normally happens to unsold bread, it’s first reduced in price, then given to food charities, then offered free to staff, and any remainder is sent for use in animal feed. Other stores use unsold bread to make beer.
I love finding out about new inventions that can make life easier for people living in poverty. Researchers in Saudi Arabia have invented a new device that is similar to a solar cell in that it produces electricity from sunlight – but it also purifies water at the same time! This would solve 2 common problems at once – many women spend untold hours collecting and carrying water which is often not safe to drink. But purifying waters takes a lot of resources. Now, sea water can be purified more easily, while producing renewable energy too!
If you’re a tennis fan you’ll know that Wimbledon is on at the moment. Players and fans alike are loving the new “living walls” – walls filled with plants and flowers. They’ve been added as part of the Club’s sustainability efforts. Players say how peaceful it makes the grounds feel because it’s so green and colourful – useful for high-stress times!
If you live in the US or the UK, you are in luck! There is a wonderful new website called Buy Me Once which researches and finds only products that are long-lasting – so that you don’t need to keep buying new “stuff”. It’s a wonderful idea, and I hope it thrives!
If you like dogs, you’ll love the winning photographs of beautiful dogs in the UK’s annual Kennel Club Photographer of the Year competition. When you go into their website, just click on any of the photos to read the “back story” behind the winning pics. My favourite is “Assistance Dogs, simply because of the story, and I love the “Oldies” photo (perhaps because I’ve recently had to put one of my old dogs to sleep) because older dogs have so much character. My husband’s favourite was “Dogs at Play”. Which ones are your favorites?
more below……
more snippets
Major climate crisis disasters such as hurricanes and floods are covered by the news media worldwide. Smaller disasters aren’t. But according to the United Nations (UN), smaller catastrophes are happening on average once a week globally, causing death, displacement and suffering. They are also occurring much faster than predicted.
Which toilet tissue do you buy? It’s a single-use disposable item, and there is a wide choice. You’d think that now that we’re all facing the climate crisis, companies would be more careful with their production of consumer goods. Sadly however, major brands are using LESS recycled paper than in 2011. We’re killing trees to make toilet paper – that’s daft! The growing trend for “luxury” four-ply and quilted toilet roll is fuelling the use of virgin pulp in an effort to create the softest product. Even apart from protecting the planet, you should know that the chemicals used to produce recycled paper are far less toxic than those used to bleach virgin pulp. Always try to buy rolls made from 100% recycled paper.
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Warm regards,
P.S. Don’t forget to download your free green living handbook “Live Well, Live Green” here.
