A round-up of this week’s environmental, green and ecofriendly news and updates.
I fell in love with Norway when I traveled there a few years ago, including up into the Arctic to see the Aurora Borealis or the Northern Lights. It was so incredibly beautiful, and the people were wonderfully friendly and delightfully quirky (and the reindeer were placid and beautiful too).
So I wasn’t surprised when Norwegian TV viewers got hooked on “slow TV”. Imagine 18 hours of broadcasting salmon fishing. I mean, even if you enjoy fishing, let’s be honest – nothing much happens.
This month however, Norwegian TV is generating headlines for being TOO uneventful. (Wow!). They were filming the annual reindeer migration from the north to the south of the country. (Yes, 168 hours of reindeer, walking).
The program was supposed to wrap up on April 28 with a dramatic finale showing the reindeer swim across a strait to their favourite summer island.
But the reindeer decided to stop en route – and the live broadcast was suspended because, well, nothing was happening. There was a tweet-storm from disappointed viewers – “what will I do now that I can no longer check on my reindeer?” was a common sentiment.
The reason why Slow TV is so popular may be that it’s a reaction to this stressful world we’re living in. You watch things happen at a natural speed, and it’s not people who decide what happens, it’s the reindeer and the weather. That sounds very green and ecofriendly to me!
Fitness trackers are wildly popular at the moment. They can help people get fitter, walk more, and even compete with each other to achieve new fitness goals.
But is there is a darker side to fitness trackers? Find out here.
I know many of my readers are avid book lovers – so you may be interested to know that a new study declares that historic smells are part of our “cultural heritage” and should be saved to bring the past to life.
Old books give off unique sweetly musty scents – perhaps recalling childhood hours spent absorbed in beloved stories and discovering the world.
Preserving smells will certainly be interesting. The study (in the journal Heritage Science), found that when volunteers were asked to describe “old book” smell, they often used the word chocolate! I suppose both paper and chocolate come from plants…..
Summer is nearly here – and it’s a time when many people want to make small changes to their homes to reflect the new season.
Here are 5 ways that you can ring the changes – and they’re all green and ecofriendly (of course!) as well as cost-effective. Have a look here.
Global Green News:
A U.K. business that has been operating since the early 16th century will close this month. London’s Whitechapel Bell Foundry sent 27 bells to the American colonies in the 1700s, as well as the original Liberty Bell. It cast the “Great Bell” of Big Ben in London and bells for many more cathedrals and churches around the globe. Following the Sept. 11 attacks, it also cast the “Bell of Hope,” a gift from the people of London to New York City.
It’s closing because we don’t need bells any more. In the past, they were used to communicate warnings of invading armies – now bells are rarely heard (although I love to hear them). Sad.
US Green News:
The climate change page on the EPA’s website was deleted when Scott Pruitt took over the Agency. However, the page, which explained the basics of climate science and how it affects us, now has a new home: The City of Chicago’s website. Good stuff!
27 American cities have now pledged to use 100% renewable energy for power. Mostly they aim to do so by around 2035 or 2050. Atlanta is the most recent city – has your city also pledged? Find out in this list from the Sierra Club.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.
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I thought most bells (at least in Europe) were used to call people to church. Maybe that’s also a custom in decline? Maybe slow TV is a replacement for the weekly sitting-through-a-sermon experience??
Growing up in Ireland the churches did ring their bells but I don’t recall if it was to call people to their services – although certainly they tolled for funerals. Originally bells were used to communicate over distances with a largely illiterate population, so yes, I suppose they would decline as we no longer need that type of communication. I love towns which have bells which chime on the hour, I find it very comforting at night – but I can also understand that it might drive people dilly too. Where I live now we seem to have only commemorative slave bells, I certainly don’t hear bells (church or otherwise) here – a pity!
Slow TV instead of sitting-through-a-sermon – oh, lovely, that made my day, thank so much for making me smile!