A round-up of this week’s environmental, green and ecofriendly news and updates.
The Great North Dog Walk started in 1990 with a few people taking their dogs for a walk. Now it’s an annual event in the small coastal town of South Shields in England. It has broken an astonishing 16 Guinness World Records – and it has raised almost $9 million for charity over the years. The walk has alternative routes for wheelchairs, strollers and older dogs that might have difficulty navigating the coastal path.The beneficiaries include animal shelters, veterans groups and cancer research organizations. Isn’t that wonderful?
There are some really staggering figures here. All to do with birds – our beautiful feathered friends.
And you won’t believe how we manage (unintentionally, of course) to harm so many – every day.
See what we do – and how we can avoid the harm.
Popsicles or ice lollies are a great way to cool down in the summer heat. Now they’re being used to send a message about pollution! Design students in Taiwan used un-filtered water to make popsicles – so they contained bits of plastic and cigarette butts, and if the water was a nasty brown or yellow colour, so were the popsicles. It was a great way to showcase water quality. You can watch the fun video here.
Impulse buying. It’s a relatively new phenomenon – and it’s costing us a fortune (and polluting our environment).
Learn the clever tricks that marketers use to get you to buy more, and see how to be happier, by clicking here.
Global Green News:
Good news for our oceans! 9 large fishing firms have pledged to prevent over-fishing, stop slave labor, and end illegal catches. Of course, there are loads of small fisheries and fishermen all over the world, but 13 huge companies control about 40% of the most valuable and biggest species catches. So 9 of those biggest 13 will make a difference. It’s a great start!
US Green News:
Who would have thought that “keeping up with the Joneses” would lead to higher home solar installations? That’s what’s happening in US suburbs. Apparently the biggest driver of home-improvement-related change is whether or not a neighbor decided to do it first. Things that we never thought we needed or wanted can instantly become objects of desire once “the Joneses” have them. Once they become commonplace, no one wants to be the last house in the street without solar panels on the roof.
A 2013 study showed that neighborly influence — not generous rebates, not renewables-friendly legislation nor high electricity cost — is the main cause of residential solar spreading across the US. And people are more likely to go solar if they can see the panels easily on their neighbours’ roofs. But what if you can’t? Google has the answer – Project Sunroof allows you to snoop around and see who has installed solar panels and who hasn’t. It seems daft – but if that’s what it takes to get more people going renewable, then it’s got to be good. (Related: What the solar companies don’t want you to know).
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.
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Once again some very interesting information here. I have stopped eating fish entirely because of over fishing and pollution of the waters they live in. We are also going to find ourselves without clean water anywhere soon unless the next generation puts an end to the good old boys club that thinks it’s all ok as long as they can keep stuffing their own pockets. I live in a manufactured home, (trailer) and still trying to find out how to get inexpensive solar without putting it on the roof that won’t hold them. We only have sun 4 or 5 months of the year. I still want solar. I’d like to see all the neighbors keep their cats inside so they stop killing all the birds around here. There are so very many and it’s against the rules that no one enforces. I don’t use chemicals outside but the management for our park encourages the use of weed killers. I just pull them or use a bit of vinegar on those I can’t pull.
Thanks Marlene! Water is definitely going to be a huge problem worldwide – and you’re right about the old boys club. Solar film might be an option for your trailer – the military use it for tents so it’s really lightweight. But I don’t know how it compares price-wise. Have a look at http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/ – I’m NOT recommending them, I don’t know them at all, but the website might give you an idea about the type of product. I’m with you on the cats and the weedkiller. I don’t know when we stopped pulling weeds and using weedkiller instead. As you say, vinegar works well, I also use boiling water in my wee garden. Perhaps the toxic chemicals are cheaper for garden maintenance companies than paying labor to pull weeds, I don’t know. But if that’s the case, then cheaper is definitely not better! Thanks so much for stopping by.