tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68055720419882786822012-02-16T07:47:20.817-08:00Environmental ObservationsNick Uptonnoreply@blogger.comBlogger321100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-35966609979602725322010-07-03T08:37:00.000-07:002010-07-03T08:37:23.528-07:00

Just in case you needed any more encouragement to buy rainforest in order to protect it: Buy Rainforest.

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-86727224329298362412010-06-24T21:25:00.000-07:002010-06-24T21:33:29.618-07:00

Some time ago I posted a list of organisations that assist in buying rainforest for those conservation-minded people who want to save the rainforest. Yesterday I updated the list and added many elements to the rainforest page.Buy rainforest to protect it; this is by far the most effective way of preventing rainforest destruction and instigating reforestation - Save The RainforestThe page also

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-11079003308668435332010-06-04T04:40:00.000-07:002010-06-04T04:47:01.629-07:00

The United Kingdom's Channel 4 has today published some facts on the BP oil spill that may stop the panic amongst wildlife lovers. Whilst this oil spill is obviously a terrible thing, it is worth considering that the impact could have been much worse."The Deepwater Horizon spill is 40 miles offshore in a depth of 1 mile and is a steady stream rather than a gush. The environmental impact has been

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-89299214908333747232010-04-13T03:09:00.000-07:002010-04-13T03:12:35.824-07:00

A Chinese ship that was ailing in a no-go zone has run into the Great barrier Reef, Australia, damaging over 1km of sensitive coral.Another example of the Chinese' contempt for the environment.Read more here: China ship 'seriously damaged' Great Barrier Reef

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-7676910421261461182009-09-09T13:49:00.000-07:002009-09-09T14:00:02.569-07:00

The European Comission has today confirmed that it will back the proposal to list Atlantic and Mediterranean Bluefin Tuna on Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.This is the latest support that the EU has given to measures for protecting fast collapsing fish stocks in many seas. These measures are unfortunately often too late and of course upset those in the

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-31845855571933485772009-08-14T21:09:00.000-07:002009-08-14T21:32:51.050-07:00

I am all for scientific progress, particularly when it can be used to further the aims of conservation but a recent article on the discovery of a new species of bulbul in Laos made me wonder if scientists don't need to take a leap into the modern world.A number of "specimens" were taken from the wild in Laos. Specimens means that birds were captured from the wild and killed to be put in an

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-87744600567797375442009-06-24T08:10:00.000-07:002009-06-24T08:18:09.480-07:00

Few people can have failed to hear of climate change and the effect it will have on sea levels, climate patterns and agriculture, but spare a thought for those poor old penguins who are being cheated out of their icy home.In actuality not all penguins live in icy habitats, although they do all occur in the southern ocean, but nevertheless they all need a hand from conservation minded people.

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-43723346448200947632009-06-17T05:03:00.000-07:002009-06-17T05:13:57.889-07:00

I have been saying for a long time that one of the best ways to save rainforests is sinply to buy it where possible. The RSPB in conjunction with Birdlife International and Burung Indonesia has a project in operation which protects and restores rainforest in Sumatra. This is a project well worth supporting.Why protect Rainforest?Apart from protecting rainforest for its innate value it is home to

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-52275612763979010562009-06-09T01:09:00.000-07:002009-06-09T02:23:46.421-07:00

Whilst doing some research on the subject I came across the following quote on toiletpaperworld.com"In the early 1970s, an EPA study for Congress concluded that using one ton of 100% recycled paper saves 4,100 kwh of energy (enough to power the average home for six months) and 7,000 gallons of water. It also keeps more than 60 pounds of pollution out of the air and saves 3.3 cubic yards of

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-73387613426439775942009-05-07T08:57:00.000-07:002009-05-07T09:12:04.840-07:00

There are many people who support conservation in principal but are not sufficiently motivated to participate themselves or to question polititians about what they are doing. A number of conservation bodies of a variety of types have come up with a way in which these people are able to actively support conservation; by adopting an animal. In these schemes, one does not actually take an animal

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-82725495259804768932008-10-04T09:13:00.000-07:002008-10-04T09:28:13.064-07:00

One of the biggest threats that wildlife faces, other than habitat loss, is direct persecution from humans. The illegal trade in wildlife is still a huge industry in many parts of the world, particularly southeast Asia, and this unsustainable harvesting of wildlife poses a real threat of extinction to many species.Tigers and rhinoceros are species which are under great threat of total

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-78930925118017628042008-06-13T23:05:00.000-07:002008-06-13T23:25:42.966-07:00

Everyone but those that live in caves must now be aware of the so called Greenhouse Effect and that carbon dioxide is thought to be highly influential in the process of climate change.What is talked about far less often is the role that Methane plays in global warming. In fact, there are a whole group of other gases that are thought to contribute to the greenhouse effect; water vapour being

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-82644214029022488612008-06-03T03:08:00.000-07:002008-10-04T10:15:17.354-07:00

It is often said that living a sustainable and environmentally friendly lifestyle is not much fun. In many ways this is true, most of us prefer to live in houses powered by electricity, drive cars and generally partake in all those wasteful practices that constitute the modern lifestyle whereas thinking about the carbon footprint of everything we do can seem pretty dismal and depressing. However,

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-59254119395479043842007-04-10T14:36:00.000-07:002007-04-10T14:48:31.141-07:00

What appears to be a breakthrough in technology by Go Sun Solutions in New Zealand could make solar power an attractive prospect for every household. Current solar panels are based on silicon which is an extremely common element within the earth's crust, however, refining it into a form useable for solar panels is a very energy-hungry process and gives fuel to those that argue that solar panels

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-28604496753382254522007-03-20T07:30:00.000-07:002007-03-20T07:55:12.467-07:00

Sometimes the sustainable living ideology gets taken too far - the idea of eating roadkill isn't likely to persuade many people to live in a more sustainable way. I think that the push for locally produced food is a good idea, not only in terms of the environment but in terms of taste. I remember the first time I tasted a watermelon immediately after picking it in Australia. I couldn't beleive

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-77523176784580365622007-03-13T12:49:00.000-07:002007-03-14T15:12:07.922-07:00

I've just found out that the sun is directly responsible for global warming!Apparently solar energy originating from the sun penetrates the earth's atmosphere where it warms the planet to just the right level for it to sustain life. However, it doesn't warm the earth equally across it surface, some areas receive more solar energy than others, meaning that they are warmer. To confuse this further,

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-32481491114990889332007-03-13T05:16:00.000-07:002007-03-13T12:31:56.124-07:00

Okay, so I'm not setting any records for exclusivity here, this is last weeks news, but the EU have pledged to phase out the use of traditional incandescent lightbulbs, to be replaced by the energy efficient type.Apparently this follows similar decisions by the Australian government and the State of California in the US.The switch to the new lightbulbs is estimated to mean a reduction in carbon

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-12797006425530418022007-03-12T08:51:00.000-07:002007-03-13T05:13:16.940-07:00

The latest advertisement on UK television for a KFC "meal" (how anyone can describe rubber chicken, batter and a spoonfull of coleslaw as a meal I'm not sure) not only encourages people to eat a meal of dubious nutrition, but patronisingly tells us that by throwing all the packaging - boxes, large plastic bucket, plastic wrappers, cutlery and napkins - in the bin we can contribute to a "mum's

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-85855999841898373792007-02-19T10:25:00.000-08:002007-02-19T10:51:10.713-08:00

Easter eggs are in the shops already; the supermarket I work in has a whole aisle devoted to them and I'm sure that extra packaging has been used just to annoy me.This is quite a tricky issue, no-one wants to suggest that children shouldn't enjoy receiving their easter eggs, I for one used to get quite excitied about it, but this shouldn't be an excuse to ignore the fact that unacceptable levels

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-16491966506324408492007-02-15T05:33:00.000-08:002007-02-15T05:34:49.981-08:00

Previously I wrote about the supermarket effect on food miles, and how users of supermarkets might reduce their food miles and consequently reduce their carbon footprint. Fortunately, for those of us that break out in a rash at the very mention of a supermarket there are options. One of my favourites, although not neccessarily the best, is to go for wild food.Wild food that can be obtained within

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-69028577159519731922007-02-13T09:56:00.000-08:002009-10-27T20:42:00.959-07:00

Envelope recycling has caused some people real problems, with some local authorities deciding that stamps, gummed edges and the dreaded plastic windows mean that envelopes are not suitable for recycling. After reading about the dilemma of recycling envelopes on Ecoxiety, I decided to investigate a much better way of dealing with this problem - REUSE them.Friends of mine introduced me to this idea

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-14423853432577194312007-02-13T04:32:00.000-08:002007-02-13T05:21:57.186-08:00

The concept of food miles (or kilometres if you prefer) is one that is gradually growing in public awareness and some supermarkets (at least those in the UK) are attempting to cut down on the number of products that are supplied by plane. Of course, the country of origin has been displayed on virtually all products for many years and by selecting home produced products over those produced in far

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-91189723124591911392007-02-11T14:46:00.000-08:002007-02-12T10:13:23.549-08:00

The reluctance of UK government and industry to invest in "green" technology is rapidly becoming a major annoyance to me. Al Gore wrote as early as 1991 that Japan was leading the way in the development of energy efficient appliances that are rapidly taking over as leading sellers from competing products from the US and Europe. It seems to me that there are large profits to be made from creating

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-19145742208830539202007-02-10T08:10:00.000-08:002007-02-12T06:21:43.270-08:00

Last year I wrote an essay on Waste managment in the UK for college, and I was thinking about this issue again the other day.Much is made of recycling, everyone seems to be getting on the bandwagon; lots of supermarkets now have plastic bag recycling bins and the bins for glass are now ubiquitous.I recently read some interviews with leading business people questioning them on their "green"

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-42877152278549506402007-02-09T03:46:00.000-08:002007-02-13T04:31:54.090-08:00

Winter arrived in the UK a couple of days ago and it is freezing. In fact it feels colder in my flat than it does outside! I live in an old building that has been converted into a couple of flats and it seems to be almost completely uninsulated. Unfortunately, it is a rented flat and I don't expect to stay here much longer so there isn't much I can do about it, but how I wish that I could

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-31927602122951646022007-02-08T12:01:00.000-08:002007-02-13T04:29:44.817-08:00

I have written on previous posts about how I always (well nearly always) use my reusable shopping bag when I go out. When I mentioned this to my grandmother, she just rolled her eyes and said that she'd been a "green" in this particular way since the 1930s. I guess that these sort of bags were (and maybe still are) the norm for older people, but younger generations are used to having plastic bags

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-74238637638400330862007-02-05T11:50:00.001-08:002007-02-05T12:32:17.137-08:00

It sounds nice doesn't it? Owning your own piece of rainforest, so that it can never be cut down sounds like a wonderful prospect. Shame you can't have it in your own back garden though. However, it is possible to protect a piece of rainforest, to conserve the species within it ,by supporting one of a number of charities that have negotiated deals with governments and local people in order to

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-74115275003501866062007-02-03T14:46:00.000-08:002007-02-12T06:24:55.084-08:00

Energy saving lightbulbs have become much easier to find over the last few years and anyone with any green pretensions has probably at least got a few in their house. I have used them for some time now and recently replaced the remaining few normal bulbs still in use in my flat.Much is made of their energy saving qualities, but I began to wonder how much energy they save and consequently what is

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-87593163250787249722007-01-20T03:03:00.000-08:002007-01-20T03:31:52.311-08:00

So far I'm doing pretty well with my resolutions; I bought some rechargeable batteries and energy saving light bulbs; every time I've been shopping I've used the "bag for life" and I've walked to the shops - good so far; I've been very careful with putting the right amount of water in the kettle, but as yet I haven't bought any locally produced food, but my wife is at the market now, so that one

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-5856803441327358682007-01-16T12:27:00.000-08:002007-02-12T06:26:03.679-08:00

My green resolutions got me thinking hard about what small things I can do to minimize my impact upon the environment without really having to make any significant changes to my lifestyle; there must be loads of things. Birdwatching close-by is one of those that I have already taken to (Birdwatching near Beverley).Boiling the kettle this morning got me thinking about the energy used for my

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-45989349230365394292007-01-14T12:29:00.000-08:002007-02-03T15:10:57.486-08:00

All day at the supermarket today was like shaving pieces off of my brain, but at one point I was asked if I'd made any new year's resolutions. I never do make any, but it got me thinking a bit today; it was either think about this or drive myself to frustration thinking about the amount of packaging I was throwing around like confetti. So, for the first time I've made some resolutions: Green

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805572041988278682.post-42600857817095841762007-01-13T14:13:00.000-08:002007-02-12T06:27:03.845-08:00

Working in a supermarket drives me mental! Not only is the work sensationally dull, but the amount of waste created makes me mad. It's very stressful.I don't believe it!One box this evening was particulaly irritating. It was about 50cm square by about 40 cm high and made of some of the thickest, densest cardboard I've ever encountered. Inside was a myriad of folded cardboard seperating just four

Nick Uptonnoreply@blogger.com0