4ecotips.com

A REALLY BLACK SABBATH FOR OZZY BUT USA IS REAL THIEF

Last Sunday night’s visit by thieves to Ozzy Osbourne’s Buckinghamshire retreat must be condemned and we offer our sincere commiserations to himself and wife Sharon. Although the loss £1.5m to the Osbournes is probably nowhere near as distressing as an OAP loosing their pension book.

The Osbournes must be quite adequately insured but if they are not then Ozzy can possibly make up his loss with the proceeds from just a single Black Sabbath gig.

They both said it would never have happened in LA! But what they've really missed out is that the whole world is being “turned over” by the Bush-lead American administration which refuses to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

Unless he changes his tune, George Bush will surely go down as the 21st century’s Ali Baba for his blinkered attitude to global warming which for every day he procrastinates is robbing our planet of its future!

IS THERE POTENTIAL IN THE AUSSIE JUNGLE?

What a waste of time and resources in the Australian jungle where the ten so called TV celebrities are all trying to “get out”! Instead of lolling around for days on end getting on each others nerves, not to mention the effect on the local wildlife, they could be doing something positive towards beating global warming, writes Al Nino.

For instance, if they had an appropriate scientist in their midst they could be mustering vital information on how best to harness all the hot air they’re generating. Or they could build a wind turbine from bamboo or develop a new motor fuel from human dung. There must be plenty of it thereabouts.

Or perhaps they could build a big hamster wheel linked to a generator then all climb aboard and at least for a few weeks provide the local Aussies with some free electricity.

Come to think of it, if all the TV reality shows going on simultaneously around the world were linked together they could all be made to disappear up their own exhausts. And that would be a major boost for energy efficiency!

NOW WE’RE REALLY BUSH-WHACKED!

These are dark days for the Americans and even darker days for our Planet. The re-election of George Bush as US President is one major step for mankind down the wrong road.

With his “mandate” from that gullible 52% of the American electorate who returned him, he is most likely to make an even greater mess of things over the next four years than he has already done during the past four.

His only foreign policy is the bomb. Self-preservation is his priority and now that he is in his final term of office he’s got nothing to lose.

He has turned his back on the Kyoto Protocol, so America will continue to belch out more carbon emissions than anywhere else on Earth. And as the world’s eco-system is already delicately poised on the edge of the abyss another four years could bring us to the point of no return!

Like many of his terrorist adversaries Bush, too, is a religious fanatic who, by his own admission, takes advice from “above”.

So if there is anybody up there, God help America and the rest of us!

BULLY FOR HRH

BULLY FOR HRH

It’s good to read that Her Majesty has joined the global warming fray. She could really let her hair down on this crucial issue and make some positive steps towards bringing quite a few international renegades into line.

For a start she could strike George Bush from her Christmas card list. But first, perhaps, she must put her own house (or houses) in order.

Buckingham Palace, for example, is outrageously expensive to run and in the winter consumes nearly as much energy as Victoria Station, just down the road. Then there’s draughty Balmoral and equally energy inefficient Sandringham. They all need state-of-the art condensing boilers or ground source heat pumps or wind turbines - plus double glazing.

And are they well insulated in the roofs and cavity walls? And does she just boil enough water for two cups of tea rather than the entire royal household?

Then there’s the cars and the kids. Perhaps the world’s most travelled car – the gas-guzzling regal Daimler should be down sized to one of the new hybrid, super-efficient VW Golfs that are soon to come off the production line. And maybe the royal estates’ various Land Rovers should be substituted by a greater preponderance of horses which are probably the most sustainable form of transport ever available to mankind.

Prince Charles, with his positive Poundbury links, must have Highbury performing with as much as changing the guards. But, most certainly, HRH’s second son’s obsession with chasing golf balls around the globe using various military and civil aircraft to reach his destinations, has to be reined in. Flying is one of the greatest polluters of all!

WHAT’S HAPPENED TO ENERGY SAVING WEEK?

In less than ten days the UK’s Energy Saving Week is due to begin, but in true British style nobody, other than the organisers - the Energy Saving Trust - knows what’s happening! Surely we should be capitalising on an event such as this with a big build up and lots of important energy saving things to do and think about?

For instance are schools aware of the event? Are they being provided with special literature and energy efficiency projects for students to carry out? What’s happening for businesses – large and small? And what about public buildings, airports and railway stations, theatres and leisure centres, hospitals and nursing homes, are they to be targeted?

Have you seen any flyers, advertisements or posters? No! So what’s the EST up to? Anything?

THINK AGAIN MR HOWARD

“Ours is a philosophy rooted in reality,” Tory leader Michael Howard told the party faithful in Bournemouth. He commented on education, the health service, law and order and other popular political hobbyhorses.

But not once did he mention the really crucial issues bearing down on us all – climate change and the ailing environment. So we can only assume that basic Tory philosophy is not routed in “reality” at all.

If Mr Howard and his Tory colleagues are serious about forming the next government,
then the consequences of global warming have to be at the heart of their philosophy!

Branson boldly goes galactic

Is it pie in the sky? No, it’s Richard Branson’s latest Virgin venture into the world of aeronautics. By around the year 2007, which isn’t so far away as the crow flies, he plans to have his Virgin Galactic suite of spacecraft ready to take super-wealthy tourists into territory beyond their wildest dreams. Well, about 60 miles above the planet’s surface, that is.

It will cost the travellers around £120,000 per head to make the three hour trip. But it will cost the Earth a fortune in terms of greenhouse gases.

In his book ‘How we can save the planet’, Mayer Hillman explains how air travel is the fastest growing greenhouse gas emissions. He says of air travel:“ … its contribution to global warming is around three times greater than is indicated by the carbon dioxide emissions of a single flight.”

So think again Sir Dick

Global warming

FORGET TERRORISM, GLOBAL WARMING'S OUR GREATEST THREAT

Weekly up date on current ways and means

The greatest threat to humankind is not terrorism, wars amongst nations or localised civil disputes! It's GLOBAL WARMING and its consequences for generations to come if we don't act now.

So with the pace of change hotting up, 4ecotips.com is to provide valuable weekly updates on ways and means to control our worst enemy - climate change.

DUTCH WHISPER BUS IS FRIENDLY TRANSPORT SOLUTION

Holland is launching it's Whisper bus which hitherto has only been out on test runs. Now it's ready to go into regular service in the city of Apeldoorn.

The bus extremely eco friendly. It has a revolutionary driving mechanism that uses electrical wheel hub motors. This means that power is regained every time the bus breaks. The Whisper recharges itself at night using electricity from the grid.

The Whisper concept is fuel efficient, environmentally friendly and significantly quieter than most public transport. What's more, the driving mechanism can be used on existing buses as well.

ecofacts

Did you know?

* Every year VCRs in the UK use £118million, and TVs £190 million worth of electricity just waiting to be switched on.

* Remember, if you added together the gaps around doors and windows in the average size house they would be equivalent to a hole in your wall the size of nine standard bricks.

* Refrigeration and freezing appliances in our homes use nearly as much electricity as the amount consumed by all the offices in the UK.

For more facts like these... link

How can we save the planet? - By Mayer Hillman

[Published by Penguin Books]
Challenging, stimulating and practical, this book is the essential guide to help you understand how we can safeguard our future.

Climate change is the single biggest problem that humankind has ever had to face. Yet politicians cannot agree a framework for tackling it effectively, and meanwhile we continue with lifestyles that are way beyond the plant's limits.

Here Mayer Hillman explains the real issues we should focus on: what the government is doing, what role technology can play and, above all, why we must act now to protect our planet for later generations.

It shows how you and your community can make changes and why government must take the lead.

It introduces a radical rationing scheme to reduce our individual carbon outputs to a fair and ecologically safe level.

It gives helpful short- and long-term guidelines for the home, travel and leisure to enable us to live within this ration.

It provides a wealth of information and contact details for relevant organisations, companies and websites.

"For thirty years Mayer Hillman has been busily turning conventional political thinking on its head … he has come up with solutions that are hard to dismiss" - Guardian.

www.4ecotips.com