Not as Green as it appears.

[Flummery]

Is that why you've got the candles out then Flum?

Ha ha! Actually it was a nod in the direction of Festivals of Light, whatever the world religion. However, my bedside light is now the old bulb I removed to put the 'green' one in!

[Madasafish]

Cuting down forest for biofuel is green. They are then replanted.. The carbon is recycled.
I buy low energy lightbulbs at 39p each (Morrisons) . Cheaper than ordinary ones.

We recycle all our kitchen and garden waste.. crush our eggshells and use as anti- slug guards or fertiliser.

Recycle all paper and cardboard.

We have virtually no food waste: surplus fat from cooking (we strain fat from meat) is used to make fatballs for the birds.

[The Doctor]

On "It's Not Easy Being Green", Dick Strawbridge was very insistent that people shouldn't fall for what he called the 'green wash'. This is the persistent labelling of everything as being green because it is the latest pc thing to do, when in actual fact an awful lot of the stuff is no better than what already exists.

[Alison]

Cuting down forest for biofuel is green. They are then replanted.. The carbon is recycled.

Biofuel is quite a complicated one, if it is made from a true byproduct of something these then it's OK, however, increasingly fields that would otherwise have been used to produce edible food are being used to grow fuel for cars etc. This is farcical (or however you spell it!) as it means that we then have to ship food further which kind of defeats the idea.

[HeyWayne]

Bugger your carbon footprint - it's your methane footprint you need to worry about! Wait for Jerusalem artichokes to be banned...

News in Science - Melting permafrost spews out more methane - 07/09/2006

[smallblueplanet]

Jacob, importing goods for consumption isnt green but then it doesnt pretend to be in the main so isnt realy sanctamonious.

The jist of this thread is about things that are lauded as being green when they are not, as per the example of fiddlers ferry power station. Its the plain deciet of it that angers me. Just because green is "in", the powers that be think that if they call it green were stupid enough to believe it.

Monty Don bleats endlessley about not using peat but coir isnt a real green alternative. However because he says it is, everybody and his dog rushes out to buy coir with a 5000mile carbon tag on every bag without thinking.

What about bananas?

[Flummery]

They're yellow and bendy SBP.

[pigletwillie]

And nobody pretents bringing Bananas here is green Manda, the whole jist of the thread is about things that are supposed to be green, but are'nt.

Like coir
low wattage lamps
burning bio fuels that travel 4000 miles
and a million other things

not bananas
hemp knickers
or mobile phones.

or am I missing something?

[smallblueplanet]

Yeah I know PW - but does no-one think about yellow bendy things?

If they're okay why not coir? Aren't bananas 'green'?

ps 'hemp knickers????

[Tigerella]

low wattage lamps

Hi

What do you mean by low wattage lamps not being green, I would have thought the "low wattage" means it is green.

T

[bubblewrap]

I've heard the coir arguement before, but what happens to the waste if it doesn't get shipped here? Does anyone know. Also is it a case of 'filling' a returning ship or are they making 'special' journeys?

Don't worry with "global warming" we will be able to grow coconuts here soon!!

[Paulottie]

[QUOTE=Madasafish;152471]Cuting down forest for biofuel is green. They are then replanted.. The carbon is recycled.
I buy low energy lightbulbs at 39p each (Morrisons) . Cheaper than ordinary ones.

I may not have been clear I was referring to Indonesia. Much tropical rainforest is being felled, particularly to grow increasingly valuable palm oil, bad for orang-utans and bad for us all. The rainforests are the worlds lungs, and have been able to absorb all our travel needs. The trouble comes because once the trees are gone- the land quickly becomes infertile and the forest does not regrow.. It happened in the Amazon for beef grazing and oddly soya production (Oh dear you hippies). This is more than slash and burn farming by poor peasants. It is big business.

I have changed all the bulbs to low energy, except a few on dimmers. Fine, except the one by the garage on a movement switch... I'm already indoors, (assuming i haven't tumbled over a discarded skateboard) and it has switched itself off before reaching 3 candle power. Also i find I've become lazier at switching them off (drummed into me as a kid)...for many applications great but here we go again lets ban something.

[SimonCole]

My University had done some of the key work understanding the importance of peat bogs and indeed, one of our researchers has received an OBE for his work, so let me help a bit on this issue.

Peat bogs are very special because they lock-up vast quantities of carbon. More carbon that from every forest in the world. They extend across North America, Europe and Asia. I think the figure is something like 3/4 all the carbon in the world.
If the temperature rises, the peat bogs decompose due to increased bacterial respiration. This acts as a positive feedback and dramatically increases global warming.

If we remove the peat, it is a bit like using fossil fuels... We put it on our garden and it produces carbon dioxide as it decomposes. This is because it is exposed to oxygen, soil microbes and higher temperatures. The peat bogs don't replenish very quickly... so there are very real parallels to oil!

Coir is different, you crop it and it re-grows. I would agree that transportation is a major problem, but doubt coir is not nearly as bad.

My side of research focuses on composting and global warming, so if I were in your position and I wanted organic matter: I’d pop along to my local council composting site and ask to fill a few bags. It is normally free and has a high lignin content that massively helps soil. It is also very high in P:N:K, so use it sparingly. Similarly, it cannot be used for seedlings, without mixing. I don’t think anyone can profess to be “green” by going to buy a plastic sack of compost, then driving it home.