Be Eco Friendly

A millionaire has won a planning battle to build a luxury eco-friendly home on his very own uninhabited island.

Edward Iliffe, 41, bought the aptly-named Green Island in Dorset for £2.5million and intends to run it as an environmentally-friendly family hideaway. The six-bedroom flat-pack house he will be build will be powered by solar panels, heated by a wood burner and will get running water from a well.

Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/04/29/the-2-5m-robinson-crusoe-115875-22219745/

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By developing equations that balance starch, sugar, cellulose, ash, fat and other elements of feed, a Canada-wide team of scientists has given beef producers the tools to lessen the methane gas their cattle produce by as much as 25 per cent.

“That’s good news for the environment,” said Stephen Moore, a professor of agricultural, food and nutritional science at the University of Alberta in Canada. “Methane is a greenhouse gas, and in Canada, cattle account for 72 per cent of the total emissions.

Read more: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090507145752.htm

Consumers who need guidance deciphering all the seals, certifications and claims on food packaging can find some answers in MNN’s Food Label Guide.

If you’re trying to make smart choices for the environment and your health, understanding the many seals, certifications and claims on food packing can be confusing. Here, we break ‘em down, clean and simple.

http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating-recipes/stories/17-eco-food-labels-decoded

There’s no end to the potential of solar power. The amount of solar radiation reaching our planet’s surface in any given hour is theoretically adequate to meet all of humanity’s current energy needs. That sounds great, and huge strides are being made to bring residential solar power down to the level where it can be an affordable option for more than Silicon Valley CEOs and well-heeled eco celebrities.

Read more: http://www.mnn.com/your-home/around-the-house/stories/solar-power-for-less-than-500

Honk, honk. A taxi drives by – smell the pollution? Taxis pump toxic emissions, including carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrous oxide (NOX), into the atmosphere. Worldwide, municipalities and corporations are taking the initiative to reduce automotive pollution by turning to alternative sources of energy.

Read more: http://www.automotiveinsiderblog.com/205/reducing-our-carbon-footprint-with-eco-friendly-taxis/

The UK’s small wind turbine industry delivered record growth during 2009 as growing numbers of customers installed wind energy systems ahead of the launch of the government’s feed-in tariff.

Read full article: http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2262047/small-mighty-wind-turbines

So the Green jinx has at last been lifted. Caroline Lucas has been elected MP for Brighton Pavilion.

It’s not quite true to say that she is the UK’s first Green MP. From 1992-2000 the party shared the MP for Ceredigion, Cynog Dafis, with Plaid Cymru. But she’s the first one in England and the first to represent only the Greens. It’s a massive breakthrough, not only because she’s a brilliant, charismatic, humane politican who will enrich parliamentary life, but also because it proves it can be done, even under our antiquated political system.

If the Greens, despite all the odds, can take a seat in a first-past-the-post election, think of what they’ll be able to do if, as now seems possible, we get proportional representation. Think how much more might be achieved if we also get a fair party funding system, which doesn’t leave the small parties scrambling for pennies while billionaires slip cheques into the pockets of the big players.

Read full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2010/may/07/caroline-lucas-uk-first-green-mp

Video: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/video/2010/may/07/caroline-lucas-green-party

In the contemporary life two major and related problems plague us all. From the world of big business and corporate industry right down to the public consumer and average family household these problems persist. These two problems frustrate capitalists and environmentalists, conservatives and liberals alike, as they affect finance and the environment, bank balances and co2 emissions.

These two problems are of course, the current global economic crisis and global warming. Because of these issues everybody is looking for ways to a) save money and b) cut down on co2 emissions (the single biggest contributing factor to global warming) and protect the environment. There is no current magic solution to these problems, but there are ways in which we can all do our bit and there are devices that can save us money whilst helping us to cut back on our emissions. The low energy light bulb is just such a device.

Read more: http://www.ecofriendlylightbulbs.co.uk/news/index.php/low-energy-light-bulbs/low-energy-light-bulbs/