Going Green Update #2

I have long been absent from this blog, I am ashamed to admit. So this Going Green Update is to update you readers on what I have been up to, my further attempts at being and acting environmentally conscious and why the prolonged absence!

Due to my growing interests in environmental issues and aspirations to help save the world, (the reasons why I started this blog) I decided I wanted and needed to learn far more and gain the skills to enable me to follow these interests in a future career. Therefore, I decided to undertake an MSc in Environment, Science and Society at University College London. I was sad (still am) to leave my beloved Cornwall behind, yet it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. I looked at many environmental courses, many sounded great. Yet when I stumbled across UCL's course I found it was exactly the course I would have designed for myself if possible! So here I am, living in central London, surrounded by shiny dominating skyscrapers and the trundling sound of constant traffic (my introvertism and claustrophobia a little more active too), studying what is technically a scientific geography masters. Possibly, the last place I thought I'd end up.

Yet I am loving it, though London living is tough at times for me, the country girl. I feel I have learnt more in a term than a year of study at undergrad level. It is so refreshing to be finally studying something I am so passionate about, appreciating every ounce of knowledge and insight my lecturers and peers provide me with. This course is very multidisciplinary, an approach I have always valued, everything should be explored and understood from multiple perspectives. How else can things be effectively understood, analysed or problems solved? Most of my presuppositions about nature, environment and conservation have vastly changed. I have also realised dealing with environmental issues is even more complex than previously imagined.

So there's a little insight into my current life. My MSc demands most of my time and attention, resulting in the neglecting of this blog (not to mention social life and my many hobbies!) Yet now, the apparently more intense term and all its coursework are over, my New Year's Resolution is to be more of an active blogger. So watch this space!

As for my attempts at being green in the city? I would suggest they are going surprisingly well. At an urban planning session I attended yesterday, a Friends of the Earth local group member suggested that dense city dwellers have much lower carbon footprints than the more suburban and rural. I certainly feel that's true of my current lifestyle. I walk almost everywhere, and when I can't (which is rare) I take public transport. London prices also serve as the perfect deterrent to excessive and wasteful consumption! And when you live so close, you realise Oxford Street is really not that exciting. Exploring London on foot, without spending a penny, has become one of my new favourite pastimes. Although where I live has not made recycling very accessible (no door to door collections, we have to carry it to recycling dumpsters down the street), London public streets are covered in recycling bins. I also now try to eat as little fish, chocolate and hoofed animals as possible. I also never drink bottled water. Overfishing is of huge detriment to delicate marine ecosystems, which lowers biodiversity and resilience to the impacts of climate change. The meat industry has a very large carbon footprint due to imports, deforestation for pasture and methane production. I also wish to do it for animal welfare reasons. The majority of chocolate is made with palm oil, which is farmed unsustainably and results in the destruction of rainforest. The bottled water industry is one of the most unsustainable and completely senseless. Tap water is subject to far more health and safety regulations, is free and taste can be improved with filtering. In many cases bottled water is just tap water put in a bottle! However, despite my best efforts, it is difficult eating sustainably when you are a poor student in London!

So there we go, I hope to keep you posted with many more blog posts soon, and share my new insights into environmental issues.

Funny but Sad Truth about Climate Change Denial

There is a 97% consensus from scientists worldwide that anthropogenic climate change is happening. 

David Mitchell humorously highlights the difference between normal people and climate change deniers. Yet why then do climate change deniers still have power? Their arguments are based on misrepresentation, unfounded theories and disproportionate media coverage. They should have been laughed at and forgotten, yet they haven't. And what is so wrong with fighting for a better, greener world anyway?

Dana Nuccitelli argues that conservative media coverage is to blame: Fox News found to be a major driving force behind global warming denial

I'd love to know your thoughts on the issue.

A Victim of Climate Change

A heart-breaking image to see. A beautiful noble creature broken due to the affects of climate change.

We are responsible for this harrowing image. It's our responsibility to try to prevent it from happening again ...and again.

From The Guardian:

Dr Ian Stirling, now at Polar Bears International, said the bear had been in apparently good health when it was examined by scientists in April in southern Svalbard. It was found dead three months later in northern Svalbard, far from its normal range. Stirling said most of the fjords in Svalbard did not freeze normally last winter, driving the bear further afield in the hunt for food. From his lying position in death, Stirling said, the bear appears to simply have starved and died where he dropped, having been reduced to little more than skin and bone. Arctic sea ice fell to its lowest recorded level in 2012, which scientists say is due to global warming.

You can help the rainforests and orang-utans this Easter

Palm oil has become the most used vegetable oil globally. It is used in a wide range of products, from use in cooking to chocolate and shampoo. It is easy and cheap to grow and therefore has become a major source of income for companies in countries such as Indonesia. As a result even more rainforest is being cut down, not only is this contributing to global warming, it's destroying the homes of many endangered species. Once rainforest is cut down, it cannot be replaced so these animals are losing their homes forever, ultimately resulting in extinction. No amount of palm oil should be able to justify this.

Sir Terry Pratchett presents the plight of the noble orang-utan, due to palm oil and rainforest destruction, in the very moving and enlightening programme Facing Extinction. I highly recommend you watch it. It has motivated me to do something, so I hope it can motivate you too.

When buying chocolate this Easter, and in the future, consider buying chocolate that hasn't been made with palm oil. If the demand for palm oil isn't there further rainforest will not be cut down to make room for palm trees. The list below outlines chocolate that does contain palm oil. Go here for a list of palm oil free chocolate.

Let's work together to protect the rainforests to combat climate change and protect the beautiful orang-utan.

We are killing nature...It is time we stopped

If you only do one meaningful thing today, make sure it is to watch this video. Everyone should watch this. It is heartbreaking but it truly shows the horrors we have brought to this world, the damage and pain we are causing but cannot see. We cannot continue to be this blind....

(Watch on full screen because I can't get it to fit the page)



If this cannot make us open our eyes, then nothing will. It is time to change.

Vote for Nature ... Help Farmers to Protect Wildlife

The European Union has to decide every seven years what to spend its money on.  A large part of this budget goes towards agriculture. This is a key area for promoting sustainability and protecting biodiversity. However, only a very small amount ends up contributing to nature friendly farming methods that will help the countryside to remain full of wildlife. One of my greatest joys in life is horse riding through the country, surrounded by animals of all kinds. To think that these animals may be harmed or killed due to a lack of funding and understanding from farmers, many of which are keen to protect wildlife, is upsetting. These animals have a right to life in the countryside and a right to food and habitats as much as we do so we should be helping to protect them. This funding is also one of the few sources that protects nature conservation sites in the UK.

Due to the current economic climate securing funding is a challenge. The RSPB are fighting to save the funds that support farmers who work to make space for nature as well as food production. We have to work together with nature as, after all, we are part of it ourselves. Help the RSPB by signing the petition to tell David Cameron to fight for nature.





If we don't work to protect nature then who will?

Sign Petition

What's so wrong with fighting for a better, greener world?

Another picture post to get you thinking :)

Consumerism isn't making us any happier so why do we do it, especially when it's so harmful?

Just because we can't see the damage we're doing, doesn't mean it isn't there

The issue with trying to 'fix' environmental problems with technology

Why it is important to have a mult-disciplinary approach, particularly with regards to the environment.

This is what I don't understand about climate change deniers

Is the environment a national security issue? Surely fighting for clean energy and sustainability  makes more sense than fighting each other over fossil fuels?

I just find this one amusing!

So what do YOU think about these?