FoodPosted by Margaret 05 Aug, 2010 14:06:53Hiya all
Thank you to David Hitchin for sending in the
New Scientist's cover story about the "veggieworld" by
Bob Holmes (20 July 2010). Click on the images to see a bigger version.
ObanPosted by Margaret 15 May, 2010 15:16:38Oban Lorn and The Isles Conference, 'Forward Together' – 15th May 2010
Hi there
I've just come back from a Community Consultation event at Oban High School fthat brought together 60 individuals attending out of their own personal interest but also representing various community groups, the Council and public institutions. The purpose was to find out what local services are needed in the Oban, Lorn and the Isles area, and how the ever scarcer funding is to be allocated.
You may have seen the article announcing it in the Oban Times (6 May, p. 2).
Participants were given the opportunity to explore ideas in four different workshops:
i) Health & Wellbeing
ii) Transport
iii) Economic & Community Development
iv) Local Development (rural/island 'hubs'; Oban town centre)
In the final part, there was voting on two top priorities in each of the four thematic areas.
Details will be available soon on the CPP (Community Planning Partnership) website:
http://www.argyllandbutecpp.net
EnergyPosted by Margaret 13 May, 2010 14:08:09Here's something that Scotland and its government(s) could emulate --
just in from Greenpeace Switzerland (original in German, translation by
yours truly):
Welcome to YouthSolarProject
In 1998 the
JugendSolarProjekt (JSP
– YouthSolarProject) of Greenpeace Switzerland began to embark on new
approaches to environmental education. Guided by the catchphrase
"Actions are better than words", we have involved young people in the
installation of solar plants on top of public buildings and/or social
institutions. So far, over 10,000 young people have helped to install
over 175 solar plants.
Today,
Greenpeace Switzerland's
YouthSolarProject
(JSP) proudly presents its biggest solar energy project so far. For the
past two weeks, apprentices from all over Switzerland installed a
photovoltaic plant in Melchnau BE. With a surface area of 1,885 sqm, it
is currently the country's biggest rooftop installation.
The
project clearly looks to the future of energy supplies. A roof no
longer simply provides weather protection – it is a power plant that
produces a great deal more energy than is required for the actual
building itself. The photovoltaic installation in Melchnau will produce
enough electricity for 65 households.
A
Swissolar
study has shown that simply by making consistent use of appropriate
rooftops, one third of the electricity needs of Switzerland can be met
by solar energy. The transition to renewable energy is not a
technological issue – it is a political decision to stand firm against
producers of energy that has a negative impact on our climate.
This is the mission of
Greenpeace and its
YouthSolarProject.
The time is ripe. Technologies are available. Switzerland can afford to
invest into sustainable energy supplies. Join us in the fight for a
sunny future – please support our work and the energy revolution.
Doors open to the
YouthSolarProject and the photovoltaic plant in Melchnau BE
on 29th and 30th May, 2010 – come and see us!
ObanPosted by Margaret 09 Mar, 2010 11:10:30Dear All
You may have heard that the Land Use Strategy Branch | Rural
Directorate | The Scottish Government are holding consultations on land-use
strategy. One of a whole series of events will be held in Oban on Wednesday,
24th March, at the Caledonian Hotel (1:30 for 2pm, ends 4pm).
If you wish to register, please reply to Allan Fraser at
allan.fraser AT scotland.gsi.gov.uk or on 0131 244 7726, noting your chosen
event. When you register, please
feel free to tell them of any key issues or questions you think should be
covered at the workshops.
Please see below for further details. It would be great to see a
good turnout!
Warmest wishes
Margaret
Margaret Powell-Joss, Secretary
Sustainable Oban
07810 714 421
Subject: FW: Your chance to shape the future for Scotland's
land
Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2010 16:09:14 +0000
From: Allan.Fraser AT scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Dear Sir/Madam,
Due to demand, we are now holding an extra discussion workshop in
Glasgow on Thursday 8 April, at Atlantic Quay, Broomielaw, G2 8LU, from 14:30
to 17:00. If you wish to register,
please reply to this email or call 0131 244 7726.
This email does not affect any previous bookings.
Regards,
Allan Fraser
Subject: Your chance to shape the future for Scotland’s land
By email [no date given]
Dear Sir/Madam,
Land Use Strategy discussion workshops
The development of Scotland's first Land Use Strategy offers a
landmark opportunity for you to have your say on the way Scotland’s land is
used for generations to come. How
can Scotland produce enough food, develop its renewable energy capacity and
protect its iconic landscapes and habitats?
Your voice counts.
That’s why we’re inviting you to attend one of the discussion workshops
for the Scottish Government’s Land Use Strategy.
A full statutory consultation on the draft Strategy will follow
later this year, but we are keen at this vital early stage to shape the draft
with your help. Further details on
the Land Use Strategy are available at www.scotland.gov.uk/landusestrategy,
where you can also post comments.
Workshops are taking place across Scotland. Unless noted otherwise, events open
6:30pm for 7pm start, ending 9pm.
- Monday 15 March – Gatehouse of Fleet – Murray Arms Hotel
- Wednesday 17 March – Edinburgh – Scottish Government, Victoria
Quay – opens 9am for 9:30am start, ending 2pm
- Thursday 18 March – Hawick – Town Hall
- Monday 22 March – Inverness – Tulloch Caledonian Stadium
- Tuesday 23 March – Aberdeen – Pittodrie Stadium
- Wednesday 24 March – Oban – Caledonian Hotel – opens 1:30pm for
2pm start, ending 4pm [MP-J's emphasis]
- Thursday 25 March – Perth – Dewars Centre
- Monday 29 March – Stornoway – Caberfeidh Hotel
- Tuesday 30 March – Kirkwall – Town Hall
- Wednesday 31 March – Lerwick – Shetland Museum
Senior officials from the Scottish Government or Scottish
Ministers will attend each event, and explain the work underway on the
Strategy. The discussions will
focus on the key issues to be addressed in the Land Use Strategy, offering the
opportunity to bring different perspectives to the debate. Key points from the proceedings will be
recorded and summary notes posted on the website; this material will be used to
develop the draft Strategy.
Please note that the Edinburgh event will have a longer running
time, providing an opportunity for those who wish to take part in a more
extended discussion.
If you wish to register, please reply to Allan Fraser at
allan.fraser AT scotland.gsi.gov.uk or on 0131 244 7726, noting your chosen
event. When you register, please
feel free to tell us of any key issues or questions you think should be covered
at the workshops.
Please note that, as space may be limited, we cannot guarantee a
place at the workshops unless you have registered. Early responses would be appreciated to help us with
planning. Please cascade this notice to others in your organisation if
appropriate, and please also forward to others who you think may be interested.
The events are free, with teas and coffees provided. Further event details will be provided
upon registration.
Kind regards,
Douglas McLaren
Land Use Strategy Branch | Rural Directorate | The Scottish
Government
tel: 0131 244 7670 |
email: douglas.mclaren AT scotland.gsi.gov.uk |
mail: 1A North, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, EH6 6QQ
EnergyPosted by Margaret 03 Feb, 2010 15:19:57UK RENEWABLES POLICY alert (for UK residents only)Having received an alert from
www DOT biofuelwatch DOT org DOT uk earlier today, I have sent the following letter to Alan Reid, MP.
Please feel free to visit the Biofuelwatch Website, where you will find the letter that you can adapt to suit your own situation.
'Green energy' subsidies should not be used to stimulate burning of biofuels and biomassDear Sir/Madam,
Re: 'Green energy' subsidies should not be used to stimulate burning biofuels and biomass
This is not the first time that I am writing to you as the Secretary of Sustainable Oban, but today I am writing from a personal angle as well because some of my family live in one of the countries most seriously affected by EU legislation.
Please therefore allow me to express my deep concern that existing UK policy on Renewable Electricity is flawed and that the proposals due to be introduced in 2011 for Renewable Heat are likely to exacerbate the problem. Currently the Renewable Obligation gives high levels of financial support to electricity generators to burn liquid biofuels, including palm oil and soybean oil, and biomass, including imported wood from destructive logging and plantations.
A major increase in renewable energy is essential, but it must be renewable energy which truly mitigates climate change and protects, rather than harms the environment. Burning large volumes of biofuels and industrial biomass will have the opposite effect. It will also lead to more land being used to grow crops and trees for fuel instead of food and will put more pressures on indigenous peoples, small farmers and other communities in other countries who, in Colombia, Indonesia and Malaysia in particular (one of my sources is pbi Peace Brigades International, a human rights organisation with "unarmed bodyguards" in Colombia and Indonesia), are already losing their lives, land and livelihoods to oil palm and other plantations.
These problems arise because of financial support arrangements implemented by the UK Government. Such arrangements are permitted under EU legislation, but are not required of member states.
Electricity from burning liquid biofuels and solid biomass is now eligible for twice the subsidy (paid as Renewable Obligation Certificates or ROCs) as generating electricity from onshore wind. Biofuel power stations burning 'virgin vegetable oil' are only financially viable because of this subsidy. A series of sizeable biofuel electricity power stations has been proposed as a result of these market subsidies, two of the developers make it clear that they intend to burn palm oil while the others have failed to legally commit themselves to not doing so. Palm oil is the cheapest vegetable oil on the market, and according to UNEP is the main cause of deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia. Deforestation in both countries is linked to the destruction of peatlands and the emissions of vast quantities of carbon. Carbon emissions from peat fires in Indonesia, linked to plantation expansion, have on several occasions been higher than the UK's entire annual CO2 emissions. Palm oi
l expansion is also linked to the displacement of large numbers of communities, unlawfull killings, land conflicts and the destruction of indigenous peoples' and other communities' livelihoods.
A typical 25 MW biofuel power station would require some 10,000 hectares of oil palm plantations to supply its fuel, adding to pressure on tropical rainforests. If UK-grown vegetable oil were used instead, agricultural land would be taken out of food production, adding to food imports. The 50 MW power station planned for Bristol will burn about 100 million litres (90,000 tonnes) of palm oil a year the same volume as is currently going into the entire UK transport biodiesel market.
In 2005, total EU-27 imports of palm oil were 4.5 million tonnes, equivalent to 9.7 kg per person (FAO). The Bristol power station's annual consumption of 90,000 tonnes is equivalent to over 200 kg of palm oil per head of population in Bristol each year, far more than they consume in food and healthcare products.
The Renewable Obligations Order also gives high levels of support for electricity generation from burning wood. This is encouraging large-scale imports of biomass, particularly woodchips and wood pellets, for example from South America, South-east Asia, West Africa or the southern US (where displacement of wood now used for pulp and paper will mean more pressure on forests and on communities in the global South). No adequate assessment has been carried out on the impact which this new demand has and will have on forests, communities and, in the case of tree plantations, on grasslands and other ecosystems, nor on the likely impacts on the climate. There are already reports from West Papua of concessions being granted for the destruction of hundreds of thousands of hectares of rainforest to establish tree plantations for wood chips and wood pellets as a result of the growing global market in biomass. Even if the climate impacts of increased logging, forest degradation and la
nd-clearance for tree plantations were ignored, cutting down and burning trees results in immediate up-front emissions of CO2 which it will take new planting several decades at least to reabsorb.
At a 2008 industry conference, it was noted that the heating oil market represented a 3 billion-litre opportunity for the biofuel industry. If the proposed Renewable Heat Incentive incentivises this market to any great extent, it will add significantly to the UK consumption of liquid biofuels.
Whereas the EU's renewable energy target is binding on the UK, it is entirely the UK government's choice whether to support sustainable and climate-friendly truly renewable energy or to favour biofuels and massive biomass imports, yet: under EU law, for example, governments cannot discriminate against biofuels from plantations where people have been evicted or even killed. This means that the all-important indirect impacts will remain largely or completely ignored.
I therefore urge you to call on the government to immediately suspend all subsidies for biofuel and biomass electricity under the Renewable Obligation Order and to reform the Order as a matter of urgency so that all subsidies go towards truly sustainable renewable energy, including wind and solar, not biofuels and biomass (which inevitably means large-scale biomass imports). In addition there must be no new bioenergy subsidies under the Renewable Heat Initiative.
Thank you for your commitment to a truly sustainable Britain.
Yours sincerely,
Margaret Powell-Joss, Secretary
Sustainable Oban
8C Miller Road
PA34 4DX
Scotland
SustainabilityPosted by Margaret 20 Jan, 2010 13:07:37Dear All
Sustainable Oban joined a campaign by WWF Scotland to lobby for a much improved Scottish Marine Bill.
We wrote to Scottish MSPs in November 2009, asking them to do all they can to improve the Scottish Marine Bill. Because of the huge response WWF Scotland had to this action, some important amendments were made that will help improve the chances of Scotland’s seas recovering from decades of over-exploitation.
But the biggest and most urgent issue was not addressed: the bill does not deal with improving the health of the sea outside Marine Protected Areas. This leaves most of Scotland’s seas open to continuing exploitation and decline, unable to reverse the fortunes of marine wildlife and coastal communities.
There is one last chance to change this – when MSPs vote on the issue at the final debate in the Scottish Parliament in the first week of February 2010.
SO again e-mailed MSPs Rhoda Grant, Peter Peacock and David Stewart (all LibDem) as well as
Mary Scanlon (Cons, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health), Jamie McGrigor (Cons), Jim Mather, Rob Gibson and Dave Thompson (all SNP), with the following message -- please see comments for some responses already received:
Dear ...
I am writing to you as a private individual, and on behalf of Sustainable Oban, a small NGO based in Argyll's "Gateway to the Isles", to urge you to take a stand for healthy Scottish seas.
As you know, Stage 3 of the Marine (Scotland) Bill is scheduled for early February. However, the greatest and most urgent challenge facing Scotland's seas has still not been met because, as the bill stands now, it will fail both our marine wildlife and our coastal communities. So this is a historic opportunity to deliver real recovery of Scotland's seas.
Although there were several welcome amendments at Stage 2, the bill does not currently provide for any improvement in the health of Scotland's seas outside Marine Protected Areas. This is despite the unanimous recommendation of the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee that there must be a duty to "have regard to the need to maintain and improve the health of the Scottish marine area" - a duty supported by all parties during the Stage 1 debate.
The failure to act on this recommendation will certainly disappoint those members of the public who recently wrote almost 5,000 messages to their MSPs supporting measures for marine recovery.
As an MSP for an area with a large number of coastal communities, you are encouraged to do all you can to ensure the bill is improved at Stage 3. In particular, I would like you to support amending the bill to include a general duty on Scottish ministers and public authorities to protect and, where appropriate, enhance the health of Scotland's seas.
I look forward to hearing what you will do to improve this bill.
Yours sincerely
Ms Margret Powell-Joss
8C Miller Road
Oban
PA34 4DX
[[end of SO e-mail]]
SustainabilityPosted by suzi_saver 30 Nov, 2009 16:22:02Dr Tavis Potts, Centre for Coastal and Oceans Governance at SAMS (Scottish Association for Marine Science), has set up a forum that will interest many of you:
Sustainable Seas
"A forum for discussion and dissemination of news, views, and ideas about the management of coastal and ocean ecosystems, science and policy, and action research with marine communities. We aim to cover all marine issues - from the coasts to the deep sea and science and politics."
Anyone can post on this blog, you don't have to be a scientist.
Issues can be local or global, or anywhere in between.
SustainabilityPosted by Margaret 26 Nov, 2009 18:20:13Achaleven Primary School in Connel, Argyll, have been promoting green, sustainable, package and rubbish-reduced living.
Last Tuesday, 24 November, the school put on a coffee evening themed Have a green Christmas.
The
children sold eco-friendly bags and cards as well as gifts to promote
their eco work. Head Teacher Sharon Burt and her team put on a
fantastic spread of baking; there were also a lucky dip and a raffle
with great prizes.
Despite really horrible weather, the room was packed with parents and friends.
All money raised will be put towards further developing the school's garden.
(© Photo: Caroline Askew, The GRAB Trust)
Sustainable
Oban / Oban Plastic Bag Free! were happy to be present with displays
promoting the two organisations. Thank you for your hospitality,
Achaleven.
