Election

Polling day draws near and I am still waiting for all the parties to really tell us what they are going to do to slow climate change down. In the leaders debates it was hardly mentioned. I went to a hustings for my constituency and it was not mentioned. I have looked through the leaflets that have come through the door and the most I can find is reference to recycling.
Luke at Northfield Ecocentre has produced a useful summary of what each of the parties has said about environmental issues in their manifestos. You can read that here .
This is all very disappointing as although the economy is important the environmental disaster awaiting the world due to climate change is likely to be worldwide. If the parties are not planning for it one is left wondering who will?

Bottled Water

Have you heard that the town of Bundanoon in Australia has banned the sale of bottled water because of the concern of the environmental impact.

They had a public meeting to vote on the matter and 300 people turned up and only one person voted against the ban.

This follow on from Leeds University students who voted to ban bottled water at the end of last year During the academic year 2007/08, Leeds University Union sold 180,698 bottles, making water its top-selling product. Without those sales, the Union will forfeit £32,940 but they still felt it was worth doing.

Environmental activists argue tap water uses 300 times less energy to create and distribute than bottled water and produces much less waste.

Environment minister Phil Woolas joined in the criticisms of bottled water, arguing it was "daft" for Britons to consume six million litres of it when tap water is safe and cheap. "It borders on morally being unacceptable to spend hundreds of millions of pounds on bottled water when we have pure drinking water, when at the same time one of the crises that is facing the world is the supply of water,"

Bottled water is a comparatively modern thing. Twenty years ago it was a very small market. Perhaps we should all consider whether we really need to buy a new bottle. Could we not just fill up an existing one if we need to carry a bottle around with us.