'Bah, humbug' - le son et lumiere

When I crest the last hill on the remaining few miles of the M50 on my way back from London late at night, one of the most welcome sights is the spire of St Mary's in Ross. It is a sodium yellow-illuminated symbol that I am almost home. It is also, by virtue of needing several dirty great big lamps to achieve this effect, a rather major consumer of juice, and hence cause of the dreaded GeeGees (greenhouse gasses).

Now, do I storm up the the next parish whatever meeting and insist they blow them out right away? Well, it's a consideration, really, is it not? And hence a socio, enviro, and all sorts of other 'io's' dilemma.

'Cos that being the case, I should equally well be lobbing up at the next meeting of the guys who run Wembley Stadium, which as I leave London on the A40 is also rather pretty. Or the Millenium Bridge (pictured).

Sorry, no solutions. Like firework displays, I rather see me getting into hot water between heart and head just with myself, let alone with anyone else.

But as is my way, I do think it a question worth pondering. And I wonder how many stalwarts of the nan-e state and guilt-e activism have also decided these glowing icons to be best left out of the tsk-tsk finger-pointing.

Maybe one for a Prof's Poser... or London's Mayor. Relative to the additional emissions (above simply driving around in, say, a Prius) of all the 4x4s in the city, what would be the negative GeeGee impact be relative to purely decorative illumination of public buildings? I'm not even sure which side of a hundred it would go.

Make that 11!

I am hoping against hope that a medium such as the Indy (which, to be fair, has mentioned us in passing before), will give us a 'BIG UP' in such as the campaign they are running. I've tried to reach them and offer some input. No return as yet. Never say never.

It can just be so frustrating seeing headlines such as this, making out there is everything going on elsewhere and nothing here, when so much is being done on our doorsteps. Just... maybe not by those paid millions to do it.


Anyway, fingers crossed they will register us again soon and 'gis a mention.

I sent our January newsletter out the other night, after much faffing about with the technology... again. I think it's improving with each issue, and with luck is set to get better, and more useful soon.

I've been pretty blown away with the response, which has been a double-edged sword: yet more things now on top to edit and add to the site.But this is, of course, a 'happy problem'.

PRW - Excessive packaging under spotlight

The Ultimate Promo?

You (unless you are a certain police cadet) have to hand it to Michael O'Leary/RyanAir: they know how to get in the news. And what's that again? Oh yeah, 'there is no publicity like free publicity'.

So to drum up a petition of 1m to Gordon Brown, he's popping out a free flight offer to get you to do it.

And the media are cooperating big-time. Sure they do point out at the end that it's pretty p*ss-poor, time-sensitive offer (a bit like the normal flights), but hey, news is news. I'd also guess a few will accuse him/them of bribing 'votes' with a freebie. Well, just so long as they check their own pages for 'Fly to.. free' competitions on the ad and promo pages before they get too sanctimonious about doing pretty much the same thing.

I could also point at the road pricing petition (link on our Jan newsletter - via About Us on the site) that got 1/2 a million on no more than people feeling strongly.

But I have to question the value of these e-things though, and who signs up and what notice is really taken of them. Especially when you are paid to respond.

Burning Bush

There'll be links on this later I'm sure.

But the State of the Union report on BBC was clear: Less petrol use. But no targets on emissions.

That'll sort it then.

Telegraph - Bush seeks 20% cut in petrol

Steal £200. Get out of Jail free.

Remember Monopoly money? It had less value(s) than the real thing. I think we have arrived at Monopoly society, presided over by Monopoly Government and reported on by Monopoly Media.

So now the solution to full jails (one may ask how the trend has not been noticed over the last 10 years, or the causes of it - both in terms of creating customers and failing to prepare to accommodate them) is to a) not put any more in or b) let some out. I must find a Gatso right away and speed past it, and then fail to pay the fine. I bet they'll have a mugger out before you can say 'the law is the law'.

Meanwhile, Ms. Jade Gobby is rewarded for her performance and contribution to race relations with an all expenses (if not salaried, and PR/TV crew in tow)-paid trip to the country she didn't seem to rate.

Well, let me state here and now that some Singaporeans don't take their turn at the washing up, and I wish she would. Also, do they eat with their hands (Ans: some do, (even Chinese ones, like my Missus) sometimes, as do a few Ang Mohs, if they are at a Banana Leaf restaurant)?

There. I hope you are all suitably offended. Now, me and the family would like to visit the rellys this summer, if you would like to put us up in Raffles and fly (sadly our 2 week holiday allowance precludes the QE2 or getting an oil company to sponsor us to drive there - but rest assured we will write a blog for the book tour and whack a palm in our back garden in time for it to croak come winter (or maybe not, way things are going)) us SQ.

I had to do that last bit to make it re:levant. But really it all is. If the guys at the helm can't set an example, is it any wonder we follow our leaders to the easy options?

BBC - Limit Jail Sentences

Declan Does Davos

I'm just about to walk the boys to school (no e-smugness intended; we only live about a mile away, it's a nice(ish) morning and I need the exercise) and caught the tail end of BBC Breakfast's coverage of Davos.

So we have their cuddly reporter there, and to intercept reader's email challenges as to why everyone is flying in to discuss (amongst other things) global warming, a solution is to hand: Offsetting! Yes, Aunty is, along with all the rest, going to bung 13 quid into a bucket and throw it on the forest fire. That'll sort it then.

I would rather have hoped they might have sussed by now that such simplistic buy-offs are a little under the microscope; not just for what they don't do to help, but for the fact that they simply say 'keep on doing what you fancy', and by giving some guys in suits some cash it will all be hunky-dory.

For what it's worth, I think it obvious that major leaders have to meet, but it may be nice that they start erring on doing so in less poor ways environmentally (as well as rich financially), whilst propagating the D2AID2AIS hypocrisy (Sounds like a Robert Ludlum novel - ask me here if you want to know what it means).

BBC - Green Agenda

And he'll fly anywhere he can to save the planet. Cheap.

I'm sorry, it's not quite fair (though well-balanced with the last left/right-wise), as I know our adsense can throw up the odd ad on site that is not what we'd wish.

But these are booked banners.

I just love the irony.

BBC

It's all over. It isn't now?

Yet another award we have gamely gone in for.

I think one reason we do not often win is I can't resist posts like this.

Because today it's still be advertised, despite:

"The closing date for the first stage of entries is 19 January 2007. Successful entrants will be notified by the end of January"

I also love the irony of the ad next to it. I guess the snow is no longer any good in Europe, so Canada is now the place to go to ski... for those keen on saving the planet, and whocan afford to do so.

Shssssh, you don't know who

Another BBC Breakfast TV piece, another eyebrow-twitch.

This time it was about the power of supermarkets crushing small suppliers and shops.

At one point we had the usual bouffant and blonde 'interviewing' a besuited talking head from some ministry or body or whatever. So far, so pointless.

But towards the end, my ears pricked up when it transpired this guys did actually have powers to impose sanctions*. 'What are they?' asked the bouffant. 'I'd prefer not to go into that now,' said the suit, unchallenged. Er, why? Was it a secret? Seemed like the key point of the deal to me. Another media triumph. Meanwhile, back to the skateboarding duck...

*Reuters - Supermarket probe reports early findings - Or, not, possibly???!
BBC - there you go

Stereo-blooming-typical

There may be a link on their site later, which I'll add, but I have to post on this morning's BBC Breakfast TV 'piece' on urban 4x4s.

Seems they are, on top of all else, less reliable than other cars (more complex drivetrain? Ceratinly another eco, if not financial-nail in their coffins), which gave the producers the chance to throw two fighting cocks in the ring.

So we have a slick (in every sense), suited petrolhead who was allowed to claim, amongst other things, that they were safer (I thought they were more prone to fall over), pitted against yet another frizzy-haired earth mother from London ('No darlings, it's not a class issue (you bet, it's a 'we have decent public transport to do our thing, and sod the rest of you'. Here WE lead, and the rest of the country will follow'). Let's just say I didn't identify too closely with either.

In the great scheme of things, her rebuttals were plain daft, where she could have scored some points. And despite being waaaay too extreme in a few areas (and being allowed to get away with them), he made a lot more sense and came across a lot better.

Though aware of it so not a new point, as he asked: why indeed is so little being done to restrict the actual causes of more pollution and emissions, such as vans and trucks, as opposed to such divisive, spiteful, ill-informed and tokenistic campaigns?

And why is the media stoking them with such mouthpieces in the pro/con debates?

Answers please, on a ratings card.

Public Swervants

I am writing to David Miliband this week on a few issues (it will be interesting to see the response, if any, that is generated), and again the notion of Kismet pops into my head as I am provided yet more fuel to my fire. A few weeks ago I wrote to the Central Office of Information (COI - who place all the ads telling us what to do, and engage the agencies and media to do it in) via their online site resource:

I am writing on behalf of Junkk.com, which is a website devoted to improving the public's understanding of, and engagement with environmental issues.

I'd would be grateful for the contact of someone at COI Communications to discuss how we could further mutually rewarding synergies.

Someone has now kindly replied, but I'm not sure if he quite realised (or realised all too well), how it would go down:

Your email was forwarded to our digital Media team and their response was if they have a requirement in the further they will be in touch but for now they don't think it's something they would use.

You might want to consider approaching either the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (http://www.defra.gov.uk/) or the Sustainable development Commission (http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/).

He was polite and most helpful and responsive. So I hope my reply was fair in the circumstances:

Thank you for taking the time to reply and the advice given.

I am glad that your colleagues in digital media will be in touch if required, but it's disappointing, not to mention a tad hard to see how a free resource promoting environmental issues is 'not something they would use'. In all my time in agencies, such a gift horse would have been both welcome and enthusiastically embraced on behalf of my clients, in this case taxpayers. I do hope they do not mean to infer it is fruitful to deal with those who would charge like wounded bulls. For my part there was a lot I am sure they could have helped me with in terms of information, press releases, etc.

I am aware of the other two opportunities and they, I presume, in us, having been in touch before. But will persevere.

This is a country in crisis. And a government in disarray, run by self-interested empires with public service and actually doing anything very low on their daily career path targets. Something must change. Or be made to.

A Kracking Kornucopia of Kismets

Now what could get me so alliteratively inspired?

Well, as I rush to get out the January newsletter, replete with 'the two most important letters I have yet written?' (previous blog), what should pop into my inbox than this:

Junk or treasure?

Before you bin anything, stop! Find out if there is another use for your junk, and save money, time and the planet. Or maybe you have some suggestions for what other people can do with their junk? Browse some whacky ideas at http://www.junkk.com/

For more practical advice, competitions, quiz and discussion forums see:

www.foe.co.uk/living/

Nice of them. Especially as they are one of the activist groups I have more time for. And as is the way, a shall now pop them in my news by way of a dorsal delicacy of thanks. Along with that link above. See how easy it can be:)

But.. whacky???! Us!!?

I take it back. THIS may be the most important question I have asked so far.

You Ask The Questions
Next week: David Miliband, Environment Secretary
Send your questions to: myquestion@ independent.co.uk

Mine:

"Why is it so hard to get serious suggestions on reducing our environmental impact - which may not need cost the taxpayer very much at all (if anything) - a serious hearing and if necessary financial backing, whilst it seems vast overlapping empires are constantly created to consume most funds on their own infrastructure and apportioning more according to self-serving targets and endless, often dubiously-valid ‘communications’ efforts than tangibly-beneficial environmental, much less cost-effective ROIs?"

We're sincerely flattered

Campaign aims to reduce the mountains of waste. Oddly, they seem never to of heard of us. We've written to put that right.

"Dear Michael McCarthy, Martin Hickman and Geneviève Roberts,
Got article. Good direction.
Anything we can do to help? And maybe you us?
I guess our specialty comes in trying to find ways to reuse what can’t be avoided.
Our own website has already started a similar effort to yours: we’re happy to share. Quite a few negatives ready to log, but we prefer to stay positive if we can. Makes them more eager to change if there's profit in it.: £, PR, CSR.
I also attach two visuals of a before and after ad I drew up for Tescos to show what we could do for them.. over 2 years ago. Oddly they seem to have decided it was a good idea now. I wonder what's changed?"

The most important letter I may have written yet

To this guy, because of this: Are you getting warmer or colder on the climate front?

"Good one. As a fellow minority (though I'd say it's more accurate to say 'noisy minority' on behalf of a sadly silent (cowed) majority), it's nice to locate a fellow who has noticed the extremes capturing the headlines, and initiatives from lazy press and pols, at the expense of a sensible and potentially productive middle ground. I have been banging on about this in my site's blog for years now.

And I fire off a salvo daily to the media blogs of left and right (or activist vs. commercial-with-an-interest) agenda-dripping organs, trying to get debate sensible, facts on the table and opinion as objective as possible, free from undercover lobbyists and PR folk pretending to be 'an engineer/climate scientist form Bootle (don’t mean to be rude, but I’ve left that in as it is by coincidence the town I use in my catchphrases. Kismet?) . It's lonely. Ratings and column inches and TV op-eds are to be had from conflict, not co-operation, so I don't get much support.

I'd love to talk more. As an ex-Civ Eng. grad (a few years ago, and only granted on the promise I would not try and build anything), I can handle ROIs, both financial and eco, and like to get a grip on what's being pitched before I commit. And as an ad-man with some measure of success (my own multi-national agency for one) understanding brands and the power to influence the conumer, I can assess what's a waste of time and what Joe Public may go for better than some.

You'll be copping some feedback (dare I guess from deniers and activists, lauding and decrying) for the latter half of your piece.

I don't won't to go there. I see no point. Is there warming? Is there not? Is it man-made. Is it not? Is it man-worsened... let others waste time chewing on that. I have bigger deserts to scorch (I do often have Climate or Carbon opinions you may disagree with).

My mission is to reduce waste. As an engineer ineffciency offends me. As and ad-man I see no profit in it (in fact I see/saw greater profits in not doing it, with PR and CSR inc., a long while ago. Hence Junkk.com). And as an environmentalist and parent I see it as a direction better taken than not. Just in case.

I need help, because what I am doing is big, getting bigger, and I can't cope. And I can't fund it any more.

I've tried government, and will keep on. These guys are morons, seeking career-makers based on draft targets and short-termism.

I've tried NGOs, and will keep on. But these guys have salaries and pensions in mind, and that means building empires first, not solutions. And charities like keeping it extreme to maintain income fighting the enemy on 'our' behalf.

I've tried commerce. But they are so complex now I can't get through to a guy who can commit, even if he/she would. Gatekeepers. Strata. Focus groups. Matrices. Marketing. PR. Production. CSR. All vying for turf.

And I've tried the media. News wants extremes. Enviro wants the game to themselves (The ‘green elite’ is a nice handle, and ticket to a Bali global warming conference – oh, the irony). Business needs me to make (MySpace)) or lose (Boo!) a fortune before they'll meet me in the Ivy.

Fancy trying to DO something together on a basis we both seem to agree on?

Or at the very least can I chat with you about what I think the common man and woman and child feels about all that's being 'done' in our names. You may agree; you may not. But at least hear me out and feed what you will to those you have access to."

I hope he is sincere. I hope he agrees. I hope he writes back. I hope we can do something.

Badly Drawn B... Conclusions

Saw an opp to get noticed by another mainstream columnist. In answer to his question whether hiring cartoonists to relieve stress at multi-nationals was a good use of dosh:

"Probably not. But a lot less wasteful than some other PR measures masquerading as staff initiatives that I get to see in our in-box from our bl...green-chips these days. And such as Heinz can afford to splash it about when guys like WRAP give them a few million of taxpayers' money to save costs seeing if they can make their cans lighter. That would be less raw materials to pay for, in the name of saving the planet. You'd have thought as a commercial company with fairly deep pockets they could do that themselves. ps: Here's one I doodled on MS Word a while ago on my PC whilst at at the Daily Mail Ideal Home Show Last Year (stated theme (to get saps like me to join in): 'Green'. Out of 700 odd exhibitors, mostly such as patio heaters and teak out-door jacuzzis, there were about 5 actually trying to promote good eco-practice and/or products). I must say I did feel better for it as a stewed for a month."

Shedding some light

I'm rather proud of thast headline, inspired by this: Home front

To which I wrote this, direct to author and on blog:

"The question then arises: "is there any carbon offsetting to be had", is a good one, as that seems to be the point to any useful reduction measure.

And from all your useful discussions and valuable research for the article... is there?

Or at least a lead on someone who can advise us, factually and/or objectively? I find it hard to believe in this computerised age there is not a model that can easily assess domestic and work usage patterns to derive a pretty good answer, and in a lot less than three years.

Otherwise this bill is a waste, if not an exercise in futility, like so many headline* (if not vote) -catching 'green' issues (potentially good or bad on the various ROIs one can try to apply) before it.

ps: Thank you, Walt OBrien, for a truly useful new fact (to me at least) that I will now add to our site's archive and campaign for things that actually 'do' something."

* I could have added 'Headline-creating, too', as these things often are only used in the negative to make a quick dig and are then left to be ignored. I, for one, would truly like to know the situation to be able to have a proper view on it.

ADDENDUM: Stuck in a dark age

Bin there. Posted that.

Bored. Saw a chance to plug Junkk. Took it: In praise of... wheelie bins

"I have often looked at these things with wonder as I travel outside our fair county (we don't seem to have them here - black bin liners for the once a week nasties and two blue RE-Boxes for the dry (paper) and wet (cans, bottles - no plastic) weekly kerbside collection. I have to say they are, in comparison, huge, and frankly both ugly and daunting, but obviously necessary if collections are less regular. Why is there no national standard?

But as space created will always be filled, I do wonder at their size. They are monsters.

We compost most and haven't thrown anything else out in a few years. I like to make things out of some stuff and am storing the rest until I can figure out what can be made of them too... or the missus figures out what is in the loft. It's amazing looking at a few hundred Pot Noodle containers slotted together, and surprising how little space they occupy so stacked No, I’m still stumped on these).

So let’s not forget another option: re:use (try http://www. Junkk.com to find, or indeed suggest ideas around that we can all share - if I can make a rucksack out of an old vacuum cleaner, anything is possible).

And if all else fails, there is one final option (almost said solution... oops). We could always try to use... less.

Recycling is awfully spiffy, and much better than not, and meets all sorts of targets and stuff. But it's still not that high of the waste hierarchy ladder, sadly. Wheelie and truly."

There's snow business like no snow business

Charles cancels ski trip to back green pledges

Why does this not seem so depressingly predictable? And so pathetically pointless? And leave one with a slight sense of besuited spinmeisters digging their master's next hole.

'Chaz no mates' gives up something that is no fun any more, and may not be able to be done quite soon (What's the snow like there? I overheard a mobile conversation last night where a guy had phoned his mate from the ski holiday to say there was no snow - something to reflect upon on the flight home).

I'm impressed. Not.

Daring to speak its name?

I'd hesitate to infer too much or indeed any of it was a consequence of what I wrote (deliberately vague, because a) I don't have a satisfactory solution to hand and b) am a coward), but looking back at subsequent comments to mine in the Newsnight blog referred to in my last post there were some very interesting ones there. And, to my mind, both moderate and balanced too.

Usually such discussion, where it rarely takes place, quickly degenerates into something rather nasty, with anyone making a simple factual point accused of promoting some kind of Final Solution in defence of Lebensraum. Or at best a rather murky set of exchanges on Malthusian theory.

Hence I found what had been written there quite informative and worth pondering, to factor in. It is indeed odd that so many cultures are so worried about population slow down, and its consequences on economic growth, and that they don't seem so concerned with the other side of this: increased consumption, pollution and... well you can see where it leads.

As I say, I don't have ready answers, and hence don't want to go to far 'there'. I have two kids. Is that balance or excess? They are half-Chinese, and that leads to an interesting point. While I'm sure I need to research it a lot more to be sure of my facts, I do believe that in the face of some of the more excitable pro-population expansion (or at least population consequence discussion) censors, this country has quietly been maintaining a policy of control for some time now. I wonder how they did/do it, and why it has attracted so little attention?