Plastic Tracks

I think I can be credited by wanting to know, and hence seeking the most objective explanations wherever possible, but I have to say I just came across a couple of bits of packaging technology and application that have left me stumped for a reasonable raison d'etre.

At some stage the relative merits of in-person vs. online shopping will be clear (well, vs. no shopping at all, I guess), but as a family we do tend to prefer the latter.

Hence the men from TNT, Royal Mail and DHL are often at our door.

And they are always bearing boxes. Now, I'm the first to accept that a damaged item is not helping the planet in terms of waste of material, manufacture and journeys made, but lately the relative sizes of the boxes to the item have got waaaay out of proportion.

And, to compensate, the packing filler has expanded to match... or cope. So I now have miles of this stuff, and am struggling to find a location, suspecting that I might be only one of few who might be so minded.

I am also intrigued by the little 'eco' label on each air-sac. Better than nothing, maybe, but surely to heavens there has to be a better, equally affordable alternative?

People don't pollute. It's just their stuff that does.

People pollute

Hence not so much the elephant in the room, but the cribs?

I'm seeing a new 'Re': reaction

I don't mind doing my bit. What I do mind is being threatened with god knows what if I don't, to mainly dig out of a hole (pun intended) a bunch of pols who chose not to see this coming until now, or line the pockets of their quango and private contractor chums sorting it out (pun intended).

What a rubbish way to run a country

Looks like I'm not the only one.

The logical, fair way, is to reduce what goes into the system, facilitate the means to dispose of what cannot be so reduced (as opposed to fine first and figure out last), and incentivise rather the demonise to inspire public cooperation.

Costly rubbish technology

The logic of the letters written here is so inescapable I can do more
than add my support... and wonder why we have the systems we have,
backed by punitive legislative proposals and/or mammoth and
unworkable systems and ever more 'initiatives' to be managed
by ever more vast armies of assessors, with a thin veneer of publicly-
funded encouragement to cooperate, designed mainly to meet
bonus targets achieved by using our money persuade us to do the work...
and further reward those who couldn't get it right in the first place.

With luck and by being sufficiently upwind of the odious emanations
from these pseudo-green mandarins, if we are by the time still allowed one,
the verdict on all this can be made at the polling booth.

EcoLogical

I don't know about ready for Ozzy as it's saviour, but this inhabitant of the planet is getting a little less than inspired by those who advocate its saving as a career booster (or creative inspiration, to be generous) whilst not as, such, per se, seeing it applying to them as being practical or indeed necessary. I simply can't wait for how Live Earth pans out as a consequence.

As to pols copping the consequences of their actions, the same 'it doesn't apply to me, of course' seems to pervade every corner of Westminster, so no matter what they put in place, they will either not get to experience it or, if in failing to do so as required, pay for it.

Get the feeling we're all just a tad low on inspiration for all we're being fed? Wonder why?

You can let the green elite out of London, but...

"If you are coming to Hay this year then leave the Hummer in the garage and plug in the Prius."

The joys of going green

Some interesting comments here, with valid views on both financial (you can obviously make the choice to lose money but conduct a more eco lifestyle, and more power to your elbow... IF you can afford it) and enviROI (benefit to the planet, which often seems to be worryingly vague with some initiatives I've seen espoused, with a suspicion too much is touted, too enthusiastically and uncritically, as simply looking green without actually being it).

It all boils down to accurate information, delivered without agenda or spin, so one can make purchase and lifestyle decisions in the best interests of the future whilst trying to support a family (as a few have pointed out, it's easier being green with a wadge in the bank and/or the promise of a career funded talking about it).

Bearing that in mind, I'd say the Hummer is not only best left in the garage, but also probably also best left unpurchased. And while the Prius may be the auto-du-jour of the affluent urban eco-warrior, it may not necessarily be best to make the trip from London to Hay in if one has a stable of options in the garage. You'd surely mainly be mainly lugging a battery along for the ride.

Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure it's self charging - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Prius - 'it uses a gasoline/electric hybrid powertrain, incorporating large batteries that are charged by the gas (petrol) engine directly or by regenerative braking (cannot be plugged in as built)' - so if you do try plugging it in, you may get a bit of a shock.

Me, I think I'll keep my 10-year-old Volvo well-maintained, tyre pressures optimal, and continue to try and figure out whether Mr. Brown's successor will decide that the Treasury is losing too much money encouraging us all to go green, and whacks a load more duty on LPG, bio-whatever or 'it's not just hydrogen, it's Stuart Rose's 6 litre hydrogen-powered Beemer'.

Spinning is tops

A report on something I was present at, and had a rather different take upon.

WI flexes muscles over excess packaging

I was there when this speech was made, and examples of 'gratuitous packaging' were paraded, which lead to the now infamous 'Banana Metaphor'.

Because, in the spirit of my own education and informing the public, I asked why a cited pack of bananas was indeed so wastefully wrapped in plastic. It seemed odd to go to the expense of doing so if it was not necessary.

Considering that meetings had been held with everyone from Gordon Brown to Terry Leahy by the WI, I was a little perturbed that despite the leap to high-profile criticism, no one seemed to have tried to find out why, or derived a satisfactory answer.

Those my question generated from the floor ranged from protection from organic rotting gases to preventing food waste from singletons dropping from hands and being deemed consumer unacceptable. Both potentially environmentally sound, if true, I’d hazard, but I am still unsure as the very industry that handles this seemed to have differing explanations in justification.

One statistic, also needing confirmation, that did strike me was that food waste represents 95% of total vs. 5% from packaging, and hence one wonders why more effort should not be devoted to reducing this first?

Death, Taxes, Bank Holiday Weather...

... and 4x4 protests.

All are inevitable.

Yesterday I picked up my - very bedraggled - sons from a Scouting camp.

It took a bit of doing. They were in a glorious piece of the country, and one reason it is like that is because it is a tad inaccessible.

Now, while it was a very uncomfortable and awkward hump to get all their personal stuff from the camp to the nearest point I could get my car, the mess tents, cooking stuff, etc were... are (still - we go back if we can gain access later this week) another matter.

It got me to wondering what will happen if 4x4s are rendered uneconomically viable or, as could happen, get banned. One could argue that this would return large tracts of the countryside to a kinder, gentler, motorised-free age.

Or... that farming would cease to be practical, and we'll simply entertain our kids by grabbing a plane to where the weather is nice(r).

I just think that before things get too hasty, and to symbolic, we should be careful what we wish for.

More Cats. More bags. But is anyone listening to the chorus?

This one almost slipped by me: SCANDAL OF WASTED MILLIONS AS BRITAIN'S RUBBISH PILES UP

It's very short, and very tabloid. But worth reading.

Thing is, will anyone pay any attention, much less do anything about it all?

ADDENDUM - A tad more:

THE GREAT DUSTBIN GRAVY TRAIN

I rather fear that this will be dropped and disposed of like yesterday's news. But considering the amounts involved, the public does deserve accountability.

Without wanting to get party political, as Shadow Environment Minister Greg Barker says: “We are entitled to ask what we are getting in return. WRAP has done some valuable work but it is not enough. We need an organisation that is more accountable and has more teeth, rather than just having more consultants, more bureaucracy and more short-term initiatives.”

I'm afraid that if this is the best that can be offered in justification, it is simply not good enough: 'WRAP spokesman Gareth Lloyd last night claimed the quango produced value for money and had met its targets to increase recycling and cut waste going to landfill. He said the salary bill had soared to pay for extra staff to cope with the increase in WRAP’s remit since it was set up seven years ago. '

This time I simply want to know what has been the ROI as a taxpayer, and enviROI as a co-dweller on this planet. I know what they have had to spend, and getting vast sums to create empires doesn't do diddly for either, and when it comes to the comms budget they have had to drive up the rates they get bonusses for improving, I'm sorry, but as an ad man the numbers simply are pathetic.

This offers an interesting complement: Recycling's green contribution questioned
Environment Agency (EA) chief executive Barbara Young has said: “recycling does not really contribute much to tackling climate change.” The comments contradict findings of a 2006 Waste & Resources Action Programme report.

I was moved to reply:

I’m sorry, but as a very confused, and hence hard to engage member of the public (what you don’t understand, or believe, makes persuasion a lot harder. And two funded quangos knocking spots off each other is unlikely to unmuddy these waters) all I need is some simple guidance on what represents good enviROI (benefit to my kids’ future) with, preferably at the same time, a decent financial ROI as a taxpayer.

I’d have to say that, as an alternative to doing nothing, recycling seems a no-brainer. What it’s costing is a much bigger issue. So it may be legitimately asked whether a slavish devotion to meeting targets is the best way other than, as this weekend’s Sunday Express seems to have raised, generating massive financial rewards for those who benefit by spending public money to boost their bonuses. Considering the PR climate and sums committed on advertising, one would blooming well expect rates to go up, so using my money to make me work for free to drive up fat cat incentive schemes seems... quaint, at best.

It’s not a matter of the EA claim saying recycling does not help mitigate climate change – as it patently can do - but simply how much of a positive it represents as a total of our consumer behaviours. And what its relative value therefore is. Especially when it comes to huge public comms budgets. It therefore seems possible that these vast sums may not have been best directed to achieve a worthwhile envROI.

And I, for one, find questioning THAT more than helpful.

Silence is Golden... balls

We seem to be drifting into some kind of a phony war across every aspect of our lives. And I mean it is being 'fought' by phonys from left and right, politically

As I catch up on the past week's emails I have had the TV on and find myself shaking my head.

From civil liberties to the environment, a succession of folk have paraded across the screen and said... absolutely nothing, either through ignorance or choice, about some vastly important issues. Gordon Brown, our next leader, is a truly dire practitioner of this technique, to his immense discredit.

Peter Hain, the aspiring DPM, and member of the Cabinet, seems to have not been in the loop of plans for some swingeing proposals to 'help' counter terrorism. Yet he infers we should give the thumbs up as an electorate.

Ditto the chroming Gallic boss of EDF energy. While I credit Andrew Marr for asking him, I can't help but not the critique levelled recently against the BBC and its celeb interviewers that they give big business leaders an easy ride. As to what we do with all the glowing gunk his proposed nukes will leave behind long after he has retired to his sunny villa, his allowed reply was that 'we should instead focus on the big picture'. Er, no. What are these actual proposals, monsieur? A promised talking shop won't do at this stage.

All these replies are based on trust. But there simply is none, with very good reason.

If the media are incapable of marshaling and reflecting our feelings on this, I can only hope the democratic process may yet to be roused to do so. Soon.

Philips washes greener?

Philips launches green tick logo

I may be missing something by not being privy to more than is outlined in this piece, but I’m afraid it really only raises more questions in my mind.

While any commitment to the environment - by anyone - is better than nothing, I am looking at the enviROI (return on investment to the environment) of this initiative and having trouble tracing it through.

To kick off, this consumer at least has plenty of logos enough already to wade through already, most of which I already have little clue what they mean. And I am presuming this is unique to this brand, which is quaint, but essentially meaningless. I’m sure it will be accompanied by a huge campaign to tout it around, but it’s a wonder how much that will serve to influence my purchase behaviour in a competitive market (especially when other manufacturers will doubtless be designing a leaf out of their own book), versus simply ticking a box on the CSR list at AGM time.

Whilst refreshingly honest, it also seems to make the point that they have a lot that is not that eco, and one has to wonder why? So for me the claim at the end, and the effort behind it, has about as much value as the marketing speak waffle used to explain it. I’m afraid the only green I’m sensing won’t wash.

Space, the final...solution?

I'd already posted on this baby, but in reviewing the posts (a lot, but some good ones, so I broke my 'no more than 100' rule) I found I might have been hasty in my critique of our reaching for the stars efforts. Well, at least the punting rich geezers up there bit , anyway.

As there are some here who seem to know, I would like to tap into the collective intellectual resource being brought to bear to help me with a question.

For a while I have been perhaps a tad less than fair to one Mr. R Branson in having doubts on his claimed green campaigns - towing planes to take-off (did that ever happen?), biofuel-powered planes (could that ever happen?) and £25M eco-prizes (does that include waiving the rights to profit sharing?) - especially when one of his highest profile current extravaganzas seems to be sending rich tourists into space atop what I had thought to be a massive column of greenhouse gasses.

Now it seems that I may have been unjust, and it's all 'just' (I have to presume there's a smidge of energy in the production, and possibly a tad of pollution still involved in the combustion) oxygen and hydrogen, though I also do recall steam to be considered a greenhouse gas.

We have a most helpful earlier offering as regards Ariane, but can anyone enlighten me as to what other space borne efforts, including Virgin Galactic, actually do consume and exhaust?

ADDENDUM:

One of the (many) frustrations of a moderated system is that Qs can cross with As, and debates can get a tad jumbled. A classic of the former has just happened here, and I pretty much got my answer in an overlap. Fortunately, it seems my usual admittance of bozoness, combined with a quest for answers, was not far off the right track. Unless this latest guy is wrong, I guess. He doesn't sound like he would be, though.

Gentlemen... unfurl your sails.

Not convinced: Powerboat plan to go round world in 65 ecofriendly days

'Course, not using any combustible fuel at all and sailing using
no-emission wind power is perhaps a tad more eco-friendlier still -
if you are sincere in trying to make some point about saving the
planet, and not just scoring a few greenwash points and column inches
whilst having a hell of a jolly.

Discus..

..ted.

BBC interviewers 'too frightened of offending big business leaders'

BBC business news failing impartiality test, says report

Meanwhile, our elected representatives continue to lead by example...

Noting the source, but the facts still seen clear: Prescott stretches 'junket' into family holiday

Ditto: Blair’s farewell tour stains his green legacy with carbon

Sunday Telegraph - Things we won't miss: Two Jags, 19.8 staff, a £2.4m bill

Green Rush The Growers... Oh

I'm not sure, but the likes of Jeremy Clarkson and Dubya must be allowing themselves a small sherry and a snicker about now.

This is what it looks like online: Organic move to cut food flights

I don't know if it was/is a SlowNewD, but what I saw on the TV screen seemed a tad less calm. In fact more knickers seemed to be getting twisted than a tornado passing through the Ladies' Unmentionables Department at your local M&S.

And, as always, I think the consumer, closely associated by the planet, looks to be coming out of this dazed, confused and a lot worse off. But at least the ratings are going to be healthy, so there are some winners.

So far I have seen a succession of green interest groups, with a few others from the pro-Bono end of feeding the world/poor lobbed/ing in for good measure, pretty much knocking spots off each other as to who is more worthy, and why their cause is better than someone else's. All on a nice salary and pension no doubt. I never knew there were so many spokespersons for things 'I'm not quite sure what they actually do' around.

I just hope that out of all this furore in a Fairtrade coffee cup there may be a result that has a good enviROI. Just because it has come from another country doesn't mean it has cost the planet as much, as force rearing artificially here can be worse. And the packaging may mean it gets consumed rather than consumer-unacceptable quality material simply gets ditched.

Of course, what I don't seem to have heard to much is the odd notion of us not expecting to have it all, all the time, on demand. And though I am usually pretty pro-choice and pro-consumer, for a retail spokesperson to say they have to do it to meet consumer demand is a tad disingenuous.

Times - Green masterplans make Sainsbury’s boss see red

Indy - Organic movement faces split over air-freighted food

Indy - Dominic Lawson: A lesson in how to dig yourself into a hole


Thank you for this piece. Most thought-provoking.

I have a saying, which I have used so long I may have actually nicked it and forgotten I had: 'Nothing that is green can be viewed only in black and white'.

Sadly we seem to be moving into a ever more complex eco-areas, but those who can and should know a lot better (including some in the media) are in my view making matters (In assessing eco-value I tend to apply my own measure on most things: the enviROI, or return on investment to the environment, which I admit is in itself is simplistic by being more concerned with immediate climate change impacts than social costs) a lot worse by applying some very hasty, poorly-considered cookie-cutter initiatives for more than dubious reasons.

I am in particular vexed by what I see these days in the arena of all things 're', with meeting targets and paying out bonuses as a consequence often taking precedence over actually doing any good.

I would like to think we could afford a few brief moments to take a breath and think through some hugely expensive, often woefully negatively impactful and almost inevitably uncancelable endeavors before leaping into them. And asking what exactly we, and the plant are actually get for the vast sums that seem to be paid to those who would claim to be qualified to manage this on our behalves, often with almost no real accountability.

Telegraph - Organic vegetables face air freight ban

Mirror, mirror, pure and clean; just like my image if I'm Green.

How Green is Blair?

I managed to miss this episode, both live and in the next day online follow-up. Which is frustrating, and also renders me ill-equipped to comment in an informed manner. But as this hasn't stopped most media much these days, here goes.

Noting that now ex-Ethical man a few posts over has managed to generate in excess of 100 replies (to not too many here, bearing in mind this is discussing the enviro-record of the guy who has overseen our green performance for the last decade, and set much that is yet to happen in place) to support his justifications for getting back on air again, as it is relevant I would like to offer one opinion.

In asking 'How Green is Blair', or indeed any person who would seek to tell us how to take on this colourful hue, surely a major factor must be in looking at what they say vs. what they do.

In the case of Mr. Blair the politician, I am presuming the story I missed laid bare his record. I'm sure it was illuminating, and his explanations hand-wringingly sincere and 'adept' at satisfying his and the news media's agendas.

However, I am still trying to reconcile how anyone who doesn't seem to feel what he 'needs' to do (for instance, the global lecture circuit - to pay for a lifestyle choice he and his family seem to enjoy and seek to maintain) as it 'isn't practical not to', is different and exclusive to what the rest of us are facing.

I am prepared to be lead by visionaries, but only those who can also do so by example. Otherwise, they can go fish.

I used to be ethical, but now I'm not it's all ok

Has flying been unfairly demonised?

So I watched the cause of reduction being simply being played with for a year, and then figuratively as well as literally get dropped into the bin at the end.

Now, having waded through a lot of interesting, useful, worrying and frankly gob-smackingingly scary stuff here, I think the most potentially damaging thing to the environment I have read is in the original post: '...now that I’m not Ethical Man'.

You can do a lot more damage from within. Ask any Trojan.

Hope the ratings were worth it.

Charity begins...?

It must often seem I have a bit of a 'thing' about charities.

Ignoring for now the value they have as a complementary source for social good, they certainly also provide an incredible re:use function as well.

And when done well, on both counts, I am here to applaud and support. For instance, as mentioned before, by trying to figure how to use Junkk.com to divert the much dreaded plastic bag for where it is not wanted... to where it seems it is. That first poster is asking for your old, clean bags!

However, I also feel they can get it wrong, and the other poster is an illustration. I was actually directed to it by an old lady neighbour, who was not impressed. I have to agree. It's bad enough them getting to compete unfairly with rate-paying retailers selling new goods at cut prices, (my view is that they should be re-selling nifty second hand bargains alone), but the symbolism of selling 'brand new hats for Ascot' just didn't sit right.

I think they can find a niche in our consumer sector, and it need not be restricted to a grubby one, but not in this way, with such luxury goods possibly made for the purpose and competing with a nearby haberdasher struggling to compete in a harsh climate.

Building Bridges

As I am more in the habit of burning my bridges before I get to them, it is nice for a change to see some valuable construction work bear fruit.

Yesterday I was strolling back through town when I chanced upon an expo (well, a few stalls) in the Market Square, one of which was festooned with 'recycle now' banners.

Now, as may be recalled, I am a little chary of some from this sector, having felt Junkk.com to have been at best poorly served, and at worst rather dubiously treated by a couple of dodgy dealers of theoretically green-promoting largess in the past.

Anyway, fresh from swallowing my pride at Total Packaging, and with luck forging new and useful bonds with a WRAP big-wig, and having found a new soulmate at Eden Project (whose previous PR director treated me and our lovely Head of Prose and Comms Anita so shabbily a few years back) the other day in London, I decided to see if the magic may apply on a more local basis.

Well, fingers crossed, it looks like it may. I had a very nice chat with Jeremy, the officer of the day, and as a consequence ended up talking with the head bod for Hereford and Worcestershire's enviro efforts. And, thanks to this, we should see a whole new level of synergistic bonding taking place. For a start, they were happy to have our stuff on the stand, so I dashed home to get a standee and flyers to them asap. And these will now be touring around, much as the Junkk.com demo kit is currently doing in Cumbria. They help me; I help them. How sweet is that?

And to kick off from our side, I am happy to share what they were doing there, which was promoting a kitchen waste sink macerator device, with added grant. And very nice both look too, both environmentally and financially.

I initially had my doubts, and expressed them rather starkly by asking 'How the heck does flushing pureed waste down my sink help the planet?'.

Well, the answer was simply and convincing, if disappointing to learn that (as is too often the case) it is not applicable in very many other places.

Because it seems that our local water guys have in place a system to collect biogas from the sewage system, and better yet then recover the resulting dry matter for use as fertiliser. And that makes for a 'win win' in my book. So I will be applying and installing asap, as it is also not beyond the ken of a fair DIYer... apparently.

I'll still be using the compost bins for most organics as I think I can find uses for this at home, but as this machine will chew up the rest and squirt it to enviROI+ nirvana, it gets my full endorsement and with-feet vote.

Nice one council, water board and others! Let's hope such an initiative catches on everywhere.

For those in the relevant areas, once they give me the PR and details I'll upload it.

Scott and Peter and Ted and Malice

The ongoing, spooky (at least as it seems to mirror my life) genius that is Dilbert.

Forces of IT evil - 0, Peter - 2

Well if that isn't asking for it, I don't know what is.

Two small victories for me over my LCD (lowest common denominator) screen status. Well, 1 and three quarters.

First, up, having blown 3 times the price of a Windows compatible, I at least have a Skype phone, on my Mac, that seems to work. That is, I made a call and received one. Whether I will do it without the help of a tech expert next time is another matter. But I am now online and freely available... literally, if sometimes not actually able to come to the phone.

The other is our first test of the upgraded Junkk.com site. Very exciting, except for the fact that a lot didn't work, which is why we have it on a test server. Can't wait to let it loose. New homepage with auto-updates of latest ideas and blogs. New functionalities such as a much more useful edit/delete function on JunkkYard. And some major glitches sorted. Sweet.

Well, when they work.