How to stop getting wet feet?

According to an eyebrow raising piece (I'm unsure if it was meant to be amusing) from the Telegraph, 'happiness lessons', and 'more outdoor education', are but two of the ways we can help to 'save the planet'.

Hmmmmm. Anyone care to explain just how that is going to help those unfortunate enough to inhabit what may well become 'waterworld' territory?

Something to bear in mind when targets get mentioned in certain quarters

And at certain odd, rare, times....

Why did the government dump its green building regulations plan?

I often disagree with Mr. Monbiot*, but he does raise a worthy question here.

Maybe one for Ed Miliband, who was out and about recently.

*Especially on matters of 'tis/t'isn't climate change. When he comes up with stuff like this, it steer well clear as it really can only end up in tears... and no winners.

Phones of the charge brigade

Sorry, I just liked that headline.

I felt this was good news:

A standard phone charger? About time too

At least I think it is. Part of me suspects the actual enviROI may not work out as hoped.

At least we're not last:)

Britain's green shame

Actually this story, and the comments that accompany it, seem to illustrate the rather yawning gaps between what is actually meant by 'green', what is done to 'be' it and, perhaps most significantly in terms of targets and subsidies, why.

Especially at a major political level. I for one have never been able to grasp how it is possible to have economic growth without 'consequences'. Hence the solution seems to have been to say one thing, do another and hope no one will notice. Trouble is, when they do, trust is blown and things tend to get a lot worse.

Not a great way to run a country. IMHO.

COMPETITION - Doing the Right Thing

WHEN:This week
WHAT: Classic FM - Doing the Right Thing
WHAT... MORE?: See the website
HOW MUCH: Free
URL: http://promo.classicfm.co.uk/contests/2009/m_s/index.php
COMMENTS: A bit of green PR. Can't hurt. I'll be plugging Junkk!

Head 2 head with Mr. Ed

Post your questions for the energy and climate change minister Ed Miliband

They have their flaws these efforts (esp. what gets chosen to be answered...Michael Jackson's passing???!), but can still be enlightening. I did note this:

Q - Have you read David MacKay's book Sustainable Energy - without the hot air? How will you ensure arithmetic is at the heart of energy policy given it doesn't seem to have been up to now?

Ed Miliband: MacKay's a smart guy. His book is by my bedside and my permanent secretary keeps telling me I have to finish it!

Actual answer seems to be.. 'No, I haven't read it and I just do what other folk tell me'

Explains a lot.

No excuses

I just happen to like the song.

And this now allows me listen to it whenever I want. And the emotive imagery is effective.

Michael Jackson's biggest selling UK single wasn't Thriller or Billie Jean — but a song about the environment

A major talent with a troubled life. Worth acknowledging the contribution, but the flaws cannot be ignored. Especially those of a 24/7 media-dominated world that has lost ALL perspective. This did not warrant a news blackout in the UK on any other topic.

I must get back to writing again with the missus. But our protest stuff was not wanted so much back then. Now...? For now there's always Junkk.

Plus ca change

After my Monthus Suckius on personal matters, I am starting to get my head around getting various ongoing projects back on track.

For Junkk.com there is the reuse competition, which I had left woefully to its own devices.

There are still not that many entries, but a few more have come in, and one is, frankly, excellent. And it only just came in.

Hence I have asked for and got permission for another extension of a month from the Guardian's organisers. And will try and promote it more.

In complement, and with luck soon, we will also be improving the Junkk.com website with a few new features, added at the same time as trying to sort out some persistent glitches. Frustratingly, these latter seem to pop up without warning, rhyme or reason and are as hard to cure as they are impossible to predict.

And to share all this I will try and get the next newsletter out early July, and will be using a new improved creation system from dotmailer to do so.

And I will also be be trying to relight the fire under RE:tie. The international patents are well underway, so a major sales push is needed.

But as money is now really tight, I have to be even more careful, and ruthless.

A few days ago I mentioned a post that highlighted a website called quirky.

It looks fun. But so do many others. The trick is to try and guess the ROI on this potential avenue to....what?... more PR?...investors? ...an audience? It looks cute and slick, and that's the danger of the internet. There might only be six people using or viewing it.

Oh, blog off!

Or... how not to mess with your blog.

I'll let this set the scene as it is pertinent: quirky-social-product-development

I came here specifically to post to you, and was going to apologise for being O/T as the thread more appropriate to my intended comment (follows below) - the green gadget one - is no longer so enabled with this spiffy new system.

However, I think I can kick off by still being being relevant.

As an international Gold Medal-winning, multi-awarded, all-the-PR-you-can't-pay-the-bills-with-yet inventor of an eco packaging design, I gave quirky a gander.

Sadly, as most of us are, they are in competition with a horde of others, and I have lost count of the number that will charge one 'just' $99 for an intro to some folk they might know who might help.

Which may explain the lack of decent entries? I'd be hard pressed to see it as worth it, especially as my design is for mass marketing and really won't fit the model. I am seeking to licence about a billion a day. And moving from design to prototype to short-run moulds to full-blown seems a stretch at first glance.

However, the value of the PR and market research may tip the balance, especially if the founders have some IT scores on the board that gets PR from IT types like you. Reflected glory and all.

Now, on to the reason for seeking you out. Not easy as you and some other valued (to me) colleagues don't seem to be quite as valued (by the head honchos) in this spiffy revamp, and took a bit of locating under all the politico, sporty & opinion big guns who I will now be sparing my blood pressure by mostly passing on in future.

Just wanted to say that where I used to surf, skim & select all in the main scrolling version, I no longer have the time to do what the system demands and cherry pick, but will make a note of checking back here specifically as the odds of a green post are good. Maybe not as often as I did,but there you go.

A real pity, as I have found worthy enviro posts in odd places across many of the blogs, but will have to forgo most as there really is not enough time.

Seems an odd way to drive viewing figures, but there you go.

What this does not do is fully address the horror of what these clowns have done to a system that seemed to work pretty well, and by not being broke as far as I could see, didn't need fixing.

For those that don't know, all the blogs went up chronologically in a massive scrolling page, broken up by 'back' & 'next' breaks. Hence you could see exactly what was new simply by starting at the top and working back to where you left off last. If it was of no interest (such as sport) you skipped by. But there was usually a headline, subhead, picture and first para to scope to see if it was worth delving further.

No they expect me to check a few score specific thread channels..in case there might be a new or interesting piece? Numpties. Just waiting for a page to load takes 30". Multiply that by the number of channels and there's my tea breaks gone before I see anything.

And I am not sure I am alone in not thinking this has been a real advance.

But at least I got a blog out of it. Though I will miss the odd green avenue I stumbled across, often from non-tech or green authors.

And as we try and make this blog and Junkk.com better, boy, do I have some great examples of what not to do!

A new look

Welcome to the new Telegraph blogs

Thank you for your feedback

Some of the ostrich/'hear no evil' monkey responses from the Telegraph's great and good puts one more in mind of the current Government. And such as 'listening' and 'responding' to minor stuff and ignoring dirty great elephants in the room. Which is odd, as this is just what they seem to mock them for.

I can live with a light grey type. I have no time to devote to scores of separate threads. Which one are they now 'urgently looking at'?

Addendum 1 -

Of course, one constant drip from the 'professional', 'quality', paid, establishment media is that you can't trust what Bloggers write. If they say so: Press Association and Big Media Fail to Double Source

I can't afford the resources of these guys. But I do have a well-primed eyebrow and tend to slap a few caveats in if the sources are dubious, such as the Government, the BBC, any press spokesperson, 'scientists', quangos, charities, 'research', 'polls'....

Addendum 2 -

Just scoping the Indy. Their 'system' is called Live Journal, and it sucks too. Just looking at some major stories and they have no comments. This seems unlikely. So it's not just my Mac OS and Safari browser then. I wrote to the web, IT and editors to tell them, but no reply. They really are an insular bunch who don't take well to customer feedback.

Guardian - Telegraph relaunches blogs, now powered by WordPress

RE:view - Which? does packaging

The July '09 Which Magazine is a bit of a greenie bumper edition.

I have already mentioned two other topics covered, but just as recent additions to the CATEGORY sections they complemented (see recent CARBON TRADING and PLASTIC BAGS Labels).

However, there is one main one they have tackled which, for obvious reasons, piqued my interest: PACKAGING, with a piece called 'Don't keep it under wraps'.

So, what was of note?

The first thing is that it concentrated pretty much on supermarkets and own labels. Therefore the big brands escaped investigation. You will not find Heinz or P&G or Unilever there, and that's a lot of plastic (which, at the end of the day, was the near exclusive focus).

What was interesting was when they got into 'like-for-like' comparisons on weight which, bearing in mind the constant reminders I have been getting from WRAP for donkeys on the joys and successes of lightweighting with the Courthauld Cabals , struck a few chords.

Try good old Plan A M&S bacon slice packs a stonking 40% more than Sainsbury's, and explained away as 'within expected variations'. Such airy ways with numbers might explain a few things in the boardroom of late! Or try Morrisons Cheddar slices at 86% more than 'eco-evil' Tescos.

Thing is, such specific samples and examples really don't address the overall main issue, and the piece acknowledges this and merely ends up repeating what we know and bang on about, seemingly to very deaf ears, as quangos, councils, government and big business all point at each other in tut-tutting at how tricky it is to deal with all this due to the huge variations in rules, regs and waste disposal systems.

And, often, it seems that those who often like to claim how green they are can often... slip. Don't know about you, but this latest Waitrose ad looks to me more like a plastics' packaging showcase.

What we do at Junkk can't help mitigate much either, as we are mainly here to advocate reuse. But every little bit helps:) There was a feature on a chap who Which? had asked to keep what he couldn't recycle... for a week. Well, try 5 years, and counting, as I have! I am struggling on most of these trays too, but when you have a stack 100 high of identical ones, you do start to think big. So I am getting glimmers. They are plastic, so they are invincible to weather. And they are black, so they absorb heat. You'll see where I am going. Just my luck when they all end up on biodegradables, which initially might seem a solution, but then one needs to ponder, as I have before, on what organics biodegrade to. Not easy, this being green and not just looking it.

But, for now, if anyone else has some ideas of their own, don't forget the Junkk.com plastics reuse competition.

Return fair?

Newsnight's 'Ethical Man' has enjoyed a high profile journey of late.

And I have followed, not always approvingly.

Now his latest has come to an end: Looking back over an action-packed odyssey

Sadly, I feel we are again in an area of the best messengers for the message, as this frank if perhaps not wise introductory justification from his plane seat* would suggest :

'... to be honest, I have had enough... I know it's a cop out'. Ain't flying great (well, in most ways) when others pay (especially if it's for the family, too... ask the DG). There's also the small matter of *'Doing this 6500 mile trip around America without flying' So, basically, it has all just been a bit of show for a show that has green more as a theme. Hmn. Inspiring. But I have enjoyed the bits without the agenda bolted on, especially anything that reduces practically, improves efficiencies and minimises waste. These, and those who create them, are who I hold out real hope for.

His last series ended after a year with him dropping most things mainly because, as far as I could judge, on a personal basis he didn't find it much fun and, fortunately for him, professionally there was no need to keep on doing it as the cameras were now off.

Not sure things will work out too well if the rest of the population being treated to programmes of this nature adopt the same attitude.

Not very social networking

If you take a gander over to the RHS Nav Bar of the blog (or here), you'll see a few social networks I've hooked into.

Especially following the competition, not that I have actually had a chance to do anything about it all yet, with a 'Here's One I RE:made Earlier' Group on FaceBook.

What you don't see is the MySpace equivalent.

I tried... hard... but it didn't seem to work. So I gave up. Plus I was getting a lot of friend requests on my personal from nice ladies in Eastern Europe.

So I guess I erred FaceBookwards.

A pity, but this might explain why it's headed this way:

MySpace to axe two-thirds of global workforce

I won't ditch it, but in a world of priorities, and time poverty, you go where the biggest bang for the buck is.

COMPETITION - Finish Diamond Standard Innovation Challenge

WHEN: Deadline July 16
WHAT: Finish Diamond Standard Innovation Challenge
WHAT... MORE?: From the site:

The challenge Looking for your ideas for an innovative product to make life easier in the kitchen. The Challenge is being led by world-renowned chef and culinary innovator, Heston Blumenthal, who – as in his role as head judge - will decide the winner along with an expert panel. The Prize You could win a £10,000 cash prize courtesy of Finish and see your very own kitchen innovation produced by Lakeland – in total a package worth an estimated £50,000. You’ll work with Lakeland to develop the design and help bring your innovation to market, receive royalties from future sales, and you’ll benefit from extensive business support and publicity. Ten finalists will be invited to attend a judging event in London in August 2009, where you’ll pitch your design to the judging panel. Four runners up will receive £1,000 worth of Lakeland vouchers and a year’s supply of Finish Quantum dishwasher tablets. Judges Alongside Heston, the judges include Dr Paul Pankhurst, the CEO and Chairman of British Design Innovation; Rosie Nagra, Finish Marketing Manager; and Wendy Miranda, Customer Ambassador of Lakeland. HOW MUCH: FREE!!!
URL: http://www.finish.co.uk/competition_start.php
COMMENTS: OK, this is not, at first blush, that eco.... but it could be! I for one am thinking of sending in 'RE:tie' for them to chew on. Not a hope in heck of winning, but it can't hurt to get on the radar. Then there is simply bending one's mind around other eco-notions that could apply kitchen-wide.

I have not gone through the t&cs in detail as yet, so be cautious. Not quite sure what 'a total package worth...' means, and the royalties on sales might need the Dragon's Den treatment before signing.

As to the enviROI's of washing in the sink vs. Dishwashers, and using chemicals that end up in the waste stream... another story (worthy of a Prof's Poser soon. And it looks like I had already been pondering).

For now... any publicity be good publicity.

IDEA - Cup stack holder

After a nightmare period with site glitches, it's great to see another really nice, simple idea up there that we can add to the competition (which I am thinking of extending for another month as I have really done zippy to help promote during June so far thanks to being so distracted on personal stuff).

Good job there are other judges who will vote 'blind' (I am there as casting), but this is in with a chance as far as I am concerned, especially as the entrant is a 'tween': Cup stack holder

Gadget Inspector

Here's one that caught my eye:

Green gadgets can do more harm than good

This young lady seems a tad more than the usual 'punt out a press release and call it reporting', so I wonder if I might get an answer* to my questions.

Failing which, I wonder how I might get to be paid for writing such stories and/or get funded to go find out.

I'm still trying to verify what the engineer told me the last visit to fix my washing machine, namely that all these cold temperature washes are not that great at keeping the seals and pipes clean and are causing premature failures through build-ups of deposits hotter washes could keep clear.

Any links to the truth of this, and if so what the gain in eco from lower temps might be vs. the losses of having to fix or buy a new one?

I really despair the lack of balanced science and engineering reporting in the 'green arena', such that a device or initiative can be assessed not just for its 'hue & cred' but actual enviROI.

I can sort of accept an eco-option that might 'cost' more in £ terms; that's a clear choice.

But one that also makes things 'worse' seems a bad deal all round.

*Addendum:

Well, kudos to her. She saw a question and came back. Not a definitive answer, but it seems
I am on a worthwhile track, which kinda puts me at odds with every gov. & commercial marketing department in the land, all of whom have boxes to tick rather than enviROi's to ponder. She might be misguided on the hotter meaning whiter, mind, as it is my understanding that the water temp should not matter. Experience here does rather differ, mind.

PROF'S POSER - Heat and rust

Ok, best I could do.

And wrong from the off, as aluminium doesn't rust.

However it does frame this Prof's Poser, which is essentially an enviROI-based one pondering energy consumption.

Over the weekend I was making an oven-heated meal. And it dawned on me that I was popping a sheet of foil in the glass dish.

Now the picture shows it all becomes moot pretty quickly anyway as the foil ripped, but I was wondering which was more energy efficient, and hence 'better': cook in foil and incur the costs of that resource being used and disposed of (there's a limit to how food caked it can be to [put out to] recycle), OR just use the glass and end up with a few pints of boiling water being required.

What's the collective name or a group of gremlins?

I am opting for a 'dump'.

As in: 'a dump of gremlins'.

Two small setbacks this weekend, though I am hoping that by being highlighted they can be addressed and corrected pretty soon.

First up, having noted a nice, simple plastics reuse idea on the My Zero Waste site, I invited Mrs. Green to enter the Junkk.com competition.

Well, she tried, but it seems she hit problems. I am going to try and figure out why today, and with luck get the experts to cure it. Seems unlikely she was the only one, so who knows who else tried, failed... and gave up. I am grateful to her for letting me know (and for forwarding the error code, which makes things easier still). Most would not bother... the curse of e-ternal e-vigilance if you run a website, especially one with interactivity features.

For the life of me I can't figure out why a machine that works on 0's and 1's can suddenly decide to not work as it has for a decade.

The other was decidedly more human.

One of the main sections of Junkk.com is 'Answers', where you can pose questions via the Junkk site. It comes via a form, and is different to the info [at].

Frankly it was/is rarely used, at least so far. However, a while ago some spam bots got hold of it and I started getting inundated with porn site greetings. Clever devils some, such that I almost thought they were human.

Thing is, it was filling up my in-box, so I asked my IT guru to redirect them to a folder to address later... and then promptly forgot to check it these last several weeks with all the fun & games with getting my Mum cared for.

Anyway, on Sunday, as a Father's Day 'treat' I decided to clear these fellows out. Fortunately, despite there being thousands I didn't just dump and purge, but actually have started going through.

And guess what? As a consequence of the competition I found some questions related to it, including interest from magazines such as The Engineer... sheesh!

And all this with about a week left for the extended competition entry period.

Time for another? Plus another mea culpa? No real harm I figure. The contest could really do with more entries to make it worthwhile.

Saving Private Members' Bills

Just watched Norman Baker interviewed on SKY.

Normally I have much respect for his example and pronouncements, especially in the green arena, but he really was floundering here.

And I was intrigued by his bike purchase... 'to save us money... and the planet'.

I'll grant the latter but I was wondering if, on top of the purchase, there is any mileage on top as can be afforded certain council employees... at 20p per mile.

Also, has anyone actually checked if he uses the thing we have paid for, for this purpose?

I just got (oh, with my own money) a great second hand folding bike from a renovation charity for £100, but it will rarely be used for 'work'. Pottering around town, yes. Holiday, yes. So... is this vehicle his primary commuting resource?

And on a purely political note (more appropriate, usually, for El Burro Hotay), it is worth noting that it is noted that of all these folk who control our finances and the rules to which we are held, when confronted by claims and trotting out a raft of excuses, NOT ONE has mistakenly, or accidentally UNDER-claimed.

In the black

Cuts are very much in the news at the moment.

In many forms. From government spending, to evidence of spending by those who seek to govern.

I am toddling off now to get my first hard copy of The Daily Telegraph in an age, as I think the redacted supplement might be worthy of keeping.

However, it's all out there in various places on line, too.

But having looked at these I do rather fear for the printers of Britain, as I suspect black ink will be getting lathered on page upon page.

Now I am just wondering why 'they', in anticipation of near inevitable printouts, cannot have just blotted out the redacted elements with a white box, as I can do with one click and drag on MS Word.

What we have seems bad for pockets and planet. Not to mention what is going on in Parliament.

No change there then.

1,000 words - wrong message?

Speaking (albeit in another blog) about communicating with the public on matters climatic, I found this banner (leading to this page, should you be interested in going) topical.

Whilst it is good to talk, I have tended to find the preponderance of conferences, and indeed conferences about forthcoming conferences vexing.

Especially as I tend to suspect that they do little to help engage with or change the views of the general public.

However, beyond the fact that Google had ironically popped it in a less than 'green' site, the banner caught my professional eye.

All I saw initially was an overseas conference and a plane (Ok, headed the wrong way) belching out smoke, and it really didn't help assuage my views on these junkets much.

I suppose it is incumbent upon me... us to go if we are concerned, but also the phrase 'get the climate deal we need' smacked of a certain mindset I am less than keen on in this arena, too.