People like me do go on about how big the problem is. We often use numbers to prove a point. Sometimes it's difficult to envisage how many, or how much when it comes to climate change, resource use, waste etc, but I've found an excellent website which gives us an insight into some of these figures.
Electricity is the top polluter, so use it wisely, says John Cossham
We rely on mains electricity for so much, and most of this supply has a large carbon footprint. Even the 20% of electricity supplied by nuclear power results in waste we don't know what to do with. One of the best ways we can reduce our impact is to reduce our fossil energy use.
The current 'Credit Crunch' combined with high energy prices is seemingly causing a recession... a period of no economic growth or contraction. Part of me welcomes this, despite the discomfort we will all experience (such as reduced entertainment bookings for me) as in a greener world we'd consume less, and in a recession we do just that. One of the weird effects of this economic situation is that with reduced demand, some prices will fall... so I'm not suprised to see the fuel prices dip temporarily.
I became interested in poverty when I got involved in Local Agenda 21 in the mid 1990s, a few years after John Major signed a document called 'Agenda 21' at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. This committed all the signitory countries to explore and implement 'Sustainable Development' by encouraging Local Authorities to empower their local communities to find local solutions... I learned that sustainable development was a balance between our natural environment, our social environment and our fiscal (money) environment... and that the number one enemy of sustainable development was... POVERTY.
Late last week I had a meeting with a new friend who had come to York to participate in a historical re-enactment event. I knew nothing about this pastime/lifestyle apart from seeing quite a few re-enactors at the Norfolk Park event in Sheffield a few years ago, when I attended as Professor Fiddlesticks. It looked as if they were having fun, but I though little more about it.
Once again I've had an interesting gig as 'Professor Fiddlesticks', entertaining children this weekend at a conference organised by Sibs. My role was to provide a fun two hours with a circus show followed by a workshop where the children could try out different skills, finishing with an opportunity for some of them to show off these newly acquired tricks to the adults who had attended the meeting.