EcoSwitch News Items
Stuff for Free – A fantastic community event from Healthy Planet
Want to pick up something you need for free? Then this is an event you really need to check out. We at EcoSwitch spent last Saturday helping charity Healthy Planet sort out thousands of books into category order and unbagging numerous unwanted books and other items left by householders. This month, across the whole of London Healthy Planet has been collecting unwanted Christmas gifts and items that people no longer need ...READ MOREAuthor: Patsy Adlam | Date: January 27, 2012
EcoSwitch and Healthy Planet join forces
We have teamed up with the charity Healthy Planet to continue our work in making people more aware of our impacts on the environment and what we can do to make it a greener and healthier place to live. What is the Healthy Planet Organisation? A registered charity set-up in 2008, their innovative projects inform children and adults alike ...READ MOREAuthor: Patsy Adlam | Date: December 15, 2011
Are green energy tariffs the answer?
A report published this week by the International Energy Agency (IEA) – World Energy Outlook 2011 - made it clear that urgent action is needed now to address what appears to be a forgone conclusion, that world temperatures are set to rise by 2C (4F) if we don’t stop our reliance on fossil fuels and begin to reduce ...READ MOREAuthor: Patsy Adlam | Date: November 15, 2011
Inspired Times Magazine, Covering Everything an Inspired Person Might Need
Most newspapers and magazines are, at least in some part, filled with panic-inducing, alarming news. Inspired Times is different. Now with a circulation of around 6,000, Inspired Times was launched in June 2009 from Bristol. Printed on 100% recycled paper and using vegetable inks, the magazine is distributed in biodegradable plastic – altogether the very epitome of sustainable ...READ MOREAuthor: Katherine Quinn | Date: June 2, 2011
Drought or Flood – An Impossible Situation
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FLOOD AND DROUGHT AND THE EFFECTS: Despite US citizens in along the Mississippi having to flee the rising floodwaters due to small towns and farmlands being sacrificed ...READ MOREAuthor: Katherine Quinn | Date: May 18, 2011
UK Aware 2011 at the Bristol Festival of Nature
In March, UK Aware held their London show at Kensington Olympia. It was great and fun and everyone involved had a fantastic time, but what could make it that little bit better? Well, how about holding a second show in Bristol in conjunction with the Festival of Nature weekend? Running on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th ...READ MOREAuthor: Katherine Quinn | Date: May 12, 2011
Fracking, Shale Gas…and a Glass of Fire?
While this website has covered the debate about shale gas and the methods of extracting it before now (namely, fracking. See: "Fracking – Not Just a Sci-Fi Swear Word") there are yet more opinions and views to be examined, given that the water ...READ MOREAuthor: Katherine Quinn | Date: May 11, 2011
Warmest April on Record causes Fire Havoc
Top Record Temperatures Last month was the warmest April in the UK since records began in 1910. Provisional figures recently released by the Met Office indicate that many parts of the UK ...READ MOREAuthor: David Holmes | Date: May 6, 2011
Grand Designs London 2011. A Home-Show With Something For Everyone.
It is only halfway through the nine days of Grand Designs London 2011 and we at EcoSwitch are already regretting that this year's exhibition in London is almost over! It has been so much fun and there are so many things to see and do – how could ...READ MOREAuthor: Katherine Quinn | Date: May 5, 2011
One Year On From the Louisiana BP Spill…But Are The Results Good Enough?
One year on from the devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and it is time to examine whether the situation is getting better or whether it has just stagnated like the oil slick itself on the surface of ...READ MOREAuthor: Katherine Quinn | Date: April 20, 2011
Google – the Latest Investors in the Newest Solar Farm
Google, the world’s most popular internet search engine, has invested $168 million into a solar farm – to be added to the $1.6 billion from the US government. A solar farm, that is, unlike most domestic generators of solar energy in that the site is huge. and looks set to be an indication of the future. Situated in ...READ MOREAuthor: Katherine Quinn | Date: April 19, 2011
Are Biofuels Really the Way to the Future?
There is always controversy surrounding the development of new technologies and scientific discoveries, especially when debating whether biofuels really are the way to the future with regard to our economy and our ecological requirements. However, following the push of biofuels to the forefront ...READ MOREAuthor: Katherine Quinn | Date: April 15, 2011
Nuclear Power – Are the Benefits Worth the Potential for Disaster?
In Japan, the nuclear crisis has been raised to the highest level in recorded history. While nature played a part in the destruction of Japan and the surrounding region, surely the fact that there were four reactors right next to each other did not help. Neither did the flawed earthquake predictions, which lulled Japan and the officials ...READ MOREAuthor: Katherine Quinn | Date: April 14, 2011
Chicxulub Crater Holds Secrets to Climate Change
The plans to study the Chicxulub Crater buried underneath the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico sound like something out of a Jules Verne story. Going deeper than anyone has been before, the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (the IODP) is planning an expedition to study the ...READ MOREAuthor: Katherine Quinn | Date: April 11, 2011
Extreme Weather
According to provisional figures released on 6 January 2011 by the UK’s MET Office, the official body charged with assessing meteorological and climatic conditions, last December unveiled the most extreme weather since records began in 1910. December was in fact ...READ MOREAuthor: David Holmes | Date: April 8, 2011
Emissions Cuts, Green Developments: Has the New Budget Catered for Environmental Progression
Not always high on the list of questions when it comes to the ins and outs of a new government budget, the impact of shifts in public spending on potential environmental targets is nonetheless an important issue. With the new budget announced, it's imperative that discussions over its potential for environmental reform are brought to light. What then, were the environmental ...READ MOREAuthor: Chris Woolfrey | Date: March 25, 2010
UN Report Points Towards The World’s ‘Endless Cities’
Urbanisation and its inherent consequences have taken precedence in a recent UN report. The UN's agency for human settlements, UN-Habitat, has outlined the prevalence of the "endless city" as being one of the most significant and problematic phenomenons to face modern civilisation over the next fifty years...Read on to find out more.READ MOREAuthor: Ryan Whatley | Date: March 23, 2010
Earthquake Sends Aftershock-Waves Felt Across The World
Recorded as one of the largest earthquakes in history, an earthquake which erupted in central Chile has torn apart bridges, highways and homes, sending a tsunami pulsing half way around the globe, leaving a nation in tatters. The head of the emergency agency in Chile commented that residents were tossed about during the earthquake as if ...READ MOREAuthor: Ashley Johnson | Date: March 1, 2010
Eastern Promise Looks West To UK For Turbine Deal
Mitsubishi, the Japanese engineering firm, has been reported in confirming that it is considering several sites in the UK to build 'a giant factory to test the largest wind turbines in the world.' According to Sky News, the international manufacturers is looking to build an offshore wind test site off the coast near Blyth in north east England, which will test ...READ MOREAuthor: Ashley Johnson | Date: February 27, 2010
Electric Cars Given A Boost By Government Grants
Whether it is an insightful move to warmly welcome a carbon saving solution that will, no doubt, make good use of all the 'clean' electricity that the Government plans to be generating by 2020, or whether it is a sure reaction to the rapid developments that have taken place for the electric ...READ MOREAuthor: Ashley Johnson | Date: February 26, 2010
Climate Rush: Deeds Not Words – The Film
"I think that in society there must have been crisis points, moments when a generation realises that something was wrong and that something needed to change. Otherwise that wrong would keep getting worse and, actually, humanity would be meaningless and the world would be a difficult place. This government is useless at thinking long term, and soon we ...READ MOREAuthor: Ashley Johnson | Date: February 25, 2010
Traces of DDT Found in Blood of Children in South America
The Pan American Health Organization has published findings which indicate that DDT – the controversial pesticide famously used for the repression of Malaria and Typhus during World War 2 – is present in the bloodstream of several central and southern Americans, and particularly in children. Found in rural communities where agricultural pesticides are in high use, the study ...READ MOREAuthor: Ashley Johnson | Date:
Fashion Week Finds ‘Fair’ Favourites
Once upon a time most of London's high-end boutiques would take their seasonal seats along the flanks of the capital's cat walks and wait for the latest and wonderfully creative cuts of clothing that year had dreamt up - what ever the cost! Nowadays - at long last - fashion seems to have found its peace of mind and ...READ MOREAuthor: Ashley Johnson | Date: February 23, 2010
Economist Sustainability Summit 2010 – One of the Environmental Highlights of the Year
This year's Economist Sustainability Summit 2010 is big news: taking place today, it has already been announced that over 30 CEOs and VP's will attend the conference. A real coup for the organisers, the excitement is further heightened by the reputation of the organisations for which the CEOs and VPs in question work: the Economist has ...READ MOREAuthor: Ashley Johnson | Date: February 22, 2010
Power Stations Ready to Back Coal Fired Power – Government Could Miss Targets
Drax power station, Britain's strongest, biggest and most famous carbon power station, has scrapped plans to move substantial portions of its output for power generation to green energy and renewable power sources. Whilst the plant will move much of its capabilities towards renewable and green energy, as has always been the plan, it is now ...READ MOREAuthor: Ashley Johnson | Date: February 21, 2010
Coral Reefs Disintegrating: Rising Carbon Dioxide Poses New Threats
A group of scientists have outlined a new and rising threat from the increase of carbon dioxide levels in the Earth's atmosphere. Scientists, based in Stanford University, California, have turned the environmental eye towards the shape and life cycles of our oceans. The threat comes from the increased levels of pollution - namely, carbon dioxide emissions - that, by ...READ MOREAuthor: Ashley Johnson | Date: February 20, 2010
UN Report Puts Pressure on Companies with Evidence of Environmental Damage Ready for Scrutiny
It could be quite understandably argued that – of the two major forms of pollution and environmental damage, industrial and individual – industrial environmental damage is a far greater threat to global society, and should be held to much greater account than the lifestyle choices of that global society’s individuals. That claim, it seems, has been backed by the United Nations, whose ...READ MOREAuthor: Ashley Johnson | Date: February 18, 2010
US Scheme for Energy Efficient Homes Reaches 2% of its Total Goal
Barack Obama, whose presidency has been marked for some by failure of expectation and for others by historic steps away from his predocessors, has made a number of promises on the environmental front. Including a seemingly active role at the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit - which brought China and the US to the table as interested negotiators for the first time in ...READ MOREAuthor: Ashley Johnson | Date: February 16, 2010
Ecological reasons to save English Heritage with a Holiday
Once again it is approaching that time of the year when we start to think about planning a little summer holiday treat to help brighten up those last remaining gloomy days of the (it seems) everlasting winter period. It's with no real surprise that the MPs at number 10 haven't quite figured a way to pry ourselves up and out of ...READ MOREAuthor: Ashley Johnson | Date: February 15, 2010
Are Recycling Efforts Really Winning Podium Places at the Winter Olympics?
After the media coverage of China’s dubious environmental policy around the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008, it seems that the Vancouver Winter Olympics are as contrasted in that respect as the two different climates of the respective games. In Beijing, Chinese environmental policy dominated pre-games media reports, shadowed only by the equally dubious Chinese human rights records, of which ...READ MOREAuthor: Ashley Johnson | Date: February 13, 2010
