UK

Cannabis Houses = Zero Carbon

- Adam Clare

Hemp, part of the cannabis genus, is a great building material according to researchers in the UK. EcoWorldly has a good write-up on the hemp housing research.

Technically speaking, hemp is the common name for plants of the entire Cannabis genus, although the term is more typically used to refer only to strains of industrialized varieties which are not cultivated for drug use. Because industrialized hemp grows so quickly, requires almost no pesticides or herbicides, controls topsoil erosion and is a significant carbon sink, many environmentalists have been touting the plant as an eco-friendly miracle crop for decades. Furthermore, hemp can serve as a green-minded replacement for many other raw materials which aren’t good for the environment, such as tree paper, plastics and certain clothing fibers. Hemp seeds are also edible, and hemp seed oils offer healthy alternatives to other cooking oils.

Greener Homes for Aussies and Brits

- Adam Clare

Both the British and Australian governments have announced that they will help home owners green their homes. Australia is offering 2.2 million homes a free insulation upgrade and more financial incentives for solar water heating. In the UK, it was announced that the government will help people with a full ‘eco-makeover’.

More than one in four homes in the UK will be offered a complete eco-makeover under ambitious plans expected to be announced this week to slash fuel bills and cut global warming pollution.

The campaign is thought to involve giving 7m houses and flats a complete refit to improve insulation, and will be compared to the 10-year programme that converted British homes to gas central heating in the 1960s and 1970s. Householders could also be encouraged to install small-scale renewable and low-carbon heating systems such as solar panels and wood-burning boilers.

In total, it is thought the Department of Energy and Climate Change will commit to cutting a third of greenhouse gas emissions from households by 2020.

World Eden Project Planned for Bristol

- Adam Clare

This is really neat! Bristol’s zoo is planning to rethink the zoo concept and create a place that will be like the garden of eden for wildlife.

The timing could hardly be more prescient. Last week the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the world’s largest environmental body, predicted that up to a fifth of all mammals are now facing extinction. At least 76 species are known to have died out since the 1500s with a further 1,141 of the 5,487 mammal species currently endangered.

Under the plans submitted to South Gloucestershire Council, Bristol’s “eco zoo” could connect the inherent interest value of captive animals with the conservation methods needed to save their wild cousins.

The whole idea of captivity will be reduced to a minimum – this zoo aims to be to animals what the Eden Project is for plants. The often controversially cramped spaces of the Victorian era’s most famous zoos are gone – replaced with open land, moats and ditches. Food for the animals will be organic, while 80 per cent of the building material will be locally sourced and sustainable.

But most importantly, the four themed areas of the park – which if given the go-ahead will be open by 2012 – have all been chosen to reflect specific areas of the world where conservation is desperately needed to save critically endangered species.

Community Welsh Farm Still Going Strong

- Adam Clare

Five years ago a community wanted to stop developers from building on a farm, so they literally bought the farm. The Guardian takes a look at this successful non-profit farm run by the local community.

This is no ordinary Welsh mountain farm – and yet, until five years ago, that is exactly what it was. In 2003, intensively grazed and in the aftermath of the foot and mouth outbreak, its 320 acres were unable to support the farming tenant. But when the estate owner decided the farm should be sold – possibly for holiday accommodation – the local community had different ideas. Residents from Tregarth, Rhiwlas and Mynydd Llandegai, the three villages that surround Moelyci, in the shadow of Snowdon, dug deep and bought it.

Around 200 people invested in the farm, forming a not-for-profit industrial and provident society (IPS), with the help of loans from Triodos Bank and ICOF, a community development finance institution that invests in areas of deprivation. It was the first venture of its kind in Wales and one of just a handful in the UK.

Five years on, Moelyci IPS supports around 16 jobs and has 500 community shareholders. The original loans have been replaced by a mortgage, and when that is paid off, in 18 years’ time, the farm and its mountain – much of which is now designated a site of special scientific interest and a special area of conservation – will really be theirs.

A Good Reason for the British Royal Family

- Adam Clare

Celsias has an interesting piece on how the British royals can serve a good purpose- protecting the environment. And, no this is not an ironic post.

The Prince has also long promoted small, local, organic farming. Leading by example, his own Gloucestershire farm has been organic since 1986 and was among the first to provide organic products in Great Britain long before it was eco-chic. His Duchy Originals brand is made from products grown on his farm in a sustainable manner, with special attention to crop rotation and soil management with the proceeds going to charity, including environmental and alternative health organizations that he has founded. He’s kind of like the Paul Newman of Great Britain!

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