Saving the Environment - A Missed Opportunity

[mimitabby]

Those light up buildings are messing up bird migrations, can you believe it? Instead of following the moon at night, they are distracted by mega cities.

[Python]

Some of the old buildings like Cathedrals look stunning at night lit up, but the lights could be switched of at say, 11pm but they leave them on all night. If I remember correctly, when they first started lighting up churches and cathedrals they only used to do it on special occasions like Christmas and Easter. Now it's all the time. Apart from light pollution and knocking birds off course the financial cost must be astronomical and at the end of the day everyone who pays taxes is footing the bill. It is so hypocritical for governments to be forcing people to be energy conscious when they don't practice what they preach.

The present government in this country is on it's way out. We've had too much corruption and sleaze. Although there are many smaller political parties here the main two are Labour (which are or government at the moment) and Conservative. Although I wouldn't vote for either party (I support one of the smaller parties) the leader of the Conservatives is a very keen cyclist. He is destined to be Prime Minister in the not too distant future so perhaps we'll see pro-cycling policies coming in.

What I'd like to see (ambitious maybe):

All new roads with proper cycling lanes separated by crash barriers from vehicles.

Existing cycle lanes upgraded.

Dedicated cycle lanes put in every main route into town.

I would also like to see cyclists who do not use lights at night clamped down on hard along with those who refuse to obey they Highway Code. They are a menace to themselves and everyone else and give cyclists a bad name.

[roadie gal]

Here in California they make it very easy to recycle.

What makes me totally lunatic is the fact the my community, in the high DESERT does not have metered water. We pay a flat fee no matter how much water we use. So there is no incentive to save water. I have no idea why people insist on having lawns up in the desert. If you want a lawn go live somewhere that has a lot of water. I am so sick of subsidizing people's *&%$#^ lawns when I'm turning off the water while I brush my teeth!

[Python]

Last year here in the UK there were certain areas where we had hosepipe bans - ours being one of them. Usually we get enough rain not to need to use a hose on plants but last year was the exception to the rule. I have a small lawn at the front of my house. OK. It turned brown but once it rained it recovered itself. Frankly, I can't be bothered standing like an idiot with a hose watering grass

However, I grow a lot of my own veg and seeing all my hard work shrivel up really angered me because the hosepipe ban included watering veg as well.

The stupid thing was, you could use a watering can to water anything so you ended traipsing back and forth, sloshing water all over the place which ended up being a false economy. You could water your plants any way you wanted so long as you didn't use a hose to do it. You were allowed to use the hose to fill the watering cans...err...duh

You could also use a hose or high-pressure water cleaner to clean the paths (came under health and safety incase of accidents on a slimy path) but if just ONE drop of water got on the plants, you could be prosecuted

The hosepipe ban was lifted earlier on this year but could be reinstated. As it happens we've had quite a lot of rain so the water tables are quite high just now. We decided that if we have a hosepipe ban this year we would divert the water from the bath and shower into water butts and use that.

At the moment I haven't bothered growing anything this year because all my veggie plants died last year and we're supposed to be in for a hot summer again this year. I wasted a lot of time, money and hard work. Usually I grow enough veg to last us through the winter. Brussells Sprouts, Broccoli, Cabbage - all shrivelled up and died The only thing that did well were my runner beans and the few carrots and parsnips I grew in large pots.

I could understand the authorities banning the use of hosepipes for lawns and flowers as they are not necessary, but banning the use for vegetables I couldn't understand as they are food items. I hate buying veg from the supermarkets because they are poor quality, full of pesticides and artificial fertilizers. I grow mine organically.

[Zen]

Maybe you could use a soaker -type hose under cover of darkness...

[Trek420]

You could use one of these?

www.composters.com/docs/rainbarrels.html

[Python]

We call them Water Butts here. Snag is, even the water butts were dry. Even when we had the odd thunderstorm, there wasn't that much rain with them.

It has certanly rained heavily off and on since Friday though - and it's been windy and cold for this time of the year. Went to work by car this morning and wished I'd cycled. Rain, wind and my husband had an industrial tribunal 40 miles away to attend - the last firm he worked for cheated him out of his holiday pay. He left me with the car at work and he took the train there and back, then met me in town. He won his case

The weather's brightened up now so I took the bike for a run to make sure she was running OK after my changing the tube in the rear wheel on Friday night. She's running sweet

Cycling to work tomorrow provided we don't have another wind and rain storm like the past few days.

We definitely have to encourage more people to take up cycling. Went into the local bike shop this afternoon to get a pump for my bike and was chatting to the owner. He says that sales of road/racer bikes have shot up in the past couple of months. He was saying that whole families are now buying bikes to commute with.

I saw a fantastic bike that I would love to buy for my grandson. It looks like a little motorbike. Unfortunately he'll have to grow a bit as he's only 18 months old This bike would be for a 6 - 8 year old. Still Grandma's going to buy him his first bike for his Christmas as he'll be 2 by then

Nothing like getting them started young