Green In The Media 30th January - 5th February

Monday 30th January


One Planet
On: BBC World Service Radio
Time: 12:32 to 12:50 (Also Fri 1930, Sat 0430, 1830)
One Planet looks at how we use our planet.

Tuesday 31st January


Costing the Earth
On: BBC Radio 4
Time: 15:30 to 16:00 (Also Wed 2100)
Bottle Bank Wars.
In San Francisco recycling is so profitable that gangs are fighting over the bottle banks. Tom Heap meets the green warriors of the trash for cash movement.

Saturday 4th February


Our World
On: BBC News
Time: 05:30 to 06:00 (Also 1430, 2130, Sun 0330, 1030, 2330)
Has the Amazon Been Saved?
Featuring news on issues around the world. Justin Rowlatt investigates how the Brazilian authorities are beginning to turn around the destruction of the Amazonian rainforest.


Countryfile
On: BBC 1
Time: 19:00 to 20:00
John Craven investigates the dramatic fall in the sale of organic food in the UK



Excerpts taken from DigiGuide - the world's best TV guide available from 
http://www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=20818
Copyright (c) GipsyMedia Limited.

The Week In Green Numbers

1,900

- plastic microfibres released from a synthetic garment every time it is washed #

£12 billion

- estimated cost to property from flooding in the UK caused by climate change by 2080 #

87.5g

- CO² per megajoule of energy from crude oil #

105g

- CO² per megajoule of energy from palm oil #

$950

- value of an elephant's penis in Thailand #

Crystal Balls

Picture by geebee2007

It's a dangerous game, trying to predict the future. But the UK government have attempted it with a Climate Change Risk Assessment.

So what did they conclude? I have to admit, I haven't read the 2000 pages of the report. And I don't intend to. Unfortunately, it doesn't really seem to tell us anything about the effects on the UK of climate change that we didn't already know.

And, this being the UK government, they're championing "positives", like the ice-free Arctic opening up a quicker trade route to Asia, so that we can get our mass-manufactured plastic crap from China much faster.

They've also missed out the "global" part of global warming. Growing more sugar will be nice, but will we have the room to grow it once the UK has filled up with climate refugees from southern Europe?

If you want a more scientific, and planet-wide, approach to what will happen as the climate changes, may I recommend Six Degrees by Mark Lynas. It's also considerably shorter than 2000 pages!

Up From The Depths...Thirty Stories High....

In one of the strangest news stories of the weekend, it would appear that nuclear power stations in Scotland are turning the sea green!

A local resident to the Hunterston B nuclear power plant on the west coast noticed that when looked at on Google Earth, the nearby sea has a mysterious green glow. You can see it for yourself in the photo above, or look on Google Earth.

Could it be radiation leaking into the water? What about a deep sea monster mutated by the atoms? Or how about a UFO lurking underwater, spying on our nuclear facilities.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the answer is more straightforward. It's the bubbles from the water discharge pipe.

Still, I'm not being complacent. I've seen some of those old Japanese Godzilla movies.

Green In The Media 23rd - 29th January

Monday 23rd January


One Planet
On: BBC World Service Radio
Time: 12:32 to 12:50 (Also Fri 1930, Sat 0430, 1830, Sun 0630)
One Planet looks at how we use our planet.


Panorama
On: BBC 1
Time: 20:30 to 21:00
Train Fares: Taken for a Ride?
Current affairs. With rail ticket prices upsetting many travellers after having just risen to record levels, Panorama investigates the cost of riding on the railway and asks: why are train fares so expensive?

Thursday 26th January


Live Energy and Climate Change Questions
On: BBC Parliament
Time: 10:30 to 11:30 (Also 0130, 0400)
Live coverage of questions in the House of Commons to Energy and Climate Change secretary Chris Huhne and his ministerial team.



Excerpts taken from DigiGuide - the world's best TV guide available from 
http://www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=20818
Copyright (c) GipsyMedia Limited.

The Week In Green Numbers

11

- rhinos killed by poachers in South Africa so far in 2012 #

49

- new wells drilled in the North Sea last year, a drop of a third #

$130 - $175

- food waste of the average American per month #

4.8%

- increase in passenger numbers on Russian railways in 2011 #

$45 - $75 billion

- subsidies to fossil fuel companies in OECD member states #

Trump Hump Could Bump Hotel

The Donald doesn't like not getting his way, does he? Now, Trump is attempting once again to economically blackmail an entire country.

He has taken the hump and said that if a proposed wind farm is given approval off the Aberdeenshire coast, then he won't build the hotel, villas, timeshare apartments and second golf course that has seen so much anguish in the North East.

He seems dumbfounded that no one is immediately doing what he asks right away. As far as he was concerned, he had the Scottish Government in his pocket. He seems to think that his promises should give him the final say on anything else that happens in the region, going as far as arbitrarily renaming parts of the country.

Of course, he couldn't possibly be hiding behind the windfarm as an excuse for not spending money he doesn't have now thanks to the economic downturn, could he?

I joked last year that after all the fighting, gnashing of teeth, lies, obfuscation and environmental destruction, what we've been left with is a golf course and a portacabin. It seems that's all we're going to get, too. It was worth it, wasn't it?

New Radar Removes Turbine Objections

Photo by Irargerich

It has been a while since the Ministry of Defence routinely objected to every proposed wind farm in the UK, on the grounds that it would affect their radar capabilities. For the last couple of years they have only objected to those which are near military installations, or are offshore.

Now it looks like the problem has been solved. A contractor has developed a radar system that can ignore wind turbines, and as a result the MoD is withdrawing objections to five offshore windfarms, with more to follow.

Of course, now I'm waiting for the first objection from them that their submarines may bump into offshore wind turbines!

Green In The Media 16th - 22nd January

Monday 16th January


One Planet
On: BBC World Service Radio
Time: 12:32 to 12:50 (Also Fri 1930, Sat 0430, 1830, Sun 0630)
One Planet looks at how we use our planet.

Thursday 19th January


Live Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Questions
On: BBC Parliament
Time: 10:30 to 11:30 (Also 0100, 0330)
Live coverage of questions in the House of Commons to Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Caroline Spelman and her ministerial team.



Excerpts taken from DigiGuide - the world's best TV guide available from 
http://www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=20818
Copyright (c) GipsyMedia Limited.

The Week In Green Numbers

50,000

- people in London growing their own food in "Capital Growth" sites #

20 years

- length of ban on new mining claims in the Grand Canyon #

25%

- US teachers who report disputes with pupils, parents and school boards about climate change #

93%

- projected fall in homes being insulated after the government replaces existing schemes with the "Green Deal" #

7mm

- size of a newly-discovered frog, the smallest vertebrate in the world #