A Red Nose Day Appeal

I'm passing along this:

Almost Mrs Average has, over the past 12 months, managed to reduce her waste to virtually zero, whilst at the same time becoming something of a celeb. She may yet end up either in a house or in the jungle! Before she does that, though, she has chores to do - for this year's Comic Relief, she is joining her local refuse collectors on their round.

Something tells me that she'll be wishing her persuading skills had been more effective on her neighbours by the time she has humped all those wheelie bins up and down the pavement.

Visit her sponsorship page to donate money for a good cause and ensure she gets down and dirty.

Get That Clean Coal Clean

Stand And Deliver

You may have noticed a distinct lack of mention about Edinburgh's wonderful new trams lately on here. That's because I've been despairing over the whole issue!

Let me get this out of the way first: I am pro-trams. I am pro- any increase in public transport, or any initiative which will get people out of their cars and on to public transport.

Which is why I've been so horrified by the mess the Council seems to have made of the whole saga. If you haven't heard the news in the last week, it's roughly this: the main contractors chose the day that Edinburgh's main shopping street, Princes Street, was closed to all traffic for a year to down tools and walk off the job. They're reportedly demanding an extra £50 - £80 million on their fixed-cost contract signed a few years ago. In addition to that, the project was already somewhat behind schedule with some reports saying the delay will be 70 weeks!

It's hard not to feel that the council are being held to ransom here, but at the same time it's hard to find a citizen who has a good word to say about the trams. Unnecessary is the word mostly used.

A couple of my colleagues and I went to visit the mock-up in Princes Street yesterday (that's it above), and I have to admit that I came away thinking "unnecessary", too. The trams will have a capacity for 250 people, which sounds great until you realise that 170 of them will be standing. Which means that one tram will have the same seating capacity as a double-decker bus. They'll follow the route up Leith Walk and along Princes Street that the Number 22 bus takes, every 5 minutes at peak time. The No 22 is already every 5 minutes at peak time.

I'm clinging to the hope that the trams will attract more people to public transport that would never consider taking the bus, but really to have two-thirds of the passengers standing will not give them a good reputation.

Take A Walk Up The Green Carpet

Thanks to Greener Leith News for the information that the film The Age Of Stupid is to get it's premiere on March 15th in 60 cinemas around the country, including in Edinburgh. The main event in London will be beamed to the other cinemas with Pete Postlethwaite launching the "Not Stupid" campaign. I've got my ticket already, and there's a list of cinemas here so you can see if there is one near you participating in the event.

Here's the great and the good from Edinburgh's NGO community reacting to the film after a preview screening:

Basic Geography Fail

It may be that only people in the UK get this, but in the style of the wonderful Fail Blog, I saw this in the Tourist Information Office in Blairgowrie on Friday:

From Green-Faced To Red-Faced

Maybe they should file this one under "whoops!" The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) gave themselves three years to reduce their climate emissions 25% below their 2006 levels.

Targets are good. Targets focus the mind. Or that's the theory anyway.

SEPA managed to increase their emissions 10% last year!

Green In The Media 23rd February - 1st March

Monday 23rd February

Back from Bali
On: Community Channel
Time: 07:45 to 07:55 (Also Thu 0745)
After a critical UN meeting to discuss plans for a new global agreement, two members of WWF-UK discuss the impact of climate change on vulnerable people, ecosystems and species.

Fifth Gear
On: five
Time: 20:00 to 21:00
Jonny familiarises himself with the Honda Insight's green credentials.

Tuesday 24th February

Home Planet
On: BBC Radio Four
Time: 15:00 to 15:30
Richard Daniel and the team discuss listeners' questions about the environment and the natural world.

Wednesday 25th February

Grand Designs
On: Channel 4
Time: 21:00 to 22:00
Daren Howarth and partner Adi Nortje live in Brighton, and are champions of sustainable living. They want to build an earth-sheltered home from recycled materials, based on ideas pioneered in the 1970s in New Mexico. But land prices and planning laws have forced them out of England, across the Channel to Brittany, in France.

Thursday 26th February

One Planet
On: BBC World Service Radio
Time: 10:30 to 11:00 (Also 1630, 2030, 0130)
Return of The Nomad.
Susie Emmett discovers why ancient nomadic ways are still relevant with the Maasai in Kenya and Raika in Rajasthan.

Open Country
On: BBC Radio Four
Time: 15:02 to 15:27
Countryside magazine. Helen Mark finds out how whisky production has shaped Speyside in Scotland, with the opening of a new 'green' distillery in Roseisle.

Sunday 1st March

The Drowned World
On: BBC Radio 7
Time: 18:30 to 19:00 (Also 0030)
Robert Glenister reads from acclaimed author JG Ballard's first novel, set in a London transformed by global warming. Episode 1 of 4.


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

Solar Powered Phones - Why?

According to Treehugger, both Samsung and ZTE have announced new mobile phones - sorry, cell phones - which are solar powered.

Am I being incredibly thick here? My phone spends its life either in my pocket* or on the coffee table, away from direct light. It never, ever, ever sits out in the sun. If it did, I would no doubt singe my ear the first time I got a call. So why on earth put solar panels on a phone, unless it's just greenwash? Surely much better to use a solar-powered charger which can just be left in direct sunlight.


*yes, I am aware radiation could be zapping my "boys".

Breaching The Peace

Photo by J D Mack

You've got to wonder sometimes just what goes through a police officer's head when he/she's confronted by something a bit more unusual than a busted headlight or a couple arguing at the top of their voices.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the police. I think they're wonderful chappies, and the British Transport Police based at Waverley Station have watched my back on a number of occasions. Even if it is an offence to take a photo of them!

But then you read a story like this one, and your belief is beggared. A 65 year old man and a 26 year old women were arrested in Aberdeen - for writing a 100-foot-long message in the snow! Protesting about climate change, they wrote "You Fly. They Die" under the Aberdeen airport flightpath.

They were kept in cells overnight and charged with Breach Of The Peace, which was later dropped. Whose peace were they breaching? Is writing a sign in the snow really so un-peaceful?

Or could it possibly be that Grampian Police have quotas to fill, and catching someone doing something out of the ordinary will tick a box on the statistics form?

Mr Trash Can

Thanks to earthfirst for the video:

Cheap Clothes: A False Economy

Female staff on National Express trains between London and Edinburgh will not wear new uniforms because the blouses are too revealing, a union has said.

<Sexist Mode On>

I've not noticed a problem!

</Sexist Mode Off>

Actually, in all seriousness, the uniforms that our company (not National Express) were given to wear as a "temporary" one when we changed hands in 2007 were abysmal, with cheap fabric and see-through white shirts and blouses. We're still wearing them 18 months later. When I try my best to wear fairtrade or organic clothing in my normal life, it's incredibly annoying to have to don cheap polyester for up to 12 hours a day. It also means that the company is shelling out money to provide replacements far more often than they would be if the clothing was of a good quality in the first place. As in life - I once bought a pair of jeans from Tesco for £3, that lasted about 4 months and were probably made in an asian sweatshop. You live and learn.

Where Have I Heard That Before?

This monstrosity reminds me of the Christopher Brookmyre novel One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night. In it, a guy buys a disused oil rig and converts it into a floating resort. Before towing it out to someplace warmer than Scotland, he decides to have a high school reunion on board in order to show off to his former classmates. Unfortunately, the rig is then seized by mercenaries who think the party is full f high-class toffs. The former friends have to figure out what Bruce Willis would do, in order to stay alive.

The architects who came up with these plans to reuse oil rigs won $10,000 for it. Maybe someone should tell Brookmyre his idea was pinched?

A Wonderful New Use For The Phrase "Clean Coal"

Here's a new one: a company has just been granted a licence to harvest natural gas from coal, and they're using the much-maligned epithet "clean coal".

Apparently, they drill into the coalfield and then use a process called "underground coal gasification" to turn that coal into gas while it is still underground. Hence the name, I suppose! They can then use the gas to produce electricity.

If you read the BBC story on this, it all sounds rather wonderful and incredibly clean. And then you read between the lines...

...CO2 could be removed...

When combined with carbon capture and storage...

In other words, they're going to be pumping gas out of a coalmine and may at some point in the future think about capturing the CO2, but are trying to make it all sound green already.

A Nuclear News Day

The Scottish Labour Party is following their London overlords by demanding new nuclear power plants in Scotland.

Perhaps the call for more nuke plants would have gone down better if there wasn't also the corresponding headlines of a Scottish-based nuclear sub losing a game of chicken?

The UK government seems to have it's heart set on new nuclear power plants, to the extent that they're happy to close down a 50-year-old Nuclear Safety Advisory Committee...for warning about safety! It seems that nothing shall stand in Gordon Brown's way until he has that warm, green glow around him.

Recycled Sleepers For Britain's Railways

According to a short article in today's Guardian, Network Rail is to trial recycled plastic sleepers in place of the timber and concrete ones which are normally used.

I have my doubts that they will be strong enough, and can you imagine the chemical process to bind all that plastic together into a cohesive unit? Still ,they're apparently in use in Holland and the US so someone must have got it right.

This is the part of the story that scares me, though:

"We need to know how they behave and react to events such as fire," a spokesman said.

Official: Cockenzie Is ObNOxious

It appears that Cockenzie coal-fired power station, just down the road from Edinburgh, is the dirtiest in Europe when it comes to Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) emissions. I'm amazed and astounded. I'm also being sarcastic. It's blatantly obvious from a five second glance that the plant is highly polluting.

In fact, it's about the only place in Scotland where I'd recommend you get in a car. And then drive away as fast as possible.

Green In The Media 16th February - 22nd February

The only thing of note this week is a Natural World on Friday looking at trying to reduce a farm's dependence on oil.

Tuesday 17th February

Not Waving But Drowning
On: Community Channel
Time: 08:00 to 08:55 (Also Fri 0800)
Documentary recording how seven Bangladeshi families cope with the effects of climate change on their environment.

Home Planet
On: BBC Radio Four
Time: 15:00 to 15:30
Richard Daniel and the team discuss listeners' questions about the environment and the natural world.

Wednesday 18th February

It's Not Easy Being Green
On: BBC 2
Time: 20:00 to 20:30
Dick and his team get their rags oily building a ram pump. It's technical stuff - will it work? Lauren visits an eco-hotel in Norfolk and helps out behind the scenes weighing the leftover teas and coffees. Toby Sawday meets a young bride at a wedding fair and sets about trying to green-up her wedding and her honeymoon. Jon Kay looks at carbon off-setting.

Grand Designs
On: Channel 4
Time: 21:00 to 22:00
Young architect Richard Hawkes and his wife Sophie have decided to move out of London to live the good life in the Kent countryside. They buy a plot of land on which they plan to grow their own food, and lead as sustainable a life as possible. For Richard it's an opportunity to experiment and build the house of his dreams; one that embraces cutting-edge green technologies and is capable of providing almost all its own energy.

Thursday 19th February

One Planet
On: BBC World Service Radio
Time: 10:30 to 11:00 (Also 1630, 2030, 0130, Sat 2030)
The programme that explores the biggest issues in global development and the environment.

Friday 20th February

Dani's House
On: BBC 2
Time: 09:30 to 10:00
It's Not Easy Being Green.
Surreal sitcom about a struggling actress. Sam is doing a green school project and dares Dani and Toby to cut their carbon footprint. Can Toby survive without all his electronic gizmos? Max and Ben offer to offset some of his carbon, as their latest money-making scheme. Do they know what they're letting themselves in for?

Room For Improvement
On: more4
Time: 10:15 to 10:45
Angus and Dave are in Epping with eco-warriors Colin and Petra Huber, who want to convert their loft in an environmentally friendly way.

Natural World
On: BBC 2
Time: 20:00 to 20:50 (Also Sun 1700)
A Farm for the Future.
Wildlife film maker Rebecca Hosking investigates how to transform her family's farm in Devon into a low-energy farm for the future. Last year's high fuel prices were a wake-up call, and realising that food production in the UK is dependent on fossil fuel, particularly oil, Rebecca sets out to discover just how secure this oil supply is. Alarmed by the answers, she explores other ways of farming and learns that it is actually nature that holds the key to farming in a low-energy future.

Saturday 21st February

Open Country
On: BBC Radio Four
Time: 06:07 to 06:30
Countryside magazine. Helen Mark finds out how whisky production has shaped Speyside in Scotland, with the opening of a new 'green' distillery in Roseisle.


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

Nothing Says I Love You Like...

Photo by VirtualErn

I was in the supermarket the other day, perusing the meat counter. Yes, I know meat is bad for the environment, but despite last year's adventures in vegetarianism, I'm still a carnivore. I do try and buy organic meat when I can afford it, which isn't that often to be honest.

I've also thought about going hunting - Gorgie City Farm is just down the road and I hear they've got some nice-looking rabbits...

Anyway, I digress. I was perusing the meat counter when I noticed that all the Sirloin Steaks had a label on them which said:

IDEAL FOR VALENTINE'S DAY!

I tried to imagine the look on my (vegetarian) girlfriend's face as she unwrapped her gift to be confronted by a bloody bit of meat. Not, perhaps, ideal after all!

Hitachi Win Contract For HST2

Hitachi has been announced the winner of the £7.5bn contract to build the next InterCity High Speed Train, until now known as HST2.

Dubbed the Hitachi SuperExpress, it's short on details at the moment but they do use the tantalising words "hybrid technology". There were supposed to be 2 versions of the train, an electric and a diesel, but maybe Hitachi will be able to combine the two into one train.

Here's the promotional video, although it's not very exciting until the 1 minute mark:

Polluters Pay To Park

Photo by b_a_r_t

Here's a small but important victory for the Green Party in Edinburgh. The Council have voted to start charging owners of the most polluting vehicles more to park in the city centre.

Currently, residents in some streets are charged a yearly fee to park their car in the street. The fee depends on which zone you wish to park in, which is usually where you live but you can also pay to park at your place of work.

Now the system is to be revamped, with the car's CO2 rating also being taken into account when working out the parking charge. The most polluting cars in the city centre will pay £320 a year, and the greenest cars in the centre just £30. Crucially, this also had the backing of residents with 75% approving of the scheme in a public consultation.

Naturally, the motoring organisations are not happy, with the AA trotting out their nonsensical argument that "the cars are parked, therefore not causing any pollution!".

Hopefully this will see more 4x4s and SUVs off the streets of Edinburgh, although I'm worried that they may now become a status symbol for the good residents of the 'burgh to show off that they can afford the charges.

Falling Asleep To The Denialist Playbook

Some people like to crawl into bed and read a book. Others have one last cup of tea snug under the covers. Me, I like to listen to the radio.

I got into the habit of drifting off to sleep listening to world events about twenty years ago, when I first moved to Edinburgh (dear god, was that 20 years ago???). I had a basement bedsit at the top of Leith Walk which was full of mice. The only way I could escape the nightly madness of listening to them padding around the room was to keep the light on and the radio up quite loud. Which is possibly why I've developed a reputation for being able to fall asleep anywhere these days.

Funnily enough, I can't listen to music radio in bed. It has to be speech, either the news or a documentary or a phone-in show. This has its drawbacks, though - if the item I'm listening to is really interesting, then it's hard to fall asleep!

Before I go further, I should point out that I don't waste much electricity doing this. My current alarm clock radio has a sleep timer, set to turn itself off after a set period of time. Also, the alarm clock itself is only plugged in at night when I need it and is not left on all day.

Last night, I was anticipating being soothed into the land of nod by Richard Bacon on BBC Five Live. Unfortunately, his show started off with a discussion based on yesterday's news about Northern Ireland's Environment Minister being a twat. To put the climate change denier's point of view across was Christopher Monckton, a man who I'm convinced gets dizzy from his head constantly spinning 360 degrees. Actually, maybe I should give him his full title of 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley. And then doff my cap.

Monckton is quite clearly from the sceptic's school of "shout something loud enough and often enough and people will believe you". He continually talked over and talked down to the poor chap who had been wheeled on to provide the "global warming believer" view. As I listened to Monckton frothing at the mouth at the very suggestion that we should try and conserve energy, I decided to start playing Climate Change Deniers Bingo. He was reeling off every argument in the sceptic playbook, and I was hanging on his every word - because I was waiting for the words "computer models" and "solar variations". I wasn't disappointed, they came out in due course. It was the comedy highlight of my day.

What wasn't funny, though, was the amount of callers and texters to the show that were proclaiming climate change to be a government fraud or an excuse to raise taxes. It seems the general public still don't get it, and are either unwilling to change or don't see why they have to. Which left me despairing.

Green Message Censored...By Environment Minister!

There's a storm brewing over the water in Northern Ireland at the minute, after their Environment Minister blocked adverts which promoted a green message.

It appears that Sammy Wilson, the Environment Minister in question, doesn't believe climate change exists, calling the Act On CO2 adverts "insidious propaganda" and even tried to embroil Scotland in his anti-green campaign.

I'm tempted to revert to stereotypes by pointing out that only the Irish could have an Environment Minister who is a climate change sceptic. Now that he has declared himself judge and jury on all environmental messages produced by either the Northern Ireland Assembly and the UK Government, how long will he remain in office before the First Minister decides he is a joke?

Green In The Media 9th February - 15th February

No, you're right, there's nothing on this week. Go out and build a snowman instead.

Monday 9th February

Lost in Palm Oil
On: Community Channel
Time: 08:00 to 08:45 (Also Thu 0800)
As the Indonesian rainforest and its people are being cleared and displaced to accommodate palm oil plantations, the documentary looks at the true cost of this biofuel.

Costing the Earth
On: BBC Radio Four
Time: 21:00 to 21:30 (Also Thu 1330)
Crisis, What Crisis?.
Miriam O'Reilly investigates whether the crash in prices for old newspaper and plastic bottles has made recycling a waste of time.

Tuesday 10th February

Home Planet
On: BBC Radio Four
Time: 15:00 to 15:30
Richard Daniel and the team discuss listeners' questions about the environment and the natural world.

Wednesday 11th February

It's Not Easy Being Green
On: BBC 2
Time: 20:00 to 20:30
Dick and James brew up some cider on the farm, but reactions are mixed. Lauren goes foraging in her local park and rustles up a delicious supper. Jilly Goolden is the eco-test guest. Meanwhile, Toby Sawday is on the Gower Peninsula looking at an eco-rental property and James and Dick have a top tip about soap nuts.

Thursday 12th February

One Planet
On: BBC World Service Radio
Time: 10:30 to 11:00 (Also 1630, 2030, 0130)
The programme that explores the biggest issues in global development and the environment.

Sunday 15th February

Nature's Great Events
On: BBC 1
Time: 18:00 to 19:00
The Great Melt. Episode 1.
The first in a new series about the most dramatic wildlife spectacles on our planet. The summer melt of Arctic ice, opening up nearly three million square miles of ocean and land, provides opportunities for millions of animals, including beluga whales, families of Arctic foxes, vast colonies of seabirds, and the fabled Arctic unicorn, the narwhal. But for polar bears it is the toughest time of year. How will they survive? Narrated by David Attenborough.


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

Another Slap For Salmond

My shift-pattern this week has meant I haven't been spending a lot of time on posts, so apologies.

I will, however, direct you to this piece from Thursday's Guardian, in which Fred Pearce evicerates the Scottish Government's position on coal.

Please?

(Thanks to Ecostreet for the video)

Almost Mrs Average has trained this guy well...

Schadenfreude

I met a guy on my train late last night who I immediately felt sorry for.

You could not imagine someone more diametrically opposed to everything I believe in. He was doing a post-grad in oil geology. He thought the country needed a Margaret Thatcher back at the helm. He believed that Barack Obama was pulling the biggest scam in history. Oh, and Global Warming was a "crock of shit".

I'll admit, I did bait him somewhat by asking why he had chosen to work in a "dying industry", and although he held these views on life he wasn't frothing at the mouth about them. In fact, he did concede that our current oil use was unsustainable.

So why on earth did I feel sorry for him?

He was going to Aberdeen. The train was going to Glasgow.

And The Winner Is...

Back in summer 2007, Friends Of The Earth Scotland challenged five of our esteemed (?) MSPs to reduce their home's carbon footprint over the course of a year.

It wasn't exactly a fair fight - all five of them had different types of house, ranging from Victorian terrace flats to new-build homes to a farmhouse. So the winner would be the one who managed to reduce their carbon pollution the most.

Actually, I didn't think it was a fair fight for another reason. Robin Harper was, at that time, the leader of the Scottish Green Party. Surely his house would already be kitted out with the greenest of the green energy saving devices, leaving very little for him to save?

Little did I realise he was living in a completely inefficient 26-room mansion that required three butlers.

Okay, a slight exaggeration. He was the one with the Victorian flat. And blow me, he actually won the competition! He managed to reduce his emissions more than the other four MSPs, taking away the coveted prize of...well, smugness, as well as snugness.

Which just goes to show - even the greenest amongst us can still do something.

Bus Slogan

This is fun!

London Media Go Mad Over Snow

Photo by snappybex

It's a standing joke that one slight snow flurry brings Britain to a halt. It's not true, of course. One slight snow flurry in London brings that city to a halt, and since the media rarely look beyond the M25 then they think the rest of the country is at a standstill too.

So today there appears to be no other news than the weather, as the 24 hour news channels scramble to cover the "heaviest snow for 18 years".

Or as one Yorkshireman put it to BBC Radio Five Live this morning: "It's not as if a nuclear bomb has gone off, get over yourselves."

There's a more serious point, just so that I can suck the fun out of it all. Snow in London these days is, actually, news. There will be commentators who will point to this as conclusive proof that global warming does not exist. To which anyone with half an ounce of brain matter will point out:

Remember when snow was commonplace in winter?

70,000 Homeless Thanks To New Coal Plants

One of the refrains from those who oppose us doing anything about our own pollution, or who try to justify their lack of inaction, is that when you look at the carbon dioxide that China is pumping out then we are merely a drop in the ocean. How could our small emissions possibly have any effect on the world when China throws up a coal-fired power plant faster than it can sneeze?

The World Development Movement has crunched some numbers and has decided that if the Scottish Government are to go ahead with their plans for two new coal plants, then it will make 70,000 people across the world homeless.

At first glance, that's horrifying. To provide for our own selfish needs, we will force 70,000 people to move away from rising sea levels and become refugees.

But then the report goes on to talk about the rest of the world, and it turns out that there is predicted to be 226 MILLION climate refugees worldwide. Put in that context, the 70,000 that Scotland will be responsible for is that proverbial drop in the ocean. Which will be what the layman thinks when he reads the story, before decided that his wee bit of pollution doesn't have that much effect after all.

Of course, the 70,000 figure only measures the two new power plants and doesn't take into account any other sources of pollution from Scotland, either now, in the past or in the future. But it's enough to be ashamed of.

Green In The Media 2nd February - 8th February

Same old, same old this week.

Monday 2nd February

Nowhere Else to Go
On: Community Channel
Time: 07:00 to 07:30 (Also Thu 0700)
Exploring the issues facing the Masaai culture as their traditional way of life is under pressure from both the Government and the environment.

The Wright Stuff
On: five
Time: 09:00 to 10:30
Janey Lee Grace offers advice on green living.

Costing the Earth
On: BBC Radio Four
Time: 21:00 to 21:30 (Also Thu 1330)
Totally Uncool.
Investigating those businesses and organisations that over-use air conditioning, and in doing so make a significant contribution to global warming. It is a little-known fact that the gases used in air conditioning and chiller cabinets are between two and three thousand times more potent in terms of global warming than CO2. And yet air conditioning is becoming more commonplace in modern buildings and the home. The other major source of these harmful HFC gas emissions in Britain is supermarket chiller cabinets. Some supermarkets are making efforts to switch to natural 'green freeze' refrigerants, though others are reluctant to act.

Tuesday 3rd February

Home Planet
On: BBC Radio Four
Time: 15:00 to 15:30
Richard Daniel and the team discuss listeners' questions about the environment and the natural world.

Wednesday 4th February

It's Not Easy Being Green
On: BBC 2
Time: 20:00 to 20:30
Dick and James take delivery of a geodesic dome for James's grand hydroponics scheme. Lauren looks into the eco-fashion industry. Sam and Mark from CBBC are the eco-test guests. Chris and Jay are flush with success as their rainwater harvesting begins. Jon Kay discovers that it is not at all easy being green if you live in a listed building or conservation area and want a solar panel or two.

Thursday 5th February

One Planet
On: BBC World Service Radio
Time: 10:30 to 11:00 (Also 1630, 2030, 0130, Sat 2000)
The programme that explores the biggest issues in global development and the environment.

Friday 6th February

The Friday Documentary
On: BBC World Service Radio
Time: 09:05 to 09:30 (Also 1205, 1605, 2005, 0105)
The Wildlife Smugglers.
Sharon Mascall reports on the illegal trade in wildlife which attracts organised criminals looking for big money and low risk.


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