EcoLocalizer

Last month was a busy time for the voluntary carbon standard (VCS). Admittedly, it’s not a phrase that rolls smoothly off the tongue.

Like corporate social responsibility (CSR), you find yourself semi-exhausted before the next sentence.

You sense inherent good in each of these phrases – sure – but just want them to make sense in a realer world.

And so to the VCS.

Voluntary carbon offsetting is big business. In 2006, there was a huge surge in this market resulting in a 200% growth.

Big brands were, and are, getting into carbon offsetting in a big way. Google, Nike, Coca Cola, Yahoo! – all are now part of this market.

I don’t think it at all beneficial at this stage to analyse their reasons for announcing green credentials. Whether it really is genuine CSR or in each case a PR exercise is redundant. Don’t muddy the waters. They’re doing it.

So, yes, multinationals are offsetting their carbon within the voluntary sector. Good.

But what’s drawing them to the market? Two reasons. Read the rest of this entry »

I re-watch Al Gore’s acceptance speech again and again – and I always choke back tears. I suppose I choke them back because I’m an Englishman – with that supposed stiff upper lip.

Massive change is his message. Though of course individual action is beneficial, action on a larger scale is what’s needed.

Political will.

Praise then goes to the Irish government who have decided on a complete ban of incandescent light bulbs as of 2009.

This ties in so strongly with Mr Gore’s speech where he demanded – and eloquently too – that change needs to happen.

Now.

Not beleagueredly in a few years.

But now.

So is my government concurrent with regards to light bulbs?

No. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s such a tiny part of the planet. Hardly worth bothering about?

Worth bothering about. Because this is just another example of man’s barbaric behaviour towards the defenceless. Another example of abject disregard for anything that stands in his path. And therefore, this is a story that needs to be told. Read the rest of this entry »

Taean Peninsula, South Korea – On Friday, 10 million liters (2.7m gallons) of crude oil gushed from three holes in the side of the Hebei Spirit oil tanker, spilling into the Yellow Sea offshore Taeanhaean National Park. Already the worst spill in the country’s history, its timing and location add more reason for concern. Migrating birds make their winter home in and around the national park. Residents also fear that the fishing and tourist industries that sustain the region will collapse, devastating the local economy.

Mallipo beach, on the Taean peninsula, is considered one of South Korea’s most beautiful beaches. It’s 3 km of white sands call to beach-goers and eco-tourists alike. Today, however, Mallipo’s white sands are buried under a 10-cm thick blanket of black crude that stretches over 50 km of coastline.

The Taean Peninsula itself is listed as one of the top “22 Priority Sites for Conservation” in the Yellow Sea, according to the South Korean-Chinese Government Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem Program. Taeanhaean National Park boasts 250 species of flora, and in the winter the area serves as an important stopover for many species of migrating birds. The area is home to a number of unique species such as the Finless Porpoise and the Bar-tailed Godwit, which makes the longest non-stop migration flight of any bird.

Some of the most delicate wetland ecosystems in Korea are also located on the same peninsula, south of the spill. To date, oil from the spill remains concentrated in the north, around Mallipo beach. However, Nial Moores of Birds Korea, a national birding and conservation organization, warns that it is likely that currents will carry the oil south to the Geum Estuary and the Cheonsu Bay wetlands. There is no current estimate of the consequences this would have for the area’s migrating birds.

Read the rest of this entry »

So damned often in politics we, the observers, the eternal optimists, believe that some evidence will come from environmental speeches. We want to believe that there will be substance to the rhetoric. And yet it seems eternal that our misguided hopes are dashed against the walls of greed and nonsensical corporate expansion.

This comes mere weeks after Gordon Brown, the UK’s new prime minister, gave his first speech on the environment. Whilst not being exactly radical, it did at least entertain some hope that we finally had a leader with green credentials.

Until London Heathrow that is.

Airport bosses must be dancing a jig at the moment because the government has decided to give the green light to a third runway. And yes, I use the word “green” witheringly. Read the rest of this entry »