The 10:10 campaign is launching today in the Turbine Hall of London’s Tate Modern Gallery. Thousands of individuals, companies and institutions will commit to cutting their carbon emissions by 10% during the year 2010.

Groups committed to the 10:10 campaign range from Tottenham Hotspur football club to dozens of schools, universities and NHS trusts. The 10:10 site says…

Please join 10:10 today. By committing to cut your emissions by 10% in 2010, you will join thousands of individuals, schools, hospitals, businesses and organisations all actively helping to combat climate change by making simple changes to their lifestyles, homes and workplaces. More importantly, your voice will help to put pressure on the politicians to cut Britain’s emissions as quickly as the science demands. If we in the UK can prove that fast, deep cuts can be made at a national level, then we may just inspire all the other big polluting countries to follow suit.

And our friend the Greenjacker says…

10% may sound like a huge deal, but it’s really quite easy; it just involves being more thoughtful about the energy you consume. If, like many people, you currently live your life through windows – waking up in a centrally-heated/air-conditioned home, driving to a centrally-heated/air-conditioned office in your air-conditioned car, sitting in front of the widescreen window that is your energy wasting plasma TV to relax, etc. – then you’ll find that you can acheive a 10% cut without even trying too hard. Life’s also more fun if you walk more, talk more and share a bath!

So why not sign up here?

Once upon a time, in the days before ‘alco-pops’ and ‘binge drinking’, England was famous for it’s warm beer. We might prefer things a little cooler nowadays, but we still produce some of the finest Real Ales in the world – probably.

Anyone over the age of 35 will no doubt remember a time when pubs and shops would give you 10p each for your ‘empties’; empty beer, pop and milk bottles would be cleaned, sterilised and reused, which on a local scale works better than recycling.

Unfortunately things have changed and our beer bottles now go to the recycle bin, the dump or, worst of all, end up smashed in the street by some inconsiderate binge-drinker. But it doesn’t have to be that way…

As Green Up & Go reported last year…

A Chinese farmer in Quqiao village has constructed his own solar power water heater – out of beer bottles and hosepipes. He built the solar panel to help heat up water in his home. “I invented this for my mother,” Ma Yanjun explained. “I wanted her to shower comfortably.”

The solar panel is constructed from 66 beer bottles attached to a board. Each bottle is interconnected so that the water flows through the bottle network. As the water flows through the bottles, the sun heats it up. At the end of the network, the water is piped into the bathroom where it emerges as hot water.

Ma claims that his creation provides enough hot water for all three family members to have a shower each day. His creation has proved so popular and innovative that other families in his village have copied his lead and built their own solar water-heaters.

And if you’re more of a ‘tinny’ person then don’t worry, there’s no need to despair; there’s always the tin-can solarbox…

And now for the science bit…

For full details visit Mother Earth News.

So now all we need to do is empty some beer bottles

by Stephen Platt

Following the Climate Change March in Doncaster on July 11th, a number of people felt newly encouraged: many felt that it was an event that we could build on to form a local organisation in order to counter the problems resulting from climate change and peak oil. I made some suggestions as to what activities we could get into. However, our plan of action will be decided by all of us, not just by me.

The Next Step

The date and venue of our first meeting will be Monday, September 14th, 4.30 until 6.00pm at Doncaster Central Library‘s meeting room at Waterdale, Doncaster. Do please come. We need support in numbers, it gives us credibility. If you can’t come, please get in touch. But if you can come, get in touch – I need feed back.

NB There will be a follow-up meeting later the same day at the Visitors’ Centre, St. Leger Horse Park, Great North Road, A638 (a bit further on from the Mount Pleasant Hotel) , 7.15 to 9.30pm.

Green Companion

We came across the ‘Green Companion’ on a weekend in Bath. There are ideas in it that could take off in Doncaster, which we could get involved in and that Doncaster Council could encourage. We could discuss them at our meeting or leave them to a later meeting.

March in London

Some advice for getting to the march in London on December 5th.

This can be by the “Wave Express”, a charter train, from Bradford, Leeds and Doncaster to London King’s Cross. Look on: http//:www.leedscopnet.info/

Copenhagen

Arrangements for travel to Copenhagen are not yet finalised.

See: http//:www.campaigncc.org/copenhagen/ …or  http//:www.foe.co.uk/community/campaigns/climate/go_copenhagen_20794.html/ .

That’s it for now and I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Platt.