10:10 Launches Today – What can you do?
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?
From Warm Beer to Warm Water
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 😉
