Go Eco Go Green Newspaper 01/07/08

Added On: 02/07/2008

2 Ratings

Eco-town protesters holding demo

Hundreds of campaigners from many of the 15 sites in England earmarked for "eco-towns" have marched on Parliament in protest at the plans.

As the first round of public consultation ends, local authorities and pressure groups are handing in their responses. It comes as environmental campaigners call on ministers to "go back to the drawing board" on the plans. Meanwhile, the government is launching the next round of consultation.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) said new towns were "the least sustainable way" of developing housing and other plans should be examined.

CPRE head of planning Marina Pacheco said ministers should focus on one or two "truly exemplary" schemes, which were sited in the right place to be sustainable and could be developed to the best green standards.

The concerns the conservation charity have about the proposed developments include:

The schemes risk being car-dependent housing estates
Most are predominantly in greenfield sites, and two are in the Green Belt
Most go against local plans agreed with communities
The sites have been chosen by developers, rather than fitting in with planning in the wider public interest
Lack of evidence to suggest schemes will offer truly sustainable models of living and working
Three bids are in the east of England where, according to CPRE, water supply and sewerage have already reached maximum capacity

Sounds a bit like the government have gone storming in without checking all the effects of the proposed eco villages. Good that they're trying at least though, give the poor buggers some credit...

Source BBC Website

Warming world sends plants uphill

Climate change has caused plants to seek cooler conditions at higher altitudes, scientists suggest.

A study of 171 forest species in mountain ranges of western Europe found that many plants had climbed an average of 29 metres each decade. Smaller species such as ferns, which had shorter reproduction cycles, were the quickest to relocate, the researchers said.

The findings have been published in the Science journal. "This is the first time that it has been shown that climate change has already had a significant effect on plant species over a wide range of temperatures during the past century," explained Jonathan Lenoir, the paper's lead author.

It feels like each day we see more and more evidence of the changes to our climate...

Source BBC Website