Palm Oil and Orangutans

I couldn’t help but be effected by the BBC’s Orangutan Diary and began looking at how many items in my house have palm oil. We don’t eat biscuits and processed foods so not much there but I was disappointed to palm oil in some of my personal care products like soap. A quick search on the internet revealed www.pureskincare.co.uk I was pleased to find a retailer that was already aware of the palm oil issue and had been writing to their manufacturers. I have to recommend their customer service too, my order arrived the following day! As well as skincare they have a wide range of products including juicers, inversion tables and water filters as well as a lot of well researched information. I also sponsored an Orangutan http://www.savetheorangutan.org.uk/.

Coal Power Stations Blamed for Increase in UK CO2 Emissions in 2006- But we Plan to Build More?

Last year
In March 2006 the government published the UK Climate Change Programme which detailed the policies and methods which the UK is using to decrease its emissions of greenhouse gases.

This Year
In April 2007 DEFRA announced that carbon dioxide emissions rose more than 1% during 2006. So much for the ‘UK Climate Change Program’. Apparently DEFRA has blamed the this increase on the burning coal to for electricity generation.

I find it rather ironic then to remember that only a few days ago the BBC was reporting that two energy companies were planning to build new coal fired power stations. Although these new power stations should be 22% cleaner than existing stations, they will be relying on technology known as "carbon capture and storage" which even the power company concedes has "many financial, legal, regulatory and technical hurdles" to overcome before it can be implemented.

Next Year
I wonder whether this time next year we will be extolling the virtues of these new power stations or blaming them for yet more failed carbon emission targets?

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