An interview with Kate Alexander, Owner of Climate Sight

There are many climate sites out there but apart from mine one of my favourite ones has to be Climate Sight which aims to explore what the public know about the environment and what is actual scientific knowledge. The owner of the blog, Kate Alexander claims on her “About” page that she started writing the blog to keep herself sane. I interviewed Kate to find a bit more out about her blog and why she likes doing it so much. Read below to see my interview with her.

Q:When did you start the blog and why did you become interested in the topic?

A:

“I became interested in climate science when I was about fifteen. I joined the environmental club at my high school, purely as a way to get involved, and subsequently had my name drawn out of a hat for a spot at a one-day youth climate change conference. There were local scientists speaking at this conference, discussing everything from global climate projections to how oxygen isotopes could be used as temperature proxies. I was absolutely fascinated, and began to read more and more about climate change on my spare time. I was particularly influenced by Greg Craven's Manpollo Project.

Before long, I began to get frustrated with all the silly arguments surrounding climate change - carbon dioxide levels lag temperature, global warming stopped in 1998, and so on. There's a very comprehensive list of arguments and rebuttals here. Worst of all, the people spreading them around didn't seem to care less whether or not they were credible and reliable. Here we were, on the brink of what could potentially be humanity's greatest challenge, and people were arguing about GISS's adjustment of the urban heat island effect in YouTube comments. It was absolutely ridiculous.

I needed an outlet for all of these thoughts that were swirling around inside my head. Left to my own devices, I probably would have done no more than start a newsletter for my environmental club, but luckily, I have a very computer-savvy friend who said to me, "Kate, you need to start blogging." He did some research on different options for blogging software, and set me up with a WordPress account.

This was in April of 2009, and I never expected that people would actually be interested in reading and sharing my articles. I just needed to write them all down, and maybe send the link to my friends and family. However, before long, the blog really took off.”

Q: Where do you get your ideas from?

A:"I subscribe to a dozen or so climate blogs, my favourite of which are RealClimate, Only In It For The Gold, and Deltoid. That helps me keep up with current events and publications, and often gives me inspiration for new posts. Discussions with friends and observations of public opinion will also spark new ideas. This year I worked my way through most of the local library's climate change section, which solidified and broadened my knowledge.”

Q: Do you have help with the blog?

A: “I write and manage the blog myself, although there is the occasional guest post, and the idea for one of my most popular posts was thought of by the same friend who set up my blog in the first place.”

That’s the end of the interview as it was done by email although if you want to see her site for yourself visit www.climatesight.org to get to her blog. I want to say thank you to Kate and I promise that I will keep following her blogs. 

The OYA festival goes green

From the tenth to the fourteenth of August this year was the OYA Festival in Oslo. The festival is held in Norway and Oya translated   into English means music. The festival is supposed to be environmentally friendly and I have been looking to find out how. The festival have been certified as an Eco-Lighthouse. They also are working on saving energy, making responsible purchases, reducing waste and are shortening the travel distance of goods to the festival. Other ways they are being green include serving organic food at the restaurant.

Some of the activities on offer include the Ecolabel stand where you can “Find out how to make eco responsible purchases” or you can learn about recycling at the Recyclomat. In 2008 they made a Climate Promise showing where emission cuts could be made. Over the course of 2008 and 2009 the festival cuts emissions by 21%. Also as part of there festival program a debate about “green issues” is held with politicians. On their website they mention that the “biggest green improvement we have done this year is to drop all of our polluting generators.” According to the website the festival is supplied with electricity via “certified greenlandline power” provided by there partner called Hafslund.

The OYA Festival is an opportunity for people in and around Oslo to learn about how they can reduce there carbon footprint and also enjoy themselves at the festival at the same time. The activities and projects mentioned in this article are a small amount of what green things go on. If you would like to know more why not check out there website. Other music festivals aren’t as environmentally friendly although with your help maybe they can be. You never know what might be possible!

Youth Olympics educate kids on the environment

It’s the first ever Youth Olympics this year. There’s a clear message going round about going green. After all the climate will affect the athletes future. Panasonic has been a partner of the Olympics since 1988 and is now also a partner of the Youth Olympics. This is what Mr Goh Kee Nguan, CEO of Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee had to say on the issue “Having been associated with the Olympic Games since 1988, Panasonic has now extended its commitment to the first-ever Youth Olympic Games and will be working closely with us to develop environment initiatives and education programmes for Singapore 2010”. That quote was taken from his speech put up on the Youth Olympic Games website on Earth day on the 22 April 2010.

Some of the initiatives that have been put into place include Living Green @ YOV which is a programme that tries to encourage athletes and officials who live in the village for the duration of the games to “adopt environmentally-friendly habits through interesting activities.” SYOGOC is also working with organizations to reduce littering on the site by “promoting a stronger public sense of social and environmental consciousness, and encouraging people to practice proper waste disposal methods.” The Youth Olympic Games point out there targets for environmental protection on their Framework and Programmes page in the About Us section of their website.

They also point out on a separate page ways that anyone visiting the games can be environmentally-friendly. These include taking public transport to Singapore 2010 events, keeping Singapore litter-free, saving water and energy, practicing the 3 Rs (Reduce, Re-use and Recycle) and to appreciate any plants around you. NParks which is responsible for looking after Garden City or City in a Garden. This is a project that involves growing and maintaining the roadside greenery around Singapore.

The SYOGOC has also partnered up with HortPark which is a 23-hectare park in the south west of Singapore. This is in an attempt to “share green initiatives” and good green habits with athletes. They will have the chance to explore HortParks’s gardens, learn about different plants and find out about the affects of “human intervention on the ecosystem.” All these events will go on in the twelve days the games are on and will hopefully make some of the athletes think twice before doing something harmful to the environment. It would If I was in that position.

My top green camping tips

If your going camping this summer or have already been here are some tips for your next trip about environmentally friendly things to do. Number one is buy a solar charger to charge your devices such as your phone and iPod. I would recommend the Solar Gorilla. I charges small devices like phones in a very short space of time. Although it won't work all that well when the sun isn't out.

Remember to use wood when your having a fire and try to use wood only. This is because wood is carbon zero. Another thing to take is biodegradable products such as some bags and bottles. This way you can dispose of the products without doing any harm to the environment. They normally dissolve or decompose but if they don't do this straight away don't put them on the camp fire. when using food and drinks containers check for the recycling sign. There probably won't be a recycling facility near by but you can take them home and recycle them then.

If the camp site is near where you live you can put everything in a rucksack and cycle to it. If the location isn't near where you live try to share transport with someone which will reduce fuel usage. If there's a bus route near to the place your going you can use that. This saves not only fuel but money and time as well. There are many things you might be able to think of to make your trip more environmentally friendly but here just a few to start you off. Please feel free to suggest any I've missed.

My entire summer cycling: UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany........40 others too... you too?

DARLINGTON!

In England.

Finally, our starting place is clear. And not a moment too soon, as we are cycling in less than a week!!

We're going to be travelling by peddle power and highlight environmental problems for more than two months, from Darlington in northern England to the Towards Carfree conference in York, down through to Wales, to the south coast to Portsmouth with a ferry to Le Havre for the French Climate Camp.... up to Calais, all through Belgium, the Netherlands and to the Klimacamp in Germany. At the end of August we'll finish in Cologne, Germany: The Ecotopia Biketour happens every year, and this is the 20th edition ! So join us for our reunion party at the end of this year's tour, where you can meet past year's participants. See the map here, and more detailed dates & places on our wiki.

Who are we? We are an eco-mobile community: We are students, volunteers, farmers, artists, cyclists, musicians, activists.....

And if you also think we need big change in the way things are going in the world, then that's fantastic: we want you to be a part of the Biketour too.

When? 25th June - 31st August 2010. And every summer in Europe!

Join us, if:

• you can cycle around 50 km per day (probably with a few rainy days!)
• you are interested in environmental and social justice issues and want to take part in actions
• you want to take part in consensus decision-making (communicating!) and
• you want to help with the daily tasks such as preparing meals, pulling trailers, washing up or tidying the sleeping places.

It's a cheap way to travel, you get to have 20 countries: at least, that's about how many nationalities are participating this year. You are very welcome to make it more diverse. The communal language is english, although some of the local organisers and local hosts in places we pass may not speak very much english.

Can't join this year but still like the idea? Maybe you're interested in giving ideas or helping for next year's.

We're an open group, so come and meet us ....or even better, join us!

www.ecotopiabiketour.net

London 2012 teams up with EDF Energy as part of Team Green Britain

 

In two years the Olympics come to the UK in London but what are they doing to make London 2012? There will be a lot of fossil fuels used during the games as transport is needed. Although EDF Energy has teamed up with the Olympics and some of the athletes to help London 2012 do its bit for the environment. EDF Energy is the sustainability partner for the games. Team Green Britain is made up Victoria Pendleton and James Cracknell. They will be putting out the message that if we work as a team we can achieve goals. In this case the goal of tackling Climate Change.

They will show that just like Team GB work together to win medals we can work together to tackle even bigger problems facing our planet. As always there will be some sports such as swimming, running and cycling which do no harm to the environment. None of the sports do any harm to the environment but in some events they will require a lot more electricity to provide lighting and heating. There are also the effects the Olympics could have on the environment before it has started such as the power and fuels used to build the venues.

The Olympics itself won’t be very environmentally friendly but Team Green Britain can at least help encourage people to be more green. For people living in London transport to the venues will be very green. They can use shared transport such as busses and the tube and also many people can cycle to the events. To sum it up the games can be made more environmentally friendly with the athletes and your help. Especially people in London.

Have you been on shoetringmag.com recently? If not, why not?

Have you ever been stuck for cash and don't want to have to get someone to lend you some? Well here's the answer. It's also a good guide for how to go environmentally friendly. Shoestring Magazine is run by Melissa Massello and was started up in 2008. Since then it has had visits from a wide variety of people but is especially popular with university students, who, with all the costs of university, can find themselves looking at the site for cheap buys but what they probably don't think of is that they are saving the planet in their own small way at the same time.


The site gets 140,000 visitors per month. The site includes articles about Lifestyle, Shopping, DIY, Food & Drink, Entertainment and Home and Garden. Other sections include Money, Travel and Kids and Pets. The site has a newsletter called The Gumshoe Files and it also has a writer for each topic and with one million six hundred eighty thousand views a year, it’s a pretty popular site.

Although when you think about it, it comes down to the argument of whether the site itself actually harms the environment. Looking at the site and using the computer to edit things on the site, probably will but the site itself will most likely do no harm to the environment. I’m not trying to criticize the site or its owner but this is an argument that will probably never be resolved. In the meantime while you think that one through, you can go on the site and have a look around. You never know, you might find some useful tips to reduce your carbon footprint and save you money.