At our meeting on 12th may 2018 we discussed a number of topics, further information and resources relating to these can be found below. The presentations are available as a powerpoint file to download here.
MOBILE PHONES
The Issues:
https://returntonow.net/2016/09/25/cell-phones-are-the-new-blood-diamonds/
There have also been many recent articles in mainstream press.
What can we do?
Don't be tempted by the marketing to "upgrade" your phone every year or two - keep the one you have for as long as you can (REDUCE). Think about replacing it with a second-hand one (REUSE). If you do buy a new phone, make sure the old one is disposed of carefully (RECYCLE - there are various recylcing schemes, and many phones can be reused). There is a company called ‘Fairphone’, who make a smartphone of the same name, running on Android, that uses responsibly sourced minerals and are made of modular parts so as to be repairable at home, aiming to reduce consumption and increase ease of recycling.
TEXTILES/JEANS/CLOTHING
The issues:
https://www.vice.com/en_au/article/kzzpjm/your-jeans-are-ruining-the-earth-v24n7
https://www.greenpeace.org/international/publication/6889/toxic-threads-the-big-fashion-stitch-up/
https://cen.acs.org/articles/93/i41/Cutting-Textile-Pollution.html
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/27/eco-guide-the-green-jeans
The film trailer shown for the documentary River Blue is available here,
What can we do?
Link to more ethical clothing brands recommended by River Blue
http://fashionheroes.eco/find-great-clothes/
Ranking high street brands on their supply chain transparency can be found here:
REDUCING PLASTIC WASTE
The Issues:
https://www.refill.org.uk/about-refill/
http://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/no-straw-please/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-42808302
Not a new idea – This is from 2006, What went wrong?
What can we do?
There is a bin at the front door of Sainsburys in Godalming that takes old plastic bags and the plastic covering of items like toilet rolls and some vegetable nets, read recycling information on the product. They also collect old batteries instore as do other supermarkets.
http://naturalsociety.com/recycling-symbols-numbers-plastic-bottles-meaning/
FARMING and the SOIL
SOIL
The Issues:
‘The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself’ Franklin D Roosevelt wrote in a letter to state governors following the devastating soil destruction of the 1930s:
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=15373
FDR also said this, in 1935 ‘ . . forests are also needed for mitigating extreme climatic fluctuations, holding the soil on the slopes, retaining the moisture in the ground, and controlling the equable flow of water in our streams. The forests are the “lungs" of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.’
Interesting presentation notes about this here:
https://soilcarboncoalition.org/learning/FDR-INVESTIGATION.pdf
Poorly managed soils increase the risk of flooding due to lower water retention, they have lower natural fertility and lose carbon to the atmosphere.
‘The top metre of the world’s soils contains three times as much carbon as the entire atmosphere, making it a major carbon sink’
‘The world's soils have lost a total of 133bn tonnes of carbon since humans first started farming the land around 12,000 years ago, new research suggests. And the rate of carbon loss has increased dramatically since the start of the industrial revolution.’
This and more information here:
https://www.ecowatch.com/soil-carbon-loss-2478725457.html
Dr Kate Scow commented ‘Soil is the interface between biology and geology, sort of the living skin of the earth’ in the film ‘Symphony of the soil’ which shown at the last Green Party conference.
https://umagotanooceano.org/en/ Worldwide environmental issues and solutions.
What can we do?
Choose organically produced foods which use fewer chemicals to grow crops and fewer drugs for animals in production and whose farmers care about soil quality.
About Shillingford Organics, run by Martyn Bragg:
Videos and links to websites and other channels:
Videos and links to websites and other channels.https://www.youtube.com/user/TheSoilAssociation
Interesting seminars on the management of soil health youtube channel December 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNJg9Mq6nEQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ6cGBQjF8c
Ernst Gotsch and many others are researching and developing permaculture agroforestry, studying the microbiology of the inter-related fungi involved in healthy soil maintenance.
‘Life in Syntropy’ on Agenda Gotsch youtube channel, a film on permaculture that was made to be shown at COP21 Paris climate conferenc:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSPNRu4ZPvE
Many other films on Ernst Gotsch’s work are available on the Agenda Gotsch channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf9s-yeskYZweEuKyq1ia6w
Lecture on the detail of the nutrient cycle and its importance from soil scientist Dr Elaine Ingham:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzthQyMaQaQ
If you have a garden, make your own compost, and care about the biodiversity you can affect, doing something is better than not. Dr Elaine Ingham said,‘The most important thing in compost is the LIFE!’
Encouraging the smallest lifeforms leads to the protection of the larger ones. Plant to sustain pollinating insects and butterflies. You will be surprised at the life you can help to flourish whilst improving soil health.
PALM OIL
The Issues:
In the pursuit of land to produce cheap palm oil, swathes of rainforest are being cleared, destroying habitat, killing wildlife and leaving the precious soil exposed.
A BBC documentary which aired on 10.05.18 and is still available for a few more days was recorded by International Animal Rescue as they worked to save and preserve endangered orangutans amidst devastating deforestation and monoculture farming in Borneo is available here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b2n9v0
See #RedApe online for many further links.
Palm oil production
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyHWP7zBQK0&t=9s
https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/which-everyday-products-contain-palm-oil
What can we do?
We can choose to avoid products like unsustainable palm oil;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyHWP7zBQK0&t=9s
https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/which-everyday-products-contain-palm-oil
Cool Earth www.coolearth.org protect communities living in rainforest by buying up land to make a barrier to deeper ingress by logging companies and then help those communities to be sustainable.