This week: Support for community renewable energy projects from Bath University, wind power in Bath, plus... Warnings from Oxfam and the Fairtrade Foundation, dirty biscuits, green cabs, a High Court battle and global weirding...

LOWCARBONWORKS ENERGY AND COMMUNITIES PROPOSAL
A team of researchers from the University of Bath is launching a funding bid for a project to help community groups with their renewable energy plans. Anyone interested should email Peter Reason at mnspwr@management.bath.ac.uk.

BETTER BATH FORUM: IS THERE A ROLE FOR WIND ENERGY IN BATH?
Surely a towering turbine stuck on the Crescent would be a stunning, forward-thinking statement by the city? This idea will, surely, be raised at the Better Bath Forum on Monday 1 March, St Michael's Church, starting at 6.30pm.
http://betterbath.org.uk/forthcoming.php

AN OFFER YOU CAN'T REFUSE...
B&NES has cut-price compost bins and water butts...
http://bathnes.getcomposting.com

GET RID OF THAT SCRAP BOILER
Still thinking of taking the Government up on its boiler scrappage offer? Everything you need to know is here:
http://tinyurl.com/boiler-scrappage-scheme

UN CLIMATE CHIEF'S RESIGNATION DEEPENS CLIMATE GLOOM
Mark Lynas, adviser to the Maldives at the Copenhagen talks: "The next round of intermediate negotiations, due to start in Bonn on 31 May, look set to take place in a poisonous atmosphere of bitterness and rancour. No wonder Yvo de Boer wanted to get out."
http://tinyurl.com/disunited-nations

FAIRTRADE WEEK: FARMERS FACING MORE ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHES
News from further afield. Fairtrade Week has arrived with warnings that climate change is hitting farmers in the developing world.
http://tinyurl.com/frontline-farmers

OXFAM: LOOK WHAT WE'VE DONE TO TAJIKISTAN
Tiny Tajikistan, which borders China, has done little to contribute to climate change, but melting glaciers mean it's 1.5m population now faces a bleak future. "Entire swaths of the rural population of Tajikistan have already suffered greatly in recent years, barely able to feed their families," says Andy Baker, Oxfam's country director for Tajikistan.
http://tinyurl.com/tajikistan-tragedy

"PR WAR" BEING LOST
A Nobel peace prize-winning physicist Sir John Houghton says climate change scientists are losing "a PR war" against sceptics with vested interests.
http://tinyurl.com/climate-spin

DODGY BICKIES
As this week's Panorama reported, current labelling laws allow manufacturers to list palm oil as 'vegetable' oil without singling out the palm oil content.
http://tinyurl.com/bad-biscuits

GREENWASH OF THE WEEK
It's the third, 'green' runway at Heathrow... As opponents launch a legal challenge to stop its building, Lib Dem MP Susan Kramer says: "The conditions that the Government waved proudly in January were quick and dirty measures dreamed up to provide some cover for the more environmental members of the cabinet."
http://tinyurl.com/expanding-expansion

GREEN INVENTION OF THE WEEK
London cabbies could soon be driving a new breed of hydrogen-electric motors come the 2012 Olympics. But will their conversation be any better?
http://tinyurl.com/follow-that-car

BIODIVERSITY CORNER
Meet the world's most endangered primates...
http://tinyurl.com/relatives-in-need

"GLOBAL WEIRDING" IS HERE
Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Thomas L Friedman says we should eschew the phase “global warming.” in favour of “global weirding". "Because that is what actually happens as global temperatures rise and the climate changes. The weather gets weird."
http://tinyurl.com/weird-warming

The weekly Green Bath News digest is compiled by Gideon Kibblewhite. Let Gideon know if you've seen a story you think he should cover. To subscribe visit greenbath.org/og, create a user id if you don't already have one and subscribe to Bath Green News.

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greenbath.org is sponsored by Ace Energy, your local renewable energy experts. Call 01225 729005 to find out how you could cut your carbon footprint and save money.

This week: Transition or protest? Plus dirty firms, the worst greenwash of all time and energy out of the air...

IT'S FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT!
Take a look at www.greenbath.org/fairtrade for a calendar of local events. Come along and get involved.

KNOW ABOUT PLANNING
Transition Bath are offering a short seminar based on planning on Sunday 18 April at the Minerva Centre, 8 Combe Park (near the RUH on the 14 bus run). The seminar will look at the official planning/decision-making process by councils/central government, including National Policy Statements etc, and show where the ordinary citizen fits in. It will also cover access to information under the Freedom of Information Act. Bookings (£5 entry) by 5 April through the Minerva Centre on 01225 315591. For me information, email afrelmira@googlemail.com.

CRASH COURSE
Neurotoxicologist-turned-economist Chris Martenson's "The Crash Course" video seminar series is being shown at Minerva Centre. The course looks how the global economy, energy and the environment interact unsustainably and at how massive changes to our way of life are on the way over the next twenty years. Part 1 was shown in January. Parts 2 and 3 will be shown on Tuesday 9 March and Tuesday 16 March respectively, starting at 7.30pm. If you want to go along it is recommended that you first see Part 1 of the course, which you can view online at www.chrismartenson.com.

CANDLELIT MARCH AGAINST NUCLEAR
Campaigners against Department for Energy and Climate Change proposals to build a new nuclear power station at Shepperdine in South Gloucestershire are planning a protest march through the streets of Thornbury.
http://tinyurl.com/no-to-nuclear

CAMPAIGNERS ON CAMPAIGNING: TRANSTION OR DIRECT ACTION?
The Times talks to Transition Townies and eco-warriors...
http://tinyurl.com/campaigners-on-campaigning

UN: WORLD'S TOP 3,000 FIRMS CAUSE $2.2tn ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE
Green news from further afield... Report team leader Richard Mattison: "Whether they actually have to pay for these costs will be determined by the appetite of policy makers to enforce the 'polluter pays' principle."
http://tinyurl.com/dirty-firms

BA BIOFUEL PLANS AWAIT PERMISSION FOR TAKEOFF
While British Airways awaits safety approval for its plan to run its jets on "biojet fuel" created using food scraps and other waste, Friends of the Earth warn that biofuels push out food crop production. Perhaps people could just fly less? But no.
http://tinyurl.com/biofools

BUNTING BOOST
The rare cirl bunting has seen its numbers increase by 25 per cent over the past seven years because of wildlife-friendly farming. Time to get the other sort of bunting out?
http://tinyurl.com/bunting-boost

JATROHPA:THE MIRACLE CROP THAT HAS FAILED TO DELIVER 
A "miracle" plant, once thought to be as the answer to producing renewable biofuels on a vast scale, is driving thousands of farmers in the developing world into food poverty, a damning report has concluded.
http://tinyurl.com/jatropha-tragedy

GREENWASH OF THE WEEK
Friends of the Earth have called a 'It's time for green banking' marketing campaign by French bank Crédit Agricole “the worst example of greenwash we’ve ever seen”...
http://tinyurl.com/complete-bankers

GREEN INVENTION OF THE WEEK
An American company is hoping to produce energy out of thin, or rather compressed, air... Says Paul Denholm of the US' National Renewable Energy Lab (with admirable understatement): "In terms of storing bulk energy – lots of megawatt-hours – compressed air is cheaper than anything else out there."
http://tinyurl.com/compressed-air-power

The weekly Green Bath News digest is compiled by Gideon Kibblewhite. Let Gideon know if you've seen a story you think he should cover. To subscribe visit greenbath.org/og, create a user id if you don't already have one and subscribe to Bath Green News.

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greenbath.org is sponsored by Ace Energy, your local renewable energy experts. Call 01225 729005 to find out how you could cut your carbon footprint and save money.

This week: spring is round the corner (honest), so Green Bath News is pulling on its gardening gloves. Plus... Canada feeling the cold, Ofcom gets tough on greenwash and lots more...

"READY, GET SET, GROW!"
Tomorrow Saturday, 13 February from 2-5pm in the Brunswick Room at the Guildhall there is a free info fair for those on the waiting list for an allotment in Bath and for anyone else interested in starting a vegetable plot. The fair is being organised by B&NES Council’s Parks & Open Spaces team, B&NES Allotments Association, Bath Area Garden Share, Bath Organic Group, Bathampton Community Growers and Transition Bath. There will be help and information about everything from weed suppression to permaculture courses to local gardening groups. Find out more on the events pages of  greenbath.org.

INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIC VEGETABLE GARDENING
A short course hosted by Bath Organic Group for new and novice gardeners. Taught by experienced organic gardeners, the course will consist of three theory lessons on Wednesday evenings followed by three practical sessions on Saturdays at the Bath Organic Group Community Garden. The first session is on 13th March 7–9pm. More info at greenbath.org.

BATH ORGANIC GROUP SEED SWAP SUNDAY
The annual Seed Swap meeting is a great place to share seeds that have been successful for you and swap them for those that other people havedone well with. It all happens on 21 February, 2:30 – 4:30pm at St Mark’s Community Centre, St Mark’s Road, Widcombe. Entry just £2.

GET GARDENING IN WESTON
Weston Village Gardening Club (www.westonvillagegardeningclub.co.uk) host talks at All Saints Church, Weston on the second Thursday of the month. The next two talks are "Vegetable Gardening" with John Leach of Prior Park Garden Centre, Thursday 11 March, 7:30pm and "Propagating Seeds" with Lorraine Young of Downside Nurseries, Thursday 11 March, 7:30pm.

CARING FOR APPLE TREES WORKSHOP
Workshop with Les Davies MBE, a leading expert on apple tree management. The venue is The Vine House Bailbrook Lane Solsbury Hill. The cost is £15 for the day, which will include lunch. For further details, email Jim Dowling at  piltonman@googlemail.com

MAKE TURBINES NOT BOATS
Green news from further afield. Nick Clegg wants to turn disused shipyards into wind turbine production factories...
http://tinyurl.com/clegg-pledge

THINK-TANKS TAKING OIL MONEY
Free-market, anti-climate change think-tanks such as the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in the US and the International Policy Network in the UK have received grants totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds from ExxonMobil, reports the Independent.
http://tinyurl.com/dirty-rotten-money

SAHARAN MIRAGE?
How the plan to build a supergrid fed by solar power plants in the Sahara is gaining political momentum.
http://tinyurl.com/helping-sands

INDUSTRIAL NATIONS' CARBON PLANS 'PATHETIC"
India's negotiator is unimpressed by our efforts.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/cutting-no-ice

UKIP MEP PRAISES RAINBOW WARROR SINKING
A Yorkshire MEP has been urged to resign after praising the French secret service for sinking the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in 1985.
http://tinyurl.com/MEP-rant

SKEPTICS MUST BE GIVEN VOICE ON THE NEWS...
The BBC is coming under pressure to include the views of climate change deniers in reports about global warming from international bodies.
http://tinyurl.com/telly-trouble

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES LEAVE CANADA FEELING UNLOVED
Tar sand-excavating Canada is loosing popularity around the world.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/boo-hiss-boo-hiss

GREENWASH OF THE WEEK
Ofcom are going to regulate electric 'green' energy tariffs...
http://tinyurl.com/go-on-ofcom

GREEN INVENTION OF THE WEEK
A Malaysian company has invented a machine it says will help Muslims purify themselves before prayers without excessively wasting water...
http://tinyurl.com/holy-green-wash

The weekly Green Bath News digest is compiled by Gideon Kibblewhite. Let Gideon know if you've seen a story you think he should cover. To subscribe visit greenbath.org/og, create a user id if you don't already have one and subscribe to Bath Green News.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

greenbath.org is sponsored by Ace Energy, your local renewable energy experts. Call 01225 729005 to find out how you could cut your carbon footprint and save money.