This week: Sky Ride Bath, cycling expenses, curry, krill, and JR Ewing…

SKY RIDE BATH
Details of Sky Ride Bath, one of a series of Sky and British Cycling-backed cycle rides through British cities, have been announced. The traffic-free and also hill-free event takes place on Sunday 25 July from 10am to 3pm. The route begins at the Crescent and ends at the Circus. Entertainment in Victoria Park includes coaching for youngsters and there will be stunt displays going on in Southgate shopping centre. If you want to raise money, you could do worse than support the Rainforest Rescue campaign, Sky and WWF’s three-year project to help save one billion trees in the Amazon.
http://goskyride.com/location/bath
http://rainforestrescue.sky.com

UNIVERSITY STRAW HOUSES
As you may have read in GBN, a team from Bath University has been developing prefabricated straw houses – which have now been subjected to 1,000C flames… "You always want a bit of drama, but we didn't get it!" pronounced a pleased Dr Katharine Beadle.
http://tinyurl.com/very-hot-property

BRISTOL CYCLE RATES
Bristol City Council is under the spotlight for paying its staff 40p a mile to cycle to business meetings – the same rate it pays employees in cars (and the same rate B&NES Council pays its cyclists). Spluttered Hugh Bladon of the Association of British Drivers: "To pay them the same as drivers is simply outrageous.” No Hugh, what you’ve just said is outrageous …
http://tinyurl.com/driver-drivel

2010 SOUTH WEST GREEN ENERGY AWARDS
And the categories are… Sustainable Energy Photo of the Year (community focus), Most Proactive Local Authority, Best Renewable Energy Scheme, Installer or Supplier of the Year, South West Sustainable Energy Champion, Best Business Innovation, and Best Community Initiative. To find out how to nominate, visit:
http://tinyurl.com/green-energy-awards-2010

YES, JUNE WAS HOT
Green news from further afield. June 2010 was the warmest June ever recorded. It joins March, April and May in the record books. The 20th century average global temperature has now been exceeded 304 months in a row...
http://tinyurl.com/phew-june
Meanwhile, Russia has been suffering its worst drought in more than a century…
http://tinyurl.com/russian-drought

GREEN INVESTMENT BANK IN DOUBT
A green investment bank appears to slipping down the Government’s list of priorities. “We are not pursuing it,” said one treasury official.
http://tinyurl.com/green-investment-bunk

CURRY THE ANSWER TO ANIMAL METHANE
Feeding sheep and cows coriander and turmeric can reduce the amount of methane they produce by up to 40 per cent, say researchers at Newcastle University…
http://tinyurl.com/onion-bahhhji

WHAT GREENCAR AWARD
According to a panel of transport and environmental experts at the 2010 WhatGreenCar awards, the 74.3mpg Toyota Auris hybrid is the UK's best new green car.
http://tinyurl.com/top-green-car

TORIES SCRAP OVER RUBBISH
Eric Pickles, the Communities secretary, is understood to have angered the Environment secretary Caroline Spelman by announcing plans to scrap bin taxes and fortnightly collections. Both departments claim territorial rights over waste and recycling and one source has described the arrangement as “a complete xxxxxxx nightmare.”
http://tinyurl.com/binfighting

CHINA PLANS KRILL HARVEST
Mankind has already consumed 95 per cent of the large fish in many seas and some species are on the brink of collapse. And now China is turning its attention to krill… Greenpeace has called the project "just wrong".
http://tinyurl.com/in-for-the-krill

VOYAGE HIGHLIGHTS PLASTIC MENACE
"When you get into the sea, and under the water, you realise that it is all like a soup, millions and millions of tiny fragments of plastic, suspended in the water.” David de Rothschild aboard the Plastiki, a recycled catamaran kept afloat by 12,500 plastic bottles in its hulls.
http://tinyurl.com/message-in-a-plastic-bottle

GREENWASH OF THE WEEK
This week’s award goes to David Cameron. According to Johann Hari in the Independent, he’s planning to open the oceans off the Shetland Islands to deep-sea drilling and is promising Big Oil tax breaks.
http://tinyurl.com/vote-blue-get-black

GREEN INVENTION OF THE WEEK
It’s a 20km pipe, tethered by balloons, designed to spray a shield of sulphate particles into the stratosphere. The brainchild of Bristol University’s Matt Watson, it’s been dubbed the ‘garden hose to the sky’…
http://tinyurl.com/hose-pipedream

JR GOES GREEN…
Larry Hagman is starring in a TV ad for solar panels. And apparently TV’s most famous oil baron has got green form – in 2003, his mountaintop home in California was fitted with America’s largest residential PV system. “Shine, baby, shine,” he says in the ad, showing his pearly teeth.
http://tinyurl.com/solar-baron

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: Green driving lessons, rip-off vending machines, war over water, leeky roofs, DIY solar thermal, Boris Johnson and much more...

FIRST GREAT WESTERN TICKET MACHINES RIP-OFF
The rail company has been been charging passengers peak fares for off-peak journeys. Apparently it was a mistake.
http://tinyurl.com/ticket-travesty

CUTS THREATEN SEVERN BARRAGE
The future of the project now depends on economics rather than ecologics...
http://tinyurl.com/barrage-barrier

TWO TUNNELS OPEN DAY
The Two Tunnels group is to hold an open day on Saturday 17 July to give members of the public a final chance walk the mile-long tunnel before it is transformed into a part of the Greenway. Walks will start every half hour between 10am and 4pm at the Tucking Mill (southern) end of the tunnel. For more information, including directions, visit www.twotunnels.org.uk.

B&NES DRIVERS GET GREEN DRIVING LESSONS
It's hoped that the training can shave 10 per cent off the council's fuel bills...
http://tinyurl.com/green-driving-lessons

NILE TENSIONS COULD HERALD FIRST WAR OVER WATER
Green news from further afield. Anger and acrimony is growing among the states that lie along Africa's greatest river. "This is serious," says Henriette Ndombe, executive director of the intergovernmental forum the Nile Basin Initiative. "This could be the beginning of a conflict."
http://tinyurl.com/nile-flashpoint

GREAT BIG 500FT WIND TURBINES HEADED FOR BRITISH SEAS
They'll have 30 tonne blades, they will dwarf the London Eye and the first is earmarked for Dogger Bank, off the north-east coast.
http://tinyurl.com/wind-giants

US POLICIANS QUERSTION 2,000 MILE TAR SANDS PIPELINE
"This poses a direct threat to America's heartland," said one member of the House of Representatives, fifty of whom have sent an open letter to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.
http://tinyurl.com/no-tar-very-much

PARTS SHORTAGE FOR SOLAR PV PANELS
"Inverters" are little boxes that convert the energy from sunlight into electricity – and Britain has been hit by of a global shortage of them.
http://tinyurl.com/solar-shortage

SUPERMARKET GROWING VEG ON  ITS ROOF
A Budgens in Crouch End, North London has transformed its flat roof into an organic vegetable garden. The plan is to sell the produce from the 450sqm plot in the shop below at not-for-profit prices.
http://tinyurl.com/leeky-roof

BP PROTESTORS HIT TATE PARTY WITH MOLASSES ATTACK
"How dare you! How dare you! Get him! Get him!" exclaimed one outraged partygoer.
http://tinyurl.com/tate-message

ISLE OF EIGG WINDS 'GREEN OSCAR'
Thanks to measures including 'owl meters', which only allow 5kw of energy to be used at any one time, household emissions on the Inner Hebridean island now average 4.45 tonnes per year compared to a national average of 9.2 tonnes.
http://tinyurl.com/eco-eiggers

GREENWASH OF THE WEEK
Boris Johnson has been accused of being a closet climate change denier. Says the former head of the London Climate Change Agency: "Boris cannot publicly talk down climate change because he has a legal obligation."
http://tinyurl.com/boriswash

GREEN INVENTION OF THE WEEK
How to make a solar water heater from plastic bottles...
http://tinyurl.com/DIY-solar-thermal

VOLUNTEER WEB ADMINISTRATOR REQUIRED
Greenbath needs a volunteer to help administer the website. The site is currently running Drupal to administer all the groups. We need someone to help administer the site, moderate users and discussions, write faqs and help to drive the site forward. We reckon that 1-2 hours a week from someone with an idea of what they are doing, or a willingness to learn would make the site much easier to use.Greenbath is a free service offered to campaigning groups in the Bath & North East Somerset area to manage their email and subscriber lists and publicise their events. It was created with seeding money from Bath & North East Somerset Council and is now maintained by local publishersFaragher Jones out of the goodness of their hearts. If you're interested email Steve Faragher at steve@faragherjones.com. This is a great opportunity to grow and administer a community website that really does some good.

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: West nuclear plants get green light, plus... The budget, renewable heat, bees, kangaroos and much more...

CHRIS HUHNE: NEW HINKLEY AND OLDBURY PLANTS CAN GO AHEAD
But the previously anti-nuclear Lib Dem Energy and Climate Change Secretary has also promised that there will be "no public subsidy".
http://tinyurl.com/nuclear-green-light

TRANSITION BATH LAUNCHING AS A CHARITY
Transition Bath are in the process of becoming a registered charity and will be launching a new membership scheme and activity programme and in September. More details will be posted on their website in the coming weeks...
http://transitionbath.org

EAVIS INSTALLING HUGE PV ARRAY
Glastonbury festival boss Michael Eavis is installing the largest privately owned solar PV array in the UK. The spanking 1,500 metre-square  system will sit on roof of the Worthy Farm cattle shed.
http://tinyurl.com/worthy-ambition

BEECHEN CLIFF METHODISTS ALSO GO SOLAR...
Their system is not quite as big, but Beechen Cliff Methodist Church at Bear Flat is also going solar. The "Official Big Switch On" is on Saturday 3 July...
http://beechencliffmethodistchurch.org/solar_pv_system

RENEWABLE HEAT IN "DAMAGING LIMBO"
Green news from further afield. The proposed Renewable Heat Incentive would do for solar thermal panels what the Clean Energy Cashback scheme is doing for solar PV. But will the new Government fund it?
http://tinyurl.com/renewable-heat-disincentive

BUDGET SLAMMED FOR LACK OF GREEN POLICIES
Meanwhile, the budget has been attacked for its failure to produce further details on plans for a green investment bank or for Labour's proposed pay-as-you-save green finance scheme.
http://tinyurl.com/un-eco-nomics

"BEES SUFFERING PESTICIDE-CAUSED BRAIN DAMAGE"
This theory is being tested as part of a £10m research programme aimed at finding ways to stop the decline of insect pollinators in the UK.
http://tinyurl.com/bee-all-and-end-all

"MOVING CLOCK FORWARDS WOULD SLASH CARBON"
In fact, a new study suggests, the change would cut emissions equivalent to taking 200,000 cars off the road.
http://tinyurl.com/clock-campaign

WAYNE ROONEY AND JOHN TERRY PUT FOOT IN IT
The England stars have been criticised by animal right activists for wearing boots made of kangaroo skin. The joeys are allegedly clubbed to death and left to rot in the outback after their mothers have been shot.
http://tinyurl.com/lather-over-leather

BATTERY TECHNOLOGY HOLDING UP ELECTRIC CARS
"I would love electric cars to work, I really would. But they have their problems," says Dickon Ross, editor-in-chief of Engineering & Technology magazine.
http://tinyurl.com/brakes-progress

GREENWASH OF THE WEEK
It's EDF's 'Green Britain Day... "The truth is EDF is one of Britain's biggest polluters," says green power company Ecotricity's founder Dale Vince. Greenpeace have called the EDF ad campaign a "shameless" attempt to mislead the British public.
http://tinyurl.com/greenwash-britain-day

GREEN INVENTION OF THE WEEK
Good one this week. Electrolux are making a vacuum cleaner out of from plastic salvaged from the Pacific Great Garbage Patch.
http://tinyurl.com/vacuum-greener

DEEP WATER HORIZON DISASTER SATELLITE PICS
They should give these slicks names like they do hurricanes.
http://tinyurl.com/big-slick

FINALLY: MAN CLEARS LITTER ALONG M40
And a court has now told an ungrateful Department for Transport to pay Peter Silverman's costs.
http://tinyurl.com/littery-hero

VOLUNTEER WEB ADMINISTRATOR REQUIRED
Greenbath needs a volunteer to help administer the website. The site is currently running Drupal to administer all the groups. We need someone to help administer the site, moderate users and discussions, write faqs and help to drive the site forward. We reckon that 1-2 hours a week from someone with an idea of what they are doing, or a willingness to learn would make the site much easier to use.Greenbath is a free service offered to campaigning groups in the Bath & North East Somerset area to manage their email and subscriber lists and publicise their events. It was created with seeding money from Bath & North East Somerset Council and is now maintained by local publishersFaragher Jones out of the goodness of their hearts. If you're interested email Steve Faragher at steve@faragherjones.com. This is a great opportunity to grow and administer a community website that really does some good.

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.

This week: A volunteer opportunity, the Spatial Strategy scrapped, a Bath Transportation Package protest, a BP logo competition, a World Ocean Day warning, wellies, and much more...

VOLUNTEER WEB ADMINISTRATOR REQUIRED
Greenbath needs a volunteer to help administer the website. The site is currently running Drupal to administer all the groups. We need someone to help administer the site, moderate users and discussions, write faqs and help to drive the site forward. We reckon that 1-2 hours a week from someone with an idea of what they are doing, or a willingness to learn would make the site much easier to use. Greenbath is a free service offered to campaigning groups in the Bath & North East Somerset area to manage their email and subscriber lists and publicise their events. It was created with seeding money from Bath & North East Somerset Council and is now maintained by local publishers Faragher Jones out of the goodness of their hearts. If you're interested email Steve Faragher at steve@faragherjones.com. This is a great opportunity to grow and administer a community website that really does some good.

GREEN BELT-THREATENING REGIONAL SPATIAL STRATEGY SCRAPPED
New communities secretary Eric Pickles has written to Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset councils telling them to ditch Labour's controversial Regional Spatial Strategy housing targets. A bill in the Queen's speech will "return decision-making powers on housing and planning to local councils".
http://tinyurl.com/RSS-scrapped

BATH TRANSPORTATION PACKAGE DEMO AT GUILDHALL
Opponents of the proposed Bus Rapid Transit route are teaming up with opponents of a Bathampton Meadows park & ride site are planning a protest next Monday 14 June, 9am at Guildhall. There a meeting is due to take place to look at the required compulsory purchase orders. The protesters are hoping the new Government's so-called 'Star Chamber' examining public spending commitments will either delay the Bath Transportation Package or even "consign it to history".
http://response2route.co.uk
http://savebathamptonmeadows.org.uk

OLD & LISTED BUILDING ENERGY AUDITING COURSE
This one-day beginners course will show you how to carry out a basic energy audit of a community building, focusing specifically on old or listed buildings. Topics covered include monitoring consumption and identifying appropriate energy efficiency measures and the potential savings that can be made. The course takes place on Thursday 17th June (at a venue in Bath to be confirmed) from 9.45am for a 10.00am start to 4.30pm. To book your place, call Jamie Colston on 01225 851377 or email jamiecolston@gmail.com.

BP LOGO COMPETITION
Green news from further afield. As US government figures show that twice as much oil is spewing into the Gulf of Mexico than earlier estimations suggested, the creative and satirical among you may be interested to hear of a Greenpeace-sponsored competition to redesign BP's logo...
http://tinyurl.com/BP-logo-comp

FIRST "GREEN GAS" PIPED TO BRITAIN
Green energy supplier Ecotricity has revealed it has started to deliver "green gas" made from composted organic waste to British customers, making it the first UK energy firm to successfully provide gas generated using anaerobic digestion.
http://tinyurl.com/green-gas-arrives

OCEAN DAY WARNING
June 6 was World Ocean Day, and the WWF used the occasion to warn that overfishing at the current rate will have "dire implications" for both food security and people's livelihoods.
http://tinyurl.com/ocean-day-warning

BRITAIN DOESN'T TRUST NUCLEAR
Just 38 per cent of respondents to a Cardiff University/MORI poll believed the benefits of nuclear power outweighed the risks and only 39 per cent trusted the industry to run the plants safely.
http://tinyurl.com/nuclear-no-thanks

BILLS TO RISE 60 PER CENT
Thinking of joining the feed-in tariff scheme? Well Ofgem is warning that fuel prices could rise by up to 60 per cent by 2016...
http://tinyurl.com/energy-price-rise

GREENWASH OF THE WEEK
As part of its strategy to salvage its public image, BP has bought the top Google and Yahoo! search result for terms like "oil spill" so that the first result directs you to the company's official "Gulf of Mexico Response" web page...
http://tinyurl.com/gulf-guff

GREEN INVENTION OF THE WEEK
A bit of gimmick really, but Orange has a solution for festival-goers whose mobile phones need recharging – wellies that are fitted with a sole that converts heat from your feet into an electrical current. “Welectricity” they are calling it...
http://tinyurl.com/welectricity

NOT EVERYONE A FAN OF MANCHESTER UNITED STAR'S ECO GAFFE
Despite opposition from neighbours, Bolton Council is expected to give the go-ahead to Manchester United star Gary Neville's £6m subterranean 'carbon zero mansion'.
http://tinyurl.com/red-is-green

"TELLY OKAY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT"
Put your feet up folks: Mike Berners-Lee, author of 'How bad are bananas? The carbon cost of everything', says watching the telly is a "low carbon leisure activity". In an interesting article about so-called "environmental nasties", he has also calculates that getting cremated is likely to create less than a 10,000th of your life's carbon footprint...
http://tinyurl.com/enviro-nasties

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.