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Press Releases and
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News and Views This is YOUR page. Send us your comments on anything to do with the issues of sustainability. It can be ideas for future projects, critical comments on what we've done so far, opinions of local national and international issues around climate change, energy conservation and generation, waste and recycling or biodiversity. We will accept most articles, subject to suitability and the laws of libel and as long as they're not signed "Jeremy Clarkson"! The views expressed will be, of course, your own and not necessarily shared by Sustainable Woodstock as a group. We would prefer that your comments are attributed and we reserve the right not to publish anonymous comments. Depending on how busy this site becomes, we may have to ration space in the future. But for now, the floor is yours ............ To send your comments please click here ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ What is it about cows and their exhaust systems? Consider this article sent in by SW member Valeria:-Grass-fed Cows & the Environment But grass-fed cows may have the opposite effect. Currently, 99 percent of U.S. beef cattle live out their last months on feedlots, where they are stuffed with corn and soybeans. Much of the carbon footprint of beef comes from growing grain to feed the animals, which requires fossil-fuel-based fertilizers, pesticides, and transportation. Even though grass-fed cattle produce more methane than conventional ones (high-fiber plants are harder to digest than cereals), their net emissions are lower because they help the soil sequester carbon. Do you support the government's drive towards low carbon nuclear energy generation? I do. I have long believed that the safety of nuclear energy generation has been established by nearly fifty years of experience. Likewise decommissioning and waste storage are both issues for which adequate engineering solutions exist. Security, it seems to me is already compromised in some quarters of the world and the solution to that question rests in more authority for the UN to oversee nuclear installations. However, there is another aspect of nuclear power generation that I confess had escaped my attention. Click here to read an excellent report by The Guardian's John Vidal about the likely destruction of Namibia's Kalahari desert as a consequence of the mining of uranium for the UK's proposed nuclear energy programme. Posted by Colin Carritt 14th November 2009A View of Sustainable Woodstock posted by Wootton member, and former Oxfordshire County Council Chief Executive, John Harwood. Our grandchildren’s legacy Woodstock has played an important part of the life of this part of Oxfordshire for over 800 years. The historic buildings, the thriving living townscape and the community it supports are the product of our history. Today we all benefit from the care which generation after generation took investing in their town and what was, for them, the future. But what will our generation leave to the future citizens of Woodstock? What will our great-grandchildren say about our legacy to them? Will the Woodstock we know and cherish still be thriving when this present century nears its end? The answer – unless we change some of our 20th century habits soon – will probably be that Woodstock will be nearing the end of its long life. And – sadly but inevitably - our grandchildren will probably blame us. We are heading towards a major crisis. The scientific evidence is now overwhelming that unless we drastically reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases, our climate will change both adversely and irreversibly. The trouble is that our use of fossils fuels – the prime source of the greenhouse gases – has become central to our way of life. Nevertheless the government’s former chief scientist described the threat posed by climate change as one of the gravest facing our society. It is possible to cope with the threat. But not nearly enough is currently being done, and each year that this continues the threat grows more serious. So what are we to do? Some measures will clearly have to be taken at governmental and international levels, although there is little evidence of real action so far. Other steps will be taken by inventors and innovators. But somehow lots of ordinary people in ordinary places – like us here in Woodstock and our hinterland – will have to make the changes we need happen. This is what Sustainable Woodstock is all about. Many of the actions we are starting to think about will only be small steps. Reducing or ending the give-away plastic bags, for example. Or helping our farmers’ market to be more successful. But we have to start somewhere. And each small step can be the foundation for the next. Then we could face up to the big issues around our use of energy – how could we encourage greater efficiency without compromising our overall standard of living? So please join the debate and take part in Sustainable Woodstock. What could we achieve in the short term? And what should we aim for after that? Where should we focus our efforts? Above all – what do we really want our grandchildren’s legacy to be? John Harwood |
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