Howies' DO Lectures

In a couple of weeks' time, the team at Howies will be using their hard-earned earth tax to fund four days of the DO Lectures. They've invited 70 people who want to make a difference, and DO more, to come along to Fforest Farm fear Cardigan to work out what to DO, how to make it happen and who they need to DO it with. I've got the lucky job of steering, chairing and facilitating a great line up of speakers. Click through to www.dolectures.com to find out more.

Two Wheels Better

Spinning along on the theme of bikes...

Last week saw me+family return from a thoroughly excellent two week cycling tour of SE Provence. After reluctantly driving to London (couldn't take the bikes on UK train) we cycled from our friend's house in Stoke Newington, London to St Pancras and stowed our bikes on Eurostar. 150 minutes later we rode the easy, cycle-laned route from Paris' Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon and disassembled the chunky bits of the bikes (wheels, pedlas, saddles), put the bits into big plastic bags and boarded the TGV to Marseilles. Non-stop journey time of three and a half hours. A couple of easy blocks' cycling on arrival took us to our small hotel where the owner let us keep the bikes in the lounge.

The next day, we headed east to Cassis then through Ciotat to the hills that led us to Castellan at the eastern end of the Verdon Gorge and a wonderful two week tour, cycling 25-55 miles a day. Low carbon, low effort, easy riding on great roads with little traffic.

Hard to beat.

Two Wheels Good

Went to a great cycling and walking workshop in Cardiff, earlier in the week. 170 or so people gathered for a day to work out how to make a transition to a fitter, quieter, cleaner and healthier country whilst becoming less dependent on oil. Peter Lipman from the transport charity Sustrans gave a great kick off that included peak oil, cost, health and much more. Click here for more of their work http://www.sustrans.org.uk/

Oh, Bush Baby

I just loved the stories today about Dubya on today's BBC website:

Mississippi breaks Midwest levee

President George W Bush promised help to the affected areas.

"I fully understand people are upset when they lose their home. A person's home is their most valued possession," he said.

"We want to work with the state and local folks to have a clear strategy to help people."

Bush calls for offshore drilling

Mr Bush said existing restrictions on offshore drilling were "outdated and counter-productive".

His move comes as US consumers are calling for action to tackle high oil prices that have pushed prices at the pump to more than $4 (£2) a gallon.

Putting a Price on Nature

It's sometimes hard to conceptualise why business and government takes so little serious regard of the level of action that's needed to avoid dangerous climate change. Out of sight, out of mind springs to mind, as this article from the BBC highights. So much of the near term suffering from climate change is already felt by Africa, and this will get worse quickly as water and foot resources are affected. The business dilemma is whether or not to commit 1% of GDP to avoiding environmental and climate degradation. The Tyndall Centre and others say this should be 3%. The BBC article suggests that we risk losing as much as 8% of global GDP. Shouldn't be hard to make the right decision.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7424535.stm