"Thanks Mr Betts". I spent some time putting together an email to my local MP, Clive Betts, a couple of weeks ago. It was prompted by the climate talks in Copenhagen next month. I wanted to voice my concerns that we where going to ignore the future and continue to set vague and distant targets that we can generally ignore. I also suggested that if we spent a little less on building roads and airports or propping up the car industry then we could invest more in real solutions for the worlds growing problems. Suggesting that Britain could once again lead in technology and this time to correct some of the problems we have caused with out previous technologies.

The letter that Mr Betts sent was well considered and seemed to respond to each of my points in turn it. It was not just a circular but a well thought out reply even to the point that he was suggesting local companies that where already doing research into alternative fuels. It is nice to see that he is thinking along the same lines as me and I hope that by adding one more voice he will continue to put the pressure on the government to make the right decisions.

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/ is a great service that really allows you to dig into what your MP is doing for you in government. You can track the questions that they are asking and how they have voted on issues. Looking at Mr Betts' record of voting it looks like this ties in with the words in his letter which is nice to see.

Most of the solutions offered for reducing our carbon footprint are based on making our current travel more efficient. Why do we not focus more on reducing the need to travel and transport.

There is a movement to reduce the food miles that we use. Trying to source potatoes from the farm round the corner and not Spain just makes sense but our daily commute and trips across counties to see friends seem necessary. Could we concentrate more on the reduction of the need for transport and less on the reduction of the cost?

The daily commute to work is a necessary evil. I have to go to work to be at my desk so that people can see that I am there and come and talk to me. Some work needs to be done on location, if you are building widgets then you have to do it at the factory in the most part although there is a large network of home workers doing piece work. For office work then the main reasons for attending the physical office are to meet up with the people that you work with and so that those casual conversations, that make so much of the office work, can take place. How can we recreate this if people are not in the central office but are at home or in local rented office space? If a village where to have an office space for rent that you could use then the meeting other people and getting out of the home factors could be dealt with and you would not need to commute to work but you would be missing out on the casual contact with your work colleges and not just the people that you share the office with.

Instant messaging, chatrooms, blogs, microblogs and collaborative editing tools could all be employed to make sure that the information is flowing but the problems are larger than just the tools. Getting people to work together over a distance is hard. If you could make a video call to anybody in your office with just two clicks of the mouse and it was a decent quality with no straining to hear or see what is going on could this make it simpler? I am talking about a separate monitor with a full sized face on it and really good quality sound with little or no background noise or delay. Then being able to share a document instantly with the person on the other end and both edit it at the same time.

The virtual tea-break could be a concept. With proper video conference facilities or even over Instant messaging at a push, could there be a dedicated time that is just for banter. It may seem odd at first but if people have an official time put aside for it then it may make things tick over. I like the idea of separate screens for communications, allowing you to have chat's and videos open while still getting on with your day job.

These ideas are not for everybody but if they where offered more how many more people would take them up? What could you and I do to make them happen?

What Fuel Crisis

Currently we are going through another fuel crisis with the truckers protesting in the streets and every news broadcast suggesting that there is no way we can survive if the cost of fuel stays the way it is. If a household spends over ten percent of their income on fuel then they are apparently in "fuel poverty" if they have to spend more than forty percent of their income on fags, booze, sky TV and clothes does that push it into "entertainment poverty"?

I think that I have a solution. We can't reduce the tax on fuel as it is there for a very good reason, to reduce our dependence on carbon fuels. As the tax office are benefiting from the increase on fuel duty as the price rises then they should have some cash to spare. If we where to give that back to the general population and businesses in an even way it would ease the burden on people while still encouraging the increased use of alternative fuels. Each person or business would get an even dole out regardless of the mileage they incur so the individual with the large gas guzzler would get the same handout as the person who always takes the bus. The haulier would get the same tax break as the battery company.

Maybe if fossil fuels have a cost that is more representative of their real affect on the planet then we might finally start to take the alternatives a little more seriously. If individuals or companies that think they are dependent on fossil fueled vehicles start to feel the pinch then they will start to seriously seek alternatives. For a while the cost of transport will rise but in the west we can more than afford that but after a time as we start to depend more on the alternatives the overall price will drop.

I think that it is the role of the government to give the markets a little nudge now and then to make sure that we have a longer term future. They should make the tough decisions for all our good and not knee jerk reactions to get the popular vote.

?UseLess: Benomyl

Well it's a fungicide, developed by ?DuPont that also kills worms so I don't like it already. Apparently you can't kill a rat with it but if you feed them a lot for a long time it may get a liver problem so it is not really that directly harmful. There have been some links with problems with development of the optic nerve in unborn children which lead to it being banned in Australia[1]. Apparently it is still widely used for celery and grapes and flowers.

It has been know to cause allergic reactions in workers who are exposed. It is slightly toxic to Birds and very toxic to Fish[3] so that does not sound to good.

All in all it's not likely to do you any direct harm but will kill most of the wildlife surrounding the field!

Think of the worms. Don't use it.

[1]http://www.apvma.gov.au/chemrev/benomyl.shtml [2]http://www.pesticideinfo.org/DetailChemUse.jsp?RecId=PC32865 [3]http://extoxnet.orst.edu/pips/benomyl.htm http://www.pan-uk.org/pestnews/actives/benomyl.htm

UseLess - aluminium phosphate

I have a t-shirt that has the words Use and Less on the front followed by a list of things that we should use less of. I am going to try to find out about each and every one of them and you my dear reader are coming along for the ride.

Starting with aluminium phosphate which as far as I can tell is used as a sort of baking powder.

Hmmm does not sound that bad we eat a fair amount of aluminium anyway and it occurs naturally in the soil. I am not sure that it is really that much of a problem

Having said that sodium aluminium phosphate or E451 is banned in some countries so that may no be good.

There are some links to Alzheimer's and Osteoporosis but these have not been proven. Some studies in the 1920s involved mice being fed bread using aluminium phosphate as a raising agent and these show effects on reproduction and infant mortality but just feeding it to rats appeared not to have any affect.

http://www.foodreactions.org/allergy/additives/500.html http://www.intox.org/databank/documents/chemical/alumsalt/cie193.htm http://www.inchem.org/documents/jecfa/jecmono/v17je26.htm

New year resolve.

We as a nation have made a commitment to reduce our CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020(I think it's something like that, i.e. a little; some time in the future) and the trendy budget said that 0.2% of the houses in Briton would qualify for a discount on their stamp duty if they are built "carbon neutral" ( What does that mean exactly? Do you have to plant the, no doubt tiny, garden with trees to offset the building or have no heating? ) so this will solve it all.

I think that regulation and tax breaks are only part of the picture. It will come down to the masses changing the way we live and use our resources. Don't get me wrong here, the government has a massive role to play in making it more attractive and educating us but in the end unless you and I are willing to change then nothing is going to happen. To this end I am proposing that we all do a little every year to make the world a better place. Over the next 14 years make your new years resolution a green one. Forget all the ideas of going to the gym or eating less pies and make a promise that you can keep for the good of the planet. Replace all your bulbs with low energy ones; get some loft insulation; turn your thermostat down to 20 from full-on; persuade your boss to let you work from home once a week; change your electricity provider over to a green one or if you are still trying to get fit or loose some weight, cycle to work once a week. I think it will work some of these things will only take a short amount of time and you can relax for the rest of the year with a smug grin on your face.

These little changes that we make may not reduce the overall output of our country but as the years go on it will be easier to find better options and more natural for you to question what it is you are doing. The other effect is that as you start to make these changes then your friends and workmates will notice, some will mock you, some will try to ignore you, but they will notice and as more and more people start to change they will be forced to change by sheer wait of numbers alone.

Next year you can try to persuade your office to make a new years resolution if you are that sort of person, and don't forget that most of the things that you suggest to help reduce energy will also reduce the expenses of the people you work for so you can get it done as a cost saving exercise!

PS. Well done to Sainsbury's for committing to get all their bananas from Fairtrade sources, a bit of a headline grabber but a step in the right direction anyway.