Plastic sinking in the Sea

This paper makes disturbing reading. Various surveys have found that the enormous amounts of plastic found floating in the sea actually constitute much less than expected. Now there is evidence that larvaceans take in bits of plastic and excrete them in pellets dense enough to sink to the sea floor.

The big question is: do they just drop all the way down and lie there; or do fish ingest them as they are sinking; or perhaps sea bed animals eat them? If either of these occurs it means that we could also be eating them. (I rather like crab!).

Watch this space!

Brexit and My MP - Part 19

Oh dear! Another damp squib.

Return of PDF Copies of Birth & Death Certificates

I've just paid £9.25 for a copy certificate recording my grandfather's birth. Following this announcement I could have paid for a PDF version for £6. In this case I don't mind having paid the extra - he is a direct ancestor after all. However, for details of cousins/uncles/aunts/hangers-on a reduction of 35% is most welcome.

Time to Change Address?

Our house is called Barnett Cottage.

Just around the corner there is No 1 Barnett Cottages.

There is also Barnett House.

All three properties glory in the same post code. Consequently delivery personnel, using sat navs, often make deliveries to the wrong establishment.

No-one wishes to go through the hassle of renaming their homes. Indeed, I, for one, rather like the historical continuity - our property was certainly known by its current name from before the 1911 census. (Mind you, Barnett Cottages are explicit in the 1901 census whereas in that listing there's no name attached to our house so maybe Barnett Cottages have precedence. Then again, census enumerators were not necessarily diligent in their recording of house names and/or numbers).

Now, many sat navs have the facility to use GPS coordinates which are far more accurate that post codes. Is it time that we all added GPS coordinates to our addresses?

Brexit and my MP - Part 18

Still no response to my previous communication! (All other parts of this saga are available elsewhere in this blog.)

Dear Mrs Milton,

In July of this year I wrote to you deploring the fact that no formal impact assessment had been undertaken by the Government on the consequences of the proposed departure of the UK from Euratom.

Now, David Jones MP, Minister of State for Exiting the EU, has confirmed that impact studies have been undertaken for a wide range sectors of the UK economy. Unfortunately these studies have not been published.

How is it possible for Parliament to hold the Government to account without sight of these studies? How is it possible for the public to judge the consequences of Brexit with this information being kept under wraps?

I urge you to support the initiative instigated by David Lammy MP and Seema Malhotra MP to have these assessments placed in the public domain without delay. As my representative in Parliament you will be taking decisions on my behalf in the continuing Brexit process. I would like to be assured that you are doing so with the fullest possible knowledge of all its implications. Furthermore, I would like to understand the likely future for this country. How else may I plan for my own future?

Yours sincerely

Richard Bawden

Coffee Cups - A Small Step For Man

There has been a small (and I mean small) move in the right direction with respect to disposable coffee cups. A joint deal has been agreed between major players in an attempt to accelerate recyling. This will see the roll-out of 400 recycling points in the UK. Hmm, that's only about 4 per county! Still, it's better than nothing and may help to increase the number recycled which currently stands at fewer than 1%.

The elephant in the room is the need for education and attitude change in the population at large. This, I suspect, will only come when it is made easy to recycle, which means having thousands of recycling points because, by their very nature, these cups are used "on the go". Big question: "Who will fund such a move?"

Over to the retailers.


(See other coffee cup related posts elsewhere in this blog)

Costa Coffee Beats Stella Artois in Wonersh Litter Challenge!

We held the latest of our biennial village litter picks recently. The most prevalent items gathered were Costa Coffee paper cups easily pushing the previous winners, Stella Artois beer cans, into second place. The items had clearly been flung from passing traffic. Both organisations need to think about how to educate their customers into more social behaviour.

Last quarter nearly 30% renewables generation

The slope of this chart is encouraging - but, as the caption says, there's still some way to go yet.