Pool Pony for Don Quixote

These days if Don Quixote wanted to tilt at windmills, he’d have to swap his horse for a pool pony. As we race towards a low-carbon economy one of the biggest focuses is on offshore wind generators– and the UK is leading the charge.

If all goes to plan, by 2020, a sizable chunk of the UK’s electricity supply will be from harnessing wind, wave and tidal power at sea. New Scientist says that the most mature technology in the ‘offshore race’ is wind power, and there are already plans to set-up huge wind farms on the seabed around the UK.

Over the next decade up to 6,000 turbines covering thousands of square kilometres of ocean surface will hopefully be churning out about 30 gigawatts of power – supplying 25% of Britain’s electricity needs.

Flushing Away Our Planet

Next time you tear-off a sheet of toilet paper, ponder this: in Europe, 60 million rolls of loo paper are flushed away every day. In the US, it’s even worse. The New Scientist says the average American either crumples or folds 57 sheets a day – six times the global average.

Washington DC-based World Watch Institute released a report last week highlighting paper wastage in rich and rapidly developing nations. It says that the “…equivalent of almost 270,000 trees is either flushed or dumped in landfills every day. Roughly 10% of this total is attributable to toilet paper.”

But it’s not the post-consumer recycled toilet paper that’s causing all the problems. It’s our insatiable demand for the soft, fluffy stuff that is further justifying paper companies’ assault on forests in both the global North and South.