World Energy Solutions

Air pollution in the UK causes at least 40,000 early deaths a year – 9,000 in London – and is linked to a growing number of debilitating conditions, from heart disease to cancer and Alzheimer’s, as well as a decline in intelligence. Research has also highlighted its potentially devastating impact on pregnant women and schoolchildren, as well as its role in increasing rates of dementia. Most of this deadly pollution comes from traffic, and the UK’s first ultra-low emission veh...icle (Ulev) area is one of a number of initiatives being introduced across the country to try to tackle what MPs have described as a public health emergency. But the schemes are facing fierce opposition. The new zone in east London – while welcomed by clean air campaigners, cycling and walking groups and many locals – is not without its opponents. “It is a similar story every time we try and do any of these schemes to tackle pollution and make the roads safer and cleaner,” said Cllr Demirci. “More than any other issue – housing, crime, you name it – for a certain type of person this is the thing they care most about: their right to drive wherever they want, whenever they want, whatever the wider cost to the community.” Among the cyclists and pedestrians on the street, there is a wholly different attitude. One after another, they welcome the latest attempt to tackle air pollution – and anything that makes the area, an accident blackspot, safer.
What are your thoughts? Would you like a similar scheme in your area? IF YOU CARE LIKE, COMMENT AND SHARE !
See More

Climate change is making sharks 'right-handed'. Warming oceans are changing the way sharks swim - and making them right handed, researchers have found. Australian scientists incubated eggs in tanks heated to simulate temperature changes at the end of the century. They found half died within a month, and those who survived preferred to swim to the right, a process known as lateralization. The researchers found the rising temperatures developed the trait far more quickly than ...they expected. 'We incubated and reared Port Jackson sharks at current and projected end-of-century temperatures and measured preferential detour responses to left or right,' the researchers wrote in a study published in the journal Symmetry. To test whether the sharks had developed lateralization, the team placed them in a long tank with a Y-shaped partition at one end. Behind the partition was a food reward; sharks just had to decide whether to swim to the right or left side of the Y to reach their snack. 'Sharks incubated at elevated temperature showed stronger absolute laterality and were significantly biased towards the right relative to sharks reared at current temperature. Climate change is warming the world’s oceans at an unprecedented rate,' they wrote.
Scary thought for the future of marine life. IF YOU CARE LIKE, COMMENT AND SHARE!
See More

Heartbreaking images taken by @paulmacrolandscapephotography shows the severity of the plastic pollution problem. I hope they save you soon buddy 🌊 ❤️

Heartbreaking images show a bloodied seal with plastic netting wrapped so tightly around her neck it cut through her skin. The wounded female was found on the Norfolk coast by a photographer hoping to capture photos of the animals for an annual calendar. The pictures - taken at Blakeney Point, the largest seal colony in England - show the sheer scale of the plastic crisis and the saddening toll it takes on our marine species. The species, the Atlantic Grey, seal is recognisa...ble because of its snowy white coats and bug-like black eyes. Paul Macro, a photographer from Norwich, spotted the helpless animal at Winterton-on-Sea and immediately ran to find a warden. Mr Macro, 44, said that the seal was being guarded by a bigger male but was clearly in ill health and being strangled by the blue netting it had become entangled in. 'It's heartbreaking', he said. 'You can see its sadness. I didn't want to approach it so I immediately found a warden from Friends of Horsey Seals. Mr Macro said that he phoned the volunteers for an update but unfortunately they said they hadn't been able to rescue the seal. Alison Charles, manager at the East Winch Wildlife Centre, who usually treats such cases, said volunteers hoped to be able to help the Atlantic grey soon.
IF YOU CARE, LIKE , COMMENT AND SHARE!
See More

Make better consumer choices and help the planet before it’s too late ! 🌍

The fight to eliminate “fatbergs” is to receive a major boost with the launch of a universal standard for wet wipes, clarifying which can be safely flushed down the toilet. Manufacturers of wipes will be able to use a “fine to flush” symbol on their packaging – drawn up by the water industry – provided they pass stringent tests. The logo aims to reassure consumers that the products do not contain plastic and will break down in the sewer system instead of clogging up sewers an...d contributing to fatbergs. Michael Roberts, the chief executive of Water UK, which represents major water and sewerage companies in Britain, said: “This is an important step in the battle against blockages. We’ve all seen the impact of fatbergs, and we want to see fewer of them. “Improving the environment is at the core of what the water industry does, and the new ‘fine to flush’ standard that we’ve created will make it easier for consumers to buy an environmentally friendly product instead of one which clogs up drains and sewers.”
Flush safely guys! IF YOU CARE, LIKE, COMMENT AND SHARE!
See More

What’s the most polluted beach you’ve been to ? #cleanitup

Greater Manchester’s decision to effectively stop companies from extracting underground shale gas in the region was greeted as a critical moment in the fight against fracking, which critics say is dangerous and unproven. The 10 local authorities that make up Greater Manchester will put planning measures in place to create a “presumption” against fracking for shale gas, said the area’s mayor, Andy Burnham, as part of its effort to become carbon neutral by 2038. The announcemen...t, which comes as London finalises a similar scheme, will amplify discontent among local councils – including Tory-controlled authorities – that experts said could lead to a showdown with central government, and potentially kill off ministers’ plans. Concerns about the drilling technique were again raised in the run-up to Christmas when the energy company Cuadrilla was forced to pause operations near Blackpool three times after drilling caused small earthquakes that breached legal limits. Tom Fyans from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), said Greater Manchester’s policy was a significant moment. “The decision is symbolic of the growing opposition to the government’s plans to fast-track fracking, which look to override local democracy by disregarding the wishes of local communities and deny those very people the opportunity to have their say on decisions that will ultimately affect them and the health of their countryside,” he said.
See More

Veolia has been accused of refusing to adapt a 30-year contract to allow Brighton and Hove council to collect more plastic waste as local authorities struggle to meet a national target of 50%. Caroline Lucas, the Green party MP for Brighton Pavilion, said the company had refused requests to change the contract. As a result, attempts by the city to increase the collection of plastic waste had failed. The UK has to meet an EU target of 50% recycling by 2020, but recycling rates... across the country are collapsing. The latest figures from English councils published this month show recycling rates have fallen by 0.3 percentage points to the end of March 2018, and stand at 44.8%. Brighton and Hove has a recycling rate of 30%. The council is restricted to collecting plastic bottles from householders for recycling as a result of its contract with Veolia; many other UK councils collect trays and other plastic recyclate along with bottles. Lucas said: “Brighton and Hove council have a 30-year PFI contract with Veolia. They are refusing to change the contract so that a wide range of plastics can be recycled. The council doesn’t have the £1m for the required machinery at the Veolia plant to enable a wide range of plastic to be recycled.”
See More

Plastic pollution has grabbed the world’s attention, and with good cause. More than 100 years after its invention, we’re addicted. To pass a day without encountering some form of plastic is nearly impossible. Now, after a century of unchecked production and consumption, convenience has turned to crisis. Beyond a mere material amenity, today you’ll find plastic where you least expect it, including the foods we eat, the water we drink and the environments in which we live. Onc...e in the environment, it enters our food chain where, increasingly, microplastic particles are turning up in our stomachs, blood and lungs. Scientists are only beginning to study the potential health impacts. That’s why we urgently need consumers, business and governments to step up with urgent, decisive action to halt this crisis of plastic waste. Since we began our love affair with this now ubiquitous material, we’ve produced roughly nine billion tonnes of plastic. About one-third of this has been single-use, providing a momentary convenience before being discarded. The straw in your average drink will be used for just a few minutes, but in the environment, it will last beyond our lifetimes. In your shopping trolley, a plastic bag will be used for less than an hour, but when they find their way to the ocean they kill more than 100,000 marine animals a year. Whales have been washed up in Norway and Spain choked with indigestible shopping bags – part of the 13m tonnes of plastic litter that end up in the ocean each year.
IF YOU CARE, LIKE, COMMENT AND SHARE!
See More

The very first @hifly_airline plastic free passenger flight took off last week from Lisbon to Brazil. No plastic containers, cutlery, cups! They hope to go plastic free for the long term! Well done ✈️

Looking at ways to reduce your own plastic footprint ? Here are 10 top tips: 1. Start at home. Do a plastic audit of your household. Shower bottles, deodorants, washing up liquids, shampoo bottles. Aim to make reductions here by ditching shower gel for soap and the plastic cotton buds for recyclable ones; buy liquid detergent in recycled plastic bottles and find a refill station to fill them up. Shampoo bars and toilet paper in recycled packaging are also available. 2. Milli...ons of plastic toothbrushes are thrown out each year, creating some 50m pounds of waste. Try using bamboo toothbrushes instead which only take about six months to biodegrade back into the soil when you have to replace your brush. 3. Carry reuseable fabric shopping bags. 4. Try buying wholesale and putting dried products such as rice, pasta and lentils into glass jars to avoid buying products wrapped in plastic. 5. Recycle old plastic children’s toys. Search for a toy library in your area to borrow from or donate to. And consider charity shops when looking for gifts. 6. Carry a reuseable coffee cup or flask; 7m plastic-lined coffee cups are thrown away in the UK every day. 7. Say no to plastic cutlery. Carry a fork with you or use a compostable alternative. 8. Ditch cling film wrap for your food. It cannot be recycled in most UK collections. Foil is recyclable, so use foil instead or reuseable plastic boxes. 9. Use an electric razor instead of plastic disposable one. 10. Write to companies whose packaging is non-recyclable, asking them to consider using less destructive materials. Maybe even think about starting a social media campaign to raise awareness. Strength in numbers!
IF YOU CARE LIKE, COMMENT AND SHARE!!!
See More

Happy New Year! Make your resolutions sustainable !! Ours is to ban single use plastics in our households! Please write yours here ! 🙏🏼 🌊

Catch a wave in the plastic ocean 😥

Plastic traces in animal feed could pose a risk to human health and urgently need to be the subject of more research, experts have told the Guardian.
Rock runs a small-scale pig farm in Lincolnshire, and had been spotting tiny pieces of plastic in his pigs feed for several months. “In the back of my head I thought maybe it was people dropping gloves into the feed mill. I took a kilo scoop out of the bag and I did this over several weeks. I laid it out in the light and I found... plastic in nearly every scoop.” He contacted the suppliers who had sold him the feed and was shocked to discover that the fragments were not a mistake, but in fact a legal part of the recycling process that turns waste food, still packaged, into animal feed. More than 650,000 tonnes of unused food, from loaves of bread to Mars bars, are saved from landfill each year in the UK by being turned into animal feed. Dr Heather Leslie told the Guardian that “the only level of plastic in animal feed should be none at all”. Leslie is an ecotoxicologist specialising in microplastics at the Vrije University in Amsterdam. “There is a lack of transparency for what the animals that citizens are eating have been fed. Citizens have no way of knowing what they are actually eating. IF YOU CARE LIKE, COMMENT AND SHARE!
See More

When the brochure said.. ‘White Sandy Beaches’ this is the reality of our future holidays if we don’t crack on with plastic reduction !!!

Retailers and producers of packaging will be forced to pay the full cost of collecting and recycling it under the government’s new waste strategy. Supermarkets and other retailers could be charged penalties for putting difficult to recycle packaging – such as black plastic trays – on the market as part of the strategy, which aims to make the “polluter pay”. They would be charged lower fees for packaging that was easy to reuse or recycle. It will see the producers of the waste... cover the full costs of recycling and collecting it. The new proposal aims to: • Introduce a tax on single use plastic with less than 30% recycled content. • Consider banning plastic packaging where there are alternatives. • Legislate to allow government to specify a core set of materials to be collected by all local authorities and waste operators. • Commit to a deposit return scheme for bottles and cans. • Ensure all households get food waste collections. • Try to build a stronger UK recycling market.
But critics are angry at the time it is taking the government to implement measures such as the deposit return scheme for plastic bottles and cans. And the rollout for these new proposals could take at least 5 years.
IF YOU CARE LIKE, COMMENT AND SHARE!!!
See More