Tim Worstall

I don’t believe I waste anywhere near £600 worth of food a year in my kitchen, but even if I did I wouldn’t be at all ashamed. For one thing such waste is as nothing compared with the armfuls of unnecessary, nondegradable, landfill-guzzling waste that I throw out each week in the form of supermarket […]

[Read more →]

So the figures are out on how much Greener we’re all becoming.

The first signs of a green revolution are emerging around the country as Britons treble their recycling and increase their use of public transport. But this enthusiasm is not reflected in attitudes towards other environmental concerns, with car ownership and use on the rise […]

[Read more →]

So wonderful to see the Friends of the Earth bod having a go at Greenpeace.

It wasn’t so long ago that Greenpeace was out there very actively campaigning for the wholesale substitution of biofuels for hydrocarbon fuels, in order to help reduce emissions of C02. It’s gung-ho enthusiasm in those days was entirely unscientific (as in […]

[Read more →]

One really is lost in admiration at how the combination of our central and provincial governments can take a problem and make it so comprehensively worse.

This time it’s over scrapping cars.
Time was that a scrap car had a value to the last owner. The value of the scrap metal in it. There was thus an […]

[Read more →]

The issue is not biofuels or no biofuels, but the right biofuels. Europe’s governments have signed a commitment ensuring that 10% of the petrol in Europe’s vehicles in 2020 is made from renewable transport fuels, including biofuels. This will make an important contribution to the EU’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote security […]

[Read more →]

Oh dear, another piece of Green propaganda makes headway.

Aided by modern materials and a redesign, the washable nappy has spread across social classes to vie for the affections of parents in the wake of arguments by campaigners that they are more environmentally friendly.
The impact on landfill sites is cited as the single biggest problem with […]

[Read more →]

Walking the dogs this morning, saw a bloke at the containers for recycling items. He’d taken his car with him, carrying what seemed to be two or three supermarket bags of stuff. As  he was sorting through the bags, putting each item into the correct slot, I couldn’t help noting that he’d left his engine […]

[Read more →]

So, a decent and balanced piece on GM crops. No, really, it is. Containing this point:

The trouble is that GM crops represent everything that the environment movement has come to hate, though it was not the technology itself that originally made greenies froth at the mouth. It was its promotion and marketing by international conglomerates […]

[Read more →]

M’Kay?
Gosh, I wonder what other fashionable eco-groove we’ll find out is a bad idea?

[Read more →]

I wonder, I do you know:

Britain is to get its first disposable nappy recycling plant, which will convert the mountain of waste which goes into landfill every day into plastic, cladding and roof tiles. Knowaste, a Canadian company which recycles nappies and other products in the US, plans to invest more than £20m in the […]

[Read more →]

This is causing some confusion:

It denies that there is a conflict between meeting renewables targets and protecting wildlife. But this conflict keeps on happening. The biggest single source of renewable power in the UK would be the tidal barrage that is proposed across the Severn estuary - it could potentially generate 5% of the country’s […]

[Read more →]

*

It’s also Lenin’s birthday.
Coincidence?
I think not. Clearly, just a chance for watermelons to double up on the celebrations and thus preserve resources.

[Read more →]

This over the definitions of organic and carbon footprints is delicious.

Two leading voices in the fight against climate change were at loggerheads last night over the weight given to "food miles" in a labelling system designed to encourage consumers to choose low-carbon products in shops and supermarkets.
The Co-operative group says it makes "no sense" for […]

[Read more →]

Tesco is to test putting "carbon labels" on its own-brand products next month in a move to enable consumers to choose products which are less damaging to the environment.
The retailer will put carbon-count labels on varieties of orange juice, potatoes, energy-efficient light bulbs and washing detergent, stating the quantity in grammes of CO2 equivalent put […]

[Read more →]

The Green movement is trying to kill us all:

German scientists are warning householders of the health dangers posed by storing organic waste, saying exposure to it, particularly to the moulds that develop as the material decays, can cause skin problems and even breathing difficulties.
Harald Morr, a leading pneumologist, who is also chairman of the German […]

[Read more →]

Ooops!

A German town is subsiding after authorities drilled underground to harness "green" energy.
Staufen, in the Black Forest, was proud of its innovative geothermal power plan that was supposed to provide environmentally-friendly heating.
But only two weeks after contractors drilled down 460ft to extract heat, large cracks have appeared in buildings as the town centre has subsided […]

[Read more →]

Today we are bombarded with a plethora of wisdom about how to eat and shop. We are told we should eat seasonally, shop locally, buy organically, eat sustainably, minimise food miles, avoid air-freighted produce, and support communities in the developing world.

The problem is that only that last recommendation is in fact wisdom. The others are […]

[Read more →]

Forget Peak Oil, Peak Minerals, it’s realy Peak Agriculture we have to worry about.

Humanity has been in overshoot of the Earth’s carrying capacity since
It abandoned hunter gathering in favor of crop cultivation (~ 8,000 BC) and it has been running up its ecological debt since then.

Yup, the earth’s carrying capacity is the 3 million or […]

[Read more →]

The Government may retreat from its commitment to make all drivers use an increasing proportion of biofuel in their fuel tanks.
Ruth Kelly, the Transport Secretary, announced a study into the impact that the production of biofuels has on the environment. The Department for Transport (DfT) said that it would not support a European plan to […]

[Read more →]

Please, please, can we get this right?

A properly designed FIT rewards early adaptors, helps kick-start a new industry and creates jobs. The German PV industry added 10,000 jobs last year.

"Creating jobs" is a cost of such schemes, not a benefit. Jebus, why are all the writers on this subject such morons? Have they not learned […]

[Read more →]