As with so many things Internet, stumbling across the website FixMyStreet.com was a happy and complete coincidence. The great thing about the site is that we were considering producing such a project here some months ago after we found that it wasn't just us who had difficulty in getting our own local council to keep the urban environment tidy.

GM's Hummer, the 2.5 ton 12 MPG Ego Carrier, has long been an icon.

On the one hand it has been a "status" symbol - an extra 2,700 kg of perceived self-importance, a sign of machismo, being unstoppable, oozing with attitude, couldn't-care-less gas-guzzling excess and having a tiny penis.

On the other hand the Hummer has represented everything worthy of contempt - all of the above, the death to other drivers in a road traffic accidents and the inspiration behind FUH2.

You drive your car less, you cycle more, recycle more, use less packaging, re-use your grocery bags, use low-powered bulbs, switch to wind-powered electricity and remember to switch everything off when you go to bed or leave the house.

After thumbing through the last ever printed edition of The Ecologist the other day there was a mention of the book A Blueprint for Survival, written in 1972 by the then editor of The Ecologist, Edward Goldsmith.

I was in Oxfordshire the other week taking a look at the Uffington Horse, a huge prehistoric horse figure marked on a hillside in chalk, when I looked down from the ancient slopes and spotted three wind turbines.

It was an unofficial "bee day" yesterday.

It all started when I came home from my local beer festival on Thursday night. Sitting on the sofa at midnight I caught the last half hour of a BBC programme entitled Who Killed the Honey Bee? Being concerned about the recent plight of the bumble bee the show was really interesting.

Well we've had Earth Hour and now this one's 24 times better - it's Earth Day.

...Saturday 28th March 2009 at 8:30pm.

Yes folks it's nearly time for Earth Hour again. Earth Hour takes place on Saturday night at 8:30pm local time so whether you're in  Sydney, London, New York or Los Angeles at 8:30pm your time it's time to switch the lights out.

National Grid is taking an energy and climate change leadership role in the UK and calling for a national Masterplan to be developed to determine the route-map for a low-carbon economy.

The company is seeking greater Government, industry and consumer collaboration in order to meet the Government targets of 80% emissions reduction by 2050, and 15% renewable energy sources by 2020.

National Grid Chief Executive, Steve Holliday, said;

We purchased our first box of ecoballs the other day and have been accumulating various loads of laundry to test.
Firstly I did a random "typical bloke" laundry wash to include an assortment of odds-and-ends that no discerning domestic deity would dream of.