The Guardian (UK): Ecosounding: “Among the companies getting mentions will be two who would like the following weighed in the balance: General Motors, which is providing 13 fuel cell powered vehicles for New York, and oil giant Shell, whose hydrogen arm will establish New York state's first hydrogen service station in 2006. Let's hope it is the shape of things to come and not greenwash.” (ShellNews.net) 2 Feb 05
Paul Brown
Wednesday February 2, 2005
Stonewalled
In a letter to transport secretary Alastair Darling, the National Trust's director-general, Fiona Reynolds, expressed disquiet at the government's silence over the future of Stonehenge and the downgrading of the A303 from a trunk route to a local road. Did it signal the abandonment of the idea of putting the road in a tunnel to save the monument from traffic? The department would not answer the question, but said the downgrading did not mean anything. We shall see.
Fight against flights
Meanwhile, Reynolds was being punchy about the trust's opposition to Stansted airport expansion and promised that the largest conservation organisation in Europe, now with 3.4 million members, would not sit by while the government ignored the value of heritage "as the social glue which holds the nation together".
For nature's sake
As the biggest owner of coastline in Britain (704 miles) and attempting to get bigger by buying Wembury Point gunnery range at Plymouth Sound for £350,000, the National Trust is advising the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on coastal retreat. Retreat is a fancy name for letting nature take its course and not building giant concrete sea walls. It will cost the trust land, but is good for nature.
Life's a breach
An example is a new saltmarsh in the Blackwater estuary, Essex, where the two miles of sea wall was deliberately breached in five places to flood 200 acres of agricultural land. It has proved a magnet for birdlife, fish and rare plants and has won the 2005 Living Wetlands award for Essex Wildlife Trust from the RSPB and CIWEM, the water engineers.
Keep tabs on the big boys
An essential guide to the world's 2,000 biggest companies and their records on human rights and the environment was launched on Friday by former UN human rights commissioner Mary Robinson at Davos, Switzerland. It covers everything from activities in the Iraq prison scandals to the Beijing Olympics. Take a look at www.business-humanrights.org
Can they be trusted?
Among the companies getting mentions will be two who would like the following weighed in the balance: General Motors, which is providing 13 fuel cell powered vehicles for New York, and oil giant Shell, whose hydrogen arm will establish New York state's first hydrogen service station in 2006. Let's hope it is the shape of things to come and not greenwash.
http://society.guardian.co.uk/societyguardian/story/0,,1403227,00.html