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Time to Let Go

Alice C Doyle 10th March 2009

Smart Sussex's Alice Doyle take a look at the backlash of consumer panic over the phasing out of old fashioned incadescent lightbulbs.

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Let’s make Victorian technology, a thing of the past

The proposed phase out of incandescent light bulbs is one simple step in the fight against climate change. However some protractors are determined to hang onto this Victorian technology and the phase out is becoming almost akin to a civil rights infringement. Similar to the plastic bag being a symbol of modern day wastefulness, the light bulb is becoming symbolic for those who are still adamant to saw off the branch upon which they sit.

The first electric light was invented by Humphry Davy in 1802. Building upon his work, various experimenters tinkered with carbon rods and iridium wires and, but it was not until 1879 that Thomas Edison created the first commercially practical incandescent lamp.

It is this Victorian model that we regularly use in our lamps and light fittings. Over a century later in the era of the internet, missions to Mars and genome sequencing, we are still using a small filament of tungsten wire inside a glass case to light our homes and businesses. Technologically, this is akin to using a horse and car to commute to work...on the M25.

Climate Change Skeptics

Simon Brett
3rd February 2009

Meeting with Scepticism.

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Virtually every reputable climate scientist on the planet agrees that human activity is causing a dangerous warming of the planet. A quick scan of the web, however, creates the impression that this reality is still controversial. So how come, on the internet, no-one can hear you make a balanced argument?

George Monbiot, who has done more than most to alert us to the scale of the crisis, and to possible resolutions, explains the situation thus:

In the physical world, global warming appears to be spilling over into runaway feedback: the most dangerous situation humankind has ever encountered. In the political world – at the climate talks in Poznan for example – our governments seem to be responding to something quite different: a minor nuisance which can be addressed in due course … In cyberspace, by contrast, the response spreading fastest and furthest is flat-out denial.

Recycling - Is it Worth it?

Vanessa Langley
23rd January 2009

image-Alupro

Traditional media have been quick to pounce on the falling prices in recycled materials, as evidence of the pointlessness in our newly acquired recycling habit.
Rubbish earmarked for recycling is apparently being shipped off to landfill as it becomes worthless and expensive to recycle. The buyers have all gone and the green revolution is over. Or that is what they would have you believe. The truth is somewhat different and although there is no doubt the market for recyclable materials is very fragile, it is now begin to stabilise, although still lower than the boom prices of the last 5 years.
Not all recyclable materials have plummeted, the demand for glass for example, has remained constant.