The London Weather Station

Today is Earth Day – at least one of the two. The 22nd of April Earth day was first started by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as a US nationwide environmental protest to thrust the environment onto the national agenda. Well I think you can safely say that the environment has never before been on the Agenda as heavily as in present times – with global warming a serious threat to humankind and the planet.

Maybe you have read in the newspaper this morning that Greenpeace activists dressed as Orang-Utans have been hanging around Unilever premises in London and Port Sunlight.

They are protesting against the destruction of Indonesia's rainforest created through the production of palm oil that is used in Dove Soap. Apparently the majority of the largest palm oil producers in Indonesia can be linked to Unilever. If you agree with Greenpeace and want to protest have a look at the Greenpeace website.

Unfortunately it is not always that easy to decide what path is the right one: Another article I read in the papers this morning proves just that: The Scottish government yesterday refused an application by Lewis Windpower to site 181 turbines on Barvas Moor, on the grounds that they were not compatible with European environmental law.

See the dilemma? Isn’t renewable energy what we need to stop global warming? Well it seems that the wind farm would have had a serious impact on the Lewis Peatlands Special Protection Area, an area designated to the protection of rare and endangered bird species – namely the golden eagle, merlin, red throated diver, black throated diver, golden plover, dunlin and greenshank.

The decision of the Scottish government was most probably influenced by the overwhelming opposition to the project by the local population – almost 11,000 people against the proposal to less than 100 registering support. Are they all concerned about the birds or are they thinking “renewable energy yes – but not in my backgarden?” Who knows…