There are all sorts of green tips available on the Internet, so don't plead ignorance.
By Jerome Simpson
An email discussion this summer among REC staff members about composting practices resulted, for me at least, in the discovery of a website truly worth bragging about. But before I get to that particular cyber-source I'd like to introduce a few of the slew of websites I've been tipped about in recent months.
Climate-Policy-Map.com is an interactive site that offers quick international comparisons of key climate-related statistics and policies for the world's leading industrialised nations plus the EU. Users create downloadable maps on climate policy by combining multifaceted information (e.g. Kyoto Protocol progress) with data on energy supplies (e.g. biofuel production) and socio-economic factors (e.g. GDP). Visitors can also download country fact sheets, while the site's 'Legal Basis' feature national legislation and climate protection policy programmes for the same countries.
Another mine of information for policy academics is eco-finance dot org which is a directory of eco-finance institutions and mechanisms operating chiefly in the western Balkans. Built by former REC staffer Jurg Klarer, the site is organised as a set of country pages listing domestic, foreign and commercial public finance mechanisms for environment and water sector investments. Detailed profiles are also available for 15 selected institutions-the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development, for example. The English-language site's clear forte is that it provides support for knowledgeable analysis and discussion of eco-finance-related issues, though I do wonder why it's not yet available in any Balkan languages.
A third newby, launched by UNEP, offers green travel tips. The Green Passport addresses the environmental impacts of the world's largest industry by helping tourists to reduce their environmental and social footprint. There are helpful tips (in English, Portuguese and French) on choosing responsible service providers, reducing energy consumption while on the road or in a hotel, and buying locally made and environment-friendly souvenirs. For information of this type, however, I typically tend toward the 'Travelling Sustainably' and 'GreenDex' sections of the most recently published Lonely Planet guidebooks.
EcoPassenger is a scientifically proven yet user-friendly internet toolkit for calculating energy consumption, CO2 and exhaust emissions of different transport modes for all European routes. Visitors can use the data compare energy consumption and emissions performance of a selected trip. Another site, ecotransit.org, is built on detailed and reliable railway data from the International Union of Railways (UIC) as well as 'national' inputs (instead of European averages). Unlike 'Green Passport', however, this site is geared chiefly for shippers of freight (road, rail, ship and air), not for your average tourist.
But let's return to my favourite by asking which of the following materials can be composted: pistachio nuts, hair and toenails, egg boxes, camembert cheese, sanitary towels, bread, fish and bones? If you've said 'all of them' then this site's definitely for you. Compostthis.co.uk is a clever, fun website that helps you determine, via a simple interactive menu and short briefs on over a hundred foodstuffs, what's good for the garden and what's not. It's light on text, the menus are easy to follow, and the site is so colourful that mere browsing is a pleasure. One step better than going to the site would be to post the data within easy reach of the kitchen sink!
