A town in Germany has taken a blunt solar knife to new and renovated houses, requiring 1sqm of roofing to be a solar panel for every 20sqm of roofing that is put in or reonvated. The fine is steep for non-compliance- 1000 Euros. As expcted, there are complaints all round.

The state of New Mexico in the US have taken things into their own hands and setup a range of incentives to encourage and promote the use of renewable energy, especially solar energy.

Hydrorunner technology promises to increase fule efficiency in internal combustion and diesel engines by at least 84 percent.

Great article on how to keep your photos looking sharp.

A company in San Francisco called MyFarm offers a home garden service where they grow fruit and veges for you in your backyard for a weekly fee.

Animoto lets you upload your images and music and then compiles a music video for you, it’s great!

Finally some handy sites to talk you through installing multiple browser versions for testing:

http://tredosoft.com/Multiple_IE

http://www.thesitewizard.com/webdesign/multiplebrowsers.shtml

http://mbappliance.colinfinck.de/

The American Journal of Epidemiology has just released a study, conducted over 7 years, that shows a link between breast cancer and the consumption of what is commonly known as trans-fat:

“A high serum level of transmonounsaturated fatty acids, presumably reflecting a high intake of industrially processed foods, is probably one factor contributing to increased risk of invasive breast cancer in women.”

Transfat is created naturally in the rumen of cows and sheep, so meat products and dairy foods contain trans-fat in small amounts. However trans-fat is also created by combining a vegetable oil with hydrogen under high pressure. Manufacturers love this hydrogenated oil because it keeps things crispy.
Australian manufacturers are not required to label the amount of trans-fat on their products, hopefully this will change in the future. Denmark has moved to banish trans-fat from all products, and many other European countries are following suit. The US has introduced measures requiring products to be labelled with the percentages of trans-fat and Canada is moving to ban trans-fat from all products.

How can you avoid trans-fat? Look out for these products: cakes, cookies, crackers, pies, bread, animal products, margarine, fried take-away foods (check the oil that is being used), potato chips, corn chips, popcorn

Think B4U Print
1 ream of paper(= 500 sheets) = 6% of a tree and 5.4kg CO2 in the atmosphere
3 sheets of A4 paper = 1 litre of water

At the West end markets today, I noticed how many people were driving, walking, cycling to actually reach the markets. The markets have created yet another parking problem with cars in Brisbane - Brisbane is laid out so that it is tough to get around using public transport, most people own at least one car. And the majority of cars we see these days are big people movers, vans, huge 4wds, petrol guzzling tanks on the road.

But I digress.
So what is my point? Reading an article yesterday on Grist.org, one of the biggest things we can do as individuals for the environment is not to drive a car. To walk, cycle, skip, swim whatever. Anything is better than driving a car to go places and do things.

Yet most people drive to the markets, then spend ages trying to find a damn park, then shuffle off to the markets, green bags in tow, to buy some locally produced, organic veges or hemp clothing feeling in some way that they are helping the environment. Or not feeling as the case may be.

It is the bigger things that will make the most difference.

So I ponder on this as I walk back to my huge beast of car with its leather upholstery and wood panelling.