Eco Diary

Follow Eco Diary for local to global news, keeping you up to date with the latest ecological issues. Explorative posts focusing on the preservation, restoration and improvement of our natural environment. Eco Diary promotes the work of essential charities, both big and small, helping to spread the word.

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To apologise properly/brighten up your Saturday morning here is a picture of a beautiful Red Panda having a snoozy Saturday morning also.

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Hello Again

It's been a while since I updated, and I apologise. The wonders of modern technology have failed me and a lack of permanent internet connection has stopped me accessing Eco Diary!

I am back now though and hoping my readers haven't lost interest completely since my last post!:)

[jayrajsinh]

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So it's a little late but there is always time to make a little improvement. If you missed out today then try and use one of these ideas tomorrow to make up and ensure you're making you're contribution to World Environment Day (5th June 2014)!

Kindly reblogged.

A

Adopt a ‘green’ way of life Art made of recycled materials Auctions to benefit an environmental project Award presentations for environmental competitions Awareness campaigns

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Bicycle parades/races Broadcast of public service announcements (TV and Radio) Buy a...

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GIVEAWAY!

I thought I'd thank you guys for dropping by to read my blog by having a giveaway!

All you have to do is drop me an ask and let me know about a species that you think I should write a post about. There doesn't have to be any specific reason, just a species you think is worth talking about. Plant or animal!

I will choose a winner by the beginning of next week and send out a free eco-friendly washing up liquid and laundry detergent just for you!

You have all weekend to get your thinking caps on, so fire away and give me something to write about.

(Only for UK readers I am afraid, sorry).

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Extinct Bumble Bee Back in the UK

The short-haired bumble bee has not been spotted in Britain since 1986 and has been declared extinct in the UK since that time. However now for the first time in 30 years we can hope to see it flying around our meadows and pollinating our plants.

A re-introduction scheme has been launched in the hopes the species will re-establish itself across Britain. Several charities have teamed together with local farmers to encourage the bees to stick around.

Several queen bees were taken from Sweden, where the short-haired populations are growing, and after two weeks in quarantine they were released into the wild in Kent. Short-haired worker bees have been spotted since then, although the species will not be classed as permanent until new queens have descended from those released.

Incentive schemes have been created by Natural England to help farmers improve biodiversity on their land. This can be through planting wild flowers or leaving hedgerows unmanaged. Overgrown hedges are a haven for wildlife, especially small mammals such as hedgehogs and a variety of birds. Traditional farming techniques which are simple and cost-effective are being used by the farmers and it has been said they are the “key to success”.

It seems everything is going to plan as these once extinct bees are back; farmers and charities working together to help the short-haired bees find their feet (or wings!) in Britain and hopefully stick around for good.

To read more please visit The Ecologist.

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Garden for Wildlife Month

For my American readers, its your Garden for Wildlife month! Improve your garden and make it a habitat and home for wildlife.

Anything from a bird feeder to a bug hotel will improve the wildlife you see in your garden. Check out the National Wildlife Federation's website for ways to transform your garden.

Try some of these different tips:

- Plant wild flowers to attract bees

- Install a bird feeder to attract different species

- Create a water dish to attract different species

- Create cover for small mammal species to hide underneath

- Plant a tree for many different species including tonnes of bugs

Why don't you try tracking the wildlife in your garden before and after to see if you've made an improvement? Be sure not to disturb any new visitors though!

Visit the website (link above) for more information.

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National Voluteers Week! 1-7 June 2014

Its National Volunteer Week this week. So what will you do to celebrate 30 years of fantastic contributions from allover the UK?

Why don't you try helping out in your local charity shop? Or find a conservation project going on in your area and get involved?

For more information on National Volunteers Week visit the website and take a peek at what others have tried in the past.

If you want to find out about projects and events in your local area visit various websites and have a look around. I have included a couple of suggestions below:

The Wildlife Trust

The Conservation Volunteers

And for those wanting to get involved in something a little bigger:

Global Vision International - Volunteering Abroad

Get involved with something today to broaden your skills, make new friends and even improve your CV!

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Hulme Community Garden Centre

If you live in Manchester, be sure to visit this place. A beautiful little oasis hidden away in Hulme. Surrounded by the busy city and building works, the Hulme Community Garden Centre is a sanctuary for nature lovers.

The garden centre is host to many different projects for all surrounding community and other charities. The garden centre opened in 1993 and since then they have worked tirelessly to continue its success.

The garden centre hopes to one day be self sufficient, and sells a huge variety of plants! All plants are very reasonably priced, so grab yourself a bargain and feel good about it at the same time!

A lovely rooftop garden on top of shipping containers, the garden centre will try to use and reuse any materials they can get hold of.

The rooftop is home to a whole host of plant life.

Small glass cases act as mini greenhouses capturing all the sun on top of the roof.

A huge bug hotel encourages lots of wildlife, including bees!

Not only are the surroundings beautiful and the prices extremely good, but the garden centre also offers freebies! Free plant pots of all shapes and sizes! These are non-recyclable so visitors are encouraged to re-use from this collection.

For directions and more information about Hulme Community Garden Centre visit the website here.

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Eco Homes Tour - Manchester

Visit the Manchester Eco Homes this weekend (24th/25th May).

I recently volunteered with Action for Sustainable Living, a Manchester based charity who promote sustainable living for all.

I helped to host a bus tour of several Eco Homes around Manchester with Carbon Co-op and Urbed. The tour was very interesting and caters to everyone. Whether you're looking to improve your home, save on your energy bills or simply just love to learn about new environmentally friendly products (this one is me) then the tour is for you.

The bus tour will be running again this weekend, but at the moment is fully booked. The homes are open for the public though, so you can still drop by and talk to the home owners about the improvements they've made to their properties.

Above is a picture of a huge extension which covered the entire back and side of one house, almost doubling the size! The entire frame is made from timber and insulated with sheep wool from Yorkshire. All the windows were triple glazed, the roof features solar panels and inside there was an energy store for conserving any energy they produce using their panels and log burner, which was fitted downstairs. All this, and much much more to see at this Eco Home. It was truly impressive.

A feature in another home which I found to be really exciting was a toilet with a sink on top...or so it looks to the unsuspecting eye. This may look to most like a way to save space, or have a really cool looking toilet. In fact this toilet saves up to a 150 litres of water a week (per person)! Once you flush the toilet, the water that fills up the cistern ready for next time runs through the tap first, meaning you can wash you hands with it and save water. Amazing.

If you would like to be added to the waiting list for this weekends bus tour, or simply visit the open houses at any point in the day, head to the Carbon Co-op website here. You will find times and addresses of all open homes and see for yourself what can be done in our homes to save energy, money and our planet.

Visit the Manchester Eco Homes this weekend (24th/25th May).

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Firstly, my apologies I haven't had a chance to update lately. Life has been super busy at the moment!

For my new followers I'm just going to do a little re-cap of Eco Diary's content so far.

March

Welcome to Eco Diary!

Just a quick hello to let you guys know what the aims of Eco Diary are and what you can expect to see from my blog. Also a brief introduction to me, Lauren.

April

Gasping for Clean Air

I wrote this post as the UK experienced polluted air due to sand storms from the Sahara, which were reported in the news for days. I thought it was interesting that not many knew the already awful state of the air in many areas of the UK and tried to address the issues surrounding air pollution in our cities.

Know Your Badgers

As a member of the Lancashire Badger Group I attended a badger monitoring and surveying course and here I share with you the hints and tips of what to look out for when spotting badger activity and their homes.

How is your Carbon Footprint?

Take this quiz to see what you Carbon Footprint rating is and learn how to reduce it by walking to work, using less energy and recycling as many materials as possible!

Explore Tatton Park

Here I share with you my experience of Tatton Park, including many photos of the streams, plants and deer present at the site. The park is lovely and a suggested day out for anyone!

Sign the Petition and Save Our Bee's!

A plea to encourage anyone and everyone to sign the petition to stop huge pharmaceutical company 'Bayer' to stop using a harmful pesticide that is said to have killed thousands upon thousands of bees. Please read for more information.

May

Pop Goes the Whale!

I wrote this whilst there was a story in the news about a blue whale that had washed up on to the shore in the Newfoundland Islands in Canada. The world thought it might explode, but scientists confirmed it would be more like an old balloon deflating!

What is at stake?

This post illustrates the awful damage that would be done to the world if bees were to become extinct. I have created an image of over 35 foods we would lose completely if bees weren't here, it's worth a look!

The Challenges of Sustainable Transport

A short humorous video and an explanation from me as to why I think its more and more difficult to try and live sustainably. There isn't as much encouragement as there should be and this needs to change!

No More Plastic Bags!

Just a short post to let you guys know that Oxfam are currently selling really handy 'bags for lives'. They are £5 and all proceeds go to charity (obviously). The bag folds away so that it is always to hand.

Create your own Eco Soil

Another great investment from Oxfam is a coir compost block. Having travelled all the way from Sri Lanka, this sustainable alternative to peat compost is environmentally friendly and just £2.49. And what's more, you get to make it yourself!

Real Results - Coir Compost

I tried to coir compost block out myself and here are my results! It's worth every penny and great for reducing our carbon emissions through peat extraction.

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Real Results - Coir Compost

It has been over 24 hours and my coir compost is looking really good.

Overnight the coir compost block magically turned into a bucket of beautiful soil. The bucket was slightly waterlogged at the bottom, the soil is currently still in the bag but I've popped a few more water holes in the bottom so that some of the water can drain out overnight.

I'd definitely recommend doing your coir compost in a carrier bag in case you also need to make some holes for drainage after the 24 hours.Or alternatively, you could add a little less water. I added the full 6 litres advised, but perhaps you could try adding 5 litres and then adding more water later on if need be.

I've already re-potted one of my current plants to try out the soil!

The plant is in relatively good health so it will be interesting to see what the outcome is. I will post some updates of how the plant is doing in the coir compost in the next few weeks to come.

I also used an old traditional confectionery tub as a plant pot. I popped by a local sweet shop and asked if they had any tubs they were about to throw out and they were happy to provide me with one! This is a great way to create lovely looking plants and recycle plastic materials rather than throwing them out. If you're going to try this then please ensure you clean the tub out thoroughly before putting your plant inside.

Also check  before you put your plant inside the tub that your plant is suitable. Some plants need a lot more ventilation or room and the soil can also very easily get waterlogged as there is no drainage in the bottom of the tub. Don't add too much water, and if possible, invest in some charcoal chips to place underneath the soil as these will soak up excess water.

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How to make your Sustainable Peat-Alternative compost (scroll across the pictures above for directions):

Step 1 - Get yourself a bucket and the Coir Compost

Step 2 - Open up the little package to reveal something largely resembling a brick

(With a bit of effort the block can be broken apart to reveal the hairs and fibers it is made up of)

Step 3 - Place the Coir Compost in the bucket

Step 4 -Add 6 LITRES of water (warm water works best). My block floated on top of the water so I gave it a roll around to make sure the top was moist as well as the bottom

Step 5 - Leave the Coir Compost block in the water for 24 HOURS

I will let you know how my compost is doing tomorrow evening!

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Create your own Eco Soil

Okay, so the title is a little misleading - but all you need is some water, a bucket and...a trip to your nearest Oxfam store!

Oxfam are selling blocks of Coir Compost. An environmentally friendly compost made from the coir fibre of coconut husks (pictured below)! The fibres from coconut husks is a perfect alternative to using peat and is usually just discarded. The block comes all the way from Sri Lanka and is a bargain at only £2.49!

  To make this dry and hard brick shaped package into glorious soil ready for planting all you have to do is add water and wait 24 hours. Adding 6 litres of water will make 9 litres of soil!

See my next post for my step-by-step photos on creating your own eco soil.

Then check back tomorrow to see the results!

Find your nearest Oxfam store here.

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No more plastic bags!

Especially not with this amazing bag for life from Oxfam.

The bag folds away into an almost pocket sized packet that neatly zips around the edges. The bags are currently being sold at £4.99 and all proceeds go to charity. An excellent way to contribute to a good cause and save on plastic in one!

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This is an interesting video I watched a while ago, which always pops into my head when I think of people cycling to work or using their bike to get around as an alternative to a car.

Although the video is filmed in America, and I have only rode to work in England I feel there are still things we can take from this short video. As someone who was quite new to using bike lanes until last year I feel I can easily connect with the video and the many hazards in the way of what should be an easy alternative to vehicles.

Casey Neistat, the guy who has been issued a ticket, uses the video to highlight the many obstacles cyclists must overcome to travel short distances. I think the video is a good way of showing that however much people want to ride their bikes, sometimes it feels like things are just stacking up against them.

I feel its hard to try and push sustainable ways of travel to the general public when bike lanes are often few and far between. The drivers perception of the cyclist is not always a positive one - this needs to change. I think that more work needs to be done to make cyclists feel safe on our roads, and let drivers know that we have as much right to be on the roads as they do.

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What is at stake?

I've put together a collection of just some of the foods that will be lost if bee's were to ever become extinct. Do you like your cucumber? Or love your vanilla and strawberry shakes? These could all be gone if we don't look after our bee populations.

And it's not just food, we could lose coffee and even cotton! So do your bit to help save our bees.

All these foods and more would be lost if bee's were extinct.

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Pop Goes the Whale

Last week several blue whales washed up on the coast of a small town in Canada’s Newfoundland Island. One of the blue whales is currently massively swollen, and the people living in the surrounding areas fear it may burst at any time!

As the blue whale decomposes it will release lots of methane gas, causing it to bloat severely. The residents of the small town fear the whale will explode, making it even harder to move from their beach.

The small town say they are just not qualified to move a whale of this size as they exploring options such as moving it back into the sea. A scientist in the area who spoke to local news crews said that the normally whales are either buried or cut into small pieces so they can be shipped to local landfills.

The same scientist, Jack Lawson, said that the chance of the whale exploding is ‘very small’. Many people have compared this blue whale to the sperm whale washed up on a coast last year. The sperm whale exploded all over the beach, and the scientist that was about to dissect it! However Mr Lawson noted that this was probably due to the scientist sticking a knife into the whale to dissect it. Check out a video of last year’s sperm whale here

The 60-tonne, 25m blue whale was washed up on to the coast last week; it is believed to have died in the heavy ice a few weeks ago. It is understandable that people are visiting the blue whale, as it is the largest animal to have ever lived! The largest recorded blue whale was 35m long.

Unfortunately blue whales are currently endangered. These whales were hunted largely in the past and although commercial whaling of the blue whale is now banned illegal trade still continues. The slaughter of these whales peaked in 1931, when over 29,000 were killed in one season. The total blue whale population has declined by at least 70% over the last three generations; with the large Antarctic population declining by 97% over the same period. This number is astonishing, it is a wonder we have any blue whales left in our oceans!

Read more about these beautiful creatures here.

Keep up to date with the blue whale watch in Canada via your local news channel.