ffinlo's Green Columns get to the heart of eco-matters and  are written in his characteristically acerbic style.

For Green Columns before March 2008, please click here
(Previous columns include: Forget fluoridation - let's think about teeth; It's 11.59 for the planet; Digging up the depths; Travels with Steam Packet; If not Archallegan - then where?; & Nuclear power - yes please!)

Fluoridation comment - ffinlo responds to the Director of Public Health (bottom of the page)

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Cheers for Brown – and a slap up meal

In a brilliant move Gordon Brown has created a new Cabinet position: Energy and Climate Change Secretary. Wouldn’t it be incredible if we did that here too…?

Well… interestingly, I’ve discovered that six months ago (long before Gordon’s brainwave) a new committee was formed on the Isle of Man: the Energy Policy Working Group, made up of members from DTI, DoLGE, MEA and Treasury. While the precise terms of reference are apparently yet to be decided it’s likely that the issues considered will be pretty similar to those they’re tackling in the UK.

We got there first – but the UK have gone further, faster – so I hope we can overtake them again in the future. An Energy and Climate Change Minister on the Isle of Man would be great – especially when we’ve so many renewable energy resources bang on our doorstep. So, points for effort, but c’mon Mr Brown, follow Mr Brown’s example!

Now for something splendid! Since 2004 no household waste has been dumped into landfill on the Isle of Man. Sadly most of it’s gone to the Energy from Waste plant, but on November 3rd DoLGE’s new kerbside recycling scheme will hit the streets of Douglas, Braddan and Onchan. At last we’ll have a comprehensive waste plan that’ll help householders recycle more recyclables… or at least, half the Island will… the rest of us will still have to use the bring banks.

Now forgive me. When I think about rubbish on the Isle of Man I get very confused… Why is it that we’ve got 19 separate waste authorities, each with their own bin trucks and each with their own strategies? Surely on an Island the size of ours we should be working together, finding greater economies of scale, and using the money saved to make sure we can afford proper recycling right across the board…? Hmmm… answers on a postcard, please!?

But for the lucky ones kerbside recycling has come, and their glass will be reborn as eco-sand; metal cans will be get a second coming; and plastic bottles will be reincarnated as patio chairs and fleece jackets. So, I reckon it’s time for a big green cheer for Douglas Corp, Braddan and Onchan Commissioners and DoLGE who’ve worked in partnership (you won’t hear that often!) to deliver something truly excellent, that taxpayers have been demanding for donkey’s years. Tynwald stumped up the cash for the project, and with the exception of David Quirke, our MHKs are unanimously behind it.

And now for some tasty stuff! Local Manx food. I met Chris Swinden, the Sefton’s Head Chef a year ago to find out how the Sefton supports local producers in its restaurants. It was a good story then – the work’s continued – so I popped in for another chat last week. Their commitment is significant: 45 tonnes of Manx veg each year (that’s a lot of peeling and chopping); Manx milk and cheese from Isle of Man Creamery; Manx bread; Manx flour; and Manx beef, lamb, and pork – all from fully traceable local suppliers.

Chris also told me that he’s a big fan of our farmers’ markets, ‘They’re designed for individuals rather than big companies like ours, but it’s fantastic to be able to meet the growers. The quality of the food on this island is really first class, so why should we look elsewhere?’

Now – I can hear you grumbling into your armchair, ‘That’s all very well ffinlo – but there’s no point just telling us about good food – why don’t you sort us out a taster!” And so I have! [Competition to win a meal at the Sefton Hotel followed.]

For more info about recycling on the Isle of Man: http://www.recycleformann.com

 

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Wrap up for a new Cold War?

The US and Britain are upset by the Russian invasion of Georgia. Fair enough. It’s been a pretty unpleasant affair and the sight of the Great Russian Bear blasting its way into an independent state has been deeply unpalatable.

Wouldn’t it be awful if Britain and the US decided to invade a sovereign nation in order to promote their interests in a region? Doh! Iraq anyone…? Afghanistan?

There are other parallels too. It’s said (pretty openly) that the US and Britain (the two biggest arms trading nations in the world) have been happily running weapons into Georgia to support Western-friendly President Saakashvili. In the same way that we massively supported Saddam throughout the Iran/Iraq war, but were astonished at his audacity when he decided to invade Kuwait (even when its border with Iraq had been disputed ever since it was first semi-drawn by a chap on a camel with a stick after the First World War). 

Why can’t we learn that a friend today can become a mad despot tomorrow? And what on earth gives us the moral authority to choose to arm one regime against another, especially when we know full well that they’re likely to use our weaponry for distinctly nasty purposes: Indonesia, Israel, and Saudia Arabia spring to mind… My hypocrisy detector’s just blown a gasket.

If there is a silver lining in the cloud hanging over the Caucasus then it is that the conflict, and Russia’s response to Western clamouring for a ceasefire, has proven that the US is no longer quite as powerful as it thought it was a few months ago. Talk of a new Cold War seems vastly exaggerated, but an outcome where the US is no longer able to get its own way simply by clicking its fingers might mean a more balanced global diplomatic environment in the future. We’ll see.

There’s another similarity between the two wars - they’re both (at least partly) about securing strategic energy supplies for the future. This is becoming more common. The BBC’s reported that even wars as old as the Falklands have been undertaken with the subtext of ensuring future energy needs. Wars have traditionally been fought over resources or religion… so now that oil seems to have become the dominant world religion it would be a surprise if we didn’t fight over it.

The alternative is to use less energy - and to develop energy supplies that are local and renewable.

In the short to medium term we have to stop energy companies abusing consumers at a time when prices are rising and pockets are tightening. In the UK this probably means a windfall tax on energy companies that are currently enjoying massive profits. At home this almost certainly means opening up our energy supply to competition so that prices are driven down and green tariffs become available and commercially attractive. On an Island that wants to be seen as a paragon of market values an energy monopoly should no longer be acceptable.

In the long term - globally - it means reducing reliance on oil for energy to practically zero. This isn’t some hippy flight of fancy - it’s an economic necessity for every Government and every person. Market forces need flexibility so that competition can work, but Governments need to regulate to ensure market forces are nudged in the right direction.

In the US Barack Obama has pledged to reduce CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050 if he wins the Presidency next month. John McCain has promised a 60% reduction. Achieving either target will mean that much less oil is being used across America; that dependency on oil is therefore less; and that the need to fight other nations to get it is reduced.

On the Isle of Man we share the same moral imperative to reduce our dependency on oil - and as oil consumers we share complicity in battles for cheap energy. We haven’t yet signed up to the principles of Kyoto; we haven’t yet set targets for emissions reduction; we yet haven’t created statutory mechanisms for reducing CO2 emissions and therefore reducing our oil dependency. It’s time we did.

Unless we do; unless everyone does; we’re likely to see many more wars over energy in the future.

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Travel that won’t leave a dent in the planet

More info at: Tourism Concern: http://www.tourismconcern.org.uk
And for some of their linked organisations - click here
Lonely Planet: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/responsibletravel
Rough Guides - saving energy: http://www.roughguides.com/savingenergy

It’s the time of year for holidays. Perhaps you’re just off; just back; wishing you’d gone; or planning a winter break … So it’s worth spending a moment thinking about the very real impacts tourism has on citizens in many developing and semi-developed countries.

Now, I’m not suggesting for one moment that you shouldn’t go abroad. Travel of course broadens the mind and can help build a greater understanding of world issues: social, cultural and religious. But while there may be wider benefits for a nation in developing its tourist industry there can also be pretty catastrophic impacts for individuals and the environment. That said; there are still ways in which we can travel without leaving a massive dent in the planet.

Many environmental problems are caused when tourism grows very quickly and with few controls (thank goodness we have DoLGE to regulate development here). Beautiful landscapes are what tourists want to see - but these are frequently the result of fragile ecosystems and natural processes - so whacking up loads of high-rise hotels and gift shops to cater for tourism is bound to have a negative impact.

While employment opportunities can be the upside - the bulldozing of local villages to make way for leisure developments (not unusual in India, Africa and Asia) is a pretty drastic downside. You can help by staying in hotels that have either been around for years or have been developed in older buildings, inside a town rather than right next to the landmark you’ve come to see.

Water is a problem (which’ll get worse as climate change bites). In fact it’s a problem twice. Often local water sources are raided when priority is given to providing showers and restaurant services for tourists – meaning water for locals can become strictly limited and may only be available at certain times of the day… You can help by simply trying to use less – shower every couple of days for example, not twice a day.

Secondly, most westerners buy drinking water in plastic bottles instead of drinking the tap water, which creates a lot of waste… You can reduce this waste by getting 2-litre bottles to re-fill the smaller ones from.

Rubbish in general is a big problem. Most developing countries don’t have proper waste facilities… but everything you chuck away has to go somewhere. I lived in Morocco for a while and black plastic bags were the most visible impact of tourism. Fes has one of the most precious ancient medinas in the world and each day litter carts pulled by donkeys help to clear the streets – but where does the rubbish go? 6 years back much of it was dumped in the river or burnt on its banks at night. Now the riverside is being redeveloping, so an old quarry next to the homes of thousands of local people who can no longer afford to live in the old town is gradually filling with water bottles, black plastic bags and other detritus. No one is organizing the waste; no one is compressing it or landscaping it with topsoil. It just blows in the wind, gathers on trees, and attracts the vultures and stray dogs. The mountain beyond is awash with black bags that have traveled there on the wind. It’s seen as acceptable to the authorities because it’s off the tourist trail. What can you do? Re-use plastic bags – and take a few of them home!

Back here - many of us will be aware of the damage caused to marine life by rubbish discarded from boats… Then there’s the skiing industry in Northern Europe, which has felled forests and damaged mountain habitats… and golf is one of the least eco-friendly activities – creating problems in hot countries because of the huge amounts of water and pesticides golf courses require (an average 18-hole course soaks up 525,000 gallons of water each day - enough to supply the irrigation needs of 100 Malaysian farmers).

…And I’ve not even mentioned the CO2 used by planes, boats and cars to get you to your destination in the first place.

So while holidays are essential, and globetrotting is great fun, it’s worth thinking of ways to help minimize your impact on the communities you’re visiting. And just occasionally, why not stay at home – the Isle of Man is pretty amazing too.

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An Island of excellence at last

It’s true that I spend a lot of time in this column moaning. Moaning about the lack of environmental direction from within Isle of Man Government. Moaning that between 97% and 99% of our energy is imported when it could be produced locally, moaning that the MEA has a monopoly, and that we aren’t doing enough to combat climate change or to reduce our CO2 emissions.

In particular I moan that with the Isle of Man being small, versatile and independent – we could become an Island of excellence by encouraging eco-innovation and by pioneering new technologies.

I bumped into John Shimmin, the DoLGE Minister, at the Tynwald Garden Party.

He positively bounded over to me thrilled about the potential of the Green TT to inspire world-scale technological innovation. And credit where it’s due - he’s right, isn’t he? It’s a great idea from technologies entrepreneur, Azhar Hussain – and it’s fantastic that the Council of Ministers has had the foresight to approve it for next year. At last – here’s something that both environmentalists and motor sport enthusiasts can be proud of: by using the Isle of Man’s world famous motorcycle races as a platform, we can inspire a race that really matters – a race for clean green fuel that will drive our transport into the 22nd century. Brilliant.

But what about other technologies? Let’s build on the Green TT idea and start getting excited about other opportunities too.

For example when are we going to recognise that we’re throwing good money after bad by importing fossil fuel energy from off the Island when we could be generating it ourselves? We’re one of the windiest places in Britain; we’re surrounded by the Irish Sea and the powerful surges of the tide. When are we going to start investing in the straightforward renewable technologies now being used successfully around the world? At a stroke we could slash our CO2 emissions – and provide energy security for life. With the cost of fuel continuing to rise and the price of food skyrocketing there is surely little argument left to be had about renewable energy? Who cares whether you believe in climate change or not – the oil’s running out – and if only to ensure we can afford to heat and light our homes in 2030 we should be investing in new energy infrastructure right now.

Apart from anything else – that means wind turbines: big off-shore ones that’ll power the national grid, and smaller on-shore ones that could light-up individual homes or whole village communities: and we should be pushing ahead - right now.

I travelled across Cambridgeshire a month ago, and having not been there for three years I was amazed at the number of these graceful giants that had grown up across the landscape in a regional celebration of local independence. As a proud and independent nation how can the Isle of Man leave itself so naked and vulnerable to global market forces when it comes to energy?

And please don’t let people tell you they’re bad for bird life. It’s a myth! Wind turbines are responsible for fewer bird deaths than cars, or planes, or even patio windows. All the evidence says that our feathered friends are no bird-brains and get used to wind farms much more quickly than David Bellamy and his anti-turbine entourage ever will.

A second bit of good news is that there’s now a grassroots movement: Transition Island, which is working really hard to find ways of moving our infrastructure forwards so that we can reduce our CO2 emissions and prepare for peak oil. But good ideas can come from anywhere – so please get involved. Transition Island is made up of concerned individuals, politicians, ex-politicians, and civil servants – it could also include you.

In the meantime there’s a quick and easy product that can help you save energy at home. For a few quid you can get yourself a home energy monitor that clips onto the outside of your electricity cables. This’ll help you find out where you’re wasting the most energy – and they can pay for themselves within a few months. More sophisticated ones are also available for businesses.

For more information about buying energy monitors and about Transistion Island - click here

Fuel for thought

Petrol prices have risen about 40% in the last few months and there’s now a press frenzy of fury that’s completely overtaken the fuzzy green thoughts contained in much of the media last year.

It’s as though everyone was thinking, “Climate change, global warming, oh crikey, oh gosh, we must do something…” – and then petrol goes up – and suddenly it’s “Stuff that, gimme cheap fuel and let the planet burn…” Surely not?

What are we going to do when petrol doubles in price again – what will we do when it’s a fiver a litre – as inevitably it will be 10 or 20 years from now as oil becomes an increasingly scarce resource?

To find out more I saddled a body of helpers and went down to Strand Street and asked 100 people about their attitudes to fuel costs and climate change. 82% were worried about the current price of petrol, but only 28% cared enough to actually drive less as a result. If fuel went up to a £2.50 a litre, however, 82% wanted to find alternatives to car use. Tellingly, most people blamed the Government, despite the fact that recent price rises are the fault of oil companies – the much-hyped tax changes haven’t yet come into effect.

71% of people we asked were concerned about global warming, and even more: 81%, wanted the Government to take stronger action. Interestingly, 42% said they’d accept higher fuel bills if they felt it would help reduce global warming. 72% wanted to see more polluting vehicles taxed harder.

So, what would happen on the Island if petrol actually was a fiver a litre? Would there be a revolution? Would we all burn wicker men full of oil executives and government ministers on top of South Barule? Or would we actually get out of our cars and walk, cycle, or use public transport more…? I’m looking into these and other questions in Perspective on Manx Radio on Thursday 10th July (just after 6pm). Click here to find out more…

In the meantime, why not crack open a bottle of Fair Trade champagne for Queen Elizabeth II high school in Peel, who’ve just come second in the Observer’s Ecover Award for Ethical Kids. Lesley Sleight, head of Life Studies at the school, told me how she’s worked with the Environmental Club, led by student Grainney Sheard, to offset some of their school CO2 emissions.

In 2006 the school ran an audit of the CO2 pollution generated by journeys to and from school (I’m saying nothing about 4x4s on the school-run), and concluded that to offset their emissions for one year they’d need to plant 4,490 trees. Now, I’m on record as doubting the value of tree-planting to soak up carbon, so was pleased to see that the submission to the Observer acknowledged that all the trees will have to survive to full maturity for the offset to occur at all, and that the students “realise it’s a short term measure because the trees will eventually return CO2 to the atmosphere when they die.” That said it’s great to see students taking a real interest and observing the enormity of the task they’ve taken on – it’s now 2008 and they’re still just a quarter of the way to achieving their goal of offsetting the emissions from that single year. They’ve worked with the Dalby Woodland Trust and so far planted 1,200 trees at the Kerroodhoo plantation and at Glen Maye – they’re hoping others will be planted on the school grounds and at students’ homes. (I feel certain that if you’d like to donate funds to buy more trees for the project then the school will be only too grateful.)

QEII students’ eco-enthusiasm doesn’t stop at trees though. They’re running an eco-day before the end of term, and plan to build a brand new cycle shed using slab wood from DAFF’s wood yard, and recycled plastic bottles (which will help let in more light and better insulate the building). They’re also looking into creating a cycling bus – rather like the walking buses used at other schools around the Island. I’ll be looking more closely at these exciting projects, and others the school’s involved in, on Manx Radio later this year.

Finally for this month – the Green Mann directory, which provides information about local growers, suppliers, shops and manufacturers who are helping Manx people to reduce their impact on the environment – is available for £1.50 from all good newsagents, from the Douglas Green Centre – or you can download a free copy from the internet. Click onto www.ffinlo.org to find out how.

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Squirrel pasty gives me hope

Let’s consider squirrels. Have you seen the press recently? There’s loads of stuff about grey squirrels being the ultimate in free-range ethical meat and being sold in butchers’ shops across the south of England... The grey squirrel - southern butchers tell us - is like a rabbit in both flavour and design and should be eaten and enjoyed by all.

Rabbit? Are they having a laugh? Have you ever seen a squirrel? They’re not rabbits – they’re longtails with bushytails – but if anyone told English southerners they were eating a delicately flavoured rat pasty they’d have a fit… So… that set me thinking… if the PR spin-meisters can get Hampstead worthies eating rats – then frankly maybe there is hope for the world – and even last month’s unfortunate Telegraph reader might start to believe in climate change if he reads about it often enough.

Anyway, moving on… and those of a delicate disposition should look away now.

I met John Shimmin the DoLGE minister down at Langness last weekend, and there were too things that pressed themselves indelibly to my mind. First was the topless image of our hirsute politician exposing his Manx whiteness to the sun (proving once and for all that he is after all a man of the people) – and the second was the fact that he was collecting rubbish from the shoreline with a long claw and popping it into a black plastic bag.

You don’t expect that do you?

We hear so much nonsense about politicians being the opportunistic scum of the earth that it’s all too easy to forget that some of them are actually just human beings, many of whom care so passionately about the world around them that they’ll put themselves out – not just with a metal claw on a Sunday morning – but frankly at all hours of the day and night when constituents call them on the phone… or stop them in the street… or knock on their doors… or… gosh I nearly got all serious there for a moment…

It was fabulous to see our Environment Minister actually out there trying to make our environment a better place. And it wasn’t just that Sunday either… He told me that he often takes a black bag along with him when he walks the dog – and that he’s grateful to the other Islanders who do the same – unsung heroes of the Manx countryside. He just hopes that next Sunday he’ll have time to put on his t-shirt before bumping into a scabby journalist like me (I was accompanied, by the way, by my fiancée; a Telegraph scribbler; and a UK civil servant from the Department for International Development currently working on global climate change strategy – all were impressed by our minister’s hands-on approach – and his physique!)

But there is a more serious point here too. It’s great that individuals make the effort – but beach cleaning shouldn’t just be done by volunteers. In my recent marine conservation Perspective (Listen Again at www.ffinlo.org) I discovered that no-one has responsibility for cleaning our coastline – that’s right – no-one - which is why committed volunteers organise groups of local people to scour the shore on our behalf.

While some commissioners have been fantastic at providing assistance (in the form of rubber gloves and trucks to cart the litter away) it’s the co-ordinators of beach cleans who currently donate their time to organise the things – and incidentally offer themselves up to litigation should things go wrong – such as someone slipping on seaweed or cutting themselves on a piece of glass.

Now this seemed crazy – so I asked Mr Shimmin whether insurance for beach clean organisers would be possible – and he said ‘No,’ without thinking. Hmm… I wish sometimes that important men would meet questions with a ‘can-do’ rather than a ‘can’t-do’ attitude. There are lots of ways to insure beach clean co-ordinators – many of which DoLGE’s Health and Safety unit could help with very quickly. Thankfully, as a listening politician, Mr Shimmin finally accepted that the conversation was one worth having – so let’s hope a sensible solution can be found when the beach cleaners get in touch with him.

In the meantime – if you see some rubbish on the ground – go on – stick it in a bin! And long live the long Manx summer days.

Gosh, it’s all a sham. There is no global warming. The Daily Telegraph says so, so it must be true. What on earth am I going to write about now? Did you know the world’s flat too? And the moon’s made of cheese…?

I’m very grateful for the feedback in last month’s Viewpoint and feel chastened.

Nah! Course I don’t. Forgive me if I sound flippant, but given a choice between believing the musings of a Telegraph journalist, or every-single-climatologist-in-the-world-ever… I’ll go with the climatologists.

The Viewpoint correspondent also seems to reckon that there’s a massive conspiracy to convince everyone the ice caps’re melting when actually they’re getting so big that Cowley Groves are about to start selling building plots on them, and suggests the ozone layer as a great example of a green issue blown out of all proportion, which has readily resolved itself and is no longer a problem.

Well, if I can take it as read that most readers have seen the photos and the satellite images on the BBC showing the reduction of the summer polar ice, and has heard about the Isle of Man size chunks of Antarctica falling off the end of the continent… then let’s have a chat about the hole in the ozone layer.

While the sun is our friend – without it there would be no life on earth – we’re highly dependent on our atmosphere to regulate the amount of the sun’s rays that actually hit our planet. The ozone layer is, amongst other things, our front line of defence against harmful cancer causing ultraviolet rays. It hasn’t mended itself. It continues to allow dangerous amounts of UV onto the earth. And this year scientists expect the hole to be at its largest ever.

The ozone layer over Britain is still thin each summer, and over the Antarctic there’s a gaping big hole which in September 2006 reached a size of 27.4 million square kilometres. The reason we environmentalists don’t talk about it any more is partly because CFC gases, which attack ozone, were phased out following the Montreal Treaty in 1989, and partly because global warming has rather taken over. As a result of the Montreal Treaty many hoped that the hole in the ozone layer would start to shrink after 2010, and that within 70 years it would have repaired itself entirely… sadly NASA has reported that global warming may now surpass CFC’s as the main cause of ozone depletion by 2030, and that in fact the hole may start to grow again.

Of course the Telegraph journo could be right and the BBC, NASA, the British Antarctic Survey, and the European Union could be wrong... but…

Anyway, moving on from that, I should report that I attended an exciting presentation on green marketing, recently hosted by the Chartered Institute of Marketing at the Sefton. The session focussed on the actual and potential benefits for businesses promoting their green credentials (if they’re genuine), and rallied members to start looking at ways in which marketing could help to change the world. From Toyota to M&S green marketing has been rewarded by an increase in sales, and it’s good to see the message being spread. Members of the CIM were reminded that climate change scientists are calling for an 80 to 90% reduction in CO2 by 2050, that the global population is predicted to have grown to 9 billion by the same date (population was 3 billion in 1967), and that for many people value is now more important than price. A product’s carbon footprint is now very much seen as part of that value. There’s certainly a challenge ahead, and communication and information about the products we buy will be central to change. My only hope is that the marketing will be based on substance rather than spin.

The Green Mann directory, compiled by Island 21, is being launched on 1st May and will be on sale at bookshops, newsagents and farmers’ markets. The directory describes itself as providing, “information on ways to improve our environmental impact. It includes entries containing private & public initiatives, suppliers, manufacturers, societies, and government agencies, websites and other sources of knowledge and assistance.” Excellent! Just what every budding Manx environmentalist needs.

Finally, I’d like to remind readers that the Green Centre, opposite the Douglas Shoprite behind Strand Street, is open every Saturday from 10 – 4 as a drop in centre for anyone with eco-queries.

Oil: 1858 to 2021. Today we mourn the sad demise of Oil. Plentiful oil was born in Oil Springs, Ontario, Canada in 1858. By the 20th Century it was fuelling an industrial revolution of epic proportions. By the year 2000 oil was making growth possible for almost every nation in the world. It was used to power transport, make food, build homes, and to manufacture bags, clothes, make-up, jewellery, packaging, microchips, cars, computers and mobile phones… just about everything used by human beings in their everyday lives. Oil will be greatly missed.

A friend of mine has just been asked to write a book about fortune telling. It’ll be a kind of travelog of charlatans and psychics – he’ll traverse Britain finding out what the future holds from tarot readers, crystal ball mystics, palmists and tealeaves. He’ll compare the signs, look for grims, panic occasionally about the imminent death of his gerbil (before remembering it actually died in 1984) and generally try to discover whether anyone can actually predict the future.

He should come to me. I’ve checked my tarot, and my runes – and read lot of articles written by businessmen, scientists, and commentators, all of whom agree the age of cheap plentiful oil is going to end very soon.

Oil has become something of a world religion, more successful than either Christianity or Islam; it has crossed national, ethical and social divides. Worshipped by all: imagining life without it is exceptionally difficult.

An obituary may seem a little far-fetched, but multiple predictions are clamouring to be heard. Barely one new significant oil reserve has been discovered since the 70s, and oil towns across the world from Russia to the USA, where residents were convinced the black stuff would last forever, are now dry, and the landscape rattles with the skeletons of unused derricks and rigs.

And pretty much everything, and I do mean everything, we use in our daily lives is manufactured with, or dependent on, oil. We need it like we need air.

Some believe Peak Oil has already come. That we’ve already reached the top of the oil production curve and that the only way is down. Peak Oil isn’t when the oil runs out – it’s the point at which it starts to be more difficult and expensive to get at. On the way down the curve prices are set to escalate dramatically. Yet, at the same time world demand is set to increase again. India and China, both with enormous populations, want a slice of development pie with oil custard… and their economies are surging, driven by oil.

Now, even if I’m wrong, and we don’t hit Peak Oil ‘til 2030 or 2040 there’s hardly anyone in the oil business who seriously thinks we’ll have to wait longer. And as oil prices sky rocket – what are we going to do? Controlling the depleting supply of oil and finding a replacement energy source is going to be the issue of the next generation. We need clean energy to combat and reverse global warming – and we need it to be as fantastically versatile as oil – or we need to change the way we live.

Transition Isle of Man is beginning to ask Manx people to think about how we as individuals, as a society, as a Government, and as an economy will change. Change is inevitable; the challenge is to choose to evolve now, instead of waiting until we’re forced, when the decisions we take may be more urgent and less reasoned.

I said in my last column that we need leadership and vision. We do. We need it from Government… but on this issue you can make a difference too. You can contribute by helping choose the future you want to live in.

…Or… you could go out and buy a horse and cart before the rush.

To find out more about Transition Isle of Man, a grassroots movement, please visit the Transition Towns website at www.transitiontowns.org (and click on Isle of Man), or e-mail: transitioniom@mac.com

I’ll be presenting a Perspective on marine conservation on April 24th. If you’d like to suggest a marine topic for me to investigate, please get in touch before April 7th.

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The Director of Public Health has responded to my article - Forget Fluoridation, let's think about teeth - in March 2008 Manx Tails. (A column which was my own view and not the view of any organisation.)

ffinlo Costain, Thie Yuan, Fistard, Isle of Man, IM9 5PQ
Mob: 07624 400 193     E-mail: ffinlo@ffinlo.org