Local EnGovernment

Green Apple Festival Draft

Mitchell Jones — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 21:44:02 +0000

An outdoor music and arts festival spread across eight US cities began its third annual weekend celebration of Earth Day today.

The Green Apple Music & Arts Festival, tagged as “America’s largest Earth Day celebration”, will host eight free outdoor concerts in Washington and New York amongst other venues from Friday through until Sunday.

Amongst the acts scheduled to perform as part of the free gigs are Juliette And The Licks, The Neville Brothers and Martin Sexton. Intimate gigs around the venues will also be held from artists including Kate Nash, They Might Be Giants, The Bravery and Saul Williams.

The event, a collaborative effort between the Earth Day Network and Chase Bank, is designed to raise awareness for for the environment and coincide with Earth Day, this Sunday (20th).

One blogger, AllMySons, is excited about the prospect of such an event taking place where people can experience the taste of organic foods and observe the arts, educational messages and live acts.

“Hopefully it will help give ideas to people, who go just for the music and food, about how they can help out just by doing the little things.”

A clip of last year’s event in San Francisco can be seen here.

http://environmentalnewsonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=101&Itemid=55

Earth Day: What in the world is going on…

Mitchell Jones — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:22:55 +0000

The annual Earth Day observance takes place on April 22nd and approximately one billion people from all over the world are expected to participate in the promotional event that hopes to raise awareness for the environment and the Earth in general.

So what is happening to celebrate this cause?

Fans of music will be able to see a number of top artists perform at the Green Apple Festival, a weekend of environmental awareness “culminating on Sunday, April 20th with eight free festivals occurring simultaneously at landmark locations across the U.S.” Musicians scheduled to perform around the cities over the weekend include Kate Nash, Saul Williams, Juliette & The Licks and The Roots.

Closer to home, Deepdale Farm will play host to the North Norfolk Coast Earth Day Event. The six-hour exhibition is free to the public and takes place on Earth Day itself, April 22nd, 10am-4pm.

In the online world, Vegan Girl Next Door has reported that a free digital copy of the Vegetarian Times magazine has been released online with the idea that every online page turned is helping to save trees commonly used for publishing. To read the free magazine, click here

Sticking with the internet, a Youtube video by user ‘everydayuncommon‘ has set out to spread the word about an online project from NerdFighters. A post made on their online forum explains that the aim is for users worldwide to “head out into our very own communities and do some clean up… garbage on the side of the road… clean up a local spring/pond/lake/river/beach/etc… pick up trash in a park… or a nature trail… whatever! Then weigh the collected debris and report back to me and I can tally all the waste collected.”

If you are looking to get in on the action yourself and still need ideas, the Earth Day Network has a number of tips on how they feel you can make a difference. There’s also a forum where you can participate in discussions and even make suggestions of your own.

Don’t forget to join the Earth Day Facebook group for more information.

ENO Piece: http://environmentalnewsonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=92&Itemid=1

Being awake during the ‘quake…

Mitchell Jones — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:19:57 +0000

It has, without doubt, been one hell of a long morning. As most people are now aware, an Earthquake hit most of England in the early hours of the morning of February 27th. Around 4.7 on the Richter scale, it was not only a rare occurrence but the biggest of its kind for around 24 years. For some, it was their first experience of what tremors are and can do. For myself, it was only the second yet no less frightening once the realisation kicks in. After running into the next room to make sure that my Mom and the dog were ok, I sat back down at my computer and contemplated my next move. It didn’t take long to figure. I did exactly what any other decent human being would do.

I went onto Twitter.

The following is an insight into how I suddenly became fascinated with online journalism.

The first twitter comment that I came across was from fellow Environmental News Online reporter Stephen Nunes confirming the tremors and posting a link to the USGS.gov website featuring their official report on what took place. I couldn’t find anyone else online at that point to cover the story, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and made the call to stay up all night and write a blog about it.

For the next hour, I wore out the F5 button on my keyboard keeping up to date with the coverage on BBC Online and Sky News.In an effort to keep myself grounded, I logged on to one of my favourite online forums to see what members of the site were saying. After all, they weren’t journalists, but normal everyday civilians sharing their immediate thoughts and feelings. As expected, a thread was already in progress with countless replies ongoing as I skimmed through page after page. At this point, I noticed the time; it had just gone 3am. I signed into my e-mail browser and sent a couple of e-mails out to selected websites in an attempt at gaining a few comments to be able to use, but who would be up at this time of night? The waiting game wasn’t an option at this point. I was in full journalism mode. Do I sacrifice a story in order to wait for hours on end just to obtain a few words to validate my piece? Do I balls. I went straight to WordPress.com and searched in their tag section for ‘Earthquakes’. Twittering my actions as I went along, I found a series of blogs from people across the country who, like me, sought an immediate voice to express the experience. Noting the few posters who had clearly stated that this was their first ever earthquake, I ran with it and used a couple of quotes to give the story a new spin. A quick visit to Flickr gave me the last vital piece needed: a picture. There was only one, of a couple sitting on a sofa watching the coverage on TV. It would do nothing on it’s own, so I slapped on a caption and upon reading it through, was pleased with my choice. It was a visual insight into the public reaction. People often say that journalism is untrustworthy, or unable to connect with people because of it’s framed view of what is a wider world. Those skeptics simply don’t understand. That one picture, in the context of the story, spoke more to me than any image of a crack in the ground, and the quotes used were from real people, sharing their viewpoint. If that isn’t a connection between news and the people it affects, I don’t know what is.

The finished article, for those interested, can be read here: http://localengovernment.wordpress.com/2008/02/27/late-night-earthquake-rumbles-england/, and here: http://environmentalnewsonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=43&Itemid=55

A review of the story can also be seen here: http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/02/27/student-journalists-cover-the-uk-earthquake/

It might sound a little boring to some, but I will be perfectly honest: The adrenaline rush was amazing. At the risk of sounding self-indulgent, pretentious and just downright geeky, the feeling of rushing around to collect information, images and opinions in order to pick out the key elements and piece together an original and informative (and factually accurate) story as quickly as possible was satisfying as anything could be. Maybe it’s a little sad to have been proud of myself as I climbed into bed at 6am this morning, but for the first time, I actually found myself starting to understand and appreciate online journalism a lot more. The only concern now is to keep up the momentum. Earthquakes don’t happen every day. Probably with good reason too.

I wouldn’t want to be the only one cheering for another.

Late-night Earthquake rumbles England

Mitchell Jones — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 03:48:37 +0000

An Earthquake, believed to be the largest on national record in 24 years, has been reported across England this morning.The tremor, conflictingly measured at approximately 5.1 on the Richter scale by the British Geological Survey, yet claimed to be 4.7 by the USGS, was feltjust before 1:00am and lasted for approxmiately 10 seconds.The epicentre is reported to have been Market Rasen , near Lincoln, and spread as far as London, Manchester, and even right here in Birmingham.

LEFT: Two housemates watch the news of the Earthquake unfold. Credit: carowallis1

Members of the public from around the country have been discussing the effects of the tremor online. For many, this was the first Earthquake that they have felt since earthquakes are a rarity in the country. One blogger commented: “The room really started to shake and I realized this must be an earthquake. I looked out my window and saw other students looking out their windows.”

Although rare, it’s not the first time that England has faced an Earthquake. In 2002, a quake stemming from Dudley reached 5.0 on the richter, whilst last year saw a tremor in Folkstone with a magnitude of 4.3. Todays quake, however, is said to have been the biggest since 1984.

On another blog, one commenter added: “I’m in the centre of Birmingham, near Aston University Campus. The whole of our student accommodation shook, and we could hear the wall cracking. We were just watching a film and the sofas shook for about 6-8 seconds. We were left speechless.”

I hope to have more insight from key environmental professionals as the day continues. Keep your eyes peeled for more information as I get it, here on LEG.

I’m also interested in your thoughts and comments. Did you experience the tremor? Where were you at the time? Have your say by using the comments section below this story.

Birmingham gets Envirowise in March

Mitchell Jones — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 14:01:00 +0000

The first UK trade show of its kind is coming to the nation’s second city for an exhibition in March.

Industrial Environment 2008, part of Easyfairs SOLID, will be hosted at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham on March 11th and 12th with Envirowise leading the stalls that will be on show during the event.

The unique event, running alongside Maintec 2008 is aimed at engineers and plant managers looking to increase eco-efficiency by implementing new technologies that will help reduce pollution, emissions and resource wastage.

So far, Brice-Baker Group, Endress + Hauser, Flexicon (Europe), K-Tron Great Britain, Howden Process Compressors, NDC Infrared Engineering, Rota Val, Sew Eurodrive, Sweco Europe, Vega Controls, and Vortex Valves Europe. and others have all signed up to be a part of the historic two-day convention.

To find out more, visit http://www.easyfairs.com/shows/detail.aspx?ShowID=402

Ten Things To Know About The Environment In The West Midlands

Mitchell Jones — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:27:09 +0000

Leicester was awarded status of the first Environmental City in the UK, due to its “commitment to continuous environmental improvement involving the whole city community.”
Friends Of The Earth have a base right here in Birmingham, with an online blog, podcast and even videos, as well as the usual information on how to do your bit.
Birmingham contributes 500,000 tonnes of industry and commercial waste to the ongoing wastage of resource within the UK.
Your local area most likely does have recycling facilities available right at your doorstep. If you aren’t sure, check out http://www.recyclenow.com/.
264 Selly Oak Road, Bournville – one of the UK’s few environmentally friendly home.
The Green Party have 110 councillors across the UK and are fighting to get one in Birmingham.
9 youngsters have been crowned West Midlands Region Youth Climate Change champions by the Prime Minister.
Travel West Midlands have a full environmental policy to help improve the Midlands and condense the effects of climate change.
Groundwork West Midlands is an environmental regeneration group set up to help the improvement of the environment.
The UK’s first trade show aimed at engineers and plant managers in charge of environmental compliance takes place on 11th and 12 of March 2008.

Introduction to Local EnGovernment

Mitchell Jones — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 01:53:53 +0000

If you’re reading this message, thank you for checking out my blog. The purpose of LEG is to keep abreast of the latest issues and news surround the environment in the West Midlands, particularly where the local government is concerned.

Please feel free to follow me on Twitter as my progression unfolds. I’d also appreciate any feedback or suggestions that you may have, via the comments link below.