Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Publishing and the environment

Publishing has long been a destructive industry, responsible for the felling of vast swathes of ancient forest, the use of energy on a considerable scale and the consumption of chemicals at the paper-making and printing stages. Suggesting change was whistling into the wind.

I am beginning to be impressed by the efforts now being made by publishers to reduce their ecological impact. The winds of the climate change debate have blown into more nooks and crevices than I had imagined possible, and quickly too. Recycled paper, and paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, are all the rage. Once all publishers are on board then the pace of change will quicken and will reach right down through the ‘supply chain’ to printers and paper-makers, many of whom are already making progress. Illegal logging in Russia and Indonesia, for example, may yet be halted. Much of the credit for all this can go to Greenpeace and their Forest Campaign.

Friday, August 17, 2007

The Big Green Gathering

My son ‘fronts’ a band called Bad Science. They do a fusion of ska, funk, hip-hop, poetry – whatever it is, they make a fantastic sound and I am a fan. They are serious musicians and every song has a message. They were starring at the Big Green Gathering high up on the Mendips recently and I witnessed a delightful fusion of modern angst and green vulnerability: the horse and cart (no cars allowed) bringing their instruments decided to down tools. It is hard to be ‘chilled’ when you are due on stage, the audience is throbbing, and the horse and cart doesn’t appear. And a touch galling.