NEWS: The CityHippy Week

Ladies & Gentleman, it's Friday night! Welcome to...

The CityHippy Week!

STORY OF THE WEEK: Branson's next big bet: Virgin Fuel
Whilst this story is a couple of weeks old it got mostly buried and I just came across it.

Now don't get me wrong, I do not fly anymore unless I have no choice i.e. life or death. I have to go up to Stirling, Scotland in October and will go by train instead of by plane. But let's face it, most people are not going to stop flying any time soon. Sadly. Not until the effects or financial costs of Climate Change are right up in their faces.

Enter Richard Branson. Not your typical eco hero I admit. Whilst the world argues about the evils of flying he has decided to see if he can invent a super clean fuel for aircraft to address the problem. Will it work? Who knows. Certainly hope so. Go Richard!

What else caught my little green eye?

Tories favour 'oak tree revamp'
In a further step to a greener policy portfolio the British Conservative Party (the Tories) have rebranded and selected for their new logo an Oak Tree, ever the symbol of British Countryside. The more they position themselves as the green mainstream party, whether it is true or not, the higher the standards they will have to set and uphold and that can only mean that the other parties will have to follow them onto a greener platform, which is exactly what seems to be happening. The Environment is fast becoming the key issue of substance.

Lib Dems' green tax plan unveiled
Whilst the Tories bling up their green cred with a fancy new logo the Liberal Democrats (the Lib Dems) are busy creating policies. Their plan to get low to middle income folks out of the harsher income tax brackets is an obvious winner all round, despite what the other parties will say to the negative. The Lib Dems will make up for the income tax shortfall in the Treasury coffers by taxing Carbon Belchers ie those who drive dirty cars, the dirtier the car, the higher the tax, as well as taxing air travel I imagine and a whole host of other environmentally negative activities. Makes sense to me.

Ex-minister's fury as tough pesticide controls rejected
And rather predictably whilst the Tories are busy looking green and the Lib Dems are proposing the kind of bold, honest policies only those with little hope of gaining power can favour, the Labour party are busy enhancing their eco credentials by, erm, not placing tough controls on pesticides linked to Parkinsons. Riiiiiiight...

WANT MORE?
To receive all the headlines that caught my eye this week make sure you sign up to my 100% spam-free weekly Newsletter (see top right to subscribe). PLUS subscribing also gets you:

• A vege recipe from Vege Blogger, Geraldine Hartman, author of Not Just For Vegetarians, along with her green food tip of the week.

• An eco-quote from Debra Lynn Dadd, New York Times' Queen of Green, along with an eco-action relating to the quote.
  

• A site-wide 10% discount from Natural Collection, the Ethical Retailer of the Year, based here in the UK.

The perfect email to get you through the week.

Cityhippy bookmark of the week: Hippo Effect
Save water and rescue a Hippo, the kind you stick in your toilet to reduce water flow that is...not the large animal. That would just make a mess in your house. The Anti-Apathy Hippo Farm has 100,000 Hippos that need a good home...

…and that's the way it is folks!

Namaste

Al

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