Congratulations to Purbeck residents who have come second (for the second year running) in producing the least amount of rubbish per person in the UK.

The latest DEFRA league tables show that we produce 298kgs of rubbish per person compared to 958kgs per person in the worst performing area.

For those of you looking for further inspiration to reduce the amount of rubbish you produce, there are loads of ideas on the Love Food Hate Waste website.

Following the protest by Dorset Against Rural Turbines (DART) outside the public exhibition for the proposed Wind Farm in East Stoke held in Wareham yesterday, the local support group ‘Say Yes to Wind Power’ has hit back.

Janet Payne from ‘Say Yes to Wind Power’ has dismissed DART’s accusations that the turbines will ruin the views over Purbeck and will not be efficient.

Their only argument against it is it’s going to spoil the view; I think it’s complete ‘nimbyism’, it’s selfish to object to it. Climate change is the biggest thing that we’re facing at the moment and we’ve got to go with wind. It’s clean, it’s renewable, it’s free. It’s a quarry site, it’s a brownfield site and wind turbines are better than other possibilities it could be used for.

Peter Barker, also of ‘Say Yes to Wind Power’ made the following statement:

We have looked at all of DARTs arguments and found them to be groundless in relation to this project. Their only real concern appears to be that they do not want to look at them. Most people now realise that wind is an essential part of our toolkit in tackling climate change. Let DART protest, they are just showing that they do not care about the World we leave for our children.

Find out how the National Trust are reducing their impact on the environment through the recycling of waste, use of recycled materials, and eco-friendly building design.

The 2 hour walk will include a fair-trade beverage and a 2 course locally sourced organic lunch.

Booking Essential on  01929 450259. Meet at the Visitor Centre, Knoll, Studland.

Studland: Wed 5 Nov 10.30am-12.30pm, £13

Dorset Scrapstore is holding an Open Day on Tuesday 28 October.

The Scrapstore, located at Three Lanes End in Puddletown, collects materials donated by industry, commerce, individuals and makes these materials available to the community as a valuable, low cost resource.

The Open Day is a great opportunity to search this veritable Aladdin’s Cave - if you are feeling creative some ideas include materials for a witch’s costume for Halloween, a shepherd’s cloak for the Nativity Play, or materials to make decorations or cards for Christmas.

Dorset Scrapstore: Tue 28 Oct, 10:00am-8pm, Tel: 01305 849444

Following our previous story that Infinergy, the company behind the proposed Wind Farm at Masters Pitt in East Stoke, has cut the number of planned wind turbines from 6 to 4, comes news that it is holding a public exhibition at the Springfield Country Hotel in Wareham on Monday, November 3 from 1.30-8.30pm. 

The exhibition will provide information about the revised proposal, photomontages and other research material, and consultants will be on-hand to answer questions and take feedback.

The revised plan has the potential of generating 9.2MW of electricity, which represents 11-13% of Dorset’s renewable energy target of 68-84MW of electricity from renewable sources by 2010.

If the government is to reach its target of wind-power generating a third of the UK’s energy needs by 2020, it is small wind-farms like this, as well as the larger scale projects, that will need to overcome local opposition and be approved and built much more quickly than they have in the past.

The National Trust has today published a South West update to its Shifting Shores research of 2005, which starkly highlights the danger posed by climate change to the Purbeck coastline.

The original research looked at the long-term future of the coastline in the Trust’s care, and the impact that climate change was going to have, through sea level rise, coastal flooding and increased erosion.

In the South West, 279 kilometres of National Trust coastline could be affected by increased erosion along with 852 hectares of Trust coastal sites becoming at risk of tidal flooding.

At Studland, for example, all visitor facilities including car parks, information centre, catering and retail outlets are seriously threatened by storm events and coastal erosion. All 258 beach huts are also extremely vulnerable. Initial estimates indicate relocating the facilities could cost around £3.6 million.

The lagoon on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour is also at risk as if sea levels continue to rise as it would become inundated with sea water, losing a significant habitat for many species of over-wintering and migrating birds.

Brendan McCarthy, National Trust Director for Wessex explains why this is so important:

We are very keen to share what we have learnt with others, as what the Trust is facing will be mirrored across much of the UK’s coast. There is a host of public- and private-sector organisations and individuals with a stake in the future of our coast. Everyone needs to wake up to coastal change, and begin planning coordinated responses on how to adapt to the inevitability of sea-level rise before it is forced upon us.

Musician Billy Bragg is a National Trust volunteer on the coast in Dorset and says

It’s so important to raise public awareness of changes we as volunteers are seeing on coast due to climate change to help encourage politicians to tackle this issue more directly.

Purbeck Environment Action Team (PEAT) is holding a fun-filled day of music, theatre performance and street art at Abbots Quay, Wareham on Saturday 20 September. 

PEAT is a group of like-minded individuals working towards sustainability in Purbeck. They encourage “living lightly” and sharing the Earth’s resources fairly.

The ‘PEAT on the Street’ event aims to encourage alternatives to car use and will involve closing some of the side streets so that everyone can enjoy reclaiming the streets. In the spirit of the event you are encouraged to walk, cycle or use public transport to get there.

Visit the PEAT website for a full programme of events. As part of the day’s activities, The Rex cinema will also be showing Trafic (1971),  Jacques Tatis satire about people and their cars at 7.30pm.

Purbeck Environment Action Team: 20 September, 10am-4pm 

Jenny Goldsack, the founder of Goldy’s Farm Shops (in West Holme & Bere Farm, Lytchett Matravers) has been pronounced as a Local Food Hero in September’s issue of the BBC’s Countryfile magazine.

Jenny was nominated by Simon Hart, president of Countryside Alliance, for her environmental credentials, which include the shops’ fridges being powered by wind turbines and water heated by solar panels.

Goldy’s was also made Environmental Farm Retailer of the Year 2008 by Farma and was Best Rural Retailer for the Wessex region in 2006 and 2007.

Following the launch of the ‘Say Yes To Wind Power’ campaign in support of the proposed wind farm in East Stoke, the group’s spokesperson, Peter Barker, provides details below of the feedback they received on the launch day in Wareham:

“We were overwhelmed by the positive response from the public, I would say 85-90% were supportive and in less than 2 hours we received over 180 signatures of support. We were really very busy there, it was most encouraging to find the level of support and vindicated our opinion that the quiet majority are behind the idea.

We had some great comments written too:

• “Wind farms are a feature & we need to go for renewables, it is the future”
• “So nice to see someone supporting these things”
• “I absolutely support this in Purbeck”
• “I’m a tourist & love Dorset will love it even more with turbines”
• “The proposed site is a sensible one - does not intrude on Purbeck heritage landscape”
• “My views are spoiled by 25 pylons from a gas power station. I would prefer to see wind mills”
• “Although wind power alone cannot be the only source, it must be part of a renewable energy supply - please put one in my back-yard!”

4 people we met were very opposed to the idea, 3 lived in East Stoke so we spent some time talking to them about their concerns.

It became clear that the ‘facts’ they had were at odds to the ones we had. Subsequent research indicates to us that some fear-mongering has been at work, which strikes us as being unfair to people who are obviously worried about their homes.

It would probably be helpful to cover some of the more valid points.

1. House values; in a survey of Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, 40% said a wind farm had no effect on house prices. 60% said it had a negative effect but it starts to recover after a couple of years suggesting people become used to them within the landscape.

I have heard that people living closest often become their strongest advocates, we experienced this on Saturday when a visitor from Fareham commented, “Fully support having lived with wind farm in Cornwall”

2. Are they effective? This development is rated at 13.8 MW, due to wind variations, it is expected to generate 30% of maximum capacity giving a yearly total of 36,000 MWh. This is enough to power 9,000 homes. A typical coal fired power station emits 32,000 tonnes of CO2 to make this amount of electricity.

We are windiest country in Europe but it is Denmark which leads the World with 20% of its electricity from wind and they are working to double that.

Germany is now the largest market for wind turbines having installed more than 20,000 MW.

3. Why there? The area is a heavily quarried brownfield site. It is on elevated ground which is not in an AONB, SSSI or Conservation Area. It is far enough away from houses to avoid any noise disturbance.

Dorset has a target of 68-84 MW of renewable energy by 2010.

4. Visual impact. They would be big with blade tips reaching up to 125m. We don’t believe they will be intrusive but others do.

It mostly comes down to personal preferences. We like the look of them, some people do not, we understand that and have sympathy for such people who may get them within a kilometer of their house. However we sincerely believe they will find their fears misplaced, we hope they will accept them, perhaps even take pride in their contribution to renewable energy and we are sure their children will one day thank them for it.

One final point, we are not being paid to do this. We do it because we care about our future. Global warming is wrecking havoc with our ecosystems, species extinction is accelerating and human suffering is the inevitable consequence.

We have to take responsibility for our power generation and do whatever we can to combat climate change, it’s the only right thing to do. ”

Supporters can contact us by email: wind4dorset@hotmail.co.uk“

Do your bit to help the environment and keep Purbeck’s beaches beautiful by participating in one of the many organised beach cleans on Sunday 20 April.

As part of the 20th Great Dorset Beach Clean volunteers are encouraged to help clear up rubbish from 25 beaches across Dorset. Last year’s event saw 700 volunteers collecting over 800 sacks of rubbish. 

• Champmans Pool - 10am
• Knoll Beach, Shell Bay, Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove - 11am
• Kimmeridge and Worbarrow Bay - 1pm
• Swanage - 2pm

All equipment will be provided.

Following our earlier story about a new campaign group in favour of the East Stoke wind farm proposal, the ‘Say Yes to Wind Power’ group was launched near the Quay in Wareham on Saturday.

The group plan to highlight the importance of this renewable, clean form of energy and are holding a further awareness day on Saturday 29th March to combine information, fun and a letter-writing appeal.

Local resident, Peter Barker said:

“We are supporting the plan to build a wind farm of 6 turbines at Masters Pit on the Puddletown road because we recognise the need to move away from burning fossil fuels and understand that wind energy is necessary as part of a safe and efficient energy solution.

In Germany it has been proven, using a combination of wind, solar and biogas, that electricity supply can be met with 100% renewables. There is no need for climate wrecking coal fired power stations or nuclear waste.

Climate Change is the biggest threat to our countryside and way of life that we now face and considering the potential suffering of millions worldwide, no one can morally object to an initiative like this which could help reduce that threat by preventing the emission of 32,000 tonnes of CO2 a year.

Opponents claim they are ineffective, but even running at 30% capacity this 13.8MW farm would produce 36,000 MW hours per year, enough to power 9,000 homes, and that’s 36,000 MWh that a coal fired power station does not have to produce.

I have done a lot of research into this, even visited a large wind farm and if I seriously thought anyone would be adversely affected I could not support it as passionately as I do.

Using a natural and free resource, we believe they are a graceful addition to our landscape, reassuring our community that we are making a positive contribution to the future.

If you agree with us, please write to Purbeck District Council Planning dept. Westport House, Wareham expressing your support or drop us an email at wind4dorset@hotmail.co.uk “

Following our story about the protest group set up against the East Stoke (Alaska) Wind Farm proposal comes news of the launch of a campaign in favour of the project.

Peter Barker, a local resident, will launch the campaign support group in Wareham on Saturday.

As we stated, it is important that opposing arguments are heard and that the vociferous protests of those against the wind farm don’t drown out those who believe wind power, along with other renewable energy sources, can play a key part in fighting climate change and securing future energy supplies for the UK.

A mere 1.5% of our electricity comes from wind power compared to 20% in Denmark, despite the fact that 40% of the continent’s winds blows across our shores.

We could be a world leader in renewable energy, exporting it to Europe and beyond, instead of lingering near the bottom of the European clean energy table.

The previously reported East Stoke wind farm proposal has been a highly contentious issues since its inception last year so it comes as no surprise that a protest group has now been formed.

The group, led by group chairman Geoff Edwardes, has teamed up with the Campaign to Protect Rural England and they both vow to fight the proposal ‘all the way’.

They argue that the six 125 metre-high wind turbines that are proposed for the Masters Pitt quarry in East Stoke will be a blight on the Purbeck landscape and that wind power is an unreliable form of renewable energy.

Those in favour of the turbines argue that wind power is a reliable energy source and that it is vital in the fight against climate change and declining non-renewable energy sources, and it is something Purbeck and Dorset should be leading the way in. Many people also find wind turbines a fascinating and attractive part of the landscape.

Coming off the fence, the wind farm is something that we are in favour of at the moment for the reasons mentioned above but we want to see a full debate from both sides over the coming months.  

You can see further details of the Alaska Wind Farm (as it has been named) on Infinergy’s website and sign up to be kept informed of further developments.

Purbeck Council has launched a new 3-year trial to collect and recycle paper beverage cartons.

Although they can’t be placed in your recycling bin, you can dispose of your cartons in special orange-coloured recycling collection bins (taking paper-based cartons only) in the following locations:

Swanage North Beach Car Park; The D’Urberville Hall in Wool; Bere Regis Car Park; The Upton Oil Site at Blandford Road North in Upton; and Purbeck District Council Offices in Wareham (the Wareham bank will be arriving in a few weeks).

If you have an on old or unwanted car blocking up your driveway or garage, Dorset County Council has launched an amnesty to collect and dispose of it for you.

The amnesty, supported by Dorset Police and the Fire and Rescue Service, lasts for 2 months and during this period just call W&S recycling on (01202) 675564 to arrange a free collection.