Here’s a picture of pollution in Beijing, around the future Olympic stadium (a fine looking building, by the way). I don’t suppose this is typical, but even a fraction of that suggests that athletics records will be limited to sprint events.

There are so many minor things that you can do to help the environment and yourself, from turning the thermostat down a degree to switching your lightbulbs to CFLs. Something we’ve done recently is install a water butt, which is a great example of something that is a good thing to do purely for yourself, and helps out the earth at the same time.

The benefits for us are simple – we get enough water to keep our entire garden ticking over without having to use a hosepipe, and most of the time there’s enough to wash the car with it as well. As we’re on a water meter that saves us money, and the rainwater is better for the plants.

That leads to an obvious environmental benefit – we use less ‘processed’ water – but there are others. In the UK almost all rainwater is channeled to drains, as there isn’t enough space to let it soak away as is common in the US. Although it’s rare, this system can become overwhelmed by heavy rainfall (and sadly it’s become less rare due to climate change and overcrowding). A waterbutt provides a buffer between the time the rain falls and when it enters the drainage system, as well as diverting a little more into natural drainage and filtering through the garden. One waterbutt makes almost literally no difference, but a million one waterbutts can tip the balance. In addition a reduction in the use of mains water cuts down power requirements for the processing station, reduces wear on the delivery and removal systems, and ultimately uses less of a rare resource.

All of that is great, of course, but none of it need influence your decision because you personally will benefit from spending the few minutes and few pounds/dollars required. Honestly, why wouldn’t you do it?

This map is a single data point in the argument over climate change, and is interesting enough in that regard. I highlight it here, though, mainly because it’s just a very interesting map.

Here’s an interesting map showing the amount of land required to provide all the world’s energy needs from solar power. Two things stand out from the map: First, it’s a heck of a lot of land, and second, it’s not really much land at all. The palindromic total of 910,019 square kilometers (351,360 square miles) is about the size of Venezuela, and all together would be the 34th largest (and, presumably, the sunniest) country on Earth.

At the same time that’s only 0.6% of the surface of the Earth, not including the wet bits. If you add up all the land used by power plants, coal mines, oil refineries, gas stations and the rest O.6% doesn’t look too bad. And while a solar farm isn’t generally somewhere you’d choose to go on vacation, I’d take it over a coal mine.

According to this Treehugger article a church in Levenshulme, England, is using old baptismal water to wash cars as an alternative to throwing it away. This has the handy side-effect of rendering your car immune to vampire attack.