Grow ivy, cucumber, passionfruit on walls of city buildings: leafy walls and roofs could lower temperatures by up to 11°C, depending on the city

The greenest cities should be, well, green. Leafy walls and roofs could help people turn down the air conditioning on hot days, saving huge amounts of energy. It could lower temperatures by up to 11°C, depending on the city. Eleftheria Alexandri and Phil Jones at the Welsh School of Architecture at the University of Cardiff, UK, used computer models to compare the impact of “greening” buildings in nine cities, including temperate London in the UK, humid Mumbai in India, and tropical Brasilia in Brazil, reported The Economist, 6/10/2007, p. 6

Multinational mercenaries: Iraq private-security contractors still immune from Iraqi law

Their helicopters buzzed through the Baghdad sky, their patrols bristled with the latest weaponry and their armoured vehicles carried the latest high-tech gadgets, wrote Paul Tait in The Canberra Times (22/9/2007, p.B2).

Innocent man killed as “terrorist”; police operation goes wrong, London jury hears

In an unprecedented health and safety pros­ecution that was launched yesterday, the Metropolitan Police were accused of overseeing a “catastrophic” operation that led to the death of the 27-year-old Brazilian electrician who had been mistaken for one of the bombers involved in failed suicide attacks on London’s subway trains on 21 July 2005, wrote Charlotte Gill in The Courier Mail (3/10/2007, p.36).

How green is my consumer? “30:3 phenomenon” divides UK consumers into four categories

Consumers have long claimed to be more virtuous than they are. Retailers called it the “30:3 phenomenon” – 30 per cent of purchasers told pollsters that they thought about workers’ rights, animal welfare and the state of the planet when they decided what to buy, but sales figures showed that only 3 per cent of them acted on those thoughts, reported The Australian, 12/9/2007, p. 44

Four categories of consumers: One British retail executive who has made a detailed study of the phenomenon divides consumers into four categories:

• the first, about 8 per cent of the total, are committed, cause-driven purchasers;

• a second group, accounting for 30-35 per cent, want to purchase ethically but are not really sure how and are looking to retailers to help them;

• the third group, also about 30-35 per cent, feel the same, but doubt that their individual purchases can make much difference;

• the fourth group, the remainder, were completely uninterested, often because they are too poor to think about much more than putting food on the table for their families. S

30 per cent think green: The other proportion buying “ethically”, however broadly defined, is now higher than 3 per cent, and the proportion thinking about doing so has risen well above 30 per cent. But given that the gap between intention and purchase remains large, why do retailers make such a fuss about their commitment to sustainability, free range, fair trade and the like? Partly because they believe in it.

How green is my consumer?

• In the US, Dunkin’ Donuts has decided to sell only Fairtrade espresso coffee in its North American and European outlets;

• Even Wal-Mart, the campaigners’ favourite target on everything from employment rights to destroying mom and pop stores, has devoted itself to a range of “sustainability” projects.

What’s up in consumer-land?Are retailers simply responding to demand? Have consumers really changed? There is certainly more media coverage of “ethical” consumption, which covers a melange of causes. Many consumers insist on buying free-range chicken and eggs. Some are concerned about working conditions in the developing world.

Buy local: Others purchase locally produced farmed produce as part of the campaign against “food miles”. Worldwide sales of Fairtrade-certified products, for example, expanded 42 per cent last year, although at £1.1 billion ($2.7 billion) they are still equivalent to only 2.6 per cent of Tesco’s revenues and 0.6 per cent of Wal-Marts.

The Australian, 12/9/2007, p. 44