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The more that we centralize and make services, retailers, entertainment larger and available to more people (ie. cinemas, supermarkets, hospitals, council offices, schools, doctors, shops, post offices, and your jobs (I could go on...). The more that you, I and everyone else will have to travel. That's without taking account of seeing family, friends and taking holidays. In a rural area such as in and around the Golden Valley your options are more limited than for those in town. Public transport is limited and it takes more effort to use it. Press Release: Cycle Tracks in the Golden Valley Follow this link and read the latest position on Cycle Tracks. This press release has been sent to the local parish councillors and will appear next month in the local December publications including the Hereford Times. Cycle as an alternative! So we tend to use our cars more than the average, probably walk less and cycling on these roads is a challenge. Not just the hills but the cars, trucks and tractors and to get anywhere like the shops tends to be a long way. On July 8th, 2008 GVEG Members Charlie and Freer attended a meeting with Colin Palmer and Jeremy Atkinson to discuss Cycle Tracks. Charlie reported it was "a very good meeting with a lot of ideas to progress". To read the minutes, click HERE Over time we (society) will need to overhaul how we organize places and services to reduce the dependence on personal travel. In the meantime there are things that you can do. Reduce our air miles! Flying stands out and you will hear a lot about the damage done by flying. Two reasons. In a plane you tend to go further. A return to the US would probably be more miles than you would drive in a year, and the effect of emissions from planes at altitude are magnified compared to releasing the same gases at grond level. Oh, and we are doing more and more of it. In the short term:
Also lift sharing schemes. These can be informal (sharing the driving to school) or more organised. There are websites to help connect drivers with passengers. The local one for Herefordshire is www.twoshare.co.uk Fantastic train information on Seat61.com - ever been tempted to take the train to Paris, Rome, Uzbekistan and beyond. Here is the site which will tell you how to do it. Friends of mine are just back from a weekend in Barcelona. All done by train from Birmingham. And it was easy, pleasant, not expensive (£150 each) and much more CO2 friendly than the "cheap" flight option. Bus information Area timetables and guides avialable from tourist information offices. National travel line - 0871 200 2233, local enquiries 01432 260211. Local bus times and maps - www.herefordbus.info National Express - to London and Midlands from Hereford, Ledbury, Ross and Pontrilas - www.nationalexpress.com Local Public Transport These days there are various resources around to help you plan your journey on public transport . Julie Archer, Manager of Dore Community Transport, spoke at our October 2008 GVEG meeting. Her organisation was started in October 2000 with funding from Hereford Council. Take a look at their website located at www.-dore-ct.co.uk. Hay & District Dial-a-Ride provides community transport in the parishes of Bredwardine and Brobury. Dial-a-Ride have a minibus and MPV, both wheelchair accessible plus a team of drivers using their own cars. Transport can be for any reason: recreational, social or medical. The minibus is available for booking by community groups during evenings and weekends. They are currently looking for drivers in all categories. If you would like further information regarding their service or to make a booking or to volunteer, e-mail haydialaride@btconnect.com or phone 01497 821 616. They are located at Council Offices, Hay-on-Wye, Hereford HR3 5BX. Open hours: 9am to Noon, Monday to Friday. Messages may be left on the answerphone at other times. Transportdirect.info is one website that allows you to plan a journey from one place or postcode to another (it will give you car routes too) Traveline - Call 0870 608 2 608 or go to their website www.traveline.org.uk Rail services Rail information line - 08457 48 49 50. Or use the National Rail website to get timetable and fare information. Alternative Fuels There is a lot of talk about alternative fuels for vehicles including cars. You will hear more and more about biodiesel and bioethanol for example. LPG has beenavailable for use in converted cars for some time - experience has been mixed but some are very satisfied - CO2 is reduced compared to using petrol. It is surprisingly complex to work out how good these alternative fuels will be for the environment and even for your CO2. Some biodiesel is made from waste vegetable oils - these used to be used for animal feed but that's not possible anymore. The waste oil can be simply cleaned and used in an engine (with suitable modifications) or it can be cleaned and then treated chemically to make it more like diesel and used (ususally as a blend with conventional diesel). Other biodiesel (and any large volume production) will use oils that are grown for the purpose. Already a considerable amount of oilseed rape is used to make biodiesel (mainly in contintental Europe). Other oils can be used too and we will see a lot of palm oil grown on plantations, often in Malaysia and Indonesia used for biodiesel in Europe. The environmental costs of this sort of production and shipping are potentially huge. Ethanol can be blended into petrol as vehicle fuel. In Braszil they've done this for a long time using sugar cane as a prodcutive source of the ethanol. There is talk of using this as a potential alternative fuel for planes too. Bear in mind with crops grown for fuel that the quantities that would be needed to replace a signficant proportion of our fossil fuel consumption are huge - there is not enough land - and at best it's a stop gap. Anyone with any relevant experience to share please get in touch..... Anyone offering to be the first to pioneer the use of an electric car out here? For a discussion of some of the potential downsides see - George Monbiot on biofuels Click here to return to top of this page.
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