| The World of Pete and The Environment Updated: 4th SEPTEMBER 2008 |
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| How Pete became an environmentalist... at a very early age... |
| At the beginning of World War ll. Pete, only 2 years old, was whisked away to the Highlands of Scotland, Fort George, where his father was in the Seaforth Highlanders. He used to go for walks on The Golden Common, where he became familiar with the Mountain Hares. On the edge of the forest, he came face-to-face with Red Deer, Red Squirrels, Pine Martens, and even Wildcats. He was in his element, for he loved everything to do with the natural world... |
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| All this, however, was not to last, - for some strange reason, he was whisked back to Walthamstow, London, - in the middle of The Blitz! What a shock for a 4-year-old! The only things that gave him hope was the old Oak Tree which stood over the Anderson shelter like some great guardian, and an owl, which, unlike other birds, remained in that Oak Tree throughout the war! After hiding in the shelter from bombs and doodlebugs (Flying Bombs) throughout the blitz, he was once again whisked back to Scotland, - this time in Elgin, where he lived in Old Mills Cottage, (pictured left), next to a farm. |
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| Here Pete remained until the end of the war, tending to Highland cattle, watching chicks hatch out in an incubator, weeding the fields, and helping spread manure on the soil. In THOSE days, ALL farming was organic! But at the end of it all, he was returned to Walthamstow, where he played on bomb sites with his cousin Alan Kay. Because of his love of nature, he was amazed at how the bomb sites soon became clothed in wild flowers, and he realised then, at 8 years of age, that, whatever Mankind may do to destroy her work, - mother nature would always fight back! From then on, Pete resolved to dedicate his life to looking after the planet, and to do all he could to deter Mankind from destroying himself, and everything around him: If only they had listened to him then... He had become the very first environmentalist! |
| Above: Old Mills Cottage, Elgin. Below: Pete plays on bomb site |
| Pete's Environment Books email Pete at widgeripoo@yahoo.co.uk for copies of these books... |
| Don't scrap The Trolleybus! |
| Back in the Early Fifties, when Walthamstow Borough Council decided, through pressure from The Government of the day, to phase out Trolleybuses in favour of the diesel-fuelled Routemaster buses. Pete had to speak out... Pete, although only 14 years old, told everyone what a big mistake this was. 'Trolleybuses don't pollute the atmosphere,' He told his peers. 'Diesel buses do, with invisible poison gases. In years from now, we will realise this...' In 1991, Scientists at Warren Spring Laboratory in Stevenage discovered Ozone Smog - an invisible pollutant formed by Petrol/Diesel fumes acting on sunlight... Now, fifty years later, they are re-introducing trolleybuses and trams to many cities in the UK |
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| Above: Trolly bus and Routemaster |
| THE TALK OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL WORLD! Pete's twin environmental bnooks, THIS GARDEN EARTH and VANDALS IN THE GARDEN are fast becoming the talk of Environmental groups throughout the UK, as they explain in plain terms, how Mankind is destroying his only home in The Universe. |
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| ON THIS PAGE: ICE-FREE NORTH POLE? WHO NEEDS PETROL? PETE & NIKKI'S GREEN ROOF CAMPAIGN... |
| Above: Pete on The Golden Common with his two sisters. Below: The Highlands |
| Pete Perry's GREEN ROOF CAMPAIGN! |
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| This is a serious campaign to get every roof of every house, office block, multi-story car park, Shopping precinct, garage, and even garden sheds grassed over for the benefit of wildlife and the future of the Planet... Everyone is familiar with the roof gardens, such as the ones in |
| Kensington London, where complete gardens have been created, with shrubs and trees, as well as grass and flowering plants, so why not extend this to ALL buildings? 'SO WHAT IS A GREEN ROOF?' Green roofs simply consist of plants being grown on roofs, thus replacing the vegatitive footprint that was destroyed when the building was constructed. |
| The highest density of Green Roofs occur in Germany (see top picture), widely considered a leader in Green Roof research, technology and usage, where it is estimated that 10% of all flat roofs are green: Let us make the UK the new leader in this...It is not difficult to turn your roof into a meadow, as you can actually purchase purpose-built 'Green Tiles' that fit together on your roof, in a similar way to the way ordinary garden lawn turf is laid. So, apart from the obvious help to wildlife and the environment in general, What other benefits do Green Roofs offer? Well, besides the obvious aesthetic and psychological benefits of being surrounded by garden or countryside settings, other benefits include the recovery of green space, moderation of the urban heat island effect, improved stormwater management, water and air purification, and a reduction in Energy Consumption! Stormwater run-off is considered by many to be the primary benefit, because of the prevalence of impervious surfaces in urban areas. The rapid run-off from traditional roof surfaces can result in flooding, increased erosion, and may result in raw sewage that is discharged directly into our rivers. A MAJOR BENEFIT OF GREEN ROOFS IS THEIR ABILTY TO ABSORB STORMWATER AND RELEASE IT SLOWLY OVER A PERIOD OF SEVERAL HOURS. Green Roof systems have been proved to retain 60-100% of the stormwater they receive. IN ADDITION, GREEN ROOFS HAVE A LONGER LIFE-SPAN THAN STANDARD ROOFS, BECAUSE THEY ARE PROTECTED FROM UNTRAVIOLET RADIATION & EXTREME TEMPERATURES... JOIN US IN OUR 'GREEN REVOLUTION' . We are asking for all new housing to include green roofs - is that too much to ask? PETE PERRY |
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| Picture left: Roof Meadow in Kassel, Germany |
| WHO NEEDS PETROL? |
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| TAKE A LOOK AT THE CAR ON THE LEFT - IT IS THE HONDA FCX CLARITY, - THE FIRST FUELCELL PRODUCTION CAR! Well, it seems like good news, doesn't it, considering that I have been advocating the use of fuelcell vehicles since the Sixties? But hang on - all is not what it seems! READ ON GENTLE READER... * * * * * * * |
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| Well, for starters, the fuelcell vehicle I talked about in my books This Garden Earth and Vandals In The Garden were powered by water, which was then converted into hydrogen gas, which powered an electric motor. But of course, who would make any profit if everyone filled their car up from the tap? So Honda have developed the FCX Clarity to be run on compressed hydrogen, that you will buy at filling stations! |
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| That way of course, the Oil Barons and Petrochemical companies simply have to transfer their oil production to the production of compressed hydrogen, - AND STILL CONTINUE TO MAKE VAST PROFITS! Of course, we can't have oil production phased out too quickly, and we can't have the common people cashing in on this 'new' technology, - so Honda have decreed that they will only be producing 200 over the next three years. Mass production will not happen until at least 2018 - another ten years. So who are the lucky few who will be able to buy this |
| environmentally-friendly car? Well of course, - that would be celebrities and The Chosen Few. Actress Jamie Lee Curtis has already got her name down for one, - whilst the rest will go to selected buyers in Southern California! A BIT OF A STITCH-UP DO YOU THINK? I THINK MAYBE THIS ADDS CREDENCE TO MY STORY ON THE SOCIAL JUSTICE PAGE, THAT WORLD LEADERS ARE TRYING TO TAKE CAR OWNERSHIP BACK TO THE SOLE LUXURY OF THE RICH... CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT 'PETROL FOR THE RICH'. |
| How the FCX Clarity fuelcell car works |
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| ICE-FREE NORTH POLE? Envornmentalist & extreme sports enthusiast LEWIS GORDON PUGH (pictured left) is attempting to get to the North Pole in a kayak. Now a few years ago, this would have been impossible, but, because of global warming, satellite images have confirmed that ships can now sail around the North-West passage, where once, such adventurers as Captain Scott risked their lives to drive husky-pulled sledges across vast acres of solid ice, which had been there since the last great Ice Age. The ice could |
| completely disappear from The North Pole in the Summer within the next five years. MEANWHILE, NINE POLAR BEARS WERE RECENTLY SPOTTED OFF ALASKA, TRYING TO SWIM 400 MILES TO THE THAWING ICE CAP EDGE. ARE WE GOING TO SIT BACK AND CONTINUE TO ABUSE THE PLANET, WHILST THE NORTH POLE, AND THE POLAR BEARS DISAPPEAR? PETE |