Since day one, sustainability has been at the core of everything we do. We never wanted to make empty gestures — we wanted to be pioneers, a brand that leads by example, encouraging bigger organisations to make positive changes in its wake. — Kiss the Hippo
Kiss the Hippo the only company in London to be recognised as carbon negative.
We hear much from companies that they are carbon neutral. Scratch away the greenwash and what we find is that they have planted a few trees as carbon offsets and are still emitting carbon.
Carbon neutral is not sufficient, we need carbon negative. We also need regenerative agriculture, to improve soil structure, carbon capture, grass-grazed herbivores. We also need rewilding, reforestation of our hills and water catchment areas, restoration of peat bogs, reintroduction of European beavers.
Kiss the Hippo is not only carbon negative, they are one of the top coffee roasteries in the country, supplying coffee beans and their Broad Street house blend in compostable coffee capsules.
Gordon Brown had a wheeze of off balance sheet accounting, the PFI scam. It made public spending look low, a prudent Chancellor. Infrastructure, hospitals, schools, incinerators, built by the private sector, leased by the public sector, for which the tax payer is paying ten times the original cost.
Incinerators have to be fed. Local authorities sign contract for minimum waste. If fall below, they pay penalties. There is thus a disincentive to reduce waste.
Government needs to step in and annul these contracts.
Incinerators emit CO2. They should be forced to buy carbon credits for their emissions, and be hit with a carbon tax.
Incinerators emit carcinogens and other toxins.
Mass is not created or destroyed by incinerators. What is left residual waste, plus what goes up the chimney.
The residual waste is heavily contaminated with heavy metals.
A scandal several years ago, residual waste spread on an allotment in the North East, the Byker ash scandal in Newcastle – in which the city council was prosecuted after 2,000 tonnes of ash from the old Byker incinerator was found to contain potentially cancer-causing dioxins.
Incineration is not green energy, it is dirty energy. It is also destroying valuable resources which should be recycled, or placed in an industrial biodegrader.
All these measures in place, many incinerators would no longer be viable, and those in the planning stage shelved.
The figures published by local councils for recycling, are for that collected, it does not mean that collected is recycled. it is going to incineration.
Local councils need to do more to encourage recycling, some do, most do not.
We all should do our part, reduce, recycle, reuse.
We should also tackle the worst offenders, Waitrose and M&S obscene levels of plastic packaging. Is it really necessary bananas in a plastic bag, a coconut shell hacked off, then wrapped in plastic shrink wrap?
Mindful Chef, owned by Nestle, deliver recipe boxes, overpackaging, obscene use of plastic. Their frozen food boxes, a card sleeve, plastic film over what appears to be a paper tray, a plastic-lined paper tray.
Waste does not exist in the natural world either in time or space, the output of one process is the input to another, a closed loop system. We should emulate the natural world.
In Lincolnshire, the official green agenda carbon neutral by 2050, two decades too late, opposition to on-shore wind turbines, support for oil and gas exploration.
Are reusable coffee cups doing more harm than good?
Indie coffee shops are as always showing the way, ahead of the game, compostable coffee cups, reusable cups, but are we doing more harm than good?
We are in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic, takeaway coffee cups, contactless payments, necessary evils to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Best practice is that shown by Coffee Aroma. Only one person allowed into the coffee shop at a time, contactless payment only, takeaway cups a necessary evil, no reusable cups. No reusable cups accepted, anyone who tries will not be served and if persist will be asked to leave.
At the other end of the spectrum, Brian of Brian’s Coffee Spot going around coffee shops insisting they take his coffee cups, in one coffee shop he handed over two different coffee cups, then bragging on social media his cups accepted and encouraging others to do the same. Highly irresponsible behaviour.
A minority of coffee shops have reusable coffee cups on sale. Why reusable cups on sale? If on sale customers will expect to be able to bring in reusable cups. When I have queried this, no one should be using reusable cups during coronavirus pandemic, I was told if someone brings a reusable cup, they fill a takeaway cup, up to the customer to then fill their own reusable cup. Somewhat self-defeating.
It cannot be emphasised enough, no one should be taking a reusable coffee cup to a coffee shop, no coffee shop should be accepting. It is to introduce an unnecessary disease vector that puts staff and customers at risk.
Compostable coffee cups are not compostable, at least not on a compost heap, they will biodegrade in an industrial biodegrader, though I have found they will compost on a well made compost heap. What do we we do with them once we have drunk our coffee, unless on our way home to drop on the compost heap, assuming we have a garden let alone a compost heap.
Reusable coffee cups simply address a symptom, not the underlying problem of grab it and go, instant gratification, pointless consumerism.
The only way to enjoy a coffee is to relax in an indie coffee shop with coffee served in glass or ceramic, which sadly not possible in the midst of coronavirus pandemic. And even when coffee shops were open, even before the first lockdown, many coffee shops were only serving in takeaway cups contactless payment to reduce the risk of cross infection.
Coffee shops get lumped together with pubs as hospitality, they should not be, they were not spreading coronavirus.
When we come out of lockdown, it should be slowly slowly, pause at each stage with a willingness to immediately impose hard lockdown, with testing in the community. We should close our city centres to traffic, pedestrianise the streets, the first to open as the weather warms up indie coffee shops and restaurants with socially distanced tables in the street. Win win for everyone, kick starts the local economy, helps local businesses, improves city centre ambience.
I would berate Scott though not for forgetting his reusable cup and using a takeaway cup. I would berate Scott for using either. If the coffee was so good he wished to brag about, why did he drink it from a disposable cup (pandemic excepted but then should not be using a reusable cup)? I would berate Scott for not relaxing in a coffee shop, the excellent coffee served in glass or ceramic. To do anything less, is to not do justice to the coffee and the person who brewed it.
Would we treat a red wine in this way, slosh into a takeaway cup and jog off down the street? I think not, not unless we are a wino. Therefore why do we treat coffee with such contempt?
It is double trouble when companies extract fossil fuels to manufacture more plastics. They contribute to both the #ClimateCrisis and the plastic pollution crisis.
We face several existential crisis, global pandemics, climate change, plastic pollution, mass species extinction. We have to address all, we cannot pick and choose.
UK later this year hosts COP26. Cumbria has given the go ahead for expansion of coal mining, Leeds airport expansion, relaxation of rules on night time flying at Leeds Bradford Airport.
Worrying about drinking a cappuccino is pissing in the wind. We would better direct our efforts at closing down drive-thru takeaway coffee outlets.
Plastic-lined takeaway cups contribute to plastic pollution.
Currently whilst in the midst of a global covid-19 pandemic, a takeaway cup a necessary evil to reduce risk of cross infection. No one should be taking a takeaway coffee cup to a coffee shop, no coffee shop should accept, it is to introduce an unnecessary disease vector which puts staff and customers at risk.
Grass-fed cows, the grass continually eaten acts a carbon sink, improves soil structure, soaks up rain water, soaks up carbon, slows flash floods, good for wildlife. We have woods, hedgerows, ponds and marshes.
Yes, we should be concerned about about our carbon footprint. A cappuccino is the least of our worries.
Drinking a cup of coffee, drive to a drive-thru coffee shop? What of flights?
Fake milks cause huge environmental damage, soy destruction of rainforest (and unless certified organic almost certainly gmo), almonds drain the California water table.
I would not have coffee beans shipped from outside the country, not when add shipping cost. On the other hand, if out of the country, I may pick up a bag of coffee and bring it back home.
But what of my arranging coffee beans to Cyprus? If not, do we deny coffee shops source of speciality coffee beans?
Beggars belief incineration being suggested as alternative to landfill, landfill we are running out of, hence a landfill tax.
No, we close the loops, we reduce waste, we do not use takeaway cups, we do not use reusable cups. In the natural world waste does not exist either in time or space, output of one process feeds into another process.
How many coffee shops place their spent coffee grounds outside in a strong paper bag to be taken away to be used on the garden?
Carbon neutral transport? Electric vehicles powered by renewable sources, or the carbon offset scam? The only way to reduce carbon in the atmosphere is not to emit carbon.
We have to look at whole life cycle cost. At best the plastic cup can be downcycled, the metal cup recycled many times, the energy recovered.
And that was the problems with the discussion, takeaway cups or reusable cups, which is the better? Neither, neither should exist, instead we should address the underlying problem of takeaway culture.
If we care about the coffee we are drinking, let us do it justice, let us show respect for the barista, the roastery, the farm and the growers.
I don’t want my money going to the destruction of the planet, and putting peoples lives and land at risk just so that I can have a creamy coffee in the morning!
A man flogging fake milk tells us to drink fake milk. Now who would have guessed that?
This is what you get @Oatly, a childish, quirky, smirky attitude, not an adult, substantive response from an accountable company. Throw around false stats then strike a pose when you're called out. https://t.co/L1tja0KAwX
Oh look @oatly , if you behave like an over-sensitive big food corporation, members of the public start to notice! So now you're not only alienating influencers and food writers, but people who read their words! Bravo @Cynfab3@JoannaBlythman@fleroy1974https://t.co/AdCSCPtM43
Wow… Read the thread… Both tweets. Could we be anymore arrogant? Oatly, you’re not getting the message. This isn’t ‘starting a conversation about conservation’ that started before you were born. This is about your product, your investment decisions, & your marketing ethics. https://t.co/3V1WA2vMpC
The fact that in the minds of consumers the environmental comparison of these two (or any) food systems has been reduced to looking at CO2 emissions alone, is a triumph for “plant-based” Corporate Advertising and a disaster for the rest of us. pic.twitter.com/yS2rUSjfAq
Comparison of Oatly with milk from cows was biased, but then what to expect when the source is someone flogging fake milk.
We heard of transparency. No mention of acquisition of a share of Oatly by Vulture Capitalists responsible for forest destruction or by a Chinese state owned company to facilitate access to the Chinese market.
Oatly used to be a small company that made a profit. They are now a big company that made a loss of $35 million in 2019.
'When cattle are fed monocropped corn, their methane emissions far outweigh the carbon that is trapped in their manure. But when cattle are part of an intact ecosystem, they're grazing native grasses, they're manuring that field- over time, soil is built'https://t.co/SyJejtM3eD
The comparison was with industrial agriculture, the same industrial agriculture producing oats for Oatly, intensive agriculture.
Cows have an advantage, they are very efficient at converting to something edible what we cannot eat, converted to meat, milk and cheese, cheese produced by an age old natural method of fermentation.
Yes, cows produce methane, and yes methane 20 times more potent than CO2, but CO2 lasts decades in the atmosphere, whereas the methane produced by the cows short lived. We fill a field with cows, assuming we do not increase the stocking level, a small increase in atmospheric methane which will then remain constant, it will not increase, the grassy field will be a carbon sink.
Nutritional equivalence : whole dairy milk 12+% solids ~3.5 protein – Oatly lower solids 10.6% – But mostly carbs 6.6% – Protein is the real casualty at just 1% mostly insoluble – Whereas ~3.5% colloidally dispersed and soluble protein in dairy milk…
— Paul Hart – Food Science: Ingredients & Nutrition (@Freewheal) February 17, 2021
No mention of nutritional deficiency
The only thing can be said in favour of Oatly, one of the better fake milks, nevertheless a cappuccino poured with Oatley looks and tastes disgusting.
Is that milk with your cappuccino or watered down porridge with enzymes added?
Milk needs fat for structure and flavour, essential for a cappuccino.
If do not wish for milk in a coffee, then ask for a V60 pour over.
The only fake milk maybe worth trying, and I confess I have yet to try, Rebel Kitchen, they at least have attempted to address the issue of fat.
He’s waging war on fat, quoting government so-called nutrition experts: count calories, up your physical fitness, avoid foods that are high in fat, sugar, and salt. This advice is worse than useless. It got us into our current mess. Me @heraldscotlandhttps://t.co/kCZceqltL7
Plant-based has become the new low fat, a means of marketing the output of global food corporations.
We should be supporting grass-fed agriculture, agroforestry, not monoculture, rows of monoculture crops which require herbicides, fertiliser, pesticide, will enable runoff, loss of soil, no improvement of soil structure.
Climate Change is a result of a mindset, that is based on monoculture, fossil fuels, chemicals, corporate control. We do not address Climate Emergency by applying the same mindset that caused the problem, global corporations trying to control what we eat and drink, destruction of local culture and diversity, is not the answer.
Excellent environmental issues being raised and discussed, but please do not greenwash on behalf of Oatly.
Adventures in Coffee a collaboration between Caffeine Magazine, Jools Walker and Filter Stories. Presented by Jools Walker and Scott Bentley.
The Toxettes performing Britney Spears' Toxic at London City Airport
We’re so proud of the rushers who were wrongly arrested whilst dancing on a public footpath. Their dance was ‘Toxic’ because airports are. — Climate Rush
I wasn’t allowed to go to Climate Rush tonight, I didn’t even have a halloumi sandwich. Can I have my life back pls Essex police? I miss it. — AndrewTobert
Yet another malicious prosecution of peaceful protesters. It is difficult to see how trespass can be commited when crossing a site on a public footpath, even if the site to be crossed happened to be Southend Airport.
Luckily the case has been dropped.
The Rushettes (Climate Rush’s musical alter-ego) went to Southend Airport to protest against its expansion and to encourage Southend Council to invest in more green infrastructure to provide sustainable job opportunities and protect their residents’ quality of life. The Rushettes were (WRONGFULLY) arrested, released after 16 hours with bail conditions not to communicate with one another. One month later these charges were dropped.
This morning the Toxettes performed Britney Spears’ Toxic at London City Airport ahead of City Hall enquiry.
On the night of the 22nd of December as part of the ongoing campaign to raise awareness of the selfishness, and ridiculous carbon emissions, of ‘Chelsea Tractors’ the CVLA paid a visit to the London borough of Islington.
In a flying visit, approximately 50 gas-guzzling, 4×4 ‘Islington Tractors’ had their license plates replaced with the more apt CO2 K1LL5.
Owners of these selfish vehicles, anywhere in the United Kingdom, can expect more visits from the CVLA over the coming months.
In 2007 domestic transport was the source of approximately 24% of the UK’s domestic CO2 emissions. Our cars contributed 58%, or 77.1 million tonnes, of this overall figure. If people need to drive, the CVLA suggest that a 5.0 litre, 4×4 tractor is a little over the top for our urban streets; even if they do have a light covering of snow. Switching to a less fuel hungry vehicle will slash fuel bills and carbon emissions.
In case any urban 4×4 drivers are feeling particularly brave, the CVLA also suggest alternative means of transport such as trains, buses, cycling and walking. These are popular methods of moving from A to B that don’t destroy the planet.
Right now some very rich men and women are making bad choices, decisions that will impact on the poorest and most vulnerable in society. Education maintenance allowance – £30 a week to allow kids to finish school has been scrapped. A cap on housing benefits that will create a Kosovan style social cleansing for London. Over 21,000 disabled people will lose their independent living allowance.
These cars are selfish. They dominate the road, terrifying cyclists and pedestrians alike. Check out this article – Chelsea tractors are the most hated form of transport, emitting at least double the emissions of an equivalent Estate vehicle.
It’s not okay for the richest people in society to make choices that will have a rubbish impact on all of our futures. It’s not okay for a borough of London to be saturated by vehicles that were designed for the hard and inaccessible terrain. It is okay to tease these selfish folk. Congratulations to those who made this happen. 300 number plates were updated in Chelsea on 12th December 2010. Seen one on your travels? Wanna take part? Get in touch – info@climaterush.co.uk
Overnight action by the Climate Rush License Plate Authority. Originally posted on their blog.
Keithpp's Blog 