Elham Low Carbon Community Roadmap

As part of the Elham Environment Group, we've designed this diagram to show the activities the Group is taking and how we're working with other community groups to achieve change.

It's really important with community action to illustrate clearly and visually our objectives and achievements as it's easy, with a less formal structure, to lose sight of progress.

It's also fundamental for local environmental groups to involve as much of the community as possible as it's the community at large that will make projects successful, not the members of the interest group.

It's a mad ad world

It's only January but already 2010 is looking like a vintage year for mad, bad American political attack ads.

Unlike Britain, pretty much anything goes in US political advertising, a tradition that has produced some great ads but mainly produces nasty, cheap negative attacks along the lines of: "Senator Blah voted to increases taxes on food. America's children eat food. Senator Blah hates America's children. Senator Blah - bad for America."

But nothing, frankly, can prepare the mind for this ad from the Carly Fiorina campaign. Fiorina is running in California's Republican senate seat primary against one guy named Tom Campbell:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2010/feb/03/us-political-ads

Giant snow sculptures in northern Japan

The 61st snow festival in Sapporo features open-air sculptures on a variety of themes from Mickey Mouse to elaborately carved buildings

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2010/feb/05/japan