Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers blog

“What is the most important everyday thing you could do to save the planet? And how would this help?”

Most people in the UK are familiar with David Bellamy as the man who popularised botany through our TV screens in the 1980s. Now David puts most of his energies into a campaign that affects us all – global conservation.

Global conservation and ecology are always very topical issues, but many on Answers feel people aren’t paying enough attention to this issue. As springdewfairy notes in her response “most politicians aren’t willing to bring up the problem of global warming, because it would hurt their political careers.”

Fortunately we seem to be moving in the right direction on this now, with David Cameron campaigning on green issues and the differences you could make, and ex-US Vice-President Al Gore making a movie, An Inconvenient Truth, based on global warming.

Global conservation is a wider issue than just global warming though. While this does involve climate change, it incorporates the wider concerns affecting our environment such as deforestation and the extinction of wildlife or plantlife and its’ effect on our planet.

David’s question is getting to the root of what we can do at a grassroots level and how this would help. Without depending on politicians to save us, are we doing enough? In answering the question try to assess how you make a difference in your daily lives, from using the car less and recycling more to greening your home in an effort to reduce your carbon footprint.

If you want to start to make a difference, take a look at some of the charities David is working with to find out how you can help.

David has asked his question in the Environment and Ecology sub-category. This is part of the Science and Mathematics category as part of the Yahoo! Answers Challenge.

–Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

For more shots from Yahoo! Answers Brain Bus @ the Thames Festival follow this link.

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland team

The Yahoo! Answers Brain Bus tour returns to the capital this weekend (16th and 17th of September) to join the Thames Festival 2006. We’ll be on site to discover if visitors are south Londoner or north Londoners, sorry, right or left brain.

The Thames Festival is a free, outdoor celebration for London that has been running for the last nine years. Last year around 470,000 people joined the celebrations over the two days. The festival is as diverse as the multicultural city it is set in, with night carnivals, boat races, art installations, bridge walks, riverside markets, kids events and everyone’s favourite – fireworks. How do they make those different colours?

The Brain Bus will be parked near London Bridge and HMS Belfast, on the South Bank of the river Thames. This large waterway has dominated London living for centuries. Even with the flood barrier in operation, global warming means the river might yet rise up? And can it stay clean well into this century?

Despite a summer of UK hose pipe bans, the issue of water supply affects those in the third world far more profoundly. On this topic, 600 Year 5 Pupils from 40 primary schools from London boroughs will be coming together in the Children Sing for Water performance this weekend as part of the festival.

An educational resource not far from the bus is HMS Belfast, the Town-class cruiser built in 1938 and now moored on the banks of the Thames and used as a museum. Always worth a visit, it makes you wonder, what other alternative objects, buildings or environments could be used as museums? The Thames certainly is flanked by some very diverse structures, from Tower Bridge to the London Eye, the Dome to the Harmonic Bridge (once wobbly, opposite the Tate Modern). But which is the most interesting and individual?

As night falls, London comes alive, and there are few places more atmospheric than the Thames by sunset. The festival capitalises on this wonderfully with its night carnival, where 2,500 musicians, dancers and performers with lanterns, illuminated costumes and fantastic floats take over. Just why do events like these become so much more special at night? You’ll just have to join the Brain Bus and see for yourselves.

UPDATE: view images of the Yahoo! Answers Brain Bus tour at the Thames Festival here.

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

To coincide with the release of his new movie, An Inconvenient Truth, in the UK & Ireland, Al Gore has asked an important question on Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers:

“What are YOU doing to reduce global warming?”

You can see him ask the question on Yahoo! Video here. The question ties into the content of his new film which attempts to expose the myths and misconceptions about global warming, and tries to inspire action from the public to help prevent it.

For more information, including trailers of the new movie check out the special feature on Yahoo! Movies.

Coincidentally, we have had Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics on Answers this week, answering a similar question – what is the biggest contributor to global warming?  Dave was promoting the 35th anniversary of Greenpeace and saw Yahoo! Answers as the perfect place to put his views across on some important issues affecting our age. He also took the time to answer a question about deforestation.

Whether you answer Al’s question or not, this is perhaps a chance to take time to think about the issues and how we can all get involved.  If you need some pointers then both the movie and the Environment & Ecology category would be great places to start…

–Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

Those of you who have taken a look at the Food and Drink category today may have noticed something slightly different…

We have a new sponsor for this category – Sainsbury’s – who will be featuring questions around food and drink for the next few months as part of their Daily Delicious campaign.  The Daily Delicious website is a community area where you can share your cooking tips and recipes with other readers, and discuss food and drink in greater detail in their forums.    

The `Question of the Day` will appear at the top of the Food and Drink category for easy access in answering the question.  We are interested to hear what you, the community, think is the best answer for each question so Sainsbury’s will allow all questions to go to the vote after three days.  Additionally remember to give the thumbs up rating to answers that really make your mouth water…

Today’s question is: What’s a great topping for homemade popcorn?

Let us know what you think of the idea, and we hope that together Answers and Sainsbury’s can become your perfect cooking resource!

–Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team