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Sustainability Courses at Earth Connections 2013
Posted on February 7, 2013 by isleofeigg
Lots of new courses announced for 2013 at Eigg’s Earth Connections Sustainability Centre
10% Discount if you book by the 31st March 2013
5% Discount if you travel here by public or eco transport!
1. What on Earth? An Introduction to Green Living , 30 March – 2 April
2. Low Energy Living, 6 – 13 April
3. Reconnecting with Nature 27 – 30 April
4. DIY Renewable Energy, 4 – 7 May
5. Fun with Nature 11 – 21 May
6. Beekeeping for Beginners, 25 – 28 May
7. Practical Green Living, 1 – 8 June
8. Ecorenovation in Action 15 – 20 June
9. DIY Renewable Energy, 22 – 25 June
10. What on Earth? An Introduction to Green Living 6 – 9 July
11. Eco Escapes 13 – 20 July
12. The ‘Good Life’ Experience 27 July – 10 August
13. Eco Escapes 17 – 24 August
14. Greening your NGO 31 August – 7 Sep
15. Food Glorious Food! 7 – 10 Sep
16. Human Ecology in Practise 14 – 17 Sep
17. International Voluntary Service (IVS) Workcamp 21- 28 Sep
For more information about Earth Connections Sustainability Centre, go to their website http://www.earthconnections.co.uk
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Voluntary Opportunities 2013
Posted on February 7, 2013 by isleofeigg
Are you interested in volunteering? How about on the Isle of Eigg?
The Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust offers a variety of different volunteering opportunities from April to August. We invite you to spend time working with the community to improve the island’s natural environment, complete essential conservation tasks, monitoring and practical projects. You can expect to carry out tasks like beach cleans, marine litter monitoring, litter picking, bramble & bracken management, herb garden weeding, natural regeneration management, helping with community events and ceilidhs or if you can bring a specific skill to the island then please let us know in you application form. We are looking for enthusiastic caring folk that work well as part of a team and at times will be without supervision so it is essential that you are self motivated and can work independently. A very small nominal fee of £15/wk is asked for to cover household running costs only. If requested, references can be written for you after your period volunteering with us. Volunteers make an enormous contribution to the island of which residents are eternally grateful. Accommodation is provided by the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust in Tigh Corraigh a semi detached house situated in Cleadale on the northwest side of the island approx 4 miles from the pier. For an application form, further information or queries please contact volunteer@isleofeigg.net or for more information on the island look at www.isleofeigg.net
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Wave Wonder – the renewable energy solution generating electricity every day of the year!
Posted on June 1, 2012 by isleofeigg
Eigg Primary School pupils have been busy creating a wave powered generator designed to produce safe and renewable electricity. It’s called Wave Wonder. And a wonder it is; Eigg Primary have reached the final of the Junior Saltire Prize, organised through the SCDI.
With the Wave Wonder, electricity is generated when a magnet slides through copper wires wrapped around an inner tube containing a magnet. The complete generator is sealed in a strong protective outer tube. In between the two tubes there is a bulb to show electricity has been made; two red LEDs light up when electricity is being generated.
Movement of the waves will move the magnet. As the weight of the magnet can cause Wave Wonder to sink, the design includes the construction of a raft to maintain buoyancy. The raft will be attached to either the sides of the test tank or to permanent fixtures on the seabed.
The pupils used a fish tank filled with water to which different shapes, sizes and types of materials worked best when waves passed through. After testing lots of different shapes, they decided to use a snake design, but they also looked at the design of a shake-torch (Faraday torch) to help understand the concept of the electromagnetic induction. They spent £56.09 on materials to build their test wave generator.
The advantages of Wave Wonder are:
- It does not make carbon dioxide.
- It will not run out of waves
- There is lots of sea around Britain.
- Northern Scotland is windy
- Wave Wonder has rubber stoppers so will not be noisy.
- There is no metal in the design which can rust.
- It produces no waste.
- No harm to wildlife.
- Its simple design means it is low maintenance and all its electronics are self contained.
- It is cheap to make and it does not ruin a view.
Wave Wonder was designed by Struan, Erin, Murry, Heather, Hannah, Mia and Logan. Struan, Erin, Murry and Heather developed those design ideas through to the plans for final submission to the competition. Together they all did a lot of discussing and had meetings at the end of each session to see what everyone had done in the lesson. They also worked in partners and trios and always included everyone when making important decisions.
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Eigg households collect 70% less plastic waste than Scottish average.
Posted on April 10, 2012 by isleofeigg
ISLE OF EIGG DOMESTIC PLASTIC WASTE SURVEY – 18TH to 25TH MARCH
- There are 43 households on Eigg.
- 37 households were on the island during the survey week
- 26 of those 37 households took part in survey week (70% participation) and collected 12.15kg of plastic.
- 21% (2.55kg)of plastic collected is currently recyclable by Highland Council. (PET & HDPE)
|
No. |
Weight grams |
% currently recyclable |
|
| Milk Carton – 2.272Ltr/4 Pints |
31 |
1270 |
100% |
| Milk Carton – 568Ml/1 Pint |
38 |
630 |
100% |
| Plastic bottles (4 non recyclable) |
46 |
1990 |
91% |
| Carrier bags (3 from Eigg Shop, all other from mainland shops) |
29 |
320 |
50% |
| Beer can 4 ring plastic holders |
17 |
20 |
0% |
| Animal Feed bags |
7 |
710 |
0% |
| General food wrapping (non rigid plastic) |
1980 |
0% |
|
| Plastic food tray (rigid plastic) |
1690 |
12% |
|
| Yoghurt & margarine pots, their lids & milk carton lids |
1010 |
13% |
|
| Postal/delivery plastic packaging |
1850 |
0% |
|
| Oddities (e.g. cycle helmet) |
680 |
0% |
|
|
Total . |
12150g |
21% |
|
| No. of households on Eigg |
43 |
||
| No. of households on Eigg present during survey |
37 |
||
| No. of households participating in survey |
26 |
||
| % of households present taking part in survey |
70% |
||
| Eigg Households per week | |||
| Total grams plastic collected by 26 participating h’holds in survey week | 12150g | ||
| Grams of plastic waste per household participating in survey / week (12150kg / 26 households) | 467g | ||
| For 43 households, the total Eigg domestic plastic per week would be | 20094g | ||
| Of which the recyclable content / week would be | 4220g |
Eigg Households per year
Eigg’s 43 households would generate 20.094 kg x 52 weeks = 1045 kg of plastic waste / year
Adding 25% for visitors = 1306 kg of plastic waste / year
Of which 21% is recyclable or 274 kg / year
Scottish households per year
Scottish household plastic waste is 100kg per year, of which 30kg is recyclable. Source.
Eigg households, plus visitors, produce 30.34kg per year, 70% less than Scottish average.
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Isle of Eigg Beach Clean Weekend – Photo Gallery
Posted on March 24, 2012 by isleofeigg
On 17th and 18th Marc
h 2012, we cleared three of Eigg’s beaches of marine waste. To see us hard at work and what we collected, have a look at our photos
Most of what we found was rope, twine, broken fishing boxes or crates and nets from fishing boats. Next most popular was engine oil canisters, milk & other bottle tops, food/sweet wrapping and plastic bottles.
From Laig, Cowrie Shell & Kildonan beaches, we collected enough rubbish to fill a skip.
Singing Sands beach is still to be done (at 24th March 2012). Because of its position, it gathers a lot of waste washed in by storms and the tide. Singing Sands will be cleared later this spring/summer. All volunteers welcome!
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Earth Connections launch sustainability courses
Posted on March 20, 2012 by isleofeigg
Bob Wallace and Norah Barnes are very excited to be offering their first residential experiences this summer, 2012.
Come and learn new eco-skills and meet like minded people, while exploring the beautiful Isle of Eigg!
Brief summary below, but go to the Earth Connection Sustainability Centre website for full details,
Intro to Sustainability
Weekend introductory course to help you understand what sustainability is all about and give you easy, practical steps you can take to start a greener lifestyle.
Practical Sustainable Living
Exciting week long new low-energy living course to help people take practical steps to live more lightly on the planet. We will explore different themes such as energy, transport, food and focus on practical ways of transforming your life to a low energy lifestyle.
Eco-renovation in Action
During this 5 day course, you will find out how the Earth Connections Centre has been renovated, using environmentally friendly and low cost methods. Through a mixture of theory and practical sessions, we will look at various issues such as heating and energy efficiency in older buildings, insulation, natural materials, and small scale renewable energy systems.
Re-connecting with Nature
This unique 2 week course will give visitors an in-depth experience of living more sustainably and in tune with the natural world. Through workshops and guided outdoor activities we will explore our relationship with nature and learn how to use our natural resources more wisely.
Activities will include gardening, cycling, Iyengar yoga, nature watching, and an amazing 2 night wilderness camping trip. For water lovers there will be a chance to try snorkelling and a sailing trip!
D.I.Y Renewable Energy
If you are thinking about installing renewable energy in your home, this info packed weekend is for you. Find out about solar thermal (hot water), solar PV, wind power, micro hydro, and wood fuel heating.
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