Next Saturday, the 7th of July, is the start of the 2007 Tour de France. This year the event starts in London before crossing the channel and heading south to Marseilles. 3 weeks and 3500 kilometres later, the remaining riders finish on the Champs-Elysées in Paris.

Now, we’re not going to analyse the actual event - somewhere there will be an article that discusses how environmentally unfriendly all the support vehicles are and how much carbon is emitted by the helicopters used by the camera crews - so we’ll just contend ourselves (for now) with the fact that it’s a celebration of the world’s most influential invention.

Tour de France bikes are normally constructed out of exotic composite materials, aluminium alloys and titanium, which are neither inexpensive to produce nor particularly sustainable. So, how about manufacturing them out of a material that is both sustainable and renewable?

Which brings us to a neat little story about a Californian bicycle manufacturer, Craig Calfee, who is about to set off for Africa to look at the viability of manufacturing bamboo bikes in Ghana.

“If there were an award for “Bicycle with lowest carbon footprint” (least amount of carbon dioxide emissions in the production of the frame), this frame would win, hands down.”

Now, at $2500 dollars for the frame it’s not really affordable, so the bikes for Ghana use bamboo lashed together with hemp fiber.

When bamboo is treated it forms a very hard wood which is both light and exceptionally tough. Some of the larger species can grow at a rate of over 1 meter per day, making it particularly suitable for use as a renewable crop.

The prototype bike was built entirely without the need for power tools, which is an essential requirement to facilitate easy manufacture in developing countries. The other part of Calfee’s visit is to look at existing transportation arrangements in rural areas of the country, and specifically the needs of Ghanian women, because they are the ones who tend the crops, do the chores, control the money and are most in need of access to affordable transportation.

If you really want to see some appropriate technology in action take a look at these wooden bicycles in East Africa.

This may or may not be the world’s first bamboo bike.

The example in the picture dates from 1896 and is in Prague’s technical museum.

It was made in America, so it’s like a “great grand pappy” of the Calfee bike.

For more links, here’s one courtesy of the American Bamboo Society and this is a bamboo mountain bike frame. If you’re really into bamboo, you can always join the World Bamboo Organisation or you could buy some black bamboo from the Guardian. Very funky.

via hippyshopper. Images © Calfee Design and latimes.com

Well, as I said in my last post, my no mud predication was slightly inaccurate. Yesterday we were mocked by the weather gods for a third festival in a row, as the heavens opened, producing a lovely inch thick layer of fresh mud across the site. Glastonbury being the feel good place that it is though, everyone is taking it in their stride, and having a bloody good time anyway. It helps that most people seem to have heeded the weather warnings, and wellies are the must have fashion accessory this summer.

Glastonbury continues to prove it’s commitment to the environment, with the Green Police on site to ensure recycling facilities are provided, and the litter pickers were definitely earning their free ticket this morning, pulling empty beer cups out of the mud to ensure they didn’t get buried. Top marks all round so far.

The music started yesterday, and highlights were plentiful. Reverend and the Makers made the sun come out on the Other Stage, and I have no problem in saying that they are the best new band in Britain. Arcade Fire played a stormer on the same stage late on, with their neo-biblical eulogising suiting the conditions perfectly, and Lily Allen popped up unannounced on the tiny Park stage to wow a small crowd. Bjork, as always, was hatstand, and the show had to be seen to be believed.

Overall a bloody good day, and everyone is ensuring that we all stay smiling… with the aid of a cider or two.

>>read more Glastonbury posts

We’ve not had our daily update from Our Man at Glastonbury, which means that he’s either:

• been washed away
• got so drunk he’s lost his phone
• he’s dropped his phone down one of the infamous Glastonbury toilets and hasn’t been able to retrieve it
• the wandering Goths have carried him off and held him hostage
• the sun’s gone in and he can’t charge his phone up anymore

Which brings us neatly to gotwind.org

gotwind is a DIY website for renewable energy enthusiasts. For this year’s Glastonbury, Orange have commissioned them to build a working prototype of their portable tent mounted wind charger. Very cool. via New Consumer

How Ethical! thought that we might try and spot Our Man using one of the festival webcams, but it seems that the BBC’s camera is out of order at the minute. Found an alternative here, but it’s only showing an image from the 19th June*. Maybe we’ll have to e-mail the Glasto-PhotoBlog 2007 to see if they can spot him…

*Which I’ve subsequently discovered is using the BBC’s feed, which explains why it’s not working either.

So, my enthusiastic no mud proclamation yesterday may have been a little premature, given that the weather system hanging over Somerset right now hasn’t got a clue what it’s doing. After being sunburned yesterday afternoon I awoke to find my tent leaking on my feet - a major design flaw in my opinion. The question everyone is asking though, is how long will it last? Well, the sun is trying to come out, and we should all be dry pretty quickly.

In more important news, the road test of the Solio is going well, and I am typing this thanks to the power of the sun. It’s a great bit of kit, and is going to rapidly become an essential part of my festival kit bag.

The festival is making a big push on green issues, particularly in regards to climate change and carbon emissions, and it’s good to see so many people taking the information in. Pics to come when it’s brightened up, but for those of you who know the site, The Old Railway Line has been transformed into a half mile long information source, with literature, artwork and performance.

Highlight of yesterday? A group of wandering goths performing the best rendition of ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’, you really can’t beat that.

>>see all Glastonbury posts

Numbers of moths in the UK have been in decline since the 1970’s. Some species have seen a fall of up to 90%.

Moths Count aims to encourage interest in moths throughout the UK and to establish an ongoing National Moth Recording Scheme to improve knowledge and conservation of the 900+ species of larger moths.

There’s a Garden Moth Count starting tomorrow night, and then a whole bunch of events up and down the UK that you can get involved in before National Moth Night on August 11.

If you thought moths were just drab old boring brown things, check out some of the pictures on those links!