The People's Millions: Who Do You Vote For?
by Bonnie Alter, London on 11. 5.07
The People's Millions, a lottery fund, has £50M ($101M US) to award to the best proposal for an environmental project in the UK. And the winner will be decided by the television-watching public who will vote after seeing each group on the short-list present their case. Sort of like Big Brother for the environment. In principle it is hard to support lotteries--if a scheme is that important to the nation, then the government, using our hard-earned taxpayers' money, should pay for it. However that's an argument that has been lost with changing times and economies. So let's hear it for this lottery and the 4 worthwhile finalists.
Sherwood Forest, home of Robin Hood, has Europe's greatest collection of ancient oak trees, some more than 1,000 years old (pictured), which are endangered. They want to undertake a huge replanting programme: 250,000 trees over 350 acres. A project to develop the canals and waterways in Somerset would link communities and stabilise an area with recurrent flooding. The Eden Project wants to develop a climate change theme park that would show how we might survive the impact of global warming. A national bicycle trail to encourage cycling is another candidate. :: The Observer
