Workers encouraged to take Green Leap Day
By Lucy Cockcroft
The National Trust is leading a campaign to give workers an extra day of paid leave every leap year, on the condition they use it to help tackle climate change.
February 29 is traditionally the day women can propose to men, but now some companies are encouraging their staff to take it as holiday.
Employees are being encouraged to take a day off to help the environment.
The Green Leap Day initiative has been started so workers can use the extra 24 hours for improving the environment by carrying out tasks like changing their lighting to energy efficient bulbs, creating a compost heap or arranging recycling facilities.
The National Trust is leading the campaign and will announce all 4,800 staff and 49,000 volunteers will be told to take the day off to help to reduce their own carbon footprint. Those who take the opportunity will still be paid.
Other companies and organisations, which all get an extra day's labour free out of salaried staff in a leap year, are expected to join the Green Leap Day initiative.
Dame Fiona Reynolds, director-general of the National Trust, said: "There are over 29 million employees in the UK, if just one million changed one light bulb and turned their thermostat down by one degree it would save 351,000 tons of carbon.
"We want organisations of all sorts and sizes to come on board in whatever form they are able, to encourage people to do something for the environment."
Many of the trust's 300 historic houses and gardens do not open until March, but many premises are still staffed to prepare for the start of the season.
Staff will be asked to file a brief report of what they have achieved, but there will be no disciplinary action against those discovered to have spent the day in front of the television or in the pub.
Those who oppose the idea will be allowed to work as normal. Even the Trade Union Congress has backed the campaign and is calling for other employers to get involved in helping staff to tackle climate change.
Brendan Barber, General Secretary the TUC, said: "Giving employees an extra day off work while encouraging them to think about what they can do to go greener sounds like a great idea.
"More employers should be thinking about how to give their staff a better work-life balance."
The UK is to be hit by regular malaria outbreaks, fatal heatwaves and contaminated drinking water within five years because of global warming, the Government has warned the NHS.
Showing posts with label leap year. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leap year. Show all posts
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Leap Year
Leap Year Explained
2008 is no common year
by Ann Marie Imbornoni
Why do we need leap year?
The Gregorian calendar, which now serves as the standard calendar for civil use throughout the world, has both common years and leap years. A common year has 365 days and a leap year 366 days, with the extra, or intercalary, day designated as February 29. A leap year occurs every four years to help synchronize the calendar year with the solar year, or the length of time it takes the earth to complete its orbit about the sun, which is about 365¼ days.
The length of the solar year, however, is slightly less than 365¼ days—by about 11 minutes. To compensate for this discrepancy, the leap year is omitted three times every four hundred years.
In other words, a century year cannot be a leap year unless it is divisible by 400. Thus 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not leap years, but 1600, 2000, and 2400 are leap years.
What are your chances of being born on leap day?
About 1 in 1500.
How many people were born on leap day?
There are about 187,000 people in the US and 4 million people in the world who were born on Leap Day.
The rules for determining a leap year
Most years that can be divided evenly by 4 are leap years. Exception: Century years are NOT leap years UNLESS they can be evenly divided by 400.
When did leap year originate?
The Gregorian calendar is closely based on the Julian calendar, which was introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BC. The Julian calendar featured a 12-month, 365-day year, with an intercalary day inserted every fourth year at the end of February to make an average year of 365.25 days. But because the length of the solar year is actually 365.242216 days, the Julian year was too long by .0078 days (11 minutes 14 seconds).
This may not seem like a lot, but over the course of centuries it added up, until in the 16th century, the vernal equinox was falling around March 11 instead of March 21. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII adjusted the calendar by moving the date ahead by 11 days and by instituting the exception to the rule for leap years. This new rule, whereby a century year is a leap year only if divisible by 400, is the sole feature that distinguishes the Gregorian calendar from the Julian calendar.
Following the Gregorian reform, the average length of the year was 365.2425 days, an even closer approximation to the solar year. At this rate, it will take more than 3,000 years for the Gregorian calendar to gain one extra day in error.
2008 is no common year
by Ann Marie Imbornoni
Why do we need leap year?
The Gregorian calendar, which now serves as the standard calendar for civil use throughout the world, has both common years and leap years. A common year has 365 days and a leap year 366 days, with the extra, or intercalary, day designated as February 29. A leap year occurs every four years to help synchronize the calendar year with the solar year, or the length of time it takes the earth to complete its orbit about the sun, which is about 365¼ days.
The length of the solar year, however, is slightly less than 365¼ days—by about 11 minutes. To compensate for this discrepancy, the leap year is omitted three times every four hundred years.
In other words, a century year cannot be a leap year unless it is divisible by 400. Thus 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not leap years, but 1600, 2000, and 2400 are leap years.
What are your chances of being born on leap day?
About 1 in 1500.
How many people were born on leap day?
There are about 187,000 people in the US and 4 million people in the world who were born on Leap Day.
The rules for determining a leap year
Most years that can be divided evenly by 4 are leap years. Exception: Century years are NOT leap years UNLESS they can be evenly divided by 400.
When did leap year originate?
The Gregorian calendar is closely based on the Julian calendar, which was introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BC. The Julian calendar featured a 12-month, 365-day year, with an intercalary day inserted every fourth year at the end of February to make an average year of 365.25 days. But because the length of the solar year is actually 365.242216 days, the Julian year was too long by .0078 days (11 minutes 14 seconds).
This may not seem like a lot, but over the course of centuries it added up, until in the 16th century, the vernal equinox was falling around March 11 instead of March 21. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII adjusted the calendar by moving the date ahead by 11 days and by instituting the exception to the rule for leap years. This new rule, whereby a century year is a leap year only if divisible by 400, is the sole feature that distinguishes the Gregorian calendar from the Julian calendar.
Following the Gregorian reform, the average length of the year was 365.2425 days, an even closer approximation to the solar year. At this rate, it will take more than 3,000 years for the Gregorian calendar to gain one extra day in error.
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