Sunday 9 April 2017

Go Green


2016: Europa - Think Green
 As the weather gets warmer my thoughts turn to days on the coast not bundled up in layers of clothes and the 45p stamp shows a sunny day on the beach, or does it?  Perhaps there is a short sharp rain shower going on in the background.  The stamp celebrates the Isle of Man being awarded UNESCO biosphere status. The middle 77p stamp I think will be instantly recognisable as the universal design chosen for the 2016 Europa theme of  'Think Green' designed by the Cyprus Post artist Doxia Sergidou, the grey for environmental pollution and the green for environmental living and hope. The right hand £1.13 stamp is as it says, 'energy from waste' and refers to the plant that produces ten percent of the island's electricity which opened in 2004.
The Isle of Man is famous for the annual TT, so you may be thinking, as I was, what is green about a motorbike?  The stamp shows the TT Zero, an electric powered machine which first raced around the Mountain Course in 2009.  Nearly a decade later they are still still zooming around the course with the outright lap record of an average speed of 119.27 mph around the circuit, comparable to the speeds achieved by petrol fueled motorbikes. Lastly is the £2.33 stamp inspired by the hydro electric power plant in Tholt-y-Will powered by water from the two nearby reservoirs.  This small plant in the Isle of Man is dwarfed by the huge plant on Russia's Angara River .
1962: Heavy Industries
This Russian stamp depicts the construction of the Bratsk Hydro-Electric Station in Irkutsk Oblast. It was briefly the world's biggest single powered producer when it was fully commission in 1967 until Canada's Churchill Falls opened in 1971.
2012: The Manx Missile - Mark Cavendish
A green machine, Mark Cavendish wearing his Tour de France Green Jersey, the sprinter's great prize which he won in the 2011 and the stamp shows him doing a lap of honour in Paris after the final stage of the Tour.  I'm looking forward, all things being well, to this year's Tour and his exciting sprint battles with Marcel Kittel.

An entry to Sunday Stamps II theme - Green - at See It On A Postcard      

3 comments:

FinnBadger said...

The IOM green stamps are really well done, forms a nice cohesive set.

Bob Scotney said...

I think you have shown me more IOM stamps than I have seen myself. Like that Russian stamp as well as the TT series.

VioletSky said...

You have an amazing collection of IoM stamps.