December 2007

Good news on the energy conservation front - Ireland will be the first EU country to ban energy-wasting incandescent lightbulbs.

The Irish government announced today that, as part of its national Carbon budget, the old-style power hungry bulbs will be banned from 2009. Greenpeace congratulates the Ireland on its decision to lead the world in this simple but essential step in tackling climate change.

Nobel peace prize winner Al Gore would be proud. A few months ago, he said "I can't understand why there aren't rings of young people blocking bulldozers and preventing them from constructing coal-fired power stations." The people of Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales have taken him at his word (albeit one step further back in the supply chain) to shut down work on Britain's biggest ever open-cast coal mine.

With the climate conference rumbling on in Bali, the time is ripe for people around the world to stand up, be counted and demand tough action to prevent climate change. Time, in fact, for the Global Day of Action, which this year falls on Saturday 8 December so there's just a few days to go.

Rich countries have paid only $67m into a UN fund designed to help the world's poorest countries adapt to climate change, according to a new report published today by develoment charity Oxfam. Although this may sound a lot, in fact it's less than what Americans spend on suntan lotion each month, and only a tiny fraction of the real amount needed. Oxfam estimates that the true cost of successful adaptation is likely to be at least $50 billion a year, and far more if global greenhouse-gas emissions are not cut fast enough.

Yes, it's bad. But there's a whole lot us Habbos can do about it!

According to conventional wisdom (oh all right the tabloid press to be more precise) all teenagers ever think about are themselves. So it may come as a surprise that a global survey of almost 50,000 teens released today reveals that they have many other concerns - and that they worry more about dangerous greenhouse gases than drugs, violence or war.

At a side meeting of the Bali climate change conference today, Greenpeace launched a new proposal that will encourage and reward countries for reducing emissions from deforestation. It's long, complex and full of acronyms but with forest destruction responsible for around one-fifth of our greenhouse gas emissions, it could represent one of the best chances we have of slashing global emissions.

It tackles a subject which is a big stumbling block in attempts to stop deforestation: money. There's not enough of it, at least not in the right places. Most countries with large tracts of forest, such as Indonesia, Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo, are still developing and see them as sources of much-needed finance. Even though the link between deforestation and climate change is now being widely acknowledged, these governments rarely have funds available to protect their forests.

Last night, ITV News featured an excellent report from Indonesia about palm oil and how plantations are replacing forests at a horrific rate. Shown as part of a series of reports about climate change to tie in with the Bali climate change conference, it showcases some aerial footage which clearly shows the devastation. Also featured is Hapsoro, one of Greenpeace South East Asia's forest campaigners, who was working at the Forests Defenders Camp when he was interviewed.

If you missed it, the report is available to view online - confusingly, it's on the CNN website but only because the ITV News site is so darned tricky to use.

Question: switching from a computer running on Windows to one running on Linux could slash computer-generated e-waste levels by 50 per cent. True or false?

And the answer is (cue long drawn-out tension building drumroll): TRUE!