Blog: Climate

Video: bulbs, bulbs and more light bulbs!

Posted by jamie — 12 December 2008 at 9:37am - Comments

If you need some cheering up on this dark, dark afternoon (and who doesn't given the news spilling out of the various climate talks in Brussels and Poznan - I don't think we'll be able to update until next week, but it's not good), try this. An exuberant Hank Green from Ecogeek has done some ad-hoc light bulb testing to show how incandescents, CFLs and LEDs compare. Shame this wasn't done in time for the recent EU vote on light bulbs.

Link

(Thanks, Treehugger)

Article tagged as: climate change, energy efficiency, light bulbs, videos

EU to ban inefficient light bulbs. Eventually. Sort of

Posted by jamie — 12 December 2008 at 8:36am - Comments

If you've been wondering what's been happening on the light bulb front since our Woolworths campaign last year (and much as they were in our bad books, it's sorry to see them go), there's been some developments on the European stage where politicians have been voting on plans to improve their efficiency and so reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the EU.

The good news is that, on Tuesday, the EU has at long last agreed on a ban of inefficient incandescent light bulbs; the somewhat worse news is that we'll have to wait several years for it to come into full effect. In the meantime, inefficient bulbs will still be on sale and given the desperate need to reduce emissions, it's not enough and it's not soon enough.

Article tagged as: CFLs, climate change, energy efficiency, EU, incandescents, light bulbs

Clean coal - the reality

Posted by jossc — 10 December 2008 at 3:34pm - Comments

Clean coal technology like this is at work right now in a coal-fired power station near you

Clean coal technology like this is at work right now in a coal-fired power station near you

Energy companies putting in bids to run new coal-fired power stations have been quick to seize upon carbon capture and storage (CCS) as the ideal solution to their biggest problem - explaining why they're so keen to return to using the dirtiest fossil-fuel possible at a time when we need to cut CO2 emissions dramatically to reign-in climate change.

Article tagged as: CCS, climate change, co2 emissions, coal

Got two minutes? Call Gordon about the EU climate deal

Posted by jamie — 10 December 2008 at 1:38pm - Comments

I've just received an email about this action being spearheaded by the UK Youth Delegation at Poznan. Pick up the phone and make the call!

Right now, Gordon Brown is preparing to meet with other European heads of state to sign a crucial climate change deal. This deal is the first of its kind - and the rest of the world will use this as their example. If it’s not ambitious enough (and all signs point that way) this deal will jeopardise our future.

We have a small window of opportunity to change this. In the next 24 hours let’s get as many of us as possible to call Gordon Brown and ask him for the strong climate deal that we deserve!

1. Call this number - 0207 930 4433 (No.10 switchboard)
2. Say who you are, where you’re from and ask to leave a message for Gordon Brown
3. The operator will tell you that you can’t leave a message and should send a letter instead. Tell him/her that this is urgent, and you want to see Gordon push for a strong climate deal on Thursday
4. Call three friends and get them to call Gordon too
5. Forward this video on to everyone you know
6. Feel warm and fuzzy that you’ve exercised your democratic right!

Article tagged as: climate change, EU, gordon brown, take action, what you can do

A Google bomb for Eon

Posted by jamie — 8 December 2008 at 2:54pm - Comments

The noble art of Google bombing - of making a website rise up the search results by encouraging other websites to link to them in a particular way - is being harnessed by blogs campaigning against new coal-fired power stations, especially Kingsnorth. The idea is to make the No New Coal website appear at the top of the list anytime a search is done for 'Eon' (which is, of course, the company so intent on building a plant at Kingsnorth).

Anyone with a website, blog or profile on the likes of MySpace or Facebook can help out, so if you'd like to help here are the full instructions I purloined from Climate Change Action:

Article tagged as: climate change, coal, eon, google bombs, kingsnorth

"More scared of climate change than jail": Plane Stupid shuts down Stansted

Posted by jossc — 8 December 2008 at 1:13pm - Comments

Plane Stupid activists occupy Stansted's only runway and effectively shut the airport down

'Please DO something' - Plane Stupid send a message to the government

My favourite climate protesters Plane Stupid struck again this morning when they shut down Stansted, London's third airport.

Taking advantage of a temporary maintenance closure in the small hours of the morning, they set up a camp on the runway. Wearing high visibility vests with the message, "Please DO something", and raising a banner which read 'Climate Emergency', they barricaded themselves with fortified security fencing. The blockade led to 56 Ryanair short-haul flights being cancelled, and the eventual arrest of over fifty young climate activists. Oh, and prevented the release of thousands of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere in the process - the average flight out of Stansted has a climate impact equivalent to 41.58 tonnes of CO2.

Article tagged as: aviation, climate change, co2 emissions, direct actions, plane stupid, short-haul flights, stansted

Video: climate change hits the world's poor first and worst

Posted by jamie — 5 December 2008 at 5:15pm - Comments

Oxfam have produced this rather splendid video, Face The Music, to illustrate how the people least able to cope with this warming world of ours (and will suffer more as a result) are also the ones who've contributed the least in terms of emissions. Worth watching for the music alone, which will hopefully reach the ears of those currently engaged in the Poznan talks.

Article tagged as: animations, climate change, development, oxfam, videos

Gather together for a day of global action on climate change

Posted by jamie — 4 December 2008 at 2:44pm - Comments

Campaign against Climate Change The run-up to Christmas is usually a hectic time for climate change aficionados, not because we're busy buying each other wind-up torches and mini-wind turbines to put under the tree, but there's just so much happening on the global scene. Not only is it the time for international climate talks (Bali last year, Poznan happening now, Copenhagen in 12 months), but the Global Day of Action has swung round once more.

If you can brave the cold, this Saturday 6 December is the one to mark in your diary and London will witness a march to Parliament Square where the likes of Nick Clegg, Caroline Lucas and George Monbiot will be speaking to the crowds. Assemble at 12 noon in Grosvenor Square, outside the US embassy, and there's also protest bike ride from Lincoln's Inn Fields at 10.30am. Further details are on the Campaign Against Climate Change website.

Of course, as it's a Global Day of Action, there are events happening right across the planet. Examine the Global Climate Campaign website to find what's happening in your country.

Article tagged as: climate change, global day of action, london
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