Blog: Climate

Back in November, we launched a collaborative video project, asking people from around the world to join in and create a video sending the message to Bali that we want action, not more hot air.

Here's the result (and you can watch all the submissions here):

A couple of days ago, I wrote that leading climate scientist and director of Nasa's Goddard Institute James Hansen was planning to write to Gordon Brown, urging him to stop the new coal rush in the UK.

Here's the full text of that letter. It's powerful stuff, and piles the pressure onto Gordon Brown ahead of next month's decision by Medway Council, on whether to allow the first new coal plant in 30 years to be built at Kingsnorth.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realise that building a load of new coal power plants probably isn't the brightest idea for the future of our planet, but it's nice when a rocket scientist comes out and says it.

The director of Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Dr. James Hansen, has joined the debate on the UK's the new coal rush, and is writing to Gordon Brown to urge him to block plans to build up to eight new coal-fired power stations.

After last week's amazing news that Ireland is going to ban inefficient light bulbs in early 2009, we thought it was time to give our own government a squeeze on the issue. The speed at which our neighbour across the Irish Sea will be ditching incandescent bulbs has shown just how ineffective London has been so far.

Not only does Ireland now join the likes of Australia, Venezuela and Cuba who have already laid down bulb legislation, it also proves our own government is dragging its feet. Earlier this year, a voluntary phase-out of inefficient bulbs by the end of 2011 was announced which even at the time was pretty rubbish. Thousands of small retailers aren't covered by the scheme so incandescent bulbs will still be on sale beyond that date. Ireland's tough new legislation now makes this initiative look even more feeble.