Greenpeace Blog

More doubts raised over biofuel targets

Posted by jamie — 21 January 2008 at 5:52pm - Comments

Yet more questions have been raised in political circles about biofuel targets. Following last week's statements from the European environment commissioner, Defra's chief scientist and the Royal Society, a parliamentary committee has released its own report which says that pursuing mandatory targets without any form of sustainability criteria attached is not a good idea.

Article tagged as: biofuels, climate change, deforestation, EU, forests, RTFO

'Divided consumer attitudes' to climate change mirrored by government

Posted by jossc — 18 January 2008 at 5:45pm - Comments

Earlier this week the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) released a report identifying things the public should be doing to limit climate change. Third on the list is to "avoid unnecessary short-haul flights". Apparently we find this hard to do because of "divided consumer attitudes" - ie, we want to have our cake and eat it.

Article tagged as: aviation, climate change, co2 emissions, DEFRA, DFT, heathrow, transport

Second whaling ship leaves the hunting grounds

Posted by jossc — 18 January 2008 at 4:36pm - Comments

Here's the latest video update from Esperanza, on patrol in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary protecting fin and minke whales from whalers, plus a blog update from Dave, our intrepid onboard webbie:

Article tagged as: esperanza, IWC, japan, oceans, southern ocean, whales, whaling

A life in carbon

Posted by jamie — 17 January 2008 at 5:32pm - Comments
The mobGAS carbon calculator

In the past, I've been a bit sniffy about carbon calculators and have tended to dismiss them, although if I'm honest it's been on principle rather than first-hand experience. From what I've seen, they oversimplify an incredibly complex issue and, as a colleague pointed out, shift the weight of responsibility onto individuals when it should be an energy-efficient government that leads the way.

But then I came across mobGAS, a calculator produced by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre which sits on your mobile phone and allows you to enter daily updates about your energy consumption. Hurray, a new application for me to fiddle with in a borderline obsessive-compulsive manner, and an excuse for a broader look at carbon calculators in general.

Article tagged as: carbon calculators, climate change, emissions, energy, energy efficiency

Shock and AWE as bomb factory goes up for sale

Posted by jossc — 16 January 2008 at 5:15pm - Comments

Razor wire fence surrounding AWE Aldermaston

Watch out world! Hot on the heels of the story that next-generation US designed Trident missiles may be too large to fit in the UK's submarine fleet comes news of another blow to the prestige of our very own nuclear deterrent - Aldermaston, aka 'Britain's Bomb Factory', is set to come under US control for the first time.

Article tagged as: awe aldermaston, BNFL, lockheed martin, nuclear weapons, peace, WMDs

London mayoral candidates unite against Heathrow expansion

Posted by jossc — 16 January 2008 at 4:44pm - Comments

All four London mayoral candidates are unoted against Heathrow expansion

All four leading candidates for the forthcoming London mayoral election have joined forces to fight Gordon Brown's push for a third runway at Heathrow Airport. Ken Livingstone, Boris Johnson, Brian Paddick and Sian Berry have all agreed to feature in a new anti-expansion advertising campaign launched today. The ad features in the Times, Guardian, Independent and Evening Standard newspapers.

Article tagged as: airport expansion, aviation, boris johnson, climate change, co2 emissions, heathrow, ken livingstone

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