Reacting to the launch of the Liberal Democrat manifesto, Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said:
"The Liberal Democrats have set out the most progressive environmental policies of all the major parties, and they now have a real chance to make them count. As part of a coalition government, this party could establish red lines on issues like Heathrow and coal power and focus instead on developing the clean technologies that will define the 21st Century.
Posted by jamie — 19 December 2009 at 5:25pm
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It's over. The fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties has this afternoon officially drawn to a close (or rather all but collapsed), but what are we left with? Very little is the honest answer and, no matter how the politicians spin it or how the media interprets it, it sucks.
Obama called it a "historic first step" and it's neither historic nor a first step. The Kyoto Protocol was both, yet in the 12 years since it was laid down, we've barely progressed - the increasing severity of climate change impacts and the urgent warnings from scientists should have had leaders scrabbling for solutions. Instead, yesterday a small group of these leaders flew in, claimed the deal was done and flew out again, leaving chaos in their wake – and other leaders outraged.
Posted by jamie — 19 December 2009 at 12:37am
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It's a gut-busting, heart-breaking cop-out and I'm so very, very angry although sadly not very surprised. The exhaustion we're all feeling in the Greenpeace team here in Copenhagen only adds to the appalling sense of frustration - our leaders swanned in and let us all down. The deal isn't fair or ambitious and it certainly isn't legally binding. Even though the agreement, such as it is, has yet to be sealed, they have failed.
I hoped it would be different but the skewed nature of international diplomacy has led the Copenhagen summit through two turbulent weeks into an exercise in arm-twisting and back-room deals. The bullying tactics of the developed countries have ensured they have got what they want, despite the attempts of some developing countries to stand their ground.
Reacting to Shadow Chancellor George Osborne's Speech at Imperial College today, Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said:
"A new bank to drive money into green
investment is a good proposal. We now need clarity on how the Conservatives
would make this sufficiently ambitious to provide the tens of billions needed to
create a low carbon economy and develop new green industries.
"We need
to encourage long term investment from pension funds and savings schemes to fund
clean energy projects.
Posted by jamie — 11 October 2009 at 7:45pm
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A little while ago, I spoke to two of the volunteers who are camped up on top of the Houses of Parliament to find out how they were getting on. Louise explains the challenge of getting up there:
Posted by Louise Edge — 16 July 2009 at 1:43pm
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In recent months it
has become increasingly clear that the UK has a massive hole in its national
budget and whoever comes to power after the next election is going to have to
slash government spending. The debate about what should be cut has just begun,
but already emerging at the top of many people's lists (certainly mine)
is the planned £76bn replacement of the Trident nuclear weapons system.
Posted by jossc — 26 June 2009 at 11:19am
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With December's crucial Copenhagen climate change summit fast approaching, we talk to 350.org founder Bill McKibben about the politics of climate change in the US, the challenges of building a successful mass movement, and how we set about not only restricting the amount of new CO2 we're pumping into the atmosphere, but reducing the levels that are already there.
350 is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit
for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere - it's measured in "Parts Per Million".
So below 350 ppm is where we need to be to avoid runaway climate change. Currently the figure is around 390 and rising.
350.org will coordinate an international day of action on October 24 at hundreds of iconic places around the world - from the Taj Mahal to the Great Barrier Reef - with the aim of sparking a global movement to unite the public, media, and our political leaders behind the 350 goal.
