Reacting to the news that Ed Miliband has been appointed Secretary of State at a new Department for Energy and Climate, Greenpeace Executive Director John Sauven said:
"For the last ten years this government has dithered on climate change, offering us inspiring rhetoric but little in the way of real action. Bringing energy and climate together at last reflects the urgency of the threat we face from climate change."
Posted by bex — 3 October 2008 at 10:18am
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Given that we have the best renewable resources in the European Union, the fact that Britain languishes near the bottom of the European renewables league table is pretty humiliating.
On Monday though, the International Energy Agency added insult to injury. Britain's renewables strategy, it said, is 'ineffective' and 'very expensive'. The agency's new report (published here, but you have to pay) ranks Britain 31st out of 35 countries - "including all the major industrial nations such as the US, Germany and China" - in its green energy cost league. And our 'renewables effectiveness', it says, is a paltry three per cent.
Posted by bex — 1 October 2008 at 4:10pm
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Greenpeace volunteers at Newquay airport in March 2007
You might remember that, 18 months ago, we set up ticket exchanges at airports across the country, and called on British Airways to show genuine leadership instead of launching new, unnecessary short haul routes that just add to the huge threat to our climate caused by runaway aviation growth.
Posted by jamie — 1 October 2008 at 12:05pm
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While the preservation of civil liberties is an ongoing struggle (the government's ID database plan is one I think is definitely worth challenging), we've still come a long way in the last 100 years.
Back then in the days of empire, Britain might have straddled the world but women had no voting rights and it was only thanks to a group of determined women waging a persistent (and sometimes violent) campaign of direct action that, in 1928, the government finally passed a bill granting equal voting rights to both sexes.
The need for a bold response from a nation that considers itself a world leader in tackling climate change has never been clearer, yet on too many fronts, the UK government seems intent upon repeating the mistakes of the past. From runways to new coal fired power stations, the government’s plans for resurrecting the icons that are the principle cause of climate change continue, despite the breadth of opposition marshalled against them.
We've been hearing likely sounding noises for a while now but today, the Conservatives have formally announced that they'd say no to a third runway at Heathrow, and yes to a high speed
rail link between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds instead.
And so I find myself a bit befuddled to be wholeheartedly agreeing with a Tory party spokesperson, Theresa Villiers. She said:
Posted by bex — 29 September 2008 at 11:48am
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A screengrab from our virtual, climate-friendly town, EfficienCity
With the UK government apparently bending over backwards to stop renewable energy development at the moment, it's refreshing to hear some good news from elsewhere in Europe; the world's first commercial wave power farm has gone live in Portugal.
Reacting to a story in today's Guardian newspaper containing details of a Conservative proposal to scrap plans for a third runway at Heathrow and instead invest heavily in high speed rail, Greenpeace Executive Director John Sauven said:
"This announcement puts real pressure on Gordon Brown and his new transport secretary. The Conservatives have recognised that decisions taken now on high carbon projects like new runways and coal fired power stations will make or break our chances of tackling climate change in the future.
Posted by bex — 26 September 2008 at 11:12am
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There are a few interesting stories about Kingsnorth on the web today:
The Independent reveals that the cabinet is split over the Kingsnorth decision: "John Hutton, the Business Secretary, wants to approve the project
even if it is not chosen for an experiment in which its carbon
emissions would be "captured" and stored under the sea. But his
position is strongly opposed by Hilary Benn, the environment secretary,
and his predecessor David Miliband, now the foreign secretary."
Across the pond meanwhile, Al Gore has renewed his call for young people to engage in civil disobedience over new coal plants, saying: "If you're a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration".
Last but by no means least, the Kingsnorth Six have made it into the New York Times. Happy reading.
While the preservation of civil liberties is an ongoing struggle (the government's ID database plan is one I think is definitely worth challenging), we've still come a long way in the last 100 years.
