Now we are at anchor just upriver from Tilbury. A quieter day of tidying ship and cleaning away equipment. Dark clouds are gathering and a sudden squall blows in. We are keeling over at an angle to the anchor chains. Icy sleet stings our hands and faces as we bring the inflatables alongside to secure them.
Some time yesterday morning (was it really yesterday morning?), I left the Greenpeace office, took a short tube ride eastwards, crossed a gang plank and fell through a rabbit hole into the weird and wonderful world that is a Greenpeace ship. And not just any Greenpeace ship, but our flagship Rainbow Warrior II, which is so tied up with Greenpeace's history.
Big news from this morning's
Cabinet reshuffle: Gordon Brown has created a new department for climate
change and energy, and Ed Miliband has been appointed its head.
This is, potentially,
fantastic stuff. Until now, one department has been dealing with climate change
and another - the department for business (DBERR) - with energy. This entirely
nonsensical division hamstrung any chances of a coherent, low carbon energy
policy and kept business and environmental interests at perpetual loggerheads.
No prizes for guessing who usually won.
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."
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.
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.
Posted by bex — 26 September 2008 at 10:06am
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Just under a year ago, we revealed that Gordon Brown was planning to scupper the vital, and binding, European climate change deal to generate 20 per cent of energy from renewable sources by 2020.
A brouhaha ensued; EU leaders were so furious at the UK's underhanded shenanigans that a red-faced Brown had to explicitly re-commit to the target soon afterwards.
Posted by jamie — 25 September 2008 at 9:55am
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This is short notice but climate change minister Joan Ruddock will be taking questions today between 12.30pm-1.30pm on the Guardian website. Post your queries in the comments on this page and hopefully the lovely Joan will provide a response.
There are so many things to ask, but top of my list is how the government plans to meet any of its emissions targets when it's so keen to expand airports and build new coal power stations. Even though the question has already been asked, it certainly won't hurt to ask it again.
"No coal plus no
nuclear equals no lights," said Business
Secretary John Hutton (pictured above, proving he really has heard of climate
change, honest) today.
Bearing in mind the findings
of leading energy consultants Pöyry (pdf) that we don't need new nuclear or
new coal to keep the lights on - we just
need the government to meet its own, existing targets for energy efficiency and
renewables - he might better have said "no vision plus no guts
equals no chance of averting catastrophic climate change". Which at least
has some basis in fact.
Pete is a volunteer deckhand on the Rainbow Warrior. He wrote this on Thursday, the day after the vigil.
