Posted by jamie — 15 April 2008 at 6:39pm
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So, today the Renewable Transport Fuel
Obligation (RTFO) comes into effect and we'll all be using more biofuels as a
result. Regular readers will know that this exciting piece of legislation will
see 2.5 per cent of our petrol and diesel coming from food crops, and that we have
been asking everyone to send emails to transport secretary Ruth Kelly asking
her to postpone the RTFO. Now we need to see that she abandons so if you
haven't expressed your concern about this already, you can still do so.
Posted by jamie — 15 April 2008 at 5:20pm
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Following our action in France last
month - when the crew of the Arctic Sunrise blocked a shipment of timber from
the Brazilian Amazon - efforts have been stepped up in the country of origin to
prevent illegal timber being exported in the first place.
The Brazilian government's environmental agency, Ibama, has seized a shipment of timber in the first check on exports by
authorities in two years. The cargo vessel in question - the BSLE Express - would
have been en route to Europe but has been detained in Santarem since March 27. So far, inspectors
have confiscated 732m3 of wood which were travelling with false papers; papers
that were economical with the truth when it came to the species of timber present
in the shipment.
Plan is too weak to stop environmentally damaging crops being pumped into British tanks
14 April, 2008
The introduction of the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) tomorrow could seriously undermine the UK's claim to leadership on climate change and increase emissions from the transport sector, according to Greenpeace.
The group claims that new rules to oblige motorists to pump biofuels into their tanks will drive rainforest destruction and could actually accelerate global warming.
Posted by jamie — 8 April 2008 at 12:21pm
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We had Fossil Fool's Day last week with plenty
of action around the country to highlight the dangers posed by coal, but the
dreadful punning doesn't stop there. Continuing the theme, next Tuesday is
April Biofool's Day which admittedly falls on the 15th rather than
the 1st, but that's because the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation
(RTFO) - which will overnight increase our consumption of biofuels - begins to
make its presence felt.
On the day, the good folks at Biofuelwatch and
the Campaign against Climate Change are organising a protest outside the home
of a certain Mr Gordon Brown, Number 10 Downing Street. You can join the crowds
outside Number 10 from 6pm and further details are on the websites of both
organisations. If you can't get there, you can still do something - write to
transport secretary Ruth Kelly with your concerns about this rush towards
biofuels.
Meanwhile, concerns about biofuels are rising
up the political ladder, as last week UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon called
for a review on global biofuel policies. Our government currently has the
indirect impacts with biofuels under review but the results aren't due for some
time, and certainly not before Biofool's Day next week.
Images have a way of penetrating the mind and conveying information more immediately and powerfully than reams of words and, as far as images of our planet go, they don't come much more powerful than Google Earth.
The application - which has already done its fair share of enabling people to use technology for the good of the planet - has launched a new Outreach programme, encouraging us at Greenpeace and other organisations to use the application to
spread global awareness.
Posted by jamie — 2 April 2008 at 10:19am
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The undercover experts down the road at the Environmental Investigation Agency have released this short video exposing the trade in illegal timber from the forests of Laos. Shady deals and corruption allow large amounts of dodgy lumber to be processed in Vietnam and Thailand, where it's made into products like garden furniture for export to (among other places) the UK. Yet another reason why we need laws in Europe to ban the import of illegal timber.
Reacting to news that biofuel companies are profiting from a process known as
"splash and dash" (1), Greenpeace senior forest campaigner Belinda Fletcher said:
"Shipping biofuels
back and forth across the world for tax breaks is just one more example of the
way this industry pretends to be green while actually contributing to climate
change.
A coalition
of some of Britain's
biggest environmental and development groups has warned the Government that its
biofuel policy risks doing more harm than good in the fight against climate
change and global poverty. The
organisations are demanding that ministers delay the introduction of
legislation which would see biofuels pumped into every tank in the country from
April 15th 2008.
NGOs echo words of top DEFRA scientist and demand biofuel obligation be postponed
24 March, 2008
A coalition of some of Britain's biggest environmental and development groups have sent a joint letter (1) to Government warning that the UK's biofuel policy risks doing more harm than good in the fight against climate change and global poverty.
The intervention intensifies pressure on the Government following a BBC interview in which Professor Bob Watson, DEFRA's chief scientific advisor, cast serious doubt on the plans and insisted that it would be "insane" if the policy ended up having the opposite effect to the one intended. (2)
Posted by jamie — 24 March 2008 at 10:00am
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In a few weeks' time on Tuesday 15
April, every fuel company in the UK will be obliged to include a
certain amount of biofuel in their petrol and diesel supplies. This is because,
to comply with EU policies, the government has decreed we will all be using
biofuels whether we want to or not but as you're probably aware, a lot of
people have severe concerns about this.