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BBC: Climate - a question of justice

jamie — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:54:18 +0000

BBC: Actors stage third runway protest

jamie — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:42:37 +0000

Voices for Change: California

jossc — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:14:53 +0000

In this third Voices for Change video, fire chief Thom Porter talks about how weather is changing in his native California, because of climate change. And how this is directly affecting him and his team, because more dry wood and more dry lightning means more fires.

"California has a very diverse economy, but a lot of it depends on water. If the climate changes and we don't have the water we need - California could dry up and blow away."
Thom Porter, Fire Chief

"As a fire fighter, I'm a student of the weather, and I've noticed that there's a change that's occurred in the past several years - these weather patterns are not what I've grown up with, they're also not what I've seen in the historical records."

"We're starting to see more monsoonal type of weather - that's causing more dry lightning which ignites fires - sometimes thousands of fires in a 24 hour period and we're stretched for resources when that happens - we don't have enough fire engines and aircraft to take care of all those fires."

"California has a very diverse economy, but a lot of it depends on water. If the climate changes and we don't have the water we need to support that business, or the people who live here, we could see society start to have to move out of certain areas - California could dry up and blow away."

Hear stories from people around the world being affected by climate change, or tell one of your own »

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Ask world leaders to personally attend the Copenhagen conference »

Join the UK's biggest climate change march - The Wave - in London on 5 December »

Introducing Kumi Naidoo as new Greenpeace International Executive Director

jossc — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:25:14 +0000

"After several years in the anti-poverty movement I came to see how the struggles against poverty and climate change are two sides of the same coin. All our different struggles are linked together."
Kumi Naidoo

Today Kumi Naidoo takes over as the new executive director for Greenpeace International. Kumi is a well-known activist, involved with the anti-apartheid struggle from the age of 15. His strong involvement in South African politics led to his arrest there in 1986. He was forced into exile in the UK in 1989.

In this video he outlines why we must have the courage to push for an energy revolution and create a green ecomomy while there is still time.

He is a Rhodes Scholar and earned a doctorate in political sociology at Magdalen College Oxford. For the last ten years he has been the Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation and has also sat on the board of Greenpeace Africa.

Local communities come to the aid of the climate defenders camp

christian — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:22:34 +0000

Pretty amazing stuff going on in Indonesia over the weekend.

It started when the police issued an eviction order for the camp, after last week's action which closed down an APRIL logging concession. The action was strongly supported by local communities - the eviction notice was only secured after pressure from the logging companies.

But then, in a surprising move, the chief of police of Pelalawan district revoked the eviction order, after 300 locals from nearby Teluk Meranti village turned up at the camp the next morning to show their support.

"We want Greenpeace to stay in this camp as long as possible. Their presence in Semenanjung Kampar is really helping us to protect this forest from destruction," said Suwandi, a school teacher in Teluk Meranti. "If in the future Greenpeace is forced to leave Kampar, we demand that APRIL should also get out of Kampar" he added.

Community supporters arrived by the hundreds.

This is a great show of confidence in the dedicated team of climate defenders who have been in the camp for the past few weeks, and a great win both for them and the local communities who must live with the impacts of deforestation and peatland drainage.

"We are overwhelmed and humbled by this extraordinary support from the people of Riau - it confirms our belief that the people of Indonesia wish their forests to be protected," said Zulfahmi Fahmi of Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

"This is a very important signal to President Yudhoyono, that his people are willing to help him honor his ambition to reduce emissions from deforestation. He should take immediate action to prosecute those who are destroying forests, while protecting our forests, biodiversity and the people dependent on them." he added.

The camp has been running for three weeks now. Its purpose is to bring urgent attention to the role that rainforest and peatland destruction play in driving dangerous climate change in the run up to the critical UN Copenhagen Climate Summit this December. During this time, our committed and passionate climate defenders have built dams, stopped excavators and unfurled massive banners in extremely hot conditions. It has been an intense and demanding few weeks.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian activists involved with Thursdays action have been released without charge. They have returned to the camp with orders to report to the police once a week for the next four weeks. The 11 international activists are being deported, and will have left the country by now.

Local community members with Rob, the camp leader and other climate defenders.

Sainsbury's to slash their emissions as 15-year campaign bears fruit

christian — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:48:20 +0000

A major UK supermarket is going to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by almost a third by changing just one thing about the way they do business. How's it possible?

I've had this growing feeling for a while now. There's no putting it off any longer. I'm just going to have to accept that not everyone is as fascinated by the spectroscopic properties of different greenhouse gases as I am.

For example, I find the recent revelation that methane's global warming potential of 25 is probably an underestimate fascinating. But I concede that, in the pub, talking about football is probably a safer bet.

But what if I told you that there are gases which are up to 3000 times more potent in their global warming effect than carbon dioxide? No, you still wouldn't be interested. But it does explain how Sainsbury's hope to cut their greenhouse gas emissions so dramatically.

We have campaigned for a long time to get companies to stop using things called 'f-gases' as refrigerants, because besides being useful for keeping things cool, they are also dangerous pollutants. The original bad boy F-gases were CFCs - chlorofluorocarbons - which were used extensively in fridges and other cooling systems until we realised that, as well as keeping milk cold, they had the unfortunate side effect of punching a massive hole in the Earth's Ozone layer.

Remember when that was the most high-profile example of looming environmental peril? Ah, happy days.

Anyway, thanks to some groundbreaking environmental legislation called the Montreal protocol, which received widespread support from major industrial countries, (unlike some bits of environmental legislation I could mention), CFCs were banned, to be replaced by HFCs - or Hydrofluorocarbons.

Everyone was very keen on HFCs because they did a similar job to CFCs but didn't damage the ozone layer. But unfortunately there was a catch, because despite being ozone-friendly and nice to their mothers, HFCs are massively powerful greenhouse gases - in some cases thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide. A kilo (about a bag of sugar) of the most commonly used HFC does as much warming as about a tonne and a half of CO2.

To date, nobody's got to grips with the f-gas situation, which is a problem, because although they're nowhere near carbon dioxide emissions in term of causing climate change, they do play a significant role.

One of the major users of f-gases as refrigerants are supermarkets. In the UK, f-gases in supermarket refrigerators have more global warming impact than the supermarket distribution fleet - all those lorries trundling along motorways. So Sainsbury's announcing a timetabled phase-out of f-gases in their refrigerant units is the equivalent of them cutting their distribution emissions entirely. For Greenpeace it marks a big step forward in a campaign that's now 15 years old.

In a happily ironic twist they're going to replace the f-gases with carbon dioxide, which although also a greenhouse gas, will in this particular and quite specialised case be thousands of times less problematic for the climate. And this is going to be a big change - the company estimates that this one measure will cut their carbon-equivalent footprint by 30%.

Sainsbury's are leading on this, and that's great. For all that we occasionally moan on about corporations, in this case they're putting politicians, who have singularly failed to get on with sorting out the problems posed by these dangerous gases, in the shade. We now expect other supermarkets around the world to follow suit - and if the global retailing sector can make a shift away from f-gases, that's going to be a significant cut in global emissions.

And I guess it just goes to show that the nature of environmental challenges shifts over time. Back when we were clearing up CFCs the fact that HFCs were powerful greenhouse gases didn't make it onto anyone's radar. And I guess, in my reflective Monday morning mood, that might suggest a slightly more thoughtful approach to how we manage our interaction with the planet.

Like working for International Rescue?

jossc — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:22:54 +0000

Our latest recruit Toby reflects on life as an intern here at Canonbury Villas...

Hello people! At the mo I'm interning for Greenpeace UK at their head office in London, which is fun. Before this I was volunteering on various projects and in different departments in the office.

The difference between interning and volunteering is that an internship offers more of a set role with in-depth work and projects that you can get your teeth stuck in to, whereas general volunteer work can vary daily - depending on what work needs doing in the office. Interning requires a commitment from both the individual and the organisation to basically help each other achieve their goals, be it the organisation's campaign goals or the individual's desire to gain experience in a certain field.

Right now I'm working in the policy and solutions department as a research assistant. This divides approximately 50-50 between research work and (less interesting) admin type work, though actually that’s still quite absorbing - it's mainly keeping up with media hits and following the goings on in parliament.

It's all very interesting if that's kind of thing that you’re in to. Which, coincidently, I am! This role has been particularly ideal for me as I did a politics degree but then decided I wanted to get in to environmental work because, without bigging myself up too much, I wanted to save the world. Oh yeah.

I first started working for Greenpeace about a year ago, as an intern for the global warming team in their Washington DC office (Baltimore Orioles are better than the Washington Nats). Since then I've volunteered in the London office on and off with a number of departments and on differing projects, and was then lucky enough to get this internship as a research assistant. I've chosen to work for Greenpeace consistently because I feel they are the best big organisation when it comes to, basically, saving the world. It's kind of like working for International Rescue. Oh, and the food is yummy.

Times: Tuna vanish as their protectors samba on

jossc — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:52:26 +0000

Political flip-flops on bluefin?

Willie — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:36:18 +0000

As ICCAT souvenirs, delegates will be packing their bags in Recife with a delightful polo shirt emblazoned with 'ICCAT' and a bluefin tuna, and a pair of flip-flops in Brazilian colours.

Somehow this is quite fitting.

The meeting has just come to a close, and the rushed final sessions have agreed as much as they could. In that haste, several things were put off to be considered again next year. Like the protection of endangered mako and porbeagle sharks, and measures to reduce the bycatch of seabirds and turtles. These sorts of delays are common in ICCAT when agreements can't be reached. But hey, why do today what you can put off until next year, right?

But the true legacy of this meeting will be the discussion on bluefin tuna. Much of that clearly happened behind closed doors, with the open sessions us mere observers get to see being something of a rehearsed pantomime for some members.

On the final day a proposal came forward for a quota of bluefin tuna (for the Mediterranean and East Atlantic) for 13,500 tonnes for 2010. That could only have been more unlucky if they’d come forward with it two days earlier, on Friday 13th. It marked a huge drop in quota, and for the first time the bluefin quota was set within scientific recommendations. It's just a shame they ignored the recent updated scientific recommendations and used last year's instead.

Only three weeks ago, ICCAT’s own scientists showed that not only did Atlantic bluefin meet the criteria to be listed as endangered by CITES (which would mean a trade ban), but also showed that only a quota as low as 8,000 tonnes would show any chance for the stocks to recover at all. Unsurprisingly, the best option for rebuilding the stock was zero quota. All of this meant that the only credible thing ICCAT could do was close the fishery.

They have failed to do that. So perhaps the polo shirts are meant as a commemorative epitaph for a species ICCAT has given up on. In the words of one delegate who was pushing for the fishery to be closed."‘I would like to bid farewell to our good friend, bluefin."

And the flip flops? Well 'flip-flop' was famously used to describe a presidential candidate in the US for changing his mind repeatedly. So the question has to be: where now for all of those countries who have stood up and called for effective action on bluefin, or even publicly backed a trade ban? 21 out of 27 member states, including the UK and France have done that (although it seems Sarkozy may have already flipped). And does the United States really think that ICCAT has done enough to protect Atlantic bluefin?

If you ask a country's representative here you will get a stock answer along the lines of "oh someone else deals with that", because fisheries and environment departments are usually conveniently partitioned. So who is going to flip-flop now on bluefin tuna? Can the ICCAT participants put their hand on their hearts (which, conveniently is just where the bluefin is on the polo shirts) and say they've done enough here this week?

I don’t think so. The panicked agreements are all about this organisation doing whatever it could to avoid CITES listing, a point that was referred to again and again by interventions around the table. CITES will meet in March 2010, and they may well free up ICCAT’s agenda next year if they do agree an international trade ban, as they desperately need to.

As we now bid farewell to Brazil, we are tempted to do more than just wave our flip-flops on the way out of the meeting.

Take action

Take our bluefin tuna pledge, and insist on responsibly sourced seafood »

ICCAT: complying through gritted teeth

Willie — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:16:04 +0000

The vultures were literally circling overhead as we approached the ICCAT meeting venue this morning… so something is on its last legs.

So, with just one day of the ICCAT meeting left, it’s time to see what has been achieved here this week. The short answer is ‘not a lot’. Despite a week of meetings, including extra, lengthy, evening sessions, virtually nothing has been decided on or agreed yet. Decisions on quotas for fish like bluefin tuna, protection of sharks and seabirds, are being left until the last minute, and all need to be discussed on the last day.

This wouldn’t be so frustrating if the week’s discourse had been more constructive. Don’t get me wrong, undoubtedly there are many at the ICCAT meeting who are working very hard and very long hours, but the system is so fundamentally flawed that it gives us little hope for very positive outcomes.

Little wonder, perhaps, that articles in today's (London) Times and New York Times poured a great deal of scorn on the whole process.

For days we have heard over and over how ICCAT must regain credibility, and for days we have seen some meaningless ping-pong across the tables as countries blamed each other whilst coming up with perfectly valid reasons why they could not be blamed themselves. It’s akin to a class of school kids explaining in turn where their homework is – you know the kind of thing, ‘dog ate it’, ‘mum put it in the washing machine’, ‘it blew away on the way to school’. Individually every excuse seems plausible. Collectively it means ICCAT has a very, very long way to go.

Last night saw, what was in ICCAT terms, a major step, with countries accepting letters of admonishment when they had not complied with the conservation and enforcement measures they had undertaken to do. A letter home from teacher, if you like. To us, this is pretty lame, but to them it is the first time countries are acknowledging formally that they have not done what they should. Trouble is, of course, the parties to ICCAT are here representing their own governments, and quite possibly have a note from their mum too. Personally, I blame the parents.

All this complying through gritted teeth is hugely frustrating. This week we have seen bizarre acceptances of others wrong-doing (and praise for them admitting it) and even some tacit derogations for a couple of countries to do what they want on hugely controversial issues. Remember driftnets, anyone? Fancy killing a few endangered species?

Ultimately, my impression from this meeting is to feel despondent, and I am even more convinced that there need to be a fundamental reforms of the way we ‘manage’ (and I use the word quite scornfully) our oceans. This gradual way of improving the systems we have bit by bit, issue by issue, year by year, just is not enough. The damage we are doing is happening far faster than our willingness to change.

So yes, we need drastic measures. That means setting large areas off-limits to fishing as Marine Reserves, and the bigger the better. It also means banning certain ways of fishing, and banning fishing for certain species altogether. And it means actually enforcing things too, with legal and financial consequences.

If we don’t start doing this on a huge scale, we will have lost not only our credibility, and our homework, but many irreplaceable species and livelihoods too.

Take action

Take our bluefin tuna pledge, and insist on responsibly sourced seafood »

Links for 2009-11-12 [del.icio.us]

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

Environmental lobby group accused of 'eco-snobbery'
It's "the eco equivalent of political correctness gone mad” according to aviation industry figureheads Flying Matters, as 10:10 refuses to let Manchester Airport sign up to its emissions reduction campaign.

Links for 2009-11-06 [del.icio.us]

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

FT.com / UK - Heating up
A good summary of where we're at with the barcelona climate talks in the run up to Copenhagen from the FT.

Links for 2009-11-04 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

Climate Rescue Weblog: “Please save our home”
An update from out campaigner Bustar at the forests defender camp in Kampar.
Mèlanie Laurent joins the Climate Defenders Camp
Tarantino's latest muse drops in to the climate defenders camp.

Links for 2009-11-02 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

Climate Rescue Weblog: The King of the Jungle
Rob, who's been setting up the climate defenders camp in Kampar, tells the tale of swamps, big banners, and 40 degree hikes through the jungle.
Greenpeace International: Dam - it's even harder than it looks!
A detailed guide to how to go about damming an Indonesian peat-draining canal, in case you were wondering how to go about it...
Greenepace International: Kampar Camp Construction
A detailed guide to building your own climate defenders camp in the heart of the Indonesian rainforest.

Links for 2009-10-28 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PDT

When mummy is an activist - Times Online
Emma tells the Times what it's like balancing climbing up parliament with raising twins.

Links for 2009-10-27 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Climate Rescue Weblog: Climate Defenders Camp
Our climate defenders camp is set up in Kampar - from Greenpeace International.
Climate Defenders Camp
Some background information about the climate defenders camp from Greenpeace International.

Links for 2009-10-16 [del.icio.us]

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Use of Forests as Carbon Offsets Fails to Impress In First Big Trial - washingtonpost.com
Our report raises serious questions about project based forest offsets.