Sustainability summit sucks

UN talks on sustainable development are encountering disputes, delays and diplomatic wrangling, days before world leaders arrive to sign a new agreement.

The talks, in Rio de Janeiro, are aimed at putting the world economy on a more sustainable path, helping people out of poverty while protecting nature.

Yet developing countries have walked out over money, and the presence of Palestinians has brought complications.

Campaigners say there is little hope of momentous changes being agreed here...(full story)

Seven billion of us

Human population is currently 6.989 billion. It will reach 7 billion next month. You can see the statistics in real time here http://www.worldometers.info/ .

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday singled out sustainable development as the top issue facing the planet with the world's seven billionth person expected to be born next month.
Key to this was climate change, and he said time was running out with the population set to explode this century.
"Next month, the seven billionth citizen of our world will be born," the UN secretary general said during a speech at Sydney University.
"For that child, and for all of us, we must keep working to fight poverty, create decent jobs, and provide a dignified life while preserving the planet that sustains us.
"That is why the sustainable development agenda is the agenda for the 21st century.
"Above all, that means connecting the dots between challenges such as climate change and water scarcity, energy shortages, global health issues, food insecurity and the empowerment of the world's women."

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/sustainable-development-worlds-top-issue-un-chief-2351721.html

Climate change means a new economic model of development

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said ..."Climate change is not about tomorrow. It is lapping at our feet - quite literally in Kiribati and elsewhere."
..."The science has made it plainly clear that climate change is happening now and, unfortunately, much, much faster than you may think," he said.

"Having visited Kiribati and the Solomon Islands has strengthened my conviction that climate change is a distinct threat to humanity, it is even a threat to international peace and stability."

Ban said the rising oceans were sending a signal that something was "seriously wrong with our current model of economic development".

"We will not succeed in reducing emissions without sustainable energy solutions," he said.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/pacific-shows-climate-change-a-reality-un-chief-2350506.html

Evidence and explanations on climate change are available from many highly reputable sources. Listed here are a selection from: the Met Office; the United Nations; the Royal Society; the UK Government's Dept of Energy and Climate Change; and NASA.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate-change

http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/climatechange/gateway

http://royalsociety.org/climate-change-summary-of-science/

http://royalsociety.org/Climate-Change/

http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/tackling/explaining/explaining.aspx

http://climate.nasa.gov/ (click image above to see a larger version).

Somalia in crisis

Somalia famine: UN warns of 750,000 deaths
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14785304

Please send a donation to the East Africa Crisis Appeal organised by the Disasters Emergency Committee: http://www.dec.org.uk/appeals/east-africa-crisis-appeal

Military action in Libya

This * seemed like a sensible initial position on the Libya no-fly zone for the Greens. Given what Caroline Lucas said on last weeks Question Time, clearly siding with former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie on the panel in opposing military action, things have changed. On this issue I find myself in opposition to the Greens leader, for once, if not my party. MacKenzie basically said '‎'Not worth it...Nothing to do with us...' which is surely not something Greens want to be associated with - I certainly dont.

*On the subject of a no-fly zone, a Green Party spokesperson said:

"We are not ruling out support for a no-fly zone, but it would need to be very carefully handled and would need the support of countries in the region. It would have to be something that the civilian population wanted, and only be enforced to protect the civilian population.

"Past no-fly zones have not always achieved the desired outcome and have not always protected the civilian population.

"Most importantly, the UN Security Council must refer the situation in Libya to the International Criminal Court. Colonel al-Gaddafi must understand that all those responsible for carrying out attacks on civilians will be held to account."

http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/11-03-2011-parliamentary-vote-libya.html

70 months and counting ... | Andrew Simms | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Capital One's advert for its World Mastercard is quite emphatic: "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, there's no limit." That kind of certainty normally comes wrapped in fundamentalist religion. It could be the magical thinking of an economic system drifted dangerously far from its real world roots, or just the "bring it on" machismo of banks desperate to forget the consequences of reckless lending.
Either way, it neatly illustrates Ban Ki-moon's suspicion that the world's economic model is an ecological "global suicide pact". Whichever data set you refer to, his concern is well grounded. Last year was either the equal warmest year on record, or second warmest...

...This month – number 70 in this countdown for action on climate change – saw BP publish its latest, industry standard projections of future fossil fuel demand and production. They predict that global carbon emissions will keep rising until at least 2030, in spite of the fact that to prevent dangerous climate change they should already be reducing. Presented in numbing pages of graphs and tables, this is the "global suicide pact" written invisibly into the world's economic model referred to by Ban Ki-moon. And it will remain so, until we can break the spell of magical thinking which allows us to believe that, economically and environmentally, there are no limits...

70 months and counting ... Andrew Simms Comment is free guardian.co.uk

BBC News - Biodiversity - a kind of washing powder?

Excellent articles by Jonathon Porritt, Kate Rawles, Prof Jonathan Baillie and Chris Knight here

BBC News - Biodiversity - a kind of washing powder?

Despite awareness of biodiversity increasing, some people still think it is a washing powder.

When 2010 was named as the "year of biodiversity" by the UN, it began with a plea to save the world's ecosystems.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: "Biological diversity underpins ecosystem functioning... its continued loss, therefore, has major implications for current and future human well-being."...

Blog Action Day 2010, Oct 15: Water

Blog Action Day 2010: Water from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

About Blog Action Day
Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day. Our aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion around an important issue that impacts us all.

Our Goal
First and last, the purpose of Blog Action Day is to create a discussion. We ask bloggers to take a single day out of their schedule and focus it on an important issue. By doing so on the same day, the blogging community effectively changes the conversation on the web and focuses audiences around the globe on that issue.

Out of this discussion naturally flow ideas, advice, plans, and action. In 2007 with the theme of the environment, we saw bloggers running environmental experiments, detailing innovative ideas on creating sustainable practices, and focusing their audience's attention on organizations and companies promoting green agendas. In 2008 we covered the theme of poverty, and similarly focused the blogging community's energies around discussing the wide breadth of the issue from many perspectives and identifying innovative and unexpected solutions. Last year, the conversation around climate change brought our voices around the globe to discuss an issue that threatens us all and mobilized tens of thousands of people to get more involved in the movement for a more sustainable future. This year, with the theme of Water, we are eager to shed light on this often-overlooked topic.

BBC News - UN asks for action on nature loss, citing poverty

BBC News - UN asks for action on nature loss, citing poverty

"Biological diversity underpins ecosystem functioning and the provision of ecosystem services essential for human well-being," says UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a document setting out the reasons why he called for the day's discussions.
"Its continued loss, therefore, has major implications for current and future human well-being... The maintenance and restoration of natural infrastructure can provide economic gains worth trillions of dollars a year."
The argument is that nature provides "ecosystem services" that humanity uses - such as pollination of agricultural crops by insects. If this is lost, the food supply falls....

'Conspiracy theories finally laid to rest' by report on leaked climate change emails

Scientists involved in last year's "climategate" leaked emails controversy, which added to scepticism about the science of global warming, were not open enough with their data and unhelpful with requests for information, an independent review of the affair found yesterday.

They and their institution, the University of East Anglia (UEA), did not embrace the "spirit of openness" enshrined in the Freedom of Information Act, according to a long-awaited report into their conduct carried out by a panel of senior academics.

However, the review found that the researchers concerned, led by the Director of UEA's world-renowned Climatic Research Unit (CRU), Professor Phil Jones, could not be faulted for their "rigour and honesty as scientists", and there was no evidence that they had behaved in a way that might undermine the conclusions of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

(from The Independent)

Defence and security

My response to CND, who are seeking the views of general election candidates...I'm an anti-nuclear campaigner, both nuclear weapons and nuclear power, of over 25 yrs standing. I would certainly vote against the replacement of Trident and would vote for a Nuclear Weapons Convention aimed at banning all nuclear weapons internationally.

As a Green MP I would work to:

*Ensure that the British military is only used in self defence, or as a last resort, within an international UN-led policing force;

*Improve the military to promote human security, by focusing only on defence not aggression and specialising in crisis prevention, emergency relief and conflict resolution;

*Seek binding global agreements against all weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons;

*End all export subsidies and increase controls on UK arms sales, especially to goverments who violate human rights.

Climate change debate and action - in a nutshell

From One Hundred Months: Dear Friend, In just seven days the world meets in Copenhagen, to do the deal for our climate.

World leaders, including Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and President Barack Obama, are going.

OneHundredMonths friend, Dr Rajendra Pachauri - Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, says we have just months to take large scale action on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Unless we act now, climate scientists say we are on our way to six degrees of global warming. Disaster.

So let's take action, watch and share the information ...

Start or join a Vigil for Survival.

Make The Wave.

Deeply uncool.

Vote with The Angry Mermaid.

Tell the President of Indonesia to crack down on deforestation.

It's raining polar bears (Warning - contains gore. Not Al Gore. Just gore.)

The winners of OneMinuteToSaveTheWorld.

Al Gore rap.

In Copenhagen.

And finally, here's a vision.

Let's make this month count.

Many thanks for all you do.

The OneHundredMonths Crew


Tell your friends to come together for OneHundredMonths

Be our friend on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Be a partner - send your logo to contact@onehundredmonths.org

Read more in our monthly blog.

Copenhagen Climate Summit and Cumbria...

Excellent guide to and commentary on the soon to be held Copenhagen Climate Summit here produced by Greenpeace. It shows that the current draft treaty has no agreement on the key issues: the level and timings of carbon emissions cuts; financing of measures to adapt to climate change, transfer clean technologies around the globe, help poorer countries cut emissions and protect their forests. It also shows that there is as yet no agreement on how best to protect forests, whose destruction causes between a fifth and a quarter of all climate change.

In short, all the hard issues and real problems are currently being ducked!! See this very useful Greenpeace guide to where various world leaders (so called!) are letting us down, here - this is a snippett of what it says about our PM Gordon Brown:

...He’s failed to embrace renewable energy and quit coal putting him at odds with his own advisors on climate change. And because of wrangling over finance with the rest of the EU, the UK hasn’t been able to offer more than words to developing nations.

Gordon - have you truly seen the flooding in Cumbria and the other very serious flooding events in recent yrs or have you merely looked at them? This from the BBC website:

Five million people in England and Wales are now at risk from flooding every year,

Two million homes have been built in the natural floodplain of rivers or the coast and are vulnerable to flooding,

Scientists predict that climate change may lead to more frequent flooding in the future,

Property, land and assets to the value of £214 billion are at risk of flooding in England and Wales,

Since 1998, 28 people have died as a direct result of flooding, including children. Thousands have suffered shock, trauma and devastating damage to their homes and possessions,

Many families have still not moved back into their homes following the 2000 floods,

Six inches of fast flowing water will knock you off your feet; four inches of water will ruin your carpet, and two feet of water will float your car.

See details of the Foresight Future Flooding report, by Sir David King and 60 top scientists, here.

Indigenous Perspectives Conference, Pierian Centre - Monday 12th October: 9.30am–4.30pm

This from Bristol's Pierian Centre: One of Britain's leading adventurers, Benedict Allen, is to open the Indigenous Perspectives Conference on Monday 12th October. Allen is the author of 11 books, but is probably best known for his TV programmes of exploration and endurance. His first-hand experience of indigenous people in jungle, tundra and desert qualifies him to speak with authority and warmth at this one-day conference at the Pierian Centre.

The Indigenous Perspectives Conference brings together representatives of indigenous peoples from all over the world together with campaigners and academics specialising in different aspects of indigenous culture. It celebrates the 2nd anniversary of the U.N’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples – and it is a unique opportunity to hear the indigenous voice in all its variety, and to find out how close to silence and extinction it’s being pushed.

The cultures covered include the Jumma of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the Mapuche of Chile, the Emberá of Panama, West Papua, Tibet, the Kiribati islands of Micronesia, and the Yagan and Kawesqar peoples of Tierra del Fuego. Speakers range from senior academics to individuals who have been jailed and beaten for defending their culture.

Benedict Allen has narrowly escaped death six times; arguably no-one has more experience of living continuously isolated in as many remote environments.

Last seen on our screens in March presenting BBC’s Travellers’ Century, Allen paved the way for the current generation of TV adventurers. As The Sunday Times put it: “Filming whatever actually happens, without all the hidden paraphernalia of a film crew, and whether in danger or lonely or undergoing various exotic rituals, he has effectively taken the viewers’ experience of adventure as far as it can go.”

Allen himself looks back on his earlier journeys over 25 years ago, saying “I belonged to the last generation that might pass through a wilderness for months on end and not encounter a single person of my own culture. It was a privileged time: never in all those years can I remember coming across a single other foreigner, whilst out on a trek.”

The conference falls with heavy irony on Columbus Day (12th October) – and also coincides with the 40th year of Survival International’s invaluable work. If you’re interested in attending please contact us on info@pieriancentre.com or 0117 924 4512.

In addition to plenary sessions reviewing issues like the impact of climate change on indigenous peoples, there will be small-group seminars on the experience of military force , the role of tourism, the impact of historic genocides on surviving peoples, the relationship with the land, sustaining cultural identity in exile, and the tensions between traditional and democratic authority.

The Conference is on Monday 12th October, 9.30am–4.30pm. It takes place at The Pierian Centre, 27 Portland Square, St Pauls, Bristol BS2 8SA. The delegate rate of £45 includes lunch and refreshments – with limited concessionary places at £25 for low income, and £12.50 for students.

Earth Hour 2009

Received a request to pass on the message below about Earth Hour 2009 - I hope many people will support this event!

Big changes start with small gestures; turn off to show you care about climate change

On 8.30 pm on 28 March an extraordinary global event called Earth Hour will take place and we would like to enlist your help to ensure that Bristol is a part of it.

Up to a billion people around the globe will switch off their lights for one hour to send a powerful message to our politicians and decision makers. Earth Hour 2009 is really set to ‘switch off the globe’. Already 377 cities and 74 countries are committed, including Bristol. Earth Hour 2009 is setting the platform for an unprecedented global mandate for action on climate change. This is especially important now because 2009 is a critical year for action on climate change, with the world’s leaders due to meet at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December to sign a new deal to supersede the Kyoto Protocol.

The initiative, which began in Sydney in 2007 as a one-city environmental campaign, has evolved into a grassroots action that has really captured the attention worldwide. In 2008, 371 cities across 35 countries turned their lights out in a united call for action on climate change.

The list of cities confirming their participation includes 37 national capitals and many of the great cities of the world, including London, Beijing, Rome, Moscow, Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong, Dubai, Singapore, Athens, Buenos Aires, Toronto, Sydney, Mexico City, Istanbul, Copenhagen, Manila, Las Vegas, Brussels, Cape Town and Helsinki. We want to add Bristol to this list!

Along with the great metropolises of the world, Earth Hour 2009 will also see the lights go out on some of the most recognised landmarks on the planet, including Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Table Mountain in Cape Town, Merlion in Singapore, Sydney Opera House, CN Tower in Toronto, Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and the world’s tallest constructed building, Taipei 101. We hope that the Clifton Suspension Bridge will be in this list of iconic structures.Earth Hour by its very nature is the essence of grassroots action. This is the opportunity for individuals from all corners of the globe to unite in a single voice and demand action on climate change. Bristol needs to play its part in this global clamour for change; please help us to make a difference.

You can help by letting all of your members and contacts know that this is happening and encouraging them to participate, by turning off any lighting not required for safety reasons on the 28th at 8:30pm. We would be very grateful if you could feedback to us the response you receive and the likely numbers who have agreed to participate.

More information is available at http://www.earthhour.org/

Many thanks

Alistair Sawday, Chair, The Bristol Green Capital Momentum Group
green.capital@bristol.gov.uk

No global warming??

John from Whitchurch seems to think that the brief spell of recent cold weather we’ve had in the UK is evidence that there is no global warming (‘Global warming? You must be joking’, Open Lines, Feb 12). Questioning of evidence is what science is all about and I’m all in favour of it. John seems not to have applied this principle to the evidence he uses however.

His evidence is only for a very, very short period of weeks and days. He refers to information only from the UK. Climate is about decades of changes not short term weather. Climatic change as now discussed, of which global warming is only one aspect (albeit very important), is a phenomenon which is global and which is tracked over geological time (hundreds, thousands and millions of years).

Has he considered whether the recent weather around the globe fits predictions made by the scientific ‘experts’ he scoffs at? Has he looked at patterns and trends over long periods of time and over large areas of the globe as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have in their independent work for the United Nations?

John very properly asks who these ‘experts’ are and what qualifications they have but this information has been very widely publicised for years now. The IPCC were awarded a Nobel Prize for their work last year! There is no doubt that the United Nations are served by very well qualified scientists as are hundreds of governments and thousands of businesses and scientific institutions all around the globe. They have all assessed the evidence and conclude that climate change is real, very serious and requiring urgent, large scale action! However, its not the fact that they are ‘experts’ that convinces me about climate change – it’s the fact that their central evidence and their expertise has passed continual and rigorous testing. This testing rightly continues to be an essential part of the problem solving process.

Gaza: petition for a complete ceasefire, civilian protection, humanitarian assistance

1000+ Palestinians and 13 Israelis killed. The death toll mounting daily. The Gaza offensive escalates. Action to end the violence and protect civilians is desperately needed. I've signed the petition (wording below) calling for robust international action to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and take further crucial steps toward a fair and lasting peace in the Middle East.

The message and numbers signing (which has already reached 500,000) will be published in US ads and delivered to key powers in the coming days:

Petition to the UN Security Council, the European Union, the Arab League and the USA:

We urge you to act immediately to ensure a comprehensive ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, to protect civilians on all sides, and to address the growing humanitarian crisis. Only through robust international action and oversight can the bloodshed be stopped, the Gaza crossings safely re-opened and real progress made toward a wider peace in 2009.

An adapted and edited version of the petition site.

Gordon Brown's plans: definitely more brown than green!

Saw my MP Kerry McCarthy put this question to Gordon Brown at Prime Minister's Question Time today and its been reported on the local newspaper's website,

"Does he agree with me and the people of Bristol that green jobs and sustainable development are the way out of this economic downturn?"

The Prime Minister replied: "I look forward to visiting Bristol very soon. On the environment, she is absolutely right. I believe, coming out of this downturn, some of the triggers for further growth can be investment in the environment. We are going to invest in green jobs and environmental technologies."

I'd very much welcome a comprehensive and coherent plan to create a green economy. Growing numbers of economists eg the authors of the Green New Deal, and at the UN, are saying that investing heavily in efficiency, renewable energy, sustainable transport, reduction, reuse and recycling of waste, building stronger local economies and communities with local production for local needs, is by far the best way to direct our efforts. After all we currently have intimately entangled, mutually reinforcing economic and environmental crises.

However, there is no such plan available from Gordon Brown's Labour Govt.. Where is what should be top priority, a plan to insulate all homes free of charge for instance (its something that self-evidently pays for itself in saved energy and thus lowered bills)!?!?

The lack of a real green plan is surely no surprise to anyone given that Mr Brown spent over a decade as Chancellor before his period as PM and we're certainly no greener now than when he came to power!! By the Government's own figures carbon dioxide emissions are higher now than ten yrs ago for instance. Current Brown plans in favour of building more coal fired power stations, the expansion of airports, the building of hundreds of miles of new roads, more nuclear power stations cannot considered green (more here).

Looks like PM Gordon Brown's plans are pefectly consistent with his past actions as Chancellor doesn't it - definitely more Brown than green!

Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare: petition

Following a letter from Elizabeth Krammer in todays local paper I've signed this World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) online petition for a Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare. I hope others will do likewise as ten million signatures worldwide are being sought to demonstrate the seriousness of the campaign.

According to the WSPA website,

A Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare would be an agreement among people and nations that:

*Animals are sentient and can suffer.

*Animals’ welfare needs must be respected.

*Animal cruelty must end for good.

What will it achieve?

The adoption of a UDAW by the United Nations would:

*Establish animal welfare as an international issue.

*Encourage governments to improve and enforce national animal welfare legislation by providing a benchmark.

*Recognise that animal welfare is a key factor in humanitarian and environmental policy making.

*Encourage industries which use animals to keep welfare at the forefront.

*Acknowledge the risks to animals caused by environmental factors such as climate change, habitat loss and pollution.

*Create a more compassionate global attitude to animal welfare, including their needs and habitats.

*A declaration would also enhance the lives of over 1 billion people who rely on animals for their livelihoods, and the countless others look to animals for companionship.

*A UDAW would work for human health – animal welfare contributes to sustainable farming systems and the improvement of human food safety.

Climate change denial

More climate change denial in my local paper, via the letters page this time...

Michael Maddock is wrong in his assessment of the evidence on climate change ('Exploding the myth on climate change', Bristol Evening Post Open Lines, 1 July). Climate change is not a myth as the headline suggests it is. In fact the (Nobel Prize winning) UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (http://www.ipcc.ch/) does exactly as he suggests scientists should. It continually looks at all the latest and most expert scientific research on climate change. It then periodically issues major assessment reports containing the best available evidence. There have been four assessment reports so far and its fair to say that each time a new report has come out the evidence has pointed out even more strongly the fact that human-caused climate change is real, serious, and requiring urgent action from everyone, lead by governments. What more could we all want than that??

Contrary to what Michael says, many scientists clearly do not state that climate change is not caused by carbon dioxide. If they did it would be in the IPCC reports. In fact what the scientists say is the complete opposite! Its not true to say that warming always happens first, followed by carbon dioxide rise. It has sometimes happened this way but it also, as now, happens the other way around, with carbon dioxide emissions rising, followed by warming. This is a natural feature of the tightly coupled systems that affect our climate. What it points to of course is that the warming we are causing now with our carbon dioxide emissions, will itself go on to cause even more warming on top of warming caused by further carbon dioxide emissions! There are several mechanisms by which it will do this eg warming melts ice/snow, which means the white area reflecting energy back into space is lower, which means more energy is absorbed, causing warming...This feedback effect amplifies human impact along with others.

Scientists will continue to question, investigate, and gather evidence as Michael suggests they should. What concerns me greatly is that Michael, and many others with him, are, despite the very strong evidence, in denial about climate change (see http://climatedenial.org/ ). The sooner we face up to the facts the better. Time is slipping away and it will get harder and harder to reduce the worst effects of climate change the longer we put off what we all know we have to do ie adopt efficient, renewable lifestyles that stay within environmental limits, something that will also make our lives more affordable as it means bigs cuts in our use of increasingly expensive oil.