Nuclear Power?
Non Merci
French bid for British Energy - bad for climate and bad for taxpayers
The parties involved in the expected takeover of British Energy have "little interest in tackling climate change or protecting British taxpayers", said environmentalists today.
Nathan Argent, nuclear campaigner for Greenpeace, said:
"The expected French Government bid to takeover of British Energy will come with huge financial costs, a tiny reduction in carbon emissions and continued confusion over who pays for the clean up of radioactive waste.
"Energy bosses admit that replacing the UK's existing reactors will cost about £60 billion - twice the amount the Government estimated only months ago. Even the Government has said that this will only reduce carbon emissions by around four per cent."
Such an investment should instead be used to enable the UK to reach legally binding renewable energy targets, environmentalists say.
"And there's still an enormous question mark over dealing with spent nuclear fuel produced by the reactors that the French hope to buy. Since the beginning of 2005, the UK Government has been legally committed to dealing with all the spent nuclear fuel on these sites, and this commitment will continue even when the sites are sold. So, the British taxpayer will be financing the clean-up of French owned nuclear sites in the UK.
"It's worryingly obvious that anyone involved in this dodgy deal - and that includes the Government - has little interest in tackling climate change or protecting British taxpayers."
France generates 78% of its electricity from nuclear power.
National Ethical Investment Week
10th May 2008
National Ethical Investment Week will run from 18-24 May 2008 and will encourage everyone to consider green and ethical options for their investments.
It will build on the soaring demand for green and ethical investments that has seen nearly six times as much going into ethical funds recently compared with a year ago.
It will tap into the interest in greener living that has already seen awareness and sales of fair trade goods doubling over two years and more than one in two of us now buying organic fruit and vegetables.
National Ethical Investment Week is the first time that the financial services industry has worked together under the umbrella of UKSIF on a programme to raise consumer awareness of green and ethical investments.
Financial advisers and other financial and community organisations will be encouraged to use National Ethical Investment Week to raise awareness of green and ethical investment choices.
UKSIF will provide ideas and support, including high quality promotional materials and a central PR campaign to back up local activities.
The initiative is being supported by Henderson Global Investors, Norwich Union and Friends Provident.
UN Launches Burma Appeal
10th May 2008
The United Nations today appealed for $187 million to help provide humanitarian relief to some 1.5 million people severely affected by the recent cyclone in Myanmar for the next six months.
Launching the Flash Appeal in New York on behalf of 10 UN agencies and 9 non-governmental organizations, the UN’s top relief official emphasized that “the extent of the humanitarian catastrophe is enormous.”
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes noted that the number of those severely affected is between 1.2 and 1.9 million. But he added that “the numbers of people in need may well increase further as we come to understand better the situation on the ground.”
Cyclone Nargis, which struck the South-East Asian nation on 2 May, left a path of death and destruction across the Irrawaddy delta region and the country’s largest city, Yangon. The Government estimates that more than 22,000 people have died and over 41,000 remain missing.
Mr. Holmes noted that the number of deaths has been climbing daily and “could be anywhere between 63,000 and 100,000, or possibly even higher.”
Stressing the need to act quickly and for the Government to facilitate aid delivery, he said that “the sooner humanitarians are allowed in, and the less procedural and other obstacles we encounter, the more lives we can help save.”
He later told reporters that countries at the launch voiced strong hope that the cooperation which is necessary between the international community and the authorities in Myanmar will be “as forthcoming, as flexible, and as rapid as possible to make sure that not only material relief goods can get in but also humanitarian aid workers.”
Today’s Appeal covers 12 areas, with the largest portion of the funding sought for food, water and sanitation, logistics, health and shelter. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is seeking $56 million to provide daily food rations to 630,000 people in severely affected areas or temporary shelters.
Also, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has appealed for $10 million to assist poor farming and fishing communities devastated by Cyclone Nargis, which made landfall in the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) delta region last Friday and then moved on to Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon.
FAO said the five worst-affected areas – Ayeyarwady, Yangon and Bago Divisions, and Mon and Kayin states – are considered Myanmar’s food bowl, producing much of the country’s staple food of rice and fish, and the overall food security situation in Myanmar is “seriously threatened.”
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which is appealing for $3 million, said today that tens of thousands of pregnant women made homeless by the cyclone urgently need lifesaving assistance. UNFPA is working with humanitarian partners to mobilize emergency reproductive health supplies, including safe delivery kits, for those affected.
The agency added that disasters like Cyclone Nargis put expectant mothers and their babies at special risk because of the sudden loss of medical support, compounded by trauma, malnutrition and disease. Another $8.2 million is being sought by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to meet the critical needs of children and women in the wake of the tragedy.
Mr. Holmes said he will be allocating $20 million immediately from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to projects from the Flash Appeal to help ensure that the most urgent needs can be addressed quickly. Some $77 million has been pledged so far by countries, toward the Appeal and in bilateral assistance.
Legal Eagles
Government must make legal action affordable in environmental cases
10th May 2008
The Worldwide Fund for Nature's (WWF) long-running campaign to secure affordable access to environmental justice took an important step today with the launch of a report which concludes that the government must make legal action more affordable in environmental cases if it is to comply with an international convention on citizens' environmental rights. The report, Ensuring Access to Justice in England and Wales, was compiled by a Working Group on which WWF sits, and which is chaired by the Hon Mr Justice Sullivan. The Working Group examined whether current law and practice prevents concerned individuals and groups from achieving access to justice in environmental matters. It also made recommendations where such barriers exist.
The report concludes that for the significant majority of the public and NGOs, current rules about costs – and particularly the potential exposure to costs if an application should fail – are not consistent with the requirements of the Aarhus Convention. Among its aims, this Convention seeks to ensure that the public, including organisations, are able to access effective judicial mechanisms in a way that is 'fair, equitable, timely and not prohibitively expensive'.
Speaking at the launch of the report, the Hon Mr Justice Sullivan said: "We should not be complacent. While the Administrative Court is capable of dealing effectively with environmental law challenges, that is of limited practical value in protecting the environment if only the very rich or the very poor can afford to use the Court's procedures. If the problems identified in this report are not addressed it will not be long before the UK is taken to task for failing to live up to its obligations under the Aarhus Convention."
The report comes at a time when the UK's compliance on 'prohibitive costs' is under investigation. It highlights UK cases in which concerned citizens have risked significant personal financial loss to challenge important points of public principle. In 2001, Mrs Shirley of the Canterbury Green Party was faced with a claim for over £100,000 for a one day hearing concerning alleged breaches of the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive in the approval of an out of town college.
In a recent case in the West Country, local resident Francis Morgan was advised that judicially reviewing his local council's decision to grant planning permission for the disposal of waste 300 metres from his home might expose him to legal costs in excess of £50,000.
Carol Hatton, a solicitor for WWF, who heads our work on access to environmental justice, said: "The current system in the UK makes it almost impossible to take environmental court action without the threat of losing your home or exposing your organisation to unacceptable risk. The present system means that the environment will continue to be the victim and no one can afford to protect it."
Burma:
Death toll may reach 100,000
The US embassy in Burma has estimated that the true death toll from the cyclone could rise rapidly to 100,000 unless there is urgent action to tackle the threat of disease from the lack of drinking water supplies and emergency aid to the affected areas.
Up to a million people are thought to have been left homeless in the crisis, which has left thousands of square kilometres of the Irrawaddy delta under water.
Poor sanitation, rotting bodies in the water, and flooding could all bring disease, aid agencies warn.
They highlight the risk of mosquito-borne malaria and dengue fever, along with water-borne diseases such as cholera and dysentery.
Burma is also a major rice producer, and much of the crop has been ruined by sea water, pushing up the price still further at a time of concern about the general rise in food costs for the poor.
World governments have pledged emergency relief funds. Britain announced it was providing £5m and President George Bush pledged $3m, saying:
"We're prepared to move US Navy assets to help find those who have lost their lives, to help find the missing, to help stabilise the situation. But, in order to do so, the military junta must allow our disaster assessment teams into the country."
UN to Aid Burma
7th May 2008
The top United Nations humanitarian official announced today that he is prepared to provide a grant from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to help those affected by the deadly cyclone which struck southeast Myanmar over the weekend.
“The Government of Myanmar has indicated that they are open to international assistance. We appreciate the Government’s announcement that it is making available approximately $5 million from its own resources for emergency relief, and I am ready to allocate a significant amount from the CERF as the most urgent needs become clear,” said Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes.
Cyclone Nargis, which made landfall in the Irrawaddy delta region on Friday, left thousands of people dead in its wake and hundreds of thousands without shelter. With winds of over 190 kilometres per hour, the storm, which hit Yangon later that same night, tore down trees and power lines and causing widespread flooding.
Myanmar authorities have declared five regions – Yangon, Ayeyarwwady, Bago, Mon and Kayin – disaster areas. The population of the declared disaster areas is estimated at 24 million, with an estimated 6 million in Yangon. More than 3,000 people are reportedly missing in Ayeyarwady Division alone.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said the number of people in need of assistance is expected to be “sizeable.” The most urgent needs, according to the UN Country Team in Myanmar, include shelter, water purification tablets, cooking sets, mosquito nets, emergency health kits and food.
A UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team is being dispatched to Myanmar and is expected to begin work shortly. Lack of communications has hampered efforts to obtain accurate information on the impacts of the storm and on populations affected.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted yesterday that the lack of communications has made it difficult to ascertain the extent of the casualties and damage, but stressed that the UN is prepared extend necessary assistance and to mobilize international aid in support of the Government, if needed.
UN agencies have already begun working to address the situation. The UN refugee agency is emptying its emergency shelter material stockpiles in neighbouring Thailand of plastic sheeting and tents for some 10,000 people for urgent dispatch to Yangon. The supplies would be distributed through a Disaster Management Committee that had been established by the Myanmar Government.
Jennifer Pagonis, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told journalists in Geneva that the agency’s office in Myanmar yesterday purchased $50,000 worth of urgently needed basic supplies in Yangon for distribution, including emergency tarpaulins, plastic sheeting and canned food.
In addition, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has dispatched five assessment teams to three of the affected areas and is positioning relief supplies. The agency says it will work with partners and the Government to provide access to clean water, safe sanitation and improved hygiene, and will seek to protect children and help them return to school as soon as possible.
The emergence of water borne and vector borne diseases are a major concern for the UN World Health Organization (WHO), which has stressed the need to have access to potable water to avoid diseases. Noting that malaria is present in the part of the country hit by the storm, the agency also stressed the need for insecticide-treated mosquito nets for those affected.
Meanwhile, the head of the secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) today stressed the importance of having life-saving early warning systems and preparedness programmes in place when cyclones strike.
Salvano Briceño noted that many cyclone-prone countries, such as Cuba, Japan, and Bangladesh, have implemented efficient early warning systems that have reduced the death toll caused by cyclones. “When there are comprehensive early warning systems in place, starting from meteorological technology all the way through to preparedness and contingency plans, people can be effectively warned and have time to evacuate to safer places.” Bangladesh has a 48-hour early warning system in place that allows people to evacuate to safe cyclone shelters hours before any cyclone makes landfall. This has drastically reduced their death tolls from cyclones – from 300,000 deaths from Cyclone Bhola in 1970, to 3,000 last November during Cyclone Sidr. “These measures are proven lifesavers,” said Mr. Briceño.
BBC- Mangrove loss left Burma exposed - 7/5/08
Aviation:
Another Dodgy Dossier
6th May 2008
The Aviation Environment Federation (AEF) has uncovered an unpublished study by the world's leading experts that reveals that airlines are pumping 20 per cent more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than estimates suggest, with total emissions set to reach between 1.2 billion and 1.5 billion tonnes annually by 2025. Soaring carbon emissions from aviation could lead to the "worst case scenario" for climate change, as envisaged by the United Nations. The aviation industry is not included in the Kyoto Treaty on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The study,
"Trends in Global Noise and Emissions From Commercial Aviation for 2000 through 2025",
found that the number of people seriously affected by aircraft noise will rise from 24 million in 2000 to 30.3 million by 2025, despite the introduction of quieter jets, and that the amount of nitrogen oxides around airports, produced by aircraft engines, will rise from 2.5 million tonnes in 2000 to 6.1 million tonnes in 2025.
Jeff Gazzard, a spokesman for the AEF said:
"Growth of CO2 emissions on this scale will comfortably outstrip any gains made by improved technology and ensure aviation is an even larger contributor to global warming by 2025 than previously thought. Governments must take action to put a cap on air transport's unrestrained growth."
The report was presented in 2007 to the USA/Europe Air Traffic Management Seminar in Barcelona but withheld from wider publication. The authors at the US Department of Transport, the European air traffic management body, Eurocontrol, Manchester Metropolitan University and the technology company QinetiQ, predict that CO2 emissions from aviation will rise from the current level of 670 million tonnes to up to 1.48 billion tonnes by 2025. This exceeds the previous estimate, made in 2004, of 1.03 billion tonnes by 2025. The growth in aviation CO2 means that the highest forecast for aviation emissions produced by the International Panel on Climate Change will be met or exceeded.
Food Riots in Somalia
6th May 2008
At least two people have died in the Somali capital Mogadishu in food riots, as troops opened fire on protests about the rising price of food and circulation of counterfeit currency. The riots involved thousands of people burning tyres and throwing stones after traders refused to accept local notes and demanded US dollars instead.
This and the increasing insecurity have seen food prices double.
The riots in Somalia over food prices are the latest in a series of disturbances around the world, that have toppled the government in Haiti, and brought protestors to the streets of Egypt, Pakistan and Mexico.
A number of factors are pushing food prices higher including the world's growing population, harvests affected by climate change, competition for land from biofuel crops, and a shift towards eating more meat in Asia.
Last week, the UN Food Security Analysis Unit warned that Somalia was facing a major famine caused by prolonged drought and soaring food prices.
It said that half of the population would need food aid by the end of the year and that hyperinflation, the devaluation of the Somali shilling and the ongoing armed conflict with Islamicists were making it more and more difficult for the urban poor to get enough to eat.
Oil price tops
$121 a barrel
6th May 2008
Predictions from the Transition Towns movement about Peak Oil driving the price of oil ever higher appear to be coming true, as the oil price rose on Tuesday to over $121 dollars a barrel, amid fears about attacks on pipelines in Nigeria and Northern Iraq.
"Nigeria is the lingering hotspot the markets will be focusing on," said MF Global analyst Ed Meir.
He added that while some production in the oil-rich African nation, there were "reports of fresh violence, as another pipeline explosion has shut in more oil production".
With no spare capacity in the system, every restriction to supply is causing a spike in prices, and with so much of modern food production and distribution linked to fuel prices, global inflation is a renewed threat to economies in America and parts of Europe that are struggling with recession. The current high price of oil is also due to the falling value of the dollar and hedge funds investing in commodities. Ironically, the latest spike in the oil price is partly due to optimism that the recession in the US is not as bad as feared.
The relationship between currency markets and commodity prices is a relatively new phenomenon, according to Damian Cox from John Hall Associates:
"Since about August, commodities appear to have been responding to movements in the currency markets....As the dollar has weakened, some people have moved into commodities."
The other factor in oil price rises is the booming demand as developing nations like China and India industrialise. China will take further steps to secure a greater future supply of oil this week when it signs a deal with oil-producer Venezuela to build a refinery jointly in Guangdong province.
Under the deal, Venezuela will supply China with 400,000 barrels a day, five times the current amount.
"We want to co-operate with foreign firms in both the upstream and downstream business to take advantage of our respective strengths and secure steady oil supplies," Shen Diancheng, vice-president of the largest Chinese oil and gas firm, Petrochina told Eco.
Thousands Die
in Burmese Cyclone
6th May 2008
Over 22,000 people have died in a powerful cyclone that has struck Burma, and over 41,000 people are missing. Unconfirmed reports put the death toll much higher at over 60,000. International aid agencies are pushing to launch a massive operation in the worst-affected areas of the country, although there is some resistance from the notoriously intransigent regime.
Hundreds of thousands of people are said to be without clean water and shelter, with some areas still cut off.
State media reported on Tuesday that 22,464 people had now been confirmed as dead.
More deaths were caused by the tidal wave than the cyclone itself, Minister for Relief and Resettlement Maung Maung Swe told reporters in Rangoon.
"The wave was up to 12ft (3.5m) high and it swept away and inundated half the houses in low-lying villages," he said. "They did not have anywhere to flee."
Winds of about 190km/h (120mph) battered the Irrawaddy, Rangoon, Bago, Karen and Mon regions. Parts of the Irrawaddy region were hit particularly badly, with three out of four buildings reportedly blown down in one district, and Burma has declared Irrawaddy and four other regions, including the main city Rangoon, to be disaster areas.
In Irrawaddy's Labutta township, 75% of buildings collapsed and 20% had their roofs ripped off, and 20,000 houses throughout Irrawaddy as a whole have been destroyed.
The capital city Rangoon has been without power and water, its streets full of debris. A diplomat in Rangoon described the situation as "like a war-zone."
Norwich goes
Green
Councillor Adrian Ramsay
Norwich Greens leapfrog Lib Dems to become main opposition to Labour
2nd May 2008
The result sets Councillor Adrian Ramsay on course to win Charles Clarke's Norwich South seat, becoming one of the first Green MPs elected to Westminster.
Finishing the night with an increased number of City Council seats from 10 to 13, Norwich Green Party has leapfrogged the Liberal Democrats to become the official opposition on Norwich City Hall, just 2 seats away from the ruling Labour Party. At the same time, the Greens have beaten Labour on local election vote share across the Norwich South Parliamentary constituency by approximately 2000 votes. For the first time, the Norwich Greens also won more votes than Labour across the entire city.
This historic election sees the Norwich Greens become the most powerful Green Group of councillors in the country. The result also sets Nelson Ward Green Party Councillor Adrian Ramsay on course to win Charles Clarke's Norwich South seat, becoming one of the first Green MPs elected to Westminster.
Councillor Ramsay, Norwich South PPC and Leader of the Green Party Group on Norwich City Council, said of the results:
"I'm delighted that we've achieved such an excellent result. Thousands of Norwich residents have endorsed our positive campaign based on more environmentally friendly and socially fair policies for the City Council. We need more affordable housing, comprehensive recycling facilities, better energy efficiency and more renewable energy in new developments and we need to protect the city's natural and historic assets. With more Green councillors elected I hope that we can get more of these policies adopted.
"The Green Party is now clearly the main challenge to Labour in Norwich, both on the City Council and as we bid to win the Norwich South Westminster seat from Charles Clarke at the next General Election."
Elsewhere in the country, Greens gained important breakthroughs in Cambridge, Stroud and Solihull, while the Greens in Liverpool formed an unprecedented 'group status'. Sheffield and Camden Greens both gained one seat to make full Green wards in Central and Highgate respectively.
Nationally the Green Party has made a very modest net gain of 5 councillors, increasing their number of council seats to 116.
In London, Boris Johnson has replaced Ken Livingstone as Mayor of London, on a ticket that includes a review of the Congestion Charge and opposition to the Kyoto Treaty. The Green Party gained 8.29% of the vote and has retained its existing two members of the Greater London Assembly (GLA). The British National Party gained its first member of the GLA, gaining 5.33% of the vote.
Green Party Results
Free Letterbox Stickers
One little label can save a thousand trees
Eco is targeting the appalling waste of free newspapers. They come though our doors unrequested, and most simply get (at best) recycled unread, more likely thrown away, a criminal waste of energy and resources. We are offering free stickers reading "No free newspapers or junk mail please". Do order extra to deliver in your road or distribute to green friends, or your local environment group. Just send us your name and address and indicate the number of stickers you would like: webmaster@ecozine.co.uk. If ordering more than 10 please send a donation of 50p per label payable to "Eco" to 98 Crane Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP1 2QD.
Please note that to stop junk mail in its tracks you will also need to register online with the Mailing Preference Service or phone 0845 703 4599 to request an application form.
CONTENTS - INSIDE ECO
The Green Network
Comment Section Features:Measure your ecological footprint - Comment - Page 1
Something Better Change! Ten top tips to save the world - Comment - page 2
When less means more - Comment -page 3
Wake up call - Comment - page 4
Things they said - words of wisdom - Comment page 5
Time for a low Carb diet - Comment - page 6
Chew Magna - Britain's Greenest Village?- Comment - page 7
More Trees Please Greenpeace - Controversial words from Dr. Richard Lawson's Blog- Comment - page 7
A Fresh Start for The Green Party -Comment page 8
Science Section Features
Planet under pressure - Science - page 1
What is the Gaia Hypothesis? - Science page 2
What is a meme, and how can it save the world? - Science - page 3
The science of global warming and the greenhouse effect - Science - page 4
Beavers back in Britain - Science page 5
Record heat raises climate fears/Web 2.0 - Science section 6
Smart direction for green ideas - Science page 7
Renewable energy - Science page 8
Business Section Features
The New Man - Business page 1
Cut your fuel bill and save the planet - Business page 2
Ethical matters - A Guide to Green Investment - Business page 3
Oil and trouble - Business page 4
Green mobile phone company launched; Body Shop news - Business page 5
M&S leads the way; The Bankruptcy Boom- Business page 6
Do your food shopping and bank online- Business page 6
New Year, New Job - Business page 7
Job Vacancies - Business page 7
Green turns gold - Business - page 8
Society Section Features
Health - Society page 1
Transport - Society page 2
Education - Society page 3
Sustainable development - Society page 4
Housing and regeneration - Society page 5
Parents - Society page 6
Young people - Society page 7
Campaign news & Life Coaching- Society page 8
Recreation Features
Places to Visit - Recreation page 1
Events - Recreation page 2
Gardening - Recreation page 3
"How green are you?" quiz. Recreation page 3
Food, Gardening, and Hot Websites -Recreation page 3
Green Shopping Guide - Recreation page 4
Book Reviews - Recreation page 5
Film Reviews - Recreation page 6
Music - Recreation page 7
General Entertainment - Recreation page 8
Talk Features
Your feedback about Eco - Talk page 1
Talking point: Nuclear Power - Talk page 2
Letters - Talk page 3
Quarantine that virus -Dr. Richard Lawson - Talk page 4
Get it right! - More feedback - Talk page 5
A Day in the Life of a Sea Shepherd Volunteer - Talk page 6
News from the Blogosphere - Talk page 7
In the papers -Talk page 8