A Welcome Wind

 

Offshore wind plans welcomed - but Government renewable strategy needs shake-up

5th June 2008

The Crown Estate's decision to earmark 11 sites for offshore wind development has been welcomed as a significant step forward in developing a cleaner future.

The environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth urged the Government to do more to harness the potential of renewable energy for creating jobs and boosting the economy, including ending attempts to water down EU renewable energy targets and giving financial incentives to homes, businesses and communities to install green energy systems, such as solar panels.

Friends of the Earth's energy campaigner, Nick Rau, told Eco:

"This is a significant step forward in developing a cleaner future. The UK has vast experience in offshore engineering and an abundance of wind and wave power that could be harnessed to make us a world leader in green energy.

"The Government must urgently review its renewable energy strategy. Its green credentials continue to be undermined by its attempts to water down EU plans to boost green energy and its refusal to encourage homes, businesses and communities to install clean energy systems.

"Renewable energy has a major role to play in cutting our fossil fuel dependency, tackling climate change and creating thousands of jobs around the country. The Government must seize the green initiative."

Friends of the Earth is calling on the Government to:

End its attempts to water down the EU Renewables Directive

The EU has agreed that 20 per cent of Europe's energy should come from renewable sources by 2020. To meet this target the UK will have to source 15 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by this date. But Ministers are attempting to water down the target by proposing, for example, that countries could buy renewable energy "credits" from outside the EU and that carbon capture and storage (CCS) from fossil fuel plants could count towards the target. Friends of the Earth says this is unacceptable and Ministers should ensure the UK plays its fair share in meeting the target.

Improve support for the UK's renewable electricity generation target

To play its part in meeting the EU's renewable energy target, Britain will have to ensure that around 40 per cent of UK electricity comes from renewable sources by 2020. The current renewable energy support system, the Renewables Obligation, has a target of only 20%.

Amend the Energy Bill to require energy companies to give long-term contracts guaranteeing a premium price for renewable energy generated by households and businesses, helping them to produce their own green energy

The scheme, known as a feed-in tariff, would make renewable technologies significantly more cost effective to install. Feed-in tariffs have been especially successful in Germany, which now has 200 times more solar power and more than 10 times more wind power installed than the UK.

Ensure the national grid accommodates renewable energy generation

At the moment the grid doesn't have the capacity to carry this electricity from the areas of wind resource, to the areas of demand. Fully harnessing the vast offshore resource will need strategic development of a European electricity grid

Abandon plans for a new nuclear programme, and channel support instead to ensuring growth in a UK renewable energy industry.

The proposed 25 gigawatts of offshore wind will generate as much electricity as 10 new nuclear power stations, but could be up and running much sooner. Renewable generators currently have to compete with the nuclear industry for grid connection

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Time for a Deal

Clear progress needed towards ambitious climate deal

5th June 2008

Governments are currently meeting in Bonn, Germany, from 2-13 June to continue discussions towards agreeing a new climate deal to follow the first round of the Kyoto Protocol, which comes to an end in 2012 – a vital move if we're to combat climate change. Climate change is already damaging the world's ecosystems and is set to cause a global humanitarian and environmental disaster as the world's poorest people and its wildlife and wild places are set to be hit the hardest.
The meeting follows talks in Bali in December 2007 when governments committed themselves to agree on a new climate deal that will cover the issues of emission reductions, other ways to mitigate climate change, and ways to adapt to its unavoidable impacts. Nations must also agree on ways to finance the necessary measures, decide on ways to promote clean technology, and agree how the issue of forest protection will be incorporated into any treaty. Deforestation currently accounts for around 20% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.
The Bali meeting agreed on the broad brushstrokes of the topics that the talks should cover. Specifics need to be worked out in a negotiating marathon, of which the Bonn meeting is the second step (after talks in Bangkok in April). Bonn will prepare the way for a ministerial level meeting in Poznan, Poland, in December 2008. The final deal is due to be clinched in December 2009 in Copenhagen.
Governments need to come to Bonn with the intention of making clear progress towards an ambitious outcome at the Poznan meeting. "It would be wrong to think that the real work only starts in 2009 – that attitude would mean that the negotiations will fail," said Kim Carstensen, director of WWF's global climate initiative. "It is a step-by-step walk on the road to Copenhagen – we need real steps forward to arrive at the goal."
WWF is calling for industrialised countries to live up to their responsibility, show commitment to taking up new national emission reduction targets, and commit to a binding, absolute reductions target at the top end of the 25-40% range that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded would be needed by 2020.

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Climate Act Blunder

UK businesses warn Government against climate law blunder

4th June 2008

Top UK businesses believe the government may be about to get it wrong again on landmark green legislation due to go through the Commons this summer. Two thirds of FTSE 100 and 250 firms surveyed for Friends of the Earth believe it will be a mistake for the Government to exclude international aviation and shipping emissions from the new Climate Change Law.

The survey's findings send a `plane message' to MPs that business does not support measures which give special treatment to the aviation and shipping industries. It also shows that business welcomes the introduction of a legal framework that could help make it easier and cheaper for them to be more climate friendly.

Fifty seven per cent think the proposed law will give UK businesses and investors the confidence they need to invest in low carbon technologies. And half of companies that expressed a view said they believe the law will give UK business a competitive advantage in the global marketplace by making Britain one of the first low carbon economies in the world.

Friends of the Earth has led the call for a strong climate change law which covers all the UK's emissions and which commits the UK to cutting its emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050 - the level of reductions scientists say are needed. The public are invited to support the campaign by getting on board a virtual flight to parliament at www.thebigask.com.

Friends of the Earth Director, Tony Juniper told Eco:

“Let's hope MPs heed this warning from businesses and vote for a stronger climate change law when they get the chance this summer. Including all of the UK's carbon emissions from the start will help our businesses plan for the future and reap the benefits of the move to a low carbon economy in the future.

“The climate change law is the flagship of this government's green policy but it's also hugely important for our economy, helping solutions to climate change flourish and weaning us off our dependence on ever more expensive oil.”

“Top UK companies know a strong law is good for business and leaving emissions from international aviation and shipping out of it is both a glaring oversight and grossly unfair - like going on a diet but failing to count the calories from chocolate.”

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Burma: UN Steps

up Aid

The devastating cyclone has left hundreds of thousands

of people desperately in need of help

19th May 2008

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel to Myanmar this week to try to accelerate relief efforts in the wake of the devastation wreaked by Cyclone Nargis, which may have killed more than 100,000 people and uprooted the lives of 2.5 million others.

Mr. Ban's spokesperson Michele Montas announced today that Mr. Ban is scheduled to arrive in Myanmar on Wednesday for a three-day visit in which he will tour the areas most affected by the cyclone – especially the Irrawaddy delta in the south of the country – and travel to Yangon, the most populous city.

He will also hold meetings with senior officials in the Government of Myanmar, she said, emphasizing that the UN remained willing to work with authorities to try to improve the speed and distribution of relief aid. It is not yet confirmed which officials he will meet.

“The whole purpose of the trip? is to accelerate the pace of disaster relief. He hopes his presence can really make things go faster,” said Ms. Montas.

She added that although the situation in the affected region remained dire, it was “not too late to try to save more people.” Millions of people are either homeless or have seen their homes become badly damaged as a result of the cyclone and subsequent tidal surge.

Mr. Ban and other senior UN officials, including Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes, have voiced repeated concern that there has been slow progress in sending both aid and humanitarian workers to the areas most affected by the cyclone, which struck on the night of 2 May.

Mr. Holmes, who is also Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, arrived in Myanmar today to conduct his own assessment of the situation, and Ms. Montas said the coordination of help on the ground was now better than he had anticipated. Mr. Holmes is due to brief Mr. Ban in Bangkok, the capital of neighbouring Thailand, before the Secretary-General arrives in Myanmar.

Some UN aid officials are inside Myanmar, working with an emergency team from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and others to try to bring humanitarian relief.

Mr. Ban and ASEAN officials have also agreed on holding a high-level pledging conference shortly to generate funds for further relief operations.

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The Last Extinction

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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.

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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.

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Nuclear Power? No Thanks!

Brussels – 19th April 2008

The environmental organisation Friends of the Earth, in co-operation with WISE (World Information Service on Energy) has reprinted the famous “Nuclear Power? No Thanks” logo on T-shirts made of organic, fairly-traded cotton to mark the 22nd anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. The smiling sun on the logo is the symbol of solar energy and all renewable energy sources. Though the logo dates from the seventies, nuclear power is once again a hot contemporary topic
and the logo indicates support for honest information campaigns concerning the many dangers of nuclear energy. The nuclear industry is currently profiting from increased awareness of climate change to re-launch its offensive and present nuclear energy as a sustainable source with no CO2 emissions: a misleading picture.
Despite the fact that Belgium passed a law in 2003 to close all nuclear reactors in the country by 2025, there are worrying signs that the new government intends to leave the reactors open and even build new ones. In France, the lobby linked to Areva and EDF is gearing up around the world. On his many foreign trips, President Sarkozy never misses a chance to sell French nuclear power stations, often to dubious regimes for whom it is a small step from this civilian technology to the development of atomic weapons.

David Heller, campaign coordinator of Friends of the Earth, says: "Now is the time to spell out the many disadvantages of nuclear energy once again, especially for the younger generations who don’t remember the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. There are many people nowadays who don’t know that nuclear energy is extremely expensive, polluting, dangerous and undemocratic. Instead of investing billions of euros in nuclear energy, research and development need to be aimed at renewable energy
and energy efficiency."
Friends of the Earth is a member of the world’s largest environmental network, with branches in 70 countries. One of its main activities is campaigning against climate change. Energy efficiency, energy saving, renewable energy sources, a democratic control of energy resources and a strong climate law obliging annual cuts in greenhouse emissions are Friends of the Earth’s key concepts when it comes to the climate issue.
The Friends of the Earth and WISE T-shirts are made in India using certified organic cotton. The farmers do not use any dangerous pesticides to grow the cotton. Instead, they use natural cultivation
techniques such as crop rotation, plant extracts and insects for pest control. In contrast to the usual methods of cultivating cotton, organic cotton farming is not harmful to people or the environment. Ethos, the French producer of the T-shirts, is an active member of the French fair trade platform. That means that they aim for a fair relationship between producers, suppliers and consumers, which is certainly not how things work in a free trade system. The T-shirts are also perfectly suited to sensitive skin: they are coloured with dyes that do not contain heavy oils and printed with water-based ink, the most environmentally friendly ink currently available.
It is quick and easy to order online from www.foeshop.org. There is a classic fit version for men and a tailored version for women, each of which are available in English, Dutch, French and Spanish. The cost is 22 Euro. There are also badges and stickers with the logo. Every order supports Friends of the Earth and WISE campaigns.

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Wind Welcomed

           

8th April 2008

Environmentalists have expressed delight at the announcement by energy giant E.ON, that it is pressing ahead with plans to build a major offshore wind farm off the Yorkshire coast.

Commenting on the announcement, Friends of the Earth's Energy Campaigner, Nick Rau said:

“We are delighted E.ON is pushing forward with plans for a new wind farm off the Yorkshire Coast. The Humber Gateway wind farm will help tap into the abundant clean green energy resources we have in the UK.”

“Offshore wind has a key role in the fight against climate change and helping us switchto a low-carbon economy. Projects like this are a springboard to a massive expansion of offshore wind energy. The Government must do more to develop this huge potential and ensure that Britain reaps the massive economic and environmental benefits of becoming a world leader in harvesting the wind.”

The Government has announced its aspiration for massive growth in offshore wind power, to generate as much as 25% of our electricity needs by 2020. But the Government must give more support for renewables if we are to meet our targets. Friends of the Earth is calling on Ministers to:

• Amend the Renewables Obligation (RO) to ensure that 45 per cent of electricity comes from renewable sources by 2020. The RO, which requires power suppliers to derive from renewables a specified proportion of the electricity they supply to their customers - has an important role to play in helping the UK to meet its share of the EU renewable energy target.
  
• Encourage householders and businesses to install small-scale renewable energy systems such as solar panels by ensuring that they receive a guaranteed premium payment (Feed In Tariff) for the renewable energy they generate.
  

• Give renewable generators priority over conventional generation when connecting and delivering power to the grid.

• Reform energy industry regulator OFGEM, to make tackling climate change a clear and central priority for all its work.

The Ministry of Defence has objected to the wind farm proposal on the grounds that it may cause radar interference. Friends of the Earth believes that if the Government is serious about tackling climate change it should be working across departments to develop and support technological solutions to the problem.

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   Too Little, Too Late?

Leading climate scientist James Hansen

8th April 2008

Leading climate scientist James Hansen, head of the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, has thrown established thinking on global warming into disarray with announcement of his belief that international agreements have grossly underestimated the danger. Instead of seeking to limit carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere at no more than 450 parts per million (ppm), Hansen has stated that the target should be to reduce the concentation to 350 ppm.

Hansen argues the cut is needed if "humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilisation developed". Instead of using theoretical models to estimate the sensitivity of the climate, his team turned to evidence from the Earth's history, which they say gives a much more accurate picture.

Commenting on his research, Hansen said: "If you leave us at 450ppm for long enough it will probably melt all the ice - that's a sea rise of 75 metres. What we have found is that the target we have all been aiming for is a disaster - a guaranteed disaster." Hansen's research suggests that at levels as high as 550ppm, the world would warm by 6C - previous estimates had suggested warming would be just 3C at that point. The main reason for his reassessment is what he calls "slow feedback" mechanisms which amplify the rise in temperature caused by increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases.

Ironically Hansen was himself architect of earlier targets that included a lower limit of 450 ppm, that he now declares is also too high. He has had a torrid relationship with the Bush administration for his outspoken views.

If Hansen is right then present international action on climate change may prove to be "too little, too late".

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 Paid to Pollute

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Splash and Dash

           

2nd April 2008

An extraordinary scam involving biofuels has revealed that biofuel, much of it sourced in South America, is being shipped to the US where a dash of conventional fuel is added, thereby qualifying it for a US biofuel subsidy. The fuel is then shipped back to the UK to be sold in the domestic market. It is hard to trace the origins of this fuel, and much of it is though to originate in South America.The ploy is known as splash and dash.

Greenpeace senior forest campaigner Belinda Fletcher commented to Eco:

"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.

"At the moment there are no safeguards in place to make sure that these fuels are coming from sustainable sources, so they could be grown in areas of cleared rainforest in the Amazon or Indonesia, causing massive greenhouse gas emissions.

"Despite this, the UK government wants to force us to pump them into our tanks in two week's time. This is reckless - we must postpone the RTFO until proper standards are in place."
On 15th April 2008 the government's Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) comes into force. From this date every supplier in the country will be required to provide 2.5 per cent of all fuels from biofuel sources, rising to 5 per cent in 2010.

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Flybe's Fly by Night Passengers

2nd April 2008

The Government must mount an urgent investigation into the aviation industry following revelations that low-cost airline Flybe laid on extra flights and advertised for actors to fill them in order to meet passenger quotas and avoid financial penalties, Friends of the Earth said today.

In the latest twist to the story, it has been reported that Flybe staff were specially flown to Norwich airport in order to become fake passengers on the Norwich to Dublin route. The airline, which says it "is at the forefront of the efforts by airlines to reduce the environmental impact of air travel and promote sustainable growth in the aviation industry" [1], said it would have had to pay Norwich airport £140,000 if it failed to meet its passenger target.

Friends of the Earth aviation campaigner Tony Bosworth said:

"The Government must mount an urgent investigation into the Alice-in-Wonderland economics of the aviation industry. Extra flights are being laid on, filled with passengers that don't want to go on them, simply to meet passenger quotas and avoid financial penalties. Ministers must find out how widespread this situation is, and prevent this outrageous behaviour from happening again.

"Aviation is the one of the fastest-growing sources of carbon dioxide emissions in the UK. This sorry episode exposes the myth that the aviation industry is taking climate change seriously. The Government must take urgent action to curb the growth in aviation emissions. It must abandon plans to expand airports, and ensure that Britain's share of international aviation emissions is included in its proposals for a new climate change law."

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      Make Light not War

                           

1st April 2008

Environmental campaigners have criticised the Government's parsimonious support for renewable energy, which has seen a fall in the number of new installations. Meanwhile billions of pounds are being spent on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Commenting on the Government's overhaul of its Low Carbon Buildings Programme announced today, Friends of the Earth's Low Carbon Homes campaigner, Ed Matthew told Eco:

“The potential for tackling climate change through the housing sector is enormous. And the Government should support it by helping homes to save energy and install low-carbon energy systems such as solar panels, as part of its plans for tackling global warming.

“But the Government's response continues to be woeful. The Low Carbon Buildings Programme has been an unmitigated disaster. Over the last year the grants programme has actually created a drop in the rate of renewable energy installations. You would be forgiven for thinking that the Government was actually trying to destroy the small-scale renewables industry in the UK.

“The Government must get serious about renewable energy. The LCBP should be ten times bigger, with funds of a billion pounds, providing at least 50% grants for renewable technologies for every household. And the energy Bill must be amended so that generous long-term payments are given to everyone who supplies clean, green energy to the grid.”

The Government has refused to increase the grants available for households to install low carbon technologies (such as wind turbines and solar panels) in today's overhaul of its Low Carbon Buildings Programme, despite the fact that the scheme has comprehensively failed to help homes to go green.

Although the LCBP only supported 270 solar PV installations in the residential sector in 2007, ministers have refused to increase the amount of money to help householders to install small-scale, low-carbon power sources. It is however, increasing the grant available for the public sector (50% for all technologies), although no extra money will be made available.

Friends of the Earth is calling on the Government to increase the amount of money available to households to fit low-carbon energy technologies, and to further encourage the take-up of micro-generation by ensuring that households receive a long-term guaranteed premium rate payment - or feed-in tariff - for all the renewable energy they sell to the National Grid. The environmental campaign group estimates that 600,000 homes need help to install renewable energy systems every year if carbon emissions are to be successfully cut by 80 percent by 2050 in the residential sector.

But the Government has also refused to introduce a feed-in tariff for homes with their own green energy sources. Ministers recently rejected cross-party attempts to amend the Energy Bill to include a financial reward for generating renewable electricity.

A feed in tariff scheme in Germany has been highly successful. German householders get a guaranteed premium price for the green energy they supply to the grid, with contracts lasting between 15 and 25 years. As a result it now has 200 times more solar power than the UK. On Saturday the Government was attacked for attempting to undermine EU renewable energy targets.

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Rooks not bird-brained

1st April 2008

New research has found that groups of rooks will co-operate to obtain food that a single bird cannot reach. Researchers from the University of Cambridge were amazed to find that the birds performed as well as chimpanzees at the test, and had abilities far beyond what had been expected.

In the experiment, pairs of captive birds were presented with a tray topped with tasty morsels of egg yolk and mealworm - however, it was placed just out of reach, outside of the birds' cage. A single piece of string was threaded through two hooks on the tray, with each end left dangling 60cm (24in) apart, just inside the rooks' enclosure.

Psychologist Amanda Seed, the lead author of the research, who is now based at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, said:

"If just one bird pulled on one end of the string, it would slip out from the loops. The question was would they work out, without any training, that they needed one bird to pull on one end of the string and another to pull on the other, simultaneously, to get to the food?"

The researchers discovered that the eight pairs were happy to cooperate, with some pairs solving the task straight away, others taking a day or two to work out that team-work was the key to getting their nibbles.

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Government in

Nuclear U-Turn

Nuclear enthusiast, Business Secretary John Hutton MP

27th March 2008

Just a few years after rejecting nuclear power, the Government is now enthusiastically embracing the technology as a source of employment and for its alleged role in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

In a speech timed to coincide with the announcement of joint Anglo-French co-operation on nuclear power, Business Secretary John Hutton proclaimed that replacing the existing reactors will be equivalent to investment "three times the size of the project to build Terminal 5 at Heathrow". He argued that the UK's nuclear programme should go beyond replacing the existing stock of 23 reactors, which provide 20% of the country's energy, to generate a £20bn economic bonanza that will create 100,000 new jobs and benefit the economy as much as North Sea oil. He continued:

"I want Britain to be leading the world in the development and application of this new generation of low carbon power technology. It could represent around £20bn worth of business for UK companies. And with no artificial cap to constrain the potential of new build in the UK, there is every reason to believe that the industry could be contributing a significantly higher proportion of the UK in the decades ahead.

"Creating thousands of long-term highly skilled jobs directly within the energy industry and throughout the supply chain, the prize could be massive."

Instead nuclear should contribute "a significantly higher proportion" of the nation's energy needs in the years ahead, and Britain should aim to become a world leader in the development of nuclear power technology, words that will alarm the strong anti-nuclear lobby in the UK.

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Biofuels Blasted

A coalition of some of Britain's biggest environmental and development groups have sent a joint letter 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.

In a letter to Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly, the groups - including Oxfam, CAFOD, RSPB, IIED, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace - criticise the upcoming Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) and assert that "there is a very real risk that the RTFO will make climate change worse, not better."

The organisations are demanding that ministers delay the introduction of this legislation, which would see biofuels pumped into every tank in the country from April 15th 2008.

The letter goes on to explain further problems connected to the production of biofuels. These include spiraling food prices in the developing world, increases in the incidence of land conflicts and human rights abuses, the destruction of tropical forests, savannah and grasslands for crop cultivation and the need for high levels of public investment to make biofuels economically viable.

The groups demand that the legislation is postponed until safeguards are put in place to protect against these negative impacts. A Government led review into biofuels was announced only this month and the new, Treasury-commissioned King Review of low carbon cars suggests that to deliver meaningful emissions reductions the focus of policy should be shifted away from biofuels and towards engine efficiency.

The letter claims that given these emerging views it would be illogical for ministers to press ahead at this moment in time.

Doug Parr, Greenpeace's Chief Scientific Adviser said: "From next month British motorists will be forced to pump biofuels into their tanks with no way of knowing if the so-called green fuels they're using are actually worse for the climate than regular fossil fuels. For one of the Government's top scientists to describe these plans as potentially insane suggests that something has gone seriously wrong here. The targets should be scrapped. Pressing ahead regardless of the consequences for the climate would be incredibly reckless."

Abigail Bunker, Agriculture Policy Officer of The RSPB said: "Biofuels threaten untold damage to unique wildlife habitats across the world. Their production is already causing the destruction of rainforest, peatlands and grasslands and the release of huge amounts of carbon stored by trees and soil. Thousands of people last week urged the government to shelve its plans to force us to buy more biofuel. Ministers must heed those pleas not bulldoze through more biofuel use."

Kenneth Richter, Biofuels Campaigner at Friends of the Earth said: "It would be irresponsible to press ahead with volume targets for biofuels in the UK and the EU while there is no scientific consensus about their climate impacts and at a time when experts are still scratching their heads about how to adequately safeguard against their potentially catastrophic impacts on people and the environment."

Robert Bailey, Oxfam Biofuels Policy Lead said: "The RTFO should be delayed until the Government can guarantee that the UK's biofuels will neither make climate change worse, nor come at the expense of the environment and the livelihoods of people in developing countries."

George Gelber, Head of Public Policy at CAFOD said: "The government's Chief Scientific Advisor, Professor John Beddington has warned about the impacts of biofuels on food security, just at a time when the world's poorest people are faced with rocketing prices of their basic foods. In addition, recent reports doubt the ability of biofuels to reduce greenhouse gases. The government needs to look before it leaps in committing to biofuels."

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Heathrow Airfix

10th March 2008

The Government has been caught red-handed fixing the outcome of the Heathrow Airport expansion "consultation" by a "Sunday Times" investigation. Evidence has been uncovered of direct collusion between officials of the airports operator BAA and the Government.

Documents found by "The Sunday Times" reveal that BAA executives prevented the use of data in the consultation document which showed that the expansion would cause unlawful levels of pollution and extra noise.

Instead, they gave civil servants amended data that showed the anticipated 230,000 extra flights a year at Heathrow would have a minimal impact on noise and pollution levels.

A leaked report shows that even the Government's own Environment Agency is appalled at this level of collusion. One official said: “It’s a classic case of reverse engineering. They knew exactly what results they wanted and fixed the inputs to get there. It’s appalling.”

"The Sunday Times" investigation used the Freedom of Information Act to gain access to documents that show that BAA gave instructions to Department for Transport (DfT) officials on how to “strip out” data that indicated key environmental targets would be breached by the airport. The airports operator repeatedly selected alternative data used for the consultation to ensure that the final results showed a negligible impact on noise and pollution. The DfT gave BAA unprecedented access to confidential papers and allowed the company to help to rewrite the consultation document. The final document significantly reduced the likely carbon emissions caused by the runway by not including incoming international flights.

This approach to consultation shows a contempt for the British public. Flawed consultation is being used to give spurious legitimacy to controversial decisions such as the new generation of nuclear power stations, and the expansion of Heathrow airport, where the desired outcome has been decided on in advance, or as a delaying tactic, as with the review of the target needed for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the Climate Change Bill.

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Plutonium Plans

10th March 2008

Plans are being drawn up to transport weapons-grade plutonium down the West Coast of England in an unarmed, single-hulled and single-engined roll-on, roll-off ferry. The extraordinary plans to transport the plutonium dioxide powder from Sellafield to France have been described by one expert as "the worst possible material" to ship. Plutonium is one of the deadliest materials known to man, and the consequences of a marine accident or terrorist attack on the ship are unthinkable.

The shipment, which is expected to be the first of a series is necessary due to the highly embarrassing failure of a £473m plant at the Sellafield complex, which was designed to make new nuclear fuel out of mixture of plutonium and uranium oxides recovered from used fuel. Sellafield humiliatingly had to turn to its chief competitor, the French firm Cogema, to fulfil its orders for the fuel, and is now required to return the fuel.

John Large, an independent nuclear expert, said:

"They are showing incredible double standards. They are prepared to put the British public at greater risk than they pose when travelling on the high seas. It is the most dangerous and worst possible material that you could ship, and everyone knows that. This is cavalier."

Dr Frank Barnaby, one of Britain's leading experts on nuclear terrorism, said that "a reasonably resourced terrorist group would have no problem making a bomb out of this material" and that it was also ideal for a dirty radioactive bomb as the powder was enormously toxic and would vaporise, making it easy to breathe in. He added: "This is madness, totally irresponsible."

The environment spokesmen for both main opposition parties have voiced serious concern at the risk to national security and the environment. Peter Ainsworth, shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, said: "No risk should be taken with the environment and public safety." Steve Webb, the Lib Dem environment spokesman, described the shipment as "a risk to our national security".

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The Long and

Windy Road

9th March 2008

The Government's climate change Tsar, Lord Turner, has called for wind turbines to be built along every motorway and outside every school to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

Lord Turner, head of the Government's Committee on Climate Change, commented:

"If you say, should we put a row of wind turbines along the top of really beautiful downland, probably not. But I do think we're not being imaginative enough about brownfield sites.

"If the wind dynamics work, why couldn't you put turbines every 300 yards up the central reservation of the motorway - where you have already produced a visual intrusion already? And what about old industrial sites, ports and so on?"

Lord Turner added: "On the whole I do think you can't go into this debate and say 'I'm in favour of dealing with climate change but the moment there is any windmill that is going to impinge on my view, I'm agin it.'

"I suspect we can get more wind, in addition to that, from intermediate-sized wind turbines rather than the great big ones. The 15- to 50-kilowatt ones on top of a pole but not a mega pole. The sort you put outside a hospital, a factory park or outside every school."

"Or ' I'm against nuclear on principle, even if it's cost effective and you can deal with the waste.'"

Lord Turner is currently heading the review that will decide whether the 60% target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the draft Climate Change Bill, and there is pressure to increase the target to 80%. He has warned: "There is a body of scientific evidence which is pushing that figure up rather than down. If you want a very high probability of avoiding danger, science pushes you towards bigger cuts earlier. It is going to require some hard decisions and people will have to accept trade-offs they don't want."

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Japan's Shame

8th February 2008

This shocking photo reveals the reality of Japan's "scientific" whaling in the Antarctic. It was released by the Australians who have been monitoring the Japanese, and shows a whale and her calf being dragged bleeding aboard the Japanese vessel, following a 15 minutes lingering death.

Australian Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus today said there was now legal evidence to back its fight to stop the whaling, as a result of  the photograph.

"We have got evidence of whaling being carried out in circumstances that we believe it should not be done,'' Mr Debus told reporters in Sydney. "These photographs show the reality of the slaughter of these animals.

The pictures were taken from the Oceanic Viking, an Australian customs service ship sent to monitor the hunt and collect evidence for a legal challenge the government wants to bring against Japan's claim that it kills whales only for scientific purposes.

"It is explicitly clear from these images that this is the indiscriminate killing of whales, where you have a whale and its calf killed in this way," Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett told Eco. "To claim that this is in any way scientific is to continue the charade that has surrounded this issue from day one," he said.

Animal welfare groups expressed horror at the images.

"Japan's whaling is not just cruel, it's criminal," said Darren Kindleysides of the International Fund for Animal Welfare. "The evidence is clear. It is time for Australia to take legal action to end this illegal, unnecessary and inhumane activity once and for all."

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US Arctic oil plans threat to polar bear

8th February 2008

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) warns that the US government's plan to auction nearly 30 million acres of prime polar bear habitat in the Chukchi Sea in Alaska for the extraction of oil and gas is a serious threat to the lives of polar bears in the region. The Minerals Management Service (MMS) of the US government announced its intention to sell oil and gas leases in this area in January this year and the bidding for the licenses began this week.
"The technology to effectively contain and clean up oil spills does not currently exist and this oil lease is a disaster waiting to happen," said James Leaton, Oil and Gas Policy Advisor at WWF-UK.
"It's also unacceptable that oil companies and the US government are effectively seeking to make a profit from the potential demise of a species," he added.
The Chukchi Sea is a critical habitat for polar bears, walrus, whales, seals, and migratory birds and it is experiencing some of the most rapid loss of sea ice in the world due to climate change.
The highest bid received for the sale was US$105,304,581 submitted by Shell. Other bidding companies included ConocoPhillips, StatoilHydro, NACRA, Repsol, ENI and Iona Energy.
US Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has ignored repeated requests from the American public, Arctic communities and conservation groups to delay or withdraw the lease sale, claiming that there needs to be a better understanding of the potential impact on Arctic wildlife and habitats from the leasing of land.
An expected listing of polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act has been delayed. This listing, which would have had an impact upon the release of the leases, would have recognized the grave threat to polar bears from loss of sea ice and habitats due to global warming.
"Selling off our natural heritage to the highest bidder is a sad spectacle and represents a step backwards in our efforts to save the Arctic and polar bears for future generations," said Carter Roberts, President and CEO of World Wildlife Fund in the US.

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Hilary Benn launches

new water strategy

3rd February 2008

The Government’s new water strategy to help secure and maintain water supplies, reduce water pollution and tackle surface water flooding has been launched today by Environment Secretary Hilary Benn.

It will help cut water use through a combination of efficient technology, metering and tariffs, improve surface water drainage, and reduce pollution from homes, industry and farming.

Everyone in England relies on clean water for drinking, washing and cooking, so the water strategy is relevant to all of us.

An independent review will look at different methods of charging, including metering and tariffs, and make recommendations. Proposals include a fairer system which offers incentives to conserve water, and could mean near universal metering in water stressed areas before 2030. The review will also consider how to protect vulnerable groups, like those on low incomes and the elderly. Hilary Benn said:

"Climate change means that we will all have to value water more as we find a fairer way of paying for it.

"Securing and maintaining water supplies is vital to the prosperity of the country and to the health of people and the environment. In some areas, current supplies are already unsustainable and this situation was exacerbated by the drought in South East England between 2004 and 2006.

"These pressures are going to get worse as the climate changes, the economy grows, and population increases. Combined with the need to reduce CO2 emissions from the water industry and from our use of hot water in our homes, this means that we must find ways of improving efficiency, and of reducing demand and wastage.

"No one approach will work for all areas, but we must find ways of improving efficiency, and of reducing demand and wastage. That’s what this strategy will help deliver.”

The strategy tackles pollution of rivers, lakes and streams. It includes a consultation on eliminating phosphorous from detergents, provides for greater work with farmers to reduce farm pollution and launches a consultation on managing surface water.

Surface water is not only a source of pollution. As last summer has shown it is central to managing flood risk in the context of climate change and other pressures.

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Nuclear Costs Soar

31st January 2008

The costs of decommissioning Britain's ageing nuclear reactors has soared from £61 to £73 billion according to a report just released by the National Audit Office.

Edward Leigh, chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, said:

"It is particularly worrying that cost estimates for work about to begin are still on the rise." Disrupted decommissioning processes resulted in "start and stop" work at some sites, adding to the cost, he said. Alan Duncan, Conservative energy and industry spokesman, said: " All these disclosures of extra costs and delays do is dent the confidence in the nuclear industry."

Much of the increase is due to poor planning that has seen contractors laid off, then taken on again, and money wasted on repairing buildings that were about to be demolished.

Guardian article - 31/1/08

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Green Party urges

emissions mission

31st January 2008

Green Party Principal Speaker Caroline Lucas MEP has today called on the newly appointed Chair of the Parliamentary Climate Change Committee, Lord Adair Turner, to strongly challenge the Government's weak political will and inaction on emissions reduction and wake up to the international scientific evidence.

Dr. Lucas, who commissioned a 2005 report on the performance of the UK on energy and emissions reduction for the UK Green Group in the European Parliament, said:

"Lord Turner said that the committee's first task will be to look at the new scientific data and decide whether the Climate Change Bill's target for a 60% cut in carbon emissions for 2050 is adequate to prevent worst of climate change, or if deeper cuts were necessary. He went on to say that if the Government "pulled the right policy levers", then the 2050 target can be achieved.

"This is wholly insufficient, and is too little too late.

"For years the scientific data has recorded that a 60% global cut in emissions is necessary to prevent the worst of climate change, which translates to a 80-90% cut in the UK. The reason the Climate Change Bill has the inadequate target of a 60% reduction by 2050 is through a lack of political will, not a lack of scientific data. If the new Labour Government had "pulled the right policy levers" for the last decade, the UK could be well on its way to achieving those crucial targets.

"Lord Turner also announced that the Bill's 2020 target of a 26 - 32% cut is already "difficult". It seems the Government is already preparing the ground for the UK to fall at the first hurdle.

"The Green Party are committed to an 80 - 90% reduction of emissions from 1990 levels by 2030. The Government needs to take action now while we still have the capability for emissions cuts in our own hands."

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End of Set Aside -

A Wildlife Disaster

 

31st January 2008

Conservationists are lamenting the fact that half of all uncropped agricultural land has been ploughed during the last year, due to pressures from rising wheat prices, and the rush for biofuels. The skylark, stone curlew, English partridge and brown hare are predicted to suffer further declines. They said that the survey for the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) that revealed the change, came as an "unwelcome shock."

Gareth Morgan of the RSPB said:

"We are extremely worried about what this means for wildlife especially as the European Commission have failed to put a realistic proposal on the table for anything to replace the wildlife benefits of set-aside.  We applaud Defra for undertaking this research but these results are a wake-up call. They must now act to ensure a measure is adopted on all farmland in England"

Peter Kendall, president of the National Farmers' Union, said the figures showed farmers were "striking almost an ideal balance between protection and production. "The figures demonstrate a fairly moderate increase to cropped land and show how farmers are reacting to market demands. I believe the figures demonstrate that farmers are behaving responsibly and have reduced their uncropped area as much as they intend to."

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UN Chief Sounds the Alarm

30th January 2008

U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes has sounded the alarm about a rising number of disasters. He comments that fourteen out of 15 U.N. "flash appeals" for help last year were a response to devastation caused by droughts, floods and hurricanes:

"That is five more than in any other year," Holmes said during a visit to European Union headquarters in Brussels.

"We are seeing them (disasters) increase in intensity and number," he told a news conference, saying weather events could not always be directly linked with climate change.

Food shortages are being created by the use of land for bio-fuels, the growing diet of meat in India and China, driving what he called a structural change in food prices that put some staples beyond the reach of the poor.

Recent rises in wheat flour prices in Afghanistan have hit poor people, and similar humanitarian consequences of food price inflation were feared in Pakistan and Bangladesh, said Holmes.

"This poses a double challenge for the World Food Program. Not only is the price increasing but the need is going up because of the hunger," he said.

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Aliens in Antarctica

Antarctica could become a lawn

29th January 2008

Concern is growing that the once pristine continent of Antarctica is already becoming colonised by alien species. The continent is being visited by growing numbers of tourists, along with the long-standing scientific community, bringing with them plants and microbes, and even the possibility of rats escaping and breeding, with the potentially devastating effect this would have on ground nesting birds. Seeds, spores and insect eggs attached to the clothing of scientists and tourists are being brought onto land.

Better known for its penguins, seals and whales, Antarctica is already being colonised by a species of grass - agrostis stolonifera.

"It's a species that gets everywhere, it's already on most of the Antarctic islands," said Dana Bergstrom, of the Australian Antarctic Division, the head of an international research project entitled 'Aliens in Antarctica'. "It would just create lawns," she said.

"Antarctica is the last bastion of a pristine environment compared to the rest of the world," Ms Bergstom said. "It has been isolated by the Southern Ocean - [now] people are starting to break that barrier."

Alien species already have a toehold on many outlying islands dotted around Antarctica's coastline. Other continents like Australia have already suffered the impact of alien species - their country has been devastated by a broad range of introduced animals, from cane toads and camels to rabbits and foxes. Ironically Australia has the biggest territorial claim to Antarctica: 2.2m square miles, or 42 per cent of the continent.

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Arrest Musharraf

Peter Tatchell

29th Jan 2008

Peter Tatchell, Green Party human rights spokesperson and Parliamentary candidate for Oxford East, has spoken out against the official state welcome that Pakistan President General Musharraf has enjoyed from the British Government.

"It is shameful that the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has entertained Musharraf at Downing Street. He is siding with a dictator against the people of Pakistan.

"Musharraf is guilty of crimes against humanity, including the indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas in Baluchistan, using weaponry supplied by Britain and the US," said Mr Tatchell.

Last Friday, Mr Tatchell tried to block Musharraf's car on Park Lane, London, by running in front of his car waving a banner which read: 'Stop Pakistan Massacre of Baluch People', in protest at the Pakistan dictator's suppression of democracy and human rights.

"Pakistani human rights groups say Musharraf's regime practices detention without trial, torture and extra-judicial killings, " said Mr Tatchell.

"Musharraf is a criminal. He should be arrested by the UK authorities and put on trial in The Hague," he concluded.

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Juniper Resigns

In a surprise move, the director of Friends of the Earth, Tony Juniper, has resigned, in the process attacking the Labour government and celebrities for hypocrisy over green issues. Juniper has been director since 2003, and although he has not had the high profile of previous director Jonathon Porritt, he has led a number of successful campaigns on environmental issues. Juniper comments:

"For all their eco-rhetoric, too many decisions by the Labour Government have been cowardly and lacking in vision. This year I will be stepping down as Friends Of The Earth's director. I plan to continue with my life's work, but it will be someone else's job to front the organisation. To prop up the bar talking to pop stars, barrack American politicians or discuss climate change with Madonna over lunch. It has been a wonderful job, but I need a change."

Juniper studied psychology and zoology at Bristol University, and describes the moment when he realised he had to take up active campaigning:

"In 1990, I went to north-east Brazil, where my Brazilian colleagues and I discovered the last wild Spix's Macaw. Here was a bird doomed to extinction, its forest home destroyed by grazing goats, logging and soya farming. This was my epiphany. It became clear that protecting birds was part of a bigger picture: the world economy was impinging on this defenceless creature. If I was to make a difference, I had to tackle the underlying causes of its plight."

Juniper leaves Friends of the Earth at a time when green issues are higher up the political agenda than at any time previously, with major campaigns against the expansion of Heathrow airport and changes to the planning system underway.

Daily Mail feature article - 27/1/08

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Health Hazard

More people will live in areas affected by malaria

Saturday 26th January 2008

A new study by author Professor Anthony McMichael has concluded that human actions are causing "unprecedented global environmental changes", including climate change, loss of bio-diversity and the exhaustion of fisheries. He believes that climate change could add 20-70 million people to the 110 million already living in regions prone to malaria epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa by the 2080s.

The professor of public health at the Australian National University said this "weakening of the earth's life support systems" would affect the health of the most vulnerable populations the hardest.

In his paper " Global Environmental Change and Health", Prof McMichael said it was not possible to separate environmental considerations from health:

"Poverty cannot be eliminated while environmental degradation exacerbates malnutrition, disease and injury. Food supplies need continuing soil fertility, climatic stability, freshwater supplies and ecological support (such as pollination). Infectious diseases cannot be stabilised in circumstances of climatic instability, refugee flows and impoverishment."

Professor McMichael said human pressures on the natural environment, due to population growth and economic factors, were now leading to a "potentially irreversible category of environmental health hazard".

He called for "bold and far sighted policy decisions at national and international levels, entailing much greater emissions cuts than were being proposed a decade ago".

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Limousine Service

for Protestors

Japanese whalers have accused the Australian government of providing a "limousine service" for protestors from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society who were rescued from the deck of a whaling vessel. Rather than detaining the protestors, Australia returned the men to the Sea Shepherd boat, where they resumed their direct action. The Japanese see this as a lenient approach, with a spokesperson saying:

"Australia should have detained the two illegal intruders and held them on board the Oceanic Viking for investigation into their criminal activities....But it is obvious they would rather assist Sea Shepherd with its violent illegal actions against Japan's perfectly legal research programme."

Australia has been one of the most vociferous nations in opposing Japanese "scientific" whaling programme.

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Marine Reserve

The Scottish government has announced a marine conservation reserve off the coast of the Isle of Arran, to protect seaweed beds that form a nursery for young fish. All fishing will be banned. The move is the result of two years of negotiations between Clyde fishermen and environmentalists.

Kenneth MacNab, Chairman of the Clyde Fishermen's Association said "We are pleased that, after a lengthy process, a satisfactory outcome has been reached in the Lamlash Bay process. We are ready to play our role in the ongoing management of the Bay."

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Eco City Unveiled

The world's first carbon-neutral, zero waste, and car-free city has been unveiled in the United Arab Emirates by British architect Norman Foster. The site chosen is a harsh desert area, with no fresh water and temperatures of up to 50 degrees, but the city will eventually be home to 50,000 people. Solar power will be used to power a desalination plant and cooling system.

Lord Foster said that the sponsors had “provided us with a challenging design brief that promises to question conventional urban wisdom at a fundamental level. Masdar promises to set new benchmarks for the sustainable city of the future.”

Waste water will be used to irrigate crops, and there will be light railway system designed so that residents will never be further than 200 yards from public transport.

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Scientists urge tougher CO2 cuts

WWF-UK has enlisted the support of Britain's leading environmental scientists to call on the Government to commit to tougher carbon emission cuts in the Climate Change Bill in an open letter to the Government in five major UK newspapers. David Nussbaum, chief executive of WWF-UK, said: "The Government has a unique opportunity to set an example to the rest of the world by introducing groundbreaking legislation on climate change."
"Today some of Britain's most eminent climate and environmental scientists have added their voices to the growing calls for emission cuts based on the latest science - that means cuts of at least 80% by 2050," he said.
The letter is written by the current Chair of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP), Sir John Lawton, and his predecessors, Sir Tom Blundell, Chair at the time of the 2000 report as well as Sir John Houghton and also the Foreign Member of the US National Academy of Sciences Professor Norman Myers. The scientists have signed the letter in their personal capacity.
The open letter to the leaders of the main political parties is published in today's The Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Independent.
The letter explains the need to cut the UK's CO2 emissions by at least 80% by 2050, outlining how the Government's current target of a 60% reduction in the UK's CO2 emissions by 2050 is based on an out of date report by the (RCEP) published in 2000.
Sir John Houghton, the former Chair of Scientific Assessment for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said: "The UK has always been proud of its leadership in the issue of climate change. To keep in the lead, the Government needs to keep in step with the science that is now strongly pointing towards cuts in emissions of at least 80% by 2050 if we are to mitigate against dangerous climate change. Furthermore there is convincing modelling to show that these cuts are achievable and affordable."
Scientific reports
The recent report, 80% Challenge: Delivering a low carbon Britain, published jointly by WWF-UK, Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), found that it is technically feasible and affordable for the UK to cut its CO2 emissions by at least 80% by 2050 - including our share of emissions from international aviation and without using new nuclear power.
Alternative solutions could lie in energy efficiency and a rapid roll out of renewable and decentralised energy, potentially combined with fossil fuel power stations equipped with working carbon capture and storage.
Recent statements by Sir Nicholas Stern, the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and the UN Human Development Report 2007/2008 also make clear that developed countries must make emissions reductions of at least 80% by 2050.
WWF-UK is also calling on the UK Government to include emissions from international aviation and shipping in the Climate Change Bill.

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The End of Cheap Food

No longer as cheap as chips

A combination of Peak Oil, a climate disrupted by global warming, and the booming biofuels industry, is pushing food prices higher than at any time since the 1970s. The head of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation has spoken of "a very serious crisis", that has already led to riots about food prices in Mexico, West Bengal, Indonesia, Morocco, Senegal and Yemen. Only last week China introduced price controls on dairy products, meat, vegetables and cereals.

Rising fuel prices boost the price of food, as modern agriculture requires oil to make fertilisers, for pesticides, and for transport. Climate disasters like the Bangladesh and UK's floods, and Australia's drought have decimated crops.

Meanwhile the push for supposedly greener biofuels to reduce Western dependence on Middle East oil is using up farmland, and driving a new wave of deforestation in Indonesia and South America. There is a silent warbetween the world's hungry poor and motorists. Ashok Gulati, director at the International Food Policy Research Institute sums up the situation to Eco:

'It's finally a trade-off between filling stomachs and filling diesel tanks in cars and trucks.'

While rising food prices may encourage less waste, at a time when 30% of food in the West is thrown away, it is the poor who will feel the effects of expensive food the most, not the supermarkets, who have recently reported bumper profits.

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Thousands rally

against climate change

Mass demonstrations have taken place in London and around the world to coincide with the UN Climate Talks in Bali, Indonesia. 

Around 10,000 people assembled for the London march and rally outside the US embassy. Friends of the Earth director Tony Juniper said: "It is essential our politicians show the leadership required and ensure that the climate talks in Bali speed the world towards a low-carbon future and ensure the long-term security of generations to come." Juniper called for a strong climate change law that cuts UK emissions by 3% a year and includes emissions from international aviation and shipping, as well as annual milestones.

A letter delivered to Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "We feel that dealing with this threat should be the number one priority of the British government, a priority for all areas of policy and across all departments of government….we all on the government to secure an equitable emissions treaty that is effective in preventing the catastrophic destabilisation of global climate and which minimises dangerous climate change."  

The rallies come midway through the summit, which is considering how to cut greenhouse gas emissions after current Kyoto Protocol targets expire in 2012.

Jonathan Essex, a steering committee member of the Campaign Against Climate Change, which organised the march, said: "For the sake of our children and the next generation we need to live in such a way that those of the next generation can also live.

"If the next generation say to us 'daddy, what did you do about climate change' the answer we should give is that we stopped it, any other answer is unacceptable."

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Cameron doubts

nuclear future

Tory leader David Cameron has attacked as irresponsible Labour Party policy on nuclear energy.

"An element of the government's approach was quite irresponsible because the problems of nuclear waste haven't been dealt with. They have got to be dealt with in order to make any new investment possible." He spoke at the launch of the Conservative Party's green energy policy, but he did not rule out nuclear power being part of the energy mix in his party's vision for decentralised "micro-energy".

"I do not take a view of which energy sources should be used. I simply want to see them o