I get to do some strange things working for Oxfam. Last week I watched as an average family; mum, dad and son sat around with their dinners on their laps staring at the TV. Glasses of coke and wine sat on the table with the bowl of fruit. Then the bananas decided to float off and a turtle swam past.

I was in the Sea Life Aquarium on London’s South Bank. We were here to mark the fact that we’re now 100 days away from the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen Denmark, one of the most important meetings in human history.

At this meeting world leaders need to agree a fair and safe deal that prevents catastrophic climate change. For this to happen we need Western leaders to accept their country’s historic responsibility for climate change and do two things.

They have to take a lead in agreeing to slash carbon emissions by 40% by 2020. Then they need to earmark $150 billion a year to help poor countries adapt to the impact of climate change and reduce their own emissions. Poor countries are already feeling the effects of climate change but without a deal this December then 50 years of development gains will be lost.

Sea levels are predicted to rise anywhere from 5 metres upwards over the next couple of centuries. The most conservative estimates would wipe out most coastal cities – including London – and would change all of human life dramatically.

To make these very serious points we assembled a front room, dumped it into a tank full of sting rays, turtles and sharks and then got 3 people down there while assembled media took pictures and filmed. This was possibly the quirkiest depiction of some future apocalypse that I’ve ever seen.

It’s far from doom and gloom. We’ve got 100 days left before Copenhagen and in that time we all need to do or bit to make sure that our leaders do everything that they can to make the right deal. In the UK there will be lots of lobbying, petitions and a big demonstration were a “blue wave” descends on London.

A lot can be achieved in 100 days. We must make sure that our leaders know that t Copenhagen is our big chance to save the planet and the people who live on it.

By Ian Sullivan

Reading through some scientific papers recently I was struck by the many, well-intentioned ideas for tackling climate change. These included solar arrays in space beaming back microwave energy to Earth, burying charcoal, pumping iron into the oceans and various ingenious devices designed to block out the sun’s rays.

Whilst not questioning the need to seek new and innovative ideas to halt climate change, I couldn’t help but thinking that they were missing a more fundamental point. That is, they assume that we can carry on as we are and that technology will somehow get us out of our self-created mess. The reality is that it can’t – it’s like trying to build a perpetual motion machine. The planet’s capacity to provide for an unsustainably large and growing population of increasingly consumptive people is inherently limited. Beyond this point no amount of technology can fix the problem. That’s not an opinion from a ‘green-minded’ person – it’s a statement of fact.

Ironically, the solutions are already at hand and require no complex science or new technology. However, like an alcoholic who wants to give up drinking, it firstly requires a recognition that a problem exists. Analogously, governments need to understand that our volatile, oil-dependent capitalist structures cannot survive in the longer-term. Depletion of fossil fuels, increasing consumption and competition for scarce resources will inevitably lead to conflict and market collapse at some point in the future.

A shift towards a more sustainable economy, greater energy efficiency and investment in renewable energy would not only introduce greater stability into the markets but would also create many new jobs opportunities in the ‘green’ sector and spin-off businesses. This process of change does, however, need to be accelerated with meaningful investment and a genuine commitment as progress remains slow. To put that in perspective, today less than 2% of the UK’s energy comes from renewable energy sources. We are jostling with Malta and Luxembourg for the accolade of being bottom of the EU league table. The UK has potentially the largest offshore wind resource in the world. Some estimates put this at enough to power the UK several times over (source: Friends of the Earth).

Next, the global population needs to be stabilised. The Earth simply cannot support over 10 billion people without something giving. Whilst populations in some European countries are actually declining, this is being offset by large increases in countries such as India and Nigeria. This is an often ignored and politically sensitive aspect of sustainability policy yet it is one of the most significant problems we face, requiring a co-ordinated, global approach to the problem.

What we need is not more science fiction type technology but a sober, concerted effort to tackle the core issues in a pragmatic and effective manner.

Gary Robertshaw
The Green Providers Directory

The Bush administration has been responsible for quashing evidence for climate change, casting doubt, putting pressure on scientists and re-writing scientific reports. These actions are more akin to totalitarian regimes than to democracy and bring shame on the US. Now we have Sarah Palin, Republican number two, claiming that climate change is not related to human activity. In the UK we have the likes of pitiful Jeremy Clarkson trying to ridicule anyone with a care for the environment and applauding Palin’s beliefs. Meanwhile, the ice sheets are disappearing from the Arctic Circle at an alarming rate, we have increasing species extinction, a population explosion and clear evidence that the climate is changing rapidly all around us. Whilst no-one who understands and cares about the environment will take any notice of people like Palin and Clarkson, they are dangerous because they receive widespread media coverage and have an influence on people’s views. Climate scepticism is nothing more than denial in the face of overwhelming evidence but it is made worse by high profile ignorance and apathy.

Dr. Gary Robertshaw

The Green Providers Directory

One of the big problems in taking action to change things is knowing where you are to start with. Lack of public information allows Governments to announce big funding increases, get the brownie points then only later is it revealed that the money was actually allocated some time back under a different scheme but with equal aclaim! Similar is happening with the Governments Green policies and the anouncement this week of a massive increase in wind power projects!

But all of these projects are part of Phase II of the Government’s existing renewables scheme which was anounced last year and initially mooted back in 2004. This years anouncement adds nothing apart from an intention to support domestic generators, but again that’s nothing new, there has always been support of sorts, its just usually ill thought out and implemented! LCBP (Low Carbon Buildings Programme) was a disaster and in my opinion when looking at the way the preferred installers were selected – long established and reputable companies were sidelined, big companies with no experience in renewables were selected – verging on the corrupt!

What to do? Well, I’m developing an online a map of all major renewable energy schemes in the UK. There are loads, most in planning and about half on the map! See www.renewables-map.co.uk what with this most recent Govt smoke and mirrors I will be adding an additional field showing date project was 1st proposed! My own website is www.solarkent.co.uk

References:

• The Crown Estate: Round 1 and 2 Wind Farm Sites: (Initially proposed in 2004)
• The Crown Estate Offshore Wind Farm Map
• Low Carbon Buildings Programme – Wikipedia
• LCBP – problems with initial tender process leading to ongoing implementation problems

Last week John invited me and Dave to a meeting at the office of Steve Webb, the Lib Dem spokeperson for the environment together with few other really interesting bloggers. Steve wanted our help with ideas on how to best utilise social media for influencing the political process of the Climate Change Bill.

The UK has the opportunity to show real leadership in combating global climate change by delivering a strong Climate Change Bill. We need to set a target that delivers the reduction in UK climate-changing gases that is needed – the scientific data tells us the target should be at least 80%, not the 60% the government proposes, which is based on out of date science (read more here).

Annoyingly, for most politicians, especially the Tories with their phony green disguise but the labour is not much better on this one, this is a petty political matter and they will probably vote as a herd.

So we had a nice improvised brainstorm and quickly realised that WE DON’T need another public awareness campaign, and we don’t need another pledge, and the email your MP mechanism has lost it’s steam.

We need something else. Something that might not involve thousands of participants as there is not only general green fatigue, but also the green activism sphere is highly fragmented. We need something personal and effective that will send MPs the message that this is a national and global matter and it’s not the time for political pettiness and herd voting. Vote as you believe you should.

This is how we came out with Canvas My MP. The final mechanisms are still being sorted out but the idea is that we want to reveal each and every MP personal stand on the bill and put as much pressure as possible on those who refuse to acknowledge the need for a stronger, more effective bill. So we are moving away from the rather ineffective email your MP to hopefully more effective action of meeting every MP in person to try to convince them to vote for stronger bill. In a nutshell we will ask people to set an appointment with their local MP and and nag them to vote for a stronger bill. These people (we are hoping that a dozen constituents meeting their MP in person can start making an impact.

Our efforts will of course be documented and all MPs opinions and replies will be reported. We hope to get all green organisations and initiatives like the brilliant The Nag, Do the Green Thing as well as BBC Green and Treehugger on board in helping promote this one.

This all happens in the speed of light with not much time to polish the details (the details are being sorted out as we speak) but with lots of great people cheeping in for help so if anyone has any more ideas on how this initiative can grow more teeth please get in touch or leave a comment below. The lovely

I’m trying to convince Steve Webb to go for some BIG PRish initiative to get a nice kick start t this and send the message that this is a cross-party a-political issue – something like 12 MPs Calendar-Girls-like project (Prescott in bikini anyone???)

Will keep you posted on further developments.

UPDATE: I just been told that the lovely Make Hay have volunteered to design the website and already put some initial page…cheeers for that Vicky!!

After a successful weekend at the south bank, the WWF giant boat & plane with thousands of names on them have been delivered to the House of Parliament. Let’s hope that MPs will get the message and support a truly effective Climate Change Bill.

Green campaigners and those concerned about the environment were once regarded as fringe activists, ‘tree huggers’ and ‘eco warriors’.

Belittled for their stance against things like road building, corporate pollution, urbanisation and 4×4s, and personified as lentil-eating vegans living in trees.

Now the evidence for man-made climate change is overwhelming with rapidly disappearing ice sheets, rainforest destruction, population growth, species extinction, hurricanes and extreme weather patterns as billions of tonnes of carbon are pumped into the atmosphere every year.

In response, it’s now trendy to be ‘green’ as everybody from the newly green Tories to major banks to supermarket chains to ‘eco’-airlines is keen to show their concern for the environment. Not a day goes by without another announcement that another major business is going green.

But how ‘green’ are these corporations really and how sincere are they in their commitment to the environment? Can a supermarket that uses palm oil obtained from cleared rainforests in its food products and which flies ‘organic’ food half way around the world clocking up a huge carbon footprint be considered green because it asks customers to re-use their plastic carrier bags? Clearly, much of the recent surge to become green is a cynical ploy aimed at capitalising on consumer concerns and increasing profits.

Don’t be fooled! Remember, buy locally produced food. Buy food grown organically, free from pesticides and harmful chemicals. And buy Fairtrade-certified products. For more advice, tips and a list of companies offering truly green products and services see The Green Providers Directory (www.search-for-me.co.uk)

THE GREEN PROVIDERS DIRECTORY

I set up The Green Providers Directory in 2006 in an effort to encourage more consumers to use environmentally friendly, ethical and organic goods and services. I have deliberately set out to make the directory not-for-profit and run it in my spare time out of a genuine commitment to furthering the ‘green’ cause and out of a duty to try and reduce the widespread damage being done to our planet. Whilst there are many green sites that cover environmental damage and discuss the problems of climate change, I felt that they lacked proactivity and failed to engage mainstream consumers, which is needed to facilitate change on a global scale and not just stimulate debate amongst core eco-consumers.

The premise of the directory is based on consumer power. That is, if large numbers of consumers can be educated and convinced of the dangers of climate change, then their combined demand for greener goods and services will cause a paradigm shift in buying behaviour and force companies to adopt policies that reduce harm to the environment

Each company listed has been vetted against their stated ethical policy and a demonstration that they are contributing in some way to combating climate change and environmental damage. We routinely reject applications because they fail to meet these criteria. I have also been keen to avoid associations with ‘pseudo-green’ national corporations who are using the growing concern to jump on the green bandwagon, whilst continuing to pursue non-sustainable business practices. To that effect, you will not find supermarkets, car makers, tobacco companies, etc…anywhere in the directory. As The Green Providers Directory is privately owned and not-for-profit there is no requirement to affiliate with any particular company – it’s completely unbiased and independent.

The basic concept is that visitors to the site can be confident in finding true green companies for all their everyday needs. The advice given is impartial and there is no active selling. This gives the site a point of differentiation from other ‘green’ directories and instills greater credibility.