Lucas said what was most shocking of all from 12 years of Labour government was the state of the NHS:

“Here in North London, where we’re meeting, Labour is seeking to close one, two or even three accident and emergency wards. And to move core services into polyclinics, which are then being tendered to the private sector. Privatisation means the prospect of the end of the NHS as a universal healthcare service, provided by public servants.”

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“World heading towards an oil crunch on par with financial crisis

Commenting on today’s warning by the UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security (ITPOES) that the world could be heading towards an ‘oil crunch’ that will match the financial crisis within five years, Friends of the Earth’s Executive director Andy Atkins said:

‘Ministers must take this warning seriously and wean the UK off its addiction to oil – because ordinary people will experience the withdrawal symptoms when the wells run dry.

‘It’s been clear for some time that urgent action is needed to slash energy waste and develop green sources of energy – this will cut carbon emissions, increase energy security and create new green jobs and industries.

‘The Government has been dithering for too long. We need bold political action to rapidly build a safe, clean and prosperous future for us all.’”

The worlds population is growing at an alarming rate…

The best source for populations stats is the United Nations population division

The figures show that the developed world will shrink and the developing world will grow.

The full set of figures can be downloaded here

The Government is expected within the next few days to publish details of its feed-in tariff proposals (or ‘clean energy cash-back’), which aim to encourage homes, businesses and communities to install small-scale renewable energy systems by paying them at a premium rate for all the green electricity they generate.

But local renewable energy champions Friends of the Earth, the Renewable Energy Association and the Co-operative Group say that the scheme, which has an overall ambition to supply just two per cent of UK electricity from small-scale renewable energy sources (up to 5MW) by 2020, should offer higher payments than those proposed and aim to deliver far more clean electricity.

A new YouGov survey of more than 2,000 people conducted last week for Friends of the Earth, the Renewable Energy Association and the Cooperative Group strongly supports the call for a more ambitious feed-in tariff. The findings include:

·    Once told that Government research shows the UK could supply up to a third of its electricity needs from smaller, local renewable energy systems, nearly two thirds (64%) of those questioned agreed that Government ambitions to supply two per cent of UK electricity from its feed-in tariff scheme are not ambitious enough.

·    70% said that they would be prepared to pay an extra 10 pence on their electricity bills each month (£1.20 annually), on top of the already proposed annual increase of £1.17, until 2013 when the scheme is due to be reviewed, to enable the Government to introduce a more ambitious scheme from the outset. This could put us on track to deliver three times more local green electricity in 2020 than currently planned.

·    71% per cent of home-owners said that they would consider fitting micro-generation schemes if feed-in tariffs were generous enough.

Friends of the Earth’s Executive Director Andy Atkins said:

‘The public overwhelmingly wants the Government to think big when it comes to small-scale renewable energy.

‘Our homes, businesses and communities could become green power stations – but bigger Government incentives are needed to make this a reality.

‘Ministers must listen and introduce an ambitious feed-in tariff scheme that will encourage millions of households, companies and communities across the UK to join the green energy revolution.

‘This will help tackle climate change, create new jobs and businesses and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.

‘The recent freezing weather and concerns about future energy supplies have powerfully made the case for generating more of our energy at a local level.’

The Co-operative Group’s Sustainable Development Manager Chris Shearlock said:

‘As a business that has campaigned for strong climate change legislation, is taking action to reduce its own emissions and owns the UKs largest solar power project, we want to be able to use small-scale renewables on our stores and branches around the country.

‘Without feed-in tariffs offering a greater level of return – along the lines available to larger renewables supported by the Renewables Obligation – this opportunity will be sadly lost.’

REA Head of External Affairs Leonie Greene said:

‘The public have given an incredible show of support for renewable energy, even in the deepest recession for a generation.

‘The involvement of everyday people and businesses can transform the UK’s renewable energy industry and bring down technology costs – as is the case in other European countries.

‘The new renewable electricity payment schemes that will be announced shortly should make it easier for everyone to invest – let’s hope the Government delivers the ambitious scheme we clearly all want.’

The poll also reveals overwhelming public support for greater investment in renewable energy to generate jobs, increase energy security and tackle climate change, even in the recession.

·    Upon learning that the Government estimates that 80 per cent of our gas will come from overseas by 2020,  88 per cent agreed (51 per cent strongly agreed) that the UK should spend more money developing renewables to make us less dependent on importing gas.

·    When informed that the UK produces the least renewable energy out of the 27 countries in the EU except for Malta (approximately four times lower than the European average of eight per cent), 82 per cent said that the UK’s record on renewable energy was unacceptable.

·    79 per cent agreed (39 per cent strongly agreed) that the Government should invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency to boost an economic recovery, create tens of thousands of jobs, reduce our reliance on overseas fossil fuels and help tackle climate change even if this were at the expense of other plans.”

The Crown Estate has today announced the successful bidders for each of the nine Round 3 offshore wind zones within UK waters which would generate at least 25GW of electricity.

The expansion of electricity generation from offshore wind represents a massive long term investment opportunity which has the potential to generate thousands of jobs in the UK as well as securing a marine renewable electricity source.

Round 3 offshore wind energy generation aims to deliver a quarter of the UK’s total electricity needs by 2020.

The UK has the biggest wind resource in Europe – some estimates put the UK’s share at one-third of the continent’s total.

According to Greenpeace, Britain already leads the world in the deployment of offshore wind and has more projects installed, in planning or in construction than any other country. Almost 700MW of offshore turbines are already installed across nine projects, with around another 1.2GW under construction and a further 3.5GW in planning stages. By comparison, a large coal-fired power station generates about 1GW of electricity.

The film uses animation and graphics, plus a short direct message from the candidate, Adrian Ramsay, who is one of thirteen Green councillors on Norwich City Council. The film recognises that the battle for who runs the country will be between Labour and the Conservatives, but maintains that each individual constituency is a separate, unique contest and Norwich South will provide one of the most interesting battles.

It suggests that the Greens provide the strongest challenge to the sitting MP, New Labour’s former Home Secretary Charles Clarke. The Greens have beaten all the other parties in local elections across the constituency in 2007, 2008 and 2009. If people vote the same way at the General Election Mr. Clarke will lose his seat to the Greens.

The film concludes that one more Labour, Conservative or Lib-Dem MP will hardly be noticed in the House of Commons, but electing a Green MP for Norwich would provide the fresh, distinctive voice that the city, and Parliament, so desperately need.

Adrian Ramsay said: “Any successful election campaign in the 21st century has to use a variety of methods. We are leafleting and speaking to residents on the doorstep as always but I think this video will provide another useful way for us to communicate with Norwich residents.

“I’m very pleased with the video. I think it’s visually very impressive. I hope it is shared and watched by Norwich residents repeatedly between now and the General Election.”

Posted via email from Daniel’s posterous

• North Sea countries plan vast clean energy project

• €30bn scheme could offer weather-proof supply

It would connect turbines off the wind-lashed north coast of Scotland with Germany’s vast arrays of solar panels, and join the power of waves crashing on to the Belgian and Danish coasts with the hydro-electric dams nestled in Norway’s fjords: Europe’s first electricity grid dedicated to renewable power will become a political reality this month, as nine countries formally draw up plans to link their clean energy projects around the North Sea.

The network, made up of thousands of kilometres of highly efficient undersea cables that could cost up to €30bn (£26.5bn), would solve one of the biggest criticisms faced by renewable power – that unpredictable weather means it is unreliable.

With a renewables supergrid, electricity can be supplied across the continent from wherever the wind is blowing, the sun is shining or the waves are crashing.

Connected to Norway’s many hydro-electric power stations, it could act as a giant 30GW battery for Europe’s clean energy, storing electricity when demand is low and be a major step towards a continent-wide supergrid that could link into the vast potential of solar power farms in North Africa.

By autumn, the nine governments involved – Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden and Ireland and the UK – hope to have a plan to begin building a high-voltage direct current network within the next decade. It will be an important step in achieving the European Union’s pledge that, by 2020, 20% of its energy will come from renewable sources.

“We recognise that the North Sea has huge resources, we are exploiting those in the UK quite intensively at the moment,” said the UK’s energy and climate change minister, Lord Hunt. “But there are projects where it might make sense to join up with other countries, so this comes at a very good time for us.”

More than 100GW of offshore wind projects are under development in Europe, around 10% of the EU’s electricity demand, and equivalent to about 100 large coal-fired plants. The surge in wind power means the continent’s grid needs to be adapted, according to Justi…

Posted via email from Daniel’s posterous

I am most grateful for your kind invitation to address this crucially important international gathering.

We live in times of great consequence and, therefore, of great opportunity.

With issues of such magnitude, it is easy to focus solely on the challenges, the worst-case scenarios, the what-ifs of failure.

But take a moment to consider the opportunities if we succeed. Imagine a healthier, safer and more sustainable, economically robust world. Because if we share in that vision, we can share the will to action that is now required.

Over more than three decades, I have been privileged to talk with some of the world’s most eminent experts on climate change and environmental issues and to listen to the wisdom of some of the world’s indigenous people.

The conclusion I draw is that the future of mankind can be assured only if we rediscover ways in which to live as a part of nature, not apart from her.

For the grim reality is that our planet has reached a point of crisis and we have only seven years before we lose the levers of control.

As the President of Gabon said at a meeting I hosted last month: ‘The door to our future is closing…’

This, I fear, is not an overstatement. For climate change is a risk-multiplier. It has the potential to take all the other critical issues we face as a global community and transform their severity into a cataclysm.

Reducing poverty, increasing food production, combating terrorism and sustaining economic development are all vital priorities, but it is increasingly clear how rapid climate change will make them even more difficult to address.

Furthermore, because climate change is intimately connected with our systemic, unsustainable consumption of natural resources, any decline in the ecological resilience of one resource base or ecosystem increases the fragility of the whole.

We appear intent upon consuming the planet. It seems likely, on current patterns of use, that our global fisheries will collapse by 2050 and, already, fresh water is becoming scarcer, placing global food security at ever greater hazard.

In the last 50 years we have degraded 30% of global topsoil and destroyed 30% of the world’s rainforests.

All of these issues are linked to each other and to climate change – a truly vicious circle – and the climate crisis is the mirror in which we see reflected the combined ecological impact of our industrialised age.

However, it is these links, together with our common humanity and the unprecedented connections of today’s global community, which might, perhaps, provide us with a solution.

Moreover, in our increasingly precarious situation – on a small, unique and precious planet – this is not a problem resolvable in terms of ‘them and us’.

For when it comes to the air we breathe and the water we drink, there are no national boundaries. We all depend on each other – and, crucially, on each other’s actions – for our weather, our food, our water and our energy. These are the ‘tectonic plates’ on which the peace and stability of the international community rest.

The inescapable conclusion, therefore, is that a partial solution to climate change is no solution at all. It must be inclusive and it must be a comprehensive approach – one that strengthens the resilience of our ecosystems. Crucially, it must be embraced by the public, private and NGO sectors, as well as by local communities and indigenous people, while also encouraging individual responsibility.

One example that has been high on my agenda for the last two years is that of tropical rainforests.

These ecosystems have been described as the planet’s lifebelt, and with good reason. Not only do they harbour about half of our terrestrial biodiversity and generate much of the rainfall that is vital for farming, they also absorb and hold vast quantities of carbon that would otherwise be in the atmosphere.

Unfortunately, as you know better than I, the forests are being cleared at a terrifying rate.

The simple truth is that without a solution to tropical deforestation, there is no solution to climate change. That is why I established a Rainforests Project to try to promote a consensus on how tropical deforestation might be significantly reduced.

In early April, I was able to host a meeting of heads of state and government at which it was agreed to establish an informal working group to look at this issue.

As it turns out, it seems the quickest and most cost-effective way to buy time in the battle against catastrophic climate change is to find a way to make the trees worth more alive than dead.

The project has been exploring the drivers of deforestation and how innovative financing mechanisms could provide rainforest nations with financial rewards for positive performance.

One example of such a performance-based approach is the recent agreement between Guyana and Norway.

The project is also working with the World Bank on an emergency package to stimulate private sector finance for rainforest nations.

It is critical to find ways to prevent forests being converted to agriculture.
I have been heartened by my conversations with some of the world’s largest agri-businesses, which have told me that, through more effective use of vast areas of degraded land, we could feed and fuel a growing population and keep the forests.

But, ladies and gentlemen, it must be genuinely sustainable agriculture that helps to empower local communities and small farmers.

We thereby create a truly virtuous, not a vicious, circle and one, because of its understanding of the relationship between agriculture and forestry, that can only improve the lives of many of the poorest people on the planet while simultaneously benefiting nature.

It also builds what seems to me to be the absolutely critical chain which links ecosystem resilience, adaptive capacity, poverty reduction and sustained economic development.

This is the chain that we have broken … And it is the chain that we must now re-make.

The need fully to engage the private sector reflects not only the growing determination of business to act in a sustainable way but, crucially, its determination to listen to customers.

And what customers are saying ever more loudly is that they want their investment choices to make a positive difference to climate change.

One practical result of my work with the private sector on corporate, social and environmental responsibility for the past 25 years is that growing numbers of pension funds have made a commitment to set climate solutions at the heart of their long-term investment decision-making.

To ensure a large-scale deployment of capital, these pension funds need clear long-term policies to be agreed here this week.

This request is supported by the 191 financial institutions with assets of over $13tr which signed the International Investor Statement on Climate Change.

A further practical contribution is a statement by the international Corporate Leaders Group, of which I am patron – comprising over 900 of the world’s most prominent companies drawn from more than 63 countries, including all the G20 members – on the significant business opportunities which a robust, effective and equitable global climate agreement could deliver.

In helping to facilitate these initiatives, my simple aim has been to show that we can all make a difference if we are determined to do so. Above all, I am convinced it is these kinds of global partnerships – between government, business, NGOs, civil society and even individuals – that will provide the global solutions needed to secure our future.

Subsequent inflows of private sector investment would do much to reinforce the credibility of all those, particularly in the poorest countries, who have had the courage to believe in the positive outcome of this meeting.

Several of their leaders, while being only too aware of the immediate economic benefits of monetising their countries’ natural capital, have still chosen to follow the difficult path of turning their economies towards sustainable development.

Such visionary people have a vital role to play in helping the world to find the strength needed to address its problems. But they desperately need our support, for without it they may not have a second chance.

Surely now, then, is the time to recognise that we cannot have capitalism without nature’s capital – we cannot sustain our human economy without sustaining nature’s economy?

I know that so very many of you here today have been negotiating the unbelievably complex details of a potential agreement for a very, very long time, and you must be profoundly weary.

But this is an historic moment. I can only appeal to you to listen to the cries of those who are already suffering from the impact of climate change.

Just as mankind had the power to push the world to the brink so, too, do we have the power to bring it back into balance.

You have been called to positions of responsibility at this critical time. The eyes of the world are upon you and it is no understatement to say that, with your signatures, you can write our future …

One final thought … As our planet’s life-support system begins to fail and our very survival as a species is brought into question, remember that our children and grandchildren will ask not what our generation said, but what it did. Let us give an answer, then, of which we can be proud.

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Banksy sees red over climate change

Street artist Banksy spray-paints message in red capitals on wall beside Regent’s canal in north London

It may be scant compensation to disgruntled climate change activists, but the failure to agree a legally binding treaty in Copenhagen has apparently provided inspiration for the latest work by Banksy.

The street artist, whose works have sold for hundreds of thousands of pounds, has added his voice to the condemnation of the summit with one of his most rudimentary works yet. He spray-painted the words “I DON’T BELIEVE IN GLOBAL WARMING” in red capitals on a wall beside Regent’s canal in Camden, north London, with the words disappearing below the water.

The new work appears to be one of four by Banksy beside the canal. The others bear more obvious resemblance to past murals by the artist, employing the stencils that are his usual modus operandi.

In one, he pictures a workman seeming to wallpaper over a patch of colourful graffiti and replace it with an expanse of grey. Another work features one of his signature rats, portrayed in a top hat and tails, while the fourth depicts a child apparently fishing out a graffiti “tag” from the canal.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are among the stars who have bought works by Banksy, who fiercely protects his anonymity but was supposedly outed by the Daily Mail last year. An exhibition of his work in his home city, Bristol, attracted more than 300,000 visitors this year. But a number of local authorities have removed his murals, and many critics have questioned their artistic value.

Posted via email from Daniel’s posterous

Minis in Oxford, Mitsubishis in Brum

By Alun Taylor • Get more from this author

14th December 2009 13:34 GMT

Leccy Tech Forty leccy Minis were yesterday handed to their owners – well, lessees, to be exact – at the BMW Mini factory in Oxford.

It’s all part of the Government’s 12-month e-car field trial during which time BMW hopes to ‘evaluate the psychological, social and technical aspects of living with an electric car.’
Mini E handover

Mini E recipients await their e-cars in Oxford…

In case you haven’t been keeping up, each Mini E has an electric motor producing 152kW (204bhp) and 220Nm of torque delivered to the front wheels via a single-stage helical gearbox. That combination gets the Mini to 62mph in 8.5 seconds and on to an electronically-limited top speed of 95mph.

Power comes from a of 35kWh li-ion battery that occupies the space usually taken up by the rear seats. Its range is a theoretical 150 miles.

The weekend also saw 25 lucky people in the West Midlands take delivery of a Mitsubishi iMiEV – tested by Register Hardware here – as part of the same initiative.
iMiEV handover

…while in foggy Brum, iMiEVs await their drivers

But while the Mini drivers only get to keep their cars for six months before handing them over to a new bunch of test subjects, the iMiEV drivers get to hang on to the keys for a whole year.

One of the iMiEV 25, popular TV journalist Quentin Wilson, said: ‘The Mitsubishi i-MiEV is a forerunner of a transport revolution that eventually will change the world. At last, here’s an electric car that doesn’t look like a church pew, seats four, does 80 mph and costs less than a quid to charge.’”

(Via .)