Campaign to get the PM to address the nation on climate change.

I just recieved the following email:

A grassroots campaign to get the PM to address the nation on the big issue…

To find out more, visit http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Talk-Gordon/8027274329 – you don’t have to be a Facebook member to view the page.
To sign up, visit http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/letstalk – just give your details, you’ll get an email back straight away, click the link in the email and you’re done.

We’re aiming to get 100,000 signatories to the petition so please forward details of the campaign on to anyone who you think might be interested. Once we’ve reached our target, we’ll launch a media campaign to ensure that our message doesn’t go unheard.

In my response to the email list i explained my reasons for supporting the effort:

Hi All,

Just to say that i have signed my name on to this, i think that it is a really good idea. I`m hopefull that others will feel the same and that this will take off.

Recently several people have made the case for an emergency agenda on climate change. Moving this whole issue back from 2050 to 2008. The govornment keep wondering why people wont change their behaviour–isnt the rehtoric strong enought!? But that is preciesly the point, thegovornment has done nothing to suggest that the war on climate change is infact even real. Where are the troops, where are the resources for us to take this on together. In short,. where is the leadership that would encourage solidarity?

I would like to see Gordon Brown give this address to start just such a campaign. Please pass on the email bellow and mention it on any websites/blogs/myspace pages that you may have.
Calvin

Greenpeace Video For Bali Climate Talks

Greenpeace have launched a video collaboration designed to creatively send a message to the crucial UN climate change conference coming up in December. The ‘message in a bottle’ video will consist of short clips submited to the greenpeace introduction video, the idea is to make a sort clip where you creatively pass on the message in a bottle in a climate change themed way.

This idea was inspired by the recent google video about sending an email so look here for an idea of what is expected; just add the climate change theme.

The aim of the video is to send a clear message with a demand for “Real Action” to tackle climate change, at the UN meeting taking place in Bali, Indonesia, where governments will agree their next round of emission cuts under the Kyoto Protocol.

We are asking people all over the world to submit video responses to “Message in Bottle” to show delegates that the world is watching them, and expects nothing less than a clear mandate to tackle climate change.

Greenpeace posted a short promo on youtube and all you have to do to enter is post a video response…short and creative videos stand the best chance of making the final edit.

e-action: Help the WWF pressure for a strong climate bill.

Ask your MP for a Climate Change Bill that works

There are a number of things the Bill must do for it to be effective and perhaps the most important is the UK’s overall CO2 emissions reduction target.

The government thinks a 60% reduction by 2050 is a reasonable target, but this is based on old science. The current science tells us that countries like the UK need to cut emissions by at least 80% to deliver our fair share of the carbon clear-up. And WWF research shows that an 80% reduction by 2050 is entirely achievable.

The difference between a 60% and an 80% target is the difference between a Bill which rises to the climate change challenge, and one which simply ducks it. Only with an 80% emissions reduction target can we hope to prevent the worst effects of climate change.

Tell your MP that the Climate Change Bill must be strong enough to be effective.

e-action: amazonian dam project threatens bolivian biodiversity

Only a few days left for this one…
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Dear Friends

The Brazilian government is planning two huge dams on the Madeira River, principal tributary of the Amazon, and a region of mega-biodiversity, with 750 fish and 800 bird species.

The dams were granted preliminary approval in July by Brazilian environmental authorities, even after technical experts of the Brazilian environmental protection service Ibama recommended against licensing the project without new studies being carried out.

The Bolivian government have protested, and on August 23rd a decision was made to form 3 bi-national working groups to study the dams’ potential impacts on Bolivia.

We need your help – visit our website and sign the petition organised by IRN, Friends of the Earth Brazil & Amazonia Brasileira, and let the Brazilian government know that this is a matter of concern to the international community.

Please pass this message on to your contacts.
Thanks for your support.

Debra Broughton
Friends of the Earth International

Email Action Alert: Biofuels, Land Confiscation, And Murder in Columbia

An urgent e-action from biofuelwatch…

There is a new email action alert on Climate Ark calling on the Colombian government to protect the rights of Afro-Caribbean, indigenous and other peasant communities and the country’s rainforests against palm oil expansion, which is happening mainly to serve the growing global biofuel market. This alert was written jointly with the Colombian Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace, following a seminar in Bogota in August

Colombia is embarking on an aggressive biofuel and palm oil expansion programme, which is threatening communities and some of the most bio diverse ecosystems on earth. One of my colleagues from Biofuelwatch took part in the seminar and in a visit to one of the palm oil areas (Curvarado) last month.

This is land which legally belongs to Afro-Caribbean communities. Those people became refugees in the late 1990s, due to severe violence and repression from state forces. 113 killings have been documented. When they returned to their land, they found much of it planted with oil palms. They have cut down some of the oil palms to grow food now and are trying to set up ‘biodiversity zones’, but they live in constant fear of state forces and paramilitaries who work hand in hand with the palm oil companies.

There is a good article by a member of the World Rainforest Movement who also took part in the seminar and visit – you can find it at www.wrm.org.uy (click on ‘Bulletin’ on the left hand side and then on the article about Colombia).

The author says:

“There are few places in the world where oil palm trees are tainted with as much blood as in Curvaradó and the only way of starting to repair the outrages committed is for the Government to legally recognize these communities’ rights to their lands.”

A video presentation is available–from a Camp for Climate Action workshop–where a first hand witness to the violence being used talks about his trip to columbia as part of an emergency delegation (about half way through the video).

The Convenient Solution

A New Greenpeace Campaign, with great video and discussion of the UK’s energy usage and future.

Spread the word about this campaign…

Lobby your MP about The Convenient Solution!

The Convenient Solution

A New Greenpeace Campaign, with great video and discussion of the UK’s energy usage and future.

Spread the word about this campaign…

Lobby your MP about The Convenient Solution!

E-Action: Say no to new coal!

Please take a minute out of your hectic schedule reading green blogs to object to new coal in the UK.

The Standard letter that you can send at the link above reads as follows, note you can add your own personal concerns to leave out certain points. This is just the basic letter.

Dear Sir/Madame,

I would like to register my opposition to proposals from the energy utility EON to build two new coal fired boilers at Kingsnorth in North Kent. I am concerned about the negative contribution this plant will make to our efforts to tackle the threat of climate change, which is now overwhelmingly accepted as the greatest threat facing humankind.I am opposed to the Kingsnorth proposals because:

– If built, the plant will emit around 4.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year – more than the combined amount of the 24 smallest emitting countries – seriously jeopardising our chances of meeting our national carbon reduction targets.

– As the 7th largest emitter of carbon dioxide and the 5th biggest economy in the world, the UK has a responsibility to lead the way in the efforts to tackle climate change. Building new coal fired power stations that are barely more efficient than the old ones at this crucial point will lead the world in entirely the wrong direction.- Approval of this plant would represent a continuation of our outdated, inefficient centralised energy system that allows two thirds of the energy that could be used to be wasted in the form of heat at the power station.

– Approval of this plant will undermine the necessary transition to a decentralised energy system that promotes renewable energy, energy efficiency and efficient use of fossil fuels.The simplest, cheapest and most effective way we can meet our energy needs whilst tackling climate change is to reform the way we produce and distribute power. We need an energy system that is decentralised – where heat and electricity is generated close to where it is needed, so that we can capture the heat normally wasted in order to heat our homes and provide hot water.

Yours Sincerely,

Please help to save the rainforests & peatlands (2 minute e-action)

Dear friends,

On 6th and 7th of May, ministers from Europe and elsewhere will be meeting in Kyoto for the 40th AGM of the Asian Development Bank. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) have a long record of financing rainforest destruction for palm oil plantations in Indonesia. They are thinking of massively expanding their funding for palm oil and other destructive monocultures through their ‘renewable energy budget’. Palm oil and other biofuels grown at the expense of rainforests and other ecosystems, local communities and food production are not renewable energy. ADB are already a major contributor to global warming by financing new fossil fuel power stations and exploration across Asia, and by financing deforestation. Global warming is a threat to all rainforests. Please write to ministers now to demand that ADB must fund neither biofuel expansion nor fossil fuels. Many thanks.

Here you will find a email action where you can sent your protest:

http://www.regenwald.org/international/englisch/index.php

Yours sincerely,

Reinhard Behrend
Rettet den Regenwald e. V.
Friedhofsweg 28
22337 Hamburg

Help with a response to the UK Climate Change Bill Consultation

I am currently filling in my response to the Draft Climate Change Bill 2007 (UK).

I would be interested in collaborating with anyone else who is already doing this or who would be willing to offer advice if to time constrained to take on this themselves. The bill is fairly complex and another head working on this would be great.

If you are interested in helping with responding to this my email is calvin dot jones at gmail dot com

The main gaping holes that I have found so far are:

1. An inadequate target + language that may inhibit this being updated.
2. Excluding aviation and shipping; this is probably this single greatest mistake.
3. Having 5 year budgetary periods that are not legally binding rather than legally binding annual targets.
4. Excluding non-co2 GHG’s.
5. Including the possibility of purchasing credits from abroad.

If you are interested in helping with responding to this my email is calvin dot jones at gmail dot com