Fear of Ice - Green Party conference Day 3 September 8, 2008
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Green in the City , 2 commentsIf you’re feeling relaxed about global warming, look at this picture of the arctic sea ice in September, 1989.
1989 Minimum Sea Ice
Then look at this for September 2007.
2007 Minimum Sea Ice
Then go and visit the good people at NASA, and see how it’s shaping up for 2008. The ice cover has been retreating at about 10% per decade, and its accelerating. It’s not just the melting ice, its the change from nice, white, stuff sitting at the top of the planet reflecting all that energy back into space to dark blue stuff absorbing it and getting hotter. Any minute now, the Arctic will be an open sea for the first time in human history.
An update on climate research remotivates me in a big stick followed by small carrot sort of a way.
The stick was administered by Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre, who has just published a paper on targets for emission reduction. We talk about reducing emissions by 60% by 2050, but that is meaningless. The planet can only support so much CO2, so we need to worry about the total amount in the atmosphere, not some future rate of increase. This means that we are almost certainly heading for a 2C increase in global temperature whatever happens, and 4C is likely. We might be okay, maybe. Bangladesh and Tuvalu will not.
Even limiting CO2 in the atmosphere to 650ppmv, and a likely 4C increase, requires us to start cutting emissions drastically now, rather than letting them keep on rising as they have ever since Rio in 1992. If the coming recession is drastic (on the scale of the collapse of the economy of the Soviet Union) we might manage it, but there doesn’t seem to be any other way it will happen.
We have to change now. Fortunately, the Center for Alternative Technology believes its possible, and has a plan for doing it. Its not a detailed, do this on Monday, this on Tuesday type of plan which is what we really need, but it does show a way. They show how the UK could be self-sufficient in renewable energy, providing we both reduce demand and invest heavily in renewables now.
So, we know the problem. We have ideas about the solution. Now, its finding the will to do something about it.
Bloggers, Women and Pumpkins - Green Party Conference Day 2
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Green in the City , 4 commentsI start the second day of the Green Party Conference at the fringe session with Make Votes Count, who campaign for electoral reform in the UK. We live in a system which thinks its clever to run elections mid-week, register voters by household and still has guaranteed seats for the state religion, so there’s a very long way to go on this one. I get to vote in four different elections, which might seem like an embarrassment of riches, but there are five different voting systems in all of that. No wonder so few turn out to vote.
Next stop is the founding of Green Party Women, and somehow I end up taking minutes and becoming the secretary. The debate about including men becomes rather heated and its all very uncomfortable though we do get through. I’m proud to identify as a feminist, but its a long time since I’ve engaged with the side of the movement that wants a lot of separate space. I worry that if we marginalise men, we force areas which should be shared to be ‘women’s issues, and that can be very counter-productive. The arguement that men don’t understand women’s issues seems dangerous to me. Why, say, would a childless woman understand issues faced by a mother better than a father does? I suspect I’m going to have a challenging time with this one.
There are no meal breaks in the schedule, and not much food on the site, so a couple of us head over to a Pret, to discuss guerilla gardening and how I’m happy to be the third on the list for the Somers Town ward of Camden Council. I’m a lot more keen on guerilla gardening. There may be an outbreak of marigolds on vacant lots in Somers Town any minute now.
I finally got to meet Tom Reynolds, who is a friendly chap, much slimmer than in the video. He’s manning the Open Rights Group stall, though not a Green himself.
And then lots more bloggers, at a fringe event about blogging, and the launch of Green Home, which will be a central point for Green Party blogers. A couple of people have even heard of CamdenKiwi (*waves at Sue and Jim). It would be good to see the Green blogosphere develop in the way the Conservative one has since Conservative Home was launched - lots of individual bloggers, doing their own thing, but communicating with each other and the rest of the world. Blogging seems like a rather green sort of thing to do.
Finally, another plenary, with motions on buying up the Afghan opium crop (excellent idea) and removing the UK’s ability to opt out of the social and environmental chapters of EU agreements. The Green Party is becoming much more pro-EU, I’m pleased to see. And someone won a prize for his pumpkin in an allotment contest.
Then, to the bar, a few drinks, a deep and meaningful conversation about the Dorje Shugden controversy, and miserable failure in the quiz. But now I know Sheffield United was the first football club in the UK. Useful, no?
Green Party Conference September 6, 2008
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Green in the City, Politics , 3 commentsMy head is full after a day at the Green Party conference. Its the first time I’ve ever been to a large Green meeting in the UK, and I’m not quite sure what to expect. Lots of consensus decision making and very very long speeches?
I start worried. Some people are getting very hung up on the data protection act and policy about campaigning for internal elections. That’s not going to save the planet, now is it? It gets better with a workshop on housing policy and free school meals. Surviving climate change will need a strong dose of social justice in with the environmental policies, which is why a Green Party is so much more than just another environmental pressure group. Later, a motion was passed to set the minimum wage at 60% of the average, which is close to the NZ Values Party idea of a minimum income for all, and would go a long way towards improving social equity.
The treasurers report sparks more interest than I would have expected. Apparently they’ve hired a professional fundraiser to raise money for election campaigning, which seems sensible enough but doesn’t quite sit comfortably with Green ways of doing things.
Its all remarkably well organised. Sessions start on time, with effective chairing making sure everyone keeps to the point and noone rambles on for too long. At the start of each session they have a minutes silence in ‘attunement’ when you’re supposed to focus yourself to the task at hand. A bit hippy perhaps, but it seems to get everyone quiet and concentrating.
The highlight of the day is Caroline Lucas, the new (and first ever) Leader. She’s a credible, charismatic speaker, who sounds like she could run the country but still has a touch of the radical about her. Many of the elected politicians are impressive - Caroline Lucas, but also the other MEP, Jean Lambert, and the two GLA members Darren Johnson and Jenny Jones. The place is full of articulate, interesting councillors from all over the country.
More plenary sessions, then a break because I couldn’t be bothered with hustings for the election of party officers. For me, the last session of the day was the launch of Jean Lambert’s new report on how employment will be affected by climate change, including speakers from the TUC and British Wind Energy Assocation. The BWEA speaker, Dr Gordon Edge, attracted the most interest, talking about the effect of nimbyism on the industry and the problems with the planning process. He seemed much more interested in industrial scale windfarms than smallscale microgeneration, probably reflecting his organisation and the limits of the technology. The UK is hoping to be a major player in offshore wind energy, and may still have a chance to be involved in the manufacture of offshore turbines. The onshore market has been lost to Germany and Denmark.
Prof Tom Thomas, on the same panel, mentioned that Boris has cut funding for the London Energy Partnership, another example of Tory ideas of being green.
The real blog of the conference, with a lot more detail, is over here. Tomorrow, we’ve got voting reform, Green Party Women, and, I hope, the chance to meet one of my favourite bloggers, Tom Reynolds of Random Acts of Reality. It’s odd, not a lot about climate change or the environment.
Ecotricity May 21, 2007
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Green in the City , add a commentFor a few years now, I’ve had my electricity through Ecotricity. They’re rather more green than normal green tariffs with maintream electricity companies, because they invest profits back into renewable energy and have been doing this for years - unlike the johnny-come-lately’s who are leaping on the green bandwagon now that its rolling fast.
But the best thing about them is that I am customer number 19496, rather than one of millions and when I call them up, they chat and are helpful. The contrast between them and British Gas is so high, I’m tempted to get rid of the gas just to be able to deal with them all the time.
Technorati Tags: ecotricity, green power
Leave the Jet Planes August 27, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Environment, Green in the City, Politics, Travel , add a commentThe trip to Pisa last week brought me face to face with the new security restrictions at airports and, for the first time, I find myself seriously reluctant to fly. Guilt has been mounting because of the impact flying has on the environment but travel, and my love of Greece and Italy, have always won.
Its certainly not fear of terrorism that’s done it, but the sheer misery of flying now. Rather than checking in online, and arriving at the airport less than an hour before the flight leaves, then waltzing off at the other end to bypass the luggage queues and get the first taxi off the rank, on Friday night, I queued for forty five minutes behind people with tiny bags to get to one of three security checkpoints open out of the six available. I watched people being told to throw away cosmetics, and a little four year old girl being frisked. The flight was about an hour late. On the way back, it was a similar story. Although Pisa airport were allowing normal amounts of hand luggage, they were not allowing liquids of any form through. That flight was just under two hours late.
The DTO, with their over-zealous regulations, and BAA with their obvious lack of contingency planning have done what fear of climate change has failed to do, and, I suspect, destroyed the short break market. All the airline investment in online checkin and enough handbaggage to go away for the weekend have come to nothing. The many people who take two or three weekends away a year may not be kicking up a fuss or cancelling their flights, but I bet they’re not booking them either.
Anecdotal evidence suggests business travellers are also reconsidering, and rethinking the practicality of trains for 4-6 hour trips, rather than just the very short ones. If flights are consistently delayed, and you need to be at the airport two hours before departure rather than one, Amsterdam is suddenly closer by train than by plane.
Longer holidays are probably not affected. If you were already going to check luggage in, and going for a couple of weeks, then an extra hour or two doesn’t matter so much. I suspect long-haul across the Atlantic, where you’re still not allowed to take a bottle of water even if it was bought airside, will become less popular for families.
The Green in me is pleased - air travel needs to be curtailed and if fear of climate change wasn’t enough to stop me then it wasn’t stopping many people. I will miss it though.
Technorati Tags: BAA, airport security, environment
Reduce, Reuse, Freecycle August 15, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Camden, Green in the City , 1 comment so farOn Sunday, I gave away my first thing on freecycle - a site for everything that’s too good to throw away but not good enough for EBay. Put your ad on freecycle, select a lucky recipient from those who ask for it, and arrange to meet.
The idea is one of those uses of the internet which is so obvious when you see it, and would have been very hard and labour-intensive before. Freecycle is run through Yahoo Groups, with groups for all the different localities, and moderated by volunteers. Apart from, perhaps, the main website (link above) they have no costs, and it probably just runs itself now that it has built up enough momentum.
The local group for Camden has about 800 people on its mailing list, and seems to generate 4 or 5 offers a day. There is also a London-wide group, with some 20000 people, but I’m a worried about having an email explosion if I post there.
I was concerned about having a strange bloke come round to the flat, so met him outside at the entrance to the apartment building. I’m rearranging the bedroom, so a small desk will be the next to go. It needs reassembling, and I can’t be fussed with putting it on EBay, so it will be freecycled as soon as I’ve cleared it out.
Carnival of the Green #40 August 13, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Environment, Green in the City, Politics , 9 comments
Welcome to the Carnival of the Green on Camden Kiwi. This week, we have a pot-pourri of green ideas, issues and news from using solar energy in Alaska, to greywater in London and wind farms in the Western Isles as well as commentary on the environmental consequences of the war in Lebanon and attempts by climate change deniers to get their message across
The Carnival of the Green was created by City Hippy and Triple Pundit as a weekly round up of the green blogosphere. Last week, the Carnival was hosted by City Hippy, and next week it will be with FrugalForLife.
I wish the London and Camden authorities would take up some of the ideas used in Chicago John presents in Urban Greening posted at A DC Birding Blog. As I also live in the London / South East drought zone, I was very interested to see Tracy’s ideas at Eco Street
for ways of easily reusing your greywater. Most people I know have
water butts, but there has been so little rain this summer that these
are mostly empty now, so using bath and other waste water makes a lot
of sense.
Nick Aster looks at the bizare PR antics
of DCI group who pretend to be amateur videographers making fun of Al
Gore but actually come across as fools. The video Nick’s refering to
(and has a link for) is very poorly done, and the YouTube rating of 1
star after 2722 votes (2723 after I’d put in mine) says it all.
Riversider presents Preston Riverworks - A Guide to the Pro-Ribble Response posted at Save The Ribble!.
The Disillusioned Kid talks about the environmental consequences of the Israeli assault on lebanon
Greener Magazine follows up
on its previous examination of problems with the Alyeska Pipeline and
British Petroleum’s failure to adequately maintain their feeder lines.
Deirdre Helfferich at the Ester Republic is looking at ways of going solar, and in this post talks about providing natural lighting with a brief comparison of two natural lighting systems - the tubular skylight and the hybrid solar light. If people, in Ester, Alaska, can go solar, there’s no excuse for the rest of us.
In another Alaskan post, the Harbour Master at the Port of Valdez has some advice for recreational boaters, saying that clean boating practices will ensure favorite areas remain pristine and unspoiled for future trips.
Sally Kneidel, PhD, biologist and co-author of Veggie Revolution, writes about marine mammals encountered on a recent trip to Washington state and British Columbia. This is the first of several upcoming posts about Pacific coastal and marine wildlife and conservation issues.
City Hippy’s Edinburgh Editor, Katherine, brings us news of the positive effects of a wind farm up on an island off the West coast of Scotland. And if you can’t have a wind farm, Avant News presents a fabulous post showing how livestock and pets can be harnessed as an important new energy resource,
complete with pictures.
Joe Kissell presents Geodesic Domes: Interesting Thing of the Day posted at Interesting Thing of the Day, and explains the history and geometry of these structures.
Don Bosch over at The Evangelical Ecologist has some green thoughts on Jesus’ parable of The Good Samaritan in a post titled “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
Get rid of your junk and save the planet May 21, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Camden, Green in the City , add a comment
You've got some stuff to get rid of, it's not really good enough to sell, but you're a greenie so you're reluctant to just put it out with the rubbish. One solution is to put it in the basement and hope the fairies will take it away. This does not work, and has led to broken furniture which 'could be repaired', useful containers, ten years worth of the Philosophical Review and all the other unwanted paraphenalia of an affluent but environmentally friendly lifestyle clogging up space in guilt-ridden sheds and basements all over England.
A better solution is to put it up on Freecycle, if you've got the time and inclination, but if you're busy, lazy, or not too keen on total strangers turning up on your doorstep, there's a reasonably priced alternative in central / North London.
I've seen these trucks around a fair bit lately with one parked over the road the other day, and they look like a good idea. Ecojunk pick up your junk, take it away and try to recycle it as much as possible. They have a goal of a 50% recycling rate in their first year, and say they'll put their actual figures on their website, though there's nothing there yet.
They use LPG trucks as well, so lower emissions. They're a new, green business and need your support. Go on, you are never going to use all those yoghurt pots, you know.
Suz blog May 14, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Camden, Green in the City , add a commentAnother interesting local blog, from Suz Lamido over in Islington. She’s a Lib Dem, interested in green issues, and well worth a read.
Straight PLC’s rise and rise May 3, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Green in the City, Investing, Little Green Portfolio, Miscellany , add a commentOver the last couple of months, shares in Straight Plc, manufacturers of water butts and plastic recycling boxes, have risen by over 40%, and they're the main reason my green share portfolio is doing well. With the drought and hosepipe ban in the South East, sales of water butts are predicatably up, and it's good to see, in this article in Times Online that the company has been able to take advantage of that by bringing old moulds back into production to double manufacturing capacity and sourcing from Europe.
While I certainly don't want the drought to continue, it's good to see a company with strong green credentials doing well and people encouraged to conserve what will always be a scarce resource. The profits are nice too.
