Rupert's Read

Crucial reading here from John Vidal: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/29/financial-negotiations-money-copenhagen-summit Money matters, and is welcome. But there are severe problems, because of the market-fetishism of the world today; e.g. : (1) REDD would be absolutely disastrous, helping monocultures, hurting indigenous people; (2) Carbon-trading is a hopeless non-solution. We need contraction and convergence / carbon rationing, or possibly Kyoto 2. And these aren't even on the table. It's depressing... Time to start thinking about 'Seattle-ising' Copenhagen...

Astoundingly, this is a UKIP press release sent out yesterday. They are actually proud of being in the gutter, proud of slurring someone just for them having been active in CND...:   UKIP Press Office 2 Queen Anne's Gate London SW1H 9AA Nigel (sic.) reprimanded in European Parliament over Ashton speech WATCH THE SPEECH HERE AT WWW.UKIP.ORG UKIP Leader Nigel Farage was this morning reprimanded by European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek for his questions relating to the appointment of Baroness Ashton as the EU's High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs. Buzek insisted that Mr Farage 'restrain his language and refrain from making unacceptable comments in the chamber'.       Mr Farage was questioning whether Ashton was a suitable candidate for the post because of her past associations with th...

The motion came to Norfolk County Council on Monday. It included this: 'This Council... urges all residents of Norfolk, including Members of Norfolk County Council, to reduce their carbon footprint, for instance, in the manner suggested by the current 10:10 campaign' The Green Party amendment clause was: 'recognises that there is a Climate Emergency and write to the Prime Minister to call for the Government to do everything possible to each a lasting agreement at the Copenhagen Climate Summit', and was passed. This I believe was the first instance of a Tory-run council using the words 'climate emergency' and was carried unanimously in the meeting.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/rupert-read/real-scandal-in-hacked-climate-change-e-mails-controversy

This is quite encouraging. If it is done right, and sensitively to terrain, and any biomass-sourcing that comes from it is done genuinely-sustainably, then it will be just the kind of thing our country and our world needs:   http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6930091.ece From The Times November 25, 2009 Plant forests across Britain to beat climate change, say scientists Iconic species such as the English oak and the beech could be destroyed by higher temperatures in the South of England Valerie Elliott, Countryside Editor   The creation of new forests and woodlands across the country will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10 per cent and protect communities at risk of flooding, according to a scientific study for the Forestry Commission . Planting trees in 23,000 hectares a year for the next 40 years — about the size of Queen's Balmoral estate, or a town the size of Kettering,...

  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/6631000/CBI-calls-for-new-sources-of-credit.html This is quite fascinating... The CBI are basically endorsing (presumably unknowingly) OUR policy - Green Party policy - on local-business-banks!   See e.g. http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/mfss/min.html  : 'Local Initiatives - Long-Term Action IN504   Small businesses in the UK find it difficult to get timely access to external funds and affordable interest rates. Community Banks are needed which have funds available for local activities. (see   EC512 ) IN505   Community Banks would give local firms and co-operatives access to funds managed locally and supplied at preferential rates. This would favour activities identified by the Local Government Local Development Plan. The allocation of funds would make use of environmental impact analysis but be simple enough to be understandable. IN506   A pilot Community Bank scheme (i...

This quotation from a LibDem website (passed onto me by an eagle-eyed Green colleague) is so cute, it's classic; notice the tacit admission that usually these kinds of things ARE nothing more than meaningless slogans in a Focus newsletter...: "Robin Meltzer, who ran Carol's winning campaign, said, "We won the election so handsomely because, in Carol Caruana, we had a candidate who really did work tirelessly, for four years. It wasn't just a slogan we put in a Focus. " " http://www.westminsterlibdems.org.uk/news/000194/historic_libdem_breakthrough_in_kc_points_to_victory_in_bayswater.html