Protesters from 30 Countries Unite To Fight Global Warming

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http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/120305X.shtml

 

Protesters from 30 Countries Unite To Fight Global Warming

By Cahal Milmo

The Independent UK

 

Saturday 03 December 2005

 

Up to a million people will take to the streets of more than 100

cities in 30 countries today to demand greater action on tackling

global warming.

 

The first worldwide demonstration on climate change will coincide

with the opening of a key United Nations conference to set out the

basis for the reduction of greenhouse gases after the Kyoto treaty

expires in 2012.

 

Organisers of the protests warned that the world's leading

industrialised nations had failed to make an impact on climate change

and some, in particular Britain, were backsliding on their

environmental commitments.

 

The UN meeting in Montreal, which will be attended by

representatives of 189 countries, is set to be dominated by efforts to

persuade America - the world's largest carbon emissions producer - to

join future UN-led talks on ways to curb rising temperatures and sea

levels.

 

The Bush administration has refused to ratify the Kyoto agreement,

which pledges the 35 leading industrialized nations to cut carbon

dioxide levels to 5.2 per cent below 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012

- an undertaking they are struggling to meet.

 

In the context of Washington's steadfast refusal to contemplate

any " binding " climate change commitments and signs that Kyoto is

failing to cut greenhouse emissions, environmentalists believe a show

of mass public discontent will send a powerful signal to the climate

talks.

 

Phil Thornhill, of the London-based Campaign Against Climate

Change, who originated the idea for the demonstrations, said: " It is a

massive opportunity for ordinary people to show that urgent action is

needed if we are to prevent a catastrophic destabilization of the

climate. We are in a race against time and, if anything, world leaders

seem to be going backwards. These protests must send the message that

this is the very last thing we need. Never before have we been able to

do that with a single worldwide voice. "

 

The centerpiece of the International Day of Climate Protest will

be a mass protest in Montreal, where at least 15,000 people are

expected to lobby delegates, including Britain's Environment

Secretary, Margaret Beckett, for a globally binding climate agreement

after 2012.

 

The protest in London, which is expected to draw similar numbers,

will pass the offices of the American oil giant Exxon Mobil and the

embassy of Australia, which has also refused to ratify Kyoto, before

ending with a rally outside the American embassy in Grosvenor Square.

 

Across the world similar protests will be held in locations from

Helsinki to Seoul. In Washington, drivers of fuel-efficient hybrid

cars will rally around the White House while in New Orleans -

devastated by Hurricane Katrina in August - there will be a " Stop

Global Warming " street party in the French Quarter.

 

But despite the worldwide show of popular unity, there is

pessimism that the 10-day UN meeting will break new ground in

achieving a successor to the Kyoto treaty which will also include

developing nations and the two countries expected to become the

world's two biggest producers of carbon emissions by 2050 - China and

India.

 

Ms. Beckett this week showed the level of governmental expectation

by describing those expecting new Kyoto-style targets to be agreed as

" living in cloud-cuckoo-land " . Even the original Kyoto agreement is

failing to meet expectations. In 11 European Union countries emissions

have grown, not shrunk. In Japan, emissions are nearly 18 per cent

above target while in Canada - host of this week's meeting - the gap

is almost 30 per cent.

 

Despite hopes among the Canadian and EU delegations, led by the

British presidency, that the Bush administration can still be coaxed

into the talks process, Washington has already bluntly ruled out any

new commitments - pointing instead to a voluntary undertaking to cut

greenhouse emissions by 18 per cent by 2012.

 

Instead the only proposal creating a buzz around the conference

building this week was the idea, championed by Papua New Guinea, for

wealthy countries to pay developing nations to preserve rainforests by

not cutting down trees. The loss of tropical forest accounts for 20

per cent of carbon emissions by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide

filtered from the air.

 

While such a scheme would represent progress, activists warn that

the big picture - binding targets to achieve a net reduction in

greenhouse gases which will include the US, China and India - is in

danger of slipping away. Mr. Blair was last month accused of moving

away from the Kyoto model towards the stance of his key ally George

Bush when he called for a focus on technology - from renewable

energies to nuclear power - to reduce emissions.

 

George Monbiot, the academic and leading environmental

commentator, who will address the London rally, said: " There is

probably very little we can expect [from Montreal] because we are

doing nothing to keep fossil fuel in the ground. All these

techno-fixes are a waste of time if we continue to burn fossil fuel at

the same rate.

 

" There is a lot of cynicism about what the British government is

doing. Tony Blair has promised much and persuaded many that he will

deliver but it has turned out to be rubbish. Blair had no intention of

doing anything on climate change other than talk about it.

 

" But this weekend's protests are taking place in a changed context

- the media are listening and finally we have to make the politicians

listen. "

 

The Marches

 

London Midday - 3.30pm

 

Depart Lincoln's Inn Field, passing ExxonMobil offices, Australian

embassy, and Downing Street - where a letter will be delivered

demanding assurances that Britain will adhere to Kyoto-style targets.

A rally will be held in Grosvenor Square, outside the American

embassy. Speakers include Michael Meacher, former environment

secretary, and George Monbiot.

 

Other Countries

 

Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Croatia,

Democratic Republic of Congo, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,

Indonesia, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand,

Nicaragua, Norway, Peru, Phillipines, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South

Africa, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, Uganda, United States, Venezuela.

 

 

 

Go to Original

 

Climate Change: Time for Action

By Michael McCarthy

The Independent UK

 

Saturday 03 December 2005

 

Today, protesters unite in 30 nations - this is what lies ahead if

nothing is done.

 

Killer Storms

 

Warmer sea water means there is more energy to power hurricanes,

and the computer-predicted increase in such " extreme events " with

global warming seems to be coming true. Hurricane Epsilon, currently

raging in the Atlantic, is the 26th named storm, and the 14th named

hurricane of a record season in the US. These storms are getting more

violent. An even more sobering glimpse of the future was given by

Hurricane Mitch in 1998 which killed 11,000 people and left three

million homeless in Honduras.

 

Rampant Disease

 

Although many of the effects of global warming will be felt by

developing nations, rich countries will not escape. Acute heat

episodes will become frequent and kill many. In the heat wave of

August 2003 in Western Europe - confidently attributed by scientists

to climate change - 35,000 old people died, more than 18,000 in

France. Heat will not be the only problem. The World Health

Organization fears that global warming, with its heavier rainfall,

could lead to a major increase in insect-borne diseases in Britain and

Europe such as malaria, Lyme disease and encephalitis, and has called

for urgent government action to prevent it.

 

Rising Sea Levels

 

In the coming century, global sea levels are predicted to rise by

up to three feet, threatening regions at or below sea level, such as

Pacific islands, much of Bangladesh, the Nile delta in Egypt, the

Netherlands, and even East Anglia and the Thames estuary in Britain.

Storm surges - like that which drowned more than 300 people in eastern

England and 1,800 people in the Netherlands in January 1953 - are

likely to be much more frequent and catastrophic. The population of

Bangladesh will double as its land surface halves.

 

Devastated Wildlife

 

Polar bears may be the first spectacular casualties as the ice of

the Arctic Ocean, on which they depend to hunt seals, is rapidly

melting and will probably all be gone by mid-century. But Britain

itself is already feeling the problem: we are losing to rising

temperatures not only the cod in the seas around our coasts, but also

the small fish such as sandeels on which seabirds depend to feed their

young. Last year in the Northern Isles, Orkney and Shetland, hundreds

of thousands of birds such as guillemots and arctic terns failed to

breed for lack of food.

 

Water Shortages

 

Drought will be much more common. In the dry-lands, rain will be

even less frequent, while some parts of the world that are temperate

will become arid: central Spain may be desert-like by the mid-century.

And it is not only rain that will fail. Glaciers are shrinking. Lima,

with seven million people, depends for half the year on water from the

Sullcon glacier in the Andes, which has retreated by 30 per cent.

Himalayan glaciers which feed the river Indus, the source of much of

Pakistan's water, are also shrinking.

 

Agricultural Turmoil

 

The hundreds of millions of people living in the world's marginal

agricultural lands, such as the countries of the Sahel region, already

face a desperate daily struggle to grow food. All their energies are

consumed in the effort to produce a harvest of a staple crop such as

millet. As global temperatures rise, this struggle is likely to become

impossible as more frequent and longer droughts make crop-growing

unviable. In poor tropical regions, the increased storms predicted

from climate change will be an added threat. The terrifying images of

African famine are as nothing to what will come.

 

The 'X' Factor?

 

What's predicted is terrible enough. But it is what's not even on

the radar that some scientists fear most of all - the possibility that

global warming might bring about some sudden, extreme and devastating

climatic phenomenon that we cannot yet even imagine. The climate is a

complex system, and we know that complex systems, when subject to

stress, can collapse - it happens on your office desk when your

computer crashes - and the global climate is now being subjected to

stresses that have never been put on it before. Last year's global

warming disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow tried to show this with

the northern hemisphere freezing solid in a matter of weeks. Most

people dismissed it as far-fetched, but something just as catastrophic

may be out there, not far in the future.

 

 

 

Go to Original

 

10 Things You Can do at Home

The Independent UK

 

Saturday 03 December 2005

 

Turn off Electrical Appliances not in Use

 

TVs, videos and computers left on standby can use up to 85 per

cent of the energy they would if fully on. The power wasted releases

an extra one million tones of carbon into the atmosphere every year,

contributing to global warming.

 

Leave the Car in the Drive

 

Use public transport to get to work whenever possible. Motorists

who drive 100 miles a week generate 1,872kg of CO2 a year. Train or

bus commuters traveling the same distance create just 520kg.

 

Shower, Don't Bath

 

Filling a tub needs 75 liters of water, whereas a five-minute

shower uses 30 liters. Buy a water-saving showerhead (£15) to end

drips. Cuts the average bill by £125 a year.

 

Conserve Hot Water

 

Turn down the temperature by two degrees Celsius, cutting the

average heating bill by £40 a year and emissions by up to 270kg. Set

your washing machine to as cool a wash as possible; followed twice a

week, emissions will be cut by 225kg a year. Fit an insulating jacket

around a hot water tank, cutting emissions by 80kg a year.

 

Buy Local

 

Fill your shopping basket with local produce, eating fruit and

vegetables that are in season. Food imported by air contributes many

times its own weight in CO2 emissions by the time it reaches the UK.

 

Minimize Tumble Dryer Use

 

Just one fewer load a week reduces CO2 emissions by 91kg a year.

Avoid putting very damp clothes in by wringing out first.

 

Insulate Lofts, Walls and Windows

 

More than 40 per cent of heat lost from the home escapes through

walls and lofts. Insulating lofts to a depth of 250mm can slash

heating bills by a quarter. Insulating cavity walls, which costs about

£550, can cut heating bills by a third and emissions by 900kg a year.

Fit insulating film over windows. At £1 a pane it can reduce a

household's emissions by 450kg a year.

 

Holiday in the UK

 

Giving up on foreign trips will help cut down aviation emissions.

A flight to Athens emits 2,336kg of CO2 per passenger.

 

Compost and Recycle

 

If each home recycled 50 per cent of its output, the UK's annual

CO2 emissions would drop by six million tones. The energy saved by

recycling a single drinks can is enough to run a TV set for three hours.

 

Use Energy Saving Light Bulbs

 

Energy-saving light bulbs use less than a quarter of the

electricity, last 12 times longer than standard light bulbs and

produce 50kg less CO2 during their lifetime. They cost £4.

 

How green is your lifestyle?

 

Stephen Tindale, Executive Director of Greenpeace

 

My green successes: The most important lifestyle choice I made was

deciding not to fly on holiday any more. I couldn't reconcile it with

my concerns over climate change. All of my trips since then have been

somewhere in the UK or somewhere that's reachable by train. If you

look at your carbon footprint, flying overshadows all else.

 

My green failings: I ought to replace the old boiler and fit a new

domestic combined heat and power boiler instead. I would also like to

fit a micro wind turbine to the roof. I should also eat less meat

because the global meat consumption is driving the destruction of the

rainforests - particularly in the Amazon. I should be vegetarian but

I'm addicted to bacon sarnies.

 

If I ruled the world: The single most important thing to do would

be to pass a law so that every new building would have to be capable

of providing its own power. There is a whole range of technologies to

do this. Buildings are an immense problem at the moment but they could

also be an immense solution. It's the role of government to begin

solving these problems.

 

Lynne Franks, Environmental Business Consultant

 

My green successes: I'm trying to see that everything I do in my

life has some value to the planet and to the people that live on it.

The biggest thing I have done is that I have sold my London property

and am relocating to rural Oxfordshire, which I hope will enable me to

live a more sustainable lifestyle. I am much better than I've ever

been but I'm not as good as I intend to be.

 

My green failings: For people like me who have to travel a lot in

order to do the work that they do, air travel is a massive problem. I

have to fly around once a month and I am well aware that my

eco-footprint is not as it should be. That is one thing that I am

still struggling to get to grips with. I believe that in the future we

will be using more and more technology which will mean we don't have

to travel as much.

 

If I ruled the world: Rather than making laws, the Government

should be investing in the future by finding alternative energy

sources and providing people with the information they need to stop

destroying the planet. It's got to be down to the individual to show

what they want.

 

Rory Bremner, Comedian

 

My green successes: I try to use public transport when I can over

a car whenever possible. I also try to recycle plastic bottles and

divide up rubbish. It was interesting during the last petrol crisis;

people were sharing transport and even talking to one another. I think

we are definitely addicted to our cars as a society.

 

My green failings: I probably use too much energy. I'm not nearly

as conscientious enough. Also, if I were to move home again, I would

want to look at areas of environmental improvement such as building

materials, and areas that can be heated with solar power for example.

 

If I ruled the world: I would actually encourage people to use

low-energy light bulbs as well as new forms of fuel. I remember

reading that if each household switched to a energy-saving light bulb,

something like a whole power station would not have to be built. I

think a lot could be done to tighten up how energy is supplied, with

more use of resources such as wind and wave power, more imaginative

approaches than the nuclear option, which is very costly.

 

Katharine Hamnett, Fashion Designer

 

My green successes I've had a compost heap for 28 years and I try

to make our cars, fridges and televisions last for ages. I walk, take

public transport and wear loads of vintage clothes, and so do my kids.

I've also got a little olive grove in Spain and I suppose I could say

it's a carbon sink.

 

My green failings: I get on planes too often - the whole fashion

industry has a problem with that. The ideal scenario would be for them

to conglomerate all their fairs into two weeks and you could go once.

I do rely on the free plastic bags from the supermarket - although I

never throw them away. Our clothes and household fabrics are not made

from organic cotton yet. The greenhouse gas emissions from the

chemical fertilizers used on conventional cotton is colossal.

 

If I ruled the world: There is only enough uranium to provide

electricity for 12 years. I would rather invest in renewable energy

sources. Tidal energy is my favorite because we have two tides a day

in this country, like clockwork. Consumers, not governments are

responsible.

 

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