Category: Low Carbon Life

Climate Union

Post author By Jo
Post date March 24, 2010
1 Comment on Climate Union

I’m in the Climate Union. Are you ?

Finally, I have to admit that I have an personal stake in the outcomes of Climate Change and Energy policy.

I have to confess to a utilitarian, yet enlightened, self-interest.

And so say all of us.

In the future, I want there to be jobs. New jobs, for young and old, for me. Productive, worthwhile employment, green jobs that don’t permanently wreck the atmosphere for future generations.

When I get sick, unabled or old, I want there to be social services. Not run on a shoestring budget owing to Carbon Taxes or Carbon Trading, but Low Carbon hospitals with well-motivated, sufficient staff; and decent, affordable sheltered housing and residential homes for the vulnerable.

I want cheap, Zero Carbon Energy; as access to Energy is an essential public good, even a human right, for those who live towards the Poles. I don’t want to be made poor by a badly managed transition out of Fossil Fuels, or expensive Carbon Capture projects that the State pays for, because Electricity generation companies want to burn dirty Coal. I don’t want to have to pay double for my power, just because new Nuclear Power stations cost so much to build.

Tags Biogas, Biomethane, Climate Change, Energy, Global Warming, Low Carbon, Low Carbon Energy, Low Carbon Energy Transition, Marine Energy, Tidal Energy, Transition, Transition London, Transition Town, Transition Towns, Wave Energy, Wind Energy, Wind Farm, Wind Turbine

Behaviour Changeling Big Picture Carbon Rationing Climate Change Eating & Drinking Low Carbon Life Marvellous Wonderful Peak Energy Peak Oil Pet Peeves Social Change Voluntary Behaviour Change

Little Chicken

Now’s the right time to talk about gardening. Not just any old gardening, no. I mean food gardening, urban farming, home cropping, edible landscape-type gardening.

Now is the time to be thinking about enriching your soil for your next bumper harvest.

Get your resilience genes working !

https://www.londonwaste.co.uk/media/Compost%20Bag%20Leaflet_May09.pdf

https://www.islington.gov.uk/Environment/RubbishAndRecycling/recycling_new/hrrc/compost_offer_HRRC.asp

Get into Transition mode !

In Transition 1.0 from Transition Towns on Vimeo.

Tags Climate Change, edible backyard, Global Warming, grow your own, home farm, Peak Energy, Peak Oil, urban gardening

Big Picture Climate Change Emissions Impossible Low Carbon Life Social Change

The Hamburger King Gets A Vision And A Mission

Post author By Jo
Post date December 30, 2009
No Comments on The Hamburger King Gets A Vision And A Mission

People have had Christmas to digest the awful reality that the Copenhagen Accord is nowhere near what it needs to be to start a meaningful transition to a Low Carbon World.

Up steps John Gummer, Member of the United Kingdom Parliament, to say that he’s stepping down from parliament, in order to take up Climate Change issues :-

https://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/dec/30/john-gummer-to-stand-down

“…Gummer said: “Climate change is not only a crisis without historic parallel, it is an urgent political threat. We will never win this battle if we diminish people’s lives or preach at them. The threat must not be used as an excuse for unnecessary state direction and control. Instead, it is all of us, as citizens, entrepreneurs, and consumers, who will make change happen. Politicians and campaigners have to enable that change: they must unleash the power of the free market; they must harness the skills and innovation that drive it; and they must create the opportunities for competition to deliver new answers to this entirely new challenge. Those of us who have any chance to influence the course of events, even in a small way, have simply to make that our first priority, however difficult the choice.”…”

He’ll be advocating vegeburgers in his new role, no doubt.

Tags Climate Change, Copenhagen

Bad Science Bait & Switch Behaviour Changeling Big Picture Climate Change Energy Revival Low Carbon Life Media Non-Science Obamawatch Peace not War Pet Peeves Political Nightmare Protest & Survive Public Relations Renewable Resource Social Change Technological Sideshow Unsolicited Advice & Guidance Unutterably Useless Utter Futility Vote Loser

David Miliband : Expecting Someone Shorter

Post author By Jo
Post date November 7, 2009
No Comments on David Miliband : Expecting Someone Shorter

To be honest, he was taller than I expected, and more Eastern in appeareance, a kind of lanky version of Mehmet behind the deli counter at my local Turkish International Food Emporium.

David Miliband was also considerably thinner than I would have liked, considering he might one day rule the New Labour Party, who might just rule my country again. We wouldn’t want him blown away by the slightest breeze, surely, would we ? He needs feeding in my opinion.

Tags campaigning, Climate Change, Energy, Global Warming, persuasion, politics, Renewable Energy, Science, soft power, Technology

Behaviour Changeling Big Picture Carbon Capture Climate Change Cost Effective Energy Revival Low Carbon Life Nuclear Shambles Pet Peeves Renewable Resource Social Change

The Investment Bump

Image Credit : Bankside Press

The big problem with re-tooling for the new Low Carbon world is not so much about changing Energy consumption behaviour, although that plays a part.

It’s not even really Energy supply behaviour, although that is probably more significant.

No, the key to the door to the greener future is investment behaviour.

Tags Climate Change, de-Carbonisation

Big Picture Low Carbon Life

Tesco Town : What The People Want

Post author By Jo
Post date October 10, 2009
3 Comments on Tesco Town : What The People Want

Image Credit : White River Valley Museum, Auburn

The people have spoken, but the people still have more to say. This Tuesday, 13th October 2009 at roughly 6.30pm, the people of Highams Park will once again climb the steps of Walthamstow Town Hall demanding the Council Planning Committee agree a smaller footprint from the proposed Tesco development.

Tags development, Energy, Food, Retail

Acid Ocean Bait & Switch Big Picture China Syndrome Climate Change Emissions Impossible Low Carbon Life Political Nightmare Unutterably Useless Utter Futility

Richard Black Hijacks Debate

Post author By Jo
Post date August 28, 2009
2 Comments on Richard Black Hijacks Debate

Environmentalism has trudged a long, winding, often silent road, with many cul-de-sacs of defeat, desperation and despair.

In the last few years there has been a raising of the collective consciousness about how many problems are interrelated with an obscure corner of gas chemistry, which offers grave prospects for the whole of Life on Earth.

Ecologists and treehuggers of all varieties have started to gather round the camp fire of Climate Change, finding that people will pay attention to the destruction of Nature if they pay attention to their own fate first.

Behaviour Changeling Big Picture Carbon Army Carbon Commodities Carbon Rationing Climate Change Contraction & Convergence Emissions Impossible Energy Revival Low Carbon Life Pet Peeves Political Nightmare Renewable Resource Social Change Vote Loser

Poor People Gonna Rise Up

Post author By Jo
Post date August 27, 2009
No Comments on Poor People Gonna Rise Up

Talking About a Revolution : Tracy Chapman

When are the intellectual and political ranks going to stop trying to apply universal guilt ? The real question to ask is not, “how are we going to get average emissions down ?” You can’t treat all the people in the United Kingdom as one blurred lump. Around 20% of consumers are conscious. Another 20% to 30% are going to be hit directly by any measure designed to put an environmental tax on Carbon, and will have no choice about responding.

Climate Change worldwide is affecting the poorest first and hardest – an expression used by everyone from Nicholas Stern through to Christian Aid. But it’s a stratification of impact that isn’t just global. The poorest in the industrialised countries are suffering hardship too : people who cannot get their homes renovated after floods, people who have to apply for Fuel Poverty assistance.

Tags Carbon Trading, Climate Change, Social Change

Behaviour Changeling Big Picture Carbon Army Climate Change Emissions Impossible Low Carbon Life Pet Peeves Political Nightmare Social Change Technological Sideshow

Pushy, Positive, Persuasion Pitfall

Post author By Jo
Post date August 27, 2009
1 Comment on Pushy, Positive, Persuasion Pitfall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unNZDByYHzw : The Power of Persuasion
https://evelynrodriguez.typepad.com/crossroads_dispatches/clear_and_resonant_marketing/
“Not Converts, But Consorts”

Despite what the psychologists evidence and the psychotherapists cogitate, there’s no getting through to some people, and I really think we just ought to accept that, stop with the guilt trip and the navel-gazing and admit it : the people with leadership authority have got to start telling people that things will change, whether they come along with it or not.

Everybody knows that there’s no secret to persuasion, no “how to win friends and influence people” magic techniques : you just need to have enough money to guarantee yourself the widest possible audience and the dominant narrative, and your product gets all the sales it needs, and overrides “what if” critique. TV was made for it. The Hollywood film industry is its highest and finest embodiment.

Big Picture Carbon Army Carbon Commodities Climate Change Emissions Impossible Energy Revival Low Carbon Life Pet Peeves Political Nightmare Renewable Resource Social Change

Camped On Your Doorstep

What would you do if you met a Climate Camper face to face ? And how could you be sure ? Would they have dreadlocks ? A facepainted clown face, raggedy, dirty clothes ? Would they be shouting ?

More to the point, would they be getting in your face ? Or in your way ? Would they be threatening or violent or extremely negative ? Or would they offer you a cup of tea and a nice wholemeal organic flapjack ?

Tags Climate Camp, Climate Change, Energy

Big Picture Climate Change Contraction & Convergence Emissions Impossible Low Carbon Life Non-Science Political Nightmare The Data Unutterably Useless Utter Futility

Tony Blair : Uncounting Irresponsibility

Post author By Jo
Post date August 21, 2009
No Comments on Tony Blair : Uncounting Irresponsibility

Climate Change is a problem quintessentially expressed in numbers : how many degrees of warming, how many parts per million of Carbon Dioxide in the air, how much Carbon Dioxide the Oceans, Forests, Rocks, Plants and Soils soak up, how many lives will be affected by drought, famine and sickness, how much Methane could be released from tundra and hydrates, how many species will be lost, perhaps including our own.

Big Picture Carbon Capture Climate Change Energy Revival Growth Paradigm Low Carbon Life Media Nuclear Nuisance Nuclear Shambles Pet Peeves Political Nightmare Technological Sideshow

Pouncing on the Pussycat Parade

Post author By Jo
Post date August 10, 2009
No Comments on Pouncing on the Pussycat Parade

He may prowl like a cat and purr like a cat, and make out he’s soft and sweet in interviews, but Peter Mandelson’s ideological positioning gives him the impression of him more resembling a pawn, an eel or a rat, and gives me a shudder of disgust; and I’m glad to hear the Climate Rush non-Pussycat Dolls have seen fit to pounce on him :-

https://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/aug/10/mandelson-climate-protest-vestas

Behaviour Changeling Big Picture Carbon Rationing China Syndrome Climate Change Contraction & Convergence Emissions Impossible Growth Paradigm Low Carbon Life Renewable Resource Social Change Vote Loser

Joan Ruddock : Flashback 2008

Post author By Jo
Post date August 5, 2009
No Comments on Joan Ruddock : Flashback 2008

Notes from PA21 Meeting with the Under-Secretary of State for the Environment

Meeting Date : Tuesday 25th March 2008
Meeting Time : 14:05 – 15:00
Meeting Venue: Whitehall

Attendees

Joan Ruddock MP, Under-Secretary of State, Environment
Annette Brooke MP
Tony Hamilton PA21 Chair
Theresa McManus PA21 Secretary
Naomi Matteson

Notes from Meeting

Bad Science Bait & Switch Behaviour Changeling Big Picture Climate Change Emissions Impossible Energy Revival Low Carbon Life Non-Science Pet Peeves Renewable Resource Social Change Vote Loser Wind of Fortune

Wind Turbines Give You Apoplexy

Post author By Jo
Post date August 4, 2009
No Comments on Wind Turbines Give You Apoplexy

Reactions to the article “Wind Turbines Give You Spots” is encouraging, if contentious. Looks like we’ve mined a thick vein of dispute. Could a simple, happy, smiley Public Relations campaign to promote Wind Power counter this ? I think not !

Behaviour Changeling Big Picture Burning Money Carbon Army Carbon Capture Climate Change Cost Effective Emissions Impossible Low Carbon Life Nuclear Nuisance Nuclear Shambles Peak Energy Peak Oil Pet Peeves Social Change

10×10 : Cut Carbon 10% by 2010

Post author By Jo
Post date August 2, 2009
No Comments on 10×10 : Cut Carbon 10% by 2010

The Campaign against Climate Change has been running a very thought-provoking extending compendium of ideas on how to reduce British Carbon Emissions by ten percent by (the end of) 2010, to which you are all welcome to contribute :-

https://portal.campaigncc.org/content/10-10-ban-domestic-flights

https://portal.campaigncc.org/content/10-10-ban-domestic-flights-0

https://portal.campaigncc.org/content/10-10-50-reduction-cost-public-transport

Big Picture Cost Effective Low Carbon Life Peak Energy Peak Oil Vote Loser

Pizza Drop

Post author By Jo
Post date July 31, 2009
1 Comment on Pizza Drop

What’s the opposite of a negative “anti-” protest against Fossil Fuels ? Why, it’s a negative “anti-” protest against losing jobs in Renewable Energy, with the best positive intentions.

The assortment of folks occupying the Vestas manufactory in Newport on the Isle of Wight are struggling to make a positive contribution to the future of British green collar jobs.

Alas, their sustainable and forward-thinking plan has met with summary dismissal – sackings by letters slipped under their pizzas in a delivery drop – according to the Press. The ultimate in snide micro-management.

Bait & Switch Big Picture Burning Money Climate Change Cost Effective Low Carbon Life Technological Sideshow

Wind Systems Are Go !

Little boy and girl engineers across the globe are starting a lifetime of fascination with wind turbines, playing with Trademarked miniature construction kits :-

https://hertenberger.co.za/?p=4831

https://legosip.blogspot.com/2009/04/120409-lego-7642-garage-7686-helicopter.html

Durable plastic toy manufacturers can see which way the wind is blowing, even if rich landowners, Mr-Deal-or-No-Deal [1] and certain members of the CPRE [2] cannot :-

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5850681/Wind-farm-to-be-built-on-borders-of-Peak-District.html

Burning Money Climate Change Low Carbon Life Peak Oil Technological Sideshow

Genetically Modified Biofuels

Post author By Jo
Post date July 22, 2009
No Comments on Genetically Modified Biofuels

Scottish historians can correct me on this : was it Robert the Bruce or William Wallace who first coined the phrase “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” ?

Well, it seem the “life sciences” industry, producing genetically modified organisms, is doing just that, this time in the fields of Energy and Climate Change.

Big Picture Burning Money Carbon Capture Climate Change Cost Effective Low Carbon Life Nuclear Nuisance Social Change Technological Sideshow

The Low Carbon Transition #1 : It’s Gonna Cost Ya

Post author By Jo
Post date July 21, 2009
No Comments on The Low Carbon Transition #1 : It’s Gonna Cost Ya

There was a rash, a veritable rash of media articles last week about Ed Miliband’s Low Carbon Transition :-

https://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/publications/lc_trans_plan/lc_trans_plan.aspx

It was an overwhelming torrent of fairly helpful and semi-accurate information, and it’s taken me a few days to wade through it to fish out some relevant threads.

Big Picture Carbon Army Carbon Capture Cost Effective Low Carbon Life Nuclear Nuisance Peace not War Social Change

Throwing Caution To The Wind

Post author By Jo
Post date July 13, 2009
No Comments on Throwing Caution To The Wind

This is possibly going to be Renewable Energy’s biggest week ever in UK history.

And we’re going to need all the Wind Power we can get to meet Ed Miliband’s lofty ambition.

Tags Climate Change, Energy, National Security, Renewable Energy

Carbon Army Climate Change Cost Effective Low Carbon Life Marvellous Wonderful

Save Vestas

Post author By Jo
Post date July 9, 2009
1 Comment on Save Vestas

Received by e-mail

Dear Friend,

Again, could you circulate this as widely as possible, especially to people in London and on the South Coast. Apologies for cross posting.

If you possibly can, please join a rally to save the Vestas wind turbine plant, this Saturday 11 July 2009, 12 noon, St James Square, Newport, Isle of Wight (outside Millets)

PDFs OF LEAFLETS, POSTERS AND PETITION SHEETS AVAILABLE BY EMAILING INFO@CAMPAIGNCC.ORG

Tags Climate Change, Wind Power