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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on February 8th, 2010 http://ipsterraviva.net/UN/currentNew.as… South-South Cooperation Key to MDGs UNITED NATIONS, Feb 7 (IPS) – Member states meeting here Thursday called for the immediate implementation of development commitments made during the Nairobi high-level U.N. conference on cooperation between developing countries. UNDP Administrator Helen Clark highlighted the importance of the Nairobi meeting on South-South cooperation in sharing information, technologies, and experiences across the South. The Nairobi outcome document calls for concrete measures to mainstream support for South-South and triangular cooperation in the U.N.’s work. “I can assure you that we in UNDP have received that loud and clear message,” Clark said. “We have long proudly hosted the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation and fully supported its work.” On the heels of Thursday’s General Assembly High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation (HLC) meeting, focal points of South-South cooperation at 29 U.N. agencies met Friday at headquarters to discuss follow-up to the Nairobi conference. “South-South cooperation is an expression of solidarity that has proven its relevance by a rapid growth,” said Ambassador Abdullah M. Alsaidi of Yemen, the chair of the Group of 77 developing countries. “Cooperation across the South has been transformed by the growth of the emerging economies,” Clark explained. The share of global GDP generated by low and middle income countries has grown from 15 percent to 25 percent over the last 50 years according to UNDP estimates, and analysts predict that emerging markets will outperform developed markets over the course of the next decade. “Strengthening of regional integration and improved networking among members of regional blocs and organisations has a multiplier effect to South-South cooperation,” said Ambassador Zachary Muburi-Muita of Kenya, who was elected president of the HLC meeting here. “The emerging economies in the South are attracting international attention and will increasingly acquire the muscle to influence the course of economic growth and development,” said Ambassador Gyan Chandra Acharya of Nepal, stressing that the recent successes of the developing world are in danger of being reversed and are not being felt equally across countries or regions. The HLC stressed that the current financial, food and energy crises have exacerbated the vulnerabilities of developing countries that lack the capacity to withstand shocks. There is an “implementation gap” that has been looming over the recommendations of the major U.N. conferences in the economic and social areas, delegates agreed. It is only with “political will towards fulfilling the commitments that parties have undertaken in Nairobi that we can make real progress,” an Egyptian delegate stressed. “South-South cooperation is immensely important at this time for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other internationally agreed goals, and for tackling climate change,” said Clark. Clark urged delegations to take a particularly close look at the gender aspects of achieving the MDGs. “Progress is lagging behind particularly on MDG5 on maternal health; on MDG3 on empowering women; and on MDG2 with respect to gender parity in access to education,” Clark said, “To achieve the MDGs and indeed other internationally agreed development goals, women have to be an equal part of the equation.” In order to effectively implement the Nairobi outcome with demonstrable results, stakeholders need to identify “quick wins” whose implementation should be devoid of unnecessary red tape and bureaucracy, said Muburi-Muita. “This is an excellent example of how member states are able to engage entities of the U.N. system through a South-South and triangular partnership in support of their national development strategies,” according to the ILO delegation. The HLC stressed local ownership of solutions as a key component of South-South cooperation. “Now, as UNDP positions itself to be of the greatest possible relevance and support to developing countries in the 21st century, we see facilitating South-South exchanges of experience and knowledge as absolutely central to what we do,” Clark explained. A growing priority of the U.N. will be to share experience on climate change adaptation and mitigation. This could include sharing knowledge on growing drought-tolerant crops, on reforestation, or on providing low-cost access to clean energy and transport technology. Clark emphasised that a very wide range of developing countries make contributions to South-South cooperation. In the recent weeks “we have seen least developed and low-income countries, along with middle-income and net-contributing countries, digging deep into their pockets for Haiti,” she said. ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on February 6th, 2010 Shackleton’s Whiskey Found Buried Near South Pole. Lauren Frayer Researchers from New Zealand found the crates while restoring a hut Shackleton built and used during the expedition. He and his team were forced to cut short the trip and abandon supplies, including their booze, to sail away before winter ice trapped them there. The second trip was backed by the same Scottish company that distilled Shackleton’s whiskey, Mackinlay’s Rare Old Scotch. It could be the longest booze run in history. The Whyte and Mackay distillery hopes to replicate the whiskey, which hasn’t been made in a lifetime after the original recipe was lost. “If the contents can be confirmed, safely extracted and analyzed, the original blend may be able to be replicated,” Paterson said. Shackleton’s expedition ran short of supplies on a long trek to the South Pole that began in 1907. He had to turn back about 100 miles from the pole in 1909. The team had to move quickly to escape as winter ice began to form, so they were forced to abandon all but essential equipment and supplies – including their whiskey. No lives were lost. A Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen, was first to reach the South Pole two years later, in 1911. As for what the future holds for Shackleton’s whiskey, there are international treaties preventing the removal of artifacts from Antarctica, but Paterson wrote on his blog that he hopes to get his hands on at least a sample of the whiskey, if not a couple bottles. “What you all want to know is: How will it taste?” Paterson wrote. “To which the answer is: Cold.” ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on December 23rd, 2009 http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091220/sc_… Polluting pets: the devastating impact of man’s best friend. Man’s best friend … by Isabelle Toussaint and Jurgen Hecker Isabelle Toussaint And Jurgen Hecker – Sun Dec 20, 2009. PARIS (AFP) – Man’s best friend could be one of the environment’s worst enemies, according to a new study which says the carbon pawprint of a pet dog is more than double that of a gas-guzzling sports utility vehicle. But the revelation in the book “Time to Eat the Dog: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living” by New Zealanders Robert and Brenda Vale has angered pet owners who feel they are being singled out as troublemakers. The Vales, specialists in sustainable living at Victoria University of Wellington, analysed popular brands of pet food and calculated that a medium-sized dog eats around 164 kilos (360 pounds) of meat and 95 kilos of cereal a year. Combine the land required to generate its food and a “medium” sized dog has an annual footprint of 0.84 hectares (2.07 acres) — around twice the 0.41 hectares required by a 4×4 driving 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles) a year, including energy to build the car. To confirm the results, the New Scientist magazine asked John Barrett at the Stockholm Environment Institute in York, Britain, to calculate eco-pawprints based on his own data. The results were essentially the same. Other animals aren’t much better for the environment, the Vales say. Cats have an eco-footprint of about 0.15 hectares, slightly less than driving a Volkswagen Golf for a year, while two hamsters equates to a plasma television and even the humble goldfish burns energy equivalent to two mobile telephones. But Reha Huttin, president of France’s 30 Million Friends animal rights foundation says the human impact of eliminating pets would be equally devastating. “Pets are anti-depressants, they help us cope with stress, they are good for the elderly,” Huttin told AFP. “Everyone should work out their own environmental impact. I should be allowed to say that I walk instead of using my car and that I don’t eat meat, so why shouldn’t I be allowed to have a little cat to alleviate my loneliness?” Sylvie Comont, proud owner of seven cats and two dogs — the environmental equivalent of a small fleet of cars — says defiantly, “Our animals give us so much that I don’t feel like a polluter at all. “I think the love we have for our animals and what they contribute to our lives outweighs the environmental considerations. “I don’t want a life without animals,” she told AFP. And pets’ environmental impact is not limited to their carbon footprint, as cats and dogs devastate wildlife, spread disease and pollute waterways, the Vales say. With a total 7.7 million cats in Britain, more than 188 million wild animals are hunted, killed and eaten by feline predators per year, or an average 25 birds, mammals and frogs per cat, according to figures in the New Scientist. Likewise, dogs decrease biodiversity in areas they are walked, while their faeces cause high bacterial levels in rivers and streams, making the water unsafe to drink, starving waterways of oxygen and killing aquatic life. And cat poo can be even more toxic than doggy doo — owners who flush their litter down the toilet ultimately infect sea otters and other animals with toxoplasma gondii, which causes a killer brain disease. But despite the apocalyptic visions of domesticated animals’ environmental impact, solutions exist, including reducing pets’ protein-rich meat intake. “If pussy is scoffing ‘Fancy Feast’ — or some other food made from choice cuts of meat — then the relative impact is likely to be high,” said Robert Vale. “If, on the other hand, the cat is fed on fish heads and other leftovers from the fishmonger, the impact will be lower.” Other potential positive steps include avoiding walking your dog in wildlife-rich areas and keeping your cat indoors at night when it has a particular thirst for other, smaller animals’ blood. As with buying a car, humans are also encouraged to take the environmental impact of their future possession/companion into account. But the best way of compensating for that paw or clawprint is to make sure your animal is dual purpose, the Vales urge. Get a hen, which offsets its impact by laying edible eggs, or a rabbit, prepared to make the ultimate environmental sacrifice by ending up on the dinner table. “Rabbits are good, provided you eat them,” said Robert Vale ——— I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to humans (“pure habitat”). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8 ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on December 10th, 2009 Giant Iceberg Heading Toward Australia![]() CNN (Dec. 9) — A massive iceberg — more than twice the size of New York’s Manhattan island — is drifting slowly toward Australia, scientists said Wednesday.
The iceberg, measuring 140 square km (54 square miles), cleaved off an ice shelf nearly 10 years ago and had been floating near Antarctica before commencing on its unusual journey north. Named B17B, it was about 1,700 km (1,056 miles) off the coast of West Australia, according to the country’s Antarctic Division. “B17B is a very significant one in that it has drifted so far north while still largely intact,” said Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist Neal Young, who spotted the slab using satellite images taken by NASA and the European Space Agency. Australian Antarctic Division/AFP/AP
A massive iceberg, labeled B17B, is believed to have broken off from the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on December 10th, 2009 SIXTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL, CULTURAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL The International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability aims to develop a holistic view of sustainability, in which environmental, cultural and economic issues are inseparably interlinked. It works in a multidisciplinary way, across diverse fields and taking varied perspectives in order to address the fundamentals of sustainability. The Sustainability Conference is held annually in different locations around the world. The Conference was inaugurated in 2005 at the University of Hawai’i, Manoa, USA. It was held at Hanoi and Ha Long Bay, Vietnam in 2006; University of Madras, Chennai, India in 2007; Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Terengganu Malaysia in 2008 and the University of Technology, Mauritius in 2009. We are pleased to hold next year’s Conference at the University of Cuenca, Cuenca, Ecuador. In 2011, the Sustainability Conference will be held 5-7 January at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. In addition to Plenary Presentations, the Conference includes Parallel The deadline for the final round in the call for papers (a title and short In 2011, the Sustainability Conference will be held 5-7 January at the Yours Sincerely, Lucia Astidillo ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on December 5th, 2009 Peter Read’s tireless campaign to inject a new dimension into climate change mitigation through the enhanced management of photosynthesis on a global scale, came to a sad end on the 24th November 2009. He died at a meeting in Brussels assessing bioenergy options in Africa, not long after making a presentation on linking bioenergy with biological carbon sequestration. Peter Read was amongst the first to publicise the idea of achieving ‘negative emissions’ by combining bioenergy production with carbon capture and storage. He presented these ideas in February 2005 at the high profile ‘Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change’ conference in Exeter. Since then, the idea has won widespread support in principle. It has been incorporated into the EU’s ‘Flagship Programme’ for carbon capture and sequestration. The IPCC fifth assessment process now includes a negative emissions scenario based on the use of biochar. Peter’s quest, though sometimes isolated, was always marked with his infectious laugh and absolute commitment to science and the environment. Based at Massey University in New Zealand after moving there in 1980 from the UK, he travelled ceaselessly sharing his ideas of how the world could move beyond policies aimed at simply capping fossil fuel emissions to ones that promote ‘negative emission pathways’ and enhanced carbon stocks in vegetation and soils. Using ‘abrupt climate change’ theories to inject the needed urgency and motivation for the immense scale of the land management options he promoted, he developed a set of global scenarios to demonstrate both the necessity and modality of this approach. Whilst much of what he proposed remains highly contentious, Peter may yet be proved to have been ahead his time. Papers on his website including: ————— We worked with Professor Read on several occasions. Some thirty years ago I came to a meeting at Massey University to present the concept of ENERGY CANE as developed with Professor George Samuels of the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez. The concept was to return the cane to a state it produces more fermentable sugars and biomass rather then going for sugar crystals. Needless to say that neither the oil nor agricultural interests in Washington, and not even the Brazilians of that time, were ready to buy the concept. We proved it works and would recycle higher quantities off carbon while pushing out higher quantities of oil – it would have been a cane dedicated to the production of fuel rather then sugar in the tropics that are poor in fuel. Professor Read came on board and later joined NGOs involved in Sustainable Energy. ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on November 12th, 2009 Close to the departure of President Obama on his all-important trip to Asia with stops in Tokyo November 12th, Singapore November 13-15, Shanghai November 15th, Beijing November 16-18, and Seoul November 18-19, the Japan Society has planned co-incidentally the event we are reporting about here. Japan is the only original OECD member in Asia, as such Japan clearly feels justifiably it is a US prime partner in Asia. It also was clearly instrumental in nailing down the 1987 Kyoto Protocol to The Framework Convention on Climate Change, and hopes that this material will continue to be the base for future climate negotiations. That was the basis for having co-organized and hosted the following meeting – November 10th. ————- Copenhagen & Beyond: A Multilateral Debate about Climate Change Policy. The positions and participation of Japan, China and the United States in any successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol will help determine its success or failure. In a Tuesday November 10, 2009 panel, at the Japan Society, New York, Masayoshi Arai, Director, JETRO New York, Special Advisor, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI); The Honorable Zhenmin Liu, Ambassador Extraordinary and Deputy Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations; Elliot Diringer, Vice President, International Strategies, Pew Center on Global Climate Change; and Takao Shibata, chair of the working group that drafted the Kyoto Protocol, debated the direction of international climate change policy. It was Moderated by Jim Efstathiou, Correspondent, Bloomberg News, and co-organized by the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs ————– Takao Shibata, who is now a Chancellor Lecturer at the University of Kansas and Japan Consul General in Kansas City,mentioed that Japan is ready to commit to a 2020 reduction of 25% in emissions provided that there is FAIR and EFFECTIVE agreement with a VIGUROUS COMPLIANCE agreement as part of it. He stressed that the problem with Kyoto was that there was no compliance paragraph in the Protocol. All it said was that we postpone decision. The OBJECTIVE must be: THE STABILIZATION OF CO2 CONCENTRATION IN THE ATMOSPHERE rather then fighting over figures of temperature increase or concentrations in parts per milion numbers. We have already a Framework he said – the Copenhagen process should be about STABILIZATION. Later he added that we must at least agree to a 2050 position. Mr. Masayoshi Arai, who is in New York since June 2009, with The Japaese External Trade Organization (JETRO), after having held 16 positions within Japan Government, includingthe Prime Minister’s task force that created the Japan Consumer Protection Agency, and with The Fair Trade Commission and Agency for Natural Resouces and Energy and its Research Institute, Supervised manufacturing industries in their CO2 emissions reduction, and has also an MBA from Wharton, probably because of his present government trade position, was rather careful in what he said. He said that we ned something “meaningful” for global warming and left the Japanese point of view to Professor Shibata. ————- Eliot Diringer whose organization, the Washington based Pew Center, is a link between Environmentalism, industry and government made it clear that what is lacking is a legal architecture in place to deal with the problems created by climate change to which now Professor Shibata answered on the spot that the history is such that already in Berlin, later in Kyoto, the US was against a legal concept – that is a clear 15 year old problem. In Kyoto, the US Vice President came to seal the Protocol in full knowledge that it is unratifiable in Washington. Shibata does not want a repeat of this with a US that is in no position to ratify an agreement. Diringer came back with the suggestion that he can see that Developing countries will accept self prescribed domestic reductions and will request an agreement that makes this possible for them to do so. That means a new FRAMEWORK that is more flexible then the original. ————— Ambassador Zhenmin Liu, Deputy Permanent Representative of China to the UN in New York since 2006, in charge of China’s participation on the Second Committee at the UN, with prior experience at the UN in Geneva and as Director-General of the Treaty and Law Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been involved in Climate Change negotiations for China. He was actually the only member of the panel entitled to express a national negotiating position, and he did indeed come through. Ambassador Liu said that he cannot have now a document to replace Kyoto – this lines him up with what might be a Japanese interest, but clearly is no answer to the problems that were pointed out at why Kyoto was a failure. But then he also said that you need a GLOBAL CAP for the GHG emissions that must then take into account, when talking about individual nations, their level of industrialization. A certain raport evolved between him and Washingtonian Diringer. It was agreed that there is the need for Technology Innovation, Technology Cooperation, and Technology Transfer. Diringer said that China is very well positioning itself for the green technology economy. People in the US start to understand that the US will lose the competition for future technology and there must be a start for support in US Congress for energy action right now. These exchanges gave me an opening to ask mty question about what goes on right now – the days that President Obama plans for his trip to Asia with a long stopover in China. I started my question to ambassador Liu by saying that on the internet there is a lot of talk about a G-2 US-China agreement needed to jump start the Copenhagen negotiations, and I saw visually the Ambassador cringe. to this idea of a G-2. I continued by asking that what can we expect as an outcome from the meetings in Beijing if there is anything he could tell us as we believe that some concluding material was negotiated prior to the deision for this trip considering tha this is in effect the second meeting between the leaders? I was honored with a long answer that included several main points. The first point is that the US has accepted Kyoto and I guess China does not want to renegotiate Kyoto. Then, China has 20% of the world population the US only 5%, but China has only a fraction of the GDP per capita then the US, so there is no G-2 situation here. That must have been the reason for the cringing – China does not want to lose its place as leader of the underdeveloped nations. Secondly – this is not a US – China negotiation but a negotiation for all groups. Thirdly, there is place for clean energy cooperation, bilateral programs and projects – to jointly use clean technology. ——- Professor Shibata added that we talk of the atmosphere where there are no national boundaries. We talk of sovereign areas only on the surface of the earth – and we must realize that the effects turn up in the air and we have no national control of the air. Further, he said that in the west when something bad happens, the first thing we do is we sue the polluter – ask him to pay. He continued saying “I would encourage everyone to think about that.” Mr. Diringer added that the CDM was introduced to harness market forces to get reduction of CO2 emissions at lowes cost. ——- To summarize – it was nice for Japan to try to host a US-China debate before moves that will inevitably have to bring the US and China closer together. To follow up – let us look at President Obama’s itinerary to get further in depth to what a reorientation of the US towards Asia could mean. Japan, South Korea, and China are trying to form an East Asia Trilateral grouping with a Free Trade Agreement among the three countries. Obviously, this will open the Chinese market to Japan and Korea and there is no way for the US, with its own effective NAFTA agreement with Canada and Mexico. Japan wants thus perhaps more then just be a pivot in US – Chiba negotiations, it rather has also to make sure that it can hold on to its own agreements with both main countries. President Obama has thus quite a few non-climate topics to talk about in his Yokyo and Seoul stops. The second big stop is in Singapore where he will meet the 21 members of APEC: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong (part of China), Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, The Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Thailand, The United States, and Viet Nam. This will be the reintroduction of the US to the Pacific region in general – an area that the locals contend was totally neglected by the US in the eight years of the Bush administration. A main point in this meeting will be to help redirect the participating economies from export to the US to supply to their local populations – this so that they help both areas – their own and the US economy as well. Will they also consult on whom to back for the job of UN Secretary-General in 2010? That is about the time to start this sort of negotiations, and Singapore seems to be the right place to look for the best viable candidate. Eventually, the Third leg of the trip – the stops in China – will have to be the clear main target of the trip – as said here by Ambassador Liu, the business deals in clean energy that can underpin both economies (US and China) so they become an example for cooperation on climate change that presents direct benefits to economies looking for sustainable growth, that is a match to the needs of the people and the climate as well - this is what we call Sustainable Development that is mutual – for the newly industrializing nation and for the phasing out of the old polluting industries of the past. —————— for information from President Obama’s Asian trip we recommend: www.ft.com/obamainasia www.ft.com/rachmanblog ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on October 28th, 2009
The 14 States of the Pacific Island Countries Forum, led by Australia, seem to ask for much less in the run-up to Kyoto then the Association of Small Islands States (AOSIS) which is open to European inputs. We wonder what happened to the New Zealand leadership of the Pacific Islands, did it evaporate when Australia started to reassert its position as the largest state in the region? Can one expect Australia to speak up for the much smaller islands, or indeed they be advised to look for allies elsewhere? ———- From: <Lice-Lia-Ann WorldEnvironmentalJournalists@yahoogroups.com 29 OCTOBER 2009 SUVA (Pacnews) — As the world counts down to Copenhagen for a possible new climate change deal, some Forum Island Countries increasingly appear to align themselves to the position of the Association of Small Islands States (AOSIS) rather than the Pacific Islands Forum’s Action on Climate Change, endorsed in Cairns, in August this year. This position came out clearly at a panel discussion organised by the European Union in Suva last night. Deputy director of the Secretariat of the Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), Kosi Latu said the Pacific wants an ‘ambitious and legally binding agreement.’ “A political decision is of no use to us – he said. AOSIS comprises 39 small island developing countries in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and the Pacific. All 14 Forum Island Countries are members of AOSIS. A month earlier, Pacific Islands Forum Leaders declared a ‘weaker’ position than AOSIS, Oxfam and Greenpeace said in August. The Pacific Leaders call to action on Climate Change ‘called on states to cut their GHG emissions by at least 50 percent below 1990 levels by 20050. “One of our biggest challenges going to Copenhagen is – which way do we go? Do we go the Funafuti (Tuvalu) way or the Canberra (Australia) way, said Fei Tevi, representing the Pacific Alliance of NGO’s. “That is clearly our dilemma. Pacific Leaders in Cairns came out with their position quiet different to the AOSIS position. Tuvalu’s long time climate change negotiator, Ambassador Enele Sopoaga said his country remains committed to the AOSIS position. Mr Sopoaga said, “we have to build on the experiences and achievements of the Kyoto Protocol.’ “We will prefer an amended Kyoto Protocol with new commitment period of 2012 – 2017, said Mr Sopoaga. A new climate change deal is expected to be placed on the table when world leaders convene in Copenhagen, Denmark in 26 days for the United Nations Framework Convention o Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties meeting….PNS Lice Movono ROVA ———————————— **************************************************** <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on October 24th, 2009 Friends, I can hardly believe my eyes. 16 hours ago, citizens in New Zealand gathered before dawn next to a wind turbine on a mountaintop. As local elders said prayers to bless the global event, banners and signs were held high to to greet the planet’s first rays of sunlight on this most incredible of days. As the sun continues across the planet we’ve been receiving photos and video of rallies in Ethiopia, bike rides in Wellington, SCUBA divers in Australia, organizers planting 350 trees in Thailand, hundreds of students marching in India and Nepal and Mongolia. And we’re getting reports from 350.org offices around the world that the phones are ringing off the hook with calls from the media who want to cover the story. The day is just beginning and already it’s larger, more powerful, and so much more beautiful than I ever could have imagined. I’ve been a writer my entire life and yet words truly cannot describe what you have accomplished already. To truly grasp today, please stay tuned to our website as more and more photos come in from across the planet, and especially our evolving photo slideshow. And the best news of all? The day has just begun! Bill P.S. Have a photo to contribute? Just send a decent-quality picture to photos@350.organd make the subject “City, Country” and make sure that the body of the e-mail contains a description of the photo, any necessary photographer credits, and any other information you think we’ll need. So many thanks. ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on September 15th, 2009 Some of the World Environment News – September 15, 2009 – from Planet Ark of Reuters: DENMARK GERMANY NEW ZEALAND NORWAY SINGAPORE UK ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on September 14th, 2009 Maori legend of man-eating bird is true. Creature that features in New Zealand folklore really existed, scientists say By Paul Rodgers
A Maori legend about a giant, man-eating bird has been confirmed by scientists. Te Hokioi was a huge black-and-white predator with a red crest and yellow-green tinged wingtips, in an account given to Sir George Gray, an early governor of New Zealand. It was said to be named after its cry and to have “raced the hawk to the heavens”. Scientists now think the stories handed down by word of mouth and depicted in rock drawings refer to Haast’s eagle, a raptor that became extinct just 500 years ago, shows their study in The Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Haast’s eagle (Harpagornis moorei) was discovered in swamp deposits by Sir Julius von Haast in the 1870s. But it was at first thought to be a scavenger because its bill was similar to a vulture’s with hoods over its nostrils to stop flesh blocking its air passages as it rooted around inside carcasses. But a re-examination of skeletons using modern technology, including CAT scans, by researchers at Canterbury Museum in Christchurch and the University of New South Wales in Australia showed it had a strong enough pelvis to support a killing blow as it dived at speeds of up to 80kph. With a wingspan of up to three metres and weighing 18kg, the female was twice as big as the largest living eagle, the Steller’s sea eagle. And the bird’s talons were as big as a tiger’s claws. “It was certainly capable of swooping down and taking a child,” said Paul Scofield, the curator of vertebrate zoology at the Canterbury Museum. “They had the ability to not only strike with their talons but to close the talons and put them through quite solid objects such as a pelvis. It was designed as a killing machine.” Its main prey would have been moa, flightless birds which grew to as much as 250kg and 2.5 metres tall. “In some fossil sites, moa bones have been found with signs of eagle predation,” Dr Scofield said. New Zealand has no native land mammals because it became isolated from other continents in the Cretaceous, more than 65 million years ago. As a result, birds filled niches usually populated by large mammals such as deer and cattle. “Haast’s eagle wasn’t just the equivalent of a giant predatory bird,” said Dr Scofield. “It was the equivalent of a lion.” The eagle is thought to have died out after the arrival, 1,000 years ago, of humans, who exterminated the giant moa. The latest study shows it was a recent immigrant to the islands, related to the little eagle (Aquila morphnoides) an Australian bird weighing less than 1kg. Remains of Haast’s eagles are rare because there never were many. They lived only on New Zealand’s South Island, with probably not more than 1,000 breeding pairs at any one time. ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on August 25th, 2009 With Kofi Annan on board, the deviners of “THE AGE OF STUPID” will have the official global launch of the movie in a solar powered tent, on September 21st 2009, in New York, on the eve of the UN’s special meeting on Climate Change. The event includes children that will be pleading from the very hall in Copenhagen where their seniors will meet this November for the purpose of showing that they can do good.
Brought to you by Fathom Events, The Age of Stupid will launch in America on September 21st 2009 from a solar-powered cinema tent in New York LIVE to 115,000 people in 400 movie theatres right across the country. This One Night Only live event is your only chance to see The Age of Stupid on the big screen and is timed for the day before the UN’s climate meeting on September 22nd, when 80 Heads of State – and therefore the world’s media – will gather in New York. (The event has also just been confirmed as being an official part of UN Climate Week.)
As an INclusive, rather than EXclusive event, everyone is invited to go to their local theatre to watch the VIPs arrive in Manhattan by boat, bike, rickshaw, chipfat car or skateboard, before braving the paparazzi on the green carpet. Following the first US screening of The Age of Stupid, there will be a further 40 minute live event featuring Kofi Annan, Gillian Anderson, Mary Robinson, the film’s director Franny Armstrong, the star of the film Pete Postlethwaite, and other leading thinkers, celebrities and political figures from around the world. Audiences will hear from scientists working in the Himalayas and Indonesian rain forest via live satellite link and from a group of children speaking from the very room in Copenhagen in which all our futures will be decided at the UN climate summit in December. Radiohead’s Thom Yorke will wrap up the evening with a short acoustic performance.
The timings are: 7:30 PM ET/ 6:30 PM CT / 5:30 PM MT / tape delayed 8PM PT.
For a taste of what to expect, have a look at the UK launch in March 2009, which produced just 1% of the emissions of a standard Hollywood event and which broke the Guinness World Record for biggest simultaneous premiere.
Tickets now on sale – and list of participating theatres – here: http://www.ageofstupid.net/usa
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=122440801800
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Take a deep breath and then take a look at this map of all the American cinemas who’ve signed up for the US launch on 21st September…. tickets for which are now on sale (see below)…. oh my oh my…
But it seems that we might be about to hit critical mass press-wise: there were 28,009 new articles mentioning “The Age of Stupid” in the last 24 hours… Helped by the fact that we were on the front page of the New York Times last week. Think that needs repeating… We were on the front page of the New York Times last week – in the same sentence as Quentin Tarantino, for god’s sake – which has now been syndicated to all sorts of massive publications like the Herald Tribune, Scotsman and Business Week. Then yesterday we had a press screening at Paramount Studios – a thrill in itself – packed full of journos nodding furiously at my “the next three months will define our generation” line. Let’s hope they print it… Then came interviews with Time, Wall St Journal, San Francisco Chronicle and Hollywood Reporter, some of whom are talking about big feature articles on everything from crowd-funding to green carpets to 440 cinemas to Copenhagen. And to top it off, I had a “chat” (read: audition) with a “talent-booker” for a VERY big, VERY famous chatshow which is considering doing a feature on climate change. If they decide to include Stupid in their piece – possibly even with Pete or me on the sofa – then we will be catapulted into a whole new stratosphere awareness-wise.
– — – — –
Global Premiere:
All Other CountriesTickets will be going on sale later this week. Latest exciting additions: Nigeria, Iraq and Sierra Leone. But Antarctica not looking so good, as there is no ship/plane going there before September who could drop a DVD off – and their broadband is apparently not up to downloading a whole film. Shucks.
Australia & NZ launch last week…
… was a bloody triumph. Lizzie hosting in Auckland, myself in Sydney, giant penguins walking the green carpet, koalas in boats under the Sydney Harbour bridge, top celebs crying, Keisha Castle-Hughes in a rickshaw, Piers the windfarm man getting a surprise phone call in his meeting in Cornwall and ending up speaking live to Oz & NZ, Senator Milne calling the Australian Government the “House of Stupid”, huge teams from Global Vision Networks, Green Elephant, LA Publicity, Oxfam and Greenpeace all working together seamlessly on either side of the sea, Lizzie’s Dad and my Mum together on the green carpet (not together together, obviously), the whole live-link-to-explorer-in-the-Arctic thing actually working, 20 mins on primetime NZ telly (between three different shows), the solar-powered tent in Auckland, Rod’s super-cool animation zooming from the whole globe right down to the Sydney Theatre, the writer of Happy Feet’s hilarious wisecrack, the singer of top Aussie band Cat Empire volunteering to play at Copenhagen…. Unbelievably, not a single element failed, which gives us mucho courage for the even-more-ambitious Global Premiere. My favourite bit of the whole thing was when we were speaking live to explorer Eric Philips in the Arctic. There was a time delay of a few seconds, so when the Sydney Theatre crowd gave him a massive cheer he just looked blank… for a few seconds… and then broke out into a massive green.
-> The film is screening in cinemas across New Zealand and Australia for the rest of this week (only), so please tell all your friends:
-> Lizzie’s report of the NZ premiere here.
-> Compiled news reports here, including Lizzie on Good Morning New Zealand sofa and Franny doing battle with Kim Hill
-> Pictures of NZ solar-green-carpet cinema tent here
-> Pictures of OZ: haven’t got them together yet, will do soon
-> The full video of the satellite broadcast will be up on our website as soon as Ade sends the tapes from Oz and Andy gets a chance to upload them.
In other news
- “The idea we’ve been waiting 20 years for”. Big launch of the new climate campaign on 1st September. In normal circumstances this would be the headline, not a footnote… Anyhow, volunteers needed on August 28th to 1st September: some for very glamourous jobs, some pretty boring. More details here or contact alex@1010uk.org
- Really cute film about a recent pedal-powered Stupid screening in UK here
- Stupid-inspired local campaign to get shops turning off their lights at night here
- 350’s Bill McKibben on the Colbert Report: http://www.350.org/billoncolbert
- I’ve turned into a twitterer: follow me here: http://twitter.com/frannyarmstrong
- Lest we forget why we’re doing all this: latest from Greece
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on August 1st, 2009 The following are the top 28 finalists in the Official 2009 New 7 Wonders of Nature competition – nominated from among hundreds of sites around the world that have been proposed. see please: http://www.new7wonders.com/ and you can vote – for up to 7 of the 28 list – at that link.
you can vote for your choice of 7 on line, by phone, or text message. It is expected that one billion people will vote and the winner will be announced in 2011.
A similar effort two years ago elected seven manmade wonders generated considerable publicity. We backed at that time Machu Picchu, Peru
These selections are being organized by a Swiss filmmaker and entrepreneur, Bernard Weber, and the committee that chose the 28 finalists included Federico Mayor, former chief of UNESCO, and Rex Weyler, co-founder of Greenpeace International.
Like everything else that has a UN connection, obviously such selections will be politicized beyond the simple angle of national pride – just see the country called Chinese Taipei for what most call Taiwan.
In this year of climate change we thing the Amazon will get the world’s nod, but watching in Vietnam (it is Halong Bay) how a whole country can get beyond a particular location we would have said that China could muster the vote, but will they do it for Taipei?
From among the many places on the list that we have been to – I am voting as Numero Uno for the Iguazu Falls.
From the competition on the 7 Man-made wonders – a stamp collection from Gibraltar:
![]() For all media inquiries and interview requests, please contact: Tia B. Viering, Head of Communications ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on July 31st, 2009 from: Franny Armstrong
Hi Australia and New Zealand
and anyone who knows anyone who lives there,
Sure you will be thrilled to know that you have won the "Most Eager Stupid Fans" competition. More than 400 of you lovely antipodeans have written to ask how you can help spread the Stupid word… Your enthusiasm is most appreciated here at Stupid Towers – I just hope this message has been worth the wait and that you can all now leap into action…
Here's the plan
On the evening of Weds 19th August, A-list celebs will arrive at both the Sydney Theatre in, er, Sydney, and at a zero-waste tent in central Auckland (kindly hosted by Oxfam and Greenpeace). The guests will come by bicycle, solar car, rickshaw, feet, horse or electric car, before braving the cameras on the green carpet.
Meanwhile, about 10,000 people will be watching the events unfold live at more than 40 local cinemas. (Sorry to say that almost all of these are in Australia, as New Zealand cinemas do not yet have the satellite technology to get the live link. Meaning only the Sylvia Park cinema in Auckland will actually be watching live event. Get in there quick, keen Kiwis.)
Following the movie, there will be a Q&A with the Oscar-nominated star of the film, Pete Postlethwaite (In The Name of the Father, Brassed Off) and the director, er, me, Franny Armstrong (McLibel, Drowned Out) in Sydney. We will be joined by a couple more people who haven't quite confirmed yet so we're not allowed to tell you who they are – plus an Aussie explorer who's on a Greenpeace boat in the Arctic who will hopefully be joining us live via satellite – and then there's the producer, Lizzie Gillett, who will be satellite-ing in from the Auckland tent. Linking up the two countries with low-carbon technology! Holding hands to stop climate change! Something like that! I'm very tired, it's been a long day! I mean a long six years!
Tickets are now on sale from participating cinemas and at: http://www.ageofstupid.net
Our UK launch produced just 1% of the emissions of an average Hollywood premiere – as well as hitting the top spot at the box office (by screen average) and winning a Guinness Record for biggest ever premiere – so we plan to replicate as many innovations as poss in Oz and NZ. Every aspect of the event – from the transport to the heating to the drinks to the power supply – will be genuinely green, as opposed to “greenwashed” and the pedal-powered popcorn machine is a must-have, surely. Only problem is the small fact of three of us flying round the world to do all this. We think the potential benefits outweigh the frighteningly high emissions (13 tonnes each – about 13 years of emissions for someone living sustainably), but we may well be proved wrong. In which case we will have hastened the apocalypse just that little bit nearer.
Enormous thanks to Pete for giving another eight days of his time to Mission Stupid. The poor man only signed up for a one day voiceover and the next thing he knew we'd taken over his entire life… sorry Pete. Big thanks, too, to everyone involved in the aboriginal film Liyarn Ngarn (which Pete narrated) and the Black Arm Band, who between them raised the cash to get Pete to Oz.
We're definitely going to be screening at the Aussie parliament while we're there – and hopefully at the New Zealand one too. So all in all, we have high hopes for the Aussie/Kiwi launch. Clearly our goal is to catapult climate change – and the all-important Copenhagen climate summit - slapbang into the Aussie and Kiwi consciousnesses. Can't think of any other reason I'd agree to four days of back-to-back media interviews on the other side of the world…
So here's hoping you can all help spread the word – ideas below – not least because, as ever, we have a zero dollar advertising budget.
Would end on a cheery Maori or Aboriginal sign-off, but too tired to look one up.
Hopefully see you on the 19th.
Franny
& Lizzie & Pete P
Here's where it's on
Green Carpet Premieres
Sydney: Sydney Theatre, 400 public tickets on sale from the theatre box office from Tuesday 4th August. A total bargain at $30 each. You'll get to wave at the cameras, take pics of the celebs and even walk the green carpet.
Auckland: Zero-waste cinema tent in downtown Auckland. Sorry, no public tickets, though Oxfam and Greenpeace will be offering some to their supporters – so sign up to their campaign quick if you'd like to get in with a chance…
Participating Cinemas
Australia: Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Currambine, Warwick, Broome, Bunbury, Hobart (Tasmania), Ballarat, Elsternwick, Carlton, Rosebud, Erina, Avoca Beach, Wangaratta, Rouse Hill, Ballina, Bowral, Broken Hill, Nowra, Hervey Bay, Townsville, Palmerston, Katherine, Tweed Heads, Redcliffe, Batemans Bay, Ettalong Beach, Katoomba, Warriewood, South West Rocks, Wagga Wagga
New Zealand: Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Petone, Tauranga, Wellington – but only Auckland will be watching the green carpet stuff live, sorry. The others will just have the film.
Politicians
While we're visiting, we're going to hold screenings in the Australia parliament (confirmed) and hopefully New Zealand too (looking likely).
Here's how you can help, even if you're not in Oz/NZ
1. Block-book tickets for your local cinema.
Get together a big gang of friends, family, colleagues, neighbours and anyone you once passed in the street. In the UK, we got loads of emails from greenies saying they went to see the film one day and then went back the next with their boyfriend/mother-in-law/hairdresser and said "This is what I've been going on about".
2. Spread the word
-> Email the attached e-flyer to everyone you've ever met. If the attachment didn't work, it's also here: www.ageofstupid.net/oznz_eflyer
-> Point your friends to the trailer, or add it to your website: http://vimeo.com/5818675
-> Have a look at the list of cities the event is on at (listed above or here for Australia and here for New Zealand). Then send your friend in Sydney/Auckland/Wagga Wagga the details of their local screening (there's a super-easy form you can fill in on the individual cinema page – or just email them the link as per normal). This is really really effective, so please do it if you possibly can.
-> Do you have access to a mailing list/newsletter? Maybe at your work? Or your sports team, choir or charity? Please send round the e-flyer and details.
-> Could you give out flyers or put up posters? Please contact lj@ageofstupid.net
-> Add a link to the Oz/NZ Premiere page in Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=770687572&v=photos&so=0#/event.php?eid=107813874793&ref=mf
-> Add our widget to your website (it's slightly out of date at the moment, but we're going to update it with Oz/NZ info today and it will automatically update itself on your site): http://www.ageofstupid.net/widget
-> If your local cinema is not part of the event, you could gently ask them to consider booking it
3. Donate some cash
-> We didn't sign the film to a normal distributor as we plan to allow all sorts of unusual screenings which they'd never agree to. Which means we have no money… Please help by sponsoring something for the Aussie/NZ premiere. 40 pounds for a bike rickshaw, 400 for the solar panels, a single pound for a single poster…. there's something to suit every budget.
4. Friends in high places?
-> Do you know any Aussie or NZ celebs who might like to attend the central event and walk the green carpet? Can never have too many famous faces at these things. Please contact lj@ageofstupid.net if Kylie or Jason are your best pals.
5. Are you a journalist or do you know any?
-> Pete Postlethwaite (lead actor in the film) and yours truly (Franny Armstrong - director of the film) will be in Australia doing press for four days before the premiere. And Lizzie Gillett (producer) will be doing the same in New Zealand. Contact our press agent Annette Smith if you'd like to book an interview: nedco@bigpond.net.au telephone 61 3 9531 9910. If you have friends who are journalists who may be interested, please forward the info to them.
6. Are you an NGO working on climate change?
-> There's loads of ways you can get involved, from giving out your leaflets, to speaking at a cinema – and even fundraising for your campaigns. Please contact our NGO liasons. Australia: Josh Wyndham-Kidd - M: 0422 491237 - josh.wyndham.kidd@youthclimatecoalition.org - New Zealand: Rhys Taylor - M: 021 462 260 - anneandrhys@clear.net.nz
7. Are you a teacher?
-> Tonnes of schools block-booked tickets for the UK screenings and they were without exception a huge hit with the students. Most cinemas offer discounts for groups. BTW the rating is M.
Here's all the links
Ticket booking, Australia: http://www.ageofstupid.net/screenings/country/australia
Ticket booking, New Zealand: http://www.ageofstupid.net/screenings/country/newzealand
Trailer for the Oz/NZ premiere (video): http://vimeo.com/5818675
Film of the UK premiere: http://www.ageofstupid.net/premiere
BBC green carpet pics from UK premiere: http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/entertainment/newsid_7945000/7945592.stm
Reactions to the UK premiere (text):http://www.ageofstupid.net/premiere_reactions
Reactions to the UK premiere (video): http://www.ageofstupid.net/news/poststupid_solar_cinema_audience_reactions_0
Any questions?
EVENT PRODUCER (UK) - Laura-Jane "LJ" Botting. lj@ageofstupid.net
EVENT MANAGERS (OZ) - Monica Fernandez & Josie Wilson, Green Elephant Events. 0404 809 139 | 0421 398 80. monica@greenelephantevents.com.au - josie@greenelephantevents.com.au - www.greenelephantevents.com.au
EVENT MANAGERS (NZ) - Susi Newborn, Oxfam - Susi.Newborn@oxfam.org.nz
PRESS (OZ) - Annette Smith – nedco@bigpond.net.au telephone 61 3 9531 9910.
PRESS (NZ) – TBC very soon. For now, contact lj@ageofstupid.net
CINEMA BOOKINGS (OZ & NZ) - Caroline Karsten, Hoyts - ckarsten@hoyts.com.au - T: 61 2 8275 6174
NGO LIASON (OZ) - Josh Wyndham-Kidd - M: 0422 491237 - josh.wyndham.kidd@youthclimatecoalition.org
NGO LIASON (NZ) - Rhys Taylor - M: 021 462 260 - anneandrhys@clear.net.nz
>Here's what they said about the UK premiere
Press here.
More of the 1200+ emails we received after the premiere here.
"Jaw-droppingly impressive as to how such a raft of fantastic ideas were so superbly executed. From the solar-powered tent to the camera phone pictures of the audiences, from the campaign packs to The Met Office guy rubber-stamping the science, from the ultra-low transport footprint to the Big If (not forgetting Pete's OBE etc…) and topping it all with the Maldives' challenge to us all. What a night. Thank you all for showing me a way through the rest of my life."
"I feel I have shared in the making of history this evening – such a privilege"
"The build up before the film with the satellite links and attempting to take blurry camera-phone photos before hand gave us in the audience a real sense of coalition and purpose. And as for the film itself… Nothing else has ever made the issue clearer, the solutions more obvious, and the urgency more acute. Nothing else has ever shouted more loudly. I challenge anyone to watch this film and not feel compelled to take action."
"What a triumph. Impressed beyond belief."
"The audience were absolutely riveted by the film. At the end, the cutover to Leicester Square was so slick and the synchronisation perfect, it was like being transported to the cinema tent and we felt a real sense of being part of that audience — to the extent that there was clapping at the right moments and barracking ('rubbish') at some of the stuff Ed Miliband spouted. The sense of engagement with the Premiere was palpable — I have never experienced anything quite so intense in an audience that size. And moments like Pete saying that he would hand back his OBE were electric!"
"I work for a large corporate so I went back into the workplace on Monday filled with passion to make a difference and have set up a host of meetings to do just that."
"Brilliant night in Cambridge – sold out – people turned away – fantastic atmosphere – congratulations to all of you!"
"The film was amazing. Saw it at The Light (Leeds) which was sold-out. It was great to be "with you" at Leicester Square, and afterwards. I went with a friend who does lots of flying (holidays) and she came away very thoughtful indeed. The film had a huge impact on her and I'll be very surprised if she doesn't change her lifestyle. Pete P was such a wonderful person for the role, though clearly he wasn't acting in this case."
"The youth premiere was blazing!"
"The Age of Stupid has brought together local environmental groups from a wide area some of whom didn’t know the others existed, representatives from different groups attending meetings of other groups to listen and share ideas, a new network of like minded friends who are now discussing the possibility of an autumn gathering of all local groups in one place for tea/coffee and a chin wag! Imagine then the friendships that will forge every evening when these groups meet at the showings to talk to filmgoers; the optimism here in Inverness is exciting and electric."
"It was a fantastically great evening and well worth the journey through most of Cheshire to get to Cheshire Oaks."
"The world seems a little different today."
"Congratulations on a very successful record breaking Premiere from all of us at Newcastle under Lyme! We thoroughly enjoyed an admittedly extra-cinematic experience, it was like a three-course meal and perhaps can be done more often, with live link ups both to London and the Maldives! The £10 was definitely worth it!"
"I have seen countless climate change, activist films etc and none has moved me as much as yours. I had to try and be discreet when I could no longer hold back the tears, as I was without tissues and didn't want to ask my friends for any!! And then just as I had found my composure, Pete got up on stage and gave such a rallying, passionate plea, that I began all over again!"
"Your film changed my life completely, it's hard and scary but I've been converted to full on activist status!"
"Mum brought me tea this morning [the day after the premiere] and burst into tears on my bed. She had been up since 5am thinking about the film, and how we live, and getting upset. I have been banging on about this for years (quite ineffectively I realise), but the film acted to distill, and make stark, the totally misplaced and confused framework through which we value things. It really hit the soul of this household."
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on July 1st, 2009 Helen Clark of New Zealand (former three term Prime Minister) and new UNDP Administrator made First Visit to a donor country capital by going to Washington to meet with officials from the Obama Administration, the House and Senate and major NGOs. As well she met the Ambassadors from the Pacific community States. To the Americans she explained that UNDP helps the US in its foreign policy – something that was not always the case under previous leadership in New York or Washington DC. ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on May 6th, 2009 Maldives Join the Climate Neutral Network with a Pledge to Become World’s First Carbon Neutral Nation This follows the announcement by Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed earlier this year to make the Indian Ocean island nation the world’s first carbon neutral country in just 10 years’ time, by 2019. This ambitious objective will be achieved by fully switching to renewable sources of energy such as solar panels and wind turbines, investments in other new technologies, and sharing of best practices. President Nasheed declared that “the Maldives will no longer be a net contributor to greenhouse gas emissions”. “Climate change isn’t a vague and abstract danger but a real threat to our survival. But climate change not only threatens the Maldives, it threatens us all”, he added. No part of the Maldives’ 1,200 tropical coral islets rises more than six feet (1.8 meters) above sea level, leaving the 400,000 inhabitants at great risk of rising sea levels and storm surges. As part of coping with the effects of climate change, the Maldives Government focuses on coastal zone protection, land use management and protection of critical infrastructure. The Maldives has become the seventh country to join the Climate Neutral Network (CN Net), a UNEP initiative launched in February 2008 to promote global transition to low-carbon economies and societies which also includes cities, regions, companies and organizations. The other six nations that have pledged to move towards climate neutrality and joined the CN Net are Costa Rica, Iceland, Monaco, New Zealand, Niue and Norway. Welcoming the Republic of Maldives on board the CN Net, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner stated that: “Climate neutrality is not just a developed nations’ concern, nor is it their prerogative. Developing nations such as Maldives can indeed leapfrog by embracing the low-carbon development model, which will assist in greening their economies and weathering both climatic and economic storms.” “When the most climate change vulnerable nations display leadership in addressing the cause of the problem which they had very little to contribute to, there is no excuse for others not to act. The global community of nations can and must express its commitment to protecting the planet and powering green growth by sealing an ambitious climate deal at this year’s UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen”, he concluded. For more information, contact: At the Government of the Republic of Maldives: Ahmed Saleem, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Housing, Transport and Environment, Tel: 3331695, Fax: 3331694, or e-mail: saleem at meew.gov.mv, internet: http://www.environment.gov.mv/ At UNEP: Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson and Head of Media, on Tel: +254-20-762-3084, Mobile: +254-733-632755, or when traveling: +41-79-596-5737, or e-mail: nick.nuttall at unep.org Or: Xenya Cherny Scanlon, Information Officer, Climate Neutral Network, on Tel: +254- 20-762-4387, Mobile: +254-721-847-563, or e-mail: xenya.scanlon at unep.org; internet: http://www.unep.org/climateneutral *********************************** ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on April 14th, 2009 From: Marc Pallemaerts <MPallemaerts@ieep.eu> The Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) recently carried out an analysis of the extent to which the EU (and its then 15 Member States) fulfilled the solemn promises made to developing countries in the so-called ‘Bonn Declaration’ of 23 July 2001. Eight years ago, at the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP6bis) which paved the way for the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol, the EU-15 together with five other OECD donor countries (Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland) collectively made a ’strong political commitment’ to raise US$410 million a year from 2005 to help developing countries tackle climate change and to review this pledge in 2008. These Annex II Parties to the UNFCCC agreed to provide additional funds in a number of ways: through contributions to the Global Environment Facility (GEF), through other multilateral and bilateral aid channels (additional to 2001 ODA levels), and through three new climate change funds established under the Bonn/Marrakech agreements to provide financial assistance to developing countries: the Special Climate Change Fund, the Least Developing Countries Fund and the Kyoto Protocol Adaptation Fund. IEEP undertook a detailed analysis of the levels of aid channelled through these different options for each of the EU signatories to the Bonn Declaration (EU-15). Results show that whilst the EU-15 may, overall, have fulfilled their commitments under that declaration, the data published by Member States is far from conclusive and the quality of reporting does not allow full independent verification of the amount of aid provided. Funds made available by the EU-15 through the GEF and dedicated multilateral climate change funds alone (approximately US$160 million/year) amount to less than half of the funds needed to meet the EU’s share of the Bonn commitment (US$369 million/year). Apparently, funding through bilateral channels accounts for most of the aid provided, but such assistance is a lot harder to monitor and verify at the international level. The lack of clarity and transparency in official reporting to the UNFCCC makes it impossible to affirm that much of the ‘additional’ aid actually provided since 2001 did not merely consist of ‘re-branded’ aid money. To download the IEEP study, presented at a conference in Brussels on 28 January 2009, click http://www.ieep.eu/publications/pdfs/200… For further information contact: Dr Marc Pallemaerts ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on January 30th, 2009 From: franny at spannerfilms.net The Age of Stupid is a 90-minute film about climate change, set in the future, which will have its world premiere in London on March 15th 2009 and then be released in UK cinemas on March 20th 2009, followed by other countries. Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite (In The Name of the Father, Brassed Off) stars as a man living alone in the devasted world of 2055, looking back at “archive” footage from 2007 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance? The final trailer is finally finished and finally looking very sparkly in its final HD glory: http://vimeo.com/2991411
“How do you keep going?” seems to be the new favourite interview question. Don’t want to get too pretentious on you, but Nietzche’s “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how” is about right. And, less philosophically, a huge source of inspiration & motivation is the constant stream of supporting emails we receive. Like this from my lovely Uncle, who’s a marine biologist, amongst other things: -> “In the marine environment, a groundswell develops once a certain amount of energy has been transferred from the atmosphere. Even if the actual weather event moves elsewhere, the groundswell will still release the energy onto the beaches in the form of waves. Whatever happens now, ‘Stupid’ will deliver a phenomenal amount of energy on March 15th. Keep it going and good luck! Unc x” Hey, The screening last night went really well. About seventy people from about 25 organisations (see below). Jackie Buckingham from the Wilderness Society and Josh Wyndham-Kidd from Youth Climate Coalition helped me set the whole thing up and were total stars throughout. We gave everyone a brown paper bag with a resource DVD, NGO pack, two stickers and the yellow feedback forms. All the comments were really positive – see a selection below – and quite a few people said that this is exactly what Australia needs to wake it up in this critical year. Two people said that this film will cause a similar step change in public awareness as An Inconvenient Truth. There was also a sense that the movement is blossoming here and this could be the year when it really takes off. Cool eh? Organisations represented In terms of the official Australian release, the thinking is to hits cinemas here straight after the film festivals, so in late July or even August. So that’d be great timing for Copenhagen, but depends on lots of factors, so nothing’s confirmed yet. “”I think the movie is a wonderful next step from Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” and it could be utilised very effectively here.” – Jenny C “Great film. We could use it to mobilise local community action. Shows how easy it is for people to delude themselves that they are ‘green’ when in fact they are part of the problem.” – Peter D Have to say I came out very depressed about the too too ignorant people in this world, but also inspired! – Fran D “The film is compelling – the people that the film focuses on are wonderful ‘messengers’. A great theme that finally addresses the urgency of solving the crisis, globally, now.” – Sue L “The Age of Stupid is an incredibly timely film. For anyone who cares about the future of this planet it is not to be missed!” – Emma D “Excellent! The film about climate change that everyone can understand”.- Anne C “Brilliant film. In a brilliant tradition of Allan Watkins ‘The War Game. More urgent than An Inconvenient Truth. It needs to be seen by the greatest number of people. And we need to connect and act. Bravo”. – Stephen L “Enjoyed the screening last night. Excellent polemic film. Now we need the people with influence to (a) see it (b) accept it as “true” and (c) act on that belief. There’s a lot of inertia to overcome…. And let’s declare “The War on Stupid”. It’s no more daft than a War on Poverty or Terror.” – Colin S _______________________________________________ WHY DON’T YOU TRY TO ORGANIZE A PREVIEW OF THE MOVIE IN YOUR COMMUNITY, OR GET YOUR LOCAL MEDIA INTERESTED? (the www.SustainabiliTank.info editor) ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on November 14th, 2008 The following is from Dr. James Hansen, known privately as Jim Hansen, The NASA Chief Scientist Who Still Has Difficulty in Distributing His Releases when Attempting To Release Them Via US Government Channels. He Writes: The following one-pager is on my web site at Target paper: BTW, I think that the Supporting Material contains some interesting stuff. NASA decided not to make a press release for the paper, but Yale did one The draft press release that I wrote and “Q&A” about the paper are at http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2… It is difficult to generate the attention that the topic deserves because the basic conclusions were already presented in my talk at the December 2007 AGU meeting. Also the first draft of the paper (available in arXiv, as is the final version) appeared on several blogs and was discussed in several newspapers, which discourages media attention to the final improved version. The long delay between first draft and final paper was my fault he writes. The principal demand of the journal referees, addition of a “caveats and uncertainties” section (section 4.5 in the main paper and section 18 in the Supplementary Material), could have been completed in a week or two, but it took me ~two months because of other obligations. I caused another delay by not checking typesetting in the proofs carefully enough, requiring an extra iteration of proofs. Bottom line: I think that the “Open” publication method, which includes full peer review but results in a paper freely available throughout the world, is promising and I intend to pursue it further. *** Letters to Swiss authorities, in English, French and German, are at: http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2… http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2… Thanks to Jacques Mirenowicz and Susana Jourdan in Switzerland and Reto Ruedy and Denis Gueyffier at GISS for help with translation into French and German. *** Jim Hansen’s conclusion is: The simple fact of the matter is that the only hope for keeping a planet that resembles the one of the Holocene, the past 10,000 years, is to halt any new CO2 emissions from coal and to phase-out existing coal emissions promptly. I suppose it is possible that some people honestly do not understand that no goal for future CO2 emissions allowing construction of new coal plants will solve the problem and that “capture-ready” is a subterfuge. Fortunately, young people are beginning to catch on to what is happening, and I do not think they will allow the shenanigans to continue much longer. ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on November 12th, 2008
The ‘Road to Copenhagen’ project, which Robinson and Wallström are spearheading along with former Norwegian prime minister and UN special envoy on climate change, Gro Harlem Brundtland, was created to give the general public, industry, politicians and NGOs a say in the UN climate negotiations.
—————– Unless postponed until the change in US Administration, Poznan will end up in a ditch and better to postpone it then let it derail the following Copenhagen meeting. The Road to Copenhagen is a very bright idea if there is a productive Poznan meeting – otherwise Copenhagen will turn naturally into Poznan II and not into a Kyoto II as the UN professionals hope, or a Copenhagen I as an agreement between the US, China, India, Brazil would entail. Poznan is thus a make or brake event on the road to Copenhagen, and a US represented by Paula Dobriansky will just push the rest of those present into the ditch. Barak Obama cannot speak up before January 20, and obviously cannot have his negotiator vetted by US Congress before he takes over as US President. He said clearly that he works under the rules of the US Constitution that says there is only one President at a given time. Pushing for keeping the Poznan date under these conditions is rather like saying that it is imperative for those opposing the notion that the world must be kept addicted to petroleum and other fossil carbons in their self-interest must have the day. Barak Obama could appoint his Climate Change negotiator on January 20, 2009, right there at his inaugural speech, and Congress could approve his selection, the speediest, within a month – so, a Poznan meeting in March 2009 is the earliest it makes sense to hold this meeting if you are positively inclined to do something about climate change. We keep saying so for over a year, this even before we had an inkling of who might be next US President. We kept pouring cold water on the UN euphoria with their debate time-line. We are afraid that UN talk is very expensive – it allows people to fly around freely but is not intended to come up with results. Statements by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, on how much he wants to see results from the climate change negotiations, and rosy pronunciations from the Executive of the UNFCCC, Yvo de Boer, cannot change the reality that in the end – it is the US President that holds the keys for a positive outcome of the Climate Change negotiations. It is in the promise of the US and the response from the Brazil, China, India, that an effective plan will be born.
See please also: The Columbia University World Leaders Forum, September 26, 2008, Became The Podium For Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen of Denmark To Make Known A Roadmap To The December 2009 Climate Change Meeting in Copenhagen. The Prime Minister Is Keenly Interested That The Copenhagen Event Becomes The Turnaround Point From Our Present Descent Towards Global Environmental Disaster, and He Negotiated This Week A Roadmap With The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and The Two Candidates For The US Presidency. We Wished Him All The Luck He Needs; Nevertheless We Expressed Some Skepticism. Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on September 27th, 2008
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