This Is Why We Need Trams

Edinburgh City Council are preparing to look at charging people driving the most-polluting vehicles around the city.

Edinburgh is in breach of EU air quality guidelines, and while that hasn't meant much so far from 2015 the EU will start imposing fines. The plan so far has been to wait for technology - everyone driving electric cars - to save us. Edinburgh has now run out of time on that one, so is looking to implement Low Emission Zones in the worst polluted areas.

There's a lesson in there for those people who are sitting back believing that technology will save us from climate change. It's also a lesson in why we need a tram network. Think how many diesel buses and petrol cars can be replaced by electric trams, reducing the air pollution in the highly-used transport corridors.

But Edinburgh needs to start acting now, not wait until the first fines are imposed in 2015.

Scotland's Environment Web - Whassat?

Here's Stewart Stevenson, Scottish Environment & Climate Change Minister, explaining the setting up of something call Scotland's Environment Web. For your own sanity, please do not view in High Definition.

After watching, I'm none the wiser what Scotland's Environment Web actually is...

UPDATE: Thanks to Paul Freeman of Set In Darkness infamy, I now know Scotland's Environment Web is this. In their own words:

Bringing together information on Scotland's environment in one place. There is nowhere else that environmental data and reports from known and trusted sources can be accessed and looked at in combination.

The site provides straight-forward descriptions of the state of Scotland's environment and key messages that highlight our progress in protecting it.

Well why didn't he just say so?...

Can The World Afford A Renewables Trade War?

Photo by Jeremy Levine Design

As the world gathers in South Africa to debate what they're not going to bother doing about climate change, a trade war is brewing in the renewables industry.

Predictably, it is the US and China who are firing opening salvoes at each other. First shots came from the US, who don't like how cheap Chinese-made solar panels are.

The counter-strike came last week from China, who have decided to investigate whether the US government gives too much subsidy to it's renewables industry.

The world can't afford a trade war over renewable energy. We don't have time to spend years denying each other the raw materials that could make a difference. What the governments need to realise is that climate change is a GLOBAL crisis requiring a GLOBAL response.

We can't afford small-minded, small-thinking protectionism.

Green In The Media 28th November - 4th December

I had a day off yesterday, so spent it chilling out playing computer games and watching TV. And completely forgot to do this:

Monday 4th December


One Planet
On: BBC World Service Radio
Time: 12:32 to 12:50 (Also Fri 1930, Sat 0430, 1830, 0030, Sun 0630)
One Planet looks at how we use our planet.


HARDtalk
On: BBC News
Time: 00:30 to 01:00
HARDtalk's Zeinab Badawi talks to the Conservative MP, Zac Goldsmith. He's from one of Britain's most rich and famous families. He's had his personal emails accessed in the recent hacking scandal that's dogged the British press and wants a privacy law. He's at odds with his party leadership over Europe and the environment. Is he damaging the very causes he wants to advance by being too outspoken and disloyal to the government?

Tuesday 29th November


Home Planet
On: BBC Radio 4
Time: 15:00 to 15:30
Richard Daniel and the team discuss listeners' questions about our world and our impact upon it.

Sunday 4th December


Countryfile
On: BBC 1
Time: 18:25 to 19:25
John Craven is in Lancashire investigating 'fracking' - a highly controversial method of getting natural gas from the ground. 



Excerpts taken from DigiGuide - the world's best TV guide available from 
http://www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=20818
Copyright (c) GipsyMedia Limited.

The Week In Green Numbers

$28 million

- amount that the Brazilian government has fined Chevron for an oil spill off the coast #

114 square miles

- size of the world's largest offshore wind farm, proposed for Scottish waters #

389 ppm

- global CO2 concentration in 2010. The "safe" target is 350ppm #

£6,689

- annual cost of "running" a new car according to the RAC. The figure includes depreciation, but not environmental damage #

£9.5billion - £15.5billion

- cost in health and environmental damage from air pollution in Britain #

Wha's (Gonna Be) Like Us? Gey Few, And They'll All Be Deid!

It's been only two days since I wrote this:

Even more surprising for me is the tone of the article in The Scotsman. It's almost...approving! The paper hasn't been much of a friend to the environmentalist over the years, perhaps this signals a change in attitude. We'll have to wait and see with that one.

I should have known better. Today sees this story in The Scotsman, accompanied with a disjointed leader article.

Firstly, the story details how increased average temperatures means climate change will be marvellous for Scotland, with fewer deaths in winter and extra tourists visiting us. It also means business opportunities with new trade routes opening up. Woohoo! This is the same argument that the Russian government uses to justify doing nothing about climate change - think of the money we could make!

And then there's the leader article. It has a go at "doom-laden greens" and "climate change boffins" before declaring that global warming is barely noticeable from normal seasonal fluctuations in Scotland. Having said that, it then decides that climate change is a really, really good thing because people could possibly make money out of it.

I'm sure all those extra tourists that The Scotsman is salivating over will be happy to see the scorched hills and glens in summer and the flooded towns and cities in winter. That's if they're not living here already, having emigrated from their intolerable living conditions nearer to the equator.

COP17 Approaches. No One Cares.

We're 5 days away from the Durban Climate Conference, or COP17 as it's known. COP stands for 'Conference of the Parties', but I prefer the term I heard on Radio Ecoshock a couple of weeks ago: Conference of the Polluters.

No one is expecting anything from COP17. There will be no agreements signed. There will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth from NGOs and protesters, but it will fall on deaf ears. Governments have all but given up on these conferences actually producing anything substantial along the lines of the Kyoto agreement.

China doesn't like handcuffing themselves to any agreements, and the US and Canada actively block them, so the rest of the world has taken to throwing their hands up in the air and deciding that nothing can be done.

I've always maintained that something can be done. Sign an agreement between those countries who actually want to save our way of life by doing something about climate change. Then, don't trade with those countries who don't sign. Okay, it may be a fantasy that we won't buy Coca Cola or Nike products until the US does something abut climate change, but wouldn't it be nice to at least make the US, China and Canada irrelevant to negotiations, rather than making it all about them?

Incidentally, it's despairing to see that the COP17 website promotes an airline on almost every page. Shame on them.

Biggest Offshore Wind Farm Planned For Scotland

Photo by Andy S-D

There's good news in The Scotsman this morning that a consortium are planning to build the world's biggest windfarm off the Scottish coast.

13 miles off Caithness, the numbers for the project are huge: 300 turbines, 114 square miles, 1,500 MW, 1,400 construction jobs, 130-280 permanent jobs and a cost of £4.5 billion.

Even more surprising for me is the tone of the article in The Scotsman. It's almost...approving! The paper hasn't been much of a friend to the environmentalist over the years, perhaps this signals a change in attitude. We'll have to wait and see with that one.

Those Poor, Deprived Airlines

Photo by albertoveiga

It would appear that the airline industry don't like it up 'em.

Not content with demanding tax breaks on airline fuel, demanding more places to land be built for them, demanding that environmental agencies the world over look the other way when it comes to pollution, demanding that they not be included in carbon trading schemes and demanding that the poor souls who choose to spend hours trapped in their metal tubes at 30,000ft pay extra to go to the toilet, airlines are now demanding that the EU stop being...wait for it...biased against them.

Apparently this is all to do with infrastructure. While the rail industry in Europe had €318 billion spent on it in the last decade, the airline industry only had a measly €1.34 billion. This, therefore, proves that the EU is biased in favour of the railway.

Except, it doesn't. It proves that the railway needs more infrastructure - rails, stations, signalling, bridges, tunnels - whereas the airlines just need a dod of concrete to land on and a shed to "process" passengers.

Can you imagine any other industry that would cry that they'd "only" had €1.34 billion in subsidy?

Green In The Media 21st - 27th November

Monday 21st November


One Planet
On: BBC World Service Radio
Time: 12:32 to 12:50 (Also Fri 1930, Sat 0430, 1830, 0030, Sun 2030)
One Planet looks at how we use our planet.

Thursday 24th November


Live Energy and Climate Change Questions
On: BBC Parliament
Time: 10:30 to 11:30 (Also 0100, 0330)
Live coverage of questions in the House of Commons to Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne and his ministerial team.


How Many People Can Live on Planet Earth?
On: BBC 4
Time: 20:00 to 21:00 (Also 0215)
In a Horizon special, naturalist Sir David Attenborough investigates whether the world faces a population crisis. He reflects on the impact of a doubling in world population during his career. While much of the projected population growth is in the developing world, it is the lifestyle enjoyed by many in the West that has the most impact on the planet. Sir David examines whether it is the duty of individuals to commit to smaller families and change the way they live for the sake of humanity.

Sunday 27th November


Countryfile
On: BBC 1
Time: 18:25 to 19:25
Tom Heap investigates claims that the use of antibiotics on animals could be putting human health at risk.



Excerpts taken from DigiGuide - the world's best TV guide available from 
http://www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=20818
Copyright (c) GipsyMedia Limited.

The Week In Green Numbers

15%

- proportion of Edinburgh's commuter traffic that is cyclists #

60% - 70%

- loss of Juniper berry shrubs in England #

9,800

- farms in the UK which still have restrictions dating from the Chernobyl meltdown #

9.5 million

- jobs that could be created in China if they switched to renewable businesses #

40%

- energy savings by updating Tower Bridge's lighting system to LEDs #

This Is The Age Of The Train...Except For Viewers In Scotland

It has been shown time and time again that the SNP government just don't do public transport. Whether it's the Borders Railway which is still stuck in the sidings, or pouring money into the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route instead of relieving congestion by providing more buses and trains, or the Big One- the new Forth Road Bridge to run beside a Road Bridge that may not be falling down after all, the Scottish Government seem to have their mindsets stuck in the 1950s. The car is king, and no one can persuade them otherwise.

So it comes as no surprise to see a consultation document from Transport Scotland about the future of Scotland's railways which proposes cutting services, increasing fares and making more people stand. This on the same day that the House of Commons is debating fuel prices, and with peak oil around the corner there's not much chance of those prices ever falling. The very moment when we need more public transport, the SNP propose to scale it back.

Not only that, they want to split Scotrail up into different franchises. A separate company could run the Edinburgh to Glasgow services, the most lucrative part of the network. This is the route which is supposed to subsidise the rest of Scotrail, but the SNP want to sell it off (to presumably gain more revenue for the government). Hmm, I wonder which Scottish-based transport company would like to get their grubby mitts on the money-making Edinburgh to Glasgow trains?

You can read the document for yourself here, and we have until February to respond to it. One good thing is that it is only a consultation, so perhaps the government will do what it promised when it came to power, and realise that it does not have a monopoly on wisdom.

All Things Being Equal

It has been a long-running sore that Scottish energy generators, renewables in particular, are charged more to put their power onto the National Grid than their Southern English counterparts. That may be about to change.

Ofgem has for a long time had a system for regulating transmission charges that depended on how close to civilisation your power plant was. Civilisation is classed as the South East of England. That's where the majority of the population of the UK is housed, and therefore that's where the majority of the power is needed. It follows, therefore, that the closer you are to that population then the less you should be charged to transmit your energy to them.

I'm sure it made sense to someone. But in the era of renewable and decentralised energy, it's a bad model. The best places to produce renewable electricity are nowhere near where the majority of people live.

The Scottish Government have been lobbying Ofgem and the National Grid to review their transmission prices for some time, and now the BBC are reporting that a new study for Ofgem reckons that costs to put energy into the Grid from the north of Scotland could fall 80%.

That makes renewables far more attractive to the energy companies, and also undermines the need for "cheap" nuclear power plants in England. Let's hope the study leads to a level playing field for all.

Green In The Media 14th - 20th November

Monday 14th November


One Planet
On: BBC World Service Radio
Time: 12:32 to 12:50 (Also Fri 1930, Sat 0430, 1830, 0030, Sun 0630)
One Planet looks at how we use our planet.



Excerpts taken from DigiGuide - the world's best TV guide available from 
http://www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=20818
Copyright (c) GipsyMedia Limited.

The Week In Green Numbers

20%

- fall in UK domestic air travel over the last 4 years #

$400 billion

- global subsidies to fossil-fuel companies #

10%

- food bought on a weekly basis which is thrown away by UK shoppers #

A$23 per tonne

- Australia's new carbon tax #

€1.5 million

- fine for EDF for spying on Greenpeace members #

Hunterston Plans Rejected By Local Council

Photo by johnthescone

The plans for a new coal-fired power station at Hunterston in Ayrshire have been rejected by the local council.

In a not-unsurprising move (the BBC were saying yesterday that it was going to be rejected), North Ayrshire Council have decided that they're not prepared to sell their soul for jobs "at any cost", to quote the Council Leader.

Of course, they were probably helped in their decision by the record-breaking 21,000 objections, with everyone from Christian Aid to the local yacht club baulking at a new dirty coal plant in the area.

But while the battle is over, the war against Hunterston is not yet won. With the planning application rejected, the Scottish Government now gets to have a say over the future of the plant, and they've blown hot and cold.

First, they shoehorned it into their National Planning Framework claiming that it was essential for the economy. Then, 12 months ago, they decided that it wasn't essential for Scotland's future energy needs. With the First Minister winning awards for his work to tackle climate change, will he finally kill off this proposal, and do it quickly?

Or will we discover that the Emperor has no clothes?

Oh For Frack's Sake

Photo by BlaisOne

After last week's reports highlighting that Fracking was actually responsible for 50 earthquakes around the Blackpool area, you'd be forgiven for thinking that it was an industry which was being seen for what it is at the moment - a last gasp from the fossil fuel producers to hold on to some semblance of relevance in a world with a changing climate.

So it comes as a bit of a shock to discover that the Scottish Environment Protection Agency has granted a licence to a company to frack in the Scottish Borders. SEPA appears to have forgotten that they're supposed to be protecting the environment.

It also sends a chill down your spine to read the words of Dr Clifford Jones of Aberdeen University, quoted in the Scotland on Sunday article. He says that the possibility of contaminating drinking water shouldn't stop us from fracking.

It's rather disturbing to hear someone advocate that we play chicken with our drinking water.

Green In The Media 7th - 13th November

Monday 7th November


One Planet
On: BBC World Service Radio
Time: 12:32 to 12:50 (Also Fri 1930, Sat 0430, 0030, Sun 0630, 2030)
One Planet looks at how we use our planet.


Panorama
On: BBC 1
Time: 20:30 to 21:00 (Also Thu 0025)
What's Fuelling Your Energy Bill.
Panorama investigates the inconvenient truth behind the UK's rocketing energy bills - that government policy is stoking much of the rise. Your money is being staked in the country's biggest energy gamble ever. As power stations are closed down, due to old age or high carbon emissions, 200 billion pounds are needed to keep the lights on. Fuel poverty now threatens one in four households yet the government remains committed to expensive alternatives like offshore wind and nuclear power: greener but, so far, dearer.



Excerpts taken from DigiGuide - the world's best TV guide available from 
http://www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=20818
Copyright (c) GipsyMedia Limited.

The Week In Green Numbers

60 seconds

 - time "saved" by car drivers after the government scrapped a bus lane on the M4, claiming it was a drain on the economy #

£750 million

- investment in Scottish renewable energy in the last 12 months #

2 billion tonnes

- "stuff" that the UK goes through every year #

6%

- increase in global greenhouse gas emissions in 2010 #

50

- earthquakes in Blackpool caused by fracking #

The Future Is In Our Hands

Yesterday wasn't a very good day for the Scottish renewables industry, publicity-wise.

First out of the blocks to do the country down was the US finance giant Citigroup, who issued a report saying that no one should invest in renewables in Scotland just in case we vote for independence at some point in the future. It completely ignores the reality of lots of companies from around the world investing in Scottish renewables and setting up offices here. The wave and tidal resources in Orkney, for example, offer the most advanced and exciting site in the world for experimentation and deployment of test rigs.

The second report came from the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, telling the Scottish Government that they can't possibly provide 100% of our power from renewables so why are they even trying? They've said this before, and I'll repeat what I said then: I'd rather try and fail than not try at all. There's no point in having unambitious targets. The IME can't seem to see past the nearest oil terminal, which is surprising because you would think that they would like more jobs for their members.

It was disappointing to see the opposition parties in the Scottish Parliament using these two reports to attack the government, and also to suppress the country's ambitions. Of course, you could argue that Iain Gray has a vested interest in attacking renewables as he has both a coal power station and a nuclear power station in his constituency. However, he also has the UK's second-largest windfarm in the constituency too. He clearly doesn't see that as being as sexy as a coal plant.

The other thing that was disappointing was that both reports completely missed the point of renewables. They seemed to see wind, wave and tidal as a big conspiracy that Scotland has, a plan to break away from the UK. Renewables aren't a conspiracy, they're a necessity. As the climate changes, as the oil runs out, Scotland - not just Scotland, the entire world - needs the alternative infrastructure already there and available. If we wait until we've rung the last drop of oil out of the North Sea, it's too late. If we wait until the global temperature hits the "magic" 2 degrees that the politicians say we mustn't go over, it's too late.

We can't wait until the future to build the future Scotland.

We Oppose Fracking

Photo by BlaisOne

A report has been produced into the earthquakes in Lancashire earlier this year, which were linked to nearby fracking drill sites.

It comes to the startling conclusion that if you intentionally set out to split rock underground, then rock underground will move and cause an earthquake.

Is there any other industry that shows the desperation of the fossil fuel fools? Rather than invest in renewables, they come up with more bizarre ways of trying to get at the product to which the whole planet has become addicted. Like a cigarette smoker taking tobacco from discarded butts to make a new cigarette, we allow companies to crack open the rocks beneath our feet hoping for the sweet release of some gas.

At the Scottish Green Party conference last weekend, I was tickled by a policy motion that was presented with just three words: "We oppose fracking". It was amended to reflect that we were talking about Hydraulic Fracturing, but I preferred the simplicity of the first version. After all, what more do you need to say?

I'm also hoping that there's no typo when it comes to be written into our policy documents, or we'll find we've just opposed something completely different!!