42 Days - Davis Is Not Serious Posted Fri 27 Jun 2008, 9:35pm GMT Tories outflank New Labour on the left for their own reasons
Link: Read full press release
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Nuclear Power - Still No Thanks Posted Fri 30 May 2008, 2:49pm GMT Plans for a new nuclear reactor casts doubts on the government's environmental committment
Link: Read full press release
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Leeds Local Election Address 2008 Posted Wed 9 Apr 2008, 4:14pm GMT The Leeds Local Election Address 2008 has now been posted on the resources page.
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Green Socialist 43 Posted Wed 9 Apr 2008, 4:12pm GMT Green Socialist 43 has now been posted.
Please see the resources page.
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AGS Annual Conference Posted Wed 26 Mar 2008, 12:07am GMT New officers and a new way forward
Link: Read full press release
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Heathrow climate costs fiddled Posted Thu 13 Dec 2007, 9:10am GMT The Friends of the Earth have accused the Government of rigging the figures over the effects on climate made by the building of a third runway at Heathrow.
The government used the year 2000 as their base costing for their figures so claiming the climate change cost would be £4.8 billion. If they had used the more up to date figures from the Stern report the figure would be £13.4 billion.
Brown version of spin is fast spiralling away from any resemblance to reality.
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UK Wind power Posted Thu 13 Dec 2007, 9:03am GMT In a surprising U turn New Labour has announced thousands of new offshore wind turbines which could power every home in Britain by 2020
John Hutton, a Government Minister, wants private companies to invest in large-scale wind farm development over the next 12 years. This would mean around 7,000 turbines.
The Minister told BBC radio that "tough choices" would have to be made if the UK wanted to respond to climate change and become more self-sufficient. What he probably means that given the UK disastrous record over building new nuclear reactors, the rising price of uranium and the failure to solve the nuclear waste issues the Government is being forced to try green energy production.
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Green Fair Posted Thu 13 Dec 2007, 8:56am GMT The Leeds Alliance for Green Socialism thanks all those who supported our Green Fair. It was a wonderful success raising around £300 for our local election finds.
Thanks Again
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The Tropics get bigger Posted Thu 13 Dec 2007, 8:52am GMT The Topics are expanding north and south. This will have a severe effect over large area. The climate could be come morestormy plus there would be an increase desertification.
Scientists writing in the new journal Nature Geosciences say the effects of the larger Tropics could be disastrous for millions. Their research shows that the expansion is proceeding at a much faster rate than previously predicted but it is in line with current predictions from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Link: http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/ngeo.2007.38.html
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No to the third runway at Heathrow Posted Wed 5 Dec 2007, 11:30am GMT A response to Gordon Brown's CBI speech giving big business the go-ahead for Heathrow expansion
Link: Read full press release
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Carbon Dioxide levels accelerating Posted Fri 26 Oct 2007, 7:26am GMT Global carbon output is rising faster than previous predictions.
The results have been put down to three main factors. The growth of the world economy, the massive increases in the use of coal in China and the increasing inability of forests, oceans and soil to absorb carbon dioxide. This last factor could result in even faster rises in carbon dioxide levels in the future.
The results of a survey by the Global Carbon Project have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
The Guardian website has a good summary at guardian.co.uk.climatechange
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/oct/23/climatec
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Heat wave in the Arctic Posted Thu 4 Oct 2007, 7:34am GMT A heat wave has swept through the Arctic this year. The Canadian High Arctic research station on Melville Island has recorded temperatures above 20C, about 15C higher than the long-term average. Arctic sea ice in September sunk to the lowest levels ever recorded
The high temperatures on the island caused catastrophic mudslides as the permafrost on hillsides melted altering the courses of rivers.
Other parts of the Arctic also experienced higher-than-normal temperatures, which indicate that the wider polar region may have experienced its hottest summer on record, according to Walt Meir of the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado.
Link: environment.independent.co.uk/climate_change/article3021309
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Arctic ice cap melting even faster Posted Mon 24 Sep 2007, 7:32am GMT The latest figures for the melting of the Arctic ice cap seem to indicate it is melting faster than previous estimates.
The National Snow and Ice Data Center’s data show:
“The minimum for 2007 shatters the previous five-day minimum set on September 20–21, 2005, by 1.19 million square kilometers (460,000 square miles), roughly the size of Texas and California combined, or nearly five United Kingdoms.”
These figures confirm earlier reports from NASA and the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland.
Link: The National Snow and Ice Data Center
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Ten years to save the world Posted Tue 19 Jun 2007, 11:02am GMT The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A carries a lengthy peer reviewed article “Climate Change and trace gases”. The journal is one of the most respected in the world and the article written by six top US climate change specialists.
It argues previous estimates of sea levels rising by only 40 cm this century are widely out. They estimate the rise could be several metres by 2100. This is because there is increasing evidence that the ice caps in Greenland and Antarctica are beginning to collapse.
The conclusion they draw is there has to be immediate action across the plant.
The Independent examines the article at http://environment.independent.co.uk/climate_change/article2675747.ece
Link: http://environment.independent.co.uk/climate_change/article2675747.ece
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Bye, bye Blair Posted Tue 19 Jun 2007, 10:17am GMT Paul Moody is a Geordie South Londoner who occasionally plays. This is a link to his tribute to Tony Blair.
Link: http://www.myspace.com/pdjmoody
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New Labour cuts solar panel grants Posted Fri 11 May 2007, 2:56pm GMT New Labour has cut the grants for renewable energy from £15,000 to £2,500.
In a typical examaple of New Labour spin Alistair Darling, the Trade and Secretary announced that the grants would be given out without the previous cap which resulted in them running out each month in minutes. It was only later that it became clear that this was being done by cuting the size of the grants.
This contrasts with the millions of pounds of lottery money that Brown and Blair have given to industry to increase their profits through front organizations such as the Carbon Trust.
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Roses to disappear Posted Thu 15 Mar 2007, 10:11am GMT UKTV Gardens have commissioned a study by climate change expert Dr David Viner of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia. This warns of a challenging future for British gardens if nothing is done to reduce the effects of global warming. The predictions were based on projections of future temperatures throughout the next century, based on figures from the Central England Temperature Record (CET), which extends back on a daily basis to 1659. More detail of this record can be found at the Units website at http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk.
If the temperature rises continue it is expected by 2050 the possible extinction of staple flowers and trees of the traditional British garden such as bluebells and oak trees.
Even the rose could disappear.
Link: http://uktv.co.uk/index.cfm/uktv/Gardens.item/aid/584148
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Stars become invisible Posted Tue 13 Mar 2007, 11:52am GMT Few people are able to see the stars. This is the conclusion of a survey run by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and the British Astronomical Association’s Campaign for Dark Skies (CfDS).
CPRE and CfDS asked people to count the number of stars they could see within the constellation of Orion – one of the most easily identified in the night sky – then tell us the number, along with the location of their observation. In a dark sky about 50 stars might be visible to the naked eye within this constellation.
The results confirmed that light pollution, caused by badly-designed, inefficient outdoor lighting, is blotting out the stars across much of the country and for most of the population.
People have been robbed of seeing stars.
Nearly 2,000 people took part in the star count. Only 2% of people who responded to our online survey said they could see more than 30 stars, compared to 54% who saw fewer than 10 stars in Orion – a level which indicates severe light pollution.
It is important to support the Campaign for Dark Skies.
Link: http://britastro.org/baa/content/view/226/2/
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Exporting rubbish Posted Thu 8 Feb 2007, 1:50pm GMT Grosvenor Waste Management has been convicted of illegally exporting waste to China, India and Indonesia.
Government checks over the last two years have found that half the the rubbish exported was illegal.
The times has come for the UK to stop exporting its rubbish and deal with it at home.
Link: http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/news/1695308
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UN Climate Change Report Posted Tue 6 Feb 2007, 11:15am GMT The Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has adopted the Summary for Policymakers of the first volume of Climate Change 2007¯, also known as the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4).
Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis¯, assesses the current scientific knowledge of the natural and human drivers of climate change, observed changes in climate, the ability of science to attribute changes to different causes, and projections for future climate change.
This report following on from the Stern Report provides a detailed survey of our rapidly changing climate. The conclusion is that human activity is the principal cause of rising temperatures. There is likely to be a 1 to 3 degree centigrade rise this century with more to follow. The consequences will be catastrophic unless action is taken.
The report does not deal with how the planet can survive.
Link: http://www.ipcc.ch
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European Union: The impact of global warming Posted Thu 11 Jan 2007, 10:51am GMT The European Union has produced a detailed report on the impact of global warming. It warns that:
* Rising sea levels will result in widespread flooding and the destruction of many sea reclamation projects along with the threat to Venice.
* The winter sports industry will be destroyed
* The southernmost countries in Europe will suffer a drastic drop in crop yields
* Flooding will have major impacts along rivers such as the Danube
The report doesn’t appear to have been fully published yet by the EU however the Independent carries a detailed summary at
Link: http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2140265.ece
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