Review of news, action and events

Mike Childs

05 September 2012

It can be miserable working for Friends of the Earth. Don't get me wrong, the organisation is superb and the cause is critically important. But I've just returned from a blissful camping holiday on the north Norfolk coast with its stunning salt marshes, estuaries and beaches, and walked straight into a deluge of bad news as I write the regular monthly review of news, views and action from Friends of the Earth. Fortunately, including glimmers of hope for a brighter future.

The record ice loss in the Arctic this summer is a visual reminder of a warming planet, as is a chilling info-graphic on how the globe has warmed over the last 130 years. And climate modellers continue to warn that we are well on the way to a planet 3 degrees warmer. Research for Friends of the Earth shows that this brings high risks of crossing tipping points, such as forest die-back or the irreversible melting of the Greenland ice sheet.  But Friends of the Earth research also shows it is not yet too late to prevent temperatures increasing more than 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, although it will require politicians to pull their finger out. Sadly, as the excellent Business Green website reports, there has been precious little evidence of this at international climate talks underway in Bangkok.

Back home news is dominated by the Government reshuffle. Caroline Spellman, the not much loved Secretary of State at DEFRA, has been replaced by a man that climate sceptic Lord Lawson has called "a man of reason and sense". Will we rue the day when Owen Paterson got the environment brief? I hope not, but only time will tell.

Transport Secretary Justine Greening, who was resolutely opposed to a climate busting third runway at Heathrow, has also been moved. My colleague Simon Bullock's blog is well worth a read on the madness of a third runway.

Meanwhile George Osborne is promising to rip up the planning system to get economic growth going. His plan for trashing the green belt has already united readers of the Daily Telegraph and organisations like Friends of the Earth as our press statement and the Telegraph's Geoffrey Lean's article demonstrates. If George Osborne gets his way there will be more homes built in flood plains. These will add to the two million already that face the risk of no insurance or prohibitively expensive insurance as the Government has failed to extend an agreement with the insurance industry to provide reasonably priced cover.  

Meanwhile it's left to William Hague to trumpet the benefits of a green economy. An excellent report by the Green Alliance demonstrates that the green economy is already a major driver of growth and a major employer. No doubt George Osborne will say his booing at the Olympics is simple a dose of mid-term unpopularity but as David Powell points out in his blog it's probably more to do with the mess he's making of his job. As my colleague Liz Hutchins's says, the Liberal Democrats have got to show some backbone if we have any hope of delivering a green economy whilst Osborne is in post. Already the renewable industry and insulation businesses are warning of job losses because of Treasury ineptitude.

Still at least in the UK we have an idea who is funding our political masters. Actually that's not strictly true. If you live in Northern Ireland you haven't, which is why Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland has launched a campaign for this most basic democratic reform with a wonderfully quirky video. Their campaign is now aimed at Theresa Villers, the new Northern Ireland Secretary since that man of reason and sense called Owen Paterson has been moved back to the mainland.

Talking of quirky videos, a new video of bees serving tea, shopping and playing with guns was released by Friends of the Earth this month. Weird but wonderful.

Last month I pointed towards some interesting research by Manchester University of the diet of the future.  This month Scottish scientists have suggested their own version and leading water experts have suggested we might need to become vegetarian. Meanwhile a powerful info-graphic by the FT demonstrates how we are overharvesting the oceans. As food prices rocket even the head of food giant Nestle has said we shouldn't turn food to fuel.

So back from holiday and I find the climate is almost knackered, George Osborne continues to wreck the economy and we have mounting food problems.

But I promised a glimmer of hope. So here are some stunning photographs of renewable energy. They are living proof that not only can a low carbon economy create jobs and wealth but it can be beautiful too. Well worth fighting for. Well worth supporting our Clean British Energy Campaign to achieve.