January 2008

Callum Roberts, John Sauven, Antonio Carluccio, Raymond Blanc & Tom Aikens at last night's launch

Sustainable bouillabaisse today or jellyfish burgers tomorrow: a stark message from the celebrity chefs and marine experts at the launch of Greenpeace's latest initiative Seafood See Life at Old Billingsgate Fish Market in the heart of the City of London.

The cost of taking nuclear plants out of service is spiralling out of control. Is this just poor financial management, or does it have wider implications? Written by Greenpeace Executive Director John Sauven for comment is free.

This week, the National Audit Office released its damning assessment of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's (NDA) ability to estimate the true financial cost of decommissioning and cleaning up the UK's fleet of ailing reactors and contaminated facilities. As costs for decommissioning appear to spiral out of control - rising sharply from £56bn to £73bn over just a few years - the burden on the taxpayer grows ever more. And it doesn't end there. The NDA has also been made responsible for disposing of the UK's stockpile of legacy wastes which is estimated at an additional £10-20bn. The industry argues these increased costs have arisen in the face of "significant challenges", but the echoes from this announcement are all too familiar from a sector that has been plagued with industrial and financial incompetence.

US climate change policy will deliver hell and high water
© Greenpeace/Bill Auth

Last night, a day after George Bush's final State of the Union speech, Greenpeace volunteers in the US used one of their nation's most iconic monuments to paint a clear picture of what his climate change policies will mean for the planet.

Emissions from municipal services such as road maintenance are included as part of indirect emissions © Greenpeace/Steve Morgan

In my last post about carbon calculators, the tricky question of indirect emissions came up. I'm putting my own life through various calculators and seeing how they compare, but in trying to log my daily activities that consume energy and resources there are a number of unknowables.

A Greenpeace inflatable prevents the Nisshin Maru from being refuelled by the Oriental Bluebird © Greenpeace/Jiri Rezac

A few days ago, the Esperanza - which had been pursuing the Japanese whaling fleet for two weeks - was forced to quit the chase and head back to port as the ship is running low on fuel. But this year's Southern Ocean expedition has been a resounding success.

The guys at Biofuelwatch have been cooking up a week of protests around (what else?) biofuels. Like us, they're concerned about the rising demand for biodiesel etc and the implications that has for the climate, as well as deforestation, food prices and a host of other related issues.

Last year, we heard the excellent news that the rate of deforestation in the Amazon had dropped for the third consecutive year. However, yesterday came the rather less welcome news that those rates had changed and have moved in an upward direction.

More on how the Heathrow public consultation is being fixed.