August 2008

I am no doomsayer but the American National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has recorded a fall in the Arctic ice to its second lowest level since satellite monitoring began 30 years ago. The consequences of fast melting ice are not just dire for the polar bears but also for coastal regions that will be submerged if sea levels rise. Add to that the displacement of people dependant upon the Arctic for survival and other Arctic fauna like seals who may see their natural habitat gone by as early as 2013.

While congestion charging schemes to control CO2 emissions from traffic are proving controversial in London and elsewhere, there's a chance we might see some action in Brussels on this problem very soon.

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On Monday, six brave Greenpeace souls will be appearing at Maidstone Crown Court for the start of a trial centring around Kingsnorth, coal and climate change.

In October last year, they took a personal stand to protect the environment and climbed to the top of the smokestack at Kingsnorth coal-fired power station in Kent.

Now, the Kingsnorth Six (Ben Stewart, Emily Hall, Huw Williams, Kevin Drake, Tim Hewke and Will Rose) are being prosecuted for criminal damage.

Some unsettling news appeared in the Independent over the weekend, which revealed that an Environment Agency report has said that containers at Sellafield (where most of the UK's waste is stored) may not be as stable as was thought. The document effectively destroys Britain's already shaky disposal plans just as ministers are preparing an expansion of nuclear power.

Carrotmob is taking an interesting approach to harnessing consumer power (via Making Waves):

Jim Jay over at The Daily (Maybe) has published his Best Green Blogs for 2008 and it turns out we've made it to number nine. Blimey.

From that eminent list, a People's Choice winner will be decided by, um, the choice of the people. When I voted (ahem), we were coming fourth, so if you like the blog please get stuck in (you can vote at the end of this blog post).

As Jim Jay points out, the green blogosphere is picking up both in quantity and quality. Which can only be a good thing. And which makes it especially cockle warming to know that somebody thinks we're getting something right.

I haven't seen Wall-E yet (Joss tells me it's very good) but it sounds like a cross between Happy Feet and Silent Running - cute creatures and incredible animation bundled up with an environmental message. Now while the intentions of the film makers may have been to push the notion of a cleaner, greener world, the companies sitting between us and them seem to have other ideas and Wall-E is being used to sell all manner of less-than-green products.

In the US, one of these is Kleenex which currently has the little robot appearing on its boxes. As Kimberly-Clark, the company that makes Kleenex, is clearcutting forests to make it, Greenpeace USA thought this was a little odd. In fact, they thought it was the height of iron-e. So, with the help of political cartoonist Mark Fiore, they produced this spoof video.

NATO and Russia facing off, plans for star wars causing political ructions – its almost like the 80’s all over again. Without the ra-ra skirts. Which can only be a good thing.

So finally Poland has signed an agreement to host part of the US missile defence system on its soil. With just parliamentary approval to leap (and a supportive parliament in place) it seems the US's Son of Star Wars dreams have advanced apace.

In return for hosting ten US missile interceptors the ex communist, now NATO, country gets 100 US troops stationed on its soil, US patriot missiles and ‘assistance in modernising its military’ and (ahem) help with ‘responding to the threats of the 21st century’.