Posted by tracy.frauzel -
17 May 2011 at 5:38pm -
Comments
David Cameron stepped into a cabinet row this week and accepted the recommendations from the government’s independent climate advisors for ambitious targets that would lead to a 50% cut in carbon emissions by 2025.
African Voices: Harbour and hub of Joal. Unloading of fish from pirogues.
Three leaders of West African fishing communities arrived in the UK on Sunday to embark on a week long mission: to reveal how massive European fleets are not just destroying ocean ecosystems in Africa, but also lives and communities.
Prince Charles at the launch of Selfridges' sustainable fishing event Project Ocean
Selfridges launched Project Ocean with a bang last week. The
legendary department store's front is draped with a giant
banner asking ‘No more fish in the sea?.’ Their famed Oxford Street windows are filled with installations
on fish issues - grabbing attention and headlines. And they’ve pulled
in a host of celebrity supporters, from Katherine Hamnett to Elle McPherson. But that's just the start of this month long celebration of our seas...
Is it really a year since David
Cameron, newly ensconced as prime minister, assured us that the coalition would
be the "greenest
government ever"? It's an anniversary worth remembering, if only to
consider how, in environmental terms, Cameron's government seems stuck in
reverse.
Fishingboats arriving to Tarrafal, Santiago, Cape Verde.
On Sunday the latest leg of African Voices begins, as three delegates
from West African fishing communities arrive in London to start a
tour of the UK, speaking out on how the invasion of industrial-sized EU fleets
are threatening their livelihoods, food security and marine ecosystems.
Submarine explorers
planting Russian flags under the North Pole. Military tension between Nato and
Russia. US diplomats manoeuvring in the wings. Aircraft carriers lurking and
strike fighters changing hands.
Sound like something from
a James Bond plot? Unfortunately it’s not.
New Wikileaks releases today have shown the Arctic oil rush
is not just a threat to the environment and our climate, but also to peace.
Oil companies are taking their drills to the Arctic
How much oil lies under that Arctic ice? 90 billion barrels, according to the US Geological Survey.
But, how much really is that? If you ask an oil company, that’s a huge amount. With a
barrel of oil over the hundred dollar mark, that's nine
trillion dollars worth at today’s prices – if you could get at it all.
However, there’s a much more important number than the
mind-boggling figures that the oil companies deal in.
Project Ocean: Selfridges celebrate, fundraise and reach out to save our seas
There’s a big splash on Oxford Street today as Selfridges -
the world’s best department store, on the busiest shopping street - has been
taken over for five weeks to help save our seas with Project Ocean.
Cairn's tugs drag icebergs out the way of its Arctic oil drilling rig
Yesterday, the UK’s wildest wildcat
oil company, Cairn Energy, received the news it has been waiting for: it got permission from the Greenland authorities to start its 2011 Arctic drilling programme.
Site of the proposed nuclear power station in Jaitapur, India
Two
months ago, an earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. This not only resulted in a
huge natural disaster and humanitarian crisis, but also triggered an
unprecedented man-made tragedy. And yet plans are afoot to build a nuclear
power plant in another earthquake zone, this time in India.
