Also by tracy

Government nuclear announcement only bold in its deception

Posted by tracy - 10 January 2008 at 1:36pm - Comments

I was sitting in my local last night with the Arsenal game on and looking around me at the rapt faces in the Hackney pub and I started to wonder what makes people so passionate about football yet so apathetic about politics and the future of our planet.

Logic is lost on the nuclear advocates on Newsnight

Posted by tracy - 9 January 2008 at 1:24pm - Comments

If you didn't see Newsnight last night it is well worth watching online.

Following leaks from yesterday's cabinet meeting, the media is reporting that the government is going to give the green light for new nuclear power stations in a Commons statement tomorrow. The panel stand off that followed the news report ripped holes in the government's rationale for new nuclear power and was perhaps the only news on nuclear I've seen recently that has put a smile on my face.

We've reached the quota on bad decisions

Posted by tracy - 19 December 2007 at 2:53pm - Comments

Another year, another botched up decision by the EU fisheries ministers. Early this morning they agreed to increase next year's quota on cod fishing in the North Sea by 11 per cent.

They've been ignoring the science for the last seven years, why should this year be any different? The EU's own scientists have said that the stocks are in such trouble that the quota must be reduced, but we knew these bureaucrats couldn't be trusted to make the right decision - that's why we attempted to shut them out of the meeting on Monday.

Fisheries ministers shut out to protect cod stocks

Posted by tracy - 17 December 2007 at 10:51am - Comments

Greenpeace volunteers shut out EU fisheries ministers in Brussels
Almost 200 Greenpeace volunteers shut down the EU fisheries quota meeting in Brussels

I remember when they closed the cod fisheries off the east coast of Canada. I was just finishing high school in a sleepy town in Nova Scotia. It was probably the first time an environmental disaster touched my life. You see, almost half my family are fishermen.

Even before the stocks were closed I remember my uncles talking about the dwindling fish, but rather than easing off they were hunting them down to cash in as the cost of the fish rose. I suppose it was unimaginable to them that these fish - which used to make the seas around the Grand Banks bubble - could ever disappear.

US trying to destroy international efforts to save the climate

Posted by tracy - 13 December 2007 at 7:18pm - Comments

Our colleagues have been leaked information from a meeting in Bali tonight – the US is trying to destroy international efforts to tackle climate change. They are trying to insert text into the Kyoto Protocol that would make emissions cuts voluntary – as opposed to the current mandatory cuts.

The proposed US text includes the words ‘as appropriate’ and ‘may’ in reference to emissions cuts and is being presented to a meeting of the Friends of the President in Bali tonight. Here it is:

Thinking about a games console for Christmas?

Posted by tracy - 12 December 2007 at 12:43pm - Comments

clash of the consoles

I can remember my first games console, the Atari 2600, a Christmas present in 1984. It seemed space age at the time, fake wood panel, RSI inducing joysticks, Pac man, Asteroids, I think I even played Pong on that thing, and for hours. I’m sure there was nothing green about it, I didn’t even understand boys, let alone the toxic chemicals lurking in my beloved games console.

But we’ve come a long way since Pac man, although I still don’t understand boys, I do know that games consoles don’t have to come with toxic chemicals. Nor should they contribute to the mountains of e-waste once kids tire of them a few months after Christmas.

Save Mister Splashy Pants!

Posted by tracy - 10 December 2007 at 7:43pm - Comments

With a name like that, whose heart can resist the urge to help this incontinent creature?

If you’ve missed out on the internet flurry around Mister Splashy Pants, here’s a quick low-down:

Greenpeace activists shot at as climate conference opens

Posted by tracy - 3 December 2007 at 7:10pm - Comments

We just found out that our colleagues in Indonesia were shot at while they climbed the cooling tower and loading crane of a coal-fired power station to hang a banner reading “Coal kills climate”.

Security personnel from PLTU Tanjung Jati B coal power plant in Jepara, Central Java fired five gunshots at the activists from the Rainbow Warrior, others pulled knives.

Brown shows his true colours on climate change

Posted by tracy - 26 November 2007 at 6:11pm - Comments

It's odd at this time of year for so much hot air to be blowing.

Just last week the prime minister promised us 20 per cent of our energy from renewables by 2020. Yet today he told an audience of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) that nuclear power projects "potentially have a role to play in tackling climate change and improving energy security".

Declarations like this threaten to strangle the renewables industry before it can even get close to that 2020 target.

No news is good news when it comes to a new coal-fired power station

Posted by tracy - 22 November 2007 at 12:30pm - Comments

Kingsnorth coal-fired power station

Last night, Medway Council met to make a decision on E.on's proposal to build a new coal-fired power station on the Kingsnorth site – but the council chose to defer the decision until a later date.

This is good news really. The Medway planning committee was recommending the council approve the construction of the first coal-fired power station in 33 years. The council has received over 9,000 objections to the proposal and we’re glad to see they're taking this seriously. They have requested a site visit with E.on to learn more about the proposal.

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