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High speed rail announcement - Greenpeace response

10 Mar 2010

Commenting ahead of the government's announcement on its high speed rail plans expected tomorrow, Greenpeace transport campaigner Anna Jones said:

"A high speed rail network will help the UK slash carbon emissions and hit our climate targets as long as it's an alternative to Heathrow's third runway and other airport expansion plans around the country. The government is taking a first step towards creating a transport system fit for the 21st Century low-carbon economy. However, it must go further and ensure that a fast, efficient rail system connects the whole country so that Britain can be weaned off its addiction to short haul and domestic flights. And it must now tell BAA once and for all that its third runway plans are dead."

ENDS

Greenpeace press office - 0207 865 8255

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Copenhagen is over, but we're not done yet

Tired delegates during the final hours of the Copenhagen climate change summit

It's over. The fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties has this afternoon officially drawn to a close (or rather all but collapsed), but what are we left with? Very little is the honest answer and, no matter how the politicians spin it or how the media interprets it, it sucks.

Obama called it a "historic first step" and it's neither historic nor a first step. The Kyoto Protocol was both, yet in the 12 years since it was laid down, we've barely progressed - the increasing severity of climate change impacts and the urgent warnings from scientists should have had leaders scrabbling for solutions. Instead, yesterday a small group of these leaders flew in, claimed the deal was done and flew out again, leaving chaos in their wake – and other leaders outraged. Read more »

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Cop-out in Copenhagen: leadership breakdown results in failure

Merkel adn Sarkozy at COP15It's a gut-busting, heart-breaking cop-out and I'm so very, very angry although sadly not very surprised. The exhaustion we're all feeling in the Greenpeace team here in Copenhagen only adds to the appalling sense of frustration - our leaders swanned in and let us all down. The deal isn't fair or ambitious and it certainly isn't legally binding. Even though the agreement, such as it is, has yet to be sealed, they have failed.

I hoped it would be different but the skewed nature of international diplomacy has led the Copenhagen summit through two turbulent weeks into an exercise in arm-twisting and back-room deals. The bullying tactics of the developed countries have ensured they have got what they want, despite the attempts of some developing countries to stand their ground. Read more »

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Conservatives call for green investment bank - Greenpeace response

24 Nov 2009

Reacting to Shadow Chancellor George Osborne's Speech at Imperial College today, Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said:

"A new bank to drive money into green investment is a good proposal. We now need clarity on how the Conservatives would make this sufficiently ambitious to provide the tens of billions needed to create a low carbon economy and develop new green industries.

"We need to encourage long term investment from pension funds and savings schemes to fund clean energy projects.

"What's missing from the debate is a green strategy for taxation that will reward companies and individuals that reduce their carbon emissions and save resources, and penalise those that needlessly pollute."

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Do the Tories 'get' climate change?

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So, the top ten Tory bloggers are all climate sceptics. So what? Everyone knows the internet provides a space for people to loudly declare their views in strident tones, blissfully and wilfully unaware of what have been termed 'reality-based arguments' - in this case the consensus weight of informed scientific opinion.

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An open letter to political leaders calling for climate action

Dear Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg,

Dozens of Greenpeace volunteers scaled the walls of the Palace of Westminster yesterday and spent the night on the roof to welcome you back from your summer break. The threat of climate change is so grave that it requires radical action and we believe that what we are doing here today is necessary to send a clear message to the country's politicians. If we don't change the politics and take real action here and internationally we will lose our chance to save the climate.

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Q&A from the roof of Parliament

Three volunteers on the roof of Parliament

A little while ago, I spoke to two of the volunteers who are camped up on top of the Houses of Parliament to find out how they were getting on. Louise explains the challenge of getting up there:

 

And Christian answers some questions posed by followers on Twitter:

 

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Trident: wot no parliamentary debate?

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In recent months it has become increasingly clear that the UK has a massive hole in its national budget and whoever comes to power after the next election is going to have to slash government spending. The debate about what should be cut has just begun, but already emerging at the top of many people's lists (certainly mine) is the planned £76bn replacement of the Trident nuclear weapons system.

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Greenpeace podcast: Bill McKibben on Obama, 350 and Copenhagen

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With December's crucial Copenhagen climate change summit fast approaching, we talk to 350.org founder Bill McKibben about the politics of climate change in the US, the challenges of building a successful mass movement, and how we set about not only restricting the amount of new CO2 we're pumping into the atmosphere, but reducing the levels that are already there.

350 is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere - it's measured in "Parts Per Million". So below 350 ppm is where we need to be to avoid runaway climate change. Currently the figure is around 390 and rising.

350.org will coordinate an international day of action on October 24 at hundreds of iconic places around the world - from the Taj Mahal to the Great Barrier Reef - with the aim of sparking a global movement to unite the public, media, and our political leaders behind the 350 goal.

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Want to know more about the issues in this podcast?

Copenhagen Climate Summit »
350.org »
US Climate Bill »
Greenpeace meets Bill McKibben »

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First intern

Jess, our first intern, is first up this week in the blog relay - a whistle-stop tour of Greenpeace staff here in the UK. Click here to catch up on the other entries.

Like many of you exploring the Greenpeace website, I have been concerned about environmental issues from a fairly young age. I have my parents to thank for that. But I've never been 100% sure exactly what I want to do about it. So when I graduated last year I decided as good a place as any to start was to look for some internships, to get an idea of what kind of jobs are out there. So here I am - an intern at Greenpeace. Their first one in the UK no less.

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