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End of a short-haul era?
Posted by bex on 1 October 2008.
Greenpeace volunteers at Newquay airport in March 2007
You might remember that, 18 months ago, we set up ticket exchanges at airports across the country, and called on British Airways to show genuine leadership instead of launching new, unnecessary short haul routes that just add to the huge threat to our climate caused by runaway aviation growth.
Read more »Brown's speech at the Labour Party Conference - Greenpeace response
Reacting to comments by Gordon Brown in his speech to the Labour conference, Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said:
"If the Climate Change Commission adopts a target of 80 per cent emissions cuts next month, as Brown is now demanding, that will represent a significant defeat for John Hutton. The Business Secretary wants to give the green light to a new unabated coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth as soon as possible, but a new tighter target could snooker him because coal is by far the most polluting fuel. We hope this means Hutton is losing the argument in Cabinet."
He continued:
"If Gordon Brown really wants to end the dictatorship of oil he should invest in rail instead of aviation and demand that car manufacturers make more efficient vehicles. If he really wants to create a million green collar jobs and slash emissions by 80 per cent he should make huge investments in renewables and energy efficiency and build the kind of new super-efficient power stations that are being rolled out across Scandinavia. We've had a decade of rhetoric from Labour on climate change, now it's time for action."
Greenpeace press office - 0207 865 8255
Do you want to make cars less polluting? Now's your chance
Posted by jamie on 28 August 2008.
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.
Read more »Mundo Cars drive down mondo fuel use
Posted by jamie on 25 July 2008.
While our own drive to drastically improve car efficiency changes gears, there are of course plenty of other people trying to get the message across. One such group, Mundo Cars, isn't the new line of Slovakian automobiles it might appear to be, but a collaborative effort by several organisations working on transport issues.
Read more »Greenpeace responds to Hutton on Heathrow
Responding to comments by business secretary John Hutton indicating strong government support for a third runway at Heathrow, the head of Greenpeace's climate campaign Robin Oakley said:
"It seems John Hutton is incapable of opening his mouth without saying something disastrous for the fight against climate change. We can beat global warming, but not by almost doubling the size of the world's biggest international airport. Environmentalists and local residents are of one voice on Heathrow expansion, this new runway cannot and will not be built."
Greenpeace - 0207 865 8255
Yadda dabba don't: cavemen arrested in car protest
Posted by jamie on 27 May 2008.
Protests by lorry drivers in London and Wales today show the strength of feeling surrounding fuel prices and, as oil hit US$135 a barrel last week, they're unlikely to fall anytime soon. Hauliers want the government to abandon proposed 2p tax increase and so ease the pain, but that would only be a short-term fix for a long-term problem - what's really needed is affirmative action on setting minimum fuel efficiency standards for road transport.
Which is why, if you happened to be in Brussels yesterday morning, you would have seen a bizarre site - six cavemen and women travelling the streets in Flintstones-esque car. (Don't believe me? Watch the video.) They were exposing the stone age thinking (geddit?) of the car industry who, lead by German car manufacturers, have been stifling attempts to improve car efficiency and reduce CO2 exhaust emissions for 17 years. First stop was the headquarters of the car manufacturer's lobby group, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA), to deliver copies of a new report about the impact their industry is having on climate change.
Read more »Fuel price protests - Greenpeace response
Reacting to protests over fuel price increases, Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said:
"There are ways around the fuel price increases that are good news for the climate and good news for drivers' pockets. Keeping your speed below 55 can save more money than the recent price hikes and cut CO2 as well. But in the long run the government needs to force car manufacturers to build more efficient vehicles. As it is Brown has failed to take a lead in Brussels where talks on vehicle efficiency are coming to head."
- Greenpeace supports the fuel escalator, but wants to see the receipts used to make public transport cheaper and better.
- Greenpeace also believes the retrospective application of VED banding based on efficiency was a mistake. It's the kind of measure that gives green taxes a bad name because it does not change behaviour. The new VED band taxes should apply to new cars, but be a lot tougher in penalising the most polluting vehicles - taxing the worst gas guzzlers at £2000 per year.
ENDS
For more information, contact the Greenpeace press office on 0207 865 8255.
Problems at the pump as new biofuel law draws closer
Posted by jamie on 24 March 2008.
In a few weeks' time on Tuesday 15 April, every fuel company in the UK will be obliged to include a certain amount of biofuel in their petrol and diesel supplies. This is because, to comply with EU policies, the government has decreed we will all be using biofuels whether we want to or not but as you're probably aware, a lot of people have severe concerns about this.
Read more »Radio activism
Posted by jamie on 6 March 2008.
Following last week's direct action maelstrom at Heathrow and the Houses of Parliament, the media has been courting the people involved with features popping up all over the place about the so-called new generation of eco-activists.
A particularly interesting piece went out last night on Radio 4: Graham Thompson (described by the Evening Standard as the "daddy" of the parliament protest group) appeared on The Moral Maze to argue the case that civil disobedience is an acceptable part of protest in the democratic process. Listen again for the inevitable seven days.
Meanwhile on the Guardian's Environment Weekly podcast, our own climate campaigner Joss Garman was in the studio to talk about the 'new breed' of activist. Listen again for... well, forever probably.
But if I come across one more reference to Swampy...
The view from the top
Posted by annaj on 26 February 2008.
Anna (left) at Heathrow airport yesterday
I’ve been campaigning a long time, though I've never done anything quite like this. Walking out onto the tarmac of the world's biggest airport and climbing onto a plane wasn't like any other Monday morning I've experienced. But with no sign of the government changing its mind on airport expansion, it was a step we felt had to be taken.
Read more »

