global warming

Cairn Energy has fired the starting guns on its 2011 Arctic drilling operation.

Their plan is to lug a couple of massive rigs up to the icy waters around Greenland and drill four exploratory holes in the seabed.

While our leaders continue to talk about what's "politically possible," the world continues to warm and precious days go by. The latest science shows that runaway global warming is even closer than we feared. We can't continue to allow our leaders to sit back and play political games when our future is at stake.

That’s why on October 24th, Greenpeace is joining with 350.org and a broad coalition of groups to participate in an international day of action. Events are already planned in over 100 countries around the world. Some are big, some are small - but every single one of them is absolutely necessary.

A typhoon wrecks the Philippines coastline in 2008

News in this week from the first comprehensive study into the impacts of global warming on human society - and it makes uneasy reading.

The headline figures are: 300,000 deaths and 300 million people affected every year, at a cost to the global economy of £125 billion. The report was issued by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan's thinktank, the Global Humanitarian Forum.

EU leaders - 20 years of broken promises...

On 11 December at Poznan in Poland, our governments will decide Europe's response to climate change for the next 12 years. Unless they agree to at least 30 per cent cuts in European greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, we'll have no chance of keeping global warming below 2°C and avoiding climate catastrophe.

So far there is still an utter lack of any kind of visionary leadership in these talks. There are still governments that repeatedly fail to grasp the urgency of the crisis. That's why we need to make ourselves heard, because the impacts of climate change are racing ahead of the scientific projections.

That was bound to get your attention. And that is precisely what 600 volunteers thought when they took off their clothes on a glacier in the Swiss Alps to call for action against climate change.

The nude volunteers posed for our Swiss office and renowned installation artist Spencer Tunick on the Aletsch Glacier. Known around the world for his installations, Spencer Tunick wants people to know that global climate change is not an abstract issue, but a hazardous threat which affects us all.

By our executive director John Sauven, for Comment is Free.

A new Mori opinion poll has found that the public suspects that the negative effects of global warming predicted by scientists are being exaggerated. Fifty six per cent of respondents also said they think that the scientific community is split down the middle over whether or not climate change is real. So as a nation we're still officially 'sceptical' about climate change. Or are we? Greenpeace director John Sauven has his doubts.

Last month we launched a campaign for rigorous controls on biofuels because while biofuels could make a small contribution in the battle against climate change, it could in fact do more harm than good.

If rainforests are cut down to make way to grow 'green fuels', it will not only destroy homes for animals like the orang-utans, it will also be catastrophic for the climate releasing more greenhouse gases by destroying forests than we will save using biofuels.

To tackle climate change we need to take action on every level - big, bold action that changes the way our cities use energy, and simple small actions we can each take that will all add up to big energy savings.

The truth is that we need nothing less than an energy [r]evolution.

This new brochure from our international office is being published around the world to show how we can protect the climate. From how singing in the shower can help save the climate, to modern, efficient electricity and heat distribution - you'll find all the answers here.