Simon

Kathy Freston, a "self-help author and personal growth and spirituality counselor", has posted an interesting article over at the Huffington Post about the consequences of eating meat. Or in this case if we didn't: If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would save: 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England for almost 4 months; 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock, enough to feed the state of New Mexico for more than a year; 70 million gallons of gas--enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined with plenty to spare; 3 million acres of land, an area more than twice the size of Delaware; 33 tons of antibiotics. If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would prevent: Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1.2 million tons of CO2, as much as produced by all of France; 3 million tons of soil erosion and $70 million in resulting economic damages; 4.5 million tons of animal excrement; Almost 7 tons of ammonia emissions, a major air pollutant. The meat industry is a big burden for our climate as it is responsible for about one fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions, in the world. That means they currently pollutes more than the whole transport sector. The cattle release CO2, methane and other greenhouse gases. They also use a lot of land areas, around 25% of the earths total land area. And about one third of all farm areas are used to grow food for the cattle. And by year 2050 the meat production is expected to increase with 50%. So just like Rajendra Pachauri, who currently chairs the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 2002 and who recently won the Nobel Peace Price along with Al Gore, said "that among options for mitigating climate change, changing diets is something one should consider."

George Monbiot, Europe’s leading green commentator, says it's all over. But argues we can't afford to abandon our efforts to cut emissions. Because if we do "our prophecy is bound to come true". "Quietly in public, loudly in private, climate scientists everywhere are saying the same thing: it's over. The years in which more than 2C of global warming could have been prevented have passed, the opportunities squandered by denial and delay. On current trajectories we'll be lucky to get away with 4C. Mitigation (limiting greenhouse gas pollution) has failed; now we must adapt to what nature sends our way. If we can." Read this important piece on the Guardian!

Message from the President of the Maldives from Age of Stupid on Vimeo. Mohamed Nasheed, President of the Maldives, gives this inspiring speech in light of the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference this December – the last chance we have to take action against “the greatest threat the world has ever faced”. In the video (above) Nasheed announces that his country, which is under severe threat from climate change, will go completely carbon neutral in a decade. He also asks the world to unite against carbon pollution and decarbonize the entire world economy. The Maldives approached Chris Goodall and Mark Lynas, two British climate change experts, to develop a carbon-neutral plan for its country. The two came up with a “radical” carbon-neutrality plan that includes 155 wind turbines, rooftop solar panels and a biomass plant that will burn coconut husks. According to Goodall and Lynas the Maldives will become completely carbon neutral by 2020. The plan is expected to cost $110 million a year for a 10 year period. You can read more about the Maldives carbon neutral plans over at the Guardian.

This past weekend it was Earth Hour, a global climate change event in which millions of people from around the world participate in by turning off their lights. For one hour. According to the campaigners of Earth Hour this will “make a statement about the urgent need for action on climate change”. But isn’t Earth Hour just a huge and pointless greenwash stunt to make us feel good about our self? George Marshall, founder of the Climate Outreach Information Network and the author of Carbon Detox and the blog climatedenial.org, argues that Earth Hour is "misguided" and "counterproductive" saying it makes more harm than good. "Repeatedly in focus groups, people adopt a defensive stance against people who – they feel – are using the issue to take away material benefits. Asking people to sit in the dark plays very well to a widely held prejudice that "the greens" want us all to go back to living in caves. [...]The metaphors of darkness are overwhelmingly negative: danger, decay, and death. We see the dark ages as a time of brutality. Poets such as Dylan Thomas call on us to "rage against the dying of the light". Sir Edward Grey on the eve of the first world war said "the lamps are going out all over Europe". Really the cultural resonance could hardly be worse." Photo credit: southerntabitha Joel Makower from Green Biz said he would not take part in Earth Hour, saying it’s a “hollow gesture”that “does little to educate or change long-term habits”: “Turning off the lights for one hour seems a meek and hollow gesture, a feel-good measure that may fleetingly raise awareness, but does little to educate or change long-term habits, let alone "take control over the future of our planet." It is, simply put, a media event in search of actual content. Case in point: The "Take Action" section of the Earth Hour website contains a wealth of information about how to stage an Earth Hour event, but absolutely nothing -- nothing! -- about how to address climate change the other 8,759 hours of the year. There's information on how to blog, tweet, and YouTube your hour of darkness, but not a word about energy-efficient appliances, home insulation, energy-efficient vehicles, carpooling, mass transit, or any of the countless other measures a billion people should be taking. (And nothing about spending Earth Hour replacing those switched-off light bulbs with more energy-efficient models.)” Photo credit: Dan Zen And did you also think that by turning off your energy-saving compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) and lighting candles instead would be better for the environment? Well you might have to re-think that as Sean Carmody gives the case on why you shouldn’t light too many candles during Earth Hour: “A 7W CFL bulb gives about the same amount of light as a 40W incandescent bulb or around 40 candles. However, the carbon emissions from this bulb is equivalent to one candle. Admittedly, this is a fairly dim bulb, so you’d be more likely to be using a brighter bulb. But even if we considered a 14W CFL bulb (equivalent to a traditional 75W bulb) this produces emissions equivalent to two candles but the light output of almost 80 candles. So if it was just about reducing emissions, you would be far better off leaving on CFL bulbs (and switching as many of your old bulbs to CFL as possible) than lighting candles at home or in bars and restaurants.” Now don’t get me wrong here. I am happy that Earth Hour has grown from a local event in Australia into an extraordinary global event to highlight the climate crisis. All honor to the WWF for making it to what it is today. But unfortunately I think a publicity event like this is a few years too late. Everyone already knows what kind of devastating threat man-made climate change is, although a few people foolishly try to deny it. Photo credit: fabbio The campaigners for Earth Hour have gone so far in their efforts to promote this hour that they claim in various commercials and ads that if you participate you will be voting for earth. Now that is just misleading! The obsolete politicians that blocks strong actions on climate change wouldn’t care less, or even notice, if you turned off your lights in your home for one hour. They would just be happy that you wasted an hour that could have been better spent emailing or writing to your elected officials demanding actions to be taken against the environmental and climate crisis. You don’t “vote for earth” until you actually stand in the booth on election day and vote for a political party that promises to bring real change if elected. Instead I think Earth Hour should be transform from a one hour event into a day of action. A day where you go out on the streets and protest in favor of action and against inaction. The elected officials and the media will definitely take notice of a day like that. Last year on the day before Earth Hour I asked if this, one hour, of turning down your electricity, is all we in the developed world is willing to do? I hope that is not the case. But time is running out. Simply put. If this is all we global citizens can muster up in support for meaningful actions against climate change, well, then we are pretty much screwed. What do you think? Does Earth Hour make more harm than good? Is Earth Hour just a pointless publicity stunt? Or does it actually send a strong message about the urgency for action on climate change?

">" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="550" height="338"> The annual seal massacre in Canada has started. This year the Canadian government has set a target of over 280000 baby seals to be clubbed to death and skinned to provide coats, hats, handbags and other accessories for the fashion market. This seal hunt is the largest commercial hunt for marine mammals in the world and has been met with protests from around the world for years now. And this year is no different. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) says the hunt should be stopped because it’s cruel, unsustainable and lacks proper monitoring from federal agencies. The European Union is currently being pushed to introduce a ban on commercial trading with seal skin in a few weeks. And just recently Russia decided to close down their seal hunt in the White Sea indefinitely. “It’s preposterous that the Canadian government insists on moving forward with this hunt.” said Sheryl Fink, a senior researcher with IFAW. “In the midst of intense European and Canadian opposition, dwindling markets and low pelt prices, it’s apparent the government’s insistence on continuing this slaughter is based solely on politics not reason.” “The world will be intensely watching this year’s hunt and I am confident that once again the evidence will speak for itself. The cruelty of Canada’s commercial seal hunt is undeniable.” added Fink. Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans have reported that the first two days of the seal hunt has resulted in over 17,200 harp seals killed. But as the team of observers from the IFAW notes, many of the killed seals never get counted in the official statistic. “We witnessed today a classic example of the cruelty associated with this hunt. An injured, bleeding seal escaped into the water before a sealer could get to it. The sealer tried to pull the seal out by the hind flippers but it slipped underwater anyway,” said Cheryl Jacobson, hunt observer with IFAW. “This wounded seal will most likely die underwater and unbelievably, that kill won’t even be counted in the official catch number.” “I’m confident we will gather enough footage to provide European policy makers with the cold hard facts about Canada’s commercial seal hunt – that it’s unacceptably cruel,” said Sheryl Fink, a senior researcher with IFAW. “Sealers rush to club as many seals as possible in a short period of time, combine this with slippery ice conditions and we quickly see animal welfare fall to the wayside in the blind pursuit of profit,” added Fink. The International Fund for Animal Welfare has released this video showing hunters killing seals in Canada's annual commercial seal hunt this year. Take Action: End the Seal Hunt: Support the Harb Seal Bill!

George Monbiot, Europe’s leading green commentator, has listed his royal flush of climate change deniers. These are the people “who have done most for the denialist cause” and they include deniers (or should I say climate change creationists?) like David Bellamy, Sarah Palin, Václav Klaus and Steve Milloy. Ace of spades, David Bellamy, TV presenter: David Bellamy has claimed that global warming is "poppycock", that "the global warmers are telling lies – carbon dioxide is not the driver". He maintains that "since I said I didn't believe human beings caused global warming I've not been allowed to make a TV programme." This is odd because he stopped making TV programmes in 1994. He was making public statements in support of mainstream climate science until at least 2000. But the conspiracy extends even further. "Have you noticed there is a wind turbine on Teletubbies?", he asked in the Daily Express. "That's subliminal advertising, isn't it?" King of diamonds, Christopher Booker, Sunday Telegraph columnist: Booker writes a column in the Sunday Telegraph. It's filled with so many misleading claims about climate change, evolution, asbestos, speed cameras and the European Union that it would take an encyclopedia to document them. Queen of spades, Melanie Phillips, Daily Mail columnist: Mel P (Genuinely Scary Spice) claims that "the theory that global warming is all the fault of mankind is a massive scam based on flawed computer modelling, bad science and an anti-western ideology … The majority of well-meaning opinion in the Western world believes a pack of lies and propaganda" Click here to discover the other deniers!