BUCHAREST, Jul 26, 2010 (IPS) - "We are trying to change children's attitude to food and to make sure there are still farmers in our countries in a decade or two," says Marta Pozsonyi, one of the Romanian representatives at the first Terra Madre Balkans meeting that took place in Sofia last week.The Sofia reunion was the first to take place among producers from the Balkans under the framework of Terra Madre, the world meeting of slow food communities launched by Slow Food International in 2004. Slow Food International is a non-profit eco-gastronomic organisation founded in 1989 to counteract fast food, the disappearance of local food traditions, and sensitise people to the impact of consumer choices. The concept of slow food is catching on fast in the Balkans, where small- scale farming is severely threatened by the promotion of industrial agriculture and by commercial practices which keep small producers from selling directly to consumers.
The Democratic leadership in the US Senate has suspended efforts to pass a climate change bill. It abandoned not only its planned comprehensive cap-and-trade measure, similar to one already passed by the House of Representatives, but also a more modest bill aimed at electric utilities. The Senate will most likely pass an energy bill of some sort, but this will barely even pretend to make progress on curbing greenhouse gas emissions.This surrender concludes a story that began with the Kyoto protocol in 1997 and reached its climax last December at the Copenhagen climate change conference. At that long-anticipated gathering, the world's governments expected to replace the Kyoto system, which had made no perceptible dent in the problem, with a new and more effective regime. They left with nothing.No matter, smiled Barack Obama and other leaders through clenched teeth: this would not stop the US and its partners moving forward with plans of their own. Oh, really? The whole enterprise, from top to bottom, has now collapsed.
This surrender concludes a story that began with the Kyoto protocol in 1997 and reached its climax last December at the Copenhagen climate change conference. At that long-anticipated gathering, the world's governments expected to replace the Kyoto system, which had made no perceptible dent in the problem, with a new and more effective regime. They left with nothing.
No matter, smiled Barack Obama and other leaders through clenched teeth: this would not stop the US and its partners moving forward with plans of their own. Oh, really? The whole enterprise, from top to bottom, has now collapsed.
So why didn't climate-change legislation get through the Senate? Let's talk first about what didn't cause the failure, because there have been many attempts to blame the wrong people....So it wasn't the science, the scientists, or the economics that killed action on climate change. What was it? The answer is, the usual suspects: greed and cowardice.
The answer is, the usual suspects: greed and cowardice.
It is absolutely maddening since back in the 70's there was a great and effective push to clean up a lot of industry (and by consequence, a lot of air and water and ground). And case by case, it added efficiencies to the plants that ended up being free or more than paying for themselves.
Granted, to go the next step would have likely tipped that price/benefit negative, but technology has changed and this is no longer the case.
And thus, it is greed.
Since corporations are set up, allowed by, trusted by, the states for the purpose of benefiting the state and her people, when a corporation doesn't benefit--or worse, degrades the state and her people--then that is a violation, a betrayal, of that trust.
Violation and betrayal after trust is Treason. Never underestimate their intelligence, always underestimate their knowledge.
Frank Delaney ~ Ireland
Tony Hayward, chief executive of BP, is to leave the company, bowing to pressure over his handling of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, the aftermath of which has become America's worst environmental disaster.Hayward's departure, to be announced tomorrow, follows months of speculation on his future amid a series of gaffes which have drawn scorn from US politicians.
Tony Hayward, chief executive of BP, is to leave the company, bowing to pressure over his handling of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, the aftermath of which has become America's worst environmental disaster.
Hayward's departure, to be announced tomorrow, follows months of speculation on his future amid a series of gaffes which have drawn scorn from US politicians.
British, American and Norwegian engineers are in a race to design and build the holy grail of wind turbines - giant, 10MW offshore machines twice the size and power of anything seen before - that could transform the global energy market because of their economies of scale.Today, a revolutionary British design that mimics a spinning sycamore leaf and which was inspired by floating oil platform technology, entered the race. Leading engineering firm Arup is to work with an academic consortium backed by blue-chip companies including Rolls Royce, Shell and BP to create detailed designs for the "Aerogenerator", a machine that rotates on its axis and would stretch nearly 275m from blade tip to tip. It is thought that the first machines will be built in 2013-14 following two years of testing.
British, American and Norwegian engineers are in a race to design and build the holy grail of wind turbines - giant, 10MW offshore machines twice the size and power of anything seen before - that could transform the global energy market because of their economies of scale.
Today, a revolutionary British design that mimics a spinning sycamore leaf and which was inspired by floating oil platform technology, entered the race. Leading engineering firm Arup is to work with an academic consortium backed by blue-chip companies including Rolls Royce, Shell and BP to create detailed designs for the "Aerogenerator", a machine that rotates on its axis and would stretch nearly 275m from blade tip to tip. It is thought that the first machines will be built in 2013-14 following two years of testing.
Britain's offshore wind ambitions will face a £10bn funding gap within five years, energy experts will warn today, and the Government's legally-binding 2020 green targets will not be met unless the deficit can be closed. This comes a day after Energy Minister Chris Huhne revealed plans for a huge expansion of the UK's wind turbines, saying wind power would be an "important part" of meeting the country's energy demands in the future. A whopping £30bn of capital investment in offshore wind farms is needed over the coming decade if the UK is to produce the 30 per cent of electricity from renewable sources needed to comply with European regulations, according to the report from consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Britain's offshore wind ambitions will face a £10bn funding gap within five years, energy experts will warn today, and the Government's legally-binding 2020 green targets will not be met unless the deficit can be closed.
This comes a day after Energy Minister Chris Huhne revealed plans for a huge expansion of the UK's wind turbines, saying wind power would be an "important part" of meeting the country's energy demands in the future.
A whopping £30bn of capital investment in offshore wind farms is needed over the coming decade if the UK is to produce the 30 per cent of electricity from renewable sources needed to comply with European regulations, according to the report from consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
A whopping £30bn of capital investment in offshore wind farms is needed
This is a job for Superman (a Paris) keep to the Fen Causeway
BP will start deep-water drilling off the coast of Libya within weeks in spite of concerns about the UK group's environmental and safety record after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.The move comes as BP faces increased scrutiny over its acquisition of rights to a big oil and gas field off the African coast three years ago, a subject that overshadowed the visit of David Cameron, UK prime minister, to Washington this week.At 1,700 metres below sea-level in Libya's Gulf of Sirte, the well will be 200 metres deeper than the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico which triggered the worst US offshore oil spill disaster when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 people.
The move comes as BP faces increased scrutiny over its acquisition of rights to a big oil and gas field off the African coast three years ago, a subject that overshadowed the visit of David Cameron, UK prime minister, to Washington this week.
At 1,700 metres below sea-level in Libya's Gulf of Sirte, the well will be 200 metres deeper than the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico which triggered the worst US offshore oil spill disaster when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 people.
Anti-carbon trading activists shut down the website of the European Climate Exchange (ECX), over the weekend, replacing the site with a spoof page lampooning the industry.The website of the London-based carbon credit trading platform was hacked at close to midnight on Friday and showed the spoof homepage for around 22 hours. It then took technical staff another day to restore the official homepage.Instead of its normal rolling ticker data listing bids for carbon credit futures, the ECX website blared: "Super promo - climate on sale: Guaranteed profit!"Explaining the "carbon trade scam", the spoof site decried how the EU's flagship environmental policy is "susceptible to corporate lobbying," offers industry "licences to pollute so they can continue business-as-usual," and "generates outrageous profits for big industry polluters, investors in fraudulent offset projects [and] opportunist traders."
Anti-carbon trading activists shut down the website of the European Climate Exchange (ECX), over the weekend, replacing the site with a spoof page lampooning the industry.
The website of the London-based carbon credit trading platform was hacked at close to midnight on Friday and showed the spoof homepage for around 22 hours. It then took technical staff another day to restore the official homepage.
Instead of its normal rolling ticker data listing bids for carbon credit futures, the ECX website blared: "Super promo - climate on sale: Guaranteed profit!"
Explaining the "carbon trade scam", the spoof site decried how the EU's flagship environmental policy is "susceptible to corporate lobbying," offers industry "licences to pollute so they can continue business-as-usual," and "generates outrageous profits for big industry polluters, investors in fraudulent offset projects [and] opportunist traders."
