Rich countries ‘must slash living standards’ to fight climate change

Ben Webster, Environment Editor

Living standards in Britain and other rich countries must fall sharply over the next decade if the world is to avoid catastrophic global warming, according to a leading climate research centre.
Consumption of energy-intensive goods and services should be cut and remain capped until low-carbon alternatives are available, said the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.
The study says that Britain’s carbon dioxide emissions need to fall twice as fast as planned by the Government. It concludes that global greenhouse gas emissions are rising much faster than previously thought.
It says that Britain should commit to making all energy, including for electricity, heating and cars, zero-carbon by 2025, at least 25 years earlier than planned.
The centre, a partnership of seven universities including Oxford, Cambridge and Manchester, says that the economies of developed nations will have to shrink and consumption of almost all types of goods will have to fall “in the short to medium term”.
Speaking to The Times, Professor Kevin Anderson, the centre’s director, said: “The wealthier parts of the world, including Britain, will have to seriously consider reducing their levels of consumption over the next 10-15 years while we put in place low-carbon technologies.
“That may mean having only one car per household, a smaller fridge, buying fewer clothes and electronic goods and curtailing the number of weekend breaks that we have.
“It’s a very uncomfortable message but we need a planned economic recession. Economic growth is currently incompatible with reductions in absolute emissions.”
The study says that global emissions are rising much faster than has been assumed by Britain and other countries in setting their carbon targets. It says that these targets are “dangerously misleading” because they focus on distant dates, such as 2050, and avoid mentioning the immediate cuts that are needed.
Professor Anderson calculates that emissions in all developed countries must peak by 2012 and fall by 20 per cent a year from 2018 to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2C above the pre-industrial average.
Britain and most major economies agreed in July to limit the increase to 2C to avoid an unprecedented humanitarian disaster in the developing world. The global average has already risen by almost 1C.
Most climate scientists agree that an increase above 2C is likely to trigger mass migration from countries made uninhabitable by drought and rising sea levels.
The Tyndall study’s calculations assume that emissions from energy use in China, India and other developing countries carry on rising until 2025 and then decline at an increasing rate, reaching zero by 2050.
This is highly optimistic because China and India have made clear that they will refuse to accept any deadline for cutting their overall emissions. They have instead offered to reduce the rate of emissions growth compared with “business as usual”.
Britain has already accepted that it would be unfair to cap emissions in developing countries because this would undermine the economic growth that is lifting their populations out of extreme poverty.
Professor Anderson said Britain needed to understand that allowing emissions to grow rapidly in the developing world would require savage cuts in its own emissions.
He said that the world could afford to emit 2,200 billion tonnes of CO2 in the 21st century to have a reasonable chance of keeping the temperature rise below 2C.
“About three quarters of that carbon ration will go to developing countries, which means that Britain and other developed countries have only a quarter.”
He said that this was fair because emissions per capita were far higher in the developed world: 20 tonnes per person per year in the US and 10 tonnes in Britain but only 5 tonnes in China and less than 2 tonnes in India.
A separate study published this week by the Met Office Hadley Centre found that the global average temperature could rise by 4C as early as 2060.
Previous reports, including one in 2007 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, had suggested that an increase of this scale would not happen until 2100.
The Met Office used computer models which took into account new findings on the rate at which carbon dioxide is absorbed by oceans and forests.
Dr Richard Betts, head of climate impacts at the Hadley Centre, said: “If greenhouse gas emissions are not cut soon then we could see major climate changes within our own lifetimes.”
Professor David MacKay, the newly appointed chief scientist for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, said that government figures claiming Britain had cut emissions by 21 per cent since 1990 were an “illusion”.
He said that the cut had been achieved largely because Britain had exported much of its manufacturing overseas. The figures did not include emissions from goods Britain imported from China and other countries.

electric bike maker 50cycles is turning back to the far East

Electric bicycle importer 50cycles began life in Japan and now plans to export back to the far East.

By Widget FinnPublished: 11:41AM BST 02 Oct 2009

The brothers cycle around Nottingham University Business School Photo: MARTIN POPE
Scott Snaith was working for a financial consultancy in Japan when his elder brother Tim contacted him about an electric bike manufactured by Honda. “Tim was based in London, didn’t have a driving licence, and was fed up with using public transport,” explains Scott, 32. “He wanted to buy an electric bike, and asked me to investigate Honda prices locally.”
The bikes were much cheaper in Japan, so Scott shipped two back to the UK where his brother created a one-page website and sold the second bike over the internet within a fortnight.
It seemed an easy way to make a bit of money, so they ordered and sold five, ten, then twenty bikes. “Things were going well,” says Scott, “then the Japanese manufacturer ended production. I had finished my job in Japan, so having found a supplier of the electric bikes in China I visited them en-route back to the UK. I ordered a container-load of forty-five bikes using a £10,000 overdraft, followed the container home and found that three quarters of the consignment was sold before the container arrived.”

This provided cash flow, so the brothers ordered another consignment. Within nine months the brothers were selling 40 bikes a month from Tim’s flat in Loughborough, and branching out into accessories like helmets and safety products.
An enthusiastic write-up in the publication A to B, which specialises in pedal-power, put 50cycles on the transport map. “Having an electric bike is life-changing,” claims Scott. “People get a pushbike, think it’s great for a couple of weeks then get bored and leave it in the shed. But people love electric bikes, and so do companies because it boosts their green credentials if they encourage their staff to cycle to work.”
As the business expanded the brothers got IT advice from their local Business Link. “We established an e-commerce system to make our business more efficient, and changed our online checkout method,” he said.
Currently the bikes are supplied by a German manufacturer which has meant that, like many businesses, the company’s finances have been affected by the weak pound. Scott explains “We had major problems at the beginning of 2009 because we were holding a lot of stock to see us over the winter, much of it on 30 days credit. When the value of the pound to the euro went from 1.35 to 1.05 in a month it wiped out our profit. We had to react quickly, cutting down expenses to the bone and letting go of a couple of temps.”
Their caution has paid off, and encouraged by the green shoots of economic recovery Scott, with his experience of working in Japan and Indonesia is keen to develop an export side.
“Business Link has been particularly helpful with exporting advice, given us a grant of £3,500 to research a new product in the US. It is also supporting us on a trade mission to Malaysia and Singapore and has arranged a whole lot of appointments with key people when I arrive. We plan to launch a website in Singapore where bicycles are still the commonest form of transport,” said Scott.
50cycles.com is a business whose time has come, he says. “Initially we grew slowly, but the electric bike market is on the verge of rocketing because with increasing fuel prices people are looking at other forms of personal transport.” And the reason for the name? “All electric bikes have a frequency of 50 cycles per second. Eventually we aim to sell 50 cycles per second.”
Company: 50cycles.com
Founders: Scott and Tim Snaith
Founded: 2003
Start-up funds: £10,000
Staff: 8
Turnover: £1.5m
STARTING OUT
DO watch your prices, especially if you’re exporting. We were competitively priced with European suppliers then the changes in the exchange rate took us by surprise. If you price too keenly at the start there’ll be nothing left if exchange rates drop.
DO make the most of technology. We use Google documents a lot, and found software to help with the admin side which is free on the internet.
DON’T hold a lot of stock – it ties up your money, and can lose value. That’s how we were caught out when the exchange rate dropped.
DON’T grow to quickly, or splash out unnecessarily. There’s no need to have flashy premises – we started in my flat.

Plan to put wind turbines near Mont-St-Michel condemned

Lizzy Davies in Paris
guardian.co.uk, Friday 2 October 2009 19.26 BST
From repeated attacks by English warriors to annual invasions of daytrippers, the Mont-St-Michel has faced many a threat in its history. But locals and activists claim the majestic site is now on the verge of suffering one of the worst indignities yet: a host of towering wind turbines which critics say will ruin the magnificent panorama and “massacre” the landscape of the windswept Normandy coast.
Vowing to “send a message to the [French] government” that plans to build in 11 locations near the island were unacceptable, hundreds of locals and anti-wind energy activists led a protest march last weekend.
Calling for the “devastating” plan to be abandoned, the Federation for Sustainable Development (FED) said that, although it was committed to other renewable energy forms, large-scale industrial wind power was “neither viable, nor bearable nor fair”.
Protesters blame Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, arguing that his drive to boost the green energy sector has seen a rush to build windfarms in various unsuitable locations. The choice of the countryside around Mont-St-Michel, a Unesco world heritage site, has proved particularly unpopular.
A spokeswoman for one of the protesting associations told Ouest France newspaper that the planned turbines – the closest of which would be almost 10 miles from the Mont – would be “as visible as a nose in the middle of a face.
“If we allow them to be built here, why not next to chateaux in the Loire or other world-renowned sites?” she asked.
Although the anti-wind campaign appears to be gathering momentum – inspired, among others, by the 83-year-old former president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, who claims that windfarms are not only ugly, but are disruptive to bird migration – there is little chance that Sarkozy will tone down his rhetoric.
The president has said he wants national wind energy capacity to reach 25,000MW by 2020 from 3,400MW at the start of this year, a target which observers say he is highly unlikely to achieve.
His vision is nonetheless supported by most green groups, who are critical of “short-sighted” anti-wind organisations such as FED.
Mont-Saint-Michel is a rocky tidal island, just over half a mile from the coast and known for its Benedictine abbey and steepled church. The first monastic establishment was built there in the 8th century. During the revolution the abbey became a prison. The prison was closed in 1863 and the mount was declared a historic monument in 1874 and added to Unesco’s world heritage site list in 1979.

Obama says deeply committed to passing climate bill

President Barack Obama welcomed on Wednesday a Senate bill to cut carbon emissions and said he was “deeply committed” to passing it even as the White House played down chances that it would happen this year.

Obama, whose international credibility on global warming is largely tied to the Senate’s effort, called the draft a major step forward in his plans to revamp U.S. energy policy.

Representatives from about 190 nations are set to meet in Copenhagen in December to forge a U.N. climate pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which runs out in 2012 and which the United States never ratified.

Having a U.S. law that mandates greenhouse gas emission cuts in place is seen as crucial to those talks, and Obama’s role in pushing that legislation will be watched closely.

“My administration is deeply committed to passing a bill that creates new American jobs and the clean energy incentives that foster innovation,” Obama said in a statement.

Some environmentalists and international observers have questioned Obama’s commitment to the climate bill, fearing his top domestic priority of healthcare reform has hijacked the congressional agenda.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, asked when the president wanted a bill passed, told reporters: “As soon as it can get passed.” His comments reflect a growing consensus that U.S. negotiators will go to Denmark without a finished law.

Gibbs indicated that a version of the bill already agreed by the House of Representatives would be enough to illustrate U.S. intentions to tackle global warming.

“I think obviously the United States is on record with the vote in the House on a strong plan to deal with greenhouse gas emissions,” he said, adding that other countries would have to step up to make the U.N. talks a success.

“We’re going to need the Chinese, the Indians, the Brazilians, and many others to show a willingness to also take the same steps that the House of Representatives is on record as taking to address this situation.”

Developing countries are reluctant to sign up to emissions curbs of any kind until the United States commits to its own.

Senate passage is required before the climate bill can become a law.

Obama has said he wants Washington to lead the global fight against climate change. His predecessor, George W. Bush, resisted calls for the United States to curb its emissions.

Source:
Reuters, “Obama says deeply committed to passing climate bill”, accessed October 1, 2009

Whale freed from shark net

A humpback whale caught in a shark control net off an Australian beach is free after a frantic rescue effort.

Source:
Reuters, “Whale freed from shark net“, accessed September 30, 2009

Communist China’s Founding Lauded in Film

Communist China’s founding lauded in film

By Quentin Sommerville
BBC News, Beijing

Mao Zedong knew better than most the power of personality.

The cult of Mao may be dead, but celebrity power is helping the Great Helmsman receive a Hollywood-style makeover.

The Founding of a Republic, or Jianguo Daye in Chinese, a new film from the state-owned China Film Group, is a propaganda epic that includes almost all the biggest names in Chinese film.

There are so many stars, about 172, that most have only cameo roles.

Jackie Chan is understated, in ‘tache and glasses, as an un-named journalist.

Blink and you’ll miss Jet Li, a navy officer who snaps Mao and Chiang Kai-shek a quick salute.

Zhang Ziyi, of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, is surprisingly dowdy as a women’s committee member who advises Mao on the choice of flag for the new republic (ditch the yellow stripe, she tells the Chairman).

The film, which cost a modest £6m ($9.57m) to make - the celebs gave their services for free - has been released as part of the celebrations for the 60th anniversary of Communist China 1 October. It is showing in practically every cinema in the country.

“They wanted to work in the film to show their love and their connection to the country,” said the film’s co-director Huang Jiangxin.

“And in the film there are so many famous characters from Chinese history, with interesting stories to tell, so there were enough roles to go around.”

Fans appear unbothered by claims of hypocrisy - this gift to the motherland has actors who have given up Chinese citizenship. Jet Li, for example, now has a Singaporean passport.

‘History has chosen’

So many celebrities can be distracting, says Simon Fowler, film critic for Time Out Beijing.

“It’s a bit confusing to have every three minutes another famous actor appear and to have so many things going on on-screen.

“The audience was very receptive to the film, they really enjoyed it. But I don’t know if it works so well because there are so many elements they’ve tried to bring together and it all feels a bit rushed,” he said.

The film is low on action, but high on committee meetings. There is little suspense, but the defeated Nationalists are given a surprising amount of screen time.

“The film is about the battle between Mao’s army and the Nationalists, led by Chiang Kai-shek. We show which side history has chosen - who won the fight,” said director Huang.

“This is the first time we have given equal length of time to show both sides of the story.”

And there are other surprises for an audience in today’s one-party China - Mao and his fellow revolutionaries admit that they make poor economists.

They agree they must co-operate with capitalists and supporters of democracy.

“This movie tells the story of how a government was established through one party’s co-operation with many others,” said Huang.

Horror avoided

There are other messages too.

Chiang is seen discussing corruption and the threat it poses to his Nationalist government.

“Fight the corrupt in our ranks and our political party dies; if we don’t, our nation dies,” he warns.

Sixty years on, corruption is endemic in China but it now lies among the ranks of the Communist Party.

For most though, the stirring orchestration and long parade of stars will be what they remember when they leave the cinema.

“The film awakens national pride, there are a lot of Chinese movie stars that we feel proud of. It raises our self respect,” said student Zhang Kuo.

The film pushes some boundaries but takes care to portray Mao as jolly, gracious and generous.

Actor Tang Guo Qiang bares an uncanny physical resemblance, but there is not even a hint of the ruthless guerrilla warrior and political schemer who outmanoeuvred so many.

And the film ends conveniently with Mao’s victory in 1949, allowing the filmmakers to avoid the bloodshed and horror of his later years.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/8285900.stm
Published: 2009/10/02 23:08:11 GMT