POLLUTION AND CLIMATE CHANGE KNOW NO BOUNDARIES
The international share of the responsibility for and the action against
unrestrained population growth, non-renewable resource depletion, environmental
pollution and consequent food, water and resource destruction all necessitate
international action and agreement. There are no boundaries in these matters,
the world is now totally interdependent, and it is really a matter of international
agreement or a world at war that is at stake.
The G8, OPEC, the EU, the USA, China, India the Pacific rim, Africa, South
America ? all are now competing for the remaining non-renewable resources
of fuel, raw materials and food. The Third World War is the trade war between
these competing factions ? and it is not winnable by them all. If sustainable
development has any meaning at all, it is at the macro level of mutual survival.
The Kyoto agreement is one of the testing grounds for how the world can
agree to sustainably harvest and share global resources. The shame is that
those who should be leading in this struggle are so far failing to take a
lead and are instead embarking on unsustainable self protection rackets.
Hopefully reason and wisdom will prevail and, perhaps through the United
Nations or a more enlightened G8, an international policy on sustainable development
will emerge.
19°C - Sunny intervals with variable cloud cover
SCOTLAND is to host a major pan-European conference on how best to protect the environment. More than 100 delegates from across Europe will attend the meeting in Dunblane to discuss a range of topics including climate change and the effects of the financial crisis.
Marine energy test site installed in south-west
The Knutsford Great Race
With entrants on penny farthings, hobby horses, bone shakers, this was British eccentricity at its best? In pictures: Knutsford's penny farthing race Cycling's answer to the Goodwood Festival of Speed was held in a small, quiet town south of Manchester on Sunday.
Letters: Forget ecotowns, we need smarter cities
Use of terms like smart cities to describe technological fixes for urban areas only shows the narrowness of UK thinking on cities and sustainability (Smarter cities, Society, 8 September). The smart growth movement has been well-established in North America and elsewhere for the last 15-20 years and has shown that towns and cities are the future for most of us. But the challenges and sustainability they offer lie in much wider spatial, transport and community planning innovations.
Wind power's growth is blowing Europe toward green goals
Europe is installing more wind power capacity than any other form of energy, and wind is leading the way to making the continent's electricity generation 100% renewable by 2050. Today, only five percent of Europe's electricity comes from wind. But that will not be the case for long.
Minister defends cut in Welsh MPs
A government minister has defended plans to reduce the number of MPs, which the opposition claims will hit Wales harder than England.
Scotland to align green energy laws with England
The Scottish government launched two public consultations on Wednesday aimed at bringing its small-scale green project planning and renewable rewards laws in line with those in the rest of the United Kingdom.
The greenest government ever? Only if the Treasury can be tamed | Michael Jacobs
The silence from Osborne and Cable is ominous. The next few weeks are crucial to keep the low-carbon economy on track. This would be "the greenest government ever", David Cameron declared in May - easy words in the first flush of office. The difficult thing is making them true. In the next few weeks the coalition will confront a series of decisions that will tell us if the heady rhetoric of spring is to be fulfilled ? or regretted.
UK windfarms set generation record
Although there are many who do not think that 'windfarms' are the way forward when it comes to electricity generation, it seems that the increasing numbers of turbines are starting to make a difference in terms of generating capicity. Whereas until recently renewable sources accounted for around 2.5% of UK electricity, according to the National Grid, a record was set during the first week of September.
Smart meters alone may not save much energy: study
LONDON (Reuters) - Smart meters to boost energy efficiency in homes do not automatically achieve a significant reduction in energy demand, research showed on Wednesday.
