Delusional Shell oil company prides itself on its progressive Green initiatives and like other big energy companies, Shell likes to put on an ethical mask and pretend to do good in the world.  But the world isn’t stupid and the company has been slated more than once by environmentalists for its blatant greenwash.

Anyway, for years now Shell has been making monster profits in the Niger Delta and as the Niger Delta is characterised by vital wetlands, freshwater swamps and much much more, it’s not hard to imagine the implications of intense activity by oil companies.  And it’s not just the environment that is suffering.  People are being affected too.  In typical corporate mentality, it’s simply a matter of profit before people and Shell, one of the biggest companies there, is not averse to exploiting people and dodging accountability.

Basically, the Delta is being polluted and the people who have lived there for years are bearing the burden of decades of oil leakage, pollution, water contamination and utter devastation.  Livelihoods are being ruined, rare species are under dire threat, crops are being damaged and all in all, tensions are high resulting in conflict and instability within the region.  Don’t take my word for it.  According to this article, WWF conducted a report three years ago which concluded that “the impact of oil and gas drilling was a “significant contributor to the current violence, sabotage of pipelines/installations and instability in the region.”

It won’t be a surprise to know that the oil guys haven’t done much to improve things since the report was released.  Amnesty is specifically targeting Shell  claiming that they are continuing with the illegal activity of gas flaring and, rightly crying human rights abuses, they are asking us to make Shell clean up its act.

So, if you don’t like what Shell is doing (and you shouldn’t) you can tell Shell you don’t like what it’s doing.  Just click the link.

The official launch of the TckTckTck campaign and global partner campaigns was launched 28th August. With 100 days until the most important meeting of our times, TckTckTck is here to show that the world is ready for bold climate action towards a fair, ambitious, and binding climate deal in Copenhagen.’

If you like you can add your name here in support of this campaign. See top of web page. Stay informed via any number of organisations supporting this campaign. WWF is just one.

As Katharine Ainger points out in her article in the Guardian the corporate lobbyists are working hard to water down the climate agreement being trashed out for December in Copenhagen. The very least we can do is add our support to the Tcktcktck campaign.

Corporate Europe Observatory is monitoring the cynical campaign of big business called ‘The Copenhagen Call’. This was put together by business members meeting at the World Business Summit on Climate Change. The main push business is making is for (quote) ‘The first steps to establishing a global market will be to enable linkage between national and regional carbon markets. An international agreement will help secure investor confidence in the carbon market, and national actions will help generate new financial flows for climate investment.’ They also ask for public monies to boost investment in low carbon technologies.

What the NGOs are concerned about is the carbon market initiative (started here in London) becoming a major loophole for big business to do really very little to change their ways. Effectively business can negate their responsibilities to reduce their operating emissions by buying carbon credits from elsewhere, normally the developing world. Business see the global carbon market as the solution, in which they buy and trade permits to pollute.

In other areas NGOs see PR ‘green’ campaigns masking business as usual, such as BP, who are extracting oil from Canadian tar sands, a process that produces four times as much CO2 as conventional drilling, and the World Coal Institute which promotes coal – with the highest carbon emissions of all – as a “progressive fuel”. One significant lobby group in the Climate Camp’s sights is Edelman PR, acting on behalf of the German energy firm E.ON, which is lobbying to build the UK’s first coal-fired power station in decades at Kingsnorth.

Well done if you got this far reading through this blog! Sign up and add your voice to the Tcktcktck campaign here. We must have a better Climate deal.

Not according to the Observer. Instead it predicts a rise in electricity bills by £100 per year for every household to pay for plasma TVs, high-end PCs and mobile phones and a rise in energy use from 1,000 kWh per year at present to 1,700 kWh in 2020. This is likely to wipe out any advantages from improvements in the improved efficiencies of fridges, dishwashers and washing machines.

The Albion Square Canopy has been a controversial project since it was first approved in 2004. It was conceived as a gateway to the town and as a solar power project generating an estimated 51,000 to 58,000 kWh a year. The project was overspent by £1,165,000. In 2008 it generated 45,123 kWh. The local Friends of the Earth came out against the project while the Local Agenda 21 group supported it. A report in Woking news and Mail estimated that “the figure equates to powering a 100-watt light bulb for 59 days” – clearly a huge underestimate. My maths calculates it as 18,801 days or 51 and a half years for 24 hours a day. Opinion in the town is divided as to its worth.

News for this week from Low CarbonEconomy.com

Scottish Power turns on largest onshore wind farm in Europe Europe’s largest onshore wind power project has commenced operation in Scotland.
		Bacteria used to create ethanol for biofuels US research suggests that the answer to the world’s fuel problems could lie in bacteria.
		Funding awarded under Scottish Biomass Heat Scheme Scottish businesses have been given funding to install biomass heating systems.
		Rannoch River hydro project approved in Scotland Scottish ministers have given the green light to a hydro-based renewable energy scheme in the Highlands.
		US couple offer advice on giving up CO2 The Hrens have written a book about their efforts to adopt a fully carbon-neutral lifestyle.
		UK DECC is least green of all government buildings Headquarters belonging to the UK government’s climate change department are among the least energy efficient in the public sector.
		EC inviting bids for energy stimulus funding The EC has launched a call for funding proposals from energy projects across Europe.
		Obama fuel efficiency targets welcomed by environmentalists Fuel efficiency targets for US cars could have a significant impact on reducing the nation’s carbon footprint.
		UK car scrappage scheme dealt severe blow Two leading car-makers have pulled out of the scrappage scheme but the industry remains confident of its impact.
		Electronic gadgets contributing to rising emissions Increasing usage of electronic devices needs to be addressed if global carbon emissions are to be tackled.
		UK government accused of underestimating smart meter costs Ernst & Young has suggested the UK’s smart meter scheme will cost much more than the government expects.
		Conservative Party backs geothermal technology in the UK The leader of the Tories has pledged his party’s support to developing deep geothermal power in the UK.

Not only is Marcus Brigstocke a very funny and talented comedian, he’s also a climate comedian.  No laughs at the expense of the environmentalist but in support of them. It must be very hard to write material that will make people laugh while trying to sneak an eco-message into it.  Marcus pulls it off.

I love his video.  He takes us round his home, in the spirit of MTV Reality TV and shows us some of the eco-renovations that he’s made in an effort to ‘do his best’.  Very funny.

The Prince’s Rainforests Project (PRP) today launched a worldwide campaign to raise awareness of the issues of our dwindling rainforests and the impacts of widespread deforestation and destruction.

Kudos to Prince Charles.  He has made a video to help launch the campaign and he gives a sincere and not-that-cheesy plea on behalf of our most vital resources, the rainforests.  A well presented video with an accurate and vitally important message.

Oh, and please disregard the silly green puppet frog at the end.  The cute and cuddly real amphibians featured in the video are fine but they should lose the felted frog.  That really is cheesy.

“The future of the Rainforest is our future too.”

The Prince’s Rainforests Project

image: whyevolution.com

Article

Charles Siebert writes;

The first live chimpanzee to set foot on Europe’s shores arrived in The Hague in 1641, on board a Dutch merchant ship returning from Angola. The only known visual record of this unwitting pioneer’s existence is an engraving done that same year by the Dutch physician and anatomist Nicolaes Tulp. Not a chimpanzee so much as an ape-human hybrid.

Sadly a familiar occurrence within today’s equally distorting framework of trying to coerce evolution in a direction it didn’t quite go for chimps, by making them be us: living on our turf and terms, dressing in our clothes, acting in our films and commercials, suffering in our research labs.

The most tragic example of this is Lucy, who lived in the late 1960s and early ’70s. Raised from infancy to age 10 as a human child by the psychologist Maurice Temerlin and his wife, Jane, Lucy made her own meals, mixed her own cocktails, flipped through magazines, slept on soft mattresses, raised a pet cat, learned sign language — and had no contact whatsoever with other chimpanzees. By the time she reached sexual maturity, however, she became more and more difficult to handle, and the Temerlins decided they had to let Lucy go.

The chimp that Tulp, in fear of science, preserved as a mythic human, Temerlin tried to make a human, in science’s name. Lost in the shuffle of either agenda were the animals themselves, creatures we still can’t regard and respect for what they are and just leave alone.

Read more here.

Article

On 21 April, the UK government announced that £10m will be spent on research for pollinators – bees, butterflies and other insects – to see if the decline in UK populations can be halted.

The government is contributing £2m with the rest coming from the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council, the Natural Environment Research Council, the Wellcome Trust and the Scottish Government.

The British Beekeepers’ Association (BBKA) welcomes the announcement that additional money is to be found to fund bee health research. BBKA has recently published its document “Honey Bee Health – Research Concepts” which identifies key research projects to be pursued, covering a range of work from Varroa to viruses, queen bee quality to bee breeding and husbandry to habitat loss.

This new funding will enable Research Institutes to make bids to fund the urgent research work needed to combat the threats facing honey bee health. The BBKA looks forward to playing a full part in identifying and prioritising the research projects to be initiated.

Separately, BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today programme has announced that it will get its own beehive to watch over this year. This will coincide with a series of programmes and reports regarding bees during 2009.

image: activists today are creative everywhere for all sorts of causes.

From Greenpeace;

Greenpeace is now accepting Fall 2009 applications for the Greenpeace Organizing Term, a semester of intense activist training for college undergraduates, ages 18-24.

The Greenpeace Organizing Term is an opportunity for smart, passionate activists to gain the hands-on experience and skills needed to become an effective advocate for environmental issues, organize their fellow students, and help stimulate real change on issues that they care about.

The students will attend over 50 innovative, hands-on trainings with Greenpeace staff. Students work one-on-one with Greenpeace mentors who provide weekly feedback and personalized training. Students also travel on campaign trips to put their new skills to test and to take real action.

Topics covered during the intense, three month experience include:
-Developing smart campaign strategies
-Grassroots organizing and movement building
-Powerful direct action strategies and skills, including climbing, boat training, and blockades
-Effectively interacting with the media, staying on message and producing great press coverage for campaigns

Students also take part in a week long trip called the Greenpeace Expedition, often in another country, to meet and work with global Greenpeace staff. During this week, students will have the opportunity to experience how different communities are affected by environmental issues. Students will have an opportunity to help support and learn from those communities.

For more information and to apply, visit Greenpeace.

Or join the US Army and get a different level of specialist training.