There’s a new bottom-up force for tackling climate change and preparing for Peak Oil. It’s called, the Transition Towns initiative. Starting from the town of Totnes in Devon, over 100 towns, and villages, and even a Forest and a City, have already signed up. They all help one another through the Transition Network, but Transition is about communities on the ground bringing together their existing projects and skills to prepare for life after cheap oil.
World demand for oil is relentlessly climbing, driven by the booming new economies such as China. The people in these countries quite legitimately aspire to the same standard of living as people in the rich West enjoy. But world population is also rising, and will reach at least 9 billion before it possibly stabilises around 2050. Quite literally, the Earth is full. We have already used half the fossil fuel oil available - the planet is not going to be able to meet the growing demands for consumption from its human population.
Of course, burning all this oil is going to wreak havoc on our climate, and the poorest will suffer the most.
Transition is a hugely positive response to these crises. By re-building resiliant, vibrant local communities, we can greatly improve our quality of life without having to increase our consumption - our ’standard of living’ - to do so.
The first Transition City is Bristol. Now a diverse and loose coalition of people in Birmingham want to make a positive start on Transition for their city. If you want to find out more, please contact me - treaclemine [at] intranet [dot] org - Transition is about whole communities working together, and every single individual has something to offer, whether their memories of coping with rationing, their skills at setting up online communications, or their enthusiasm for bringing in future generations.
A draft flyer for this project is now available.
It sounds daft, but it may soon be a reality for some poorer people. In our poorly-thought out rush to be green, the demand on many cereal crops for use as a base in biofuel production means that demand is outstripping supply. This means that prices will rise further, taking some basic foods above levels that some people will be able to afford - you drive, they starve.
As global oil production has or is about to peak, the switch from fossil fuels is a good thing, but not enough has necessarily been done in developed countries to reduce energy consumption rather than just switching from fossil to biofuels. The availability of an alternative fuel source has meant most people have become complacent about the problem, without realising or understanding that there is not productive enough land in the world to grow crops for fuel and food.
Of course, with higher relative incomes and a better standard of living, it is not the people in developed countries that will feel the negative effect of biofuels first, it is those in the developing countries, who it is predicted will also suffer the early effects on global warming more than most.
Today, the UN FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) stated that world cereal production in 2007 is on track to reach a record level of 2 095 million tonnes, a rise of 4.8 percent over 2006 levels. But with stocks at their lowest level in over two decades, total supplies would still be barely adequate to meet increased demand, boosted by the fast-growing biofuels industry.
International prices for most cereals have risen significantly in 2006/07 so far and are likely to remain high in 2007/08, according to FAO’s latest Crop Prospects and Food Situation report. As a result, the cereal import bill of the low-income food deficit countries (LIFDCs) is forecast to increase by about one-quarter in the current season.
Describing themselves as “Europe’s leading eco-centre”, CAT aim to: “… offer solutions to some of the most serious challenges facing our planet and the human race, such as climate change, pollution and the waste of precious resources. … demonstrate practical ways of addressing these problems. … show that living more sustainably is not only easy to attain but can provide a better quality of life.”
They go on to say, “Averting a massive environmental disaster is not out of our reach, although if we continue to treat the early signs with apathy, it soon will be. We address every aspect of the average lifestyle - the key areas we work in are renewable energy, environmental building, energy efficiency, organic growing and alternative sewage systems.”
CAT has recently expanded their online presence. As well as their main Information Web site, and Green Shop they now have a Discussion Forum site, and are part of the new UK Earth Centre Network site. There are a huge range of ’solutions’ out there - what’s lacking is the will to put them into action across the country and the world. Read, learn and act?
From BBC Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6516893.stm
In principle, biofuels sound great. You use a sugary or starchy plant and some chemistry and you have a fuel that can power cars, buses, trucks etc. The perfect solution to our dependency on the black stuff (oil that is, not Guiness!)
However, when you start using agricultural land to produce crops for fuel rather than crops for people, or you clear-cut old rainforest to plant palm (as is happening in some parts of the world), then alarm bells should start ringing.
Far from being the answer to our oil-prayers, biofuels may well contribute to hunger and starvation amongst the world’s most needy people, as well as wholesale species destruction in the tropical rainforests. The reason is that there isn’t enough land in the world to produce the food the world needs and biofuels too.
Now, even the oil companies are expressing concern that they cannot meet the UK target of 5% biofuel on the forecourt by 2010 whilst still protecting wildlife.
Food riots in Mexico
Already, President Bush’s highly subsidised drive to get fuel from the Prairies has triggered food riots in Mexico because it has pushed up the price of corn.
Governments face a real challenge - deep down, they know that they need to reduce car use, yet they have encouraged a society which revolves around the car - out-of-town shopping centres with poor or no public transport links, housing developments on green-belt land, again with poor or no public transport links. Batten down the hatches, I think we may be in for a rough ride.
Passengers queuing for BA’s first domestic flight between Gatwick and Newquay are being offered an upgrade with a difference today: the chance to exchange their plane tickets for climate-friendly train tickets.
BA’s new domestic route, opened today, isn’t just irresponsible given what we know about climate change - it’s also completely unnecessary. If you take into account the time and cost of travel to airports and checking in, travelling by plane works out to be more expensive than train, only a little quicker and ten times more damaging to the climate.
Continue Reading »
From NFU Online.
In the same week the Carbon Reduction Label is launched to help supermarkets reduce the distance their products travel, Somerfield highlights how consumers themselves can reduce their carbon footprint.
Local Life, a report conducted by the Future Foundation, reveals the average shopper with a car travels 2.4 miles each week more than they need to in order to buy the basics such as bread and milk.
According to the report, the extra ‘shopping miles’ emit 972.3 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide which is the equivalent of over half a million transatlantic flights.
The report highlights the fact that 50% of shoppers pass a local grocer or supermarket in their daily routine and could do their ‘top up’ shopping on any of these days, rather than making the extra journeys.
It also reports that 67% of shoppers have a grocer within walking distance of their homes meaning the car could be left at home.
Pete Williams, head of press and PR at Somerfield said: “We are constantly looking at ways to reduce the distance from ‘farm to fork’ and shrink our carbon footprint. However, to reach our goals, we really need our customers to contribute. Be it leaving the car at home from time to time or remembering to bring back their plastic carrier bags, even the most occasional of shoppers can make a positive difference.”
UK retailer Marks and Spencer are upping the ante and promoting their green agenda by labelling foods that have been air freighted into the UK.
The new scheme which comes into effect from today has been brought in due to customer concerns as to the origins and transport methods of ‘fresh’ foods. The new symbol will appear on over 20 different foods, but as the programme rolls out, over 150 will eventually be covered.
Marks and Spencer plans to be ‘carbon neutral’ in 5 years and is investing £200 million in their ‘eco-plan’.
Source: TreeHugger & New Consumer.
Camden Council, in conjunction with Transport for London, Clear Zones and the City of Westminster are holding a seminar with exhibition and vehicle display on 22nd March 2007.
The aim is help people get the ‘low down on low emission vehicles in London’ and discover practical solutions that help people save money on their transport costs and demonstrate a responsible environmental policy.
Organisers are suggesting that people could save up to £8000* per year by switching to a low-emission vehicle. Continue Reading »
Greenpeace: Car manufacturers are trying to sabotage a new European climate law that would force them to improve the efficiency of their new vehicles. But there’s time to act to make sure that Europe’s cars are cleaner and greener in future.
Last week in Brussels, a behind the scenes tussle was raging that had implications for the future of our planet. The European Environment Commissioner had intended to announce new measures that would force car manufacturers to produce more efficient cars.
European cars, he proposed, would have to reduce the average emissions of their new cars 120g of carbon dioxide per kilometre by 2012. It was a simple and attainable measure that would have an immediate impact on reducing Europe’s spiralling greenhouse gas emissions. Continue Reading »
Despite the fact that there has not been one peer-reviewed scientific article published that argues against climate change, despite that fact that 2006 was the hottest year on record, despite all the other tell-tale signs and global acceptance that climate change is upon us and that we need to address it, US car-maker Chrysler comes out with this…
“Quasi-hysterical Europeans” and their “Chicken Little” attitudes to global warming. Continue Reading »