ANOTHER PLANET

Some of the UK’s biggest industrial companies have warned the government that plans to slash greenhouse gas emissions and impose a carbon tax will drive them to other countries. Tata Steel, chemicals giant Ineos and Syngenta, the seeds and pesticides group, have told ministers and officials that plans to impose a ‘carbon floor’ will make them uncompetitive. From 2013 all major polluters will join power companies in paying to produce CO2 which will start at £16 a tonne and rise to £30 a tonne by 2030. Industries including chemicals, paper and steel companies say that this, along with other green legislation,  will make the UK an uncompetitive business environment.   Alcan, which smelts aluminium, says it may close its plant in Lynemouth in Northumberland in the face of rising energy costs pushed higher by carbon costs and other legislation,

Engineers in the USA are preparing to open floodgates to prevent New Orleans suffering its worst flooding since 1927.  The flood controls will divert waters away from the Mississippi and protect New Orleans and Baton Rouge – although the waters will flood the Atchafalaya Basin and will almost certainly flood numerous small towns in what is known as Louisiana’s Cajun country where many residents have been served with evacuation orders – and the waters  may reach the oli town of Morgan City. The river is expected to reach its peak on the 23rd May.  Without the action the Mayor of New Orleans said the flooding would be worse than the havoc wreaked by Hurrican Katrina in 2005.

Restaurants in the UK will now be able to apply for their own green badge,  awarded by the Sustainable Restaurants Association and based on a minimum of three “ticks” in areas such as sourcing at least 20% of food locally, using FairTrade, conserving energy and recycling waste properly.

Bad new from Brazil – deforestation of the Amazon is on the rise again which is quite a surpise after years of successful action to reduce the loss of this valuable habitat. By 2010 the rate of deforestation was the lowest for 22 years but satellite images show that between March and April 2011, 595 sq km of forest was lost – six times the loss in the same period in the previous year. Much of the destruction took place in the Mato Grasso, the country’s leading area for soya bean farming. Izabela Teixeira, the environment ministers, promised 500 personell who ’suffocate’ environmental crime in the Mato Grosso but environmental campaigners say that changes to the strict Forest Code, pushed through after lobbying  by the agricultural industry as well as price rises for soya and beef, are to blame for the increase in environmental destruction.  

Britain is set to sizzle in a two week-long heatwave predicted to start this Saturday – which will make this May the hottest for 350 years, sparking fears of a major drought across the country, a summer hosepipe ban, food price rises and devastating forest fires sweeping the country. Weathermen said the average temperature in central England so far this month was 13C (55F) – five degrees warmer than average and ranking it in the top 6% of hottest Mays since records began in 1659. April had just 24% of the average rainfall for the month, making it the driest April for 80 years, while several areas of the country experienced the driest March for almost half a century. Jonathan Powell, senior forecaster at Positive Weather Solutions, told the Daily Express  ”‘This is an astonishing year so far and may well continue to turn up more surprises. May is outperforming expectations, as did March and April.”

Puma, the international sports clothing comany based in Germany, has announced plans to begin recycling sports clothing, in particular those manufactured from man-made fibres such as football jerseys.  For more on Puma including the art installation of a F1 racing car made out of recycled Puma shoe boxes see http://www.puma.com/football and  see  http://greenopolis.com/goblog/green-groove/puma-shoe-boxes-recycled-f1-race-car

Chris Huhne, the UK’s energy minister has outlined far reaching emissions reduction measures.  Mr Huhne had managed to win a behind the scenes battle with business secretary Vince Cable and treasury chief George Osborne to get the proposals before parliament and the energy minister backed the views of the Committee on Climate Changeas he spoke in Parliament on May 17.  A limit on the total amount of greenhouse gases to be emitted by the UK between 2023-to-2027 has been proposed to cut Britain’s emissions by 50% from 1990 levels. The proposal puts the UK on course to cut emissions by at least 80% by 2050, but will a review of progress was also added in for 2014 linked to progress or, the lack of by in other European Union countries.  According to edie.net, the Government will continue to argue for an EU-wide move to a 30% target for 2020, and ambitious action in the 2020s and, before the end of this year will announce a package of measures to reduce the impact of government policy on the cost of electricity for energy intensive industries and to help them adjust to the low-carbon industrial transformation with Hune saying  “by cutting emissions we’re  getting ourselves off the oil hook, making our energy supplies more secure and opening up opportunities for jobs in the new green industries of the future.”

Chima has admitted that its Three Gorges Dam has created ‘urgent’ problems including drought and an increased risk of earthquakes. The Chinese government had been warned that the planned 660 sq km reservoir would have severe geological challenges.

Another Planet

The Independent (11th April) ran an interesting two page spread on the plight of the Cerrado in Brazil – which is Brazil’s ‘upside down’ forest and outback which is under a far more serous threat than the Brazillian rain forests. This vast wilderness – as big as France, Spain, Germany, Italy and the UK combined, is a massive carbon sink but it is now being covered by field after field of soya beans – sold to the West to feed pigs and chicken to produce meat.  Now only 20% of the Cerrado remains, home to the blue and yellow Macaw, the maned wolf, the giant anteater, pampas deer, the tapir and the giant armadillo. Only 8% of the intact Cerrado savannah is protected and environmentalists are concerned that ever increasing demand for soya will destroy what is left.

UK financial giant Aviva is the best performer in a European list of the top 300 carbon emitters, according to a new ranking system.  Edie.net reports that The system rated Polish mining company KGHM in last place and claims for the first time to rank Europe’s 300 biggest companies according to their greenhouse gas emissions. The system was devised by Environmental Investment Organisation (EIO), a UK based independent non-profit research body, has today (April 26) complied the ET Europe 300 Carbon Ranking.  Nationally the ranking finds Spain and Italy the best for emissions reporting transparency with Switzerland and France lowest. Aviva was followed closely by Dutch financial services firm Aegon, The top three non-financial companies are Switzerland’s leading Telecoms provider Swisscom, followed by Nokia (11th) and BSkyB (13th).

The Boss of Solarcentury, the award winning solar business, has launched a scathing attack on the Government over cuts to Feed-In Tariffs (FITs).  Business leaders have claimed the current uncertainty around FITs has cost the UK around 90,000 jobs and Solarcentury chief executive Derry Newman, said:  ”The UK has the lowest solar ambitions of all major EU economies, less than 1% of our electricity is to be generated by solar by 2020” adding “The current uncertainty risks inhibiting recruitment in this highly skilled and innovative industry, and threatens existing employment. The industry, through campaign group ‘We Support Solar’ is asking the Government to restore confidence in solar and have much greater ambition in the fastest growing electricity generating technology in the world.”

The Eastern Southern States of the USA have suffered some extreme weather over the last few days with an unusual combination of cool air clashing with warm, humid weather and extreme winds at varying altitudes – igniting deadly tornadoes.  AccuWeather.com said more than 900 tornadoes had been reported since April 1st in an onslaught of “severe thunderstorms that has spawned flooding and deadly twisters in parts of the Midwest and Southeast”. On Wednesday, Reuters reported that at least 164 tornadoes tore across a region that stretched from Mississippi to Virginia, flattening homes, flipping over cars and leaving a trail of destruction. The tornadoes and storms killed at least 284 people. In Alabama, the governor declared a state of emergency for all counties. In Mississippi, a state of emergency was declared for 14 counties.

BP has said that it will resume drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico “within months” despite facing billions of dollars of settlements and penalties over the Deepwater horizon disaster – and the ongoing pollution and clean up operation in the area from the massive oil spill.

A new ‘eco-friendly’ service station has opened on the M6 near Preston in the UK. The site, at Brockholes at Junction 31, offers a bird hide, a floating ‘eco village’ and toilets flushed with lake water and an opportunity for motorists to ‘re-enage with nature’.

Climate change news

Lord Krebs, Chair of the Committee on Climate Change, has told the UK government that it needs to act now to prevent future problems from climate change. Predicting  wet winters and searingly hot summers, with temperatures expected to rise by 4.2C by 2080 and sea levels by 40cm (sixteen inches),  the Commitee says the country will have to adapt to extreme weather in the future with more flooding, drought and heatwaves. The Committee has said that new housing should be fitted with shutters and exiting homes retro-fitted, and streets should be planted with millions of trees to provide shade in hot weather – a tactic adopted in Mediterannean countries such as France and Spain – and that homes vulnerable to flooding should have action plans. The Committee also suggest that homes should be fitted with mandatory water meters. Because of the density of the population, a creaking Victorian infrastructure  and with increasing droughts (the first six months of  2010 were the driest January-June for 71 years) the UK has less available water per person than Israel.  Only 30% of Londoners have water meters compared to 98% of people in new York. The Commitee also suggests re-using ‘grey’ water to flush toilets and to water gardens. As far as infrastructure is concerned, the Commitee urges the government to reconsider relocating some roads and railway lines which are vulnerable to rising sea levels, but also points to certain advantages from climate change – an extended growing season and opportunites for new crops such as apricots and grapes.  Only 7% of local authorities have any plans to deal with chagnes brought about by climate change and Lord Krebs said “if the UK waits, it will be too late to effectively manage the risks of future climate change.

In other climate change news – it seems that working at home isn’t as green as it seems. Home workers don’t commute to work – BUT – they tend to live further away from work, so when they do commute have higher carbon footprints – and when at home they use more lighting and heating than they would in a shared offce. The report, from the Institute of Engineering andTechnology, says home workers also tend to do more short trips and errards in the car – rather than picking up goods from stores near to a workplace or on the way home.

Sainsbury’s is about to ditch cardboard boxes for breakfast cereal – radically reducing packaging. As most cereals are already in an internal bag, the supermarket chain plans to replace packaging with environmentally friendly bags on its own range of cereals, saving 165 tonnes of packaging, saving on fuel for deliveries, reducing storage space needed and the number of carrier bags customers use. Cereals that run the risk of being crushed in bags will remain in cardboard boxes. Kellogs says it has no plans to remove outer cardboard packaging, saying crushing would create more food waste and that the plastic bags would need to be much thicker. Sainsburys already sell chopped tomatoes in cardboard boxes having dispensed with tins. Asda is testing reusable pouches for fabric conditioner in five stores  and several retailers have introduced refilable containers for liquid products.

And finally, Brazil and other countries in South America have joined the long list of countries experiencing extreme weather. Just three months after some of the most serious flooding in its history, Brazil now has its worst drought for 40 years and some tributaries of the Amazon has now been reduced to a trickle compared to their usual size this time of year. In Bolivia the drought has destroyed corn crops and has allowed forest fires to scorch vast tracts of the Eastern Andes.  

WATER SENSE

Brushing your teeth and leaving the tap running costs 6 litres of water per minute – turn it off!

Flushing a loo costs 9 litres of water  - put a brick or ‘hippo’ in the cistern

Washing a car with a hose uses 400 litres of water  - use a bucket!

If you have a garden or yard, install a water butt to collect rainwater.

Controversial Brazilian dam approved

The controversial plan to build an immense dam in Brazil’s rainforest has been approved by the Brazilian Government this week and neatly and unpleasantly highlights one of those awful green dilemmas – yes we need cheap, clean, sustainable electricity – and hydro electric power is perfect – but is this sensible at the cost of the destruction of a massive area of rainforest? The project will also lead to the loss of homes of indigenous people and many many species of plants and animals. The plan, which has attracted a formidable bloc of opponents including religious leaders, politicians, ecologists, indigenous Indians and Sting, will be built in Belo Monte in the northern state of Para and would be the third-biggest hydroelectric dam in the world after the Three Gorges dam in China and Brazil’s existing Itaipu dam. It will produce 11,000 Megawatts of energy for Brazil’s rapidly growing economy, with the project’s total cost estimated at 11 billion dollars. But critics have warned that the dam it will leave vast environmental devastation in its wake with some 500 square kilometres (190 square miles) of land flooded and 30,000 people living along 100 kilometres (62 miles) of the Xingu River will be displaced from their traditional territories. Critics also fear that the growth in population brought on as a new workforce arrives will lead to further deforestation. The British singer Sting brought the issue to international attention last year when he invited a high-profile Brazilian Indian, Raoni, on stage to denounce the dam during a concert in Sao Paulo. The federal government, which has already had two other dams built on the Madeira river in the Amazon, insists the new dam meets environmental criteria.

British supermarkets accused over rainforest destruction

But what's in the bag?

The Guardian reports that British supermarkets are driving rapid destruction of the Amazon rainforest by using meat from farms responsible for illegal deforestation, highlighting a report from Greenpeace that investigate the global trade in Brazilian cattle products. The report, Slaughtering the Amazon, names Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and Marks and Spencer among dozens of high-profile companies it says profit from products supplied by Brazilian farms on illegally deforested land. Much of the trade is in processed beef, used for pies, canned meat and frozen ready meals. The supermarkets insist it is not from the Amazon. Greenpeace also tracked the global trade in other Brazilian goods made from cattle. The report focusses on three Brazilian companies, Bertin, JBS and Marfrig and names Nike, Adidas, Timberland and Clarks Shoes among companies it says use leather linked to Amazon destruction and wants the companies to refuse to buy products sourced from farms that have carried out illegal deforestation. It wants consumers to pressure supermarkets and high-street brands identified in the report to clean-up supply chains and spokesperson Sarah Shoraka said “the cattle industry is the single biggest cause of deforestation in the world and is a disaster for the fight against climate change. Global brands must take a stand.” Clearing tropical forests for agriculture is estimated to produce 17% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions – more than the entire global transport system. Cattle farming is now the biggest threat to the remaining Amazon rainforest, a fifth of which has been lost since 1970. Big ranches are blamed for 80% of all deforestation in the region and the number of cattle in the Amazon has grown from 21m in 1995 to 56m in 2006. Many of the companies named in the Greenpeace report promote their efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Tesco and Marks and Spencer denied the meat came from the Amazon and Sainsbury’s said it used “a small amount of Brazilian beef in our frozen and canned range”. Morrisons said its suppliers provided documents to prove beef was not linked to Amazon deforestation. Asda said it was confident its beef did not come from the Amazon. It said: “If that isn’t the case we’d take that very seriously indeed.” Nike and Adidas said they would be discussing the issue with Greenpeace. Timberland said it used Bertin leather, but did not track the origin of all raw materials. Clarks Shoes said its UK operation was phasing out Bertin leather and seeking ways to guarantee source. Bertin said it would investigate and act on any evidence of “supplier irregularity”. For the full article by David Adam see http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/31/supermarkets-amazon-cattle-deforestation-greenpeace