Published on June 3rd, 2009
India’s New and Renewable Energy Ministry has prepared a plan, which, if implemented as stated, will make the country one of the leading producer of solar energy globally by the year 2030. The proposal, yet to be approved, calls for $100 billion investment in solar energy over the next two decades to install 20,000 MW of solar energy.
The plan proposes that the government should give out $5 billion subsidies to the power utilities, every year for the next 20 years, which will then buy solar generated power from the solar power plants. The goal seems quite ambitious given the fact that the International Energy Agency predicts global solar energy generation to be 20,000 MW by the year 2020. The proposal comes after the announcement made by the Indian Prime Minister last year that solar energy would be the focus of the energy transformation in the country.
Solar energy gains importance from the fact that the coal fired power plants in India have been struggling to get coal supplies and there is lack of consistent gas supplies from other nations. Solar energy makes sense as it can be an alternative to connecting all the remote areas of the country to the grid. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on May 22nd, 2009
Sometimes it’s impossible to extract the thread of environmental protest from the complex strands of civil disaffection, or to analyse the motives or protestors and give them a single label. The G20 protests in London were a case in point, combining liberals, anarchists, nationalists, environmentalists and many others in a seething blend of international concern. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on May 21st, 2009
This month, two conferences have been held on an issue that largely divides Europe from America and the rest of the world. In much of Europe, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are not used in food production and are not grown as crops. In pretty well the rest of the world, they are both widely grown and widely utilised. Why is there such a division?
Two conferences reveal the nature of the problem
Between 15—19 May, a Vatican organised ‘study week’ looked at ‘Transgenic Plants for Food Security in the Context of Development’ – a title that gives some idea of the expected outcome of a more pro-GMO stance, however there won’t be an official position statement on GMOs and both sides of the argument claim to have a degree of Papal support. In the no-to-GMO camp are quite a number of social justice activists who fear that native crops and native peoples could be dislodged by the cash-crop power of GMOs and they share an uneasy alliance with some bishops and theologians, whose view is that GMOs are both a threat to the environment and human health and a possible step on the path to usurping the role of God as Creator. On the opposite side are many agribusinesses, some other development campaigners and some other theologians, who see GMOs as the logical tool to destroy poverty, feed the hungry, and maintain stewardship of the environment.
Some watchers have said that several of the speakers at the conference have financial links to Monsanto, one of the world’s largest GMO producers. The counter-argument is that with GMOs being big agribusiness, it’s inevitable that most people working the field will have had funding or sponsorship from one of the very few companies at the top of the GMO tree.
Uganda seeks to change policy, and minds
And in Uganda, another conference is currently exploring the production of GMO crops in Africa. The participants are looking at the gap between policy and research, and giving evidence on how investment in GM technology could benefit the continent. One claim being made at this event is that the widespread adoption of GMO agriculture could ‘significantly reduce’ the cost of food in developing countries by 2050. However, this could only be achieved if consumer preferences were changed, a transformation that has happened without protest in the USA and patchily and with massive protest, in much of Europe.
Vatican courtesy of David Paul Ohmer at Flickr under a creative commons licence
Published on May 15th, 2009
What makes a protest worthwhile? Does it have to change policy, or achieve the reversal of a specific decision? Recent protests in the environmental arena seem to have educative as well as practical purposes. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on April 20th, 2009
One of the biggest stories in the UK at present is the relationship between democracy and the police – or as it has been expressed several times by Nick Hardwick, chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Commission - the police needed to remember that they were “servants, not masters” of the public. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on January 21st, 2009
Out with the old and in with the new! Following Obama’s inauguration, change is already underway. From halting tribunals at Guantanamo Bay to accelerating the drawdown of troops in Iraq, Obama is wasting no time as the United States’ 44th president.
President Obama will keep the broken promises made by President Bush to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. He and Vice President Biden will take steps to ensure that the federal government will never again allow such catastrophic failures in emergency planning and response to occur.
President Obama swiftly responded to Hurricane Katrina. Citing the Bush Administration’s “unconscionable ineptitude” in responding to Hurricane Katrina, then-Senator Obama introduced legislation requiring disaster planners to take into account the specific needs of low-income hurricane victims. Obama visited thousands of Hurricane survivors in the Houston Convention Center and later took three more trips to the region. He worked with members of the Congressional Black Caucus to introduce legislation to address the immediate income, employment, business, and housing needs of Gulf Coast communities.
President Barack Obama will partner with the people of the Gulf Coast to rebuild now, stronger than ever.
Read the rest of this entry »
Published on January 21st, 2009
The British Government’s plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport have come under attack from a surprising source. Doubts have been expressed by Tim Jeans who is Managing Director of Monarch Airlines.
Mr Jeans says the expansion would have a ‘detrimental impact’ on the lives of millions of Londoners but, more seriously, ‘prevent the aviation industry from being taken seriously over environmental issues’. He also felt that the Government’s suggestion that new technology would lead to reduced emissions was overly optimistic. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on January 20th, 2009
Between 2006 and 2007, the Southern Nevada Water Authority in Las Vegas screened tap water from 19 US water utilities for 51 different compounds. The 11 most frequently detected compounds are highlighted in the cartoon and described below.
1.used to treat cardiovascular disease, 2.an herbicide banned in the European Union (still used in the US) has been implicated in the decline of fish stocks and in changes in animal behaviour, 3.a mood-stabilising drug used to treat bipolar disorder, 4.an oestrogen hormone blamed for causing gender-bending changes in fish, 5.an anti-cholesterol drug, 6.a tranquiliser used in psychiatric treatment, 7.a painkiller and anti-inflammatory linked to increases in asthma incidence, 8.an anticonvulsant used to treat epilepsy, 9.an antibiotic used against the “Strep” bacteria, 10.a reducing agent used in molecular biology, 11.an antibiotic
Christian Daughton of the EPA’s National Exposure Research Laboratory says that neither this nor other recent water assessments give cause for health concern. “But several point to the potential for risk - especially for the fetus and those with severely compromised health.”
More on water
Top 11 compounds in US drinking water
Drink Your Pee!: The Future of Water Filtration
Top Colleges Working Together to Solve Nation’s Water Woes
Published on January 19th, 2009
There will be many firsts during the course of Tuesday’s Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama, but mentioning the environment in the inaugural address will not be one of them: though pretty darn close.
[Update: While President Obama did not use the actual word "environment", he spoke both directly and indirectly about the environment more so than any of his predecessors. See those references.]
Past presidents like Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S Truman and Calvin Coolidge have referred to the development and wise use of our “natural resources.” The language in these earlier environmental references was infused with the themes of conservation and preservation as opposed to pollution and ecological balance.
Conspicuously absent throughout the history of inaugural addresses have been allusions to the major energy and environmental issues of the time. In fact, only two presidents in this country’s history have even mentioned the word “environment” in this context; and they each used both of their opportunities. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags:
bill clinton,
climate change,
energy independence,
energy policy,
environment,
global warming,
inaugural address,
inauguration,
inauguration speeches,
Obama,
richard nixon
Published on January 18th, 2009
