Destruction of natural habitats, extinction of species and displacement of millions of people are all events that we fear from climate change. However, Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservation International and chairman of global conservation group IUCN’s Species Survival Commission’s Primate Specialist Group, tells us not to despair completely.

Now that there is more attention being paid to the environment than ever before, more and more is being learned about how tropical rainforests balance the earth’s climate and that gives us a better chance of tackling this serious problem.

Since the rainforests help the planet to ‘breathe’ by soaking up carbon dioxide and emitting oxygen then the more we can understand the better. According to Russell’s article on the BBC website at least 20% of greenhouse gases come from deforestation and that is much more than cars, trucks, trains and airplanes combined.

This story is much more motivating that the usual fatalistic news we hear every day. Don’t misunderstand though, climate change is happening and it has already caused an unbelievable amount of damage. The fight isn’t over yet.

Read the whole article by Russell Mittermeier ‘Climate focus good news for species’ on the BBC website

The news item ‘Climate Change Devastating Women’s Lives‘ reiterates the harsh reality that whilst climate change affects all members of such poor communities, there are added, knock-on social issues for the women and girls in these communities. Some of the issues are:

• Women and girls (some as young as seven) who are tasked with fetching water are now having to walk triple the distance than they previously did to find it.
• Women are having to turn to prostitution because they are struggling to feed their families.
• Girls spending more time walking for water are missing out on vital education, women have less time to care for their families.
• Women and girls, exhausted from walking long distances, are vulnerable to rape and risk of HIV infection.

How could anyone read these facts and ignore the devastation that climate change causes? For the sake of making a few changes to our lifestyles it doesn’t seem much of a sacrifice knowing what these women have to go through every day does it?

The full New Consumer report comes from information via Esther Musili, Kenyan Aid worker, who is speaking alongside Foreign Secretary David Miliband on September 23 at a meeting at the Labour Party Conference. Let’s hope the politicians sit up and listen to her.

The campaign aims to inspire members of the public to engage with their local MP and encourage them to support a new target of 80% cuts in CO2 emissions, strengthening the Climate Change Bill.

Well that’s a very brief explanation anyway. You can find out more at the website www.canvassyourmp.com which was created & built by Jez (also a Green Guys editor) here at Make Hay Ethical E-media.

Asi’s posts over at Green Guys Global tell you much more about the beginnings of the campaign, the thinking behind it, how it works and most importantly how you can get involved. Visit Green Guys Global and keep up to date.

Keep checking back at www.canvassyourmp.com for campaign updates and progress.

Burning coal to generate electricity produces Carbon Dioxide (CO2), a green house gas that contributes to climate change. However by capturing the CO2 before it is released into the atmosphere and piping it through natural spring water we at E.on are able to create carbonated drinking water that is bottled and sold in Italian restaurants under the brand name evE.on

Although a simple solution, the implications are huge. With over a hundred years worth of coal deposits left and with massive growth in energy demand CCS will allow E.on to continue to burn coal for decades to come. evE.on’s Chief Executive Taton Rebfluw says, “climate change had turned coal into a dirty word, but carbonated drinking water could be the silver bullet we have been looking for” a quick sip of evE.on bottled water and he continues “the water tastes great and drinkers have the added bonus of helping combat climate change – the more water they drink, the more CO2 they store, and the more coal can be used to generate electricity, this really is symbiosis at its very best”.

evE.on is available now in restaurants and cafes. Please drink responsibly and refrain from burping or breathing the CO2 back into the atmosphere otherwise you may be responsible for causing climate change.

Find out more or to order online visit www.ev-eon.com

It’s about hope, inspiration, ingenuity, entrepreneurship, and optimism, plus the biggest explosion of wealth for whoever wins this race (their words not mine)!

I even found the few minutes of the video educational, as there are many things happening as we race to end global warming and reinvent energy; that I have never heard of; and from what I gather the book is about all these innovative technologies and the inventors behind them.

The book tells us we can’t wait for governments to change the world, it’s the thinkers, risk takers, and innovators who will save the planet, in other words it’s us - the people!

I expect you all heard about the big turnaround in the discussions. At one point it seemed as thought the whole thing would break down. However, after extended talks and lots of wrangling, all nations have agreed to sign a climate change treaty by 2009.

Of course that doesn’t mean everything is plain sailing from now on, there’s still lots to be agreed and even more to be done. If world leaders are planning to tackle climate change seriously then I’m sure it will mean some serious changes and they won’t necessarily be popular.

I won’t go into detail about what was agreed at Bali but here is a very brief run-down.

• Agreement on a ‘Bali Roadmap’ - to continue dialogue about climate change.
• Targets to reduce carbon emissions by 25 - 40% by 2020
• Agreement to address particular issues including deforestation and technology

For full explanations and reports visit the Greenpeace and UNFCCC websites.

My personal view of carbon offsetting is that it should be used to ‘mop up’ after you’ve already adjusted the way you do things. As we all know, there are many ways to lower our C02, in some cases this can be as straightforward as swapping a lightbulb or as in-depth as re-thinking the way we live. I feel that carbon offsetting can be used once you have decreased your individual carbon footprint as much as you can but there are still a few things that you’re not able to change immediately or practically.

When we were writing our environmental policy and action plan here at Make Hay I decided that I would offset the carbon emmissions caused by our business travel. Fortunately this is minimal because our line of work allows us to communicate via e-mail and telephone most of the time but, on occassion, we need to meet clients face to face. Our clients are based all over the country, some in the city and some in the country so whether by bus, train or car for meetings we we need to use transport.

Once I began to investigate the carbon offestting schemes available I realised how varied they were in terms of what you actually pay for, how they work and how much they cost.

Some organisations ask for contributions of £1000, others sell set packages for as little at £30. My main dilemma was should I pay to support a tree planting scheme here in the UK or should my money go towards communities in developing countries? If we’re speaking purely about the pollution which comes straight from the exhaust of a vehicle I’m using then that will initially affect the environment right here. However, developing countries are and will suffer the devastation of human induced climate changed caused by people here in the UK (and other countries) but do not necessarily have the same support and infrastucture to protect themselves or recover.

I have to say that I was impressed by the wide variety of carbon offsetting projects. Of course it has to be about so much more than planting a certain number of trees and many carbon offset companies have addressed that, investing in energy saving schemes and renewable energy sources.

For our first year of carbon offsetting I chose a company which covers all three areas - reforestation (on various continents), energy efficiency and renewables. However, next year I may use a different one, allowing me to support more of the innovative ways being employed to reduce C02.

I wanted to share my experince here on GGG because I’m genuinely interested to hear what you think of carbon offsetting.

Do you think its an effective way to tackle climate change?

Would you use it?

If, so what kind?

Put ‘Carbon Offsetting’ into Google and see how many options there are.

I’d love to hear your views in the comments below or contact me here at GGG.

]]> http://greengirlsglobal.com/blog/which-carbon-offset/feed http://greengirlsglobal.com/blog/bali-action http://greengirlsglobal.com/blog/bali-action#comments Thu, 13 Dec 2007 11:11:31 +0000 Vicky http://greengirlsglobal.com/blog/bali-action Tomorrow the Climate Change Conference in Bali will be over. So, what will the outcomes be and what will they mean for our planet and everyone on it?

I thought it might be useful to highlight a few ‘Bali Talks’ resources informing us what the world leaders are discussing, what they decide and how we can get involved.

URGENT PETITION: Stop the Climate Wrecking at Bali!

AVAAZ.org have put together an urgent petition to stop the leaders of a few countries making a big mistake.

The talks in Bali were reaching an agreement across all nations which stated that rich countries would meet climate emissions targets by 2020 and developing countries would contribute over a longer period of time. According to AWAAZ Japan, the US and Canada are trying to block these targets and could potentially ruin all of the plans which were so nearly put in place.

Before the end of Friday 14th December please sign the ‘Stop the Climate Wrecking at Bali Petition’ and show the leaders of these countries that it’s not acceptable for them to throw away the planet’s future.

WEBSITES

Here are a few blogs and websites keeping us up to date with the global climate change talks and plans:

Greenpeace’s Bali Bloggers

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

WWF’s Latest on the Bali Summit

The Bali Climate Change Conference Blog

EVENTS & ACTIVITIES

Bali Business Briefing
Discussions about what the UN’s Bali meeting means for business
5-7pm Tuesday 18th December at One Silk Street, London

Global Climate Campaign Gallery
If you were involved in the Climate Campaign demonstrations on 8th December, send your photos and videos to the Global Climate Campaign and show the world all the wonderful things you did to help save the planet.

I Count - Stop Climate Chaos
Bug your MP and tell politians how you feel about Climate Change by joining I Count

DO IT YOURSELF

Of course whilst we’re waiting for those in charge to deliberate and argue amongst themselves we can take the lead and show them how its done. Whether you’re a business owner, parent, young person - anyone - you can reduce your own carbon emissions and tackle climate change individually. Here at Green Girls Global and next door at Green Guys Global you’ll find hundreds of ideas on how to go about it.

Well Jane over at ‘Live the Solution’ has written a fantastic post about how the pay it forward concept is being applied by an American Science Teacher who has made a series of very interesting (and funny) short films titled ‘How it all ends’.

Through the films he raises some important questions about climate change and provides lots of food for thought. He also encourages you to look into the issues further so that you become educated and informed resulting in an increased ability to participate in level headed and informed discussions about climate change.

With regards to dealing with climate change sceptics, he advises “We shouldn’t be dismissive, or cruel, or even angry with them, although we might feel like it sometimes.” Instead he provides you with the mission of tracking down and “counter the hard-line skeptics at every turn online and in the media.  Keep them from influencing the undecided.  Drown them out with deliberate, level-headed, informed arguments, like a fire extinguisher of reason and logic.”

If you would like to watch the films (and I recommend that you do) please click here and you will be redirected to the WonderingMinds42 website.

Your mission if you choose to accept it is to “Pay it forward” by:

1) Encouraging friends, family and colleagues to watch the films

2) Writing about it on your blog / website

3) Posting a link to the videos on social networking (i.e. on your profile / groups etc)

4) Getting all of the people you have told to also do steps 1 to 3.

And don’t forget, its important that we all become informed about the issues so that when we talk to Climate Change / Green Living sceptics we are able to speak to them in a level headed way with backed up facts.

Good luck