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We get a majority world perspective on the climate emergency from Goldman Prize winner Ricardo Navarro. Navarro won the Goldman prize for sustainable development back in 1995 for his work as founder and director of the El Salvador Centre for Appropriate Technology and he is a former director of Friends of the Earth International.
Here he talks about how a new regional Movement of Climate Change Affected Peoples is responding to the pressures of climate change with awareness raising, permaculture techniques and low-level technologies as well as putting up resistance to inappropriate development. He also gives us his wider perspective on the United Nations climate talks which he has been attending since 1992.
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One of the UK’s leading climate policy researchers has concluded we need a planned economic contraction if we are to have any chance of avoiding catastrophic climate change. We take a look at some of the links between the credit crunch and the climate crunch with Tim Helweg-Larsen, director of the Public Interest Research Centre and co-author of the “Zero Carbon Britain” & “Climate Safety” reports. There’s also an appearance by Kevin Anderson (Research Director at the Tyndall Centre) and a live performance of the “Global Meltdown Derby” by Irish poet Grassy Noel.
- Might a planned or unplanned economic contraction be our best hope of achieving climate safety?
- What does the UK need to do right now to start leading from the front and change the game at the UN talks in Copenhagen later this year?
- Should we be focusing on demand management policies and move to a steady-state economy as soon as possible?
- If so, is carbon rationing our best tool for swift action on climate change?
- When will the UK realize that we have an offshore renewable energy goldmine just waiting for us to tap?
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Featuring:
- George Monbiot (The Guardian)
- Caroline Lucas MEP (Green Party)
- Jeremy Leggett (Solar Century)
- Leila Deen (activist)
The new series of “The 300-350 Show” kicks of with a recording of the presentations given at the launch of the “Climate Safety” report last Autumn. The Public Interest Centre’s “Climate Safety” report gives a clear and simple summary of the latest science, and shows how our current handling of the problem has exposed us to serious and growing risks. With Arctic sea ice melting away faster than anyone had predicted, the climate seems more sensitive than almost anyone thought, placing us in the middle of a climate emergency that cannot be ignored or brushed aside.
The report delivers a clear message that to have any chance of maintaining a safe climate, we must rapidly decarbonise our society, preserve global sinks, and address the problem with an unprecedented degree of seriousness. Even with a commitment to 80% carbon cuts by 2050, “Climate Safety” warns that our current policy response does not match up to the scale of the challenge.
At this launch event, recorded last Autumn, the panelists discuss how we can get beyond “politics-as-usual” and achieve a full, emergency response.
Many thanks to film-maker Beth Stratford for the use of her sound recordings.
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On 17th July 2008, former Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Al Gore, gave a landmark speech in which he outlined the kind of political response which is called for by leading climate scientist James Hansen’s recent assessment of the science. Gore raised the bar on the scale and urgency of the action required to solve not only climate change, but also resource wars and rising energy prices. His challenge is for US citizens to call on the presidential candidates to commit themselves to power the US on renewable and “clean energy” sources within ten years. The 300-350 Show brings you this historic speech in full.
Al Gore’s Challenge to Repower America
If Gordon Brown was showing leadership on climate change here in the UK this is the kind of speech we would see him make.
Instead we expect him to give the green light to a new generation of new dirty coal fired power stations…
- The Poyry Report – the UK does not need new coal or nuclear if we meet our renewable energy targets
- Paul Golby of E.On (the company who owns Kingsnorth coal-fired power station) in The Guardian
- Simon Lewis of the Royal Society responds to Paul Golby in The Guardian
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Britain can become free of fossil fuels and self-sufficient in energy and food in just 20 years. That is the conclusion of the most ambitious report yet on what Britain needs to do to play its part in avoiding dangerous climate change. What will Britain be like and how will we get there?
We speak to the co-ordinator and co-lead author of the Centre for Alternative Technology’s new report “Zero Carbon Britain”, Tim Helweg-Larsen. Why are Tradeable Energy Quotas expected to be the most effective way to drive the changes? What will be the impacts on transport, agriculture, buildings and – most importantly – our well-being?
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The Transition Towns concept is a grassroots, action model for making the change to a low carbon future. It’s about designing the future and making it positive rather than just waiting for it to happen. All the signs are that it is a project that works and it’s spreading like a virus throughout the UK.
This programme features interviews with people involved in transition towns projects recorded at the Transition Network inaugural conference. It provides a snapshot of the many and diverse projects now underway.
- Naresh Giangrande – Totnes Energy group co-ordinator – pioneering community owned, large-scale renewable energy resources and bulk buying of domestic solar water heating
- Nick Weir – Transition Stroud food group member – pioneering community supported agriculture projects, communal allotments, food co-ops, and a new legal model – the Community Farm Land Trust
- Dr Pamela Gray – Transition Penwith Medicine group co-ordinator – asking how will we provide healthcare in a post-oil world?
- Jo Hamilton – from Oxford Climate Exchange – a dynamic project connecting all the climate change resources in Oxfordshire and aiming to engage all sections of the population
For more information see:
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Caroline Lucas MEP talks us through the new package of targets and policies on climate change that have just been announced by the European Union. There are new targets on CO2 emissions, renewable energy, energy efficiency and biofuels. We also discuss the effectiveness of EU climate action on aviation, road transport, emissions trading, decentralised energy and, er, lightbulbs!
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Award-winning journalist George Monbiot explains why we need to cut carbon emissions in the UK by 90% by 2030. In his major new book “Heat – How to Stop the Planet Burnging” (Penguin Allen Lane) he sifts through all the policy options on the table (as well as coming up with some of his own) and looks at what might work and what won’t. “Heat” is no less than a survival manual for the biosphere. If we are to escape the worst impacts of climate change we need to start putting its recommendations into practice now. At present politicians seem incapable of doing this, so we need to do what ever it takes to force them to act.