62% of Stockholm residents would like to keep the vehicle congestion charge which is currently running as a test there. When it was first introduced, the great majority was against it.
People still stick their head in the sand, but the truth is pretty obvious. Watever the airlines may be saying, Flying is bad.
It’s amazing what lengths some lobbyists will go to. Take a look at these American TV ads downplaying climate change and calling CO2 “life”.
It was among the fastest, most efficient production cars ever built. So, who Killed The Electric Car?
Forget about litter. Forget about recycling. Get political.
Pollution has gone global, we’re contaminating each other via high-altitude winds.
This morning, a French Greenpeace activist flew over a nuclear power station on a motorised parachute without being caught by security services. Makes me feel really safe. (video)
Dear Mr Barroso, have you ever heard of practicing what you preach? Obviously not.
Monbiot shows up the pseudo-green posturing of BP and Shell for what it really is.
Monbiot shows up the pseudo-green posturing of BP and Shell for what it really is.
Straight out of a cyberpunk novel: Russia is to build floating nuclear power stations. That seems like a bad idea in so many ways.
Straight out of a cyberpunk novel: Russia is to build floating nuclear power stations. That seems like a bad idea in so many ways.
A terrifying message from Al Gore (and Bender)
There are projects to [fight global warming][1] by putting giant sunshades into orbit or making clouds refect more sunlight back into space.
[1]: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/27/science/earth/27cool.html (How to Cool a Planet (Maybe) - New York Times [site language: English])
There are projects to [fight global warming][1] by putting giant sunshades into orbit or making clouds refect more sunlight back into space.
[1]: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/27/science/earth/27cool.html (How to Cool a Planet (Maybe) - New York Times [site language: English])
The absurdity of bottled water put to the test. The taste comparison at the end is telling.
The world has gone insane on a nuclear level.
The happy planet index rates countries based on life expectancy, human wellbeing and their ecological footprint. Industrial nations don’t do too well and the top rank goes to Vanuatu. Belgium sits at the 78th spot out of 178. The full report is here.
An interesting view on some of the paradoxes of recycling. I can’t say I agree with all of it, but there are extremely valid points in there, especially on the feel-good factor as a substitute for real sacrifice.
Hold on to that cathode ray tube TV a bit longer if you can.
What does your car say about you?
Play the global warming game and see how your economic, political and science policy decisions affect the outcome.
Those World-Killing Chinese
Plans announced for Belgium’s largest offshore wind farm
The vast Amazon rainforest is on the brink of being turned into desert and the process could begin as early as next year.
Israeli Bombing Results in Massive Lebanon Oil Spill.
We can’t keep our destructive hands off anything. The seas are dying and turning into a toxic soup thanks to our industrial use of fertilisers and other ugly byproducts bacteria thrive on.
Truly amazing: the oil industry pays for dumb/boring viral video smearing Al Gore. They must feel extremely threatened.
Each side of the war gets its own environmental disaster. After the oil spill in Lebanon, forest fires in Israel.
That’s impressive: if half of British homes buy a plasma-screen TV, two nuclear power stations would have to be built to meet the extra energy demand.
Milan is to start charging vehicles entering the city based on their emissions.
Removing CFCs from aerosol cans has led to their replacements contributing to climate change. We’re like a snake eating its own tail.
The renewed activist, no longer trying to change the world but picking the low-hanging fruit instead. Don’t miss the response below the article.
How electronics companies fare on their environmental policies. Clean your act up Apple!
Rice contaminated by GM has been on sale in Europe for months. The US government has known about this since January but has kept silent.
By 2030 climate change will have a radical impact on global tourism. A winter holiday to the Mediterranean and a summer holiday to Sweden could become the norm as tourists attempt to avoid extreme weather.
This guy tells it exactly how it is: Honey, We Killed the Planet
Eco-fatalism is for wimps (but I still wouldn’t call nuclear power one of the solutions).
Mass-production of biofuels could trigger more intensive agriculture on a worldwide scale and end up doing more harm than good to the environment.
Stockholm voters OK congestion charging for vehicles entering the city.
An ad for Nissan 4×4’s that looks like it was filmed in the future. Barren landscapes, nasty weather, no vegetation… thanks to all that greenhouse gas they contribute to.
Al Gore will be present in Brussels on October 8th to introduce his film: An inconvenient truth.
I love my Mac. I just wish it came in green.
Some experts are saying one third of the planet will be desert by the year 2100. And, of course, developing countries will be the most affected.
Political instability threatens rainforests more than industry does.
And the first victim of climate change is… the frog.
And the first victim of climate change is... the frog.
A student moving to the UK from the US decided to give up flying and get to his destination without planes or cars. His weblog describes how he did it. I admit I’ve been eyeing a transatlantic journey on a cargo ship for a while now although I need to figure out the damage that does.
How close is runaway climate change? Way too close for comfort.
Greenpeace get kicked out of Apple Mac Expo in London with the “green my apple” campaign.
The full text of the Stern Report.
In 2004, the North Atlantic drift actually stopped for 10 days. If you aren’t scared yet… (Thanks Kevin) – Update : the story is debunked at [RealClimate][3].
[3]: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2006/10/ocean-circulation-new-evidence-yes-slowdown-no/ (RealClimate - Ocean Circulation: New evidence (Yes), slowdown (No) [site language: English])
Ignoring global warming won’t make it go away.
The thirteenth tipping point.
An opposing view to the Stern Report. It’s authored by Bjorn Lomborg, who’s no stranger to controversy.
We’ve got 10 years to avoid dangerous climate changes. At the moment, it’s not looking too great...
Fivelimes is a green social network which allows you to search for or review eco-friendly and socially responsible products and services.
Thought-provoking article from the BBC’s John Humprys on global warming, his parents, and the paradoxes in trying to be green.
Placing a wind turbine on your roof will make a great fashion statement to your neighbours but won’t help much in reducing your emissions. On the other hand, the less sexy option of insulation will have a much stronger effect.
Hollywood is the second largest polluter in the Los Angeles area. The full report is online. (thanks Dimitri)
SNCF Travel in France have added a CO2 emissions comparison tool to their booking site.
Las Vegas, city of lights denial.
A new skyscraper to be built in Paris will have a windfarm at the top while a nightclub in Rotterdam will generate electricity from dancers’ movements.
An interesting article that goes some way into explaining why people don't change even when faced with overwhelming evidence they're heading at full speed towards an unstable if not deadly future.
An interesting article that goes some way into explaining why people don’t change even when faced with overwhelming evidence they’re heading at full speed towards an unstable if not deadly future.
French examples of how many companies/agencies basically prostitute the environment in their advertising messages.
French examples of how many companies/agencies basically prostitute the environment in their advertising messages.
The EPA says Greenpeace’s assessment of Apple’s green credentials is flawed. They’re not that bad (but could still do way better).
A neat side-effect of globalisation: stricter rules in Europe make global mobile phone manufacturing greener.
The European commission has caved in to the auto industry on new emission standards opting instead to push the use of biofuels and the placement of indicators that “tell drivers when they need to inflate their tyres or change gear”. Seriously.
I don’t know what to say. Some people scare me.
The British green party on the environmental impact of Windows Vista. (via)
Scientists and economists have been offered $10,000 each by an Exxon-funded lobby group to undermine a major climate change report due to be published today.
Holidays on death row. The hypocrisy in travel journalism.
Flying, your patriotic duty.
It’s not easy being green.
Fighting the new defeatism on climate change
Emissions trading: not that great, actually.
We’re still plundering the seas. At the current rate, there will be nothing left to fish by the middle of the century.
Australia is the first country to make a move against incandescent light bulbs, banning them completely by 2009 in favour of energy-saving compact fluorescents.
Climate change scepticism still exists in Brussels
An open letter calling on the EU to abandon targets for biofuel use throughout Europe. Without commitment to reduce consumption, the consequences risk being deforestation, land conflicts and more. (thanks Fergus)
Belgian minister for Energy Marc Verwilghen has just [got himself a giant gas-guzzling Audi Q7][1] (pdf) that emits between 282 to 326 grammes of CO2 per km. Meanwhile, Europe is trying to get emissions down to 120g/km, nice example from above. Oh yeah, and Al Gore has [the electricity bill][2] of a small village.
[1]: http://www.4x4info.be/pdf/20070228_CP_4x4info_Verwilghen_FR.pdf (Le Ministre de l'Energie s'offre un 4x4 energivore (PDF) [site language: French]) [2]: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2311302.ece (Gore faces up to inconvenient truth over his electricity bill [site language: English])
Well I hadn’t thought of that one to fight climate change, let’s use the secret technology from Roswell.
[Shipping vs Airfreight][1]
[1]: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/03/shipping_vs_air.php (Shipping vs Airfreight revisited: Some more considerations (TreeHugger) [site language: English])
Dear Mr Winterkorn, you could actually choose not to give customers what they want, or rather what your advertising makes them want.
Hollywood’s new hero: the environment. Ah, just bring back Toxic Avenger.
Airline flies empty planes to hold on to airport slots.
Is downloading music more environmentally-friendly than buying a CD in a shop? Well, it depends...
Maybe Belgian ministers could get off the seats of their [carbon-spewing monsters][1] and actually do something for the environment instead of worrying about [photo ops with Al Gore][2]?
[1]: http://ruedelaloi.blogspot.com/2007/02/voitures-propres-enfin-presque.html (rue de la loi: Voitures propres (enfin presque..) [site language: French]) [2]: http://lvb.net/item/4354 (Belgian ministers quarrel over Al Gore [site language: English])
They say we’re shopping too much. Then again, on the other side, some people are making their own. Personally, if I could just buy fairly-made items that don’t disintegrate after a year I’d be happy camper.
Eurostar goes even greener.
The latest issue of The Nation focuses on climate change. There are quite a few interesting articles in there, some require a subscription though.
Five innovations in urban transportation that you won’t find in America, yet (or Belgium, for the most part).
A very interesting development in carbon capture technology. Let’s just hope it’s not used as a license to completely ignore the original problem. (Thanks Jeroen)
Interesting interview with James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute, concerning the causes and consequences of global warming.
Steve Jobs responds to the Greenpeace campaign against Apple.
Translation of the PR-speak in Steve Jobs’ latest “a greener Apple” article.
Interesting summary of the current dangers of biofuel use as well as future, more sustainable, directions the industry might take.
If you have no other choice than hopping on a plane to travel, here’s a good resource for offsetting all that carbon you’ll be pumping into the atmosphere.
The 26 most common climate myths and misconceptions.
Word of the day: eco-anxiety
New York taxis will go hybrid in five years. If they tried that here they’d all go on strike.
Incompetence is everywhere, so I guess it’s no surprise that it’s present in the carbon monitoring processes supposed to help in fighting climate change.
Catastrophic Warming: Is It Too Late?
People are sceptical about many companies’ new-found enthusiasm for the environment.
The truth about recycling.
The only way to survive may now be extraction of greenhouse gases from the air.
Someone bring these guys to Brussels.
Carbon trading: where greed is green
Interesting article on the city of Vaxjo in Sweden where fossil fuels are on their way out.
Nice rundown on the pros and cons of air travel versus other means of transport.
Word of the day: checkbook environmentalist
I wondered when someone would have a go at patio heaters, I’ve always seen them as a prime example of our irrationality. Not only in the home however, restaurants with heated terraces are just as bad.
Geoengineering could work to control climate change but could never stop. A single mistake and things would be worse than when we started.
The real cause of global warming.
How can branding help (or hinder) climate change?
The reports keep coming in on upcoming energy shortages and water scarcity but the world seems to happily truck on in complete denial.
Thought-provoking profile of James Lovelock and his definitely funereal outlook for the planet.
The health effects of shipping fuel fumes have been under the radar for a long time but statistics are starting to show up. No mention of the port of Antwerp in there, but considering its size, I imagine there must be consequences to the local population.
Short-term vision for the planet is still abundant: European utilities are shipping US coal across the Atlantic.
Potential future energy sources for Europe: a string of giant solar power stations along the Mediterranean desert shores and a a 5,000-mile wind-powered electricity supergrid, stretching from Siberia to Morocco and Egypt to Iceland.
Big oil quietly drops out of the greener side of energy.
Good move: Berlin, Cologne and Hannover have banned heavily polluting cars from their city centers.
Good move: Berlin, Cologne and Hannover have banned heavily polluting cars from their city centers.
The body heat from commuters passing through Stockholm Central Station each day will be used to heat a new office building nearby.
The body heat from commuters passing through Stockholm Central Station each day will be used to heat a new office building nearby.
After self-service bikes, self-service electric cars may hit the streets of Paris.
The shipping industry is looking for new ways to reduce emissions and costs. One of those ways is about to get its first test: a ship partly powered by a giant kite.
The shipping industry is looking for new ways to reduce emissions and costs. One of those ways is about to get its first test: a ship partly powered by a giant kite.
Belgium ranks near the bottom of the 28 European nations as far as environmental performance goes. Even the US, everyone loves to accuse of being the worst, ranks higher.
Belgium ranks near the bottom of the 28 European nations as far as environmental performance goes. Even the US, everyone loves to accuse of being the worst, ranks higher.
Use the fuse to switch off energy-wasting shop signage at night. Seems a bit self-righteous to me but the on/off photos are nice.
Use the fuse to switch off energy-wasting shop signage at night. Seems a bit self-righteous to me but the on/off photos are nice.
There’s a move I’d love to see implemented locally.
There's a move I'd love to see implemented locally.
Very interesting article on the myths of organic farming. It’s difficult to make an informed opinion though when the article takes several shortcuts. As usual, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
Very interesting article on the myths of organic farming. It's difficult to make an informed opinion though when the article takes several shortcuts. As usual, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
Death of the SUV. No surprise there.
Death of the SUV. No surprise there.
The latest rundown on peak oil from the Independent.
The latest rundown on peak oil from the Independent.
How buying things ceased to be a chore and became a fun day out.
How buying things ceased to be a chore and became a fun day out.
Not something you usually think about. Airports themselves can have a pretty heavy environmental impact.
Not something you usually think about. Airports themselves can have a pretty heavy environmental impact.
Interesting approach to reducing the wasted energy from all those power supplies we use.
Interesting approach to reducing the wasted energy from all those power supplies we use.
More evidence that we’ll only end up closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.
If you want to do your bit for the environment, the best thing you can do is reduce your meat intake or completely eliminate it.
If you want to do your bit for the environment, the best thing you can do is reduce your meat intake or completely eliminate it.
Spain implements heavy measures to reduce energy consumption. The population's reaction is pretty much what you'd expect and explains why limits of this type are rarely implemented elsewhere.
Spain implements heavy measures to reduce energy consumption. The population’s reaction is pretty much what you’d expect and explains why limits of this type are rarely implemented elsewhere.
It's not just the carbon, it's the nitrogen too.
It’s not just the carbon, it’s the nitrogen too.
Paid for by the Someone better start pointing out the obvious committee for a better planet.
Paid for by the Someone better start pointing out the obvious committee for a better planet.
Web sites and your behaviour as a web surfer all have an impact on the environment. Not surprisingly, reducing the amount of gadgets, animations and/or errors on your site also reduces its impact.
Web sites and your behaviour as a web surfer all have an impact on the environment. Not surprisingly, reducing the amount of gadgets, animations and/or errors on your site also reduces its impact.
Population: The elephant in the room
Population: The elephant in the room
Vegetal City, an exhibition by architect Luc Schuiten. (Brother of that other Schuiten)
Vegetal City, an exhibition by architect Luc Schuiten. (Brother of that other Schuiten)
Sounding off: One planet, one million DJs.
The open-source hydrogen car set to change the industry.
The open-source hydrogen car set to change the industry.
Mark Kennedy: A journey from undercover cop to bona fide activist
Going green but getting nowhere.
A different type of toxic masculinity.
The choice between synthetics or animal materials is a false binary because they both present real problems.
It’s indeed crazy that trying to live waste-free is considered more extreme than spending the night queuing in the cold for a new phone.
Another excerpt from the Underland book. This one tells the story of a tomb for radioactive waste being built in Finland. There's something really ominous about the whole concept of burying our radioactive slop and hoping a future civilisation doesn't get curious and dig it up.
This is deeply representative of our times and of “influencer” culture.
It's always been incredibly difficult for me to get a fair view of nuclear energy. Mostly due to the absurdly obvious amount of lobbying from the industry. This article on the consequences of Chernobyl and other incidents shows that lobbying to be even more insidious than I thought.
I recently watched a BBC interview with Extinction Rebellion's co-founder Roger Hallam where he mentions six billion people could die from starvation and war before the end of the century.
My future outlook as far as the coming climate emergency is downright bleak and even I was a bit surprised at the numbers he was throwing out. Well, it turns out there are scientists out there who believe exactly that.
As the amazon burns, don't count on our leaders to prevent our self-destruction. They're locked in to the system and the transnational corporations that govern it. They will not be the source of the radical changes needed.
Jeremy Lent argues the window for new ideas is opening now. We can still go both ways.
While we busy ourselves greening our personal lives, fossil fuel corporations are rendering these efforts irrelevant.
They've pulled off the best trick ever: making it all about personal responsibility while they happily destroy the planet in the background. We need to attack the issue from all sides: personal change but, more importantly, system change.
With the arrival of high speed trains and low-cost airlines, rich and poor are simply swapping long-distance transport modes.
This is exactly the case. I doubt the return of traditional cheaper trains would change much. They did let you carry your bike onto them which is not the case for most high-speed lines today though. As long as airlines are basically subsidised and we all take for granted that we can go anywhere in the world whenever we want to, the situation has little chance of changing.
We’ve been led into a culture that has been engineered to leave us tired, hungry for indulgence, willing to pay a lot for convenience and entertainment, and most importantly, vaguely dissatisfied with our lives so that we continue wanting things we don’t have. We buy so much because it always seems like something is still missing.
A flourishing economy mostly depends on an unsatisfied population and a declining environment.
A perfect analogy for how climate change will affect us: by wearing us down, not through some singular event.
Recycling delays, rather than avoids, final disposal.
An in-depth look at our humongous plastic problem. Long read but worth it.
On the hypocrisy and deviousness of the fossil-fuel companies:
It’s here that British Petroleum, or BP, first promoted and soon successfully popularized the term “carbon footprint" in the early aughts. The company unveiled its “carbon footprint calculator” in 2004 so one could assess how their normal daily life — going to work, buying food, and (gasp) traveling — is largely responsible for heating the globe.
I knew about the anti-litter campaigns being funded by the packaging producers but I didn't know the carbon footprint was a similar industry invention. All created to put the focus on individual responsibility and cloak the oil industry's.
I never knew the plastics industry had co-opted the recycling symbol in order to reduce people's image of plastic as an environmental issue. Bleak but not particularly surprising.
Four years ago, Clientearth and several Brussels citizens took the regional government to court over its lack of any air quality improvement plan. In the final hearing this week, all the government's lawyers managed to do to defend themselves was put the quality of their own pollution measurements into question. It's depressing.
On the contrary, rather than admitting that there is a problem and committing to solve it, the Brussels lawyers in court today have gone as far as discrediting the reliability of air quality measurements carried out by the government’s own environmental agency. In doing so, they expose the residents and workers of this city to unacceptable health risks in their day to day lives.
Do you need a new phone or can you just replace the battery instead?
I held out as long as I could but I finally upgraded my iPhone 6s to a 13 mini. To be honest, the camera and battery life are better but, for my use anyway, it's not that much of a change. There's definitely work to be done on hardware obsolescence, be it deliberate or not.
The problem is that waste has always been a marginal issue, both literally and figuratively. It has been dumped in and on the peripheries, consigned to that mythical place called ‘away’. It has always been an ‘externality’, an unavoidable byproduct of necessary industrialisation. But it is now an internality – internal to every ecosystem and every digestive system from marine micro-organisms to humans.
A great article on our throwaway culture and the central position of waste in it all. This generated waste is, basically, the metabolism behind economic growth.
Cryptocurrencies are regularly criticised for their energy waste and climate impact. In this case, bitcoin is directly burning coal. A Bitcoin mining company bought a powerstation to fuel their mining.
In a deal struck in late 2020, Marathon, a bitcoin “mining” company, became the sole recipient of the power station’s electricity. It established an elongated data center on 20 acres of land beside the facility that is packed with more than 30,000 Antminer S19 units, a specialized computer that mines for bitcoin. Such thirst for power is common in crypto – globally bitcoin mining consumes more electricity than Norway, a country of 5.3 million people.
Bloomberg reporters placed tracking devices in plastic bags to see what happened to them. They made quite a journey and revealed how obscure and problematic the recycling business can be.
It made me wonder about how local recycling is processed but all I could find was vague rhetoric.
An interesting history of palm oil and its presence in an obnoxious amount of processed products, not just food.
Campaigners tend to be more hostile towards palm oil than towards other tropical products such as cocoa and soy which also pose threats to ecosystems. He suggests that this hostility comes down to the fact that ‘palm oil is perceived as being in things, rather than a thing in its own right.’
I'm reading the Bright Green Lies book and found this thought-provoking discussion with one of the authors.
As he says, there's definitely an issue with the environmental movement these days being more interested in keeping modern civilization on its current course, rather than trying to protect the actual planet itself like it used to.
And the dominant blind faith in "green" technology does tend to make me uneasy.
Concrete is the second-most consumed substance in the world and causes much environmental damage. Despite this, it's needed for essential infrastructure and, paradoxically, will be needed even more to protect against climate change.
Alongside all of this, it has a lifespan of about 100 years, which means much of our infrastructure is hitting that age limit and starting to rot.
This is a fascinating article on our addiction to concrete and the harms that come with it.
