ALAN SIMPSON
News from Somewhere Else
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Don’t blame them; the sherpas, the civil servants and Ministers. They did their best, struggling to get commitments (rather than conditional brackets) out of COP26 negotiations. Surviving on caffeine and little sleep, they genuinely tried to get something meaningful past fossil fuel lobbyists and national vetoes. In the end, everyone had something to grumble about.…
“Don’t choose extinction”. This was the simple advice offered by a dinosaur in the UN’s CGI video message to global leaders. The question is whether any have the sense to heed it. The chaotic upheavals surrounding Glasgow’s COP26 gathering suggest the message is not getting through fast enough. To be fair, there were hopeful signs.…
Sometimes there are events that make you rail in anger. Others make you weep. Reading the government’s plethora of ‘net zero’ policy papers ahead of November’s COP26 climate conference, I could barely hold back the tears. It wasn’t their lack of ambition but the absence of a route map (with sufficient resources and urgency) that…
In her book Men in Dark Times, the philosopher Hannah Arendt coined the notion of inner emigration. What was it that stood in the way of so many prominent/influential people challenging the rise of Hitlerism or organising escape routes from it? From the biographies she explored, Arendt concluded that many found the external realities of…
Are local authorities equipped to reach net zero? “Only rapid and drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in this decade can prevent climate breakdown” – Sir Patrick Vallance, Chief Scientific Advisor. This Inquiry could not be more timely or important. Before the last election, I set up scientific briefings for MPs calling for a step…
The ‘Sun Ship’ (Das Sonnenschiff) is a small community in the Vauban district of Freiburg. Built in 2004, it is one of the earliest examples of ‘energy-plus’ housing; developments that generate more electricity than the community itself consumes. Powered entirely by solar energy (and storage), and designed to high standards of natural heating and cooling,…
Transformation Moment
My pamphlet 'Transformation Moment' is intended to support the case for a radical shift in energy thinking; as much about democracy as technology, and about 'systems' rather than just supply.
"Heading for 2050 is a travesty of the environmental and climate science which tells us what needs to be done."—@ProfTimJackson with @SWEurope_ at #COP26. Full video via the @UNFCCC website ▶️ https://t.co/1Pzkgi3kj5 cc #ZeroCarbonSooner #NetZero #NetZero2050 #ClimateStrike
What if Macron offered to send French staff here, helping to raise the UK’s refugee acceptance levels to those of France. Johnson’s response would be a delight to witness.
Interesting snippet in Johnson's letter to Macron yesterday. He would like an EU returns agreement to replace the one the UK lost because of Brexit.
SO scary. This is the pathway to a post-democratic society Putin, Lukashenko et al would be proud of. The Lords (and Opposition parties) should refuse to pass any new laws until full scrutiny is restored. This may be the only form of protest not yet declared illegal.
Govt excluding debate on new anti protest laws. Introduced 18 pages of new law, after Commons stages and second reading in Lords complete. Whole Lords committee stage debate on new clauses crammed into one late night. Commons excluded, Lords marginalised, Parl neutralised.
It made my day bumping in to Peppa Pig at Downing Street World. He said because of Johnson 150,000 of his friends were killed for landfill. #BrexitShambles
Strange that NASA can precisely target a meteorite 7 million miles away across the galaxy but the Home Office can’t even deliver compensation payments to those it wrongly deported in the Windrush debacle.
Windrush survivor: Will we get government compensation before we die?
A report by MPs says the Home Office should be stripped of running the Windrush compensation scheme.
www.bbc.co.uk
This would be a good moment to follow the Danes who, after the ‘73 oil crisis, nationalised their energy sector, redefined it as a ‘not for profit’ service (not a market), run through a network of localised cooperatives (all obliged to offer combined heat and power services).👍👍
Bulb going bust means we’re back to the Big Six - who extracted £23bn in dividends & £10.22bn in interest over last 10 years - ~8.5 times their tax bill - while around 4 mill suffered in fuel poverty.
THE CURRENT APPROACH TO ENERGY OWNERSHIP IS FAILING.
@Cmmonwealth @We_OwnIt
Trust me, sweetheart. Up in the North they’ll believe anything. If I tell them this is their HS2, HS2 it is. Then we keep the real money down South. Easy peezy.
caption contest
He may not be a supporter of (Covid) face masks, but it’s good to see that Roger is clearly an enthusiastic supporter of LTNs and the clean air they bring.
No John. It’s just that 90% (or more) of the population believe they have a basic human right to breathe freely. https://t.co/wqdXPGjhHG
Re-upping this on first time I cried about climate change in solidarity with the brilliant @GeorgeMonbiot. The emotional response to the crisis absolutely should be normalised. It’s much more likely to drive action than despair. #ivecriedoverclimatechange
Noah's Rainbow - Raising children in an age of climate crisis
On crying at the climate crisis, the start of a decade of consequences, and the stark difference between ghosts and ancestors
www.businessgreen.com