The Société dExploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE) - operator of french national symbol Eiffel Tower - will switch off light for five minutes to support climate action ‘5 minutes de répit pour la plan
Archive for January, 2007
Quoted from press release, Jan 28 2007:
New survey shows students think climate should be Government’s biggest priority
A hard-hitting climate change advertising campaign showing condoms covering a coal station chimney, a car exhaust and aeroplane engine will be launched in universities across the country this month as part of Friends of the Earth’s The Big Ask campaign.
The launch of the ad campaign coincides with the publication of a new survey which shows that the majority of students think that climate change should be the Government’s biggest priority, with 95 per cent agreeing it is an important issue - ahead of issues such as the war in Iraq, terrorism and student loans. …
The advertising campaign will be delivered to 30 universities across England. Universities taking part in the scheme are:
Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Coventry, Derby, Greenwich, Hertfordshire, Hull, Leeds Metropolitan, Leeds University, Liverpool, London Uni of the Arts, Loughborough, Manchester, Middlesex, Newcastle, Newcastle, Northumbria, Nottingham, Oxford Brookes University, Plymouth, Sheffield University, Southampton, Southbank, Surrey, Thames Valley, Uni of Central England - Birmingham, Uni of West England - Bristol, University College London (UCL), Westminster
Picture credit: Friends of Earth
The Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) integrates remote sensing and GIS technologies to deliver MODIS active fire locations to natural resource managers and other stakeholders around the World in near real time. With a resolution of 1 square kilometers the service detects fires or thermal anomalies (volcanoes, …).
Fire detection is performed using a contextual algorithm that exploits the strong emission of mid-infrared radiation from fires. Under ideal conditions the smallest flaming fire that can be routinely detected is approximately 50 m
Currently in Paris, France, hundreds of Scientists are approving the IPCC report from Working Group 1 “The Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis” (chapters outline) in closed-door sessions. They finish 1st February 2007 and next day the release is planned.
Upcoming reports this year cover ‘Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability‘ and ‘Mitigation of Climate Change‘. The final part, a synthesis of all three parts for policy-makers, is expected in November.
The IPCC report will not outline measures to tackle global warming. Instead, it will concentrate on the latest evidence that the phenomenon is underway. The publication sets a milestone in fighting Global Warming, all included points are no longer matter of discussions and it provides the substantiated state of knowledge for decision-maker.
LAlliance pour la Planète values highly this moment and calls for action. Simply stop using energy between 19:55 and 20:00 MEZ - switch off lights!. Main purpose is not to save power rather than showing your interests. The signal is well recognizable and measurable.
LAlliance pour la Planète (groupement national dassociations environnementales) lance 5 minutes de répit pour la planète, un appel simple à lattention de tous les citoyens : le 1er février 2007 entre 19h55 et 20h00, éteignez veilles et lumières.
Participez à la plus grande mobilisation citoyenne contre le changement climatique !
This campaign is supported by dozens of french environmental groups, Friends of Earth and german BUND.
Der Standard: Hitzige Klimadebatte unter dem Eiffelturm
Gruene Jugend: FYEG supports the “Alliance pour la planète”
Joplin Independent: Group calls for five minutes of no power usage
Ottawa Sun: Area blackout protest targets climate change
Play with trees, ships, windmills, houses and bodies in a strong storm. More digital toys you’ll find on Masayuki Kido’s web page.
Via lessrain.com
In 2004 the US Department of Defense commissioned a report prepared by GBN titled: An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security
(more…)Violence and disruption stemming from the stresses created by abrupt changes in the climate pose a different type of threat to national security than we are accustomed to today.
Military confrontation may be triggered by a desperate need for natural resources such as energy, food and water rather than by conflicts over ideology, religion, or national honor.
The shifting motivation for confrontation would alter which countries are most vulnerable and the existing warning signs for security threats.
The beauty industry easily adapts trends and turns them into campaigns using stylistic photos. Do you think that’s cynical?
Dan Barton, vice president of communications for Diesel USA said: ‘It isn’t that we want to make a social or political statement. We’re taking a serious issue and putting it into Diesel’s world, a surreal avant-garde world. We don’t want to make light of the subject. We want to raise it in a way that people can digest.’
The ads photographed by Terry Richardson appear in Vogue, GQ, Esquire and public places. They show New York and Rio de Janeiro flooded, half-submerged Mount Rushmore, Parrots, rather than pigeons, populate St. Mark’s Square in Venice and the Eiffel Tower surrounded by lizards and Finland as palm tree-studded desert.
Via: dethroner.com - Diesel’s New Ad Global Warming Ad Campaign
The Campus Climate Challenge is an initiative of 37 leading youth organizations working to build a generation-wide movement to stop global warming.
Combining grassroots organizing, coalition-building, and online media and communication strategies, The Challenge aims to engage one million students at 1,000 universities and high schools in the United States and Canada to make their schools models of the clean energy future.
Youth working on The Challenge will inspire millions to become lifelong global warming advocates leading North America into a safer, cleaner, and healthier future for everyone.
January 29th through February 2nd young people will speak to their campus and political leaders about how the decisions they make today will directly affect the world we inherit tomorrow.
First time Bush addressed Climate Change in his State of the Union speech. For economic reasons he proposes to highter the supply of alternative fuels, to double the current capacity of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and to reform and modernize fuel economy standards.
However he did not see any imperative of joint international action or global control of emissions.
The ‘US Presidential Speeches Tag Cloud‘ analyses wording and identifies interests over time.
The energy part of the speech:
… It’s in our vital interest to diversify America’s energy supply — the way forward is through technology. We must continue changing the way America generates electric power, by even greater use of clean coal technology, solar and wind energy, and clean, safe nuclear power. (Applause.) We need to press on with battery research for plug-in and hybrid vehicles, and expand the use of clean diesel vehicles and biodiesel fuel. (Applause.) We must continue investing in new methods of producing ethanol — (applause) — using everything from wood chips to grasses, to agricultural wastes. (more…)
Stavros Dimas at launch event of the European Commission and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Climate Change co-operation for 2007, London, 11 January 2007
Some quotes:
… The reality of climate change is already with us. In the United Kingdom, 2006 was the warmest year since records began in 1659. On the global level, the ten hottest years have all been occurred since 1990. There can be no issue where results are more urgently needed than in addressing climate change. (more…)
