The Age of Stupid

This is a must see film - now out on DVD

The Age of Stupid Trailer March 20th VSn 2009 HD (Bleeped) from Age of Stupid on Vimeo.

Greenpeace - Not Stupid

This video was created by Greenpeace for the Copenhagen screening of the Global Premiere of The Age of Stupid.

Not Stupid - Greenpeace event time-lapse Graffiti video from Karuna Møller on Vimeo.

Blackout - coal, climate and the last energy crisis

Richard Heinberg, the author of The Party's over and Peak Everything has published his latest book - Blackout. Richard is best known for his analysis of oil depletion better known as 'peak oil' and the implications this has for society. His ideas have been incorporated as a central tenet of the Transition Movement in this country.

His latest book in effect looks at peak coal. My perceived wisdom on this was that whilst oil was 'running' out quickly there was plenty of coal and the challenge for society was how to decarbonisation the global economy by getting off coal before we irreversibly trashed the climate.

Apparently it is not this simple, whilst there is indeed a great deal of coal left on the planet, much of it is very inaccessible and therefore will never be mined. The book reviews coal reserves around the world. Coal peak in the US may be around 2025 whilst coal peak in China could be within 10 years which if true would grind their economy to a catastrophic halt.

Indeed when you combine peak oil and peak coal 'the worst scenarios for carbon emissions will not be realised'. This is because the biggest constraint on expanding coal supplies is transport which is reliant on oil. This isn't to say that cutting carbon emissions is a waste of time as peak oil and peak coal will do it for us - the reality is that stabilising the carbon emissions at 450-550ppm will probably trigger catastrophic climate change anyway via various tipping point events. We need to cut emissions and hope that peak oil and peak coal bring carbon levels down to 350ppm - just as Jim Hansen and the 350 campaign have argued.

This is a good book and one worth reading - especially if you think that combating climate change is the only game in town.

It is yet another piece in the jigsaw which should focus politicians on the Road of Copenhagen. If you feel overwhelmed - why not sign up to the 10:10 campaign - cut your own emissions by 10% in 2010 - actions speak louder than words.

10 10

A new campaign has been launched for indivuals, businesses and schools - the idea is that they make a pledge to cut CO2 emmissions by 10% in 2010.

Click here for details and how you can support the fight against climate change.

The campaign is getting strong political support - see here.

George Monbiot's commentary is also very interesting - he's being very positive!

The Convenient solution - Greenpeace renewables film

Greenpeace's Big If against Kingsnorth

Say NO to dirty coal: take the Big If pledge from Greenpeace UK on Vimeo.