[News] from [guardian.co.uk]
[Environment > Copenhagen Climate change conference 2009]
Archbishop of Canterbury says fear hinders climate change battle
Rowan Williams tells Copenhagen service corporations and governments are afraid to make choices to bring real change
Riazat Butt, Religious affairs correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 13 December 2009 19.51 GMT Article history
People are so paralysed by fear and selfishness they cannot save the planet, the archbishop of Canterbury said on Sunday during a church service in Copenhagen.
Rowan Williams was preaching in the Danish capital as crucial UN climate change talks entered their second and final week.
He said that fear paralysed individuals, corporations and governments from making the choices needed to affect real and lasting change.
"We are afraid because we don't know how we can survive without the comforts of our existing lifestyle. We are afraid that new policies will be unpopular with a national electorate. We are afraid that younger and more vigorous economies will take advantage of us – or we are afraid that older, historically dominant economies will use the excuse of ecological responsibility to deny us our proper and just development."
Yesterday church bells in Denmark and other countries rang 350 times to represent the figure many scientists believe is a safe level of carbon dioxide in the air: 350 parts per million.
Joining Williams at Copenhagen's Lutheran cathedral was Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and religious leaders from Tuvalu, Zambia, Mexico and Greenland. Williams, who led the ecumenical service, said a paralysing sense of fear and selfishness would deny future generations a "stable, productive and balanced world to live in" and instead give them a world of "utterly chaotic and disruptive change, of devastation and desertification, of biological impoverishment and degradation."
There was even a sense that people were not frightened enough by this apocalyptic vision and cautioned against this approach, saying it would "drive out one sickness with another."
"It can make us feel that the problem is too great and we may as well pull up the bedclothes and wait for disaster. It can tempt us to blaming one another or waiting for someone else to make the first move," he added.
But humans were not "doomed to carry on in a downward spiral of the greedy, addictive, loveless behaviour" that had brought mankind to this crisis and he urged people to scrutinise their lifestyles and policies and how these demonstrated care for creation. Hecalled on people to consider what a sustainable and healthy relationship with the world would look like.
His message for conference delegates centred on trusting each other in a world of limited resources. "How shall we build international institutions that make sure that resources get where they are needed – that 'green taxes' will deliver more security for the disadvantaged, that transitions in economic patterns will not weigh most heavily on those least equipped to cope?"
Williams has had a busy few week: railing against the UK government for its religious illiteracy, condemning proposed anti-homosexuality legislation in Uganda, grappling with fresh dissent in the Anglican Communion and travelling to the landmark environment summit.In an interview with Channel 4 News last Saturday Williams warned that there were no "quick solutions" to global warming and said that there was a finite amount that individuals could do to make a difference.
He said: "I don't think there are any quick solutions, any absolutes here, but I think these are the sorts of issues about energy use particularly, whether it's travel or domestically, that have to be really up in front of our minds."
Foreign holidays were not an "easy call, frankly" while he decreed that everyone should use public transport as much as possible while at the very least enquire about ecologically sustainable travel.
He said that high-energy consuming vehicles in a city where there were alternatives were an irresponsible way of dealing with the crisis.
"We use a hybrid car for that reason as my official car in London. I'm also coming back from Copenhagen by train on this occasion rather than flying," he added.
[Environment > Wildlife]
Environment Agency: British wildlife faces climate change devastation
The UK is already feeling the effects of global warming, as rising temperatures put native species at risk of extinction
Press Association
guardian.co.uk, Monday 14 December 2009 10.40 GMT Article history
Rising temperatures and sea levels brought on by climate change could have devastating effects on British wildlife from salmon to wildfowl, the Environment Agency warned today as climate talks entered a second week in Copenhagen.
The agency said the country's waterways could be hit by invading species, such as African clawed toads and South American water primrose, which spread disease to native wildlife and clog up rivers and streams, causing flooding.
Fish species such as Atlantic salmon and trout, which need cold water may struggle to survive, are already declining in warming southern English rivers and estuaries.
Insects, which form an integral part of the food chain, will fall by a fifth for every 1C rise in temperatures in upland streams, the government agency warned.
Rising sea levels could inundate salt marshes and mudflats, which are used by migrating birds such as redshank plovers and wildfowl.
According to the government's conservation agency, Natural England, the UK's wildlife – from oak trees to newts – is already feeling the effects of climate change.
Lord Chris Smith, chairman at the Environment Agency, said: "There is a danger that we think of climate change as something that is happening in other countries. But it's not just polar bears and rainforests that are at risk.
"What we see in our rivers, gardens, seas and skies here in the UK is already changing and delays in reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions will lead to more severe impacts."
The Wildlife Trust is warning that species such as hazel dormice and bluebells are under pressure because of warmer weather, which will affect hibernating animals and bring trees into leaf earlier.
But warmer temperatures could allow the likes of spoonbills, wasp spiders and loose-flowered orchids to become more abundant or colonise for the first time.
European birds and insects which can easily move could be the first to increase their range into this country, while those native species least able to move their ranges further north or higher into the uplands as temperatures rise are most at risk of declines or extinction.
Dr Tom Tew, chief scientist at Natural England, said studies dating over the past 75 years show oak trees are coming into leaf three weeks earlier than they were in the 1950s.
As a result, insects are shifting their emergence patterns to fit in, which deprives birds of food to feed their chicks.
Newts are coming back into ponds in November, instead of March as they were in the 1970s, and swallows in Cornwall "aren't even bothering to migrate" south in winter, he said.
Tew believes the answer, for both wildlife and humans, is to work with the natural environment to help people, plants and animals adapt to the warming climate.
For example, creating salt marshes on the coast protects against flooding more cost effectively than concrete walls, provides carbon storage, nurseries for fish stocks and habitat for wildlife.
And we need to make the landscape more "permeable", allowing wildlife to move further north and higher up as temperatures rise by providing more "stepping stones" such as ponds and hedgerows.
The Environment Agency is working to provide new habitats to replace lost wetlands and improve water quality to give species vulnerable to climate change such as eels the best chance of survival.
Smith said there was also an urgent need for all countries to limit their emissions to avoid the "disastrous consequences" of a world in which temperatures rise by 4C or more.
[Environment > Copenhagen Climate change conference 2009]
Archbishop of Canterbury says fear hinders climate change battle
Rowan Williams tells Copenhagen service corporations and governments are afraid to make choices to bring real change
Riazat Butt, Religious affairs correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 13 December 2009 19.51 GMT Article history
People are so paralysed by fear and selfishness they cannot save the planet, the archbishop of Canterbury said on Sunday during a church service in Copenhagen.
Rowan Williams was preaching in the Danish capital as crucial UN climate change talks entered their second and final week.
He said that fear paralysed individuals, corporations and governments from making the choices needed to affect real and lasting change.
"We are afraid because we don't know how we can survive without the comforts of our existing lifestyle. We are afraid that new policies will be unpopular with a national electorate. We are afraid that younger and more vigorous economies will take advantage of us – or we are afraid that older, historically dominant economies will use the excuse of ecological responsibility to deny us our proper and just development."
Yesterday church bells in Denmark and other countries rang 350 times to represent the figure many scientists believe is a safe level of carbon dioxide in the air: 350 parts per million.
Joining Williams at Copenhagen's Lutheran cathedral was Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and religious leaders from Tuvalu, Zambia, Mexico and Greenland. Williams, who led the ecumenical service, said a paralysing sense of fear and selfishness would deny future generations a "stable, productive and balanced world to live in" and instead give them a world of "utterly chaotic and disruptive change, of devastation and desertification, of biological impoverishment and degradation."
There was even a sense that people were not frightened enough by this apocalyptic vision and cautioned against this approach, saying it would "drive out one sickness with another."
"It can make us feel that the problem is too great and we may as well pull up the bedclothes and wait for disaster. It can tempt us to blaming one another or waiting for someone else to make the first move," he added.
But humans were not "doomed to carry on in a downward spiral of the greedy, addictive, loveless behaviour" that had brought mankind to this crisis and he urged people to scrutinise their lifestyles and policies and how these demonstrated care for creation. Hecalled on people to consider what a sustainable and healthy relationship with the world would look like.
His message for conference delegates centred on trusting each other in a world of limited resources. "How shall we build international institutions that make sure that resources get where they are needed – that 'green taxes' will deliver more security for the disadvantaged, that transitions in economic patterns will not weigh most heavily on those least equipped to cope?"
Williams has had a busy few week: railing against the UK government for its religious illiteracy, condemning proposed anti-homosexuality legislation in Uganda, grappling with fresh dissent in the Anglican Communion and travelling to the landmark environment summit.In an interview with Channel 4 News last Saturday Williams warned that there were no "quick solutions" to global warming and said that there was a finite amount that individuals could do to make a difference.
He said: "I don't think there are any quick solutions, any absolutes here, but I think these are the sorts of issues about energy use particularly, whether it's travel or domestically, that have to be really up in front of our minds."
Foreign holidays were not an "easy call, frankly" while he decreed that everyone should use public transport as much as possible while at the very least enquire about ecologically sustainable travel.
He said that high-energy consuming vehicles in a city where there were alternatives were an irresponsible way of dealing with the crisis.
"We use a hybrid car for that reason as my official car in London. I'm also coming back from Copenhagen by train on this occasion rather than flying," he added.
[Environment > Wildlife]
Environment Agency: British wildlife faces climate change devastation
The UK is already feeling the effects of global warming, as rising temperatures put native species at risk of extinction
Press Association
guardian.co.uk, Monday 14 December 2009 10.40 GMT Article history
Rising temperatures and sea levels brought on by climate change could have devastating effects on British wildlife from salmon to wildfowl, the Environment Agency warned today as climate talks entered a second week in Copenhagen.
The agency said the country's waterways could be hit by invading species, such as African clawed toads and South American water primrose, which spread disease to native wildlife and clog up rivers and streams, causing flooding.
Fish species such as Atlantic salmon and trout, which need cold water may struggle to survive, are already declining in warming southern English rivers and estuaries.
Insects, which form an integral part of the food chain, will fall by a fifth for every 1C rise in temperatures in upland streams, the government agency warned.
Rising sea levels could inundate salt marshes and mudflats, which are used by migrating birds such as redshank plovers and wildfowl.
According to the government's conservation agency, Natural England, the UK's wildlife – from oak trees to newts – is already feeling the effects of climate change.
Lord Chris Smith, chairman at the Environment Agency, said: "There is a danger that we think of climate change as something that is happening in other countries. But it's not just polar bears and rainforests that are at risk.
"What we see in our rivers, gardens, seas and skies here in the UK is already changing and delays in reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions will lead to more severe impacts."
The Wildlife Trust is warning that species such as hazel dormice and bluebells are under pressure because of warmer weather, which will affect hibernating animals and bring trees into leaf earlier.
But warmer temperatures could allow the likes of spoonbills, wasp spiders and loose-flowered orchids to become more abundant or colonise for the first time.
European birds and insects which can easily move could be the first to increase their range into this country, while those native species least able to move their ranges further north or higher into the uplands as temperatures rise are most at risk of declines or extinction.
Dr Tom Tew, chief scientist at Natural England, said studies dating over the past 75 years show oak trees are coming into leaf three weeks earlier than they were in the 1950s.
As a result, insects are shifting their emergence patterns to fit in, which deprives birds of food to feed their chicks.
Newts are coming back into ponds in November, instead of March as they were in the 1970s, and swallows in Cornwall "aren't even bothering to migrate" south in winter, he said.
Tew believes the answer, for both wildlife and humans, is to work with the natural environment to help people, plants and animals adapt to the warming climate.
For example, creating salt marshes on the coast protects against flooding more cost effectively than concrete walls, provides carbon storage, nurseries for fish stocks and habitat for wildlife.
And we need to make the landscape more "permeable", allowing wildlife to move further north and higher up as temperatures rise by providing more "stepping stones" such as ponds and hedgerows.
The Environment Agency is working to provide new habitats to replace lost wetlands and improve water quality to give species vulnerable to climate change such as eels the best chance of survival.
Smith said there was also an urgent need for all countries to limit their emissions to avoid the "disastrous consequences" of a world in which temperatures rise by 4C or more.
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