10:10 Campaign launched in Dublin this week

“Oh no”,  I hear you say,  “not another one”.  But please folks, this campaign may just be the difference we have been waiting for.

Launched in the UK last month by film producer Franny Armstrong, he of The Age of Stupid  fame, the 10:10 campaign is about individuals and by extension, organisations putting their names on the line to pledge to reduce CO2 emissions by 10% by the end of 2010  – its a lifestyle change, a behavioural change.

By signing up to 10:10 you are not just promising to reduce your own emissions – you become part of a national drive to hit an ambitious goal country-wide. In homes, workplaces, schools, hospitals, sports clubs and universities, it’s a support network that backs each other to take the first necessary steps on the road to becoming a low-carbon society.

Read about the UK campaign here.

John Gormley launched the Irish version last Thursday, Oct. 29th

The End of the Line

The End of the Line is a powerful film about one of the world’s most disturbing problems – over-fishing.

Advances in fishing technology mean whole species of wild fish are under threat and the most important stocks we eat are predicted to be in a state of collapse by 2050.

The film points the finger at those most to blame, including celebrity chefs, and shows what we can do about it. This is not just a film, it is also a campaign – for sustainable consumption of fish, for marine protected areas to allow the sea to recover, and for a new ethic of responsible fishing.

Why is no one brave enough to stand up to the fishing industry?

George Monbiot wrote this piece in June (it was too good not to share) about the failure of politicians to stop some of the more destructive practices of the fishing industry just across the water from us in Cardigan Bay, a special area of conservation.

Here’s an extract:  The bay is strictly protected. It can’t be damaged, and the dolphins and other rare marine life can’t be disturbed. So why the heck has a fleet of scallop dredgers been allowed to rip it to pieces?

Waste – Uncovering the Global Food Scandal

Waste:  Uncovering the Global Food Scandal by Tristram Stuart,  Penguin €11

Are we profligate with food?   Tristram Stuart thinks so.  In Britain and the US average food costs are approximately 10% of a household’s disposable income.  In Pakistan it is 75%.

A result of this wastefulness, according to Stuart, is that the environmental impact of producing all this food that we don’t eat is significant – it takes 8.3 million hectares of agricultural land to produce just the meat and dairy products wasted in UK households and by consumers, retailers and food services in the US  – This land amounts to seven times the amount of land deforested in Brazil in the past year.

You can read a review HERE

Cargo ships are big pollution culprits

Excellent article here by Stephen Price highlighting the massive pollution caused by cargo ship’s diesel bunker fuel which contains 2,000 times more sulphur than the stuff you put in your car and according to the World Health Organisation the tiny soot particles generated by shipping fuel was responsible for 60,000 deaths worldwide through heart and lung failure.   Read on