Weekly Links - 22/06/2008

UK Politics News Stories
Lots of interesting, if sometimes a little depressing, stuff being reported this week. It seems all the millions spent by the climate change denial industry and the busy beaver efforts of their conspiracist right-wing errand boys on blogs and comments sections have not been in vain as a majority of Brits still "doubt the evidence" on climate change. Semi-reasonable comment (albeit from his establishment viewpoint) from Andrew Rawnsley here, but as usual the cynics, pessimists, liars and fascists are out in force on the comments section.

Meanwhile there is to be a much trumpeted "Green Energy Push" in Britain, but George Monbiot has picked out some of the flaws in the plan and its likely implementation. One thing I picked out was the lack of mention of the potential use of biogas from anaerobic digestion of food waste etc - let us hope that this is not a further signal of government "capture" by the big waste companies eager to incinerate 50% of Britain's waste and call this "sustainable" and "green" energy from waste. These firms have just managed to get the tame elements of the EU to pass legislation favourable to their plans in the face of Green opposition.

UK Royal financial reports are due out in the next few days, with the monarchist spin machine presenting it as "value for money" - the campaign group Republic is ready with the facts and arguments for an end to expensive and undemocratic hereditary offices of state. Republic are also running a campaign to challenge the oath of allegiance to the monarch.

Industrial
It is the British Isles Regional Organising Committee (BIROC) of the Industrial Workers Of the World (IWW) meeting this weekend, with preparations well under way for the international General Assembly of the IWW in London at the end of August. Before then, Wobblies internationally will be involved in a mobilisation to highlight the union-busting tactics of Starbucks. IWW members at Starbucks branches in the US have been under attack and now the IWW is linking up for action with the Spanish CNT union and the international organisation they are affiliated to the IWA/AIT (International Workers' Association) as a CNT member in Sevilla has been fired for union activity. The day of action is scheduled for July 5th.

It was the British public services union, Unison, conference this week and as well as warning the governing Labour Party over local government workers' pay they passed a motion on the situation in Palestine.

The RMT (transport) union has its' conference in Nottingham this week and there is a fringe meeting put together by the Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union Group at 1.10pm at the Rope Walk Pub on Derby Road.

Green Issues


Despite all the campaigning by green groups over battery recycling the British authorities have failed to act and now face penalties under new EU legislation.

There is impressive mobilising and campaigning going on against incineration in various parts of the world, including the Basque country where 2000 demonstrated on the streets of San Sebastian last week. There was also a protest in Barcelona, Catalonia, where three weeks ago 1,000 people marched against a project from the Lafarge cement plant to burn different types of waste, including sewage sludge, tyres and solvents. The local "platform" against incineration also collected 6,200 signatures against this project.

Human Rights
The campaign for the freeing of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine continues, with a new petition. The speech given by actor Danny Glover at a vigil for the campaigner, and for freedom for Haiti is on You Tube here.

There is a demo supporting the long suffering opposition to the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe in London on Monday 23rd June. More from Action For Southern Africa here.

Blogs

Aled has a blog piece on Paul Mobbs' Energy Beyond Oil.

Derek reports that the Greens are likely to run a candidate in the Howden and Haltemprice by-election to give a voice to all those who support the former MP's stance on 42 days detention but vigourously oppose him on just about everything else and so could not bring themselves to vote for him. By voting Green people will be able to register opposition to the detention without trial moves without allowing a socially reactionary and economically neo-liberal Tory to present his party as the sole guardian of our rights and liberties. Elsewhere, Labour Left Dave Osler has taken Tony Benn to task for backing the Tory campaign.

Jack Ray is following the European football, Liam MacUaid and Dave Osler reflect on the anti-fascist event in London on Saturday, and the Socialist Unity blog reports on a call for the abolition of prescription charges.

Bloated Plutocrats Urge Restraint

Grim economic news in Britain today over soaring food and fuel prices and inflation. The refrain from the media commentators and the politicians is the same as ever - "restraint" in working people's pay claims and the monetarist obsession with controlling inflation by forcing working class people to pay for every market difficulty, failure, crisis and slump.

We shall now see whether Thatcherism and its' Blairite continuation have really achieved a permanent hold on the perception of economic interests amongst working people. It has long been encouraging that whilst the yellow media have a certain hold on perception of some political issues like immigration, they have long failed to hoodwink huge numbers over basic economic interests - witness the failure of the Poll Tax. Some of the media even joins in populist attacks on "fat cats" (particularly politicians) awarding themselves huge increases whilst expecting others to cope with rises that do not match inflation.

The attempt by New Labour to force public sector workers to accept pay deals below the real rate of inflation - in the face of massive increases in food and fuel costs - is an attempt to make workers pay for the crisis. It is imposing pay cuts on hundreds of thousands of low paid workers. The rising costs are also impacting heavily on pensioners and claimants, but the government can only continue wittering about welfare "reform". Anger is rising. The Government are widely despised over a whole range of unpopular policies.

All this is a curtain raiser for a longer term and deeper crisis brought on by climate change, resource scarcity and global conflict. The rich and the ruling class the world over will seek to make the poorest and most vulnerable bear the heaviest burdens in this new era. On our side we must begin to organise and fight back. The demand for a "JUST TRANSITION" (to a lower carbon, lower energy, more sustainable and more localised economy) is beginning to be heard more widely - though like "sustainability" the phrase means different things to different people, and we should not expect too much of the TUC, tied as they are to the same Government that is adamant (even at the beginning of the downturn and first ripples of the economic and social Tsunamis to come) that the TUC's members must pay a disproportionate price. Work can be done inside TUC unions, but the task is larger than getting union bureaucracies to voice some watered down demands.

As ever, working people and communities need also to organise independently of political and economic bureaucracies, use their own tactics and strategies and raise their own demands. The rich history of struggle represented by the likes of the IWW is there to be discovered by a new generation.

Greenman's Holiday

One of he surest things about going on holiday is that you will have a lot of catching up to do when you get back - hopefully normal service will be restored on the blog soon!

In the meantime, the Guardian devoted today's leading article to the subject of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) - here is the link.

Weekly Links - 24/05/08

Another quick selection of links for you this week during a busy period.

Blogs
Lots of comment everywhere about Labour's Crewe and Nantwich by-election disaster. As ever, perceptive comment from Green blogger Jim at Daily (Maybe)

From Jim's piece -

Hidden beneath the anger that New Labour had departed from Old/real Labour policies has always been that layer of voters who thought that was a good thing. Who wanted them to be less socialist, less working class, less orientated on the trade unions. More than that, New Labour persuaded a whole layer of people that it was the right and proper thing to do to desert those Labour traditions. There has been a gradual shift to the right in society, one that is becoming more obvious as Brown's government slowly crumbles and dies.

That means all we're left with is whether Labour are a more efficient, in touch Conservative Party than the Tories. And for a few years they were. But no more. As Harriet Harman said that "people are feeling the pinch". That's right. You for one.

Socialist Unity Blog have the Labour soft left Compass response to their party's defeat and an analytical piece by SUB uber-blogger Andy Newman.

Protest
The big protest against the Third Runway at Heathrow is coming up on 31st May - more from the Campaign Against Climate Change here.

New Book On Climate Change Action

Friends Of The Earth have a new book out on acting on climate change -

How Can I Stop Climate Change?
By Helen Burley & Chris Haslam

£12.99 (RRP £14.99)

We can do almost anything we put our minds to. Just run towards it.

- Marcus Brigstocke, comic and presenter



How Can I Stop Climate Change? is a step-by-step handbook to today's hottest issue, providing a complete guide to improving the quality of your life and the planet's, both as an individual and by scaling up your impact through political action.

Written by the experts at Friends of the Earth, it clearly sets out climate science and solutions - how much carbon we can live with, how to change old habits, and how to reduce your carbon footprint at home, at school, at work and in your neighbourhood.

This indispensable guide is perfect for those keen to make a difference but unsure of where to start. The message is loud and clear - if you want to help save the planet, get in the know and think big.

Nothing's more delicious than the vegetable you've grown yourself, few things feel better than a cosy, well-insulated home, riding a bike is fun and it makes your bum smaller. Someone tell me, please, what's not to like?

- Marcus Brigstocke, comic and presenter

Weekly Links - 19/04/08

I am very busy at the moment and over the next couple of weeks - hence the more infrequent nature of posting. Just time this week, then, to post a few links of interest.

The main continuing stories in the news have been the terrible disasters in Burma/Myanmar and China. In Britain the Burma aid effort is being coordinated through DEC, the Disasters Emergency Committee that links together major charities and aid organisations. The British Red Cross is coordinating a China Earthquake appeal.

Green Politics
A hard hitting new report on Climate Change was published last week and drew comment from the South East England Green Party Euro MP Caroline Lucas. Jim at Daily (Maybe)last week posted his final analysis on the London election results.

Blogging
Tim at Green Left Infoasis posted links to a range of interesting stories on Friday, including this article about John Cusack's film War Inc.

Derek Wall commented on the trials (and trial!) of infamous right wing Anglo-Irish blogger "Guido Fawkes" on the Socialist Unity Blog.

Transition Town Meeting In Nottingham

If people in the East Midlands are interested in Transition Towns there is a talk on Tuesday 27th May at the Nottingham Mechanics , South Sherwood St at 7.30 by Rob Hopkins, the architect of the Transition Town movement in the UK. The talk is entitled 'From oil dependancy to local resilience'.
Penney Poyzer, Nottinghams very own "Queen of Green" will also be speaking there.

From the Wikipedia article linked above:

The Transition concept emerged from work permaculture designer Rob Hopkins had done with the students of Kinsale Further Education College in writing an ‘Energy Descent Action Plan’. This looked at across-the-board creative adaptations in the realms of energy production, health, education, economy and agriculture as a ‘road map’ to a sustainable future for the town, and was unanimously adopted by Kinsale Council.

The idea was adapted and expanded in September 2006 to Hopkins' hometown of Totnes where he is now based. The initiative spread quickly, and as of 25 April 2008, there are over fifty communities recognised as official Transition Towns[2] in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. While referred to as Towns, the communities involved range from villages (Kinsale), through council districts (Penwith) to cities and city boroughs (Brixton).

Weekly Links 27/04/08

A very busy week this week in the run up to May Day and the elections, but just enough time for a quick run around this corner of the blogosphere......

Plenty of stuff on the coming elections, particularly those in London.

Derek Wall at Another Green World pointed out that the Observer newspaper Leader this weekend, whilst ultimately backing Ken Livingstone, has favourable comment on the Mayoral campaign of Sian Berry and suggests a first preference for her!



Derek also blogged on the record of the Greens on the London Assembly.

Andy Newman at the Socialist Unity Blog has had a post critical of the SWP's Left List leaflet in London and another post praising the strategy of the Greens.

Stroppyblog highlights the News Of The World story on the far right candidate in the London Mayoral elections.

The Lenin's Tomb blog made a relatively rare excursion into environmental topics this week with observations on the implications of the latest news and predictions of Arctic thawing. He then spoils it in the comments by the usual predictable green-slagging, oh well, you can't have everything.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Anton Vowl at Enemies of Reason blog this week reported on the strange tabloid story of the mutant squirrels and the unpleasant undertones in the reporting. Always a pleasure to end, News at Ten style, on a fluffy animal story.....

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Global Warming Primer

Today's Independent newspaper in the UK has a free booklet in its Science Made Simple series on "Global Warming" by Mark Maslin, Director of the UCL Environment Institute. Mark Maslin is a leading palaeoclimatologist and is the author of the book Global Warming : A Very Short Introduction.
The Independent also has a thoughtful editorial on the dilemma posed by the recent onshore windfarm decision in Scotland.
However, in the interests of "balance" the Independent still gives room to the tedious contrarian (from a clan of tedious far right neo-liberal contrarians) Dominic Lawson, to rant on in the same vein as his father about the global conspiracy and how everyone else are idiots, fools and dupes - and all the world needs is more markets, more competition, more red-in-tooth-and-claw capitalism. Yeah, right. We still remember Lawson senior's disastrous term under the Iron Handbag......

A Further Stern Warning On Climate Change

When the Stern report was published back in 2006, many in the Green movement pointed out that Stern's assessment of the risks erred on the conservative side, and that his suggested remedies were a combination of similarly conservative steps and fashionable "market based" solutions like Carbon Trading. It seems that, at least on the analysis of the challenge and threat, Stern has come around to a view a little closer to his critics at that time:

"We badly underestimated the degree of damages and the risks of climate change," said Lord Stern in a speech in London yesterday. "All of the links in the chain are on average worse than we thought a couple of years ago."

More from Danny Fortson in the Independent here.

Yet despite his reassessment of the situation, Stern is still in favour of the "market solutions" (free market economics and neo-liberal globalisation are a large part of the problem) and expensive nuclear technical "fix" (I have less problem with his call for more investment in developing Carbon Capture and Sequestration and renewables)

Will Stern's words have any effect this time? It is sobering to recall George Marshall's account of some of the response to the original Stern Report.

New Links and Green Books

I have added a few new links to my links column, the first being Skeptical Science, an interesting and useful site set up by John Cook, an ex-Physicist who majored in Solar Physics at the University of Queensland. I have added it to my resources section. From the site intro -

Scientific skepticism is a healthy thing. Scientists should always challenge themselves to expand their knowledge, improve their understanding and refine their theories. Yet this isn't what happens in global warming skepticism. Skeptics vigorously criticise any evidence that supports anthropogenic global warming and yet eagerly, even blindly embrace any argument, op-ed piece, blog or study that refutes global warming.

So this website gets skeptical about global warming skepticism. Do their arguments have any scientific basis? What does the peer reviewed scientific literature say?

My other new link is in my left parties and blogs section, where I have added the very brave young anti-fascist Duncan Money's blog - Nation of Duncan.



Sian Berry's book, 50 Ways To Save Water And Energy is getting a boost from her high profile during the London election, which is a very good thing as the book promotes things that individuals can do to help save the planet, whilst also usually saving money - and Sian's profile shows that it is not all just about individual action, collective and political action are essential.

The Green Party Political Broadcast for the local elections aired on TV last night, and very good it was too. The Greens also have this excellent website up and running for the local elections - http://www.votegreenparty.org.uk/



Back on books and Lancaster Green Party City Councillor Anne Chapman has a book out entitled Democratizing Technology, published by Earthscan, which looks at risk, responsibility and the regulation of chemicals.

Humans and Habitats Conference

A major conference linking human rights and the environment is to take place at the London School Of Economics on Saturday 26th April. The collaborative event - Humans & Habitats: rethinking rights in an age of climate change is supported by the LSE's Centre for the Study of Human Rights, The Guardian, Human Rights Watch and Friends Of The Earth.

Human rights naturally focus on the inherent dignity and worth of the person. In the past they have prompted democratic reform and inspirational documents such as the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

Since the 1970s the environmental movement has highlighted the impacts of human activities on the biodiversity and habitats on which we all depend. This has lead to global environmental principles such as those contained in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development.

The two movements share concerns about current economic paradigms; quality of life; the necessity to find solutions to these problems; and a strong desire to safeguard the health of the planet for future generations. Both face a common challenge in the form of climate change and its impacts on people. The task is to find real solutions to climate change that respect human rights and prevent the worst off from facing even greater hardship. How can the two movements work together to achieve this?

In this major public conference the Centre for the Study of Human Rights, in partnership with Friends of the Earth, Human Rights Watch and the Guardian, presents a thought provoking event exploring opportunities for change and connections between people and the planet.

Tickets are £10 waged, £5 unwaged, and the deadline for registrations is 18th April.

"Emissions Targets Not Good Enough" - Top NASA Scientist

A top climate scientist from NASA has said that the targets set by the European Union (amongst the more ambitious ones currently being aimed for) are insufficient to forestall catastrophic climate change. Dr James Hansen, head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York called for far more stringent targets:

Hansen says the EU target of 550 parts per million of C02 - the most stringent in the world - should be slashed to 350ppm. He argues the cut is needed if "humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilisation developed". A final version of the paper Hansen co-authored with eight other climate scientists, is posted today on the Archive website. Instead of using theoretical models to estimate the sensitivity of the climate, his team turned to evidence from the Earth's history, which they say gives a much more accurate picture.

Debate has ensued upon this, with Leo Hickman at the Guardian somewhat unfairly linking it to James Lovelock's recent "we're all stuffed so we might as well eat, drink and be merry" type arguments. Hansen and the other scientists are hardly arguing from that viewpoint, after all, but merely presenting the science and suggesting the scale of the challenge and the appropriate targets.

Weekly Links - 06/04/08

Blogs
Jim, at Daily (Maybe) this week launched a survey of readers of his blog on the British political situation and also linked to the "Vote Match" site for the London Election.
On that subject, Liam Mac Uaid this week reported on his left group's statement on the London Mayoral election - calling for a first preference for Sian Berry, the Green candidate.
Duncan Money, one of the bravest current anti-fascist bloggers, reported this week on the latest foot shooting incident of one of the far rightists in London.
In a week that has seen day after day of barely concealed tabloid joy at stories which gave them the opportunity to play on the meanest and basest prejudices, Anton Vowl at Enemies Of Reason took a look at the pit of stench that is the current worst offending tabloid, The Express. At Obsolete, Septicisle also looked at the influence of the tabloid scum on topics such as privacy/data theft and cannabis classification.
Meanwhile, from Ireland, there is comment on Cedar Lounge Revolution blog in the wake of the Bertie Ahern resignation announcement.
From the US, Renegade Eye started a debate on Obama and US foreign policy on Monday.
Finally this week, news that the lefty blogger responsible for high traffic UK blog Lenin's Tomb is going into print.

Activism
Rising Tide called a day of action on polluting energy companies failing to address the challenge of climate change on April 1st, entitled "Fossil Fools Day".
There were a series of actions around the country, including in Nottingham, where E.On were targeted and blockaded, and in London where the Football Association were targetted due to their acceptance of prominent sponsorship by E.On.

Green Politics



Just love those Sian Berry posters!
The Green Party of The United States this week posted election news from Illinois and Wisconsin.
English Green MEP Caroline Lucas this week led a delegation to talk to EU Commissioner (Environment) Dimas about illegal logging and deforestation.

Labour News
Various interesting stories highlighted on Labourstart this week - amongst those catching my eye were a large protest against low pay and corporate greed in Slovenia, continuing industrial unrest amongst Nike workers in Vietnam, and repression of workers struggles in Egypt.

Lancaster University Study Debunks Key Climate Sceptic Argument

A major study by Lancaster University Scientists has seriously challenged the contention of Climate Change "Skeptics" regarding the effect of the interaction of solar activity on cosmic ray intensity. A theory around this, based on the work of Danish scientist Henrik Svensmark at the Danish National Space Center (DNSC) formed a centrepiece of the polemical contrarian TV documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle.

According to the BBC :

The research contradicts a favoured theory of climate "sceptics", that changes in cosmic rays coming to Earth determine cloudiness and temperature.

The idea is that variations in solar activity affect cosmic ray intensity.

But Lancaster University scientists found there has been no significant link between them in the last 20 years.

Presenting their findings in the Institute of Physics journal, Environmental Research Letters, the UK team explain that they used three different ways to search for a correlation, and found virtually none.

More from the BBC here.

Weekly Links 01/04/08

Various posts worthy of note from fellow green and left bloggers over the last week:

Green Party London Mayoral candidate Sian Berry turned her spotlight on the Liberal Democrats' candidate Brian Paddick in her New Statesman blog.

Derek Wall has been supporting the campaign of Bristol Green Party Councillor Charlie Bolton and others against the destruction of the Bristol-Bath cycle route.

Peter Tatchell continued his coverage of events in Pakistan-controlled Baluchistan.

Caroline Lucas commented on the Canadian seal cull.

Jim at Daily (Maybe) blogged on the situation in Tibet and the debate in the West.

Molly at Gaian Economics commented on the Tata motor industry take-over.

Green From Below picked up on the Qollasuyo Declaration on climate change from the Climate and Capitalism blog.

Green Left to host discussion at left conference on globalisation

Green Left are to host one of the headline discussions at the left conference on globalisation put together by the Morning Star newspaper and sponsored by unions FBU, UCATT, Unite, NUM and others.

Derek Wall is to address the meeting on Climate Change - Ecosocialist Alternatives.

Other items on the agenda of the conference are "Fighting Neoliberalism in the Americas", "Migrant Labour: Good, bad or inevitable?", and "Global Capital and Trade Union Rights"

The conference is scheduled for Saturday 19th April 2008 at Mander Hall, Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London WC1 from 9.30am to 4pm. Registration fee is £10 waged, £5 unwaged. Contact address is Morning Star Conference, William Rust House, 52 Beachy Road, London E3 2NS. Cheques payable to PPPS.

Selected News from Indymedia Newswire

Various actions, emergency demos and activism posted up on the UK Indymedia newswire over the last few days.

First an emergency demo in London today for Mumia Abu-Jamal here.

Secondly the fight for freedom of assembly goes on with a demo planned for 5th April.

International Rising Tide Network have demos on climate change issues scheduled for 1st April.

Latest Ice Shelf News Underlines Climate Change Campaign Urgency

The latest news regarding the Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antarctica- detailed here, here and here - gives added urgency to the campaign for meaningful action on climate change. With this in mind it is good to see that the Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union Network continues its' work to alert trade unionists to the dangers and the role they can play in mobilising for action. The following is a model motion from the Campaign Against Climate Change for union meetings, supporting the Campaign and the demonstration against Airport Expansion planned for 31st May -

Model Motion in support of the Campaign against Climate Change (CCC)

This meeting notes:

1) That the level of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere is up one third on that of pre-industrial times: a level higher than it has been for at least 400 000 years.

2) The evidence that human activity is changing the climate is now overwhelming. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that future greenhouse gas emissions are likely to increase average global temperatures by between 2 C and 6.5 C this century.

3) That continued global warming threatens to undermine or even reverse human Progress, as flooding, drought, disease and ecological disruption increasingly affects the world's population. The IPCC notes that the poorest countries will be by far the worst affected by climate change. Ultimately ‘run-away’ climate change threatens a global catastrophe of unimaginable scale.

4) The contradiction between the Government’s stated aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and its practice of expanding roads and airports.

5) The devastating impact a proposed third runway at Heathrow Airport would have on local communities as a consequence of increases in air and noise pollution, and on climate change as a result of increased emissions of greenhouse gases.

This meeting therefore demands that the UK government immediately scraps all plans to build a third runway at Heathrow airport.

This meeting agrees to:

1) Affiliate to the Campaign against Climate Change (Affiliation fees: National Unions £250 per annum; Districts and Regions £100 per annum; local branches £25 per annum), and help its work with a further donation of £... (cheques payable to Campaign against Climate Change should be sent to Campaign against Climate Change , Top Floor, 5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DX)

2) Send a delegation and banner to the National Demonstration against the third runway at Heathrow at 12 noon on Saturday 31st May 2008.

Aims and Objectives Statement of the Campaign against Climate Change

The Campaign against Climate Change exists to push for the urgent and radical action we need to prevent the catastrophic destabilisation of global climate. The destabilisation of global climate has become the very greatest threat to our planet and everyone on it - with the possible exception only of all-out war with modern weapons of mass-destruction. We do not know how much irreversible damage we have done already but we know that if we do not act now the effects will be many times more devastating still.

1/ The CCC exists to secure the action we need - at a local, national and, above all, international level - to minimise harmful climate change and the devastating impacts it will have. To that end the CCC seeks to raise awareness about the gravity and urgency of the threat from climate change and to influence those with the greatest power to take effective action to do so with the utmost speed and resolution. Where ignorance, short term greed and vested interests stand in the way of the action that is urgently needed, the CCC exists to fight against all of these things.

2/ In particular the CCC brings people together to create a mass movement to push for our goals, including street demonstrations & other approaches.

3/ The CCC seeks a global solution to a global problem
and aims to push for an international emissions reductions treaty that is both effective in preventing the catastrophic destabilisation of global climate and equitable in the means of so doing. To be effective such a treaty needs to secure such reductions in the global total of greenhouse gas emissions as are deemed by the broad consensus of qualified scientific opinion to be necessary to prevent harmful climate change. The CCC aims to campaign against those with the greatest responsibility for preventing or delaying the progress we urgently need towards an international climate treaty.

4/ The CCC recognises that the issue of the destabilisation of global climate has enormous implications in terms of social justice and global inequality. The damage to the earth's atmosphere has so far been done mainly by the rich nations but it is the poorest who will suffer the greatest and most immediately. The CCC recognises that any solution to the problem must be as fair as possible, incorporating principles of social justice and not exacerbating global and local inequalities

5/ The CCC aims to bring together as many people as possible who support our broad aims of pushing for urgent action on climate and reducing global emissions. The CCC does not therefore campaign on the important but more detailed questions of how best to achieve these emission reductions and recognises that supporters will have different and deeply held views on these issues.

Weekly Links - 24/03/2008

Today is the anti-nuclear demonstration at Aldermaston marking 50 years of CND (The Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament.) I will hopefully be able to post some links to reports later in the week. First here are some photographs from the 15th March anti-war demo in London posted on the Green Party Trade Union Group blog. The blog also advertises the South East London Health Rally planned for Saturday 29th March.

Around the blogs this week A Very Public Sociologist comments on the turmoil within the Labour Party in Scotland, and Jim at The Quiet Road started a discussion on CO2 emissions per barrel of various oil products here, and continued it with corrections to some dubious oil company data here.

Chicken Yoghurt and Enemies of Reason blogs have posts about the human-animal embryo debate.

Smiffy has a post on Cedar Lounge Revolution blog dissecting the latest war apologetics of Christopher Hitchens which found their way to the Irish Times after being published in Slate (Warning for those of a nervous disposition - it starts with a truly stomach churning pic of Hitchens in the shower!) Dave Osler this week looked at the Iraq War anniversary.

Louise posted on the "counter terrorism" bill at the Socialist Unity blog this week, while Charlie Marks at Rebellion Sucks commented on the failure of the Police to prosecute the Tory MP at the centre of a nepotistic corruption scandal.

Liam MacUaid reports on the experience of attending a local Catholic Mass over Easter, while Jack Ray comments on the current debate around religion, race and politics in the US started by the words of Barack Obama's associate Reverend Wright. Green Left Infoasis has comment on similar topics from Cynthia McKinney.

Lastly, Derek Wall at Another Green World over the weekend blogged on food miles and the despicable behaviour of Foreign Office Minister and Columbian regime apologist Kim Howells.