Make big polluters pay for mass tree planting, officials say

Oil companies and airlines could fund 100m trees a year, says Committee on Climate Change

The planting of 100m trees a year in the UK to tackle the climate emergency could be paid for by new carbon levies on oil companies and airlines, the government’s official climate adviser has proposed.

The Committee on Climate Change also recommends banning the burning of grouse moors and the sale of peat compost to protect the nation’s bogs, which can store huge amounts of carbon. Voluntary measures have failed, it said.

The CCC’s new report concludes that fundamental changes in land use are needed to cut emissions from farming and get the nation on track to meet its legally binding target of net zero by 2050. It proposes cutting red meat eating by 20%, with the move to more plant-based diets freeing up a fifth of all farmland for new woodland.

The CCC’s plan for slashing emissions from agriculture also requires better management of manure, cutting methane from cattle with better feeds and growing crops that can be burned to produce electricity instead of natural gas.

The plan would cost £1.4bn a year but provide benefits of at least £4bn by cutting global heating and air pollution and improving flood protection and green spaces for people to enjoy. “That, in our assessment, seems like a price very much worth paying,” said Chris Stark, chief executive of the CCC.

Lord Deben, chair of the CCC, said: “This is one of the most important reports that we have ever produced because a change in land use is absolutely essential if we’re going to meet [the legal] requirements of reducing to net zero by 2050. It requires immediate government action. We are in a race against time.”

The UK is preparing to leave the European Union and the bloc’s subsidy scheme, which provides £3.3bn a year to farmers based mainly on the area of land owned. The government has pledged that the replacement scheme will pay farmers public money for public goods, such as tree planting.

Other groups have called for radical overhauls of farmland, which occupies 70% of the UK. Rewilding Britain suggests that a quarter of the UK’s land could be restored to nature, while an RSA commission said the true costs of cheap food were the climate crisis and a health crisis. A former chief scientific adviser to the UK government said in December that half of the nation’s farmland needed to be transformed into woodlands and natural habitat.

The most eye-catching part of the CCC’s plan, according to Stark, is the proposal that new levies on fossil fuel suppliers, airlines and other carbon-emitting industries pay for the tree-planting programme. Farmers and landowners would be paid either via annual auctions of contracts to create woodland or from a carbon trading scheme, the CCC said.

The cost would be about £700m a year, Stark said. “You could imagine a world where that was all paid for from a fossil fuel levy, but that is a decision for the Treasury.” Such a system would mean the polluter pays, said Deben, but the aviation industry would still need to keep emissions at 2005 levels.

The National Farmers Union revealed a plan for agriculture to end its net emissions by 2040 in September, a decade earlier than the CCC plan. It requires no cut in meat eating or livestock numbers and no conversion of substantial areas of farmland into forest. It relies heavily on bioenergy crops removing CO2 from the atmosphere, which is then captured and buried after being burned.

Deben praised the NFU plan as a remarkable change. “NFU president, Minette Batters, has done a very significant job. But the truth is she hasn’t been able to include anything about diet and reduction in the number of animals”, both of which the CCC deem essential.

Stark said cutting the UK’s “scandalous” level of food waste by 20% was vital. Better food labelling and separate food waste collections would help, as well as linking charges for household recycling to the quantity of food waste, the CCC said.

The 20% cut in red meat and dairy consumption proposed by the CCC is much lower than other recent analyses which have indicated 80-90% reductions are needed. “It is some way short of the 80% or so reduction that’s recommended by the public health guidelines for red meat,” said Stark. The CCC focused only on the emissions cuts needed to bring UK greenhouse gas emissions to zero, he said, and not health or other pollution that livestock cause.

Avoiding meat and dairy is ‘single biggest way’ to reduce your impact on Earth

“There is no doubt we need a major transformation in farming and land use to tackle both climate and nature emergencies,” said Vicki Hird of the Sustain alliance, who welcomed much of the report. But she said the ambition on cutting meat consumption was low and warned that technology that could capture CO2 from bioenergy crops was untested in the UK.

Sandra Bell, campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “The way land is used and abused has been a big contributor to climate breakdown and loss of wildlife, and this is why it needs to change.” However she said the CCC’s woodland creation target needed to be twice as high.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/23/make-big-polluters-pay-for-mass-tree-planting-officials-say

,,, and across the Pond, we get …

Photo Credit: Dr. Bogdan

Put Reckless World Leaders on Notice About Climate Change

Posted by Tiffany White

Petition Link: https://forcechange.com/551493/put-careless-world-leaders-on-notice-about-climate-change/

Target: Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum

Goal: Combat climate change and protect our planet from imminent destruction.

Scientists have predicted that the Amazon rainforests could be approaching an irreversible “tipping point” in their survival. The planet as a whole may be approaching this same point of no return. As the leaders of the world’s major economies converge in Davos, now is the time to confront this crisis head-on.

While the World Economic Forum promises a focus on climate change at the Davos meeting, evidence of a true, worthwhile commitment is scarce. Opportunistic politicians around the world are throwing fire on this explosive crisis. The deforestation policies of Brazil’s president contributed to the raging Amazon wildfires of 2019. At the same time, the Australian president’s refusal to address climate change in meaningful ways has only exacerbated the infernos in that region.

And Davos’ 2020 keynote speaker, President Donald Trump, is preparing to tack revoked protections for wetlands and streams on to his 95-and-counting current environmental rollbacks. Just days before the Davos meeting, the president tweeted this mocking “advice” to New Yorkers dealing with rising sea levels: “get your mops and buckets ready!”

Without unified, true global leadership, humanity runs the imminent risk of destroying its own home. Sign the petition to hold these leaders accountable for ensuring this planet’s future.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear Professor Schwab,

The World Economic Forum recently listed climate change as an urgent concern amongst worldwide populations. For all of the differences and conflicts between countries and cultures, we all share this common enemy…an enemy of our own making. The time for talking has long passed, and the time for action is yesterday.

“Stakeholders for a cohesive and sustainable world:” this theme will drive Davos 2020, but a few speeches will not be enough. Do not let any one person co-opt this important summit or detract from its mission. Please carry this mission forward with purposeful intent. Let this annual gathering of world leaders be a starting point for a productive and proactive year where sustaining and safeguarding this world remains a top priority for earth’s economic powers.

The cost of inaction is far too high.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

US President Donald Trump has decried climate “prophets of doom” in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where sustainability is the main theme.

He called for a rejection of “predictions of the apocalypse” and said America would defend its economy.

Mr Trump did not directly name the teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, who was in the audience.

Later, she excoriated political leaders, saying the world:

“in case you hadn’t noticed, is currently on fire”.

Environmental destruction is at the top of the agenda at the annual summit of the world’s decision-makers, which takes place at a Swiss ski resort.

Every year in the UK, the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) has a special weekend where everyone is invited to participate.

It is called the ‘Big Garden Birdwatch’; https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/   and it allows anyone to spend just a hour in their own garden; or from the house etc; to log and count the types of birds which are visiting their area.

We are all ready to do our bit; taking part in this free count, which only takes an hour of time; a yet provides a huge amount of data to scientists who research how bird numbers and species are increasing or declining across the whole of the country.

What’s also very important – it links people with garden birds; tells them about care and how to provide types of food for the different types. A big win-win for the garden birds of the UK; and with over half a million people signed up for this years event, the data provided by the watch will be a massive insight or window into the bird situation in the UK.

There is still time to take part if you live in the UK – just follow the links we have given below;

Happy watching – Mark (WAV).

From the RSPB:

For over 40 years, we’ve (RSPB) have been asking you to count the birds in your garden – and you’ve been brilliant at it.

With over half a million people now regularly taking part, coupled with 40 years worth of data, Big Garden Birdwatch allows us to monitor trends and helps us understand how birds are doing.

As the format of the survey has stayed the same, the scientific data can be compared year-on-year, making your results very valuable to our scientists.

With results from so many gardens, we are able to create a “snapshot” of bird numbers across the UK. 

For four decades, the Big Garden Birdwatch has highlighted the winners and losers in the garden bird world. It was one of the first surveys to alert the RSPB to the decline in the number of song thrushes in gardens. This species was a firm fixture in the top 10 in 1979, but by 2019 numbers of song thrushes seen in gardens had declined by 76%, coming in at number 20.

Your results help us spot problems, but more importantly, they are also the first step in putting things right. This is why it’s so

Links:

How to take part – https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/everything-you-need-to-know-about-big-garden-birdwatch/

Attracting birds to your garden – https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/feeding-and-attracting-birds/

Birds to look out for – https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/birds-to-look-out-for/

How to take part

It’s so easy to take part. An hour with the birds is a wonderful opportunity to sit back, relax and spend time with nature. So, pop the kettle on, put your feet up and start counting!

1. Watch the birds for one hour
   Choose an hour between 25 and 27 January to watch the birds in your garden or local park.
2. Count the most birds that land at once
   Only count the birds that land in your garden or park, not those flying over. The same birds may land more than once, so you can avoid double counting by recording the highest number of each bird species you see at any one time – not the total number you count over the hour.
3. Tell us what you saw
   Every count is important, so don’t worry if you don’t see anything. Observing which birds aren’t around is as important as seeing the ones that are. You can submit your results online at rspb.org.uk/birdwatch from 25 January until 16 February.

If you’d prefer to send us your results by post, you can download a submission form from rspb.org.uk/birdwatch. Please make sure you post your findings back to us by 11 February.

Versace bans kangaroo skin after pressure from activists

Italian campaigners confirm company has stopped using skins in leather goods

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/15/versace-bans-kangaroo-skin-after-pressure-from-animal-activists

The Italian fashion house Versace has banned the use of kangaroo skin for its luxury leather products collection. The move follows pressure from the animal rights’ group LAV, which said more than 2.3 million kangaroos in Australia were killed each year for commercial purposes.

Versace did not comment but gave LAV permission to make an announcement.

Simone Pavesi, a representative of LAV, said: “We have been corresponding with Versace over email and they confirmed that in 2019 they stopped using kangaroo skin. We welcome this as a sign of responsibility, today more than ever. The fires that are devastating Australia add to the massacres of hunting, with dramatic consequences for the kangaroo population.”

The EU is Australia’s largest market for kangaroo meat and skin, with Italy being the biggest importer of the skin. A number of Italian sports brands use the skin in the manufacture of football boots.

The sportswear company Diadora was the first firm to succumb to pressure from LAV and ban its use last year. Like Versace, Diadora kept its announcement low-profile.

“We do not have an official statement on this matter but we can confirm the definitive stop of the use of kangaroo leather starting from the 2019 collections,” Versace said in an email to the Guardian.

Pavesi added: “We showed the companies images and videos of how kangaroos are killed in such a brutal way. They understood the gravity of the situation and perhaps preferred not to give too much prominence to the fact that they were using kangaroo skin.”

LAV has also urged the Italian government to ban imports of kangaroo skin and written to Australia’s ambassador in Italy, Greg French, calling for a ban on kangaroo hunting.

In 2018 Versace banned the use of real fur in its products. Donatella Versace, the company’s chief designer and vice-president, told the Economist’s 1843 magazine: “Fur? I am out of that. I don’t want to kill animals to make fashion. It doesn’t feel right.”

A year earlier Gucci announced that it would go fur-free, joining other fashion brands including Armani, Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss and Ralph Lauren.

The continuing Australian bushfires have killed a huge number of animals, including kangaroos, koalas and other wildlife. “This is a real environmental catastrophe that risks erasing many animal species from the face of the Earth,” said Pavesi

——————————————————————–

Versace has been praised by animal rights campaigners for banning use of kangaroo skin in its collections.

As devastating wildfires continue to ravage Australia, increased attention has been placed on the scores of animals harmed and killed across the country, including kangaroos.

Following the news that an estimated one billion animals have lost their lives in the fires, it has been revealed that Versace has ceased the use of kangaroo skin in its ranges, following the Italian fashion house’s 2018 pledge to ban all use of fur.

Read more at:

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/versace-kangaroo-skin-ban-animal-rights-fur-fashion-a9285811.html