The world’s leaders maybe pontificating over what to do over climate change in Poznan, but this morning over fifty young protesters from the protest group Plane Stupid put action into words by shutting down London’s third airport, Stansted.

The protest began in the cold early hours of this morning whilst the runway was temporarily closed for maintenance work. Plane Stupid planned to prevent the scheduled reopening of the runway at 5.AM GMT. Continue reading ‘Over 50 Arrested at London’s Third Airport….’

When Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni launched their campaign against the oil companies in the Niger Delta in the early nineties, one of their key demands was that they should receive a greater share of the oil wealth from the oil drilled from under their land.

Its seems a no-brainer really that the locals should benefit is some way from oil production rather that just suffer constant pollution and degradation of their land.  Continue reading ‘Gov Panel Says Give Delta 25% of Oil Revenue’

Welcome to December. It is being dubbed a “critical month” for action on climate change. Firstly, there is the latest round of UN Climate talks, this time taking place in Poznan in Poland.

An estimated 9,000 delegates from 185 nations will meet for the next two weeks to try and work at a Post-Kyoto deal by the end of 2009. In essence, the talks mark the halfway point between last year’s meeting in Bali and what is being seen as the all-important meeting in Copenhagen next year. Continue reading ‘A “Critical Month” for Climate Change’

A few months ago it was all boom in Alberta. There was a labour shortage, skills shortage and the dollars were pouring in. Not any more. One by one the investments are drying up, as the crunch hits and the oil price bounces around the $50 mark.

Oil giant Shell has announced it is delaying yet another project, saying it has withdrawn a regulatory application for its 100,000 barrel per day Carmon Creek thermal project. Only last month, Shell, one of the biggest players in the oil sands, delayed an expansion of its Athabasca project. Continue reading ‘Shell Postpones Second Oil Sands Project’

In January 2009, much of the world’s attention will focus on the shift of power from President Bush to Barack Obama. But the US is not the only place where there will be a significant power shift. The presidency of the EU also moves that month from France to the Czech Republic.

So why does this matter? The President of the Czech Republic is Vaclav Klaus, one of the leading climate sceptics, if not the leading climate sceptic operating at a senior political level in Europe. So there will be a huge irony; namely that for years the EU has battled the Bush administration urging it to be more progressive on climate. Continue reading ‘The Climate Sceptic About to Lead the EU’