News wrap
Ruth Harwood, Tue 24 Jun 2008
The big green stories of the week and how they were reported in the press
Talking ‘bout a revolution
The government is to propose an ambitious blueprint in a bid to meet its 15% renewable energy target by 2020, as required by the EU. “‘We are talking about a revolution in how we build a house in the future,” energy minister Malcolm Wicks told the Observer. On BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said the proposals are "’the most ambitious’ such strategy that Britain has seen”.
They need to be ambitious too. For the government to meet its EU target it needs to achieve a ten-fold increase in renewables. The proposed solution is to “jump-start emerging technologies by removing all barriers to generation of renewables and providing substantial incentives,” writes environment editor John Vidal in the Guardian.
The plans include a massive increase in wind power. “The dash for low-carbon energy will transform upland areas of Britain: 45% of the wind electricity will eventually come from Scotland, 18% from Wales, 10% from Northern Ireland and the rest from England,” says Vidal.
It would seem that the government has at last begun to take renewables seriously, writes the Guardian’s George Monbiot. “Some of its proposals appear to be radical, innovative and bold,” he says. One such radical suggestion is to force people to insulate their homes and to fit renewable devices when they build extensions.
To make this happen, the government is considering paying grants for householders to install renewables. But the consultation paper accepts that the targets are ambitious: "We might just possibly reach 15 per cent renewable energy by 2020. It will require maximum build rates and a very rapid response from the supply chain," the document says.
Government gears up for GM battle
The government is preparing to argue for a greater role for genetically modified (GM) crops in Britain. “Ministers have told the Independent that rocketing food prices and food shortages in the world's poorest countries mean the time is right to relax Britain's policy on use of GM crops,” reveals political editor Andrew Grice.
Environment minister Phil Woolas wants to debate the benefits and the prime minister is expected to argue for cuts in the cost of some GM products. But, as BBC News reports, “the government’s position could alarm campaigners who have expressed fears about the crops’ safety in the past”.
Sir Martin Doughty, chairman of Natural England, has warned that Gordon Brown should not view GM foods as a “quick fix” for a “huge challenge”. He said there was little evidence that the current generation of biotechnology crops will help to solve food shortages or preserve wildlife. As Kate Devlin reports in the Telegraph, “the intervention comes just days after ministers signalled that they were considering allowing more trials of GM foods in Britain”.
Critics of GM crops are worried about the effect they would have on British wildlife. “It means a landscape in which fields have a crop growing in them but nothing else … apart from [that] crop, the countryside will be entirely sterile and lifeless,” says Michael McCarthy in the Independent.
There is no sign of a final decision yet, but rocketing global food prices has put the subject of GM back into the spotlight. “[The debate] will certainly be heated,” says Grice, “Environmental groups are already accusing GM firms of exploiting the food crisis as both sides gear up for battle.”
Cheetah’s plight unites Iran and US
Iranian and Western wildlife experts are joining forces to save the Asiasiatic cheetah from extinction. The Daily Mail reports: “There are less than 100 Asiatic cheetahs in Iran and US, and British-based conservation groups are backing a campaign spearheaded by Iran's Department of Environment to prevent the endangered animal from dying out”.
“This is a wonderful case of the urgent conservation needs of the cheetah transcending political differences,” said Luke Hunter of Panthera, a non-governmental organisation in New York, in the Times.
Iran is believed to be home to the only 60-100 Asiatic cheetahs left in the wild. These cats once roamed between the Arabian Peninsula and India, but their number in Iran is estimated to have fallen by roughly half in the past 30 years.
Cheetah numbers have declined because of increased population pressure and a lack of resources to protect them, with villagers hunting their prey for food, and herds of sheep encroaching on their habitats.
But efforts are being made to save the cheetah, as Sonia Verma explains in the Times: “The UNDP launched the $750,000 cheetah campaign in 2001 with Iran's Department of Environment. The Zoological Society of London also contributes funding. The conservation work has so far established anti-poaching measures, and new game guards stabilise the cheetah population”.
And finally…
Bristol has been named the UK’s first cycling city. It will “receive £11.4m, rising to £23m after three years, to create the UK's first on-street bike rental network, modelled on the successful Paris scheme,” reports Allegra Stratton in the Guardian.
Transport secretary Ruth Kelly said: "I am sure that Bristol's bold and ambitious plans will support cyclists and encourage more people to get on their bikes, get fit and beat the traffic,” reports BBC News.
Local resident, cyclist and Guardian environment blogger James Russell thinks this is great idea but feels perplexed, asking if this new status is “supposed to reflect things as they are? And, if so, did Ruth Kelly try biking around the city before she made the award?” Although Bristol has several excellent cycle routes running in and out of the city, he says there are not many safe places where youngsters can practise.
Fittingly, thousands of cyclists took part in Bristol’s Biggest Bike Ride in the week that the city was awarded the accolade. "I think there's becoming a culture in the city of people wanting to cycle and seeing more people do it and thinking 'well I could do that',” said Bob Hewett of Bristol City Council.
But while there are plans to create new dedicated cycleways to link the suburbs with the city, Russell feels uncertain about the future of other paths.
“Only recently I learned that local transport chiefs are - or were - planning … a bus rapid transit network designed to rush commuters from ex-urban park and ride sites into the city. Maps… show these projected bus lanes replacing existing cycle paths,” he writes.
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