Our very own Chrstina Wood is hosting an event tonight at Copenhagen. Check it out here!!
Well we are at last up and running. Great launch last night at The Hub in Kings Cross with an amazing turnout. Speaches from myself and Steve Malkin with special guest appearance from the Ambassador of Costa Rica who spke most eloquently. for those who have not seen it yet see our new home page and watch a few videos- great!
We are getting good support from all over including this from Nick Clegg, leader of the Lib Dems.
Enjoy!
Guardian Yesterday , Jackie Asley (Let’s tune in again 16.11.09) was spot on. Like her, I am fed up with the continuous political fighting over details and performance. What we need as we move towards next year’s election is the development of the BIG VISION, supported by BIG IDEAS , allowing us that all important BIG DEBATE.
As an environmental designer and I know that without a concept properly thought through from the start, it is almost impossible to deliver a holistic solution; as the design progresses, details will keep on cropping up and without that big picture and philosophy, they become impossible to solve and you are left with a disconnected mish-mash!
What we need is a framework that is all inclusive and will allow decisions on all issues to be made within a context.
This is lacking at the moment, but it does seem that out of the ashes of the banking crisis, the stuttering diplomacy of Copenhagen, and the present political debate that one is beginning to emerge that is both global and local.
The strands that are emerging;-
The Climate Deal –The poorer nations are demanding financial support from those that have polluted. There is also a growing recognition that reductions solutions can only be delivered by engaging society at a local level and by changing culture.
Big Society – David Cameron’s ideas around Big Society rather than big government, one that empowers ‘people’.
Tobin Tax – Gordon Brown (and others) talks about a tax on all transactions that should be shared equally between the state and within a climate deal.
Energy Strategy – Ed Miliband talking about fast tracking planning on new energy infrastructure.
Somewhere amongst this lot it seems that there is the potential to galvanise local action and divest responsibility whilst finding a more equitable means of distributing wealth for the good of the planet and its people as a whole.
I do not want to play on old clichés and nor do I want to propagate any notion of communism, but somehow all of these things need to come together if we are to find a solution that meets local needs whilst delivering on the BIG PICTURE.
Anyway, thanks to Jackie for kicking off the debate-but how do we keep it going?
Guy
17.11.09
We are going live this week with our new home page. Looking fantastic, just awaiting final design tweaks and we will be up and running.
Central to the new site is our video library for our 2020 Vision campaign. We have spent the past 3 months collecting short video statements from over 90 people representing all walks of life. From school kids to the leaders of political parties, and from environmental activists to company chairman. They have each been asked to provide us with their ‘positive view’ on why we should be taking action against global warming. This is not a negative message, rather a positive and worthwhile goal that we should all be working towards.
We have an amazing collection individuals including Nick Clegg (Lib Dem Leader), Jonathan Porritt ( Environemtal activist) and even The Sons of Soul band.
I asked one of my sons for his vision over the weekend and he did a bit of searching on the net and having discovered that livestock are responsible for over 18% of global emissions came up with the image below as a vision for the future of farming!!!
i will let you all know when we are up and running so that you can contribute your own vision.
Guy B
09.11.09
The Competition
This is a competition open to all folks in USA and Canada. Simple. Give us your 2020 Vision in 135 characters or less on twitter. Don’t forget to add the hashtag #2020V so Planet Positive will pick their favourite!
The Prize
We have teamed up with the folks at ALLMODERN for an exciting opportunity to win beautifully designed eco products; tranSglass Lidded Carafe or a Double Vase (winner gets to choose whichever one they prefer). With its recycled origins and sleek, fluid design, tranSglass conveys a positive attitude towards the environment, affirmed as an Artecnica Design With Conscience project. Combining old-world craftsmanship and sophisticated design, each tranSglass vessel is a unique, one-of-a-kind piece. tranSglass is included in the permanent collection of MoMA New York.
All Modern offers a fantastic selection of contemporary furniture, home accessories and lighting from eco-friendly brands like Emeco, DwellStudio, Greenington, Knoll and more!
About Our Campaign
2020 Vision is a communications campaign which providing people with a clear view of how their lives will be better by 2020 in a greener, low carbon world. We will equip individuals with a reduction guideline that will enable them to reduce their emissions by over 42% by 2020.
It is specifically designed to provide a vision of our low carbon lives that we can achieve by 2020. We will also invite environmental leaders, scientists, businesses and NGO’s to provide their vision. We have already filmed the visions of over 40 individuals that play a role in the business, politics or science of Climate Change such as Lord Nicolas Stern, Joan Ruddcok – DECC, Jeremy Leggett – Founder of Solar Century, Caroline Lucas – MEP Green Party, Chris Rapley – Head the Science Museum, Zac Goldsmith – Chairman of The Ecologist, Richard Brown – CEO Eurostar, Lord Turner, and awaiting the visions from Vice President of the Maldives (to be sent to us) and Jonathan Porritt – Forum for the Future. We will upload these videos and other vision onto our website where all people will be able to upload their 2020 vision by means of video, pictures, artwork or written word (via youtube, flickr )
Guy B
30th June 2009
The participants of the St James’s Palace Nobel Laureate Symposium agreed on a Memorandum, which urges “governments at all levels, as well as the scientific community, to join with business and civil society to seize hold of this historic opportunity to transform our carbon-intensive economies into sustainable and equitable systems.”
(IDW) For three days more than twenty Nobel Laureates have debated the dimensions of climate change and the current global sustainability crisis with some of the world’s leading climate scientists, politicians and business leaders. The participants also discussed strategies to meet these challenges. With the symposium’s patron, The Prince of Wales, present, the St James’s Palace Memorandum was signed in London today. The US secretary of energy and Nobel Laureate Steven Chu was one of the keynote speakers at the symposium.
“After the cold war, mutually insured disarmament was the logic of good global governance. Facing the global climate challenge, mutually insured emissions reductions should become the logic”, says Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), who initiated the Global Sustainability Symposia series. As stated in the Memorandum, in a spirit of trust, “every country must act on the firm assumption that all others will also act”.
The participants of the symposium call for a global deal on climate change “that matches the scale and urgency of the human, ecological and economic crises facing the world today”. Climate impacts such as droughts, sea level rise and flooding could lead to mass migration and conflict. “Political leaders could not possibly ask for a more robust, evidence-based call for action,” the signatories state in the Memorandum. They identified as key requirements an effective and just global agreement on climate change, low-carbon energy infrastructure and tropical forest protection, conservation and restoration.
I am particularly encouraged by the Symposium’s call for a Low carbon Infrstructure to decarbonise our society. This is not a passive solution , but rather a solution that activley REMOVES carbon…at last!.
In a leading article in the Times, Chu says
‘Under Mr. Obama, America is embracing a leadership role in addressing the world’s energy and climate change problems. At home, we are committed to reducing our carbon emissions by more than 80 per cent by 2050, and a key committee in the US Congress passed a Bill last week to do just that. Abroad, the United States has pledged’
The good news this time is that the US secretary of Energy was on the inside of the circle and therefore at the very heart of the debate. I am looking forward to seeing some real action.
GB
29th May 2009
Symposium Statement (pdf)
An eeerie looking new wave power solution I heard about on the radio today. It works by using oncoming wave motion to excite another ‘bulge wave’ within a rubber tube that in turn drives a turbine producing electricity. Each one can produce up to 1MW power ( sufficient for 1000 homes).
Looks fantastic in the photo, but 5 years from full time operation as they now have to build and test a full prototype.
Congratulations to The Carbon Trust who has supported it financially to date, but they are on the hunt for more funding….
This is just the sort of innovative research that UK Govt should be investing into rather than dumping more money into the redevelopment of Trident or even so called ‘Clean Coal’.
Anyone got any other innovative ideas?
Guy Battle
6th May 2009
Fascinating article yesterday in The Guardian (04.05.09 -Wild side of the law) describing a new paper by Begonia Filgueria and Ian Mason published by the UK Environmental Law Association.
The paper describes proposals for a new law that would give The Earth rights in the same way that The UN Charter Human Rights gives people rights. In essence this would mean that in law speak, businesses would have a duty of care towards the earth and its eco-systems and that if this duty of care was seen to be broken, then recompense could be sought or action prevented. This would lead to the development of The World Charter for Nature that would enshrine our human duties and responsibilities towards the planet.
Imagine this; In any court of law, where the earth was being substantially impacted then the Earth would have the right to be represented by a lawyer who would fight for compensation and its rights to exist in peace!
Most importantly, the authors argue, such a document would stop us talking about the earth as if it was a resource to be used ( and pillaged) but to treat it as an entity that has its own rights.
“Earth Jurisprudence is the cutting edge idea whose time has come. This report is an essential guide to its possibilities for fulfilling the vision of human nature and harmony through practical law.”
- Satish Kumar, environmentalist, ecologist and educator
I love it!
Guy Battle
5th May 2009
The trouble with the climate change message is that it is soooo negative…!!
I know that you all know that the picture is bleak (especially if you read my last blog) and that the result of inaction is dire indeed. The trouble is that this picture of doom and gloom is not getting through and just seems to make most people switch off - The Result, Nothing ever changes!
And so here at Planet Positive we have decided to turn things on its head and have started the 2020 Vision Campaign. 2020 vision focusses on the positive and describes just how better life will be IF we change and take action; A Goal Worth Fighting For!
To build this vision we have been visiting scientists, celebrities, polticians and people in an effort get their 2020 Planet Positive vision recorded.
So far we have Lord Stern, Caroline Lucas ( Green Party), Zac Goldsmith (Ecologist) and few others. But we need more.
Any ideas?
