Enviro & Global

All rights reserved. Credit: VW Dog chases Beetle in VW's new advert

VW has launched its latest advert ahead of the US Super Bowl this weekend.

The advert is a follow-up to last year’s Little Darth one which we lampooned to reveal the Dark Side of VW’s environmental claims. It still riffs on a Star Wars theme and throws in a cute dog for good measure, but is there any mention of supporting ambitious climate laws?

Any room for a mention of radical efficiency improvements across VW’s range? Or just generally living up to VW’s ambitious claims of being the greenest car company on the planet?

Sadly not, but I think it’s a missed opportunity. The Super Bowl is one of the biggest television events in the world so why not use it to announce some brave green measures?

That got me thinking: how could this advert be changed to show the real VW? The one that’s lobbying against new laws to reduce emissions from vehicles in Europe. The one that won’t meet with our campaign team for a chat.

How about improving VW’s advert? Download the video and give it a make-over. Then post it on our Facebook page.

Drop in some new footage, add some subtitles, or revoice the guys propping up the cantina bar. Feel free to use clips from any Greenpeace films - how about Episode I or Episode II of our original VW film, or some footage of stormtroopers in action in London and Brussels? Or even a guest spot for Brian the rebellious stormtrooper?

Once you have your mash-up masterwork complete, upload you video to YouTube (or whichever video website you fancy) - if you give it a similar title to the original (it's called The Dog Strikes Back: 2012 Volkswagen Game Day Commercial), there's a chance it will appear alongside it in any search results. Then post it on our Facebook page.

I know you’ll be able to improve on it immeasurably. And after all, dogs? Star Wars? What’s the connection?

Download the video file and get cracking on your own VW advert. No prizes I’m afraid, but I’ll showcase some of the best ones here.

Every year, Science and the National Science Foundation team up to award prizes to visual works "that engage viewers by conveying the complex substance of science through art." PM talked to some of the artists and scientists that designed our fav

The X Prize Foundation has announced its next multimillion-dollar contest. The X Prize is asking scientists to envision and build the equivalent of Star Trek's medical tricorder, a device that can remotely diagnose any malady in patients.

Our VW campaign has passed a significant milestone, as the Jedi ranks swell to over 500,000. That's an incredible half a million people demanding that Volkswagen gets behind the sort of climate laws we need to save our planet.

So thank you for signing up, recruiting your friends and keeping up the pressure on VW - it's been absolutely amazing.

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It seems an appropriate time to take a quick look back over the last six months and pulling together the timeline above, I realised how much we've acheived. VW is the largest car company in the world, as well as one of the largest companies full stop, so this campaign was never going to be a short one. But we know the pressure you've been piling on is having an effect within VW and in the rest of the car industry.

We still want to sit down with VW's boss Martin Winterkorn to talk about how his company really can be the greenest one ever (as it likes to claim in its PR and advertising). Until then - and until VW stops lobbying against the new EU climate laws - the Rebellion is just going to keep on growing.

The oil companies that run the Trans-Alaska Pipeline suggest that if oil flows drop too low, the line could be compromised.

All rights reserved. Credit: © Greenpeace / Paul Hilton Tuna giant Bolton says it will be '100% sustainable' by 2017, but how? Image caption:  Tuna giant Bolton says it will be '100% sustainable' by 2017, but how?

After the huge success of our UK tinned tuna campaign, described by the Independent as "one of the most successful environmental campaigns in years", it was great to hear a big European tuna brand - Bolton commit to completely clean up its act.

In 2011, tuna giant Bolton recognised the damage associated with fish aggregation devices (Fads) by committing to source nearly half its tuna by 2013 from sustainable fishing methods such as Fad-free fishing and pole and line. And judging by the latest announcement in mid-January, it seemed Bolton was ready to follow all the major UK brands and supermarkets in dumping Fads for good.

Or are they? Bolton put out a press release that promised great things, aiming to go "100 per cent sustainable by 2017". But the PR veneer concealed a lack of substance.

There was no detail about how the company will achieve this laudable aim. Will they now drop Fads and switch to pole and line and Fad-free fishing for all of its tuna? Bolton is not telling us, so we simply don’t know if this commitment is worth the paper it’s written on. I could happily commit to being 100 per cent fluent in Swedish by 2017, but without a plan to get there it’s not going to happen.

The tuna market is changing rapidly under pressure from consumers and NGOs to clean up its act and dump destructive practices - but there’s still a long way to go for the global industry. Setting aside environmental impacts for one moment, ultimately corporate reputations and bottom lines are at risk if the tuna industry clings to business as usual in this dynamic marketplace. Bolton can learn from the UK and build a genuinely transformative, profitable model for sustainable tuna, or it can watch market share and marine biodiversity fade away as it fights shy of fully embracing change.

Far from what the vested interests in the tuna industry would have you believe, this is not about hairshirt puritans going back to the Stone Age. It’s about fishing in ways that maintain the integrity of oceans ecosystems for future generations. That happens to be incompatible with the increasing industrialisation of tuna fishing using indiscriminate marine minefields – Fads.

What’s it to be, Bolton? Is this bluewash or did something get lost in translation? Please let us know, we’re all ears. Or should that be, we're all otoliths?

At the Mojave Air and Space Port out in California, spacecraft builders like Scaled Composites, XCOR, and Masten Space Systems are hard at work testing the next-generation private vehicles. PM paid a visit to this hub of the private space industry.

The Obama administration’s next move in boosting energy techonlogy will be nearly $500 million in support of small modular reactors.

All rights reserved. Credit: Clement Tardif / Greenpeace Senegalese fisherman join Greenpeace campaigners in defending fish stocks from industrial trawlers Image caption:  Senegalese fisherman join Greenpeace campaigners in defending fish stocks from industrial trawlers

In the run up to the Senegalese presidential elections, Youssou N’dour isn’t the only controversial show on the road. Last week, a caravan tour organised by the small-scale fishing sector and our colleagues in Greenpeace Africa, called on presidential candidates to take urgent action against foreign super trawlers.  

Fleets of giant fishing foreign trawlers that operate off the West African coastline are sucking up millions of tonnes of precious local resources. Some of these trawlers - many from Europe - are literally floating fish factories, capable of catching, processing and freezing 300 tonnes a day. This is having a devastating effect on millions of local fishermen who rely on health fish stocks to support their families and local communities.  

During the week-long caravan tour, an impressive 6,000 representatives of large fishing ports across the country expressed concerns about the plunder of their marine resources. Fishermen placed their hand-prints on large banner, reading "Your voice counts, make it heard now". They are urging the candidates to commit to ending fishing authorisations being issued to foreign vessels, and instead support the local fishery sector.

And while fishermen in West Africa may seem a world away from small-scale fishing communities in Europe, they share a common bond. Both small-scale fishermen in the UK and Senegal are struggling as a result of mismanagement by decision makers who favour the short term economic interests of the industrialised fishing fleets.

Over the last few years, with increased technology, fishing vessels have become larger and more ruthless in their fishing techniques. A good example is the Pelagic-Freezer Trawler Association (PFA) fleet, which includes vessels owned by Dutch, German and UK companies. They use sophisticated sonar equipment to track fish across large areas of the sea, and a pipe sucks fish from immense nets into the belly of the ship where a processing factory turns them into frozen blocks.

The PFA and other super trawlers now roam the global seas, hunting down our remaining fish stocks. West Africa isn’t their only target, the world’s largest trawlers now head south towards the edge of Antarctica in a scramble for whatever’s left.

And who’s funding this? We are. EU taxpayers’ money keeps factory fishing afloat. For example, the PFA received fuel tax exemptions of between €20.9 million and €78.2 million from 2006 to 2011.  Taxpayer’ cover 90 per cent of the payments required for the PFA to have the right to fish in West Africa. EU funds helped the PFA build or modernise nearly half its fleet.

If all subsidies were removed, calculations show that PFA’s average yearly profit of around €55 million would, at best case, drop to €7 million, and at worst case, result in a loss of 50.3 million.

The mess we are in now is a result of mismanagement under the broken EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). But the CFP is in the process of being reformed. This happens only once a decade, and may be our last chance to turn the tide on a policy that has failed our oceans and fishing communities from Scotland to Senegal.

Issa Diop, a fishermen from Mauritania who came to the UK last year for our African Voices tour, sums up the issue perfectly:

“Our message is to tell the world that overfishing is very serious. Why is it serious? Because big vessels destroy the seas. There are fewer and fewer fish as technology is advancing at a fast rate.  23 million people are dependent on the fish stocks in West Africa. If you continue to overexploit these fish stocks, 23 million people will suffer.”

Scientists have found a new way to rev the body's metabolism: Activate its fat cells. Here's the science behind what may be the weight-loss breakthrough of the next decade.

It's confirmed: alien "Tatooine" planets orbiting double suns exist. But they might not be the strangest things in space. Here are five extraordinary planetary systems that could be out there.

All rights reserved. Credit: Pierre Gleizes/Greenpeace Greenpeace protesters at EDF Evolutionary Power Reactor in France

Despite the growing shift of support away from nuclear energy in Europe, EDF is stubbornly pushing forward plans to build a new nuclear reactor in the UK, without sufficient consideration for all the relevant risks.

It’s less than a year since the disaster at Fukushima reminded the world just how risky and expensive nuclear power can be. Since Fukushima, Germany has ditched their nuclear programmes and turned to clean, efficient energy.  Across Europe investors are refusing to put their money into nuclear without governments guaranteeing their profits. Yet the French state-owned company EDF Energy is trying to build a new nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point in Somerset.

EDF applied for planning permission in late October, less than three weeks after Britain’s nuclear watchdog – the Office of Nuclear Regulation - published a long list of improvements needed to protect Britain’s nuclear reactors. Given the scale of the recommendatons in the list, it is not possible for EDF to have incorporated all those improvements into its proposals in just three weeks. Lessons are still being learned following Fukushima (such as ‘don’t delete the minutes of the disaster response meetings’). EDF's rush to apply for planning permission betrays their cavalier attitude and suggests they can't have fully considered the implications of the Fukushima disaster.

We are seriously concerned that the flood defences, the emergency response plans and other vital safety features (such as a secure supply of off-site electricity during an emergency) aren’t fit for purpose. There’s a distinctly slap-dash feel to the application: as though EDF were more concerned with keeping the wheels on their nuclear gravy train than with making sure their plans stood up to scrutiny.

We’re not the only ones with concerns about the proposals. EDF’s planning application is also facing fierce opposition from local campaign groups, nuclear experts and Members of Parliament. Local councils have made their own representations, pointing out problems with traffic levels, waste storage and the impact on tourism.

With 1,200 people registering to comment on their ill-thought out proposals, EDF shouldn’t expect an easy ride. We’ll keep you posted.

All rights reserved. Credit: Greenpeace Thermographic image of heat loss

The Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University have just put out a new report calling for new laws to increase energy efficiency standards in all of the UK’s 26 million homes and 2 million business properties. Implementing these recommendations would mean that energy use in all buildings in the UK result in zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The report, Achieving Zero by Dr Brenda Boardman, sets out not only how this is necessary to reduce the UK's CO2 emissions but also provides a roadmap to how it can be implemented and the many benefits it will provide. Beyond meeting emissions targets, improving the energy performance of buildings increases our energy security, reduces our exposure to rising and volatile fuel prices, reduces energy bills which helps to tackle fuel poverty, creates jobs, reduces the squeeze on living standards and will make our buildings better places to live and work.

A key component of the report builds on current initiatives such as the Green Deal, energy performance certificates and energy display certificates, by describing a method of creating a financial incentive to improve efficiency. Through the introduction of mandatory minimum standards, more efficient homes and business properties would be more valuable than less efficient ones.

Our Chief Scientist Doug Parr commented, "This report makes the simple case that we need a proper plan as doing nothing is not an option. The savings that could be made by the government by implementing the recommendations in the report are staggering. The energy that could be saved is nearly 500 times larger than energy used to run London Underground system or 10,000 times greater than the energy used each year to keep MPs and Lords warm and well-lit in Parliament."

You can download the full report and the executive summary from the Environmental Change Institute website.

By taking strides toward understanding how the brain processing images, researchers are figuring out how to project a person's neural activity onto a TV screen.

You are welcome to join us on February 8th at 8pm for the next HICCA Film Club screening – a documentary of a covert mission to film the killing of hundreds of dolphins in a small cove in Japan.  Here’s the synopsis :

Academy Award® Winner for Best Documentary of 2009, THE COVE follows an elite team of activists, filmmakers and freedivers as they embark on a covert mission to penetrate a remote and hidden cove in Taiji, Japan, shining a light on a dark and deadly secret. Utilizing state-of-the-art techniques, including hidden microphones and cameras in fake rocks, the team uncovers how this small seaside village serves as a horrifying microcosm of massive ecological crimes happening worldwide. The result is a provocative mix of investigative journalism, eco-adventure and arresting imagery, adding up to an unforgettable story that has inspired audiences worldwide to action.

THE COVE is directed by Louie Psihoyos and produced by Paula DuPré Pesmen and Fisher Stevens. The film is written by Mark Monroe. The executive producer is Jim Clark and the co-producer is Olivia Ahnemann.

 

We look forward to seeing you there !

 

A radiation storm is pummeling the Earth, and experts warn this isn't the first warning shot sent by the Sun. the next one could immobilize modern technology, and civilization, altogether.

A blast of charged particles from the sun is quickly approaching our planet, and the brunt will arrive on Tuesday morning. Here's what to know about these cosmic events.