Environment Forum

German airline boss named ‘dinosaur of year’ by environmental group

A German environmental group has named Joachim Hunold, CEO of budget airline Air Berlin (www.air-berlin.de), as its “Dinosaur of the Year” in 2007 for his outspoken doubts about the impact of climate change.    

“Herr Hunold has richly earned the trophy by displaying his utter ignorance about measures needed to combat climate change,” said Olaf Tschimpke, president of the Naturschutzbund Deutschland (NABU) (www.nabu.de). “Even though the negative impact of climate change is well-known, Herr Hunold continues to go about audaciously belittling the issue in public.”

Hunold, who has made the no-frills airline a major carrier in Germany, has attacked environmental groups that call for taxes on jet fuel, NABU said. He will receive a tin trophy of a dinosaur. NABU has presented the award every year to personalities who distinguish themselves with “antiquated ideas about environmental protection” since 1993. The head of a large utility, Harry Roels of RWE, was last year’s dinosaur. Previous winners include the head of the German industry and trade association, Ludwig Georg Braun, and farmers’ association president Gerhard Sonnleitner.

So does Hunold deserve the dinosaur award, or should he perhaps be praised for flying people cheaply to their richly deserved holidays?

Saving the planet…and your CV

By Emma Graham-Harrison

How do you stave off boredom when you’re an international negotiator, stuck in talks that drag on until two in the morning, with colleagues capable of arguing over the importance of a semi-colon? 

Revamp your CV or hone your drawing skills.

The U.N. conference reached a deal to launch two years of negotiations on a new climate treaty on Saturday after a dramatic U.S. reversal ended a standoff between rich and poor nations.

And that was after a session of talks, lasting past 2 a.m. in the morning, that reached a draft deal. At that session, at least one ambitious delegate was apparently keen to start building on the coming success immediately.

“I participated actively in the Ministerial Working Group — it was a core group of 18 countries. We were able to bridge a gap – between the position of US in particular, which wanted a reference to … out,” said a handwritten note abandoned in the conference room.

Cutting C02 and profits need not be contradictions

For those growing weary of hearing industry leaders and politicians complaining how expensive it is to cut greenhouse gases or how detrimental to jobs it is to take steps to protect the environment, you might want to take a look at a fast-growing German company called SkySails GmbH & Co. KG  and its partner in a new CO2-cutting endeavour, Beluga Shipping . They are aiming to prove that, on the contrary, you can make money and create jobs at the same time while cutting CO2 in the process.  

SkySails has designed and built a high-tech kite and computer-guided steerage system to help merchant ships and yachts cut fuel consumption and reduce CO2 emissions. On its maiden voyage across the Atlantic in early January, the SkySail on the 132-metre long Beluga Group ship is expected save as much as 20 percent of fuel and CO2 emissions — and up to 50 percent with larger versions expected within the next year or two.  

There are, of course, risks still ahead. The system has been tested on a smaller 55-metre long ship on the North Sea and Baltic Sea but it is still uncertain whether the technology will work as effectively with a much larger ship — and some naysayers have questioned whether the giant kite will be able to hold up to the wind, sun and salt-filled air under such enormous pressure pulling a 10,000-tonne ship across the Atlantic. That remains to be seen and SkySails inventor Stephan Wrage admitted that he was a bit nervous ahead of the long-delayed maiden voyage (due to delays in finishing the ship) but nevertheless confident the test results would be confirmed.

I had the chance to climb up and have a look at the first ship equipped with the SkySail, the MV “Beluga SkySails” . The 10,000 tonne vessel was christened in Hamburg harbour on Saturday, and you could feel the buzz of the crowd of some 500 people on board for the ceremony as well as the thousands of onlookers watching from the shore. It was more than just a christening, more than just the launch of a new technology. Here were two profit-hungry companies eager to make money while conserving fuel and slashing CO2.  

What seemed to be captivating the attention of the crowd was that here was a simple solution, using free wind power, to help resolve what has become a complex problem — climate change.

“A better world, for you and me,” in Bali

More than 120 environment ministers were asked to sing along at a U.N. climate meeting in Bali on Wednesday — to lyrics written by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Against the backdrop of a video showing mudslides, trees uprooted by storms, floods and droughts, the words of the song rolled over the bottom of the screen, almost like in a karaoke bar.

Not many delegates dared to show off their singing skills (despite encouragement, twice, from a woman hosting the event). Here are some of the words (to a tune similar to the U.S. hit ”We are the world, we are the children”… but not quite):

    “We have only one planet

    Where we live and make our home

    Together we must save it

    For our childrens’ future

The virtue in being virtual in Bali

    Private jets on the tarmac, fleets of limousines with police at the helm, helicopters flying overhead, endless columns of buses and taxis, five-star hotels filled to the brim.

    Welcome to another annual U.N. climate conference crammed with 10,000 delegates from around the world all focused on how to cut carbon emissions.

   Yes, we can all see the irony, and so does one U.S. Congressman.

   Instead of jetting over to Bali for climate talks, Edward Markey (a Democrat from Massachusetts) will use a 3-D animated version of himself to address the conference at 9.30 am on Wednesday Bali time.

    It is estimated Markey will save 5.36 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by doing this.

    His address will be streamed live at www.oneclimate.net/virtualbali

   Do you think this is the future of all big conferences, even company meetings?    

Will rich nations axe greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2020?

Delegates at U.N. climate talks in Bali are discussing whether rich nations should be guided by a need to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 to 40 percent by 2020 below 1990 levels.

The range is in a draft text that lays out a “roadmap” for what the United Nations hopes will be two years or negotiations on a new treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol.

The United States says that it’s wrong to include such a range, even if it’s non-binding, arguing the whole point of two years of negotiations is to decide on the details (…and President George W. Bush will leave the White House halfway through in January 2009, so he may not have to take the hard decisions).

 And, judging by far from stellar performances by most parties to the Kyoto Protocol (which requires 5 percent cuts below 1990 by 2008-12), a cut of 25 to 40 percent by 2020 sounds wildly optimistic.

Is it? 

What’s good for trout may not always be green

Rainbow trout are a classic example of what biologists call an “indicator species” — if they are found in abundance in a river it is usually taken as a good sign that the water is clean and the ecosystem healthy. But what if the river in question is the Lower Mountain Fork in southeastern Oklahoma, an area with scorching summers and mild winters where cold-water rainbows don’t naturally reside? The thought crossed my mind during a recent flyfishing trip there in early December. Its deep pools and gushing water offer superb angling for self-styled “trout bums” like myself — which is hardly surprising as it is stocked on a fortnightly basis with plenty of fish. The trout ower their existence here to what at first glance may seem an unlikely source: the local dam. This was bass water at one time but the dam’s construction four decades ago meant the water released from its artificial depths was suddenly too cold for bass. Trout were then brought in, resulting in what is known as a “tailwater.” In the eyes of many, the trout have simply replaced a predator which could not adapt to human-induced temperature change and are therefore not in the same category as “invasive” species which drive out the native critters.  ”The bass were not usurped by the trout, they were replaced by them,” says Ken Cole, a Dallas-based fishing guide who knows these waters well.  I for one enjoy this trout fishery which is about a 3-1/2 hour drive from Dallas and “tailwater” trout are now common in many parts of the United States. But the long-term ecological consequences of this experiment remain unknown and so the green jury is still, I think, out on the practice. ” Photo: compliments of Ken Cole

‘Klimakatastrophe’ picked as Germany’s word of year

The Society of the German Language (GfdS) has picked “Klimakatastrophe” (climate disaster) as its “word of the year”, an annual honour awarded to the term the prestigious Wiesbaden-based group feels has captured the spirit or dominated the headlines and public discussion of the year.

The society picked “Fanmeile” (fan mile), after the public viewing arenas of the World Cup in Germany, in 2006, considering it to be the term that best captured the spirit of the soccer tournament held there.

“Bundeskanzlerin” (woman chancellor) was the word of the year in 2005 after Angela Merkel became the country’s first woman leader.

“‘Climate disaster’ points to the direction that climate change is headed,” said GdfS expert Gerhard Mueller. He said in a German radio interview that ‘climate change’ had been considered, but the society didn’t feel it was dramatic enough. The topic of climate change played a major role in the public discussion in Germany in 2007, he said.

Seeing the light?

    It might seem the fear of rising seas, melting glaciers and chaotic weather is the main reason to cut emissions from fossil fuels. 

    But what if you are a climate change sceptic? Does that mean polluting at will?

    No. Even if you don’t believe the world is at risk from climate change, burning fossil fuels still creates pollution and health problems. And powering global economies with oil, coal and gas is becoming more and more expensive — except if you are a big oil producer.

       An executive from Dutch electronics giant Philips said in Bali that installing more energy-efficient lighting in homes, along streets and in offices and factories could save 1.5 billion barrels of oil a year, or about the annual output of 530 medium-sized power stations.

    Yet he said research showed that 80 percent of office lighting is still based on outdated and energy-inefficient lighting systems. More efficient lighting could cut electricity bills by 50 percent or more.

     So even if you don’t believe all the science pointing to the threat from a warming planet, it makes sense for people to cut back on energy-intensive lifestyles. The only problem is, why aren’t more people doing it?

What’s a Kyoto sceptic doing at the Bali talks?

His work at the Bali climate change conference isn’t sponsored by world oil giant Exxon Mobil, although he has held past conferences which were, says Alan Oxley.

Oxley, former Australian ambassador at world trade talks and now chairman of his NGO World Growth,  believes the sense of urgency that pervades the Bali talks – meant to launch negotiations to agree a successor to the Kyoto Protocol — is misplaced.

“There’s a surfeit of enthusiasm,” he says.

“I think there’s been a bit of a campaign to engender this sense of urgency,” he says, pointing to Britain and Germany as chief culprits.

Oxley isn’t convinced that global greenhouse gas emissions need to peak in the next few years, one scenario proposed by a U.N. panel of scientists. Twenty to 30 years is fine, he says. He isn’t too worried, either, about a 2 degrees centigrade hotter world. “We need a very long-term perspective, so what’s the rush?”

Oxley is in Bali to try and calm everyone down and promote his publication — on the threat emissions cuts pose to the world’s poor. But his main agenda appears to be to argue for free trade.

He’s worried that climate change policies such as Europe’s emissions trading scheme could unleash a new wave of protectionism, whereby countries slap tariffs on imports of goods like steel and cement, to try and compensate for carbon taxes on their industry at home.