tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63226883671723639292024-02-18T23:55:29.005-08:00Safe PlanetJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-79074978461715102982019-05-08T08:28:00.003-07:002019-10-23T02:29:48.484-07:00<br />
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: "guardian text egyptian web" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 17px;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: "guardian text egyptian web" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 17px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK-1HcJbB2xE7ZRRMAjwpzbiR2tu1pQGEWjMDn4quyAQEKRwKACViB4WUmsEKT9BqLI-B4Pg_vLtnIou_Nz2X0-xNh9odEOXu37UYfaAPRNTDrf0WAGzA6gariVZ4TObe8JNI3_wIznRsz/s1600/DSC_0317.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1060" data-original-width="1600" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK-1HcJbB2xE7ZRRMAjwpzbiR2tu1pQGEWjMDn4quyAQEKRwKACViB4WUmsEKT9BqLI-B4Pg_vLtnIou_Nz2X0-xNh9odEOXu37UYfaAPRNTDrf0WAGzA6gariVZ4TObe8JNI3_wIznRsz/s320/DSC_0317.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: "guardian text egyptian web" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 17px;">
</span></div>
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Two days ago, on May 6, The United Nations released its Intergovernmental Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) </span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">The warnings from the report are stark:</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"Nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history. The rate of species extinctions is accelerating".</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">“We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health, and quality of life worldwide,” </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The report says that its not too late to reverse the damage.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"if we put a huge amount into transformational behavioural change",</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> </span><br />
but notes that:<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"The current global response is insufficient"</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Given the stark warning, our leaders should convene an international summit urgently to discuss and work out what we can do and to implement the huge changes needed. But nothing is being done. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The report also says:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"Opposition from vested interests can be overcome for public good" </span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #1c1e21;"><br />Opposition from vested interests </span><i><span style="color: red;"><b>must</b></span></i><span style="color: #1c1e21;"> be overcome or human civilisation as we know it will cease to exist. It is as stark as that, but the silence from our leaders is deafening.</span></span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #1c1e21;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #1c1e21;">David Obura, one of the lead authors said 'This is fundamental to humanity. We are not just talking about nice species out there; this is our life support system' </span></span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #1c1e21;"><br />The vested interests - Oil companies, Banks, Agri-Business, weapons manufacturers etc are not only at the root of the decline of nature, of the loss of biodiversity, they are also at the heart of the capitalist system. The problem of biodiversity loss revealed by the report is inherently linked to the economic and political system we are living with - capitalism.</span><br /><span style="color: #1c1e21;">But the capitalists, the vested interests, will not give up their profits and see their capital dismantled without a fight. They will fight to keep things as they are.</span><br /><span style="color: #1c1e21;">This is the problem.</span><br /><span style="color: #1c1e21;">They have to lose, if we (and the rest of life on the planet) are to win.</span><br /><span style="color: #1c1e21;">Although the UN report identifies that "transformative change is needed" they don't say how that change can be brought about.</span><br /><span style="color: #1c1e21;">If the Existing governments do anything, they will try to make us, the huge majority of people on the planet, the 99%, pay for the transformation and try to fix things to allow the system to continue. </span><br /><span style="color: #1c1e21;">But the system is the problem and can not be part of the solution; and also, we cannot pay for it! The capitalists horde and control the 'huge amount' referred to in the report. We need those resources the capitalists have stolen from us so we can build the required alternative society.</span><br /><span style="color: #1c1e21;">Its up to us to make the capitalists pay for the damage they have caused.</span></span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #1c1e21;">We need system change. </span><span style="color: #1c1e21;"> </span><span class="_5afx" style="cursor: pointer; direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">Extinction Rebellion and Greta Thunberg and many others</span> have helped to raise the issue in the public consciousness, but concrete action is needed now. </span></span>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-60563398934560845742019-04-27T15:41:00.000-07:002019-05-13T04:35:11.425-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguNgo4oQuslqVjUc9ajSkPvfPMG4COeTOW_3NdRfunK69m2qZe2n_WS3Zf9qUPVBAJWjQ2oO68jkkkzcue6C1k0NzoXwN6K7OHoPdVODdfY8qX346U-H-dEzZcOOI7xZc13i_GRDCoYY_m/s1600/DSC_0428.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1060" data-original-width="1600" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguNgo4oQuslqVjUc9ajSkPvfPMG4COeTOW_3NdRfunK69m2qZe2n_WS3Zf9qUPVBAJWjQ2oO68jkkkzcue6C1k0NzoXwN6K7OHoPdVODdfY8qX346U-H-dEzZcOOI7xZc13i_GRDCoYY_m/s320/DSC_0428.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Its time to act!<br />
If our leaders continue with 'Business as usual', we will get change. The change we will get will be more and more extreme weather events and eventually a situation that is out of their control. Out of their control and our control.<br />
But, if people who understand the problem of climate change act now, there is still time to avert the climate disaster that is heading our way.<br />
My book <a href="https://www.johnhuntpublishing.com/earth-books/our-books/safe-planet">Safe Planet</a> was published five years ago. When I started writing it, in about 2011 I reckoned that a twenty year timescale to convert all fossil fuel consumption to renewables was just about doable. If a program had started then in 2010, we would now have been about halfway through the massive effort of building all the infrastructure required and been on target to be carbon free in 2030. But as we know, nothing of the sort has been implemented. Our leaders are marching us, at an ever increasing pace to the point of no return.<br />
In <a href="https://www.johnhuntpublishing.com/earth-books/our-books/safe-planet">Safe Planet</a> I tried to describe the scale of the technical task and also the political task. The tasks can be accomplished, but this will <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/24/greta-thunberg-general-strike-action-climate-change">not be done under business as usual</a> arrangements.<br />
<a href="https://rebellion.earth/">Extinction Rebellion</a> and an exceptional sixteen year old young woman, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFkQSGyeCWg">Greta Thunberg</a> have successfully raised the alarm and I hope they have raised the consciousness of enough people so that we can plot a course to avert the otherwise certain disaster. As <a href="https://m.facebook.com/watch/?v=2419507664746516&_rdr">Greta said</a> referring to Trump 'Climate Change is not an opinion! it is fact'<br />
Lets get on with<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/22/greta-thunberg-backs-general-strike-climate-change-environment?fbclid=IwAR3zJPOatECwH0Gg0ZPMajd6Xbsp7k9VXl7oOq-Rp9vV4w2qWvA36Vasr3Y"> it</a>!<br />
I think my book is even more relevant now than it was five years ago.<br />
Buy it <a href="https://www.johnhuntpublishing.com/earth-books/our-books/safe-planet">here</a> or <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/safe-planet-john-cowsill/1119794879?ean=9781780996820">here</a> or <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Safe-Planet-Renewable-Energy-Workers/dp/1780996829">here</a> or get it <a href="https://www.safeplanet.co.uk/p/contact.html">direct from me</a> (slower, but I can then also send you if you want a copy of the Xcel spreadsheet model I constructed for the book!). <br />
<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-5492432953333286572017-06-08T04:33:00.000-07:002017-06-08T04:36:14.757-07:00#VoteLabourIf Jeremy Corbyn wins today and I really hope he does, we will have to fight to get his policies implemented. Those dark forces backing the Tories will do their utmost to ensure that they get their way despite losing the election. A Labour win would be a massive victory for our side, but it is only the first step. We will need to keep up the pressure.<br />
If Corbyn loses, then our task is much harder. Theresa May will wield the knife on our health and welfare and will continue to slash our public services. We will fight her and her backers.<br />
Corbyn's campaign has been magnificent. It has touched millions of people and sparked something I have never seen in my lifetime. It has given us hope and a feeling that, yes we can change things for the better.<br />
Whatever the outcome, I think what is needed is that we try to harness the hope and build on what Jeremy has been saying. The problems we face are problems people all around the planet have to face. They are not problems just we in Britain face, they are International problems. We need some kind of International Corbynism. I call it International Socialism. We have to fight for that. Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-21188175165786078692017-05-15T07:41:00.001-07:002017-05-19T15:35:46.015-07:00The problem is Profit<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The current valuations for oil gas and coal fossil fuel companies, are based on the denial of climate science. This science is accepted by the overwhelming majority of climate scientists.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">When it dawns on most people that the science is right and the valuation of these companies becomes based on reality, not on fake news, their value will drop. Possibly, or more likely probably, to zero. It is time for all public sector organisations to divest now from fossil fuels if they want to avoid losses on investments.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The Ransom software that recently knocked out IT systems in the NHS and in organisations across the world can only really succeed because Microsoft already holds us all to ransom. </span>If they provided the source code for their systems, then operating systems like Windows XP could be supported well beyond the date that Microsoft decides to abandon them. Patches could be applied automatically at virtually zero cost making the recent attack impossible. The software wheel does not have to be continually reinvented. Windows XP worked perfectly well for most people and organisations before 2014 when Microsoft decided to make its (much inferior) Windows replacement its primary OS. The operating systems that replaced XP are not significantly better for consumers. Actually arguably they are worse as they include profit maximisation efforts like iTunes and the like which are designed to bring in more revenue, not to enhance the functionality of the systems. </div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-21228930001668664182016-06-29T08:14:00.001-07:002016-07-02T11:14:58.918-07:00#KeepCorbyn<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘I don’t
think Jeremy is going to stay he’s going to go’ - Gordon Brown</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘for
heaven’s sake man go!’ - David Cameron<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They are all at Jeremy Corbyns throat.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ed Milliband and Harriet Harman have lined up alongside the
miserable bunch of Labour MPs who have resigned from the Shadow Cabinet and the
rest of the MP’s who supported a vote of no confidence motion proposed by Margaret Hodge and Anne Coffey<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The fact that Cameron has joined them is telling. I think this right wing Labour cabal would rather see the Tories win the next
election than see Labour win under Corbyn. This is clear because Labour have been
winning against the Tories in practically all of the battles which have taken
place since Jeremy was elected nine months ago. Jeremy Corbyn's Labour won the Oldham by-election
with an increased majority;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> it</span> won the Tooting by-election with an increased majority; Labour won
the London Mayoral race this spring; and in the local elections this year
Labour did well contrary to the forecasts.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the Referendum won by the Brexit campaign , Corbyn
delivered almost two thirds (63%) of the Labour vote. This is comparable to the
SNP performance where 64% of SNP voters voted remain. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Tories have had to climbdown on a whole raft of policies
under Corbyn’s leadership – <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on child tax
credits; on personal independence payments; on their plan forcing all schools to become
academies;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the Saudi prison contract; on
publishing child poverty statistics. And that is not an exhaustive list, but
compared to the pitiful Miliband attempt at leadership it glows with
success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t want to bring up
Brown’s record as labour leader and Prime Minister - I would rather leave it and
him in the dustbin of history, but from his ‘no return to Boom and Bust’ policies
right before the biggest ever bust in recent history wiped off billions of
pounds from the economy, put thousands out of work and forced the British state to cough up and nationalise the
Royal Bank of Scotland - leading to the inevitable clawing back of that money and the resultant Tory austerity policies, I think he needs to exhibit a little more
humility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> He was a useless indecisive ditherer of a leader. </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>364</o:Words>
<o:Characters>2080</o:Characters>
<o:Company>John Stewart</o:Company>
<o:Lines>17</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>4</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>2440</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>14.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
However Jeremy performed he would have been attacked by these
so called Labour politicians. I think a lot of these MPs are going to bitterly
regret what they have done. Because Jeremy stands up for ordinary working
people, and by trying to destroy him, they have taken up the cudgels on the
opposing side. They are now standing for something very different (even though
they might deny it). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The plotters are saying Jeremy Corbyn is not a leader. I would like to ask them How do they measure leadership? If it is by winning elections - he is a leader, or referendums - ditto, if it is on forcing the Tories to back down on their nasty plans - he is a leader.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A leader must have followers or they are not a leader. Followers, Leaders - they go hand in hand you cannot have one without the other. As Jeremy has been democraticallyelected by the overwhelming number of Labour party members - more than any other previous leader - he is a leader.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The mob of MPs opposed to Corbyn are trying to force him to resign - something he has repeatedly said he will not do. Their appalling behaviour is personal abuse directed at their own democratically elected leader.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If their bullying is successful, they will have driven a bulldozer through Labour party internal democracy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thats why we need to use our every sinew to defend Corbyn and make the Blairites history. I have'nt mentioned Blair, but with the Chilcot report due out next week, I cant help thinking that the Iraq warmonger may have something to do with this poisoning of politics.</div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-47285383526403897552015-09-24T06:01:00.002-07:002015-09-24T14:39:36.033-07:00Electric Transport versus the Fossil Fuel deceivers<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is advantageous for a car manufacturer to be able to claim that their vehicle emissions are low. If auto makers can claim that their products are less polluting than the competition, they can sell more units and thus make more profit. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Actually, it is impossible to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of a diesel or a petrol engine. Internal combustion engines burn fuel and burned fuel results in carbon dioxide. It is however possible to reduce the amount of other of toxic by-products of the combustion process. Doing so, is not straightforward. Designing and making a vehicle that produces less nitrogen oxides than an unmodified vehicle, is expensive.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, Volkswagen have admitted to reducing the apparent emissions of some of their vehicles without actually changing the engine or the exhaust system. They have cheated. They have deceived the public in order to make more profits.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All internal combustion engine manufacturers have a competitor technology which beats them hands down on the emissions front. This technology beats both petrol and diesel on clean air. This technology is electric power. Electric vehicles not only beat both diesel and petrol on climate damaging CO2 emissions, they also produce none of the other pollutants like carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides and hydrocarbon particulates etc produced by diesel engines which are so highly damaging to human health. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/11880790/volkswagen-emissions-scandal-illegal-cars.html">30,000</a> deaths in the UK each year are thought to be caused by air pollution. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2015/sep/23/volkswagen-emissions-scandal-explained-diesel-cars">9,500</a> premature deaths in London alone each year have been linked to the NOx fumes produced by diesel engines. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Electric vehicles have zero in use emissions. On a level playing field, electric vehicles will be taken up more frequently than diesel by the public if diesel technology is seen to pollute the environment, damage health and add to the problem of climate change.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There have been suggestions in the media that <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/11880790/volkswagen-emissions-scandal-illegal-cars.html">other manufacturers</a>, not just VW, may have been installing software in their diesel vehicles which misleads the public and regulators about the levels of pollutants produced by their engines. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why would they do it?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If all diesel engine manufacturers have been using a so called <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2015/sep/23/volkswagen-emissions-scandal-explained-diesel-cars">defeat device</a>, they will not gain any advantage (or any increased profits) over their direct diesel competitors because they will all be showing the same reduced levels of toxic fumes and therefore there will be no significant difference in their published emissions data and no advantage over the competition.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, If it is shown that other or all diesel vehicle manufacturers have been deceiving regulators by systematically installing software which masks the actual levels of toxic pollutants produced by their engines, the conclusion must be that they have not been doing it in order simply to achieve competitive advantage over other diesel engine manufacturers, but to diminish the advantage and prevent the uptake of a viable completely different, competing clean technology - electric cars, vans, buses and lorries.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">The auto industry and its mutually dependent partner in crime the fossil fuel industry will do anything to keep their dirty show on the road and keep out upstart competitors like electric vehicles and wind power*. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666669845581px; line-height: 20.2399997711182px; white-space: pre-wrap;">And they have been doing it with total disregard to the effect it has on our health and the damage it does to the planet.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Wind power - because we need to decarbonise electricity to maximise the advantage of electric transport. Wind power (specifically offshore wind power) must replace coal oil, gas and nuclear derived electricity.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-63672963675569796972015-09-23T03:47:00.001-07:002015-09-23T03:56:40.244-07:00Pull the Plug<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jeremy Corbyn should say that, if elected, Labour will pull the plug on new nuclear.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This would make EDF and the Chinese government think again about the deal Osborne is offering is offering. They would pull out.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nuclear makes no sense as a solution to climate change. We need an international solution to the climate crisis, and there is no question whether nuclear could provide all of the worlds electricity, let alone all of the worlds energy. It cannot get anywhere near either. There is not enough Uranium 235. And, anyway, politically, the West does not want to see nuclear being developed where it is not in control. Iran shows us this.</span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-c1282a08-f9cc-a5ca-a399-de59140d3f2c"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Investing in nuclear means that cheaper, more reliable and safer alternative technologies - like onshore and offshore wind and solar heat and pv along with efficiency measures like building insulation, are deprived of that investment. </span></div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-17705420367516976022015-09-17T18:28:00.000-07:002017-04-20T09:30:51.185-07:00Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party (Why I joined it, plus the meaning of RS21)<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve joined the Labour Party.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I gave some of my reasons for leaving the Socialist Workers
Party in <a href="http://www.safeplanet.co.uk/2013/12/my-resignation-statement-for-anyone.html">another post</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since then I have left another outfit – I’m really going
through them now! Perhaps I will also be expelled from the Labour Party for not
believing in its values. I hope not – I’m hoping that logic will dictate that
the values of Labour changed when Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader and that I
will now be considered fit to be a member.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, why did I leave that other outfit, and have I learned
any lessons?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I left SW, it was really with a feeling of sadness.
When I left RS21 it was one of relief mixed with anger. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ill try to explain.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Having been in two revolutionary socialist organisations has
enabled me to see both more clearly - what they have in common, and also what makes
them different. The relationship between two positions becomes clear when there
is a third with which to compare them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I was in SW I was very clear about what we were trying
to do. We were trying to build the revolutionary party. You cannot get rid of
capitalism through reforms; it cannot be reformed; a revolution is needed. And
the working class needs a revolutionary socialist organisation to give the lead
in the revolutionary struggle. It followed that the party organ, Socialist Worker,
was an important tool for helping to shape and build the party – its' scaffolding.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were told that it was a party of leaders. But nobody
really believed that we were in a single tier organisation. There was an
acceptance that some were better at being leaders than others. That didn’t
matter. It was all done in the cause of ‘Building the Party’. You had to
consciously subordinate yourself to the rule of the ‘centre’ to the industrial
organiser; to the district organiser. But that was done willingly. We trusted
those in the leadership to, on the whole, make good decisions. Sometimes
mistakes were made, but again, and of course as in life elsewhere, people make
mistakes. Even when things were not going too well, comrades were happy to keep
heads down and keep pushing on with whatever party building project was under
way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For most of my time in the party – up until about 2008 –
that way of working was good. You always had the sense (at least I did) that we
were doing the right thing and things couldn’t really be done any better given
the objective circumstances. The party was building for a lot of that time. It
grew from around 4,500 when I joined in 1989 to about 10,000 in 2000. The ten
thousand figure is disputed, but there really was actual growth – an almost
doubling of the membership.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For me, things started to go wrong after the great crash of
2008. I can almost pin point it to an exact time of day<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(you may laugh, but that’s what I think). I
think it was September 14<sup>th</sup> 2008, when it was announced that Lehman
Brothers had collapsed. At around that time the first statements that there was
going to be a bailout of the biggest banks in the world were broadcast on the
telly. When I heard that I immediately said to myself ‘and they will be clawing
that back from us’ It would be like the Poll Tax on steroids. I went to a
meeting at the University of London Union organised by SW (incidentally Delta*
was the main speaker) and put my hand up wanting to speak about my take on the
crisis. I wasn’t called. That wasn’t unusual. The trusted leaders usually got
called to speak. You were lucky if you weren’t<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>a recognised leader member to be called to speak.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If I had been called, I would have said that this crash
gives us a great opportunity. Like the poll tax, the clawback will affect
everybody – every worker. And that could be the governments' and their
capitalist friends their Achilles<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> H</span>eel.
Governments do not ever take on the whole of the working class at the same
time. They use divide and rule tactics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The bailout with the inevitable clawback gave us the opportunity to
attempt<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to unite the working class
against the austerity that will surely be coming down the tracks. I had a
<a href="https://socialistworker.co.uk/art/18660/Letters">letter published in SW</a> on the issue some months later.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But what did the party do in response to the crash? Zilch,
Nada, Nothing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Their mantra was ‘ you can not fight a recession’ and ‘you
cannot suck a fightback out<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of your thumb’
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course you cannot fight a recession and nobody as far as
I know was saying that. I found out a long time later that others had <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>reached the same conclusion as me, but
(because of the way dissent in the party was handled) I did not hear that or
get to talk to them. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In fact the Poll Tax campaign <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">was</i> sucked out of our thumb. It was built bottom up from the ground
in a sustained eighteen month campaign which united as many strands of
resistance as was possible. And it won. It was a major (and for me
inexplicable) mistake of the party to not re-orientate - and attempt to build a
campaign using lessons from the successful Anti Poll Tax campaign from the late
eighties - after the banking crisis of 2008. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From then on, I started to trust less and less, the
decisions of the leadership and became critical of the direction the party was
going in. But I remained in the party, hopeful that better judgement would
materialise in the future struggles.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A large proportion (not all, but a significant number) of
the group that eventually emerged as RS21 were full timers in the SW – People
who worked for the paper and worked on the admin of the party. This group
backed to the hilt and argued for and carried out (they had to, it was their
job), the decisions of the central committee.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then came the traumatic crisis in the party caused by the (alleged
and disputed admittedly**) actions of the leading member of the central
committee of the Socialist Workers Party. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The trauma that overwhelmed the party in 2012 – 2014 was an
accident waiting to happen.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In a sexist, racist, homophobic, society, everybody in that
society has those backward ideas in their head -‘ The ruling ideas in any
society are those of the ruling class’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-
however under control they may be. Just because you are on the central
committee of a revolutionary organisation, that in itself does not shield you,
free you, exempt you, from holding those notions. And, always, there exists the
possibility that you could act, however involuntarily, on them. You can
recognise their backwardness and guard yourself against them and fight against
people who are overtly racist<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>or sexist
or homophobic (and that is not an exhaustive list) etc, but you cannot
obliterate the notions themselves. This is not to excuse any racist, sexist,
homophobic, behaviour, but to recognise the existence of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the ideas, and the danger they represent.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the first books I was read as a child was blatantly
racist with racist stories and pictures and words; and for many years as I was
growing up, homosexuality was an illegal practice; my mother was, as a great
many women were (and still even now are) casually treated a bit like a modern
slave. Racist, homophobic and sexist ideas are in peoples’ heads. How could
they not be? We have been brought up with them. Young people have had a
different experience, but the main point still applies.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My conclusion is that we have to build our party in a
defensive way. In such a way that, if and when a leading member fails to live
up to the highest revolutionary standards, that it doesn’t bring the whole
project crashing down. We must not allow that kind of vulnerability to arise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We need a discussion on the best way forward – on how to
build a more robust organisation or set of organisations. I think we need a
looser structure. The ‘slate’ method of leadership is problematical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can only vote for the slate and the slate
votes for itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This tends to
perpetuate the vulnerability and increases the likelihood of further trouble in
the future. There is a history of leadership worship leading to the collapse of
left parties. We need to be wary of leadership worship. Leaders often let us
down. And if they are the head of the single ‘vanguard’ party that is asking
for trouble.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I was in RS21 I suggested that we should have an open
discussion –both within RS21 and then with Socialist Worker and within the
working class as a whole about the kind of party that we need.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Unfortunately my suggestion was not taken seriously.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This leads me on to my thoughts on RS21.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What does it mean anyway.<br />
It means arse to
anyone.<o:p></o:p><br />
(See what I did there? Lol)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(When I resigned from RS21, my anger had reached white heat, so, apologies if my use of that four letter word offends anyone).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The anger came from many things. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There used to be an organisation in the eighties and early
90s called the RCP. They had a magazine called Living Marxism. They were not an
organisation that tried to build.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their
name implied revolutionary communism, but I had no idea what they were trying
to do. They were just there. They had this nice shiny magazine with the picture
of their leader on it. I forget how they disappeared, but before they did they
changed the name of their magazine to LM.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It meant nothing. They weren’t trying to build.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>RS21 is like that.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In Socialist Worker,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I knew why I was selling the paper. We were trying to build a
revolutionary party and use the paper to help us in that work. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I couldn’t bring myself to even try selling the RS21
magazine because I didn’t know what it was for. It had some good articles and
looked nice and shiny, but that was it. We might just as well have tried
selling the Daily Mirror or the New Scientist. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I was in that outfit, only a core group would
automatically get their writing published. I never felt it was my magazine. There
was a hierarchy; it was a two tier organisation even though there had been no
proper discussion of this.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the outset, and actually from before I joined, when it was still a faction within SW, I sensed
that the organisation was undemocratic. I hoped this would change, but I was to
be disappointed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was what I called an ‘undeclared social faction’ in
existence. At the first National meeting event in Brixton, a posse of members
left the pub we were gathered in after the event, and, with no announcement,
marched out en masse leaving us, the remainder, to socialise among ourselves.
Nice.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are a lot of very decent and lovely people in RS21,
just as there were in SW. I do not have a beef really with any particular
people. I do have a beef with how the organisation works. But that of course is
tied up with those same people. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So this is how I characterise some of this group.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some of the new RS21 group had been full timers with the party. On leaving, they now found themselves unemployed professional revolutionaries. Professional
revolutionaries without a job. And, to boot, professional revolutionaries who
were used to carrying out the ‘centralism’ part of the ‘democratic centralism’
organisational method that SW functions by. They carried out the dirty work of
centralism – the bending of the stick – the persuasion of those who were deemed
to be not helpful to toe the line. A lot of them were crap at it, but they
tried to crack the centralist whip. (In a nutshell democratic centralism is an
organisational concept meaning decisions are arrived at democratically by the
whole organisation, and then, once the policy is decided on, that policy is
implemented across the organisation by the central leadership) <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Adding to that, the leadership tends to select its
successors from the full timers – from those who proved themselves compliant to the leadership and who were trained and in the habit of giving
out orders. The professional revolutionaries saw themselves as the leadership
in waiting.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They had a little bit of power and it would not be
surprising if they felt the loss of that little bit of power when they resigned
after building the opposition faction.<br />
It was as if hey felt a sense of entitlement, stemming from their habitual roles in the old organisation. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Those habits were carried over the new organisation, RS21. It
always felt to me like a two tier organisation, when it could and should have been flat. We needed a true party of leaders, not another party of leaders and
followers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, we got, for one example, the
appointment, with hardly any discussion on the pros and cons of it of a middle
aged (for RS21!) white academic male as a paid worker. For me, we’ve had enough
of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>posh academics running the show into
the ground in SW. We don’t need a re run of that. It sends out the wrong
message.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lot of people I spoke to
about that appointment over their heads were disappointed with that important
policy change. This is because he who pays the piper calls the tune. The friends of the full timer control interventions and policy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So the problem of RS21 is that it is a chip off the old
block. All the problems of Socialist Worker are there in embryo in RS21. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But the strengths of Socialist Worker – its clear sense of
direction and purpose for example, are just not there. There are good things
about RS21. They have tried. That’s good. They have tried to come up with some
new political analyses – not amounting to much for me though, and in fact, I
have sensed, at least in one Youtube video I have seen, which was presented by
one of the self appointed leaders - <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a
sense of despair – a questioning of whether the working class has the actual
power or ability to change the world. Oh dear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A general cannot prepare to go into battle discussing defeat. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I think we need a revolutionary socialist organisation. But
we need one that is capable of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>winning
the hundreds of thousands of new people that are joining the Labour party. I
think that party could well have been Socialist Worker if it had been able to
make a change to its ossified leadership methodology. Alas that is too late
right now. But they will still have a part to play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That party is full of brilliant class
fighters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It needs to drop the thuggish
centralism and remake itself.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tony Cliff did point us in the right direction. Again alas,
he died too soon.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Something he said sticks in my mind. Unusually, the analysis
isn’t taken to its conclusion (or more probably, I missed it) so: <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cliff said the revolution will be led by a 19 year old black
lesbian. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Actually, Cliff, if writing today, would have said that the
revolution will be led by a 19 year old black, disabled Moslem lesbian. Why?
They have the most to win. But that isn’t my point.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cliff was the leader of the party which, although this is
not normally explicitly stated, sees itself as the vanguard party - the
vanguard of the coming revolution when it happens. But this leaves us with a
gaping hole. Because the party is not and (given the current stranglehold on
leadership by the current CC, will never be)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>led by that 19 year old. There is not a mechanism currently as the SWP
is set up for, for any such person to emerge within the leadership of the SWP,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A different
structure, a more loose form of Democratic centralism is needed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Why am I joining Labour then?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the things drummed in to me in my SW days is the
maxim - you cannot be a socialist by yourself. In other words, you need to work
with other socialists; you need to be in an organisation of some sort. I still
agree with that. By yourself, you can maybe change some things, but you cannot
change the world all by yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
question then – what organisation, or what kind of organisation, do I need to
be in - presents itself to anyone who concludes that - because of what they
know is happening to billions of people and to the earth itself - that major
political change is needed if we want a safe planet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I think that the working class needs a revolutionary
organisation<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>– one that argues for and
builds towards a revolutionary change going beyond capitalism. However, in my
opinion now, based on my experience in the two groups I have been a member of
and which do argue for that kind of change, an organisation capable of building
has yet to be formed. <o:p></o:p></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>2449</o:Words>
<o:Characters>13961</o:Characters>
<o:Company>John Stewart</o:Company>
<o:Lines>116</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>32</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>16378</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>14.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the absence of the existence of that organisation, right
now seems to be a good<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>time for a
socialist without a party to join Labour. Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because it has hundreds of thousands of new people joining and has a
left wing MP beating the right wing, hands down, in the leadership contest.
Although I have joined with an open mind and open heart it is also with no
illusions. A leopard cannot change its spots. But I think its better to be in a
party full of people that want to see change and to work together with them to
try to achieve that change, than not to be in any group - even if you think
that some of the basic political analysis of the party is wrong. Labour is now
moving in the right direction – even if it does not have the fuel to carry us
to the final destination. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
* and ** This refers to the SW central committee member at the eye of the storm during the SWP crisis 2012/ 2013 I have a little bit to say about that crisis but am going to leave it to another post.</div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-37705612925668293802014-09-05T14:59:00.003-07:002014-09-15T07:27:43.595-07:00Not just ironic <div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">This week,
the FT reported that the National Grid was looking for emergency supplies of
electricity for this winter ('Power shortage fears spur hunt for extra
electricity', National News, FT September 03).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The
emergency has come about it was said, because of shortages in output from the
UKs coal gas and nuclear stations. In August, EDF, the main nuclear power
generation company, had announced the closure, due to boiler faults, of four
nuclear power stations and the resultant loss of a combined output of 2.3 GW ('Nuclear
power plant warning puts spotlight on supply plans', National News, FT
September 05). In addition, fires at
Ferrybridge and Ironbridge power stations, two key coal fired plants, have
resulted in a further loss in electricity generation capacity. A gas fired
station in Barking East London has also recently closed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">With the NG
urgently looking for new sources of electricity, it seems ironic then, does it
not, to find that several new electricity generating projects have recently been
scrapped ('Offshore wind farms hit by new blow', National News FT August 01). Centrica's project to develop the new 2.2GW
Celtic Array, Europe's largest wind farm (which was to be sited off the North
Wales coast near <st1:place w:st="on">Anglesey</st1:place>) has been closed. To
add to that, in recent months power companies have pulled out of a litany of
offshore windfarm developments. The £4B Atlantic Array which was to have been
built off the <st1:place w:st="on">Devon</st1:place> coast by RWE has been
scrapped. Scottish Power pulled out of it's Argyll Array project late last year
and a second phase of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Kent</st1:country-region></st1:place>
coast's London Array windfarm, run by a consortium of companies, has also ended
up as more flotsam and jetsam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The reasons
given for the ditching of the Anglesey development are many and varied:
Engineering difficulties, concerns about damage to shark and bird habitats,
uncertainties about financial support, tightening of the Coalition government's
subsidies regime, challenging ground conditions, the seabed of rock and sand
leading to additional complexity and cost for the construction of footings for
wind turbines. That’s a long list. The reasons given for the other project
closures, as far as I can see, are similar - they cite, for example in the case
of the Argyll project, problems with basking sharks and rocky seabeds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><span lang="EN-GB">UK</span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span lang="EN-GB"> based companies and others have
amassed great skills in Offshore engineering from decades of marine oil and gas
exploration projects and experience. Much is known about how to build footings
for large structures on tricky seabeds. Energy companies enjoy a challenge it
seems. BP and other companies mined seven miles! below the surface of the
Mexican gulf to drill for oil. They have been and go to the most challenging
parts of the world in an attempt to squeeze as much black gold from the earth
as they are able. Environmental concerns - water table pollution, destruction
of wildlife habitats, have always taken second place to the primary concern -
profit. This last point has been rammed home more firmly today as BP has been
found guilty of gross negligence and willful misconduct in the 2010 Deepwater
Horizon disaster. If the energy companies were keen to go ahead with those
offshore wind projects, all of the hurdles listed above would be straddled by
using the means that have been used in the past to railroad through difficult
schemes - with one sole proviso -providing there were returns to be had.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I don’t
believe the reasons given for those project closures. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Renewable
electricity generation, for example, windpower, produces electricity more
cheaply than conventional generation, like coal, oil, gas and nuclear and
brings the electricity price down for all forms of generation. This is because,
once installed, a wind energy converter say, requires no fuel, and requires
only a small amount of maintenance work. Electricity is produced continually
(when the wind blows) at little (or no) extra marginal cost. Contrastingly, all
other forms of electricity generation - nuclear, gas, coal and oil based power
stations - require a constant supply of fuel and the associated labour required
to deliver the fuel and to maintain the equipment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">This can be
confirmed to some extent, by taking a look at what is happening to electricity
prices in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:place w:st="on"><span lang="EN-GB">Europe</span></st1:place><span lang="EN-GB">'s second largest electricity producer by capacity, RWE, has moaned that
power prices are too low. The price of electricity has dropped there, it is
said (The LEX Column, FT August 15), because of the excess capacity on the
German electricity market, partly caused by the nationwide switch to
renewables. The price of electricity in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region> has reached a seven year
low at Euro 34 per MWh. That is significantly below the current electricity
price in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
To compare this with the <st1:country-region w:st="on">UK</st1:country-region>,
the forecast <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region>
baseload electricity price for October rose to £46.55 per MWh today according
to the above quoted FT article (September 05).
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">'Excess' renewables
capacity is forcing RWE, as an operator of both renewables and also of
conventional power generation, to close its (more expensive) conventional
capacity when it has to choose as a result of dropping electricity demand (or
lots of excess electricity due to high winds). The result is that the
electricity price drops at these times when generation of electricity exceeds
demand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I believe
that this underlines the primary reason for those closures listed above.
<a href="http://www.safeplanet.co.uk/2014/06/double-speak-on-energy-prices.html">Renewable generation brings the price of electricity down</a>. Not just down for
renewable electricity, but for all electricity, whether generated by nuclear,
coal, oil, gas or wind turbines. Having more and more renewables generating electricity
is not good for companies heavily invested in fossil and nuclear. If their
prices have to drop, so do their profits from huge investments in conventional
power.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">In the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region>, a
contrasting phenomenon shines a little more light on the nature of renewable
electricity and the politics surrounding it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Rather than
an energy company, as in Germany, moaning about low energy prices, a national
newspaper bleats here about how 'A windfarm has been paid £11 million not to
produce electricity' (Sunday Telegraph August
24). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The
National Grid has to constantly balance electricity supply with demand.
Electricity cannot simply be thrown away once produced. Something must be done
with it - heat an oven, light a room, power a fridge etc. If there is an excess
of electricity being generated, then either some generation must be shut down,
or some demand switched on. In Germany currently, it seems conventional plant
is being switched off when necessary while in the UK, the choice, currently is
to ask windfarm operators to temporarily stop their rotor blades from turning.
That payment of £11 million would be arising from a pre agreed contract between
National Grid and the generation company, that stated that amounts of cash
would be handed over if a request was made to not generate. That kind of
contract is drawn up between National Grid and every type of electricity
generation organisation. The choices
behind the different approaches in the <st1:country-region w:st="on">UK</st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region>
are political and commercially determined. In Germany (although how long this
will last is unclear), the Government is favouring some renewable generation,
while in the UK the Government is fully behind conventional fossil and nuclear
generation (and of course is also behind the new kid on the block, fracking) as
is evidenced by its removal of subsidies from onshore wind, and the recent
announcement by the Department for Energy and Climate Change that rival
technologies- implying offshore wind and fracking etc- would now have to
compete for funding. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">If we are
to tackle effectively the most serious challenge affecting us regarding energy
production - climate change - we should be building and installing more
windfarms, not closing projects down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The reason
they are not being built fast enough and why sensible projects are in fact
being closed down is because of the investment by the those multinational energy
companies, those behind the projects mentioned above - some of the worlds most
profitable firms - in oil and gas and their desire to keep making profits in
the same old way from these investments with support in this from the UK
government and governments in many countries worldwide. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">That the National
Grid balances the electricity grid by paying
large amounts of money to windfarm companies to not produce electricity, while
at the same time it is saying it is searching for emergency supplies of
electricity elsewhere is one irony. Another is that while new, safe, clean and
potentially reliable renewable electricity projects are shut down, massive
amounts of investment continues to be spent on dirty dangerous unreliable old
nuclear and fossil stations which frequently break down and require constant
maintenance and safety inspections. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">These
ironies arise because of the irrational unpredictable outcomes that follow production
for profit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Much more
investment should be made in energy storage and in building more electricity
links (like the £1billion Western Link which will link Scottish renewable
generation to the rest of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">UK</st1:country-region></st1:place>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">With more
links and more electricity storage, windfarms would not have to be paid to
shutdown, any excess would simply be used to satisfy demand further afield, or
would be stored for use later when demand had risen or for when the wind did
not blow. But this investment is not happening, or is not happening quickly
enough and this is because of the profit motive. Renewables can produce clean
cheap electricity, but its development threatens the profits of the most worlds
most profitable and powerful companies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"> My new book, <a href="http://www.earth-books.net/books/safe-planet">Safe Planet</a> will be published on 26th September <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-12185741153856415072014-06-13T08:26:00.001-07:002014-09-04T02:24:18.109-07:00Double Speak on Energy Prices The 'big six' energy companies this week blamed rising costs due to the 'governments environmental policies', and excused tariff rises, blaming them on 'green levies' [FT Wednesday].<br />
On the same day, an article in The Times told us that National Grid proposes to increase the number of interconnectors from Britain to Europe where '<i>an excess of harnessed wind and solar energy is depressing prices</i> ' <br />
So does solar and wind 'green' technology raise prices or does it depress energy prices?<br />
According to the FT article you would deduce that green technology is responsible for price increases.<br />
According to the Times article, the wind and solar technology had depressed prices.<br />
<br />
The reality can be seen in Germany, where the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/electricity-prices-in-germany-down-to-zero-2014-5">price of electricity dropped to zero</a> earlier this year when windy conditions coincided with a lot of sun and a drop in demand. The energy capitalists do not like their energy price to drop to zero - neither the British ones nor the German ones. Zero price, zero profit. I suppose the new interconnectors will help both manage their prices.<br />
Meanwhile, energy companies will scramble to try to frack the earth for shale gas and continue to resist, with help from governments, the only rational solution - building a renewable energy infrastructure. Why don't the energy companies want to do this? Because prices will fall.<br />
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-44651693718583202252014-05-30T12:24:00.000-07:002014-06-22T09:45:56.336-07:00Ecosocialism: Fracking, Climate and RevolutionI was asked to do a workshop on Marx's Ecology at the <a href="http://rs21.org.uk/ecosocialism/">Ecosocialism Conference</a><br />
This is the gist of what I wanted to say:<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Marx's
Ecology<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB">1<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">We've had
report after report, haven’t we, from the <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/">IPCC</a>, from the UN, from leading
scientists, about the fact that human activity is causing the concentration of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to rise year on year and that this is causing
the average temperature of the planet to rise and that this, in turn, is
causing the climate to change. And we have witnessed many unprecedented weather
events over recent months and years - those floods, storms and droughts seen on
our TV screens. The scientists had predicted that more extreme weather will be
the result of increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
And it seems they were right. Many scientists have now linked the recent
unusual weather to the burning of fossil fuels.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">For more than a decade we had leading members of governments, making a lot of noise about the danger of climate change. Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair said , in 2002. 'Climate change is the greatest
challenge facing humanity'. In 2006, David Cameron then the Conservative opposition leader was photographed posing with huskies in the Arctic to highlight climate change. </span>In the lead
up to the 2009 <st1:city w:st="on">Copenhagen</st1:city> governmental conference on
Climate Change, Gordon Brown the then Prime Minister stated '<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Copenhagen</st1:city></st1:place>
is our last chance to get international agreement on climate change to reduce emissions'.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">We have to
hope Brown wasn't right about the timing because they didn't get it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
But what is
happening 12 years 8 years, and 5 years after those prime ministerial statements?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Carbon
dioxide emissions are going up at an ever increasing pace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Far from
saying that we must cut back (eliminate) CO2 emissions by cutting fossil fuel
burning, companies around the globe are scouring the earth for oil miles under
the surface of the oceans, in the pristine wilderness of the arctic, out of the
dirty tar sands of Canada and are prospecting for fossil gas under the earth
everywhere - even fracking mother earth in leafy stockbroker belt Surrey. And
the Prime Minister, ministers and departments are fully behind the fracking of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB">In this years Queen's speech, Prime Minister Cameron announced that the law would be changed to make it possible to allow fracking companies to drill for oil and gas wherever they want and the pledge, given previously to ensure all post 2016 building must comply with zero carbon rules, was abandoned. </span>Both of those measures will result in more CO2 emissions and consequently, more global warming. The British Government are fully behind the burning of more and more fossil fuel, despite the
warnings.<br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">If we can force a change in these kinds of policies, there is time to set a course towards a safer planet, but time is running out rapidly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">One reason time is running out is because of the danger of reaching the tipping points identified by many scientists - the albedo affect in the Arctic; the possible release of trapped methane in Permafrost regions as the temperature rises; the reducing carbon dioxide buffer of the sea; loss of biodiversity and its effect on the ecosystem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">If we burn all the oil, all glaciers will melt and the planet will enter the ice free state with sea levels hundreds of feet higher than they are at at present. Future generations will be confronted with a situation that is out of their control. </span>It will not be us that is affected. It will be our children's children and our children's children's children that will be confronted with an unsurmountable problem.<br />
But, almost unbelievably, the oil companies <b>do</b> plan to burn all of their known reserves and any more that they discover.<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Climate
change is not the only ecological problem. It is just, perhaps, the greatest
life destroyer that capitalism has unleashed upon humanity. Other massive
problems - diffusion of toxins into the environment, destruction of the soil by
agribusiness, deforestation to list just some also must be dealt with.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So why are governments and companies acting recklessly, and what can we do about it?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB">2<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<span lang="EN-GB">Capitalism has always treated the environment as a dustbin and as a source of free resources. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Karl Marx,
a long time ago identified capitalism as an unsustainable system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">This comes
about partly from the necessity of capital to continually expand, to break all
barriers to the self expansion of capital. Nothing must stand in the way of the
drive for profit. That’s why the government has introduced the new infrastructure bill in favour of fracking and of
changing laws to allow it despite the absurdity and the destructiveness of fracking.
That it destroys the environment is of no matter. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">And partly it comes about from the way capitalists have been able to treat on the one hand, unpaid labour, and on the other, nature, the environment, as a free gifts (both being important sources of its profits). So alongside labour, Capital has always treated the
environment as if it is free for it to do what it wants with it, whether as a
dump or as the scene of the crime for its robbery of nature. Fracking, and all the other combined efforts of the carbon capitalists are an extension of this agenda. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">One of the
first historic acts of capital was to drive peasants and farm labourers off the
land. The enclosures of the commons. <i>'The expropriation of the agricultural producer, of the peasant, is the basis of the whole process'</i> [Capital Vol 1, pp 503,4] This
created a rift ,or rupture, in what Marx called, the human-earth metabolism. <i>'Capitalist production, by collecting the population in great centres, and causing an ever-increasing preponderance of town population,... disturbs the circulation of matter between man and the soil, i.e., prevents the return to the soil of its elements consumed by man in the form of food and clothing; it therefore violates the conditions necessary to the lasting fertility of the soil' </i>[Capital Vol 1 pp 352/3 ]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">This act destroys the health of the town worker and the intellectual life of the rural
worker - it depletes the land, and pollutes the city.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">This
pillage continues to this day in underdeveloped parts of the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">And to this
day, essential minerals and micro-nutrients are pissed down the tubes, while
the land has to be artificially fortified with industrially produced
fertilisers. Modern agricultural techniques (pesticides, insecticides, GM
crops) damage the soil further.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Its clear
from its works that capitalism is incapable of solving the climate problem. There have been many lost lives, lost
livelihoods and communities displaced already as a result of climate
disruption. It is incapable of solving this ecological problem because it,
capitalism, is the source, the very heart of the problem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Why can't
capitalism solve climate change? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">In short,
the capitalists think they have too much to lose by converting to clean energy
like wind or solar power. The energy companies that make profits from oil, coal
and gas are central to capitalism. According to the Fortune 500 report, of the
ten most profitable companies worldwide in 2007, six were fossil fuel
companies, one was an auto manufacturer, and two were banks. The odd one out
was Apple at number 7. At the top was <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region>'s
Gazprom ($44.5B profits), followed closely by the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region></st1:place> company Exxon-Mobil ($41B); then comes a bank, The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China ($32B). These
concerns are linked by a web of mutual interests. Banks make loans to oil
companies for infrastructure like oil refineries, drilling technology etc. Car
companies rely on oil and refinery companies to produce the fuel on which their
products run. And the oil companies benefit from the constant demand for oil
products from the automobile industry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">A wholesale
switch to renewable energy would mean a massive amount of stranded investment
(equivalent to lost profits) for these fossil and fossil related organisations. And so,
renewable energy is seen as a threat to these profit hungry businesses. This is why they attempt to block
or stall the growth of the industry and technologies that can save the planet.
To do this they enlist the help of governments. In this country we heard in
April this year (2014) the Tory/Condem (and Labour is not different in this) Minister
in charge of the department of energy and climate change (DECC) saying 'we will
be finishing all subsidies to onshore windpower and no more will be installed
because we now have enough onshore windpower', and the compliant BBC Radio 4
Today presenter asking whether we should now be ripping up the existing wind
turbines! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><b>3</b></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB">We must demand a
complete change! and we should, unapologetically, use the phrase that the apologists for capitalism use a lot. It’s the right thing to do!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">We need a systematic restoration of the
human-earth metabolism. We need an ecological revolution. But this cannot
happen without ridding ourselves of the cause of the problem - the capitalist
system. We need a social revolution. We need this, not only because of the
horror and humiliation inflicted on billions of people worldwide as a result of
the way capitalism treats them as an expendable free resource for profiteering,
but because only through a revolution can we restore the relationship humans
must have with the planet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But isn't capitalism needed to provide all the stuff that we need in order to live? How can we produce, for example,
the energy we need without burning more fossil fuel? Are we not caught in an
oily trap we cannot get out of?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">No. We can
provide all the energy needed from renewable resources.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">In all
places where people have settled there is many more times than enough ambient
energy than is needed. Energy from the sun. And there is also harvestable
energy in the tides and in geothermal rocks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Taking the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">UK</st1:country-region></st1:place> as
an example.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If mention
of numbers and arithmetic makes your eyes glaze over, relax and don’t worry,
you don't need to follow these figures too closely; I just want to demonstrate
the power in the wind, and the scale of the task.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The power
you can get from a wind turbine depends on a number of factors. Not
surprisingly, the windier it is, the more power you can get; and the larger the
wind turbine, the more power you can get. The power varies according to the <b>square</b> of the blade length.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Doubling
the blade length quadruples the power. The power output is also proportional
the <b>cube</b> of the windspeed. If a wind
turbine produces 8 units of power at a wind speed of 2 m/sec, at 3 m/sec it will
produce 27 units of power and at 4 m/sec, it can produce 64 units of power and
so on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">So makes
sense, if power is wanted, to install lots of very big wind turbines out at sea
where the windspeeds are typically high and are stable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Could
windpower produce all we need?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Take a
typical windspeed out in the <st1:place w:st="on">North Sea</st1:place> of 9
metres per second say.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">A 10 MW
wind turbine (with a rotor blade length of about 67 metres) at the same
location in the <st1:place w:st="on">North Sea</st1:place> would produce, at
that wind speed, about 7MW.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">How many of
these would we need installed to supply all of the UKs energy and power?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">That’s
quite an easy calculation to do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">In 2007,
the total <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">UK</st1:country-region></st1:place>
energy consumption was 1856TWh (DUKES 2008).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">This
includes all forms of energy - solid and liquid fuels like coal and oil and
also electricity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Very
roughly, if this energy was consumed at a constant rate (its not, but this is
just an illustration) then the continuous power demand would be 211GW (the
equivalent of 211 nuclear power stations on at full power) We don’t want nuclear
because its dirty, expensive, dangerous has a limited stockpile of fuel and it
is very unreliable (most of them are down for maintenance at any one time
according to <a href="http://www.ends.co.uk/">ENDS</a>). So lets replace them with windpower.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Calculations
show that, making reasonable assumptions about power losses in the grid cables
and equipment, around 23,000 wind turbines will deliver 211GW from a wind speed
of 8.7 metres per second. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">This number
of wind turbines at optimal spacing will take up an area of about 10,000 square
kilometres (about half the size of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Wales</st1:country-region></st1:place>!). This windfarm would be out
at sea!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Of course,
if the wind speed were to drop to zero, then precisely zero energy would be
produced. Zilch, nada, nothing.</span><br />
It will be necessary to spread the turbines
over a wide area to minimise the chances of them all being becalmed at the same
time. And, I believe, it is important (essential) to have a good energy storage
system in place if we want to power everything with renewables (which we do!). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">When the
wind drops, when the windfarms are becalmed - All the lights will go out! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">With a very
large internationally interconnected geographically dispersed electricity grid,
this problem will disappear, but initially, there will be a requirement for
substantial energy storage facilities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB">Storage<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Energy
storage removes the problem of intermittency.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB">Some <a href="http://roar.uel.ac.uk/600/">modelling</a> I did indicates that, with enough electrical storage, about 45,000 10 MW turbines (taking up a sea-area approximately the size of Wales!) could have satisfied the total UK energy demand in 2007.</span><br />
We will
need the existing energy storage - such as the pumped hydro power station at Dinorwig in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Wales</st1:place></st1:country-region> and those
at other locations around the globe. And more of this type of facility must be
built. This is expensive technology however, and, <b>crucially</b>, takes a long time to build so,
in the transition period an alternative could be provided by a transport system
that becomes increasingly electrified as the renewable generators come on
line. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">All electric
transport, be it trains, trams, trolley buses, buses, vans, lorries etc must,
at least in an interim transitional period, be equipped with electrical storage. This
storage will support renewable generators as well as holding the power to run
the vehicles.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB">4<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB">Transitional Demands. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">What are
our demands?<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">We demand
that all the oil gas and coal is left in the ground. We demand that all governments
and states plan a route to a fossil free energy system. For that we have to use
the fossil fuel we have. We have to phase out fossil fuel and phase in
renewable generators like wind, wave, solar and tidal. Insulate all buildings
so that they require less input energy to keep them warm or cool. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">We demand
no new coal, no fracking and no new nuclear (nuclear will suck away investment
from safe renewables,and it's dangerous etc etc).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">We demand
that states/governments invest in renewable technology and in all the new
training that it requires. So eg.in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region> we demand the Government builds
and installs, together with the necessary grid strengthening and ancillary
equipment eighteen hundred 10MW wind turbines each and every year for the next
20 years. (Six a day) (This is the scale of what is required). Intermittent
renewables require energy storage. That must be built in tandem. (this can be
done by equipping all electric transport with battery storage - and there are
other storage infrastructure projects that can be developed). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">We demand
an annually reducing cap on the number of internal combustion engined vehicles
that are registered on the road. The reducing fossil transport fleet must be
replaced by electric trains, trams, buses, trolleybuses and electric vehicles. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The
Campaign against Climate Change Trade Union Group pamphlet - <a href="http://www.campaigncc.org/greenjobs">One MillionClimate Jobs Now</a> argues sets out to some extent, the detail (excluding the storage
argument) of what needs to be done in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB">Big Oil<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The big oil
companies, coal, gas and nuclear are the problem <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">But those
workers who currently work for big oil, coal, gas and nuclear and for the ICE
auto industry are part of the solution. The expertise amongst the car, oil,
coal, gas and nuclear workers, their skill set, fits pretty much exactly what
is needed in a new renewable energy industry. Where their skills are redundant,
they must be retrained. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB">5<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB">Jobs and (Energy price)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">There will be
many millions of new jobs in our new renewable generation era. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Renewable
energy will be (unlike claims made for that by nuclear apologists in the
fifties) too cheap to meter. It will be cheap, and eventually, virtually free.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">At first,
building a renewables industry will require millions of jobs (good!). The
capitalists 'industrial reserve army' that they like in place because it keeps
wages down, will be taken out of their state of humiliation will learn
essential skills, and will have good useful jobs. Once the renewable generators
have been installed though, they require only a small amount of maintenance. At
this point workers will be able retrain to work in other essential areas (and I would like to think, will get more leisure time!) 'From each according to their needs, from each
according to their ability' [ Marx, Engels, Selected Works, p 321] Critique of the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gotha</st1:place></st1:city> program, (NB <b>We</b> must critique the Obama/Cameron/Putin program) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The price
of energy will come down once the initial investment has been made. This is
because the sun (and the earth in the case of tidal) sends no bills. Once the
wind turbines, solar panels, wave machines or tidal stream generators are up
and running, the cost of the electricity they produce will plummet (because
there will be more than enough for everyone and, under the current system, because
of the law of supply and demand) and this is why, of course, that the oil
companies do not want wind. The price of oil, gas coal and nuclear energy will come down and profits will tumble. It will make the old energy technology and fuel sources totally redundant. Capitalists do know this and wrote about it in a CBI report called
'<a href="http://docs.cumbriawindwatch.co.uk/Wind%20Docs/Cost%20of%20renewables%20&%20jobs/POLICY%20-%20CBI%20Decision%20Time%20PDF.pdf">Decision Time</a>' about 5 years ago. They worried about 'negative marginal costs'
of wind. They worried about the cost of wind electricity falling to zero and below!</span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB">In <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Germany</st1:country-region></st1:place>
in April this year, the validity of this worry for them was confirmed when the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/electricity-prices-in-germany-down-to-zero-2014-5">price of electricity fell to zero momentarily</a> when
there was an exceptionally windy and sunny day, and demand for electricity had
dipped.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The 'green'
levies we are paying for in our electricity bills are actually 'fossil' levies
as the oil coal and gas companies attempt to resist what they see as
interference in their profiteering and they attempt protect their massive
investments in dirty coal, oil, tar and fracking gas. Internationally the
corporations and governments are planning in a totally undemocratic way, to
push through, to push down our throats, more business as usual fossil fuel
burning via the fracking industry. They hope the EU-US trade deal (<a href="http://stopttip.net/what-is-ttip/">TTIP</a>)
currently being negotiated by the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> and EU will allow them to do
what they like. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB">6<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">What can we
do?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Spread the
word by any and all means necessary.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Join
groups. Join your local residents association; Join your Trade Union; get them to affiliate to CCC. Agitate in your workplace for action on climate change. Solidarity and Unity in action is where our strength lies. Build links everywhere. Hold demonstrations, vigils, marches. Above all, use the power of our side in the workplace - strikes occupations, picket lines.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB">Link the struggles. Against austerity, the struggle against low pay and precarious work, the struggle against a debt ridden society, the humiliation of pay day loans - link those struggles with all the other resistance - the resistance to fracking, public service cuts; the list is goes on and on. That we have all these fights, we can turn to our advantage - if we successfully link them. Capitalism is the root cause of all these problems. A successful fight against this system of profit for the few, will be the solution. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">There are many groups concerned about the fracking of mother earth, Groups like Grandmothers against fracking,
Frack Off, Youth for climate justice, CCC etc. Get involved, Act.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Oppose big
oil ideologically and physically whenever and wherever we can. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Our job
could not be more important. We have a closing window of opportunity to change
the course of human history. Capitalism is a sinking ship. What interests it is
profit only, not what humanity needs. The never ending drive to make more and
more profit from the free 'gift' of nature; and the free gift of unpaid labour
has taken us to this perilous predicament. The earth has been and continues to
be treated like a dustbin and workers have been and continue to be treated as
dirt, as a necessary inconvenience. Its interesting to note that, if capital could replace all workers with
robots, the capitalists would do that. But they cannot do that; workers are needed by the capitalists so profits can be made from them - from our unpaid labour - at work and in the home and in the community. They
need us! - and - and this is the key - we don't need them! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">We can
build a totally clean and <a href="http://www.johnhuntpublishing.com/books/safe-planet">safe planet</a> if our demands are carried out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB">7) </span></b><span lang="EN-GB">Agency for change - us! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">A world
uprising is required. We will be part of that. We don't know exactly how this can happen; what things might cause the spark. And i</span>t's not
entirely clear where the epicentre of resistance is likely to be. Therefore we must
build wherever we are. We must build here.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">We still have
time to act.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"> <a href="http://www.campaigncc.org/TimetoAct">TIME to ACT</a> is a <a href="http://www.campaigncc.org/greenjobs">CCC</a> campaign helping to give a timely lead - first to the September 20th 2014 Peoples march for the climate centered in New York and mirrored everywhere - and secondly to the Paris
COP 21 next year. We have the chance now to bring together campaigns - from where
people are suffering the most - in the global south and in the resistance in
the developed world - against the global
corporate fossil fuel profiteers and the
whole web of capitalist interests from banks and arms companies with the
governments that support these profiteers - against these parasites on what Marx called
the human metabolism with nature. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The
struggle against austerity and the struggle for a <a href="http://www.safeplanet.co.uk/p/book.html">safe planet</a> are part of the
same struggle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">We must
work together internationally to build a truly sustainable system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Capitalism
has to go, because sustainability under capitalism is an impossibility.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Marx talked
of man's inorganic body - by that he meant the environment on which we all depend -
the land, the air, the sea, the fresh water, the birds, flowers, plants, animals, bees, and fishes, etc; all life. And although not explicitly stated
in Marx, this would also include sunlight and all the essential energy we
receive through the atmosphere from the sun. Capitalism is destroying that
inorganic body. It has already cut deep into its heart - the heart of us all.
It will leave a scar (loss of bio-diversity, extinct species etc) forever. We
must stop its incessant advance before the damage is completely irreversible.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB">Capitalism is doing precisely the opposite of what a rationally run society would do.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB">Marx wrote 'Even an entire society, a nation, or all simultaneously existing societies taken together, are not the owners of the earth. They are simply its possessors, its beneficiaries, and have to bequeathe it in an improved state to succeeding generations, as <i>boni patres familias</i> (good heads of household)' [Capital Vol 3, p911] </span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"> It will not be us that suffer the most damaging consequences of inaction, it
will be our children and grandchildren in the generation to come who may find
they live in a climate chaos they are unable to control. There is an open
window, but the window is now closing. It is time to act. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB">Bibliography</span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB">Karl Marx Capital (Vol 1), Wordsworth, Hertfordshire, 2013</span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB">Marx Capital Vol 3 Penguin, London 1981 </span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB">Marx Engels, Selected Works, Lawrence and Wishart Ltd, 1968 </span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB">Bellamy Foster, Marx's Ecology, Monthly Review Press, 2000 <b> <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-17762405176015233932014-05-28T12:25:00.006-07:002014-05-28T12:26:36.372-07:00Publishing dateMy book, <a href="http://www.earth-books.net/index.php?id=99&p=2399">Safe Planet</a>, will be published on 26th September!Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-50637865694747082622013-12-18T13:32:00.000-08:002016-03-11T15:25:34.879-08:00My resignation statement for anyone interested.<div class="MsoNormal">
Dear Charlie,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I believe
all the current members of the CC are brilliant fighters, each in their own
unique and valuable way. I have seen no evidence of a CC cover up and I accept
their word. I do have specific reservations about one or two on the CC: that is
not surprising, and not important; no one is perfect, including me etc. I also believe that there is tremendous talent
in the membership of the organisation. I am thankful to the party for
introducing me to some of these comrades and also for educating me in the
politics of the IS tradition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I
understand the need for unity within the party and that this allows for a
united CC to roll out whatever policies we have agreed on and therefore, I also
agree that permanent factions cannot be tolerated as this will hamper the
ability of the party to focus on what is important given current political
conditions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">So what is
wrong?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The problem
has arisen around the Disputes Committee, but, having thought about the reasons
why the sad difficulties arose, I think the stresses that built up leading to
the crash stem from the particular way we currently elect the leadership. There
are a number of different ways this could be addressed, but that’s not really
what I want to talk about here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Comrades
naturally, because they believe in the organisation, want to be loyal to the
leadership and to the party. I myself want to do this and have done so throughout
my two dozen years in the party. I have disagreed with the party direction from
time to time, but I have always continued trying to build the party and to sell
the paper etc. When I have a vote, I loyally vote for the party, for the CC
position. And, outside the party I always argue passionately for our politics
and tradition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">A party,
with a clear unified message, is a strong party. And we work to try to build
such a party. Comrades intuitively feel this is a strength of the SWP and
loyally vote for CC positions and CC slates. But building for strength and
flexibility is not necessarily a straightforward task. There is a difficult
path for the CC to tread to maximise strength and flexibility. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I think the
system of electing the CC (by slate) has meant that any error by any individual
CC member can tar the whole CC (perhaps in the view of the CC members as well
as those in the know), because of the joint responsibility conferred by those
elections. There will be a temptation for the CC to close ranks to maintain
unity and strength and also to maintain secrecy on any problematic issues. What
has been a strength under normal circumstances becomes rigid and brittle, and a
source of weakness, under conditions of stress of the kind we have seen lately.
The CC may feel they must hang together or hang separately. Rigid loyalty to
the CC of the kind expressed by some comrades, during most periods a strong support,
can in more difficult periods become its opposite. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">To me,
admittedly without any detailed knowledge of the recent cases under dispute,
but from the only vantage point I have, it seems that this rigidity and
brittleness has been extended to the DC. Clearly, the DC fractured this year.
The abuse of the power of the party exhibited by the 2013 DC Report Back is
evidence, for me, of this weakness. Anybody can make a mistake, but it must be
owned up to for any healing to commence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I was
extremely saddened when the overwhelming majority of the 2013 SWP conference
did not vote for a clear apology to two women comrades subjected not only to
the original misconduct they had reported and complained about but also to
further abuse from the party apparatus. Why didn’t the comrades want to
apologise? They didn’t want to? I don’t believe them! I believe they voted to
be seen to be 'loyal'. Voting under the present system is a loyalty test. And
of course, comrades want to be seen as loyal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The party
has been weakened this year, not because of the faction, but because of the way
the leadership and apparatus has related to the party given the internal
crisis. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">It wouldn't
be such a problem if it looked as though there is possibility of changing the
situation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I voted for
the faction slate, even though I have never signed up to any faction, because
there was no alternative. I could have continued to vote loyal, but my heart
wasn't in it given the options available. I actually thought that the
combination of comrades on the CC slate was probably a better combination than
the faction slate. However, the fact that they were bound to one another
because of the slate, made that choice wrong for the reasons given above. I
suppose it was a protest vote. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I could
have decided to stay in the party, beavering away from below, disregarding the
type of leadership we have, and that is what I almost decided to do, but I have
decided that would probably be wrong and would be, given the seeming
intransigence locked in to the democratic structures of the party, simply wasting
time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">So, because
I cannot see any possibility of the change I think is necessary happening here any
time soon, and because I don't want work in an organisation where I may be
thought of as disloyal, and because I feel, after nearly a quarter of a century
fighting for and with the party, that my time and energy might now be better
spent elsewhere, I quit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">John
Cowsill<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-56853181118614407642013-08-26T07:12:00.001-07:002013-08-26T07:12:18.096-07:00Balcombe Protest<p dir=ltr>At the march against Cuadrilla the Frack-heads last sunday. I'm against fracking because it is a fossil fuel. However, fracking can potentially cause massive damage to the local environment and to water supplies. It represents an unnecessary environmental risk as well as a guarantee of more global warming. </p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKZ_5S2ntJ8tx8pGvt0t90tMG4B23wQjlj7U20XqLNmoDM34_oB33dhUDTVzhxqaJLNIaY9DEgm9XTKU0jhjd74SBO0w5joukGXMwDwZy3BJSrY5GB7geIirwryharOQjzK0x9_5DC5tfE/s1600/1376946349036.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKZ_5S2ntJ8tx8pGvt0t90tMG4B23wQjlj7U20XqLNmoDM34_oB33dhUDTVzhxqaJLNIaY9DEgm9XTKU0jhjd74SBO0w5joukGXMwDwZy3BJSrY5GB7geIirwryharOQjzK0x9_5DC5tfE/s640/1376946349036.jpg"> </a> </div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-68790223353645738282013-07-24T23:14:00.002-07:002013-07-24T23:14:54.098-07:00Safe Planet is on its way!I sent the manuscript for Safe Planet to the publishers today.<br />
Now i need to find some people to read it!Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-44201251348599085302013-04-13T18:34:00.003-07:002013-04-13T19:01:37.698-07:00Frack Off <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Solar is the rational energy solution for countries like <st1:country-region w:st="on">Algeria</st1:country-region>. If a
country in Northern Europe like <st1:country-region w:st="on">Germany</st1:country-region>
can produce 22GW of electrical power from solar technology , how much more
easily can this be done in a place which actually gets drenched in sunlight
most days.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The problem is that the fossil fuel companies with their
loans from the banks and links with other capitals (eg auto etc) want to
continue with 'business as usual' making profit from fossil fuels like shale
gas without regard to the widespread toxic effects.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is a solution. Where the chains of capitalism are
forged, there they can be broken. Workers in all industries, united, have the
power to put a stop to the destruction. And, ultimately, the solution will have
to be be found in international action. </div>
<br />
<div class="mvm uiStreamAttachments fbMainStreamAttachment" data-ft="{"type":10,"tn":"H"}" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">
<div class="clearfix" style="zoom: 1;">
<a ajaxify="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151434507553077&set=a.10150129860203077.301246.820553076&type=1&ref=nf&src=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net%2Fhphotos-ak-ash3%2F35501_10151434507553077_1000626680_n.jpg&size=707%2C509&theater" aria-hidden="true" class="uiPhotoThumb _8o _8t lfloat" data-ft="{"type":41,"tn":"E"}" href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151434507553077&set=a.10150129860203077.301246.820553076&type=1&ref=nf" rel="theater" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; float: left; margin-right: 10px; text-decoration: none;" tabindex="-1" target=""><img alt="Photo" class="img" height="87" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/s480x480/35501_10151434507553077_1000626680_n.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; margin: 3px; max-width: 121px;" width="121" /></a><br />
<div class="_8m _42ef" style="overflow: hidden;">
<div class="fsm fwn fcg" style="color: grey;">
<div class="uiAttachmentTitle" data-ft="{"type":11,"tn":"C"}" style="color: #333333; word-break: break-word; word-wrap: break-word;">
<br /></div>
<div class="text_exposed_root" id="id_516a04f9468db2849330257" style="display: inline;">
<span class="caption" data-ft="{"tn":"L"}">While we keep debating for over a couple of decades about the need for thermal <span class="text_exposed_hide">...</span><span class="text_exposed_hide"><span class="text_exposed_link" style="display: block; padding: 4px 12px 0px 0px; white-space: nowrap;">By: <span class="uiAttachmentDetails" data-ft="{"type":12}" style="color: #333333;"><a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=820553076" href="https://www.facebook.com/deepakv.rao.35" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Deepak V Rao</a></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="mts uiAttachmentDesc translationEligibleUserAttachmentMessage" data-ft="{"tn":"M"}" style="margin-top: 5px; word-break: break-word; word-wrap: break-word;">
<div class="fsm fwn fcg">
<br />
'No Fracking Way':<br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/363578067081113/">https://www.facebook.com/events/363578067081113/</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-28980484358066141902012-07-03T03:29:00.000-07:002012-07-03T03:52:03.407-07:00<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT0IoIWxhdI&feature=player_embedded">These workers</a> are at the sharp end of the fight, not only against cuts and austerity, but, as recycling workers, they highlight the fact that the fight against the cuts and the fight for a safe future for the planet are one.<br />
<br />
From <a href="http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=28907">Socialist Worker</a>:<br />
GMB union members who work at Sheffield recycling centres are now on all-out strike against job losses, pay cuts and severe cuts to the opening hours of the service.<br />
<br />
They are up against Sheffield City Council, private contractor Veolia and charity Sova Recycling in a battle that had already seen the 35 GMB members take 21 days of discontinuous strike action before going all out from Saturday 23 June.<br />
<br />
The strikers are clear that the recycling service generates enough money to stop the cuts.<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">But management want to restrict four of the five recycling sites to weekends only for the public, cutting the workers’ jobs and hours – with even more severe cuts lined up for the winter.</span><br />
<br />
The strikers explained the background to the dispute at last week’s Unite the Resistance conference in London.<br />
<br />
Help the Sheffield strikers defend jobs, hours, pay and an important public service!<br />
Watch the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT0IoIWxhdI&feature=player_embedded">video</a>.
<br />
<br />
How to help<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Send messages of support and donations (payable to ‘GMB’)</span><br />
c/o Pete Davies, GMB Office, 188–192 Norfolk St, Sheffield S1 1SY.<br />
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><br />
<br />
<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-32459192160153493702012-06-03T05:27:00.004-07:002012-06-07T00:34:41.596-07:00I'm not a biologist, but this growing of experimental aphid-hostile GM spring wheat crops in a field somewhere in the UK, for me, is an example of the reckless behaviour of capitalists in their frantic search for easy profits. The idea, so I understand, is that the GM wheat will give off an odour which will deter aphids and thus protect the plant from those insects. In the UK, however, there is no problem, according to some expert commentators, with aphids and spring wheat. The driver for the experiment, thus, is the possibility of selling the GM wheat on the market for big profits. The driver is not more efficient food production. Enough food is already produced to feed everyone on the planet - and yet 2.5 million children die each year of hunger. The problem is: Food is produced for profit not for need. <br />
<br />
There are plenty of examples where alien species of plants, animals, insects, bacteria, viruses etc have been introduced deliberately or accidentally into an ecosystem only to cause unforeseen effects. For example, the cane toad was introduced to Australia to control pests. Now it too is considered a pest. The poisonous tadpoles and skin of the amphibian kill native mammals when they ingest the stuff. As it turned out, the cane toad was ineffective at controlling the cane beetle - its intended victim.<br />
<br />
It doesn't take too much imagination to envisage a situation where the anti-aphid pheromones produced by the GM wheat become general anti-insect pheromones, or anti-bee pheromones or some unforeseen other, when or if the GM material begins to cross over to other plant species.<br />
<br />
There is also a general problem with GM.<br />
It is the opposite of bio-diverse. A field of GM wheat will have only a single variety. Traditional farming in the way it developed grew food originating from a multiple of varieties. This variety, developed over centuries of agriculture protected the general stock of plants from the regular attacks by aphids and fungus etc. See the work of <a href="http://www.organicresearchcentre.com/manage/authincludes/article_uploads/Martin%20Wolfe.pdf">Martin Wolfe</a> for an explanation of the strengths of biodiversity (of diversity in general in fact) for the benefit of sensible food farming.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-41388032658186908732012-05-12T02:35:00.000-07:002012-05-12T02:35:02.940-07:00I was notified of the ISBN for the book this morning - hooray - things are moving fast.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-19755675906954400212012-05-12T02:05:00.003-07:002012-06-03T04:30:37.750-07:00<br />
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/johncowsill.safeplanet?sk=info" style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">SAFE PLANET</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"> shows, using real meteorological data and existing tried and tested technologies, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">how </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">we can generate all our energy and power. It tackles the main barrier to change - the global political and economic power structures that make up the capitalist system.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">The book will be divided into three parts.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">The first part explains why energy storage must play a central part in a future renewable electricity generation system and describes a paradigm shift in how we use vehicles – a step change in energy storage.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Intermittent renewable energy can become a source of firm 'dispatchable' power when combined with a suitable energy store.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Real meteorological data is used to show how two example states – the UK and California - can be powered by renewable generators alone.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">The second part of the book examines the political and economic barriers to a zero carbon world.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">The third part of the book identifies the agent for change.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Essentially, the book argues that fighting for good conditions and safety at the places where people work, and fighting for the safety of the environment – the place where we all live - are not separate struggles.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">The workers at Bhopal died in the same way that the people outside the plant died.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">With effective organisation they could have prevented the disaster.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">The impending climate disaster is preventable in a similar way.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">The book concludes by arguing for a campaigning strategy which will engage with and develop the agencies that can deliver a safe planet.</span>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-36889339746018672222012-05-02T13:37:00.002-07:002012-06-02T20:30:54.936-07:00A good omen.<br />
I received a publishing contract yesterday - May 1, May Day, International Worker's Day! - to write a <a href="http://www.safeplanet.co.uk/p/book.html">book</a>.<br />
The book is called <a href="http://www.facebook.com/johncowsill.safeplanet">SAFE PLANET</a> - Worker's Power plus Renewable Energy<br />
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/johncowsill.safeplanet">SAFE PLANET</a> should be out by the end of 2012 or early 2013 if i get cracking.<br />
<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-74788746893279313402012-04-04T06:36:00.001-07:002012-05-06T05:10:15.535-07:00BiasGeoff Chaplin of the Carbon Capture and Sequestration Association says:<br />
'we can't get rid off CO2 without Carbon Capture and Sequestration' BBC 03 April 2012<br />
<br />
I suppose in a way that's true. If you are going to burn coal, then you will produce CO2.<br />
<br />
Three things. Firstly,what he was implying was, we cannot produce our energy without CCS. That is not true. It can be done with renewables.<br />
Secondly, CCS is completely untried and untested, for energy production, in any commercial form.<br />
Thirdly, the technology seems to fly in the face of the laws of thermodynamics.The energy cost of shoving CO2 back into a confined space will possibly make the operation futile in terms of the energy out. It will certainly add to the money cost of burning coal for energy. This is an attempt by the coal lobby to claim coal can be clean. In the meantime it can continue to pollute the planet and continue making its dirty profitsJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-73606856555466644472012-03-18T11:32:00.006-07:002012-04-18T19:06:38.700-07:00Big oil is anti-windBig Oil and the entrenched energy corporations (like the nuclear power industry) are not supportive of wind energy. It cuts into their profits. Every extra wind turbine producing electricity 24 hours a day 365 days of the year is producing energy that the fossil fuel industries would prefer that <i>they</i> were selling. Contrary to what is being repeated by commentators, wind will bring the cost of energy down.<br />
<br />
These interests are doubtless applauding actions like <a href="http://www.countytimes.co.uk/news/111207/powys-formal-objection-to-2-windfarms.aspx">this one</a> by PowysJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-20337386385156419632011-09-12T14:27:00.004-07:002012-03-19T12:51:00.196-07:00Daily Mail <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2036589/France-nuclear-explosion-Man-dies-processing-plant-near-French-Riviera.html">today:</a><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;"></span><br />
<h1 style="font-size: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Man dies in explosion at nuclear waste processing plant in France</h1><ul style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.4em;">Four others injured and airlifted to hospitals</span><span style="font-size: 1.4em;"></span></li>
<li style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.4em;">'No radioactive leak' says French nuclear safety watchdog</span></li>
<li style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1.4em;">Site is near to French Riviera and cities of Montpellier and Marseilles</span></li>
</ul><br />
<br />
Nuclear power stations.<br />
<br />
Aren't they just steam engines powered by a controlled explosion?<br />
<br />
I'm not sure what <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2036589/Man-dies-explosion-nuclear-waste-processing-plant-France.html">this plant</a> does, but i wouldn't like to work there or live anywhere near it<br />
<br />
Nuclear power stations are an expensive and dangerous way to produce electricity.<br />
<br />
Of course, they make it a lot easier for states to have a nuclear bomb.<br />
<br />
Is that the ulterior motive for nuclear power?Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322688367172363929.post-17424172166498654612011-09-05T05:51:00.006-07:002012-03-19T12:56:49.231-07:00I looked through the Guardian this morning, looking for anything on renewable energy or climate change.<br />
Couldn't see anything.<br />
'The greatest challenge facing humanity this century' (T Blair 2002) seems to have completely dropped out of the news.<br />
The 'challenge' has been dropped.<br />
The challenge of climate change is on such a scale that any solution will need the organised application of the most resources possible. That means we must organise.<br />
People individually are interested and try to do 'a bit', but this is not anywhere near enough.The solution lies in collective action by the vast majority - by those not profiting from the status quo.<br />
<br />
However, some of the individual solutions are interesting.<br />
Like this farmer in <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-13053693">Wales</a> who is covering his barn with PV panels and building an electric tractor.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<img alt="Solar panels on the roof" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/52129000/gif/_52129057_farm3.gif" />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17005102848436808383noreply@blogger.com0