Climate change is the most widespread & complex problem humanity has ever faced! There is no time to waste and we need to turn green talk into profound green action. This is the intention of the GREEN TIMES.
After two weeks of negotiations, the world community has yet again failed to take any meaningful actions to prevent landmark global warming and instead has produced a "roadmap to global burning," leading climate campaigners lamented upon the close of the United Nations COP20 climate talks in Lima, Peru on Sunday. In the wee hours of the morning, two days past the intended … [Read more...]
The United States and China are the world’s two biggest economies, the largest emitters of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), and the largest historical emitters of GHGs. China’s population is well over 1 billion people, with a rapidly expanding middle class and an economy that has been accelerating at breakneck speed for the past two decades. If the climate crisis is to be … [Read more...]
Members of Parliament have heard that acid mine drainage is affecting the Vaal River system and causing problems in Mpumalanga and Limpopo. The Water and Sanitation Department has briefed Parliament's Portfolio Committee on solutions to the problem, particularly on the Witwatersrand. Pumping stations are removing scores of megalitres of dirty water from the western, central … [Read more...]
The man chosen to head up the European Commission’s climate and energy department faced tough questions over his links to oil companies at a hearing on Wednesday. Miguel Arias Canete, a former Spanish environment minister, insisted there was no conflict of interest. He gave up shares in Petrolifera Ducar and Petrologis Canaris on being offered the climate commissioner job. … [Read more...]
Nobel Peace Laureate and Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu on Wednesday lashed out at the government for "kowtowing" to China by barring the Dalai Lama from attending a global summit of fellow prizewinners in Cape Town. Breaking his silence as the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates appeared to be on the point of collapse, Tutu said "I am ashamed to call this … [Read more...]
On 21 September 2014 nearly 400,000 people of all walks of life, economic status and nationalities, came together in one of the largest marches in a decade in New York, and one of the largest mobilisations for the environment ever! Most notable, whilst this was impressively large, global support for this event took place around the globe in over 3000 events in over 150 … [Read more...]
The shock announcement of an underhandedly-signed nuclear deal with Russia (where it was first announced) is of deep concern. Not least because so many organs of government, including our Energy Policy and the NDP, as well as the mainstream business media, think it will prove to be an extremely costly decision - financially, socially, environmentally and politically. The … [Read more...]
Green activists on Wednesday cheered the Supreme Court's decision to cancel 214 coal blocks across many states in India and urged the government to spare forest areas from mining while auctioning new blocks in future. Stating that the "dirty coal is shown the red card today", Greenpeace India that has been protesting against clearances to the Mahan coal blocks of Madhya … [Read more...]
A flurry of meetings between President Jacob Zuma and Russian President Vladimir Putin have contributed to growing unease over a nuclear co-operation pact. News of a nuclear co-operation agreement between South Africa and Russia has been accompanied by much wheeling out of mirrors and blowing of smoke. Is it a done deal that we will procure 9 600MW of nuclear capacity … [Read more...]
A bilateral agreement between South Africa and Russia on the procurement of nuclear reactors was not a “done deal”, an industry source told the Mail & Guardian on Tuesday. “There will still be a procurement process. They can’t just give a [multi-billion dollar deal] to people by a minister signing a contract in Vienna.” On the margins of the International Atomic Energy … [Read more...]
The Mandela, De Klerk, Tutu and Luthuli foundations will be writing to President Zuma appealing to him to intervene in order for the Dalai Lama to get a visa to attend the World Peace Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates next month. A further petitioning letter will be signed by former Nobel Peace Prize laureates and has already been signed by President Lech Walesa, Mairead … [Read more...]
Electricity generated from coal in old power plants without carbon capture in the US would be banned in a proposal that will form the centrepiece of the Liberal Democrats' commitment on the environment in its general election manifesto. Ed Davey, the energy and climate change secretary, will announce on Monday that the zero carbon Britain bill will be among five green laws … [Read more...]
I have never felt the need to read a book about Mandela, though I have always adored him. But by grace a little book came across my path … Knowing Mandela by John Carlin. Of course I want to learn more now, but I also suspect that having started with this one, it will be very hard to match. John was the South Africa correspondent of London’s Independent newspaper from 1990 … [Read more...]
