Green (Living) Review

Broken Finance Promises Threaten to Break Climate Talks

US and EU blocking leads to "empty page" draft text

DOHA, Qatar – UN Climate talks remained blocked by the US and EU and other rich industrialised countries as they refused to discuss finance commitments, leading to an "empty page" proposal on the issue in a draft text circulating here.

Fiery negotiations continued after the Chair of the talks proposed a draft-text that included a blank, white page under the heading "finance", reflecting the push by rich industrialised countries to block progress on the issue.

"The empty-white page matches the climate finance pledges of developed countries under the UN climate convention. Empty in 2013. A big zero." Chee Yoke Ling, director of the Third World Network, a Malaysian based NGO providing detailed analysis of the talks, said.

"Several independent studies have shown that the previous round of climate finance promises weren't met. Previous promises were not entirely "new" nor "additional" to existing foreign aid and they did not meet the agreed level." Brandon Wu, climate campaigner at Action Aid International said.

"Those broken promises threaten to break the talks. If the US and others continue to refuse an agreement on new levels, on transparency and on sources then developing countries should consider walking away from the table completely." Mr Wu said.

Observers of the talks were also concerned that the future of the Green Climate Fund, a once-promising light in the negotiations, was now fading.

"Currently the Green Climate Fund stands empty of public dollars, with developed countries threatening to starve the Fund unless the private sector can have unfettered access." Janet Redman, a senior policy analyst at the U.S. based thinktank the Institute for Policy Studies, said.

"The Green Climate Fund, arguably the most significant concrete outcome from the 2011 Durban conference, was meant for the people who are most impacted by climate change, not big business or Wall Street." Ms Redman, said.

"Developed countries must fulfill their promise to fill the Fund." Ms Redman, said.

The talks are scheduled to continue until Friday, however the level of acrimony in the halls suggests they may continue into Saturday and that developed country Ministers may continue to block the possibility of a comprehensive outcome.

Action Aid International is an international organisation, working with over 15 million people in 45 countries for a world free from poverty and injustice.

The Third World Network is a Malaysian-based independent non-profit international network of organisations and individuals involved in issues relating to development, developing countries and North-South affairs.

The Institute for Policy Studies, based in Washington D.C. has served as a policy and research resource for visionary social justice movements for over four decades.

Full Disclosure Statement: The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW received no compensation for any component of this article.

This article is for your information only and the GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW does not (necessarily) approve, endorse or recommend the product, service or company mentioned.

'The Magic of Compost' Comes to Orlando

BETHESDA, MD – Composting is big business these days, as companies try to improve their “sustainability scorecard” and governments seek to up recycling rates and reduce their “carbon footprints.” Nowhere is that growth more apparent then the Annual Conference and Tradeshow of the US Composting Council (USCC), where close to 1000 professional composters and their associates gather each year.

This year’s conference, dubbed “The Magic of Compost”, is January 28 to 31 in Orlando, Florida, on the doorsteps of the Magic Kingdom®.

gWe are excited to be returning to Orlando,” exclaimed Michael Virga, USCC Executive Director. “With the huge hospitality industry there, we will be emphasizing how restaurants and institutions can recycle their food wastes by composting. That is also part of our new partnership with the National Restaurant Association.”

Attendees will have dozens of technical sessions to choose from, with topics ranging from advice for start-ups to advanced marketing. The Third Annual Compostable Plastics Symposium will be highlighting the successes and tackling the issues in replacing traditional plastics used for food consumption and packaging with compostable ones.

When not in sessions the participants can peruse the hundred or so exhibitors in the tradeshow, attend networking events and receptions, see huge grinders and compost turning machines in action, and walk to Downtown Disney® for evening entertainment.

gWe are also really excited to welcome Will Allen as one of our Keynote Speakers,” Virga continued. “He is an inspirational speaker who really gets the connection between composting and the urban agriculture movement.” Allen, a winner of the prestigious MacArthur “genius” award, is founder of Growing Power, which seeks to develop Community Food Systems that help people grow and distribute food in a sustainable manner. In 2011, Growing Power farms collected and composted over 10,000 tons of food and other wastes.

For conference details, visit www.compostingcouncil.org/conference www.compostingcouncil.org/conference , or call the USCC at 301-897-2715.

Established in 1990, the USCC is a professional and trade association dedicated to the development, expansion and promotion of the composting industry in the United States. For more information, go to www.compostingcouncil.org www.compostingcouncil.org .

Full Disclosure Statement: The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW received no compensation for any component of this article.

This article is for your information only and the GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW does not (necessarily) approve, endorse or recommend the product, service or company mentioned.

SOIL: THE PLATFORM FOR LIFE

On World Soil Day, the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) recognises the significance of soils to human welfare and supports action to protect this valuable resource.

World Soil Day is an annual celebration on the 5th of December which aims to highlight the importance of soil to societies across the world, and the need to use it sustainably. Soil is a fundamental natural resource, the cornerstone of life. From food production to nutrient cycling and carbon storage, soils provide an extensive range of valuable functions that support human life and welfare. We grow, build, and play on our soils, which form the multi-functional and diverse platform of our lives.

Under threat of erosion, loss of organic matter, and contamination from human activities, continued action is needed to protect soil. Once degraded, soil can take decades to recover, making it an essentially non-renewable resource. Globally, failure to manage soil in a sustainable way affects the ability of millions of people to feed themselves. As the world’s population continues to grow, the need to manage soil sustainably will intensify.

Soils in the UK continue to be degraded by intensive agriculture, industrial pollution and urban development. Future climate change has the potential to exacerbate these impacts, resulting in further degradation.

CIWEM Executive Director, Nick Reeves OBE, says: “World Soil Day is an opportunity to highlight all that soils contribute to our society, and an occasion to reinforce the need for continued protection and enhancement of our most valuable resource. A comprehensive European Framework Directive is needed to sustain our soils and meet future challenges”.

CIWEM welcomes the global celebration of World Soil Day, supports soil education at all levels, and encourages all public bodies to pay greater attention to soils in their work.

The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) is an independent professional body and a registered charity, advancing the science and practice of water and environmental management for a clean, green and sustainable world www.ciwem.org.

CIWEM’s policy position statement on soils, ‘Protecting and Enhancing Soils,’ can be found at: www.ciwem.org/policy-and-international/policy-position-statements/protecting-and-enhancing-soils.aspx.

World Soil Day was launched in 2002 by the International Union of Soil Sciences. Further information about World Soil Day can be found at: ww.soils.org.uk/events/event-128/.

Full Disclosure Statement: The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW received no compensation for any component of this article.

This article is for your information only and the GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW does not (necessarily) approve, endorse or recommend the product, service or company mentioned.

Thought police strikes

Foster parents have kids removed because they are members of UKIP

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Simple membership in a legal political party has been ruled as grounds to remove foster children from their carers, where they, to all intents and purposes, were happy.

The council regards UKIP as a racist organization simply because of its stance on the EU and on immigration.

It would appear that being against the European Union and supporting a reduction in immigration into the UK, which, after all, is an island and there is only that much space, is no a reason for being disbarred from being a foster parent. Soon, I would not be surprised, membership of this or that party or religious group, will also be a reason for having one's own children removed.

We are getting into serious deep water when we start going down this kind of slippery slope and on another level the UK is just about beginning to go down an even slippery one as it is being considered to curb the freedom of the press. But that shall be a different matter.

The thought police definitely seems to have arrived, in the UK for certain, and it is up to the people too put a stop to that.

Cuddly toy tops list of most treasured Christmas presents

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

With Christmas fast approaching most people will be beginning to think about Christmas presents and what to buy, particularly for children. Finding the perfect present under the tree can be a magical moment and a recent survey has found that 39% of people have kept a Christmas present they received as a child.

The survey also found that, amongst those who received Christmas presents as a child,a cuddly toy or teddy bear topped the list of most treasured presents with over a quarter (28%) of people listing it.
Top most treasured presents received:

A teddy bear or cuddly toy (28%)
A bike, rollerblades, scooter, skateboard or BMX (23%)
A board game or jigsaw (20%)
Lego and Duplo (17%)
A doll (17%)
Scalextric or train set (17%)
An electrical device such as a Walkman, first mobile or PC (13%)
A game console such as a Wii or Gameboy or computer games (12%)
An action figure such as Action Man (9%)
A collectible figure set such as Care Bears, Star Wars or My Little Pony (9%)
A doll’s house (9%)

It is indeed a fact that cuddly toys, whether teddy bears or others, often are being kept not just during childhood years but at least one of them, if not most, are kept into adulthood and the memories associated with that gift too remains alive in many cases.

High-tech presents, whether for Christmas or other occassions, are not valued as much and for as long as are the likes of cuddly toys and others that are more of the old-fashioned kind.

Amongst some children, I was one of them, aside from the teddy and such the pocketknife that I got one year was something that was treasured and it still is with me to this very day, though no longer in use but in my treasure chest of things that make up my past, so to speak.

I had, in fact, believed that that particular old penknife had gotten lost and great was the joy when it was found again in a box of old things.

Junge Freiheit: A very sophisticated right-wing paper in Germany

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Junge Freiheit, which translated would mean “Young Freedom”, is a relatively new German weekly newspaper, in print and with a strong online presence, that in a very sophisticated way hide the fact that it is part of the neo-Nazi scene.

Gone are the rhetorics and the skinhead haircuts. Suits and panache are in.

It is those kind of right-wing people and old and new Nazis that I have been warning people about for years and years. Everyone, however, believed that they would remain easy to spot, with their skinheads and their military boots, etc.

However, the ones that have always been in the background of this have always worn suits, at least ever since the Third Reich, and many are and have been very high up in German political circles, as well in those circles in other European, and especially European Union, countries.

Deliberately sounding somewhat like “Junge Welt” (Young World), the weekly of the socialist scene and originally the newspaper, if I am not mistaken, of the Freie Deutsche Jugend (Free German Youth) of the German Democratic Republic, the “Junge Freiheit” attempts to lead people astray to believe that it is about freedom and democracy. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Recently articles appeared in that paper (which could also be read freely online, about the German version of Veterans Day, as it would be in the US, or Armistice Day/Memorial Sunday, as it would be in the UK, where the old Nazi term of “Hero Memorial Day” was reinstated and where the demand was made, basically, to call it thus again nationally.

Anyone who had any belief that these people do not want to lead Germany (and maybe the entire EU) back to the dark ages of the Third Reich should reconsider this.

We are living in dangerous times, and not just the Romani People, who are already becoming the victims of Nazi pogroms in many EU member state, such as in Hungary and also in the Czech and Slovak lands. Non-Germans and Jews too need be aware for while presently they only seem to come for the Gypsy predominately they will not stop there.

At a gathering no so long ago of the suited neo-Nazis many a prominent figure of German politics and industry was present in support of the new groupings, including the “Junge Freiheit” newspaper.

While there are some Germans who have learned from the history of the Third Reich the great majority of them do still seem to think, even though they may not say so publicly – at least not at this time – that Hitler was right and that they need another Fuehrer. They will be quite prepared to say exactly that when they believe to be with people of a similar line of thought.

And it is not just Germans, and especially, amazingly, those from what was the German Democratic Republic, aka East Germany, but also Hungarians, Poles, Czech, Slovaks and others. A worrying trend indeed. And also in those other countries, much like Germany, there are many of those that are leaders in politics and industry, the military, the law, and others, that are of that persuasion.

All freedom loving people must beware of the wolf in sheep's clothing or, in this case, the Nazi in an Armani suit.

UNSEASONAL BLOOMING AT THE LOST GARDENS OF HELIGAN

Summer Loving Mediterranean Plant Flowers at Heligan... in NOVEMBER!!

Gardeners at The Lost Gardens of Heligan have been amazed to find a Cistus – which normally flowers in the Summer – in full bloom, despite the recent cold snap of weather.

Head Gardener Mike Friend discovered the beautiful summer flower in the Stewards House Garden whilst giving some guests a tour of the gardens.

“I was very surprised to notice a Cistus in bloom with several other buds just waiting to open” he comments, “it’s a plant that likes to be in a hot and dry environment, so for it to be flowering here in November with all the rain we have had is quite a shock”.

Cistus is a genus of flowering plants in the rockrose family Cistaceae, containing about 20 species. These plants are perennial shrubs found on dry or rocky soils throughout the Mediterranean region, from Morocco and Portugal through to the Middle East, and also on the Canary Islands.

The team at Heligan are now hoping the Cistus continues to flourish so visitors to the iconic estate can continue to enjoy it’s unseasonal beauty.

www.Heligan.com

Full Disclosure Statement: The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW received no compensation for any component of this article.

This article is for your information only and the GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW does not (necessarily) approve, endorse or recommend the product, service or company mentioned.

Terra Madre Day – December 10, 2012

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The annual Terra Madre Day is upon us again and many organizations worldwide, especially the Slow Food Movement, are participating. Find a local event and get involved.

Terra Madre is a movement of which consists of regional alliances of small farmers, artisan producers and traders in order to produce and promote good food.

All around the world on or around December 10 Terra Madre Day is being celebrated with local food and culinary traditions.

Terra Madre's website can be found on http://www.terramadre.info/pagine/welcome.lasso?n=en and it would appear that it originates in Italy.

The following is lifted from their website as a explanation of what Terra Madre is about:

Terra Madre is a project conceived by Slow Food, the philosophy of which evolved over the the organization’s history and crystallized at its realization that “eating is an agricultural act and producing is a gastronomic act.” Slow Food had always stood for the pleasures of the table, for the importance of good-tasting food, and for the defense of cultures facing growing homogenization as a result of today’s so-called modern rationales regarding production, distribution, and economies of scale. It was where these “rationales” were leading that brought Slow Food to realize the need to protect and support small producers, and to change the systems that put them in danger by bringing together those players with decision-making power: consumers, educational institutions, chefs and cooks, agricultural research entities, NGOs, etc. It became clear that it is only through repeated, cumulative, local action, following a guiding global vision, that a significant impact can be achieved.

Thus Terra Madre was born: To give voice and visibility to the rural food producers who populate our world. To raise their awareness, as well as that of the population at large, of the value of their work. To sustain their ability to work under the best conditions, for all of our good and for the good of the planet. For these reasons, constructing a global network—with information-sharing tools, the means to learn from each other, and opportunities for collaboration in many ways—seemed invaluable. We must continue to have fertile lands, lands on which sprout and grow plants and animals appropriate to those environments, rather than needing to be pumped full of chemicals to make them thrive artificially. And we must also continue to have the people capable of stewarding these lands, to have their know-how, so we can have food that still carries the tastes of our youth.

The inaugural gathering of Terra Madre launched the network in 2004 in Turin, and was on an unprecedented scale. This first edition brought together 5000 producers from 130 countries and shone global media attention on their crisis. The second edition was in 2006, and incorporated an additional 1000 cooks, from renowned to modest, but all aware of their role relative to high-quality food producers. Also in attendance were 400 researchers and academics, seeking to bridge the theory of their work with hands-on practice.

A project of this scope could never have come into being without a dedicated core of partners. Slow Food rallied public institutions as well as local, regional, and national bodies to collectively form the Terra Madre Foundation, further partnering with private companies and numerous like-minded networks, some of which were established specially for the event.

If this all, the English I mean, sounds a little strange it comes, as said, directly from their website and is, no doubt, a translation from Italian.

As far as I am concerned the idea of Terra Madre should be extended from just local and slow food to include also other local produce and products, not just food. Maybe there is a thought there...

To tree or not to?

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Now is the time of year again where millions of young spruce and fir trees are slain for one single purpose, namely to end up in people's homes for but a few days, or a week or two, as a so-called Christmas tree.

This idea of the fir or spruce indoors is stupid in the extreme, to say the least, as far as I am concerned.

I have no problem with some evergreen branches or other decorated twigs but to cut down a tree before it even has had a life, especially in this case a tree that will not regrow when cut, unlike hardwood coppicing, is tantamount to murder.

What is worse with this issue of the Christmas tree still is the fact that after the holidays the carcass of the tree is then tossed out for the municipalities to deal with and often they are also simply tossed out into the countryside.

There are many other ways to decorate a home (or office) for Christmas (and I do not mean the use of artificial Christmas tree from some plastic material either here necessarily) and most of them are far more environmentally friendly than the tree.

Recently I saw a tag on a Christmas tree that, basically, if one wanted to be a little factitious, said that no trees were harmed in the making of that Christmas tree, despite the fact that it was cut down.

It is rather condescending, I find, for growers to state something in that line almost.

The truth is that those trees as grown as a crop by the growers but this is one part of “forestry” that I do not agree with as the “product” is, basically, bought to be thrown away after a few days or a week or so.

If a living tree is to be cut then it should have more a purpose than just to end up standing in a room somewhere, decked with baubles and such, and then to be destined for destruction after the festivities. This is so wrong.

In summing up to the question “to tree or not to?” the answer must be a “not to” and the use of alternative decoration ideas and legion those are as well and can be found in many publications and on the Web.

Jobbik – First they came for the Gypsy and now they also are coming for the Jew

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Jobbik, the more-or-less legal Nazi militia and party in Hungary, an EU member state, is now aiming, after having the Romani People made their first target, also for the Jewish population of the country (and elsewhere).

In the beginning, it would appear, the Jews took very little notice of the antics of the Jobbik group, seeing that their target were the Gypsy People and not the Jewish community. They should have known better.

The adage of “first they did come for... and I did not speak out”, etc. should have been a well-known factor and it was obvious that those people, whose aim is to create a Hungary for Hungarians and other ethnicities have no place in that scheme.

The interesting, almost laughable, part is that Hungarians are, in the main, a mixed groups of people anyway considering the fact that once they were part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire and thus most Hungarians not pure Magyars.

The same, in fact, is also true for the Romani People and anyone claiming to be pure Romani better checks once again. However, that is not the issue here.

It will be obvious that Jobbik's targets will also include ethnic Romanians on the Hungarian territory sooner or later and they might also go as far as wishing to take the areas of Transylvania and such “back into the Hungarian realm, as that area has a large population of Hungarians and was once part of the empire. It would not surprise me.

How it is possible for such racist fascist groupings to exist and operate in EU member states where, supposedly, beats me and the EU is not just failing the Romani People in its midst; it is failing all ethnic minorities.

Romani settlements and villages have been attacked, in Hungary, by Jobbik and its thugs and with local and state police looking on and doing absolutely nothing except, in a couple of cases, arresting Gypsies who decided to defend themselves against the fascist thugs.

It would appear that, when it comes to the Romani, the Gypsy, then the EU laws and conventions are not worth the paper that they are written upon and fascist thugs like Jobbik et al, and not just in Hungary, can do as they like.

There could be another explanation to this inaction by the authorities, whether in Budapest or in Brussels, and that is that those groups of fascist thugs are being used as a tool to enact etnic cleansing by proxy.

I rest my case and suggest, though, that the Rom and the Jew get together in this matter in order to defeat this menace...

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