Last night on BBC Radio 4 I listened to a really dumb programme, are we neglecting the environment due to our focus on climate change as though the two are somehow mutually exclusive!

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m721x
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8223611.stm

Yes, if we focus on our own little backyard and neglect the bigger issues, we forget that those bigger issues will wipe out our backyard, especially if it is a big bulldozer heading our way.

Many of the streets in London fail to meet clean air standards, as a result, 10-12,000 people are dying each year. But this is not an either or. Free up the streets by investing in better public transport, we then also reduce our energy use and our green house gases. And we get better air quality, less NOx, less particulates.

Safeguard the environment and we also safeguard the planet as we safeguard Gain control mechanisms.

Cut down the rainforests and we lose a major Gaian control mechanism, as well as a catastrophic loss of biodiversity. The two are not mutually exclusive.

We have to though recognise the activity of Man. When man changed from a hunter-gatherer to a pastoralist he only fouled up his own backyard, now he fouls up the planet. He has become not only a major Gaian control mechanism in his own right, but is also throwing the spanner in the works of other Gaian control mechanisms.

An example was given of toxins and their release into the environment, as though separate from other mechanisms. Toxins destroy coral reefs, mangrove swarms, knock on impact on fish breading grounds etc.

We can close the loops, remove toxins from the cycle, eliminate waste. The concept of waste does not exist in the natural world. If we close the loops, we have no waste, no resource extraction, minimise our energy use.

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/09/408329.html

All is interconnected.

The Chinese, through one family policy, reduced the Chinese population by 450 million. Chinese emission of CO2 per capita is 4.5 tonnes. That is a lot less carbon into the atmosphere. Much of Chinese CO2 carbon emission is offshore production for the affluent West.

We see much hot air, but no action. G8 agreed targets for 2050, but none for 2030.

UK has mandatory greenhouse gas reduction of 80% by 2050, but there is no evidence of how this is to be achieved either by sector or region. It is business as usual.

Farnborough Airport has applied for a doubling of flights! It is an exclusive business airport. Its average occupancy is 2.5 passengers per flight!

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/07/435417.html?c=on

Meanwhile, on the Isle of Wight, the UK's only wind turbine factory has closed down for lack of orders. No sign of a government bail out as we saw for the banks, as we saw for the car industry.

 http://www.savevestas.wordpress.com/
 http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news6854.php
 http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news6861.php

Carbon trading is offered as a quick fix solution, but all it has done is create a market for City speculators.

 http://www.carbontradewatch.org/

As I write, the Climate Camp is in residence at Blackheath Common ...

 http://www.climatecamp.org.uk
 http://twitter.com/climatecamp
 http://www.climatecamp.tv
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/8223598.stm
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/08/436913.html

... described as 'a prat's utopia' by a juvenile scribbler at the Telegraph.

 http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/willheaven/100007746/climate-camp-a-prat%E2%80%99s-utopia/