Gordon Brown had a wheeze of off balance sheet accounting, the PFI scam. It made public spending look low, a prudent Chancellor. Infrastructure, hospitals, schools, incinerators, built by the private sector, leased by the public sector, for which the tax payer is paying ten times the original cost.
Incinerators have to be fed. Local authorities sign contract for minimum waste. If fall below, they pay penalties. There is thus a disincentive to reduce waste.
Government needs to step in and annul these contracts.
Incinerators emit CO2. They should be forced to buy carbon credits for their emissions, and be hit with a carbon tax.
Incinerators emit carcinogens and other toxins.
Mass is not created or destroyed by incinerators. What is left residual waste, plus what goes up the chimney.
The residual waste is heavily contaminated with heavy metals.
A scandal several years ago, residual waste spread on an allotment in the North East, the Byker ash scandal in Newcastle – in which the city council was prosecuted after 2,000 tonnes of ash from the old Byker incinerator was found to contain potentially cancer-causing dioxins.
Incineration is not green energy, it is dirty energy. It is also destroying valuable resources which should be recycled, or placed in an industrial biodegrader.
All these measures in place, many incinerators would no longer be viable, and those in the planning stage shelved.
The figures published by local councils for recycling, are for that collected, it does not mean that collected is recycled. it is going to incineration.
Local councils need to do more to encourage recycling, some do, most do not.
We all should do our part, reduce, recycle, reuse.
We should also tackle the worst offenders, Waitrose and M&S obscene levels of plastic packaging. Is it really necessary bananas in a plastic bag, a coconut shell hacked off, then wrapped in plastic shrink wrap?
Mindful Chef, owned by Nestle, deliver recipe boxes, overpackaging, obscene use of plastic. Their frozen food boxes, a card sleeve, plastic film over what appears to be a paper tray, a plastic-lined paper tray.
Waste does not exist in the natural world either in time or space, the output of one process is the input to another, a closed loop system. We should emulate the natural world.
In Lincolnshire, the official green agenda carbon neutral by 2050, two decades too late, opposition to on-shore wind turbines, support for oil and gas exploration.
A couple of weeks ago the Cyprus finance minister opened himself up to ridicule when he claimed the Cyprus economy was going to shrink by about five percent.
The following week the figure had been revised to ten per cent, which was at best wishful thinking.
With loss of the Cyprus tourist sector, and anyone who thinks Cyprus is going to see any tourists before the end of the season is living in la la land, the economic downturn is going to be far greater than ten per cent.
The world is heading into economic meltdown far worse than the Great Depression, international trade already down by 30%. IMF has warned the global recession is likely to be worse than the Great Depression, and has urged countries to spend, spend, then spend some more, which is an amazing about turn for the IMF.
To put the Cypriot figures in context, the UK economy is expected to shrink by anywhere between 13 per cent and 30 per cent depending on which model, the assumptions fed into the model. The Treasury has forecast April May June the economy may shrink by 30 per cent.
We can not go back to normal as normal was not normal, it was destroying the planet.
We have been able to hear birdsong, our streets traffic free, our cites pollution free, the skies free of planes. A world few of us will have seen in our lifetimes. https://t.co/GLZTXNw4CE
“You wonder if people will want to go back to what it was like before…The pandemic has shown people will change their behavior if it’s for the health of their families."
We can not go back to normal as normal was not normal, it was destroying the planet.
We have been able to hear birdsong, our streets traffic free, our cites pollution free, the skies free of planes. A world few of us will have seen in our lifetimes. In India they are able to see in the far distance the snow covered Himalayas, a sight last seen over thirty years ago,
We were told we could not cut carbon emissions within the timescale required for zero carbon 2035, it was impossible, impractical, and yet we have achieved massive reductions overnight.
Politics is not a race, two or more corrupt political parties in a race as to decide who gets the opportunity to do the bidding of oligarchs.
Politics is who does what to whom.
We have seen capitalism put into suspended animation. We are in a postcapitalist world, we have been since 2008. Who decides what the future will look look like once we are through the coronavirus pandemic?
If we look to the UK, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has made billions of pounds available, to furlough workers with the government providing 80% of salary, a week later for the self employed, grants, soft loans to small businesses, all to keep businesses in hibernation, ready to be woken up.
In the covid-19 pandemic we are living in another now. What we have to do is create our own another now, an alternative reality, a vision of how we wish the world to be. We failed in 2008, we cannot fail again in 2020, we cannot return to what was the norm, as the norm was not normal.
Varoufakis has really nailed the eurobonds debate with this piece: it is not about EU solidarity, it is about the self-interest of all the parties involved to have a functional and efficient Single Market/EU, which is not possible without EU fiscal action. https://t.co/1pJamx9dxb
What should Europe do? (As opposed to the comedy of errors coming out of Brussels, Frankfurt & Berlin) Here is DiEM25's videoed answer: https://t.co/9Ha7dY2UbK And here it is in text form: https://t.co/3vDPFDyI66
EU failed to deliver on eurobonds, offered loans that put the southern vassal states in debt bondage with austerity to follow.
We have seen post-WWII relentless rise in GDP, or at least up to the 2008, but this rise is not normal, it has been at huge environmental cost, and the increase in GDP has not been fairly distributed, it has been shared with the rich.
If I ask a bank for $100,000 to safeguard an ancient forest, I will probably not get very far. If I ask for $1 million to cut down the forest sell the timber they will happily give me the money.
If I ask a bank for 100 million euros to destroy pristine coastline for a hotel development, bring in dredged sand to create a beach, destroy bamboo groves habitat of a rare endangered snail, show I will have guaranteed contracts with a big tour company to bring in all-inclusive guests, I will of course not tell them no benefit to the local economy, the bank will hand me the money, or at least they would have pre-coronavirus pandemic.
Destruction of a forest, of a pristine coastline, is not without costs, soil erosion, floods, loss of a carbon sink, species loss, degradation of water supply, loss of inshore fishing and fish breading grounds, which then feeds into ocean acidification, warming climate, rising sea levels, forest degradation, loss of coastline, further loss of fisheries. These costs are dismissed as externalities (a polite way of saying someone else problem).
The standard economic model showing monetary flows between households and businesses, together with flows of capital and goods and services, sometimes expanded to include the role of banks and government, is too simplified, it takes no account of the economy is embedded within society, which in turn is embedded within Gaia.
Never confuse a model with reality, even worse distort reality to reflect the model.
Kate Raworth has drawn a model, that incorporates what went before, but also includes the commons, the flow of energy, flow of materials, and thus more accurately reflects reality.
We therefore have to devise a new economic system, one that sees the poor are not left behind, are not reliant on food banks, homeless are not living on our streets, whilst at the same time we do not exceed our planetary limits and what we do produce is fair and equitable.
One such system is doughnut economics. How do we apply it to Cyprus, to the island, to municipalities, to sectors?
Look to Amsterdam, where the city is working with Kate Raworth to devise doughnut economics for the city, a 21st century economic system.
A 2018 study published in Nature Climate Change showed that emissions from tourism add up to 8% of the global total, with flying making up the largest share of this. “By far, the biggest action we can take is to stop flying or to fly less,”
One of the largest sectors in Cyprus is tourism, it cannot be a return to mass tourism which not only is destroying the planet is destroying Cyprus, it brings in the dregs of the tourist industry, all-inclusive hotels with no benefit for the local economy.
Does Cyprus need an easyJet flight every day, sometimes two a day, would not two or three a week suffice, assuming easyJet is in business and will not run out of money by August?
A proposal for a doughnut economy for Cyprus, a broad brush to be expanded upon.
Doughnut economics was developed by Oxford economist Kate Raworth as an antidote to conventional economics which does not reflect the real world and has not served us well.
What is the economy for? Until we can answer that question, how do we know what to measure, how do we measure success?
Economies need to be distributive, regenerative.
#DoughnutEconomics is a book full of ideas for 21st century economies, but now it's time for action.
That's why we're creating Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL): a collaborative platform for changemakers to connect, share, inspire and get inspired.
— Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL) (@DoughnutEcon) April 15, 2020
Visualise a doughnut. In the centre nothing, this is where resides abuse of human rights, poverty, malnutrition, homelessness, food banks, it is where we should not be. The body of the doughnut is where we wish to be, a circular economy, everyone’s needs met, living within the limits of the planet. Beyond the doughnut, again where we should not be, global warming, species loss, habitat destruction, acidification of our oceans, pollution, rising sea levels.
Kate Raworth has developed a doughnut economics model for Amsterdam, working with the city. Something that should be studied, adapted to Cyprus, but no two places are the same.
For Cyprus we need a doughnut model for the island and for each and every municipality and sector, and the people involved in developing it.
The largest sector in Cyprus is tourism, but it is not in a healthy state, has not been for years, and looking at crude tourist numbers is about as helpful as focusing on GDP to measure economic well being.
One only had to wander through Protaras last year at the height of the tourist season to see all was not well. During the day, mid-afternoon, empty sunbeds, watersports siting idle. At night, during the evening, bars and restaurants empty.
The last few years many local businesses have gone bust. They finished last season in very poor shape, and many more would not have survived another season.
Tourism has to benefit society with minimum impact on the environment.
Mass tourism is bad for the planet, bad for Cyprus, it is not sustainable.
There is an over-reliance on tour companies, on mass tourism, on all-inclusive hotels.
Cyprus has become the dustbin for the dregs of the tourist industry, all-inclusive attracts the dregs, little if any money flows into the local economy.
Cyprus is not going to see tourists this year, therefore time to reflect, seize the opportunity for radical change and innovation.
Rewind the tourist sector to thirty years ago when Cyprus was a quality destination, attracted quality tourists, when hoteliers took a pride in their hotels, restaurateurs in their restaurants.
Cyprus needs far fewer tourists, quality tourists. There should be no all-inclusive hotels, tour companies should be no more than 20% of hotel bookings (no single tour operator more than 10%), pay promptly at the end of the month (with penalty for late payment).
Encourage long stay, fourteen days and longer, discourage short stay, short breaks, seven days and shorter. Fewer flights for the same hotel occupancy.
The noisy bars bulldoze to the ground. Restaurants in an attempt to compete with all-inclusive hotels are in a race to the bottom, a race to the bottom no one can win.
What passes as coffee shops is laughable, Cyprus is infamous for bad coffee, coffee shops serving drinkable coffee could count on one hand.
Replace noisy bars with traditional tavernas and coffee shops. It would be difficult to find good examples without visiting Plaka in Athens. Paul’s Coffee Roasters and Lazaris (though not for coffee) near St Lazarus Church in the back streets of Larnaca set high standards, take a pride in what they do, as does Nick’s Coffee Bike outside Larnaca Marina, but these are the rare exceptions, not the norm, oasis amidst the dross. Once the norm in Cyprus, until a race to the bottom to attract custom from all-inclusive hotels, a race no one can win.
For restaurants slow food not fast food, local cuisine using fresh local seasonal produce. Sea food restaurants overlooking the sea, fresh caught fish, for example Spartiatis overlooking Konnos Bay and Demetrion beside Liopetri River overlooking the sea.
Tourism is more than hotels, it is bars, coffee shops, restaurants, car hire, boat trips, water sports. All of which have suffered in recent years thanks to all-inclusive hotels.
There is a need to improve standards within the tourist sector, hotels, restaurants, bars, coffee shops. How to measure standards?
TripAdvisor is worthless, fake reviews and trolls. Google Maps marginally better. Proposal to tender a contract to assess standards seriously flawed in a country where everyone knows everyone, someones cousin friend went to school with.
Create an open source open coop collaborate commons platform Booking Cyprus. Charge a small fee to generate a surplus to maintain and improve the platform and fund local community green projects.
There is a need to diversify within the tourist sector.
Diversify away from tourism based on a handful of coastal resorts.
It takes two to tango… You and Grecian Park Hotel Cyprus! On October 25-28, join us for the 6th Cyprus Tango Meeting and enjoy the dance of passionate love in our dreamy ambience.
An example would be a week of tango at Grecian Park, not organised by the hotel, they host a week organised by two dancers well known within the world of tango.
A green new deal, use it to kick start the economy.
Look to what DiEM25 is proposing for Europe. EU needs to issue eurobonds, €500 billion a year to finance a Green New Deal for Europe.
Implement a tree planting programme. Start by planting trees at bus stops for the 101 / 102 bus service Paralimni Protaras Ayia Napa to provide much needed shade.
”Milan is to introduce one of Europe’s most ambitious schemes reallocating street space from cars to cycling and walking, in response to the coronavirus crisis.” https://t.co/crSIMT5G5G
Pedestrianise the sea front at Larnaca and extend the pedestrianised area into the back streets around St Lazaris Church. Provide an electric shuttle bus service from, Larnaca Marina to Mackenzie Beach.
Cyprus is over-reliant on oil imports, which is crazy in a country with abundant sunshine. Install roof top solar, feed into local community owned and controlled local grids, paid a fair price, consumers pay a fair price, surplus generation fed to other local grids via a publicly owned national grid, any ‘profit’ fed back into the local grid or used to fund local community projects.
The proposed Paphos Marina with facilities for cruise ships should be scrapped. Cruise ships are floating environmental disasters. Floating all-inclusive hotels that bring no benefits to local economies.
The project in Paphos to create a marina for 1,000 boats plus cruise ships is an example of the insanity that is destroying Cyprus. It should be scrapped.
Cruise ships are nothing more than glorified floating all-inclusive hotels, that cause horrendous damage wherever they dock, with little benefit to the local economy.
The streets of Athens, especially areas like Plaka and Acropli, are clogged whenever a cruse ship docks, causing a problem for both locals and visitors, and they do not spend any money. The tour buses ferrying them around, traffic congestion, noise and pollution.
Venice is being destroyed by cruise ships.
Cruise shop are major greenhouse gas emitters, plus passenger fly to start and end of trip. Cruise ships dump their sewerage and garbage overboard, including plastic.
Will there even be cruise ships? As we have seen floating hell when covid-19 spreads through the ship and nowhere will permit a plague ship to dock.
These floating all-inclusive hotels are now all rapidly returning to port, discharging their passengers and being mothballed. The industry has not just been devastated, it has ceased to function altogether. For it, coronavirus has been the perfect storm. It has gone from being an industry worth $46 billion (£37 billion) a year, with 26 million passengers per annum, to an almost total standstill overnight. The only destination for cruise ships, the scrap yard.
Art and culture would seem an oxymoron when said in the same breath as Ayia Napa, and yet Ayia Napa has an excellent International Sculpture Park on a hillside overlooking the sea and hosts an excellent Medieval Festival.
How many visitors are aware of the open air theatre during the summer in the grounds of Larnaca Castle?
Cyprus has a democratic deficit which should be addressed. Not only open municipalities to the public, open to public participation, live stream all meetings.
A doughnut may appear to be a simple concept, but appearances can be deceptive. Its power lies in its simplicity.
A lower social bound bellow which we should not fall. An upper planetary bound which we should not exceed. It is also circular, symbolises not only money flowing around the economy, but also symbolises mutual cooperation, collaborative commons.
A simple example will suffice. On changing money in a car hire, we are recommended to take a boat trip. The boat trip recommends a restaurant. The restaurant recommends a vineyard from where they source their wine. To visit the vineyard, we return to the car hire to hire a car. We pass through a lovely little village, learn of a house available through fairbnb should we be tempted to return. At the vineyard, we learn they are renting out a beautiful studio apartment with incredible views of the sea. We find a coffee shop which we have been recommended, and as is the nature of coffee shops, interesting conversations ensue with the owner and barista and fellow coffee drinkers, we learn of many cultural events, an out of the way fish restaurant overlooking the sea and of a taverna overlooking the sea. We learn Cyprus has much to offer, which we would never have learnt of from tour guides at an all-inclusive hotel. And the local economy has benefited. And maybe we will return one day to explore further.
Salient points of a doughnut economy:
GDP is not a useful measure. We cannot have infinite growth on a finite planet. Obsession with GDP has destroyed the planet whilst at the same time creating obscene levels of inequality. The top richest 1% have accrued more wealth than the poorest 99%. Uncontrolled growth has a name, cancer.
Create, innovate, value human development. With rare exceptions there is a lack of innovation in Cyprus. One bar owner opens a bar with white seats, overpriced drinks, moronic music thudding out. Then more bars open with white seats, overpriced drinks, moronic music thudding out. Those that follow, do not bother to check the first bar always empty.
Understand the power of networks, how feedback systems operate.
An economic system must be distributive. All must share in the wealth created.
Transactions within an economy are not simply financial, nor are the players only government and private sector. The economy also has to include open coops, collaborate commons, each working in loose partnership with each other.
Economy has to be regenerative. It is a necessary but not sufficient condition to merely protect the natural world from harm.
The Cypriot economy is moribund if not in free fall, no tourists anytime soon. The time should be put to productive use to implement a doughnut economy.
It is important public information, in Greek and English, to keep everyone informed, not only locals but also visitors. Then network and share with other municipalities, not only across Cyprus, across Europe.
Extinction Rebellion have taken direct action as a last resort, for far too long our corrupt politicians have been in the pocket of big business, giving the go ahead to fracking, to Heathrow expansion, subsidies to oil industry, go ahead for open cast mining.
Direct action is the only action that has ever changed anything.
But there is hope. Especially since the policies we need to address the #ClimateEmergency are positive policies that would improve our lives in so many ways …..
Protesters in Lincoln were calling on Lincoln City Council to declare a Climate Emergency, as many councils already have, to halt the Western Growth Corridor.
Activists need to seize control of the local Town Hall, to end the one-party state in the pocket of the local coop and big business, follow the example of Madrid, Barcelona and A Coruña, open to public participation, network across Europe with other citizen-controlled Town Halls.
Lincoln and Lincolnshire have an appalling bus service. Try getting a bus to anywhere after 1900 in the evening.
The pedestrianised High Street is not. Lorries drive through any time of the day. No enforcement action, local council and police turn a blind eye.
There is a ban between 1000 and 1600, but no one takes a blind bit of notice.
There should be a ban 24/7, emergency vehicles only. Lorries park on the periphery, deliver by hand cart and trolley. The norm in Europe
Maybe they will, but the protesters should have sat down on High Bridge and blocked the High Street.
Ban wood burning stoves from the city.
It beggars belief we still build new build with no solar panels on the roof.
We need local area power distribution networks, owned and controlled by the local community, into which feed renewables paid a fair price, consumers pay a fair price. Surplus generation fed to other local networks via a publicly owned National Grid. Any ‘profit’ either fed back into the system or used to fund local community projects. Electric cars provide a nighttime base load.
Avoid any corporate chain coffee shops, enjoy specialty coffee served in glass or ceramic in an indie coffee shop. In Lincoln that would be Coffee Aroma or Madame Waffle. Reusable coffee cups glass Keep Cup or bamboo ecoffeecup address symptoms.
The planning application for a drive-thru Costa must be opposed. No one who loves coffee would be seen dead in Costa. More traffic. At a time when we should be reducing our dependency on the car, an application for yet another drive-thru. Local Coop once again acting for corporate chains whilst at the same time destroying Sincil Street. Those who love coffee relax in Coffee Aroma or Madame Waffle with specialty coffee served in glass or ceramic.
Brighton has Hisbe. Lincoln needs a zero waste store.
An animal diet, apart from being nutritionally dense thus better for our health, is environmental sound, grass fed animals are part of the natural cycle, improving the soil acts as a carbon sink.
OK you've seen #ClimateChange – The Facts and you've heard Sir #DavidAttenborough explain that we need to not only reduce emissions but also remove existing #carbon from the atmosphere. Well – the solution starts here with the @RewildingBritain petition: https://t.co/nww4ftvEbY
We have to drastically reduce our emissions of carbon. The longer we delay, the deeper the cuts.
“We had everything we could ever wish for… now we probably don’t even have a future anymore.”
16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg says the planet’s future “was sold so that a small number of people could make unimaginable amounts of money”. pic.twitter.com/A8tu6zPrw0
Wednesday, as Tuesday, heavy snow, several inches deep, before breakfast clearing the snow. No soonest cleared, within half an hour, at least an inch deep. Before lunch, once again clear the snow, now a couple of inches deep.
As Tuesday, heavy snow, dark clouds, sunshine. Again possible to sit in the conservatory, minus three degrees outside, drops to minus seven.
As Tuesday, heavy snowfall, blizzard, whiteout, which would alternate with clear blue sky and sun shining.
Impossible to go out, sink into the snow.
Farnborough two days in a row, record for colddest place, minus 11.9C.
Warning, we are running out of gas. People should drop their temperature by a degree, will not notice, saves money, saves gas. If going out, turn down the thermostat by at least five degrees, then turn back up on return.
We need large gas storage facilities. We had but was closed last year. That is what happens when privatise energy supply, lose energy security, no resilience in the system.
Not possible to import from Europe, as pipes lack capacity, and even if possible, Europe colder than UK, thus need the gas.
UK was powered by North Sea Gas. It was sold of on the cheap, now UK imports roughly half the gas it needs.
Wind is providing as much energy as gas, but different usage.
Industrial users of gas cannot be cut off, crash cool a kiln and cause tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage to the kiln.
In Lincolnshire, at least 45 roads are closed, idiots who should not be out, are out in their cars no idea how to handle a car in the snow, get stuck then block the roads.
Thursday I managed to get out. To my surprise, many people are walking in the snow in Washingborough. I guess house bound and an opportunity to get out the house.
I ask one man, is it worth walking to the local Coop? He says no, no bread, he has taken the last milk.
As I thought, no deliveries and more people placing demand on local Coop.
Slowly running out of food.
Walking around the village, very cold, Arctic conditions, sub-zero with a gale blowing.
Friday again no snow. Manage to get out and walk to the local Coop. As I thought, very little stock, no bread, little in the way of vegetables, a small amount of milk.
Saturday a little snow overnight, light covering of snow.
One degree Celsius. It actually feels warm.
Hop on the bus to Heighington. The Spar shop reasonably well stocked, actually able to get some bread, the butcher well stocked.
Stock up with provisions. At least will not starve.
In the afternoon a trip into Lincoln. One kind person has even cleared the bus stop.
Walking to the bus stop and waiting for the bus, cold and damp, a breeze blowing, misty.
Very bleak journey into Lincoln.
The State of the Art Lincoln Central Bus Station colder than outside.
Outside the entrance a couple of inches of slush, Lincoln City Council cannot be arsed to clear the snow.
Sincil Street and High Street the same, slush covered streets. Traders pay enough in businesses rates, the least they can expect is the streets to be cleared of slush.
More people out than I expected. Maybe Saturday, maybe first opportunity to get out of the house and into Lincoln.
Stokes on High Bridge as always, empty, same for Cafe W at Waterstone’s. On the other hand Coffee Aroma busy and at Madame Waffle packed queuing at the door to get in. That is th difference good coffee makes.
I take the opportunity to stock up with more provisions.
Walking back to the bus station, I notice the slush melting, water gathers at the lowest point and flows, the newly installed drains not at the lowest point. Yet another design flaw for the newly opened Lincoln Central Bus Station that only opened last month.
Sunday a few degrees above freezing, the snow starting to melt, very misty.
It snows, and the country grinds to a halt, the trains do not run, those that do run, break down leaving people stranded for several hours, foolish people go out in the cars, clueless driving on snow.
For the last decade winters have been mild. Temperatures of 10C, maybe drops to 5C, occasionally below zero.
These mild winters have lulled the country into a false sense of security.
The Arctic, zero degrees, at least twenty degrees warmer than it should be , strong winds circling the North Pole driving the cold air southward into Europe.
What is a heat wave in the Arctic has panicked climate scientists, as what has been observed is way beyond their worst case scenarios for climate change.
Classic Marxist theory, cost consists of capital, land and labour.
We now have a fourth factor, information.
Karl Marx wrote of machines whose cost was zero, that never wear out.
Information does not wear out, costs nothing to reproduce.
Feel free to listen to The Way of the Bow, share with your friends, download.
Digital music costs nothing to reproduce, e-books cost nothing to reproduce. If I listen to digital music, it does not wear out when I listen, I can share with my friends. An e-book does not wear out when I read, I can share with my friends.
I can of course share a book with my friends, but were I to, I cannot read it, it costs something to cut down the trees, make the paper, print, to distribute, to shelve, to retail. If I share it, for example pass on through BookCrossing, the more often shared and read the more dogeared it will become. One reason why I prefer to give books away rather than share.
The price of information goods tends to zero. If you are being charged more than a pound a dollar or a euro for an e-book, you are being ripped off.
The only thing that maintains the price of a song on iTunes is the near monopoly Apple exerts.
We see this with the price of iPhones, the price maintained by near monopoly and Draconian intellectual property rights, thus Apple maintains a high profit margin, even when its share of the market falls. Helped of course by tax dodging, low wage workers at Foxconn in China and the massive subsidies from the Chinese government.
On leanpub and bandcamp, artists set a minimum price, sometimes zero. Those who choose to pay for a download, can pay more. Often they pay much more than the asking price.
Most jobs could be replaced by robots, were it not for the creation of what David Graeber calls bullshit jobs. The car wash replaced by half a dozen migrants with dirty rags and a bucket of water.
Hinkley Point C, is a nuclear reactor being proposed for Somerset.
To be built at an estimated cost of 18 billion euros, more than the capital value of EDF who would build and operate.
The electricity produced will be at least double, maybe triple, the existing cost of electricity, at a time when the cost of electricity from renewables is falling.
It is scheduled to produce at least 7% of the UK demand for electricity.
It will be part-owned by the Chinese military. There is already threatening noises from the Chinese that the project may be cancelled. US would not let Chinese control critical infrastructure.
Fracking may take place nearby with increased risk of an earthquake.
It would be at risk from rising sea level.
But what of the waste? UK has no plans for nuclear waste disposal
We can safely store nuclear waste, in cooling ponds above ground, providing there is no interruption to the power to the cooling ponds, no leakage, no earthquakes, no terrorist attacks or theft of the waste materiel, no wars.
At best, storage in cooling ponds is temporary storage for a few dozen years.
In 1970, Finland began construction of a massive underground bunker designed to safely store its nuclear waste until it decays and becomes safe, a process that takes 100,000 years.
How do you safeguard a site for 100,000 years?
How do you warn people?
Go back 100,000 years, and we are at the time of Neanderthals.
Stonehenge, appears to be a giant astronomical clock. But why was it built?
We could leave giant granite monoliths, with warnings, but will the warnings be heeded?
We do not know what the writing on Mayan artefacts means, and yet that is a civilisation Europeans were in contact with in the recent past.
The site could be forgotten. What if, a future civilisation, using ground penetrating radar, discovers the network of underground tunnels. It must be a site of importance, why else would a past civilisation built such a structure?
Correction, Hinkley Point C has an estimated cost of 18 billion euros. Large infrastructure projects have a nasty habit of being over time and over budget. This is true of EDF’s latest project in France.
18 billion euros is larger than the capital value of EDF. Major shareholder in EDF is the French government. If Hinkley Point C proves to be, as many suspect, a White Elephant, it will destroy the French government.
The French Unions are oposed to Hinkley Point C and are considering mounting a legal challenge.
The new UK government is having second thoughts.
The price of electricity from Hinkley Point C is guaranteed for the next thirty-five years at double the current price of electricity.
The price of electricity from renewables has been halving every 18 months.
The offshore wind farms Siemens plan to build in the North Sea will deliver electricity at much lower price than Hinkley Point C
Hinkley Point C is a disaster and must be stopped.
Proponents correctly say we need reliable sources of clean energy. That is why we must push ahead with renewables, the more we have, the more reliable, as not reliant upon the unreliability of a few sources. Also resilient.
We must follow a Soft Energy Path, one wheres sources are matched to usage.
Nuclear power is hard energy, it is also very brittle.
installation of rooftop solar panels
Last week, my neighbour installed 14 solar panels on his south facing roof. Speaking to the contractors, they said peak output (on a good day when the sun is shining) is 3 kW.
Imagine if every house had solar panels, if new build was mandatory to have solar panels.
Inshore wind farms have been a disaster. Wealthy landowners reap the subsidies. Or did
We need to create community owned local area grids. Into which feed renewables guaranteed a fair price. Consumers would pay a fair price. Any surplus energy would be fed to other local are grids via a publicly owned National Grid. Any monetary surplus would either be fed back into the local grid or used to finance community projects, watering of the collaborative commons.
EU pushed diesel, thanks to lobbying by VW (the same VW that rigged emission tests). Net result nearly ten thousand deaths a year in London due to air pollution from toxic diesel.
In US and Japan, a different route of hybrid and electric cars.
One of the problems with electricity supply from renewables, is matching supply to demand. Electricity from the sun during the day when demand also peaks. Wind blows at night when demand is low
Surplus generation, could be, at cheaper rate via smart meters, used to charge electric cars. Electric cars when not in use, with fully charged batteries, could be used when peak demand exceeds supply. Smart meters can also use the electricity for low grade heat, for example water heating and space heating, where being cut off for a short while does not impact on the user (especially if have manual override).
A couple of weeks ago, a useless report on abuse by the Big Six, a useless report that cost millions to compile. A couple of their worthless recommendations was better use of price comparison sites (better called price fixing sites as paid by suppliers to set up deals) and if consumers had not recently change supplier, add them to a database to receive junk mail from suppliers.
One measure at a stroke would improve the situation, eliminate standing charges, a fixed rate per kW-H, or maybe two rates, one a special cheap rate when surplus exceeds supply (requiring smart meters).
There are no standing charges when paying for petrol, there should be no standing charges when buying electricity.
We do not need to nationalise the Big Six, introduce community owned and controlled local grids, and the Big Six would be driven out of business, as unable to compete.
Post-Brexit, we need investment in green infrastructure, investment in publicly owned railways, in locally owned and controlled electricity grids. What we do not need is bad infrastructure, HS2, Hinkley Point C, expansion of London City Airport or additional runways at Heathrow and Gatwick.
This week’s crisis in Port Talbot and elsewhere has not come out of the blue – Britain’s steel industry has been in trouble for a long time now. Yet the government appears to have been asleep on the job. — Caroline Lucas MP
The ministry that should have an industrial policy is run by a man who, when the space between his ears registers a thought at all, believes there should not be an industrial policy. — Paul Mason
Ken Clarke and Paul Mason on BBC Newsnight discussing the future of steel in the UK.
Ken Clarke knows all about the steel industry, he once drove past the steel works at Port Talbot.
Why does the BBC insist on wheeling out has been politicians who have not got a clue what they are talking about?
Sajid Javid another useless Tory idiot.
We have an old plant in Wales. It cannot compete on the world market with modern steel plants.
If this was a short term problem, then yes, nationalise.
But the problem is we do not know.
A rescue plan was drawn up then rejected.
This should be published.
Steel is an old industry.
It is energy consuming.
It is resource intensive.
We should be moving forward to new industries.
What this illustrates is tha we have to move away from large plants, that if they close, they have a devastating impact on local communities.
If this was several companies, with the same total job losses, no one would act.
We bailed out the banks. That is not an argument for bailing out steel, it is an argument for not bailing out the banks.
Steel generates wealth, it adds value. Banks are parasites that bleed money from businesses. Banks do not create wealth. Making things creates wealth.
Is steel a strategic industry?
US makes steel. US does not have problem with steel from China. Why does UK, why does EU? US introduced tariffs. UK government blocked EU tariffs.
Phenomenal live performance by Charlotte Church accompanied by string ensemble Ligeti Quartet of This bitter earth outside Shell HQ in London in protest at Shell drilling for oil in the Arctic.
I can’t see how anyone could see footage of the Arctic melting and not feel moved. It’s terrifying to think of what we’re doing to this planet. This song just felt so appropriate to why I came here today. I wanted to capture the sorrow and regret that feels tied up with the melting ice, and the bitter irony of Arctic oil drilling.
I can’t believe the risks that Shell is willing to take. The Arctic ecosystem is already weakened because the ice is melting, yet Shell is willing to risk an oil spill there that they wouldn’t be able to clean up. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.
Shame on Obama for granting Shell a licence to drill, and only serves to expose his hypocrisy when he says he wishes to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Just over a week ago Shell got the final permits it needs to start drilling for oil in the melting Arctic Ocean. It’s got a window of mere weeks to strike oil and billions of dollars on the line. But every second it drills it’s risking an oil spill in icy waters that would be impossible to clean up and disastrous for the people and unique wildlife that call the Arctic home.
If we are to keep global temperature rise below 2C, 80% of known deposits of oil and coal and gas have to be left in the ground, and yet Shell is exploring for more in one of the world’s most hazardous environments.
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