Drastically Cut Deforestation, Population & Fossil Fuel Use

Flemming Bermann, Director of the UK’s Carbon-info.org –  Europe’s largest global warming and climate change website – hopes to see a complete stop to tropical deforestation,  a significant reduction in world population and a massive investment in green energy technology, reducing consumption of fossil fuels 60-70% within the next 10-20 years.

By Flemming Bermann:

What have we achieved in the last 10 years and what would we like to see happening in the next decade? 

The last 10 years has been largely wasted. The political establishment has spend the decade hiding behind the ineffective Kyoto protocol, while getting the scientific community to do all the hard work – proving beyond any argument that global warming is real and man-made.

And when finally there were no-where left to hide and our so called leaders had to deliver an effective agreement to reduce CO2 – in Copenhagen for just a few weeks ago - it became clear to everyone just how ineffective the political establishment, tools and process are for dealing with a global problem like global warming.  

In short, the political establishment failed. The political approach in Copenhagen - scoring points off each other, blaming anyone and everyone, and general horse trading to avoid just a few extra % reduction in CO2 emissions – exposed just how incompetent and rooted our leaders are in the capitalistic model, which are the very economic model that brought us to the brink of irreversible climate change.

So what do we wish for in the next 10 years?

Well, for one a more effective and grownup political process, which is focused on delivering real results (real reductions in CO2 levels) through a new approach to global corporation. Not rich versus poor. Not east versus west. But real corporation through the realisation that no-one wins if we don’t work together and stop treating this global problem as something that can be resolved by placing a bunch of capitalistic leaders in a room and hope for the best. 

We also hope that the political process will focus on a few major win-win areas such as:

- Complete stop to tropical deforestation and replanting of major forests in every country on the planet.

- Significant reduction in world population. A minimum of 25% by 2030 shared equally by all nations.

- Massive investment in green energy technology, which will see consumption of fossil fuel based energy reduced with 60-70% within the next 10-20 years.

These three measures will ensure that we can remove some of the existing CO2 already in the atmosphere, while rapidly reducing the possibility that any new CO2 is being released.

Anything less is really a waste of time and just delaying tactics or lack of understanding of the huge challenge facing us.

In the last 12 months Carbon-info.org has mainly focused on two projects:

1) We have entered into an important partnership with AEECL (A consortium of European Zoos and Universities dedicated to the conservation of Madagascar’s lemurs) and working with them to promote a conservation project that aims to save the remaining 3000 blue-eyed black lemurs from extinction.

The project focuses on planting 100000s of new tropical trees. The trees will provide much needed forest corridors between fragmented groups of lemurs as well as providing the population with food such as fruit and berries.

However, Carbon-info.org has become involved because the project has other benefits, which directly link with our own global warming goals.

The tree planting effort will:

• Benefit the local economy (all trees planted is purchased locally). Villagers have come to realise that the trees and the blue-eyed black lemur have value. This mans a reduction in deforestation and hunting of the lemur for bush meat.
• Extract tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. While this is not a carbon offsetting project, the benefit of planting 100000s of trees in the tropics are well documented. Any tree left standing or planted has a positive long-term benefit in our fight to remove excess CO2 from the atmosphere.

2) We have also stayed true to our roots – to educate about global warming, climate change and sustainability.

In 2009, Carbon-info.org published a children’s e-book children’s book “Global warming for young minds”. 

The book is aimed at educating the next generation – boys and girls aged 6-10 years old – about what global warming is, what causes it and how everyone can help avoid the major problems that comes with global warming and climate change.

The book will be published by the AEG Publishing Group, and will be available from Amazon and other major online retailers in the early part of 2010.

“Global warming for young minds” will make it easier for parents to educate their children about these big and important issue in a fun and factual way, without scaring the child or confusing the young mind with “science” and difficult to understand concepts.

 Source: www.carbon-info.org