Canoeist killed in Devon caught out by rapid rainfall
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• Canoeist who died in Devon after floods was experienced kayak instructor
• Search continues for woman who fell into river Usk
The canoeist who died in Devon after becoming trapped in a swollen river was an extremely experienced kayak instructor, it has emerged.
Two friends desperately tried to keep Chris Wheeler's head above the water when he became pinned against a tree in the river Dart, but he had died by the time rescuers got there.
In Brecon, mid Wales, the emergency services continued to search today for a 21-year-old woman who fell into the river Usk. Police were still trying to establish how the accident happened but said the banks were slippy and dangerous.
Wheeler, 46, a chartered surveyor and kayak instructor from Reading, got into difficulty after 30mm of rain fell in just three hours last night. The part of the river he died in is popular with canoeists but hazardous when in spate. His two colleagues were pulled from the water and airlifted to hospital suffering from the effects of hypothermia but were later discharged.
A spokesman for Devon and Somerset fire and rescue service said: "The spot was a five-mile walk from any road and it took fire crews around two hours to find them."
Wheeler, nicknamed Magic Knees after he dislocated both knees in an accident at a waterfall, had been canoeing for 25 years and regularly contributed articles to the Canoe and Kayak UK magazine. In the last few years, he had canoed in Bolivia, India, Vietnam, Costa Rica, Canada, USA and Norway.
Robert Steemson, the head of recreation, rangers and estates for Dartmoor National Park Authority, said the eight-strong group were experienced canoeists. "The bit of river between Dartmeet and Newbridge is one of the best bits of river in the country but you have to be a very experienced canoeist," he said.
In Brecon, the woman fell into the river Usk at the Watergate bridge in Brecon at 7pm on Saturday during a night out with her boyfriend.
Inspector Mark Davies said: "People should stay away from the water's edge. The last thing we would want is for someone else to end up in the river."
Initially, the river was too swollen for a boat to be launched but rescuers in kayaks eventually joined the search.
Brazil should hear Amazon Indians on dam: Sting
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East Antarctic ice began to melt faster in 2006: study
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East Antarctica 'is losing ice'
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World's largest ice sheet melting faster than expected
1258912801|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover (Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
East Antarctic sheet shedding 57bn tonnes of ice a year and contributing to sea level rises, according to Nasa aerial survey
The world's largest ice sheet has started to melt along its coastal fringes, raising fears that global sea levels will rise faster than scientists expected.
The East Antarctic ice sheet, which makes up three-quarters of the continent's 14,000 sq km, is losing around 57bn tonnes of ice a year into surrounding waters, according to a satellite survey of the region.
Scientists had thought the ice sheet was reasonably stable, but measurements taken from Nasa's gravity recovery and climate experiment (Grace) show that it started to lose ice steadily from 2006.
The measurements suggest the polar continent could soon contribute more to global sea level rises than Greenland, which is shedding more than 250bn tonnes of ice a year, adding 0.7mm to annual sea level rises.
Satellite data from the whole of Antarctica show the region is now losing around 190bn tonnes of ice a year. Uncertainties in the measurements mean the true ice loss could be between 113bn and 267bn tonnes.
"If the current trend continues or gets worse, Antarctica could become the largest contributor to sea level rises in the world. It could start to lose more ice than Greenland within a few years," said Jianli Chen, of the University of Texas at Austin.
Chen's team used data from the Nasa mission to see how Earth's gravitational pull varied month to month between April 2002 and January 2009. Measurements taken over the south pole reflect changes in the mass of the Antarctic ice sheets.
The survey confirmed the West Antarctic ice sheet is melting rapidly with the loss of around 132bn tonnes of ice a year, but revealed unexpected melting in the larger East Antarctic ice sheet.
The scientists used a computer model to take account of ongoing movements in the Earth's surface caused by the retreat of glaciers at the end of the last ice age. Uncertainties in the model gave the scientists only a broad estimate of ice loss in the East Antarctic ice sheet of between 5bn and 109bn tonnes a year.
Chen said that warmer ocean waters may have triggered the melting by seeping under the ice sheet and making it slide more easily over the rock it rests on.
Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, Chen's team reports that Wilkes Land on the East Antarctic ice sheet was stable until 2006, but has since begun to lose ice. Another region on the ice sheet, Enderby Land, was thickening until 2006, but has since started to melt. "We're seeing these kinds of climate change effects all around the world now," Chen said.
Renewables policy hopes dashed by tariffs row
1258911341|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover (Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Departmental wrangling over "feed-in tariffs" scuppers Ed Miliband's aim to have policy in place by Copenhagen summit
Ed Miliband's hopes of having a key government policy on renewable energy in place before the Copenhagen summit have been dashed by internal wrangling over the final levels at which so-called "feed-in tariffs" (FITs) will be set. Officials at Miliband's department of energy and climate change (DECC) have admitted that the announcement – originally due around now – will not come until January.
The Treasury insists the full details of the FITs are still scheduled to be released around the time of Alistair Darling's pre-budget report on 9 December. But sources say Treasury officials – egged on by the regulator Ofgem – are having last-minute concerns about the potential cost.
Energy companies, in turn, are worried that the delay will jeopardise the supposed 1 April launch date to FITs consumers, because they may not have had enough time to prepare for it. The nuclear industry, too, has been lobbying against support for renewables because it undermines the case for new nuclear stations.
FITs work by rewarding installers of renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines or solar photovoltaic panels, for every unit of green electricity they generate and/or feed in to the national grid. They produce a steady return on investment for households, thus stimulating take-up of renewables and the growth of a new industry. Germany introduced one a decade ago and has created more than a quarter of a million jobs as a result.
Britain has been slow off the mark and has one of the lowest proportions of renewable energy in the EU. Ofgem says in its submission to DECC's consultation, however, that FITs offer bad value for money and that DECC should stick to giving people loft insulation and smart meters.
It says the aim of offering a return on investment to households of 5-8% is "disproportionately high compensation", even though DECC has been told by many other industries and potential installers of renewables that it is too low to make them invest. Germany offers more like 10%.
Alan Simpson, Miliband's special advisor on renewable energy, said: "The trouble is that the Treasury, Ofgem and government officials have driven this policy with a towering lack of ambition."
He said the aim is to get 2% of electricity from microgeneration. "If they were five times as ambitious, it would only cost the average family another £2 a year. But energy companies and Ofgem don't want to go down that path – they have created a cosy oligopoly which produces non-renewable energy and ever-spiralling prices."
The stop-go nature of various support programmes such as the low carbon buildings programme (LCBP) in the past few years have driven the country's fledgling renewables industry almost to despair.
"It's a source of deep concern that DECC and OFGEM seem to be forever failing the UK renewables industry. After the disaster of LCBP we were hoping for smooth transition to FIT, which would have kick-started the industry 10 years after the Germans lead the way," said Ian Goodwin, renewable energy services director at energy saving and generation firm the Mark Group.
Urgent checks on Cumbria's 1,800 bridges as more downpours forecast
1258907160|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover (Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Inspectors concerned for safety of bridges after policeman's death as search under way for woman swept away in south Wales
An urgent investigation into the safety of all 1,800 bridges in Cumbria is under way today after the heaviest rainfall since records began swept several people away and claimed the life of a policeman.
People in Cumbria were advised not to return to their homes, as forecasters predicted winds of up to 65mph and more downpours over the coming days that could hamper the recovery effort. There are more than 60 flood warnings in force across south-western and northern parts of England, Scotland and Wales. In South Wales a search is under way for a woman believed to have been swept into the river Usk in Brecon, and an expert canoeist, Chris Wheeler, 46, from Reading, died after being pulled from the river Dart at Newton Abbot in Devon.
In Workington, Cumbria, the closure of the Calva bridge cut off the northside of the town and outlying villages. The area's Labour MP John Cunningham, who called the floods "biblical in size", said that help was urgently needed for the Northside estate which has been cut off from the rest of Workington.
Households on the sprawl of semis above the river Derwent have started to run out of medication and food, with every bridge to their local shops and health centre either collapsed or closed.
The area is still linked to northern Cumbria but all its services come from the main part of Workington, where hundreds of properties have been evacuated and the emergency services continue to work at full stretch.
"We need help on Northside as soon as possible," said Cunningham, on a visit to Cockermouth's debris-littered main street just a few miles upstream. "It's hard to take on board, but although we're only a few miles from Northside here, we're on the wrong side of the river and it would take an hour and a half at least to drive down there.
"I've had people on the phone from the estate saying: look, we're going to need major help soon. Food is getting short and there are people on regular medication who are running low."
Eric Nicholson, a member of Cumbria county council and Cockermouth's town council, said local people were determined to get the place back on its feet. The council meets on Wednesday and is expected to give the go-ahead to a Christmas ceremony, around the 20ft-high (six-metre high) tree in the centre of Main Street, which like the nearby statue of the sixth Earl of Mayo, remarkably survived the 8ft-high torrent, whose speed topped 20 knots.
The 17th-century garden wall at Wordsworth's birthplace, between Main Street and the river, was not so lucky. An entire section was knocked flat and ornamental borders wrecked by the mud and debris-filled water. The main floors in the handsome Georgian townhouse are not affected and the building is expected to re-open next year, but access is currently barred because of possible structural concerns.
Goods from some shops still littered Main Street, alongside abandoned cars and branches, or in some cases, whole trunks of trees. A solitary pheasant stalked the length of the street – deserted at lunchtime except for police and electricity repair teams – looking for its own lunch in small heaps of fruit and vegetables from washed out shops.
PC Bill Barker was directing motorists away from Northside Bridge at Workington when it collapsed and he disappeared into the swollen waters of the river Derwent at about 4.40am on Friday. His body was recovered later. Cumbria county council said inspectors visited the bridge last July for routine checks and found it to be structurally sound. However, all of Cumbria's bridges are now undergoing inspections in the wake of the floods.
Inspectors closed two more yesterday – Station Road bridge in Keswick and Workington bridge, including the footpath that runs underneath. Sixteen bridges and at least 25 roads across the county remain closed, with police warning against all non-essential travel in west Cumbria.
People were being urged to stay away from Calva bridge, which police said could collapse affecting power supplies in the surrounding area. Army experts and structural engineers are continuing to monitor the bridge.
Churches across Cumbria offered prayers for flood-stricken communities and the family and friends of PC Barker. At St Michael's church in Workington, Canon Bryan Rowe said his congregation was "decimated", with some people unable to attend because of the bridge closures. But he said people were pulling together and although they might "twine", or moan, they were also determined to "get on with it".
In Brecon witnesses said a woman was carried away by the river Usk near Watergate bridge at about 7pm last night. Police, fire and mountain rescue teams immediately began a search of the river and surrounding area. The search was called off last night due to bad weather and resumed today.
Inspector Alun Samuel, of Dyfed-Powys police, said: "We are running a full search of the river in Brecon. It is a very serious search with dog handlers, specialist units and there have been helicopters."
Devon and Somerset fire and rescue confirmed today Chris Wheeler had died after being taken from the river Dart at Mel Tor, Poundsgate, Newton Abbot. He became trapped under his canoe while riding a flooded river. Two fellow canoeists fought to free him but could not and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Wheeler, thought to be a partner in a firm of chartered surveyors, had been a canoeist for 25 years and was qualified to coach the sport. He was given the nickname "magic knees" after dislocating both joints on Conwy Falls in Wales in the 1980s and was a regular contributor to Canoe and Kayak UK magazine.
A police spokesman said: "Certainly it is an area where people go when the river is in flood to experience a bit of white water. Our advice to people is not to do anything it is beyond their experience to cope with."
Severe weather conditions and the remote location made the rescue operation difficult. Rescue teams walked for a couple of hours over five miles of difficult terrain in poor conditions to reach the scene.
Denmark says 65 leaders enrolled for climate talks
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Britain poised to lose jobs as £10bn nuclear power plant contract goes to US
1258903140|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover (Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Nuclear firm Westinghouse expected to appoint Shaw Group to lead its construction programme
Thousands of jobs that were to have been created in Britain to build the next generation of nuclear power plants could be heading overseas instead, after Westinghouse, the nuclear company sold by the government three years ago to Toshiba, chose one of its largest shareholders as the lead contractor to build reactors.
Westinghouse is expected to confirm this week that it has appointed US-based Shaw Group to head up its £10bn nuclear programme, passing over the favourite for the contract, rival engineering group Fluor.
Industry sources said that Shaw is likely to source far more reactor components from overseas than Fluor, which has close relationships with British manufacturers. The Unite union claimed that 10,000 new jobs in the UK would not be created as a result of Shaw being selected.
Shaw was one of the main contractors to build Total's controversial Lindsey refinery and made 51 workers there redundant this year, which sparked a series of wildcat walk-outs around the country over the use of foreign labour.
British-based manufacturers such as BAE Systems and Rolls Royce are also understood to be concerned that lucrative contracts to make reactor modules could be lost to Shaw's manufacturing bases in the US and Belgium. A spokesman for Westinghouse in the US confirmed that Shaw had been appointed but claimed that "up to 80%" of the components would be sourced from the UK. He admitted that this was not finalised as none of the supplier contracts had been signed.
He added that Shaw had teamed up with British construction firm Laing O'Rourke for the bid, but the firm will not be involved in providing any of the high specification reactor components.
Japanese firm Toshiba owns 77% of Westinghouse, with 20% owned by Shaw Group. Westinghouse is hoping to secure contracts to build at least four of its AP1000 reactors with E.ON and RWE npower, who have formed a nuclear joint venture in the UK, soon after Christmas.
Dougie Rooney, Unite's national energy officer, said: "The implications are massive. With Fluor, there is a far greater opportunity to get UK companies involved. Shaw has no allegiance to the UK and it's wrong that a company with an equity share should be involved in the competition."
It was also claimed by several industry sources that Westinghouse had initially recommended to Toshiba that Fluor be appointed, but that the parent company insisted that Shaw be chosen instead. A Westinghouse spokesman in the US said that Shaw and Westinghouse already had a partnership to build reactors in the Middle East and the US. "It was a decision made in conjunction with a number of parties, including our parent company Toshiba," he said. "It's our intention to use British labour as much as possible."
Rival French reactor firm Areva is building the rest of the UK's reactors, on behalf of EDF Energy, and has only promised to allow British firms to bid for up to 70% of the supply contracts.
Business secretary Lord Mandelson has drawn up a "low-carbon industrial strategy" to enable British manufacturers and workers to benefit from the country's huge construction programme of less polluting power plants such as wind farms and nuclear reactors. Mandelson has also repeatedly spoken of the need for the government to demonstrate "industrial activism", or a willingness to intervene on behalf of key sectors of the economy.
But British manufacturers in the power sector have so far yet to benefit. The closure of the Vestas wind turbine plant in the Isle of Wight became totemic of the UK's inability to develop its own renewables industry. Unions are now anxious that manufacturers could similarly miss out on the opportunities from plans to build at least 10 new reactors in the UK.
Ex-USSR cosmonaut Feoktistov dies
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Chinese coalmine death toll soars to 87
1258902548|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover (Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Hopes fade for 21 missing after China's deadliest coalmine explosion in nearly two years
Hundreds of rescuers in northern China are battling to reach 21 miners trapped after a huge gas explosion early yesterday killed at least 87 of their colleagues.
But the prospects of finding more survivors of the deadliest blast in almost two years are rapidly diminishing. The workers are thought to be about a third of a mile underground in the pit in Heilongjiang province, near the Russian border.
China's mining industry is the deadliest in the world, with more than 3,000 workers killed last year despite a massive safety drive that has slashed fatalities.
The campaign has focused on closing small, often illegal, private mines, but the Xinxing mine, scene of yesterday's blast, is state owned and produces more than a million tonnes of coal a year.
The explosion destroyed a nearby building and reportedly blew out windows in nearby Hegang city. Television footage showed smoke billowing from the mine.
One survivor, Wang Xingang, told state news agency Xinhua he blast briefly knocked him out. "When I regained consciousness, I groped my way out in the dark and called for help," the 27-year-old electrician added.
Officials said 528 people were working in the mine when the blast occurred at 2.30am and 420 escaped. The death toll doubled overnight.
Zhang Fucheng, an official heading rescue efforts, told state broadcaster CCTV that dense gas and collapsed tunnels were holding up attempts to reach the 21 miners. The blast reportedly crippled the ventilation and communication systems.
More than 240 rescuers have entered the shaft, with at least 300 others assisting, state media reported. The teams are working in extreme cold, with temperatures dropping to -10C (14F) overnight.
A provincial news website, citing miners, alleged that safety staff knew gas had reached dangerous levels and were rushing to evacuate the pit when the blast erupted 500 metres below ground.
But Zhang Jinguang, spokesman for the Heilongjiang Longmei Mining Holding Group, told Reuters that "as far as I know, there were no signs [beforehand]".
Huang Guizhen, the wife of an injured miner, told the site: "When I saw my husband, this mess of blood and flesh, I didn't recognise him at first. Then the doctor told me it was my husband and I burst into tears."
Another resident told Reuters that one of her friends remained unconscious in hospital while a second was still in the mine, adding: "There's no hope."
China is heavily dependent on coal, which generates about three-quarters of its electricity and is also burnt for heating. But the energy supplied comes at a huge cost. Chinese miners produce less coal per capita than those in the US and South Africa but are far more likely to die at work.
In February, a blast at a mine in Shanxi, northern China, killed 77. An explosion in the same province killed 105 people in December 2007 and 203 died in Liaoning province in 2005.
Last month, the head of the State Administration of Coalmine Safety, Zhao Tiechui, said accidents had fallen by more than 46% between 2004 and last year.
But Huang Shengchu, head the of China Coal Information Institute, has said the reduction is partly due to reduced production. "Amid financial difficulty, coal producers can no longer overproduce. Less exploitation has resulted in fewer accidents and deaths so far this year," he told the state newspaper China Daily, warning that the fatality rate could leap again as the economy recovers.
Experts also say the industry's true toll is higher than it appears because mine bosses often attempt to cover up casualties, and deaths from mining-related illnesses are not included.
Li Zhanshu, governor of Heilongjiang, said today: "We must put safety first. Development is important, but the growth of GDP shouldn't be achieved at the price of miners' blood."
In an indication of how alarmed authorities are by the incident, vice premier Zhang Dejiang travelled to the scene, set up an investigation team and ordered officials in other regions to learn lessons from the accident, while state media reported that the president, Hu Jintao, and the premier, Wen Jiabao, had issued instructions on the rescue effort.
An employee at the company which runs the mine told AP the mine's director, deputy director and chief engineer had been fired.
Shuttle astronaut becomes father in space
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Cockermouth cleans up after the floods
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The big clear-up of debris and damage begins as floodwaters in the Cumbrian town recede
Cern Collider makes fast progress
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'To a birdwatcher, one glimpse, one moment is happiness enough'
1258848613|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover (Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Call them 'twitchers' at your peril: how birdwatching has taken off in Britain. By Kate Kellaway
Birdwatching – when it is non-birdwatchers you are talking to – produces an almost uniform reaction: amused condescension, as if the sheer harmlessness of the activity were dangerous or put it beyond the pale as a subject. It's the received idea of the "twitcher", the bird boffin (not, as the birding fraternity point out, to be confused with the less obsessive "birder"), that is the turn-off. And the gentle image of a leisurely older population in green anoraks does little to help, suggesting birdwatching as shorthand for retirement, evoking a life in which birds have flown as a substitute for more urgent human dramas.
But these prejudices are due an overhaul. For the news is that on the quiet there has been a birdwatching revolution. A recent survey by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) spells it out: six million Britons now enjoy birdwatching every couple of weeks. And membership of the RSPB now exceeds one million (a figure that has doubled within a decade).
Graham Madge, of the RSPB, reports that this spring, there was a 20% increase of visitors to the UK's reserves compared with last year. It appears that more women are birdwatching and that dowdy is no longer the name of the game. Unlikely fans abound: Mick Jagger, Van Morrison, Joanna Lumley, Daryl Hannah and Cameron Diaz – the list is long.
At the same time – and it can be no accident – a flock of exceptional bird books is being published this autumn, each so remarkable that it's likely to have a whole new audience reaching for the binoculars. Tim Dee's memoir, The Running Sky, is a little masterpiece, like an intricate skein of all the avian life he has seen, a gorgeously overpopulated love letter to birds. The anthology The Poetry of Birds, which Dee edits with Simon Armitage, also had me entranced. And it comes – a sensible yet radical idea this – with ornithological notes attached. Jeremy Mynott's Birdscapes is another find, a meticulous and erudite book about birds and what they mean to us.
Graham Madge points out that television must take much of the credit for the upsurge in birdwatching: the BBC's Springwatch and Autumnwatch always encourage new audiences, he says. And they are shortly to have competition from comedian Bill Bailey whose series, Bill Bailey's Big Bird Watch, starts on Sky 1 in January. Nor does it stop there. A brilliant new film, Pelican Blood, out next month, based on the cult novel by Cris Freddi, has a birdwatcher as its hero. (But perhaps I shouldn't get too carried away – this story may deter potential birdwatchers since Nikko, played by Harry Treadaway, is a suicidal twitcher whose hobby nearly finishes him off.)
Sheena Harvey, editor of Birdwatching magazine, spells out another reason for the hobby's growing popularity: "We are becoming much busier as a society and people are looking for peace and quiet. Birdwatching is a very good de-stressing activity. You have to be patient, quiet, in the outdoors, using all your senses."
Tim Dee suggests that the pleasure of birdwatching stems partly from our sense of "alienation and severance from the wild" and the corresponding joy and relief of finding birds are "still around and can be seen". David Lindo, alias the Urban Birder, adds: "It is global warming that has galvanised people – even if only subconsciously."
Simon Armitage argues that recession must have played a part. "When there are fewer shiny objects on offer, we turn to things with more integrity."
I was ripe for conversion, delighted to have an excuse to birdwatch for the first time, and had gleaned advice from everyone I had spoken to – dominated by one simple idea: don't worry. I had been intimidated by the sense of the impossible body of knowledge I would need to master. I was at the pidgin – or pigeon? – stage of ornithological language. I was also binocular-averse. I feared they would somehow get between me and the birds.
But at Minsmere, the reserve on the Suffolk coast, all worries evaporated. I was taken under the wing (how full the language suddenly is of birds) of Ian Barthorpe, a patient tutor who admits that on his recent honeymoon to India he missed the Taj Mahal because he was too busy looking at birds.
For me, the most extraordinary moment, in which I suddenly understood how I could become hooked, was in the third hide (the shed from which you look at birds; watchers sit on long benches, like worshippers on pews). I was looking out on to the tranquil landscape of reeds and small islands with Sizewell power station in the distance like a great white mosque. I had sat down next to a pleasant-looking man who introduced himself with the question: "See the bittern?" to which the answer was no. A short, forlorn discussion followed, about the bittern that might have been, how there are only about 80 males nationally and how you need to be quick to spot them.
Nothing much was happening above the reedbeds. And then, suddenly, there it was – a bittern, flying clear and close, as if conjured out of the reeds for my benefit, humouring a beginner. And oh, the feeling of personal achievement. I felt calm yet elated. I could see how that bird, the bittern, had enabled me not only to live in the moment but to understand how, for a birdwatcher, a single moment is happiness enough.
The enthusiasts
SIMON ARMITAGE
The poet Simon Armitage, 46, lives in Huddersfield. He has just edited The Poetry of Birds, an anthology of poems about birds, for Viking.
"It is hard to find a poet who hasn't written a bird poem," says Simon Armitage, who has managed to resist dropping any of his own into his wonderful anthology. "I strayed into birdwatching four or five years ago – I have all the paraphernalia." During the World Cup, he went on a "bird race" with some friends in which "you set off in summer, in extended daylight, and try and see as many species as possible. We started 10 miles south-east of Norwich and saw 120 species in 18 hours." Since then, he has held back: "I thought it might develop into a mania and I've only room for one – poetry."
When he first started birdwatching, he found the binoculars cumbersome: "I noticed I'd lift them to my eyes, but couldn't find the bird because they have a narrow field of vision." He broods on the power of binoculars to allow you to see a bird in a "way that you were never meant you to see it". They cancel out the bird's chosen distance and "take you to a place where in the natural world you would not be allowed to be. It can be quite startling to see the moustache on a jay or the blue feather on its side. You feel not exactly that you are intruding but that you are standing somewhere God – or whoever – didn't mean you to go. There is a slight voyeurism in it". Birds' ability to fly makes them "simultaneously of this world and otherworldly. And that," he adds, "is what poems are as well."
DAVID LINDO
David Lindo runs a popular birdwatching website called the Urban Birder. Aged 40, he is also a writer and broadcaster and lives in Wormwood Scrubs, London.
David Lindo describes himself as a one-off. Black people are not birdwatchers, he says. But he would change that if he could. His website aims to persuade people that cities are as viable for birdwatching as the country. "I must have been a birder in a previous life," he laughs. "My parents were Jamaican immigrants. Dad was a welder, Mum a factory worker. I had no mentor. I was six when my sister was born – I remember waiting outside Central Middlesex hospital counting sparrows." At primary school, he was nicknamed "Birdbrain". He stared out of windows and remembers thinking birds were "connected to God. I thought God was a puppeteer and that sparrows and starlings had strings attached". Eventually, his parents recognised that the bird fixation was incurable and bought him his first pair of binoculars from Dixons – "£14 on hire purchase". He borrowed a Field Guide to Birds of Britain, Europe and Northern Africa from the library and learnt it off by heart.
Wormwood Scrubs is his patch nowadays – but it is not the jailbirds he watches. It is an "ordinary park" and he goes there every day – in the summer at daybreak – "regardless of whatever time I went to bed the night before". It is very "grounding" he says. And you can hear the territorial satisfaction as he boasts that the Scrubs are home to "a very important breeding colony of meadow pipits". He'd like everyone to look up and join in: "I am interested in getting people to see the wildlife that is right by their heads. Look up above Oxford Street and you may see a gull. Just think: that gull was born in the Baltic and is spending its winter over here."
ANNA FORD
Anna Ford, 66, stepped down from her role as a BBC newsreader in 2006. She is now on the board of Sainsbury's and the Amazing Group, an educational software company.
"I am not a twitcher," says Anna Ford firmly. "But I am a birdwatcher in the sense that I am very aware of birds and I get enormous pleasure from observing them." She believes people are being drawn to birdwatching because they are "tired of consumerism – I think they are realising that the sort of lifestyle that was foisted on them in the 70s and 80s does not suit them. They are finding that being close to nature is much more pleasurable than going shopping."
There is another reason, too: the influence of Ford's "hero", David Attenborough. "The quality of his programmes, the attention to detail, have opened up the natural world to a whole new audience," she says.
Ford grew up the Lake District surrounded by interesting birds: "Hawks, buzzards, peregrines, woodpeckers, spotted woodpeckers, tree creepers, owls – hundreds of different species. The morning chorus was wonderful. As a child, I used to wake up early especially to listen to it. So birds were absolutely threaded into my life."
She steers clear of bird reserves, preferring to watch birds while walking, especially by the English coast. "I was in Norfolk recently and saw curlews and lapwings by the sea. I've seen albatrosses in the Galapagos Islands and incredibly rare species in Bhutan."
But some of her happiest birdwatching experiences have been in her garden in west London. "I have a lot of garden birds and I feed them regularly," she says. "There is a pair of collared doves, who mate for life, wood pigeons, blackbirds, a couple of robins and several of the green parakeets that have colonised west London. The other day, a sparrowhawk flew in low over the fence and landed on a pigeon on the lawn. It spent an hour pulling off all the pigeon's feathers until it was raw, then 15 minutes eating the flesh. Fascinating."
ALEX HORNE
Alex Horne, 31, comedian and writer, lives in Chesham in the Chilterns. His book, Birdwatchingwatching, is out now.
Dragged around nature reserves as a child by his bird-obsessed father, Alex Horne was initially embarrassed of his dad's habit: "Grown men sneaking around after little birds – it's like trainspotting. My dad even wore camouflage sometimes!"
But after a dramatic conversion, he's now a keen birder, proud of the kingfisher near his home (the sight of which makes his "heart flutter") and never far from a pair of binoculars. His rite of passage began in 2005, when, considering fatherhood and therefore keen to bond with his dad, he challenged him to a competition: who could spot the most species in a single year? "It struck me that birdwatching was the perfect hobby for someone who likes sport but is getting too old to play, likes the outdoors and is slightly anal."
He racked up 257 species. "The highlight was on Brighton beach in October with my dad watching a murmuration of starlings swirling about. Seeing that spectacular sight will change your opinion." He also loves the fact that "apparently British robins are the only robins that will sit on the spade of a gardener. It's because our gardeners would have fed and petted them in the past".
The highs and lows of Alex's conversion became a book, Birdwatchingwatching, and a stand-up show. "On tour, I was surprised at how normal the audiences were. For people my age, birdwatching has got geek chic."
Now the proud father of a baby boy, he's also found himself luring his son into birdwatching: "I've filled his room with 60 cuddly birds donated by the RSPB. They're great for early identification skills."
TIM DEE
Tim Dee, 48, is the author of The Running Sky, published by Jonathan Cape. A BBC producer, he lives in Bristol and the Cambridgeshire Fens.
"To be a birdwatcher, you need the power to be bewitched – an openness to it." Tim Dee, a lifelong birder, thinks that men, in particular, are drawn to it as "a way of organising the world". In the 19th century, that might have meant egg collection. Nowadays, it's the "list". He remembers how, as a youngster, "bizarrely and wonderfully, birds would come to me". For a teenager, birdwatching is great because "your sexuality is all over the place and the naming of something wild and free and flying is liberating".
In The Running Sky, he celebrates the connection people have with birds – and the absence of connection, the way birds lead separate but parallel lives. He is a literary recorder of birds, catching birds on paper yet admitting that they are "ungraspable".
In the acknowledgments, he apologises to his children, saying it is "dire" having a father as a birder. Is he serious? "It is a curse at some level. Once you fall in with birds, once you have made the connection, you cannot unlearn it. Birds stitch me into the world as much as human conversation does. "
He sees birdwatching as a "sentimental education that happens over and over again. I experience it in the body. Writing cannot not take possession of such things but it can attempt to record them".
ALISON STEADMAN
Alison Steadman, 68, is about to star in the third series of Gavin & Stacey on BBC 1. She lives in Highgate, north London.
"If you put out a shallow bowl – you can get one for £2.95 – and fill it with water, it can give you more pleasure than anything." Alison Steadman is talking about birdbaths. Her love of birds began when, aged 13, she was given a "little Grundig tape recorder" which she "balanced on a windowsill" to record birdsong in the garden of the house in suburban Liverpool where she grew up. Keats's "Ode to a Nightingale" charmed her further: "I loved – and still do – the idea that you can be alone somewhere, hear birdsong and be transported."
Birdwatching is a relaxing antidote to her life as an actress. It is also an escape from noise and the horrors of the news. She loves the way birds "recycle, using dead grass and twigs for their nests. They live in an eco-world while we pile up the landfills. It is so refreshing". She likes to help them along: "I take all the hair out of my hairbrush and birds use it for their nests. That gives me such pleasure." She loves to go to bird reserves where "nature is happening whether you like it or not". And she loves London's Highgate Woods where, although she says she shouldn't really feed the birds, she carefully selects "wholemeal bread with seeds in it" for the rooks who are "such characters".
Does she find any birds theatrical? "Yes!" she says and urges me to watch an encounter with an Australian lyrebird on YouTube (with David Attenborough as compere). The lyrebird is a virtuoso mimic that successfully imitates "car alarms, chainsaws and camera shutters".
And if she were to come back to life as a bird? "I'd be a nuthatch – oh my God – they feed upside down! They are small and sleek with blue grey tops, amber breasts and the sweetest little faces, like furry dollies."
Is it possible to be an eco-friendly tourist?
1258848478|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover (Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Many travel firms claim to be environmentally sound, but are they just cashing in? Here's how not to be taken for a ride…
When you see some of the holidays masquerading as ecotourism you'd be forgiven for thinking the term "greenwash" was invented for the tourism industry. Oh, it was. In fact this pejoratively used hybrid was coined in the 1980s by American environmentalist Jay Westervelt, who was incensed by the way hotels put signs up pleading with guests to reuse their towels thus "saving the environment" when they were doing nothing to promote recycling elsewhere and really, he suspected, just wanted to save on laundry bills.
Since then things have improved, but there are still lots of trips wearing a bogus "ecotourism" tag. These include swimming with captive dolphins (the feature documentary The Cove on the annual dolphin slaughter in Japan is a reminder of the truth behind their capture and trade) and hunting holidays with "sustainable" quotas – Tanzania has received criticism for the sale of ancestral lands to monopolies for under the market price, leaving local tribes high and dry.
But often holidaymakers mistake sustainable ideas – such as lower-impact transport – with ecotourism. Incidentally research by the Heidelberger Institute for Energy and Environmental Research comparing the pollutant parameters and ecological effects of different holiday transport found coach travel to use six times less energy than planes. But this still doesn't make your coach trip ecotourism.
Making the distinction might sound like pedantry but it's crucial. Ecotourism doesn't have an enshrined legal definition, but bodies such as Nature Conservancy and the World Conservation Union agree on its parameters – that it is nature-based, educative towards the environment, managed sustainably and contributes to the protection of the natural site. Scale is also important. You should pick a project that is obviously small, manageable and which feeds directly back into the local economy.
But where do you go for the real thing? Responsible-travel.org has long provided a sane counterpoint to the die- hard green message that you must never again set foot anywhere on account of carbon emissions. Their take is that there is a trade off between the emissions caused by flying, so it's the traveller's responsibility to fly less, switching to one holiday that generates income for the local community. A typical Responsible Travel holiday includes an introduction to the Amazon rainforests, staying in a lodge in Peru built using native materials and owned by the Infierno community.
In her very good book Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who Owns Paradise? Martha Honey argues that true ecotourism should involve a truthful conservation-led calculation as to how many tourists a habitat can sustain. Famously the Galapagos islands employ quotas, a move that flies in the face of the democratisation of spontaneous travel but might just save one of the world's most vulnerable habitats.★
Fur: Would you rather go naked? Not any longer
1258848459|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover (Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
How did fur, once taboo, become so acceptable – desirable even – again? Elizabeth Day investigates an ethical dilemma that goes to the heart of the fashion industry – and meets the animal rights campaigner who refuses to be defeated
On an otherwise unremarkable grey autumn day in London last month, a few hundred protesters took to the streets around Knightsbridge armed with home-made banners and loudspeakers. Some of them had their faces half-obscured by scarves. Others came with their children, holding their hands tightly against the scrum.
Escorted by police, the crowd marched to several high-end clothing stores, stopping outside Giorgio Armani, Fendi, Joseph and Gucci. If it had not been for the banners and the chants and the drum beats, one might have thought they were on a guided tourist walk of the capital's best retail locations. But these were no ordinary shoppers. These were members of the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade, who were out to target the specific shops that continue to sell clothes made from fur.
When they reached Harrods, one of the few department stores in the UK that still stocks real fur, the crowd started to chant and jeer. But their sentiments were perhaps best expressed by one bespectacled woman, wrapped up against the cold in a hat and coat, who carried a handwritten sign that read simply: "The Devil Wears Fur".
Six months before the Knightsbridge protest, the catwalks of New York, London and Milan fashion week were filled with animal skins of all description. Fur coats made an appearance at Versace, Alexander McQueen and Jean Paul Gaultier. Karl Lagerfeld covered motorbike helmets with mink and chinchilla. Dolce & Gabbana added bright-pink fur sleeves to jackets, and fur was also shown at Louis Vuitton, Fendi and Prada.
In London, Issa showed fur for the first time – ironically, the star turn on their catwalk was Naomi Campbell, who in 1994 appeared alongside her fellow supermodels in an advertisment for Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) claiming she would "rather go naked than wear fur". Now Campbell fronts a campaign for the luxury furrier Dennis Basso.
The November issue of French Vogue included a 12-page story entitled "Fur Play" featuring the Brazilian supermodel Raquel Zimmermann in a flurry of fur and tribal-themed leopard print, and the trend has been enthusiastically embraced by the British high street. Several shoe chains, including Nine West and Dune, have in the recent past stocked boots lined with rabbit fur. And while real fur still remains beyond the price range of the average customer, the look of fur has become increasingly sought after: convincing imitation jackets and stoles have sprouted up in Mango, H&M, Warehouse and Miss Selfridge. The Spanish high-street retailer Zara, meanwhile, has received criticism for trimming some items with real rabbit fur.
Where once celebrities were wary of walking out in a fur-trimmed jacket for fear of being drenched in red paint by animal rights activists, now there seems to be no such stigma. Keira Knightley recently attended an awards ceremony in a black karakul lambskin coat, and Jennifer Lopez has worn an array of mink and chinchilla at red-carpet events over the years. Madonna, Eva Longoria, Linda Evangelista, Kate Moss and Lindsay Lohan have all worn fur in public.
"Fur has never been more popular," says a spokesman for Origin Assured, an initiative developed by the International Fur Trade Federation that states that it sources "ethical" fur. "From 1998 to 2008 there has been year-on-year growth in global sales for fur. People now are more comfortable showing their love of fur.
"The younger generation seems to be saying: 'We'll make up our own minds', and part of that has its core in the rise of hip-hop culture – we've just heard that Rihanna's new album cover is going to feature her in a white fur coat. It's also to do with the fact that young designers are featuring fur in their collections."
The shifting tide of public opinion is reflected in the figures. In 2007, fur sales worldwide totalled £10bn, up 11% on the previous year, with nine years of continuous growth. Last year, the fur trade contributed £13bn to the global economy, and although fur farming was banned in Britain in 2003, the UK's fur trade turnover is about £400-500m a year.
In the 15 years since Peta's original "I'd rather go naked than wear fur" ad campaign, we seem to have gone from a nation that equates fur with inexcusable animal cruelty to one that views it merely as an occasional fashion statement. As a measure of just how much the climate has changed, one need only look at the five supermodels featured in that first campaign. From a line-up that included Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Claudia Schiffer and Elle Macpherson, only Turlington has stayed true to her word. All the others have, at one time or another, chosen to promote or wear real fur in the intervening years.
Fur used to be the mark of a social pariah . Yet now we barely blink an eyelid when Kate Moss is photographed popping to the shops in a pair of sealskin Mukluk boots. What has driven this change in attitude? How has fur become fashionable? And most importantly, do we care about whether the wearing of fur is ethically defensible, or has it simply become another trend, like shoulder pads or bodycon dresses, whose desirability is determined only by how quickly it dates?
In a historic building in central Copenhagen, the lobby is filled with the murmur of cocktail chatter and the clink of glasses. The guests are up-and-coming fashion designers from around the world, flown here for an all-expenses-paid trip arranged by representatives from one of the world's largest fur companies, Kopenhagen Fur.
As part of their programme, the designers will be taken to the company's studio, where they will have a chance to look at the merchandise on offer – mink, fox, chinchilla, seal, sable, rabbit and karakul. They are assured that the animals on Kopenhagen Fur farms are treated well, with fresh food, regular vaccination programmes and housing in open sheds. Some of the designers will visit the fur farms; some choose not to. In return for their attendance, they are then offered free samples of top-quality fur to use in their collections.
"There are loads of people on these jollies," says one designer who has worked with Kopenhagen Fur but does not want to be named. "They take you to a plush house and ply you with champagne, and at the end of it you get to work with fantastic material – they give you free fur, make it to your specifications, and then you put it down the runway and they hopefully get a lot of publicity for it."
Over the last few years companies like Kopenhagen Fur or Saga Furs – powerful international suppliers that dominate the luxury market – have been spearheading a quiet campaign to break the fur taboo. From the designer's perspective, the offer of free top-quality material in a tough economic climate is often too good to turn down, especially if they are relative newcomers struggling to make a name in the industry.
In return, the fur provided gets exposure on the catwalk and becomes associated with a younger, edgier type of fashion that is far removed from the traditional, fusty image of a mothballed coat your granny might wear. Slowly but surely, so the reasoning goes, there is a trickle-down effect and fur becomes gradually more acceptable to a whole new generation of potential customers.
"We don't force anybody to use fur; we don't pay anybody," insists Michael Holm, design and production manager for Kopenhagen Fur. "If people are interested, we like to work with them. If people don't like fur, fine – that's their opinion.
"Younger designers are more innovative when it comes to using fur as a fabric. They are not so afraid of the material as prior generations."
For Todd Lynn, a Canadian-born designer who has used fur in his collections provided at no cost from Saga Furs, the most important thing to consider is whether he is comfortable with the company's farming standards. He refuses to buy fur from China, where farming is unregulated and where no law protects the millions of animals that are routinely skinned alive. "I am very careful about where my products come from. I work with Saga fur – it comes from Finland, they have a vested interest in proper product and breeding, and the animals have to be treated properly. I'm not a heartless person, but for those of us who work in high-end fashion, there are certain things we need to use. Fur is something my clients want. You make the choice. We don't do a lot of it – it's just part of the collection, the way leather is."
But leather is a by-product, whereas animals are killed solely for their fur. Can it ever be truly "ethical"? "I don't have a problem with people following their principles, but what bugs me is when people pick and choose," says Lynn. "People are really misinformed about the products they wear. Nobody argues with the pesticides used on cotton plants that will kill wildlife. To think that silk or cotton doesn't do damage to the environment is a lie."
The fur apologists insist that real fur is natural, renewable, biodegradable and energy efficient in comparison to the synthetic versions. The truth of this is somewhat difficult to establish. According to the British Fur Trade Association, it takes a gallon of oil to make three fake-fur coats. Animal rights groups tend to hit back with a study by researchers at the University of Michigan that claims the energy needed to produce a real fur coat from farm-raised animal skins is 20 times that required for a fake one. But when I look for this study online, it turns out to be from 1979 and there is a limited amount of more recent academic research.
In any case, many of the designers I speak to say that their use of fur is a simple question of providing what the client wants: demand for the material in the high-end, luxury market has never gone away. If anything, the influx of Russian money has prompted an increase in demand: an oligarch's wife who has grown up in a sub-zero climate with a taste for conspicuous consumption is unlikely to think twice about buying fur. The rise in "bling" culture, spearheaded by artists such as Beyoncé and P Diddy, has also played its part in making fur a status symbol for the modern jet set.
Karl Lagerfeld, perennial bete noire of the anti-fur lobby, is unapologetic about using it: "In a meat-eating world, wearing leather for shoes and clothes and even handbags, the discussion of fur is childish," he said in a radio interview earlier this year.
Of course, part of the attraction for Lagerfeld is that, whatever the ethical ramifications, fur remains a remarkable material to work with. "It reacts in a different way," says Geoffrey Finch, director of cult womenswear label Antipodium, who is including a kangaroo-skin gilet in his next collection. "There is something luxurious about it. I love the texture and I love the colour. There's something a little bit racy about fur.
"Personally, I love a bit of fur. No one wants to go out and shoot an endangered species, but people can buy ethically. I came across a supplier of kangaroo fur from Western Australia where, because of changes to the environment, kangaroo numbers have become far too high in areas and the vegetation has been destroyed, so they have to be culled."
For Finch the rising popularity of vintage fashion has had a "big impact" on changing attitudes towards fur in a younger generation which is "socially aware and quite happy to jump online and do their own research. Maybe big advertising pushes [like the Peta campaigns] don't have as much punch to them now".
And while the Peta anti-fur campaigns were extremely high profile in the early 1990s, there now seems to be a growing concern for bigger global issues like climate change or child poverty. Fur has begun to look like a bit of a side issue, a slightly old-fashioned thing to get het up about. "Certainly other environmental and ecological issues seem to be more prevalent in people's minds," agrees Alexandra Shulman, editor of British Vogue. "There aren't the same reservations about wearing vintage fur as there are about new. But there is also quite a fuzzy-wuzzy attitude to the wearing of fur in general. If you go to a market like Portobello, there is rail upon rail of old fur coats and jackets with fur trim which people seem to be perfectly happy to buy. If you asked some of them whether they were happy with the fur industry, many of them would probably say no, but they don't have the budget to go out and buy a new mink or chinchilla, so it's not a choice they are really making.
"I wear the odd piece of fur; I don't have strong personal feelings against it, but I would feel uncomfortable swathed in a mink coat. It would seem unnecessary, ostentatious and somewhat unfeeling, though I can't explain it more than that."
Shulman says that, "broadly speaking", British Vogue does not feature fur, other than fur advertising, which is not in her remit. "However, there is an element of common sense to my policy on this which dictates that since we are there to report on fashion trends, if those trends include fur we will, for instance, show catwalk images that include fur. We do carry some skins like sheepskin, and occasionally a fur trim creeps in."
Across the Atlantic it is a slightly different story. Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of American Vogue, has consistently run pro-fur editorials and had fur-themed photo shoots.
When anti-fur protesters surrounded the Condé Nast offices during the company's Christmas party several years ago, Wintour retaliated in inimitable style by sending them down a plate of roast beef. In the past decade, Wintour has had a dead racoon dumped on her plate at the Four Seasons and her front steps splattered with red paint. She remains unrepentant. "Fur is still part of fashion," Wintour said earlier this year, "so Vogue will continue to report on it."
Ingrid Newkirk once offered to give Wintour a brain scan for her birthday. "There is this thing called a 'mirror neuron' that allows you to empathise," explains Newkirk with a wry smile. "In some people it's not developed, so I said: 'If the result comes back and it's not developed, then it's not your fault that people loathe you.'"
Newkirk, the president and co-founder of Peta, has spent much of the past decade attempting to change Wintour's mind on the issue of fur – the dead racoon was very much her idea.
"Oh that!" she laughs when I ask whether such stunts actually backfire and risk losing public sympathy. "I don't believe that's the case. It's had to escalate to such a point – that's after the polite inquiry, the begging letter asking: 'Please watch this video', the standing quietly outside their office – by the time it's got to a racoon on the plate, we've tried everything. At that point, it's just: 'Shame on you'." She shakes her head slowly. "'Shame. On. You.'"
Newkirk does not look like an extremist. At 60 she is slim, blonde and neatly dressed, the sort of woman one can more easily imagine running a florist's shop in Guildford than being the mastermind behind the world's largest animal rights organisation. Born in Hertfordshire, she moved to America with her family when she was 18 and founded Peta almost 30 years ago from her house in suburban Maryland after being outraged that a dozen abandoned cats she had taken to a nearby animal shelter to be looked after were immediately put down.
Since then, Peta has become one of the most headline-grabbingly effective campaigning groups of modern times and is supported by a string of celebrities including Pamela Anderson, Chrissie Hynde and Eva Mendes. The group's basic premise is that animals have as much right to be here as humans, and that our treatment of them – killing them for food or clothing simply because we are able to – is the abiding moral outrage of our times.
Whatever you might think of Peta's tactics, which include placing caged, naked women in city centres, and billboard ads promoting vegetarianism with the illustration of an overweight woman in a bikini, there is no doubt that Peta activists know how to make themselves heard. They have thrown buckets of money soaked in fake blood on audiences at the International Fur Fair. They have stormed the offices of French Vogue wearing leg traps around their feet. A recent Peta ad campaign even compared the slaughter of animals for food to the murder of six million Jews in the Holocaust.
For Newkirk "ethical fur" is an oxymoron. "It's a bunch of poppycock," she says calmly, sipping on a soya-milk coffee in Peta's London offices. "You can easily find wonderful, fashionable, glamorous alternatives to anything you have to steal from animals or kill animals to get… If you look at the amount of British thermal units of energy used to make a real fur, especially to farm a fur, versus even the most synthetic of synthetics, the real fur is the loser environmentally." (Later I look for evidence of this statement online and come up with a study from the Scientific Research Laboratory at Ford Motor Company that found a synthetic fur coat required 120,300 BTUs compared to the 7,965,800 needed to produce a coat from a cage-raised animal. Again, its findings are 30 years old.)
Is Newkirk worried about the resurgence of fur on the catwalk? "These designers who are given junkets to Scandinavia and are given free material – I hate to call fur a 'material' – I suppose they must be desperate. If you're truly creative, you don't design with something someone hands you. Fur has lost all its cachet. It's yesterday. I see prostitutes in Atlantic City wearing fur."
She points instead to the work done by Stella McCartney, who refuses to use leather or fur in her designs, in developing viable alternatives: "Stella has got wonderful materials infused with nettle fibres. You can wear a warm thing that doesn't weigh 20lb and make you smell like a bear."
But for Newkirk, the most powerful argument against wearing fur is the suffering of the animals raised to provide it. She points out that at some fur farms, up to four foxes can be kept in cages measuring 2 and a half feet square. For minks, the cage can be as small as 1ft by 3ft. When wild animals are trapped for fur, they are usually strangled or beaten to death. On farms, they can be gassed, electrocuted, poisoned with strychnine or have their necks broken. One of Peta's recent videos shows a Chinese fur farm where the rabbits are shot in the head with handheld electrical devices before being decapitated.
"If you stop seeing animals as handbags, hamburgers or amusements, if you see them as fellow animals and you know that they feel joy and pain and all the same things we feel, how can you kill them for fur?" asks Newkirk.
It is a subject about which Newkirk feels so strongly that she cannot stop herself from accosting women in the street if she sees them wearing fur. "I'm always polite. I say: 'That's a beautiful fur. You'd look so much better without it. It makes you look cold-hearted.' I used to wear fur and I wish there had been someone who jogged my conscience. I used to have the most amazing coat made of 100 squirrels. I got so many compliments wearing it. I deeply regret that. It didn't occur to me what had happened to make that coat."
Although she denies it, there is no doubt in my mind that Newkirk holds an extreme view. This is, after all, the woman who opted for a voluntary sterilisation at 22 because "the world has enough babies" and who has stipulated in her will that her feet be turned into umbrella stands "as a reminder of the depravity of killing innocent animals". Over the years she has attracted respect and revulsion in equal measure for her initiatives and her refusal to bend her opinions to the wind of public opinion.
But perhaps we need someone like Newkirk to remind us of the choice to be made; someone who, each time we pick up a fur-trimmed jacket, to make us think a little bit about what we are doing. We might decide to ignore her. We might even decide there are bigger things to worry about. But at least we have been asked the question. Because however ethical a fur coat might or might not be, an animal has still had to die for it to end up on the hanger. That is probably worth thinking about, no matter how fashionable it might seem.
Superdiets? They're just a fairytale, says top doctor
1258848407|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover (Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Medical evidence doesn't support claims that faddish eating regimes make you healthier
Some swear by chewing 32 times to aid digestion; others stick to raw vegetables and fruit; many opt for high-protein diets in the form of fish, chicken and beef; a few proclaim the powers of grapefruit juice.
Whichever diet you follow, there is a good chance that it will be challenged tomorrow, when one of the country's leading doctors exposes the "myths and fairytales" surrounding some of the world's best-known food fads.
Professor Chris Hawkey, president of the British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG), will list more than a dozen famous diets when he addresses Gastro 2009, a major conference for doctors. They include "rawism", the grapefruit diet and the alkaline diet.
The chewing movement emerged in the 19th century with the claim that chewing each mouthful 32 times helped digestion. "Gladstone was apparently very eccentrically in favour of this diet," said Hawkey of the British prime minister who died in 1898. "The idea is that salivary enzymes start digestion." However, like many other diets, it was based more on "theory than evidence", according to Hawkey.
As for the Hollywood grapefruit diet, which is based on the belief that the fruit contains an enzyme that breaks down fat and which Kylie Minogue is reported to have used, Hawkey argued that the chemical is unlikely to even make it through the gut and into the body where it is meant to do its work.
"Food has been shrouded in myths and fairytales since time immemorial," he said, arguing that some people become "quasi-religious" about what they eat. "But what's important is to recognise that, despite the popularity of fad diets, we are losing a grip on the fight with obesity."
His comments come as a survey by the BSG shows that one in five Londoners would turn to weight-loss pills to slim down. As for the Atkins Nutritional Approach, the famous diet that is low in carbohydrates and high in protein, one in five women would try it, but only 2% believe it is healthy. For Hawkey, the diet is one of the few that carries at least a small amount of evidence.
"It is not terribly healthy in the sense that you are going to have a lot of fat, but if you lose weight then it is a good thing," he said. "The theory is that it resets the metabolic rate and there is some science to back that up."
He argues that there is no harm in any diet that retains some nutritional balance and makes an individual lose weight.
Among the more balanced diets he will mention is one promoted by the nutritionist Esther Blum, who advocates eating full-fat foods in moderation to help metabolise cholesterol and to improve sex drive. Its famous fans include Sarah Jessica Parker and Teri Hatcher.
"I'm all for informed scientists and practitioners actually debunking some of the mythology around diets," said Andrew Hill, professor of medical psychology at Leeds University. "People are looking for quick-fix repairs, but in fact they are very rare, particularly in relation to being overweight," Hill said.
"The idea that some new discovery or new way of combining food will give you an instant fix to your weight or health problem is nearly always misinformed. Health isn't immediately reparable; weight isn't immediately modifiable."
Food waste to provide green gas for carbon-conscious consumers
1258848399|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover (Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Biogas sourced from food waste and sewage is to piped into British homes under a new 'green gas' tariff
Rotting leftovers, wilted salad and even sewage are to provide a new source of "green gas" to heat our homes.
From today, British householders will be able to register for Ecotricity's new tariff to buy green gas – commonly known as biogas – as a way of reducing their carbon footprint and cutting landfill waste. It will be a first for carbon-conscious consumers who have previously only been able to buy "green electricity" from suppliers.
Britain discards about 18 million tonnes of food waste a year, which Ecotricity said could generate enough biogas to heat 700,000 homes. The Conservative Party believes 50% of the UK's natural gas supply could be replaced by biogas .
Dale Vince, the company's founder, said: "We're the real British Gas now. We're kickstarting the market to move Britain from brown to green gas." He said natural gas sourced from countries such as Russia was expected to run out in 15-20 years.
Householders who sign up to Ecotricity's deal will be supplied from January, although initially their gas will come from conventional "brown" natural gas – a percentage of biogas will only be injected into the national grid later in the year. The company, which currently has about 30,000 electricity customers, said it wanted to eventually source 50% of its gas tariff from biogas and would match British Gas on dual-fuel pricing. Vince said he planned to invest about £50m to build two "green gas mills" to make the biogas, but would also look at buying in biogas from other sources, including suppliers in Holland.
Audrey Gallacher, energy expert for the government watchdog Consumer Focus, said she welcomed the idea, but warned that confusion could arise over what the green tariff will initially provide: "Green gas tariffs could be good news for customers who want to buy environmentally friendly energy. However, it must be made clear to any customer signing up that they are investing in creating a demand and supply of energy-efficient fuel for the future."
Biogas is generated in anaerobic digesters, where organic material is fed into tanks where microbes break down the material without oxygen and release methane and carbon dioxide, the main elements of biogas. The biogas can then be used to make electricity or, as Ecotricity plans, processed and injected into the pipes of the national gas network.
The raw material for digesters can come from a variety of sources, including food waste, sewage and farm waste, although Vince ruled out the latter. "We'd probably avoid agriculture waste because we don't want to support factory farming, and a properly run organic farm won't produce excess slurry," he said.
The National Grid said there was no technical reason why Ecotricity's plan wouldn't work and added that it supported using renewable gas to hit carbon-cutting targets. Extra momentum for UK biogas should arrive in 2011, when the government is due to introduce a renewable heat incentive, giving financial assistance to generators of heat from renewable sources, from householders using ground-source heat pumps to companies such as Ecotricity.
Security 'cover-up' at nuclear plants
1258848397|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover (Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Ministers refuse to release details of five incidents last year
The government is refusing to provide details on five separate security breaches at Britain's nuclear power stations last year.
The breaches have prompted accusations that ministers are suppressing damaging information at a time when they are attempting to sell the idea of more nuclear power stations. Earlier this month, 10 new sites in England and Wales were approved.
The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, told MPs that nuclear was a "proven and reliable" energy source. But the latest annual report from the Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS) has prompted questions about the measures being taken to protect the country's ageing plants. The report states that nuclear operators must disclose "events and occurrences which may be of interest from a security point of view". It notes: "Five reports were made which warranted further investigation and subsequent follow-up action."
According to government guidelines, such incidents include "any unauthorised incursion on to the premises", "any incident occurring on the premises involving an explosive or incendiary device", "any damage to any building or equipment on the premises which might affect the security of the premises", "any theft or attempted theft of any nuclear material" and "any theft or attempted theft, or any loss or unauthorised disclosure, of sensitive nuclear information".
The incidents are a cause for concern due to the heightened security threat, with al-Qaida terrorists thought to be targeting nuclear plants around the world. There are also claims that al-Qaida has attempted to procure radioactive materials abroad. Last year, western intelligence services, including MI5 and MI6, successfully blocked 16 attempts to smuggle plutonium or uranium, according to reports. In all cases the materials were believed to be destined for terrorist groups.
Earlier this month an independent MP, Dai Davies, tabled parliamentary questions demanding that the government detail the nature of the five security breaches. But the energy minister, David Kidney, cited "national security reasons" in declining the request. Kidney said providing any more details would be in breach of government guidelines that "prevent the disclosure of sensitive nuclear information that could assist a person or group planning theft, blackmail, sabotage and other malevolent or illegal acts".
Dr David Lowry, a nuclear policy consultant who specialises in security issues, attacked the refusal to provide further details. "Three years ago, the OCNS's annual report recorded eight breaches in information security, and at that time the nuclear security regulator was prepared to reveal that these included 'the theft of laptops from parked vehicles' and 'inappropriate transmission of restricted information over the internet'," Lowry said.
"Now we have the minister responsible for nuclear security refusing to disclose any of the five reportable security incidents. Does this indicate they are much more important than hitherto, or does it reflect an acute atomic insecurity by ministers because they are trying to sell the claimed benefits of new nuclear plants to a sceptical public?"
Botswana fishermen fear tourist invasion will destroy Okavango wilderness
1258848369|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover (Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Villagers say visitors to delta are a threat to wildlife and their fishing industry
Music, dancing and smiling platitudes greeted the royal guest in the fishing village of Samochima, northern Botswana. But cutting through the convivial mood was a cry of anguish – and a plea for a way of life threatened by tourism in the world's largest inland delta.
Crown Prince Haakon of Norway had arrived as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). While addressing an audience in the shade of some fig trees, he was confronted by a local fisherman, Saoshiko Njwaki, who spoke out bluntly about growing resentment at the world's indifference to their plight.
"Tourists are allowed to go into the delta without local guides," Njwaki told the prince. "This is worrying to us because no one knows what they might do." It was only because of the intervention of a local conservation body that "all-out war" with tour operators had been averted, he said.
At stake is no ordinary prize. The Okavango Delta is a watery wilderness of channels, lagoons and islands that empty into the Kalahari desert. Its 16,000 sq km of swamps are filled with birds, crocodiles, elephants, hippos, lions and an abundance of other wildlife.
It is also Botswana's premier tourist attraction. For years the southern African country has restricted visitor numbers to preserve its habitat. But the government now sees tourism as crucial to a diversified economy that cannot depend on diamonds for ever. The fishermen who rely on the delta for their livelihoods accuse tourists of riding roughshod over their needs and jeopardising the fragile ecosystem.
Njwaki, who as chairman of the Okavango Fishers Association represents 400 commercial fishermen and women, said: "Tourists normally come here to see nature and for casual fishing, but they should do it in an orderly way. As people living here, we are very conscious of conserving our environment, but tourists come with their boats and disturb it. It causes problems for us and it affects the wildlife."
The fishermen's age-old mode of transport is the makoro, a canoe hollowed out from a tree trunk that glides along the waterways. It is helpless against the waves generated by tourists' motorboats.
"They don't respect us," Njwaki said. "When they come in motorboats they don't slow down for fishermen who are using dugout canoes. They also cut our nets. We have a further problem of houseboats. People pitch up to camp and throw their waste in the river. We formed our association to address these concerns, so they will do things properly with tour guides."
He said the association had appealed to the government for support, but without success. "We want tourism to be controlled, but the Water Affairs Ministry has been unable to tell us how to do it. We don't have a problem with people coming, but we need regulation. It shouldn't just be floodgates opening to people to do what they like."
About 120,000 tourists visit the delta every year for attractions including the Moremi Game Reserve, more than a hundred camps and lodges and the rock paintings of the Tsodilo Hills.
Tour operators in Samochima reject the fishermen's arguments and accuse them of hurting local ecology by over-fishing. David Pryce, of the nearby Shakawe Lodge, described the criticism of tourists as "racist", adding: "When people are in the wrong, they like to find an excuse to blame someone else."
He estimated that the fish population in this part of the delta had dropped by 80% over the past 10 to 15 years and blamed the use of fishing nets bought with Norwegian donor aid. "I'd say tiger fish are down to 20% of what they were," Pryce said. "Now we don't promote fishing at all for visitors. We changed our name from Shakawe Fishing Lodge to Shakawe Lodge."
Preservation of the delta is a primary aim of the Harry Oppenheimer Okavango Research Centre at Botswana University. It admits that there are "many questions" about the gains and drawbacks of tourism. It has called for greater efforts to share the benefits with poor people.
Dr Nkobi Moleele, the centre's national project co-ordinator, said: "I don't think there's a problem of too many tourists or how they behave, but there is a problem with our [management] system. Samochima is an open-access area: you can take your boat there and do whatever you want. This doesn't give communities the power to plan and agree how to do things. We don't know the numbers in these open-access areas because it's not controlled. That's the problem."
Botswana is the world's biggest diamond producer and reaps half its revenue from the gem stones. But the global economic crisis has caused their value to plummet and concentrated minds on finding alternatives. Experts predict that Botswana's diamond reserves will run out in 20 years, a time-bomb under one of Africa's most successful economies and stable democracies.
Ian Khama, the country's British-born president, said after his re-election last month: "We have always appreciated that our dependence on diamonds as a major revenue earner leaves us vulnerable, and therefore the need to diversify is very important."
Tourism, the second biggest economic sector, is ripe for growth. In the past, Botswana has styled itself as one of Africa's best kept secrets, pursuing a strategy of high-value, low-volume travellers. But earlier this year a 94m pula (£8.6m) expansion was announced, including a website aimed at the lucrative US market.
During his trip, Prince Haakon said he hoped the UNDP could help the rival factions reach a compromise. "It's all about balance so the tourism and fishing industries can find ways of working out their differences through democratic processes and peaceful means," he said.
Helena Christensen in Peru | photography
1258848353|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover (Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Having moved behind the camera, supermodel Helena Christensen has turned her focus on climate change
Supermodel-turned-photographer Helena Christensen goes beneath the surface with her latest project, a collection of pictures documenting the effects of climate change in Peru, her mother's native country. Here she describes the expedition she went on with Oxfam ahead of next month's climate change conference in Copenhagen, and why, in a bid to be more green, she's started taking cold showers.
How was your trip? Going back to Peru and realising it's one of the countries most affected by climate change was very emotional. It's crazy how times have changed since I first went there as a child, running around in the street, playing with kids in the mountains and swimming in the rivers. But it felt good to be raising awareness about the problems. My mother is extremely proud of me.
What did you see?
We went 15,000 feet into the mountains to photograph the glaciers. In some pictures you can see a bit of snow but these were mountains that were, until 10-20 years ago, entirely covered. We saw firsthand how the rivers are drying out, and it's raining less frequently so the sources of income the local farmers and alpaca herders have been living on for generations cannot be relied on. People are moving to the big cities where unemployment is already really high.
What do you hope to achieve with this project?
My main purpose is to show a rich, ancient culture which might not exist in 10 or 15 years' time. My dream outcome would be that politicians really take action now. They need to go to the source of the problem: the factories that emit so much carbon dioxide that it's changed the temperature of the world.
Did people like being photographed?
The children loved it, they were pushing to get in front of the camera, running around having fun. I was trying to catch up with them and ended up sick, lying flat on the ground because I wasn't used to the altitude. The kids were just cracking up.
How green are you?
I think it requires discipline to get into a new routine but I mainly take cold showers now, which is rather shocking but wakes me up and is good for your skin. I mostly use candles rather than lighting, which is very cosy. I don't have a car where I live in New York. I only walk or, if I have to, run.
How well do you think President Obama is faring on climate change issues?
It must be difficult to be in his shoes at the moment but he's got a plan, determination, and I know he's very involved in what's happening environmentally. I hope he will affect the other world leaders – he's a really great example.
Meltdown is at Proud Central, London, WC2 until 29 November.
After the deluge, Ireland's sodden south and west mop up
1258848350|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover (Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Troops, helicopters and boats are standing by to rescue those still caught in the floods as the cost of the clean-up looks set to exceed €100m
Large tracts of the south and west of Ireland stood submerged last night as 300 Irish troops, backed up by helicopters and boats, were on standby to rescue more people caught up in floods.
As more than 18,000 homes in Cork prepared to start the week without water supplies after flooding damaged a pumping station in the city, the overall cost of the damage was being calculated. Experts were estimating the extreme weather could cost the country up to €100m, breaking the €98m record of the 2008 floods.
The weekend deluge forced the government to convene a meeting of the National Emergency Task Force yesterday evening. Chaired by taoiseach Brian Cowen, it heard reports from the worst-hit areas of the country. Environment minister John Gormley visited Cork City yesterday before moving on to survey further flood damage in Co Galway.
In Cork the city's manager, Joe Gavin, said council engineers had been unable to get to the damaged pumping station on the Lee Road. He estimated it could take up to a week to repair the station and fully restore water supplies.
Gavin also advised primary and secondary schools in the affected areas to stay closed until water supplies were restored. In response, Cork city council deployed freshwater tankers at a number of locations around the city. The council urged households to collect rainwater for flushing toilets.
In Cork and across much of the south and west, people were also advised to boil water from the tap before drinking it.
In Limerick City, the Shannon bridge was closed until lunchtime yesterday after a 60ft Christmas tree became lodged against it. Overnight, people in the south, west and midlands were preparing for more heavy rains.
The taoiseach said last night: "The immediate priority for the government is to ensure that shelter is available for those people who have been displaced from their homes and to arrange for the provision of emergency supplies of safe drinking water where systems have been damaged."
People were being put up in hotels and with neighbours and relatives, although councils in Cork and Galway are now examining longer-term options.
Gardaí warned that almost all minor roads in the south and east of Co Galway were flooded and extreme care needed to be taken by motorists attempting to get through waterlogged sections. Hundreds of volunteers have brought in earth-moving equipment to try to relieve flooding around farm buildings.
In Ballinasloe, the Electricity Supply Board had to cut off power to flooded housing estates. However, families unwilling to leave their homes brought in generators to provide themselves with temporary supplies. Rail services across the republic were hit by the downpour, with the Sligo line flooded.
Obama ready to offer target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions
1258848345|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover (Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
President Barack Obama is considering setting a provisional target for cutting America's huge greenhouse gas emissions, removing the greatest single obstacle to a landmark global agreement to fight climate change.
The Observer has learnt that administration officials have been consulting international negotiators and key players on Capitol Hill about signing up to a provisional target at the UN global warming summit in Copenhagen, now less than three weeks away.
Todd Stern, the state department climate change envoy, said the administration recognised that America had to come forward with a target for cutting its emissions. The US, which with China is responsible for 40% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, is the only major developed nation yet to table an offer.
"What we are looking at is to see whether we could put down essentially a provisional number that would be contingent on our legislation," Stern said from Copenhagen, where he was meeting Danish officials. "We are looking at that, there are people we need to consult with."
A provisional target – if accepted by other nations – would solve Obama's dilemma. The Senate will not have passed a domestic law before Copenhagen, meaning that, if he makes an offer there, it could subsequently be rejected in Washington. But if he makes no offer, the deal is likely to crash anyway, and with it hopes of rapidly combating global warming.
Stern did not go into detail on the level of emissions cuts being considered, but it is thought likely that a provisional target would be a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 14-20% by 2020, compared with 2005 levels. The White House and state department have also discussed the idea of putting forward a range of targets rather than a specific figure.
"I think the president has several options," said Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute. "One which seems to be under discussions inside the administration is to offer a range: to say "here is what we hope to be able to propose" and that range might go from what the president has always committed to since his campaign – 14% – to the highest number in any pending legislation, which is 20% in the Senate."
The House of Representatives narrowly passed a bill in June that would cut US emissions by 17%. A proposal now before the Senate would cut emissions by 20%, but a number of key Democratic senators have said the target is too stringent.
Even at the higher end, such figures fall short of the emissions targets adopted by other industrialised countries in Europe and Japan, and recommended by scientists to avoid the worst ravages of climate change.
Many negotiators are frustrated with America – especially given the high expectations for the Obama presidency. "One could perhaps argue that this could have been a much higher priority and this should perhaps have been pushed before any of the other initiatives the administration has taken, particularly given the fact that there was a deadline of December for getting an agreement," said RK Pachauri, chairman of the intergovernment panel on climate change.
Obama and other world leaders have already conceded that Copenhagen will not produce a legally binding treaty. But the leaders are looking to the meeting to seal firm political agreement about specific action plans by the industrialised and rapidly emerging economies that can go into immediate effect.
But ensuring success at Copenhagen carries a risk that could ultimately defeat efforts to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, Lash warned. Setting too strong a provisional target could provoke a backlash from Congress, which might damage efforts to pass climate change laws in the US.
"Without the US passing legislation, we can't move an overall agreement," Lash said. "My greatest concern is that the administration does nothing in Copenhagen, because that ultimately undercuts everybody's efforts to achieve an international agreement."
Democratic leaders in the Senate are growing increasingly wary about taking up a controversial climate change bill. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, said that leaders would not turn to a bill until March 2010 – but even that date is in doubt because of congressional elections in November.
On Thursday, John McCain, Obama's presidential opponent and a sponsor of past climate change legislation, said about the backers of the current bill: "Obviously, they're going nowhere."
Despite the paralysis in the Senate, Obama has been edging towards a concrete commitment to cutting America's emissions. During his summit in Beijing with China's Hu Jintao, Obama said America would come forward with emission reductions targets so long as China offered specific measures of its own.
But the administration is mindful of a re-run of the 1990s, when the Senate voted down ratification of the Kyoto treaty by 99-0, despite the US having already committed to it internationally.
Such concerns make it more likely that other nations would view favourably a more modest provisional target at Copenhagen. Stern said there was a generally positive reaction in the international community to the idea of a provisional target.
"On the one hand, people are keen on having the United States put a number down," Stern said. "On the other hand, people are extraordinarily keen on getting [US] legislation done and don't want us taking steps that will make that more difficult."
After the deluge, a sodden Cumbria begins to clear up
1258848344|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover (Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
It was two days after the heaviest rainfall in British history and with more rain starting to fall some residents of Cockermouth were only just being rescued from their homes. Many were glad simply to have survived. Others were left wondering what could have been done to prevent such a disaster – and why crucial new flood defences were not completed last summer
They began the search at midday, just as the new rains came. Teams of RAF personnel were ordered to search flood-hit Cockermouth and check its streets for signs of life. The men knocked loudly on the doors of homes whose ground floors had hours earlier been under water and shouted for replies at empty buildings.
Early reports indicated that some residents were still stranded at the Old Mill homes just outside the town, but that a police boat team had managed to feed them the night before. The military personnel were told to expect anything, even bodies, and that people found trapped in their homes were likely to be suffering from shock and hypothermia.
For the residents of the west Cumbrian town, hopes that they might be allowed to return home yesterday quickly faded as police prevented them entering potentially unsafe houses. The collapse of four local bridges – one killing a police officer – following the heaviest rainfall ever recorded in 24 hours last Thursday had led to deep concern over the structural safety of scores of Cockermouth's terraced granite homes.
Frantic attempts to secure a temporary place to live for the hundreds affected will begin this week. Yesterday, families were already discussing moving into local holiday lets, hotels and even caravan parks.
Ken Sugden, who waded from his home on Waterloo Street on Thursday night as the flood waters from the Derwent and Cocker began to rise, said: "The big thing now is where everyone is going to stay. There is going to be a hell of a scramble. Are there enough beds locally?"
As the rains intensified yesterday afternoon, the search of the town's houses went on, starting at the west end and moving east. Meanwhile, officials from the Environment Agency started checking Cockermouth's flood defences, aware that debris such as tree trunks carried downstream during the flooding would have damaged even the most robust of them.
Although most locals accept that the storm was of such a magnitude that little could have been done to prevent the damage, scrutiny will now focus on planned improvements to the town's flood defence.
A key set of flood defence improvements in the centre of Cockermouth were crucially delayed over the summer, leaving the town vulnerable, the Observer can disclose.
The improvements were part of a package agreed after the great storms of 2005 flooded the town and nearby Carlisle. Although two phases have been completed – around Waterloo Street, which was inundated during the recent floods, and a culvert around Bitterbeck – a third component of the strategy called the Gote was not started. According to documents from a Cockermouth town council meeting, the work was scheduled for last summer.
An Environment Agency spokesman could not give a start date for work to the Gote, but doubted it would have been sufficient to cope with a "once-in-a-1,000-years" event, as last week's flooding has been described. Most residents, drinking tea in Cockermouth's makeshift soup kitchen, were phlegmatic about the unfinished flood defence scheme.
"I doubt the Gote would have made much difference, and it's a tricky drainage system because it runs underground and then bends up," said Keith Fitton, 59. He and his wife Liz simply wanted their dogs back – the animals had been stranded for almost 30 hours on the top floor of their home in Waterloo Street. Ironically, he hoped that Molly, a Portuguese mountain dog, and Smudge, a border collie Labrador cross, had something to drink.
Fitton said he remembered lying in bed, waiting for the end. With only one good arm – his other was paralysed in a motorcycle accident – he was helpless as the water rose up his staircase. "There were nine stairs left, then seven, then five. The noise, the gusts of the wind and the torrent of the water. It was like Armageddon," he said.
Eventually, at 8am on Friday, an RAF winchman came through his skylight and hoisted him to safety.
Around the corner, National Trust officials were staring balefully at the imposing building on Main Street beyond the police cordon. There, looming over the thoroughfare, stood William's Wordsworth's birthplace.
Jeremy Barton, project manager for Wordsworth House, listed what had gone missing. "The wrought iron gates at the front have completely gone, they've been lifted away and dumped well into the Irish Sea by now. The front garden wall has also gone."
The National Trust shop next door had suffered even greater damage. Barton said staff – many of whom would lose their own homes in the sudden flood – fought waist deep in freezing water as they tried to shift stock from the basement and ground floor. But Barton admitted he was trying hard not to be too downbeat – after all, the river that had created so much chaos was the same funnel of water that Wordsworth so adored. "Wordsworth loved that river," said Barton. It was that building – a water line visible around its lower midriff yesterday – from which Wordsworth, born in 1770, had watched the Derwent as a boy and which he wrote about in The Prelude.
Beside the police cordon, a purple canoe lay stranded on the road. Throughout the town, scarlet lifeboats were parked up on dry roads as the flood waters sank by two inches an hour until, not long after 9am, Main Street appeared in its entirety for the first time since the floods arrived. A town in ruins emerged. Shops had been smashed completely. Mills Newsagents had its front window missing and its contents had been scooped out by the torrent. Greggs bakery seemed fine, as did Boots. The front of the Marmaris restaurant was, like most of the others, smudged with the stain of dirty floodwater. Across the way, a car was parked across the road, its front bumpers ripped off. Geese waddled down the town's major artery for the first time in anyone's memory. On the side streets, returning business owners began assessing the damage. Inside turf accountants Chas Kendall, the floor was littered with sodden newspapers and rolled-up rolls of carpet. Outside, a battered tree trunk lay across the pavement.
The talk across town was of insurance; if you had it the floods were awful, if not, the damage was total. "My life's stopped," said one shopkeeper who did not want to be named. But as the rains grew stronger while the search continued, talk concentrated on getting anyone who was trapped out before the rivers rose again. Resident Alan Smith said: "The thing with the Cocker is it can fall as quickly as it can rise."
RAF warrant officer Dave Taylor said: "If people are still out there, chances are they would be suffering from hypothermia." Local radio stations carried reassuring messages from the Environment Agency that the "worst is over", as panic began rising and the rains rolled in. Phone-in programmes swopped eulogies to Bill Barker, the police officer who was directing motorists away from Northside bridge in nearby Workington when it collapsed and he disappeared into the swollen waters of the Derwent.
Elsewhere, mountain rescue officers more used to tramping the fells – smothered in thick grey cloud throughout yesterday – were down in the town helping the search. Most locals stood by and watched, exchanging tales of luck.
Former military officer Daniel Bancroft, 29, an imposing figure, described how he pushed boatloads of people through the streets while tiptoeing in water up to his neck. Yesterday, he could not find his van, which had been parked near to the Derwent. But he had saved his grandmother. "Her place was flooded and I just picked her up and carried her towards higher land."
Sugden, meanwhile, circulated news around Cockermouth's soup kitchen that a nine-month-old baby belonging to Chris and Rachel Freer was doing fine after being rescued by lifeboats.
Later, as night approached, Chris appeared, beaming as he described how the family had been trapped upstairs at their home in Waterloo Street for 24 hours. "We managed to get some tinned food out and the camping stove, but then you hear Radio Cumbria and the level is due to rise another metre and it starts getting pretty scary. We were starting to think that maybe even upstairs is not going to be enough."
Thankfully, he said, his son Ben had slept through most of the commotion and seemed unscathed. "He even managed to sleep through the sound of the rescue helicopters."
For now, such tales lift the spirits of the people of Cockermouth, but many appreciate that their nightmare has just begun.
World through a lens: Gare Loch, Friday 20 November
1258848336|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover (Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
It looks strangely like a welcome. Arms raised; one pair of hands extended as if in applause; and the one concession to colour, under the hodden skies pressing down on Scotland's Gare Loch, splashes from the rainbow flag being waved in the bottom left.
It is, however, a Greenpeace protest against the arrival at Faslane of the biggest hunter-killer ever commissioned, HMS Astute (S119).
We remembered our servicemen a fortnight ago. Perhaps we should also remember, in these days in which we have all apparently embraced or at least accepted a kind of homogenised orthodoxy to politics, that there still exist some stubborn, stubborn souls, held together for most of their lives now by stubborn sinews of principle. The Faslane peace camp was established 27 years ago, in June 1982. Protesters – not necessarily against the military per se, but against nuclear warheads – have canoed secretly at midnight up the sea lochs, swum under barriers, been involved in running chases over high fences and treacherous heather.
It is a strange and beautiful part of the world. The terrifying depth of the water – the reason that the naval base was blasted into place here under high cliffs – imposes on it, even in summer, a primeval air. And, over the years, a not entirely uneasy peace has settled between the two tribes, military and peacenik. They seldom mix, but there is little hatred, and the big decision, anyway, about Trident, will be taken a world away in Westminster. How could the two camps not roughly co-exist, having spent over a quarter-century watching each other over the same fence? And on the subs' trips home, the first human faces these submariners see after months at sea will still, so oddly, be those of men and women who have dedicated their lives to wishing them, and their jobs, out of existence.
Brown pledges £1m relief package as he pays tribute to 'heroic' policeman Bill Barker
1258848332|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover (Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
PM visits Cockermouth and meets flooded-out residents
Gordon Brown visited flood-ravaged Cumbria yesterday, pledging extra support for those affected, as the scale of the destruction started to become clear.
As safety inspections began on the county's 1,800 bridges following the death of police officer Bill Barker, the prime minister announced a £1m relief package to help Cumbria deal with the crisis.
Scores of people in the county were due to spend a third night away from home as lowering flood waters revealed the devastation in the centre of Cockermouth, one of the worst-hit towns. Brown, visiting the town, expressed his sympathy for the predicament of its residents and described Barker to locals as a "very brave and heroic man". The police officer, who would have celebrated his 45th birthday yesterday, was directing motorists away from Northside bridge at Workington when it collapsed.
Cumbria county council said yesterday that the bridge was inspected last July and found to be "structurally sound".
The prime minister met flooded-out residents taking shelter at the town's Shepherd's hotel, a makeshift reception centre for those unable to return home. Ann Burns, 76, who has spent two nights at the centre, said she was pleased to see the prime minister: "I was one of the first ones evacuated and taken here. I hardly know what day it is. I'm not bothered, I'm still breathing." Doris Studholme, 88, said: "This is the second time I have been flooded out. In 2005 I was out of my home for six months. This time it's hopeless. I don't know when I will get back home."
Meanwhile, the Environment Agency revealed that it would launch an immediate appraisal of last week's floods. David Jordan, director of operations for the agency, told the Observer: "We need to look very quickly and very carefully to see what lessons can be learned. As always, we will learn from this both in the local and national context."
As heavy rains returned to the UK yesterday, 23 flood warnings were issued across northern England, Scotland and Wales. In Cumbria four "severe" warnings were put in place. Forecasters said between 20mm (0.8in) and 40mm (1.6in) of rain was likely over western Britain in the 24-hour period from 6am yesterday, with up to 50mm (2in) on the highest ground. They predicted that showers were likely to give river levels a "temporary upward blip".
Yet the amounts were modest compared to the "biblical" downpour over Cumbria last week, which was the highest level of rainfall measured in England since records began, with up to 314mm – more than one foot of rain – falling in 24 hours.
At least 12 bridges and a dozen roads across the county remained closed last night.
Wettest month makes this Britain's new Wild West
1258848318|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover (Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Changing rainfall patterns are redrawing the weather map
A farmer pulled me up on the lane approaching my village last week. We always stop to talk about the weather. I've written a book about it and he has a long memory. "Fearful night," he said. "Felt like I was sleeping in the Severn tunnel, and the train just kept on coming. This boy's a bad un. When's it going to end?"
By "this boy" he meant the low-pressure system or depression that's been barrelling off the Atlantic and into western Britain for days, bringing rain, south-westerly gales and now flooding in Cumbria. I can't remember when "this boy" began. Forecasters don't know when it's going to end. Welcome to the new Wild West.
I live in the Black Mountains, south Wales. From just behind the house, on a clear day – don't laugh – you can see beyond Offa's Dyke footpath and into England. That ancient border is increasingly irrelevant. There's a new divide in Britain. It may prove to be more significant than any ethnic, economic or social division that has previously concerned our governments. It's a meteorological divide.
A glance at any weather advisory map of Britain this weekend will show you where it lies. Anything marked red and "high risk" is the Wild West. The divide runs from the Isle of Purbeck on the Dorset coast north to Berwick-upon-Tweed, roughly following the line of two degrees longitude, give or take the odd fell and raging river.
The divide is most pronounced in autumn, when stalling low-pressure systems mean rain falls in the west for days; the heavens demonstrate their full armoury of precipitation, from mournful drizzle to the sort of squalls that presage the death of fishermen; when the wind drones on and on and on until I begin to think the devil is in the birch trees outside my house. I know it's a "bad un" when the lights are on at midday and my young spaniel doesn't sit by the door; when it rains in my dreams and I start shouting at the weather forecasters on television: "Wet and windy! My soul is being ground to dust like cumin in a pestle and mortar and you call it 'wet and windy'!'"
Actually, I try not to watch national weather forecasts. I look at regional ones on the web. It's less distressing. When you're suffering from a fit of what my wife calls the "manic depressions (south-westerly)", to learn that it's 14C and sunny in Brighton can be the final straw.
November has always been the month we endure. "Continuous rain for the last three days… novel progressing well," Evelyn Waugh noted on 1 November, 1939; "I really begin to doubt whether England is a beautiful country," George Bernard Shaw wrote on 2 November, 1896; "Misling rain all day," the Rev Gilbert White recorded on 3 November, 1770; and on 5 November, 1685, the diarist John Evelyn moaned: "Extraordinary wett morning, & I indisposed by a very greate rheume."
The iron age inhabitants of Britain brought their livestock down from the hill pastures on 31 October, their New Year's Eve and the beginning of what they called the "dark half" of the year.
I grew up on a cliff overlooking the Irish Sea. I rode a bicycle around the world. I live in Wales. I like weather. But it's changing. Our winters are getting wetter. Rainfall patterns are shifting. It's most notable in the west.
This week, Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway have been worst affected. In 2006, it was Swansea; in 2005, Carlisle. We've just had the wettest November day since records began in England and Wales in 1766 – 243 years ago. The problem is, the record's being rewritten so quickly.
When a breathless television reporter says it's "a once-in-millennia event", that is meaningless. We're in new meteorological territory. The record could be broken right here, in south Wales, this weekend.
The Wrong Kind of Snow by Antony Woodward and Robert Penn is published by Hodder & Stoughton
Water mission returns first data
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Fish 'at risk' in acidified ocean
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Flood-hit Cumbria braces for more rain
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Met Office predicting up to 50mm and warns of waters rising again as county reels from evacuations and policeman's death
Flood-damaged parts of the UK are bracing themselves for more heavy rain today after two days of downpours that inundated homes, swept away bridges, sparked evacuations and claimed the life of a policeman.
Gordon Brown has pledged an extra £1m to help flood-hit communities in Cumbria, which yesterday suffered the worst downpour in British history, with 314mm – more than a foot of rain – falling in 24 hours.
Brown announced the funding on a visit to the flood-stricken county where PC Bill Barker died after a bridge collapsed.
More than 1,300 households across Cumbria have been affected, with hundreds of people displaced and more than 1,000 homes left without power. About 100 people remain in emergency shelters.
A thorough search of houses affected by the flooding began this morning, as the emergency services advised people not to return to their homes yet and forecasters predicted fresh downpours.
The Met Office has predicted another 15mm (0.5in) to 40mm (1.6in) of rain in Cumbria today. Four bridges collapsed in the county and 11 remain closed due to fast-flowing floodwaters.
There are four severe flood warnings in force in Cumbria and 19 flood warnings across Scotland, northern England, the Midlands and Wales. There are flood watches in another 50 areas.
Both rivers that run through Cockermouth – the town worst affected by the flooding – burst their banks, blocking roads and forcing more than 200 people from their homes.
A police spokesman said: "Nobody has been reported missing in the area at this time and the rescue effort is being scaled down.
"Fewer than 100 people remain in reception centres, with the rest having made alternative arrangements to stay with family and friends."
Ian Rideout, a Red Cross worker, said many of those rescued were suffering from shock. "The centre of Cockermouth looks like it has been completely destroyed. I've never seen anything like it. The water has caused so much damage that many of the homes here are completely ruined.
"We've been working non-stop and between the Red Cross and RNLI we've rescued around 200 people from their homes.
"Last night I went up in one of the helicopters to get an idea of the full scale of the disaster and where we should focus rescue efforts. Almost straight away we found four people on the roof of their home who needed to be winched to safety.
"Most of the people we've rescued have been in shock. One minute it's raining heavily, then the next their home is filling with water and they're being evacuated by the Red Cross."
People in the town said they were worried that rain forecast for the weekend would bring more problems. Alan Smith said: "The thing with the river Cocker is it can fall as quickly as it can rise.
"It's come down four foot from last night but the fells are sodden and if we get any more rain it will just come straight off and into the river and the level will rise again.
"If we have persistent rain like last night and the day before, we will be back to square one."
Julian Mayes, a forecaster with MeteoGroup UK, said: "What happened was at least a one in 500 years event. It was a historic day which broke all records."
Further showers were likely to give river levels a "temporary upward blip" and flood plain areas would remain flooded, he said.
The Workington MP, Tony Cunningham, said the flood was "of biblical proportions" and he was astonished by the destruction of the Northside bridge, which led to PC Barker's death.
Cunningham, whose constituency covers Cockermouth, said: "If the floods in Carlisle are anything to go by then people were out of their homes for 10, 11, even 12 months.
"There are many broken buildings in Cockermouth but the people are not broken."
At a meeting at Penrith police station in Cumbria, Brown said the government would match the £1m in aid already given by the North West Development Agency.
"We will do everything we can to support the local community in its hour of need."
Brown has paid tribute to Barker, calling the policeman "a very brave and heroic man".
Barker, who would have been celebrating his 45th birthday today, was killed as he directed motorists away from the bridge. It collapsed and he was swept away. His body was found on a beach in nearby Allonby.
The officer, from Egremont, served with Cumbria police for 25 years and leaves a wife, Hazel, and four children.
His wife said her husband was her "forever friend" and "an amazing dad", adding: "I have the comfort of knowing that Bill died doing the job he loved, and the fact that he was helping others is just typical Bill."
Cumbria police Chief Constable Craig Mackey said Barker was "a wonderful police officer and a real family man".
"Bill is a hero who died saving the lives of others and our thoughts are with his family at this devastating time. He was a much loved friend, colleague and an inspiration to everyone he knew – he will be sadly missed."
Mountains melt: Helena Christensen's pictures from Peru
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Supermodel turned photographer talks about Oxfam project documenting climate change in the Andean country
Palaeo-celebrity
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Harrabin's notes
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In pictures
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Climate crunch
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Unless they end in promises, and a treaty within months, Ed Miliband believes the Copenhagen talks will be a disaster. But can the British energy secretary, in Denmark for a frantic round of pre-summit diplomacy, win the argument?
It's breakfast time in the biggest of Copenhagen's Scandic hotels. Over the obligatory croissants and coffee – and, for those who want it, an off-beam version of the English breakfast – 42 international delegations are preparing to go into a second day of talks. Phones tweet; hushed conversations within teams of negotiators form a low conversational hum.
Look closely, and some of the outlines of modern geopolitics are clear. This morning, the Chinese and Indian delegations are seated together, and locked in conversation. Elsewhere in the hotel, the UK's representatives are doing their thing at an early "EU co-ordination" meeting. In a corner of the restaurant, meanwhile, the US special envoy on climate change – an elusive, austere-looking man named Todd Stern – sits completely alone.
From 7-18 December, the Danish capital will fill up with an extra 20,000 people, there to play their part in what officialspeak calls the 15th Conference of the Parties (or Cop 15), but the rest of us know as the Copenhagen summit: the great global coming-together aimed at securing a much more ambitious successor to the Kyoto treaty, and thereby marking a turning point in the human race's fight against climate change. This week's event, organised by the Danish government under the title Pre-Cop Consultations, is much more low-key, though the guest list includes a huge array of energy and climate change ministers, their aides and negotiating teams – called here to compare notes, have brief and not-so-brief "bilaterals", and somehow inject a slow-moving process with some political momentum.
Among them is Britain's own Ed Miliband, who will turn 40 six days after the summit closes, and has the road-worn air of man who has been travelling far too much. In the build up to December, he has been to China, Brazil, India, Mexico, South Africa and Bangladesh, as well as Poland, Russia, and France (before anyone asks, he and his team offset their flights).
On the flight from London, he underlines the gravity of Copenhagen by alluding to past summits, and describing it as "Bretton Woods plus Yalta multiplied by Reykjavik". In Scandic's restaurant, where he sits for the interview, he comes up with an even more mind-boggling analogy: "Imagine if you knew 189 people, and you got them all together and said, 'Here's how we want you to run a significant part of your lives in the next 30 or 40 years – and by the way, you have to unanimously agree that that's how you want to do it.'"
Give or take sleep, and the closed-off proceedings in the main conference room, I shadow Miliband for around 40 hours. On his first morning here, I hear the stiffened small-talk at early-morning bilaterals, best illustrated by the opening exchange between him and his German counterpart Norbert Röttgen:
"Congratulations on your first presentation in the parliament. I heard some reports that it was a triumph."
"It was OK."
"You're being hailed as a great environmentalist, which is good for your first week in the job."
"Second week."
What really defines my time in Copenhagen, though, is a thrice-daily ritual whereby I collar Miliband as he emerges from the formal negotiations, and try – in vain, usually – to get a firm idea of where the conversation has been going. Usually, he wears a pretty much unreadable expression, though it doesn't take any great effort to understand how much work – somewhat worryingly – has still be done. At the end of Day One, for example, I manage to extract a few brief words from 55-year-old Jairam Ramesh, India's stoic minister of state for environment and forests, who audibly sighs, and will only tell me that "there is still a long way to go".
This week, the news media's understanding of what Copenhagen might achieve has pinballed between pessimism and qualified hope. On Monday, headlines confirmed what most insiders knew, when Barack Obama served notice that a legally binding agreement at Copenhagen was now beyond reach, and he was signing up to the Danish government's plan to exit 2009 with a "politically binding" deal, and follow it with a full treaty in the very near future. By Tuesday, rather more optimistic coverage greeted America and China's joint promise that December would see a "comprehensive" agreement, though plenty of voices still counselled caution and doubt: as far as one Greenpeace spokesperson was concerned, the Sino-American declaration was vague enough to suggest the possibility of both "a real ambitious climate rescue deal" and "another meaningless declaration".
There are two tracks to the build-up to Copenhagen. Politicians travel, and meet, and keep their eye on the stuff that will define the summit's headlines. Meanwhile, negotiators who are devoting their entire working lives to the pre-summit process must regularly congregate in some of the world's major cities, and try to push their way through the detail. Britain's chief negotiator is Jan Thompson, an official on loan from the Foreign Office who, in red patent leather biker boots, looks like anything but. She and Pete Betts – a genial, straight-to-the-point kind of operator, who described himself as "a career bureaucrat" – are known to Miliband as "the two degrees", a reference to the rise in average global temperatures that the world has now resolved to avoid. Miliband says he has long conversations with them at least once a week; on their second night in Denmark, they are still talking animatedly well past midnight.
There is, of course, no end of stuff to discuss. The negotiations' key theme is an ongoing and complex face-off between developed and developing countries (needless to say, post-imperial baggage is unavoidable). For countries already panicked by the effects of climate change – most notably, the 43-strong Alliance Of Small Island States – the prospect of a potentially indefinite delay to a legal deal is evidently causing no end of fear. Such rising powers as China, India and Brazil are watched closely, but the story regularly comes back to the US, whose uncertain stance is partly down to its cagy exit from what Miliband calls "20 wasted years", and the delicacy of America's political system: for a president to come to Europe and dish out commitments before the requisite legislation had passed the Senate would be risky, to say the least.
"What is the art of politics?" he wonders (like a lot of New Labour politicians of his generation, Miliband has a habit of asking himself questions). "It's to simplify, not complexify [sic]. Yes, this is complicated. But actually, in the end, it does boil down to some relatively simple things: how much you're going to cut your emissions, how much finance you're going to provide, what you're going to do about deforestation, and what you're going to about technology. I often think that when people say, 'Oh, this is so complicated,' it becomes an excuse. You get, 'Oh, this is all too complicated – it'll take another five years.'"
But how does he gauge success? "Well, you go on trips, and you have a series of dreadful and depressing meetings where you think nothing is moving. And then you have a really good meeting when you can visualise a breakthrough … in Brazil, I said to the foreign minister, 'Are you going to put 2020 numbers on the table for Copenhagen?' And he said, 'Yeah'. And we all looked at each other and said, 'Well, they've never said that before.' And you come out of the meeting and think, 'That was a pretty significant moment.'"
After the first day's talks, there's a dinner at the Royal Danish Playhouse, which ends with a solo ballet performance titled The Egg. But before those delights, he has to go to a Danish TV studio, do British TV and radio spots, frets about how quickly he talks, and tries to face down scepticism at home.
The script he performs for Channel 4 News and BBC Radio is reiterated to me, with additions, later that night. Despite the uncertainty now hanging over any legally binding deal, Miliband says he wants a full enforceable treaty "within months" of Copenhagen, and says that even the end of 2010 is too late. As one of his advisers frantically scribbles down her version of the conversation (the departmental MiniDisc recorder is kaput), he sets out a simple version of what first has to materialise in December: "a set of commitments from developed and developing countries that can show emissions peaking by about 2020."
He also talks endlessly about the importance of "numbers", by which he chiefly means pledges of specific cuts in emissions from all the major developed countries, and hardened commitments on the funding of "adaptation and mitigation" – where richer countries spending billions on poorer countries' defences against a radically altered climate, and the technology needed to curb their output of greenhouse gases.
Britain, via the EU, has already committed to cutting CO² emissions by 34% by 2020 on 1990 levels. EU governments have also promised €22bn-€50bn (£20bn-£45bn) a year for the developing world as part of a proposed €110bn global package, which, relative to claims that the total annual bill may be four times that, looks deeply disappointing. But right now that is not the main point: outside Europe, even if emissions targets are starting to come in, few developed countries have yet come up with figures for financial help for poorer ones – and in the case of the US, neither have been put on the table.
That fact alone makes one particular element of Miliband's rhetoric remarkable. "I'm willing to say to you, if we don't get any numbers at Copenhagen, it's a failure," he says.
I tell him that strikes me as a rather high-stakes position. "Yeah," he says. "But I don't think it would be successful if we haven't got numbers. What is it if we don't have numbers?"
The thing is, I suggest, politicians don't often say things like that. They tend to make a point of leaving wriggle room for themselves. "No," he says, sharply. "We're not leaving wriggle room. I recognise that fact. In the end, people are smart. They know when you've succeeded, and they know when you've failed. And I've known for many months that there's no point in going out and claiming Copenhagen is a miraculous triumph if there's no numbers."
There are, inevitably, aspects of the UK's policy and positioning that plenty of green voices do not like: a new enthusiasm for the uncertain technology known as "clean coal"; enthusiasm for funding half of Europe's post-Copenhagen commitment to the developing world via private-sector carbon trading; and the fact that the UK has so far only pledged £1bn a year in direct climate-related funding for poorer countries.
But here is the most striking thing. On the couple of occasions that I talk to British officials it is hard to avoid the conclusion that, relative to scores of countries, the UK is on the right side of the argument, and pushing hard. They talk about Copenhagen in the kind of dramatic terms that one perhaps wouldn't expect from civil servants. "If we can make this work," says a man from the Foreign Office, "multilateralism has a future. If not, multilateralism goes pear-shaped. And that will affect all kinds of things: food security, water security, energy security."
By early afternoon on the second day, a few delegations have started to peel away, and are preparing to return home. The hotel foyer is divided between an ever-increasing array of suitcases, the activities of a large number of Chinese journalists and ad hoc huddles of negotiators. Not long after 2pm, Miliband bids me goodbye and disappears into a bilateral with the Brazilians: his flight doesn't leave until six, which gives time for talks, and more talks.
Hovering near the negotiations' security barrier, I grab Kevin Conrad, the climate change envoy from Papua New Guinea. Conrad, a climate change star since 2007 when at the UN climate conference in Bali, he challenged the US: "If you are not willing to lead then leave it to the rest of us, get out of the way," looks urbane, preppy, but also visibly rattled. The previous afternoon, I had heard him vent his spleen to the British team as follows: "What can we do to re-energise this thing? It just feels like it's all going backwards."
"I remain frustrated," he tells me. "How do I put this? There's a calculated repositioning of aspirations, where it's being agreed that we're not going to anything that's binding, we're not gong to do anything substantive, and a lot of people blame everybody else for everything going too slow. And for a small island states like ours, that's very disconcerting." When would he like to see a legally-binding deal?
"We don't know why that can't happen now. And what gives us confidence that there won't be more excuses in a year? Or a year later? We are relocating people as we speak because their islands are now inhabitable … This is growing. It's not a theoretical problem."
He adds: "We want people to stick to the original objective – to come up with the substance of a global deal in Copenhagen. All the elements within the negotiations are moving forward, but we want those settled. We think politicians should come in and settle their differences, and close them off. What do we do? Do we just continue with the differences for another year?"
As if to make British hearts swell, however, when I ask him about his perception of Britain's role in Copenhagen, he says :"The UK, in my view, is one of the strongest and most articulate advocates for getting something done."
Having arrived back at home, I book in a call to a British official, which duly happens on Thursday afternoon, when they talk me through some of what was discussed: new moves from Brazil and South Korea, continued uncertainty about how progress on carbon emissions might be recorded, and whether Copenhagen's outcome might be a matter of one text, or "bits of text". Their closing verdict on two days in the Danish capital may be entirely innocuous, though to certain ears, they will only underline what a nervous moment this is. "No decisions," says the voice at the other end of the line. "But useful."
Behind the Copenhagen summit scenes
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John Harris and Guardian photographer Martin Argles shadowed Ed Miliband during his trip to Copenhagen
All fired up: wood-burning stoves
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They keep our homes warm in style, and are a renewable energy source to boot. What's not to like about wood-burning stoves, asks Dominic Murphy
Why buy one? It's potentially carbon neutral. Although burning logs releases CO2, this is the same amount as was absorbed while the wood was growing. If a new tree is planted for each one burned, there is no overall increase in carbon emissions.
A bit old-fashioned, no? So what if there's a touch of Heidi about some. There are plenty more with a contemporary feel – 007 just back from the ski slopes, say.
Where do I start? Decide what sort of stove you want – "woodburner" usually refers to log burners, as opposed to those fuelled by wooden pellets. "Multifuel" stoves take logs or coal. Next, visit a local stove shop. Or call in an engineer registered with Hetas, the government-recognised solid-fuel specialists. Either way, it should mean an expert is on the case. They can advise on the size of burner, and give you an idea of installation costs and potential problems.
Do I need a chimney? Where there's fire, there's smoke, and that smoke has to go somewhere. If you don't have a traditional chimney, you could make a feature of a stainless-steel pipe running up through your home (pictured). Any existing chimney will need a smoke test to check it's safe, and it may need lining. It'll also need a good sweep – try chimneyworks.co.uk or guild-of-master-sweeps.co.uk.
And what about smokeless zones? Many large towns and cities have "smoke control areas" where smoke from homes is banned. However, you can still burn wood if the stove has an exemption certificate. Companies making such stoves include Chesney's; Dovre; Dunsley Yorkshire Stoves; Morsø; and Jøtul. To check your area, and for a list of exempt appliances, go to uksmokecontrolareas.co.uk.
Where do I find my stove? "Spoilt for choice" is an understatement: direct-fireplaces.com or stovesonline.co.uk have a wide range of popular brands. If you like the look of something here, check out the individual company website – they may have more to offer. Hwam is posh, while Westfire has some elegant models. Want classic? Try Chesney's or Charnwood. Hetas has a list of approved products on its website.
What should I look for? Good looks help – you'll be spending a lot of time in front of your stove. And the more efficient it is, the more heat for your cash – a top-end log stove can be 80% efficient, a pellet version 85%.
Can I install it myself? Theoretically, yes. But you'll need to comply with building regulations, and there might be problems with guarantees on a DIY job.
How much will it cost? A basic wood burner could cost less than £500, and you could get away with a burner and installation for £1,000. But the more sophisticated and efficient it is, the more you pay (£3,000 is not unheard of; some prices run into five figures). You'll have to budget for fitting it – not too bad if you already have a fireplace. And remember, you may need a chimney flue, which will cost about £1,000 for a two-storey house.
Can it heat the radiators and hot water? It's quite common for burners to have a back boiler, where they heat up water as well as the room. This can be part of an existing heating system or even warm the radiators on their own.
Where do I find wood? Try your local directory. Even in cities, someone somewhere is chopping down a tree. Alternatively, the National Energy Foundation lists suppliers. Wood carrying the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) logo guarantees your logs have come from responsibly managed woodland. It's important you burn logs that are dry and have been seasoned for at least a year. Wet wood will not only blacken the glass on the stove door, but won't burn efficiently.
Will it save on my fuel bills? According to Ian Tubby of the Biomass Energy Centre,"Assuming that it is £120 a tonne for seasoned, split logs, the price of logs and oil is pretty much the same." (And it's much cheaper if you split the logs yourself.)
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Emails from leading scientists leaked online
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Hundreds of emails and documents exchanged between world's leading climate scientists stolen by hackers and leaked online
Hundreds of private emails and documents allegedly exchanged between some of the world's leading climate scientists during the past 13 years have been stolen by hackers and leaked online, it emerged today.
The computer files were apparently accessed earlier this week from servers at the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit, a world-renowned centre focused on the study of natural and anthropogenic climate change.
Climate change sceptics who have studied the emails allege they provide "smoking gun" evidence that some of the climatologists colluded in manipulating data to support the widely held view that climate change is real, and is being largely caused by the actions of mankind.
The veracity of the emails has not been confirmed and the scientists involved have declined to comment on the story, which broke on a blog called The Air Vent.
The files, which in total amount to 160MbB of data, were first uploaded on to a Russian server, before being widely mirrored across the internet. The emails were accompanied by the anonymous statement: "We feel that climate science is, in the current situation, too important to be kept under wraps. We hereby release a random selection of correspondence, code and documents. Hopefully it will give some insight into the science and the people behind it."
A spokesperson for the University of East Anglia said: "We are aware that information from a server used for research information in one area of the university has been made available on public websites. Because of the volume of this information we cannot currently confirm that all this material is genuine. This information has been obtained and published without our permission and we took immediate action to remove the server in question from operation. We are undertaking a thorough internal investigation and have involved the police in this inquiry."
In one email, dated November 1999, one scientist wrote: "I've just completed Mike's Nature [the science journal] trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie, from 1981 onwards) and from 1961 for Keith's to hide the decline."
This sentence, in particular, has been leapt upon by sceptics as evidence of manipulating data, but the credibility of the email has not been verified. The scientists who allegedly sent it declined to comment on the email.
"It does look incriminating on the surface, but there are lots of single sentences that taken out of context can appear incriminating," said Bob Ward, director of policy and communications at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. "You can't tell what they are talking about. Scientists say 'trick' not just to mean deception. They mean it as a clever way of doing something - a short cut can be a trick."
In another alleged email, one of the scientists apparently refers to the death of a prominent climate change sceptic by saying "in an odd way this is cheering news".
Ward said that if the emails are correct, they "might highlight behaviour that those individuals might not like to have made public." But he added, "Let's separate out [the climate scientists] reacting badly to the personal attacks [from sceptics] to the idea that their work has been carried out in an inappropriate way."
The revelations did not alter the huge body of evidence from a variety of scientific fields that supports the conclusion that modern climate change is caused largely by human activity, Ward said. The emails refer largely to work on so-called paleoclimate data - reconstructing past climate scenarios using data such as ice cores and tree rings. "Climate change is based on several lines of evidence, not just paleoclimate data," he said. "At the heart of this is basic physics."
Ward pointed out that the individuals named in the alleged emails had numerous publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. "It would be very surprising if after all this time, suddenly they were found out doing something as wrong as that."
Professor Michael Mann, director of Pennsylvania State University's Earth System Science Centre and a regular contributor to the popular climate science blog Real Climate, features in many of the email exchanges. He said: "I'm not going to comment on the content of illegally obtained emails. However, I will say this: both their theft and, I believe, any reproduction of the emails that were obtained on public websites, etc, constitutes serious criminal activity. I'm hoping the perpetrators and their facilitators will be tracked down and prosecuted to the fullest extent the law allows."
When the Guardian asked Prof Phil Jones at UEA, who features in the correspondence, to verify whether the emails were genuine, he refused to comment.
The alleged emails illustrate the persistent pressure some climatologists have been under from sceptics in recent years. There have been repeated calls, including Freedom of Information requests, for the Climate Research Unit to make public a confidential dataset of land and sea temperature recordings that is "value added" by the unit before being used by the Met Office. The emails show the frustration some climatologists have had at having to operate under such intense, often politically motivated, scrutiny.
Prof Bob Watson, the chief scientific advisor at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said, "Evidence for climate change is irrefutable. The world's leading scientists overwhelmingly agree what we're experiencing is not down to natural variation."
"With this overwhelming scientific body of evidence failing to take action to tackle climate change would be the wrong thing to do – the impacts here in Britain and across the world will worsen and the economic consequences will be catastrophic."
A spokesman for Greenpeace said: "If you looked through any organisation's emails from the last 10 years you'd find something that would raise a few eyebrows. Contrary to what the sceptics claim, the Royal Society, the US National Academy of Sciences, Nasa and the world's leading atmospheric scientists are not the agents of a clandestine global movement against the truth. This stuff might drive some web traffic, but so does David Icke."
Earth Watch
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Earth's 'immense and hidden' tragedy
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Problem of biodiversity loss has been 'eased off centre stage' by focus on climate change, according to Prof Edward Wilson, the ecologist described as 'Darwin's natural heir'
The diversity of life on Earth is undergoing an "immense and hidden" tragedy that requires the scale of global response now being deployed to tackle climate change, according to one of the world's most eminent biologists.
Prof Edward Wilson, an ecologist who has been described as "Darwin's natural heir" and hailed by novelist Ian McEwan as an "intellectual hero" and "inspirational" writer, told the Guardian that the threat was so grave he is pushing for the creation of an international body of experts modelled on the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The IPCC, which is credited with convincing world leaders that the threat from climate change is real, includes about 2,500 scientific expert reviewers from more than 130 countries and was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2007 along with Al Gore. Wilson's proposed organisation – which he names the Barometer of Life – would report to governments on the threats posed to species around the world.
Wilson said the problem of biodiversity loss had been "eased off centre stage" because of the focus on climate change.
"We don't hear as much public concern, protestation and plans by political leaders to save the living environment. It doesn't get anything like the attention the physical environment has," he said.
Since the beginning of the last century, 183 species are known to have become extinct, including the Tasmanian tiger, the Caribbean monk seal and the toolache wallaby. But this number is a gross underestimate of the true number of extinctions, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature species programme.
Wilson was speaking ahead of the 150th anniversary of the publication of the Origin of Species on Tuesday. The 80-year-old scientist will deliver a lecture via video link to an audience at London's Royal Institution on Darwin's legacy and "the future of biology".
The extent of scientific ignorance about the diversity of life on Earth is vast. Scientists have catalogued about 1.9 m species, but estimate there are about 20m-30m in total (excluding microbes).
Wilson said the scale of the mass extinction now under way was even harder to comprehend.
At the start of the Neolithic period – about 9500BC – scientists estimate that species were becoming extinct at a rate of 20-30 per year. Since the population explosion of modern humans, that is estimated to have increased to 20,000-30,000. Most have never been documented by scientists. And in a couple of decades, Wilson reckons this will have increased to 200,000-300,000. Wilson's proposed international initiative, which he has developed with Simon Stuart, the chairman of the Species Survival Commission, would document this species loss and work out how to tackle it.
"Darwin would be simply appalled by what humanity had done to the richness and diversity of natural life," said Randal Keynes, one of Darwin's great-great-grandsons, who is helping to coordinate the 150th anniversary with the British Council. "He would be in the lead of campaigning on the preservation of biodiversity."
Some of the species that played a central role in the formulation of Darwin's theoryof evolution by natural selection are now either extinct or severely threatened. The Floreana mockingbird, that lives on the island of the same name in the Galapagos, was one of a handful of related species that first gave Darwin the idea that species could change (it is a myth that finches were the crucial group).
Reflecting on the similarities and differences between mockingbirds on different islands and on the mainland, Darwin gave the first vague hint of his later theory in his notes on the Beagle voyage that "such facts would undermine the stability of species".
Today, the Floreana mockingbird is classed as "critically endangered" and exists in two populations numbering 200 and 49. The giant tortoise that Darwin encountered on the same island – Geochelone elephantopus – was driven extinct by hungry whalers who enjoyed eating its meat in soup.
Wilson said conservation efforts around the world were far from adequate. "Right now we are just piddling around with efforts here and there, some of them strong and dedicated, the aggregate of which is not even close to what we need.""The benefits for humanity [of a concerted international effort on biodiversity] would be enormous ... the discovery of the rest of life on Earth and fuller evaluation of it is going to result in all sorts of very valuable knowledge," said Wilson, pointing at new crops, products and biotechnology advances.
A year of celebration of Darwin's achievements (and his 200th birthday) is drawing to a close and will segue neatly into the International Year of Biodiversity in 2010.
"The public recognition of the importance of biodiversity as an issue is very poor, very low," said Kenyes, "I think Darwin would want everyone to pick up that agenda and give it all the support they can."
Curbs to ship pollution would stoke global warming, study says
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U.S. group sees worsening coastal flooding threat
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UN climate chief seeks $10 bln rich-nations pledge
1258730550|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover ( Reuters: Environment)
UK climate unit's e-mails hacked
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Two of Hubble's instruments to go on display at US museum
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The week in wildlife
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From howler monkeys to Siamese crocodiles – this week's best images from the natural world
Giraffes use 'supercharged' heart
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New skin 'may help burns victims'
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The road to Copenhagen
1258675260|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover (Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Today we present a special edition of our daily news podcast focusing on next month's crucial United Nations summit on climate change. Many fear that if world leaders fail to reach a deal in Copenhagen, there will be years of wrangling without agreement.
Activist and commentator George Monbiot is pessimistic about Copenhagen's chances of success, even though time is running out both in terms of the science of global warming and in the expiry of the Kyoto pact.
It was hoped that this week's meeting in Beijing of the US and Chinese leaders would fire some momentum into negotiations. But Suzanne Goldenberg, our Washington-based US environment correspondent, says anything Barack Obama promises in Copenhagen will then have to be approved by Congress, which may not be easy.
And in Beijing, Jonathan Watts, our Asia environment correspondent, says that many people in China – even scientists – are sceptical about man-made climate change.
Deniers also have a presence in the UK. It emerged this week that the top 10 Tory bloggers are climate change sceptics. But Greg Clark, the shadow energy secretary, rejects suggestions that they will dent the Conservatives' commitment to the environment.
Sounding a more optimistic note is the former Treasury economist Nicholas Stern, who says there are good reasons to hope for a meaningful agreement next month.
And James Randerson, editor of environmentguardian.co.uk, outlines what a successful outcome at Copenhagen might comprise.
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