Unless you are a certain flame-haired supermodel who can afford a flat in London and a first-class commute to lectures, shared accommodation is a necessity during university. I have to say my experience of shared living was mixed: communal baking, charades and having friends around were excellent; dying rats under the floor boards and shelling out for monthly bills; not so excellent.

If you have ever had to suffer the stench of a decomposing rat, you have my sympathies. Equally, if you have tried to explain to a housemate why having four light bulbs on in one bedroom is a waste; I also feel your pain. There is an element of reason involved, of course. Walking around the house with three jumpers, two t-shirts, gloves, tights, trousers and several pairs of socks on at once is definitely no fun (believe me, I would know), but it is surely important to save money– and the planet too. If SJP of Sex and the City had practiced energy-saving initiatives, she could have bought more shoes instead of needing a bail out from Big. And who wouldn’t want more shoes, or anything else for that matter?

There are many ways to cut down on unnecessary energy use but measuring your electricity use is a good place to start. There are ways to get free measurement devices that plug in and calculate your costs . Oxford University have also created an imeasure which is more work but still provides results as you can find out which appliances eat up your money and use them less. One ‘out there’ suggestion is to use cling-film for secondary glazing – tape it around your windows and then hair dryer it taut. I did this to keep a ladybird infestation out, but it works just as well to keep heat in. Tin foil behind a radiator may help too; recycle foil take-out boxes to be optimally sustainable. Alternatively, sign up to People & Planet’s Big Green Makeover project and you’ll get all the training and resources you need to help fellow students do this for free!

I also recommend outlining the ‘Landlords Energy Saving Allowance’ to your landlord. Up to £1,500 can be claimed against tax each year to improve a property’s eco-credentials. Who knows, there may be some green landlords out there, so spread the word. Encourage your landlord to install better insulation on the roof or around water pipes, and point them in the direction of claims information.

There is one caveat to implementing energy saving suggestions: the rest of your household. Lead by example, gentle persuasion, reminders, and advice as the first steps to switching off appliances and turning down the heating, which can then be backed by technological solutions. Forgetting to turn something off is not an excuse anymore. There is of course an App that can remotely turn off electronics – can you believe that? If nothing else works, try positive conditioning. Get housemates to turn off lights or computers then surreptitiously give them a sweet. Repetition is key. Soon energy saving behaviour will occur with just the vague memory of a delicious sweet for encouragement. In a nod to Thorndike, like rats pressing a lever, those lights go off.

The latter suggestion may not be such a good idea (though I’d love to try it just to see if it works!) but it is definitely hugely beneficial to try and implement energy saving initiatives around the house you’re letting. If nothing else, try it for a month as evidence for the months to come, and watch your bills go down. Before you feel the pinch of huge bills, try turning to this advice. It just might help!

Katie

(This is a bit late posting, having been written a week ago, but I promise the issues haven’t fallen off the table since!)

People & Planet activists picket LSE tar sands event

I’m wearing a suit. This is not something I do a lot, but as it turned it out, it was probably the main reason I had the chance to call Canada’s Natural Resources Minister, Joe Oliver to account, for he and his Government’s attempt to convince LSE students that Canadian tar sands are an ‘ethical’ and ‘responsible’ source of energy for the future.

The LSE – to their discredit – chose to host the Minister, after being approached by the Canadian Government as part of their declared lobbying push to undermine European climate legislation. The public university – who regularly host multiple speakers at their events – chose to let the Minister speak unopposed, on one of the most hotly-contested global environmental issues of our generation. People & Planet, as part of our Tar Sands-Free Universities campaign, see this as a major insult to the countless victims of the Alberta tar sands industry, given the Canadian Government’s track record of ignoring and discrediting the critical issues facing First Nations Canadians and the climate as a whole as a result of the industry.

So Oliver’s presence was inappropriate for a university to host as an ‘educational’ event to begin with. But from the point that we arrived (about 10 of us, from LSE People & Planet and the UK Tar Sands Network), we were greeted by a police presence at the front doors of the venue and a heavy security presence inside, which included body searches and refusal to allow any personal bags in the venue. Having been to a half-dozen LSE public lectures before, this was the first time I’d seen anything like this. Even when I saw the President of Ecuador speak at LSE last year, there had been no parallel precautions taken.

The Chair, Dr Richard Perkins, said that he was keen to have a debate after the lecture, given the contentious nature of the issue, but then prefaced questions with ‘this isn’t a chance to make a statement’…

The event started late, due to the extensive security checks, and was closed early, as too much of the crowd had become vocally critical of the misinformation coming from the Minister. Again, debate was not what the LSE appeared interested in hosting… If I hadn’t broken protocols and jumped up early on to present Oliver with an award for ‘Greenwash Propagandist of the Year’, relatively little criticism would have made it to the forefront.

And unsurprisingly, the Minister’s speech was nothing short of propaganda. Nearly every statement was untrue or misleading, and omitted even mentioning issues as significant as elevated cancer rates amongst First Nations communities, or First Nations legal challenges that tar sands expansion is hinging upon. Some highlights include:

• Oliver’s claim: ‘Canada is being unfairly discriminated against via the EU’s Fuel Quality Directive’
• The truth: Tar sands are one of several ‘unconventional fuels’ (including shale gas and liquid coal) that the European Commission has classified as high emissions fuels. The move is clearly an attempt to regulate fuel that is more harmful to the environment than crude oil. There is no basis to claim that Alberta tar sands have been ‘singled-out’.
• Oliver’s claim: ‘Tar sands aren’t as bad as other fuels the EU allows import of’
• The truth: Oliver compared Alberta tar sands to Russian, Mexican, Nigerian and Venezuelan high emissions fuels, saying that tar sands were much better than many of these. In truth, the best tar sands, are on par with or worse than, all but the very worst Venezuelan heavy crude and Nigerian flaring. The other countries fuels produce far lower emissions. Tar sands really are *that bad*!
• Oliver’s claim: ‘In situ tar sands extraction is much less destructive than mining’
• The truth: While in situ mining doesn’t use as much water, or scar the surface of the Earth in the way open caste mining does, the emissions associated with the process are on average 3x higher than that of mining tar sands, and 5x higher than drilling traditional crude. The Minister and the industry’s claim that the in situ process is more environmentally sound is at best a distortion of the facts, and at worst, an outright lie.

(Details of the above claims can be found here and here).

After the talk, a scheduled media phone-in with the Minister, was cancelled without explanation. We might be able to take a little bit of credit for that one. We also managed to get covered in newspapers and blogs across Canada, as well as in the Times of India (the largest English language newspaper in the world), hopefully throwing a bit of a wrench into the Canadian Government’s attempt to go abroad and paint the tar sands in a positive light.

While LSE may still be a few steps from calling itself a ‘Tar Sands-Free University’ (though our activists there will be pushing to make it one!), we an important question for the university, in light of its choice to host the Minister:

Given the factual inaccuracy of a range of the Minister’s comments and the highly-political agenda he was promoting, how can the LSE justify using student and public money to help a foreign government promote a single perspective, unopposed?

Speakers like Oliver are relatively rare, in terms of the ways that universities support the most destructive project on Earth. They may be banking with tar sands financiers like RBS/NatWest; they might be doing research into tar sands technologies for BP or Shell; their staff’ pensions might be invested in any of these companies… So don’t hesitate to get in touch if you want to get involved in making your university or college ‘Tar Sands-Free’!

As well as a new remote volunteer of the People & Planet team, I am also a PhD student about to venture out into the wilderness of Antarctica.

My research will focus on areas of the Antarctic ice sheets, looking at specific glaciers/ice streams in the Transantarctic Mountains (which divide the West and East ice sheets). The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) has been in the media a lot in the past (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/18/west-antarctic-ice-sheet-melt; http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8387137.stm). This is because most of the underlying land is below sea level which makes it very susceptible to warming and rapid melting, and therefore it has a possible threshold point leading to ice sheet collapse. The East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) is bigger and considered more stable as it rests on a larger proportion of land. The Transantarctic Mountains provide an interesting partial barrier to the EAIS, through which ice streams flow into the Ross Ice Shelf.

“What are you trying to find out, and why?”

The project aims to find out how big the glaciers were in this region of Antarctica at the peak of the last ice age, and to see how they thinned and retreated to their current form. By understanding this past behaviour of glaciers it provides an insight into their relationship with past climate systems and can therefore help towards predicting the future response of ice sheets to climate changes. The data collected will be used to help test and validate ice sheet computer models which look to predict future change.

“How are you going to study this?”

By surveying the material and land features found in the area, one can see the where ice used to flow and what processes occurred. Some rocks can show obvious signs that they have been moved there by a glacier because they are a different rock type to that found locally in the landscape. These rocks are called erratics and are typically collected from the peaks of mountains which poke through the ice (known as nunataks). A technique called cosmogenic nuclide dating allows us to measure how long ago glacially-deposited boulders were left behind by the ice sheet, and from this we can establish the height and length of the ice sheet at different points in time. The results can then be compared to other data from the region such as further ice sheet information, ice cores, sea ice records, etc. But first things first, I need to go out to Antarctica to make some notes and collect some rocks!

This post first appeared on Selwyn’s own blog (http://theterratranscriber.wordpress.com/), where you will be able to find updates of his Antarctic experiences.

Philippa de Boissiere was one of 8 students who took part in People & Planet’s tar sands solidarity exchange this summer:

“Our trip to Alberta, Canada marked the start for us of an ongoing commitment to take on the most destructive oil project on Earth. Our visit was in response to an invitation from the former Beaver Lake Cree Nation (BLCN) Chief, Al Lameman, whose community is being directly threatened by the expansion of tar sands.
There was a lot to take in from our experience of this dirty oil extraction industry. We were treated to a full PR assault from Suncor representatives, harassed by industry workers whilst surveying the destruction of the boreal forest and left choking by the fumes emitted from toxic waste ponds.
More importantly however, we developed links of solidarity with indigenous people from Beaver Lake. Over campfires, meals and some dancing at their annual Pow-Wow we learnt of a wise and loving culture. We were able to send a powerful message on behalf of the People & Planet network that the Beaver Lake Cree Nation do not stand alone in taking on the most powerful oil companies on the planet.

This blog was written by Marco Cadena, a member of the Young Friends of the Earth network

Millions are already facing the devastating impacts of climate change, and the European Environment Council meeting this coming Monday wasn’t even going to discuss emission reduction targets at their meeting.

However, civil society groups all across Europe are campaigning loudly for climate action, one of these campaigns is Push Europe - a youth-led climate campaign building a strong movement demanding real European action on climate change.

It is really simple: we need real emission cuts, there is no time to sweep the emissions under the carpet through the dangerous obsession of carbon trading.

Young Friends of the Earth, People and Planet, 350.org and many other organisations are now calling on European leaders to recognise that there isn’t time to fiddle around: we’re getting closer to the tipping point. We’re heading towards a five degree world, with catastrophic consequences all around the world.

It’s time to tell Chris Huhne, who will represent the United Kingdom this coming Monday (10th October), that climate change isn’t something that Environment Ministers shouldn’t discuss. In fact, there is a need for increased political ambition to bring the stagnate international climate negotiations forward.

Europe has massive historical responsibility for causing climate change, but it’s focussing solely on carbon markets with very low real emission reduction commitments.

It is time for real action for Europe and for the rest of the world.

Email Chris Huhne before Monday to call for strong action now!

http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/press_for_change/eu_climate_32796.html

Bearing Witness vigil in Manchester

Last Saturday Stop Climate Chaos and People & Planet activists united to ’Speak out for Climate Justice’, at Manchester Metropolitan Students’ Union, Manchester.

The event took place as part of ‘Bearing Witness’, a coalition of supporter events organised by Christian Aid, CAFOD and Tearfund, on the eve of the Conservative Party Conference. ‘Speak out for Climate Justice’ was one way in which to call for strong government action on climate change in solidarity with the world’s poorest people and our planet, ahead of the UNFCCC talks in Durban in November.

On an ironically scorching October day (the effects of climate change were tangible!) activists from near and far gathered for a day of inspiring workshops and talks on the theme of climate justice. The day began with a fantastic open plenary, with Becca Hemmant a P&P Tar Sands activist, and Colin Baines from the Co-operative Bank, Aakash Nair from NUS and Tinyiko Maluleke, a prominent South African activist and theologian from the University of South Africa.

The speakers shared vibrant perspectives on climate justice, from indigenous resistance to Tar Sands among the Beaver Lake Cree Nation in Alberta, to switching to ethical banking on your campus, and to traditional beliefs about the human relationship with nature in the global South. Finally, Fiona Dear, the Coordinator of Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, spoke of the newly-launched African Climate Connection, which echoed the global concern for action on climate justice.

In the afternoon, there were a variety of workshops from People & Planet: ‘Tar Sands-Free: Washing our hands of the dirtiest project on Earth’, Practical Action, UK Youth Climate Coalition (UKYCC) and Friends of the Earth. This was a great chance for local activists to network and make future plans. There were also a colourful array of stalls from Friends of the Earth Manchester, UKYCC and Student Christian Movement.

As the sun was setting, we took to the streets in an evening march, with placards as a reminder of the promise of the ’Greenest Government Ever’. Our voices became gradually louder, as we chanted: “What do we want? Climate Justice! When do we want it? NOW!” We soon merged into the Bearing Witness march, accompanied by a fabulous brass band.

Stop Climate Chaos supporters gathered in Albert Square outside the Conservative Party Conference, and held a beautiful candlelit vigil in hope for action for justice. Personally, I was so proud to represent People & Planet, and to feel we are a cherished part of the climate movement. Even more than this, it was brilliant to stand side-by-side with so many others passionate about climate change, in solidarity with the world’s poorest people and our planet.

Hey guys,

This is Katie Luxton putting my sustainably sourced and ethically made stamp on my first blog post. My Monday this week started out as usual - dodging bombs and using human shields.

Yes, I am a female James Bond and I plan to shake up and stir the cocktail of environmentalists who are as eager as I am to help make life a few ‘Degrees Cooler’.

In case you were wondering, I am of course referring to the current environmental campaign for Transition Universities at People & Planet. The bomb dodging was apart of the People & Planet Volunteer Media Activist training I have just undertaken. My use of a human shield was a warm up exercise to get the blood flowing to the brain; cue excellent media ideas.

For me, the training was a refreshing way to initiate putting my passions into practice. I hope to raise awareness on environmental issues, but most importantly instigate ACTION.

I learnt more about ethical investment and tar sands on the training which was something I was eager to clue up on. I also found an excellent introduction to ethical investment in the Guardian. I am definitely going to pursue this avenue of environmental conservation further. I will keep you updated if I find anything new; if readers have any fruitful suggestions on the topic, they would be more than welcome.

I also wanted to say thanks a lot to the staff members at People & Planet for making the experience so enjoyable. It was a great opportunity to meet the dedicated faces behind the organisation, but also my fellow Media Activists; like minded people trying to make the world a better place.

Be safe, be green.

Katie

Post by Rik Ganly, one of 8 students recently returned from a People & Planet youth exchange visit to Tar Sands ground zero in Alberta, Canada.

Rik and others outside the DfT in London this morning (photo by Anthony Upton)

It’s been a beautiful day in London, and what finer way to spend it than nipping down to the Department for Transport (DfT)?  It may not be the most popular destination in the capital but we were on a mission: to force Lib Dem minister Norman Baker to change his mind about the EU Fuel Quality Directive. To read the press you’d think the Lib Dems have very little real power, but Mr Baker’s remit as Under-Secretary for Transport puts him squarely on the battle-lines between environmentalists opposing tar sands and oil companies. The minister has displayed a disappointing lack of willingness to fight for the environment so far; but all the indications are for a U-turn and we had a petition of 50,000 signatures to hand over, with the message: public pressure is mounting.

Allow me to explain. The European Union is currently finalising the Fuel Quality Directive which sets out to reduce Europe’s transport fuel emissions by 6% by 2020. If it recognises the higher emissions resulting from tar sands fuels it would effectively ban their import into Europe. So far so good, but an army of Canadian and oil lobbyists are currently in Brussels and EU capitals trying to make sure that doesn’t happen, as they know where Europe goes on minimum environmental standards the rest of the world generally and eventually follows. This would be a disaster for oil companies, who want to exploit Tar Sands regardless of the environmental cost. The only language these people understand is the language of cold hard cash, so it’s been a massive aim for environmentalists to hit them where it hurts and damage the commercial viability of these dangerous projects by closing this important market. Unfortunately Britain (why is it always Britain?!) appears to have joined Canada and the oil industry in opposing a ban.

Which is why about a dozen of us are parked on the pavement outside the DfT on a Wednesday afternoon, holding up a big banner while security guards squint to make out the writing. Early on, the admirably astute government security people lock the door we’re standing in front of, obviously wary of some kind of attempt to storm the building. We’ll leave such stuff for another day; our booted and suited group includes representatives from Friends of the Earth, WWF, Avaaz and the Co-operative, and of course People & Planet. Colin from the Co-op hands over a massive petition to Baker’s private secretary, in the hope this will help him make his mind up to do the right thing. Friends of the Earth are planning on turning up the heat over the next week or so, so keep your eyes peeled for a call to action from them. And in the meantime go on Twitter, write to your MP, and take whatever action you can to change our government’s mind: Britain creates enough environmental damage as it is, without needing assistance from the dirtiest industry in the world. Canada: thanks, but no thanks.

The last couple of days in Beaver Lake have been fascinating - and packed - so lots to catch you all up on. We’ve pitched camp by the beautiful Beaver Lake and an old church. Our hosts - including Shawna from the local health centre - have been so generous and caring, thinking of every little detail to make us welcome here. On our first day on the reservation we attended a community meal in the local sports centre where we met quite a few people - elders and young alike - and had a chance to explain the purpose of our visit.

On Thursday we had our first real experience of the amazing boreal forest in the area when we took a trip out to Churchill Walk. It’s a beautiful peninsula covered in forest, marshes and beaches. We took a boardwalk trail through the forest and ended up at a golden beach on the lake from where we spied pelicans and other wildlife. The mosquitoes were out in force too, unfortunately, but nothing could dampen the natural beauty of that spot. It gave us a real sense of the nature that’s threatened by the tar sands north of here.

Yesterday we got to see just what’s at stake as we set off for our first sighting of the massive tar sands operations, driving north of Conklin into huge expanses of boreal forest. There are well over 34,000 oil and gas well sites within the traditional territories of the Beaver Lake Cree that covers an areas roughly the size of Switzerland. Their vast territory includes two tiny remaining herds of woodland caribou that are being particularly threatened by the in-situ tar sands exploration and extraction sites. The two remaining herds within their territory are estimated to number as few as 250.

In situ tar sands mining is largely responsible for this and is predicted to reduce the herds to below 50 caribou by 2025. In-situ extraction differs from the huge open cast extraction projects further north - it involves piping steam underground in vast quantities to loosen the bitumen and bring it to the surface. It doesn’t look as shocking as the images we’ve all seen of the open pits where giant trucks dig out the tar sands but the impacts are far worse - both for the wildlife and in producing at least 5 times more carbon emissions than conventional oil.

As we drove northwards, every few hundred meters we’d see long strips of forest cut down and stretching out in long lines to the horizon. These ’seismic lines’ have been cut crisscrossing the landscape to test the levels of bitumen underground. Our driver and Chief Al explained that dymanite is used to test the quality of the sands underneath, and these gashes in the forest result in huge loss of habitat for the woodland caribou as they are known to avoid habitat within 250 metres of these linear features. To find out more about this there’s an excellent report published by The Co-operative’s Toxic Fuels campaign and Beaver Lake Cree Nation.

Later that evening, it was time to head back for the Grand Opening ceremony of the annual Beaver Lake Cree Pow Wow. Cree Nations from all over Canada and the United States gather here to celebrate their traditions, to meet family and friends old and new, but most of all.. to dance! In a custom-built round arena, everyone gathered together in their finest regalia with a ring of drummers around the outside. So many eagle feathers, bird claws, colours and ribbons everywhere - an amazing sight to behold!

As the drumming began we were ushered into the ring, dancing in behind the visiting Chiefs of local ‘bands’, other dignitaries, Mounties and princesses from nearby. What a sight we must have been, 10 awkward Westerners trying to immitate the dancers in our common clothes among the sea of traditional headdresses and gowns. At one point a nearby Chief gave me a quick lesson in the steps and I soon fell into the right rhythm. Gradually the circle filled with dancers until it reached a crescendo - loud drumming and traditional songs in high pitched throat-singing - and we were introduced to the crowd.

This was followed by a series of ‘inter-tribal’ dances which we were invited to join and most of us got quite into the swing of it with the infectious drums pounding out an earth-thumping rhythm! Dance competitions went on late into the night as first women, then children and different age groups competed to show off their dancing skills and regalia. It was an absolute privilege to be a part of!

The Pow Wow lasts until the end of Sunday, after which we’re heading up to Fort McMurray to visit one of the biggest tar sands sites Suncor. More on that soon and watch out for the next video of our trip to the in-situ sites which should be up very soon on Tarmageddon.