Rob Edwards

The roads at risk of landslides

from Sunday Herald, 19 July 2008

Vast areas of upland Scotland are vulnerable to landslides in bad weather, putting many of the country’s vital arterial routes at risk.

A map produced by the British Geological Survey (BGS) shows that stretches of the A9, M74 and many other major roads pass through zones where there is a “significant” potential for landslides.

Yet a study promised four years ago by Scottish ministers to pinpoint the precise sites at risk has still not been completed - and the Scottish government has come under fire for its “lack of urgency”.

The women who suffer because of climate change

from Sunday Herald, 13 July 2008

When the weather turns bad, it’s the women that suffer. That, in essence, is the message of a new campaign being launched by Oxfam.

The international aid agency is highlighting how women around the world are hardest hit by storms, floods and droughts caused by global warming. And it is stepping up pressure on the Scottish government to agree tough targets to cut the pollution that is causing the problems.

Women produce most of the food in developing countries. As agricultural workers and as family providers, they are responsible for up to 80% of household food production in Sub-Saharan Africa and 65% in Asia.

M74 will undermine air pollution targets, ministers told

from Sunday Herald, 06 July 2008

The government’s plan to extend the M74 into Glasgow will undermine targets to cut air pollution and combat climate chaos, according to secret advice given to ministers.

A memo from officials to the former environment minister, Ross Finnie, in 2005 warned that building the five-mile, six-lane motorway would breach Glasgow’s air quality objective and significantly hamper plans to cut carbon emissions from transport.

But the M74 extension was still given the go-ahead by the previous Labour and Liberal Democrat coalition, and has been backed by the current Scottish Nationalist government. The groundbreaking ceremony to launch construction work in May was headed by the First Minister, Alex Salmond.

Scottish civil servants take 36 flights a day

from Sunday Herald, 29 June 2008

Civil servants have failed to kick their flying habit. In the last year Scottish government officials have spent £1 million of public money taking 8,700 flights between Scotland and England.

On average they made 36 flights every working day, mostly between Edinburgh and London. They also flew regularly to Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Inverness.

As part of its bid to “go greener”, the Scottish government is urging members of the public to “choose not to fly when there's a suitable alternative”. The vast majority of the journeys made by civil servants can be easily done by train.

Huge gaps exposed in Scotland's flood warning system

from Sunday Herald, 29 June 2008

People living in half of Scotland could miss out on vital flood warnings because of huge gaps in the country’s network of weather radars.

Some of the areas most vulnerable to flooding around the Moray Firth and in Dumfries and Galloway are not covered, putting their populations in danger from flash floods and sudden storms.

But now MSPs are calling for urgent action to plug the gaps, and bring the flood warning system up to scratch. They point out that radar coverage in Scotland is much poorer than in England and Wales.

Glasgow bids to go greener

from Sunday Herald, 29 June 2008

The Dear Green Place wants to get greener. Glasgow City Council has launched a bid to become one of Europe’s most environmentally-friendly cities.

The council’s leaders are trying to shake off the city’s image as one of the most polluted, most wasteful and most road-obsessed in Scotland by agreeing a series of initiatives aimed at making it more sustainable.

The council has set up a high-level consortium led by Strathclyde University to examine every aspect of life in the city. The objective is “to position Glasgow as one of Europe’s most sustainable cities within five to ten years”.

The green leaders who chose to drive

from Sunday Herald, 22 June 2008

They urge everyone else to leave their cars at home to help save the planet, then they jump into theirs.

The board members of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) made five times more journeys by car than by train last year - and claimed ten times more in expenses for them.

Backbench revolt on climate change threatened

from Sunday Herald, 15 June 2008

The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, could face another rebellion from his backbenchers if he fails to include aviation in his targets to cut the pollution that is warming the globe.

Two thirds of Scottish Labour backbenchers favour the inclusion of emissions from international air travel in Westminster’s forthcoming climate change bill, according to a survey by Friends of the Earth Scotland.

Advice on farm climate pollution 'flawed'

from Sunday Herald, 15 June 2008

Advice given to Scottish ministers on how to cut climate pollution from farming has been condemned as flawed and inadequate.

The Soil Association, which promotes organic food, has attacked a recent report to government by agricultural experts. The report fails to recognise the scale of the challenge posed by emissions from agriculture, the association says.

Ministers attacked over climate watchdog

from Sunday Herald, 08 June 2008

Scottish ministers are coming under fire for failing to set up a new climate watchdog, and preferring to rely on advice from London instead.

Leading environmentalists and trade unionists have criticised the Scottish government for not wanting to establish a climate change commission to make sure that targets to cut pollution are being met.

Climate target under threat from air travel

from Sunday Herald, 25 May 2008

Rocketing pollution caused by air travel from Scotland could wreck the government’s attempts to cut the emissions that are disrupting the climate, according to a new study.

If the number of passengers flying from Scottish airports increases as predicted, emissions from planes could end up swamping those from all other sources - and sabotaging ministers’ plans to reduce climate pollution 80% by 2050.

 

The revelation has reinforced calls from campaigners for aviation to be fully included in the forthcoming Scottish climate change bill. If it is not, they warn, the bill could be “completely ineffective”.

One year on, how green is the SNP?

from Sunday Herald, 27 April 2008

The SNP grew up on oil, is wedded to economic expansion and always wants to put Scotland first. As a political party, it has never developed a coherent theoretical approach to one of the defining issues of the age: the environment.

It comes as some surprise then, that after a year in power, the SNP has won warm plaudits from many environmentalists. There are still major reservations, of course, but most observers outside political parties seem to think that the SNP is doing a better job than its predecessors in government.

The future for cars is electric, says WWF

27 April 2008

There is a future for cars, but only if they are powered by electricity instead of oil.

That is the message that is going to be delivered by environmental group, WWF, tomorrow as the prospect of fuel shortages looms, due to the industrial dispute at Grangemouth.

Police accused of persecuting green protesters

from Sunday Herald, 20 April 2008

The police have been accused of a campaign of harassment and intimidation by environmental protesters arrested after peaceful demonstrations in Edinburgh.

Student activists have told the Sunday Herald that they were deprived of food, water and medical attention while being held overnight in police cells last week. Some also said they’ve been woken by dawn raids, or asked to become paid informers.

The protesters have been backed by their parents, who are alarmed that non-violent demonstrators are being treated “like terrorists”. The Green MSP, Robin Harper, has also accused the police of a “gross over-reaction”

Moorland birds under threat from global warming

from Sunday Herald, 20 April 2008

One of the icons of Scotland’s moors, the golden plover, is under threat because global warming is killing the food which it needs to survive - daddy longlegs.

A new study by scientists has warned that, if nothing is done, populations of the bird could be wiped out by the end of the century. Other moorland birds who feed on the insect, like the curlew, greenshank and dotterel, may also be at risk.

Public agencies must have climate duty, says union

from Sunday Herald, 13 April 2008

Every public sector organisation should have to justify the impact on the climate of every decision it takes, under plans to be put forward by the trade union, Unison.

Councils, enterprise agencies, government bodies and the government itself would all be accountable for any development or plan which increases the pollution that is warming the globe.

And, in a novel suggestion, Unison is proposing that chief executives responsible for climate-wrecking schemes should be hauled up before school children to explain their actions, as well as the Scottish Parliament.

Plague of pests threatens historic buildings

from Sunday Herald, 06 April 2008

They eat clothes, curtains and carpets, they bore holes through chairs, beds and floorboards, and they nibble at the pages of books. And, thanks to global warming, they are on the march.

The rising temperatures and increasing humidity triggered by climate change are threatening to unleash a plague of pests on the priceless contents of Scotland’s historic buildings, according to a new warning from the National Trust for Scotland (NTS).

Clothes moths, carpet beetles, woodworm, mould and fungi are all on the ascendancy, says NTS’s head of collections conservation services, Clare Meredith. This puts the textiles, furniture and books in some of the nation’s iconic castles and stately homes in danger.

Call for companies to green their cars

from Sunday Herald, 06 April 2008

Scottish firms could save a total of £270 million a year by taking advantage of a new tax break for greener cars, claims a report out today.

Switching to low-polluting cars could significantly cut the bills of companies because of lower government taxes on vehicles emitting 120 grams or less of carbon dioxide per kilometre. The new taxes are due to come into force today.

Faith leaders call for tougher action on climate

from Sunday Herald, 30 March 2008

Scotland's three main faiths have come together this weekend in an unprecedented plea to government ministers to raise the game on climate change. They have warned Scotland must toughen its plans to cut the pollution warming the globe to help prevent millions from dying in poor countries.

Protestant, Catholic and Islamic leaders are urging the Scottish National Party not to abandon its manifesto commitment to mandatory targets to reduce climate pollution by three per cent a year.

They have come out in support of demands made by Stop Climate Chaos Scotland - a new coalition of more than 30 groups with at least 1.5 million supporters. The coalition's campaign for more action to tackle climate change, also being launched today, is backed by the Sunday Herald.

Climate of change

from Holyrood Magazine, 22 February 2008

The heat of the sun, the intensity of the rain, the force of the storm: these have always been natural phenomena, concocted by a power greater than humanity to warm, water and batter us.

But now something is changing, something so fundamental that it is altering the way we perceive the world. And as a result, we have to change the way we think, the way we talk and the way we act.

For the first time in history, the global climate is no longer entirely a product of nature. The pollution belched into the atmosphere by factories, farms, homes and vehicles has grown so great that it is disrupting weather patterns.