I don’t know why I bother getting excited about any meeting of world leaders to discuss climate change, particularly when Bush is anywhere near the talks. My regular email from Avaaz this morning outlined how three politicians are refusing to set climate targets – Canada’s Harper, Japan’s Fukuda and US Bush.

Instead, senior officials from the eight richest countries in the world (that wealthy nations can make decisions for the rest of the world on its own is a questionable issue) met until late, according to Reuters, trying to come up with wording that will prove acceptable to Bush, so that he will put aside his misgivings and sign on to a global goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by the middle of the century.

Avaaz is calling for action. They intend delivering a full-page Financial Times ad today...

A recent cartoon competition, set up by a group called Earthworks, gave cartoonists around the world a platform on which to express themselves, and to use their pens and wit to help combat environmental devastation and give new impetus to the fight to stop global warming. Humour is a valuable key in the struggle to win hearts and minds.

A picture may paint a thousand words, but a cartoon provokes, protests and entertains – all at once. It is this that makes cartoonists so valuable and influential in times of crisis.

Today, that crisis is climate change, and clever imagery can give new impetus to our struggle to combat global warming. The organisers of

A roundup of news and happenings on the nuclear scene:

CARTE BLANCHE's RECENT DELVE into what’s happening with the nuclear pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR) and tax payers’ money provides a transcript well worth extra scrutiny – some of the commentary from Alex Erwin begs belief.

It is reassuring to know that our minister is satisfied that ‘all sorts of people’ have assessed the risks involved in going nuclear and that they are ‘understood and known’. The fact that the project is 10 times over budget and 10 years late, however, seems to indicate that something may seriously be wrong with the project.

Are taxpayers really well informed of the risks involved in nuclear energy? Professor Steve Thomas of Greenwich University, one of a panel of scientists employed by the government to give an assessment of the risks back in 2002, doesn’t think so:

Maybe you missed the benchmark ruling by the US department of the interior last week to add the polar bear to the list of threatened species? Some regard this ruling, despite its being “rendered toothless” by the Bush administration, who was very quick to add that it would not change its climate change policies - as a turning point in the global warming debate (and the media are still using this limp ‘debate’ terminology because…? What exactly is there left to ponder?)

©WWFThere are two issues I want to highlight, over and above the plight of the polar bear for which the melting of sea ice in the Arctic poses an enormous and immediate threat – without protection, polar bears could become extinct within 45 years! [WWF] One: whilst the listing requires the US government to develop a plan to protect the polar bear, the new rule also leaves the door open to expanded Arctic oil and gas exploration. The “new rule” is a way for this government to protect the polar bear while preventing "unintended harm to the society and the economy of the US."

Tomorrow is world fair trade day – a day that supports a social movement that works to pay farmers and craftsmen a decent living wage, facilitate direct marketing from farmers’ cooperatives and workers’ unions to markets and provide collective bargaining rights (alleviate poverty and promote sustainability) – something worth supporting!

Fairtrade in South Africa was established only in 2005 and there are now, according to the website, 31 certified producers in South Africa, mostly in fruit, wine grapes and tea. There are also 12 registered exporters of Fairtrade products based in SA [fairtrade.org.za]

The biggest and most successful Fairtrade sector in the country is the accommodation sector – possibly because tourism is our biggest market. See urban sprout for a list of Fairtrade accommodation. And if you want to support Fairtrade, this is the area in which we as consumers can really do our bit – shopping for Fairtrade products is a little difficult here, the only products I’ve seen have been imported, which kind of goes against my ethics of supporting local. [Fairtrade in tourism]

The object of Fairtrade is to work with and empower marginalised producers and workers to help them move from a position of

The Dalai Lama is calling for a peaceful solution to the crisis in Tibet and is calling on "the international community's support for our efforts to resolve Tibet's problems through dialogue".

"I urge them to call upon the Chinese leadership to exercise the utmost restraint in dealing with the current disturbed situation and to treat those who are being arrested properly and fairly", said the Dalai Lama, in a letter from his exile in Dharamsala, India.

The latest round of anti-China protests began in Tibet's main city, Lhasa, on 10 March - the 49th anniversary of a failed uprising - and gradually escalated.

Lhasa, the traditional capital of Tibet, saw at least two days of violence and there have also been protests in provinces which border Tibet. China says 19 people were killed by rioters and accuses Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama of inciting the violence.

The Tibetan government in exile says

a crude awakeningDon't miss the screening of A Crude Awakening tonight in Johannesburg or the next SANE forum on 28 March 2008.

OilCrash, produced and directed by award-winning European journalists and filmmakers Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack, tells the story of how our civilization’s addiction to oil puts it on a collision course with geology. Compelling, intelligent, and highly entertaining, the film visits with the world’s top experts and comes to a startling, but logical conclusion – our industrial society, built on cheap and readily available oil, must be completely re-imagined and overhauled.

The idea that the world’s oil supplies have peaked, or will soon, is gaining mainstream currency.

And speaking of currency - SANE debate that the current economic model needs to change.

Critically, the culture of materialism and competition must now transform into a culture which champions sufficiency and equity. We need to adopt a monetary system that is less prone to booms and busts, is not inherently skewed in favour of the rich, and does not systematically discount the future.Other green events include a soil workshop and Earth Hour.

I've heard the term "food security" bandied about a bit recently and we've also noticed increased interest in edible garden services and worm bins listed in the urban sprout directory in the last few months. More of us are questioning where food comes from and what role we play in the food chain. There is also a branch (or convivium) of the slow food movement active in Cape Town.

Today I first heard of "food sovereignty", and I was surprised to find, thanks to wiki, that a grassroots organisation called Via Campesina has been campaigning for food sovereignty since 1992. Via Campesina is a global coalition of over 100 organisations advocating family farm-based sustainable agriculture and was actually the group that first coined the term "food sovereignty". The movement represents peasant organisations of small and medium-scale producers, agricultural workers, rural woman and indigenous communities around the world.

Isabel Jones, voracious consumer watchdog, died this week. Although criticised for her infomercial frying-pan and weightloss program endorsements to fund her retirement, who can forget her Fair Deal program where she tackled everyone from swimming pool installers to tow truck operators, apparently putting her life at risk a few times. She was personally responsible for consumers receiving around R5m in compensation after having been cheated. May she RIP. It's indeed ironic, or perhaps fitting, that she passed away in the week leading up to World Consumer Rights day, tomorrow 15 March.
This year’s theme is the marketing of unhealthy food to children – the junk food generation and the urgency of making smarter food choices for kids. Apparently 22 million children around the world are overweight before they start going to school!

But it isn’t the theme of world consumer rights day that is the issue so much (although I am not dismissing its importance) as the apathy of South Africans, on the whole, to exercise our rights as consumers.

Why is big business getting away with price-fixing, such as the milk price-fixing fiasco and the recent bread price-fixing where Tiger Brands agreed to pay a penalty of R98 million for its involvement in inflating the price of bread?. Imagine what they’ve made from

Although it was Saturday, I pulled into Wits University with a lot more enthusiasm than I usually do. Having never attended a "green" gathering before, I was bubbling with excitement at the prospect of attending One Struggle, a one day event addressing an eclectic range of ethical and environmental issues.

On arrival at the Origins Centre, I was greeted by the sounds of live act UFO, a Green Africa Collective, and tables heavily laden with delicious vegan treats. The corridor leading to the conference venue was flanked by numerous display tables hosted by the Anti-Privatisation Forum, People Opposing Women Abuse, Beauty Without Cruelty, Earthlife Africa, and Food and Trees for Africa, among others.

First on the agenda was the anticipated launch of Animal Rights Africa, an amalgam of the Justice for Animals, Xwe African Wild Life and South Africans for the Abolition of Vivisection organisations. This was immediately followed by an address by Dr Steve Best, an internationally acclaimed philosopher and activist.