As big bruv points out (in the fine print, I’m told) I haven’t posted anything for a while.  I will happily blame work for this – a University is a fairly lively place to be working in September & October – and it even helped me to forget Skuds’ birthday….

I do still have time for Friends of the Earth (and even a few hours sleep a night) so I thought I would bring this Autumn’s campaign to everyone’s attention.  The Friends of the Earth website http://community.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/renewables/index.html puts the campaign in a nutshell;

Last year the UK Government made a firm commitment to boost renewable energy by supporting a new EU Directive which says that 15% of all UK energy should come from renewable sources by 2020. But it is now trying to undermine the target by increasing the level of flexibility within the directive.  Proposals so far have included

• Countries could buy renewable energy credits from outside the EU.
• Carbon capture and storage (CCS) from fossil fuel plants could count.
• Extra concessions be granted for large-scale projects.

The Government is also set to publish a UK strategy for meeting this EU-set target in March 2009. We have an opportunity to make sure that the Government supports a strong and sustainable renewable energy strategy at home and in Europe. This means making sure the UK commits to its current target in the EU Directive, and then publishes a robust UK strategy.

Hopefully your local groups will be organising a Day of Action on 25th October to get the public to send postcards to their MPs asking them to support this robust strategy.  Look out for them – the contact details for local groups can also be found on the FoE comunity website – but if you are otherwise occupied on the 25th then you can always sign up online ( http://community.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/renewables/form.html )