Now only hours later I have just opened my iPad to read the depressing front page story in today’s Guardian that unpublished data produced by the International Energy Agency (IEA) indicates that global carbon emissions increased last year by 5.5% from 29 gigatonnes of CO2 to 30.6 Gt. And this despite a worldwide recession of great severity.

This will mean, according to the IEA chief economist, that the chances of keeping average temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees celcius are now wishful thinking and unachievable. Above that we have to anticipate large scale climate change with massive effects on lands and populations across the globe. 

Sadly it is unlikely that this news will stir up sufficient concern for political  leaders to plan and agree actions to tackle global warming effectively.

This includes a searchable database. You can type in your postcode and find out more about local practice and the policies of your local authority for the recycling of different kinds of materials. This is useful because these are changing as new techniques of sorting enable more to be collected and saved.

Allerdale local authority had managed in 2009 to achieve a recycling rate of 45%, but last year the figure dropped to 44%. When I asked Stephanie Fleming, Allerdale’s recycling officer about this, she replied “the weather’s got to take the blame here”. 

With so much flooding in November, the Council was overwhelmed with the sheer task of getting areas cleared and houses habitable. Water was covering huge areas and recycling for a while had had to take second place. Hard to argue about that!

But there is a bigger question here we need to ask. The EU has set a 50% target by 2020 for household recycling for the UK as a whole, but both Scotland and Wales have set their own higher targets of 70% for 2025. With no targets set for English authorities does this mean, say Friends of the Earth that we’ll shelter under the skirts of the Scots and the Welsh and lag behind? 

We know this Government is averse to the ‘nanny state’, but let’s see a bit more forceful direction on this front! Surely we need this if we’re going to create a green economy, which Ministers tell us they want.

Two other good Government websites on green issues are worth looking at. A more technical waste data flow site, (http://www.wastedataflow.org/) provides additional information about waste management across the country.  You need to register to get access to the data.

The second is for the Department of Energy and Climate Control  (http://www. decc.gov.uk/). This includes information about the Government’s Green Deal programme, with more details due out soon.

Are we doing enough though to create that inclusive world that recognises the needs of all, rich and poor alike? Recently retired UN climate negotiator Yvo de Boer thinks not. In an interview (24 November 2010) with the Guardian’s John Vidal, he argues that slow progress has been made with climate change negotiations because developing countries are suspicious that rich countries use the issue as a way of keeping them poor and are not sufficiently committed to green growth economies.

The follow-up international conference on climate change is to be held in Cancún, Mexico next week and already there’s a mood that the high hopes of last December’s Copenhagen conference have to be replaced with more modest objectives if anything is to be achieved.

In The Economist’s lead article this week “How to live with climate change”, there is the sobering conclusion that climate change ” . . . remains the craziest experiment mankind has ever conducted. Maybe in the long run it will be brought under control. For the foreseeable future, though . . . the human race must live with the problem as best it can.”  

Driving from Ambleside yesterday there was a biting cold wind, which was underscored by two fighter planes 100 feet above me that screeched straight lines down the road as I descended from Dunmail Raise. The photo above shows the approach to Helvellyn from Thirlspot, with the higher reaches covered in snow.

Today it has been sunny but the cold remains. The photo below, taken from Thornthwaite shows just how much snow has fallen on the central range from Clough Head to Helvellyn and Dollywagon Pike.

A New York Times article (18th February 2010) reported on the disappointment of many that progress in the US on green issues was too slow and concessions too numerous. But let’s acknowledge at the outset that some key developments have taken place. The Christian Science Monitor (17th April 2010) points to a number of significant moves taken at a federal level. These include:

● Formal recognition of the dangers to health from greenhouse gases, which has paved the way for regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency.
● Setting of a new clean car standard, which will promote future efficiency and innovation in the industry and bring substantial reductions in emissions
● Commitment of $90 billion Recovery Act monies to accelerate adoption of renewable energy sources – like the 30,000 acre solar energy scheme in San Joaquin Valley, California – and support high speed train developments.

Critically there still remains the task of persuading Congress to agree reduction targets and penalties – as there are in the UK – to ensure compliance. However as with the Health Bill changes, Obama is by no means assured of success and for similar reasons.

There are powerful US interests, willing to fund those opposed to the thrust of Obama’s environmental policies, even though they have been watered down to win wider support. The best current example is the Proposition 23 (P-23) campaign in California. Here Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has steered through the legislature a commitment by 2020 to reduce CO2 emissions to the levels of 1990. This target is part of Assembly Bill 32 (AB32) of the Global Warming Solutions Act, but is opposed by a variety of oil and other interests.

The P-23 campaign seeks to reverse the AB32 reductions commitment until unemployment levels in the State, now above 12%, have dropped below 5.5% for four consecutive quarters, a level only seen three times in the last three decades.

This month two brothers, David and Charles Koch, have come forward with a $1 million contribution to the P-23 campaign. A small step maybe but typical of the way that they and others with oil, energy and refining interests seek to influence public attitudes about climate change. Their Koch Industries conglomerate is the second largest privately owned company in the US with a $98 billion annual turnover; and has provided over $50 million to climate opposition groups.

A report in Grist (17 August 2010), a Seattle based NGO, describes this as a battle between clean new technology and old fossil fuel thinking and points to growing support from green entrepreneurs for California’s landmark global warming initiative.

With recognition from amongst the US military that existing global energy supplies have now reached a peak (Guardian report, 11th April 2010 ), – and will decline – the California AB32 programme could be seen by the P-23 campaigners as an initiative for making up the likely deficit in traditional fuel supplies, but the chances of this in a highly polarized debate are minimal.

In an excellent article in Global Dashboard (18th June 2010) Alex Evans argues that there are costs, inconvenience and limits involved in a transition to something positive on climate and that there will be clear (and noisier) losers. He makes this interesting point. “What will open the political space for comprehensive solutions – alas – will be impacts: impacts that are tough enough to frighten people badly, but not so bad as to overshoot irreversible tipping points.”

If he’s right, let’s hope that we can get there quickly enough.

Cars remain the travel method of choice for most in the US, so we train riders are not typical. The average US citizen takes only 1.3 trips by train a year compared with the 30 taken in the UK. But despite this it’s starting to look like the US is taking issues about congestion, travel modes and CO2 emissions more seriously. Several states like California are developing specific high speed rail policies.

President Obama kicked off the issue in January with a $8 billion plan under the Recovery Act, offering support to schemes giving priority to upgrading existing rail routes. The thinking is that high speed trains mostly on the East and West coast would provide an incentive for more travellers on shorter journeys to leave their cars behind in the garage.

But trans-continental rail travel is a different ball game. It’s a journey of 2400 miles from New York on the east coast to Seattle. Opening up the west took place in three stages. First came the expeditions of Lewis and Clark in 1804-06, followed by the journeying across the plains by the settlers with their horses and wagons. The steam trains arrived in the 1850s and by 1869 the first transcontinental line had been completed. The Great Northern railway finally reached Seattle in 1893.

The railroads created over 100 years ago are still owned by private companies, which concentrate on moving 40% of the nation’s freight slowly around the continent on huge long trains. There’s an inherent conflict here with the needs of high speed passenger trains, which need dedicated lines for a faster service and defined journey times. Providing such high speed routes in Europe and Japan has been a long term investment costing millions of dollars, which are now in the post global financial crisis not available in the US or anywhere else.

This is an area to watch over the next five years and could not only help to reduce US carbon emissions but also provide thousands of jobs for Americans to replace those lost in the motor industry, as it goes into long term decline. In the meantime we’re looking to try out the train next year from Chicago to Seattle.

We take for granted our sophisticated municipal services, but in the Berber villages, connected only by mule tracks and in cities like Fez, Meknes and Marrakech with their overcrowding, narrow alleys and limited resources, it’s hard to produce more than primitive refuse collection and recycling systems (See photo opposite in Marrakech).

Infrastructure and road schemes are helping to grow the economy fast and to address sub-regional disparities but they can be double edged. They have enabled fish caught in Essaouira to be distributed quickly to the north and abroad (Photo); and encourage industrial activity. But in coastal Safi intensive phosphate processing is hungry for water and has brought heavy atmospheric pollution.

Addressing global warming, pollution and resources depletion is complicated so generating public awareness is crucial. This is happening here with the UK’s 10:10 campaign to reduce carbon emissions by 10% by the end of 2010 (see Guardian Halfway report, “So far, so good” 10 July 2010).

But in developing countries this is a far harder task. In sun-soaked Morocco the Government’s commitment to provide electricity supply for all by 2010 (not actually fulfilled) seems if anything to have dampened enthusiasm for harnessing solar energy.

While trekking I only saw three small photovoltaic (PV) cell panels in use; whilst in Marrakech a rooftop snapshot from my riad showed one PV cell panel outnumbered by 18 satellite TV dishes. (See photo below of PV panel on Lepiney Refuge at 3000 m near Toubkal summit – © Athol Lester; and of Marrakech rooftops.)

Water too is a critical issue. Blessed with rainfall brought by Atlantic winds hitting the Atlas mountains, Morocco has a long history of capturing water for irrigation (see Photo right), but the growth of industry and tourism is increasing demand inexorably. Yet water seems to be treated as an endless supply and no attempt is made in hotels or elsewhere to encourage careful use and conservation.

This is energy landscape: 12 miles up the coast is Sellafield, while out in Morecambe Bay 30 giant wind turbines rise amid the spray and waves. For inmates at HMP Haverigg, near Millom – surely one of the most remote of the country’s prisons – eight more turbines tower above the low slung buildings (see bottom left photo).

Black Combe shrugs its shoulders to this coastal scene but the trees on its lower sections attest to the power of the prevailing south westerly winds (See photos above and below).

The mountain’s 600 metre summit makes a good half day walk, which can be extended. It’s also the only ‘hundreder’ top over 500 m in the Lake District National Park. (There are no 700m, 800m or 900m tops). On Friday there were northward views of the Scafell and Coniston fells, while to the south the sea round Walney Island and off the Lancashire coast shimmered in dazzling sunlight.

Black Combe’s top has the distinction of being the only point in the UK where on a good day you can see five kingdoms – Scotland, Wales, England, Ireland and the Isle of Mann.

Make a note of the walk. It’s well worth the visit on a fine day and there’s an added bonus. Carlisle to Carnforth trains run along the coast stopping at Silecroft, near the start of the climb. It’s just one hour from Workington in the north and about two hours from Carnforth in the south. More details of the itinerary can be found on the Lake District Guide website.

The Accord was hammered out at the last minute meetings involving US President Obama and the leaders of China, India and Brazil – a reflection of the new multi-polar world that the 21st century is ushering in. To judge from conflicting accounts, China appears to have led the resistance to specific targets and international monitoring.

For all their talk and offers of cash and emissions targets, EU leaders – with their comparatively rich and prosperous populations – failed to stitch together a deal which could unite a deeply divided world. All we could find to cheer here was energy and climate Secretary Ed Miliband speaking up to ensure that even the Accord – a small step – was not thrown out on the final day.

Reducing carbon emissions is not easy. Providing green energy is expensive and can be controversial. Developing countries want the benefits that industrialisation can bring. Politicians, mindful of elections, know that they can’t count on public opinion to support mitigation policies.

All this is true, but we need leaders who will take bold decisions that can lead to low carbon economies and avoid the devastation that global warming will surely bring. With political will, solutions can be found; and we need to support the politicians who promote these solutions. One way you can make a personal contribution is by signing up with Avaaz.org – The World in Action, a global web movement committed to promoting positive action to protect our environment. We discuss in Good Practice some of the actions we are taking at The Larches.

This is not a dry academic exercise. Climate change is happening now as we stand on the eve of the twenty-tens decade. It is affecting large areas of the world. Glaciers are melting. Weather patterns are more volatile. People in Bangladesh live with the daily fear of rising water levels flooding their houses and leaving thousands destitute.

Other examples can be seen in John Vidal’s account in the Guardian (6 December) of a recent journey (see opposite) from Nepal to the Bay of Bengal; and in the Economist Special report Getting Warmer – Stopping climate change (5 December 2009), which includes a good summary article reviewing the evidence for global warming. More good sources are referenced in the Eco-friendly section of this Lakeland Belvedere website.

The possibilities for change are there. We need new green industries and a commitment to provide seed finance for them in the early stages. New technologies have transformed economies and so many facets of our life over the last two decades. Now we need green technologies, which can help limit carbon emissions and build a sustainable future for us all. We need to act now before it is too late.

POSTSCRIPT
In an article in The Guardian (January 1st, 2010) Government must ‘green economy and create jobs’ Lord Adair Turner, Chairman of the Financial Services Authority, spells out the practical implications involved in the last paragraph of this blog posting.

It’s not been great for driving and hundreds have been treated after falls on icy pavements and roads. But for children the snow has been a treat as this picture opposite shows as a young girl and her mother race down Coledale Common on a Christmas Day toboggan.

The second picture shows Skiddaw on Christmas day with a fine cover of snow. We remember it last like this sixteen years ago (see below), with snow covering the road outside The Larches and a snowy background behind. Though the front hedge at The Larches looks a little different, not much else has changed in Seldom Seen. It’s still a quiet retreat away from it all with marvellous views of the distant fells.